Chapter 49: Time Shower
"The location is in the West District. I've already evacuated everyone there. Will the two of you be heading over immediately or..."
Yamaguchi Takuya, who was leading the way, had an enthusiastic smile on his face. After entering the prison through the East Gate, they still had to pass through the central area to reach the West District where the incident occurred.
As Kamihara Hajime passed by, he could still see some cells with prisoners locked inside. There were many inmates in this prison, and it was impossible to transfer all of them at once, so only people from key areas could be moved. These prisoners, still in the prison, all looked bewildered and terrified, unaware of exactly what had happened.
The news of so many prisoners and guards dying for no reason made these originally vicious individuals uneasy. It was clear that this unknown incident far exceeded the control of the prisoners and even the prison authorities. The ghost stories that had circulated in the prison for a long time, which they had scoffed at, resurfaced in their minds.
Especially that day, 'Scabby Dog' went crazy, muttering to himself towards the direction where blood flowed, which truly scared these fearless villains. After all, at that time, only those inexplicably dead prisoners were in that direction.
Seeing the warden leading two unfamiliar people who didn't look like guards, one of whom was a handsome young man they only remembered seeing on TV, the prisoners immediately became agitated.
"Warden, please transfer us out of here! I don't want to stay in this cursed place. Please! I have secret savings outside; I'm willing to give them all to you..."
Besides those who tried to get the warden to take them away, there were also those who became more vicious under pressure. They pounded on the iron beds and doors, loudly cursing Yamaguchi Takuya.
"You bastard son of a bitch, let me out! If I get the chance, I'll kill your whole family! I won't spare you even if I turn into a ghost, you hairless fat pig!"
Yamaguchi Takuya's face immediately turned ugly. If this were normal times, they wouldn't dare be so arrogant even if given the courage, and he would have plenty of ways to deal with them. But now, driven to the brink of collapse by fear, they were naturally fearless.
And in front of these two, he couldn't immediately call someone to deal with them, so he gritted his teeth, put the matter aside for now, and his expression changed very quickly. In an instant, he continued to calmly recount all the information he knew to Kamihara Hajime.
"Heh heh, the two of you don't need to pay attention to these scumbags' words. Only irredeemable criminals are locked up here."
As he spoke, he heard a dull thud, accompanied by muffled cries of pain. Yamaguchi Takuya turned to look and saw a prisoner curled up against the cell wall, clutching his mouth and crying out in pain, blood oozing from his fingers, staining several teeth scattered on the ground in front of him.
"What happened...?"
Yamaguchi Takuya recalled his memory. That prisoner seemed to have been about to insult this young man just now? They were already a group of people with mental issues, confined in the dark can of a prison. If something didn't go wrong, Yamaguchi Takuya would have found it abnormal.
And when they saw this celebrity-like young man, he could imagine with his toes the vulgar words that would come out. He had thought that these two official personnel wouldn't pay attention to such disgusting barks. The younger one might get a little emotional, but he could just call a few guards to knock them into shape later.
Unexpectedly, that prisoner was suddenly injured by something. Looking at the quiet, bewildered, and fearful prisoners around, he seemed to understand something... He couldn't think about it anymore! Yamaguchi Takuya, clearing his thoughts, didn't even look at the wailing prisoner and continued to lead the way forward.
Kamihara Hajime merely glanced at the prisoner whose mouth full of teeth he had just shattered. The vulgar words he had yet to utter, along with his current whimpering on the ground, were actually not given much thought by Kamihara Hajime.
His main energy was drawn to the increasingly oppressive environment. This was the result of a powerful Curse affecting the surrounding environment. After passing through the central area, the group arrived at the empty and deserted West District.
Yamaguchi Takuya was stunned, looking at the scene before him, at a loss. The ceiling in the West District had suddenly become much higher, and some corridors and rooms were unrecognizable. Sweat slid down his forehead. As he stammered, about to say something, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.
"Alright, there's nothing for you here. You can go."
The warden, as if granted a great pardon, said a few clumsy words after hearing Kamihara Hajime, then turned and ran away as if he wished he had two more legs.
"From darkness, to darkest dark; all defilement and remnants, be purified."
Ijichi Kiyotaka chanted the incantation, lowering the curtain to isolate the West District, then watched Kamihara Hajime walk in.
Kamihara Hajime's footsteps echoed in the empty corridor and hall. As he delved deeper, large patches of dried brown bloodstains on some floor tiles also appeared before his eyes.
"Bang bang..."
