A fierce wind howled past Eichi and Artoria.
Protected by Cursed Energy, neither of them was affected in the slightest.
They had already flown past Konan City. After two more cities, they would reach Kyoto, with only a few dozen kilometers left in a straight line.
Eichi had just learned about the situation in Kyoto through a phone call.
The Pillar of Heaven in Kyoto had collapsed, but what appeared afterward was a massive barrier that trapped Satoru.
Outside the barrier, millions of Cursed Spirits surrounded it. Even if Takako and Ryu teamed up, they could not break through the blockade and destroy the barrier to understand the situation inside.
This unknown situation made Eichi's unease grow even stronger.
Qiongqi had already accelerated to its maximum speed, and only that could slightly ease the anxiety in Eichi's heart.
Suddenly, a dark red pillar of blood shot from the sky toward Qiongqi.
The thigh-thick blood pillar exuded an ominous aura visible to the naked eye.
"Roar!"
Qiongqi let out a roar, and the wind rings around him that had been constantly accelerating him instantly burst apart.
The strong wind impeded the blood pillar for a moment.
The next second, Artoria had already raised her Holy Sword, and a golden light cannon fired instantly.
The blood pillar was destroyed by the light cannon formed by Mana Burst, giving off an extremely unsettling sizzling sound.
A terrifying figure with a twisted, horrifying face, two wings on its back, luxurious clothing that exuded a decaying aura, and festering flesh on its body flew toward Qiongqi like an arrow.
Before the figure even arrived, a foul-smelling blood orb condensed in its hand.
Bang!
The blood orb exploded, and countless drops of blood, like pellets from a shotgun, enveloped Qiongqi.
"Wind Barrier!"
A strong wind erupted instantly, blowing away all the surrounding blood drops.
An invisible slash flew hundreds of meters from the ground toward Eichi.
A shadow rose from Qiongqi's back, forming a sturdy shield, and Eichi blocked the slash.
Eichi's gaze swept downward, where Yuji-Sukuna and a Cursed Spirit clad in armor were waiting for him on the ground.
'Sukuna?'
Eichi frowned, then controlled Qiongqi to descend. Mahoraga's figure immediately leaped out of the shadows.
As a teacher at Tokyo Jujutsu High, he absolutely could not leave his student unattended.
"Too slow."
As soon as he landed, he heard Sukuna's dissatisfied voice, accompanied by an invisible slash.
Clang.
As expected, this slash was blocked without posing any threat to Eichi and Artoria.
"Whose ancestral grave did you defile to dig up these two things?"
After speaking, Eichi glanced at the Cursed Spirit in the sky, whose blood-red wings had already rotted, and the Cursed Spirit behind Sukuna that resembled a zombie samurai.
"You mean them? Speaking of which, you should call him your ancestor."
Sukuna looked at Eichi with malicious amusement, then arrogantly pointed behind him.
"The one behind me is your ancestor, Taira no Masakado, and the one in the sky is the Kamo family's ancestor, who used to be an emperor."
Hearing Sukuna's words, Eichi's brows furrowed.
Taira no Masakado and Emperor Sutoku?
Was Kenjaku digging up the ancestral graves of the Big Three Families?
It seemed that today, he was going to beat Sukuna and destroy his ancestors.
Thinking this, Eichi no longer hesitated. He needed to quickly exorcise these two Cursed Spirits, and then, depending on the situation, either awaken Yuji or capture Sukuna alive.
Capture Sukuna alive.
As soon as these words came to mind, Eichi suddenly understood Satoru's thoughts in the original work.
If anyone in the Jujutsu World heard that he intended to capture the legendary King of Curses alive, they would probably think he was insane.
Satoru and Suguru would not, though. They would probably join in and discuss whether a sneak attack would be more effective, or if crushing his spirit by bombarding him with useless information would be better.
The figures of Satoru and Suguru appeared in Eichi's mind, and a sentence unconsciously slipped out.
"Let me say this first, you are the challenger."
