Takako Uro

The subway station.

Granted, it was already battered, nearly brought down entirely by Dhruv Lakdawalla's Shikigami.

But that battered exterior actually made it less suspicious. With its unique layout, he could amplify his advantages without limit, provided he played his cards right!

That was why Long Xi had chosen it as his second location for ambushing Ryu Ishigori!

He had passed through here just yesterday, too. This was where he and Takayanagi's group had evacuated!

That meant he knew the layout even better... and he had planted his second means of weakening his opponent here.

Emperor Bell fragments!

That Cursed Tool was completely destroyed and could no longer function normally.

But traces of its Jujutsu still lingered in the fragments!

Last night, he had ground the fragments even finer, buried them in the station's load-bearing structures and beneath the tracks, then used Flame Seed to build up the pressure bit by bit!

All he had to do was use Void to send Ryu Ishigori to the designated spot.

Then detonate everything instantly!

No matter how strong Ryu Ishigori's defenses were, it would shave off at least twenty percent of his fighting strength!

Of course, that was the optimistic outcome.

Whether it would affect him at all, and just how tough his body had become after reinforcement with Cursed Energy, were still complete unknowns.

He had even prepared himself for the possibility that all this effort would accomplish absolutely nothing...

But he had other tricks besides this!

Strictly speaking, all he needed to do was stall until Yuta Okkotsu arrived!

As long as he did that, Long Xi could win!

Long Xi raised his mangled hand, flames reigniting along his palm. He just had to lure his opponent over!

Then his conditions would be met!

"Come on!!"

"Dessert hasn't been served yet!!"

Ryu Ishigori lunged forward again, swinging a vicious punch at Long Xi. But just as Long Xi tried to block it...

Someone suddenly seized the air.

A hand reached out from behind Long Xi, folding the sky into a plane.

It was a woman's slender hand. Clearly, neither of them had expected her to appear at a time like this.

When did she get here?

No matter how well she hid herself, she shouldn't have been able to get behind me without me noticing anything.

Was it a Binding Vow?

Why are these people nothing like they were in the anime?

What the hell is wrong with everyone in this world?! Why have they all become kings of borrowing against their future?!

But there was no point thinking about that now!

Takako Uro had silently appeared behind him, both palms aimed at his chest.

"Thin Ice Breaker!!"

The sound of shattering space rang out. Almost instantly, Long Xi heard his own breastbone being crushed.

It wasn't very loud. Like a heavy weight rolling over a thick wooden board, it cracked with a crispness that set his teeth on edge.

Thin Ice Breaker hadn't struck his body, but the patch of empty space in front of him.

But when that compressed plane of space slammed into him, the impact was even more outrageous than taking a steamroller head-on.

Long Xi flew sideways and crashed into the subway station's wall. The wall caved in, bricks and rebar bursting outward together.

Part of his chest collapsed, his organs were shoved out of place, and his throat filled with the taste of blood.

Reverse Cursed Technique immediately began repairing the damage.

But the bones inside his body were already crooked.

He glanced down and swore.

"That woman really doesn't hold back..."

With that, he plunged his hand straight into the bloody flesh of his chest.

The live comments flew past.

[Holy shit, don't bend it! That hurts! I can feel it through the screen!]

[Bro Xi, I'm still a minor! Don't do this to me!]

[Please censor this. Your underage viewers have already died.]

The comments are back?

That made sense. No matter how much Riko Amanai wanted to help Long Xi, she couldn't keep up with the camera under these circumstances.

I'll have her stream from inside the system space from now on.

No more insisting on an on-location stream next time. When is this dumbass system going to give me faster tracking?!

Does it know how boring a mostly first-person view with a little third-person footage mixed in is?!

It's costing me a ton of traffic!

Long Xi had no time to pay attention to the replies in the live comments.

He bent the obstructing broken bones back into place. Reverse Cursed Technique crept along the wound, closing the flesh layer by layer.

The pain left Long Xi's back drenched in cold sweat. He hated pain more than anything.

So he had already made up his mind...

He would beat her until she couldn't use her ability anymore!

Meanwhile, Ryu Ishigori had completely lost his temper.

