The sheer wind pressure alone was enough to tear apart a human body.
If the dragon had used a breath attack from the sky, Yuki Tsukumo could have endured it with her body and continued the pursuit.
But now, the dragon was using its entire self as a weapon, smashing down.
She couldn't dodge it at all, because this was a thirty-meter-long cannonball that could even curve and track her.
She couldn't escape!
Yuki Tsukumo was forced to stop her pursuit.
She planted herself in a horse stance, drawing her fists back to her waist.
The Star Rage Cursed Technique vibrated from her Cursed Energy core throughout her limbs.
She suddenly grew quiet, with only burning Cursed Energy erupting around her.
Then came the collision!
Yuki Tsukumo let out a roar, and her drawn-back fist violently smashed into the head of the charging dragon—boom!
The colossal sound was like a cannonball striking a fortress.
In an instant, this aerial biological fortress was knocked askew by Yuki Tsukumo's single punch.
A hurricane was born from the impact between the two.
Half of the dragon's head was destroyed, half of its face completely punched away.
The behemoth spun several times in the air like a top before crashing heavily into the ground, creating a tremendous noise, as if a skyscraper had collapsed on the spot.
A fist suddenly burst from the smoke and dust.
The shadow of the fist, along with the face behind it, reflected in Yuki Tsukumo's pupils.
Kinji Hakari!
He had raced over from the ruins of the grand staircase while Yuki Tsukumo was sending the dragon flying.
He clenched his fist and slammed it toward Yuki Tsukumo's face.
Yuki Tsukumo did not hesitate for an instant.
She immediately raised her fist and smashed it toward Kinji Hakari's face.
A trade of blows!
Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted.
He immediately pulled back his fist to dodge.
The massive wind from the punch grazed his cheek, slicing past like blades.
The wind pressure deformed his face, twisting his features.
Correct judgment!
If he had traded blows just then, that one strike would have been enough to make Kinji Hakari's head explode.
Yuki Tsukumo immediately raised her knee—a knee strike!
Kinji Hakari retreated again.
The knee strike almost hit his abs.
If he had been struck by that, Kinji Hakari likely would have been severed in two instantly.
Kinji Hakari imagined that future, and cold sweat unknowingly streamed down his forehead.
So strong!
Truly too strong!
Kinji Hakari naturally knew the power of Special Grade Sorcerers.
He had fought two of them: one was, of course, Satoru Gojo, but Satoru Gojo was far too much; fighting him was like being kicked around like a ball, completely lacking any tangible feeling of combat.
The other Special Grade Sorcerer was his junior, Yuta Okkotsu, but while Yuta Okkotsu was a Special Grade Sorcerer, his abilities stemmed from his endless copying Cursed Technique, making their spars more like battles of attrition.
Satoru Gojo gave him the feeling of being an exception—always outside the scope of discussion.
Yuta Okkotsu gave him the feeling of complexity, winning through the combination of various Cursed Techniques.
But now, Yuki Tsukumo gave Kinji Hakari a completely different feeling: it was so pure, so simple, so direct.
Strong!
Kinji Hakari couldn't imagine another word besides strong.
She was simply, simply—
"This is amazing!"
Kinji Hakari's roar carried both fear and excitement.
He suddenly dropped all his defenses, right in front of Yuki Tsukumo's fist!
Yuki Tsukumo's pupils contracted.
It was too late to pull back the force.
The fist, carrying the weight of the Star Rage Cursed Technique, slammed violently into Kinji Hakari's chest—right at his heart.
Boom!
"Damn it!"
"Are you crazy?!" Yuki Tsukumo roared.
Even though she had pulled back her force at the critical moment, the power generated by the punch was still fatal.
Half of Kinji Hakari's body was instantly destroyed; his heart was blasted away, along with half his torso!
Blood and flesh flew into the air, accompanied by the geyser of blood resulting from his shattered heart.
Kinji Hakari opened his mouth and spoke his final words.
"Domain Expansion—"
"Idle Death Gamble!"
Yuki Tsukumo couldn't believe it.
Kinji Hakari hadn't formed a hand sign.
Because of that punch, half of Kinji Hakari's body had been shattered, including his heart; he didn't even have a second hand available to form a sign.
Could it be that he could activate Domain Expansion without a hand sign?
Even Satoru Gojo couldn't do that—
A Shinkansen station suddenly appeared before Yuki Tsukumo.
Rows of ticket gates materialized, and an illusory pachinko interface appeared before the two figures within the Domain barrier.
A panting voice emerged.
Yuki Tsukumo subconsciously turned her head, and a boy appeared from the Shinkansen passage.
