"What are you trying to do…?"
Mahito swallowed, his voice already trembling.
Mukuro's lips curved upward, but he did not answer. He tightened his grip on Mahito's fist and suddenly exerted force, yanking his entire body up into the air.
What he did next was the answer.
"Damn it… just die already!"
Mahito roared as blood sprayed from his mouth. His left hand transformed in an instant, five fingers stretching and sharpening into blades that slashed down viciously toward Mukuro.
Crack!
The sound of breaking blades rang out.
Mukuro had already thrown the sword into the air. With his free hand, he caught the blades formed from Mahito's fingers and crushed them all to pieces.
Before Mahito even hit the ground, both of his hands were locked tightly in Mukuro's grip, like they were caught in an unbreakable steel clamp. A sharp wave of pain surged through him once more.
He tried to reshape the soul of his hands, forcing spikes to grow out and stab into Mukuro's palms. But he suddenly realized something.
Inside those hands filled with overwhelming strength, there was no space for spikes to emerge. Or rather, the part of his soul being forcibly crushed could not mutate at all.
"Don't get so arrogant!"
Mahito yelled. A sharp bulge rose on his forehead, as if a drill were about to burst out.
Bang!
In the next instant, Mukuro dragged him down hard and drove his knee upward, smashing it straight into Mahito's forehead. The protruding tip was slammed back in, and his forehead caved inward.
"Pff!"
A mouthful of blood burst out.
The violent impact almost sent Mahito flying, but his fists were still trapped in Mukuro's hands. The recoil instead dragged him straight back.
'Consciousness…'
Mahito's eyes rolled upward.
Curses could not be knocked unconscious. They only died, or lost so much cursed energy that they could no longer move. Yet in that moment, the blow felt as though a massive truck were charging straight toward him.
In the driver's seat sat someone muttering, "It's time to set off, kid."
Boom!
Mahito couldn't even fully process the sensation when his entire body was smashed into the ground. The arms Mukuro had been holding were no longer attached to his shoulders. Dark green blood sprayed violently from both sides.
"Can you struggle a little harder?" Mukuro said calmly. "Otherwise this is really boring."
Noticing Mahito lying motionless in the ground, Mukuro tossed aside the arms he had torn off by brute force. He then lifted his foot and stomped down heavily on Mahito's back.
Cracks spread across the ground like a spiderweb, with Mahito's nearly shattered body at the center. Mukuro's lean frame stood on his back, yet it felt heavier than a thousand tons.
"Ah!"
The scream beneath his foot was heart-rending.
From the very beginning of the fight, everything Mukuro had done was pure humiliation. That was something Mahito could not endure.
A mere human should only ever be his experiment.
As his severed arms regrew, dozens of spring-like muscles shot out from his thighs, trying desperately to force Mukuro off.
Mukuro remained silent and simply applied a little more pressure with his foot.
Mahito, who had barely lifted himself even a fraction, was crushed back down again.
Deeper. Tighter.
"Black… Flash!"
Feeling that terrifying pressure, Mahito abandoned his original plan. His right arm twisted unnaturally and punched upward toward Mukuro's leg.
But before it could land, Mukuro caught his wrist.
Using Mahito's body as a foothold, Mukuro leapt upward, dragging the curse out of the ground with him. Then just like throwing the baseball during the exchange event, he hurled Mahito away with brutal force.
Mahito's body smashed through several trees in succession, then struck the river's surface and skipped across it like a flat stone skimming water.
Only after flying dozens of meters did he finally stop, sinking into the middle of the river.
"That throw wasn't bad, right?"
Mukuro still had time to turn around and ask Kokichi, who stood behind him in stunned silence.
"As expected of you, Fushiguro-sensei…"
Kokichi blinked blankly, then began clapping without even realizing it. Treating a special grade curse like a toy was probably something only a special grade sorcerer could do…
He swallowed hard.
Several dozen meters away.
"That bastard… heheheh…"
Mahito's entire body lay submerged in the river. Beneath the water, he stretched his blood-soaked mouth into a grin while muttering to himself.
In his inner world, it felt as though a butterfly were about to break free from its cocoon. The brain-rushing sensation brought by Black Flash had not faded yet, and on top of that came the suffocating pressure from his opponent.
In this brief moment of hard-earned breathing room, he finally saw it clearly.
The true shape of his soul.
At the same time, the burnout period of his technique had just ended. Everything aligned perfectly. This was a chance given by God.
"Idle Transfiguration."
He pressed both hands to his face. His body swelled into a mountain of flesh, splashing water everywhere, then abruptly shrank again.
Amid a rain-like spray, the fully transformed Mahito stood on the surface of the river.
"Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing."
His former human appearance was gone. Now, he finally looked like a true curse. For a short time after this transformation, all of his attributes far surpassed their previous limits.
"You've finally reached this stage."
Unlike Kokichi's shock, there was satisfaction on Mukuro's face, as if everything had gone exactly as planned.
"Mm. Right now, I just want to thank you."
Mahito spoke softly, sounding like a polite young man offering sincere gratitude. He could hardly wait to turn the tide of the battle.
But since his technique had recovered, it was time to cause a little trouble first.
"Blegh!"
He spat out several tiny transfigured humans from his mouth. They were fresh stock he had saved before coming here, though he had not expected to use them.
"Idle Transfiguration."
After activating his technique and throwing them out, those tiny figures, no bigger than fingers, instantly changed shape in midair. The twisted beings, now resembling curses, began charging toward Mukuro.
Among them were two whose presence and strength clearly stood out.
"Fushiguro-sensei, they were originally—"
Worried that his teacher might hesitate after learning they were once human, Kokichi hurried to warn him.
"They are not anymore." Mukuro cut him off.
"Go on! Kill them! Kill more humans! Let me see whether a special grade sorcerer's soul will tremble!"
Mahito shouted smugly.
What he failed to notice was that under the moonlight, the number in Mukuro's right eye had already switched to "1."
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