Hajime Kashimo’s Reverse Cursed Technique rapidly gathered on his back.
Following that, his body returned to its original strength.
The wind howled past him; his body was still flying upwards, propelled by the force of the kick that had launched him.
Kinoshita’s innate technique, the Ten Shadows Technique.
In the Zen’in clan’s records, it was a technique that summoned ten types of shikigami to provide combat power.
Only in extremely rare passages was the concept of “shadows” as a technique itself mentioned.
In truth, what formed the foundation of this technique was precisely the shadows that the Zen’in clan had neglected.
The Ten Shadows Technique was also one of the rare techniques that possessed a Cursed Technique Reversal.
Even if no one in the Zen’in clan had ever used it, Kinoshita—who had simultaneously mastered the advanced applications of Reverse Cursed Technique and the complete form of the Ten Shadows Technique—could prove this point.
『Cursed Technique Reversal: Light』.
Just as previously introduced, it turned the user into light, making them unable to attack using normal physical means.
Just a moment ago, Kinoshita had used this exact move.
Moving at a speed completely imperceptible even to Kashimo’s dynamic vision—which could track the trajectory of cursed energy lightning—he instantly appeared behind Kashimo.
This was followed by a heavy uppercut delivered at near-light speed.
Although Kinoshita couldn’t use normal attacks while in the “Light” state, the moment he deactivated it a split-second before the strike landed, he could deliver a heavy punch at a rapidly decaying near-light speed.
Kinoshita hadn’t fully mastered this method yet.
Like the strike just now, he had only managed an uppercut at about ten times the speed of sound.
Even though it was cloaked in dense cursed energy and wrapped in shadows, his fist still exploded from the sheer friction and force the moment it connected.
However, in less than half a second after the explosion, his fist was completely restored by Reverse Cursed Technique.
Then, Kinoshita’s body transformed again, and a streak of light shot upward toward Kashimo, who was already over 700 meters in the air.
BOOM!
A sound like heaven and earth colliding echoed across the entire colony.
At some point, Kashimo had violently slammed back into the ground.
Shortly after impact, Kashimo dashed out from the dispersing dust, swinging his Nyoi Staff to smash the grounded Kinoshita once more.
While flying upward in mid-air, Kashimo had deduced that Kinoshita was attacking him at a speed he couldn’t perceive.
Unable to gauge exactly how fast it was, Kashimo resorted to the simplest solution.
He cloaked his body in cursed energy.
The lightning-trait cursed energy acted like a spiked shield, automatically defending against the next incoming attack.
Kashimo’s long staff violently struck the katana Kinoshita had raised.
Though it was blocked once again, Kashimo’s battle lust truly ignited this time.
While Kinoshita deflected them with relative ease, the sudden surge in Kashimo’s physical strength forced him to continuously step backward.
“Ah! Strongest, I acknowledge your strength… Before you can kill me, I will unleash my technique and kill you.”
Kinoshita’s eyes rapidly swept over Kashimo’s body.
The flowing lightning cursed energy was stimulating Kashimo’s nervous system, acting like a stimulant that constantly enhanced his body.
Not only did it grant him speed surpassing what he showed moments ago, but it also successfully bolstered his raw physical power.
This won’t do.
Naturally—this speed was still too slow for Kinoshita.
The trajectory of Kashimo’s attacks was completely captured in his eyes; bit by bit, the strikes seemed as if they were slowed down dozens of times.
“I’ll make sure to stop you before you can activate your technique.”
“Hah! Do it if you can!”
Kashimo roared, and the Nyoi Staff in his hands suddenly began to charge with electricity.
As the staff swung down, a peculiarly shaped bolt of lightning traced its path.
Kinoshita immediately abandoned the idea of blocking with the sword.
He gripped Caduceus and sent it back into his shadow.
Then, he raised his hand, Nue’s lightning surging violently in his palm.
Catching Kashimo’s staff with an identical electric current, Kinoshita violently yanked it—
Unsurprisingly, Kashimo instantly let go of the Nyoi Staff.
To him, the weapon could be recalled at any time; there was no need to hold on tightly.
Kinoshita gripped the long staff and flung it backward.
The Nyoi Staff shot out like a rocket, smashing through several building walls before vanishing over the horizon of the devastated circular battlefield.
“Black Flash!”
As the dancing lightning constantly tweaked Kashimo’s nervous system, his reaction time and cursed energy manipulation reached their absolute peak.
That sensation of “I can land it” once again pulsed from Kashimo’s palm.
The black lightning sparked across the battlefield once more, instantly smashing into Kinoshita’s intercepting fist.
The surging cursed energy output obliterated Kinoshita’s defending arm in an instant.
Kinoshita stumbled back a few steps, his Reverse Cursed Technique restoring the blown-off arm to normal in a fraction of a second.
“Haha! That hurts, Hajime Kashimo!”
“Thanks for the compliment… Strongest!”
From this point on, there was no need to hold back.
Focus, raw power, reflexes, speed—both received comprehensive, all-around enhancements.
Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam!
Fist against arm, fist against fist, leg against leg.
Deflect, neutralize, and strike again.
The flurry of punches looked like a boxing match video fast-forwarded several times, exchanging blows at a speed ordinary people couldn’t comprehend, let alone track.
“Black Flash!!”
“Black Flash!!!”
Kinoshita’s face still bore the mangled wound from clashing fists with Kashimo’s reinforced attack moments ago, but his Reverse Cursed Technique continuously pumped out healing energy, completely negating any need for him to pause or rest.
Kashimo wasn’t faring much better.
His face and body were covered in branching electrical burns that his Reverse Cursed Technique couldn’t heal in time, and his fists were still bleeding, incompletely restored.
Just as Kashimo’s condition began to rapidly decline, their gazes finally crossed through the blur of fists and locked onto each other.
Correspondingly, their strikes once again sparked with black lightning.
The recovery and buffs brought by yet another Black Flash caused the efficiency of Kashimo’s Reverse Cursed Technique to spike visibly.
Riding the force of the Black Flashes, both leaped back, once again standing opposite each other in the center of the arena.
“If we don’t finish the other off in one strike… we’ll probably just keep fighting in this endless tug-of-war forever… Strongest.”
“Perhaps so, hmm?”
Kashimo watched the man before him appear completely relaxed once more, but he didn’t let his guard down in the slightest.
He clenched his fists, crackling lightning sparking in his palms.
The consecutive Black Flashes had given him a massive boost, but the man before him hadn’t shown a proportional increase in power.
Kashimo’s potential with Reverse Cursed Technique had been forced out in this life-or-death situation where he could be defeated or killed at any moment.
And just now, he had figured out a unique application of his innate technique.
Right within his field of vision, Kinoshita raised his hand, cursed energy surging wildly.
“『Rebirth』”
“『Sunken Abyss』”
“『Lightless Depths』”
An incantation?
Crap, I have to stop him—
Kashimo’s body moved at top speed the moment he noticed the incantation, but he was still a step too late.
The spear formed from dense black shadows in Kinoshita’s hand fired the moment the incantation ended.
“『Cursed Technique Lapse: Shadow』”