Not understanding what this white-haired man was saying, Alluka froze for a moment, then shrank behind Uraume.
"Playing dumb? Whatever. I'll deal with that monster first. Bring these two children along."
The youth in white beckoned to the men behind him, ordering them to bring Alluka and Uraume, then turned and headed up the mountain without another word.
Alluka barely caught a glimpse of his blurred retreating figure before his men grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her up, leaving her utterly bewildered.
When they reached the summit, the figure in moon-white was engaged in a one-sided confrontation.
His white hair spilled from beneath the Black Court Cap. His faintly glowing eyes were now shrouded in shadow, a stark contrast to his earlier ease.
The monster Sugawara Kazukazu had become was gnawing on the leg of some unidentified creature with a mane. He hunched over, the grotesque protrusions of tissue on his body looking utterly horrifying.
His armor had burst apart, leaving only a few fragments dangling loosely around his shoulders.
As Sugawara Kazukazu moved, those remaining fragments threatened to fall off as well.
"My lord, this is..."
The samurai dropped Alluka onto the ground.
They could clearly see their own clan crest on the shattered armor.
"This is a human."
The white-haired youth rubbed between his brows in vexation, his pale, thin lips pressed into a cold, hard line.
"You had no ability to begin with, and now you've turned into this. Better send you to the next life sooner rather than later."
Killing intent slowly gathered in his expression as his icy blue eyes stared out from beneath the shadows of his tousled hair.
As soon as he finished speaking, he moved like a gust of wind, appearing behind Sugawara Kazukazu in an instant.
Deep blue flames flickered around his fists. When his cursed energy struck Sugawara Kazukazu, it exploded like a brilliant blaze.
Had that cursed energy struck cursed spirits, it would have been enough to reduce them to ashes.
Unfortunately, Sugawara Kazukazu was human.
Even if his body had now grown so enormous that he was indistinguishable from a curse.
With eyes as scarlet as a ravenous wolf's, the monster roared and swung a heavy fist at the white-haired youth, who moved like lightning, flipping into the air to put distance between them.
Luminous blue light rapidly gathered at his fingertips.
Those motes of light floated in the air, sweeping the mountain's loose stones and dead wood into multiple masses of cursed energy.
"Cursed Technique Lapse-Blue."
Azure cursed energy spread across heaven and earth in an instant, like a dazzling wash of light.
The cursed energy embodying the power of attraction rapidly burst around Sugawara Kazukazu.
He wanted to finish the monster with a single blow, but Sugawara Kazukazu had done more than reinforce the surface of his body with cursed energy. His entire body was wrapped in cursed energy so dense it had turned black. With every casual sweep of his hand, thick fluctuations of cursed energy filled the air.
Using his own body as a shield, Sugawara Kazukazu neither dodged nor retreated. He took Blue head-on, then fired cursed energy at a tricky angle toward the other man's position in midair.
"What the hell? How are you this tough?!"
Thanks to the Six Eyes, he could see the fluctuations in his opponent's cursed energy before they took shape.
So the instant Sugawara Kazukazu tried to attack, he bent aside and dodged.
The white-haired youth rose into the air and, hovering there, released several more azure masses of cursed energy. He compressed Blue to its limit and drove it hard toward Sugawara Kazukazu.
The cursed energy punched several fist-sized holes through Sugawara Kazukazu's waist and abdomen. Dark red blood sprayed from the wounds, falling like rain over the dead branches and leaves on the ground.
The patter of liquid mingled with the monster's agonized roars, almost deafening in the cold night.
Enraged, Sugawara Kazukazu stopped ignoring them. He swung his enormous hands and roared as he charged to meet the attack.
The white-haired youth pondered his predicament as he parried.
At present, Blue was the strongest attack he could produce, yet it could only blast a few holes in the monster's skin. He could not inflict any deeper wounds.
The thing's wild, unstructured attacks were growing heavier and increasingly difficult to handle.
Where did this thing even come from? It wasn't here yesterday.
He lowered his head slightly and thought for a moment, his white hair brushing across his brows and eyes.
Just as the samurai thought their lord was about to strike again, he teleported in front of Alluka, picked her up, and fled.
"I can't beat him! You should run too!"
Within seconds, he and Alluka had vanished from the mountainside.
Uraume was desperate to find them, but his strength did not come close to that man's. All he could see was the trail of cursed residue left in the snow as the man fled.
At their lord's command, the samurai scattered like startled birds and beasts, none of them daring to spare another glance in Sugawara Kazukazu's direction.
Only Uraume remained, staring in bewilderment at the monster drawing ever closer.