Hakari closed his eyes and stood completely still for a brief moment. He felt it.
The reward...
His excitement was surging. It felt as though his entire body was about to take flight.
Bang!
The next second, Yorozu's heavily armored fist smashed into the side of his face.
A deafening explosion rang out as cursed energy erupted, his face visibly twisting from the impact. The force sent him flying backward, crashing through a wall and continuing onward without stopping.
"Hakari-senpai?!"
Megumi stared in shock toward the destroyed building, confusion written all over his face.
"So weak..." Yorozu stared blankly at the figure disappearing into the rubble before clenching her fist and muttering to herself.
The Insect Armor was her vision of the perfect offense and defense form, created from her understanding of insects. It could multiply her strength and speed several times over, but it wasn't absurdly overpowered.
Judging from the brief exchanges earlier when Hakari dealt with her liquid metal, there was no way he should have been this weak. Otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered activating Insect Armor before even meeting those two.
So what exactly was going on? Failing to dodge was one thing, but he hadn't even reacted. That was far too ridiculous.
However, her thoughts were overturned almost immediately.
"Here it comes."
Unlike Megumi, Maki understood Hakari much better. She merely looked in that direction with a somewhat speechless expression.
At that moment, an enormous amount of cursed energy erupted from the ruins and shot into the sky. Along with it came a strange melody that seemed to echo through everyone's ears.
"I don't know what that feeling was, but I saw fever in you!"
Hakari's excited voice rang out from the wreckage, and then he burst out.
At some point, his shirt had been torn apart, revealing his muscular physique. His arms swung wildly as he charged forward, and the injury that should have been clearly visible on his face had already disappeared.
Hakari was finally getting serious. The tremendous cursed energy pouring from him was completely undisguised, making him look like a walking mountain of cursed energy.
"Can some nobody stop trying to steal the spotlight? You're not the one I'm here for!"
Yorozu wasn't surprised. She was simply irritated.
Unlike Kashimo, she wasn't a battle addict. She had no interest in endlessly fighting strong opponents. Her targets were only those two, so she intended to finish this quickly.
Liquid metal shot out from beneath her feet as she accelerated even faster toward Hakari.
One figure high and one figure low, they crossed paths in midair.
Boom!
Neither chose to dodge. Their fists slammed into each other's faces at the exact same moment.
Hakari crashed into the ground, embedding himself deep into the earth. Meanwhile, Yorozu was blasted backward but rapidly beat the dragonfly-like wings behind her and stabilized herself in the air.
At the same time, the liquid metal that had been lagging behind finally caught up. Like a rising tide, it surged toward Hakari's position, and Yorozu herself rushed after it.
* * *
"Hakari-senpai... he'll be okay, right?"
Megumi kept his hands in position, his eyes remaining fixed on the battlefield. He was prepared to summon Mahoraga at any moment.
"As much as I hate saying it, that gambling addict is ridiculously strong. When he's in good form, he can even compete with that coward Okkotsu," Maki replied, showing no concern whatsoever.
She was one year older than Megumi. When she first entered Jujutsu High, Hakari hadn't yet been suspended by the higher-ups. She had personally witnessed how terrifying he was.
If Hakari weren't strong, how could Satoru have regarded him as one of the geniuses destined to inherit the future of the jujutsu world?
"Saori..."
Nobara, on the other hand, wasn't focused on the battle itself. Her only concern was that Saori's body might suffer too much damage. After all, this was Jujutsu High. Even Sukuna might have trouble barging in here.
* * *
Back on the battlefield, faced with the incoming wave of liquid metal, Hakari chose a simple solution: brute force.
His fist, reinforced by overwhelming cursed energy, blasted a hole straight through the liquid metal trying to engulf him. Before it could close again, he leaped through the opening and charged directly toward Yorozu.
Their fists collided, and a powerful shockwave exploded outward. For a moment, neither side gained the advantage.
"Why aren't you using your technique? Are you looking down on me?" Locked in the struggle, Yorozu demanded angrily. Beneath the dark armor, her eyes burned with irritation.
No matter what, she had been a renowned powerhouse during the Heian Era, the golden age of jujutsu. How could she tolerate such disrespect, especially from some nameless nobody?
"What are you talking about? I've been using it the whole time. Can't you feel it? This burning fever!" Hakari grinned widely.
Before activating his Domain Expansion, his technique primarily affected himself. Aside from the mysterious music playing from nowhere, others couldn't really tell he was using it.
Hakari called it… fever.
The two separated briefly.
"Don't mess with me!"
Yorozu's anger surged as fresh liquid metal formed before her and transformed into a sharp blade aimed at Hakari's chest. Simultaneously, the liquid metal he had blasted apart earlier quietly approached from behind. Like a pair of hands, it reached for his legs.
"Come on!"
This time, Hakari still didn't dodge. Instead, he shifted slightly.
The liquid metal wrapped around his legs while the blade pierced straight through his shoulder. In that same instant, his cursed-energy-filled fist smashed directly into Yorozu's armored head.
The impact slammed her into the ground. The earth within dozens of meters collapsed inward.
Crack!
A crisp sound echoed out. A fracture appeared in the helmet section of the Insect Armor, and it spread rapidly. In the blink of an eye, nearly half of it had shattered.
Half of Saori's pale face was exposed.
"You insignificant little—"
Disdain filled Yorozu's eyes as she prepared to mock Hakari's foolish strategy of trading injury for injury, but the words died in her throat when she noticed the blade embedded in his shoulder was rapidly dissolving.
Reverse Cursed Technique?!
She recognized it instantly. The Reverse Cursed Technique flowing through Hakari's body was neutralizing the cursed energy infused into her liquid metal.
"Come on, let's keep going!"
Hakari didn't stop. Taking advantage of the situation, he unleashed a relentless barrage of punches toward the grounded Yorozu.
The cracks on the Insect Armor continued spreading. They expanded so quickly that she couldn't repair them in time.
While raising her arms to block his attacks, she manipulated the liquid metal wrapped around his legs. It tightened suddenly and yanked him backward.
"Forgot about that..."
Hakari didn't actually know Reverse Cursed Technique. It was simply a passive effect granted by his innate technique. Since his legs weren't injured, the liquid metal around them hadn't been neutralized.
His body was violently thrown backward and smashed into the ground behind him. Dust exploded everywhere, and the battlefield disappeared beneath a cloud of debris.
'The music is ending?'
Yorozu listened carefully. The mysterious melody was gradually fading away, and with it, her opponent's cursed energy seemed to be dropping. She quickly reached a conclusion.
'So the music was part of his technique.'
If the music was ending and his cursed energy was weakening, then whatever enhancement it provided must also be disappearing.
The battle would be decided right now. Yorozu didn't hesitate and charged directly into the dust cloud.
However, just as she approached Hakari's position, she saw something unexpected.
His hands were already forming the Benzaiten Mudra, one palm above and one palm below.
"Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!"
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