A New Cursed Technique

["Blood Manipulation"]

"Seriously?"

"Another member of the fraud squad?"

Kinoshita tipped backward and sprawled out in the system space as though he had given up.

As a cursed technique belonging to one of the Three Great Families, Blood Manipulation was also the most underwhelming.

The Gojo Clan had Limitless.

Its poster boy was Satoru Gojo.

The Zenin Clan had the Ten Shadows Technique.

Its poster boy was Sukuna.

Only Blood Manipulation had needed someone like Choso in the original story to barely scrape together a user with special grade combat power.

And even that was thanks to Choso's cursed spirit constitution, which let him convert cursed energy into blood.

Otherwise, with how frail Noritoshi Kamo was, he wouldn't even get a turn in the relay battle against Sukuna.

"Wait..."

Kinoshita suddenly opened his eyes.

Although he wasn't a cursed spirit, he could use the Construction Technique to create blood.

That could easily substitute for a cursed spirit's constitution!

"And that's not all...!"

Choso had once used Piercing Blood to counter Uraume.

He had done it with the toxins in his blood.

But what education did Choso have?

He hadn't even attended community college. What the hell did he know about poisons?

Kinoshita grew a little excited. This meant he could pull all sorts of dirty tricks on Sukuna again, and the thought quickly revived his spirits.

As long as he had enough cursed energy, he might actually make these two fraud-tier techniques work.

"System, show me my stats!"

[Kinoshita]

[Cursed energy: special grade]

[Cursed techniques: "Construction Technique," "Blood Manipulation" (2/3)]

[Abilities: "Reverse Cursed Technique," "Cursed Technique Deconstruction"]

(These are derivative abilities of cursed techniques and do not count as innate cursed techniques.)

[Assessment: an exceptionally outstanding special grade sorcerer with an inhumanly terrifying reserve of cursed energy. He could even stand before Sukuna and eat his fill of Dismantle.]

[Number of resets: 12]

"How many of Sukuna's fingers would my current cursed energy reserves be worth?"

[Ten]

"Not bad at all!"

Even Yuta Okkotsu, whose cursed energy reserves were said to exceed Satoru Gojo's, had only half as much cursed energy as Sukuna at most.

That meant Kinoshita no longer needed to worry about running out of mana!

"This time, I'm really going to give that fraud Sukuna a beating!"

Kinoshita grinned so broadly he could barely close his mouth.

"No!"

"Let's throw that fraud of a teacher into the mix too..."

"Heh heh heh..."

[Host, are you drunk?]

Finished fantasizing, Kinoshita warmed up, eager to try out his new cursed technique.

[Option one: October 31, 2018]

[Option two: November 1-13, 2018]

[Option three: November 16, 2018]

[Option four: December 24, 2018]

"Woo-hoo?"

"November 13? Isn't that the day Sukuna's slash took me offline?"

"System, are these dates based on the original timeline or the last simulation's timeline?"

[The original.]

"Fine. Looks like all I did was unlock the map."

In the previous simulation, the choices Kinoshita had made during the Shibuya Incident had led Todo and Kugisaki to join the Culling Game, moving Sukuna's takeover three days ahead of schedule.

The Jujutsu High sorcerers' fighting forces had also been fairly concentrated within the Tokyo No. 1 Colony.

Otherwise, even with Angel there, Kinoshita couldn't have gotten past Kenjaku's Womb Profusion.

Sukuna and Kenjaku both used each other and worked together.

Kenjaku's goal was to merge all of humanity, and one step toward that was ending the Culling Game.

On November 18, Kenjaku had added a rule that the Culling Game would end once every player except Sukuna and Kenjaku was dead.

In other words, without Sukuna, Kenjaku's plan would fail.

To strike while Sukuna was weakened, Kinoshita would need a way to counter domains.

"A genius like me can definitely figure that out without even trying!"

Jujutsu sorcerers had to rely on talent, time, and accumulated combat experience to grow stronger.

But with the system, Kinoshita could improve without limit.

"Makes sense. Everyone else builds up their cultivation step by step through training. Their foundations are flimsy," Kinoshita said, the corners of his mouth rising.

"But me? I use the system to improve my talent and cursed energy, adding to them bit by bit!"

"The superior method is obvious!"

[Then, host, are you going straight to Shinjuku to join the relay battle against Sukuna?]

"No!"

"Send me to Shibuya!"

Kinoshita spoke proudly.

"With this kind of strength, wouldn't it be a waste not to fight the Four Great Disaster Cursed Spirits?"

"That's right! And Toji too!"

"October 31!"

"I'm fucking back, again and again and again!"

"Woo-hoo! Indoors again!"

Kinoshita looked at the soft lighting, feeling rather pleased.

The people around him immediately caught his eye.

"Maki Zenin, Naobito Zenin, Nanami dear." Kinoshita then looked at the grilled squid beside them. "And Dagon's here too!"

Dagon's mature cursed spirit form retained its octopus features, with shorter, thicker tentacles, black spots on the back of its head, and a fierce gaze.

It had a tall, powerfully built humanoid body, its bulging muscles crimson.

Its chest, abdomen, and flanks were black. Its arms were thick, its hands webbed, and its feet resembled beast claws. A pair of short, compact black membranous wings grew from its hips.

"You..."

Dagon turned its gaze toward Kinoshita.

"You actually know my name?"

Kinoshita pursed his lips. "Of course! You're Dagon, the cursed spirit born from humanity's fear of the ocean!"

For some reason, Dagon's eyes grew a little moist.

Although the human before it wasn't as dear to it as Hanami or Jogo, he was the only person there who had called it by its name.

"Hanami was killed. I will avenge Hanami." Dagon looked at Kinoshita. "Leave. I can spare you."

As the head of the Zenin Clan, Naobito Zenin immediately sensed Kinoshita's immense cursed energy.

This grilled squid had already demonstrated defense on par with a special grade, and now a curse user had appeared as well.

"Who are you?!" Maki pointed her cursed tool at Kinoshita.

Kento Nanami also understood Naobito Zenin's concerns, but he hadn't expected Maki to challenge the stranger outright.

Shit, I forgot she can't even see cursed spirits without her glasses. She doesn't know a damn thing!

Nanami stepped in front of Maki and pushed up his glasses.

"Who are you? I've never heard of a modern jujutsu sorcerer as powerful as you."

Kinoshita looked at the two grade 1 jujutsu sorcerers. Perhaps in the last simulation, he would still have considered them useful combat assets, but now they were merely spectators.

"Stay over there and don't move. I'll be right back." Kinoshita stretched his muscles at his leisure, seemingly paying them no mind.

Cursed energy gathered in Dagon's hands, and its gaze instantly turned vicious.

"Human, why are you courting death...?!"

Naobito Zenin looked at Kinoshita and retreated several steps, a chill running through him.

His Projection Sorcery boasted unmatched speed, making him the fastest jujutsu sorcerer after Satoru Gojo.

Yet even when facing Satoru Gojo, he had never sensed such an absurd reserve of cursed energy.

"Die..." Dagon had barely begun to utter the word.

Kinoshita vanished from where he stood.

"Sorry, coming through. Mind moving aside?"