Bad at This, a Little Green

In fact, even with the benefits of a Heavenly Restriction...

Kokichi Muta was completely outclassed compared to the Monkey Kings of both the old and new generations.

This was not merely because their abilities differed. At its root, there was also a difference in combat awareness.

Both generations of Monkey Kings possessed fairly extensive combat experience, and with their bodies strengthened to the utmost limit, they were exceptionally skilled at seizing fleeting openings.

Sure, there had been jokes about how, during the serialization of Cursed Continent, Maki charged in with a blade, got the opponent so fired up that they threw out a Black Flash and recovered their condition... side effects!

But with her physical capabilities, the wound from stabbing straight through the torso was no small matter either... The process might have been ugly, but her contribution to the raid had actually been huge.

And this one?

Arrogant, shallow-minded, incapable of making the right judgments... He had even betrayed his companions for personal gain, yet still found other excuses to gloss it over.

Honestly.

Kana Shizumi had a pretty low opinion of people like that.

With a downward punch from Kana Shizumi, the last mechanical puppet had its chest pierced and collapsed limply onto the ground... He exhaled softly and glanced around.

A total of forty-six mechanical puppets had all been dismantled.

Standing still, Kana Shizumi lowered his hands as he let out that breath.

The Blood Armor that had solidified over his body silently dispersed, turning into translucent liquid that dripped down like sweat.

The essence of Crimson Blood Manipulation lay in controlling blood to respond in countless ways. Once liquid like this had been used up, it returned to its normal state when the cursed energy was stripped away...

He was soaked all over, as though he had just been hauled out of the water.

Kana Shizumi did not particularly care. He merely raised his right hand, lightly pressing the bridge of his nose as he narrowed his eyes.

"How about it? Still able to fight?"

Hiss...

A series of brief hissing sounds echoed out.

Kana Shizumi's blood, which had been boiling, returned to normal at that moment.

The mechanical puppet lying on the ground flickered faintly in the eyes, murmuring as though its spirit had been shattered.

"No more, no more..."

The gap in their strength made Kokichi Muta deeply realize the gulf between them—without outside assistance, he simply could not take down this man alone.

Kokichi Muta's voice caught. Though the words came from a mechanical body, its emotions still showed through to some extent.

Kana Shizumi shot him a sidelong glance without changing expression.

"Broken already? Tch, so weak..."

Willpower was also a form of combat strength.

Theoretically speaking, unless one had truly reached the end of the road, a sorcerer's battle... as long as neither side had died, there was still room to turn things around.

Can't figure it out?

Just look at our beloved House versus Elephant. Even after they fought their way into a swimming pool, there was still a boxing segment.

And of course, there was our ever-reliable Hidden Dog Tactic... All that could be said was that it never failed. Fushiguro truly was the authority on it.

Besides, although Kana Shizumi appeared to have plenty of energy to spare, he was actually nearing his limit.

Using high-level techniques like Blood Armor, Supernova, and Flowing Red Scale in rapid succession over such a short period had consumed an outrageous amount of cursed energy...

He had only around one-fifth left.

Basically, after two more Blood Arrows, I'll die...

If a few more mechanical puppets showed up?

Kana Shizumi would have no choice but to leave the Flowing Red Scale state and fight with cursed energy reinforcement alone.

Without the secret technique's boost, it would be rather difficult for someone at the usual Grade 2 level to smash this thing apart.

"If my cursed energy control improved, I could reduce the corresponding expenditure... I guess thinking my hand-to-hand combat was sufficient was still too simplistic."

Without the two godly techniques, Flowing Red Scale and Blood Armor, Kana Shizumi was only that capable.

All that could be said was that Kokichi really had a knack for it. He surrendered right when things were hanging in the balance, leaving Kana Shizumi with no chance to see through his true strength.

"That's good, then. By the way, do you have any mechanical puppets left? Or should I just take a head with me?"

"My spare body is in the forest not far away. Just head west..."

Kana Shizumi did not agree immediately. As usual, he first set up a partially concealing Curtain before heading in the direction Kokichi Muta had described.

One could not afford to let down one's guard.

If Kokichi suddenly turned hostile and chose to report him to Kyoto, Kana Shizumi needed to be prepared to flee.

Fortunately, Kokichi Muta had no such intention...

He obediently sent out a mechanical puppet and began moving together with Kana Shizumi.

That also improved Kana Shizumi's impression of him somewhat.

This kid really was ridiculous—he did exactly what he said. Of course, that had nothing to do with Kana Shizumi. After contacting Kenjaku and confirming the meeting place, the two headed toward their destination.

Along the way, Kana Shizumi also observed their surroundings from time to time.

There was nothing wrong with being a little cautious. Before a clear Binding Vow had been established, Kokichi Muta's technique was inherently a troublesome thing with countless variations and abundant methods.

As long as Kokichi Muta wanted to.

He could put on a false front here while dispatching over a hundred mechanical puppets to leave markers along the way, then send several more in every direction to spread word and "broadcast" the situation here in real time.

—He really could do that, because theoretically, the benefits of his Heavenly Restriction allowed his Puppet Manipulation to extend across the entire Japanese Archipelago.

And that was not all.

"This guy's understanding of his technique is way too basic..."

Kana Shizumi had reason for that observation. Since Kokichi Muta had been able to build a large machine by hand in the original work, it proved that he could alter the forms of his puppets.

So why did he not configure and adjust them into multiple different types?

For example, types specialized in close-range entanglement, types focused on long-range firepower... Under the right conditions, it would even be perfectly reasonable to create specialized types for gathering information.

Anyone who had read the original work would understand that a group fight with support and coordination was absolutely worth more than one plus one...

Puppet Manipulation itself was highly adaptable. With the boost from a Heavenly Restriction, it should have been able to serve even more purposes, but Kokichi Muta clearly had failed to achieve that.

So, yeah...

This kid really was bad at it—just a little green.