Domain clash

Within the sealed space, the rules of two Special Grade domains collided wildly, each trying to crush the other.

The torrential rain and mist tried to scour everything clean, while countless enormous, pale hands braced desperately against the edges of the barrier.

Under this immense clash of rules, the domains' guaranteed-hit and guaranteed-kill effects forcibly canceled each other out.

The once-lethal sensation of his Cursed Technique being stripped away faded from Mahito, and the space became an arena for the most primal, brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Feng suddenly stepped forward, twisting at the waist as he drove a heavy, unadorned punch straight into Mahito's face.

Bang!

A dull crunch of shattering bone rang out.

Mahito's stitch-covered face instantly caved in and twisted under the tremendous impact. Several bloody teeth sprayed from his mouth amid a gush of black-red blood.

He slid backward several meters like a ragged sack, carving two deep furrows through the muddy water.

But Mahito's animalistic combat instincts did not falter.

He forced his legs steady as he slid back, his mismatched eyes darting over the precariously trembling space around him.

His mind raced under the crushing pressure-the stripping sensation had vanished, and his opponent's rain now offered only physical resistance. He instantly saw through the nature of this domain clash.

His opponent's domain had only taken shape by relying on the outer barrier of [Self-Embodiment of Perfection].

That meant that once his outer shell shattered, his opponent's seemingly perfect sanctuary would collapse in an instant.

Inside this mutually restraining cage, everything depended on whose body and Cursed Energy gave out first!

Mahito gritted his teeth hard and poured his remaining Cursed Energy madly into his right arm.

Riiip!

With a squelching of flesh that set the teeth on edge, his entire right arm instantly lengthened and hardened into an enormous, razor-sharp blade of pale bone.

Propelled by an explosive thrust of his legs, Mahito charged through the torrential rain in a low, oppressive stance, driving his bone blade straight at Feng's abdomen.

Faced with this vicious, deadly counterattack, Feng showed no panic.

He gripped Mikazuki Munechika's hilt with both hands and jerked the blade upward.

Clang!!

The black blade crashed against the pale bone sword, unleashing blinding sparks and a violent shock wave of Cursed Energy.

Using the recoil traveling through his blade, the young man snapped his right leg out like a spring and planted a solid kick in Mahito's chest, sending the frenzied Special Grade Cursed Spirit flying back once again.

After forcing his opponent back with that strike, Feng's chest heaved as he gasped for breath.

The relentless, high-intensity battle to the death, coupled with the enormous cost of constructing such a complex domain for the first time, had pushed his stamina close to its limit.

More dangerous still, the long sword in his hand, engraved with a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's Cursed Technique, was undergoing an eerie change.

The eyeball on its hilt spun wildly. Black, murky Cursed Energy carrying a strong medicinal odor crept along the hilt and onto Feng's tightly gripping hand, staining his skin an ominous, deathly black.

This powerful Cursed Tool was turning against its overexerted wielder.

Mahito rolled twice through the muddy water after being kicked away before barely managing to stop.

His condition was even more miserable than Feng's.

Crescent-shaped wounds left by the long sword covered his body, and the flesh along their edges kept rotting and blackening.

Every breath brought bloody foam from his lungs, and he was running desperately short of the Cursed Energy needed to maintain the shape of his soul.

Yet he stared fixedly at Feng's hand, stained by that black aura, and split his blood-filled mouth into a hoarse, venomous laugh.

"Cough-hahaha... So that's it. Your domain is a pathetic parasite that has to cling to mine."

Mahito swayed as he straightened. Rather than rushing to attack again, he opened up some distance like a venomous snake lying in wait, watching Feng's condition intently.

"Even your weapon is biting you.

Between opening your domain for the first time and all the fighting so far, you can't have much Cursed Energy left, can you?"

He wiped away the black blood dripping from his chin, his mind exceptionally calm.

His opponent's domain was extremely unstable. If he voluntarily released his barrier, that domain would collapse along with it, leaving both of them in a period of Cursed Technique burnout.

But right now, his opponent was suffering from his weapon's backlash and physical exhaustion.

In this quagmire stripped of its guaranteed-hit effect, he only had to keep his opponent pinned down with physical combat.

Once that sword completely ruined his opponent's arm, or his opponent ran out of Cursed Energy altogether, victory would still be his!

Mahito's arms slowly transformed into barbed whip blades. He lowered his body slightly and assumed an exceptionally supple, uncanny stance, ready for the next fight to the death.

