Kinoshita stood his ground.
This was the first time he had seen someone else with such an abundant reserve of cursed energy.
Compared to his previous opponents, Hajime Kashimo before him possessed roughly 350% of the cursed energy output of the Gojo clan head from his era.
Correspondingly, Kinoshita’s original output was around 1000%.
However, Kinoshita didn’t innately possess this volume of cursed energy.
He gained it by utilizing the “shikigami’s” capacity as an external cursed energy vessel—similar to Yuta Okkotsu—though it wasn’t limitless; it merely doubled his baseline cursed energy.
Zzt!
With a flash of lightning, Kashimo’s figure violently materialized in front of Kinoshita.
Arriving with lightning-fast speed, the Nyoi Staff smashed down toward his head.
The heavy blow struck Kinoshita’s crossed arms.
The terrifying force cracked the floor beneath Kinoshita like a spiderweb.
Kinoshita instantly parried the staff, following up with a punch before Kashimo could even land.
The cursed-energy-laden punch struck Kashimo’s flank.
Kashimo slightly dispersed the impact, performed a mid-air flip, and landed gracefully on the floor.
“What, not using a weapon?”
“Oh, I will.”
Without another word, Kashimo charged forward again.
This time, he thrust the staff toward Kinoshita’s abdomen.
Kinoshita raised his hand; Caduceus violently spat out black shadows, forming a broadsword that blocked Kashimo’s forward thrust.
The clash of weapons instantly echoed.
Kashimo didn’t relent; he released the staff and immediately threw a left hook crackling with lightning at Kinoshita.
Although the punch didn’t land directly, the crackling lightning grazed Kinoshita’s cheek.
With a puff of white smoke, the wound on his face vanished.
I see.
Can’t defend against lightning-trait cursed energy with normal cursed energy reinforcement?
Even as Kinoshita pondered, Kashimo’s body hadn’t stopped moving.
The moment his strike landed, he pushed off his toes, driving with his heel to launch his entire body to the right.
With a flick of his wrist, the Nyoi Staff returned to his grip, and he immediately followed up with a sweeping horizontal strike from the side.
Kinoshita casually leaned back, dodging Kashimo’s attack, and twirled Caduceus in his palm.
The condensed broadsword rapidly morphed—the initially short handle violently extended.
As Kinoshita leaned back to dodge the staff, he thrust forcefully with his wrist.
The long handle of the scythe slammed directly into Kashimo’s chest.
“Ugh… your blade shifts too fast, Strongest!”
Letting out a muffled grunt, Kashimo was forced back several steps by the blow.
Yet, his face was filled with irrepressible excitement.
Pale blue electric arcs raced from his palm up the shaft of the Nyoi Staff, the weapon emitting a fine, sizzling sound under the current.
“I’ve got plenty more tricks…”
Kinoshita gripped the long handle of the scythe, and lightning violently erupted from his own body, massively boosting his speed.
Kashimo was forced into a relentless series of dodges against a barrage of horizontal sweeps, diagonal slashes, and vertical cleaves.
The long scythe was spun into a blur of circles in Kinoshita’s hands, possessing not only immense power but also blistering speed.
As Kashimo dodged, he observed Kinoshita’s stance.
Breathing, heartbeat, footwork—everything was perfect.
Therefore, the only option was—
Here it comes!
As the giant scythe smashed down, Kashimo abandoned evasion and immediately raised his staff to block.
The moment the weapons clashed, cursed energy violently erupted.
The street beneath them, already littered with debris, let out a groaning crack under the overwhelming pressure, sending chunks of debris flying in all directions, crackling with electricity.
Ugh…
it’s heavy…
Kashimo didn’t retreat the moment he caught the attack.
Instead, he forced a step forward, erupting with cursed energy to push back.
Gripping the Nyoi Staff tightly, his cursed energy flared again, forcibly shoving Kinoshita’s oppressive momentum back a notch.
“Hey, did you know?”
Following Kinoshita’s voice, Kashimo watched the blade of the long scythe suddenly detach.
The broad blade dissipated in mid-air as the Nyoi Staff thrust upward—but Kinoshita dodged it.
At the top of the now blade-less handle, shadows condensed once more…
but this time, it was the head of a massive war hammer.
Kashimo immediately let go of the staff, dashed forward, and violently tackled Kinoshita around the waist.
Then, cursed energy exploded beneath his feet, and the two of them slammed into a distant building, blasting a massive hole through the brick wall.
Boom.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!!
Black lightning violently erupted within the building.
Both of their cursed energies exploded once more.
Accompanied by flashing black lightning, Kashimo’s figure was violently blasted out of the building.
Kashimo’s body tumbled continuously through the air, only coming to a stop after crashing into another building dozens of meters away.
The brief clash inside the building had been a pure, weaponless brawl that began the moment Kashimo let go of his staff and both found themselves empty-handed.
Gritting his teeth, Kashimo advanced, dashed, stepped—and the moment he threw his punch, as if favoring the Thunder God who dared to clash against one of the strongest, black lightning coiled around his fist.
