A hail of cursed energy blasts trampled the shopping district. Yuta Okkotsu, shouting Cursed Speech while moving at high speeds with Projection Sorcery, sprinted freely through the rubble.
In the midst of it, Bitz—who utilized techniques of explosion and flamethrowing—maintained a no-guard strategy, relying on his overwhelming brute strength and regenerative abilities as a shield.
Far from just trading flesh for bone, Bitz fought without regard for his own body even if his flesh and bones were severed; yet, his movements still possessed a certain undeniable skill.
Bitz was a vanguard for the curse user group Q. Specifically, this individual was an outdated model with the same composition as the one that attacked Jujutsu High ten years ago.
The only one unaware that he had been pitted against Yuta Okkotsu for the sake of force reconnaissance and inventory disposal was Bitz himself.
However, despite having the same composition, the Bitz sharing these memories was capable of evolving his combat prowess significantly through the battle lessons etched into his being.
"Compared to the original, isn't your Projection Sorcery quite pathetic! Once I know the movement is twenty-four frames per second, reading it is... easy!"
"Guh!?"
"And while your physical strength might be something, your body control is naive!"
Saying so, Bitz struck Yuta hard with a bloated left arm while firing a point-blank Granite Blast, cornering Yuta Okkotsu with the movements of a clearly experienced combatant.
In fact, Yuta Okkotsu was entirely on the defensive. The katana he swung for a counterattack was snapped by a simple palm strike; his physical movements were read, leading to heavy counter-blows; and the cursed energy blasts Rika Orimoto fired wildly were neutralized by the more concentrated Granite Blast, resulting in Yuta being blown away alongside her.
On the other hand, Bitz's explosions repeatedly scorched Yuta's flesh and broke his bones, while his cursed energy blasts blew off Yuta's limbs with ease.
It was one-sided violence born from a difference in skill and experience—a slaughter, a mockery. Only his tough body, forged through his awakening as a demon, kept Yuta alive. However, forced into a situation where he had to constantly run his Reverse Cursed Technique, the Okkotsu couple began to run out of steam. Even though their total cursed energy was infinite, their output was not.
Or so it should have been.
"I've got it!"
"What!?"
At the same time he shouted, Yuta—using his extraordinary physical durability to forcibly tank a cursed energy blast with his abdominal muscles—unleashed a powerful strike. Its convergence rate was on a completely different level compared to the blasts Rika had been firing haphazardly until then.
Then followed a succession of explosive fireballs.
Yuta's painful counterattack, mimicking the technique Bitz used, ruthlessly blew Bitz's head away.
However, Bitz was not a monster created by Q for nothing. Even without a head, he punched Yuta away and immediately regenerated his skull to take a combat stance. His appearance was hardly human; he lunged at Yuta with beast-like ferocity.
But if one is hit by a series of explosions followed by the Cursed Speech command "CRUSH," even a regenerative monster will stop in its tracks. As he froze, and Yuta drove a fist into his compressed body, the [ONE-SECOND FILM FREEZE] of Projection Sorcery sealed Bitz's body into two dimensions. As a finishing blow, Yuta and Rika's mouths wove a command together at the same time.
"DISAPPEAR!"
The curse, unleashed twice with massive cursed energy at point-blank range, erased Bitz's film from this world without a trace. The curtain that had been sealing Yuta dissolved as its caster vanished.
"I... somehow managed, I think?"
'Geez! If Yuta hadn't said "I might as well learn this since I'm here," couldn't we have just blown him away from the start?'
"Sorry, Rika. I was being selfish."
'No, that part is fine, but it makes me so mad that Yuta got hit so many times! What does that shrimp think he's doing to my Yuta!'
"Ahaha... but that curse user's technique seems like it'll be useful."
'Explosions, fire, and cursed energy discharge... they do seem convenient, but... ugh, I'm still mad! Rika hates him! And besides, someone like that isn't even dead yet!'
"Eh...? Really?"
'Yeah! His soul ran away somewhere!'
Soothing the fuming Rika, Yuta escaped the nearly destroyed shopping district. After explaining the situation to a panicked Kiyotaka Ijichi, Yuta let out a long breath and murmured his thoughts.
"I feel... surprisingly okay. Even though I killed someone."
'Yuta, you're actually pretty cold toward anyone who isn't important to you.'
"Eh, is that so... maybe it is..."
'Is it because you merged with me after all?'
"Hmm, I don't think it's your fault, Rika... but I wonder."
Yuta stared at his hands as he spoke. The trembling that had once subsided would never return again.
For a sorcerer, a battle against a curse user is a kind of baptism. Having passed through that trial, Yuta had certainly become 'twisted' in a way befitting a jujutsu sorcerer on this day.
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