Ryu Ishigori's laughter still echoed over the city.
Yuta Okkotsu had already leaped from the edge of the last building, shooting like an arrow toward the rooftop where Ryu Ishigori stood.
Takako Uro followed close behind, her long pink hair swept back by the rushing air.
She changed direction three times in midair, leaving each of Ryu Ishigori's Cursed Energy Cannons behind her.
At the sight, Ryu Ishigori's grin widened.
Without a trace of fear on his face, he took his hands off the hair cannon atop his head, spread his fingers, and thrust both hands forward like a conductor.
"Bring it on!"
The dozens of blue cursed energy lines scattered across the sky snapped at once, and the Cursed Energy Cannons they had controlled exploded in midair like fireworks.
Then Ryu Ishigori gathered his cursed energy again. This time, instead of firing a barrage, he compressed all his cursed energy into the single cannon atop his head.
A sphere of cursed energy far more intense than any before it formed at the muzzle, violent energy churning across its surface.
"This one's specially made!"
The sphere thundered out, a massive cursed energy shell over two meters in diameter shooting from Ryu Ishigori's hair.
Trailing a thick blue streak, it hurtled toward Yuta Okkotsu like a meteor.
The air along its path burned with an acrid smell, and the buildings' glass curtain walls shattered instantly under the shock wave.
Okkotsu's pupils constricted. He kicked hard off the rooftop's edge, forcibly twisting his body in midair.
The Cursed Energy Cannon grazed his left shoulder, its searing heat instantly burning through his sleeve and leaving a blackened scrape on his skin.
Spiderweb cracks spread across the rooftop beneath Okkotsu's feet as he landed. Before he could catch his breath, another red Cursed Energy