Chapter 339: Jackal
"What? You want to avenge those decrepit Council Members?"
Jackal's lips curled into a playful, beastly smirk. His demonic eyes narrowed as he assessed the young man standing before him. As a proud Etherious of the Nine Demon Gates, he didn't think for a single second that a mere human could possess the power to stand against him. To Jackal, humans were nothing more than fragile toys, existing solely to be blown into bloody chunks.
"No," Ren replied casually, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Whether those old men live or die is honestly none of my business. However, one of my companions was severely injured because of a certain someone from your guild. To synthesize a cure for the Bane Particles, we need a high-level demon's serum to create a vaccine. So, your appearance here is actually quite timely."
Ren didn't wait for Jackal's snarky rebuttal. His magical aura flared, shifting from standard Ethernano to something far more esoteric and profound.
[System Notice: Full Body Take Over — 'Gojo Satoru' Initiated.]
A brilliant flash of azure light enveloped Ren's body. When it faded, his physical appearance had altered completely. A mop of stark white hair sat atop his head, and a dark blindfold securely covered his eyes. Though the raw power stats of the Gojo Satoru template were slightly lower than some of his most devastating, cosmic-tier forms, the sheer, broken mechanics of the Jujutsu Sorcerer were unparalleled. Because of the Six Eyes, his magic power consumption was practically zero. Now, with Ren's immense, ocean-like reserves of magic power fueling it, he could effortlessly bring out the absolute pinnacle of Gojo Satoru's strength. Against an opponent who relied on explosive physical contact, this form was Ren's first choice for a Take Over.
"Damn it! Who the hell is that guy? How dare he destroy my beautiful home!"
A shrill, panicked voice broke the tension. Michello, the feline-featured former member of the Magic Council, looked at the blazing, fragmented ruins of his massive estate and shouted in absolute fury. He pulled at his cat-like ears, his face turning purple. This was his sanctuary, a luxurious mansion bought with a significant portion of his ill-gotten retirement fund. Now that it was blown to smithereens by this demonic terrorist, there would be absolutely no compensation from the government!
Jackal clicked his tongue, his golden eyes darting toward the screaming old man. "Heehee! Shut your mouth, old-timer. I'm not just going to destroy your home; I'm going to kill you, too."
Without a moment's hesitation, Jackal raised his palm, aiming it directly at the cowering Michello and his terrified granddaughter, Michelia.
"Explode!"
Boom!
A deafening, earth-shattering explosion erupted directly beneath their feet. A massive pillar of crimson and orange fire swallowed the trio in its wake, completely obliterating the courtyard and sending a shockwave of shattered stone and superheated air rippling through the surrounding forest.
"Hahaha! What a joke!" Jackal laughed maniacally, dropping his hand as he watched the thick, black smoke billow into the sky. "Mission accomplished! Now I can finally head back to the Underworld and report my success to Kyoka. She can't complain about my efficiency today."
Jackal turned around, stretching his arms behind his head, fully prepared to leave the smoldering crater behind.
"I don't believe I gave you permission to leave yet."
A calm, mocking voice drifted out from the dense curtain of explosive smoke.
"What?!" Jackal froze in his tracks. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he violently whipped his head around.
As the smoke slowly cleared, carried away by the wind, Jackal's pupils shrank to pinpricks. Standing at the very epicenter of the blackened, molten crater were Ren, Michello, and Michelia. They were completely unharmed. Not a single speck of soot stained their clothes; not a single hair was out of place. It was as if an invisible, absolute barrier had divided the space between the explosion and their bodies.
"How is this possible?!" Jackal gasped in pure disbelief, his fangs bared. His explosion had triggered right underneath them! There was no physical way they could have dodged, and no shield spell could have completely negated the kinetic shockwave at point-blank range!
"I'll start by collecting a bit of interest from you," Ren said, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips as he took a leisurely step forward.
Swish!
