Kiyotaka and Yuta were in a theatre hall as the roof was blown off, now covered by the corpse of a Cursed Spirit. Yuta's Katana was aimed at Kiyotaka, who was holding onto the plade, stopping it from going through his chest as he thought, 'Why is he trying to kill me? We're both students of Gojo-Sensei.'
Kiyotaka redirected the blade into the wood tile and then aimed his fist at the blade to break it, but Yuta disengaged, thinking, 'He just tried to break my blade. I'll have to be wary of that.'
Kiyotaka got up and chanted, "Shift", as Fluid Staff changed from a ring to a staff in his hand.
Yuta got into a stance, thinking, 'A Cursed Technique that allows him to manipulate mass?'
Kiyotaka span the weapon as suddenly he propelled himself towards Yuta, swinging the staff at him.
Yuta blocks the staff with his sword, only for his blade to break, making him think, 'The staff is that dense?!!'
He grabs the staff and disarms Kiyotaka as he jumps back and says, "Your weapons are really dense, but were you reaally shine is in your Cursed Energy Reinforcement. I see. It makes sense that you're so strong, though. You are Gojo-Sensei's student."
"Then why are you trying to kill me? As soon as things calm down, I intend to move towards freeing Gojo-Sensei."
Yuta looked to him and said, "In Shibuya, you cut off Inumaki-kun's arm, and you burned Mai-Senpai. You realise they'd be dead if not for Shoko-San, right?"
Kiyotaka's eyes widened as he thought, 'Inumaki-Senpai and Mai got caught in Sukuna's Domain Expansion?'
Kiyotaka looked to him and asked, "I'm not the one that..."
"That doesn't matter. You're the reason they got hurt. I won't allow you to keep running around as if nothing happened."
Yuta said this as Kiyotaka sighed, thinking, 'There's conviction in your desire to kill me, but none when blaming me for their injuries? It's so strange. What is your real motive?'
Kiyotaka pointed at Fluid Staff and said, "That's still my weapon, you know."
Yuta looked to him, getting into a stance and saying, "I'm afraid I'll be using it to kill you."
Kiyotaka sighed and said, "No, I'm saying it's mine. Shift."
The Staff suddenly formed spikes on the parts that Yuta was holding as holes appeared on his hand, and he groaned, thinking, 'He can manipulate it from a distance?' and dropped the weapon and backed off.
Fluid staff then returned to Kiyotaka's hand like a snake as Kiyotaka said, "I told you it's mine. I don't appreciate you taking my tools without permission"
Yuta looked to him and thought, 'That's quite the trick. He must have let me disarm him so he could damage my hands. He's a smart fighter. If I heal, he'll realise I can use the Reverse Cursed Technique. If I don't, then I'm either hiding it or incapable of it. If I'm hiding it then he knows that I'm that type of fighter.'
Yuta sighed, thinking, 'He's good. Better than what Gojo-Sensei told me. Did he grow that quickly?'
Yuta gripped his blade, thinking, 'I'll have to take this seriously.'
Fluid Staff solidified into a spear as Kiyotaka held the blade part out in front of him, ready to fight, as Yuta thought, 'That tool is extremely versatile. I need to keep my guard up, or I'll get caught by some trick he does with it again.'
Kiyotaka rushed in, stabbing at Yuta, who moved to deflect the blow, only for Kiyotaka to kick up a dust into Yuta's eyes as Kiyotaka's spear stabbed into Yuta's side, and he jumped back, thinking, 'He could still have Reverse cursed Technique. I mustn't get hasty. I don't want to kill him either.'
Kiyotaka swung his spear to the side, getting rid of the blood as he said, "If you stop now, we can talk this out, and you can explain your real motives. I don't want to kill a fellow student of Gojo-Sensei, but if you continue attacking me, I will."
Suddenly, Yuta appeared in front of Kiyotaka, whose eyes widened, thinking, 'This speed!'
Yuta swung his fist as Kiyotaka raised both his arms and blocked it, only to be sent flying into and through a wall as he fell to the grostreet below, and he checked his arms, thinking, 'My arms are still there, right?'
Kiyotaka's arms shook in pain and sensory overload as Kiyotaka took deep breaths, thinking, 'His Cursed Energy Reinforcement is actually quite sloppy, but the sheer volume of Cursed Energy he has more than makes up for it.'
