Domain Expansion (First Day of February—How About Some Monthly Tickets?~)

Minato Ward, Tokyo—Akasaka Palace.

Inside the Curtain barrier Suguru Geto had deployed, Suguru Geto and his family watched a one-sided beatdown.

The ones doing the beating were Lin Yi and his permanent Cursed Tool, the Kamen Rider Joker suit. The one being beaten was a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit still in its Cursed Womb Stage.

"Hah!"

Lin Yi exhaled sharply and shouted as he and his Kamen Rider Joker suit struck from both sides. The strength boost from the Heavenly Tyrant form, combined with the Cursed Tool attacks of the Kamen Rider Joker suit, sent two fists smashing viciously into the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's stomach.

The Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, less than two days old, experienced death once more.

The one-sided pummeling was almost too much for Suguru Geto's family to watch.

"Even if it's only a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit in the Cursed Womb Stage, isn't this way too one-sided?"

Miguel O'Dwyer was at a loss for words. As a sorcerer from the Africa Region, Cursed Spirits were rare where he came from, but every Cursed Spirit that emerged was at least Grade 2, and none of them were weak.

The sorcerers in his hometown did not handle them nearly so easily. He had come to Japan partly to assist Suguru Geto, but also to see how the Cursed Spirits born in Japan—the world's great vortex of cursed energy—differed in quality from those born back home.

Yet what he was seeing now was a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit being brutally beaten by a human who was temporarily not even a sorcerer, working together with a fully autonomous Cursed Tool. It was like an adult beating up a child.

This was a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit!

"Miguel, there are differences even among Special-Grade Cursed Spirits. A Special-Grade Cursed Spirit in the Cursed Womb Stage may be strong, but its strength is limited. Lin Yi's technique temporarily turns him into a Heavenly Tyrant. A Heavenly Tyrant, you know. Those beings who completely abandon cursed energy and possess only their physical bodies have even made Satoru suffer before."

Watching the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit get beaten senseless by Lin Yi's fists without any ability to resist, Suguru Geto could not help recalling his student days with his best friend, Satoru Gojo.

Back then, Satoru Gojo had been born with the special constitution known as the Six Eyes. Coupled with his family's Limitless technique, he had already stood at the pinnacle of sorcerers even before mastering Domain Expansion and Reversed Cursed Technique. The higher-ups of Jujutsu Society had already rated both Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo as Special-Grade Sorcerers.

Yet even Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo, as they had been then, had suffered terribly against a true Heavenly Tyrant who abandoned cursed energy in exchange for a completely enhanced body. Both of them had nearly died.

No matter how strong this Special-Grade Cursed Spirit was, could it possibly surpass Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto back then?

Lin Yi looked at the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit sprawled on the ground, once again beaten to the brink of death by his fists, and frowned slightly.

This was not what he wanted. A Special-Grade Cursed Spirit at the Cursed Womb level simply could not put any pressure on him.

A Cursed Womb could be understood as the juvenile stage of a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. It needed a certain degree of stimulation to evolve into maturity.

A mature Special-Grade Cursed Spirit was a true Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Whether in cursed energy, strength, or speed, and with enough potential, it could even deploy a Domain Expansion. At that level, exorcising one required a high-ranking Grade 1 Sorcerer—or a Special-Grade Sorcerer like Satoru Gojo.

Was the pressure of death he had given this thing still not enough? In that case...

With a thought from Lin Yi, the Kamen Rider Joker suit beside him merged with him. He slowly walked up to the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, which lacked the strength to stand, raised his foot, and aimed it at the creature's head.

If this stomp landed, it would definitely crush the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's skull and exorcise it completely.

"Lord Suguru! What is he doing?!"

Suguru Geto's two adopted daughters, Nanako and Mimiko, noticed Lin Yi's movement. They were about to act when Suguru Geto stopped them.

"It's fine. Lin Yi is right. A Special-Grade Cursed Spirit in the Cursed Womb Stage really is of little use to me. If it gets exorcised, then it gets exorcised. As long as it can help Lin Yi."

