Individual Battle III

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Yuta Okkotsu walked onto the field with a steady expression.

The center of the arena was already covered in scars from the previous matches. Noritoshi Kamo stepped out as well, stopping a short distance across from Yuta.

Ren glanced toward Satoru Gojo. He did not say anything, but the meaning in his eyes was obvious: would Yuta be all right?

Gojo gave him a thumbs-up.

Ren still did not know how Gojo-sensei could be so sure that Rika would not cause another accident, but if Gojo was that confident, there was no point worrying.

After the two fighters bowed, they took their stances and began with a probing exchange.

Kamo's close-quarters skill was solid. He used Blood Manipulation to shape his blood into weapons, switching freely between close-range and long-range attacks as needed.

The weapons he condensed had impressive strength and sharpness too. His earlier Slicing Exorcism had shaped blood into circular crimson blades. It was dangerous enough that most ordinary weapons would probably be cut apart if they clashed with it.

Yuta's sword was also a cursed tool, and he had a curse poured into it, so that part was not a concern.

Yuta's talent was frightening. After spending time with him, everyone had reached the same conclusion. He learned everything quickly. When it came to combat, cursed energy control, and technique, his progress from ordinary person to sorcerer was abnormal.

The others all had foundations of their own. Maki had been born into the Zen'in family. The clan had rejected her because of her Heavenly Restriction, but she had still grown up in a jujutsu family, and her combat talent was exceptional.

Panda had been raised by Masamichi Yaga, so there was no need to explain how early his training had started. Toge Inumaki was a descendant of Cursed Speech users. Even if his family had adopted a policy of cutting itself off from jujutsu sorcerers, his technique still had a lineage and a path to follow.

Ren had been raised by Gojo alongside Megumi Fushiguro. The strongest sorcerer might be unreliable most of the time, but with Ren's mind, as long as he had the right knowledge and books to study, that was enough.

Yuta, on the other hand, had not even been enrolled for half a year. His improvement was already obvious, and his cursed energy reserves were vast enough to impress even Gojo. Only that kind of talent could have unconsciously created something like Rika.

After the first round of testing each other, the fight intensified.

Yuta repeatedly cut through two of Kamo's Slicing Exorcism blades with the cursed-energy-wrapped sword in his hand. Kamo abandoned the idea of wearing him down at range. Yuta's swordsmanship was too polished, and with cursed energy enhancing his speed, he was fast. Not as impossible to react to as that monster Ren, but still faster than Kamo.

It seemed Kamo would have to use Flowing Red Scale.

With his physical abilities enhanced across the board, Kamo finally managed to meet Yuta head-on with the weapon in his hand. He dodged one thrust, but Yuta's altered slash trajectory still tore through the chest of his uniform.

Just as Kamo seemed about to be injured, several threads of blood shot out from the torn area of his shirt. In the blink of an eye, they wove into a net in midair and dropped over Yuta.

Watching from the side, Ren's expression shifted slightly. That move was called Crimson Binding, if he remembered right. It was actually useful. Once it trapped an enemy, a blood net controlled by a cursed technique could not be escaped with ordinary physical cuts.

It was also made of rope-like strands. Breaking one or two did nothing, and the user could simply fill the gaps. The effective answers were either to threaten the caster directly and interrupt the control, or to destroy the whole net in one burst with cursed-energy-charged attacks, forcing the technique to collapse.

Yuta was too close. Crimson Binding had already cut off his retreat, and dodging was too late. Without thinking, he swung his sword.

In a flash, the blade light jumped and bent. The blood net falling over his head was hacked open in several places by the chain of slashes.

Then Yuta, who had never seen the technique before, watched the severed parts of the net stretch new blood across the gaps and close them. His decision had been wrong, and he was caught. Reacting quickly, he immediately flared cursed energy to break free.

But that moment of obstruction was exactly what Kamo had wanted. Prepared in advance, he activated his technique again. He pressed his hands together and aimed at Yuta. The controlled blood slipped between his fingers into his palms, then compressed to the limit.

"The move I failed to land on Ren earlier - I will let you all see it now. With a doctor here, I do not need to worry too much about injuries. This decides it."

Convergence: Piercing Blood.

The blood in Kamo's hands compressed to the extreme. Then, under his control, it shot toward Yuta in an instant. All the eye could catch was a blurred crimson line, and even that was only an afterimage. The true attack had already arrived.

Yuta moved fast. With the burst of cursed energy he released, breaking the binding was easy. Then his instincts screamed a warning. He could even feel Rika anxiously trying to come out and help him.

Yuta did not allow it. After ordering her not to appear, he threw his entire mind into the attack before him.

His focus sank inward. No self. No sword. He forgot victory, defeat, and everything else, letting it all become breathing. Whether he was moving cursed energy or swinging the blade, there was no need to control it in detail. Who had to micromanage instinctive breath?

All he needed to do was look at the incoming attack.

Then Yuta felt something strange.

It was as if he could see Kamo's attack. That tiny blood arrow seemed to drift slowly through the air. He saw its existence, and a thought rose in his heart.

Cut it down.

But what was a "cut"?

As the thought began extending toward the slash, the sword in his hand, the force needed to swing down, and everything that came after, something moved faster than all of it.

A flash of sword light burst into being. In that instant, it collided head-on with the incoming Piercing Blood.

A sharp tremor rang out. Yuta stood there, breathing hard, sword held at the end of his completed swing. At his feet was a small puddle of blood.

The ground in front of him even had a deep cut carved through it, probably from the aftershock of that slash.

Ren stared and muttered, "Holy crap. That was a ranged slash."

In reality, everything had ended in less than a heartbeat. Objectively, Kamo's Convergence: Piercing Blood had fired at almost the exact moment Yuta broke out of Crimson Binding. The nearly untraceable attack shot forward, and Yuta, seeming to sense it, swung.

