'I'm done for... If the Inverted Spear of Heaven pierces my head, I... will die!'
At this critical moment between life and death, Kenjaku's mind was racing.
For jujutsu sorcerers, killing a curse and killing a sorcerer were completely different things. Curses could only be killed through methods infused with cursed energy, but sorcerers were still human at their core. No matter what kind of weapon it was, if it pierced their head and destroyed their brain, they would die.
Mukuro had taken advantage of this. He had correctly predicted that Kenjaku would definitely use his technique to defend himself.
'Is the Inverted Spear of Heaven an illusion created by a technique?'
No. If that were really the case, then why had he been sealed by the Prison Realm?
Was it intentional? Or was he really unable to get out back then?
If he could truly manifest the Inverted Spear of Heaven, then even if he attacked from the inside, he should have been able to forcibly break open the barrier.
That meant the Inverted Spear of Heaven in front of Kenjaku was the real thing, one of the famous special grade cursed tools of the Fushiguro family.
The illusion placed upon it had concealed its true nature, making him believe it was nothing more than an ordinary dagger. On top of that, Mukuro had never given anyone the impression that he used special cursed tools before. That was why Kenjaku had subconsciously dismissed the possibility.
Before he could think any further, his body reacted first while his mind continued racing.
Just as the Inverted Spear of Heaven was about to pierce his head, Kenjaku suddenly jerked his head to the side. Along the scar of the stitches on his forehead, the upper half of his head began to rotate like a screw. The stitches snapped apart and his skull flew upward.
Using the force and change in angle caused by the spinning skull, the Inverted Spear of Heaven in Mukuro's hand narrowly grazed the edge of the brain-like mass with sharp teeth.
The difference was only a fraction of an inch, yet Kenjaku had truly crawled back from the edge of death.
"That was really dangerous!"
He reached out and held down his skull before it could fly away. Then his entire body shot dozens of meters into the air and remained suspended above the ground.
He had changed the target of his technique.
The technique he had used earlier was actually not gravity. It was the "Antigravity System" he had inherited from Kaori's body. Kenjaku had simply always used it in the form of a Technique Reversal, which created the illusion that gravity itself was his innate technique.
In fact, the normal activation of the Antigravity System was extremely unstable. Even Kenjaku had never been able to use it smoothly in the past, which was why he rarely used it in its normal form.
But now that he was at the brink of life and death, he had no choice but to take the risk.
The surrounding gravity field would certainly be torn apart by the Inverted Spear of Heaven. So he changed the target of his technique to himself, then used the power of its normal activation to free himself from the restraint of gravity and rapidly shoot upward.
"Tch..."
Mukuro was somewhat surprised that his ambush had failed. Although he had already been on guard, no matter how he looked at it, such a defensive method was simply too absurd.
He frowned as he looked at Kenjaku floating in midair. By then, both of them had already left the open domains they had created.
"There's no need to worry too much about it. In fact, this is my true body."
After catching his breath, Kenjaku calmly lifted his skull. The brain-like mass with sharp teeth politely introduced itself. He then pressed down on his skull with one hand while using the stitches with his other hand to sew the upper and lower halves together again.
After all, exposing his own weakness was too dangerous. He still wanted to have some fun.
"Are you even human?"
Even Mukuro could not help letting out a long sigh at this troublesome situation. There would not be many chances to launch a surprise attack. Once the Inverted Spear of Heaven had been exposed, Kenjaku would definitely do everything he could to prevent him from getting close.
"Who knows?"
Kenjaku spoke proudly, but before he could say anything else, his body suddenly swayed and he nearly fell from the sky.
The normal activation of the Antigravity System was still too unstable and difficult to control.
"Domain Expansion."
As he slowly descended from the air, his hands had already formed another hand sign. Blood tears seeped from his eye sockets while bright red blood continuously flowed from his nose.
Yet even in this state, countless howling monsters once again appeared behind him. The instant his feet touched the ground, the domain, Womb Profusion, was formed once more.
In theory, just like Sukuna, he had already imbued his innate technique into the domain as a sure-hit effect. After leaving the domain, he should have entered a short period of Technique Burnout and been unable to use his technique.
