The partially manifested Divine Dogs struck Ryu Ishigori in an instant, carving a bloody gash across his chest from his right hip to his left shoulder.
So fast?!
And that power.
It was more than ten times stronger than before.
Faced with a threat like that, Ryu Ishigori did not hesitate for even a moment.
He immediately crossed his fingers, palms facing outward.
“Domain Expansion.”
“Oh?”
A black Barrier instantly spread from Ryu Ishigori’s side, enclosing both him and Gen inside a sphere.
“Myriad Colors Pierce the Heavens.”
Everything around them sank into darkness.
Then a street steeped in the atmosphere of the Edo period unfolded before them.
“Hollow Wicker Basket.”
Gen placed his middle finger over his index finger, and pale blue Cursed Energy stretched into a sphere around him.
Of course he could use Domain Expansion, but he was holding back.
Unleashing his Domain here would take all the fun out of it.
There was nothing worth watching in an instant-kill match, and no chance to savor it either.
He had weakened somewhat.
As he was now, he could probably take a kick from his past self to the head and not die.
Besides, even after watching Jujutsu Kaisen, he had never seen Ryu Ishigori’s Domain for himself.
After the Domain was deployed, Ryu Ishigori and Gen’s positions also shifted.
The two of them, who had been standing on flat ground moments ago, now stood facing each other on opposite sides of a rooftop beam.
“…Why didn’t you open your Domain?”
Ryu Ishigori pressed his palms together, then formed a gesture as if drawing a bow.
“My Domain, Myriad Colors Pierce the Heavens, allows me to use objects within my Domain as firing points for my Cursed Techniques.
With specific hand signs, I can launch them at my opponent like cruise missiles.
You refuse to open your Domain.
Do you really think you can defeat me while maintaining Hollow Wicker Basket?”
“Who knows?”
“Strongest!
Don’t look down on me!
Let me see it!
Show me your Domain!”
Gen kept the hand seal steady with his left hand, maintaining the effects of his stabilized and improved Hollow Wicker Basket while watching Ryu Ishigori gather power in front of him.
“If you want to see it, let me take a look at your Cursed Technique first.”
Once he realized Gen had no intention of opening his Domain, Ryu Ishigori immediately released the fingers that had been loosely gripping an invisible arrow.
A condensed cannon of Cursed Energy blasted toward Gen, who stepped onto the roof beam and shot more than ten meters into the air in an instant.
Ryu Ishigori did not steer the Cursed Energy cannon back around to hit Gen.
Instead, he raised his hand again.
Gen could clearly feel Ryu Ishigori’s Cursed Energy growing stronger.
His control and the speed of his Cursed Energy output had increased by quite a bit as well.
The fingers gripping the arrow released again.
Gen saw several white Cursed Energy cannons rise from the entrance of the bustling street like fireworks, bursting in the air into flowers of different colors before the scattered energy was controlled by Ryu Ishigori and sent flying toward him.
“Dog·Dismantle.”
Still in midair, Gen immediately raised his hand, sending a slash toward the multicolored projectiles.
“Second shot!”
Boom!
The solid Cursed Energy cannon that had just flown into the distance had indeed not been a casual probe.
A smile appeared on Gen’s face.
He twisted in midair and kicked off hard with both feet.
His black shadow, reinforced and fixed in place by Cursed Energy, became a foothold in the air.
“Good!”
Gen shot toward Ryu Ishigori like a cannonball.
Ryu Ishigori raised his hand to block, and dozens of streaks of light slammed into both Gen and Ryu Ishigori.
As dust exploded around them, Gen struck Ryu Ishigori hard in the chest.
Fine slashes burst across Ryu Ishigori’s chest, opening several lines of blood.
Just as Ryu Ishigori tried to retreat, Gen kicked him away, then raised his palm and aimed at him.
A cross-shaped slash blasted toward Ryu Ishigori once more.
Clang!
Boom!
Ryu Ishigori gritted his teeth.
The Cursed Energy gathered around him protected his body from being cut apart outright, but the force behind the slash still sent him hurtling into the distance, smashing through the buildings inside the Barrier.
