Rainfall

"The location is in the western block. I've already evacuated the area. Would you two like to head over immediately, or..."

Yamaguchi Takuyoshi wore a warm smile as he led the way. After entering through the prison's eastern gate, they still had to pass through the central area to reach the western block where the incident had occurred.

As Shen Yuanyi walked along, he could still see prisoners locked inside some of the cells. There were too many inmates in this prison to transfer all of them at once, so they could only clear out the key areas. The prisoners who remained were all wearing expressions of confusion and fear, having no idea what exactly had happened.

The news that so many prisoners had died for no reason, along with several guards, had left even these vicious criminals restless. Clearly, this unknown incident was far beyond the control of both the inmates and the prison itself. The ghost stories that had circulated through the prison for years, stories they had once scoffed at, now resurfaced in their minds.

Especially after Mangy Dog had gone mad that day, muttering to himself in the direction the blood had been flowing from. It had terrified these villains who feared neither heaven nor earth. After all, the only people in that direction had been the prisoners who had died for no reason.

When they saw the warden approaching with two strangers who did not look like prison guards, one of them a handsome youth who seemed like he belonged on television, the prisoners immediately became agitated.

"Warden, get us out of here! I don't want to stay in this cursed place anymore, please! I have secret savings outside. I'll give them all to you."

Besides those trying to persuade the warden to take them away, there were also those who became even more vicious under the pressure. They slammed their iron beds and cell doors, loudly cursing Yamaguchi Takuyoshi.

"You son of a bitch, let me out right now! If I get the chance, I'll kill your whole family! Even if I turn into a ghost, I won't let you go, you bald fat pig!"

Yamaguchi Takuyoshi's expression immediately turned ugly. If this had happened normally, they would not have dared to be so arrogant even if they had been given ten times the courage, and he had plenty of ways to deal with them. But now, driven nearly to collapse by fear, they naturally feared nothing.

Yet with these two standing before him, it would not be appropriate to summon someone to punish them immediately. He gritted his teeth and pushed the matter to the back of his mind. His expression changed quickly, and in an instant, he resumed calmly explaining everything he knew to Shen Yuanyi.

"Hehe, please don't mind the words of this scum. Everyone held here is a criminal beyond saving."

As he spoke, he heard a dull impact accompanied by a muffled cry of pain. Yamaguchi Takuyoshi turned toward the sound and saw a prisoner curled up against the wall of his cell, clutching his mouth and groaning. Blood seeped through his fingers, staining the several teeth scattered across the floor before him.

"What happened?"

Yamaguchi Takuyoshi searched his memory. This prisoner seemed to have been about to insult the youth just now? They were already a group with problems in their heads. Locked in the dark can of a prison, it would have been stranger if Yamaguchi Takuyoshi did not develop some issues too.

And when they saw a celebrity-like youth such as this, he could guess the filthy things they were about to say without even thinking. He had assumed these two official personnel would ignore such barking that could only disgust people. The younger one might get a little upset, but he could just call over a few guards later to teach them a lesson.

Yet that prisoner had suddenly been injured by something. Looking at the prisoners around him, who had fallen silent with confusion and fear written all over their faces, he seemed to understand something. I can't think about it any further! Gathering his thoughts, Yamaguchi Takuyoshi did not even look at the prisoner howling in pain and simply continued leading the way.

Shen Yuanyi merely glanced at the prisoner whose teeth he had just blown out. The filthy words the man had yet to spit out, along with his current whimpering on the floor, barely registered in Shen Yuanyi's mind.

Most of his attention had been drawn to the increasingly oppressive environment. This was the result of a powerful curse affecting its surroundings. After passing through the central area, they arrived at the now empty western block.

Yamaguchi Takuyoshi froze, staring at the scene before him in bewilderment. The ceiling in the western block had abruptly become much higher. Some corridors and rooms had become completely unrecognizable. Sweat slid down his forehead, and just as he stammered, about to say something, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.

"All right, there's nothing for you to do here anymore. You can leave."

As if granted a pardon, the warden awkwardly said a few words after hearing Shen Yuanyi's order, then turned and fled as though he wished he had been born with two more legs.

"From darkness, emerge. Darker than darkness. Purify all defilement."

Ijichi recited the incantation and lowered a Curtain, sealing off the entire western block. Then he watched Shen Yuanyi walk inside.

Shen Yuanyi's footsteps echoed through the empty corridors and halls. As he went deeper, large patches of dried brown bloodstains began appearing on the floor tiles.

"Bang, bang."

