Apparently finding Akira Zenin's question rather childish, Yorozu shoved aside the fear from his sudden appearance and looked him over again.
"You're her teacher? Ha, then you should be honored that I've taken an interest in her body."
"You've already lost all reverence for life."
"You really are used to playing teacher, huh? I could tell at a glance that your Cursed Energy is pathetically weak. And those dull eyes of yours, that's not the gaze of a true powerhouse at all."
Akira Zenin raised a brow at that.
"A dull gaze?"
"A real powerhouse would never show satisfaction in their eyes. They are absolutely solitary, someone others could never reach even if they spent their whole lives trying!"
Even as she said that, tangible Cursed Energy began to surge around Yorozu. Black Cursed Energy gathered at her wrists, then several streams of black fluid split into four and shot toward Akira Zenin.
Her Technique was [Construction Technique]. Aside from special Cursed Tools, it could recreate almost anything she understood.
What she used to attack Akira Zenin was a liquid metal whose volume could be altered through semi-automatic Cursed Energy control while keeping the substance stable.
But all at once, Yorozu felt bursts of violent pain erupt throughout her body. The pain was so intense that it disrupted her control over the Technique, and the black fluid aimed at Akira Zenin splashed uselessly onto the ground...
Enduring the pain, she focused her enhanced vision and looked ahead. Akira Zenin was still standing there without moving.
Yet beneath his feet, countless tiny shadow hands had stretched out. Every two hands formed the [Rabbit Escape] hand sign.
Only after Akira Zenin was no longer troubled by drowsiness did he realize just how precise his Cursed Energy control could become...
"It's just a bunch of tiny rabbits crawling into your body through your pores. First they'll chew through your skin, then once they reach your blood vessels, they'll spread through the rest of your body..."
Yorozu's pupils trembled violently.
She immediately manifested several tubes and stabbed them into her body, letting a specially made black metal flow through her body together with her blood.
At the same time, she generated a self-destructive high-temperature substance across the surface of her skin to wipe out those [Rabbit Escape] creatures...
Then strands of muscle and blood vessels began sprouting from her body. Flesh and blood intertwined, then merged with a specialized insect shell, finally forming a humanoid mantis larger than before.
It was an insect armor forged by drawing on the functions of numerous organisms to drastically enhance her physical abilities. Its dense outer shell also meant the miniature rabbits could no longer find any pores on her body.
Now that she had cut off his endless assault, Yorozu let out a long breath and looked at Akira Zenin.
"You sneaky little coward... what other tricks do you have?"
"Why are you so pleased with yourself? I just don't feel like competing with you in control precision anymore."
Akira Zenin was just about to raise a hand and form a seal when he suddenly remembered that [Divine Treasure] had already been handed over to Megumi Fushiguro. Since [Ten Directions Sacred Realm] would directly take control of [Divine Treasure], it was better to let Megumi Fushiguro keep getting used to it a little longer...
So he simply stood there and snapped the fingers of his right hand.
"Domain Expansion..."
As soon as he spoke, Yorozu suddenly felt that something around her had changed. But it was still the same rooftop, only the wind had vanished...
"[Void Calamity, Shadow Misfortune]."
This was a Domain Akira Zenin deployed by expanding [Shadow Realm] itself as the Technique.
As for why the surroundings had not changed, it was because, with extremely fine Cursed Energy control and the barrier knowledge he had accumulated from [Shadow Realm Diary], he had directly loaded the Technique onto the barrier itself without projecting his Innate Domain.
That saved the enormous amount of Cursed Energy normally required to project the Innate Domain and also made deployment faster, but it greatly weakened the Domain's strength in a clash...
Akira Zenin suddenly seemed to think of something and could not help grinning.
"If Sukuna could do this, he'd probably turn 'losing the field advantage by canceling the projection of the Innate Domain' into a binding condition and use it to strengthen either his Cursed Energy control or the power of his Technique..."
The moment she heard that, Yorozu's face turned cold, and the killing intent in her eyes seemed ready to condense into red light.
"I'll make you regret that mocking look on your face when you talk about Sukuna."
In an instant, liquid metal poured down over the entire rooftop, and within it was a gigantic pitch-black sphere.
This was the perfect sphere Yorozu had constructed, the [True Sphere], something no material could ever achieve under natural conditions.
Because every point on its surface was at exactly the same distance from the center, its point of contact with anything was absolutely zero. That gave it absolute destructive power.
"Domain Expansion. [Threefold Affliction]!"
To ensure she killed this strange man in a single blow, Yorozu directly used her Domain to grant [True Sphere] a guaranteed-hit effect. The surroundings instantly transformed into a space ringed with grotesque masses of flesh.
Then, under Yorozu's eager gaze...
It shattered...
Even the liquid metal that had been obstructing Akira Zenin's movements was blown away...
Yorozu stared at the scene before her in disbelief.
"Ah... your 'sphere' broke because its shadow broke too~~"
Shadow!
Yorozu instantly caught the key point in Akira Zenin's words and turned to the fragments of [True Sphere]. There, a spike-shaped shadow had pierced straight through the shadow of [True Sphere]...
Then Yorozu was hit by another burst of pain, except this time it was a scorching sensation spread across her entire body.
She quickly looked down at her feet. There was a reflection of fire near her shadow. Even though there were clearly no flames anywhere around her.
Shadows... shadows...
Yorozu kept turning over his Technique in her mind and did not even notice that his Domain effect had already spread over and overwritten her own...
[He's been attacking by interfering with shadows. Then all I have to do is make sure I don't have a shadow!! Wouldn't that make me unbeatable?!]
At once, Yorozu replaced her entire body with a transparent substance.
Under her Technique, the surrounding light passed straight through her body and fell onto the ground...
But when Akira Zenin saw her turn completely transparent, he made no move to respond. The corner of his mouth only twitched slightly as he silently withdrew his Domain...
Once the Domain was withdrawn, the rooftop fell still. Only the soft sound of the wind remained, and Akira Zenin was not attacked by the transparent body.
Because within that Domain, the causal relationship between shadow and physical form was reversed. To erase your own shadow was the same as...
Suicide.
Akira Zenin glanced at the place where Yorozu had just erased herself, then turned to look at the distant moon.
From beginning to end, he had simply stood there, barely moving at all...
"Tsumiki should be a little safer now, and my second uncle can rest too..."
"I've seriously worn myself out worrying about that kid Megumi Fushiguro's mental state..."