Chapter 131: False Security

" Thank you Nobara, you made me realize that I'm not fighting alone. "

As Yuji whispered these words, he unleashed a flurry of powerful strikes, each one landing with a resounding impact on Mahito. The force of his blows sent Mahito hurtling towards a nearby pillar, which shattered upon impact. The broken pillar crashed down onto Mahito, creating a thunderous noise that echoed through the air.

Amidst the falling rubble coming from the collapsed pillar, Yuji's gaze remained fixed on Mahito's battered form, his eyes filled with determination. Mahito, on the other hand, met Yuji's gaze with a twisted grin, his face smeared with blood...

As dust covered Mahito's body, back on the surface, Nobara could be seen, chasing after Mahito's clone as it attempted to escape towards a nearby subway station. Her footsteps echoed loudly as she closed in on Mahito, until suddenly, a deafening explosion reverberated through the air, capturing the attention of both Mahito and Nobara.

Looking up, they witnessed two figures descending from the sky, their hair dancing wildly in the wind. With a triumphant grin, one of them shouted out, taunting the other about his diminishing cursed energy.

"What's the matter? Your cursed output is dwindling!" Hakari's voice boomed as he launched a lightning-fast punch towards Mute.

However, Mute effortlessly evaded his attack, teleporting next to a bright red car that had been flipped on its side in the middle of the street. With a defiant look, Mute stared up at Hakari, who was descending towards him with incredible speed.

During this intense battle, Mute has been constantly on the defensive, trying to gather enough curse energy to unleash his Domain Expansion. However, Hakari's relentless onslaught is draining Mute's curse energy faster than he can replenish it naturally. To make matters worse, Hakari hasn't even unleashed his own domain yet.

Realizing that he can no longer afford to wait for his curse energy to recover, Mute has decided to change his strategy. He will now go all out to defeat Hakari, giving everything he's got. As determination fills his eyes, the snake coiled around his wrist increases in size, eventually spewing out a small circular saw.

This saw happens to be the last curse tool that Mute purchased before coming to Shibuya. Its concept is simple, yet incredibly effective. With the flick of his finger, the saw vanished into thin air, leaving Hakari bewildered as he desperately searched for its whereabouts. Suddenly, it materialized beside him, tearing into his shoulder with a vicious bite.

Hakari's pain was evident as blood sprayed from his wound, yet he refused to yield. His eyes locked onto the spinning saw, only for it to disappear once more. In an instant, it reappeared, slicing through Hakari's gut. The sight of his own flesh being torn apart left him stunned, while Mute observed him coldly, unmoved by the bleeding figure falling towards him

 Undeterred, Hakari landed on the ground and lunged forward, his determination unwavering. He took a few more steps until the saw struck again, cutting through his body but he pressed on, ignoring the sharp pain rippling through his body. Hakari relentlessly pursued Mute, until Mute vanished into thin air, reemerging high above on a nearby scaffolding. Mute leaned against the glass window of a skyscraper, his arms crossed, and a smirk on his lips.

Hakari stared up at Mute, as the saw struck his body relentlessly, blood floated in the air, and hundreds of thoughts ran through Hakari's mind...

The cuts are shallow, they are shallow. I'm guessing the shallowness of these cuts is the weakness of this curse tool. Mute plans on injuring my body until I'm forced to use my domain expansion. But if he thinks slicing off this caliber will force me to use domain expansion he is a bigger idiot than Yuta. 

I glare up at Mute, as the saw repeatedly appears next to me, slicing into my skin causing pain to ripple through my body. He's controlling the saw with his curse technique, he's making the saw shrink and then reappear next to my body. Unless he's controlling the saw with those strings he's famous for but I don't see them anywhere. Nevertheless, I would be lying if I said this saw wasn't annoying, it's like I'm fighting in a sure-hit domain. 

But let's forget that for now, first I need to close the distance between me and him. I bend my knees before I dash towards Mute leaping onto the base of the scaffolding. With each leap, I take the saw slices into my body. My body is covered in cuts, but I ignore the pain and keep jumping.

After jumping several times, I'm only a level below Mute who is still leaning on the glass window with his arms crossed, I lock eyes with him before my curse energy explodes and I lean to the right, dodging the saw.

Mute's eyes widened surprised, as I felt a grin creep onto my face, by exploding my curse energy outwards, I created a barrier of energy, that would warn me of the incoming saw. I leap off the wooden boards before I appear directly in front of Mute throwing a powerful punch. 

The punch sails towards Mute until suddenly, the barrier I created warns me of an incoming attack from the saw aimed at my elbow, but I ignore the warning, instead following through with my punch, the saw attacks previously were shallow so if-...

As Hakari's thoughts were racing, Mute suddenly shut his eyes and crouched down. Hakari's stared at Mute bewildered by his sudden movement, only to be interrupted by the piercing sound of shattering glass. In an instant, a colossal saw tore through the glass skyscraper. Before Hakari could even process what was happening, the merciless saw swiftly severed his arms.

Hakari's eyes widened in shock as he gazed at his armless stumps, while Mute swiftly pivoted and delivered a powerful kick to his chest, propelling him off the platform. Throughout the intense confrontation, Hakari had been lured into a false sense of security by Mute, who deliberately dulled the impact of his attacks.

Mute's strategy of avoiding Hakari's vital areas like his neck or head was actually quite straightforward. The flaw of this curse tool wasn't the fact, that the wounds inflicted were shallow, but rather in its sluggish movements when aiming for critical body parts. If Mute was to target Hakari's vitals, the curse tool's speed would slow down. This led Mute to focus on striking Hakari's non-vital areas, such as his arms and shoulders.

Mute stared off the scaffolding with a cold grin on his face, to him. Hakari was a powerful sorcerer who could not use RCT. Mute watched Hakari fall to the ground while the skyscraper fell towards him...