They Said I Was Getting the Feel for It

That was what he said, but before Kana Shizumi could even launch an attack, he had already tilted his head aside.

A blazing beam grazed past his cheek, vanishing with lingering heat...

This Burning Beam, carrying both cursed energy and intense heat, was likely an attack that combined two different properties.

Kana Shizumi silently raised his right hand, pressing his palm against the side of his face and rubbing it.

The pain was not particularly noticeable, but he could feel that his skin had suffered some burns... If not for the powerful recovery of his half-human, half-Cursed Spirit physique, this might have left a scar.

Damn, I almost became Burn Scar Guy!

As he sighed inwardly, Kana Shizumi naturally wore a thoughtful expression.

"As an offensive technique, using only cursed energy for surface-level defense means overlooking the effects of high temperatures..."

So I can't cut corners here.

To face it head-on, he could only wrap his body in Cursed Energy Reinforcement to completely block this kind of attack.

Then... what about his reserves?

[Cursed Energy Total: 44 (+5 provided by cursed tool)]

That was roughly the average level of a Grade 2 Sorcerer.

It was not enough to sustain prolonged combat, but as long as he did not cast cursed techniques too frequently, he basically would not run into an issue with insufficient endurance.

With that in mind, Kana Shizumi watched Mechamaru's figures emerge one after another from the dense forest, a faintly rueful look appearing on his face.

His opponent was a Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer, and Heavenly Restriction further enhanced him. His real body was not even nearby...

Winning was impossible. After all, Kana Shizumi did not possess the ability to suppress someone from afar.

Fortunately, his goal was only to make the other party realize how troublesome he was.

A fitting countermeasure and plan immediately surfaced in his mind.

"Then let's see what you're made of."

After that murmur, the bloody aura around Kana Shizumi abruptly contracted!

In an instant, a thin film resembling a transparent barrier covered the surface of his body.

At the same time, Kana Shizumi's speed rose to a level that was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye!

Far away in an unknown location, Kokichi Muta's breathing caught as he realized the problem.

"He reinforced his body with cursed energy..."

"He's fast, but not so fast that I can't keep up at all..."

"His goal is to get close? But that's meaningless. My real body isn't here, so he can't carry out a decapitation strike."

Making a judgment in a short period of time and selecting the most suitable option from countless branches—that was the combat standard of a first-rate sorcerer.

"This guy is charging straight into my field of expertise... Does he want to walk into a trap? Fine, let's see!"

Kokichi Muta's emotions rarely fluctuated. At that moment, half of his body soaked in the life-support apparatus bent forward slightly, and before he even realized it, a somewhat ferocious expression appeared on his face.

"Charge! Suppress him!"

The command was issued, instantly activating the functional mechanisms of every puppet through their cursed technique connection, as though powering on electrical appliances.

One by one, bright red eyes began flashing. The mechanical puppets at the front surged toward Kana Shizumi one after another.

The two sides collided in an instant.

Kana Shizumi narrowed his eyes. Looking at the nearest mechanical puppet, he made a brief calculation before suddenly increasing his forward dash by a third!

As he burst forward, his right hand lashed out like a whip, tearing through the air and striking the puppet squarely in the face.

Smack!!!

Along with the sharp crack, the mechanical puppet's head shattered, exploding into fragments that scattered through the air.

Coming through.

Kana Shizumi slipped past it and charged into the puppet swarm.

How was that possible?!

A flicker of shock passed through Kokichi Muta's thoughts.

No one knew the toughness of those mechanical puppets better than him. Though they were made of wood, their structure was exceptionally durable... And under his control, the puppets could also receive Cursed Energy Reinforcement.

How could something at that level be shattered in a single exchange?

"Did something happen that I failed to see or notice...?"

As his thoughts churned, the gazes of countless mechanical puppets converged.

Nearly a hundred mechanical eyes contracted at once, capturing images like high-frame-rate cameras for Kokichi Muta's analysis and further judgment.

Then, he "saw" it.

A layer of crimson crystalline material wrapped around Kana Shizumi's hands.

—What was that?

A brief question surfaced in his mind, but he rapidly began thinking through the information at hand, attempting to reach a conclusion.

"A crimson coagulation... Is it some branch application of Crimson Blood Manipulation?"

"But Kamo Noritoshi never mentioned it before... No, that isn't the right way to think."

"If it's an inherited secret technique, then not revealing it would be the normal and proper thing!"

And that was indeed the case.

The move Kana Shizumi was using was precisely the technique Itadori and Choso had used during their first battle in the subway station in the original story.

Blood Armor: Double-Hand Covering.

Crimson Blood Manipulation could control and manipulate blood. By extracting blood driven by cursed energy, hardening it, and directly wrapping it around the surface of the body...

That was one of its simplest and most straightforward applications.

But simple did not mean weak.

In fact, this was one of the strongest applications of Crimson Blood Manipulation.

Blood Armor's defensive power was obvious to all. Both Choso and Kamo Noritoshi had used this move to preserve their lives against powerful enemies.

And applying Blood Armor to both hands created an attack-specialized method even more brutal than Cursed Energy Reinforcement.

"With Blood Armor covering his hands, Choso could turn around an otherwise disadvantageous close-quarters battle... He could even punch Itadori so hard that his eyes rolled back."

Without question, that increase in strength was nearly a leap across ranks.

And Kana Shizumi was the same now.

Blowing apart a Semi-Grade 1 mechanical puppet with a single punch was no problem at all!

As for the information gap involved, if Kana Shizumi knew what Kokichi Muta was thinking, he would probably have laughed out loud.

—If Kamo Noritoshi told you that I could beat up Grade 1 Sorcerers just by coating my body in blood, would you believe him?

The use of Crimson Blood Manipulation was extremely unadorned. Before experiencing it personally, few people could truly understand its power.

As his thoughts rose and fell, Kana Shizumi had already reached the next wave of puppets.

Two on each side...

The whipping punch from before had naturally dispersed his forward momentum, leaving him unable to borrow any force.

But that was no problem at all, because he had found his rhythm!