Chapter 165: Blood and Scripture
Sutoku's thoughts churned with something between awe and madness.
'Huh? How did my domain break? That cursed spirit… outside? That brat tricked me. He forced me into using my domain, then shattered it with help from the outside. Oh my… hahaha, how wonderful! Never in my life did I imagine losing ground like this… to a boy. Me? Losing? This is brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!'
His lips curled into an ecstatic grin. His laughter exploded into the night.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
With a manic gleam in his eyes, Sutoku raised his arm, sweeping it through the air as though his very bones were a brush. His cursed energy flared violently, and from the heavens itself bloomed a kanji, massive and burning:
裂—Split.
He whispered the word, and the world obeyed.
SHHRRREEEKK!!!
The slash tore through everything. The ground. The trees. The very clouds. Reality itself seemed sliced into pieces, a line carved from earth to sky.
Ren barely registered it before the impact hit. He hit the ground, chest wide open, blood gushing from a savage slash across his torso. His shirt shredded, skin burning, breath stolen.
But he was alive. Only alive because—
"Rika…!"
She had thrown herself in front of him. Her body was split in half, torn apart mid-air, before she collapsed into his shadow with a sickening shhhck.
Ren's eyes widened. 'The fuck was that? I almost died…! If Rika hadn't blocked most of it, I'd be gone. But now… shit… she's gone. At least a minute before she recovers. That's a minute too long…'
Pain flared across his chest. His vision blurred. He bit down hard, forcing himself to think. 'I have to stop the bleeding. Keep fighting. Fuck…! I'll use it… that trick.'
He pressed his palm to the wound, cursed energy focusing sharply into his veins. The perfected red cursed circuit within him pulsed, heat surging like molten iron. Steam hissed off his chest as the blood slowed, thickening unnaturally.
His lips curled. 'Heh… guess this deserves a name.'
Ren hissed under his breath.
"Cursed Blood Clot."
The wound sealed—not healed, but locked, like molten wax hardened over fire. His skin steamed with the effort, and the pain was blinding, but the bleeding stopped…
Yup, Ren was using cursed energy to stop his bleeding flow where the slash had cut him... This worked better because he had the perfected red cursed circuit inside of him. Not only that, but Ren right now was also using blood manipulation to make this technique work at 100%…
The result? Ren was able to stand up…
He stood again, staggering upright, shoulders squared. His eyes, bloodshot but burning, fixed on Sutoku above.
The Emperor smiled wider, savoring the sight.
"Blood manipulation…? How impressive! Show me more!"
His arms flew outward, both hands weaving kanji into existence with frightening speed. His body lunged forward, graceful and terrifying.
落—Fall.
The world tilted beneath Ren's feet. His body dropped—not physically, but his cursed energy convulsed, dragged down by Sutoku's command. He stumbled, legs buckling as the gravity of the word itself dragged at him.
Before he could catch himself—
Another kanji blazed to life.
爆…
The air in front of him ignited, glowing red, swelling with catastrophic energy. Sutoku's voice cracked like a whip:
"Explode!"
The brilliance filled Ren's vision.
But his hand darted up. Cursed energy surged. His voice hissed through clenched teeth:
"Mirror Reversal!"
A crystalline wall shimmered into existence before him, a massive mirror of cursed energy snapping open like a shield.
BOOOOOMMMMM!!!