Sendai City Melee

Sendai City, main thoroughfare.

The ripples caused by Dhruv Lakdawalla's death had yet to settle when a nauseating stench of rot suddenly erupted through the air.

"Rattle—"

Black covered the mountains and plains. Countless fist-sized cockroaches surged endlessly from cracks all around like a tide. The squeaking caused by their bodies grinding and crushing together was like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, relentlessly assaulting everyone's eardrums.

Special Grade cursed spirit—Kurourushi.

"It came the instant Dhruv died." Yuta Okkotsu turned sideways, one hand resting on his katana's hilt. A rare trace of disgust appeared in his eyes. "Shiyue, get back. This thing's technique is extremely unfriendly to living creatures."

"I know. Those eggs hatch inside the body almost instantly."

Shiyue Shuo wiped the blood from the tip of his nose. Using his Domain Expansion still took a toll on him. Partly because he had not used it often enough, and partly because the talismans he had yet to master constantly resisted him.

He wanted to gain control of all twelve powers at once, but whenever that thought arose, he encountered immense resistance.

"Yuta, we need to end this quickly. We've made too much noise here. The other two won't just stand by and watch."

"Got it."

Yuta Okkotsu stepped forward. Behind him, within the shadows, Rika's enormous, twisted outline faintly emerged. He did not use any large-scale technique. Instead, he precisely swung his katana, each slash of cursed energy reducing tens of thousands of cockroaches to dust.

Meanwhile, atop a ruined building.

Takako Uro stood naked, using spatial distortion to cover herself in a transparent "cloak."

She looked down coldly.

"That old fossil Dhruv actually died. Those two brats who just entered are both quite interesting."

"Interesting? They look more like dessert after a meal to me."

Ryu Ishigori sat atop a broken steel beam, idly shaking an unopened bottle of red wine in his hand. The towering pompadour on his head resembled a cannon barrel ready to fire at any moment.

"You take the brat fighting the cursed spirit. That brat radiating such strange power... I'll harvest him."

"Let's move. Now!"

Boom!

An orange blast of high-energy cursed power descended from above without warning, aimed directly at Shiyue Shuo, whose reactions had slowed slightly after using Domain Expansion.

"Tch, so they really came."

Shiyue Shuo cursed inwardly. He knew the two would never pass up such a perfect opportunity, but he could not activate his Domain again now. Although his talisman powers did not fall under the category of cursed energy, they were still constrained by the Binding Vow of the jujutsu world.

Within his mindscape, the talisman wheel that had been rotating in reverse returned to its clockwise motion. The position belonging to the Monkey Talisman was now emitting golden light.

"Agile Monkey makes me ever-changing."

The incantation left his lips.

At the instant the blaze reached him, Shiyue Shuo's body strangely contracted and twisted inward.

Under everyone's stunned gazes, he did not transform into the massive spirit-monkey form he had taken in Shibuya. Instead, he became an extremely small, incredibly swift falcon.

Whoosh!

The falcon's shadow flipped through the air, grazing the edge of the cursed-energy blast. The gust kicked up by its wings even slightly ruffled Ryu Ishigori's hairstyle.

"Turned into an animal?" Excitement flashed through Ryu Ishigori's eyes. "Are you a druid, kid? Your presence keeps rising and falling, but that sweetness is unexpectedly incredible!"

"Stop babbling and watch your back." Takako Uro's voice came from the void.

They had originally agreed that she would deal with Yuta Okkotsu, but she now found the one before her more interesting. She decisively acted, her hand grasping the surrounding space as if she were seizing silk.

"Spatial distortion—Void Mechanism!"

The falcon transformed again in midair. Shiyue Shuo returned to human form, but rather than falling, he used the Monkey Talisman's power of "transformation" to turn his feet into powerful, ape-like grappling hooks, locking them tightly into the vertical exterior wall of an office building.

"Takako Uro. Ryu Ishigori." Shiyue Shuo stood against the wall, panting heavily. "One's an assassin from the Fujiwara Clan, and the other's an output-power monster. You two ancient incarnated sorcerers are ganging up on a first-year student. Have you no shame?"

"Oh? You know who we are?" Takako Uro sneered, her eyes filled with hatred for the powerful and privileged. "Student or not, old or young, in this Culling Game there are only participants and prey!"

"We'll tear apart... everything connected to the rules!"

She suddenly pulled. The space before Shiyue Shuo crumpled like a sheet of paper, tearing and collapsing in an instant.

Shiyue Shuo felt his internal organs churn violently under the abrupt change in pressure.

The Monkey Talisman's strength lay in transformation, allowing him to alter any part of his body at will. But he truly did not dare transform his internal organs individually.

Though he had gone through so many battles and had gradually adapted to the jujutsu world, he still lacked the resolve to die that the others from Jujutsu High possessed. The few times he had risked his life were all because of the talismans' support.

Faced with this broad-range spatial manipulation technique, evading became increasingly difficult.

"Damn it, why hasn't that pure-love warrior finished off that cockroach yet?" He glanced toward the distant battlefield from the corner of his eye. Yuta Okkotsu was locked in an intense struggle.

Kurourushi's Festering Life Sword was extremely troublesome. To keep the cockroach swarm from reaching the civilians in the shelters, Yuta was forcibly using the positive energy generated by Reverse Cursed Technique to seal off the battlefield.

"Looks like you can't count on your companion." Ryu Ishigori laughed as he rose to his feet, pressing his palms together. The pompadour atop his head began to heat up intensely. "Kid, take this attack—or die in that woman's spatial cracks!"

Granite Blast: Barrage!

Dozens of dense cursed-energy beams fanned out, sealing every route of escape for Shiyue Shuo.

Orange light filled Shiyue Shuo's pupils. For the first time, the shadow of death truly enveloped him. He knew mere mimicry and transformation would not be enough to withstand this attack.

"Transform... transform. If I can change everything, then I shouldn't only be able to turn into animals. I can also change my own traits."

Within his mindscape, the Monkey Talisman erupted with unprecedented radiance.

"Ever-changing—"

"Stone Transformation!"

Shiyue Shuo forcibly curled up in midair. The Monkey Talisman's power transformed his muscles, skin, internal organs, and even his blood into extremely dense obsidian in an instant, leaving only his unchanged brain encased within.

He had gambled correctly. Even if his organs and blood became another material, they could remain that way as long as the Monkey Talisman's power endured.

He took the attack head-on.

Boom! Boom!

The chain of explosions completely destroyed the entire office building behind Shiyue Shuo.

"Is he dead?" Takako Uro frowned slightly.

As the dust settled, a pitch-black humanoid figure, still maintaining a defensive stance, slowly emerged from the smoke and rubble.

"What a... troublesome brat." Ryu Ishigori clicked his tongue. "Uro, this appetizer has taken too long. I can't wait to eat the main course."

Takako Uro said coldly, "Then finish him completely." Her figure flashed, and she appeared directly above Shiyue Shuo.

Just as she prepared to strike a fatal blow, a cool voice rang out from the other end of the battlefield.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

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