[Durability +2]
[Constitution +4]
[Strength +1]
[Durability +1]
[Durability +3]
[Constitution +2]
[Strength…]
Hearing the constant ringing of the increase in his stats, Kenshin couldn't hold himself back from grinning. His sudden smile made his opponent uncomfortable. They've been dealing blow after blow to each other for almost ten minutes nonstop.
So why, all of a sudden, did the man in front of him grin?
What part of their fight was enjoyable?!
Compared to Kenshin's battered clothes and the injuries he sustained, the Cursed Spirit was in a better condition thanks to his fast regeneration.
Even with Kenshin's advantage in terms of strength and durability, his Constitution wasn't high enough to unlock his high-speed regeneration passive skill.
'His punches are supposed to be weak. But his speed compensates for it. The momentum of his punches was the one what made him able to contend in a fist fight with me. Remove that speed of his and he'd be easy to deal with.' Kenshin mentally remarked. He quickly pinpointed the Cursed Spirit's weakness.
Without his speed, he's just an oversized gorilla that can easily be handled.
Thankfully, Kenshin seemed to have a few things that could help him in this situation.
[Aura]
[Gravity Magic]
Combine these two and he'd like to see how the cursed spirit fares against him.
The moment Kenshin cast the two spells in unison, the movement of the cursed spirit came to a single-second halt, the ground he was stepping on shivered as if an Earthquake was occurring.
That was enough for Kenshin to fully take advantage of the situation.
Left hook. Boom! Right hook. Boom! Left Jab. Boom! Right Jab. Boom! Uppercut. Boom!
Left and right, Kenshin unleashed a flurry of punches that gave no time for the opponent to counter-attack. Saliva and blood splattered on the ground, chairs, and tables, almost painting their surroundings with his purple blood.
Suddenly, something clicked inside his Knuckles, and with a grin on his face, Kenshin tilted his body to the side, swiftly dodging the first attempt to fight back.
He lowered his body slightly and with a muster of his entire strength, Kenshin delivered a punch that made even the air itself seem to twist.
As soon as his Titan Knuckles came in contact with the Cursed Spirit's side, targeting the liver inside, the bonus effect of the Titan Knuckles that delivers a guaranteed critical hit upon 10 consecutive punches was triggered!
"KRRAAGGHH!" The entire hulking body of the cursed spirit defied logic as it was blown away explosively, and a sharp whistle in the air pierced everyone's ears.
FWOOOOSH!
BOOOM!
The body made of muscles collided against everything in its way, tearing up the walls like they're made of paper.
"Guaranteed critical hit indeed." Kenshin smiled after seeing this, his Titan Knuckle releasing a small steam from the friction between it and the cursed spirit.
"Hey!" Hearing someone's voice calling out to him, Kenshin turned himself around and saw the three familiar figures of Maki, Panda, and Inumaki rushing towards him.
"What are you two doing here?" Kenshin's eyebrows furrowed.
"We're here to help. Or at least we're supposed to…" It was Panda who answered, scratching his left cheek, his eyes trailing the destruction left behind when the cursed spirit flew from Kenshin's final punch.
"H-How are you so strong…" Maki muttered while staring at the brass knuckles interlocked in Kenshin's fingers.
"…." Kenshin didn't answer her. He preferred to keep to himself and let her guess. He won't just go around and tell people about himself, even if he knows them from watching their anime.
"The cursed spirit isn't dead yet. So I suggest one of you go and call for some backup just in case I'm unable to hold him back." Sensing the Cursed Spirit pulling himself from the ground, Kenshin immediately barked commands.
Albeit hesitant, Inumaki decided to be the one to call outside for backup. Now that two of the A-Grade Sorcerers are dead with the other one being MIA, it's just proper for them to call for backup.
With Inumaki running off to the exit, Maki and Panda stood behind Kenshin.
"He specializes in speed. Faster than anything you've seen. So don't be surprised when he appears in front of you in a fraction of a second." Kenshin explained to them so they won't find themselves confused and caught in surprise once the cursed spirit strikes.
"Okay." Panda nodded his head. While Maki simply clicked her tongue. Speed is not her forte but at least, she should be able to react just in time, right?
"He's coming!" Kenshin was alerted and just as the word got out from his mouth, the Cursed Spirit was back on the battlefield, his speed causing a gust of wind to blow all around him.
Fwooosh!
Instantly, he appeared in front of Panda, his fists raised high in the air.
"Wha—!?" Panda uttered in surprise and felt an unstoppable force heading his way. He felt all of his fur around his body stand from fright.
"Panda!" Maki finally reached and she tried to throw her weapon like a javelin, hoping to buy some time for Panda to dodge.
Unfortunately, they both lack the speed necessary to compete and the cursed spirit's fist filled to the brim with his speed's momentum, came in contact with Panda's face.
"Gllurrghh!" Blood splattered across the ground as Panda felt himself being pushed by the fist and pulled by gravity.
His eyes turned white as Panda's head harshly connected to the ground, cracking and forming a deep crater in the process.
Boom!
"Panda!" Maki gritted her teeth after seeing her friend hurt. With clenched fists, she grabbed a chair's leg from the ground before rushing forward, her mind clouded by anger.
