Extreme Speed

Shen Yuanyi quickly stepped out of the shadows and ran toward the moving taxi. The driver seemed to notice him, and the car's speed visibly increased.

Shen Yuanyi raised a hand, gathered a small amount of Cursed Energy, and fired at the taxi's rear tires.

Yet cursed energy suddenly surged from the otherwise ordinary taxi. A Cursed Spirit whose full form could not be seen had fused with the vehicle! Strange things could vaguely be seen emerging from the taxi's surface, blocking those attacks and preventing them from piercing the tires.

The accelerating taxi was about to leave him behind, and Shen Yuanyi could not use Annihilation to blow it up, considering Nitta Akari was still inside.

However, Shen Yuanyi did not look discouraged. Instead, he smiled. "Sure enough, they're brazen enough. Let's save Miss Nitta Akari first."

"Wheel of Time, turn!"

The speeding taxi abruptly froze. Like a moth fluttering beside a streetlamp, it hung motionless in place, as though trapped in invisible amber.

Shen Yuanyi swiftly reached the taxi and punched through the window locked into the door. The shattered glass also froze in midair, moving only slightly when Shen Yuanyi touched it.

He opened the door, pulled out the statue-still Nitta Akari, and slung her over his shoulder. With his other hand, Shen Yuanyi drew the blade at his waist and drove it effortlessly into the neck of the driver wearing a crazed grin—the culprit they had been tracking.

Shen Yuanyi then smoothly retreated, and the "Timeless State" was released. The moths dancing in the lamplight resumed beating their scaled wings, while the frozen taxi instantly shifted from utter stillness to violent motion.

Several explosive bangs rang out at the same instant, forming a piercing roar. The taxi suddenly veered on the road, flipped over, and rolled several times. Glass shattered, the body crumpled and warped, and it finally skidded more than ten meters before stopping.

Like someone finally able to breathe after nearly drowning, Nitta Akari instinctively grabbed Shen Yuanyi and gasped for air. Once she saw her circumstances clearly, she came to her senses and hurriedly said, "That Curse User... he has an ability that can affect other people's consciousness and movements. It's still unclear whether it's a Cursed Technique."

Shen Yuanyi set Nitta Akari down and flicked the blood from the tip of his blade. Looking at the overturned, wrecked vehicle on the ground, he said flatly, "It's fine. He's only struggling at death's door now."

Nitta Akari looked puzzled. At that moment, sounds came from within the wrecked car, followed by the sudden clang of a door flying off. A man covered in bright red blood crawled out from inside.

"It's him!" Nitta Akari cried, pointing at the man. Her eyes were full of confusion, because the figure was in an utterly miserable state, clutching his neck with one hand as he crawled out of the car.

Dark red blood constantly seeped through the fingers covering his neck. The face that had once been wantonly arrogant was now filled with terror and fury.

As the man crawled out of the vehicle, bizarre phenomena invisible to ordinary people began appearing around them. Black, eerie energy rose from the overturned car.

Within a few breaths, it condensed into something bizarre. At first glance, it looked like a constantly shifting mass of mist, but countless eyes and mouths covered its surface. Those eyes and mouths moved incessantly, making it deeply unsettling.

Judging from its dense cursed aura, while it was not particularly large, it surpassed the Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit Shen Yuanyi had faced while on a mission with Maki.

If this Cursed Spirit also possessed a Cursed Technique, then it would be a standard quasi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. Given the situation, it was likely serving as the Curse User's shikigami.

After summoning the Cursed Spirit, the dying Curse User watched it sway through the air to his side, where it twisted into a long strip like flowing water or smoke.

It then burrowed into the Curse User's body. Black, unknown matter began growing from the gaping wound in his neck, which had been continuously pouring blood, like bubbles constantly swelling in a dark swamp.

Very soon, the black substance completely wrapped around the wound. The Curse User, who had been on the verge of death, visibly improved at once and struggled to his feet.

Yet his expression became even uglier. The Curse User looked toward the blonde woman—his "prey"—standing some distance away, and the stern-faced youth beside her.

There was no doubt about it. That inexplicable heavy blow he had just suffered, and the prey being rescued, had all been the work of that youth... Damn it!!!

The rage in the Curse User's heart nearly drove him mad, but that fury stemmed from a fear so profound it was beyond measure—the most instinctive fear of death.

The wound in his neck had not been resolved so simply. Shen Yuanyi's attack, which did not exist in his memories, had in fact struck a vital point. The sharp blade had sliced straight through his artery and windpipe.

The only reason he was still alive was due to certain effects of his shikigami's Cursed Technique. But it was only temporary; his shikigami could not heal him from such a hopeless situation the way a Reverse Cursed Technique could.

A fitting description was that he was merely having a final burst of life. His shikigami's Cursed Technique could manipulate—or rather, "deceive"—the human body to a certain extent. He had used it to silently bring those young women to the crime scenes before harming them.

At present, he had used it to temporarily stabilize his wound. But the thought of the death soon to follow drowned his heart in boundless terror.

"So... this is... what death feels like?"

But soon, all those negative emotions twisted his mind. "No! I can't! There are still so many 'bitches' who haven't been punished. I can't die like this!"

Looking at Shen Yuanyi, the "culprit," the Curse User's thoughts were gradually twisted and swallowed by rising fury and hatred, making him even ignore the difference in strength between them.

Right now, he only wanted to kill this boy! No—he wanted to break all four of his limbs, then torture the woman he had saved to death right in front of him!

