Explosion

A Jujutsu Sorcerer's strength depended on his emotions.

When his spirits were low, he grew weaker. When they soared, he grew stronger.

But revealing one's Cursed Technique did not fall into that category.

Revealing a Cursed Technique was, in essence, placing a Binding Vow on oneself.

By disclosing how his technique worked to an opponent, he gained greater power in return.

Put simply, it was an exchange.

To gain that power, he had to "voluntarily," "accurately," and "clearly" tell his opponent the core mechanism of his technique.

But that rule was not absolute.

As long as the opponent understood the mechanism through the disclosure, the Binding Vow would activate. Words were not the only way.

If an opponent figured out the entire mechanism during a fight, however, that did not count as revealing the technique.

The opponent had discovered it through his own ability.

The reason for revealing a technique before a fight was simple.

He sacrificed the advantage of secrecy to confront his enemy head-on with greater power.

Now, Mo Bai and Mo Hei had both revealed their techniques.

Roar...

The flames of Cursed Energy around Mo Bai and Mo Hei burned for a while, then gradually settled.

Both adjusted to the sudden surge of Cursed Energy and began fine-tuning its output.

As Mo Bai felt the energy within himself, the effect of revealing his technique told him something.

The opposite version of himself standing before him was probably incomplete.

Otherwise, if Mo Hei had already known everything about the Ten Shadows Technique, the conditions for revealing it could never have been met.

Mo Hei was just as unsettled.

One hint was enough for him to understand my technique completely? I was going to test him first, but this guy...

Mo Hei's technique was exactly what he had admitted to Mo Bai earlier: the Ten Shadows Technique.

So why did its effects look nothing like Mo Bai's?

From Mo Hei's behavior and the fact that he was male, Mo Bai arrived at one possibility.

Cursed Technique Reversal.

Once a Jujutsu Sorcerer gained a certain understanding of the core of Cursed Energy and developed his technique further, he could reverse it completely and gain a new ability opposite to the original.

In other words, Mo Hei was using the reversal of the Ten Shadows Technique.

But Cursed Technique Reversal was an extremely advanced skill, one that only the elite among Jujutsu Sorcerers could master.

Mo Hei should have been nowhere near that level yet.

Plop.

After staring at him for a moment, Mo Bai slipped straight into the shadows.

"Tch. Trying to ambush me?!"

Because of this particular area within Sonoro, Mo Hei knew Mo Bai could not use his technique to escape.

But with shadows covering every corner of the space, Mo Bai could move freely through them.

The situation had completely reversed. Now Mo Bai was hidden, while Mo Hei stood exposed.

"Brilliant Light!"

Mo Hei's eyes narrowed as he gathered Cursed Energy in his hand.

Pop.

He placed the ball of light beside himself.

Now, even if Mo Bai emerged from a shadow, there would be some distance between them.

Mo Hei could use that gap to close in with his technique and physical strength, then kill him.

Good. All he had to do now was stall.

Mo Hei was certain Mo Bai would lose patience first.

The reason was simple.

Mo Bai was desperate to find Moqu and get him out of Sonoro.

The longer this dragged on, the worse things would get.

Those students had already left. Barring any surprises, they would have reported the disturbance to the Academy.

Mo Bai would still need to get out and clear his name.

And every part of that depended on defeating the "other him" in front of him.

Whoosh—

"There!"

Seeing a ripple in the shadows nearby, Mo Hei gathered a ball of light in his hand and hurled it there.

"Ugh..."

When he saw that he had hit Mo Bai's extension technique, Eclipse of the Heavenly Dog, Mo Hei frowned.

"Want to play whack-a-mole with me?"

Mo Hei grinned.

The reversed technique's effects were almost the complete opposite of the original.

If Mo Bai was an assassin creeping through the shadows, Mo Hei was a berserk marksman who stood his ground.

Hum—

Countless balls of Cursed Energy formed around Mo Hei in an instant.

"If you won't come out, then get out of this space!"

Pew, pew, pew!

The moment Mo Hei spoke, the balls fired into every corner of the space like a machine gun.

Worse, their speed and density increased as Mo Hei poured more Cursed Energy into them.

His goal was simple: drive away every shadow with intense light and force Mo Bai out of the space.

The strange space had formed because of the nature of Solaris, the Academy's Dark Side, and the influence of Mo Bai's own Cursed Energy.

But Mo Hei himself was not its source, so even he did not know what would happen if Mo Bai was forced out.

Plop!

Mo Bai burst from the shadows.

He did not dare gamble on what lay outside the space, so he had no choice but to come out and face Mo Hei.

"Haha!"

Mo Hei adjusted the balls' trajectories, sending them all at Mo Bai.

"I win!"

Mo Hei laughed with delight as he watched them fly.

He looked like a child about to receive his favorite toy.

"No."

Mo Bai showed no alarm at the incoming Laser attacks. He merely looked calmly at Mo Hei.

At the face that resembled his own.

Everything Mo Hei had shown in their fight told Mo Bai that his attention to combat details was terrible.

Just now, he had stopped firing in every direction and aimed every ball at Mo Bai instead.

Behind Mo Hei, shadows returned.

"I win."

"Screech!"

At Mo Bai's words, Nue appeared behind Mo Hei, as tall as an adult and wreathed in lightning.