Jakuin. One of the Three Souls and Seven Poins, governing the emotion of "Grief." Joy, anger, sorrow, delight, resentment, fear, love, hate, and desire—these are the nine currents of human feeling, and within them lie the Poins. By using a specific emotion as a medium to deliver Cursed Poison, the Jakuin technique directly strikes the soul governing that feeling.
The more fragile the heart, the easier the infection. Even with Mechamaru's semi-Grade 1 strength, he had been terminally ill from the moment he stepped into this district, alongside the lower-grade sorcerers lost in their own despair. The poison had been accumulating, dormant, waiting for the precise moment when the battle hung in the balance.
Taikou and Jakuin knew the "foolish" sorcerers would never abandon a comrade. Thus, a friend becomes a shackle.
Exactly as it was now—
Mechamaru froze mid-air for a fraction of a second. Hanami seized the opening. His right hand climbed up Mechamaru's arm, twisting it. Using the momentum of the fall, Hanami rotated in the air, shifting his weight to pin the mechanical puppet beneath him.
His left hand rose, black Cursed Energy swirling. The jagged markings on his skin seemed to pulse with life as he brought a heavy, lightning-fast blow down toward the dazed Mechamaru!
"Kokichi!"
Clap. Todo swapped with Mechamaru in an instant, meeting Hanami's full-strength strike head-on. There was no time to think; he poured every ounce of Cursed Energy into his forearms, crossing them before his chest.
BOOM— It was like a lightning strike splitting the firmament. The curtain of rain was torn asunder, creating a massive vacuum in the air. The force of the blow was catastrophic, slamming into Todo's chest and rattling his internal organs. He was hammered out of the sky, crashing through layers of stone and pavement, leaving a massive furrow in the earth.
Hanami landed on Todo's chest, Cursed Energy pooling again for a finishing blow. Todo spat out a mouthful of blood and, with a desperate snap of his will, clapped his hands once more.
Hanami's fist came down—only to be caught by a pale pink, feline hand. The cat-like figure tilted its head at Hanami, its vertical pupils widening slightly.
Click.
Flame and explosion surged up Hanami's left arm. The wood-like flesh disintegrated into splinters—first the skin, then the muscle, then the bone being ground into ash. He looked like a ceramic doll being shattered piece by piece from the point of impact.
In a flash of Special Grade instinct, Hanami grabbed his own disintegrating left wrist. With a violent tear, he ripped his own arm off. He crushed the severed, burning limb into ash before the explosion could spread to his torso.
"Finally... I've managed to get close, Hanami."
The calm voice came from below, sending a shiver through the Curse.
"My Shikigami is called Killer Queen. It can turn anything it touches into a bomb. However, I can only create one bomb at a time. I cannot make another until the previous one has detonated."
Condition revealed. Cursed Energy output multiplied.
Kira Nanami rose slowly from the ground. His Stand loomed behind him, its muscular, streamlined frame a stark contrast to the chaos. It wore black, skull-studded gloves; its crimson eyes glared at Hanami with icy disdain.
Go! Go! Go!
The next second, Killer Queen was in Hanami's face. The skull-adorned fist grew large in Hanami's vision. Not daring to take it directly, the crippled Curse lurched to the right, dodging the brunt of the attack.
Killer Queen's fist grazed Hanami's cheek—he could smell the freezing aura of the grave—before the arm swept horizontally, striking Hanami's antler-like branch.
BOOM—
Two bursts of blood-red fire erupted from Hanami's head. His vision swam with blood and double-images. In that moment of disorientation, Killer Queen vanished from his sight.
The only thing remaining in Hanami's eyes was a blur of fists—dozens of skulls, grinning and screaming, hammering into his body!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosion after explosion bloomed across Hanami's form. First the arms, spraying crimson ripples into the air. Then the abdomen, detonating from within like a hollow log infested with termites—outwardly intact, inwardly hollowed out. Finally, his torso began to swell like an over-inflated balloon, on the verge of misting into blood.
"REVERSED CURSED TECHNIQUE!"
At the brink of annihilation, Hanami funneled his remaining energy into healing. The surge of power doused the remaining "seeds" of the bombs before they could ignite. He threw himself backward. The only saving grace was that Killer Queen's speed was tied to its master, and its range was limited to five meters.
I have no way to damage the Stand... I must create distance... Hanami retreated, manifesting sphere after sphere of gnarled wood. He launched them like heavy artillery, each breaking the sound barrier as they hurtled toward Kira Nanami.
Kira looked at the rain of "comets" and frowned. Killer Queen stepped in front of him. With its black-gloved hands, it gently tapped the edge of the incoming spheres. The moment contact was made, the projectiles were reduced to ash.
The meteor shower of wood lasted for several seconds, kicking up a massive shroud of dust. When the debris finally settled, Hanami was gone.
Suddenly, ethereal voices echoed in Kira's mind:
'Sorrow...' (The raspy old man.) 'Fear...' (A low, hissing serpent.) 'Love...' (A seductive, enchanting woman.) 'Desire...' (A demonic growl.)
Four Curse Users were hitting Kira with spiritual poison simultaneously. Even for a man of Kira's legendary composure, his soul shuddered. He felt a moment of profound disorientation.
In that split second, Hanami surged out of the shadows, closing the distance to Kira himself. His fist roared with black Cursed Energy—his final reserves, his absolute peak!
Kira Nanami, you've lost.
Kira's human body could not survive this. Even if Todo swapped them, either a broken Todo or an unconscious Mechamaru would die in his place. And the evolution was almost complete—Hanami could feel the Cursed Energy in the nearby nightclub doubling in intensity.
As soon as Tunzei ascended, everyone would die. Sorcerers, humans, all of them. And Hanami, even if he fell here, would die a martyr for the new world!
This second was an eternity. Every movement was crystalline and slow. Hanami saw Kira Nanami lift his head slightly. His lips moved as if speaking. His eyes remained calm—that insufferable, terrifyingly peaceful gaze.
Clap.
The sound of the clap came from behind. The second passed.
BOOM!
Hanami's strike landed with absolute finality. The pitch-black, blood-red energy erupted, sending shockwaves through the earth that shattered the rain for blocks.
Hanami's eyes widened in pure, unadulterated disbelief.
The thing he had hit wasn't Kira. It wasn't Todo. It wasn't even Mechamaru. It was a small, blue, treaded tank. On its forehead was a large skull. Its hollow eyes flashed with a sinister red light. From its rusted speakers, a raspy, dead voice crackled:
"Look over here." "Look over here."
The explosion traveled up Hanami's arm, and fire swallowed his head. His final thought was a frantic question:
Where is Kira Nanami?
Dizzy... so dizzy... Kira Nanami shook his head, clearing the fog of the fourfold curse. He patted his cheeks, smoothing out his expression.
He looked around. He was in a lavish hall, decorated with Ukiyo-e murals and massive dragons coiled on the ceiling. And right next to him was the massive black coffin, radiating a pressure that felt like it could warp the fabric of reality itself.
He had released his sub-Stand, Sheer Heart Attack, long ago. They were indeed a "stealth infiltration" team—it was just that the one infiltrating wasn't a human. The tank had zero Cursed Energy signature and infinite stamina.
The plan was simple: Kira, Todo, and Mechamaru would be the loud distraction. Sheer Heart Attack would find the source. Then, Todo would use Boogie Woogie to swap Kira with the tank.
Kira leaned against the side of the coffin, adjusted his slightly crooked tie, and leaned down. He rapped his knuckles politely on the lid.
"Hello," he said softly. "Are you there, brother?"
He was, after all, a very polite man.