The collision of their two punches sparked explosive bursts.
The sheer gap in raw cursed energy output sent Kashimo flying backward in an instant.
Getting up, Kashimo reached out a hand.
Electric arcs righted the Nyoi Staff lying on the ground, and as if summoned, it flew spinning back to his location.
Correspondingly, on the other side, Kinoshita leaned forward.
The giant hammer had returned to his hands at some unknown point.
Kinoshita looked at Kashimo, and Kashimo assessed Kinoshita.
After both had landed Black Flashes, their understanding of each other—and of themselves—had skyrocketed to 120%.
“…You are stronger than anyone I ever defeated or killed in my past life.”
As Kashimo spoke, he crouched low, resting the long staff on his shoulder, his entire body resembling a missile ready for launch.
His sprinting speed was terrifying.
Accompanied by the crackling sound of electricity, Kashimo’s body appeared in Kinoshita’s vision for a mere instant.
In that single instant, Kinoshita effortlessly sidestepped Kashimo’s strike, but immediately afterward, he felt a sense of “dissonance.”
Crack!
Kashimo’s sprint had left behind a “trajectory.”
This was normally a mundane occurrence; lightning leaves a trajectory when it tears through the air, and lightning formed from cursed energy would naturally leave an even more obvious trail.
But what Kashimo was doing now was delaying the trajectory left by his cursed energy, allowing it to detonate unexpectedly while Kinoshita was momentarily distracted.
Electromagnetic energy instantly exploded, the flashing currents forming an almost complete sphere of electricity.
Kinoshita slightly closed his eyes, violently mobilizing his cursed energy, wrapping his entire body in rapidly spreading shadows.
“You sure are tough… Strongest.”
The Shadow Armor didn’t shatter immediately, but it was covered in dense, spiderweb cracks, and it burst apart completely the moment Kinoshita moved.
He hadn’t just left a trajectory; he had reinforced the trajectory.
By weaving this move in just once, his opponent would be forced to pay attention to the residual cursed energy he left behind for the rest of the fight.
“Not bad, Hajime Kashimo.”
Once again—Kashimo charged out of the smoke and dust.
But this time, Kinoshita didn’t choose to dodge.
Instead, he swung the newly condensed broadsword in his hand to meet the attack head-on—
The Nyoi Staff and the sword collided.
While Kinoshita poured cursed energy into reinforcement, he also borrowed Mourning Tiger’s technique.
The muscles in his arms bulged abnormally for an instant, and the sheer physical strength in his grip instantly pushed Kashimo’s attack back.
Kashimo let go once more, his staff smashed into the ground by the sword, while he himself performed a flip—
“A trick that’s been played once won’t work a second time.”
A dense, cursed-energy-infused slash suddenly appeared before Kashimo’s eyes.
The slash tore through his body in an instant, carving a brutal, bloody gash across his chest.
“This is…?”
Struck mid-air, Kashimo landed on the ground, stumbling a few steps as the bleeding wound on his body slowly began to heal.
“A slash. It’s the product of using my innate technique to mimic Sukuna’s technique.”
An expression of pure delight appeared on Kashimo’s face.
The bone-deep wound on his chest had already healed completely.
“You’ve met Sukuna?”
“Regrettably, we’ve never met face-to-face.”
“Then… between you and Sukuna, who is stronger?”
“Probably me.”
“Then… I’ll defeat you first, and then go defeat Sukuna!”
Kashimo charged at Kinoshita once again.
Having abandoned his weapon, his speed increased even further, the lightning in his hands flashing violently.
Positive charge.
Kinoshita also possessed Nue’s lightning technique, but its cursed energy properties weren’t identical to Kashimo’s—though the principles were the same.
Although he didn’t quite understand Kashimo’s strategy of separating charges, Kinoshita raised his guard to eight-tenths.
Caduceus was useless in extreme close-quarters combat, so he had already retracted it into his shadow.
Kashimo stepped forward.
An elbow strike was blocked by Kinoshita’s right arm.
Kinoshita’s left palm thrust forward, but was slapped away by Kashimo’s rising hand.
Both instinctively raised their legs; two sweeping kicks collided, and the resulting cursed energy explosion once again pushed them apart.
Kashimo charged again, throwing rapid, continuous punches, never giving Kinoshita a chance to grab his fists.
Kinoshita retreated while returning blows.
Amidst the flurry of exchanging fists, Kashimo also felt the positive charge rapidly accumulating on the man before him.
Then—Kashimo leaped into the air, aiming a fierce double-kick at Kinoshita.
Kinoshita waved his hand, his cursed energy forming a soft cloth of shadows that instantly hardened to block the kick.
Then, Kinoshita threw a punch, the force traveling through the cloth into Kashimo’s body—but this played perfectly into Kashimo’s hands.
Using the momentum, Kashimo immediately flew backward into the distance.
Then, a bolt of lightning arced from the Nyoi Staff—which had landed on the battlefield earlier—straight into Kashimo’s hand.
