Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Luke was instantly dragged into a storm of relentless attacks.
Naobito’s expression changed sharply as cursed energy surged around him.
He had already assumed Luke wouldn’t be able to withstand such a lethal barrage.
He was preparing to intervene and forcibly end the duel to save Luke’s life.
Meanwhile, Naoya’s supporters were already ecstatic, their cheers nearly bursting out.
“So Lord Naoya won?”
“The one who can lead the Zenin clan to rise again… without question!”
“The one who’ll claim the position of successor through absolute strength will be…!”
But the instant Projection Sorcery’s restraining effect disappeared, Luke raised a hand and accurately caught Naoya’s next punch.
In the blink of an eye, the two began trading blows again.
Fists blurred through the air as they exchanged more than a hundred attacks.
Everyone stared in shock.
Luke’s breathing remained steady, and there was no reduction in the force behind his punches.
It was as though he hadn’t just been restrained and subjected to that violent barrage at all.
Naoya’s offensive after seizing that opening had barely caused Luke any meaningful injuries.
Naobito, who had already started moving, abruptly stopped.
Everyone could see it clearly.
Luke’s punches remained heavy and fast, and he was becoming increasingly accustomed to the rhythm of this high-speed battle.
Naoya was so shocked that he nearly lost his voice.
“How is that possible? After taking attacks like that, you should’ve gone down already!”
At his peak, Naoya’s subsonic punches could deliver twenty-four heavy strikes in a single second, enough to severely injure and knock unconscious most Grade 1 Sorcerers on the spot.
But Luke looked completely fine.
Not only was he still standing, he was actually fighting better and better as the battle continued, his combat skills improving at a frightening rate.
Why wouldn’t this guy go down?!
Facing Naoya, whose emotions were close to spiraling out of control, Luke smiled meaningfully between exchanges.
“You can try guessing.”
His movements were agile and his cursed-energy control precise.
Even when directly clashing against Naoya’s rapid punches, he showed no disadvantage.
As the battle continued, Luke completely adapted to that extreme speed.
His concentration rose to its limit as he gradually integrated his enhanced hearing with his physical reactions, breaking through his limits and growing stronger in the middle of a deadly battle.
Naoya’s punches became less and less effective against him.
Naoya’s expression changed several times as he screamed inwardly,
“Damn it… what the hell is going on? How can he keep up with my Projection Sorcery?!”
He gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
The spectators were equally confused.
Luke had taken repeated attacks from Projection Sorcery, so how was he still standing as though nothing had happened?
Naobito Zenin raised an eyebrow.
The experienced old clan head suddenly looked toward the shadow beneath Luke’s feet.
“I see… When did this brat manage to reach this point?”
He immediately understood everything, but he didn’t warn Naoya. Get faster updates on g.com.
He merely smiled and waited expectantly for the duel to reach its conclusion.
However, there was someone who absolutely refused to let Naoya lose so easily.
“That’s Round Deer, a shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique. It specializes in using Reverse Cursed Technique with extremely high efficiency, and a Ten Shadows user can conceal a shikigami inside their shadow while still using its abilities.”
The one who exposed the secret was Elder Ogi Zenin.
As Naobito’s younger brother, he was equally familiar with the clan’s secrets and knew the Ten Shadows Technique extremely well.
Ogi’s voice was just loud enough to carry onto the battlefield.
Naobito frowned.
Ogi, however, remained expressionless, as though he had merely made a casual remark.
Naoya heard him clearly even in the middle of the fight.
He immediately realized what was happening and roared in fury.
“So that’s it! Luke, you dare toy with me like this?!”
Naoya’s subsonic punches really were capable of inflicting actual damage on Luke.
But Round Deer had been hiding inside Luke’s shadow the entire time.
With the shikigami continuously providing healing, every injury Luke suffered was repaired almost as soon as it appeared.
From the start of the duel until now, Luke had remained in excellent condition.
It was precisely because Round Deer gave him such an enormous margin for error that he dared to clash with Naoya head-on without hesitation.
Even when he initially couldn’t keep up with the high-frequency attacks of Projection Sorcery, he could remain calm and use the barrage to sharpen his reactions and technique.
As the fight continued, Luke became increasingly comfortable dealing with Naoya’s subsonic punches.
Gradually, he entered a clear state of flow.
In his perception, time itself seemed to slow down.
Using the enhanced hearing inherited from Kamaitachi, Luke precisely tracked the path of every subsonic punch and constructed a three-dimensional moving trajectory inside his mind.
He could react in under 0.001 seconds, accurately blocking every heavy strike Naoya threw.
Under this extreme concentration, the cursed energy inside Luke responded as naturally as his own limbs.
