Dessert in the Rain

November 13, 2018!

Kurourushi fled in utter disarray.

More precisely, an entire swarm of cockroaches was fleeing.

A black tide blanketed the streets. The scraping of shells came from everywhere: walls, sewers, beneath wrecked vehicles.

Countless insect legs skittered over broken glass, making a noise that set the scalp crawling.

Yuta Okkotsu pursued them with his sword in hand.

He wasted no excess cursed energy.

After Long Xi's explanation yesterday, he had chosen to trust him, and the two had shared all the information they had gathered!

And once he knew exactly what this creature was!

Yuta Okkotsu chose to kill it as quickly as possible!

Kurourushi was powerful, and the Festering Life Sword was dangerous.

But that only held true for ordinary sorcerers, not Yuta Okkotsu, who had already been rated Special Grade at such a young age.

The gap between them was like that between a Cybertronian and a hissing Hakimi. One affectionate pat from the former would flatten the latter into a cat pancake.

Before Yuta Okkotsu knew its abilities in detail, it could have held its own against him for a while. Lasting a few dozen minutes, at least, would not have been a problem.

But now that Yuta Okkotsu knew that being cut would cause insect eggs to hatch inside his body, killing him had become far more difficult!

Kurourushi fled without hesitation after only a few exchanges. Perhaps the pulverized area Long Xi had created yesterday had terrified it.

Perhaps it instinctively sensed the absurd amount of cursed energy within Yuta Okkotsu.

Whatever the reason, it wanted to get away from the relentless menace pursuing it at any cost. Calling its escape desperate hardly did it justice.

Again and again, it hurled masses of its offspring at him, hoping to stop him for even a second.

But Yuta Okkotsu simply slashed through the surging insects, wiping out great swathes of them with every attack.

He even had the presence of mind to make calculations.

The other two... As for Kurourushi, the Special Grade Cockroach Cursed Spirit I'm facing now, the Festering Life Sword is its only means of hurting me. If it cuts me, it can breed inside my body.

But... I have Reverse Cursed Technique, which takes a lot of the pressure off. The real question is how to make sure I kill it for good.

As long as even one of its offspring survives, it can transfer all its power into it. That makes it troublesome.

Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro have techniques that release cursed energy and manipulate space respectively. Even though Mr. Long Xi told me about them beforehand...

They're still difficult to deal with...

I have to conserve my cursed energy.

Rika is the most important part.

Until then, Mr. Long Xi will hold them off.

Please.

Hold on until I get there.

...Back in the high-rise district.

This place looked nothing like yesterday's battlefield.

There were no Azure Flames, nor any heat intense enough to distort the air.

A drizzle covered the rooftop and the surrounding buildings.

Long Xi stood in the rain with both hands spread, letting the drops strike his palms, shoulders, and hair.

His wet hair clung to his forehead, and his usually dark eyes had turned a clear blue. He looked less hostile than yesterday, with an indescribable gentleness about him.

This was not the air a flame sorcerer should have had.

Instead, he seemed more subdued, more gentle.

Of course, it would have been better if the live chat had not been posting things like "swagger to the heavens" and "surrounded by swagger without knowing it."

As the pattering rain struck his body, Long Xi closed his eyes and savored the water washing over his clothes, making them cling to his skin.

It really... feels good...

Footsteps came from the edge of the rooftop.

"I finally found some clothes, and now this downpour's going to soak them all?..."

The man with the pompadour stood there, grinning broadly.

Despite his complaints about getting wet, he never paused, stepping straight into the rain.

Ryu Ishigori.

Watching Long Xi in the rain, his chest began to heave harder and harder.

"Hey, hey, hey. Are you serious?"

Ryu Ishigori pointed at him, his voice practically burning with excitement.

"A few days ago, you were a little snack I could crush on a whim. Now you've become the main course?"

Long Xi turned around. Watching the other man bathe in the rain, he slowly curled his lips into an unreadable smile.

"Insisting on fighting to the death in weather like this... isn't that a waste of such a rare rain?"

Ryu Ishigori laughed, growing even more excited!

"Rain? No, no, this is exactly the flavor I wanted!"

Ryu Ishigori instantly raised his hand. Cursed energy gathered at the tip of his pompadour, compressing the air into rings of white!

"Dessert deserves a little ceremony!"

Long Xi watched the mass of compressed cursed energy without moving a muscle.

He simply watched in silence...

Sweet Rain from the Heavens fell more thickly.

Raindrops struck the ground and flowed through the cracks into the rooftop drains.

No one noticed that every trail of water carried a faint trace of cursed energy, spreading into an invisible field.

Ryu Ishigori made the first move.

A cursed energy cannon tore through the curtain of rain, heading straight for Long Xi's chest.

Long Xi sidestepped. The blast grazed past his shoulder and blew an enormous hole through the building behind him.

A deafening explosion rang out, and the entire building broke through the middle, like Abbacchio with his chest punched through by King Crimson.

Long Xi said nothing. He neither intended to use Furious Flame Mound nor immediately employed "Void."

He merely splashed through the rain, closing in almost instantly and driving an elbow toward Ryu Ishigori's ribs!

Ryu Ishigori raised an arm to block and retreated half a step. Surprise flashed across his face, then gave way to even greater delight!

"Not bad! Again!"

The two collided on the rooftop.

Fists, elbows, knees, shoulders.

Cursed energy wrapped their bodies, and every collision cracked the roof beneath them. Ryu Ishigori attacked at a blistering pace. Even while merely testing his opponent, he could have reduced an ordinary Grade 1 Sorcerer to scrap!

