Rin ignored the Cursed Spirit's daze. He pressed his fingertips lightly against the blood-stained ground, using that faint support to slowly push himself up to a standing position.
Before he had even fully straightened his body, a series of fine bone-grinding sounds suddenly came from his right arm. A soft "creak" rang out, carrying a bizarre quality that made one's teeth ache.
He lowered his eyes to look at his right hand. The metacarpals were protruding outward at an arc that defied common sense. The originally rounded knuckles were constantly lengthening and sharpening. Fine bone fragments pierced through the skin, intertwining and merging within the flesh, finally condensing into a bone blade over a foot long.
The cold white blade was covered in fine bone patterns, its edges so sharp they seemed capable of slicing through the air. A few drops of wet blood slid down the tip, splashing into tiny blood-red "crowns" on the ground.
Rin flexed his wrist. The bone blade vibrated slightly with the movement, emitting a faint hum as if responding to its master's battle intent.
He looked up at the Cursed Spirit, which was already speechless with shock. His gaze was as cold as tempered ice, devoid of any warmth.
He held the bone blade across his chest. The cold light reflected off the blade's surface mirrored his expressionless face. The black hair behind him suddenly moved without wind, swirling around his body like an ink-colored current.
"Thank you for your Cursed Technique, and for the 'instruction' earlier." Rin spoke, his voice not loud but carrying an unquestionable ruthlessness. "Next, within five moves, I will cut off your head."
The moment his voice fell, he flicked his wrist. The bone blade sliced a cold white light through the air as he lunged at the Cursed Spirit like an arrow from a bow.
The Cursed Spirit finally snapped out of it and hurriedly swung its remaining bone blade to counterattack—"Clang!" The two bone blades collided violently, producing a piercing metallic ring and sending sparks flying, numbing the Cursed Spirit's arm.
In the gap where the Cursed Spirit was forced back half a step by the counter-shock, the black hair behind Rin suddenly surged. It lunged out like countless agile vipers; some coiled around the Cursed Spirit's thick leg bones, strangling the joints tightly, while others stabbed directly at its eyes burning with ghostly blue flames, forcing it to dodge repeatedly.
The Cursed Spirit roared and thrashed its body, but it was held fast by the hair, its movements instantly becoming sluggish.
Rin seized this fleeting opening. The bone blade abruptly changed direction, slicing down through a gap in the Cursed Spirit's arm armor. "Puchi!" A fountain of dark purple blood erupted. The Cursed Spirit let out a frenzied roar of pain, and its other bone claw slammed violently toward Rin's chest.
He nimbly dodged to the side while simultaneously controlling his black hair to lash out like steel whips, smashing heavily against the Cursed Spirit's already damaged joints.
"Crack!" With a crisp sound, the Cursed Spirit's joint was whipped out of shape, making its movements even slower.
In just three moves, this Cursed Spirit, which had long since exhausted its Cursed Energy, showed signs of complete defeat.
Rin's gaze sharpened. Cursed Energy suddenly condensed in his left hand, and the bone blade abruptly lengthened by half a foot. His black hair tightened simultaneously, strangling the Cursed Spirit's neck like a noose and forcing its head upward.
Amidst the Cursed Spirit's terrified roars, Rin closed in. The bone blade, carrying a sharp whistle that tore through the air, pierced in from its jaw and then jerked upward with a forceful thrust. "Crack!"
The muffled sound of bones shattering echoed across the empty playground. The Cursed Spirit's massive body crashed to the ground. Only a hideous wound remained at its neck, where dark purple blood gurgled out, quickly forming a pool on the ground.
Rin stood beside the corpse. Blood droplets from the bone blade dripped off the tip. The black hair behind him slowly retracted, falling back onto his shoulders as if that fatal strike had never happened. Only the blood covering him testified to the brutality of the battle.
While the Cursed Spirit's corpse was still twitching slightly, cracks began to appear on the bone blade in Rin's palm. It crumbled like weathered rock, eventually turning into white powder and dissipating into the air.
He raised his hand, wanting to wipe the blood from his face, only to find he barely had the strength left to lift his arm. In the next second, the wounds that had been temporarily covered by bone fragments split open again. Blood instantly soaked his school uniform, and his skin seemed to be torn open by invisible hands, revealing the mangled flesh beneath.
