Second Round

The scenery around them began to change. Towering buildings became lofty, barren mountains, and asphalt roads turned into dirt paths overgrown with weeds. Every few steps, white bones could be seen protruding from the soil.

Several human silhouettes vaguely hung from the withered trees that had once been streetlamps, not to mention the dimly visible, grotesque figures lurking all around. Yet when he looked farther into the distance, Shen Yuanyi could see that the cityscape beyond remained unchanged.

"Domain Expansion?"

Shen Yuanyi recalled Gojo Satoru mentioning this before. He had called it the awakening of a sorcerer's talent, a technique that could not be systematically mastered through study.

It contained elements of Barrier Technique, and its most prominent feature was its ability to guarantee that one's own technique would hit the enemy. It could also enhance the user's technique.

Some people might suddenly grasp it through an epiphany, while others might never touch upon it in their entire lives. As a result, only a handful of Jujutsu Sorcerers could currently use this move.

But hadn't Gojo-sensei said that a normal Domain Expansion was a closed barrier? This one seemed to be an exception...

Gojo Satoru in the distance was also drawn to the scene here. Looking at that abnormal landscape, he naturally realized that it was an unknown Domain Expansion—and not a conventional enclosed one.

Genichi might not be able to handle this. I need to speed things up. And this annoying rope... it probably won't hold out much longer either, will it?

Miguel, standing opposite him, was suffering in silence. At this point, he had even mentally prepared himself to die here. During his brief clash with Gojo Satoru, the precious cursed tool he had brought from his homeland had been reduced to a short length. Not to mention the powerful cursed spirits that had died in his place—without them, he would probably have been finished long ago.

Geto, if I die here, I won't let you go even as a ghost... Miguel silently muttered to himself as he narrowly evaded Gojo Satoru's pursuit.

The moment Shuten Doji unleashed her Domain Expansion, Shen Yuanyi activated his technique. In an instant, he felt a burning sensation when the bloody flames touched him. He immediately made the decision to pull Nanami Kento, who was still within the range, out of the Domain, and treated him while he was at it. Fortunately, Nanami's injuries were not severe, only serious enough to require Reverse Cursed Technique to heal.

While retreating, Shen Yuanyi realized that the burning sensation weakened the farther he moved from Shuten Doji. Perhaps that was one of the costs—exchanging intensity for a greater range.

Having escaped to safety, Shen Yuanyi could have simply left and waited for Gojo-sensei to turn back and deal with this matter. But there was Gen Naine's body, as well as Shuten Doji's unknown potential for growth. The scene of her absorbing those cursed spirits, summoning other cursed spirits with powerful presences, and strengthening herself was still vivid in his mind.

A cursed spirit capable of using Domain Expansion despite not even being in her prime—and there was still Geto Suguru's situation to deal with. Who knew what she might do if she escaped?

I have to kill her here!

Gen Naine's soul could not fully manifest amid this complicated battlefield, but she could not participate in the battle either. Nanami-senpai did not possess Reverse Cursed Technique healing methods, and he would not last long inside the Domain. Which meant... Shen Yuanyi had to face her alone.

Entering this Domain means being continuously attacked by Shuten Doji's technique. That flame seems to be a power capable of absorbing other people's Cursed Energy and even flesh and blood. In other words, remaining inside her Domain means taking continuous damage, and the closer I get to Shuten Doji, the more intense it becomes.

Continuously using Cursed Technique Reversal will eventually push me to my limit. I can only stake everything on whether I can kill Shuten Doji. Let's see whether I reach my limit first, or exorcise this King of a Hundred Demons first!

Wheel of Time: Spin

Gripping Onikiri, Shen Yuanyi returned to Shuten Doji's Domain. He immediately felt his Cursed Energy, blood, and vitality continuously draining away.

Moreover, his technique merely accelerated his own time. Shuten Doji's technique, which permeated the entire space, could still harm Shen Yuanyi. As long as he remained inside, as long as he continued approaching Shuten Doji, he would remain under the technique's unceasing effect.

