The surreal image of Kiniro using his severed arm to give her a thumbs up nearly broke Kasumi out of her zone, but she managed to retain her heightened level of focus.
Seeing that Kasumi wasn't amused, Kiniro frowned, "Hm, tough crowd."
With a shocking amount of carelessness given the fact he was missing an arm, Kiniro regarded Kasumi and her sword with a fascinating gaze, "You know this wasn't the outcome I was expecting, but I can't complain about it. It also clarified some things about the black flash phenomenon, so thank you for that."
Kasumi blinked but didn't lower her guard in the slightest, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I can feel that it's changed inside of me. I'm stronger than I was before…strong enough to face you on my own."
"Hey, I love the newfound confidence, but don't get ahead of yourself," Kiniro admonished as he wagged his finger at Kasumi, of course still using his severed arm, "Now, before we continue, would you like to know what happened and what your new toy is capable of?"
Kasumi's jaw clenched, the right choice was to press her advantage against Kiniro while he was injured, but a single glance at her black and crimson blade ignited Kasumi's curiosity, "Tell me."
Kiniro grinned, "Good, because I'm dying to talk about it. But first, tell me how did it feel?"
"It felt…like nothing." Kasumi replied with a far-off look in her eyes as she recalled the way her mind had completely emptied of all thoughts and emotions, "It's like I lost all sense of self."
"You poured yourself into the blade," Kiniro confirmed, "It was interesting to see, your ego almost completely vanished, clearing the way for your cursed energy to flow unimpeded. When you drew your sword, your cursed energy arrived within 0.000001 of a second, giving birth to the phenomenon known as black flash, increasing the power of your attack exponentially."
"But then why do I feel like this?" Kasumi demanded as she stared into Kiniro's eyes, "It's like I've opened my eyes for the first time."
"Your epiphany has caused you to become aware of your soul," Kiniro explained calmly, "That awareness has allowed you to perceive the relation between your inner self and the rest of existence. It is an especially noteworthy accomplishment given you have no innate technique."
Kasumi's brow furrowed as she failed to comprehend Kiniro's words, "I don't think you could have explained that in a more confusing way if you tried."
"Cursed energy is the product of emotions, that in turn are a manifestation of the ego, the self," Kiniro continued, ignoring Kasumi's confusion, "Yet you do not operate in a vacuum, your ego is a manifestation of countless interacting factors because form is emptiness, but at the same time that emptiness can not be noticed without the existence of form."
"What are you saying?!" Kasumi muttered as her brain started to hurt from trying to interpret Kiniro's words.
"It's okay to be confused," Kiniro replied with a calming smile, "If people were so easily able to comprehend the true nature of jujutsu, then the world would be a far more interesting place."
'The true nature of jujutsu?' Kasumi thought, just as Kiniro looked off into the forest, "Mhhh, looks like your friends are about to arrive; I guess we should wrap up our little talk."
Kiniro looked back at Kasumi, "The cursed tool you hold in your hand will allow you to pour your emotions into the blade and empty your mind, letting you execute a black flash when you next draw your sword. I think Nagi is a fitting name."
"Wait, I still have more questions," Kasumi insisted, feeling like she was being cut off from uncovering a great secret.
Kiniro grinned, seemingly enthused by Kasumi's eagerness, "Then I'll leave you with some food for thought. If cursed energy is produced by emotion and emotions are the product of the soul, how are cursed spirits able to generate their own cursed energy? Why do they become more intelligent the more cursed energy they have?"
Kiniro's words rang in Kasumi's mind, who found herself paralyzed by the countless implications his question could have.
"Remember, Kasumi," Kiniro muttered as he pressed his severed limb against the stump it had fallen off of, "Form is Emptiness, and Emptiness is Form."
"Kasumi!"
Hearing her name called, Kasumi looked over just in time to watch Mechamaru barrel into the clearing in a cloud of bamboo splinters.
"So you're the one that's been controlling those cursed corpses," Kiniro muttered as he slowly turned around to face Mechamaru, as his severed arm knitted itself back together, "It's rather impressive that I can't locate your real body. Projecting cursed energy over such a vast distance must be the result of a binding vow, maybe even a heavenly restriction?"
Instead of answering, Mechamaru raised his hand that split apart to reveal a wide barrel that he leveled directly at Kiniro, "You can use reversed curse technique…seems like I'll need to aim for your head."
