Clouds churned overhead, thunder bursting within them as blue-white flashes lit up the entire night sky.
In midair, two figures crossed paths.
Kashimo's attacks poured down like a torrential rain, slash after slash, punch after punch, leaving no room to breathe. The Soul-Devouring Blade traced black trails beneath the moonlight, every strike wrapped in violent lightning, forcing Gojo Arashi back again and again.
Gojo Arashi gritted his teeth, his Six Eyes tracking every trajectory as his body dodged at the very edge of its limits.
But it wasn't enough.
Still not enough.
This man's speed had increased again.
"Cursed Technique Lapse-"
He seized a minuscule opening and raised his hand.
"Blue!"
An immense suction erupted behind Kashimo. It tugged at his body, pulling the descending blade half an inch off course.
Just half an inch.
Gojo Arashi seized the chance, dropping sharply back to the ground.
He landed on one knee, gasping for breath. His chest heaved, sweat mingling with blood as it streamed down his cheeks. His Reverse Cursed Technique was still working, but its healing could no longer keep pace with the damage.
He looked up.
Kashimo had landed too, just ten paces away.
Their eyes met.
Moonlight shone over the ravaged clearing, illuminating two equally bloodied faces and four eyes that shone with the same startling brilliance.
Neither wasted a word.
Gojo Arashi drove off the ground, shattering it beneath his feet as he hurtled toward Kashimo like a white afterimage.
He swung a fist.
It wasn't a Cursed Technique, but pure hand-to-hand combat. His body followed the trajectory his Six Eyes had picked out at maximum speed, putting almost every ounce of strength he had left into that punch.
Kashimo didn't dodge.
He raised his arm and blocked it.
A dull impact burst through the night wind as fist met arm. Gojo Arashi felt as though he had punched an iron plate, the shock numbing his entire arm.
But in the next instant, his pupils contracted.
Using the force of that punch, Kashimo flipped into the air. He twisted in midair, driving through his core as he brought an elbow smashing down-
Bam!
The elbow struck Gojo Arashi square in the face.
Blood sprayed. Gojo Arashi reeled backward, staggering a step and nearly falling. His face burned with pain, his mouth filled with the taste of blood, and the world swayed before his eyes.
But he didn't fall.
He steadied himself, raised his head, and stared at the man opposite him with those azure eyes.
His lips curled into a smile.
Beneath the moonlight, that smile was more jarring than the blood.
Gojo Arashi's fist came flying again.
This punch didn't miss.
Bam-!
It slammed straight into Kashimo's abdomen.
Kashimo's body snapped like a bow released at full draw, sending him flying backward. His back broke a tree as thick as a wrist before he tumbled into the bushes. Amid the scattering branches and leaves, he spat out a mouthful of blood, splashing it over the moonlit fallen leaves.
He lay on the ground, stunned for half a moment.
That hadn't been a simple strike reinforced with cursed energy.
At the instant of impact, he had distinctly felt a pulling force. As though something had desperately tried to tear his body toward the point where the fist struck.
Had he coated his fist in Blue?
Kashimo pushed himself upright and wiped his mouth. Blood smeared the back of his hand, dark red beneath the moonlight.
Pretty clever.
He raised his head, looking at the white-clad figure panting ten paces away. Gojo Arashi still held his fist extended, his chest heaving as sweat and blood streamed down his body.
But Kashimo's lips slowly curled into a smile.
Still nowhere near enough.
His fingers twitched slightly.
The charge-
It was almost full.
Kashimo vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared behind Gojo Arashi.
The Soul-Devouring Blade fell.
The black blade traced an arc beneath the moonlight, cutting precisely into Gojo Arashi's shoulder. Bone broke with a dull crack, blood burst into mist, and an arm separated from his body, tumbling through the air toward the ground.
Gojo Arashi's pupils contracted, and his body instinctively tried to turn.
But Kashimo had already lowered his blade.
He closed in.
One punch.
It struck Gojo Arashi square in the face.
The instant his fist made contact, that faint blue link appeared between them again. Fine as a strand of hair and bright as an electric arc, it flashed beneath the moonlight.
Then.
Splurt!
Half of Gojo Arashi's body exploded.
Flesh, shattered bone, and fragments of organs burst into a scarlet mist beneath the moonlight. His body had been almost entirely hollowed out from shoulder to waist. Through the enormous opening, the moonlit woods behind him were visible.
But he didn't fall.
What remained of his body still stood. He raised his intact hand and made a gesture at Kashimo.
A finger gun.
His index finger pointed at Kashimo's face.
His thumb rose.
Then dropped.