Shen Yuanyi no longer had the spare attention to deal with the terrifying cursed spirits manifesting from Shuten Doji's Domain. Pushing his technique to its fullest, he endured the constant invisible damage and swung his blade at Shuten Doji's arm.

But she had clearly prepared for this. Knowing Shen Yuanyi possessed extraordinary speed, she had protected Dojigiri in her hand behind layers of defense from the very start. The only way Shen Yuanyi could seize it was by cutting off the arm holding the blade.

Yet the strength of her body had risen to another level. Even Shen Yuanyi's full-force slashes could barely cut through her flesh, and whenever Shen Yuanyi reached his limit and needed to use Cursed Technique Reversal to restore himself, that instant became Shuten Doji's chance to counterattack.

After being eroded by Shuten Doji's technique for so long, Shen Yuanyi's outer body had become utterly ruined. Some places had even cracked like weathered leather, exposing a bloodless interior beneath.

When Shen Yuanyi reversed himself with Cursed Technique Reversal, Shuten Doji's wounds were also instantly repaired by the Cursed Energy her Domain had seized from Shen Yuanyi, along with the power she had absorbed from the other cursed spirits.

Once Shuten Doji realized she could catch sight of him, she also sensed the immense power seized from him. Her mind began racing.

It wasn't power extracted in an instant. Otherwise, my body would have been split open just now instead of merely having both arms nearly severed. And those multiple slash wounds... speed too fast to react to at all... that bizarre recovery method...

The feral grin on Shuten Doji's face twisted further. She did not immediately try to attack Shen Yuanyi. Instead, she once again stirred her Cursed Energy to strengthen both her Domain's effect and her own defenses.

Time! This brat's technique is related to time. Otherwise, there's no explaining his incomprehensible speed or that extraordinary recovery method.

Such a technique... this is... too exciting! I'll personally take your head, but what a pity—you haven't even had time to grow before falling here.

Shuten Doji intended to rely on the Domain's guaranteed hit, its wide-range attacks, and her own powerful defenses to drag things out until Shen Yuanyi could no longer endure. Though Onikiri was exceptionally effective against flesh and blood, it was still insufficient against her layered defenses.

As long as the most important Dojigiri remained in her hand, victory would be hers!

As Shuten Doji's thoughts drifted, a figure emerged from her sealed memories. It was that man who had wielded Dojigiri to cut off her head, ending the era of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons...

"Minamoto no Yorimitsu..."

He was one of the few humans whose name she remembered. The grudge between them had even formed a curse, making the bloodline of the Gen Family—one that also had to belong to a Jujutsu Sorcerer—one of the conditions restricting her reappearance.

Perhaps every era has a few dazzling humans. This boy may become one of them someday. Humans always produce people like this. Is this what he called 'fate'?

The next instant, Shuten Doji discovered that she had once again lost track of Shen Yuanyi. Then several jets of blood burst from her demonic body. One arm raised in defense had already been severed, while the other hung by a thread.

Without her strict protection, the other blade in her hand, Kumo-kiri, was taken by Shen Yuanyi. But Shuten Doji did not care about that. In another brief interval, so short that her train of thought had not even been interrupted—

Kumo-kiri's ability is 'poison.' It can slow and damage an enemy's Cursed Energy and even their nerves, but it's useless against him. His speed is already fast enough. As long as I don't let him get Dojigiri...

Shuten Doji recalled the story of those three blades. Unlike the weapons of history, these three cursed tools shared the same origin in the history of the Jujutsu World. They had been given together to Minamoto no Yorimitsu to kill her, the King of a Hundred Demons.

Each of the three blades possessed a special ability. Onikiri could cut through any body of "flesh and blood," Kumo-kiri carried a poison that targeted Cursed Energy, while Dojigiri possessed an extraordinary ability to break through all defenses derived from Cursed Energy.

Though it was not absolute, when the three blades were wielded together, any enemy facing them would understand what fear was.

And when all three blades were in the hands of one person, they actually possessed a hidden power. That move... had destroyed her body. So she absolutely could not let him get Dojigiri.