The sound of displaced air cracked like a whip. In the blink of an eye, spatial distance lost all meaning. Ren bypassed the fifty yards separating them instantaneously, appearing right in front of Jackal, practically nose-to-nose with the demon.
"What—?!" Jackal was taken completely by surprise. He hadn't expected the human to close the distance so impossibly fast. This guy... he can use Teleportation Magic without magic circles?!
Before Jackal could even raise his arms to defend himself, Ren's fist buried itself deeply into the demon's cheek.
"Ugh!"
Jackal let out a choked cry of pain. The sheer concussive force of the blow warped his facial features, lifting his feet off the ground and sending him rocketing backward like a fired cannonball.
Bang!
But the demon didn't fly far. Ren's figure flickered out of existence and reappeared directly behind Jackal's airborne trajectory. Fluidly shifting his weight, Ren raised his leg and delivered a devastating, high-speed kick straight into Jackal's lower back.
"Argh!" Jackal screamed as his spine bowed unnaturally, his trajectory instantly reversing.
Swish!
Ren vanished again, materializing directly in front of the rebounding demon. He pivoted on his heel, his foot lashing out in a brutal upward kick that caught Jackal squarely on the chin. The sickening sound of cracking bone echoed through the ruined courtyard as Jackal's body was launched vertically into the sky.
Swish!
For the final time, Ren materialized high in midair, floating effortlessly above the ascending demon. He raised his right leg high above his head, his face a mask of cold amusement.
Bang!!
Ren brought his heel down in a merciless axe kick, slamming it into Jackal's chest with the force of a falling meteor.
"Guaaaaah!!" Jackal coughed up a spray of saliva and blood as his body plummeted toward the earth at terminal velocity.
Boom!!
The impact shook the entire mountain. A massive new crater webbed across the ground, kicking up a secondary cloud of dust and pulverized bedrock.
"So... so powerful..."
Watching from the safety of the spatial barrier, Michello couldn't help but tremble in utter shock. As a former Council Member, he had seen his fair share of elite mages, but he had never witnessed firsthand just how monstrous Ren's physical combat strength truly was. He was tossing a demon of Tartaros around like a ragdoll!
Down in the crater, the dust began to settle.
"Cough, cough!" Jackal hacked violently, spitting out a mouthful of purple blood as he slowly pushed himself up from the rubble. He glared up at Ren, wiping his mouth with the back of his claw. "You're truly impressive, human. Your teleportation speed is so fast that it's quite a hassle to deal with. But... fortunately for me, it's all over now."
Ren slowly descended, his feet touching the ground lightly. He tilted his head.
"My Curse," Jackal sneered, a sadistic, triumphant grin splitting his bruised face, "can turn absolutely anything—and anyone—who touches me into a living bomb. Your fists and feet made direct contact with my body just now, didn't they?"
Jackal stared fixedly at Ren. At that exact moment, intricate, sinister black Curse markings bloomed across Ren's knuckles, forearms, calves, and boots. The demonic runes immediately began to pulse, glowing with a violently bright, volatile golden light.
"Heehahahaha!!" Jackal threw his head back and cackled with feral delight. "You're about to explode into tiny little pieces! Die!"
"Bang."
Boom!!
A violent, concentrated explosion erupted directly on Ren's limbs. The localized blast was incredibly potent, completely enveloping Ren in a sphere of searing golden fire. The immense shockwave spread in all directions, rattling the very foundations of the shattered estate and sending a hurricane of hot wind tearing through the trees.
"Mr. Ren!!" Seeing the sudden, devastating explosion, Michelia screamed out, her hands flying to her mouth in sheer panic.
After a tense, agonizing moment, the flames subsided, revealing the aftermath. Ren stood silently in his original position. The sleeves of his dark uniform were blown away, and the fabric of his pants was shredded. His arms and legs were severely charred, the flesh blackened, blistered, and smoking from the intense heat of the demonic blast.
