'Damn it,' Reiji cursed as he fought through the biting pain in his right eye. The trio rushed toward the charging curse, a monolith of grotesque viscera mashed together in a hurry. The countless limbs at the base of the abomination allowed it to move with disturbing speed.
Before the imminent clash, a bud sprouted from its side and quickly enlarged into a long tentacle, grotesquely stitched from hearts, kidneys, and lungs, all bound together by writhing intestines.
"C-c-c-an-c-cer…" a mouth formed at the centre of the obelisk, muttering in a broken, inhuman tone.
The creature swung its massive limb toward them with such overwhelming force that even a single hit could have killed all three.
"I got this!" Gojo declared as he leapt forward, raising his hand. With a casual gesture, he activated Limitless, manifesting the concept of infinity into reality. The tentacle froze in mid-swing, halted as though the very idea of reaching them had been denied to it.
'Absurd,' Reiji thought, breaking off with Geto to target the main body.
Geto turned to him, gave a knowing nod, and summoned a few grade-2 curses. In response, the abomination sprouted three more vile, smaller tentacles, lashing out with terrifying speed. Geto's summons were obliterated instantly.
'I need to defend,' Reiji thought grimly. He crossed his wrists, covering his arms with the twin blood daggers, and blocked a strike aimed at his torso. The force was far greater than he had anticipated and the impact sent him crashing back. "Argh!"
Geto fared better. He summoned two grade-1 curses, holding the line against the writhing limbs with great efficiency, while Gojo toyed with the massive tentacle as though it were nothing more than a child's toy.
Reiji staggered upright, fighting through the pain in his eye, and the bruises along his body. Dismissing his daggers, he reshaped them into a hovering mass of blood, one hand clutching it while the other covered his burning eye.
The throbbing behind his socket made him grit his teeth as he moved both his hands and covered the blood with his palms. He then started to compress the orb of blood with great precision.
'I need more blood.' He manifested the thought into reality, willing crimson fluid to rip through the skin of his arm, streaming into the orb in between.
From the corner of his eye, Geto noticed the shift in Reiji's stance. 'He is charging something. Standing still and gathering blood like that… it must be a high-output technique.'
"Move!" Reiji shouted as he finished compression.
Without hesitation, Geto pulled back his curses, and Gojo sidestepped with a grin.
Reiji braced himself, palms closed tight around the orb.
"Blood manipulation: Piercing Blood!"
A crimson beam erupted, breaking the sound barrier as it tore forward — too fast and too concise for any grade-1 curse to evade. It skewered straight through the abomination's base, then with a sharp upward motion of Reiji's arms, the blood laser cleaved the monster clean in half.
The curse let out a final warped cry before vanishing in a burst of cursed energy. Exhausted, Reiji collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. His skin had gone dangerously pale. With meticulous control, he sealed off the wound on his arm, halting any further blood loss.
Geto's eyes widened slightly. 'He realized we were short on time and exorcised it in one strike… impressive.'
Gojo, unfazed, rushed ahead toward the writhing mass of curses still merging into something greater. "Alright! On to the next!"
Geto gave Reiji a brief, thoughtful glance, then followed.
Choking, Reiji muttered, "These guys are amazing… I want to… I want to be like them." Determination surged within him.
"Flowing Red Scale, stack one."
Veins bulged under his skin as his blood circulation accelerated. His body strained, but in an instant his speed skyrocketed… enough to close the gap with Gojo and Geto in a single burst.
'My body can't sustain stacked Flowing Red Scale for long… but I can't fall behind.'
The fusion ahead was not complete, but the cursed energy output was already on par with a semi-special grade. Anticipating the trio's charge, the abomination sprouted countless tentacles, flinging them in a violent storm toward its enemies at unbelievable speed.
The three braced themselves, Gojo extended Infinity, wrapping them in a protective cocoon. The tentacles writhed and smashed against it with terrible force.
"My technique's the perfect defence," Gojo admitted in an uncharacteristically blunt tone, beads of sweat gathering at his brow. "But I can't hold this forever." A nervous smile tugged at his lips as the strain of constantly maintaining infinity caught up to him
Still calm, Geto studied the storm of limbs constricting around them. "So, if you release your technique, we'll be crushed instantly. And even if we slip through…"
Reiji sat cross-legged, turmoil flashing across his face. "This thing will keep throwing tentacles to keep us away. And even if we get close… a semi-special grade like this can almost certainly regenerate. If we don't kill it in one shot, it'll just keep coming back."
He turned to Gojo, sweat dripping down his face. "Can you kill it in one shot?"
Gojo grinned, though strain evident in his posture. "Heck yeah I can. But I'll need to boost my output for that. And the second I drop Infinity; this thing comes crashing down on us. Not to mention… if it spams tentacles again, and they block my attack, we're cooked."
Geto's sharp gaze cut through the chaos. "I might be able to stall them… if I get an opening."
Reiji's eyes narrowed as a desperate plan took form. "The first door to the corridor was sealed with charms that obscure cursed energy — that means sensei doesn't know what's happening here."
Gojo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, genius, we figured that out already."
Reiji ignored him. 'This is the only way…'
"I can create an opening. The rest is up to you."
Gojo strained against the mounting pressure of Limitless, while Geto nodded without hesitation.
