Now Mahito completely understood Kashimo Hajime's feelings in the original work.
Kashimo Hajime could bestow Cursed Energy charges upon his opponents, an invincible method of attack.
However, when he faced Kinji Hakari, he nearly blew Hakari's head off with those charges, only for Hakari to sense it and exhale sharply, forcibly expelling Kashimo Hajime's Cursed Energy.
This left the battle-hardened ancient sorcerer utterly stunned.
The current Mahito was in the same position;
his Cursed Energy was accumulating inside Kinji Hakari's body but could not be utilized.
Once activated, it would be expelled by Kinji Hakari.
His proud sure-kill technique was actually neutralized in this manner.
"You really are a tough nut, Hakari!" Mahito mocked loudly.
Veins throbbed on Kinji Hakari's forehead.
Mahito keenly noticed this and retreated abruptly.
Kinji Hakari's fist swung upward.
Despite being in a state of dizziness, it seemed the prolonged disorientation allowed his Reverse Cursed Technique to accumulate experience.
In this bout, the automatic Reverse Cursed Technique had "evolved" through learning.
It was just like in the original work when Kashimo Hajime tried to kill him with toxic gas;
even without understanding the principle, his automatic Reverse Cursed Technique evolved and recorded a "detoxification program."
By the same logic, the automatic Reverse Cursed Technique had now recorded dizziness.
From then on, Kinji Hakari would never be "dizzy" again during the duration of his immortality.
"Come on, King of Curses, let's continue!"
Kinji Hakari rose and charged at Mahito, carrying a massive amount of Cursed Energy.
Mahito suddenly leaped up while retreating.
His arms extended, and feathers grew from them—
Idle Transfiguration: Great Eagle!
He transformed entirely into a great eagle.
Kinji Hakari's fist missed again, and the great eagle lunged at Kinji Hakari's back with sharp talons, nearly tearing through his spine.
But the rising Cursed Energy quickly healed it.
Kinji Hakari turned his head, but he was no longer facing the talons of a great eagle, but the maw of a black wolf.
Idle Transfiguration: Black Wolf!
The black wolf leaped and bit at Kinji Hakari.
Kinji Hakari tried to kick it away, but the black wolf transformed again while rolling—
a python.
The python coiled around Kinji Hakari's legs, its fangs piercing his knees.
Tiger, eagle, wolf, snake.
Ox, crocodile, rhino, bear.
In terms of combat skills, Kinji Hakari was far superior to the inexperienced Mahito.
However, this experience did not give Kinji Hakari the upper hand.
Facing the ever-changing Mahito, Kinji Hakari simply could not find a rhythm.
Whenever he tried to counterattack, Mahito would always transform into another beast before he could, resetting the battle to the beginning.
Kinji Hakari could only barely maintain a stalemate despite his best efforts;
there was truly no such enemy in the whole world.
Mahito fought Kinji Hakari with his whole heart and soul, giving it his all.
His use of Idle Transfiguration became increasingly proficient, and his transformations grew faster and more dazzling.
Kinji Hakari tried to catch him after a transformation several times but failed.
Mahito was getting closer and closer to his own core through these changes.
The final transformation was a bear.
The largest bear in the world, a Kodiak brown bear.
Standing on its hind legs, it exceeded 3 meters and weighed 1,000 kilograms.
The brown bear was shrouded in Cursed Energy, its paws descending like a storm.
Kinji Hakari blocked with both arms.
The brown bear's paw struck him hard, sending Kinji Hakari flying into the sky like a child whipping a top with a copper-headed belt.
The bones in his arms cycled through breaking and healing.
He spun continuously in mid-air before finally landing on his shoulder and rolling two or three times on the ground before stopping.
He lay on the ground, gasping for breath, and looked up.
The brown bear's fur slowly retracted, eventually returning to Mahito's original appearance.
There wasn't a single wound on his body.
