Dark Surge Eight Settled Waters

Xuan stood not far away, watching Ryu Ishigori rapidly restore his body after landing a Black Flash.

"Ha, I didn't expect you to pull off a Black Flash."

Noticing that the barrier had become solid once more, Xuan formed the hand sign for Hollow Wicker Basket again.

"Even so, it's still not enough for you to expand your domain, strongest?"

"Yeah. Not enough."

The moment Xuan's words left his mouth, Ryu Ishigori, still in the zone, immediately leaped backward. The street beneath where he had just stood was instantly carved into countless tiny cubes roughly one cubic centimeter in size by fine slashes. Xuan raised his head and looked at him.

"Nice dodge. Tell you what—if you can keep your domain up for the next minute without dispelling it, I'll let you see my domain."

"And what if I can hit you, or defeat you?"

A faint smile appeared on Xuan's face as he spread his hands.

"As long as you hit me, I can consider letting you see my domain."

Commendable courage.

Xuan gave Ryu Ishigori an approving look.

"In return, I'll use part of my abilities."

"Gladly..."

Ever since taming Mahoraga, he had rarely used his own domain. At around sixteen, he had already grasped the reverse cursed technique and barrier techniques. To Xuan, the positive result of two negatives in reverse cursed technique and the spatial geometry of barrier techniques had posed almost no difficulty. Once he understood the principles, mastering them had come easily.

"Granité Blast."

Ryu Ishigori immediately sprang backward. With the chant, beams of light rose from all across Heaven-Piercing Myriad Colors like fireworks, bursting into blossoms of light in the air like fireworks at a summer festival. A single beam could split into hundreds of points of light, and every point within Heaven-Piercing Myriad Colors could become a light cannon.

Within Heaven-Piercing Myriad Colors, there were at least three hundred such points of light.

"Getting ready for a bombardment?"

Xuan tilted his head back and released the hand sign maintaining Hollow Wicker Basket.

"Technique Reversal: Light."

Xuan placed his left hand over the back of his right, interlacing his fingers.

Shadows—as a phenomenon produced when light shone upon an object—could be reversed simply by changing the cursed energy output of the Ten Shadows Technique into energy opposite to it.

Thus, just as Satoru Gojo turned attraction into repulsion, the technique that controlled shadows became a technique that turned himself into light—literally light that could not be affected by any object.

Of course, in exchange, light could not harm its target.

That restriction naturally applied only to Xuan himself.

The Divine Dog's damage certainly did not count as Xuan's own.

The instant Xuan vanished, the overwhelming barrage of light cannons reached where he had been. The saturated, dense assault instantly leveled the area. The moment the beams finished sweeping the ground, Ryu Ishigori immediately redirected the remaining light cannons.

He was a step too late.

Xuan had already appeared behind him, his palm pressed against Ryu Ishigori's back.

"Dog: Eight."

The surging cursed energy transformed into the Divine Dog's claws. Though Ryu Ishigori instinctively gathered cursed energy, dozens of gashes were instantly torn across his back.

Blood sprayed out. Ryu Ishigori winced in pain and struck back, another black flash erupting as a Black Flash punch slammed into Xuan's "light"—

"Hey."

There was no sensation of impact. The silhouette of light that resembled Xuan's body had already dispersed under the force of Black Flash. Ryu Ishigori immediately looked up toward the source of the voice.

The instant he raised his head, a fist flickering with black light smashed into Ryu Ishigori's face. The roof beam beneath his feet shattered with a thunderous crash, and the force dragged his body down into the house below.

BOOM!

The wooden house was smashed to pieces, but Xuan's attack was not over. His right leg, wrapped in cursed energy, stomped down fiercely, and the tremendous force sent Ryu Ishigori flying once more. Amid the dust kicked up by the impact, hundreds of granité shockwaves that had been suspended high in the sky crashed down, blanketing Xuan's predicted path of movement—

"Dog: Release."

