Chapter 187: Domain Expansion
"Did you feel that?"
The silver-haired female Reincarnator suddenly stopped and asked Kaito Shirogane.
Kaito Shirogane's expression didn't change. He took half a step back and asked in return, "What did you feel?"
Silverlight looked at Mercenary Tao's defensive posture. Her expression flickered, but she said nothing.
Her spiritual sense was extremely sharp; she couldn't have been mistaken. In some part of the island, a terrible change had just occurred, so significant that her senses were screaming at her.
Staying on this island was very dangerous!
But Silverlight looked at Mercenary Tao, who still seemed oblivious, and she was reluctant to give up this golden opportunity.
The news that Moon Fiend was hunting someone wasn't much of a secret among their echelon. Silverlight had followed several clues and deduced that her target was likely the newly risen 'Cataclysm-tier' Mercenary Tao.
For all these Reincarnators to appear in the same mission world, and for Moon Fiend to just happen to be heavily injured... if she didn't take this chance to use Mercenary Tao to kill Moon Fiend for good, she might never get another one once she recovered.
Opportunities to hunt a Reincarnator of Moon Fiend's caliber were rare.
Finally, Silverlight continued to run forward.
"Nothing. I was probably just mistaken."
Kaito Shirogane followed her, a smirk playing on his lips. This woman's spiritual sense was sharp, but even after clearly sensing that extremely strange aura, she was forcing herself to ignore it.
She really wants to kill Moon Fiend.
Kaito followed Silverlight, his footsteps light. He knew that, most likely, those other Reincarnators and the two from CP9 had caused the pyramid to change.
Enel was being held back by Silverlight's ability and couldn't return to the island for the moment. The thing in that pyramid was about to break free.
Now this island had the rapidly spreading red-eye virus, the Cursed Energy this woman was secretly releasing, and, soon, the unsealing of the existence suspected to be a [God Hand] or [Apostle].
...it really was getting lively.
The two of them advanced at a speed that no 100-meter sprinter could match, quickly leaving the town. But because of this, their movements became obvious.
Bang!
A sudden gunshot rang out. The amulet on Silverlight's chest flared to life, but the force still made her stagger, breaking her momentum.
But Silverlight wasn't alarmed. She was delighted.
"That's [Kyung]'s sniper rifle! Moon Fiend really is in bad shape!"
She quickly threw down several paper dolls. As they hit the ground, they expanded to the size of a normal human, though their bodies remained as thin as a sheet of paper.
The paper dolls were caught by the wind, distorted, and vanished.
Bang! Bang!
Two more sniper shots rang out, but they were aimed in different directions. Kaito saw the shredded paper confetti fly and guessed that this strange ability must be highly threatening for [Kyung] to prioritize shooting the paper dolls.
Kaito couldn't identify the origin of Silverlight's ability. He guessed it was from some obscure novel, or perhaps one she had created herself.
Kaito followed Silverlight, continuing toward the reefs at the island's edge. With his eyesight, he could already see the black dots on the reef. The sniper rifle flashed again and again.
"Quick, Mercenary Tao! Those two are right there!"
Silverlight seemed excited. She kept scattering all kinds of paper dolls. The abilities this woman was deliberately showing Kaito were all Onmyodo-related. She was painting herself as a support-type Reincarnator who specialized in summoning and intel.
This matched her behavior of actively approaching him for an alliance.
But Kaito was incredibly sensitive to negative energy, especially Cursed Energy, which he had once mastered. As everyone knew, in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, the ultimate end for all Sorcerers' abilities was to just "throw hands."
This woman was definitely not as simple as she appeared.
Kaito pretended not to know and, playing along, immediately took a step.
Pff! Pff!
He stomped on the empty air, instantly launching into the sky. The killing intent immediately locked onto his body. As Kaito was free-falling, he suddenly stomped sideways again.
Moonwalk!
Bang!
Kaito changed direction again. It looked like a death-defying dodge, but there was no "luck" involved. At this distance, a sniper who couldn't hide her killing intent... all her actions were transparent to Kaito.