Suguru Geto's indifferent words reached the ears of the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit lying on the ground. Though it had not grown ears, it could still hear—and it could hear the disregard in Suguru Geto's tone.

Lin Yi's huge foot came crashing straight down toward its head.

At that critical moment, with death imminent, an unbelievable change occurred within the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit in the Cursed Womb Stage.

Lin Yi's foot came down, but struck nothing.

The instant his foot descended, the environment around him abruptly changed. The grassy courtyard of Akasaka Palace became the interior of a building with floors and rooms completely misaligned, while the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that had been waiting beneath his foot vanished.

Domain Expansion: Deadly Labyrinth!

The moment this bizarre space appeared, that was the information Lin Yi received in his mind.

The Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that Lin Yi had beaten nearly to death had finally shed its Cursed Womb Stage under the stimulation of death. It had become a mature Special-Grade Cursed Spirit and mastered Domain Expansion.

The instant the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit deployed its Domain Expansion, it used its home-field advantage to escape from beneath Lin Yi's foot and launch a counterattack.

Five or six cursed energy shells, each easily capable of destroying an entire office floor, suddenly appeared before Lin Yi and blasted directly into his suit, sending him flying.

Only then did the evolved Special-Grade Cursed Spirit emerge from one of the rooms within the domain space, cheering excitedly as it looked at Lin Yi, whom it had blasted to the ground.

Thinking it had killed Lin Yi, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit turned its attention to Suguru Geto and the others, who had also been dragged into the domain. Yet when it saw the layer of blue cursed energy around Suguru Geto that enveloped his family as well, confusion appeared in the inexperienced Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's eyes.

It could not understand why Suguru Geto and the others were immune to the passive effect of its domain despite being inside the domain it had opened.

Domain Expansion was a skill that both Cursed Spirits and sorcerers could master. It allowed the strong to manifest their inner landscape and pull one or more opponents into the internal space created from that manifested landscape.

Within that space, the domain enhanced the user's technique. Its passive effect automatically locked onto and attacked any object carrying cursed energy within the space other than the domain's user. In other words, it automatically locked onto enemies and attacked them. If an opponent had not mastered a domain, they would not even know how to evade the attacks within one. They could basically only wait to die.

But there was a solution. During Japan's most prosperous age of jujutsu a thousand years ago, sorcerers developed a technique to counter the seemingly unsolvable skill of Domain Expansion.

This technique could be learned through training. It allowed any sorcerer who had not mastered Domain Expansion to release their cursed energy and adjust it to a synchronized frequency, creating a space around themselves that negated the sure-hit effect of Domain Expansion.

Once an opponent entered that space, it could even counterattack automatically.

But the price was that one could not move freely within the domain space, or even change posture. They could only passively defend and counterattack while waiting for the opponent to dispel their domain or for rescue to arrive.

This technique was also known as Simple Domain.

As an outstanding former student of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, Suguru Geto had clearly mastered this skill. That was why he and his family could negate the sure-hit effect within the domain space deployed by this Special-Grade Cursed Spirit.

Feeling the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's gaze turn toward him, Suguru Geto was not worried. Instead, he shouted toward the direction where Lin Yi had been blasted away. "Hey, Lin Yi. Your technique is interesting, but that Kamen Rider Cursed Tool you're wearing carries cursed energy. To a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, you aren't impossible to lock onto. Want me to step in?"

"You don't need to tell me that. Just stand there and behave yourself, Suguru Geto. This thing is finally giving me a little motivation."

Lin Yi's voice rang out.

The Special-Grade Cursed Spirit abruptly turned around and looked toward the area it had bombarded with its barrage of cursed energy shells.

Lin Yi climbed to his feet completely unharmed. The cursed energy shells, each of which could destroy an entire office floor, had not left even the slightest mark on his Kamen Rider Joker suit.

Lin Yi's physical body separated from the Kamen Rider Joker suit. He beckoned at the stunned Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, while the Kamen Rider Joker suit behind him made the same gesture.

"Come on, Cursed Spirit. Round three. Time to count your sins."

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