He turned toward Takako Uro in the air, his expression as ugly as could be.

"You bitch!"

"Don't interrupt my meal!"

Takako Uro floated in midair, the lingering breeze after the rain lifting her long pink hair. Her eyes, set in black sclera, remained fixed on Long Xi.

"Stop getting so full of yourself, XX."

"You're next!!"

Ryu Ishigori instantly fired his Cursed Energy cannon.

Takako Uro raised a hand, grabbed a plane of sky, and yanked it like a tablecloth! The blue-white blast struck the folded plane of space and was forcibly reflected back!

Ryu Ishigori tilted his head out of the way. The blast grazed his shoulder and slammed into a building outside the subway entrance, pulverizing an entire row of shops.

The fury on his face deepened.

"Disgusting bitch!"

"XXXX"

Takako Uro's curses were so filthy that even the author couldn't put them into words. The tension between the two rose to a knife's edge again!

Either side would probably attack in the next instant!

But amid those two surging masses of Cursed Energy, both on the verge of erupting, a far weaker pulse of Cursed Energy appeared!

Long Xi?

He's still alive?

Takako Uro looked toward Long Xi, whom she had blasted into the subway station. That strike should have been enough to put an ordinary Grade 2 Sorcerer out of commission on the spot.

Even the strongest Grade 2 Sorcerer shouldn't have been able to withstand it!

Yet this brat was still standing.

He was healing too quickly.

Reverse Cursed Technique?

No.

Reverse Cursed Technique alone shouldn't be this absurd.

Long Xi coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked up at them.

Ryu Ishigori also noticed something was wrong, but there was no time for either of them to react!

Both Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro had now stepped inside the area he had rigged! The trap originally intended for Ryu Ishigori alone now had an extra guest!

Its power would be split between them somewhat, but that didn't matter! What he needed most wasn't anything else...

He just needed traces of his Cursed Energy to remain on their bodies!

As long as that happened, both of them would fall victim to his trick!

Long Xi raised his hand, and a tiny flame appeared at his fingertip!

"Flame Seed!"

Inside the subway station, every hidden Emperor Bell fragment lit up at once, but what erupted wasn't light!

It was the pattern that briefly manifested when Cursed Energy ignited.

Takako Uro's expression darkened. She immediately tried to grab a plane of sky and escape.

Ryu Ishigori sensed something wrong as well and drove his Cursed Energy down toward his feet.

But it was already too late!

Long Xi closed his fingers.

"Crack!!!"

An enormous burst of flame exploded from inside the subway station.

Tracks, support pillars, escalators, illuminated advertising panels-everything was hurled aside by flames and shock waves. The ground began to shake, long fissures split the street, and wrecked cars parked by the roadside bounced half a meter into the air.

The residual Jujutsu in the Emperor Bell fragments erupted simultaneously under the pressure.

This was no ordinary explosion.

It was a chain collapse triggered by Cursed Energy, flames, and the destruction of the subway station's load-bearing structures.

The entire stretch of ground above came crashing down.

Had Long Xi not prepared beforehand, he probably would have been buried too. The instant the explosion began, he blasted through the side wall with Void, rushed out of the station along his planned escape route, and landed on the street.

Just one second after he emerged!

Boom!

The subway station collapsed.

Dust billowed into the sky, and rubble rained down.

On a distant rooftop, Riko Amanai clutched the streaming equipment, practically flattening herself against the wall.

The livestream was back in her hands. This third-person broadcast was clearly giving the viewers quite a thrill.

"This place really isn't going to bury me too, is it?"

[Relax, you're the assistant. You've got immunity from death.]

[Riko-chan, keep the camera steady! This is the spectacle of the year!]

[Subway station: what did I ever do to deserve this?]

Riko Amanai couldn't help muttering under her breath.

"Why is it always so dangerous around him..."

(There are so many readers that I'm honestly feeling a little overwhelmed. In the past, my readership usually only started growing after the 100,000-word mark. I never expected things to go this well this time.)

(If you notice any problems with the plot or have any ideas, you can join the fan group on QQ.)

(436538513)

(Also, there'll be an extra chapter today! Hope you all enjoy it!)