“Granité Blast!”
Amid the shattered buildings and churning dust, several ice-shaved shockwaves rose from all over the Barrier and swept toward Gen like missiles carpet-bombing the ground.
Gen formed a seal with one hand and struck the ground with the other.
A black shadow rose like a Curtain, blocking every beam.
Gen tore the Curtain open.
Under Ryu Ishigori’s startled yet delighted gaze, Gen appeared in front of him in an instant.
The shadow he had torn away, fluttering in the air like cloth, wrapped around one of Gen’s hands.
His fist, encased in hardened shadow, smashed toward Ryu Ishigori with a sharp rush of wind.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Ryu Ishigori struggled to block Gen’s attacks.
Slashes, shadows, just like the old texts said.
But there were differences too.
Lightning, flight, snake shedding, something similar to the Kamo clan’s Piercing Blood… and a control-type technique.
Was he simply too weak?
Or had taking flesh weakened that so-called Copy Technique?
Or was it neither?
Was his technique actually something else entirely?
Ryu Ishigori found an opening.
After narrowly dodging Gen’s fist, he retreated sharply, flipped through the air, and landed on the deck of a wooden bridge dozens of meters away.
“Hey!
Why did you pull back?”
“Your Cursed Technique is different from what the old texts described…”
“What’s different about it?
Is it because I haven’t used my other abilities?”
Gen stood in place.
The pale blue energy shield of Hollow Wicker Basket showed no sign of being neutralized by the Domain.
“My Cursed Technique works by outputting Cursed Energy to manifest parts of my Shikigami in specific places.
Depending on the type of Shikigami, it produces all kinds of attack effects.”
Shikigami… shadows… somewhat similar to the Ten Shadows Technique?
Although the way it appeared was completely different, the combination of Shikigami and shadows inevitably made Ryu Ishigori think of the Ten Shadows Technique.
But that was almost impossible.
First was the surname.
The Zenin Clan would never allow a sorcerer with the Ten Shadows Technique to wander outside the family.
Second was the way it was displayed.
No matter the generation, Ten Shadows users fought by coordinating with their Shikigami.
“Don’t space out!”
Gen kicked out.
The moment Ryu Ishigori heard his voice, he snapped back to attention, only to be sent flying by the kick.
His feet scraped two long trails across the ground.
“Granité Blast!”
After finally coming to a stop, Ryu Ishigori raised his hand.
A condensed Cursed Energy cannon immediately shot toward Gen.
Gen grabbed the shadow on the floor with both hands and violently flipped it toward Ryu Ishigori.
The raised shadow surged toward him like a dark wave.
The black wave was shattered by the ice-shaved shockwave, but after the shadow broke apart into fragments in midair, Gen had already vanished from where he stood.
“Crap!”
Before Ryu Ishigori could even search for him, Gen appeared beside him.
A fist slammed into him, sending Ryu Ishigori crashing sideways.
After rolling several times, he finally came to a stop in the rubble.
I’m the one who opened the Domain, so why am I the one being knocked around like a spinning top?!
“Don’t zone out.”
Ryu Ishigori turned and threw a punch.
His fist scraped hard across the shadow robe on Gen’s body.
But after deflecting Ryu Ishigori’s fist, the robe wrapped along Gen’s elbow and around his fist.
Another punch struck Ryu Ishigori squarely in the face, sending him flying again.
Ryu Ishigori spiraled down toward the bridge.
When he hit it, the bridge violently shattered and broke apart.
His body tumbled into the river, soaked with water.
Focus.
Focus.
Ryu Ishigori took a deep breath and stared at Gen as he walked out of the ruins.
As Gen moved, Ryu Ishigori entered a state of flow in an instant.
Black Flash!
Boom!
Ryu Ishigori’s fist shot out with exploding black lightning, shattering the shadow covering Gen’s arm in a single blow.
The massive clash of force sent both Gen and Ryu Ishigori staggering back several steps.
But through the dust that burst from the collision of Cursed Energy, Ryu Ishigori saw Gen’s expression.
He saw the smile on his opponent’s face.