Shen Yuanyi watched the Curse User merge with that Cursed Spirit, stagger to his feet, and stare straight at him. The malice in his eyes was practically visible to the naked eye. But... it was no more than the barking of a mad dog on its deathbed.

Nitta Akari, however, was somewhat nervous. The Curse User, who had clearly been dying, had suddenly stood up again, and he did not look as if he would let things end there.

Moreover, everything had happened too suddenly for them to put up a curtain. If this Curse User caused another major disturbance and the nearby residents witnessed it, that would be another troublesome matter.

After telling Shen Yuanyi her concerns, Nitta Akari saw the calm youth nod to show he understood, then walk toward the Curse User with his blade in hand.

After having Nitta Akari step back, Shen Yuanyi gripped his blade and approached the Curse User. Gojo Satoru's words from the past surfaced in his mind...

"Yuanyi, in a sense, your Cursed Technique is a nightmare for Curse Users and other Jujutsu Sorcerers! People... have limits. Most—nearly ninety percent—of Jujutsu Sorcerers haven't mastered Reverse Cursed Technique. In other words, if a vital point is hit and they don't receive treatment within a very short time, that means death."

"And your Cursed Technique... has already far surpassed the limits of human reaction. Aside from certain special trigger-type Cursed Techniques, your extreme speed can even kill an enemy activating their Cursed Technique despite moving second."

At the time, Shen Yuanyi had excitedly asked, "Doesn't that mean I'm insanely strong?"

Then Gojo Satoru maliciously shattered his dream. "Not quite~ Aside from the trigger-type Cursed Techniques I mentioned, if your opponent has mastered Domain Expansion and successfully activates a domain that traps you inside, then things will get troublesome."

"And our primary enemies—the Cursed Spirits—high-level Cursed Spirits basically all possess extremely fast recovery. Vital points practically don't exist for them, so you still need to be careful."

Returning to his senses, Shen Yuanyi could not help but agree deeply with Gojo Satoru's assessment. With Cursed Spirits, victory or defeat might be difficult to determine due to their various strange qualities, but Curse Users like this one... were simply too easy!

Cursed Spirits required him to pour in a large amount of Cursed Energy to exorcise them, while trash that did not even deserve to be named could be dealt with using just one light slash. Even if he encountered the current situation again, all he had to do was repeat it.

If he fully mastered Cursed Technique Reversal—and could even combine the forward and reverse applications of his Cursed Technique like Gojo-sensei... It was decided! When that time came, he would challenge Gojo-sensei. He really wanted to see that smug expression of his when he was defeated! Hahaha...

While Shen Yuanyi was happily imagining the future, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation of Cursed Energy. Looking up, he saw the Curse User holding a spike-shaped object in his hand, while a black-mist-covered cone was already shooting through the air toward him.

The Curse User's ecstatic, ugly expression was fully captured in Shen Yuanyi's eyes. He smiled and raised his left index and middle fingers together. "Wheel of Time, reverse."

The Curse User had already imagined the detestable boy's body being pierced through. Just as his excitement was making him forget the threat of death, he suddenly saw the youth raise his left hand—and the attack he had squeezed out with all his strength vanished without a trace in an instant!

"What's going on? What the hell did you do?"

The enraged Curse User was on the verge of madness. The ugly black substance around his neck had nearly swallowed half his face, and with his mind almost incapable of functioning normally, he could only curse frantically while squeezing every last bit of his Cursed Energy in an attempt to attack again.

It's about time to finish this... With that thought, Shen Yuanyi activated his technique again and entered the "Timeless State." In just a few strides, he reached the Curse User. Shen Yuanyi did not choose to use his blade—otherwise, cleaning up the scene afterward would be troublesome...

A punch packed with Cursed Energy landed on the Curse User's heart, followed by another to his abdomen. After confirming that all of his internal organs had been shattered, Shen Yuanyi immediately released his technique.

"Pfft!"

Already prepared and standing off to the side, Shen Yuanyi avoided the massive spray of blood the Curse User suddenly spewed out, mixed with unrecognizable fragments of organs.

Struck by such a familiar method of attack, the Curse User was instantly left on the brink of death. Kneeling on the ground, he could no longer speak in complete sentences. Even the cursed spirit that had "fused" with him had been injured and was now powerless.

Having regained a bit of clarity, the Curse User's eyes were filled with venomous hatred. Using every ounce of his strength, he released the shikigami's restraints. "Re... release! Kill... everything!"

Purple-black chunks of flesh began swelling out from his body. In the blink of an eye, a tumor-like monster had replaced him where he stood.

The Curse User was confirmed dead!

All that remained now was to deal with the cursed spirit he had left behind. Looking at the tumor-like monster before him, Shen Yuanyi transferred the katana he had been holding in a reverse grip in his left hand to his right hand and activated his technique once more...

"Wh... what just happened?"

Nitta Akari watched as the Curse User suddenly coughed up blood, then collapsed to the ground as if dead, only to rise again moments later in an utterly horrifying form.

Then, as though a film had skipped frames, the swollen, tumor-like cursed spirit suddenly came apart like building blocks, while Shen Yuanyi was somehow already standing in front of it.

"So this is his technique? Being that fast is way too terrifying..."

Before Nitta Akari could marvel any further, she saw Shen Yuanyi waving for her to come over. He wanted to discuss how they were going to clean up the scene.

The sound of the vehicle overturning earlier had been fairly loud. Fortunately, Shen Yuanyi had resolved things quickly enough that they could still disguise the scene as a traffic accident. It was not too late to contact someone to handle the aftermath.