"Cursed Technique Reversal-"
Gojo Arashi's voice was hoarse, yet every word rang clear, as though forced through gritted teeth.
"Red."
Red light erupted at his fingertip.
At such close range.
There was no time to dodge.
Kashimo felt a world-shattering repulsive force slam into him head-on, as though a mountain had struck his chest. In that instant, his body nearly tore apart. His bones groaned under the strain, and every organ shuddered.
Blood poured from his mouth.
The force blasted him backward, smashing him through one tree, then a second, then a third, before embedding him deep in a boulder.
Dust billowed.
Loose stones rained down.
Kashimo lay embedded in the boulder, covered in blood, his chest heaving. His Reverse Cursed Technique worked desperately, mending the wounds Red had torn open.
Meanwhile, in the distance.
The blasted half of Gojo Arashi's body was healing at a visible rate. His Reverse Cursed Technique operated at full power, flesh, bone, and skin forming layer by layer to fill the enormous gap.
He stood where he was, breathing heavily, and wiped the blood from his mouth with his not-yet-fully-regrown hand.
His azure eyes stared through the dust at the figure struggling to rise from the boulder.
Kashimo pulled himself out of the cracked stone.
Fragments pattered off his body, hitting the ground with faint clattering sounds. He rolled his shoulders, his bones cracking, blood covering him from head to toe.
He bent down, picked up a stone, and weighed it in his hand.
Just the right size.
Now, he would put it into practice.
Opposite him, Gojo Arashi raised his newly regrown arm, spreading his fingers before clenching them to check that every bone had returned to normal. Moonlight illuminated his face, revealing an expression that was bloodstained yet remarkably calm.
He spoke.
"The downside of a family legacy that stretches back so long is..."
He paused.
"Information about its inherited Cursed Technique becomes common knowledge."
Kashimo didn't answer. He simply held the stone and listened quietly.
"But there's one piece of information about the Six Eyes that only the heads of the family have ever known."
Gojo Arashi raised his left hand.
Cursed energy began to surge.
"Phase-"
As the first word fell, red light appeared in his left palm. It grew brighter and more solid, like a mass of repulsive force compressed to its absolute limit.
"Paramita-"
"Pillar of Light-"
"Cursed Technique Reversal-"
"Red."
A ball of red light formed in his left hand, radiating scorching heat. The surrounding air warped faintly.
Then he raised his right hand.
"Phase-"
A different light welled up in his right palm. Azure and fathomless, like a vortex capable of swallowing everything.
"Dusk-"
"Eye of Wisdom-"
"Cursed Technique Lapse-"
"Blue."
A ball of azure light formed in his right hand, facing the Red in his left.
One on the left, one on the right.
One repelling, one attracting.
Kashimo watched the two glowing spheres, his pupils narrowing slightly.
He knew what Gojo Arashi intended to do.
Kashimo didn't hesitate.
His cursed energy surged violently. The electric arcs surrounding him spun completely out of control, leaping and bursting wildly around his body. Their crackling explosions merged into a continuous roar, scorching the air around him. Loose stones scattered, and the ground began to split. His violent cursed energy poured out like a tide, condensing into a dazzling mass of lightning beneath the moonlight.
He tightened his grip on the stone.
Cursed energy began pouring into his palm. This was no ordinary infusion. He compressed positive and negative charges into it at maximum density, instantly turning the ordinary stone into a shell ready to fire.
The fundamental property of his cursed energy was electricity.
Positive and negative charges.
As long as he charged an object with sufficient density and voltage, he could produce an electromagnetic cannon with his bare hands.
He had known the principle for a long time.
He simply hadn't had a chance to put it into practice.
Now, that chance had arrived.
Opposite him, Gojo Arashi's chant was also nearing its end.
The Red in his left hand and the Blue in his right slowly drew together. When the two spheres touched, there was no repulsion and no explosion. Instead, they merged in an uncanny fashion. Red and azure light intertwined, twisted, and fused, finally condensing into a purple sphere of energy.
The sphere was small, hovering above his palm, yet it radiated a pressure that made the heart tremble. The surrounding air quivered, light distorted, and even the moonlight that fell upon it was swallowed.
Gojo Arashi raised his other hand, positioning it as though flicking a marble, his thumb pressed against the purple mass of energy.
"Nine Ropes-"
"Polarization-"
"Crow and Declaration-"
"Between Surface and Interior-"
The final word fell.
"Hollow Technique-"
His thumb flicked.
"Purple."
A pillar of purple light poured forth.
At that very same instant.
Kashimo fired his Electromagnetic Cannon as well.
Before you continue