A faint sound suddenly entered his ears. Kamihara Hajime's figure disappeared from where he stood. He had been moving forward continuously and by rights should have reached the end of the prison long ago, but he could still see new paths ahead.
Upon reaching a spacious hall, Kamihara Hajime finally saw a "living thing." It was a figure with grayish-white skin, almost naked, revealing large areas of skin and not particularly prominent muscles.
And that "person" was currently punching and hitting a concrete pillar standing in the hall. The tiles originally attached to it had all been shattered, revealing the rough concrete and rebar underneath.
Kamihara Hajime, having withdrawn from his Technique, stroked his chin, observing this humanoid Curse. In his perception, this Cursed Spirit was not particularly strong, even weaker than some Grade 1 Cursed Spirits. Had the Window made a mistake?
Kamihara Hajime, without concealing his presence, was discovered by the Cursed Spirit as soon as he appeared. The Cursed Spirit stopped its actions and turned around, revealing its full appearance.
Its bald head had two slightly bulging horns, its nose was as if shaved clean, and its eyes, when it looked over, showed no whites, only a pitch-black void within the eye sockets.
The Cursed Spirit, letting out a low growl from its throat, then charged towards Kamihara Hajime. As its sharp claws were about to touch him, Kamihara Hajime effortlessly tilted his head, dodging the attack.
Then, a lightning-fast punch made the Cursed Spirit tremble in mid-air, and then violent Cursed Energy pierced through its back. The Cursed Spirit, sent flying backward, had a large hole in its chest, from which viscous liquid splattered.
Kamihara Hajime suddenly felt a pain in his chest. He looked down and saw a large hole had appeared in his chest at some unknown time. Although it instantly reversed and disappeared, this was definitely not an illusion.
Kamihara Hajime could confirm that the opponent had not attacked him, and his own injuries were almost identical to the wounds he had inflicted on that Cursed Spirit.
"Reflected damage? Is there such a Technique?"
Kamihara Hajime's figure disappeared from where he stood, catching up to the Cursed Spirit flying in mid-air. Totsuka-no-Tsurugi quickly pierced its abdomen and was then pulled out. Then, Kamihara Hajime, who had dispelled his Technique, once again saw the same wound appear on his abdomen.
"Interesting..."
Landing on the ground, Kamihara Hajime mobilized the continuous Cursed Energy within him, integrating his Technique with the Cursed Energy filling this space using a barrier Technique.
What followed was Kamihara Hajime's experimental 'not-a-Domain' Domain—Time Shower.
Although it was the interior hall of a building, raindrops began to fall from the sky, and within a few breaths, they had formed a considerable rain curtain.
Kamihara Hajime reached out to catch the "rainwater," but it disappeared like an illusion upon touching his hand. At the same time, raindrops also ascended from the ground, rising towards the sky.
The Cursed Spirit was also bewildered by this sudden change. Just as it had retreated to create distance, it suddenly reappeared in its previous position, and the wound that had already healed reappeared.
Kamihara Hajime raised a finger and aimed it at the Cursed Spirit. A pale white Cursed Energy arrow condensed, very inconspicuous under the rain curtain.
"Bang!"
Although it was shaped like an arrow, Kamihara Hajime simulated the sound of a gun with his mouth. Then, Time Arrow skipped the process and directly completed the result. The Cursed Spirit, which had made a dodging motion, tilted and fell to the ground, its lower body collapsing and scattering into a pile of dust on the ground.
And the rain curtain, floating up and down in the air, suddenly had a large empty circle, which gradually filled up after a moment. Then, Kamihara Hajime's legs, as expected, also underwent this terrifying change, but being prepared, he almost simultaneously used Technique Reversal to eliminate the injuries.
Then, the Cursed Spirit's pulverized legs actually sprouted two masses of flesh from their roots, and in the blink of an eye, two brand new legs grew. Its aura and Cursed Energy also strangely became stronger, and its body visibly grew much larger.
The exposed body clearly showed bulging muscles, and its grayish-white skin made it look like granite. The two horns on its head also grew much longer. After its body recovered, it stomped its foot and shot forward like a cannonball, its speed more than a little faster than before.
"Let's try this again."
Kamihara Hajime extended a finger through the rain curtain. Amidst the scattered raindrops, the charging figure of the Cursed Spirit suddenly disappeared. Upon closer look, it was standing where it had just pushed off the ground. The cracks on the floor still proved that it had indeed used the ground for leverage, yet when it chose to attack again, in a flash, it returned to its original spot.
After silently watching the Cursed Spirit "struggle" several times, the Technique he had imposed on it finally lost its effect. During that time, the Cursed Spirit was like an insect in amber, unable to escape, only to be confined in a cage of time.
