Scores and Lightning

Yuta Okkotsu walked into the ruins with a katana in hand, a bit of Kurourushi's fluid still splattered across his face. His eyes were weary, yet the killing intent within them sent chills through even an ancient powerhouse like Takako Uro.

Behind him, the shredded Kurourushi was slowly, almost fearfully, vanishing within the white light of the Reverse Cursed Technique.

"Shiyue, you did well. Leave the rest to me."

Yuta Okkotsu held his katana horizontally before him.

At the center of the ruins, the auras of the three locked onto one another.

Takako Uro, Ryu Ishigori, and Yuta Okkotsu. Such an intense clash leaked terrifying cursed energy, causing the low-level players lurking nearby in hopes of launching sneak attacks to explode on the spot.

"One person wants to challenge both of us at once?" Takako Uro felt a surge of humiliated rage. In her era, the Fujiwara Clan's authority had been beyond question.

"That's not a challenge," Yuta Okkotsu corrected. "I'm taking all your points, then ending this boring game."

"Haha! I like that kind of arrogance!"

Ryu Ishigori violently flung aside the rubble beside him, his cursed energy output instantly climbing to its limit.

The battle erupted in an instant.

Yuta Okkotsu moved like lightning, instantly closing in on Takako Uro. He understood clearly that against someone who controlled space, distance was often the most important factor.

The katana screeched as it scraped against space itself.

"Rika!!!"

The massive cursed spirit reached out from the void and tightly seized the explosive cursed energy beam Ryu Ishigori had fired.

Meanwhile, Shiyue Shuo was hiding in the shadows. He had blocked the earlier attack, but an assault of that level had still left him seriously injured.

The Monkey Talisman had fifteen minutes left. The next talisman was the Rooster, so he had to change his strategy.

"Myriad Transformations—"

"Smoke!"

Shiyue chose to become smoke, focusing on interference. He then enlarged himself, transforming into a mass of black smoke that darted across the battlefield. Whenever Ryu Ishigori prepared to charge up a powerful attack, a stone fist would suddenly shoot out from the smoke and smash hard into his waist or joints.

"You damned little rat!"

Ryu Ishigori swung his arms irritably, but his wide-range cursed energy vibrations could only pass through the weightless smoke.

The battle continued for a full ten minutes. The ruins were nearly flattened. Cracks appeared in Takako Uro's spatial defenses beneath Yuta Okkotsu's reckless barrage of cursed energy, while Ryu Ishigori's vaunted output began to falter under Rika's suppression and Shiyue Shuo's harassment.

"Domain Expansion!"

Takako Uro and Ryu Ishigori exchanged a glance and unleashed their final trump cards at the same time.

Because the three domains overlapped—Yuta Okkotsu did not deploy his own Domain, instead using cursed energy to neutralize them—the logic within the barrier descended into extreme chaos.

"Now, Yuta!" Shiyue Shuo reverted to his original form and shouted.

Yuta Okkotsu spotted the weakest point in the transition between the domains. "Maximum: Uzumaki." Though it was not Suguru Geto's true technique, the high-density cursed energy vortex Yuta simulated through Rika instantly pierced through the domain barriers.

Bang! Bang!

Takako Uro and Ryu Ishigori both spat out blood, flying backward from their shattered domains before crashing heavily into the ground.

"It's over. Do you still want to continue?"

Yuta Okkotsu held his katana against Ryu Ishigori's throat. Shiyue Shuo stood before Takako Uro, dozens of sharp pebbles floating quietly at his fingertips.

"Kill me, then." Takako Uro closed her eyes, her tone carrying an acceptance of fate.

"We're not killing you." Shiyue Shuo spoke, his voice hoarse from his earlier transformation but exceptionally clear. "Yuta-senpai said it from the start. We want all your points."

"We're adding a rule. Transfer your points to us. The Culling Game has only just begun. Even more terrifying people will appear later, and combat power at your level can still be useful."

[Players may gift points to one another.]

