Genius

Confiscation was generally an "additional" punishment within Higuruma's domain. Depending on what the target possessed, it would strip away their cursed tools, cursed technique, and cursed energy in that order.

Xuan's cursed tool had not been removed from Kogane, so Confiscation directly affected the Ten Shadows Technique. It would only recover once Higuruma voluntarily released it, or after a certain amount of time had passed.

Xuan raised his blade to knock aside the gavel, then charged forward with a tap of his foot. The katana in his hand shifted once more, lunging forward in the form of a spear toward Higuruma.

Hiromi Higuruma, a genius by ordinary standards, had passed every exam related to Japanese law in less than three months—but compared to that trivial accomplishment, his talent as a jujutsu sorcerer was even more astounding.

As the spear neared Higuruma's abdomen, the gavel in his hand spun and knocked it aside. Higuruma spread his cursed energy "evenly" across his body and swung his lengthened hammer as he closed in.

Through the domain carried by his cursed technique, Deadly Sentencing, Hiromi Higuruma had reverse-engineered barrier techniques. Later, he reverse-engineered the use of cursed energy from barrier techniques. Back when he still called cursed energy a superpower, he already possessed the aptitude of a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer.

The long hammer's flexible handle bent with the force of the swing, smashing toward Xuan like a meteor hammer. Xuan gripped his scepter tightly, and surging shadows condensed into a shield like a wall. The long hammer slammed fiercely into Xuan's shield, but failed to knock him off course. Xuan raised the scepter in his hand.

The condensed darkness instantly became a long whip. With a flick of Xuan's arm, the astonishingly long whip lashed toward Higuruma with a howl through the air.

Bang!

Higuruma gathered cursed energy in his feet and darted away before the thorned whip could strike him. All that remained where he had stood was the building torn apart by the whip crashing down behind him.

Even with his cursed technique confiscated, he could still face him like this with nothing but cursed tools.

Even while moving at high speed, Higuruma's mind immediately realized that the person before him was on an entirely different level from those who had tried to kill him before.

If he wanted to defeat him, he could only use "that."

But against an opponent like this, Higuruma could not be sure whether he could hold out until the second trial convened.

If the other party did not actively request a second trial, Higuruma needed at least five minutes before court could convene again—like a skill cooldown in a game.

While evading, Higuruma saw Xuan charge again, his weapon transforming in his hand. He could only raise his gavel once more.

The whip in Xuan's hand shifted into a rapier. Charging forward, Xuan knocked aside the gavel and thrust at Higuruma's right shoulder.

Stab.

The instant the strike landed, Xuan pulled out the rapier and thrust again.

The wound was shallow. Higuruma realized that Xuan was holding back. The reason was simple—Xuan's aura was like boiling water, roiling violently around him. Though it was concentrated around his body, his astonishing "amount" leaked out without pause.

"During battle, hesitation, confusion, or distress..."

The thrusting rapier turned into a hand-and-a-half sword the instant it touched Higuruma's chest. Its short blade carved a bloody line across his chest, and with Xuan's diagonal slash, blood sprayed from Higuruma's front.

"Negative emotions that cannot bring about changes in cursed energy must not be allowed to surface in battle."

"...Cursed energy?"

Xuan spun the hand-and-a-half sword in a flourish, and the condensed blade retracted into its hilt. It was the first time Higuruma had heard the term "cursed energy."

"Well, you must be a sorcerer who awakened in the modern era. You look like an old hand who's been fighting for years, but it seems you still haven't understood the key to a jujutsu sorcerer's battle."

"Hah... hah?"

Higuruma panted heavily. Blood soaked the front of his suit, and his vision had started to blur.

"Cursed energy is energy produced by negative emotions... and cursed techniques are extraordinary powers manifested by infusing cursed energy into them."

Higuruma gathered cursed energy around his chest. The energy stopped the blood from spurting out, while his body, reinforced by cursed energy, slowly began to close the wound.

"Cursed energy... cursed techniques... negative emotions?"

Higuruma seemed to be pondering what those words represented when an unusual idea entered his mind.

"Again..."

"Gladly."

With a flick of his hilt, a long scythe appeared in Xuan's hand. Higuruma swung his gavel backhandedly, gathering cursed energy into it, and struck upward with all his strength, slamming it against Xuan's scythe blade.

Hmm?

The instant the gavel hit the scythe blade, an immense force erupted. Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly, then followed the motion of Higuruma's lifted arm and sliced down. The scythe blade instantly cut open Higuruma's chest, leaving another wound across the chest cavity where the previous injury had been stabilized.

The long wound crossed the earlier cut from the hand-and-a-half sword, causing that wound to split open as well and blood to spray out.

But Xuan noticed something.

Though it was faint and slow, positive cursed energy had appeared.

This guy really was a genius, just like in the manga.

Xuan closed in, driving the butt of the long scythe's handle hard into Higuruma's chest.

Higuruma's body flew backward and crashed into a storefront. But after a muffled thud, the lengthened hammer handle burst through the smoke and smashed toward Xuan.

Xuan ducked beneath the hammer, kicked off the ground, and charged again. With a flick of his hilt, a condensed hand axe appeared in his hand.

Gone?

Just as Xuan nearly reached Higuruma, he discovered that Higuruma's cursed energy inside the smoke had vanished—Xuan had not seen wrong. The problem had appeared the instant he stepped into the smoke.

With Higuruma's disappearance, Xuan immediately felt—

Boom!

Boom!

With the gavel's fall, Gen appeared in the defendant's seat once more.

"So that was it... The moment you activated your domain, you shifted your position within it before it had fully closed... You came up with that in half a second?"

Gen praised Hiromi Higuruma. Immediately afterward, the instant Gen appeared in the defendant's seat, the handle in his hand sank into the "shadows" of the reappearing Ten Shadows technique.

"You've already learned the Reverse Cursed Technique, haven't you?"

"Is that so... Perhaps."

At the instant he opened his domain, Higuruma split his cursed energy at full power into several equal portions, then "multiplied" that power. The stacked force burst forth with positive energy in an instant, and the injected positive energy restored the wounds cut open across Higuruma's body.

"Not bad... A second trial... If I remember correctly, that means additional charges are applied on top of the original ones, right? What are you sentencing me for this time?"

Gen looked at the "Judge" that had appeared again, as well as the documents in Higuruma's hand, and recalled the crime in question once more.

The Judge spoke again. What came from its open mouth was no longer some trivial matter like eating hamburgers at KFC.

"Zenin Gen is accused of killing more than two hundred people, including Gojo Ninto and Zenin Ichi, on an unconfirmed date during the Muromachi period."