A snake-like Shikigami was coiled around Yuki Tsukumo's body. This Shikigami floated weightlessly until she reached out her hand, at which point it slithered down from her body.
It curled into a ball and was lifted by Yuki Tsukumo. This was her highest-grade Cursed Tool Shikigami, and it was also the prototype for the companion spirit of the external Cursed Energy circulation organ that Mahito created for Kinji Hakari.
Cursed Tool Shikigami: Garuda.
Garuda possessed an ability unique among Shikigami created by other Jujutsu Sorcerers. It could connect with the user's own Cursed Energy and serve as a target for Yuki Tsukumo's Cursed Technique other than herself. It was created by her Cursed Technique. Put simply—
—this Cursed Tool Shikigami can synchronize with Yuki Tsukumo's use of Star Rage.
"Technique Release." Yuki Tsukumo exhaled slowly, holding Garuda high before tossing it gently upward, much like a soccer player starting a play. "Star Rage."
Bang!
Yuki Tsukumo kicked Garuda.
In the next instant, Garuda shattered the barrier in front of it, extending infinitely like a cannonball. The desert terrain it passed through billowed outward due to the rotation of its immense power, much like a plane crash-landing on the surface of the sea.
In the original work, something similar had happened:
Gojo Satoru and Ryomen Sukuna had agreed on a fight, setting a time and place. When the time drew near, Ryomen Sukuna waited at the spot, just as Mahito was doing now.
Gojo Satoru did not go there immediately. He had his senior perform a dance that could comprehensively increase his own Cursed Energy output. Afterward, from two kilometers away, he aimed at the waiting Ryomen Sukuna and used a maximum output Hollow Technique—a blatant pre-battle sneak attack.
Just like Yuki Tsukumo was doing now!
"Remember this with your life." Yuki Tsukumo grinned and laughed loudly. "This is... how a modern Jujutsu Sorcerer fights!"
Star Rage granted her strength beyond human imagination. The storm stirred up by that immense power destroyed everything in its path, like a low-flying mad dragon sweeping across the world with unparalleled might.
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!
Garuda hit the ground, but the sound it made wasn't just one; it was a continuous series of explosions. This was because the excess power from the overflowing airwaves alone was enough to trigger secondary explosions, followed by a third and a fourth!
The entire desert seemed to shake. Countless grains of sand were flung hundreds of meters into the air from the ground. As the explosive airwaves spread outward, the gale whipped the sand into moving waterspouts, and ring after ring of shockwaves expanded outward.
Then a backdraft phenomenon occurred, and everything rushed toward the center of the explosion. This caused the sand that had just dispersed to collide in the sky. The heavy sand began to fall and slowly contract, forming a giant mushroom.
A massive mushroom cloud slowly took shape and did not disappear for a long time.
Yuki Tsukumo stood in place, covering her eyes with her hand as the gale lashed at her. Her Cursed Energy protected her like armor, but even so, the sand still struck her from all directions like blades. She had to continue strengthening her body, as the world before her eyes had turned into a blur.
She had caused a sandstorm with a single strike, and this was merely the aftershock of the attack.
Is Mahito dead...?
Suddenly, Yuki Tsukumo's survival instinct was triggered. A glimmer of silver light emerged from within the sandstorm, swimming like a playful silver marlin. Yuki Tsukumo did not find it beautiful; she felt as if all the terror in the world had concentrated into one point and then exploded.
Miroku's Kirigiri, Tsukumogami Ability Release—New Line!
A massive slash sliced through the sandstorm. Yuki Tsukumo dove to the side at the critical moment. She saw the entirety of the slash. A sandstorm wasn't a solid object; it was a natural disaster composed of wind and sand. Yet, such a disaster was now split in two as if a painting had been cut by a paper cutter. The silver light extended infinitely until it vanished into the distance.
Yuki Tsukumo's pupils contracted as she recognized this technique.
"High-speed compressed wind blades... that's Ama no Habakiri!" Yuki Tsukumo said in disbelief. "That's Zenin Teruaki's Innate Technique. Why can the King of Curses use Zenin Teruaki's technique? No, more than that, even if Zenin Teruaki used Ama no Habakiri himself, it would be impossible to actually cut through such a massive sandstorm. Is there another technique working in tandem with it?"
A combination of dual techniques?
Or is it a fusion technique? Is such a thing even possible?
Yuki Tsukumo felt her scalp tingle. A sense of palpitations submerged her entire being, as if she were in the deep sea.
At the edge of the sandstorm, someone was slowly walking over. He wore a black haori over a white kimono and a bamboo hat on his head. In his hand, he held an unusually long straight-edged blade. He walked leisurely, and as he approached Yuki Tsukumo, he reached out to tilt his hat up, revealing those heterochromia eyes.
Yuki Tsukumo's pupils contracted because there wasn't a single scratch on him, and even his expensive clothes were undamaged. He was clearly stepping through a desert, yet Yuki Tsukumo felt as if she were standing under the torii gate of a shrine, with cherry blossoms scattering from both sides of the gate and falling onto the steps, as the King of Curses stepped over the torii on the blossoms.
The surprise attack by Garuda hadn't even managed to get a grain of sand on the King of Curses' clothes. He truly was a spirit like the rumors said, as elegant as an ukiyo-e painting.
"Nice to meet you, Tsukumo-san," the King of Curses spoke. "The Curse of humans toward humans, Mahito. Please be kind to me."
Yuki Tsukumo slowly stood up, spitting sand from her mouth and revealing a fierce smile.
"Same here, Mahito-san—"
"Special Grade Sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo. Please be kind to me!"
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