An enormous amount of cursed energy burst out from Yuta's body and instantly swallowed the three figures nearby.
The innate domain of this special grade sorcerer finally revealed itself before Kashimo.
Since Rika was a cursed spirit without legs, she naturally floated in the air the entire time. Meanwhile, Yuta and Kashimo, whose attack had halted midway, each stood atop a massive stone pillar.
All around them were ruined walls and broken structures, like abandoned remains left behind after a devastating war. Cold wind swept through the wasteland, carrying a lifeless and desolate feeling.
Looking downward, numerous sharp swords and blades could be seen embedded throughout the ground.
This place resembled a graveyard of swords.
"So this is Domain Expansion? It really is troublesome..."
Even back during the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years ago, sorcerers capable of using Domain Expansion were considered elites. In modern times, it had practically become the requirement for reaching the highest level of combat power.
Yet despite that, there was not the slightest sign of discouragement on Kashimo's face. Instead, his fighting spirit only grew stronger.
He did not even consider using Hollow Wicker Basket.
The best method against a domain was another domain. The next best thing was Simple Domain or its predecessor, Hollow Wicker Basket.
Because the guaranteed-hit effect had a massive impact during battles between fighters of the same level, stalling with cursed energy was often a good choice. After all, Domain Expansion consumed tremendous amounts of cursed energy. As long as you endured long enough, eventually an opening would appear.
But doing that also meant surrendering the initiative.
Kashimo had roughly figured out Yuta's cursed technique already. Combined with the presence of Rika, who possessed special grade strength herself, using Hollow Wicker Basket would only leave him trapped in a passive position where he could do nothing but take hits.
Trying to resist with wishful thinking was something only weaklings did.
What Kashimo intended to do was simple. He would smash Yuta's head apart while enduring both the domain and Rika's interference inside territory completely controlled by the enemy.
With a powerful push from his legs, he charged at Yuta once again. Along the way, he casually pulled a sword from the ground and hurled it toward him.
Yuta also drew a katana from below and knocked the flying blade aside before speaking calmly.
"Flatten."
Kashimo's eyes widened in surprise as powerful cursed energy swept over him like an invisible mountain.
It instantly became as though several thousand tons of weight had crashed onto his body. His rushing momentum stopped forcibly, and his entire body was slammed deep underground, leaving behind a crater several meters wide and dozens of meters deep.
"Not this one either..."
As the Cursed Speech ended, the katana in Yuta's hand suddenly crumbled into ash and vanished.
This was the true power of his domain, Authentic Mutual Love.
Its terrifying strength lay in the fact that every cursed technique Yuta had ever copied would become a sword or blade embedded throughout the domain. The moment he pulled one out, the technique stored inside that weapon would gain the guaranteed-hit effect of the domain.
The technique could then activate instantly without requiring any original activation conditions, but only once.
After the guaranteed-hit technique was used, the weapon would shatter and disappear just like before. However, the technique itself did not vanish. It would simply return and be stored within another weapon somewhere in the domain.
No matter how much he used them, the number of blades would never decrease.
Of course, as the owner of the domain, Yuta could actively choose one copied technique to assign as his innate guaranteed-hit technique inside the domain. That particular technique would not require drawing a weapon to activate.
Still, the weakness of the domain was obvious.
Before pulling out a blade, even Yuta himself had no way of knowing which cursed technique was stored inside.
Just like earlier, the sword he happened to pull contained Cursed Speech, which was currently one of the least useful options.
Even though the domain boosted the power of Cursed Speech somewhat, it still could not serve as his finishing move. Because of that, he deliberately lowered the cursed energy output to avoid suffering backlash himself.
Bzzzt!
The sound of crackling electricity suddenly echoed nearby.
Kashimo leaped out from the crater covered in dust, yet his movements showed no stiffness whatsoever.
Lightning wrapped around his right fist as the thunder packed with cursed energy had already finished charging. The lightning capable of tearing through the atmosphere was ready to fire.
'It's coming!'
A small panel appeared before Kashimo's chest.
That was right. The technique Yuta assigned to the domain was the manga artist's ability to see the future.
Inside the domain, Kashimo was practically soaked in the "ink" of Yuta's cursed energy. This completely skipped the need for Yuta to "draw" with his sword beforehand.
