I blocked another Granite Blast with my shield.
The impact rattled through the shield, even though the shield held.
Ryu was already charging his next attack.
Damn it… I noticed the glow building in his hair again. The cursed energy gathering around him was thick enough that I could feel it vibrating in the air.
I can't let that happen.
I had already realized something during this fight—his fully charged attacks needed multiple shields to block safely. If I let him charge freely, I'd get overwhelmed.
So I changed tactics.
One of my shields twisted and stretched, reshaping itself into a flaming whip.
I snapped it toward him.
The whip cracked through the air like thunder.
Ryu jumped back easily.
To my shock, it didn't interrupt his charge at all.
He finished gathering the energy.
Ryu fired the charged Granite Blast.
"—!"
I immediately stacked all seven shields back to back.
The beam slammed into them.
One shield shattered.
Then another.
Then another.
All seven broke in rapid succession.
The remaining force of the blast slammed into me, sending me sliding ten meters backward across the ground. My feet scraped against the barrier floor as sparks of cursed energy scattered everywhere.
My chest burned.
The smell hit me a moment later—burned flesh.
I grimaced.
During our earlier exchanges, I had managed to heal most of my previous injuries, except for one blast wound. Now I had two again.
Thankfully, the last blast had lost a lot of power against my shields, so it only burned me instead of tearing through my body.
Still… it hurt.
I recreated my shields and charged forward again.
Across from me, Ryu was grinning wider.
Then he began spamming Granite Blasts.
My eyes widened.
Hundreds of smaller blasts filled the air like a storm of artillery shells.
These blasts were weaker, but there were so many of them.
They curved and twisted around my shields, trying to slip through gaps.
I blocked most of them.
But some hit.
Explosions erupted around me.
Burns spread across my arms and shoulders. My clothes were getting shredded.
My healing couldn't keep up.
I was taking damage faster than I could heal it.
I stared at Ryu through the smoke.
Fine.
Screw the defense.
One wise quote says that the best defense is a good offense.
I created a chain and launched it toward him.
Ryu jumped away.
I created three more chains, throwing them from different angles as I rushed forward.
He fired a few Granite Blasts at me.
My shields blocked them all.
Then one chain caught his leg.
Ryu reacted instantly.
He began charging another Granite Blast to destroy the chain.
Perfect. I rushed in.
At the same time, I converted every shield except one into swords.
Flaming blades formed around him in midair.
"Let's go, Chinese cultivation MC!!!" I yelled as I launched them.
Ryu had already broken the chain and moved, dodging the first sword.
But I had positioned the blades carefully. His escape routes were covered.
One sword slashed toward him.
Ryu blocked it with his arm.
Blood sprayed. He had been cut.
He tried to dodge again while charging another Granite Blast.
A few of the swords were nearly destroyed by his blasts.
But before they could destabilize—
I threw them back toward him.
They exploded midair.
The blasts forced him to reposition again.
The pressure kept mounting.
Ryu suddenly shifted tactics.
Instead of dealing with the summons, he decided to deal with the summoner.
A Granite Blast shot straight toward me.
I expanded my remaining shield and poured a heavy amount of cursed energy into it.
The shield held.
Behind him, the swords were still slashing.
Ryu was now being attacked from multiple directions.
I kept summoning chains and whips, throwing explosive constructs whenever he tried to move comfortably.
The battlefield had turned chaotic.
He was constantly dodging, blocking, and blasting the constructs away.
I kept advancing.
Closer and Closer.
Ryu jumped away from one whip.
What he didn't realize—
I was already behind him.
I used flames behind of my arm to propel my fist forward.
Ryu sensed the surge of cursed energy and turned in shock.
Too late.
My fist slammed into his chest.
At that exact moment—
Space bent, and black lightning erupted from the impact point.
BLACK FLASH.
The sound cracked like the sky splitting open.
Ryu's body launched across the barrier, flying from one side of the arena to the other before crashing into the ground.
For a moment, everything went silent.
I stood there, frozen.
"…Black Flash," I muttered.
A strange euphoria washed through me.
So this is it. This is how cursed energy should flow.
My body felt… lighter, sharper.
Everything clicked into place.
Cursed energy moved through me smoothly, naturally, like breathing.
I was in the zone.
120% of my potential.
I focused for a moment. My injuries healed almost instantly.
The burns from earlier battles vanished in five seconds.
Five seconds.
Before this, healing wounds like that would have taken minutes, and that's an if I could have actually healed them at all.
But now…
My Reverse Cursed Technique felt like it had leveled up.
I lifted my head and looked at Ryu.
He was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling of the barrier.
Then I looked at the place I had punched him.
His chest was slightly dented.
The impact area was burned black.
"…Damn it," I muttered.
"I wanted to punch his face."
But he was so tall. He was easily two meters tall ( 6'5 ).
More than 45 centimeters taller than me. (1'4)
I crossed my arms, annoyed.
Then Ryu slowly stood up.
When he looked at me again
His grin had become completely maniacal.
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End of chapter