Chapter 97

The curse users reveal their techniques as the fights intensify. Ogami reshapes her grandson into the Sorcerer Killer, while Megumi works out the logic behind Awasaka's ability and builds a counter around it.

On the tower roof, a stunned Ino recognizes Ogami as a necromancer and sees at a glance that the Toji-shaped grandson is monstrously strong. He reaches to summon the beast Ryu, but Toji tears off his mask first, then drives a right hook into his jaw and follows with a relentless barrage of punches. Down on the expressway, Awasaka stands ringed by Rabbit Escape and clocks the swarm as a diversion. Megumi drops Max Elephant on him from above, but Awasaka shrugs off the crushing weight, demanding the boy fight him directly. Megumi replies that brawling is more Yuji's department, and on cue Yuji hurls a car, which Awasaka nullifies even as the raw strength surprises him.

The plan is to keep up relentless pressure. While Megumi holds Awasaka's attention, Yuji winds up a full-power swing. Awasaka's technique, Inverse, weakens strong attacks and strengthens weak ones, so he is certain that the harder his foes hit, the more easily he wins, and that no one survives his counter after a desperate haymaker. But during their earlier retreat, Megumi had already deduced that Inverse must run between an upper and lower limit, with Awasaka reinforcing his body on top of it, and concluded they should land a strong blow and a weak one at the same instant while hiding that they had figured it out.

In the live exchange Yuji's punch is nullified, yet a single poke from Megumi's Toad tongue deals serious damage, and Awasaka bleeds from the mouth as both boys pile on. Refusing to lose, he forces them back and warns the kids not to get cocky. Then Yuji slips behind him, threatens another full-power blow, and at the last moment pulls it into a soft strike, which Inverse amplifies into a devastating hit that knocks Awasaka out cold. Impressed, Megumi notes that Yuji handles delicate, controlled strikes far better than expected.