Chapter 9: Night Parade of 100 Demons, Part 2

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Artist: 柊/@yuu_sigu_65 on Twitter
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The battles raged on, trailing behind dust and destruction on a massive scale. You've hardly seen any acts of Jujutsu terrorism at all, let alone something of this magnitude. It was a sight to behold.

In the middle of your thoughts, Larue punched you several meters back, crashing you into a pole.

"Had enough yet?"

This is bad... You're losing consciousness fast. Gripping hard onto your baton, you swung at him to no avail.

"Why are y-?!" You felt a fist sink into your stomach, and it sent you reeling despite blocking with your weapon.

"No use bluffing or buying time, young man. If you want to hear my reasons, you'll have to land a hit." He taunted.

Damn it!

You sprinted back towards him, starting to lose awareness of your surroundings. With searing pain in your arms and stomach, you threw more swings his way.

Larue braced himself before shouting. "HAA!" The shockwaves froze you in your tracks, unable to move forward.

That's gotta be his cursed techni-!!

For a second time, you were blown away by his punch. You tumbled on the ground, hitting your head on a piece of broken cement.

"Stop... -or your own... -ake." Words rang in your head, barely audible as you saw a flash of light in the distance.

Ah... that must be Mechamaru. Is Miwa still with him? You hope she's okay.

You got up, no longer able to hear what Larue is saying. But you charged in anyway.

You can't help but think of coffee. How good a cup would be right about now.

Even the stale one she gave you that time.

Blood covered your eyes as you found yourself on the ground again. Looks like he knocked you down. Damn it.

Even your tongue tasted like iron, struggling to feel anything else. You didn't expect him to be this tough. Sending Mai away was a good idea, after all.

...

You're dying, aren't you? That's what this is. Losing your senses. The dulling pain in your body. Barely knowing if you're alive.

So why are you running again?

For a second, you thought the delayed punch from Larue was of pity. But you felt like the entire world was slowing down. You slipped under his strike.

And with nothing in your way, you applied cursed energy to your fists.

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"There's an infamous phenomenon among Jujutsu sorcerers," Iori-sensei started.

You heard mumbling from Miwa. Mechamaru and Mai looked disinterested as always.

"Which could really strengthen your hits, and use cursed energy at the same time."

"It's an incredibly basic art; anyone with cursed energy can use it, yet most Jujutsu sorcerers aren't able to."

"Why?" Mechamaru asked.

"Because it's impossibly precise. I don't know what the exact number is, but I can't use it," she laughed nervously. "It happens when a physical hit is strengthened by cursed energy within a certain time frame."

"Like a perfect shield from Smash Bros?" You gasped.

"Er, yes! Yes, exactly. But like I said, unless you're a great hand-to-hand fighter or your technique supports it, you won't be able to pull this off."

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