The grasp of a battle opportunity is fleeting; a single mistake can lead to irreversible and severe consequences.
The fiercely cleaving azure blade tore through the air, carrying overwhelming power. The destructive blow it unleashed created a gale so strong that it almost prevented Isayama Yomi, who was watching from afar, from opening her eyes.
The high-pitched clang of metal, like an enthusiastic final whistle, declared victory.
Even though several blood-red flowers of wounds had blossomed on his chest and Ugly Treasure's body, Fushiguro Toji still wore a look of shock, his eyes fixed on the greatsword spinning in the air, his brain yet to accept the reality.
That was supposed to be his Special Grade Cursed Tool, the Soul Release Blade, but it had been struck from his hand and flew straight into the shattered concrete wall in the distance.
Losing one's weapon is akin to losing a warrior's dignity.
Whether he admitted it or not, Fushiguro Toji had indeed lost this round.
Isayama Yomi looked at the familiar back of the person holding the sword, her surprise beyond words, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"He actually defeated that 'Heavenly Restraints Tyrant'."
These four words represented absolute strength. Fushiguro Toji's "Sorcerer Killer" reputation was built upon the countless bones of Jujutsu Sorcerers he had slain.
Even a top-tier First Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer like Isayama Yomi would be considered strong if she could last five minutes against the "Heavenly Restraints Tyrant." After all, this guy's combat power was on par with a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer. Even against Special Grade Cursed Spirits, Fushiguro Toji felt no pressure, thanks to the Special Grade Cursed Tool Heavenly Restriction, which could break all sorcery.
Being targeted by someone of such power was definitely not a pleasant experience.
Yomi-nee was Fushiguro Toji's target. If Kenmyo Isayama had to divide his attention to Yomi-nee while fighting Fushiguro Toji, he would be constrained.
So, he told her to stay far away and not get too close to the battle.
"Today, I've fallen."
Fushiguro Toji, swaying unsteadily and spitting out a large mouthful of blood, felt the pain from his wounds as if it directly affected his soul, making his brain tremble.
He tried to stop the bleeding by pressing the wounds, but the blood simply wouldn't stop.
Fushiguro Toji glanced at Ugly Treasure, who was hanging on his shoulder, also covered in blood and with a faint aura, and a hint of apology appeared in his eyes.
In the distance, a vast, dark mass of unknown things, accompanied by a "buzzing" sound, appeared in extremely large numbers and density, swiftly invading this brutal battlefield like a dark cloud from all directions.
"Fly Heads? And so many of them?"
Isayama Yomi recognized these low-level Cursed Spirits that resembled flies, possessing almost no offensive power apart from their sheer numbers. The appearance of millions of them at once was definitely abnormal.
These Fly Heads were Fushiguro Toji's pre-arranged contingency, perfect for creating a diversion. Since he himself had no Cursed Energy, his only vulnerability was Ugly Treasure on his shoulder, but such a large number of Fly Heads was enough to mask its Cursed Energy signature.
Having never sustained such severe injuries since his debut, even Men of Iron couldn't endure it. Fushiguro Toji was preparing to retreat.
Kenmyo Isayama looked at the sky-obscuring Fly Heads and merely murmured,
"These Cursed Spirits should count as insects, right?"
Before retreating, Fushiguro Toji intended to retrieve his lost Cursed Tool. That Special Grade Cursed Tool was worth 500 million yen; if he left it here, he would truly suffer a massive loss tonight.
"The Fly Heads should buy me some time."
However, what Fushiguro Toji hadn't expected was that this dense torrent of Fly Heads didn't completely engulf Kenmyo Isayama as he had anticipated.
The vast army of Fly Heads seemed to have encountered a natural predator. All the Fly Heads emitted sounds of terror, retreating as quickly as they had arrived, scrambling to escape. Even Ugly Treasure, nestled on Fushiguro Toji's shoulder, showed a human-like expression of fear, wriggling its body, trying to flee, as if Kenmyo Isayama in the distance was a terrifying presence.
"The Cursed Spirits are afraid?"
Isayama Yomi, seeing their abnormal behavior, was as surprised as Fushiguro Toji.
The reason Kenmyo Isayama could cause this situation was due to his special title:
The effect of [Tyranid Slayer]:
Title Effect 2: Tyranids will have an innate fear of you, unable to approach or get close. Ineffective against high-grade Tyranids.
Title Effect 3: Damage dealt to Tyranid monsters increased by 35%.
Previously, Kenmyo Isayama hadn't fully utilized Title Effect 2. He suddenly thought he could use it on these insect-like Cursed Spirits. So, when the effect of [Tyranid Slayer] unfolded, all these insect-shaped Cursed Spirits felt fear towards Kenmyo Isayama, as if their most terrifying natural enemy stood before them, not daring to cross the line.
Ugly Treasure's abnormality made Fushiguro Toji change his intention. He immediately made a decisive move, abandoning even the Cursed Tool, and vanished from the spot at an extremely fast speed, leaving only a pool of blood.
"You can't escape, old man."
How could Kenmyo Isayama let Fushiguro Toji leave safely before getting the information he wanted?
The roles of prey and hunter had been reversed. Kenmyo Isayama possessed the best hounds in the entire universe; Fushiguro Toji absolutely could not escape.
By the time Kenmyo Isayama arrived, he saw a pale-faced Fushiguro Toji, holding a steel knife, entangled with three Flesh Hounds. One hound bit into his thigh and held on tightly, creating the first breakthrough. Clearly, the once-spirited "Heavenly Restraints Tyrant" was at the end of his rope. Soon after, three terrifying gaping mouths bit into Fushiguro Toji's arm, half his body, and his thigh.
"Checkmate, old man."
Kenmyo Isayama slowly walked forward.
Lying on the ground, Fushiguro Toji, covered in blood, was in an utterly pathetic state. Looking at the blade almost piercing his throat, the intense pain from all over his body, Fushiguro Toji, feeling somewhat exhausted, collapsed in a pool of blood and gave up struggling. He coughed up a pool of blood.
"My luck is really bad."
He had originally thought it was a simple job, to get back in form while earning some extra money, after all, the opponent was just an inexperienced little girl.
But he never expected that the "ordinary-looking" protector beside her could push him to such a state. All his attacks were blocked by the enemy's shield, and in the end, he lost inexplicably.
"Can you tell me the reason now?"
Kenmyo Isayama looked down at Fushiguro Toji, saying coldly,
"Tch. Cough, cough. Do as you please."
Fushiguro Toji coughed up blood foam.
"Someone paid eight million for that little girl's head..."
"It's quite interesting, the person who paid was..."
Kenmyo Isayama listened to his intermittent statements, his face growing increasingly grim.