Snap Bombs vs. Snap Bombs, a Happy Ending for Both

Three days later.

Hajime Kashimo and Shiratori Gotsu stood facing each other on a mountaintop littered with broken trees and craters.

Kenjaku stood more than ten meters away, leaning against a tree as he watched with interest.

Hajime Kashimo rested his lightning staff on his shoulder and turned to Kenjaku.

"Hey, let's get this straight first. I want to incarnate in the same era as Shiratori."

"Of course, that's no problem. Or rather, that was what I intended all along." Kenjaku smiled faintly.

After all, his goal was to bring about the super-redundant assimilation of all humanity in Japan with Tengen.

He was collecting these Jujutsu Sorcerers so that their slaughter of one another would provide ample Cursed Energy for the assimilation process.

Thus, he needed to have them incarnate within the same period to begin with.

He just hadn't expected Hajime Kashimo to join of his own accord after he made a deal with Shiratori Gotsu.

What a pleasant surprise... Kenjaku thought.

And that wasn't the only pleasant surprise.

An appetizer before the main course... A fight between Shiratori Gotsu and Hajime Kashimo... That should be interesting and worth watching!

Hmm... Although there was a little mishap, coming to find Shiratori Gotsu was the right choice after all. He's given me plenty of entertainment~

As he thought about it, Kenjaku couldn't help breaking into a grin again.

"Let me have a good look at the fight between you two."

"Lucky you, Kenjaku."

With that, Shiratori Gotsu dug out an eyeball, the corner of his mouth curling up. "Here I come, Koshika!"

He raised his hand and hurled the eyeball bomb.

"There's no need for a probing feint like that, is there?"

Hajime Kashimo stomped hard enough to crack the ground and charged straight at Shiratori Gotsu, lightning crackling around him. As he dodged the bomb, he raised his lightning staff and swung it hard at Shiratori's head.

"This is how you put some force behind a hit!"

Without hesitation, Shiratori Gotsu raised his left arm and grabbed the lightning staff. The bones in his arm shattered the next instant, and at the same time, Corpse Attraction Shock Blast activated.

"That's got some force behind it, all right. Let me show you something stronger!"

He swiftly severed his arm, then kicked Hajime Kashimo in the stomach, sending him flying backward. At the same time, he made the detonation gesture.

"Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb!"

Seeing this, Hajime Kashimo promptly threw the lightning staff away.

The next moment, flames burst from the arm, which had already been turned into a bomb and was still gripping the staff.

Boom!

The lightning staff was smashed to pieces, never to rise again!

"Not bad, you've got spirit!" Hajime Kashimo landed lightly.

Shiratori Gotsu's kick had barely affected him.

He glanced at the fragments of his lightning staff, then watched Shiratori Gotsu's arm rapidly regenerate, the excitement on his face growing even stronger.

"Keep trying to captivate me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hajime Kashimo charged at Shiratori Gotsu again, raising a fist crackling with electricity and driving it at his stomach.

"Oh!"

Shiratori Gotsu narrowly twisted aside to dodge the blow.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he seized Hajime Kashimo's wrist.

"Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: Second Bomb!"

A strange sensation began spreading rapidly from the wrist he had grabbed.

Hajime Kashimo realized something, his eyes widening. Oh no!

He forcefully shook off Shiratori Gotsu's hand.

But by then, breaking free was obviously too late.

The next moment, Shiratori Gotsu made the detonation gesture.

Boom!

Unlike Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb, which turned the sorcerer's own flesh into a bomb, Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: Second Bomb worked differently.

This move expanded the Cursed Technique's target, using direct physical contact to turn the body parts of the person touched into bombs.

Shiratori Gotsu's inspiration naturally came from a certain peace-loving office worker from another production.

The longer the contact lasted, the more flesh would be turned into a bomb.

At the same time, the greater the total amount of Cursed Energy possessed by the person affected, the slower the transformation would spread.

The shock wave from his own arm exploding drove Hajime Kashimo back several meters.

Blood poured from the jagged stump of his arm and dripped onto the ground, staining the exposed yellow earth reddish brown.

He steadied himself and coughed up a few flecks of blood. The corners of his mouth twitched twice before another excited, ferocious grin appeared.

"You had a move like that too?! Just how much more is there that I don't know about?! Don't get me too excited!"

"Then stop holding back yourself!"

Shiratori Gotsu severed his left arm again and threw it at Hajime Kashimo. "Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb!"

Boom!

Flames shot skyward, and dust billowed in every direction.

But the next moment, Hajime Kashimo's voice came from within the dust.

"Cursed Technique release, Mythical Beast Amber!"

A concentrated bolt of lightning pierced the dust and gouged a large chunk out of Shiratori Gotsu's side.

It continued on without losing any force, flying straight toward Kenjaku.

"I'm involved too?!"

Kenjaku's face went pale with shock, and he hurriedly raised a hand. "Air Condensation Cursed Technique: Layered Peaks!"

The lightning bolt struck the barrier of air and exploded, scattering into electrical arcs.

"Hey, watch it, you two!" Kenjaku shook his arm, which had gone numb from the shock, looking speechless.

"Who cares about you?!"

Hajime Kashimo walked slowly out of the dust.

By now, his appearance had changed drastically.

Surging lightning covered his entire body, his remaining arm had transformed into a claw, and a third eye had grown in the middle of his forehead. His gaze was razor-sharp.