"Maki!" Kenshin called to her but to no avail, his words just passed through her ears.
"This girl…" He sighed with a shake of his head before rushing to assist her. More specifically, to pull her out of danger before it's too late.
The cursed spirit turned around to face Maki. Now that he was done with Panda, it was time to focus on the others.
When he first saw Maki rushing towards him at speeds that he could barely call as one, the cursed spirit tilted his head in confusion.
"Do you…want to play with me?"
Maki ignored the voice and kept rushing forward. She flipped the chair leg and bent on her knees to slide on the ground.
A swift swipe of the chair leg and she used its tip to pierce the cursed spirit's calves.
'Commendable. But not gonna work.' Seeing this, Kenshin resisted the urge to clap his hands in compliment.
True to his words, the chair leg simply cracked in the middle and the calves that she intended to pierce remained uninjured.
"Tch!" Clicking her tongue, Maki raised her hand just in time as the speeding fist dawned upon her, intending not just to crash her face but also her spirit.
However, just as she closed her eyes while waiting for the pain to come, a few seconds passed and she didn't feel an ounce of pain, not even a gust of wind.
Slightly opening her eyes, they widened in surprise upon seeing a hand blocking the cursed spirit's fist.
"This might sound a bit cliche but you gotta pick someone of your size." Kenshin stared directly at the cursed spirit's eyes in all seriousness before cocking his other fist and unleashing it forward, the air cracking against the speed of his punch.
His fist connected to the cursed spirit's jaw, sending him flying upwards.
However, Kenshin wasn't done. He bent his knees slightly before jumping up high to deliver a spinning kick towards him.
Boom!
Landing heavily on the ground, Kenshin wasn't finished. He intended to finish the fight as fast as possible. He doesn't want to expose himself more than he already has. He's just here to make sure his parents are fine, after all.
Before the Cursed Spirit could get up, Kenshin stomped on his chest hard enough to crack his ribs before bending down and unleashing a flurry of consecutive punches.
1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 punches and so on.
Kenshin doesn't know how many punches he has already thrown. The Titan Knuckles also kept up with him, as for every ten punches he delivered, the next punch would be a critical hit.
The Cursed Spirit's fast regeneration tried its best to keep up with his fury, as the flesh and bones would try to knit itself back together before getting interrupted by a punch that just turned it worse than before.
By the time Kenshin felt his fingers had turned into a mushy mess and his arm strained, he finally stopped.
That's when he realized that he's 5 feet below the ground, as his nonstop raining fists formed an extremely deep crater surrounding him.
Looking down on the mangled mess he's stepping on, Kenshin finally released a sigh. The cursed spirit's face is unrecognizable. Kenshin doesn't even know which one is the head as Kenshin didn't just target the head but also the other parts of the body.
"Let's see you regenerate from that." Kenshin spat on the ground. Why is he so confident?
Because his Ki senses are telling him that there's no wisp of life on the cursed spirit anymore, just a mangled mess that would be too hard to clean up.
Thankfully, when cursed spirits die, every part of their body turns into motes of light that disappear into nothingness.
Stepping back, Kenshin leaped out of the deep crater and landed outside, just in time to see Maki and Panda, who is now back on his two feet, staring at him with a mix of surprise and fear while Maki felt more than just that.
Thud! Thud!
Her heart. It's beating fast and wild. Normally, this only happens whenever Maki gets excited when battling someone or when she accomplishes an achievement in her technique.
But now, there's a new reason.
Watching Kenshin butcher a Cursed Spirit, and now just any kind of cursed spirit but a Special-grade one, into mangled pieces of flesh and blood.
"What are you two looking at?" Casting a cleaning spell on him and taking his brass knuckles back to the inventory, Kenshin raised an eyebrow at the eerie stare that the two were giving him.
Sure, he can endure or even enjoy it when Maki is the only one staring at him but what's with Panda?
He's uncomfortable being looked at by a man, even if he's in the form of a panda.
"You are very strong, Kenshin-san." Panda remained oblivious to Kenshin's thoughts about him and simply complimented him and gave him a thumbs up.
"And you?" Kenshin shifted his gaze from Panda to Maki who quickly looked away with a reddened face.
'Dammit Maki! Why are you getting flustered all of a sudden?! You don't even know the face behind that Oni mask!' She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists before ignoring the question, not even uttering a single word as an answer.
"Hm…" Kenshin mentally shrugged his shoulders and was about to leave when Panda stopped him.
"Wait, Kenshin-san. Are you perhaps… a curse energy user?"
"Curse Energy user?" Kenshin stopped in his tracks and murmured the familiar word in his tongue.
Should he say yes or no? Or maybe just don't answer?
A few seconds in and he's ready to answer.
"…Curse Energy user? What's that?" He feigned confusion. An answer that would make Panda scratch his head to figure out the meaning behind the answer.
There are many meanings behind it but the most prominent one would be, does Kenshin use Curse Energy but doesn't know what it's called? Or he doesn't use it and he simply relies on his pure physical capability.
"Goodbye." Kenshin resumed his walking and waved his hand to bid farewell without looking back.
Maki watched his departing back with a complicated expression on her face.
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 43 - A Jujutsu High scholarship!?]
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