"Idle Death Gamble" × "Love Rendezvous"

"Let me get a good taste of your passion during these four minutes and eleven seconds!"

Kinji Hakari swung his fists without hesitation.

Kinoshita frowned and immediately summoned Blood Armor.

"What?!"

Satoru Gojo had once described the texture of Kinji Hakari's cursed energy as "rough."

In short, Kinji Hakari's punches came with built-in critical hits!

Bang!

With a sharp crack, Kinji Hakari's fist smashed through the Blood Armor, and his punches kept coming at Kinoshita.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!!!

"Ora, ora, ora, ora, ora!!!"

Kinoshita immediately used his Construction Technique to create a powerful Exoskeleton.

Kinji Hakari focused entirely on offense, ignoring defense as his fists continued to land solid hits on Kinoshita.

"Muda, muda, muda, muda, muda!!!"

After nearly two minutes of trading blows, Kinji Hakari was finally kicked away.

Kirara Hoshi stared in disbelief. During a jackpot, Kinji Hakari had unlimited mana and health. How could anyone possibly overpower him?

"Cough, cough...!"

Blood was pouring from Kinji Hakari's eyes.

No.

He was bleeding from almost everywhere that could bleed!

Even so, he was still laughing at the top of his lungs.

"Hahahaha! I can feel your passion!!!"

Kinoshita wasn't standing idle either. He used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself while searching for the location of mark three.

Otherwise, with Kirara Hoshi's Love Rendezvous in play, he would never be able to get close to either of them.

Kinji Hakari would simply keep hitting jackpots forever.

"I used dozens of poisons on you. Just go down already!"

Kinoshita's expression was grim. He immediately spotted a rock carrying cursed energy that wasn't its own.

Good!

As long as I touch that rock bearing mark three, I'll be able to touch Kirara Hoshi...

"Love Rendezvous!"

Kirara Hoshi naturally saw what he was planning and immediately activated his cursed technique, assigning mark three to the object in his hand.

The rock was instantly pulled toward the object Kirara Hoshi was holding.

Under Love Rendezvous's marking rules, unless the sequence went in order from one to five, matching marks attracted each other, while different marks repelled each other.

On top of that, Kirara Hoshi could decide whether attraction or repulsion occurred.

That was why Kinoshita had been able to finish fighting Panda before being repelled.

"Tch!"

Kinoshita gritted his teeth as he watched Kirara Hoshi immediately throw the object bearing mark three behind him.

That meant he could only touch mark three by taking down Kinji Hakari first. But with unlimited cursed energy and automatic Reverse Cursed Technique, Kinji Hakari was invincible.

Soon enough.

Kinji Hakari expelled all the toxins through his nose.

He stood back up and looked at Kinoshita. "That was close! I didn't expect you to nearly find a way out!"

Kirara Hoshi grinned beside him. "Just a little short~"

As things stood, Kinoshita had to touch mark three. Kirara Hoshi, who bore mark four, repelled him, while also standing between Kinoshita and mark three.

"So there's no way out..."

Kinoshita looked at Kinji Hakari excitedly.

The two exchanged smiles.

Because Kinoshita's toxins could immobilize Kinji Hakari, the two had reached a delicate balance.

During their first exchange, Kinji Hakari had traded damage for damage and dealt Kinoshita a considerable blow.

But now that he knew about the toxins, Kinji Hakari would fight for half a minute, then retreat to Kirara Hoshi's side to expel them before continuing to wear Kinoshita down.

Although Kinoshita could now last longer, he still couldn't change the course of the battle.

"The fight... continues!"

Kinji Hakari planted his foot and threw a vicious hook at Kinoshita.

Kinoshita dodged repeatedly, then swiftly severed Kinji Hakari's arm with the Blood Blade.

Kinji Hakari paid it no mind. His arm healed mid-swing, and another heavy punch sent Kinoshita flying back.

Seeing Kinoshita retreat, Kinji Hakari jumped back as well.

Because the four minutes and eleven seconds were about to end...

"Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!"

The domain expanded once more.

Kinoshita fixed his gaze on the location of mark three.

Outside the domain, Kinoshita couldn't get around Kinji Hakari, who had unlimited cursed energy and unlimited Reverse Cursed Technique.

But inside the domain, things were different. Kinji Hakari needed Kirara Hoshi to help refresh his jackpot. If he wanted to stop Kinoshita, he would have to give up his risk-free jackpot rolls.

As long as he could fight Hakari without a jackpot, Kinoshita could claw back some ground.

"Heh... so all I can do is force a hopeless disadvantage into a plain old disadvantage?"

"At least that's better than nothing!"

Kinoshita immediately moved, nimbly circling around the two.

Love Rendezvous's attraction worked according to the total amount of cursed energy.

In other words, when two objects bore the same mark, the one with less cursed energy was pulled toward the one with more.

As long as Kinoshita put an immense amount of cursed energy on display, Kirara Hoshi's attraction between matching marks wouldn't be able to stop him.

"Damn it... why does this guy know so much about my cursed technique?!" Kirara Hoshi couldn't help complaining.

For an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer who didn't understand Kirara Hoshi's technique, facing the two of them working together inside the domain would be utterly hopeless.

Unless someone could defeat jackpot Hakari head-on, the two of them wouldn't leave even a single opening.

Only a sorcerer like Kinoshita, who understood Love Rendezvous inside and out, could find a weakness!

"Enough!" Hakari stopped farming jackpots with Kirara Hoshi. "If I can't accept even this much danger, how am I supposed to match this guy's passion?!"

"Kin-chan..." Kirara Hoshi watched Kinji Hakari grow more and more fired up, his eyes full of adoration.

"Here he comes..."

Kinoshita smiled at Kinji Hakari.

If Kinoshita successfully touched mark three, that would mean he could choose to attack Kirara Hoshi.

Hakari's side would then have a weakness.

So Kinji Hakari was right to choose to stop Kinoshita.

"Piercing Blood!"

Kinji Hakari summoned a Car Door while darting aside to dodge.

"The refill I rolled this time is Time Break. It shortens the windup before the draw, so I'll hit another jackpot soon!"

Kinji Hakari launched a Pachinko Ball, and Kinoshita quickly tilted his head out of its path.

That's right!

This race against time was even more tense and thrilling with Pure Love Train's background music playing!

Kinoshita spread his arms excitedly, determined to take Kinji Hakari down before he hit his next jackpot!

"Ochre Scale: Modified!"

Thud, thud, thud!!!

A jackpot only gave Kinji Hakari unlimited cursed energy. It didn't grant him a cursed technique.

That was why his ability to rival Yuta Okkotsu with Idle Death Gamble, and even earn Satoru Gojo's praise, owed all the more to his formidable raw strength!

"Hahahahaha! Put some more force into it!" Kinji Hakari kept using Car Doors to pull Kinoshita around.

Kinoshita took Kinji Hakari's punches without a care. His eyes kept darting about, searching for even the slightest opening.

"Found it!"

The miniature Piercing Blood Kinoshita had condensed struck Kinji Hakari in the abdomen.

This time!

Victory was his!

"Suspicious Link!"