Many factors influence a Jujutsu Sorcerer’s strength.
Even more influence the outcome of a battle.
Compatibility between opponents.
Cursed Techniques.
Intelligence gathered.
In the end, it comes down to one thing: the number of [Countermeasures] available.
Ninety-nine percent of Jujutsu Sorcerers have only a single Cursed Technique.
The moment an opponent grasps their information and identifies their weaknesses, they fall into an inescapable disadvantage.
That’s where Cursed Tools come in.
A Cursed Tool carries different properties , sometimes even a built-in Cursed Technique of its own.
It fills the gaps in a sorcerer’s options and, when the moment demands it, turns the tide.
The instant Black Muh Muh burst free of its cage, Geto Suguru’s mind was already moving at full speed.
What does that blade do?
He needed distance before he had any answers, Bzzzz!
,!
.
A cockroach.
But its flight speed was wrong.
Far too fast.
Cursed Spirits regenerate at an unnatural rate.
The wing Geto had torn off was already back, and Black Muh Muh detonated into motion, charging him at full force.
Facing the raw mobility of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, even Geto Suguru struggled to keep space between them.
Within moments, they were at striking range.
He settled into a stance.
His close-quarters combat wasn’t a weakness.
The next instant , they crossed.
Geto threw a straight punch.
His fist, loaded with Cursed Energy, tore half of Black Muh Muh’s face clean off.
But in the same exchange, the blade came down.
CRACK!
The Decaying Life Blade connected with the Cursed Spirit floating above Geto’s head.
Flesh ground against metal, and then, Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Holes opened along the blade’s surface.
Pitch-black masses launched out at bullet-surpassing speed, aimed directly at Geto Suguru’s face.
“!” Blood sprayed.
Geto wrenched his head aside.
His long black hair cut a line through the air.
A white-hot pain drove into his shoulder.
Then a massive cockroach erupted from the bloody, mangled flesh, growing rapidly, filling the air with a horrible sound.
The sight was genuinely revolting.
Even Geto Suguru couldn’t keep his expression steady.
Insects.
What the Decaying Life Blade had fired were insect eggs.
Even after the blade itself was blocked, it could still launch eggs at that speed.
Enough force to punch through a Cursed Spirit.
Enough to breach the Cursed Energy-hardened body of a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer.
The eggs burrowed in, fed on flesh, and hatched.
There was only one answer to that kind of attack.
Geto’s foot hit the ground.
He clenched his fist.
BOOM!!
.
Cursed Energy detonated outward.
Black Muh Muh’s body jackknifed, blood spraying from its maw, a hideous sound tearing from its throat.
It clearly hadn’t accounted for a counterattack.
The second punch buried itself into its abdomen and left a visible crater.
Then, SPLAT.
Fast.
Decisive.
Geto drove his own hand into the wound in his shoulder, fingers pushing down through the ruined flesh, and clamped down.
He ripped the insect eggs out with a SQUELCH.
Some flesh came with them.
He dropped the mess on the ground and crushed it underfoot.
He pressed his free hand over his shoulder and fell back.
Across from him, Black Muh Muh retreated in kind , stumbling, disoriented, its enormous eyes spinning in their sockets, its mouthparts clicking rapidly against each other.
Both sides created distance.
Black Muh Muh had crippled Geto’s shoulder with its Cursed Tool.
Geto had landed two full-force Cursed Energy strikes in return.
And worse for Black Muh Muh, Its information was now on the table.
“An ability that uses flesh or Cursed Energy as nutrients to rapidly breed cockroaches.” Geto exhaled through his nose.
“Thoroughly disgusting.” “But honestly?
As long as I keep that in mind, there’s nothing to worry about.” He raised a hand and waved it forward.
“Just this much, and I don’t see myself losing.” Cursed Spirits don’t have the mental capacity to resist a taunt like that.
“AAAAaaa!
.!
—!
.” It screamed and charged.
A flood of insect eggs surged toward Geto Suguru like a wave.
Encirclement tactics.
So it’s wary of Tsuchigumo’s ability.
It wants to hit first.
Geto’s mind kept moving.
The best answer to that blade is simple: don’t touch it.
The wall of earth shouldn’t have been vulnerable to it , but it was coated in Tsuchigumo’s Cursed Energy, and that’s what made the difference.
If that’s the mechanism, the rest is manageable.
Black Muh Muh wants close range.
That’s the only place that blade is useful.
And it managed to wound me once.
It will absolutely try to repeat that.
But, Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Every attempt Black Muh Muh threw, Geto avoided cleanly.
The damage had built up inside its body.
Its mobility had cratered, and its desperation to get that blade close again was written in every move it made.
Too obvious.
Too readable.
So, BOOM!
[Gah,!
,!
,] All openings.
Geto slipped through the gap beneath its arm and drove his fist straight through the back of its throat.
The punch was immense , Cursed Energy packed into every knuckle , and it blew through the oral structure completely.
He’d deliberately layered the Cursed Energy manipulation in complex patterns.
No clean surface for insects to take hold of his own output and breed.
Then, using his reinforced body, he pushed deeper.
His hand hooked into the flesh inside the ruined mouth, found purchase, and pulled.
A wet, sliding sound filled the air.
A massive chunk of black structure tore free in the direction of his arm’s pull, dragging with it great splashing quantities of liquid that looked like crude oil.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!
—!
.” Black Muh Muh screamed and lurched backward in agony.
Geto Suguru stepped back too, putting distance between them.
He’d held the upper hand throughout.
His expression said otherwise.
Black Muh Muh was regenerating too fast.
Its entire body was composed of countless insects, and its Cursed Energy reserves were far deeper than he’d estimated.
Its innate ability?
Punching it down and throwing Grade 1 Cursed Spirits at it wasn’t going to be enough to kill this thing.
“Then—” “No helping it.” Geto sighed.
“I was hoping not to use any more of my cards…” He raised a single finger.
“Special Grade Cursed Spirit.” “[Tamamo-no-Mae].” A sorcerer who qualifies as Special Grade.
Geto Suguru had a trump card to match.
The moment he moved to call it, Click.
A crisp sound.
From somewhere distant.
And then.
Whoosh, Whoosh, [.] The trees didn’t have time to fall.
Black Muh Muh, eyes locked warily on Geto, didn’t have time to react at all.
In one blink, the light and shadow beside it warped.
A blurred figure materialized.
Turned.
The cape swept around with the motion.
And then, BOOM!
,!
, Have you ever flicked a fly the way you’d flick a classmate’s forehead?
Thumb locked over the index finger.
Knuckle pulled back, held taut, then released.
The fingertip crosses the air in an instant and arrives.
The size difference is enormous.
The kinetic gap is enormous.
The insect’s body collapses on contact, and because the wings and limbs are so thin, under that kind of force, they don’t bend , they shatter, fragments scattering in every direction.
That was now.
Under the single unexpected blow, Black Muh Muh’s already-battered body caved inward.
The blade flew from its grip.
Its slender limbs cracked apart and scattered into the surrounding forest.
BOOM!
.
Slap.
The figure dropped from the air, one arm already raised, and caught the falling Decaying Life Blade.
Geto Suguru looked at the newcomer and let out a slow breath.
“You made it.” “Yeah!” Himmel landed, flicked his bangs aside with one hand, and struck a thoroughly self-satisfied pose.
“I’m not late, am I?”
The story is already written.