He could see the instant she decided to kill, and he could see the instant she pulled the trigger.
Kyung clearly realized this too. Her firing interval was about 0.8 seconds. After firing three shots that Kaito dodged, she understood he was moving in reaction to her.
Her lips curled. She aimed at Kaito again and fired three quick shots.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Kaito used Moonwalk to dodge repeatedly in mid-air. The last bullet grazed the air beside him.
Kaito, who could now see Kyung's face clearly, was delighted. After figuring out his dodging method, this woman had actually chosen to fire at the spots where she predicted he would dodge.
"Good idea. Too bad my [Luck]... is very high right now."
Vmm~
Golden ki gathered in Kaito's hand. Kyung's heart lurched. She quickly put away her rifle and rolled backward.
Boom!
The golden ki blast, like a laser, instantly struck the dark, tens-of-meters-wide reef. It exploded violently, sending shrapnel everywhere.
Silverlight landed behind Kaito, her eyes narrowing as she watched.
This Mercenary Tao was full of surprises. She had thought he was just a martial arts master who specialized in close combat, but he also possessed a long-range energy attack of this intensity.
It made sense that Hades had died at his hands.
Silverlight watched as the smoke from the reef explosion cleared. Sure enough, a jade-green barrier appeared. Moon Fiend was sitting inside it, a large amount of life energy swirling within the barrier, repairing her wounds.
In that instant, Silverlight made her move. A bow appeared in her hand. Her left hand pinched that still-burning, precious talisman, while her right hand drew the bowstring.
Kaito spread his arms, diving from the sky like a hawk. He could see Kyung's evasive action and Moon Fiend, sitting inside the green light, perfectly.
Kaito raised his index finger like a gun. Golden ki gathered once more.
Vmm~
Kaito's ki was extremely stable as he gathered the Dodon Ray. He even had the spare focus to see the expression on [Kyung]'s face.
Boom!
The Dodon Ray shot out. Silverlight drew her bow to its limit, intense spiritual power gathering on the arrow.
She didn't care if Moon Fiend was baiting her; she decided to fire her arrow after Mercenary Tao's attack. Even if Kaito did manage to kill Moon Fiend, she would only lose out on some of the loot.
Bang!
To Silverlight's shock, the Dodon Ray precisely hit the green barrier, pierced it instantly, and drilled through Moon Fiend's body, setting off a massive explosion.
Pff!
She instinctively released the arrow. A white streak of light vanished into the dust cloud, following the Dodon Ray's trajectory and striking Moon Fiend again.
Success?!
Did Moon Fiend really have no way to fight back?
"Damn it!" Kyung roared, losing control. Claws burst from her fingertips. She sprinted across the ground, leaping to tackle Mercenary Tao out of the air.
Her hands moved like phantoms, and in an instant, Kaito's blood was sent flying.
Silverlight moved quickly. She ran toward Moon Fiend's location, tossing out paper dolls as she went.
The smoke cleared, revealing Moon Fiend's corpse on the ground, a gaping hole in her chest, an expression of disbelief still on her face.
Moon Fiend was dead?
Did Mercenary Tao kill her? Is that why I didn't get a notification?
The thought flashed through Silverlight's mind, and she relaxed for a split second. But she immediately realized that if Kaito had really killed Moon Fiend, he wouldn't be silently fighting Kyung.
He should be running.
Her mind raced as she drew her bow again, but a jade-green sword light flared to life behind her.
Splurch!
Her shoulder, along with the wooden spirit bow, was torn apart. Her amulet shattered.
Moon Fiend's pale face appeared behind Silverlight. Her green robes were badly charred, and her left shoulder was also blasted away. She was clearly in bad shape.
Silverlight, seeing Moon Fiend in close, smiled.
She had miscalculated, but Moon Fiend was also clearly in a bad state. And worse for her, she shouldn't have gotten this close.
Silverlight's hands formed a seal, and her voice rang out, cold and clear, echoing in the ears of Moon Fiend, Kaito, and Kyung.
"Domain Expansion: Sepulcher of Ghouls and Phantoms!"
(End of Chapter)