Chapter 35: The End of Hyakki Yagyō

Chapter 35: The End of Hyakki Yagyō

Kamihara Hajime had never felt so good. When he closed his eyes, his mind escaped the shackles of Time, discarding everything external to begin exploring the profound meaning of the Reverse Cursed Technique.

He "saw" the answer to all of this, like a winding river suddenly breaking through an earthen dam, with trickling streams converging into a mighty river in one direction.

"I am gradually understanding all of this."

Reverse Cursed Technique!

Kamihara Hajime's mental discomfort was fleeting. The fusion and conversion between Cursed Energy became incredibly smooth. Without using Technique Reversal, the burned parts of Kamihara Hajime's body began to recover rapidly, showing no abnormalities within a few breaths.

Shuten-dōji's previously joyous expression had now turned to one of shock and anger. This feeling… and the seemingly inexhaustible Cursed Energy on him, how was it possible?

She gritted her teeth and pulled out the iron wolf-tooth club from the ground. The blood-red flames entwined around it represented her current rage. A roaring swing squeezed the air that couldn't escape and hurled it towards Kamihara Hajime. However, this powerful, unmatched attack suddenly vanished just as it was about to land on Kamihara Hajime.

Shuten-dōji looked at her empty hand and the wolf-tooth club still stuck in the ground. Her blood-red pupils seemed to tremble. The Cursed Energy she had just unleashed had returned to its full state. He had truly… completely mastered the Reverse Cursed Technique.

Shuten-dōji's expression became somewhat calm. She re-pulled Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, which was embedded in her demonic body. Then, a black and red flame, seemingly slow but actually fast, climbed from her body onto her hand holding the hilt, then engulfed the entire blade of Totsuka-no-Tsurugi.

"Jujutsu Sorcerer, remember, my name is Shuten-dōji, King of Hundred Ghosts of Ōeyama!"

After shouting this, Shuten-dōji's half-body visibly withered under the attachment of the black and red flame, with only Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, its form obscured by the fire, gradually emitting an astonishing aura.

Kamihara Hajime calmly infused Cursed Energy into Onikiri and Spider Cutter in his hands until they reached the maximum capacity of the two cursed tools. However, his Cursed Energy did not decrease at all. After not overusing his Technique, which caused a burden on his brain, Kamihara Hajime finally achieved burden-free use of Technique Reversal.

Especially for his own enhancement, he could control it to a very precise degree, such as the reversal of Cursed Energy alone. Kamihara Hajime could even expend all his Cursed Energy at once, though his total output had an upper limit.

After his Cursed Energy became insufficient, Kamihara Hajime could use Technique Reversal to restore his nearly dried-up Cursed Energy to its full state. This meant that the consumption of Technique Reversal was almost non-existent, allowing him to do even more incredible things.

For instance, he could have completely ignored Shuten-dōji's previous attack, letting her crush his body into minced meat with a single blow, but in the next instant, Kamihara Hajime's Technique Reversal would restore his body to its original state.

However, just thinking about it, it must have been incredibly painful, so Kamihara Hajime chose to reverse Shuten-dōji's state. Although it was somewhat difficult, for the current Kamihara Hajime, as long as it worked, it was no different from being easy.

Shuten-dōji's struggle now seemed very harmless in Kamihara Hajime's eyes. He even pondered how to deal with her. Never mind, he would reverse her first and see if Totsuka-no-Tsurugi could cut off her head.

Shuten-dōji swung the blade with all her might, and then, in the despair she expected, her body returned to its full state, and the flames on Totsuka-no-Tsurugi vanished, revealing a blade like clear autumn water.

Time Wheel Spin

With a dual-blade spinning slash, when the first Black Flash finally appeared, Kamihara Hajime raised a smile. It was coming!

One Black Flash, Technique Reversal! A two-hit Black Flash, reversal, repeated again and again, until… a five-hit Black Flash!

Five black sword lights sliced the entire scene into fragments. Shuten-dōji looked at her three severed arms on the ground. Her last remaining hand reached for her exposed internal organs, and the blood flowing from them had just begun to drip.

And Totsuka-no-Tsurugi was already in the young man's hand. He also had a thoughtful expression. Had he discovered it? With his Technique, she didn't even have the right to threaten him with this body… Was she reaching a dead end?

Kamihara Hajime, holding Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, had an inexplicable expression. When he gathered these three curse swords, a piece of information naturally transmitted from them into his mind. It was directly understood that the Techniques of these three swords were incomplete. Although they each had their own effects, only by using all three swords simultaneously could their full potential be unleashed.

And this ultimate effect was also easy to understand: when the user inflicted damage on an enemy with all three swords, a Technique mark would be left on the enemy. The greater the damage caused, the more real damage could be inflicted by detonating this mark.

Yes, real damage, because according to Kamihara Hajime's understanding, this burst of damage was a complete Behead, not only on the body but also on the soul, which would be severed along with it.

"That's right, I was once beheaded by a Jujutsu Sorcerer as powerful as you. Although such an injury was not easy for me, it was not fatal. However, that Behead directly shattered my soul as well."

Looking at Shuten-dōji, who suddenly spoke, Kamihara Hajime was slightly surprised. Was she not planning to resist? He had originally intended to cripple her first, then let Naine try to kill Shuten-dōji's soul while leaving her body, and if that didn't work, he would have to ask Gojo Satoru for help.

He could reverse Naine's soul due to her Technique, which didn't mean Kamihara Hajime could directly observe and only affect the soul. Therefore, to kill Shuten-dōji and retrieve Naine's body, he needed to find a method to deal with the soul.

As for the body, there was no need to worry. With the current Shuten-dōji, she couldn't even destroy this body.

