Chapter 78: Todo VS Kirara Hoshi, Okkotsu Yuta.
Tatsuro looked at the three arrows in his body, his eyes wide with surprise. As he fell, there was a "clang." White smoke appeared, and a section of a log, now on the ground, bounced a few times. The three blood-tipped arrows were all embedded in it.
The real Tatsuro, however, had vanished into the smoke. Noritoshi Kamo, seeing the log emerge from the smoke, shouted, "Mechamaru! Dodge quickly!"
Thump!
A violent roar sounded as the smoke was instantly blown away. Mechamaru flew out from it, but it had lost an arm.
It tumbled twice before scrambling up from the ground, its green eyes fixed intently on Tatsuro, shouting, "Be careful! This monster knows 'Reverse Cursed Technique' and 'Black Flash'!"
Mechamaru already had thoughts of retreating. He only had two controllable cursed corpses in total. The one destroyed yesterday was unrecoverable. If this one was destroyed today, it meant he would have no combat power until a new controllable cursed corpse could be made.
Tatsuro pulled his fist out of the wall and looked at Mechamaru, who had escaped with a severed arm. "If Noritoshi Kamo hadn't warned you just now, I would have blown your head off with one punch."
"Go to hell, bastard! How dare you aim for my face? Tsukumogami Manipulation - Sickle Weasel Severance!"
Momo Nishimiya,stepping on her broom, now charged towards Tatsuro's back. Yellow withered leaves rustled on the ground. With a swift turn, cursed energy whipped up the wind, forming sharp wind blades mixed with dust, and swept towards Tatsuro.
Although it looked ferocious and its attack path covered the entire narrow passage, in Tatsuro's eyes, this move was full of flaws. While the cursed energy was concentrated at the moment the technique was unleashed, by the time it spread to cover the whole path, the cursed energy distribution had become chaotic.
Though it would be difficult for a normal person to see this, he had the Sharingan.
Under everyone's gaze, Tatsuro merely shifted one step to the left. The wind blades struck him squarely, but it felt like nothing more than a gentle breeze blowing past.
Beside him, however, shallow gashes appeared on the sturdy wall, and the ground was ravaged by the wind blades, looking as if it had suffered death by a thousand cuts.
"What! He actually dodged it!?" Momo Nishimiya, who had thought Tatsuro would be dead or at least severely injured, was now astonished. And at this moment, his hands were already a blur of afterimages, forming seals she couldn't comprehend, his mouth seeming to mutter something.
"Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger! Great Fireball Technique!"
Tatsuro took a deep breath, his chest puffing out significantly. It felt as if a burning fireball was in his throat. As he exhaled, a monstrous fireball, consuming 200 cursed energy, flew towards Momo Nishimiya.
Like a miniature sun, it made the slightly cool early autumn noon turn scorching hot; the air itself seemed to distort.
Noritoshi Kamo, who had been preparing to make a move, now also had thoughts of retreating. Seeing the fireball flying into the sky, he lowered the bow he had already drawn full.
There was no need to test his strength any further; continuing to fight was meaningless. Reverse Cursed Technique, Black Flash, those bizarrely perceptive eyes that seemed to see through everything, and the fire techniques he already knew about.
Although why those three arrows had hit a log earlier was a mystery, now was not the time to investigate. If they didn't leave, they'd all be taken down.
Momo Nishimiya, having narrowly avoided the fireball, had no intention of fighting anymore. Her technique had been completely seen through. She glanced at Noritoshi Kamo, her captain, and shook her head.
Mechamaru also reminded in a low voice, "Let's go. This is my last cursed corpse. If it's destroyed, I'm done for."
"Alright." Noritoshi Kamo nodded, put the arrows from his hand back into the quiver at his waist, clasped his fist, and said, "We lose. Goodbye."
"Wait a minute. My sword was broken by your blast. If you can't give me satisfactory compensation, you might not actually be able to leave," Tatsuro said, walking towards the one person and one cursed corpse.
Although he didn't have much cursed energy left at the moment, as long as he maintained a strong outward appearance, there wouldn't be a major problem. After all, not everyone was like Gojo-sensei, possessing the Six Eyes that could see through cursed energy.
This wasn't some big secret in the jujutsu world; it could be easily found out. Just ask any sorcerer of first-grade or higher, and they would know.
Watching Tatsuro steadily approach, Noritoshi Kamo was now in a difficult position. He didn't know if Tatsuro was bluffing; after all, Reverse Cursed Technique and that fireball clearly consumed a lot of cursed energy.
But he just couldn't be sure. And if they fought, his side wouldn't gain any advantage either. He looked at the broken sword on the ground in the distance and said, "After the competition ends, I will compensate you with a better cursed tool. I give you the Kamo family's honor as a guarantee."
"Deal."
Having achieved his goal, Tatsuro also stopped. Looking at the two leaving, he shouted, "What are you still doing looking down from the sky? You think I really can't get to you?"
"None of your business! Do you own the sky? Why are you so nosy? Can't I just look?" Momo Nishimiya, from twenty meters up, glanced at him and then flew off directly.
Sensing no one else was around, Tatsuro deactivated his Sharingan, sighed a turbid breath, and plopped down on the ground. This battle had been too exhausting. And it felt like they were targeting him specifically.
Being surrounded in the forest the first time was a coincidence, but being singled out by three people the second time didn't make sense. Shouldn't they have gone after Okkotsu Yuta?
He was someone who could temporarily fight Todo to a standstill. Were these three out of their minds? Coming after him.
The only conclusion he could draw was that someone in the Kyoto higher-ups was wary of his strength. But even if he reached this conclusion now, there was nothing he could do. He was still too weak...
"Master, save me!"
Shura's voice came through his mind.
Tatsuro frowned and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's a very tall..."
"Hey! Shura! What's wrong with you? Answer me quickly!"
Tatsuro immediately stood up. He could sense that Shura had already fallen into an unconscious state. And the only conclusion he could draw at this moment was that Okkotsu Yuta and senior Kirara Hoshi had encountered Aoi Todo!
But... he himself no longer had enough cursed energy to fight Todo. He could only wait for his cursed energy to recover...
"Hahaha, you guys are pretty good! What are your names?" Aoi Todo said, having knocked out the attacking Tibetan Mastiff and tossed it aside, now looking at the two Tokyo school members before him.
Although the higher-ups had distributed profiles of the Tokyo school members, his attention had been solely on his best friend; he hadn't looked at the other three at all.
"Okkotsu Yuta." Okkotsu Yuta gripped his long sword tightly, his eyes, once timid, now changed. He infused Rika's cursed energy into the blade, staring intently at Aoi Todo. He had always hidden behind others before; he didn't want to be like that anymore, hiding behind everyone.
Rika's power should be used to protect others!
I... am strong!
"Kirara Hoshi." Kirara Hoshi, who had made contact with Aoi Todo before, also activated their cursed technique, 'Interstellar Flight.' They glanced at the unconscious Shura, anger undeniably welling up in their heart.
They said to Okkotsu Yuta, "Junior Yuta, just go all out. Don't worry about anything else. Believing in me is enough."
"Yes!"