"How can this be?!" Michelia cried out, tears welling in her eyes upon seeing their protector so gravely injured. Mr. Ren was the legendary mage who had remained completely unscathed even under the most terrifying, world-ending attacks during the Grand Magic Games! Yet, he had been seriously wounded by a single, sneaky attack from this demon!
"So much for the 'Ten Wizard Saints'! I think it's all a complete lie!" Michello shrieked, his cowardice instantly overriding any sense of gratitude. Seeing Ren bleeding, the old man panicked entirely. "He's useless! Michelia, hurry! We have to escape while he distracts the monster!"
Michello grabbed his granddaughter's wrist, desperately trying to drag her away toward the treeline.
Ignoring the cowardly old man, Ren casually lifted his arms, inspecting the gruesome burns with mild, detached curiosity.
"Hmm. So it's this kind of conceptual power," Ren murmured to himself, flexing his charred, bloodied fingers. "It ignores conventional durability and triggers an explosive reaction directly on the matter it touches. It seems I was a bit careless. I should have kept Infinity active offensively, not just defensively."
"Heehee! It's way too late to realize that now, human!" Jackal mocked, stepping out of the crater, relishing the sight of his ruined opponent. "Your limbs are practically cooked meat! You can't even stand properly!"
"No," Ren replied coolly, his lips curving upward. "It's not too late."
As Ren spoke, he channeled a different current of energy. He took his negative cursed energy, multiplied it against itself, and sparked a surge of pure, positive vitality. He activated the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Instantly, the smoking, blackened flesh on his arms and legs began to knit back together at a visible, horrifyingly rapid pace. Dead cells sloughed off, replaced by pristine, unblemished pale skin. Muscle fibers reconnected, veins re-routed, and in the blink of an eye, his limbs were perfectly restored to their original, flawless state. Only his tattered clothing remained as evidence that he had ever been harmed.
"What in the hell?!" Jackal stumbled back, his jaw dropping open in sheer disbelief.
Everyone present—Michello, Michelia, and the demon—was stunned into absolute silence by this terrifying sight. They had never heard of any Healing Magic in all of Earth Land that could restore such catastrophic tissue damage so instantaneously, without chanting or magic circles.
"Wh... what kind of magic is this?" Jackal stammered, his arrogance fracturing.
"This is the Reverse Cursed Technique," Ren explained softly, lowering his fully healed arms. "For a primitive brain like yours, you can simply understand it as top-tier Healing Magic. It's a technique that can instantaneously regenerate my body even if you manage to pierce my brain, let alone from a few superficial burns caused by a firecracker."
A cold drop of sweat trickled down Jackal's forehead as he heard Ren's chillingly calm words. His lips twitched nervously. "I... I never imagined such absurd magic existed..."
"Come on. Let's continue," Ren taunted, extending a hand and gesturing for the demon to approach. "I was just getting warmed up."
Jackal gritted his teeth, his primal instincts screaming at him that something was terribly wrong with this human.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!"
Ren raised his hand, pointing his index finger toward the demon. A small, intensely dense azure sphere of glowing energy materialized at his fingertip. The surrounding air immediately began to distort and scream as it was violently sucked into the orb. With a flick of his wrist, Ren sent the Blue sphere shooting toward Jackal at breakneck speed, tearing a trench through the earth simply by passing over it.
"Don't mock me! Explode!" Jackal roared, thrusting his palm forward and releasing a massive, concussive blast wave of demonic power.
The shockwave collided heavily with the Blue sphere. The overwhelming outward kinetic force of the explosion clashed violently against the absolute attractive force of the orb, eventually destabilizing it and causing the azure light to shatter into harmless sparks.
"Hmph! See that?! This kind of magic can't hurt me!" Jackal boasted, regaining a sliver of his bravado. "My Curse power is completely superior to your pathetic human magic!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Ren chuckled softly, a wicked smile playing on his lips. He casually waved his hand through the air. In an instant, a dozen violently swirling Blue spheres materialized in a halo around him, each one humming with that same terrifying, space-distorting vacuum power.
