The Battle with Cursed Spirit Rika (Part 2)

Rider Punch!

Lin Yi roared inwardly.

A Knight Punch surging with black flashes struck Cursed Spirit Rika squarely in the palm.

This was a Knight Punch enhanced by Black Flash, with 2.5 times the power of a normal attack. More importantly, it was a Black Flash Rider Punch that only Lin Yi, a counterfeit Heavenly Tyrant, could throw. The genuine Heavenly Tyrant could not pull it off.

The Heavenly Tyrant's explosive strength in its normal state stacked with the cursed energy enhancement of the Kamen Rider Joker suit, which was practically Lin Yi's second skin and entirely formed from cursed energy.

With just one punch, Lin Yi shattered Cursed Spirit Rika's palm. The purple blood unique to Cursed Spirits sprayed through the air, and Cursed Spirit Rika recoiled in pain, retreating back to Yuta Okkotsu's side.

Relying on her nature as a Cursed Spirit, Cursed Spirit Rika rapidly regenerated her palm.

Meanwhile, Lin Yi stood where he was, bathed in the blood Cursed Spirit Rika had sprayed out, carefully savoring the Black Flash Rider Punch he had just unleashed.

This was the second time he had landed a Black Flash Rider Punch. At the instant he threw it, Lin Yi's understanding of combat in this form rose to another level.

He confirmed one thing. He truly could not use Black Flash punches as casually as Yuji Itadori, the athletic-student protagonist of the main story, but he had figured out his probability of triggering Black Flash Rider Punches: one Black Flash Rider Punch every three punches!

If he could next control which of those three punches became the Black Flash Rider Punch, that would be even more perfect.

"Yuta, Yuta, that hurt so much~"

While Lin Yi reveled in the wonderful feeling of landing another Black Flash Rider Punch, Cursed Spirit Rika, who had taken his blow, sidled up to her beloved Yuta Okkotsu and coquettishly sought comfort.

Lin Yi scratched his head at the sight, but remembering the story between Yuta Okkotsu and his childhood friend Rika Orimoto, he decided to lend them a hand.

"How interesting. You're clearly a Special-Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit, yet you rely on a sorcerer so much."

"You? You can talk? You're not a Cursed Corpse."

"That's only what this little girl thinks. Hey, you're Yuta Okkotsu, right? As a first-year Special-Grade Sorcerer at Tokyo Jujutsu High, you should at least show off a little in front of the girl you like."

"W-What are you talking about?"

Lin Yi looked at the confusion on Yuta Okkotsu's face, fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"Another Schrift D. Since you don't understand, we'll communicate with our fists. Kid, take this seriously, or you won't be able to protect the person you want to protect."

With that, Lin Yi bent his knees and lowered into a half-crouch, striking Kamen Rider Faiz's iconic delinquent squat. Yuta Okkotsu immediately became alert.

"Rika!"

The moment he spoke, Lin Yi vanished from where he stood and launched himself forward with a flying kick aimed straight at Yuta Okkotsu's face.

Fortunately, the opening stance had been obvious. Warned by her beloved, Cursed Spirit Rika extended her huge hand and blocked Lin Yi's kick with the back of it. Even so, the force transmitted through her hand sent Yuta Okkotsu sliding several meters away.

When the attack failed to connect, Lin Yi used the recoil to spring into the air and vanish, reappearing behind Yuta Okkotsu.

Rider Punch!

Bang!

This punch did not trigger Black Flash, but its force was still no joke. Ripples spread across the back of Cursed Spirit Rika's hand. She swept her claws, and Lin Yi slipped free again, flashing around Yuta Okkotsu with his current high speed.

He knew Yuta Okkotsu's current state very well.

With nearly limitless cursed energy and Cursed Spirit Rika's assistance, Yuta Okkotsu possessed the ability to unconditionally copy any cursed technique he saw. Because that setting was too overpowered, his mechanics had been nerfed in the main story timeline.

His nearly limitless cursed energy had been reduced to only five minutes of use. Under normal circumstances, his cursed energy could only be considered enormous, nowhere near infinite.

His unconditional copying of cursed techniques had become an ability that required Shikigami Rika to consume a portion of the flesh and blood of the copied technique's target before it could be used.

So the current Yuta Okkotsu was merely a blank-slate Special-Grade Sorcerer with maxed-out levels but not a single skill point invested, someone who only knew how to smash people with cursed energy and have Cursed Spirit Rika throw wild punches.

That was precisely why Lin Yi had the capital to maneuver against Yuta Okkotsu.

