Takaba’s heavy punch slammed into Gen’s cheek, and Gen’s heavy punch smashed into Takaba’s cheek.
Blood sprayed out, splattering across the snow around them.
“I think you’ve got a point.”
Takaba took two steps back, and the snowy mountain around them vanished in an instant.
The two of them appeared on a stage that looked like it belonged to a variety show.
“We really should avoid copyright issues after all.”
Gen touched his still-aching right cheek as Reverse Cursed Technique ran through him.
Takaba, standing before him, had not taken any real damage from that playful battle earlier.
Gen, on the other hand, had taken all of it.
The flames, the punches, and even the shuttlecock that had hit him in the face before, all of them had enough force to injure him.
Even protecting himself with Cursed Energy did not block them at all.
It was like true damage.
And on top of that.
Takaba did not need Reverse Cursed Technique to repair his body at all.
In other words, ordinary attacks were completely useless against him here.
For the first time in his life, Gen felt like he might actually “lose.”
Of course, if Takaba kept fighting this way, then even if the battle dragged on for nineteen days until his Cursed Technique was stripped from him, he probably still would not be able to hurt Gen.
“Hey!
We’re on a competition stage here!
Do you expect me to talk to the audience by myself?”
So, just like how he had made opponents stop before, this time he had to make the person in front of him stop, right?
Only this time, it was not his body that needed to stop.
It was his urge to be funny.
“Hey, did you know?”
“Huh?
You were AFK for ages, so don’t come back acting like you’re about to explain trivia.”
Gen straightened the tie of the suit that had suddenly appeared on him.
“Potato chips have always been afraid of French fries.”
“Are they afraid French fries will overtake their position in the snack world?”
“No, think about it.”
Gen, now dressed in a formal suit, waved a hand and started chatting with Takaba, who was also wearing a formal suit.
“Then what’s the reason?
Are sliced potatoes afraid of potatoes cut into sticks?”
“That’s why you have no comedy talent!
Those jokes are awful!
Listen up!”
Gen clapped his hands and looked at the audience that had appeared as an extension of Takaba’s Cursed Technique.
They were clearly born from Cursed Energy, yet they truly had emotions and life.
What a terrifying Cursed Technique.
“Don’t clap while you’re building suspense!
I’m listening!”
“Because potato chips are potato con artists, and French fries are potato cops!”
Gen spread both hands.
“You have no right to call my jokes awful!”
“Haha, I’m kidding.”
“Even the lowest-tier audience wouldn’t laugh at a joke like that.”
“I once saw something in America.”
“How did we suddenly get to America?
Aren’t you an ancient Japanese sorcerer?”
“Don’t worry about tiny details like that.”
Gen pressed one finger against Takaba’s lips.
Through their back-and-forth jokes and retorts, he realized Takaba was developing his Cursed Technique at incredible speed.
Maybe Gen playing along had made Takaba feel like he had found a kindred spirit.
“The gorillas over in America walk without making a sound.
I noticed that.”
“What’s with the slightly dangerous topic?”
“Relax, I’m not talking about racial discrimination.
You know, gorillas walk pretty quietly, right?”
“They’re not quiet at all!
How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Because they all like sneaking around quietly.”
“Sneaking around quietly sounds like beating the chest, referring to how gorillas beat their chests when displaying dominance.”
Gen’s Caduceus transformed into a megaphone in Kogane’s hands, and Kogane flew around while explaining the punchline.
Dead silence.
“I think people who explain jokes should be dropped into a pot of boiling oil.”
Takaba looked at Gen’s serious expression and nodded.
“I agree.”
“Don’t kill me, Kogane!!!”
The moment a pot of boiling oil suddenly appeared, Kogane panicked and flew all over the place.
Of course, the moment Gen saw Kogane, he had already freed his thoughts from the restraints of the Comedian Cursed Technique.
This guy could not only change his own imagination, he could also influence Gen’s imagination, then transform that imagination as well.
“Takaba-senpai, aside from puns, do you have anything else to show?”
“Huh?
It’s weird for an ancient person like you to call me senpai!”
“Not really.
I died before I was even twenty-five.”
“Huh?
Was it some sudden illness?
What a tragic early death.”
“No, I had just lived long enough.”
“You bastard, don’t disrespect life!”
As Gen spoke, he waved the Caduceus that had become a microphone.
“But I was riddled with illness too…
I had depression, bipolar disorder…”
“Oh, I see…”
“And pneumoconiosis, shell shock, Frenzy Virus, Magic Scale Disease, Devouring Parasite infection, Laughing Virus infection, Flood infection, Anti-Life Equation corrosion, Warp corruption, Asperger’s syndrome, excessive Determination melting, ‘Fallen,’ insanity, LV erosion, Despair Syndrome, Tiberium, Trenton Syndrome, element-M infection, Blight, Lobos Virus, mind control, radiation damage, Wither, genetic integrity…”
“Okay, stop.
I feel like things that are beyond this era just came out of your mouth.”
“Don’t you feel sorry for me?”
“Forget Monster Hunter, even Undertale was in there!
How does an ancient person like you know any of that?”
Hahahahahaha.
At last, the audience that had been silent for so long burst into laughter.
“See?
Didn’t I already make everyone laugh?”
“You did, but also not like that.”
Gen shrugged, then clapped his hands.
“All right, senpai.
Your turn.”
“Ahem…”
“How many jokes do you have?”
“I have ten thousand kinds of jokes!”
“No puns.”
“Then I still have a thousand.”
“No Wi-Fi jokes.”
“Then I only have one left.”
“That dropped way too fast!”
“You don’t understand at all!
Pun-based bits are exactly the kind that should be used in bulk!”
“You’re completely ignoring those 999 Wi-Fi jokes!”
“Ahem.
Do you know what kind of fish loves helping humans the most?”
Takaba posed a question to Gen.
“An orca?
Or maybe a dolphin?”
Takaba shook his head.
“It has to be some kind of whale, right?
No matter how you think about it, there’s no way a shark would help humans.”
“As expected, ancient people like you are just too shallow!”
“Isn’t that a personal attack?”
“It’s tropical fish!”
?
What was this guy talking about?
“Why?”
Gen looked at Takaba in confusion.
“Because they’re eager to help others!”
Takaba spread his arms wide.
As laughter rang out, hundreds upon thousands of tropical fish surged from backstage, flooding the variety show set where the two of them stood.
“That’s still a pun!”
As if he had finally remembered he was in the middle of a fight, Takaba threw the school of fish and the [ha] subtitles that had appeared with the laughter at Gen.
Gen showed no mercy either.
He raised his hand and fired off a rapid series of [Dismantle], casually cutting the surging fish into dozens of pieces.
As the fish and the [ha] subtitles disappeared, Gen found himself standing on a rooftop.
Takaba was nowhere to be seen.