His precision in controlling it rose rapidly without him even noticing, gradually approaching the core of cursed-energy manipulation.
Luke vaguely sensed a new kind of power quietly forming inside him.
He immersed himself completely in the process of transformation.
Naoya, on the other hand, grew more anxious with every exchange.
His heart pounded wildly.
“Damn it… this bastard’s total cursed energy suddenly increased several times over! If we keep trading punches and draining ourselves like this, I’ll definitely be the one who runs out first!”
Luke’s total cursed energy and utilization efficiency had already far surpassed what they once were, placing him above most Grade 1 Sorcerers.
“I can’t drag this out any longer. I have to decide this in one strike!”
Naoya’s face twisted with vicious determination.
He immediately stopped the extremely draining high-frequency barrage and pulled away from Luke in an instant.
The violent exchange of fists abruptly ended.
Naoya retreated a full kilometer away.
Then he planted his feet and used Projection Sorcery to stack his speed again and again.
His body turned into a violent blur racing across the ground.
Dust churned and shockwaves burst wherever he passed, making him resemble a speeding armored vehicle.
In less than two breaths, he crossed the distance like lightning and arrived in front of Luke.
His fist, blazing with violent cursed energy, swung forward.
Naoya’s eyes were bloodshot as he roared,
“The only one who can become clan head and stand alongside the truly strong is me!”
But by now, Luke had already entered a state of deep comprehension.
His eyes were completely calm.
There was no ripple of emotion, only absolute concentration in which everything else had faded away.
Sensing the cursed energy and killing intent behind Naoya’s all-or-nothing attack, Luke spoke softly, his voice calm and certain. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Then come.”
A brilliant light suddenly flashed in his eyes.
His understanding of cursed energy had reached its critical point.
The power that had been building within him finally erupted.
Luke clenched his right hand into a fist as dark-blue cursed energy burned around it.
The instant their fists collided head-on, astonishing black lightning burst from Luke’s cursed energy.
The moment that deep black arc appeared, Naobito’s eyes widened sharply.
The two elders’ expressions changed at the same time as they blurted out,
“That’s—Black Flash!”
When a sorcerer’s physical strike fulfilled an extremely demanding set of conditions, it produced an exceptionally powerful attack regarded as proof that the sorcerer had touched the core of cursed energy.
In the jujutsu world, whether a sorcerer had ever landed Black Flash was considered an important measure of talent.
It was a phenomenon capable of fundamentally transforming a sorcerer.
The instant Luke landed Black Flash, there was no longer any suspense left in the duel.
His fist, wrapped in black lightning-like cursed energy, crushed straight through Naoya’s all-out subsonic punch with overwhelming force.
Naoya’s pupils reflected nothing but the black light swallowing everything before him.
His voice was filled with absolute terror.
“How could you—!”
The heavy Black Flash struck him squarely in the face.
The arrogance and pride buried deep in his bones shattered instantly beneath overwhelming power.
The air exploded with a thunderous boom.
Naoya was sent flying like a broken rag doll.
He smashed through several thick buildings of the Zenin estate, tumbled hundreds of meters, and finally crashed into the ground hard enough to create a deep crater.
He didn’t move.
When Luke slowly walked to the edge of the crater, half of Naoya’s face was already mangled and bloody.
His consciousness was barely present, and he couldn’t even open his eyes.
Luke looked down at the defeated man and spoke calmly.
“I remember you saying that the weak should know their place. If they have any sense of shame, they should kill themselves after losing… right?”
Hearing the very words he had so often used to mock others, Naoya’s arrogant and overbearing spirit was finally pierced through by fear.
His limbs trembled violently beyond his control.
He had always been perfectly comfortable considering himself strong and trampling on the weak.
But now that he had become the weak one, he didn’t even have the courage to face the ending he had demanded of others.
Naoya struggled uselessly.
At that moment, Naobito and the clan elders arrived.
Seeing his son in such a miserable state, Naobito’s lips moved slightly, his emotions complicated.
No matter how dissatisfied he was with Naoya, he was still his own son.
Before the old clan head could speak, Luke addressed Naoya with a hint of mockery in his voice.
“Accept my mercy, weakling. Consider it your reward for giving me a satisfying fight.”
Naoya weakly clenched his fist.
But all the strength had already left his body.
His arm went limp, his vision darkened, and he finally lost consciousness completely.
Naobito let out a long breath of relief and immediately ordered the clan members to clean up the aftermath and treat Naoya.
Luke turned and walked away.
Not a single member of the Zenin clan tried to stop him.
The lower and middle-ranking clan members who worshiped strength stared at his departing back with nothing but deeply rooted awe in their eyes.
It really helps the fic grow!