Unlike the tiny slashes, Xuan brought his hands together and doubled the amount of cursed energy poured into them. A slash swept out, instantly "cutting open" the condensed energy.

The entire domain seemed to have been split in half down the middle. Fortunately, the slash had not been aimed at Ryu Ishigori. Having dodged it, Ryu Ishigori raised his head and drew his bow again—

"I wanted to say this earlier."

The instant Ryu Ishigori made the motion of drawing the bow, Xuan's voice came from behind him. Following it was Xuan's hand, already gripping the back of his head.

"If you keep relying on your technique, you won't be able to hit me."

"Yeah, I know."

A smile appeared on Ryu Ishigori's face, and the force with which he clenched the "arrow" did not lessen in the slightest.

"Pretty low-level scheme. The ground beneath my feet is a cursed energy output point too, right?"

"..."

The smile on Ryu Ishigori's face froze after only a few seconds—he had deliberately concealed that cursed energy output point precisely so he could catch Xuan off guard and land this hit.

"I'll give you a chance. Let go."

"Ha... sure!"

Ryu Ishigori immediately released the hand gripping the "arrow." With a dull thud, cursed energy instantly surged up from underground. Azure cursed energy formed a storm-like energy field, swallowing the entire patch of ground where the two stood. From above, one could see that at the center of the storm was a black disk of cursed energy, with Ryu Ishigori and Xuan standing atop it.

The blue cursed-energy storm only dissipated after nearly fifteen seconds. The moment the azure cursed energy vanished, Ryu Ishigori was kicked away by Xuan. His body rolled across the solid rooftop before finally crashing into the river at the center of the domain.

Xuan appeared by the riverbank in an instant—just as he emerged from melting shadows, Ryu Ishigori had already steadied himself and immediately threw his clenched fist at Xuan.

Xuan raised a hand to block. He caught the cursed-energy-wreathed blow in his palm, casually lifting Ryu Ishigori's fist as he looked with slight surprise at the white smoke rising from Ryu Ishigori's body.

The wounds that should have been on Ryu Ishigori's body had vanished without a trace. Rather than slow natural healing, it looked more like a reversed cursed technique—

Before Ryu Ishigori, whose fist was still held, could throw another punch, Xuan's hook slammed into his side. With his left hand restrained, Ryu Ishigori nearly lost his footing from the blow, but he still forced himself to kick out.

Bang! Bangbangbangbang!!

Ryu Ishigori's kick was blocked by Xuan's raised leg. Blue flames of cursed energy burst out violently upon contact. Ryu Ishigori aimed his pompadour at Xuan's chest, and Xuan immediately let go, twisting aside to evade the blast before hurling a heavy punch at Ryu Ishigori.

Boom!

Ryu Ishigori crossed his arms, barely blocking Xuan's cursed-energy-coated strike. He was blasted dozens of meters away before managing to stop himself from sliding further. Then he stomped forward, gathering cursed energy as he raised his hand—

Drawing an arrow again?

As Xuan considered this, he also stepped forward and charged.

But this time, the cursed-energy blast erupted instantly—Xuan immediately tilted his head aside to evade it, and in that instant, Ryu Ishigori had already arrived before him.

His hand sign was no longer that of drawing a bow and firing an arrow, but rather—a gun.

Ryu Ishigori had appeared right before him, and a mass of blue energy had gathered atop his strange pompadour. Then, with a point of his finger, it shot forth.

Whoosh!

The beam pierced through Xuan's body. Under Ryu Ishigori's astonished gaze, Xuan's body seemed to melt into the ground, and then—

"Time's up."

Time? What time?

Before Ryu Ishigori could react, Xuan's voice came from behind him.

"Domain Expansion."

Pitch-black shadows, like crashing waves, erupted from behind Ryu Ishigori, wrapping him in darkness and rushing toward the boundary of the barrier.

Violent cursed energy poured outward. In less than half a second, under Ryu Ishigori's astonished gaze, it forced Heaven-Piercing Myriad Colors' barrier open with cracks.

"Dark Surge Eight Settled Waters."