At fixed intervals, he could see one second into Kashimo's future. If enough time passed, he might even glimpse two or three seconds ahead.
And because this was a guaranteed-hit effect, the technique could not fail even without visually seeing the target.
Yuta had thought this through carefully.
So far, Kashimo still had not revealed his true cursed technique. On the other hand, among all the techniques Yuta copied, none possessed overwhelming destructive power strong enough to finish him instantly.
Gojo-sensei's Limitless required the Six Eyes.
Geto-sensei's Cursed Spirit Manipulation needed a special internal storage space for cursed spirits.
As for Fushiguro-san's technique, there was nothing Yuta could even imitate directly.
If he wanted to defeat Kashimo efficiently, he needed to seize the perfect timing. That was why seeing the future was essential.
"Rika, strengthen your defenses with cursed energy!"
As Kashimo pulled back his fist, Yuta crouched and grabbed another blade while shouting toward Rika.
He had seen it. The one marked by Kashimo's electric charges was Rika, who had blocked the earlier attack for him.
"Hm?"
Just before Kashimo unleashed the lightning from his fist, strange music suddenly echoed inside his head. At the same time, a black man wearing a white hat appeared dancing before him.
"You aren't racist, are you?"
It was Miguel's cursed technique, Prayer Song.
When activated through the domain's guaranteed-hit effect, it weakened the opponent's cursed energy output while boosting Yuta's own.
In the next instant, Kashimo fired the lightning. But he could clearly feel that the appearance of the dancing black man caused his strength to falter slightly.
As a result, much of the lightning's power dispersed after striking Rika.
Meanwhile, Yuta had already drawn another katana and rushed directly in front of Kashimo.
'He's coming?!'
A flash of light flickered through Yuta's eyes. Yet instead of using the sword already in his hand, he suddenly grabbed another one beside him and swung that instead.
And he did not activate its technique.
He merely coated the blade in cursed energy and slashed toward Kashimo.
But something unexpected happened.
Kashimo directly grabbed the sword barehanded through cursed energy reinforcement.
Bzzzt!
Powerful electric currents flowed through his palms. By manipulating opposite electrical charges within his hands, he forcefully created repulsion that stopped the blade from advancing even an inch.
"So you abandoned your little cursed spirit girlfriend already? Looks like all that kindness earlier was just an act. You're really a smooth-talking scumbag."
Kashimo grinned as if he had seen through everything.
Just then, outside the domain, the metal staff he left behind suddenly gathered enormous lightning energy before firing toward its master.
This was one of Kashimo's tactics. He stored electric charges within his weapon beforehand, then later attracted them back toward himself.
BOOM!
Yuta twisted his body aside.
But after the deafening explosion, the entire left side of his abdomen was blown apart. Blood sprayed like a waterfall while mangled organs spilled out horrifyingly.
This battle… Kashimo had won!
Yet in the blink of an eye, an overwhelming surge of cursed energy erupted from Yuta's body.
Reverse Cursed Technique activated instantly and began frantically repairing the damage.
"You think—"
Kashimo grabbed the previous sword with one hand while raising his fist with the other. He intended to completely crush Yuta before the healing finished.
But the sword in his hand suddenly crumbled into ash and his raised fist froze motionlessly in the air.
The blade Yuta had drawn contained Larue's cursed technique, Heart Catch. For a single instant, it forcibly distracted Kashimo's mind.
The duration was incredibly short. But by the time he regained focus, Yuta had already retreated several meters away while still holding the katana whose technique had not been used earlier.
An intense sense of danger flooded Kashimo's mind as lightning cursed energy exploded outward from his body and wrapped around him like armor.
"Don't bully... my Yuta!"
For Rika, with her overwhelming cursed energy reserves, anything short of a killing blow or killing Yuta himself was meaningless.
As the smoke dispersed, her appearance changed again.
Bottomless cursed energy wrapped around her body. On her terrifying face, a giant horrifying eye had appeared.
An even more massive and powerful cursed energy blast than before had already finished charging.
"That's rude. We're pure love."
While Reverse Cursed Technique repaired his abdomen, Yuta calmly refuted Kashimo's earlier words. Simultaneously, the katana in his hand shattered.
Mirror Binding Technique activated.
Rika's cursed energy output followed immediately after.
At this moment, their minds became one.
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