Chapter 175

Yuta's next foe in the Sendai Colony is the special grade cockroach curse Kurourushi. Conscious that at least two formidable players are watching to gauge his abilities, Yuta tries to claim the win without exposing how much he can really do.

Kurourushi lunges with the Festering Life Sword, but Yuta lops off its arm and pins the severed limb to a rock, then a heavy backhand skids the curse across the water. When it flees above a bridge, Yuta climbs up, tears off a railing to hurl, and follows with a diving slash; the curse halts his blade with a wall of roaches before crashing down. Yuta knows two high-scoring players are observing, so he refuses to call on Rika, who is busy guarding the stadium, and avoids the positive-energy trick he once used to revive Yuji, not wanting to reveal his reverse cursed technique. Asked why it kills, Kurourushi answers only that it enjoys the taste of iron, then deploys Earthen Insect Trance to conjure sack-carrying insect curses.

The swarm circles Yuta, who stabs the shallows for a shockwave, but the Earthen Insect Trance curses strike from behind and toxins from their sacks blind him. Kurourushi seizes the opening, recovers its sword, and fires something into Yuta's shoulder; fresh insect curses sprout from the wound, and a second slash to his abdomen spawns more. As Ryu and Uro brace to watch him be devoured, Yuta bites Kurourushi's face and floods positive energy through its body, his hands being closest to its mouth, delivering a mouth-to-mouth blast that wrecks the curse's integrity. Kurourushi crumbles apart and Yuta earns five points, while Ryu notes he would never do such a thing himself.

With the curse dead and Yuta wounded and exposed, Uro pounces, hovering upside down behind him to whisper that she can tell he wields reverse cursed technique. Before Yuta can turn to face the danger, she activates her own cursed technique and violently warps the space around them, opening the next clash. The chapter formally starts the three-way contest among Yuta, Uro, and Ryu. Akutami's note grumbles about having to draw cockroaches and then being given only wafers, calling it abuse.