Black Flash

Qingxiao made up his mind. Without another moment's hesitation, he abandoned all defense and stepped forward against the attack, gambling on his body to take a lethal blow head-on.

With an ear-piercing ripping sound, the cursed spirit's cold claws mercilessly sliced open the left side of his waist and abdomen. That entire side was slashed crosswise, flesh peeling back in a wound deep enough to expose bone. Warm blood gushed out, instantly soaking most of his school uniform and splashing crimson across the ground.

Agony tore through his nerves as cold, sinister cursed energy frantically ate into his flesh.

But that extreme pain also forced out the very last reserves of Qingxiao's body's potential.

At the same time, Qingxiao clenched his teeth and endured the agony, compressing every remaining ounce of physical strength and cursed energy to the limit, blending them together at his knuckles. Space trembled slightly, and a deep, pure flash of black suddenly burst forth.

Black Flash!

It was the first Black Flash he had landed in his year of training.

The critical strike, raised to the power of 2.5, slammed precisely into the cursed spirit's core. A thunderous boom erupted through the tunnel, throwing up waves of rubble and dust as the cursed energy barrier enveloping the tunnel violently collapsed.

The eerie howling cut off abruptly, and the nauseating cursed energy slowly drifted away like scraps of fluff.

The instant his formidable enemy was utterly destroyed, the overwhelming pain and exhaustion were suddenly eclipsed by an utterly clear, exhilarating sense of release. His body was ravaged and his blood was draining away, yet his soul felt more unfettered and relaxed than ever before.

The frustration of the bitter struggle, the tension of life and death, and the oppression of the drawn-out fight all vanished the moment he finished off his powerful enemy with his own hands.

"Fuck, that almost went sideways..."

That blazing, vivid exhilaration, which made him truly feel the meaning of life, was an experience his uneventful previous life had never offered.

Qingxiao's unfocused eyes settled on the slowly dissipating embers of cursed energy. A faint, genuine, untroubled smile curved his deathly pale face, and his mind was utterly clear.

"Coming here really was worth it."

The black mist faded entirely, dim light filled the tunnel once more, and the clamor of battle finally came to an end.

Sato Kenta stood utterly frozen, his mind blank. He said dazedly, "So that means Guyue Qingxiao won."

At the center of the battlefield, Qingxiao had held on with his last breath to deliver the finishing blow, and now the taut string within him suddenly slackened. Utter physical depletion and surging agony swept through his whole body in an instant. His vision kept darkening, and all strength left his legs.

He swayed and dropped heavily to one knee amid the dust and rubble strewn across the ground. Cold sweat covered his forehead, and his face was as pale as paper. He was so terribly weak that even staying conscious was an immense struggle.

"Unbelievable... risking my life right from the start, huh?" Qingxiao panted, his voice hoarse and weak. Other people arrived at school looking polished and respectable; he was starting his life at Jujutsu High with severe injuries.

Only then did Sato Kenta abruptly come to his senses. Seeing the horrifying wound across Qingxiao's waist and abdomen, he was instantly scared out of his wits, all his shock turning to panic. He scrambled over, hurriedly stripped off his uniform jacket, and pressed it hard against the wound to stop the bleeding, but he could not stem the torrent of blood.

"Gu Yue! Hang on! Don't close your eyes! Reinforcements will be here any moment!" Satō's voice trembled, thick with tears, excitement mingling with lingering fear. "That was Black Flash! You actually landed a Black Flash! You're incredible, so you have to hang on!"

At those words, Qingxiao managed a weak smile. He worked his sorcery at full strength, slowing the flow of blood from the wound.

He estimated the time he had left. At this rate, I can live another ten minutes at most. Hopefully, help will arrive in time.

In truth, he also knew that even if reinforcements arrived, they probably would not be much use unless there was a sorcerer capable of healing among them. But until the very last second, he would never give up hope of survival.

When faced with a hopeless situation, entrust your heart to hope.

"An ordinary person would probably die within two minutes from injuries like this. I'm different." Qingxiao's sudden words startled Satō.

Once he recovered, hope rose in his heart again. "Do you still have a way out?" This boy had shown him a miracle, and deep down, he felt Qingxiao would not die here.

"No, I can live for at least ten minutes."

At those words, Sato Kenta instantly froze, and most of the little flame of hope that had just ignited was snuffed out in a flash.

Just a moment ago, Qingxiao's "I'm different" had filled him with the wild illusion that a miracle was about to happen. He had even imagined this gifted boy holding something in reserve, lasting until reinforcements arrived to turn things around.

As it turned out, he had no trump card to turn things around. His health bar was simply longer than an ordinary person's, letting him live an extra eight minutes.

Satō's feelings were mixed, half speechlessness and half aching sadness. "You really are... optimistic." The words caught on his lips for half a second before he finally squeezed them out.

Qingxiao did not reply. He merely panted softly, letting his cursed energy circulate slowly as he clung desperately to his final ten minutes of life, a faint glimmer that refused to go out still lingering in his eyes.