Kiyotaka got up and thought, 'If I get hit directly, I might get knocked out, and if he hits me on the head, it might be lethal.'
Yuta stood on the awning of the Theatre entrance, his injuries healed as Kiyotaka thought, 'He really can use the Reverse Cursed Technique.'
Yuta then asked, "Surprised? I don't seem like the power type, do I?"
Kiyotaka looked at his enormous pool of Cursed energy, thinking, 'I'm not one to judge on appearances, but it's easy to say you're a monster in terms of Cursed Energy Capacity from the first look.'
Yuta looked to Kiyotaka and said, "I actually am on the weaker side."
He jumped down and asked, "Have you noticed?"
"I have. The 14-finger Sukuna inside me probably only has 5 fingers' worth of an advantage over you in terms of Cursed Energy."
Kiyotaka said this as Yuta replied with, "That's quite the compliment, but I was talking more about Gojo-Sensei. You see, I can run out of Cursed Energy, but Gojo-Sensei can't. After all, he has the Six Eyes, so he wastes practically no Cursed Energy when activating his technique. He's the best there is when it comes to performance."
Yuta got ready and said, "Enough chatting", as he rushed in, swinging his broken blade as Kiyotaka blocked the attack and felt the ground crack beneath his feet as he grunted, and Yuta kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into a car, as there was an indent from the impact.
Kiyotaka got up, looking at Yuta and thinking, 'He's given up on using the blade to kill me. He's now using it as a decoy to draw my attention so he can pummel me.'
Kiyotaka sighed, thinking, 'I have to get up close and personal. If I can hit him with a Black Flash and enter into that state, then maybe I can combat him', as he chanted, "Shift", turning Fluid Staff back into a ring, and running towards Yuta.
Yuta looked to him, thinking, 'He wants a direct physical confrontation?'
Kiyotaka began using Kinetic Anchor to propel himself as he swung his leg at Yuta, only for him to jump up.
Kiyotaka charged up Cursed Energy into his fist, thinking, 'You're in mid-air. You're done.'
Yuta looked to him and said, "That propulsion move is very creative."
He threw a punch only for Yuta to jump off the air as Kiyotaka looked stupefied, thinking, 'What?'
Yuta landed behind him, saying, "But it's wasteful," as he slammed his leg into Kiyotaka, sending him flying into a building, and dust billowed up.
Kiyotaka got out of the rubble thinking, 'He jumped off the air? How? Is that what he did to get that massive increase in speed back then?'
Yuta looked to Kiyotaka and said, "There are parts of the air that are more malluable, you know. If you use your Cursed Energy in controlled Bursts, you can jump off the air. Like a double jump."
Kiyotaka spat out a tooth as he used the Reverse Cursed Technique to heal it, saying, "Are you sure you want to tell me that?"
Yuta looked to him and said, "It's fine. It won't matter when you're dead."
Kiyotaka took a deep breath as he sighed and said, "Thanks for the free lesson then", as he jumped off the air, thinking, 'It's a bit hard to pull off, but I've adjusted so it should be fine. It costs less Cursed Energy than Kinetic Anchor, too. If I hadn't been using Kinetic Anchor, this probably would have been much harder to master.'
Yuta's eyes widened, thinking, 'He learned how to do it that quickly after only learning the concept?!!' as Kiyotaka appeared in front of him and slammed his leg into Yuta, sending him flying through a wall and into a building. He had targeted a structural support as the building fell on top of Yuta.
Kiyotaka looked at his legs and wondered, 'Is it possible to pull it off consecutively like Kinetic Anchor?'
Yuta pushed aside the rubble, his injuries fading as he used the Reverse Cursed Technique, thinking, 'He's even more talented than me. He might actually reach Gojo-Sensei's level with enough time. That's why I have to do this.'
Kiyotaka rushed in thinking, 'If I can just hit a Black Flash, then I'll be able to end this fight before he gets serious.'
Kiyotaka takes a stance, thinking, 'Has Choso dealt with Naooya yet? If so, it should take him another minute or two to get here. Even if getting close would be suicide for him, having him as a long range fightier woudl be helpful.'
