The Battle with Mahito

Unlike the peaceful scene on Okkotsu's side, things on Kamo Xu's end had already become a ticking bomb, ready to explode at any moment.

Before him stood a man he had never seen, but one glance at the unmistakable stitched scar across his forehead told Kamo Xu who he was: the culprit behind every tragedy.

-Kenjaku.

A scumbag from a thousand years ago who, for the sake of the bizarre ideas in his head, had personally turned his own brain into a curse. As long as he slipped it into someone else's skull, he could possess them completely.

It was hard to say whether this ability was his cursed technique, or whether the bastard had already turned himself into a "cursed spirit."

"You seem to know me, but I'm quite certain this is our first meeting."

The man smiled, addressing Kamo Xu in a nauseating tone. "Would you be willing to hand Suguru Geto over to me? In exchange, I'm willing to pay any pri-"

Whoosh!

His only answer was an attack.

A shot of Piercing Blood, laden with towering hatred and bone-deep killing intent, hurtled toward him. Its cursed energy was so dense that the attack itself had turned pitch-black.

Emotionally unstable and on the verge of breaking down at any moment, Kamo Xu poured every bit of his overflowing emotion into his cursed technique. The soul within his blood wailed along with it.

Kenjaku's expression changed in alarm. He had never expected Kamo Xu to open with a killing blow without so much as a word.

Fortunately, he had not been entirely unprepared. His long years of experience made him instinctively retreat, and another revolting voice rang out.

"Multiple Souls-Body Extraction!"

The ground beneath them instantly split open. A wall glowing pale gray rose from below, bursting through the surface to stand between Kamo Xu and Kenjaku.

With a clang, Piercing Blood struck the wall head-on, producing a metallic roar.

But this was an attack Kamo Xu had launched himself. A pinprick-sized hole appeared in the wall.

Then something grotesque happened. The wall began to howl, eyes sprouting across it as it cried out shrilly like a child, "Mommy!"

There was more than one voice. It was like countless individuals had been forcibly kneaded together into modeling clay-though this was far harder than clay.

And the wall was not the only thing injured.

It could not stop that curse-laden shot of Piercing Blood at all. The attack punched through and struck Kenjaku directly!

Unfortunately, its aim was slightly off.

The shot had originally been aimed at the brain inside his skull, but the sudden appearance of the flesh wall had thrown it off course.

It merely blasted away the lower half of Kenjaku's head. His entire jaw was sheared off on the spot, leaving a pink, blood-smeared tongue exposed to the air.

Kenjaku could no longer speak, so negotiations naturally could not continue.

Terrified, he hurriedly retreated, not daring to linger in Kamo Xu's line of sight.

Fortunately for him, Kamo Xu had no interest in Kenjaku's wretched state. Instead, he looked along the wall...

At its edge crouched someone wearing a ragged black shirt, looking as though he had wrapped himself in a black plastic bag. His hands were pressed against the ground, transformed into a ball of flesh.

A thin cord extended from the flesh ball, connecting it to the wall.

The answer was obvious. That was Mahito.

His emotions had found a target, and the cursed energy surging around him had found its enemy.

Every last bit of it became invisible needles, yearning to pierce that animal on the spot.

Yet the bastard at the center of this cursed energy storm seemed utterly unconcerned. Still grinning, he slowly stood and pouted in the direction Kenjaku had fled.

"Huh? He's running already? For a human who's so good at talking, he sure is a coward."

With a snicker, he turned to face Kamo Xu's eyes, already blazing with fury and even gleaming a vicious red in the dim night.

"Oh dear, why are you so worked up? This should be our first meeting, right? Let's introduce ourselves."

"My name is Mahito. I was born from the fear and curses humans harbor toward one another."

"I really like the scent coming off you right now~"

He smiled and narrowed his eyes, deeply inhaling the hatred that stung his skin. Then... he added fuel to the fire. "Just like your mother's..."

Boom!

Cursed energy abruptly unleashed a shock wave. The air was compressed and shoved aside into a gale, instantly filling the narrow alley.

At the storm's center, Kamo Xu had been utterly enraged by that animal. He no longer had any attention to spare for Suguru Geto or Kenjaku.

He would crush that cursed spirit's head with his own hands, break his bones, tear off his flesh and skin, and grind him down bit by bit until he was blasted into scraps!

