“Yukino, kill him!”
At Kuroki’s command, the white gauze covering Yukino fluttered lightly.
Her graceful figure shot forward instantly.
In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of Jin.
A violent wind swept through the area.
Yukino’s bangs scattered, revealing an ugly, shriveled face.
Her sharp claws traced an X-shaped path through the air as they rapidly slashed toward Jin.
“Eugh!”
Standing in place, Jin looked at that unbelievably ugly face and was immediately “startled,” kicking off the ground and retreating backward.
The claws missed and struck the ground, leaving enormous slashes so deep their bottoms couldn’t be seen.
Jin observed the power of the attack while thinking,
‘A speed-type shikigami.
Its close-combat strength alone is around Grade 1.
Its ability is still unknown…’
At the same time, Kuroki wasn’t idle either.
Holding his long sword, he continuously paced around Jin’s flank while waiting for an opportunity to attack.
“My cursed technique is called Soul Puppet.”
“I can extract the soul of a living person and combine it with my own cursed energy to artificially create a shikigami.”
That matched Jin’s guess.
This ugly shikigami really was man-made.
A normal shikigami would never resemble Yukino.
Compared to a shikigami…
she looked more like a cursed spirit.
After missing with her first attack, Yukino leaned her long body forward and charged at Jin again.
Jin raised one hand upward from below, sending out a broad blade of fire.
At such close range, Yukino had nowhere to dodge.
She raised both claws in front of herself.
BOOM!
Violent firelight erupted, and Yukino retreated two or three steps with the impact.
A small amount of flame clung to her torso, producing sizzling sounds.
Cursed energy surged.
The next second, the flames were extinguished, while the burns they had caused healed almost instantly.
“Her defense isn’t weak either?”
Jin retreated while glancing sideways toward Kuroki, who had begun explaining his own ability.
Noticing Jin looking over, a smile appeared on Kuroki’s sickly pale face.
“There must be a powerful emotional connection between the caster and the sacrifice.
Love or hatred—either works.”
Jin gave Kuroki a deep look, his face filled with admiration.
“You really had the heart to go through with it.
You’re ruthless.”
“Waaah…
waaah…”
Kuroki assumed Jin was praising his ruthlessness and decisiveness and answered proudly.
“Everything is worth it for the sake of becoming stronger.”
Jin’s eyelids lowered slightly, helplessness entering his voice.
“That’s not what I meant.
I mean, she’s this ugly and you still managed to get it up for her.
Honestly, some female cursed spirits are prettier.”
Kuroki’s expression darkened, apparently remembering some unpleasant experiences.
His teeth clenched, yet unusually, he didn’t argue back.
“Aah!
Aah!
AAH!”
A shrill roar mixed with sobbing erupted at the same time, as though Yukino understood Jin’s mockery.
The cursed energy fluctuations surrounding her suddenly intensified.
Her five claws came together and shot like a black shadow straight toward Jin’s head.
Jin looked coldly at her.
“You’re so damn annoying!”
Relying on the powerful perception granted by Observation Haki, Jin slightly tilted his head and avoided the attack.
At the same time, he turned sideways, rapidly raised his left arm, and grabbed Yukino’s forearm.
WHOOM!
Flames erupted from Jin’s palm and spread from her forearm toward her entire body in the blink of an eye.
Simply standing there and taking attacks wasn’t Jin’s style.
After restraining her, he raised one leg, coated it in Armament Haki, and kicked.
The sole of his shoe tore through the air.
Yukino instinctively raised her other arm in front of herself to block.
THUD!
A dull impact rang out as flesh collided.
Tremendous force poured into Yukino’s body.
Flames climbed over her shoulder.
The flesh around it began stretching and thinning like softened wax, looking as though it might tear apart at any moment.
The next second—
Szzzt!
Szzzt!
Yukino’s shoulder continued to stretch like heated wax, swaying dangerously.
Just as Jin was about to rip her arm off completely—
Kuroki, long sword in hand, had already seized the opportunity to rush behind him.
The corner of Kuroki’s mouth lifted as he thought,
‘Yukino was my first work.
I hadn’t planned on making a second one this soon…’
He swung his sword horizontally, a brilliant flash of steel passing through the air.
“Your little game ends here!”
The blade flashed, instantly cutting Jin’s body in half at the waist.
A sorcerer’s cursed energy core was located in the abdomen.
A jujutsu sorcerer cut in half at the waist was certain to die.
The battle was decided!
‘But…
why didn’t it feel like I cut anything solid?’
Jin tore Yukino’s arm off by force.
Dark liquid sprayed from the severed limb and splashed across the ground.
Yukino released a piercing scream, her body arching backward as her long hair scattered through the air.
Jin used the motion to spin around, gripping the severed arm still engulfed in flames and violently swinging it.
The fire traced a beautiful arc through the air.
The severed arm cracked against Kuroki’s body like a whip.
Kuroki grunted and was instantly sent flying sideways.
“Kuroki-kun!”
Seeing this, Yukino completely ignored her own injury and rushed toward Kuroki.
Jin casually tossed away the severed arm, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
“It isn’t that this shikigami has especially strong defense.
My attack power has been reduced.”
It had taken both continuous burning and a kick to tear off one of Yukino’s arms.
Considering she was only around Grade 1 strength, that result was clearly abnormal.
After carefully sensing his condition, Jin finally discovered the issue.
“As an example, if my attack was originally 100, it’s probably below 70 now…”
Perhaps Yukino’s technique was something like the reverse of Utahime Iori’s, reducing the effectiveness of a sorcerer’s technique.
No…
it wasn’t technique effectiveness.
His cursed energy control was being disrupted.
Every ability requiring cursed energy was weakened!
Jin raised his head and looked toward Yukino’s constantly weeping eye.
“It’s the crying?”
Kuroki crashed onto the ground and slid several meters before slowly coming to a stop.
He struggled to stand.
His entire body was covered in dirt and ash, while several fresh scrapes marked his pale face.
More than the minor injuries on his body, what confused Kuroki was the bizarre scene that had just occurred.
“Damn it.
What happened?
My slash passed through him?”
Yukino stood beside him, looking concerned but not knowing what to do.
Jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation constantly rising within him.
“There should only be one shikigami.
I’ve basically figured out the information now.”
Caution kept a ship sailing for ten thousand years.
An unknown cursed technique always represented a potential threat.
Nanami was standing nearby, so even if Jin screwed up, someone could cover for him.
But that wasn’t what Jin wanted.
Now that he’d basically gathered the necessary information, the probing phase could end.
Jin opened his eyes again.
His molten-gold pupils shone like two lamps in the darkness as all of his cursed energy erupted without restraint.
“Whatever.
If the effect is reduction, then I’ll compensate by using even more cursed energy!”
Seeing this, Kuroki’s heart jumped in shock.
He hadn’t expected Jin to still have strength remaining.