His well-defined, lean muscles rose and fell slowly with his breathing, and sweat dripped down the gaps between his muscles, seemingly glowing under the moonlight.
Diamond-shaped teardrop patterns appeared on the side of his face.
Kinji Hakari keenly noticed this, as these patterns had not existed before;
they only appeared when Mahito returned to his original form.
Perhaps they revealed the secret of his Cursed Technique?
The theme song came to an abrupt halt.
"Immortality duration ends. 4 minutes and 11 seconds are over!"
But Mahito did not take the opportunity to attack.
He looked down at Kinji Hakari and asked calmly,
"Have you had enough, Hakari?"
Kinji Hakari stood up and adjusted his breathing rhythm.
As he rose, he cracked his neck, the bones making a crisp cracking sound.
Despite being suppressed, Kinji Hakari showed no sign of unease.
All those with immortality have the same bad habit:
they are accustomed to taking the enemy's opening attack with their own bodies.
Precisely because they are immortal, they don't care about the outcome of the first move;
the counterattack comes after.
Kinji Hakari was no different, and now, he was going to counterattack.
He had already grown accustomed to Mahito's myriad transformations.
Next would be the real showdown.
"My Cursed Technique is probability alteration," Kinji Hakari said.
"Domain Expansion!"
"As long as probability is involved, I can record the number of failures. No matter the type of gamble, I can make it succeed within 30 attempts," Kinji Hakari stated.
"Not only that, my Cursed Technique is linked to my state of mind. If I'm in top form—"
He extended both hands in a hand seal position.
"—I can use luck to seize strength!"
"Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!"
The entire rooftop was enveloped by a train station;
the animation performance of Idle Death Gamble resumed.
Kinji Hakari bared his teeth and smiled like a demon.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm in top form right now."
"I predict the jackpot probability is... 10,000%!"
The indicator board showed the first spin:
female lead 3.
The second spin:
female lead 3.
—riichi!
An illusory male protagonist arrived at the platform, gasping for breath.
The final spin—
A female character suddenly ran out from the door on the other side.
It was...
female character No. 2.
female lead 3, female lead 3, female character No. 2.
No jackpot?
Kinji Hakari's pupils constricted.
He could clearly feel he was in top form, yet it wasn't a jackpot?
Reverse Cursed Technique Application," Mahito sighed softly, "Soul Creation."
This was the Reverse Cursed Technique application that Mahito had newly learned as a Half-Cursed Spirit.
Just as his theory predicted, if the Cursed Technique of a Cursed Spirit is to modify the soul, then as a technique that reverses the modification of the soul, the effect it presents would be—
creating souls.
That is:
Soul Creation!
The diamond-shaped patterns on his cheeks gradually vanished, as if erased by a peeler.
This was the Innate Technique unique to Shigemo Haruta:
Miracles.
Shigemo Haruta could collect inconspicuous bits of daily luck and, when danger arrived, consume these tiny amounts of luck to obtain maximum survivability.
The diamond patterns on Mahito's face were the collected luck, and now, to prevent Kinji Hakari from being in peak condition, he consumed them all at once.
In fact, even after consuming all his luck in one go, Kinji Hakari was still able to hit a riichi.
This was what truly shocked Mahito.
He had conducted experiments before:
when he maintained his stored luck and pushed it to the maximum, he could remain unharmed even if Jogo's flames came crashing down.
Just how incredible was Kinji Hakari's current state that he could still hit a riichi under such luck?
Mahito's Reverse Cursed Technique application, Soul Creation, could infinitely record the souls he observed.
If these souls possessed Innate Techniques, they would also be recorded.
As long as Mahito wished, he could extract and use them.
Although it had the flaw of only being able to use one Innate Technique per activation, it was already enough.
Victory or defeat is often decided in this single instant.
As expected, Kinji Hakari was caught off guard and fell into the trap.
"The nesting doll of Domain Expansions is over, Hakari."
Mahito grinned.
"I win."
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