The sea exploded in an instant. An enormous school of fish surged upward, gathering behind Dagon into a wall of water that towered into the clouds. Countless fish crowded together, their scales gleaming coldly beneath the false sunlight. Every mouth was packed with jagged fangs, releasing faint hisses that set teeth on edge.
"Foolish humans," Dagon's voice came from beneath the wall of water, calm and indifferent, as though pronouncing an outcome decided long ago. "Did you think I would just stand here and fight you?"
"No way!" Naobito Zenin's pupils contracted sharply.
"Its target is-" Maki's voice caught in her throat.
Both turned at once. Megumi Fushiguro stood a short distance behind them. Dagon's Horizon of the Captivating Skandha had compressed the domain beneath his feet until it barely had room for one person. The shadows of Chimera Shadow Garden clung to him like a crumpled piece of clothing.
His hands still held their sign, all ten fingers white with strain, but he had reached the limit of how long he could maintain his domain. His body trembled slightly. Beads of sweat dripped from his temples into the shadows beneath his feet without a sound.
Overhead, a dark mass of fish plunged toward him. The one in front opened a huge mouth filled with fangs, revealing a pitch-black, bottomless abyss deep in its throat. Megumi Fushiguro's eyes reflected that fish, those teeth drawing ever closer, and the approaching death he could not evade.
I'm going to die. The thought drifted through his mind, as light as a leaf landing on water. It circled a few times, then sank.
Suddenly, the domain beneath his feet, compressed by Dagon's domain into a space barely large enough for one person, began to ripple.
It did not fracture or collapse. It rippled, like