Kiyotaka sighs, thinking, 'Speaking of long range,' as he clasps his hands together, chanting, "Piercing Mass" as he fires a line of liquid mass at Yuta, who blocks it by holding his hands in front of his face, thinking, 'The pressure is enormous. It's cutting through my hand. If it manages to pierce my hand, then not even Reverse Cursed Technique will save me' as he dodged to the side and began running as Kiyotaka began tracking him with the attack.
Kiyotaka turned off the attack, thinking, 'Against an opponent with that much Cursed Energy, wasting mine is a death sentence.'
Kiyotaka took a breath as Yuta healed his hands and said, "You really are from the Kamo Clan, aren't you?"
Kiyotaka sighed and said, "No. I may be related to them by blood, but nothing else."
Yuta then asked, "Then how do you know how to pressurise a liquid like that?"
"I learnt the technique from seeing my older brother use it. Then I applied physics to it and replicated it."
Yuta looked to him, thinking, 'His IQ is high too.'
Kiyotaka took a stance and chanted, "Flowing Mass Fists" as he coated his fists in liquid mass.
Kiyotaka rushed in, jumping off the air as Yuta thought, 'His efficiency with it is so high. Is it from the practice of using generated mass as footholds?'
Kiyotaka swung his fist as Yuta blocked it, only for the liquid mass to solidify just before impact, as Yuta gritted his teeth in pain, feeling his bones crack on impact as he jumped back, thinking, 'Just how dense is that mass on impact?'
Kiyotaka sighed, saying, "I'd hoped that that attack would break your arms, but it seems like you're more durable than expected."
The solidified mass on that fist crumbled away as Yuta thought, 'I see. A binding vow to substantially increase striking force on impact in exchange for making it a one-use attack per fist. The Chant probably also increases its effectiveness, too.'
Yuta healed his arm, swinging his arm in a circle to check that it was healed properly and said, "You're pretty dangerous. Did you come up with that on the spot?"
Kiyotaka sighed and said, "Actually, I made it right after Shibuya. Back then, I met a guy whose armour was tough enough to shrug off my full-force attacks, so I made this as a direct counter in case I met someone like him later. It's already paying off, it seems", while remembering Mahito in his Instant Spirit Body Of Distorted Killing form and how he shrugged off his full force attacks.
"I see. Gojo-Sensei spoke highly of you. Said you were a fast learner. I didn't expect you to be this much of a fast learner, though."
Yuta said this as he rushed in towards Kiyotaka, who swung his fist as Yuta took the attack, thinking, 'Reducing the damage to something bearable takes a huge amount of Cursed Energy even for me, but now it's gone so...'
"You're focusing too much on that fist."
Kiyotaka said this as he slammed his other fist into Yuta's face, as Black Sparks flew and Yuta coughed up blood, and his eyes rolled back for a second.
Yuta's focus returned in an instant as he gritted his teeth and slammed his foot into Kiyotaka's chest as they were both sent flying back into buildings, crashing through walls.
Kiyotaka coughed up blood, thinking, 'If I hadn't reinforced Cursed Energy to my chest area, I'd be unconscious at best, dead at worst. It's hard to believe that he managed to hit me that hard after taking a direct Black Flash to the face. What a monster.'
Kiyotaka and Yuta both healed themselves with Reverse Cursed Technique as Yuta spat some teeth out of his mouth, thinking, 'Ugh. My head is spinning. I was planning on doing a quick counter-attack, but he accelerated his striking force by creating mass behind his elbow to hit me first. I wasn't able to divert enough Cursed Energy to shield myself in time.'
Kiyotaka clasped his hands together and chanted, "Piercing Mass!" as he fired the attack, thinking, 'He's disoriented. Don't give him a second to breathe.'
Yuta blocked the attack with his hands as he dodged to the side, and Kiyotaka cancelled the ability, jumping on the air consecutively, making Yuta think, 'What in the world? How is he doing that?'
Kiyotaka slammed his fist into Yuta's arms, who blocked, and then he started blocking Kiyotaka's attacks, making him think, 'He's keeping up with me even after I hit a Black Flash?'
Yuta then picked up the speed stabbing with his broken sword as Kiyotaka backflipped away, landing on his feet as he thought, 'He's still faster than me? Was he holding back before?'
That's when he heard someone shout, "Piercing Blood!" as Yuta dodged the attack, and Choso was standing on the awning of the theatre entrance.