That vertical slash, like lightning falling from the sky, struck the blood arrow with perfect accuracy. The cursed-energy-coated blade split the move head-on.

While Kamo froze, Yuta closed the distance and placed the back of his sword against Kamo's throat.

The winner was clear.

When Yuta returned, he did not look especially happy. He smiled back at everyone's praise, but he seemed troubled. Ren, sitting beside him, understood the reason at a glance.

Kamo's attack was highly lethal. Its extreme speed and sufficient force translated into extreme damage. Even though Yuta had protected the blade with cursed energy, that violent collision had still damaged it badly. Visible cracks already ran across the sword.

The tool might not be high-grade, but Gojo had given it to Yuta so he could practice controlling his curse. Yuta was probably worried that breaking it would be hard to explain.

While everyone's attention was elsewhere, Ren reached out and gestured for the sword. Yuta froze for a moment, unsure what Ren intended, but still handed it over.

Ren placed his hand over the cracks in the blade. When he removed it, the damage was gone. The sword looked whole again.

"Ren..."

Ren raised a finger to his lips. Yuta smiled and mouthed a silent thank-you.

Ren had used his reversed technique to return the blade to its previous state. Compared with the human body, reversing an object's state was much easier. Even with a weapon that contained cursed energy, Ren could reverse only its condition without sending the sword all the way back to the field.

The match had been decided, but the event still had to continue. Only one bout remained.

Ren Kamishiro versus Aoi Todo.

Amid encouragement from Yuta, Panda, and the others, Ren walked into the arena empty-handed. Todo also entered with empty hands. While Principal Yaga was still speaking, Todo stood across from Ren, looking terribly excited.

"I did not get to fight Okkotsu," Todo said, "but you are more than enough to thrill me. You were the one who finished off that Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit that day, right? That was a Special Grade. Even losing now would be an intoxicating defeat!"

As Principal Yaga announced the start, Todo ripped off his upper uniform in one motion, revealing a body of hard, sharply defined muscle like carved stone.

He laughed. "We do not need all those formalities. Let us begin a battle worth savoring!"

Ren rolled up his sleeves. He did not enjoy combat or passion to Todo's degree, but he did feel his blood warming for the fight ahead.

When jujutsu sorcerers strengthened their bodies with cursed energy, they could do too many things ordinary people never could. It was power ordinary people could never possess.

Once someone had great power, it was only natural to want to use it or explore it. Ren had used his cursed technique in all kinds of ways, but he had hardly ever gone all-out in hand-to-hand combat. Training with Maki and the others was pure physical practice, meant to build skill and fundamentals. It did not involve using cursed energy for reinforcement.

If Ren activated his technique, he would resolve most opponents too quickly. There would be no evenly matched battle, and that intoxicating feeling of superhuman strength would have nowhere to go.

But this might be his chance.

Aoi Todo was strong. The Kyoto students made that clear. And after pushing Yuta and Panda into danger, he had even survived Rika's first wave of attacks. That alone said plenty.

"Then let's do it!"

The two charged at the same time like arrows leaving the string. Ren did not activate his technique. He fought using only cursed energy to strengthen his body.

Their fists crossed and hammered toward each other. Each caught the other's attack with the opposite hand, stopping both strikes in a heavy impact.

Both of them smiled wildly. Veins stood out along their hands as their joints creaked under the pressure. Ren held the stalemate for only a moment before driving his knee toward Todo's abdomen.

Faced with that powerful knee, Todo laughed and took the blow directly. Then, while Ren's balance shifted, Todo exerted his strength, lifted Ren's entire body, spun half a turn, and smashed him away.

Ren rolled across the ground to bleed off the force, planted both hands, and sprang back up. When he looked up, Todo's savage grin was already in front of him along with a side kick.

Ren crossed his arms to block, but the force of the kick still sent him flying several meters.

'Todo's raw physical ability is high. If I were not using cursed energy to make up the difference, I might not be able to match his strength in pure hand-to-hand combat.'

Ren made that preliminary judgment while feeling the power of the blow.

Across from him, Todo flexed his hands and rolled his shoulders. A smile hung on his face.

"Ren, in pure physical combat, there is a ceiling to how much cursed energy can strengthen the body. The human body is not a cursed technique. It cannot endure cursed energy without limit."

"So the difference in that area shows itself elsewhere. Technique, of course. Baseline physical ability. But most important of all is the difference in how one understands and uses cursed energy."

Todo's smile became pleased, almost like he had found a kindred spirit. "You felt it too, did you not? The distance to the core of cursed energy. You have used Black Flash before. Once your understanding of cursed energy changes, it will look entirely different to you."

"Ren Kamishiro, what is cursed energy in your eyes?"

Ren blinked at being interrupted. Then he answered uncertainly, "If I have to put it into words, it is like my hands and feet."

Aoi Todo tilted his head back and drew in a long breath.

"What a shame. We were so close to becoming best friends..."

Ren looked at Todo, who seemed lost in thought. Truthfully, Ren did want to say that he did not actually hate Todo's taste in women. If it came down to looks alone, as long as the face cleared the bar, Ren was fairly flexible.

Actually getting along with someone was a different matter.

But when Ren imagined the consequences of being dragged into Todo's idea of friendship, he could not quite bear it. He let the thought go.

While Todo was still lost in his fantasy, Ren attacked without any sportsmanship whatsoever. A two-hit kick lashed toward Todo.

Even at that moment, Todo instinctively guarded his head. He was only forced back a short distance.

Todo looked at Ren with regret, utterly unconcerned about where he had just been struck. He spread his arms and laughed freely.

"Let us begin!"

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