Demon Realm: Showdown in Izumo (8)

Kashimo seized a fleeting opening.

After Mahoraga swept the Sword of Extermination across, his returning swing had yet to steady, leaving an opening in his flank. Kashimo did not hesitate. His knife-hand slashed down like a thunderbolt, cleanly severing one of Mahoraga's arms.

The severed white arm spun several times through the air before landing among the rubble with a dull thud.

Mahoraga visibly stiffened.

The white figure froze in place, black cursed energy roiling at the stump, as though he had yet to adapt to the sudden injury. In that instant, Kashimo had already closed in.

The first punch slammed into Mahoraga's chest, the second struck his face, then the third, fourth, fifth...

His fists rained down in a furious storm, every blow carrying sheer violence. Mahoraga was driven back again and again, his feet stamping deep craters into the ground.

Every punch struck flesh, every impact boomed like thunder.

An almost crazed fighting spirit burned in Kashimo's eyes. His arms moved faster and faster, his fists hammering Mahoraga like rapid-fire shells, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

For the final punch, he gathered all his strength, concentrated every bit of his cursed energy over his fist, then poured the full electrical charge into the blow.

BOOM-!!

This time, he held nothing back.

The charge he had been building erupted in full. Dazzling lightning burst outward, lighting the dark battlefield as brightly as day. Mahoraga was sent flying and slammed heavily into the ground, a massive hole blasted through his abdomen, its edges still blackened and crawling with electric arcs.

Mahoraga struggled to rise.

The white figure swayed unsteadily. Some viscous liquid spilled from the hole in his abdomen and ran down his white body. He lowered his head and violently vomited a mouthful of fluid.

The liquid resembled neither blood nor cursed energy residue, gleaming eerily in the lingering lightning.

Even so, he remained standing.

But the pause was brief.

Clang-

A crisp metallic turning sound cut across the battlefield. The wheel above Mahoraga's head slowly completed a revolution. The sound was quiet, yet it struck Kashimo's heart like a sledgehammer.

Kashimo froze.

His eyes widened, the corner of his mouth twitching as an emotion somewhere between shock and speechlessness surged within him.

Dude, do you have sensitive skin or something? It's turning already?

He had only landed a single electrical charge. He had not even properly gotten started, and Mahoraga was already adapting?

But the battlefield gave him no time to stand there dazed. Mahoraga attacked again, his speed and strength undiminished. The enormous hole blasted through his abdomen had already quietly healed. Even the scorch marks had vanished without a trace, as though he had never been injured.

Kashimo dodged several times, weaving through Mahoraga's attacks. Turning sideways, he delivered a kick, his foot sweeping hard into Mahoraga and knocking out a spray of black liquid.

He narrowed his eyes, understanding in an instant.

So he isn't adapting to electricity.

He's just... getting tougher.

The creature's defenses were rising at a visible rate, becoming harder to shake with every passing second. If Kashimo dragged this out any longer, once Mahoraga's defenses reached a certain threshold, his attacks might not even scratch his skin.

Then...

This ends here.

Kashimo drew a deep breath, his gaze abruptly darkening.

He sacrificed half the performance of every future release of his cursed technique in exchange for a permanent increase in his total cursed energy.

The moment the binding vow took effect, an unprecedented surge of cursed energy welled up from deep within him, flooding his entire body like a breached dam.

"Cursed Technique Release: Mythical Beast Amber."

The instant the words left his mouth, Kashimo's limbs transformed.

His flesh broke down and reassembled amid the lightning. His arms and legs became structures of pure electricity, translucent bodies of energy radiating piercing blue-white light. Current surged and leaped through every marking, as though they were armaments forged by a god's own hand.

Mythical Beast Amber was a cursed technique Kashimo could use only once in his lifetime.

The technique enhanced his entire being, transforming him into an elemental structure and granting him a body that completely surpassed human limits.

Thunder cracked all around him. His figure rose from the ground amid the lightning, his presence swelling to a suffocating intensity.

Even with the performance of his technique's release halved, its elemental transformation remained.

Kashimo could clearly feel the changes in his body. His limbs had become structures of pure lightning, every current coursing through them like blood through veins.

He could still stimulate his brain electromagnetically, bringing his thoughts into resonance with solid matter and sharpening his perception to an unprecedented degree.

He could still activate X-ray vision to see the flow of cursed energy beneath Mahoraga's body, and unleash those terrifying electromagnetic waves that instantly vaporized everything they touched.

Mahoraga charged forward.

The white figure lunged with astonishing force, the Sword of Extermination carving a vicious arc through the air. At that very instant, Kashimo's chest abruptly expanded, his entire body filling with power like a drawn bow.

He spat a small electromagnetic cannon blast from his mouth.

The blue-white beam tore through the air, piercing the battlefield with a shrill scream. Half of Mahoraga's body was blasted through and torn apart, its charred edges curling back to expose hollow cavities still alive with electric arcs.

Kashimo gave him no chance to catch his breath.

He closed in, his lightning fists raining down in a deluge. One punch, two, four, eight-each carried the force of an exploding electrical charge, his fists moving too fast to leave even an afterimage.

Countless exploding charges flashed in succession at the center of the battlefield. Lightning and thunder wove a symphony of destruction, completely engulfing the white figure.

Vaporizing electromagnetic waves poured from Kashimo's palm.

Dazzling white light gathered in his hand, then suddenly bloomed. Pure and lethal, it was as though he held the sun in his grasp.

In midair, the wheel above Mahoraga's head silently turned to ash within that white light, leaving not even a trace of residue.

The lingering white glow gradually faded.

Kashimo left his elemental form and returned to normal. He was completely naked, his limbs and mouth charred by the backlash of releasing his technique, their blackened flesh covered in a web of cracks.

He drew a deep breath and activated reverse cursed technique. Cursed energy flowed like clear spring water, slowly repairing the burned tissue.

The dust settled.

Only Kashimo remained standing at the center of the battlefield.

The outcome was plain to see.

Kashimo had won.