"Such powerful cursed energy!" Every cell in Kinoshita's body sounded an alarm.
"So this was Yuta Okkotsu, the Special Grade Sorcerer second only to Satoru Gojo?"
Kinoshita looked at Okkotsu excitedly.
He restrained himself from saying, "What a relief."
"You actually know Gojo-sensei?" Yuta Okkotsu kicked the window open and picked up his cursed tool. "Are you a modern sorcerer?"
Although Satoru Gojo was known as the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, almost all the noteworthy jujutsu sorcerers in the Culling Game were incarnated sorcerers from ancient times.
In other words, they were ancient sorcerers reborn in the bodies of modern people.
Having made deals with Kenjaku, these people had all caught his eye, so their average strength was far from low.
That meant anyone who knew Satoru Gojo was definitely a modern person-and likely a jujutsu sorcerer familiar with modern Jujutsu Society!
"An ordinary person?" Yuta Okkotsu looked at the girl in Kinoshita's arms, a hint of confusion crossing his face.
As soon as he entered Sendai, he had found someone to explain the situation in the Sendai Colony.
Broadly speaking, there were five powerful players.
Four sorcerers and one special grade cursed spirit.
The special grade cursed spirit was none other than Kurourushi, who was registered with Jujutsu High.
Yuta Okkotsu had heard something about all the other sorcerers, but he knew nothing about this excessively low-profile fellow in the west.
The other three sorcerers were all keeping each other in check, while Kinoshita kept to himself. No one had been willing to try upsetting the balance.
That was why Sendai now had this bizarre situation with five heavenly kings.
Most of the cursed spirits had already been farmed like trash mobs.
"That's right. My name is Kinoshita. These ordinary people only survived this long because I protected them," Kinoshita introduced himself. "I only awakened as a sorcerer when the Culling Game started. As for the rumors about you, well, I heard them from others, of course."
Kinoshita brushed the question aside with a random excuse. After all, he couldn't take on the other three heavenly kings alone.
Saving ordinary people had also been one of Yuta Okkotsu's goals, so seeing how many people Kinoshita had protected allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Stand down, Rika." Okkotsu slowly stroked the shikigami, who was already on guard.
Seeing Rika made Kinoshita want to shout something and expose Yuta Okkotsu's secrets, but explaining himself would be too much trouble, so he suppressed the urge.
"My name is Yuta Okkotsu. I'm here to gather enough points and protect the ordinary people in the Sendai Colony." Okkotsu extended his right hand.
Seeing that the misunderstanding had been resolved, Kinoshita immediately returned the friendly gesture.
"But now that you've taken care of Dhruv Lakdawalla, that damned cockroach Kurourushi is going to wake up." Kinoshita looked at the ordinary people behind him. "We can't fight here."
"Right." Okkotsu nodded.
In the original story, Okkotsu had gone without his shikigami Rika precisely because he needed her to protect the ordinary people.
Rika stored a vast amount of Okkotsu's cursed energy. That was why his overwhelming reserves could crush every jujutsu sorcerer except Gojo and Sukuna.
The two immediately left the civilians' gathering place and ran toward an open area.
"By the way, Mr. Kinoshita, what's your cursed technique?" Okkotsu asked.
"Mine? It's called the Construction Technique. I can construct any substance I've encountered," Kinoshita explained as he ran.
Hearing that, Okkotsu immediately thought of Mai Zenin.
However, because of her limited cursed energy, she could only create one bullet at a time. A little handgun was enough to drain her mana bar.
As someone whose total cursed energy was second only to Sukuna's, Okkotsu could also sense the cursed energy in Kinoshita's body.
Hmm... roughly the level of a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. Not bad, Okkotsu silently concluded.
After all, if Kinoshita teamed up with Okkotsu, they would likely be facing sorcerers famous throughout history.
An ordinary Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer couldn't even measure up to the four disaster cursed spirits, let alone Sendai's four heavenly kings, who were even stronger.
"Mr. Kinoshita, you can sense it too, right...?" Okkotsu said, looking ahead.
Kinoshita nodded firmly.
"The cockroaches, right...? So you hate bugs too, Okkotsu..."
"The way those alien creatures stare at us really gives me the creeps..."
He hugged himself, feeling a chill.
"No..." Okkotsu pointed north. "I mean the other two people watching us."
"Oh!"
"You mean them!"
The corners of Kinoshita's mouth lifted.
"The strongest of them is called Ryu Ishigori, an incarnated ancient sorcerer. He uses pure Cursed Energy Discharge, firing powerful, homing Granita Impact blasts through his hair like a cannon barrel. His output is extremely high, with no risk of cursed technique burnout. He's a battle maniac who's been waiting four hundred years."
"Takako Uro is an incarnated sorcerer from the Heian period. She manipulates space as a surface, treating the sky like a plane she can distort to deflect attacks. She can also knock opponents away with Thin Ice Breaker. Highly mobile, with offense and defense rolled into one."
"They're both waiting for you to fight Kurourushi." Kinoshita exposed both of their secrets in a second.
Even Yuta Okkotsu looked at Kinoshita in surprise.
"So you've already fought them!" Okkotsu exclaimed.
He instinctively assumed Kinoshita had gathered this information in battle. After all, even analyzing the advantages of their cursed techniques was beyond most people.
If he had reached this level in just a dozen or so days, his talent for combat probably rivaled Okkotsu's own!
Kinoshita scratched his head. He had indeed gathered this information from battles-just from Okkotsu's battles against Sendai's three heavenly kings.
"Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll never lose a battle." Kinoshita chuckled. "Little Okkotsu-chan, you still have a long road ahead of you."
"What a relief~"
Okkotsu suddenly blurted it out.
The unexpected move nearly made Kinoshita lose his composure.
Forget it. The kid's had it rough too. He crouched down once, and people will never let him live it down. Kinoshita suppressed his laughter and looked into the distance.
"Ugh..."
Kinoshita had already prepared himself mentally, but the sight of the cockroach tide still sent a chill through him.
"Leave this one to me!"
"Rika!" Okkotsu summoned his shikigami on the spot.
Since Okkotsu had his shikigami beside him for this fight against Kurourushi, he wouldn't have to charge in with a sword to hack at cockroaches.
As the cockroach tide drew closer, cursed energy kept gathering in Rika's mouth.
Boom!
A huge gap was instantly blasted through the cockroach tide.
The next instant, Kurourushi appeared, holding the Festering Life Sword.
Any jujutsu sorcerer cut by this blade would immediately have countless cockroach eggs grow inside their body. Once the cockroaches hatched, they would devour the enemy's internal organs and keep reproducing.
Normally, Kurourushi could restore itself with an endless supply of cursed-energy cockroaches. Even Okkotsu needed to use Reverse Cursed Technique to kill it by exploiting its weakness.
But now...
Your man Kinoshita was here-one of the top two Construction Technique users of the modern era, and the technique's most highly educated operator!
After several cursed-energy cannon blasts hit Kurourushi, it quickly regenerated its body.
When repeated attempts to destroy it proved fruitless, Okkotsu began to hesitate.
Should I reveal my Reverse Cursed Technique?
"This thing's really hard to kill!"
Watching Kurourushi recover several more times, Kinoshita slowly began to laugh.
"Heh, heh, heh...!"
Before you continue