Shuten-dōji picked up her wolf-tooth club, and as if she knew no surrender, she once again stirred her Cursed Energy. Her tall figure cast a shadow against the light, and her five eyes, glowing faintly red in the darkness, all stared at Kamihara Hajime: "I am the King of Hundred Ghosts… I do not believe in so-called fate!"

"Talking nonsense."

Kamihara Hajime frowned, activated his Technique, then, holding Onikiri and Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, with Spider Cutter hanging at his waist, he instantly appeared before Shuten-dōji. Totsuka-no-Tsurugi cut through her body, then Onikiri cut bone and flesh. Kamihara Hajime, releasing his grip on the hilt, excluded Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from the effect of the Technique.

Then, the blade that had cut into Shuten-dōji's demonic body hung in the air. Kamihara Hajime, with his hand free, pulled out Spider Cutter from his waist and sliced at the cut flesh. At this point, Kamihara Hajime repeated the trick, releasing Onikiri and gripping Totsuka-no-Tsurugi.

The three blades continuously interwove and slashed. Finally, when Kamihara Hajime deactivated his Technique, the motionless Shuten-dōji's mind was overwhelmed by the intense pain of being torn apart. Her entire grotesque demonic body was now severely damaged. Her newly growing demonic hands were once again severed at the root, four of the five demonic horns on her head were broken, and deep, bone-reaching knife marks split her four eyes…

Kamihara Hajime found that he indeed sensed a mark on Shuten-dōji that was under his control. With a thought, he detonated it and then saw a blurry phantom rise from Shuten-dōji's body. That entity was clad in decaying armor, holding a broken blade, and its face seemed to be covered by a demonic mask, or perhaps that was simply its true face.

As the phantom swung its blade, an invisible slash instantly left crisscrossing "lines" on Shuten-dōji's body. Then, the last glimmer of light in Shuten-dōji's remaining eyes gradually faded.

Watching the surroundings revert to a city under the night sky, no longer the savage demonic realm of Hyakki Yagyō, Kamihara Hajime knew that Shuten-dōji had been successfully exorcised. He stepped forward and tried to heal the body, which was gradually returning to a normal human appearance, with the Reverse Cursed Technique. Fortunately, after some treatment, at least the fatal-looking lacerations were mostly healed.

Shuten-dōji, successfully exorcised!

As the King of Hundred Ghosts's Domain shattered, many Cursed Spirits that had been transformed by her still existed. Lacking any thought, they let out furious roars and prepared to begin their slaughter.

Kamihara Hajime, sensing this, resolved everything in an instant. The Cursed Spirits standing in this street were all simultaneously split down the middle by a bloodline. Then, due to various forces, their bodies began to slide in different directions, then spread out as shattered pieces on the ground.

Nanami Kento, waiting outside the Domain, suddenly saw the abnormal phenomenon disappear. Then, the frenzied Cursed Spirits fell to the ground, becoming various "parts" in a single breath. Then, Kamihara Hajime appeared before him, carrying Naine's body, and handed it to him.

"I'll go check the situation elsewhere. Nanami, you can take Naine's body to Ieiri Shoko."

Nanami Kento took Naine's body and nodded, saying, "I understand. You…"

Before he finished speaking, Kamihara Hajime vanished. Kamihara Hajime, arriving at Gojo Satoru's side, didn't see the foreign Spellcaster who had been fighting Gojo Satoru earlier. Almost at the same moment Kamihara Hajime appeared, Gojo Satoru looked over: "Hajime? I saw the Domain Expansion there disappear. Have you already exorcised that Cursed Spirit?"

Seeing the latter nod, Gojo Satoru grabbed Kamihara Hajime and said, "We'll talk about what happened here later. Let's go back to Jujutsu High first. Yuta Okkotsu might be in danger…"

Then, Kamihara Hajime experienced the feeling of long-distance "teleportation" for the first time in a while, reappearing above Tokyo Jujutsu High. This sudden change of scenery gave Kamihara Hajime an inexplicable thought: "Perhaps to others, the effect of my Technique is like this—skipping the process and only showing the result."

Gojo Satoru looked at the lingering aura of the curtain and the destroyed ruins on the ground visible from above. With a slight movement of his eyes, Gojo Satoru grabbed Kamihara Hajime's shoulder with one hand, and then their figures vanished as if blown away by the wind.

Kamihara Hajime's vision blurred, and he felt the solid ground beneath his feet, but all his attention was drawn to Panda, Maki, and Inumaki Toge lying on the floor.

"Hajime, the three of them are fine. You take them to find Yuta Okkotsu first. I still have something to deal with…"

Gojo Satoru's figure vanished again. Kamihara Hajime walked up and checked the three's conditions. They had some injuries, but nothing serious for Jujutsu Sorcerers, and they seemed to have been treated by Yuta Okkotsu with the Reverse Cursed Technique. As for Panda, he was a Curse Technique/Cursed Corpse, so he didn't need the Reverse Cursed Technique. With Kamihara Hajime's call, they all woke up quickly.

Maki, upon waking, saw Kamihara Hajime and grabbed his arm, asking, "Where's Yuta Okkotsu? That Curse Master, Suguru Geto, he…"

Looking at Maki, who had lost her glasses and whose tied ponytail was now scattered over her shoulders, Kamihara Hajime comforted her: "Don't worry, Gojo Satoru and I came back together. He's already gone to deal with it, and…"

Pointing to the destroyed area ahead, which looked like a natural disaster had struck, Kamihara Hajime smiled: "And it looks like Yuta Okkotsu defeated the enemy himself first."

The awakened Inumaki Toge also stared blankly at the scene ahead. Panda exclaimed "Oh, oh," and then Kamihara Hajime stood up: "Let's go, let's find him first."

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