Being wounded again and again by a nobody Jujutsu Sorcerer, even if the injuries weren't fatal, left Jogo deeply irritated. With his pride, it was unbearable.
"You damn brat, die!"
Jogo's single eye twisted with fury. Waves of scorching heat rolled outward, and dense pillars of flame mixed with exploding Ember Insects swallowed the entire area.
Yet every time Naoya Zenin was on the verge of taking a fatal hit, his body would blur and distort for an instant, then reappear somewhere nearby, completely unharmed.
This was another application of Projection Sorcery's reversal.
By using the extra fraction of time he had gained, he could cancel out a quantified segment of it. Simply put, he was "dropping frames."
To an outside observer, his figure would suddenly stutter, like a brief lag.
In reality, during that one twenty-fourth of a second, Naoya Zenin effectively did not exist. If there were a comparison, it was similar to invincibility frames in a game.
Constantly weaving in and out, slowly wearing Jogo down, Naoya Zenin seemed to slip into a heightened state. The moment his blade lodged into Jogo's flesh, he pulled a dagger from his clothing with his free hand.
"Black Flash!"
A fleeting black spark flashed across the dagger as it drove straight into Jogo's abdomen.
Jogo doubled over, his body twisting and distorting. That blow had truly dealt significant damage.
Seeing this, Naoya Zenin slid the dagger back into its sheath, his confident, slightly roguish grin returning.
"To keep from getting dragged into a drawn-out mess with others, I prepared a little trick…"
Jogo was baffled.
His attacks hadn't been ineffective. The damage he'd taken hadn't been heavy. Naoya Zenin's Cursed Energy wasn't especially abundant either.
And yet this brat had suddenly become as slippery as an eel soaked in oil.
None of his attacks were landing. Even wide-range techniques were being avoided. And now he was throwing out attacks like that. What exactly was going on?
Unlike Jogo's rage, Kenjaku, who had been watching from the side, showed clear interest.
[Oh? Interesting. The application of Projection Sorcery? It's not like no one's researched it before…
Aside from that first unexpected slash, the damage dealt to Jogo afterward has been light. It's even weaker than the initial sword-drawing strike.
Is it a matter of proficiency? Or is it that when he focuses on full evasion, it's hard to chain in those sudden bursts of damage? Or perhaps there are numerous restrictions? If my analysis is correct…]
Kenjaku smiled faintly.
[Do people of this era enjoy dissecting their techniques so much?
That Akira Zenin, I assume. Based on the information, anyone who has interacted with him shows some degree of change in how they use their technique. Even the Ten Shadows Technique carries a hint of personal innovation. She was actually misled by him before…
If you recognize a mistake, you admit it. Only then can you refine it and move forward.
Unfortunately, he's too cautious. He rarely makes a move himself. There's simply not enough information.]
Jogo, venting his frustration, caused lava to erupt continuously from the ground, forcing Naoya Zenin farther and farther away.
Was he planning to end this with his Domain?
Before, it wouldn't have mattered. But now Naoya Zenin had become much more valuable. Judging by the way he treated ordinary people, there was a real possibility of conflict between him and Akira Zenin. That might be something worth manipulating.
"Jogo, take a closer look. Every time he damages you, it's at the very end of the second after he activates his technique. It's a clever approach.
If I'm not mistaken, when his attack involves too large a motion, he can't smoothly connect it to his next action. You could try…"
"Shut up! No need to spell it out like that!
If that's the case, then I just need a larger range, or keep my area attack active longer!"
Kenjaku shrugged.
She had originally intended to suggest predictive counterattacks, but Jogo's idea was also worth testing.
"Damn it."
Naoya Zenin shot a glance at Kenjaku, who had been observing from the start. In his mind, this Curse User's threat level kept rising.
The overall direction of Kenjaku's analysis wasn't wrong.
Projection Sorcery's reversal was extremely flexible.
But it was also incredibly difficult to use.
At present, his "frame insertion" could only be placed into the final gap after a second was divided into twenty-four parts. Likewise, "frame extraction" could only cancel out the last one twenty-fourth of that second. And he had to judge everything himself. He couldn't remove a "key frame" from the sequence of actions.
If he used that extra one twenty-fourth of a second to attack, the preset actions that followed would become impossible to carry out. That would leave him unable to move for the remainder of that second.
If he tried to extract a "key frame," the backlash would tear his body apart.
So by inserting the extra frame at the very end of the second, he only needed to preset the transitions leading into the attack. He didn't have to worry about what came after.
But that also meant that once someone understood how it worked, they could anticipate it.
[I expected someone might see through it… but to figure it out this fast. Damn it.]
Now that he had a countermeasure in mind, Jogo's pride as a so-called "new human" made him abandon the idea of using his Domain. A larger scale, longer-lasting Maximum technique would leave his opponent with nowhere to run.
Just as he was about to make his move, a voice rang out.
"Domain Expansion, [Time Cell Moon Palace]!"
The barrier training Akira Zenin had put Naoya Zenin through, combined with the heightened state brought on by Black Flash and the "pure state" he entered when he grasped the reversal of his technique, allowed him to finally unleash the Domain he had longed for.
"So that's how it is. Then I won't hold back!"
Seeing this, Jogo bared his large blackened teeth in a grin. In a Domain clash, even while contesting guaranteed hits, a Jujutsu Sorcerer could never withstand the searing heat inside his Domain.
But in that instant, Kenjaku read the flow of Naoya Zenin's Cursed Energy. Before Naoya Zenin's Domain could fully close, she stepped forward, grabbed Jogo by the collar, and yanked him backward with force.
When the Domain barrier sealed shut, Naoya Zenin found himself achieving the remarkable feat of trapping… only himself inside.
Kenjaku pointed to a spot about a meter outside the entrance of the abandoned building ruins.
"As I thought. A novice when it comes to Domains. And already at the end of his strength. He can't precisely control the Domain's coverage, so he simply expands it as much as he can.
But that also means the remaining Cursed Energy only extends this far at most."
"What are you doing?!!"
Jogo glared at Kenjaku.
"I don't need you interfering! So what if this human can use a Domain? The moment mine comes out, he'll be reduced to ashes!"
"Well, it's rare to see a modern sorcerer who can use a Domain and is already this drained.
Just a simple experiment.
Calculating the relationship between the range of a Domain Expansion and the user's Cursed Energy."
Jogo dusted off his clothes and looked at the black spherical barrier formed ahead of him.
"Tch. Always tinkering with useless things. Who knows what you're thinking about all day."
The half smile on Kenjaku's face made the anger that had just faded surge up again.
"I was only caught off guard by his technique the first time. If someone like this shows up again, I'll kill them instantly!
Next, I'll either crush his Domain outright, or wait for it to end and kill him once he's exhausted."