Dagon was sent flying, and Naobito Zenin and Morien immediately gave chase.
For roughly the first half-second, Morien could still keep up, but Naobito Zenin soon left him behind.
Just as Dagon got back on his feet, Naobito Zenin had already rushed in front of him and raised a fist toward Dagon's abdomen.
Dagon's abdomen squirmed, and a sea serpent grew from it. Opening its jaws, it prepared to bite Naobito Zenin's fist, while Dagon raised his own fist to strike Naobito Zenin in the face.
The two intended to trade injuries.
But then, something neither the man nor the Cursed Spirit had expected happened.
After emerging from Dagon's lower abdomen, the sea serpent suddenly turned around and bit down on Dagon's attacking arm.
"The words I convey will certainly be understood." Morien's voice rang in everyone's mind. "Then creatures unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, relying only on instinctive behavior, will treat my words as their own thoughts."
The nemesis of all Shikigami users!
The others once again recalled their earlier assessment of Morien.
Naobito Zenin's fist struck Dagon's lower abdomen, then changed from a punch into a palm strike, slapping the same spot.
Crack!
Dagon stiffened once more.
Projection Sorcery.
The Zenin Family's other powerful inherited Cursed Technique, aside from the Ten Shadows Technique.
While the technique was active, the user used their own field of vision as a camera, dividing one second into twenty-four frames, plotting their next movements within their vision, and then imitating them.
The initial speed of each frame carried over from the ending speed of the previous one, while the gaps between one frame's movement and the next were rapidly skipped as though frames had been removed.
If the technique was continuously stacked, speed could be increased without limit.
Unfortunately, this speed came from "skipping frames," not genuine acceleration.
Thus, no matter how fast he moved, he could not convert speed into impact. No matter how high his speed became, the force of each punch remained equivalent to the strength of his fist in a normal, non-technique state.
That was why, in the original story, even when Naoya Zenin stacked his speed to subsonic levels, he still could not inflict sufficiently fatal wounds on the fully awakened Maki Zenin.
Furthermore, Projection Sorcery had another ability: anyone touched by the user's palm also had to plot their movements in units of one twenty-fourth of a second.
In other words, they had to perform twenty-four consecutive yet distinct movements in one second.
Otherwise, they would be frozen for one second.
However, this technique had a drawback.
If an unexpected situation arose, or the preplanned movements violated physics, then as long as the user could not complete the movements they had planned, the user themselves would be frozen for one second.
That was precisely why Naobito of the Zenin Family had no habit of Revealing One's Hand. Even when he did explain it, he only gave an incomplete version, never fully revealing the technique's drawbacks, gaining only a slight boost.
"Maki-senpai." Megumi Fushiguro suddenly spoke.
Maki Zenin turned back and saw the shadow beneath Megumi Fushiguro's feet squirm slightly as a three-section staff "grew" out of it.
Special Grade Cursed Tool: Playful Cloud.
Maki Zenin immediately broke into a delighted smile.
With a Special Grade Cursed Tool, she could be of considerable use as well.
She swiftly picked up the Cursed Tool from the ground and prepared to charge into the battle.
But in the next moment, Maki Zenin hesitated.
Though obtaining this Cursed Tool gave her combat strength equal to that of a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer.
If they truly wanted to maximize their combat power...
"Tch." She clicked her tongue, then suddenly shouted, "Old Man!"
"Huh?" Naobito Zenin, who was beating up Dagon alongside Morien, turned at the sound.
A three-section staff flew rapidly toward him, and he caught it in one hand.
"Oh-ho, Playful Cloud." Naobito Zenin immediately recognized the Cursed Tool.
It had originally belonged to the Zenin Family, only to be taken away by Toji Fushiguro later.
"Ha!" He laughed forcefully, spun the three-section staff in his hand, and whipped it upward from below into Dagon's chin.
Dagon was immediately struck off his feet and sent flying upward.
Morien followed through by raising his leg high, then chopping it down onto Dagon's stomach, smashing him back onto the beach and gouging a sunken crater into the sand.
What followed was a complete one-sided beating.
This was a Domain, an area completely isolated from the outside world.
In other words, the Wish Power here came only from the five humans and one Cursed Spirit present, so Morien had no need to worry about the risk of contamination.
And the wishes of the four humans and one Cursed Spirit present, aside from Morien, were all incomparably pure.
"Kill the enemy!"
Naobito Zenin felt as though his body was filled with power. So long as his actions were aimed at "killing Dagon," his actions would be enhanced.
Naobito Zenin had some understanding of everyone else's Cursed Techniques here. The only one he knew nothing about was Morien.
He subconsciously glanced at Morien, but quickly returned his attention to beating Dagon.
Why worry so much?
As long as he was having a good time beating someone up, that was a good thing!
With Playful Cloud in hand, Naobito Zenin was now giving Dagon a wholly one-sided beating.
Unlike his overly self-important son, Naobito Zenin was actually proficient with all kinds of weapons.
And he was especially familiar with Playful Cloud, a Cursed Tool that had originally belonged to the Zenin Family.
Morien planted his foot into the sand and flicked it upward.
Dagon's body was immediately kicked out of the sand.
When he had fallen earlier, Naobito Zenin had slapped him once, leaving his body frozen and completely unable to move.
Naobito Zenin immediately swung Playful Cloud again, sending Dagon flying.
Over the next dozen seconds, Dagon was rapidly beaten black and blue. Through Naobito Zenin and Morien's coordination, he was battered from the beach into the sea, then pursued and beaten into the sky.
He found it difficult to summon Shikigami, because the instant they appeared, several would fall into confusion.
Morien could not control every Shikigami at once, but creating a few troublemakers among the school of fish was not difficult for him.
As he fought, Morien pondered.
Come to think of it, at this point in the original story, the incarnated Toji Fushiguro should have charged into the Domain and kicked Dagon.
Although Dagon had skipped some of his pre-battle probing because of Morien's arrival, the others had also waited outside for quite a while because they were waiting for Morien.
By that calculation, Toji Fushiguro should have joined the battle by now.
Unless something had held him up...
At that thought, Morien's movements abruptly stopped.
No...
No!
He casually placed the Rabbit Escape in his hand on the ground and had it hide inside Megumi Fushiguro's Domain.
Then, without saying a word, he turned and walked toward the rear.
"Mask boy?" Naobito Zenin voiced his confusion as he continued whipping Dagon.
"You can handle him yourself, right?" Morien had already reached an invisible wall.
It was the Domain's outer shell.
Without waiting for Naobito Zenin's answer, Morien took a step forward and passed through the Domain's outer shell without the slightest obstruction.
Domains in Jujutsu Kaisen could not trap people or objects without Cursed Energy.
Thus, Morien only needed to convert all of his Cursed Energy into Spirituality to leave easily.
That was also why Morien had left Rabbit Escape behind.
After all, he had no way to convert Rabbit Escape's Cursed Energy.
Seeing Morien leave without looking back, Naobito Zenin swallowed the words that had reached his lips.
He laughed loudly, swung Playful Cloud in his hand, spun the staff in a flourish, and lashed it into Dagon's head.