Shin stamped his foot against the ground, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of Rin at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, the trident in his hand smashing straight towards his chest.
However, Shin still held back his strength, because one of the rules was that killing was forbidden. If he had swung the trident with full force and actually hit Rin, Rin would likely have been torn to pieces.
Bang!
The scene of Rin flying backward, vomiting blood incessantly, and losing the ability to fight did not happen. Rin only took a few steps back, his face instantly flushing red, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his lips. However, he swallowed the blood in his mouth and quickly manipulated his paper to counterattack.
Shin did not dodge or evade. Braving the attacks of the paper, he punched Rin in the face. The immense force sent Rin flying backward, breaking a large tree before he lay on the ground, struggling to get up.
Shin realized why the trident attack hadn't been very effective earlier. Beneath Rin's tattered clothes, he saw layers of white scales folded from paper filled with Cursed Energy. They had significantly cushioned his attack, so Shin had no choice but to attack the face, which was not protected by these things.
Rin manipulated the paper to prop himself up, taking the opportunity to snap his crooked face back into place with the paper, then spat out three broken teeth and leaned with difficulty against the tree behind him.
Shin stood not far away, leaning against his trident, and said softly, "It's over. To be honest, you're quite strong. You must be a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, right?"
Rin said, "Strong? Perhaps. But what's the point of being strong? Without inheriting the family Cursed Technique, no matter how strong one is, they are just a foil. However, regarding what you just said about it being over, I'm afraid I cannot accept that. Our battle is not over yet."
"Origami Manipulation: Dance of the White Scales!"
Clatter...
All the paper scattered on the ground seemed like soldiers having heard an order, floating in mid-air and rapidly folding as they flew toward Rin, forming layers of white armor on his body.
The white paper scales on the surface of the armor seemed to express its sturdiness, and the claws rolled from paper were also extremely sharp, arming Rin into a sharp-clawed warrior wearing heavy armor.
Boom!
Rin's speed increased by more than just a little as he rushed toward Shin at high speed and swung a punch down. Shin quickly raised his trident to block, but the scales in front of Rin shot toward Shin like bullets.
Clang... Clang...
Although the power of Rin's paper scales was quite decent, it was clearly not enough in front of the fully enchanted Netherite Armor Set.
A pair of huge paper wings suddenly unfolded from behind Rin's paper armor, and he abruptly pulled away from Shin, flying into the air. Shin narrowed his eyes, seemingly having discovered the reason for Rin's significant increase in speed and strength.
He had wrapped the paper all over his body. When attacking, his body didn't even use any force, relying entirely on manipulating the paper to move his body. His body was like a marionette, moving by relying on the "thread" of the paper. He had originally thought it was a person wearing armor, but now it seemed the person's role might just be to fill the excess space inside the paper.
It was not hard to imagine how intense the Cursed Energy consumption of this move would be, it was unclear how long Rin could hold on.
Swish... Swish...
Countless paper darts shot from the air toward Shin, but they were all blocked by the Netherite Armor Set.
Shin juggled his trident and threw it toward Rin in the air. Rin flapped his wings and abruptly increased his altitude to dodge the trident, then swooped toward Shin with a whistle.
Shin threw a Lingering Potion of Slowness at his feet, waiting for Rin's attack.
'The thing he threw at his own feet shouldn't be anything bad, right?'
This thought drove Rin to descend even faster, and the moment he touched the lingering slowness potion, he felt that something was wrong.
'Oh no!'
Shin grinned and grabbed Rin's head, slamming it into the ground with a "boom," creating a large crater in the ground. The immense force stunned Rin's brain instantly, and the armor on his body scattered, falling all over the ground.
Rin lay on the ground and tried to struggle for a moment, but eventually gave up. The Dance of the White Scales he had just used put a bit of a burden on his brain circuits. Although it wasn't as serious as Cursed Technique Burnout after a Domain Expansion, it was now impossible to output Cursed Energy at high intensity.
If this were a real battle, the current Rin would only be able to fold a small white flag with that tiny bit of Cursed Energy output to surrender.
Shin put all his items away and sat on the side to chat with Rin.
"Although your Cursed Technique has quite a lot of variations, it seems to have the shadow of Blood Manipulation, whether it's the shuriken imitating Slicing Exorcism, the White Bind imitating Crimson Binding, or that Dance of the White Scales which looks a bit like Flowing Red Scale in its performance."
"Of course, I feel that the Dance of the White Scales is much stronger than Flowing Red Scales. After all, the trashy Flowing Red Scales can only strengthen the body, it's too monotonous. But you really are still living in the shadow of Blood Manipulation."
Shin took out an apple and took a bite, then threw one to Rin.
Rin slowly climbed up, grabbed the apple, took a bite, and said slowly, "I have indeed always been imitating Blood Manipulation. I don't want to fight for the position of clan head. I just hope that father and mother won't be so indifferent to me anymore."
"Right now, I'm just like an ordinary person in the family. No matter how great my strength is, it cannot make father and mother show a smile to me. I really envy Noritoshi, envy the love and trust his parents have for him, but... how should I put it? Heh, it's still because I'm not good enough, and I didn't inherit the family Cursed Technique. If there is a next life, I want to be born into an ordinary family."
Shin said, "Why are you making it sound like I'm about to kill you? The atmosphere is so sentimental. You're hurt pretty badly now, you can exit the stage. I expect someone will come to pick you up in a while. I'll be taking my leave first. Goodbye."