Seeing this, Shiratori Gotsu was somewhat puzzled.

In the original manga, when Hajime Kashimo fought Sukuna while using Mythical Beast Amber, Sukuna's World-Cutting Slash had cut off half his arm.

Then, in the next moment, the severed arm grew back.

The new arm wasn't a claw made of lightning Cursed Energy, so Shiratori could conclude that it wasn't an added effect of Mythical Beast Amber.

So Hajime Kashimo should have known how to use Reverse Cursed Technique, and at no low level of efficiency...

Puzzled, Shiratori Gotsu asked him a question.

"Wait, Koshika, why aren't you using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal your arm?"

"Huh?" Hajime Kashimo froze for a moment, then asked in an equally puzzled tone,

"Since when could I use Reverse Cursed Technique? I did plan to learn it before, but I haven't figured anything out yet."

Then he changed the subject.

"Besides, even with one arm gone, I can keep fighting!"

"So stop talking nonsense!"

Listening to Hajime Kashimo's explanation, Shiratori Gotsu reached a conclusion.

It seemed either he had come too early, and Hajime Kashimo had mastered Reverse Cursed Technique in middle age, or even old age.

Or he had mastered it through special body-swapping training before the Shinjuku Showdown.

But either way, it wouldn't affect the current battle.

So...

"True enough. That stuff... doesn't matter. Forget it!"

Shiratori Gotsu assumed a stance to meet the attack. "Let's continue!"

"Come on!"

The instant the words left his mouth, Hajime Kashimo appeared in front of Shiratori Gotsu and swung a claw at his neck.

So fast!

Mythical Beast Amber could activate the electrical signals in the brain while optimizing the natural vibration frequency of objects.

Under those conditions, Hajime Kashimo's speed would increase enormously.

So much so that Shiratori Gotsu couldn't react at all!

With the sound of flesh tearing, blood sprayed from Shiratori Gotsu's mouth and the wound on his neck.

Hajime Kashimo had no intention of stopping. He swiftly clenched his claw into a fist and drove a straight punch into Shiratori Gotsu's chest, blasting him more than ten meters away.

"Damn, that's ridiculous!"

Shiratori Gotsu rolled several times across the ground before finally managing to steady himself.

His injuries healed rapidly under the extraordinarily high efficiency of Reverse Cursed Technique². Then he raised a hand and dug out his right eye, activating Corpse Attraction Shock Blast.

In that case, it's time, he thought.

At the same time, Hajime Kashimo charged right up to him again.

"Ah~ This fight has been a lot of fun..."

Time seemed to slow. Watching Hajime Kashimo swing a heavy punch at his head, Shiratori Gotsu exclaimed,

"You really are... incredibly strong, Koshika."

"But..."

He pressed the detonation button.

"Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb!"

Hajime Kashimo's eyes widened in shock.

A dense web of cracks spread across Shiratori Gotsu's entire body, and Hajime Kashimo felt a terrifying force envelop him.

The explosive power of Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb was directly proportional to the importance of the body part turned into a bomb.

And now, Shiratori Gotsu had turned his entire body into a bomb.

At the same time, he had made a Binding Vow with his life, releasing the limits on his Cursed Energy.

"This is the strongest attack I can deliver right now."

"Accept my respect for the strong, Hajime Kashimo."

"Art... is Patrick Star!"

Hajime Kashimo knew there was no longer any way to stop Shiratori Gotsu from blowing himself up.

The next moment, everything fell silent.

A fireball rose from the explosion, and a powerful shock wave swept across the entire hill.

The dirt, stones, and broken wood blasted into the air even reached Hajime Kashimo's little courtyard on the neighboring mountain.

Even Tengen, drinking tea inside the Tombs of the Star Corridor several miles away, felt a faint tremor pass through the ground.

After it was all over, Kenjaku, covered in wounds and looking utterly battered, limped to the center of the enormous crater left by the explosion.

"Honestly... If I'd known they were going to pull that, I would've gone farther away..."

Kenjaku had come to watch for fun, but to his surprise, he had been caught up in it and become part of the fun himself.

"Two lunatics..."

After that remark, he bent down and picked up the eyeball lying motionless at the bottom of the crater.

"Oh... Shiratori Gotsu had already prepared an Incarnation Cursed Object before blowing himself up..."

"It wasn't even damaged by the explosion. Incredible... Could it be indestructible, like Sukuna's Finger?"

In fact, Shiratori Gotsu had simply taken advantage once again of the Cursed Technique property that kept bombs created by Corpse Attraction Shock Blast from destroying other bombs.

The eyeball was both an Incarnation Cursed Object carrying his soul and Cursed Energy, and Corpse Attraction Shock Blast: First Bomb.

Kenjaku didn't look into it further. He carefully put the eyeball away, then looked at Hajime Kashimo beside him, whose limbs were gone, leaving him a human stump.

Several more seconds of silence passed.

"Lunatics..."

He muttered again.

On closer inspection, Hajime Kashimo still showed faint signs of life, but he had lost consciousness.

"It looks like he made a Binding Vow by sacrificing his limbs before the explosion, concentrating his Cursed Energy on protecting his vital parts..."

Kenjaku rubbed his chin.

"Forget it, there's no time to lose. Let's start making the Cursed Object now..."

More than ten minutes later, Kenjaku left without looking back, carrying an eyeball and a piece of spinal bone.