"That's assuming that you can even hit-"
Mechamaru interrupted Kiniro's boast with a powerful blast of cursed energy fired from his palm, lighting up the surrounding area like a second sun. The laser was fast, but not fast enough.
"Mammon"
Noritoshi's eyes widened as he watched Kiniro disappear into thin air, 'Where did he go?!'
Just as Noritoshi was about to knock his arrow, he felt a flare of cursed energy and threw himself to the side. Despite his quick reaction time, Noritoshi wasn't quick enough to emerge unscathed as a searing line of pain opened up across his shoulder.
Rolling to his feet, Noritoshi popped up with his bow fully drawn as he aimed at Kiniro, who was still fully extended after his failed ambush, 'He appeared right beside me! And that mark from when I attacked him with piercing blood vanished. Is that his technique?'
While all these questions raced through Noritoshi's mind, he loosened the bowstring from between his fingers and sent the three arrows he had knocked flying. However, instead of watching their flight, Noritoshi paid close attention to his body and watched as another mark in the shape of an eye appeared on his flesh, 'So that's the trigger, any attack against him causes the aggressor to be branded, which he can then teleport to and possibly more.'
In a single exchange, Noritoshi deduced the basics of Kiniro's technique before focusing on the trio of arrows he had fired.
"Mechamaru, Kasumi, Kinrio is on me!"
Having missed his sneak attack, Kiniro clicked his tongue but quickly adjusted to deal with Noritoshi's volley of arrows that twisted and curved through the air in a way that shouldn't be possible, making them difficult to track and predict which angle they would strike at.
Instead of trying to avoid them, Kiniro planted his feet and erected a simple domain, though, compared to Kasumi's, his encompassed nearly twice as much ground. At the same time, Lust came alive, rising into the air like twin serpents, and when the arrows entered Kiniro's domain, they struck.
Noritoshi's brow furrowed as he tried to outmaneuver the chain blades, but Lust proved far more agile and easily intercepted the arrows despite being outnumbered.
"Noritoshi, move towards us, we need to face him together."
Noritoshi wordlessly moved to follow Mechamaru's instructions as he turned and sprinted towards the clearing, but he only managed to take a couple of strides before he was forced to duck behind a cluster of bamboo as one of Kiniro's knives pierced through where he had just stood.
Not wasting a second, Noritoshi pushed off the bamboo and resumed his desperate sprint as less than a second later he heard an explosion of wood, 'How troublesome.'
Reaching into his pocket, Noritoshi pulled out a blood bag as he spun around and tossed it at the twin daggers that would have caught up to him had he reacted a second later.
"Blood Manipulation: Crimson Binding"
The blood bag exploded as the scarlet liquid inside formed a mass of tendrils that shot out and sought to entangle anything within reach. However, as they wrapped around the blades, the crimson binding quivered before liquefying as all the cursed energy was drained from it.
'So the blades act as an extension of his Devour.' Noritoshi noted as he turned back around, using the brief window to put more distance between him and the blades.
"Noritoshi!"
Picking up his head, Noritoshi felt no small amount of relief when he spotted Mechamaru and Kasumi sprinting towards him, "His technique can mark anyone who attacks him and lets him teleport to their location."
"But I wasn't marked earlier when we fought," Kasumi muttered as the three of them converged and immediately took up defensive stances.
"Well, you weren't strong enough to warrant the use of my technique."
The three Kyoto students turned as Kiniro calmly walked out of the forest and regarded them with a twinkle in his eyes, "But the three of you together, I think that would be insulting not to give you the full experience."
Kiniro then brought his hand together.
"Innate Domain Projection: Gaze of The Seven Princes"
Mechamaru, Kasumi, and Noritoshi tensed as seven motes of fire flared into existence behind Kiniro as an entirely new aura emerged from him, and all at once it dawned upon the three of them that never once had Kiniro taken them seriously.
Kasumi's jaw clenched, but she forced her hand to tighten around the grip of her sword, unwilling to back down. Noritoshi knocked another arrow coated in his blood, and Mechamaru's mouth opened, telescoping into the barrel of a cannon.
"Good," Kiniro praised as he watched their reactions, "Let's see if I can awaken something inside the rest of you."
Kiniro raised his foot to take a single step forward, making the Kyoto students tense, however, the moment Kinrio's foot hit the ground, he disappeared. In his place, a single stone fell to the ground.
Staring at the rock, a small wave of relief spread through the trio as they realized their peer had finally chosen to intervene.