Simultaneously with the Domain Expansion, the sure-hit information was written into Yuki Tsukumo's brain:
A Domain Expansion modeled after the legal gambling game pachinko.
The user can draw spins infinitely, but must wait a certain cooldown time between each draw.
If the user hits the jackpot, they gain infinite Cursed Energy for 4 minutes and 11 seconds starting from the moment the jackpot is won.
Yuki Tsukumo fully understood this rule and knew that Kinji Hakari must have a way to increase the odds.
She had received all of Kinji Hakari's data from Tengen.
Kinji Hakari's Cursed Technique was called Probability Alteration.
As long as it involved gambling, he was guaranteed to hit the jackpot within thirty attempts.
However, this Cursed Technique was an accumulation-based type; it only guaranteed success within thirty attempts, meaning the probability did not progressively increase with each attempt as the count approached thirty.
In other words, the Cursed Technique was ineffective for the first attempt.
Kinji Hakari's chance of hitting the jackpot on the first spin was the same as in real-life pachinko: 1/239!
"Cancel the Domain Expansion!" Yuki Tsukumo immediately shouted.
"You're inside the school right now, you can be saved!"
"What are you talking about, Lady Tsukumo?" Kinji Hakari smiled.
"Our bout... hasn't ended yet!"
Ding! The spin begins!
Female lead, female lead, Riichi!
Yuki Tsukumo was stunned by the notification because the third result displayed on the lottery interface was a female lead!
Female lead, female lead, Riichi, female lead! — The! Jackpot!
Instantly, massive amounts of Cursed Energy rose from Kinji Hakari's body.
Yuki Tsukumo's long golden hair fluttered like a flag as she looked at Kinji in disbelief.
His body was regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye; this was because the excessive Cursed Energy triggered a positive-from-negative effect, causing the Reverse Cursed Technique to cycle automatically.
Music drifted from afar—it was the theme song of "Private Railway Pure Love Train."
Kinji Hakari slowly stood up, tearing off his shredded shirt and tossing it into the air.
He was bare-chested; though half his body had just been blown apart and even his heart crushed, there wasn't a single scar on his skin now.
His muscles were well-defined, appearing like a masterfully carved sculpture.
Until the theme song of "Private Railway Pure Love Train" ended, Kinji Hakari possessed infinite Cursed Energy.
Four minutes and eleven seconds of immortality!
This man seized absolute power through sheer luck!
Kinji Hakari cracked his neck with a crisp snap and looked at the stunned Yuki Tsukumo, extending a hand like a gentleman inviting a lady to dance in a ballroom.
"Come, Lady Tsukumo," he said.
He grinned like a demon: "Round two, let's go!"
Suddenly, a roar came from behind Yuki Tsukumo.
She turned instinctively to see the dragon stretching its body.
The dragon she had flattened with one hit was also burning with Cursed Energy—infinite Cursed Energy!
As it stretched, its body grew again, its thirty-meter frame expanding at an incredible speed.
Thirty-five meters, forty meters, fifty meters!
The dragon lowered its head, looking down at Yuki Tsukumo like a giant kaiju in a tokusatsu film staring down at a mortal ant.
Yuki Tsukumo saw the dragon's front limbs extend, forming a hand sign.
This dragon took over the hand sign for Kinji Hakari, allowing him to use Domain Expansion without needing to form the sign himself—no, that wasn't it.
Yuki Tsukumo remembered the immortality intel from Mei Mei; Cursed Spirits called this dragon a Companion Spirit, an external organ.
This dragon was Kinji Hakari!
So that was it.
Was this the power of combining immortality with infinite Cursed Energy?
Normally, every step of the infinite Cursed Energy loop required a Domain Expansion hand sign, so interrupting that motion at a critical moment would break the loop.
Kinji Hakari's immortality still had its gaps and weaknesses.
As long as it wasn't a seamless connection and possessed gaps or weaknesses, even if Kinji Hakari gained infinite Cursed Energy, he wouldn't be ranked as a Special Grade—he lacked the flawlessness of a true Special Grade.
But the dragon's appearance filled this weakness.
Not only that, because the dragon was Kinji Hakari himself, even if the Cursed Technique in his brain and the Cursed Energy core in his abdomen were destroyed simultaneously, he could heal himself through the dragon—
—Just as he was healing the dragon now after it had been beaten down!
At this moment, Kinji Hakari finally shed the title of "Uncrowned Special Grade."
He truly stepped into the Special Grade realm, becoming a one-man war machine capable of toppling a nation—a genuine Special Grade Sorcerer.
Yuki Tsukumo licked her lips and repeated her words from the start of the battle.
"Brat... bring it on!"