Chapter 119 (Patreon)

“Not bad. You handled yourself well.”

Ragnar Kagenou approached Megumi Fushiguro and examined his injuries. Megumi was exhausted, but nothing appeared serious.

“Ragnar-sensei? Weren’t you away on a mission?”

Megumi had poured nearly all his cursed energy into his Domain Expansion. Now that the battle was over, the strength had drained from his body, leaving him barely able to move.

“I just returned,” Ragnar replied. “Then I found the three of you fighting an entire nest of special-grade curses.”

“Right… I see.” Megumi paused before turning toward him in disbelief. “Wait. A nest?”

“Yes. Yuji Itadori, Nobara Kugisaki, and three special-grade curses.” Ragnar glanced toward the battlefield. “You three really have no sense of self-preservation.”

Megumi tried to push himself to his feet, but after struggling several times, his arms gave out and he dropped back to the ground.

“Don’t force yourself.”

“B-But—”

“Leave the remaining three to me.”

Ragnar stepped past the debris obstructing his path and headed toward Yuji.

Ragnar-sensei is a special-grade sorcerer himself. Dealing with a few special-grade curses should be nothing to him.

Reassured, Megumi closed his eyes and focused on recovering his strength and cursed energy.

Ragnar stopped for a moment and glanced back at him.

“Megumi, once this mission is over, go see your sister. Tsumiki must miss you.”

Megumi stared at him in confusion, unable to immediately understand why Ragnar had suddenly brought her up.

Meanwhile, Yuji had chased Kechizu beyond the barrier and found Nobara, who had been dragged away by Eso, another incarnated Cursed Womb: Death Painting.

“Ah, Nobara!”

“Brother!” Kechizu cried at almost the exact same moment.

Eso turned toward Yuji and Kechizu with a deeply troubled expression.

“You… saw it, didn’t you?”

Although Eso wore a black outfit that covered most of his body, the grotesque human face growing from his back was now completely exposed.

Yuji and Kechizu immediately responded in unison.

“S-Sorry!”

Eso’s expression twisted with rage.

“I’ll kill you!”

However, Nobara had no intention of overlooking an opponent foolish enough to expose his back in the middle of a fight.

“Then why are you dressed like that?!”

She swung her hammer and attempted to strike him from behind, but the difference in their physical abilities remained considerable. Eso twisted aside and avoided the attack.

“Because… it gets hot!”

Cursed energy erupted from his body.

“Rot Technique: Maximum—Wing King!”

A skeletal pair of wings formed behind Eso, constructed from streams of dark, bloodlike cursed energy.

“I’ll sting you both to death!”

The wings separated into countless sharpened tendrils and shot toward Yuji and Nobara.

“Turn around and run!”

The piercing attacks tore through the air one after another.

“Nobara, get behind me!”

Faced with the incoming technique, Nobara placed her trust in Yuji. Rather than retreating, she immediately moved behind him.

“Dismantle!”

A grid of invisible slashes spread through the air, cutting apart most of Eso’s Wing King before it could reach them.

“What?!”

Eso’s eyes widened in complete disbelief.

“Looks like the situation just turned around.”

Yuji grinned and charged straight at him.

“Nobara, cover me!”

“Leave it to me!”

Nobara drew several nails and rushed in from Eso’s side. While Eso was still stunned by the destruction of his technique, Yuji and Nobara struck together, battering him from both directions.

“Gah!”

Eso forcefully spread his wings, releasing a surge of cursed energy that knocked them both away.

Seeing his brother being overwhelmed, Kechizu rushed forward to stop Nobara from joining Yuji again.

“You… are not allowed to interfere.”

“Get out of my way.”

Nobara glared at him coldly. She had no intention of showing Kechizu even the slightest mercy.

Eso glanced toward her before directing the remaining tendrils of Wing King at Yuji.

“You’re using that again?”

Yuji shifted aside and activated his Cursed Technique, shattering the incoming attack into pieces.

The corners of Eso’s mouth curled upward.