Cold killing intent tore through the rain between them.

"You're surprisingly good at worrying about people. Too bad I don't particularly care for your concern."

Feng gave a cold laugh.

His right hand, stained by black Cursed Energy, clamped tightly around the hilt. He kicked off the ground, blasting muddy water in every direction as he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Facing that gleaming blade, Mahito narrowed his eyes slightly.

His crouching body exploded into motion, and his long-poised right arm transformed into a bone whip several meters long, covered in stark white barbs.

With a piercing whistle, the bone whip lashed like a raging venomous snake, striking viciously at the young man's abdomen from a low angle.

Yet Feng did not turn into water to evade it as Mahito had expected.

Just as the bone whip was about to touch his abdomen, a transparent film of Cursed Energy, thin as a cicada's wing, instantly covered Feng's body-[Domain Amplification].

Bang!

A dull impact against flesh rang out.

The barbed bone whip slammed into the film of Domain Amplification. The immense impact made Feng sway despite himself, tearing the clothing over his abdomen and drawing thin trickles of blood.

But he did not retreat a single step. He bore the full force of the blow and thrust Mikazuki Munechika forward with the momentum.

Shhk-

Trailing an ominous black aura, the dark blade pierced Mahito's chest with unerring precision, its tip emerging from his back.

But that was only the beginning.

The instant the sword pierced his chest, the film of Domain Amplification covering Feng's body vanished like a bursting bubble.

In its place, a bright, circular zone suddenly spread beneath his feet-[New Shadow Style: Simple Domain].

This was not meant to neutralize a guaranteed-hit Cursed Technique, nor was it meant for defense.

Within that tiny zone, the rules of the Simple Domain forcibly enhanced his sword-drawing trajectories and Cursed Energy output.

In an instant, a rapid series of steel-rending sounds filled the air.

Too fast for the naked eye to follow, flashes of blades, empowered by the Simple Domain, poured onto Mahito like a furious storm of intertwined silver and black.

Chest, shoulders, ribs, thighs... A succession of horrifying slicing sounds echoed through the sealed space.

"Ghuuurgh-!"

Mouthful after mouthful of black blood sprayed from Mahito's mouth.

Like a rag doll caught in a meat grinder, his gray-white flesh was instantly carved open with dozens of horrific wounds deep enough to expose bone.

The crescent-shaped cursed residue carried by Mikazuki Munechika writhed wildly within those wounds, spreading rot.

Under the dense barrage of slashes, the tremendous force sent Mahito flying backward. He crashed heavily into the mire, dragging out a long trail of blood.

He struggled to prop up his upper body, his chest heaving as he gulped for air.

Blood mixed with rain slid down his ruined, stitched face. His mismatched eyes constricted sharply as he stared at Feng, who stood ahead with his sword withdrawn.

"Cough... cough... ghah..."

As Mahito coughed up blood, his mind raced through the excruciating pain.

A lunatic. He's an absolute lunatic.

In that instant, he deliberately abandoned his water transformation, which consumed the least Cursed Energy, and instead chose to withstand my bone whip with [Domain Amplification], all to ensure he could stab me at the closest possible range.

Then he seamlessly switched to [Simple Domain] to instantly boost his explosive power!

Even with his own domain so unstable, he can still execute Cursed Energy manipulations this precise and insane. His close-range pressure is terrifying.

Mahito glanced at his body, which had been slashed open so deeply that his organs were nearly exposed.

Maintaining his domain required an enormous amount of Cursed Energy, and now the energy needed to preserve the shape of his soul against that eerie blade aura had multiplied.

I can't keep trading blows with him at such close quarters.

He may be nearly out of Cursed Energy, and his weapon may be turning against his arm, but if this close-range brawl continues, he'll chop me into mince.

A flicker of malice and resolve passed through Mahito's eyes.

If his domain relies on my barrier's outer shell...

"You think... you can win to the very end on my turf?!"

Mahito roared and slammed his mangled arms against the water's surface.

He made a desperate gamble-he would deliberately detonate the barrier shell of [Self-Embodiment of Perfection]!

Once the shell shattered, both domains would be forced to collapse. The ensuing period of Cursed Technique burnout would put them back on the same starting line.

With his Special Grade Cursed Spirit constitution, he would still have a chance of winning as long as he gained some distance once his Cursed Technique recovered.

As his Cursed Energy reversed its flow, the dark inner walls formed from countless enormous hands began to crack with a sound that made the heart tremble.