Takako Uro, a jujutsu sorcerer from the Heian era, and the former captain of the Toh clan’s direct assassination unit, the “Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad.”
Following a certain mission, she was made to take the fall for the crimes of a member of the Fujiwara clan, and was executed after being bestowed a name.
Kinoshita looked at the exposed woman before him, a hint of confusion arising within him.
I just took a look, did she really need to react so strongly?
As the distorted space unraveled, Kinoshita finally saw Takako Uro’s full figure, as well as the gloomy expression on her face.
“What is up with the sorcerers in this place… there was one who could spot me just now, and here comes another.”
Seeing Takako’s expression making it clear she wasn’t going to just let him leave, Kinoshita helplessly assumed a fighting stance.
The woman in front of him could be considered a relatively decent person in the manga from his past life—moreover, her innate technique was somewhat troublesome for the current him.
“We can be a bit more peaceful about this. We don’t absolutely have to fight.”
“You say that, but the cursed energy radiating from you doesn’t look ‘peaceful’ at all.”
As Kinoshita took his stance, Takako Uro also felt the surging cursed energy of the man before her.
What a terrifying total amount of cursed energy…
Takako couldn’t help but compare the man before her to Sukuna.
Although the fear in her heart towards Sukuna was clearly greater, this man in front of her—even without fully revealing his cursed energy—had such precise control that his total reserves might not be far off from Sukuna’s.
And that meant…
“Hey… from what era are you?”
“Do you people always have to mouth off like this before a fight starts?”
“…”
Takako Uro had already pulled and distorted the space on both sides.
Kinoshita naturally knew that the impending battle couldn’t really be avoided.
“Muromachi period. The Strongest. Kinoshita.”
“In return, you should state your name too, right?”
“The Strongest, huh…”
During her skirmishes with Ryu Ishigori, she had constantly heard him grumbling, saying things like his current opponent wasn’t as good as the last one, always dodging and hiding.
This colony was only so big; it wasn’t hard to guess that this young man right here was Ryu Ishigori’s previous opponent.
“Speaking of which, did you guys not wear clothes back in the Heian era?”
“Hah?”
Takako Uro, who had originally wanted to avoid fighting, was momentarily stunned by this sudden question.
“Think about it. According to the modern laws in your head, there’s a specific definition for your current situation—an exhibitionist, right?”
Crack!
A sound like shattering glass echoed.
Kinoshita sensed Takako’s movement in an instant. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
He clapped his hands, and a bolt of startling thunder shot out from his palms.
Takako, who was rushing forward using Thin Ice Breaker, instinctively manipulated the space to deflect the incoming lightning, simultaneously missing an opportunity to attack.
“Hey, hey, hey… I thought you had some self-awareness?”
“My cursed technique can grab the ‘sky’ by its ‘surface’…”
Takako pulled at the space, then used Thin Ice Breaker once more, shattering the space behind her while accelerating towards Kinoshita.
“A technique explanation?”
With a slight sidestep, Kinoshita neutralized the assault.
Nue’s technique only required a slight acceleration in mid-air to move dozens of meters, granting him instantaneous, omnidirectional mobility with zero blind spots.
“Everyone knows that having an information advantage is incredibly important, yet you all still act like it’s a manga, blurting out your own intel for some tiny buffs. Don’t you think that’s utterly ridiculous?”
“Heh… If I fail to kill my target in combat because I lack those small buffs, and my assassination fails as a result, I’ll be the one in deep trouble.”
“Did you know? Among shikigami users, there’s a significant portion who can establish Binding Vows to use their shikigami’s moves without actually summoning them.”
Kinoshita raised his hand.
“『lightning Bolts』”
As he raised his hand, condensed lightning flew towards Takako like a pillar of light.
She grabbed the “surface” in front of her with both hands, intending to replicate her previous defense—but the moment the lightning approached her, it scattered.
Then, under Takako’s astonished gaze, it bombarded her from all directions—
Even though she rapidly swirled the surrounding space in a circle, a portion of the lightning still struck her body.
Forcing herself to endure the pain and paralysis, Takako hurled the lightning she had caught in her hands back at Kinoshita.
“Catch!”
Zzt!
As the lightning tore across the sky, Kinoshita’s body instantly vanished.
Then, Takako felt the distance between herself and the building’s rooftop suddenly shrink—
When did he…?!
Takako could barely feel any leaking cursed energy.
Although she did sense a mobilization of cursed energy, it happened the precise moment the lightning struck.
Judging him by her own standards, she thought it might have been a defensive technique or an attack to offset hers—
To think he just completely crushed the gap with sheer speed?
Kicked like a cannonball, Takako crashed straight through, shattering more than half the floor.
Even though she protected her body with cursed energy, she was launched out of the building with a sonic boom—and a moment later, the building was instantly obliterated by a lightning storm.
“Phew…”
During her rapid evasion, Takako couldn’t help but look back.
The building, which had just been smashed through the middle, was now almost entirely melted under the ravages of the lightning storm.
If she hadn’t immediately vacated the area, she would have lost her ability to fight—or perhaps even died.
“See the gap between us now?”
Kinoshita’s voice came from above. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“You really are exceptionally strong…”
Takako looked up at Kinoshita, her hands, which had been gathering cursed energy, involuntarily dropping to her sides.
“I give up. I watched you slaughtering around from the sky, and I thought you were just some brainless sorcerer who attacks anything on sight.”
“I can’t just pretend I didn’t hear that, you know.”
Takako slowly flew up into the sky, looking at the man who harbored no real hostility towards her.
Kinoshita stared at Takako.
The surging cursed energy emanating from the woman before him was practically beaming a single message to him.
“You guys really are hard to understand.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Even though a guy you clearly can’t beat is standing right in front of you, you still insist on expanding your domain against me—”
Takako’s arms slowly rose, crossing in front of her chest.
“Are you really that confident… that you can beat me without expanding your domain?”
“Want to find out?”
Kinoshita tilted his head up.
“『Domain Expansion』”
Azure cursed energy instantly unfurled, and a pitch-black barrier surged outward.
Then.
“『Cloth of the blue Sky』”
Strange.
Where did she go?
The moment the domain expanded, Kinoshita had already formed his hand sign.
The instant Hollow Wicker Basket appeared, Takako Uro vanished from his sight, replaced by a boundless azure sky.
There were no points of reference.
Above was a sky veiled in ribbons, radiating a faint, eerie light.
Below was an endless, unobstructed expanse of sky.
Kinoshita sniffed the air for the scent of a “human,” but could smell nothing.
Then, Kinoshita noticed the anomaly.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t smell anything, but rather—the air currents were rushing upwards in an incredibly bizarre manner.
He was falling.
Plummeting downwards at an extreme speed.
“Interesting…”