He would help Yuta Okkotsu better understand the connection between himself and Cursed Spirit Rika through battle, while Lin Yi would use the fight against Yuta Okkotsu and Cursed Spirit Rika to refine this form's Black Flash triggering mechanism.

"Ha! Rider Punch!"

His loud shout was effectively a warning to Yuta Okkotsu as Lin Yi threw another Knight Punch at Yuta Okkotsu's face.

"Don't hurt Yuta!"

Cursed Spirit Rika's voice answered Lin Yi's punch. The large and small fists collided, and black flashes burst from Lin Yi's fist once more.

This Black Flash Rider Punch was even more powerful than the last one. Cursed Spirit Rika's entire arm exploded apart, but under the support of Yuta Okkotsu's infinite cursed energy, it rapidly regenerated.

Lin Yi took a step back, but the joy in his heart only grew stronger.

"So pairing it with a forceful attack shout raises the chance of triggering Black Flash Rider Punches, but the timing has to be controlled properly."

Kicking off with both feet, Lin Yi no longer targeted Yuta Okkotsu. Instead, he rushed toward Maki Zenin and Yuko Takagi, whom Yuta Okkotsu had been protecting earlier. Their small frames could not take even one of Lin Yi's punches.

But just as Lin Yi was about to reach the unconscious Maki Zenin and Yuko Takagi, images from Future Sight appeared in his mind. Lin Yi came to an abrupt halt, and a cursed energy shockwave swept across his path, smashing into the Curtain Satoru Gojo had put up and leaving the barrier on the verge of collapse.

"Looks like you've learned the most basic application of cursed energy, boy. So, are you confident you can protect your classmates from me?"

"Please don't do that, Mr. Knight. You don't bear any ill intent, do you?"

At this critical moment, Yuta Okkotsu finally stopped letting Cursed Spirit Rika take the lead for him. That cursed energy shockwave had come from Yuta Okkotsu's palm, but since he had yet to master the use of cursed energy, the hand that released it was badly burned.

Yet while Yuta Okkotsu endured the burning pain in his palm and spoke, Lin Yi saw the burned flesh on his hand repairing itself at a visible speed.

He had learned the Reversed Cursed Technique for healing himself already? Lin Yi did not even know how to complain about that.

Simply put, the Reversed Cursed Technique multiplied the negative emotional energy that generated cursed energy, converting it into positive energy to heal oneself or others. The issue was how much cursed energy produced from negative energy needed to be multiplied.

Satoru Gojo possessed the Six Eyes, which allowed him to observe and control cursed energy down to the atomic level, so he learned the Reversed Cursed Technique. Yet even he could only heal himself and could not heal others.

Yuta Okkotsu, on the other hand, was another extreme. He simply overwhelmed everything with brute force. Since he had more cursed energy than he could ever use up, he could just experiment as much as he wanted.

Damn it, Lin Yi thought, his heart burning with envy.

He learned the Reversed Cursed Technique just from the time it took to have a fight. Who could possibly reason with that?

"You saw through that too, boy? I'm a Kamen Rider full of love, after all."

"That line would be more convincing, Mr. Knight, if you said it next time while wearing Decade's suit."

"Ha, you even know that meme. Not bad. So you should more or less understand what's going on between you and your Cursed Spirit now, right? If you still don't get it, you won't be able to take the next attack."

Lin Yi steadied himself, calmed his mind, and recalled the feeling of the two Black Flash Rider Punches he had just thrown as power gathered in his legs.

Yuta Okkotsu looked at Cursed Spirit Rika beside him and remembered how she had stayed by his side earlier. The nearly limitless cursed energy within him began gathering around Cursed Spirit Rika as well.

Rider Kick!

Lin Yi exhaled sharply and leaped into the air, kicking at Yuta Okkotsu with a Knight Kick. Black flashes faintly surged around his foot.

"Rika, let's take this attack together!"

Facing Lin Yi's straightforward Black Flash Rider Kick, Yuta Okkotsu stood before Cursed Spirit Rika and raised his right hand. Cursed energy gathered before him, while Cursed Spirit Rika made the same motion.

Yuta Okkotsu's cursed-energy-filled palm overlapped with Cursed Spirit Rika's palm, and together they met Lin Yi's Black Flash Rider Kick.

Black flashes wrapped in cursed energy raged within the barrier. The Curtain, already on the verge of collapse from Lin Yi and Yuta Okkotsu's earlier battle, shattered at that moment. The powerful shockwave tore through the barrier and ravaged the surrounding streets.

Boom!

A thunderous blast rang out across Tokyo in broad daylight, drawing the attention of countless passersby.

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