Moonlight shone quietly down as the smell of blood slowly dispersed through the forest clearing.
Kashimo stood where he was, looking down at the bloodstained figure in white at his feet. Gojo Arashi's eyes were still open, gazing at the moon overhead, but there was nothing left in those azure eyes.
He scratched his head.
"Now you can't suddenly learn Reverse Cursed Technique and come after me, right?"
No one answered him.
Kashimo rested the Ruyi Staff on his shoulder and turned to leave. After two steps, he stopped again and glanced back at the figure lying in a pool of blood.
"...Wonder how that girl Rinko is doing."
He muttered to himself and looked away.
I'd better head back first.
He set off in the direction he had come from. Moonlight stretched his shadow out long, dragging a trail of light and darkness across the forest floor.
Then he stopped.
Two people had appeared ten paces ahead of him without his noticing.
One wore red robes and a ponytail, her features bold and striking, a black sash tied around her waist. Standing in the moonlight, she seemed to glow. The other wore a subdued, elegant pale blue kimono, her long hair loose over her shoulders. She stood quietly beside the woman in red, her gaze resting on him.
Kashimo narrowed his eyes.
Sorcerers from the Tokugawa?
His grip on the Ruyi Staff tightened slightly, but his expression remained unchanged.
The two women didn't move either.
Under the moonlight, the three stared at one another across a distance of ten paces.
Kashimo tilted his head, studying them.
"Who...are you?"
The woman in red smiled first.
"Tokugawa Fenghua." She raised her chin, her voice clear and bright. "This is my younger sister, Tokugawa Yingliang."
The woman in the subdued kimono beside her gave a slight nod in greeting.
Kashimo raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Fenghua didn't mind and continued on her own. She took a step forward, and the moonlight laid a faint sheen over her face, making her eyes look startlingly bright.
"You're Kashimo, aren't you?" she said, a note of admiration in her voice. "You live up to your name as the Strongest of the Modern Era. You even killed the Head of the Gojo Clan."
She paused, the smile fading a little from her lips.
"But unfortunately-"
She reached behind her, took hold of her Zhanmadao's hilt, and slowly drew it. Its blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight, reflecting half her face.
"The Head of the Gojo Clan was a guest of the Shogunate. You won't be leaving today."
The moment she finished speaking, the woman who had remained quiet beside her moved.
Tokugawa Yingliang raised her hand and lightly flicked her fingertips. Two figures emerged from the shadows behind her, samurai-shaped shikigami giving off faint ripples of cursed energy as they landed silently at her sides.
The next instant-
Fenghua vanished from where she stood.
Steel flashed.
Kashimo shifted slightly to one side. The blade of the Zhanmadao swept past his clothes, missing him by a hair. He wasn't even looking at the weapon; his gaze rested on the path its edge had traced.
There, a white line as fine as a strand of hair lingered in the air, as though something had been forcibly torn open.
Before he could take a closer look, Fenghua twisted at the waist and turned her wrist.
The Zhanmadao traced an arc in the moonlight and swept toward him in a horizontal slash.
Slice-
The sound of the blade cutting into flesh was almost too soft to hear.
Kashimo lowered his head.
His right hand had been cleanly severed at the wrist. The cut was as smooth as a mirror. Before blood could even well up, the hand had separated from his body and begun to fall, still gripping the Ruyi Staff.
He raised his head and looked at the woman in red before him, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
I underestimated her.
I really did.
Yet his cursed energy defenses were strong enough to take a full-power Blue from Gojo Arashi head-on and suffer only a little broken skin.
"Is it a cursed technique that cuts through space?"
His voice was calm.
No sooner had Kashimo asked than he heard something slice through the air behind him.
He didn't turn around.
He drove a fist backward, striking the sword-raising samurai shikigami squarely in the chest. The instant his fist connected, the body formed from cursed energy shattered from the chest outward as though struck by lightning, fragments scattering everywhere.
The other shikigami's blade stopped barely an inch from the back of his neck. Then it and its master were hurled backward by the shock wave of that punch.
Kashimo withdrew his hand and glanced down at his still-bleeding wrist. Blood dripped onto the fallen leaves with faint pattering sounds.
"Ah..."
Fenghua's voice came from ahead, carrying a slightly languid note.
"Against an opponent like you, I'd better reveal my technique."
She raised a hand and leisurely tightened her cuff. Moonlight illuminated her face, revealing the faint smile at the corner of her lips.
"My cursed technique is 'Broken Sky,'" she said. "It delivers slashes against space itself. So-"
She paused, her gaze settling on Kashimo's severed hand.
"Your defenses won't help against me."
The moment she finished speaking, Kashimo sensed a subtle shift in the air around them.
Revealing one's technique.
It was common knowledge in Jujutsu Society: establishing a binding vow to tell an opponent about one's cursed technique strengthened its performance.
Kashimo raised his head and looked at the woman in red before him.
Under the moonlight, her smile deepened a little.
Kashimo said nothing more.
He merely lowered his head and glanced at his still-bleeding wrist. As cursed energy surged, a new hand grew from the stump at a speed visible to the naked eye. Flesh, bone, and skin formed layer by layer, and in the blink of an eye, it was as good as new.
He flexed his five fingers.
Then he raised his head.
Under the moonlight, the previously restrained arcs of electricity around him suddenly went wild. Blue-white light leaped and burst across his body with explosive crackles, engulfing him in a dazzling blaze of lightning.
He pushed off the ground.
Boom-
The ground shattered the instant his foot came down. Stones flew, and cracks spread outward like a spiderweb. His figure had already vanished.
It wasn't speed.
It was teleportation.
Fenghua's pupils abruptly contracted.
The next instant, that fist was already in front of her.
She had no time to dodge, not even to block. All she could do was watch as the lightning-wreathed fist drew closer and closer, growing larger and larger-
Bam!
A heavy impact exploded into the night.
Fenghua flew backward like a kite with its string cut. She felt all her organs shift in that instant. Something surged violently up from her stomach and burst uncontrollably from her throat-
A mouthful of blood-streaked saliva traced an arc through the moonlight.
Right on target.
It landed squarely on Kashimo's face.
Fenghua slammed hard into a large tree, then slid down its rough bark and crumpled into a heap on the muddy ground. She gasped for breath, blood still trailing from the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were startlingly bright as she stared straight at the man across from her.
Kashimo stood where he was.
He raised a hand and wiped his face.
Sticky.
He held his hand before his eyes and examined it. Moonlight fell on the glistening liquid, reflecting a faint gleam.
"Tch."
He flicked his hand, his brows drawing together slightly.
Before you continue