Yet Long Xi, in his current state, could fully match his speed, and even seemed to surpass it!

The instant the next heavy punch came, Long Xi dodged it and pressed his palm against Ryu Ishigori's wrist. Rainwater slipped along his skin and into the gaps in his cursed energy flow!

Sweet Rain from the Heavens.

Used normally, it could restore him.

What about the reverse?

Why could the rain provide support?

Because it regulated circulation, stabilized cursed energy, and replenished stamina.

Then understanding "stability" meant understanding "disorder."

He had spent all of yesterday afternoon studying precisely that.

He knew very well that there was a distinct difference between him and the people of the Jujutsu world, and it was not the existence of his system.

It was a fundamental difference...

If innate cursed techniques were like tattoos etched into other people's bodies...

Then Long Xi's cursed techniques were acquired through learning!

For that very reason, his abilities were not confined to a single form! They held far more possibilities for development!

[Sweet Rain from the Heavens-Disorder]

This was an effect he had gained after the cursed technique reached Grade 2. More precisely, it was an effect Long Xi had discovered through his own experiments.

Its effect was simple.

It merely disrupted the target's internal circulation, interrupted the linking of cursed techniques, and weakened cursed energy output.

But against a powerful opponent, that was an extreme debuff!

Ryu Ishigori fired another cursed energy cannon.

This shot was still powerful!

But before it fully formed, slight breaks appeared along the edges of its cursed energy!

Long Xi instantly seized that opening, which lasted less than half a second!

His hand snapped open!

"Furious Flame Mound-Void!"

An invisible impact struck the blast from the side.

The Cursed Energy Blast veered off course and shot into the sky!

The dark clouds overhead were cleaved vertically in two by the strike. Yet after only a few seconds apart, the clouds actually gathered together again!

Ryu Ishigori finally realized something was wrong.

"This rain of yours..."

"How did you do that?..."

Long Xi raised his hand to catch a drop of water. Then, making almost no attempt to hide it anymore, he let more and more rain collect under his opponent's gaze.

It eventually formed a sphere of water, then vanished instantly into Long Xi's palm as though merging with his body!

"I thought you'd notice sooner..."

"Just what I'd expect from you. You're certainly more eager to eat than to read the menu."

There was no frustration in Ryu Ishigori's gaze as he looked at Long Xi!

Instead, he grew even more excited!

So excited that the cursed energy coursing through him began rising higher and higher again!

"Good! Wonderful!"

"You're even better than I imagined!!!"

"So these clouds are what you're relying on!"

He cracked the rooftop beneath both feet, and his cursed energy output surged.

"Then I'll blast these clouds away completely!"

"Slush Shockwave!!!"

An icy-blue cursed energy cannon of unparalleled power shot skyward! It tore straight through the rain clouds, completely dispersing Long Xi's cursed technique!

Daylight spilled through the opening, and the rain was forcibly cut off.

Ryu Ishigori lifted his chin and was about to speak again when a figure descended through the gap in the clouds above him.

Another Long Xi.

Brown hair! Red eyes!

Even his clothes were exactly the same!!!

With his palm facing down, enormous flames began gathering in his hand! Finally, they formed a fireball more than three times his own size!!

Creating an account.

The Character Creation Card was not just for show.

Two accounts could operate simultaneously.

Granted, when both accounts were active, there was absolutely no way to unleash his full combat power.

But recalling one had no conditions whatsoever.

In other words, whenever he wanted, he could return to full strength in the very next second!!

And... there was the effect of Sweet Rain from the Heavens!

As long as one account received a buff, that buff would be applied in full to his other accounts!!!

Ryu Ishigori's pupils contracted.

The Long Xi above thrust his palm downward.

"Void!"

The Long Xi below punched at the same time.

Caught between the two impacts, Ryu Ishigori watched the entire rooftop collapse on the spot.

On a distant building.

A young-looking girl crouched beside an outdoor air-conditioning unit, clutching livestream equipment and biting her finger.

Her eyes were visibly brimming with tears.

She was also muttering things like how frightened she was.

If she had been allowed to curse her boss, she probably would have let him have it, however good-natured she might be!

After all, she was the first livestream assistant Long Xi had drawn using an Assistant Card!

It was perfectly normal for her to have a few special privileges...

It was a life-threatening job, after all...

Now, watching the collapsed building in the distance and feeling the tremendous tremors that kept coming from beneath the ground, she was on the verge of falling apart.

"Why do I have to livestream somewhere this dangerous..."

She lowered her head to look at the live chat, and her face grew even paler.

[Why isn't this in first person?! Damn it, I want to see rivers of blood!!]

[Didn't you say this was actual gameplay footage?! When are you releasing this game? I can't wait any longer!]

[Riko-chan! Strip, look at me like I'm garbage, then stomp the camera hard into the floor!]

[Stop fantasizing! He's got the same special constitution as 44.5! Hurry up and grab a cursed tool, then go trade blows with him! I believe in you-how about learning Domain Expansion in three minutes?!]

"No! I am not putting the camera on the floor so you can get stepped on! And I am not charging in with a sword to see if I have any talent for Jujutsu!"

"I'm just an assistant! Even if you and I won't die, you still shouldn't say such cold, heartless things!"

Seeing the girl on the verge of tears!

The live chat flooded in even faster.

"You guys are seriously twisted!"

The moment she finished speaking, a Cursed Energy Blast pierced another building in the distance.

The girl steadied the strange device in her hands again, swallowed, and switched to idle mode.

They probably can't hear me talking, right...