"Looks like it turned into SkullGreymon..."
With his azure eyes, Satoru Gojo observed the towering tree at the center from afar as it leaked abnormal cursed energy. If these fluctuations were the result of a successful evolution, they were far too bizarre.
In just a few seconds, the towering tree at the center of their view suddenly warped, transforming into a monster resembling a cursed spirit.
Its branches turned into tough, razor-sharp vine whips that lashed toward Chinatsu and Satoru Gojo at astonishing speed.
BOOM!!!
The ground shattered into countless fragments, and dust billowed into the air. If they judged the monster's attack by cursed spirit standards, it was undoubtedly special grade-and a natural-disaster-level one at that.
However, its attack was nothing more than a simple combination of cursed energy and physical force. That alone could not breach Limitless Defense.
Chinatsu and Satoru Gojo emerged unscathed amid the airborne dust. An energy mass resembling a burning blue flame had already formed in Gojo's palm.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue-maximum output!"
As the radiant, flamelike energy continued to expand, the dust filling the air and the countless fragments of stone on the ground were drawn toward it, gathering together.
Gojo swung his arms, sending the maximum-output Blue hurtling toward the monster. The collision was violent, but the damage was unexpectedly underwhelming. The monster also began regenerating visibly the moment it was injured.
"That thing's seriously tanky."
Gojo could not help commenting. This was the first time he had encountered something that could practically shrug off his maximum-output Blue.
Vine whips thrashed wildly in every direction. Not only did they devastate the space around the pair, but the entire surrounding area, including Jujutsu High, was affected by a small earthquake.
Landing back on the ground, neither of them hesitated. They each extended a hand and formed a finger-gun gesture.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
Their voices rang out almost in unison, and two crimson pellets formed at their fingertips. Once they had taken aim, they fired with pinpoint accuracy.
A deafening BOOM!!! erupted from the monster's chest. The powerful impact blasted a gruesome crater into what was roughly its chest cavity and sent it toppling backward onto the ground.
The attack was devastatingly effective!
However, neither of them was focused on that at the moment. Just as Red shattered the monster's chest, the exceptional perception of their Six Eyes allowed them to faintly detect what appeared to be a humanoid figure rooted inside it.
They had both initially believed that this monster was the body Tengen had transformed into after an evolution gone wrong. Now, however, that assumption seemed mistaken.
The monster was more like a Gundam Tengen had cobbled together using the towering tree and cursed energy. Tengen was merely the pilot-though the pilot seemed to have passed out...
They still had no idea what had gone wrong with Tengen's evolution, but now they could put their minds at ease and get serious about dealing with this monster!
"Don't use Purple until we pull Tengen out. It's too destructive. Even if you lower the output as much as possible, it might still catch Tengen in the blast. It'd be a disaster if we blew Tengen away before we could pull Tengen free.
"Can you handle this big guy using only Blue and Red?"
"Of course. No problem!"
With that, Gojo smiled confidently and abruptly raised both hands. He concentrated fully, his eyes fixed on the monster ahead, and several Blues suddenly appeared on every side of it.
Under Gojo's remote control, the Blues flew through the air like floating gun turrets, tearing apart every branch and vine.
Once that was done, Gojo formed the hand gesture for Red. Rather than firing immediately, however, he prepared to boost its damage further.
Training in jujutsu was essentially the pursuit of "subtraction" taken to its limit. How many chants, hand signs, and other activation steps a jujutsu sorcerer could omit often indicated their level of skill.
After all, who would give you time to stand there chanting and charging up in the middle of a fierce battle? The shorter the windup, the greater the advantage in combat.
But those omitted chants and hand signs were not entirely useless. Completing the preparatory steps properly instead of skipping them could raise a cursed technique's output beyond what an instantaneous activation could achieve.
[Phase]
[Paramita]
[Pillar of light]
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
The projectile of repulsive force formed at Gojo's fingertip shot forward with greater speed and power than before, striking the monster.
The monster's body, which had previously required both of their Reds to break apart, now crumbled under his attack alone.
But... it still was not enough!
The monster continued regenerating. In just a few seconds, a substantial portion of the damage to its body had already healed.
Gojo had only recently grasped Red. Though he could activate it instantly by lowering the output, firing it repeatedly was honestly beyond him.
Still, Gojo had no intention of preparing a second Red. After all, he was not alone.
Chinatsu used Teleportation to appear directly in front of the monster. She glanced at Tengen, who was rooted inside its body, and quickly cleared away the obstructions on the surface with punches imbued with Blue. Then, with a swift, precise, decisive motion, she reached in and forcibly tore Tengen free.
Losing Tengen did not immediately stop the monster. Instead, it attacked Chinatsu in a frenzy.
Chinatsu merely activated Teleportation again with an indifferent expression, smoothly escaping the monster's attacks and moving to safety.
The instant Tengen was rescued, Gojo raised one hand in the distance, bringing his index and middle fingers together and curling them into position, ready to flick.
[Nine ropes]
[Polarized light]
[Crow and declaration]
[Between front and back]
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
In an instant, the imaginary mass created by the collision of Blue and Red-something that did not belong in this world-coalesced into a blast capable of destroying anything in its path.
The monster that could shrug off Blue and even withstand Red was instantly overwhelmed by this attack. Purple light engulfed this section of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
When the purple light faded, the monster lay on the ground, utterly motionless.
Silence returned to the Tombs of the Star Corridor...
Before you continue