Summary:
Yuta Okkotsu’s next Culling Game opponent is a special cockroach curse: Kurourushi! Realizing that at least two other powerful players are watching the battle to see how things are going, Yuta wants to win without revealing too much about his abilities.
Plot:
Kurourushi, armed with the Festering Life Sword, attacks furiously, only for Yuta to immediately cut off his arm. The wizard then uses his katana to pin the severed hand of the curse to the rock, literally disarming it. Yuta follows up with a powerful backhand that sends Kurourushi skidding across the water on their battlefield. The Cockroach Curse tries to fly over the bridge above the water, but Yuta jumps onto the bridge and rips off the railing to use as a projectile. Yuta hits Kurourushi with a chop off the guardrail and then tries to cash in with a diving chop. Kurourushi crashes into the water below, but the curse manages to stop Yuta’s blade with a swarm of cockroaches.
Yuta fights off the swarm with his sword while Kurourushi manipulates it into the cockroach spinner he’s standing on. Yuta realizes that two high scorers are following him. He can exorcize Kurourushi by infusing her body with reversed cursed energy similar to how he revived Yuji in their fight. However, Yuta doesn’t want watching players to see that he can use the Reverse Cursed Technique. Plus, he can’t summon Rika because it protects everyone in the stadium. Kurourushi is a dangerous opponent, but Yuta wants to exorcise him without relying on the Reverse Cursed Technique or Riku.
Kurourushi speaks up and asks Yuta why he is interfering with her feeding. Yuta responds by asking the curse why it kills people and Kurourshi simply replies that he likes the taste of iron. Kurourushi uses his Earthen Insect Trance technique to summon small insect curses that carry small bags. A swarm of cockroaches circle around Yuta, forcing him to stab into the shallow water to create a shock wave. As the swarm disperses, curses from the Earthen Insect Trace attack Yuta from behind. Yuta slashes them, but the toxins from their sacs momentarily blind him, allowing Kurorusuhi to open up.
Cockroach Curse gains Festering Life Sword and slashes at his target. Yuta blocks it with his katana, but the Festing Life sword shoots something into his shoulder. He figured the cursed tool might be able to fire projectiles and retreat to gain some distance, but suddenly more insect curses sprout from his shoulder wound. Startled, Yuta tries to cut them off with his katana, but this gives Kurourushi another opportunity to attack. The cockroach curse slashes Yutas across his stomach and opens another wound and more curses pour out of it.
Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro watch in shock as Kurourushi grabs Yuta’s body with several arms, fully expecting to devour Yuta. Suddenly, Yuta bites Kurourushi’s face and sends a reversed cursed energy into her, encompassing the entirety of her entire body. Kurourushi’s mouth was the shortest distance from Yuto’s hands, so he sent a mouth-to-mouth blast into the head of the curse by converting the reverse curse technique to output. Ryu notices all of this, but says that he would never do it himself. Kurourushi disintegrates as Yuta spits its remains out of his mouth, earning five points from Kogane for eliminating his opponent.
With the cursed spirit out of the way and Yuta in a vulnerable state, Uro decides to take advantage and confronts him directly. Uro levitates upside down behind his rival, speaking into Yuto’s ear, surprising him. Uro tells him that he can see that he can use the Reverse Cursed Technique and Yuta tries to quickly turn around to face her. Before Yuta can face the danger directly, Uro uses their cursed technique to severely warp the space around him.