Shikoku Island.
Satoru removed his blindfold.
As he looked at the tragic scene before him, he froze briefly, his pupils shrinking sharply.
Concrete skyscrapers were twisted together, crushed beneath enormous vines and towering trees. Countless human corpses, long withered, were pierced through by branches and suspended in the air like drying meat.
"I'm... a little angry."
Bang!
Satoru vanished instantly. The force of his step shattered stone beneath him, sending fragments and dust exploding outward.
He moved rapidly through the steel jungle, closing in on the most intense and unmistakable source of Cursed Energy.
Far away, inside a massive flower bud, Hanami suddenly rose and turned toward Satoru's direction.
"So he's here."
In the next instant, Hanami fled without hesitation.
Unlike Jogo, Hanami was cautious. After being brutally beaten by Satoru previously and barely surviving, fighting again against the Six Eyes was the last thing it wanted.
Rather than risk death, it chose to follow Kenjaku's plan and keep Satoru occupied.
"Mother Earth: Wood Splitting."
Hanami's body split open like a tree trunk. Cells regenerated and multiplied rapidly, forming several identical bodies.
Seven Hanamis scattered instantly, fleeing in completely different directions.
Each clone carried nearly identical Cursed Energy.
With the entire city already transformed into a forest, concealment became effortless.
Everything favored Hanami.
Just as expected, Satoru landed atop a nearby high rise building.
"Seven Cursed Energy signatures... almost identical. That's annoying."
Irritated, he casually waved his hand, destroying the enormous flower bud on the rooftop.
"Playing hide and seek? Let's see who's faster."
Using Blue, Satoru warped forward and caught up to one of the fleeing Hanamis within moments.
His fist shot forward.
Bang!
The target shattered instantly, collapsing into broken wood.
"Tch."
Without slowing down, Satoru turned and pursued another.
Bang!
Another kick reduced it to debris.
Still silent, he continued the hunt.
One after another, the clones were destroyed.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. Six consecutive targets turned out to be fakes.
"Finally, the real one."
With only one remaining, Satoru surged forward excitedly.
Seeing all six clones destroyed, Hanami quickly formed hand seals again.
The delay created by the clones had already bought enough distance and time.
"Mother Earth: Wood Clone."
Satoru's expression stiffened.
Through the vision of the Six Eyes, the massive Cursed Energy signature split into seven once again, scattering in different directions.
"Bastard. You're messing with me."
Genuine irritation surfaced on Satoru's face.
He exhaled slowly and stopped chasing recklessly.
Across the vast distance, his gaze locked onto the fleeing figures.
"There has to be a difference... something unique."
Satoru forced more Cursed Energy into the Six Eyes, pushing them to maximum output.
Every movement, every fluctuation of energy, every physical detail flooded his brain as overwhelming information.
A sudden warmth ran beneath his nose.
Blood.
"Found you."
A fierce grin spread across his face as he wiped the nosebleed away and teleported forward at extreme speed.
Ahead, Hanami continued fleeing steadily, hands ready to form seals at any moment.
As long as Satoru remained trapped here and unable to return to Tokyo, the plan would succeed.
Then suddenly.
A terrifying wave of furious Cursed Energy closed in.
Hanami's instincts screamed danger.
Without hesitation, it activated its technique again, splitting into seven bodies.
"Hey. You're the real one, right? You've used this trick enough."
Hanami's body froze.
Satoru had already appeared behind it, killing intent radiating from his eyes.
"How did you..."
Bang!
Satoru gave no chance for escape.
His punch slammed violently into Hanami's back.
Hanami cried out as Satoru stepped onto its shoulders and grabbed the two branch like horns extending from its face.
"I've been wondering why these things carry so much Cursed Energy. A weak point maybe?"
Satoru laughed sharply and pulled.
Rip!
The branches were torn out completely.
"Aaaahhh!"
Hanami screamed as if its spine had been ripped apart.
Satoru tossed the branches aside, grabbed Hanami's head with one hand, and unleashed a relentless barrage of Black Flash punches.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hanami was beaten helplessly, unable to resist.
"Didn't you like running? Go on. Make more clones, You fucking clown."
A manic laugh escaped Satoru, wild and unrestrained.
Hanami's mind filled with one thought.
I'm going to die.
The instinct to survive forced its hands to move again.
"Mother Earth: Blood Thorns."
Its body swelled as countless thorned spikes erupted outward, turning it into something resembling a sea urchin.
The attack failed to injure Satoru, but the sudden expansion forced him back slightly.
Hanami immediately abandoned the outer shell and retreated desperately. A vajra appeared in its hand.
The moment it shattered the object, a white halo expanded outward, and space ahead distorted like rippling water.
"Spatial technique?"
Because Satoru's abilities involved space itself, he recognized it instantly.
"You're not getting away."
He rushed forward, forming a condensed purple sphere in his hand.
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
Boom!
The white halo shattered instantly. Distorted space stabilized again.
Hanami was gone.
Satoru clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"It escaped... What was that vajra? A Cursed Tool?"
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Just finished a Presentation, and I low-keyinely think I flopped it 😭