Yuta looked to Choso and thought, 'So Naoya-San lost? I guess it's time to stop holding back.'
Yuta put on a ring and said, "Rika. Give me everything."
Kiyotaka's eyes sharpened, thinking, 'So much Cursed Energy!!! Almost double of what he had at the beginning!'
A Curse-Like Shikigami appeared and grabbed Choso, slamming him into the ground and knocking him out in an instant as Kiyotaka's eyes widened, thinking, 'In one hit?!'
Kiyotaka moved in towards Yuta when Cursed Seals of the Inumaki Clan appeared in Yuta's mouth, and Kiyotaka funnelled Cursed Energy into his ears to protect himself, thinking, 'Immense Cursed Energy, Cursed Speech and a Shikigami with that kind of physical power? What is this guy?'
Yuta rushed in, grabbing Kiyotaka and slamming his leg into him to propel him towards Rika, who grabbed him and held him in place as Kiyotaka thought, 'What the?!! I can't break free!'
Yuta held his broken sword as he stabbed Kiyotaka through the chest, saying, "I'm sorry, Ayanokoji-kun."
Kiyotaka stared in shock, thinking, 'Not good!... wait.. that energy seeping into me is...'
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Yuta walked up to Naoya, dragging both Kiyotaka and Choso as Naoya looked shocked, thinking, 'They both lost? How... is that possible?' as he lay there coughing up blood.
Yuta stood there, letting go of Choso and said, "That looks painful, Naoya-San."
Naoya gritted his teeth, thinking, 'Don't look down on me. You probably used some dirty trick to win.'
Yuta lifted his hand, outputting Reverse Cursed Technique and asked, "Shall I heal you? My Reverse Cursed technique can heal people, too. In return, could you report Ayanokoji-kun's death to the top brass, as well?"
Naoya glared, thinking, 'Don't dismiss his death like that. Not in the same way they did for Toji-kun.'
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A Memory played. One that was once clouded but is now clear. From the point of view, a woman's face could be seen holding the owner for the memory as a man stood there and said, "He's normal, right? You didn't manufacture him in any strange way?"
"You're worrying too much, Atsuomi. As agreed, the only changes I made were to make his body compatible as Sukuna's vessel. His Cursed Energy will be sealed until he eats a finger thanks to your Cursed Technique."
Atsuomi sighed and asked, "Just how invested in me have you been in this past decade?"
She smiled and said, "At first, I had other plans, but hearing about the White Room made me curious."
"I refuse to give him any special treatment. If he dies, then he dies."
She smiled and said, "Very well."
Atsuomi raised his eyebrow, saying, "I'm surprised you agreed to it so easily."
She laughed a little before saying, "Perhaps it's appropriate to say that I have faith in this child. Our child."
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Kiyotaka's eyes opened as he noticed he was next to a fire and Yuta was sitting nearby. He sat up slowly as Yuta looked at him and sagged, saying, "Th-thank goodness!"
Kiyotaka sighed and said, "Reverse Cursed Technique Output, huh?"
Yuta nodded and said, "That's right. I made a binding vow with the higher-ups. I'd be assigned as your executioner, and in exchange, I'd make sure to go through with it. Then, as you died, I used Reverse Cursed Technique Output to bring you back. I fulfilled my side of the binding vow, and you're still alive."
Kiyotaka sighed, saying, "I guess they'll stop hunting me now. I'll thank you for that much and thank you for going easy on Choso."
Yuta smiled and said, "It's fine. Sorry about being so rough with you, though. You were super strong. You were really giving me a run for my money. If I hadn't summoned Rika, then you probably would have beaten me."
Kiyotaka sighed as he got up, patting the dust from his pants and said, "Well, I was trying to beat you before you could go all out. Even without that Shikigami, I'd have had a hard time besting you."
Kiyotaka looked at Yuta and asked, "Is it true? What happened to Inumaki-Senpai and Mai?"
Yuta looked at him and said, "Yes, but they're pulling through. The things I said were only because we were being monitored during the fight. Once they confirmed your death, the shikigami monitoring us evaporated."
"They're recovering? That's good."
Kiyotaka let out a deep sigh and asked, "There's another reason you came to find me, right?"
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To Be Continued
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Rating Out Of 10 For This Chapter?
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