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Then he raised his hands in a theatrical gesture… and suddenly drove his thumbs into his own eyes.
Blood spurted immediately, splattering across his face. Yet, far from screaming or showing pain, Miguel erupted into a hoarse laugh.
Everything shifted.
The scene vanished in a flash of blinding light. When he opened his eyes, Miguel found himself suspended in a vast room plunged into oppressive darkness. Tentacles coiled tightly around him, wrapping his arms and legs, leaving him dangling like a puppet.
Directly in front of him, the kitten. Its paws had elongated into endless limbs tipped with razor-sharp claws. Its muzzle hovered dangerously close to Miguel's bloodied face.
"An interesting CT, huh?" Miguel murmured.
The kitten stared at him, a long silence stretching between them. Then, calmly, it tilted its head slightly.
"Impressive. I congratulate you. But look at yourself." Its claws crept slowly toward its captive's face. "Even now, you're under my power."
Miguel chuckled softly. "That's what all braggarts like you say."
The kitten shifted back a few millimeters, tilting its head. "You seem oddly confident for a man on the brink of destruction. So I'll repeat myself: Who sent you? And why?"
"Don't waste your breath, fluffball. Even if I knew something, you wouldn't get a thing from me."
The kitten made no sound, but the pressure around Miguel tightened. Still, he laughed again.
"Let me at least reveal one thing to you."
Miguel's grin widened, showing his white teeth despite the dried blood on his face. Suspended by the tentacles, he drew a deep breath, ignoring the throbbing pain in his body.
"You probably don't realize it, fluffball, but in our world, information is power," he said, his voice hoarse. He paused dramatically before tilting his head slightly. "Tell me, do you know why I fight with this rope?"
The kitten didn't respond.
Miguel let out a dry laugh. "Of course not, you wouldn't know." His bound hands moved slightly, gesturing toward the rope coiled and abandoned on the ground below. "This rope, my dear, comes from my homeland. We call it the 'Black Rope.' A marvel, truly. It can break all forms of Curse Technique. Absolutely all of them."
The kitten didn't flinch, but its pupils narrowed into thin slits.
"But you… you noticed I haven't broken anything, right?" Miguel continued, his voice lowering, almost hypnotic. He froze, studying his opponent's reaction. Then he exhaled, as if about to reveal a great secret. "That's because whoever wields the rope can activate or deactivate this ability at will."
Slowly, a predatory smile spread across Miguel's face. "Guess why?"
A shockwave suddenly shook the entire area. A powerful cursed energy burst from Miguel's body, shattering the tentacles that held him like overpressurized bubbles. Smoldering fragments fell to the ground as Miguel landed gracefully.
He picked up his rope with a casual motion, snapping it once in the air to test its tension. A mocking smile split his face as he lifted his head to meet the furious gaze of the kitten. For the first time, the little creature seemed hesitant.
"Do you know this saying?" Miguel asked, his voice low and deliberate. He straightened, wiping the blood from his chest with the back of his hand. "When you gaze into the abyss, know that the abyss also gazes into you."
He paused, then spun his rope around him. "Except in your case, kitten… the abyss just smiled at you."
Miguel erupted in a guttural laugh. His Black Rope, bristling with energy particles, whirled around him, pulsing with a threatening vitality. The kitten, still motionless, began to fracture slightly, its innocent little form twisting into a mass of writhing flesh, a torrent of claws and fangs.
Miguel struck first, the rope slashing in powerful arcs through the air. The first strike hissed, piercing one of the kitten's tentacles in a splash of dark fluid. The second traced a perfect circle, cutting cleanly through a writhing mass rushing at him.
The kitten did not retreat. It expanded. Its body literally exploded, unleashing a horde of writhing limbs that leapt simultaneously.
Miguel laughed. He spun, the rope snapping and extending in a deadly ballet. Clack! A severed tentacle bounced off a wall. Clack! Another slammed heavily onto the floor, splintering like rotten fruit.
"So, fluffball, you bleeding?" Miguel roared, a spark of madness in his eyes.
The walls shook as the kitten stretched. New growths erupted in a terrifying maelstrom, striking the floor and beams.
Miguel now ran along shattered beams, an agile grasshopper, his rope still dancing around him. He deflected another strike, shattering the tentacles like glass. The beast reformed, over and over, each severed fragment returning in a more grotesque shape.
The kitten, in a distorted roar, burrowed into the floor. Instantly, the ground exploded like a seismic wave, and Miguel fell. But he was ready. In an acrobatic move, he grabbed a remaining beam with his rope, slowing his fall before swinging his weight to land on what appeared to be… the ceiling upside down.
The kitten's appendages, now more numerous and aggressive, lunged at Miguel.
Clack! One tentacle split into three pieces. Clack! Another fell, spraying acidic fluid that burned an entire wall.
Miguel finally delivered a circular strike with his rope that tore directly into the kitten's central mass. A guttural, wild scream echoed through the house. The Black Rope pulsed, violently tearing a portion of the monster's torso, leaving a gaping hole that refused to close.
"That's one for the books!" Miguel roared, chest bloodied, his predatory grin illuminated by the light emanating from his Black Rope.
Then the kitten's imploding body condensed into a compact, deadly mass. The abomination unleashed a devastating shockwave, hurling Miguel through several crumbling walls.
Trembling, bloodied, yet still standing, Miguel spat out a broken tooth.
"Want more, little pup?"