Final Act

Kamo Chitsubaki shook her slightly groggy head and gave Lu Ping, who had walked over, a thumbs-up in congratulations.

She knew there had been an element of luck in this victory.

Being able to land a killing blow across such a gap in strength was entirely thanks to that monster outsmarting itself.

Chitsubaki's body had long suffered from a rare condition known in modern medicine as "Polycythemia Vera."

This condition made her blood far denser than that of an ordinary person—extremely viscous, with exceptionally poor flow through her veins.

Turning blood into poison and injecting it into cursed spirits was a standard combat method of Blood Manipulation.

However, because her blood was overly viscous, the toxins in her body took much longer to take effect inside a cursed spirit than those of other Blood Manipulation users.

Yet everything came with a price—and a return.

That delayed onset came in exchange for an exponential buildup in toxin concentration.

Once it erupted completely, its destructive power would rise geometrically.

If the poison had taken effect the instant it entered its target, it would inevitably have alerted that inherently suspicious monster.

Yet after its sneak attack succeeded, in its pursuit of some supposedly perfect opening, it had relentlessly circled through the air at high speed for a full three minutes.

Its violently pounding heart and overworked cursed energy had forcefully pumped the concentrated lethal toxins into every corner of its body.

The timing of the poison's complete spread had been perfect.

In that instant, it had not simply been a mistake by the Blood Bat Cursed Spirit. The poison had begun to take effect.

It appeared to still be attacking, but in truth, there was no saving it.

After confirming that the threat had been completely eliminated, Lu Ping casually concealed the unloosed Nue's Feather back into the shadow behind him and walked over to Chitsubaki.

"Nicely done."

The young man offered a brief assessment.

"Just luck. I nearly died here."

Chitsubaki pulled out a roll of bandages from her tactical pouch. As she expertly treated the puncture wound on her ankle, she looked up at Lu Ping.

"What do you make of tonight's situation?"

Lu Ping looked around.

Ruined houses, cracks covering the ground, and the pungent remnants of cursed energy still lingering in the air.

He stated calmly,

"Different attributes covering for one another, every link tightly connected. Bait, attrition, control, assassination—it was practically a chain of traps tailor-made for Suguru Geto. There's no way this gathering of monsters formed naturally."

After exchanging information, Lu Ping chose to conceal the portion of his deductions concerning Kenjaku.

At this point in time, he absolutely could not reveal that he knew the other party's true nature.

Once he drew Kenjaku's attention, not only would he invite unnecessary trouble, but he would also completely disrupt the familiar course of events and lose his greatest advantage in acting first.

He had to continue playing the part of a sorcerer who had stumbled into the situation.

Chitsubaki nodded in complete agreement, never noticing the depth in the young man's eyes.

She neatly tied off the bandage, rose to her feet, and tested how much weight her ankle could bear.

"Never mind who's pulling the strings behind the scenes. At least we've torn open a gap in the current situation."

She looked toward the deep mountains behind the village, where the sound of trees continually snapping echoed.

"Come on. Let's check on your new shikigami. Once we deal with that loach, we still need to fish that once-in-a-millennium genius out of whatever mud pit he's stuck in."

"No problem," Lu Ping replied.

The two settled on their course of action.

The plan ahead was clear: help the shikigami win, rescue Suguru Geto, and conduct a final cleanup and investigation of the village.

Lu Ping called over Shadow Wolf. On its back was the short-haired little girl who had been trembling when he found her in the ruins, a girl born with the ability to see cursed spirits.

Once the mission was completely over, he could take her to Hoshimi Shrine and let her receive training at Jujutsu High alongside those two girls.

When Chitsubaki saw Lu Ping summon Shadow Wolf carrying the survivor, her eyes lit up.

Had all the information gathered by the Kamo Clan and the curse users regarding Lu Ping's shikigami self-destructing yesterday been wrong?

Using a shikigami's self-destruction while keeping it from dying completely was something only those who had mastered advanced techniques for shikigami-type cursed techniques could do—

Incomplete Shikigami Manifestation.

When a shikigami appeared in an incomplete form, it could be subjected to a certain degree of Binding Vow.

For example, making its body larger reduced the likelihood of the shikigami being completely destroyed, enhancing its survivability.

At the same time, it allowed the sorcerer to temporarily wield the shikigami's abilities, giving them more diverse means of attack.

But it had its advantages and disadvantages. The actual power of an incompletely manifested shikigami, as well as the shikigami abilities wielded by the sorcerer, was not as strong as the combat power of the shikigami in its original complete manifestation.

If an incompletely manifested shikigami looked powerful, then injecting the same amount of cursed energy into the original shikigami would produce even greater results.

Still...

So he was a sorcerer of this caliber?

When they had first met, Chitsubaki had immediately recognized the Ten Shadows Cursed Tool Series in Lu Ping's hand as something well-known among the Three Great Families.

With the support of a high-grade cursed tool, dealing with scattered curse users would be no problem. Only that final Grade 1 Curse User could pose a real threat to him.

But after fighting alongside him repeatedly tonight, she had learned that Lu Ping was not only skilled with cursed tools—he was also highly capable at controlling shikigami and understanding Barrier Technique.

"Maybe your strength has already reached Semi-Grade 1. Once we get back, I'll submit a recommendation for you."

With both hands clasped behind her head, Chitsubaki glanced at Lu Ping beside her as they advanced.

"Perhaps. After subjugating the Great Serpent, I do feel that my strength has improved considerably."

Lu Ping answered mildly, his expression still stern.

Even if the Great Serpent won the battle, he still could not be sure the situation had stabilized. The greatest mastermind had yet to appear.

If that Special-Grade Sorcerer known as a natural disaster showed up, no one present would be a match for him, and they had no way to deal with him... aside from Lu Ping's own legendary technique.

Hopefully, the other party knew how powerful that move was and would retreat in the face of difficulty.

As the night deepened, the two figures swiftly disappeared into the shadowy path leading toward the back mountain.

Large stretches of dense forest on the back mountain had been flattened, and a broad trail of devastation had been forcibly carved across the rugged ground.

The air was thick with a powerful stench of blood.

Following the broken tree trunks, Lu Ping and Chitsubaki reached the end of the battlefield.

In the enormous crater ahead, the victor had already been decided.

The massively enlarged Ever-Coiling Shadow Serpent resembled a black mountain of steel, firmly pinning the once-arrogant Snake God Cursed Spirit beneath its body.

Layer upon layer of the cursed spirit's once-hardened scales had shattered. Dark green corrosive fluid continually poured from its wounds. Its enormous body had been twisted into bizarre angles, leaving it able to do nothing more than twitch weakly.

After receiving the excessive cursed energy enhancement of the Three Corpses, the Great Serpent displayed extraordinarily brutal combat power.

There was no emotional fluctuation in those molten-gold vertical pupils. Like a meat grinder, it relentlessly devoured the Snake God Cursed Spirit's life force.

Sensing its master's approaching presence, the Great Serpent suddenly opened its massive jaws and precisely bit down on the monster's neck core below.

Crack.

Accompanied by the dull sound of breaking bone, its fangs instantly pierced the enemy's vital point.