"Go."
At Ren's command, the entire cluster of azure orbs shot forward, tracing erratic, high-speed trajectories straight toward Jackal.
Seeing the sheer number of incoming attacks, Jackal's eyes widened. He immediately activated his Curse to its maximum output.
"Explode for me!!"
Boom!
A massive blast wave radiated from his body, violently shattering the leading Blue sphere. But the moment the shockwave cleared, the remaining spheres merely bypassed the blast zone, curving aggressively and rushing toward Jackal from multiple blind spots.
Although Jackal didn't technically know what these azure things were, his battle-hardened demonic instincts screamed at him that they were lethal. It was always best to avoid things you didn't understand.
He lunged to the side, narrowly dodging one of the orbs.
Crack!
The avoided Blue sphere grazed the surviving stone wall of Michello's mansion. It didn't smash it. It didn't explode. It simply instantly gouged out a perfectly smooth, spherical hole in the solid stone, erasing the matter as if it had never existed.
Jackal was utterly startled by the unnatural sight. He swallowed hard. If I get directly hit by that thing... I'll be lucky to escape with my life! It's deleting space!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The remaining Blue spheres abruptly changed their trajectories, surrounding Jackal from all sides, effectively cutting off every possible avenue of retreat. They closed in simultaneously, threatening to erase him from all angles.
"Gaaaaah!!" Jackal let out a feral roar. He raised both of his palms outward, throwing his head back as his entire body began to spin rapidly like a lethal top.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
A continuous, violent chain reaction of explosions erupted around him in a 360-degree radius. The sheer volume of concentrated blast waves created a dome of superheated fire and kinetic force, aggressively destabilizing and destroying all the converging Blue spheres in a spectacular display of destruction.
Panting heavily, his clothes singed and his stamina draining, Jackal stopped spinning. He looked around at the dispersed azure light and laughed triumphantly.
"It's useless! I told you! It's entirely useless against my Curses!"
"Oh? Really?" Ren's voice echoed, completely unfazed by the display. "If attraction doesn't work... then try this move on for size."
Ren raised a single hand, aiming his open palm precisely at Jackal's chest. He poured positive cursed energy into the Limitless Technique.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
A pinpoint of impossibly bright crimson light formed in the center of Ren's hand. Unlike the vacuum of Blue, this orb pulsed with raw, unadulterated repelling force. The very air around Ren seemed to push away in fear.
Whoosh!
The crimson sphere shot forward. Its speed was completely on another level compared to Blue. Before Jackal's brain could even properly process the incoming projectile, it was already inches away. Unable to dodge in time, the demon frantically threw his arms up, crossing his palms in front of his chest to block.
The crimson sphere slammed directly into Jackal's palms.
"Arghhhhh!!"
Jackal screamed as an overwhelming, terrifying, and utterly unstoppable physical pressure surged through his arms. It wasn't an explosion; it was the absolute concept of repulsion. His bones groaned and fractured under the immense stress. He hurriedly grabbed his own wrist with his other hand, desperately trying to brace himself against the impact.
The sheer kinetic force was too much. Jackal's boots dug deeply into the soil, but he was ruthlessly pushed backward, his feet plowing twin trenches through the dirt for dozens of meters.
"Damn it... Explode!!"
In a last-ditch effort to save his arms from being completely ripped off his torso, Jackal triggered a massive, concentrated point-blank explosion directly from his palms against the crimson sphere. The violent recoil blasted his own arms backward, but the kinetic redirection finally managed to knock the repulsive orb off its trajectory.
Deflected, the crimson sphere rocketed high over Jackal's shoulder, continuing its path until it landed dead center in the massive ornamental lake behind the estate.
Boom!!
The resulting detonation was apocalyptic. The repulsive force violently displaced thousands of tons of water in a fraction of a second, creating a massive, crater-like depression in the lakebed and sending a towering tsunami of water and mud hundreds of feet into the air.
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