As Satoru Gojo's voice fell, a vertical beam shot out of the dust and smoke straight at Sherlock. Sherlock reacted quickly, vanishing in an instant by using the ice-breaking spike he had left behind when Gojo first flung him away.
As the beam dispersed the dust and smoke, Sherlock recognized almost at first glance exactly what move this Tiga with his light on had used.
Specium Ray!
But before Sherlock could complain, Tiga stopped firing the Specium Ray, stood up, and looked toward him. Pressing his hands together above his head, he hurled another serrated ring of light at Sherlock.
Sherlock completely lost it at the sight. As he scattered beacons across the battlefield to dodge Tiga's attacks, he furiously ranted at the Ultraman Tiga who had just thrown an Ultra Slash.
"Are you a fucking fake fan? Since when could Tiga use fucking Ultra Slash? Isn't that fucking Ultraman Ace's move?"
What Sherlock never expected was that the moment he voiced that complaint, Ultraman Tiga froze, then began glowing white in the blink of an eye.
In less than a breath, he went from a giant of light over three meters tall back to the Curse User Eiichi Kurokawa.
Even more unexpectedly, after Eiichi Kurokawa appeared, the Spark Lens fell from his hand. But the instant it touched the ground, it turned to stone.
Sherlock's mouth would not stop twitching at the sight.
So you actually have to believe in the light to turn into Tiga with this thing? Because someone pointed out that you used the wrong move, the Spark Lens Cursed Tool decided you didn't believe in the light, canceled your transformation, and even destroyed itself by turning to stone?
"No! No! No! No! No! That's not it! This isn't how it's supposed to be! I believe in the light! I'm the protagonist of this world! The light can't reject me!"
Staring at the Spark Lens that had fallen to the ground and turned to stone, Eiichi Kurokawa let out a heart-rending howl. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought his wife had died.
Sherlock had nothing to say. Absolutely nothing. He even began to doubt whether the Eiichi Kurokawa in front of him really was the Curse User "Loan Shark."
After all, no matter how he looked at him, this middle-aged guy with what seemed like terminal main-character syndrome bore no resemblance to the exceedingly cautious "Loan Shark."
But to Sherlock's surprise, Eiichi Kurokawa's grief vanished without a trace after only a short while. He no longer mentioned challenging Satoru Gojo, instead fixing Sherlock with an utterly furious stare.
"Today, you die!"
Eiichi Kurokawa pointed at Sherlock with an exaggerated swagger and spat the words viciously, as though Sherlock had murdered his father. Sherlock was utterly speechless and even turned to glance at Satoru Gojo.
His meaning was obvious: Is this guy fucking nuts?
Gojo merely shrugged calmly in response. At some point, he had even produced a box of Kikufuku from somewhere and was eating them as he watched the battlefield with a grin.
Ignoring the slacking Gojo Kitty, Sherlock focused on Eiichi Kurokawa again. But what this delusional lunatic did next nearly sent his blood pressure through the roof.
Still glaring at Sherlock as though he had murdered his father, the guy actually lifted his shirt right after boldly declaring that Sherlock would die today.
Beneath his shirt was a belt Sherlock knew all too well.
The fucking Den-O Belt?
This guy could not only turn into Tiga, but a goddamn Kamen Rider too?
Across both his lives combined, Sherlock had never been so speechless. He clenched his back teeth, and his gaze grew dangerous as he looked at Eiichi Kurokawa.
"Are you ever fucking going to stop?"
As he spoke, Sherlock vanished from the spot, teleporting directly in front of Eiichi Kurokawa's chest. His brass-knuckled fist, reinforced with cursed energy, slammed mercilessly into the Kamen Rider belt.
Under the tremendous impact of his cursed-energy-coated fist, the apparent Kamen Rider transformation belt shattered almost instantly. But Sherlock had no intention of letting this delusional middle-aged man off.
After all, if he didn't finish this guy quickly, who knew what other reality-shattering nonsense he might pull out?
Using the shattered belt fragments as beacons, Sherlock instantly seemed to split into multiple copies, striking Eiichi Kurokawa from every direction with cursed-energy-infused fists.
Every time a punch landed on Eiichi Kurokawa, Sherlock planted another beacon on his body. The more beacons he planted, the faster and more agile Sherlock became.
The top of his head, his back, abdomen, chest, and limbs-within just a few breaths, Sherlock unleashed hundreds of cursed-energy-coated punches, every one landing squarely on Eiichi Kurokawa.
Yet under this ferocious barrage, Eiichi Kurokawa remained extraordinarily resilient. He wasn't even seriously injured, though fear gradually began to creep into his eyes as he looked at Sherlock.
It wasn't that Sherlock's attacks lacked power. Rather, Eiichi Kurokawa's recovery speed far exceeded his expectations, even rivaling that gambling addict Kinji Hakari after hitting the jackpot.
Unlike Kinji Hakari, however, Sherlock could clearly sense that Eiichi Kurokawa wasn't using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his body, but some method he had never seen before.
Watching from the sidelines, Satoru Gojo took off his glasses. His eyes, like an endless expanse of sky, locked onto Eiichi Kurokawa. Only after a long while did he smile.
"Interesting."
After murmuring that to himself, Gojo once again shared the information his Six Eyes had revealed with Sherlock.
"It's not Reverse Cursed Technique, Xia-chan. It's just a simple transfer of the cost! He's using his cursed technique to transfer his injuries to the people who borrowed from 'Loan Shark.'"
After hearing Gojo's information, Sherlock's face twisted into another savage grin. He wanted to see just how many "stand-ins" this Eiichi Kurokawa, known as "Loan Shark," actually had!
Having thrown hundreds of punches in an extremely short time, Sherlock seemed to touch upon the focus he had experienced during that fight with Satoru Gojo once again. The sensation of having complete control over his cursed energy swept through his entire body in an instant.
"Black Flash!"
With a furious roar, black lightning bloomed over Sherlock's fist once again, striking Eiichi Kurokawa with nothing held back.
This time, however, Eiichi Kurokawa could no longer transfer the damage from Sherlock's Black Flash. He could only cough up a mouthful of blood and drop straight to his knees.
And this was only the beginning for Sherlock.
With the boost granted by Black Flash, Sherlock began consciously trying to land more Black Flashes-and his test subject was Eiichi Kurokawa, whom he had already brought to his knees with a single punch!