And right in the middle of that path was Kinoshita.
The furious lightning instantly surged toward Kashimo—realizing this, Kinoshita immediately stomped the ground and dashed violently to the left.
But locked on by the electrical charge, he couldn’t evade the strike; the lightning sharply redirected in mid-air, homing in on Kinoshita.
In that brief half-second window of evasion, Kinoshita immediately realized this was an attack with a sure-hit effect identical to a domain’s.
So that’s how it is.
No wonder he split his lightning cursed energy into positive and negative charges.
As long as he accumulates enough charge, he can use a sure-hit external cursed energy attack directly on his enemy’s core?
What an excellent idea.
Unable to dodge in time, the pursuing lightning finally struck Kinoshita.
With the crack of thunder, a massive cloud of dust and debris erupted at the spot where Kinoshita had dodged, completely engulfing his body.
But there was no joy on Kashimo’s face.
The cursed energy output of the guy in front of him had changed once again.
From shadows, to slashes, to lightning just now.
That was three.
What a bizarre technique.
The dust cleared—a massive scorch mark and blood coated half of Kinoshita’s face and neck—but it was healing at a visible rate.
By the time the dust had completely dispersed, he was already back to normal.
Nue’s technique and Kashimo’s lightning shared the same fundamental origin.
Under Kinoshita’s countermeasures, the originally devastating, head-obliterating strike had lost the vast majority of its damage.
“This is the first time I’ve ever looked this disheveled.”
“There will be plenty of times for you to look even more disheveled coming up…”
As Kashimo spoke, the smile on his face deepened.
“Hahahahaha! Then I’ll be… waiting for it!”
Kinoshita cracked his neck, then raised his hand.
The instant he saw the hand sign, Kashimo immediately dropped his stance.
An invisible slash instantly carved through the already dilapidated city street behind Kashimo.
Kashimo immediately launched forward.
In a mere instant, his fist clenched tightly, he appeared right in front of Kinoshita.
The moment Kashimo threw his punch, that bizarre sensation once again pierced through his perception.
Yielding to that sensation, Kashimo roared the name of the punch aloud:
“Black Flash!”
Meeting Kashimo’s charging body, Kinoshita simultaneously threw his own punch.
“Black Flash!”
Two fists wreathed in black lightning immediately collided.
The violent energy merged and exploded once more—following immediately, the road surface they stood on let out a groaning sound under the overwhelming stress.
In the brief moment their eyes locked, Kinoshita and Kashimo saw the burning “battle lust” deep in each other’s eyes.
Once again, they simultaneously pulled back their fists and swung again.
“Bring it on!!”
Kashimo felt the difference in his body; this sensation brought him immense euphoria.
With their conditions elevated once more, the two clashed again.
Cursed-energy-reinforced fists smashed against each other, erupting with terrifying power.
Simultaneously, the road beneath their feet finally—
Shattered completely.
As the road gave way, Kashimo and Kinoshita’s figures plummeted down with it.
The two landed in the sewage water of the underground tunnels, completely unfazed by the environment.
“Hah… Hah…”
Kashimo first surveyed his surroundings, then assumed his starting stance once more.
“Seriously… is this what a truly satisfying fight feels like? Hitting a Black Flash feels as natural as lighting a cigarette with a lighter…”
“You sure love chatting with your opponent during a fight, don’t you, Hajime Kashimo?”
Kinoshita didn’t immediately take a combat stance, but even just standing there, he emanated a pressure that Kashimo could feel—a pressure that said, ‘he’s ready.’
“Well, I’ve never had a decent opponent before. Everyone who came to challenge me, I killed effortlessly. In my era, there wasn’t even anyone who could force me to reveal my innate technique.”
“Isn’t your technique lightning?”
“Hah… impatient to gather intel already? Lightning is merely my cursed energy trait… My innate technique is reserved for the person I consider the absolute strongest.”
“Seems I’m not qualified enough yet, huh?”
Kashimo looked at the completely relaxed Kinoshita, momentarily unsure of what the man was trying to pull.
“If you’re just going to face me with that kind of mindset… you’re going to die very quickly.”
Openings…
Openings.
He was in such a relaxed posture, yet Kashimo ironically couldn’t find a single opening.
Kashimo’s eyes scanned up and down Kinoshita’s body, but ultimately failed to find any so-called blind spot.
“Whether it’s Dismantle or lightning… they were all given to me by my shikigami, you know.”
Suddenly, Kinoshita spoke up.
“It’s been a long time since I used my own technique… You’d better catch this.”
Is it coming?
From where?
Kashimo did indeed feel a burst of cursed energy, but—
Where is this?
A domain?
No, there’s no sense of a barrier boundary.
The sky, this sensation of ascending…
I got kicked?
When?
Kashimo felt a sharp pain radiating from his back.
Simultaneously, he confirmed it—he had already been kicked from the sewer tunnels straight up into the air.
And furthermore, his spine was probably already shattered.