Chapter 182
Domain Expansion incorporated the principles of barrier techniques.
At its core, the user poured an enormous amount of cursed energy into manifesting their innate domain in reality, then imbued that space with their cursed technique.
Inside their own domain, the sorcerer received a considerable boost, while the technique engraved into the barrier gained a guaranteed-hit effect.
For most sorcerers, it was the closest thing they had to an ultimate attack.
There was also a serious drawback.
After a Domain Expansion ended, the innate technique engraved into the user’s body temporarily burned out, making it difficult or impossible to use for a short time.
That was why a domain was generally reserved as a final trump card.
Dagon had opened his the instant he completed his transformation, without even bothering to test Kiriya first.
His hatred was obvious.
"Die, human!"
"Death Swarm!"
Dagon swept one enormous hand forward.
Countless ferocious sea creatures erupted from the water, opening rows of jagged teeth as they rushed toward Kiriya.
Bang!
Kiriya immediately threw down a smoke bomb, filling the beach with a thick cloud.
"Foolish."
Dagon sneered.
Inside a domain, blocking his vision meant nothing. The guaranteed-hit effect would guide every attack directly to its target.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
The summoned sea beasts crossed the distance in an instant and sank their teeth into Kiriya.
Fangs as long as forearms pierced his flesh, ripping through his body until blood poured from dozens of wounds.
Kiriya was critically injured almost immediately.
"So this is a domain..."
Surrounded by several sea creatures, he stared ahead with unfocused eyes.
"It really is... powerful."
Under normal circumstances, the despair on his face would have delighted Geto.
Instead, Geto could not find the situation amusing at all.
Dagon’s technique was targeting him too.
If Geto had not maintained a protective layer of curses around his body out of habit, Death Swarm would have torn him apart as well.
"My, my."
Geto turned toward Dagon. His voice remained gentle, but there was no smile on his face.
"I thought we were allies."
Once again, he was reminded that a curse that had not been subdued could never be fully trusted.
The only reliable cursed spirit was one bound by Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
"An insignificant piece of food dares call itself my ally?"
Dagon snorted.
"I only tolerated you because Jogo and Hanami were still alive."
"Now that they’re gone, you have no reason to exist either."
"Quite confident, aren’t you?"
A thick shell formed from centipede-like curses and covered Geto’s body, protecting him from the attacking sea creatures.
"Did opening a domain make you believe you could defeat me?"
"You don’t even possess a domain."
Dagon increased the flow of cursed energy, causing the sea beasts to attack with even greater violence.
"What right do you have to speak to me as an equal?"
"Enough talk. Die!"
"You’ve misunderstood something, child."
Despite the increasingly savage assault, Geto calmly raised one finger and moved it from side to side.
"Having a domain doesn’t automatically mean you can beat me."
Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate appeared behind him.
A unique Simple Domain quietly spread across a radius of three meters around the special-grade spirit.
A Simple Domain could not overpower a complete Domain Expansion, but it could neutralize the guaranteed-hit effect within its range.
For someone with Geto’s martial skill, cursed tools, and vast collection of spirits, that small advantage was enough.
"Hmph. A worthless creature that can only produce a Simple Domain?"
Dagon prepared to unleash Death Swarm again.
"I’ll erase both of you—"
A sudden sense of mortal danger seized him.
"What?"
Dagon stopped his technique and turned toward the dense trees beyond the beach.
The threat was coming from there.
’He survived?’
’I know my attack hit him...’
’No!’
Dagon retreated without hesitation.
A huge number of powerful sea creatures gathered in front of him, forming a wall of flesh thick enough to resemble a living fortress.
Whoosh.
A blue-white beam shot out from the forest with barely a sound.
It tore straight toward Dagon.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Nothing could stop it.
Leatherback turtles protected by massive shells were pierced instantly.
Enormous octopuses with dense, elastic muscle were torn through just as easily.
Even the gigantic shield Dagon formed by pouring all of his cursed energy into one point was penetrated without slowing the attack.
This was Kiriya’s most powerful technique at his current level.
"Sage Art: Lightning Release—Super Rasengan Railgun."
The moment Kiriya saw Dagon complete his transformation, he realized the curse was about to open a domain.
Without his own domain or another reliable method of neutralizing the guaranteed-hit effect, Kiriya would be placed at a severe disadvantage.
If the battle dragged on, Dagon might genuinely wear him down and kill him.
So when the smoke bomb obscured everyone’s view, Kiriya created a Wood Clone and left it behind as a decoy.
Meanwhile, the original used the Transformation Jutsu to become a tiny stone, which the clone threw deep into the trees.
While Dagon and Geto turned on one another and allowed their attention to drift, Kiriya used the enhancement of Sage Mode to complete his strongest technique.
BOOM!
The point of impact rapidly expanded into a blue-white sphere hundreds of meters across.
Violent arcs of lightning spiraled through the blast, creating vortex after vortex that erased everything they touched.
Geto summoned several exceptionally durable curses and stacked them in front of himself.
That was the only reason he survived the explosion.
Even so, the shock wave inflicted severe internal injuries. He coughed violently, spraying blood across the sand.
Dagon had been destroyed.
His domain collapsed, and the scenery of Tokyo Jujutsu High returned around them.
Standing once again on familiar ground, Geto looked toward the devastation with a complicated expression.
"Incredible..."
"Was that his Maximum technique?"
His gaze shifted toward Kiriya, who was kneeling in the distance and breathing heavily.
The orange markings of Sage Mode had disappeared from around his eyes.
"But after using something that powerful, even you must be near your limit."
Geto’s eyes sharpened.
An opportunity like this would not come twice.
He had never been someone who hesitated once he made a decision.
With Playful Cloud in hand, Geto rushed forward to end the fight.
Kiriya showed no concern.
Inside his mind, he released the second shadow clone.
Poof!
The familiar surge of senjutsu chakra flooded back into his body.
Strength returned instantly, and Sage Mode activated once more.
Geto’s expression changed.
Kiriya slipped past Playful Cloud and drove one fist into his abdomen.
Thud!
Frog Kumite carried the strike’s force beyond the physical fist and directly into Geto’s body.
He was launched backward as the invisible impact crushed his internal organs.
Blood and fragments of damaged tissue burst from his mouth while he flew through the air.
"Tamamo-no-Mae!"
Geto immediately understood that the battle had become impossible to win.
He left Tamamo-no-Mae behind to cover his escape while a flying cursed spirit seized him and carried him into the sky.
Kiriya created a shadow clone.
Both of them activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The clone appeared behind Tamamo-no-Mae and drove a Massive Rasengan into her before she could react, exorcising the special grade in one overwhelming strike.
The original teleported to the roof of the building closest to Geto’s flight path.
Lightning began gathering around his outstretched hand.
A compressed sphere of rotating electrical energy formed within the accelerating electromagnetic field.
"Sage Art: Lightning Release—Rasengan Railgun."
Kiriya aimed toward the sky and fired.
"Well..."
Suspended beneath the flying curse, Geto watched the blue-white lightning race toward him.
A faint, resigned smile appeared on his face.
"Quite the send-off."
Ten years of planning had ended in complete failure.
In the final moment of his life, Geto thought of his white-haired, blue-eyed best friend.
’It’s a shame.’
’I won’t get to see him one last time.’
BOOM!
A colossal sphere of lightning bloomed high above the school, illuminating the evening sky.