"Piercing Ox."
Mukuro had already formed the hand sign.
From his shadow, a massive bull-shaped shikigami burst forth. Nearly three meters tall, it charged like a living battering ram. Dust exploded into the air, and the ground trembled beneath its hooves.
This was another shikigami that Megumi had never successfully subdued. Just like Round Deer, it had been forcefully crushed and tamed by Mukuro using the overwhelming cursed energy in this body.
Sukuna hadn't even fully released Divine Flame yet, when Piercing Ox's heavy headbutt slammed straight into his abdomen.
Boom!
The force was so great that it sent the King of Curses flying dozens of meters away. He crashed into the outer wall of a building, and cracks spread instantly.
But the bull didn't stop. It kept charging toward him.
However, now that he was prepared, Sukuna easily dodged. The bull slammed into the building instead.
Even after breaking through the wall, it couldn't stop, and the entire building began to shake violently.
'It can only charge in a straight line…'
From that brief exchange, Sukuna figured it out.
Piercing Ox could not alter direction once it committed to an attack. And judging from the first strike compared to the second, the longer the distance it charged, the greater the force it built.
A very straightforward offensive shikigami.
Not a problem.
Next time it charged, he would cut it to pieces.
'It disappeared…'
But just as Sukuna understood the shikigami's pattern, its presence vanished inside the building.
"Max Elephant… combined with Rabbit Escape."
A voice came from above as Mukuro, wings spread across his back, had already formed another hand sign.
Once again, using the extension technique, he temporarily combined two shikigami. He stacked Rabbit Escape's numbers onto Max Elephant.
At that moment, its weight skyrocketed.
Then it descended toward Sukuna.
Boom!
The ground across nearly a hundred meters caved inward. Shockwaves burst outward like an earthquake, tearing through streets and structures alike.
"Too slow. What are you, a snail?"
But in the next moment, Sukuna was already in the air. He even mocked Mukuro as he spoke.
Rabbit Escape, Divine Dogs, Great Serpent, Nue, Max Elephant, Toad, Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Mahoraga.
He had already seen nine of the Ten Shadows' base shikigami. Among them, Mahoraga was the strongest. As for the last one, even if it was strong, it wouldn't matter.
Once he got serious, tricks like this were easy to see through.
"You've lasted this long only because I haven't decided to end it yet," Mukuro smiled as he replied.
"Tig—"
"What are you thinking!"
As Mukuro was about to form another hand sign, Sukuna instantly appeared in front of him. This time, the latter was even faster. He was going all out.
His fingers traced through the air, gathering power for a deadly slash.
Clang!
Mukuro stopped forming signs. The number in his eye shifted instantly to "1," and a silver spear appeared in his hand out of thin air.
The spearhead deflected all incoming slashes. Then it collided with Sukuna's palm, producing the sound of clashing blades. In just a blink, the two had already exchanged dozens of close-range blows in midair.
Neither gained the upper hand.
Roar!
Just then, Mahoraga burst out of the rubble again. With a roar, it leapt upward toward them.
'This annoying thing again…'
Sukuna's eyes flashed with displeasure. Every time he tried to properly beat Mukuro, it showed up to interfere.
Its adaptation had already made slashes useless, and using Divine Flame would be too slow. Not to mention, the man in front of him, for the sake of completing the ritual, would never allow him to kill it instantly.
Being toyed with like this, constantly teased by Mukuro through different shikigami, was honestly irritating.
Worse still, this body was reaching its limit.
As the perfect "vessel" that suppressed him the most, even after swallowing eleven fingers in such a short time, the brat's consciousness was already starting to wake up.
In that case… it was time to raise the stakes.
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine."
After another clash, Sukuna stepped back several meters. He extended both hands and formed the Enma hand seal.
In an instant, overwhelming cursed energy spread outward. The world seemed to freeze for a split second.
Then, mountains of corpses and seas of blood spread across the surroundings as a massive skeletal gate rose from below. It was like a vivid painting laid across the ground, then drawn into the sky with cursed energy as the brush.
Similar to Suguru's domain, Sukuna's domain did not isolate the inside from the outside. By allowing opponents a way to escape, he imposed a binding vow upon himself. In exchange, he gained an open domain with a range exceeding two hundred meters.
In truth, he could have changed the conditions and made it a fully enclosed domain. After all, with Mukuro's speed, escaping an open domain would be effortless.
But if it were closed, using that move might harm even himself. And if he didn't use it, he might fail to kill Mahoraga instantly, allowing it to adapt further.
Besides, Megumi himself understood domain expansion. There was a chance Mukuro could perfect it here.
More importantly, Sukuna suspected that Mukuro could fully incarnate his true body, just like cursed objects do.
That meant Megumi could at any moment be replaced by the complete Heavenly Restriction user, Mukuro Fushiguro. Becoming a man with no cursed energy, capable of freely entering and leaving any barrier, even domains, without being detected.
If he sealed the domain completely, he might end up trapping only himself and Mahoraga.
So after weighing everything, Sukuna chose an open domain. Whether it worked on Mukuro or not didn't matter. The destruction it caused in reality was guaranteed.
At this moment, the domain was fully deployed. Within it, only three remained.
And in that instant, Sukuna issued his command.
The cutting technique Dismantle targeted all things without cursed energy, attacking endlessly and indiscriminately until the domain collapsed.
The slicing technique Cleave locked onto anything with cursed energy, striking with guaranteed hits.
The domain activated, and everything within its range was torn apart.
Buildings were shredded as countless slashes filled the air. Mahoraga was struck repeatedly. Endless Cleave attacks landed on its body, yet they were like pebbles thrown into the ocean, leaving no ripple.
At the same time, Cleave locked onto Mukuro.
He could escape the domain in an instant, or overwrite this body completely with his own. But there was no need.
The best way to counter a domain… was to deploy one of your own.
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