Kamo Xu moved. It was not Domain Expansion, not Flowing Red Scale, not an innate cursed technique.

It was a pure attack, utterly devoid of technique or structure.

"So fast~ How scary!" Mahito laughed. Just as he had expected, this impulsive fool had not bothered to consider what his cursed technique was. Completely consumed by emotion, all Kamo Xu wanted now was to vent the resentment in his head.

He was actually stupid enough to close in without any defenses!

Mahito raised his palm. Although Kamo Xu was much faster than him, as long as they fought hand to hand, he would have plenty of chances to "touch" this man!

And with his cursed technique, Idle Transfiguration, once his hands touched Kamo Xu's flesh, he could knead his soul however he pleased, like a lump of modeling clay!

What an idiot...

In an instant, Kamo Xu closed in and threw a punch... but just as Mahito prepared to reach out with a vicious grin, he sensed something wrong.

Thud...

The fist met flesh, and a flash of black lightning streaked past.

This phenomenon only had a chance of occurring when the gap between the physical strike and the cursed energy impact was less than one ten-thousandth of a second. Using the sorcerer's own cursed energy and physical strength as its base, it produced a specially amplified attack calculated, on average, to the power of 2.5!

The tiny sparks swelled violently in the wind. As Kamo Xu's fist slammed into Mahito's face, they became thick serpents of lightning, crawling across and striking the cursed spirit's entire body. The residual cursed energy spilled outward into the innocent buildings beside them, blasting through numerous surrounding structures with a deafening crash.

At the same time, that explosive force sent Mahito's body flying, embedding him deep in the rubble...

In the depths of his agony, Kamo Xu had landed the first Black Flash of his life.

Dust and smoke filled the air. Watching the battle secretly from a distance, Kenjaku's pupils suddenly contracted in shock. Blackness of that intensity was already approaching that of the special grade cursed spirit called Rika.

Where did he get such an enormous reserve of cursed energy!?

From his mother alone? No... that's not right!

This lunatic... could he have cursed himself!?

Kenjaku had guessed correctly. Kamo Xu was no longer a purely human being. The flesh his mother had torn away and swallowed, and the eye she had gouged out, had not been restored through Reverse Cursed Technique.

They were the products of repeatedly [cursing] himself as he sank into grief and despair!

It was a cursed spirit sharing his body and name, thorns coiling around his soul-a curse born of [Yang Xu].

Mahito's body flowed out through the gaps in the rubble like water. After reforming into a human shape, he made a show of letting out a breath. "Whew, that scared me to death. That hit just now was reaaally terrifyyying."

He brushed the dust off the black cloth wrapped around him, his expression growing even more mocking. "Too bad it's useless! No matter how strong your attacks are, they're pointless if you can't hit my soul!"

"Hahaha! Look at you, like a hysterical beast, yet all you can do is howl meaninglessly at your enemy~"

"You pathetic thing! Hahahaha!"

Bang!

His laughter cut off abruptly as another fist struck his face. Kamo Xu, who had been ten meters away, appeared before Mahito in an instant and punched him back into the rubble.

The dust that had yet to settle rose again, this time completely enveloping them both. From outside, only vague outlines could be seen.

And fist after fist flashing with black lightning...

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

The sound hardly resembled blows striking flesh. It was more like a tremendous series of explosions. With every punch, the force erupting through Mahito's body and blasting his flesh apart could be heard clearly.

Five times. Five consecutive Black Flashes.

It was not that Kamo Xu could no longer unleash those attacks that defied common sense.

It was that Mahito's counterattack had arrived!

With his upper body embedded in the ground, one arm instead reached out, thrusting straight toward Kamo Xu's abdomen.

Mahito's plan was lovely. As long as this surprise attack connected, he could instantly reshape and alter Kamo Xu's soul.

Even if he could not kill him in one go, he could at least halt this relentless assault for a moment. Not only would it interrupt his Black Flashes, it would also make him hesitate to close in again.

His inability to be killed by physical attacks was an innate advantage!

And so... his palm reached out and pressed against Kamo Xu's abdomen...

Nothing stopped him. Instead, his head took the fifth and final Black Flash.

As he was punched into Mother Earth's embrace once more, his own hand also made contact with Kamo Xu's soul!