The Theater.
The once neat, comfortable audience seats had long since been smashed, scattered crookedly across the floor in a complete mess.
Several crushed lamps lay amid the ruined hall, while dangling black wires sputtered feeble sparks.
"Hey, that external force you use to uphold your inner law doesn't seem all that tough!"
A bead of nervous sweat slid down Hiromi Higuruma's battered forehead.
For the first time, his well-fitted black suit felt tight and cumbersome.
Watching the boy standing on the wooden stage, casually beckoning to him in provocation, he asked doubtfully:
"Deadly Sentencing's verdict should have confiscated your cursed energy, shouldn't it?"
The boy clearly had no cursed energy left to reinforce his body and increase his strength.
So why was his physical strength still enough to make Higuruma tremble?
Araki Itsuki chuckled, his tone thoroughly teasing.
"I already explained, didn't I? Young people have big appetites."
Hiromi Higuruma's mouth twitched. He was about to retort when his gaze suddenly sharpened.
"When did you-?!"
Araki Itsuki, who had been standing on the wooden stage talking to him a moment ago, had vanished.
A fierce gust came from his right without warning, quickly drying the moisture clinging to his short black hair.
Hiromi Higuruma hastily raised both arms, but an overwhelming force brutally kicked him away.
Crash!
Their positions shifted, and Araki Itsuki appeared where Hiromi Higuruma had just stood.
"Not bad. You managed to react."
"And you anticipated where you were about to get hurt, gathering the cursed energy scattered through your body to cover that spot and reduce the damage."
"You really are a goddamn genius!"
Araki Itsuki wore an expression straight out of Li Yunlong's repertoire and lavished him with praise.
Hiromi Higuruma braced his left hand against the collapsed wooden stage and stood up. The