"Let's call it Amber."
However, this move was only used to trap enemies. Its advantage was that it would automatically and continuously rewind the target to a pre-selected moment. It was both a restraint and a unique form of protection, perhaps even usable to protect others. Of course, Kamihara Hajime could actively cancel this effect.
Kamihara Hajime fired several Time Arrows consecutively. Under the cover of Time Shower, he released his Technique with much more ease, and the acceleration effect also improved. Upon hitting the Cursed Spirit, the inflicted wounds were easily accelerated to the ultimate point of "death," resulting in various parts of the Cursed Spirit's body instantly exploding into dust.
But this Cursed Spirit maintained an unusual regenerative ability. With each severe injury and subsequent repair, the Cursed Spirit's aura grew stronger, and its body even reached three meters in height, its muscles standing like steel.
Under the cover of the rain curtain, the Cursed Spirit's speed also received an unprecedented boost. Kamihara Hajime was not surprised by this; this move was designed to affect enemies as well. Within the range of this rain curtain, the time of all things would be uniformly accelerated.
How did that saying go? The result of simultaneous acceleration is that no one accelerates, but the negative effects brought by Time Shower would not decrease. Kamihara Hajime could offset them with Technique Reversal, but how would the enemy offset them?
If there were no means of counteracting it, the only result of staying in this rain curtain would be to prematurely enter the oblivion of death. Moreover, this acceleration was constant and indiscriminate for the enemy, which was why a single ordinary Time Arrow from Kamihara Hajime could directly turn the hit part into dust.
"Absorbing damage and reflecting it back to the opponent, and also using the absorbed attacks to strengthen itself..."
Kamihara Hajime silently analyzed the Cursed Spirit's Technique in his mind. This ability meant that the Cursed Spirit didn't seem strong at first glance, but once you started fighting it, it could strengthen itself while reflecting damage back to you, gradually tipping the scales. If the opponent attacked fiercely out of impatience, they might even kill themselves.
Unfortunately, it encountered Kamihara Hajime. Trading injuries? Impossible. Only the Cursed Spirit would be injured. Kamihara Hajime didn't bother to find the weakness of the Cursed Spirit's Technique. Such a seemingly unsolvable ability must have drawbacks, for example, whether there is an upper limit, whether it can truly reflect any damage to the opponent, or if the enemy attacks from a very long distance, whether its Technique has that range...
Kamihara Hajime chose the most brutal approach: repeatedly inflicting severe injuries, almost killing the opponent, then waiting for its inevitable limit, and finally exorcising it at its strongest moment.
It was also a good opportunity to become more familiar with the use of Techniques. This Time Shower was originally one of his concepts for a Domain, and the failed product he developed was this. He had originally wanted to "stuff" Technique Reversal into it as well, but the effect was not obvious. The effect of the forward rotation was amplified, but it didn't have the kind of power born from mutual collision that Kamihara Hajime had imagined.
"Perhaps... I should still try step by step to combine only the forward and reverse rotations of the Technique to see if it works."
More than ten streaks of sword light, appearing simultaneously, divided the Cursed Spirit, which had transformed into a monstrous beast, into several pieces. The Cursed Spirit, which recovered in an instant, did not experience an increase in its aura this time, which drew Kamihara Hajime's attention back.
"You've reached your limit?"
Kamihara Hajime's chuckle was met with the Cursed Spirit's roar. Its millstone-sized palm whistled down, the immense Cursed Energy wrapped around it crushing and pulverizing everything in front. The coverage of Time Shower accelerated the Cursed Spirit's strengthening, but also pushed it further down the path of destruction. The effects, triggering and disengaging, made it difficult for this Cursed Spirit, with little capacity for thought, to harness this power, sometimes even becoming a burden.
Three curse swords, having pierced the Cursed Spirit countless times in an instant, were thrown by Kamihara Hajime, pinning its head and shoulders in mid-air. Then, the black light shining on Kamihara Hajime's fist rewrote a stroke on this frozen canvas, and the continuously splattering "ink" vividly displayed divine will on this painting.
Looking at the Cursed Spirit, whose body was completely "opened," Kamihara Hajime nodded in satisfaction and then deactivated his Technique. Before the splattered flesh and blood could fly even a millimeter, the Curse instantly erupted, and a Shura-like phantom appeared. The falling Rotten Knife accelerated the Cursed Spirit's collapse, directly cutting it down into the abyss of death.
There was no scene of blood and gore, only scattered dust disappearing into the air. The only trace left was an object that fell to the ground: a withered finger.
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