Reiji rested his palms on his knees, shut his eyes, and fell into a meditative pose.
As he focused, memories of the very first time he attempted this technique flashed before him.
*******************************************************************************
Reiji sat cross-legged in his room; his eyes shut in a deep meditative trance. Beside him lay a knife — not just any blade, but a cursed tool of the Kamo clan.
Its edge was wide enough to cut deep and sharp enough to carve bone. Breaking from his trance, Reiji looked at the knife with tired, lifeless eyes.
'I've had enough…'
His thoughts drifted back to that fateful winter's day — the day the mysterious ancient treasure awakened, and the day his entire family was butchered before his eyes.
The curse embedded in his right eye was the only reason the main family still tolerated his existence.
"You must tame Akame by the time you come of age. Otherwise, you're nothing but a threat," an elder had warned.
'Yeah… I should just die.'
He grabbed the knife with both hands and pointed its deadly tip toward his throat.
'I wish I could see Mother one last time…'
He shut his eyes, tears rolling freely down his pale cheeks. With a deep breath he shoved the knife into his neck.
Horrifying pain flared as he pulled the blade back and threw it aside. Blood surged from the wound, pooling on the floor.
As his lifeforce ebbed and his vision blurred, his life flashed before him — his mother's face appearing amidst the darkness.
She had always smiled despite her harsh life, and she was the only person who wanted him to live. Her sweet voice had always dragged him back from despair. Not anymore. She was dead.
"Rei… as long as you do your best, I'll be really happy! You are my happiness after all!"
'I'm sorry, Mother…'
"Live…"
A voice echoed in his head.
"Live…" again.
"Live!!" His mother's voice resounded, clear as day, as if she were beside him whispering into his ear.
This was no memory.
Reiji's eyes burst open with newfound drive.
"Live."
"You must live!" the voice continued to echo.
'Mother?'
'W… what? She's here?'
"Please live!"
More tears came as Reiji felt her presence, her scent, her voice, everything felt real.
'It's too late now…;
'I'm sorry Mom…'
Instinctively, his lifeless arms pressed against the wound, trying to stop the blood.
'No… I have to try…'
His mind raced as he frantically held on to life.
'Visualize it.'
'Visualize the core!'
Desperation is a powerful teacher. When a person is cornered, and death waits behind them, the only path left is forward. In that instant, survival ceases to be a choice and becomes an instinct… an instinct that can bend cursed energy itself to one's will.
Thus, on the edge of the void, Reiji Kamo awakened his reverse cursed technique.
*******************************************************************************
"Reiji!" Gojo's voice slammed into his mind like a hammer, dragging him back from the edge.
He gasped for breath, the phantom warmth of his mother gone, replaced by the suffocating pressure of cursed energy. The three curses writhed before him, still merging.
"Get a move on, will ya!" Gojo barked.
'Alright… here goes.'
Reiji released Flowing Red Scale. His cursed energy flared as he activated his Reverse Cursed Technique, weaving negative energy back into itself until it blossomed into pristine positive force. This process was familiar to him, but what he was about to attempt next was entirely alien.
He carefully shaped a sphere of positive energy, no larger than thirty centimeters across.
Normally, RCT was devastating to curses, but right now, it lacked a vessel to carry it. He had left his weapons behind at the dorm… never expecting such a mission on the first day.
Geto's eyes widened and fixated on the radiant globe forming before Reiji. Even Gojo spared a glance before refocusing on his own technique.
But the truth was clear—only a large-scale strike could turn the tide. A simple burst wasn't enough. Reiji's jaw tightened as he sweated copiously.
'I'll have to imbue my blood with positive energy.'
It was a feat bordering on impossible: to balance both negative and positive cursed energy, while sustaining his technique simultaneously. The drain was already immense, and his reserves were burning out at a frightening pace.
'I'll probably run out after this… but I'll trust these guys to finish the job.'
Without hesitation, he reopened the cut on his arm, letting blood bead into the air beside the glowing sphere. His will bound the two together, merging crimson and radiant white into one unstable mass. The effort to harmonize two opposing forms of cursed energy was unlike anything Reiji had ever attempted.
Every heartbeat felt like a drum of impending collapse and every breath was a battle to maintain focus. As his veins throbbed, everything else faded; the world seemed to narrow around sphere suspended before him.
Even the simplest fluctuation could destabilize the delicate balance of energy. He held firm, sweat dripped from his brow, his vision blurred. Yet he pushed through, because failure wasn't an option today.
Geto stared in disbelief. 'Such intricate control… his raw power may be lacking, but his technique … its pure art.'
"You might wanna hurry it up, man!" Gojo shouted.
The sphere began to glow brighter, pulsing red and gold. Reiji's lips curled into a fierce smile.
"Yes… I did it."
The thrill of success lasted only a moment before cold resolve overtook him. He raised his voice
"I'm going to count down. Release your technique on my mark!"
Geto slid into a fighting stance, preparing to draw his cursed spirits. "My turn then."
Reiji nodded in agreement, his hands trembling slightly.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Do it!" Gojo roared, dropping Infinity.
Reiji's expression hardened. His voice rang out like ice against stone:
"Blood Manipulation: Extreme Art: Purging Rain!"
The sphere detonated, bursting into a million radiant beads of annihilation.