Boom!
Kashimo's face twisted from the impact as his entire body flew backward, smashing through one shipping container after another.
Smoke and dust billowed everywhere. When the noise finally stopped, the man lay half-reclined within a pile of rubble, his head buzzing violently while the world spun around him.
"Hand over your points, Hajime Kashimo."
Walking side by side with Rika, Yuta gently rubbed the ring on his left ring finger with his thumb as he slowly approached the wreckage.
Even though Rika had caught Kashimo off guard, Yuta absolutely did not believe someone on that level could be defeated so easily. In fact, he doubted that punch had even caused serious damage.
Still, if possible, he wanted to obtain Kashimo's points peacefully.
Even while facing the "strongest" sorcerer from four hundred years ago, Yuta still had confidence in his own strength as one of the five special grade sorcerers.
He simply did not want to kill anyone.
"Don't underestimate me, brat."
Kashimo's powerful voice burst through the smoke like roaring thunder, showing just how little damage he had truly taken.
At the same time, an overwhelming sense of danger crashed over Yuta. It felt as though some terrifying existence had instantly locked onto him.
The next moment, the smoke and dust were blasted apart.
Bzzzt! BOOM!
A bolt of lightning carrying an overwhelmingly violent aura tore through the atmosphere toward Yuta.
'So fast!'
Yuta's eyes widened. The instant he saw the lightning, he immediately leaped backward and twisted his body aside.
But to his shock, the lightning changed direction along with his movement, relentlessly pursuing him without fail.
"Rika!"
He could not dodge it, and he could not block it alone.
"No one gets to hurt my Yuta!"
Rika had already sensed the danger within the lightning and exploded with fury. Massive cursed energy surged wildly through her body before gathering in front of her.
In an instant, an enormous sphere of compressed cursed energy over a meter wide blasted forward toward the lightning.
BOOM!
The collision created a mushroom cloud across dozens of meters.
Although the lightning possessed the power to pierce through most cursed energy, it was ultimately consumed by the overwhelming amount of cursed energy Rika released.
After letting out a small sigh of relief, Yuta's expression became even more serious than before.
"An attack that can track and lock onto enemies without using a domain... Is that the property of his cursed technique?"
The unknown was the most frightening thing. In battles at this level, lack of information could be fatal.
If he had not been able to direct cursed energy through Rika like that, the attack would have been extremely troublesome. If it had hit him directly and his Reverse Cursed Technique failed to heal him in time, the battle might have ended instantly.
"You haven't disappointed me at all. Can you make this even more exciting?"
Amid the crackling electricity, Kashimo slowly walked out from the rubble. A large bruise covered his face, while blood still lingered around his nose and mouth.
He had not even used Reverse Cursed Technique. He had simply endured Rika's punch through his monstrous physique and cursed energy alone.
Kashimo stretched out his tongue and licked away the blood while smiling with satisfaction.
That lightning attack earlier was the strongest and most troublesome move he could use without activating his cursed technique.
Because Kashimo's cursed energy naturally contained lightning properties, positive charges accumulated on opponents during combat. Then, whenever he wanted to unleash that attack, he fired negative charges stored within his own cursed energy.
The result was lightning powerful enough to tear through the atmosphere itself.
Of course, such attacks required time to build up electrical charges and could not be fired continuously. But due to the directional nature of lightning and Kashimo's cursed energy acting as a guide, the attack possessed an effect nearly identical to a guaranteed-hit technique.
No domain was needed.
Once the lightning was fired, it would hit without fail.
That was why Kashimo never learned Domain Expansion. Instead, he devoted everything to refining his physical combat skills and cursed energy control.
"Come on. Let's satisfy each other."
Yuta gave up trying to persuade him with words. After taking a deep breath, he and Rika charged forward side by side toward Kashimo.
"Come!"
Kashimo stepped forward and transformed into a streak of lightning as he rushed toward them.
But the expected three-way clash never happened.
Just before their figures collided, Yuta abruptly stopped first. He inhaled deeply, tossed his katana upward, and slammed his palms together toward Kashimo.
"Mirror Binding Technique!"
It was Haibara's technique.
However, selecting the target did not go as smoothly as expected.
Once activated, this technique almost never failed to lock onto a target. Even Haibara himself had supposedly never experienced failure while using it, because the activation depended on the user's movements.
As long as the opponent remained within sight, the technique would activate the moment the user's motions were completed.
Yet before Yuta could finish his movements, Kashimo suddenly accelerated at the last possible instant and disappeared from his line of sight. Although Yuta could still sense Kashimo through cursed energy, his eyes failed to follow the movement.
As a result, the conditions for Mirror Binding Technique were not fulfilled.
"So it really isn't just one or two techniques! None of these are your original cursed techniques!"
High above, Kashimo moved like flying through the sky itself. His face carried an expression that screamed, 'I knew it.'
People possessing two cursed techniques were already incredibly rare. Among everyone Kashimo had known, only Kenjaku qualified.
Combined with the Cursed Speech he saw earlier and the fact that Yuta did not suffer the same backlash as the other Cursed Speech user, Kashimo concluded that Yuta's own cursed technique was either copying or imitation.
That was why he had constantly stayed alert for the possibility of a third or even fourth technique appearing.
And now, his suspicions had been confirmed.
Meanwhile, because of Yuta's failed decision, Rika had no choice but to abandon her attack and instead raise both arms to shield the completely defenseless Yuta.
"Stop getting in my way!"
Kashimo's powerful kick smashed into Rika's crossed arms and drove the lower half of her body deep into the ground. Blue blood leaked from between her sharp teeth.
Lightning flowed continuously through the point of contact, relentlessly striking Rika's body.
At that exact moment, Yuta's katana fell from the sky.
He leaped upward, grabbed the hilt, and slashed down toward Kashimo's head.
The blade missed.
Half the sword buried itself into the ground while Kashimo rapidly retreated several steps to avoid the strike.
"Are you okay, Rika?"
Yuta gently touched her terrifying face, his voice soft and filled with concern.
"Yuta! As long as Yuta is okay, everything's okay!"
The moment she received his concern, Rika's emotions surged wildly. Her cursed energy exploded upward again like a raging ocean.
Kashimo's eye twitched as he charged toward them once more.
This time, Yuta did not rush forward to meet him. Instead, he released the katana's hilt.
Raising his right hand before him while clenching his left fist, he formed the Dakiniten Mudra as though inviting his opponent into battle.
"Domain Expansion: Authentic Mutual Love."
The youngest special grade sorcerer in history, Yuta Okkotsu, was finally going all out.
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