Sendai Barrier, West Gate.
High in the sky, the Ootengu was deftly dodging the strange man who alternated between glowing red and blue—using Red to accelerate himself and Blue to steer his trajectory like a rocket.
Arrows fired continuously from the Ootengu's bow, aiming at Satoru, but not a single shot landed.
Most were easily dodged thanks to Satoru's extreme speed, and the few that did connect failed to penetrate the Limitless technique's defenses.
The Ootengu glanced at the cursed tool bow and arrow in its hand, filled with doubt.
For a moment, it even wondered if it had been given a fake.
"Ooh, yeah~ Now this is interesting."
Having ended his "rocket mode," Satoru came to a stop not far from the Ootengu, stretching leisurely with a carefree smile on his face.
"Is that all you've got? Come on, keep shooting at me. Come on, come on..."
Seeing the Ootengu's frustrated expression, Satoru felt it was necessary to give some encouragement.
!!!
Even the Ootengu, no matter how dull, could sense it was being mocked.
"Gaa!"
The Ootengu roared in fury—only for nothing to happen.
It looked around in confusion.
Then it realized that all the flying Cursed Spirits that had been following it had scattered and fled.
It turned out that the flying Cursed Spirits parasitized and controlled by Tamamo-no-Mae's Spirit Butterfly Technique had already been exorcised by Satoru. Most of the remaining lower-grade Cursed Spirits had been wiped out after losing their leader, while the rest scattered on their own.
This was also why, despite fighting for so long, the Ootengu remained unharmed.
Satoru had quickly grasped the battlefield situation at the West Gate. He correctly identified the biggest threat as the flying Cursed Spirits capable of bypassing the defensive line from the sky.
So those seemingly erratic rocket-style charges had in fact been carefully aimed at the densest clusters of flying enemies.
While it might take careful observation for others to identify parasitized Cursed Spirits, Satoru, with his Six Eyes, only needed a few glances to perceive their state.
From their movements, he deduced the logic behind their behavior.
You could say Satoru had a difficult personality and was hard to understand.
But you couldn't deny his strength—or how reliable he was.
Even though this Satoru hadn't yet grown into the near-invincible force he would become in ten years, there was little in the current battlefield that could challenge him.
Especially when it came to raw power.
"Gaa~"
As the Ootengu's cry echoed, the previously scattered flying Cursed Spirits suddenly changed direction and surged toward Satoru.
"Well, that saves me the trouble..."
Satoru muttered.
A dense wave of flying Cursed Spirits engulfed him completely.
Claws, beaks, fangs—countless attacks rained down from every angle.
Before long, Satoru's position was buried under a black sphere formed by the swarm of Cursed Spirits.
The Ootengu carefully observed, trying to identify any weakness in Satoru's defense.
Its arrows were powerful but couldn't even scratch Satoru.
So it decided to use these mostly disposable flying Cursed Spirits to test the waters.
To see if there was even the slightest vulnerability in Satoru's impenetrable defense.
Unfortunately, it was doomed to be disappointed.
As all the flying Cursed Spirits swarmed Satoru, he calmly raised his right hand.
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
A crimson glow burst from his body.
A terrifying repulsive force erupted from his core. Cursed Spirits were blasted away like cannonballs, hurtling to the ground and disintegrating into mangled remains.
The weaker ones didn't even fly—they were exorcised instantly on contact.
In an instant, the sky above the West Gate returned to its pre-battle clarity.
Only Satoru and the Ootengu remained floating in the air.
At last, the Ootengu realized the kind of opponent it was facing.
It flapped its wings and tried to escape upward, fleeing Satoru's range.
"Ah, running away already?"
Satoru scratched his head, looking a little disappointed.
The next moment, he appeared right in front of the Ootengu.
Under the Ootengu's panicked gaze, Satoru gently pressed two long, slender fingers to its forehead.
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
A crimson sphere materialized in front of his fingertips, then exploded.
The Ootengu was sent crashing toward the ground like a cannonball.
Satoru descended slowly, like a god walking from the heavens, landing beside the collapsed Ootengu.
With one hand, he activated Blue. With the other, he grabbed one of the Ootengu's legs.
And then began spinning through the ranks of the Cursed Spirits like a cyclone.
Blue moved like a mobile black hole, ripping apart anything nearby.
Cursed Spirits that weren't drawn in by Blue were directly bludgeoned to death by the Ootengu itself, wielded by Satoru like a massive club.
"This is actually pretty handy."
Satoru looked down at the Ootengu in his hand with satisfaction.
The Ootengu was huge, nearly four meters tall, and its wingspan wasn't short either.
Which meant the "Special Grade cursed tool" Ootengu had a wide attack radius when swung around.
Even better, the weapon could buff itself.
The Ootengu, still reeling from being slammed into the ground repeatedly, was barely conscious.
Seeing something ahead just before it was slammed again, it instinctively activated its technique to blow the obstacle away with wind.
Wait, how did this turn into me enchanting myself in your eyes?
Crack. Whoosh.
Finally, the Ootengu, now fully conscious, understood its current situation.
The wind roared—this time, not just defensively around its head, but compressing into an ultra-sharp wind blade that shot toward its own leg.
Splat.
"Hmm?"
Satoru, busy clearing out the Cursed Spirits, casually glanced at the half-severed leg in his hand and tossed it at a nearby Cursed Spirit.
The Cursed Spirit, delighted to see such a rich source of Cursed Energy flying toward it, opened its mouth wide—
Only to be headshotted by the high-speed limb.
The Ootengu let out a furious roar and unleashed its full power.
A terrifying storm formed a horizontal tornado at ground level, pressing down toward the amused Satoru.
Satoru dodged in a blink, then began weaving through the storm's path at a perfectly calculated speed.
The Ootengu stared at Satoru's continuous "retreat" with glee.
It controlled the storm, directing it to chase him down—until it noticed something wrong.
Why was that human still perfectly fine, and why had a huge number of Cursed Spirits vanished again?
Oh no. I did it again.
Wait. I've been tricked again!!
If the Ootengu had blood vessels, they'd be bursting right now.
Because it finally realized that this detestable white-haired man had been toying with it from the start.
Not only did its attacks do nothing, but they had also conveniently helped him clear out massive swaths of his enemies.
"GAA!!!"
The Ootengu shrieked in fury, then charged full speed at Satoru.
[Domain Expansion: Arashi]
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)