Iceborn bloodline

Amid the shattered battlefield and billowing smoke.

Araki Itsuki wore an utterly unrestrained expression, his ravenous, predatory gaze sweeping over everyone.

Suguru Geto felt deeply uncomfortable and instinctively pulled his monk's robes tighter around himself.

"What's the deal with this brat? No Jujutsu, no sign of his Shikigami. But if he's a Cursed Tool Maker, why is that scythe alive?"

And the most disturbing thing was the brat's predatory gaze, as though he wanted to devour them whole, leaving not even their bones behind.

He looked at them like a starving vagrant who had suddenly stumbled upon a lavish feast.

Over the past thousand years, he had seen countless powerful fighters, but never anyone this unnerving.

Elsewhere.

Araki Itsuki looked at Jogo, who was panting in the distance, and offered some encouragement. "Come on, Jogo. These flames aren't nearly hot enough."

Pfft!

The Mount Fuji atop Jogo's head erupted, and he pressed his fingers together, pointing straight at Araki Itsuki.

"I'll kill you!"

A swarm of small, beetle-like cursed spirits burst from the flames, their twin wings beating.

Their wings moved so fast they left only vibrating afterimages as they shot right up to Araki Itsuki.

"You actually have the nerve to embarrass yourself with such boring tricks?!"

Araki Itsuki grinned viciously and swept his monstrous scythe in a crescent arc, slicing every Ember Insect neatly in two midair and sending them falling to the ground.

But just then, Jogo abruptly raised his fingers, commanding every insect to explode.

Boom!

An earthshaking explosion rang out. A towering pillar of flame surged skyward, and waves of scorching air swept in every direction.

Araki Itsuki leaped out of the pillar of fire, jumping toward its perimeter.

"Huh. I thought cutting them apart would stop them from exploding."

But before he could land.

The ground beneath him began to crack, and four or five fiery vents rose from the earth and stone, locking onto Araki Itsuki overhead.

Jogo smiled confidently and formed a hand sign, instantly detonating every vent.

Five terrifying pillars of searing flame erupted at once, charging at the airborne Araki Itsuki from every direction like raging bulls.

Boom, boom, boom!

The pillars of fire collided violently around Araki Itsuki, then scattered indiscriminately toward the ground below.

For a moment, a torrential rain of fire fell!

Araki Itsuki stood at the very center of that downpour, taking the full brunt of it.

"I'm not done yet!"

Jogo shouted, his figure vanishing before reappearing above Araki Itsuki's head.

He crossed his hands, gathered his strength, and slammed them down.

By now, Araki Itsuki was completely engulfed in the exploding sea of fire, the surrounding pillars pinning him in place like chains.

Jogo's heavy blow drove him straight back into the ground.

Boom!

A ball of flame struck the ground with tremendous momentum. The solid earth proved brittle beneath it, splitting into a terrifying web of cracks.

Jogo landed and dispersed the flames in his hands, his gaze icy. "Is that all you've got?"

"Now that we've actually fought, I see you're just a self-important fool. The human world really has descended into chaos. None of you live in reality anymore."

"Such a disgusting display."

With that, Jogo turned to leave without so much as glancing at the crater.

Just then.

"Hahaha."

Araki Itsuki emerged without a scratch, clutching his stomach as he laughed:

"You're just too adorable, Jogo. I especially love how you celebrate before the fight's over. That clueless arrogance is hilarious."

Jogo turned around in disbelief. "What's going on?"

Whether it was the flames engulfing him or my close-range strike, that feeling couldn't have been wrong. I definitely hit him.

Araki Itsuki rubbed his chin, then explained after a moment's thought:

"How should I put this? You did hit me, Jogo, but your flames were far too mild. As feeble as a candle flickering in the wind."

"It's like drinking a cup of warm soy milk in the morning. All it does is warm your stomach. How could it possibly burn you?"

As Jogo listened, dense blood vessels spread across his eye.

Flames erupted simultaneously from his ears and the Mount Fuji atop his head, shooting into the sky and bathing everything around him in fiery red.

The temperature rose rapidly. Even the distant leaves began to shrivel, closing their pores to reduce moisture loss.

"Adorable?!"

"Mild?!"

"Feeble?!"

Jogo had never imagined that such pathetic words would be used to describe his flames.

It was an utterly intolerable humiliation!

His face twisted as he screamed madly at Araki Itsuki. "You dare underestimate me!"

"I'll tear off that smug face of yours and grind it beneath my feet, then burn your bones to ashes!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he slammed his hands together.

Boom!

Countless flames formed from cursed energy poured out of his palms, surging over Araki Itsuki with crushing force, intent on swallowing him whole.

Yet Araki Itsuki's figure flickered, and before Jogo knew it, he was standing beside him.

His monstrous scythe slipped forward and hooked sharply, its elegant, razor-sharp blade severing one of Jogo's arms with almost no resistance.

"When did you-?!"

Only when his arm was severed did Jogo react. He hurriedly leaped back to gain some distance, then channeled cursed energy. White buds of flesh writhed rapidly at the stump, soon growing into a new arm.