“Why are you smiling?”

Yuji’s stomach tightened when he saw the expression on Eso’s face.

Did I do something wrong just now?

What am I missing?

Damn it. Think!

“I was waiting for this exact moment!”

Eso seized control of the shattered fragments of Wing King. The pieces suddenly changed direction and shot toward Yuji and Nobara from behind.

“Oh, no!”

Yuji sensed the danger and tried to evade, but the fragments were already too close.

Nobara was still occupied with Kechizu when the black blood struck her from behind, cutting into her body. Kechizu immediately seized the opening and spat another stream of poisonous blood toward them.

The blood sharpened into arrowlike projectiles and pierced both Yuji and Nobara.

Crap!

“Ugh!”

Nobara clutched the place where the blood had entered her body.

Eso’s expression relaxed into one of absolute confidence.

“Don’t worry. My brother’s blood has different properties from mine. It won’t kill you immediately.” His smile widened. “Instead, you’ll die slowly and painfully.”

With victory seemingly assured, Eso began explaining their technique.

“Our innate technique is the Rot Technique: Decay. And it has only just begun.”

Black, rose-shaped markings appeared across Yuji’s and Nobara’s skin.

“Once you are stained with the blood of either brother, one of us can activate Decay. The corrosion begins at the point where the blood entered your body.” Eso looked between them with satisfaction. “Your lives are already counting down. In roughly ten minutes, nothing but your bones will remain.”

Eso raised one hand.

“If the pain becomes unbearable, I can put you out of your misery.”

A golden flash suddenly pierced the darkness.

A Noble Phantasm streaked through the night like lightning and tore through Eso’s arm before he could react.

“What…?”

The radiant weapon embedded itself in the ground with a metallic clang. A moment later, Eso’s severed arm dropped beside it.

“So these are the incarnated Cursed Womb: Death Paintings.”

The cold voice came from above.

“I expected more. But I suppose a failed creation will always remain a failure.”

Eso’s expression changed instantly. He turned furiously toward the source of the voice.

A blond young man clad in brilliant golden armor stood atop a tall streetlamp. Behind him, dozens of golden ripples spread across the darkness, each one revealing the tip of another Noble Phantasm.

“Who are you?”

Yuji looked up, his expression brightening.

“Oh! Ragnar-sensei!”

Nobara also released a quiet breath of relief.

“Couldn’t you have shown up a little sooner?”

Eso’s eyes narrowed as a fragment of his memory resurfaced. The person who had released them had mentioned someone matching this man’s appearance.

Goldie…? Could he be—

Ragnar’s expression darkened.

“Mongrel, who gave you permission to speak?” His crimson eyes stared down at Eso without the slightest trace of mercy. “Stay on the ground and await your judgment.”

Eso froze for a moment before rage overcame his caution.

“Who are you calling a mongrel?!”

His answer came in the form of a torrential barrage of gleaming Noble Phantasms.

Too fast!

Eso focused all his attention on evading, but even then, he barely managed to avoid the first two or three weapons.

Drip.

Eso felt something warm running down his cheek.

“When did he…?”

He touched his face and stared at the blood on his fingers. He had not even noticed the moment one of the weapons cut him.

“Nobara. Yuji.” Ragnar kept his gaze fixed on Eso. “The two of you deal with Kechizu.”

Nobara rested her hammer against her shoulder.

“I was already planning to finish that freak myself.”

“Got it!”

Eso’s expression changed drastically.

If they were allowed to continue, Kechizu would truly be killed.

Yuji rushed forward and drove his fist into Kechizu. At the moment of impact, several slashes erupted across Kechizu’s body, tearing deeply into his flesh.

Nobara raised a nail, positioned it against her own arm, and drove it through her skin with her hammer.

A vicious grin spread across her face.

“Resonance!”

Eso’s composure shattered.

“Kechizu!”

“Shut up! You’re too loud!”

Nobara shouted back at him before placing three more nails against her arm and driving them through her flesh.