But there was an exception here.
With Tengen's support through the advanced assimilation process, Kenjaku practically possessed an infinite amount of cursed energy at this moment.
However, his situation was different from Hakari's ability to repeatedly expand his domain.
Hakari could repeatedly expand his domain because he would deactivate his domain when he obtained his "immortality," using the four minutes and eleven seconds of infinite cursed energy during that period as a buffer.
His infinite cursed energy was a gift obtained after expanding his domain rather than something naturally provided by his technique. So during those four minutes and eleven seconds, he was essentially already in a state of Technique Burnout.
But once the four minutes and eleven seconds ended and the jackpot was over, Hakari's burned-out technique would have recovered. Meanwhile, because his cursed energy had been replenished by the infinite supply he had received earlier, he would not suffer from excessive cursed energy consumption. That was the reason he could theoretically expand his domain an unlimited number of times.
Kenjaku's situation was much simpler and more brutal.
His burned-out technique had not recovered. The part of his brain responsible for expanding a domain with that technique was still overloaded. If he forcibly expanded his domain under these conditions, his brain would be placed under severe strain. In other words, there was a risk of his brain "blowing its engine."
However, his infinite cursed energy allowed him to face that risk head-on.
After all, "blowing the engine" was not something that happened instantly.
When Kenjaku attempted to expand his domain during Technique Burnout, the corresponding part of his brain would suffer continuous damage. But his infinite cursed energy would automatically activate Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the damage as it occurred.
A Reverse Cursed Technique that operated automatically could be even more precise than one controlled by the sorcerer himself. It was almost impossible for mistakes caused by poor control to occur.
Therefore, with infinite cursed energy, Kenjaku would not experience a prolonged Technique Burnout. At most, it would take several seconds, which was enough for Reverse Cursed Technique to completely heal the part of his brain that had been pushed to the brink of "blowing its engine" by forcibly expanding his domain.
"How about it? Shall we go back to where we started?"
Looking at Mukuro standing outside the boundary of his domain, Kenjaku curled his finger with some curiosity.
Simultaneously, the ground inside the domain began to collapse and rise. Visible rocks started floating into the air.
It was the normal activation of his technique.
Kenjaku had changed the effect of his domain. He applied gravity to everything inside the domain that possessed cursed energy, while indiscriminately applying the Antigravity System to everything without cursed energy and causing it to float up as an obstacle.
"What a pain..."
The number "5" in Mukuro's right eye changed back to "4." The powerful cursed energy surrounding his body disappeared, and he let out a deep breath as if a heavy burden had finally been lifted.
This time, he had no intention of using a domain to fight back.
At the same time, the Inverted Spear of Heaven in his hand changed shape again, returning to the state of a dagger without any cursed energy.
In reality, just as Kenjaku had guessed, this was the real Inverted Spear of Heaven. Mukuro could not directly manifest such a powerful special grade cursed tool through an illusion.
However, concealing it was still something he could do.
The next moment, his figure appeared inside Kenjaku's domain like a streak of light.
Since he had no cursed energy on his body, the gravity would not recognize him. However, there was still a possibility that he would be affected by the indiscriminate effects of the Antigravity System.
Yet the body bound by Heavenly Restriction was no less absurd than a powerful technique.
Through the extremely tiny differences that existed within the spatial plane, such as differences in temperature and humidity, Mukuro could grasp the points where they intersected.
Therefore, even though he could potentially be affected by the Antigravity System, he could still use the spatial plane to move at high speed.
"That is truly amazing. To think a purely physical body can accomplish something like this. Just how many more surprises are you going to give me, Mukuro Fushiguro!"
Kenjaku laughed loudly. With a wave of his right hand, dozens of crows radiating powerful cursed energy flew out. After that, he charged forward.
"But the final winner will definitely be me, because..."
As the flock of crows was violently blasted apart, his left hand rose. In an instant, it expanded until it was nearly half the size of a building floor and slammed toward Mukuro.
There was a hint of madness in Kenjaku's voice. It also contained everything he had invested into his thousand-year plan.
"I'm no longer human!"
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!