The partially manifested Divine Dog struck Ryu Ishigori’s body in an instant, carving a bloody gash across his chest that extended from his right waist to his left shoulder.
So fast?!
The power, too…
it’s multiple times stronger than just a moment ago.
Facing such a threat, Ryu didn’t hesitate for even a fraction of a second.
He immediately crossed his fingers, palms facing outward.
“『Domain Expansion』”
“Oh?”
A pitch-black barrier instantly oozed from Ryu’s surroundings, enveloping both him and Kinoshita within a sphere.
“『Festival of Destruction』”
Everything around them retreated into darkness, and then—a street brimming with an Edo-period atmosphere unfurled before them.
“『Hollow Wicker Basket』”
Kinoshita stacked his middle finger over his index finger, and pale blue cursed energy expanded into a spherical shape around him.
He could use Domain Expansion, of course, but since he was holding back, expanding his domain here would completely kill the fun.
There was no spectacle—nor any chance for enjoyment—in a one-shot kill.
He had gotten somewhat weaker, after all—his current self could probably survive a headbutt to his past self’s foot, barely.
Besides, even having read Jujutsu Kaisen in his past life, he had never actually seen Ryu Ishigori’s domain.
Following the domain’s expansion, their positions shifted.
The two, who were originally standing on level ground, were now standing opposite one another on either side of a high roof beam.
“…Why aren’t you expanding your domain?”
Ryu clasped his hands together, then drew them back in a stance resembling an archer drawing a bowstring.
“The sure-hit effect of my domain… Festival of Destruction, allows me to use any object within the domain as a firing port for my innate technique. Through specific hand signs, I can fire them at my opponent like cruise missiles. By not expanding your domain, do you honestly think you can defeat me while maintaining Hollow Wicker Basket?”
“Who knows?”
“Strongest! Don’t look down on me! Show it to me! Your domain!”
Kinoshita maintained his hand sign with his left hand, sustaining the effects of his stabilized and highly modified Hollow Wicker Basket, while simultaneously watching Ryu charge up his attack.
“If you want to see it, how about you let me witness your technique first?”
Realizing the man before him had absolutely no intention of deploying a domain, Ryu immediately released the fingers gripping his phantom arrow.
Instantly, a highly condensed cursed energy cannon blasted toward Kinoshita.
The latter kicked off the roof beam, his body launching over ten meters into the air in a split second.
Ryu didn’t manipulate the fired cursed energy blast to loop back and strike Kinoshita; instead, he raised his hand once more.
Kinoshita could clearly feel Ryu’s cursed energy growing stronger.
Moreover, his manipulation and the speed of his cursed energy output had increased significantly.
His fingers released the phantom arrow once again.
Kinoshita watched as several white cursed energy blasts shot up from the bustling street intersections like fireworks.
They burst continuously in mid-air, blooming into differently colored flowers, before the dispersed energy was manipulated by Ryu to swarm directly toward Kinoshita.
“『Dog: Dismantle』”
Mid-air, Kinoshita immediately raised his hand, sending a slash flying toward the incoming barrage of colorful projectiles.
“Second shot!”
Bang!
Sure enough, that highly condensed cursed energy blast that had flown past earlier wasn’t just a random probe.
A smile broke out on Kinoshita’s face.
He twisted his body in mid-air and kicked out forcefully.
Black shadows, reinforced and fixed in place by cursed energy, served as footholds in the empty sky.
“Good!”
Kinoshita’s figure rocketed toward Ryu like a cannonball.
Ryu raised his arms to block, as dozens of streaks of light violently crashed into both of them.
Amidst the exploding plumes of dust, Kinoshita fiercely palmed Ryu’s chest.
A dense flurry of slashes erupted into several bloody lines across Ryu’s chest.
Just as Ryu tried to retreat, Kinoshita delivered a kick, sending him flying backward.
Then, holding his palm vertically, he fired a cross-shaped slash at the retreating Ryu.
Snikt!
Boom!
Ryu gritted his teeth.
His heavily focused cursed energy protected his body from being cleanly severed by the slashes, but the kinetic force still launched him brutally into the distance, his body smashing right through the buildings inside the domain.