"Why didn't I sense any cursed energy?"

"Because I turned off all cursed energy conversion."

Araki Itsuki had no cursed energy to begin with. He had merely simulated matching fluctuations to disguise himself as an ordinary person.

Rather than pursue Jogo, he chopped Rhaast into the severed arm lying on the ground.

A bloody glow appeared, and before everyone's eyes, the entire bloodstained arm dissolved, swallowed completely by the monstrous scythe.

Araki Itsuki lifted the monstrous scythe, his smile growing even brighter and more wholesome as he praised Jogo:

"Rhaast says your flesh tastes pretty good. He'd like a few more bites."

"You don't mind, do you?"

Looking at the cheerful smile on Araki Itsuki's face, Jogo felt a chill for the first time in his life as a cursed spirit, despite standing beneath the blazing sun.

At that moment, he reached the same conclusion as Megumi Fushiguro.

This boy was a monster!

Hanami, standing nearby, could no longer bear it. Hanami suddenly extended both arms toward Araki Itsuki and clawed at the empty air.

"Together!"

Crack.

The harsh sounds of wildly growing plants came from underground. Their rampant growth broke through all restraints, violently tearing open the ground and exposing them.

Countless tough, twisted roots emerged, densely layered and climbing over one another. Driven by Hanami's cursed energy, they struck toward Araki Itsuki like venomous snakes.

Boom!

Countless roots as hard as steel stabbed like spears into the ground beneath Araki Itsuki's feet, riddling it with holes and throwing up clouds of dust.

But he had already leaped up, evading the attack.

The steel-hard roots practically grazed his handsome, wickedly grinning face, whipping past like frenzied pythons and punching countless holes in the earth below.

Yet Araki Itsuki kept his hands in his pockets, rapidly shifting positions as he dodged Hanami's attacks.

"Together!"

Seeing how effortlessly Araki Itsuki moved, Hanami cried out again in that strange voice, urging Jogo on.

Jogo narrowed his single eye and flashed into view above Araki Itsuki.

Roaring flames ignited along his arm, and he unleashed a punch at Araki Itsuki directly below.

Jogo brutally forced a raging, scorching sea of fire into shape, sending the surrounding temperature soaring.

The world around them glowed fiery red, like clouds blazing at dusk.

The unleashed sea of fire roared toward the ground, locking onto Araki Itsuki beneath it and crashing down over his head!

At the same time.

Hanami shouted wildly in that strange voice, bending slightly as though embracing the sky before suddenly clapping those thick, outstretched arms together.

Cursed energy poured recklessly out of Hanami's body, rapidly activating a cursed technique around Araki Itsuki.

Crack, crack, crack.

The ground around Araki Itsuki split and collapsed. Countless thick, tough trees grew wildly, quickly stretching above his head before blotting out the sky and crashing down like a tidal wave.

For a moment.

Araki Itsuki was surrounded by spreading, devouring serpents of wood, with a roaring sea of fire bearing down from above.

Boom, boom, boom!

Earthshaking explosions rang out without end, sending enormous waves of air surging outward one after another.

The distant woods groaned, their trees shaking violently as countless leaves broke loose and spiraled into the sky.

The scorching sea of fire and tough wooden serpents surged brutally toward Araki Itsuki's position.

They ground and crushed everything within, leaving not a scrap behind.

The raging flames poured down for a full two minutes before gradually subsiding. The intense heat rapidly dissipated, spreading elsewhere.

Where Araki Itsuki had stood, the earth was completely charred.

Countless broken roots and splintered trunks lay piled on the ground. Thick, snapped sections of trees jutted limply into the air, with a few flickering flames still clinging to them.

Amid the crackling of burning wood, Jogo wearily released his hand sign and panted as he recovered his strength.

Then he grinned. "Death was the only possible end for that arrogant brat!"

Hanami: "&¥＃€!"

Jogo immediately protested. "Hey, hey, hey! That brat's definitely dead. This doesn't count as celebrating too early!"

Yet the moment he finished speaking, they all felt a chill wash over their bodies.

From the burning pile of shattered trunks and roots, a bone-piercing cold spread outward, mercilessly invading and claiming everything around it.

The roaring flames on the blackened roots jutting up around them suddenly seemed like candles in the wind. They flickered a few times in defiance, then went out.

A layer of ice then covered the charred, burning trees, freezing them solid.

Crack!

Accompanied by that strange sound, Araki Itsuki stepped out of the shattered, frozen trees at the center and appeared before them once more.

The monstrous scythe in his hand had vanished, replaced by an endless aura of cold.

With the slightest rise and fall of his chest, he gently exhaled lethal frost, freezing the blackened ground beneath his feet.

He stood there on the deathly white battlefield, surrounded by frozen, broken roots.

"Foolish child, you cannot stop an avalanche!"

The figure of an icy, imperious queen appeared over Araki Itsuki-the master of the Iceborn bloodline, the embodiment of death.

Death Omen Star Lissandra had arrived!