The intense pain he had forcibly suppressed earlier surged back like a tide, nearly swallowing his consciousness.
Rin stumbled a few steps, his knees buckling as he fell heavily to the ground. His forehead rested against the cold pavement. His rapid breathing was exceptionally clear in the empty space; every breath tugged at the wounds in his chest, bringing a piercing pain and even a metallic, sweet taste to his throat.
Exhausting his last bit of strength, Rin rolled over and lay beside the pool of the Cursed Spirit's blood.
In his blurred consciousness, the Cursed Energy in his body had completely dried up, and his blood-red Sharingan had automatically deactivated. At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to absorb the corpse of this Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
His eyelids felt like they were filled with lead. He had to use all his effort just to open them a crack.
Blinding light rushed in—was it sunlight? The "Veil" outside the school seemed to have been lifted.
Rin turned his eyes with difficulty. His gaze passed through his blood-stained eyelashes and toward the sky above.
The cage woven from white bones that had trapped him for so long was melting away at a visible rate due to the Cursed Spirit's death. The thick bone beams turned into points of shimmering white light, swirling and drifting away before finally merging into the sky.
Also dissipating was the Cursed Spirit's corpse beside him.
These creatures composed entirely of Cursed Energy would rapidly decompose into pure Cursed Energy upon death. The massive body began to dismantle, its bones and muscles gradually turning into black points of light that floated in the air like dying fireflies.
Watching his "spoils of war" disappear bit by bit, Rin desperately wanted to activate his Sharingan to absorb them, but his body was empty. He couldn't even scrape together enough Cursed Energy to activate his Ocular Technique.
Those black points of light floated right before his eyes, yet he couldn't retain a single wisp.
"Bastard... that was a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit!"
He cursed under his breath, his voice hoarse beyond recognition. He wasn't so much cursing the Cursed Spirit as he was hating his own powerlessness.
Seeing that the Cursed Spirit's light points were about to vanish completely, Rin simply gave up the struggle. He lay powerlessly on the ground, spread-eagled, letting the sunlight spill over his blood-stained body.
"Whatever... where is Suguru Geto? Why hasn't that guy come out yet?"
Just as he was about to completely give up, those black points of light that were supposed to dissipate suddenly stopped. They swirled and gathered, gradually condensing into a fine stream of light.
The stream of light snaked forward along the bloodstains on the ground, finally surging all at once into his eyes.
Instantly, Rin felt a blinding light explode in his eyes. His Sharingan activated uncontrollably, the crimson Double Tomoe spinning rapidly within his pupils.
Streams of warm Cursed Energy poured into his body through his eyes, flowing through his blood vessels to his four limbs and hundred bones.
A numb itchiness came from the ruptured wounds on his body. The mangled flesh closed and healed at a visible rate. Even his previously broken ribs and left arm were completely restored under the nourishment of the Cursed Energy.
What shocked him even more was that a bountiful amount of Cursed Energy suddenly surged within his originally depleted body. That power was far stronger than before, flowing rapidly through his meridians. Everywhere it passed, his fatigue crumbled away bit by bit. His entire body felt as if it had been injected with new vitality, and even his bones emitted slight "clack" sounds, as if undergoing a new round of strengthening.
His Cursed Energy had not only fully recovered but had even broken through its bottleneck, reaching the level of a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. His physical strength had also greatly increased; the power contained in his fingertips was thirty percent stronger than it had been at his previous peak.
Rin subconsciously clenched his fists, his knuckles letting out a dull pop. The sound of his bones grinding was like metal striking stone, full of a sense of power.
With his current strength, if he were to face that Bone Armor Cursed Spirit from earlier again, he wouldn't even need to use any Cursed Techniques. Using only the Sharingan's Insight and his two fists, he could beat it to death.
His injuries had completely healed, but Rin did not stand up immediately.
He still lay on the ground, letting out a long sigh. The aftereffects of the fierce battle were still scorching his nerves. The roars of the Cursed Spirit and the echoes of shattering bones remained in his brain. Mental exhaustion submerged him like a tide; it was a weariness that went deep into his soul.
Endless sleepiness hit him, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. But Rin still struggled to hold on. The person he was waiting for had not yet arrived.