Watching Takaba right himself, Kinoshita dashed forward, clenched his fist, dropped his hips, and smashed a straight punch right into Takaba’s abdomen.
Takaba’s body violently rocketed into the sky, subsequently turning into a twinkling shooting star in Kinoshita’s field of vision.
“I didn’t punch him in that direction, did I?”
Kinoshita raised his hand, shading his eyes as he gazed toward the spot where Takaba had disappeared.
“But no matter which direction you punch, the guy getting hit always blasts off into the sky, right?”
“That’s Standard cartoon visual logic.”
As he said this, Kinoshita spun around and slapped a palm onto Takaba’s body.
The slashes instantly shredded Takaba into pieces—or did they?
His cursed energy had definitely connected with this guy, but…
the moment it entered his body, it was guided away by his own cursed energy.
What a bizarre sensation.
The clothes on Takaba’s body instantly shredded into rags, while Takaba himself struck the pose of a shy maiden, covering his sensitive areas.
That is, if you ignored the pixelated mosaic of cursed characters that had materialized over those sensitive areas.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Hey, hey—what are you, some kind of bashful maiden?”
“This is my hero uniform, you know! Who goes straight for a hero’s uniform right off the bat?”
“If Superman were real, I might actually try a special attack specifically targeting his red undies.”
“You really are a piece of work, aren’t you.”
Kinoshita shuffled backward.
The clothes on Takaba had already reappeared.
After touching Takaba’s body three times, Kinoshita had finally analyzed the man’s cursed technique.
This guy’s innate technique was similar to Construction—a technique capable of creating things out of thin air.
Furthermore, the man possessed an unimaginably vast source of cursed energy.
Unlike Construction, this guy’s technique had no limits.
Therefore, it was entirely possible that his body was spontaneously constructing “cursed energy” itself.
The slash just now was aimed at his abdomen.
Being bifurcated had no instant-kill effect on Takaba; his opponent’s technique was clearly operating normally.
Although he might not know the specific effects of Cleave and Dismantle, perhaps through technique reinforcement, Takaba was able to capture the trajectory of the slashes.
As he thought this, bizarre mathematical formulas began floating across the air above Kinoshita’s head.
Takaba, meanwhile, was staring intently at Kinoshita.
And there’s this…
Kinoshita grabbed one of the floating formulas and chucked it fiercely at Takaba—an attack that, the moment it was about to hit, was swatted right back by Takaba.
Whack!
Kinoshita dashed to the left, swinging a badminton racket that had appeared in his hand to fiercely smash the formula back.
Not to be outdone, Takaba immediately stepped up, lifting the formula—which had now transformed into a shuttlecock—then leaped high into the air, delivering a powerful smash aimed at Kinoshita.
“I won’t let you score!”
Kinoshita grinned.
With a step forward, he defended against the smash, and then immediately countered with a smash of his own— This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
But the net suddenly grew taller.
The cursed-energy-infused shuttlecock violently rebounded off the net and smacked Kinoshita right in the face, knocking him backward.
“Are you okay?!”
Takaba hurried over in two or three strides, leaning over Kinoshita with a look of genuine concern.
“Ah—of course I’m fine, but that was totally cheating!!”
Only then did Kinoshita, realizing he had been fully dragged into Takaba’s technique, freeze for a moment before looking at him.
“It’s normal that you couldn’t beat it, right? It is the ‘Net King’ after all!”
“Nobody’s laughing at a crappy pun like that.”
Kinoshita sprang up, violently swinging his badminton racket at Takaba—
Kinoshita’s body flipped in mid-air as he smashed the shuttlecock.
The shuttlecock, laced with Kinoshita’s cursed energy, tore the net to shreds.
Then, Takaba rushed forward and excitedly hugged Kinoshita.
“You did it! You actually defeated the ‘Net King’!”
“Using the same pun twice makes it even less funny!”
Kinoshita broke free from the hug, shoving Takaba back with an elbow strike.
The surrounding badminton court melted away like thawing snow.
Kinoshita looked at Takaba, who had fallen to the ground and wasn’t getting up, and began to think once again.
This guy’s technique came with “jokes” attached.
Anyone dragged into it would resonate with him for a certain period of time.
Just like moments ago.
His subjective intention was to attack, yet he ended up playing a badminton match with him—and didn’t even score a point.
This badminton court…
it was like an expanded domain.
No, although the principles were similar, destroying something like this wouldn’t force him into cursed technique burnout.
…However, it definitely possessed a sure-hit effect.
I wonder if Mahoraga could adapt to this technique…
I’ve never tried it at all.
Why hasn’t he moved for so long?
Kinoshita took a few steps forward, crouched down, and rolled “Takaba’s” body over.
It was a crudely made stuffed dummy.
In fact, he probably should have been able to tell just from standing there.
“Mister, look over here!”
Kinoshita looked up.
A tank had appeared right in front of him, its main cannon aimed directly at his face.
“This is the part where I’m supposed to say ‘cheese’, right?”
“It’s not funny if you make the audience say the punchline!”
Kinoshita’s figure launched into the air like lightning, while the cannon he dodged fired like a party popper, blasting out a cloud of confetti—and Takaba appeared right next to the muzzle.
“Oops! I swapped it out for a confetti cannon for a friend’s birthday yesterday!”
“That would be pretty bad if you were on a real battlefield, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re totally right!”
“Though, if you set off party poppers on a battlefield, it might actually end the war.”
Several bolts of lightning erupted from Kinoshita’s body, instantly blanketing the area where Takaba stood and blowing the “tank” back into a mass of cursed energy.
Subsequently, Kinoshita flapped his wings and violently dive-bombed downward.
Bzzzt-zzzt-zzzt!
Kinoshita, having practically turned into living lightning during his dive, was suddenly pulled away by a tyrannical suction force.
The lightning wreathing his body was drawn directly into a lightning rod standing next to Takaba, causing Kinoshita to skid to a screeching halt on the ground.
My technique disappeared?
No…
just temporarily sealed?
Because I’m restricted by the lightning rod, I can’t use lightning?
“Did you know! The world record for the number of times a human has been consecutively struck by lightning without dying has just been broken!”
Takaba’s voice rang out from within the still-settling dust.
Kinoshita immediately switched to his cursed energy perception to scan the area.
Unfortunately, that dust was also part of the “Superman’s” technique.
“It was broken just now, right under my nose, wasn’t it?”
“E-exactly! And the record holder is none other than yours truly! Takaba Fumihiko!”
The dust cleared along with Takaba’s words.
What emerged was Takaba himself, completely charred black and sporting a comical afro.
“You don’t look like you’re ‘perfectly fine’.”
“I never said I was fine, did I?”
“The previous record holder must be incredibly depressed right now. To think a guy who cheated with a lightning rod broke his record. Hm, who was the previous record holder again?”
“k!”
Accompanied by a sudden red glow appearing at his waist, Takaba instantly transformed into the black Kamen Rider Kuuga.
He raised a hand—and a burst of flame instantly ignited on Kinoshita’s left shoulder.
“You’re going to get sued for copyright infringement! If this aired on a variety show, Toei would shut it down with a lawsuit!”
As Takaba transformed, Kinoshita also raised his hand—at some point, his hand had been clad in white armor.
Then, as heavy snow began to fall, the surrounding environment shifted into a snowy mountain peak.
“That’s a problem for after the broadcast ends!”
Takaba shook his body, dispelling the flames, and charged toward Kinoshita.
“Don’t act all righteous while throwing caution to the wind! Also! If you’re going to be a Kamen Rider, at least wear the damn helmet!”
Matching Takaba’s movements, Kinoshita shook his body and charged right back at him.