As he finished speaking, the Ten Shadows Treasure Wheel appeared above Eichi's head.
Sukuna's malicious smile instantly vanished.
It was replaced by endless fury.
"You brat, I'll completely shred that mouth of yours."
Both sides moved simultaneously, and countless slashes enveloped Eichi and Artoria.
Taira no Masakado also drew his sword and stepped forward immediately.
In the sky, a rain of blood began to fall.
Thunder and wind blades met Sukuna's slashes. Artoria and Taira no Masakado's swords clashed, and Mahoraga bypassed the two of them, launching an attack toward Sukuna.
Sizzle, sizzle.
A drop of blood rain fell on Eichi.
Eichi looked down and found that this drop of blood rain contained terrifying curses.
This curse corroded the modified Falling Blossom Emotion covering his body in an extremely short time, then began to erode his body.
Reverse Cursed Technique immediately generated a large amount of positive energy, and the curse that had just begun to erode his skin was instantly neutralized by the positive energy.
Qiongqi flapped his wings and flew into the sky, confronting Emperor Sutoku.
But Eichi quickly discovered that Qiongqi was completely at a disadvantage.
It should be noted that with his full support, the current combat power of Chimera Qiongqi was already comparable to Jogo's.
But even so, he was still being suppressed by Emperor Sutoku.
On the other side, the battle between Artoria and Taira no Masakado had also fallen into a stalemate.
Eichi used Heroic Spirit Possession, and a purple robe appeared on his body.
Eichi leaped high, his robe spreading out like wings and carrying him into the sky.
Countless magic bullets enveloped Emperor Sutoku.
Neither Mahoraga nor Artoria had flying abilities, so Eichi decided to deal with Emperor Sutoku in the sky first, then support the ground battle.
At the same time, Eichi also assessed the strength of these two ancestors of the Big Three Families, the Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirits that had been feared by Japan's Jujutsu World for a thousand years.
They were approximately between Sukuna at fourteen and sixteen fingers.
Just then, Sukuna on the ground also changed his tactics.
Having fought Eichi many times before, Sukuna immediately understood one fact after battling Mahoraga for a moment.
Dismantle and Cleave were no longer effective against Mahoraga.
'Should I use Open?'
Sukuna's four eyes surveyed the battlefield, then he immediately made a decision.
He began to advance toward Artoria.
In the center of the battlefield, the battle between Artoria and Taira no Masakado was extremely fierce.
In terms of strength, Artoria was stronger.
But Taira no Masakado's ever-changing attack methods also gave Artoria a headache.
Taira no Masakado raised the long sword in his hand high, then brought it down with force, accompanied by a pitch-black Tiger Funeral resembling a fierce tiger descending a mountain.
Artoria placed her Holy Sword at her side, taking a posture similar to iai, and an upward slash met Taira no Masakado's long sword.
While slashing upward, the Wind Barrier also erupted with a strong storm, colliding with the Tiger Funeral that could control the fierce wind.
"Switch opponents."
Sukuna's voice rang out, and the ahoge on Artoria's head suddenly stood up as a chill came from behind her.
Artoria quickly spun on her feet, swinging her long sword from top to bottom.
Clang, clang, clang.
Several invisible slashes were blocked by Artoria.
Then, Artoria used the momentum of her sword swing to roll sideways, dodging Taira no Masakado's long sword from behind her.
Sukuna also changed direction, and after dodging Mahoraga's Sword of Extermination, he stood in front of Artoria.
At that moment, both sides completed the exchange of opponents.
Clang, clang, clang!
Slashes like a storm enveloped Artoria.
Relying on her powerful intuition, Artoria managed to block countless slashes with just one sword, and even launched counterattacks toward Sukuna.
Compared to Artoria, Mahoraga's situation was much worse.
At that moment, Mahoraga seemed to have a bad signal. His movements were sometimes agile, sometimes slow.
Eichi suddenly paused in midair, discovering that his connection with his Shikigami was being affected.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ 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.)