Dhruv Lakdawalla's points, Takako Uro's points, and Ryu Ishigori's accumulated points were reorganized at this moment.

Under Kogane's witness, a new rule was added: [Players may freely enter and exit barriers].

An hour later.

"I'm taking these civilians out to find somewhere safer." Yuta Okkotsu sheathed his katana and looked at Shiyue Shuo.

"Shiyue, are you coming with me? Or?"

"I'm planning to check out the other barriers and see if I can help." Shiyue Shuo looked at his watch. Familiar with the plot, he intended to find a suitable place to grind levels while helping the people of Jujutsu High along the way.

"Be careful. The situation has completely spiraled out of control." Yuta Okkotsu warned him.

Shiyue Shuo nodded, his body turning into a streak of white light as he shot directly toward the edge of the barrier.

Crack!

It was the sound of a Domain collapsing, crisp as shattering glass.

Kinji Hakari knelt on one knee amid the ruins, gasping violently as dark red blood dripped from his fingertips onto the scorched concrete. His left arm hung at an utterly grotesque angle, brutally broken by Hajime Kashimo's raw strength.

The cheerful background music had vanished, and the flashing previews and frenzied roulette wheel faded away like a receding tide.

"Didn't hit the jackpot..."

Kinji Hakari murmured quietly, a bitter smile appearing on his lips. In all his life as a gambler, he had never felt so powerless. Without the "infinite cursed energy" granted by the jackpot, without that near-cheating Automatic Reverse Cursed Technique, he was now nothing more than an ordinary sorcerer with depleted cursed energy and wounds all over his body.

"So even a gamble can end this boringly."

Hajime Kashimo carried that heavy metal staff as he approached step by step. His movements were slow, but every step caused the air around him to warp slightly under extreme pressure, producing crackling sounds.

Blue arcs of electricity danced in his pupils. As he looked at Kinji Hakari, there was no joy of victory in his eyes—only deep disappointment.

"You're interesting. Even four hundred years ago, you would've been a rare find." Hajime Kashimo stopped five meters in front of Kinji Hakari and flicked his fingers, causing a thin bolt of lightning to flash through the air. "But luck is ultimately an excuse for the weak."

Kinji Hakari forced himself to his feet, gripping his dislocated left shoulder tightly with his right hand before violently wrenching it.

Crack!

The bone snapping back into place made the corner of his eye twitch in pain, but the ferocity on his face never faded.

"As long as they haven't taken my life, the gamble isn't over!"

He roared and charged at Hajime Kashimo despite his exhausted cursed energy. He chose the most primitive form of combat. His right fist was wrapped in the last thin trace of cursed energy as it blasted toward his opponent's face with the resolve to die.

Yet Hajime Kashimo did not even dodge.

Bang!

Kinji Hakari's fist was stopped by an invisible blue barrier less than three centimeters from Hajime Kashimo's nose.

"How many times have you touched me?" Hajime Kashimo asked softly, his tone calm to a horrifying degree.

Kinji Hakari's heart suddenly clenched.

He recalled that in their frenzied battle just now, Hajime Kashimo had not rushed to counterattack even within the Domain. Instead, he had left countless tiny scratches across Kinji's body, wounds that had caused almost no damage.

"Negative charges..."

"Looks like you finally figured it out." Hajime Kashimo curled his lips. "Positive charges are stored in my staff, while negative charges... have already spread across your entire body."

"The reason lightning can strike its target is because a path has already been formed between heaven and earth. And now, I am the sky, while you are the earth."

Hajime Kashimo violently drove his metal staff into the ground.

"Sure-hit—Thunderbolt."

Without any charging beforehand, a blue-violet bolt of lightning exploded directly in the air and instantly pierced through Kinji Hakari's right shoulder.

"AAARGH!!!"

Kinji Hakari let out a miserable scream as chunks of charred flesh flew everywhere. His body was hurled by that savage impact straight into the remains of a building behind him.

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