Unable to conceal that intention in the first place, Shuten Doji did not bother trying. During another interval, she stabbed Dojigiri into her own body, using herself as a "chain" to bind the blade.

Shen Yuanyi, who had made Dojigiri his target, was not particularly surprised. This cursed tool that had supposedly cut off Shuten Doji's head must have some restraining effect on her. Even at worst, with its defense-breaking ability, taking it and using it to cut apart her body would surely be much easier.

Shuten Doji, half her neck restored, coldly watched Shen Yuanyi. Though he was once again completely uninjured, exhaustion was evident on his face. Her body had now grown to three meters tall, and her imposing demonic frame was maintaining a defensive posture in a miserable stance.

Yet her heart was as calm as a beast lying in ambush, waiting only for the final killing moment. Although her own condition had also sharply deteriorated, Shuten Doji was still in much better shape than Shen Yuanyi.

Reverse Cursed Technique... this boy knows it too, but his mastery isn't high. He seems to have merely treated it as a source of reversed Cursed Energy. If... hahaha! There is no if!

Having gained her twenty-third consecutive opening, Shuten Doji sharply caught a flaw exposed by Shen Yuanyi. He could no longer hold on. When he failed during another activation of Cursed Technique Reversal, he froze for an instant—and saw a hideous demonic hand reaching for him, its sharp fingertips already touching his clothes.

What a shame. I was so close to cutting her body to pieces. The Domain's effect is really unfair. The guaranteed damage and its ability to drain my Cursed Energy... it seems I can't help you reclaim your body. I got you killed. Nanami-senpai was right. Jujutsu Sorcerers are shit. If you aren't strong enough, you have to face the possibility of dying at any moment.

You have to face the rage of being powerless.

Shen Yuanyi looked at Shuten Doji—at what had once been Gen Naine's face. It was now viciously twisted, so distorted that it barely resembled his original impression of her. With the last of his Cursed Energy, he activated his technique once more.

Looks like I won't make it in time. Why am I so unwilling to accept this?

A suppressed rage inexplicably surged within him, like lava slowly spreading over a mountain ridge. It did not seem especially threatening or swift, yet the heat within it was enough to engulf everything before him. It was a searing heat that did not boil.

Shen Yuanyi closed his eyes and allowed every emotion to collide within his heart, while his thoughts focused entirely on the conversion of Cursed Energy—on further probing into Reverse Cursed Technique.

It could not be systematically taught; there were only explanations of its fundamental principles. That was all there was to Reverse Cursed Technique. In a sense, it seemed just as rare as Domain Expansion. In the past, whether through talent or luck, Shen Yuanyi had successfully refined reversed Cursed Energy and initially touched upon Reverse Cursed Technique. But its effects were still far behind Ieiri Shoko's and Gojo-sensei's.

The extent of the injuries it could heal was nowhere near the scope of what he could achieve with Cursed Technique Reversal. Although he greatly envied Gojo-sensei's state of having his technique running around the clock, he had made little progress. He could not use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his own brain and thereby eliminate the burden on his brain from continuously using his technique.

But now, in a situation where life and death could be decided at any moment, Shen Yuanyi's thoughts were extremely calm as he decided to try. At this moment, his consciousness stretched long, long into the distance, while becoming incomparably clear. Thus, he entered an unprecedented state of enlightenment.

Maybe... Jujutsu Sorcerers are all lunatics.

Shuten Doji's reaching demonic hand successfully grasped Shen Yuanyi's body. Joy shone in her crimson pupils. Victory was right before her eyes! Kill him, then leave this place. Once she recovered her full strength, she would bring the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons back to the human world!

Just as she was about to twist Shen Yuanyi's body and squeeze out some delectable "juice" to satisfy her hunger, her vision suddenly blurred. The body in her hand had vanished, and the boy was standing before her once more, his entire presence restored to its peak condition.

Impossible. Hadn't he already reached his limit? Was he just putting on a final show of strength? Or... Shuten Doji did not dare consider the worst possibility, yet it had already caused turmoil in her heart.

"The second round begins."

Shen Yuanyi held Onikiri in his right hand and Kumo-kiri in his left as he spoke.