“『Granite Blast』!”
Amidst the shattered buildings and billowing smoke, several Granite Blasts rose from various corners of the barrier.
Like a carpet-bombing missile strike, they homed in on Kinoshita’s location.
Kinoshita held a hand sign with one hand and slammed the other into the ground.
Pitch-black shadows rose up like a massive curtain, completely blocking every single beam.
Kinoshita tore the curtain away.
Under Ryu’s shocked yet exhilarated gaze, Kinoshita instantly closed the distance between them.
The shadow he had torn down, which was fluttering in the air like fabric, slithered down his arm and coiled tightly around his fist.
Encased in hardened shadows, his punch smashed toward Ryu with a deafening sonic boom.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Ryu struggled desperately to block Kinoshita’s relentless barrage.
Slashes, shadows…
it was exactly as the ancient texts described—but there were also glaring differences.
Was it because he was too weak?
Or had this so-called mimicry technique been weakened by the incarnation process?
Or maybe it was none of those, and his innate technique was actually something else entirely?
Seizing a split-second opening, Ryu barely dodged one of Kinoshita’s punches and lunged backward, flipping through the air to land on the surface of a wooden bridge dozens of meters away.
“Hey! Why are you pulling away?”
“Your technique is different from what the old books say…”
“What’s different about it? Is it because I haven’t used my other abilities?”
Kinoshita stood in place, the pale blue energy dome of Hollow Wicker Basket showing absolutely no signs of being neutralized by the domain’s sure-hit.
“My technique works by outputting cursed energy to partially manifest fragments of my shikigami in specific areas. Depending on the type of shikigami, it creates a wide variety of attack effects.”
Shikigami…
shadows…
it bears some resemblance to the Ten Shadows Technique?
Although the method of manifestation was vastly different, the combination of shikigami and shadows inevitably made Ryu think of the Ten Shadows Technique.
But that was highly unlikely.
First was the surname—the Zen’in clan would never let a Ten Shadows user wander outside the family.
Second was the method of manifestation—no matter which generation of the Ten Shadows it was, their combat style always relied on fighting in tandem with their summoned shikigami.
“Don’t zone out on me!”
Kinoshita lashed out with a kick.
Ryu snapped back to reality the moment he heard the voice, but his body was already sent flying by the brutal strike, his feet carving two long trenches into the ground.
“『Granite Blast』!”
Finally coming to a halt, Ryu raised his hand and instantly fired a highly condensed cursed energy blast at Kinoshita.
Kinoshita grabbed the shadows on the floor with both hands and heaved them toward Ryu.
The uprooted shadows surged forward like a crashing tidal wave.
The black wave was shattered by the Granite Blast, but as the fragmented shadows rained down from the sky, Kinoshita had already vanished from his original spot.
“Crap!”
Before Ryu could even scan the area, Kinoshita’s body appeared right beside him.
With a solid punch, Ryu’s body was sent violently tumbling to the side, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop amidst the rubble.
I’m the one who expanded my domain, yet I’m getting spun around like a damn top!
“Don’t space out.”
Ryu spun around and threw a desperate punch, his fist glancing sharply off the shadow robes cloaking Kinoshita’s body.
After deflecting Ryu’s strike, the robe slithered down Kinoshita’s elbow and coiled around his fist.
Another straight punch directly to the face, and Ryu was instantly blasted backward again.
Ryu’s body spiraled through the air and crashed heavily onto the bridge.
Upon impact, the bridge exploded and snapped in half.
Ryu tumbled into the riverbed below, his body drenched in water.
Focus, focus.
Ryu took a deep breath, his eyes locked on Kinoshita as he walked out from the ruins.
In tandem with Kinoshita’s movements, Ryu instantly entered a state of pure flow—
Black Flash!
BOOM!
Ryu’s fist struck out accompanied by explosive black lightning, the sheer impact completely shattering the dark shadows covering Kinoshita’s arm.
The massive collision of power forced both Kinoshita and Ryu back several steps.
But amidst the dust and smoke kicked up by the clash of cursed energy, Ryu caught a glimpse of Kinoshita’s expression.
He saw the wide smile on the other man’s face.