A faint sound suddenly reached his ears. Shen Yuanyi vanished from where he stood. Logically, he should already have reached the end of the prison after moving forward for so long, yet new paths continued to appear ahead of him.

Upon arriving at a spacious hall, Shen Yuanyi finally saw a "living thing." It was a human-shaped figure with grayish-white skin, wearing almost nothing and exposing large swaths of skin along with muscles that were not particularly pronounced.

That "person" was repeatedly punching a concrete pillar standing in the middle of the hall. The tiles that had originally covered it had all been shattered, exposing the rough concrete and steel reinforcement beneath.

After withdrawing from his Cursed Technique, Shen Yuanyi rubbed his chin as he examined the humanoid curse. According to his senses, this cursed spirit was not particularly strong. It was even weaker than some Grade 1 cursed spirits. Had the Window made a mistake?

The cursed spirit noticed Shen Yuanyi the moment he appeared without concealing his presence. It stopped moving and turned around, revealing its full appearance.

Two slightly bulging horns grew from its bald head. Its nose looked as though it had been shaved away, leaving only smooth flesh. The eyes it turned toward him had no whites; their sockets contained nothing but pitch-black darkness.

With a low growl rumbling from its throat, the cursed spirit charged Shen Yuanyi. Only when its sharp claws were about to touch him did Shen Yuanyi casually tilt his head aside and evade the attack.

Then a lightning-fast punch made the cursed spirit shudder in midair. Violent Cursed Energy burst through its back, and as it was sent flying, thick liquid sprayed from the large hole in its chest.

Shen Yuanyi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw a massive hole had somehow appeared there. Though it vanished immediately through Cursed Technique Reversal, it was definitely not an illusion.

Shen Yuanyi was certain the other side had not struck him, and the injury on his body was almost identical to the wound he had inflicted on that cursed spirit.

"Damage reflection? Is there really a Cursed Technique like that?"

Shen Yuanyi vanished from his original spot and caught up to the cursed spirit still flying through the air. Dojigiri swiftly stabbed into its abdomen before being pulled free. When Shen Yuanyi released his Cursed Technique, he once again saw the same wound appear on his own abdomen.

"Interesting..."

After landing, Shen Yuanyi mobilized the endless stream of Cursed Energy within him, merging his Cursed Technique with the Cursed Energy filling this space through Barrier Technique.

What appeared was the non-domain domain Shen Yuanyi had developed through experimentation—Rainfall.

Though they were inside a hall, raindrops began falling from above. Within a few breaths, they had formed a sizable curtain of rain.

Shen Yuanyi reached out and caught the "rainwater." It vanished from his palm like a phantom. At the same time, raindrops rose from the ground and fell upward into the sky.

The cursed spirit was also stunned by the sudden change. It had just retreated to widen the distance, only to abruptly reappear in its previous position. The wound that had already fully healed reopened.

Shen Yuanyi raised a finger toward the cursed spirit. A pale white arrow of Cursed Energy condensed before him, nearly invisible beneath the rain curtain.

"Bang!"

Though it was shaped like an arrow, Shen Yuanyi imitated the sound of a gunshot. Then Arrow of Time skipped the process and directly completed the result. The cursed spirit, which had been moving to dodge, lurched and collapsed to the ground. Its lower body caved in, crashing into the floor and turning into scattered ash.

A large section of the rain falling up and down through the air suddenly became empty. Only after a moment did it gradually fill in again. Then, as expected, Shen Yuanyi's legs underwent the same horrifying change. But prepared for it, he used Cursed Technique Reversal to erase the injury almost simultaneously.

Then two masses of flesh sprouted from the stumps of the cursed spirit's legs, which had crumbled into powder. In the blink of an eye, they grew into two brand-new legs. Its presence and Cursed Energy grew strangely stronger, while its body visibly became much larger.

The exposed parts of its body now showed clearly defined muscles. Its grayish-white skin made it resemble granite. The two horns on its head had also grown considerably longer. Once its body had recovered, it stomped down and shot forward like a cannonball, moving far faster than before.

"Let's try this again."

Shen Yuanyi pointed through the rain curtain. Amid the raindrops drifting chaotically through the air, the charging cursed spirit suddenly vanished. When it reappeared, it was standing on the ground it had just pushed off from. The cracks in the floor proved that it had indeed used that spot to launch itself, yet when it chose to attack again, it found itself back where it had started in the blink of an eye.

After silently watching the cursed spirit "struggle" several times, the Cursed Technique Shen Yuanyi had placed on it finally lost its effect. During that time, the cursed spirit had been like an insect trapped in amber, unable to escape, confined within a prison of time.

"I'll call it Amber."

This move was only meant to trap enemies. Its advantage was that, once set in advance, it would automatically keep rewinding the target to a chosen moment. It was restraint, but also a different kind of protection. Perhaps it could even be used to protect others. Of course, Shen Yuanyi could cancel the effect whenever he wished.

He fired several more Arrows of Time in succession. Under Rainfall's cover, Shen Yuanyi found it much easier to use his Cursed Technique, and its acceleration effect rose to another level. Once the arrows struck the cursed spirit, they easily accelerated the injuries they inflicted to the endpoint of "death." The result was that various parts of the cursed spirit's body instantly exploded into dust and ash.

Yet this cursed spirit continued displaying abnormal regenerative abilities. With each grievous injury and the recovery that followed, its presence grew more powerful. Its body had already reached three meters in height, its muscles standing out like steel.

Under the rain curtain, the cursed spirit's speed had also increased to an unprecedented degree. Shen Yuanyi was not surprised. He had designed Rainfall to affect enemies as well. Within the range covered by the rain curtain, the time of all things would be accelerated together.

How did that saying go again? If everyone was accelerated together, then no one was accelerated. But the negative effects Rainfall brought would not lessen. Shen Yuanyi could cancel them with Cursed Technique Reversal, but how could his enemies do the same?

Without a means of resisting it, the only outcome of remaining beneath this rain curtain was to enter the stillness of death ahead of time. Moreover, this acceleration affected enemies constantly and indiscriminately. That was why even a single ordinary Arrow of Time from Shen Yuanyi could turn the part it struck directly into ash.

"It absorbs damage and reflects it back at its opponent. It can also use the attacks it absorbs to strengthen itself."

Shen Yuanyi silently analyzed the cursed spirit's Cursed Technique. This ability made the cursed spirit seem weak at first encounter, but once battle began, it could reflect damage while strengthening itself, gradually tipping the scales in its favor. If its opponent grew impatient and launched a fierce assault, they might even kill themselves.

Unfortunately, it had encountered Shen Yuanyi. Trading injury for injury? Impossible. Only the cursed spirit would be getting hurt. Shen Yuanyi did not bother searching for the weakness of its Cursed Technique. An ability that seemed so unsolvable would inevitably have flaws. For example, did it have an upper limit? Could it truly reflect any kind of damage? If an enemy attacked from very far away, did its Cursed Technique have that range?

Shen Yuanyi chose the most brutal method: grievously injure it again and again, nearly kill it each time, then wait for the inevitable limit before exorcising it at its strongest.

It was also a good opportunity to become more familiar with using his Cursed Technique. Rainfall had originally been one of his ideas for a Domain. In the end, this was the failed product he had developed on his own. He had originally wanted to "stuff" Cursed Technique Reversal into it as well, but the effect had not been obvious. The normal application had been amplified, but it had not produced the power Shen Yuanyi had imagined would arise from their collision.

"Perhaps... I should take it step by step and first try combining only the normal application and reversal of the Cursed Technique to see whether it works."

More than ten streaks of sword light appeared at once, slicing the cursed spirit, which had become a ferocious giant beast, into several pieces. When the cursed spirit recovered in an instant, its presence did not grow stronger this time. That drew Shen Yuanyi's attention back to it.

"You've reached your limit?"

Shen Yuanyi's soft laugh was answered by the cursed spirit's roar. Its millstone-sized palm came crashing down, wrapped in enormous Cursed Energy that compressed and crushed everything before it. Rainfall had accelerated the cursed spirit's growth, but it had also pushed it further down the road to destruction. The effect flickered on and off, making it difficult for this cursed spirit with little capacity for thought to make use of that power. At times, it even became a burden.

Three Cursed Blades flashed through the cursed spirit countless times in an instant before Shen Yuanyi threw them out, pinning its head and shoulders in midair. Then black light shone from Shen Yuanyi's fist, adding a stroke to that frozen painting. The constantly splattering "ink" then displayed divine intent across the canvas in all its fullness.

Seeing the cursed spirit's body completely "opened up," Shen Yuanyi nodded in satisfaction and released his Cursed Technique. Before the flying flesh could shift even a fraction through the air, the curse erupted instantly. A phantom resembling Asura appeared, and the descending rotten blade accelerated the cursed spirit's collapse, cutting it directly into the abyss of death.

There was no scene of flesh flying everywhere. Only ash scattered across the sky before vanishing into the air. The sole trace left behind was an object that fell to the ground: a withered finger.