At the center of the battlefield, the domain shattered again in less than a few breaths.
Black fragments scattered like shards of a broken mirror, catching the sunlight in brief, blinding flashes. Before the dust had settled, a figure emerged from the debris.
Kashimo bared his teeth and chuckled softly.
The sound was quiet, yet everyone heard it clearly. Blood had soaked his white clothes, making it impossible to tell which stains were his and which belonged to others. But his eyes still shone, their purple-marked corners curving slightly, as though he had finally found what he had been waiting for.
Across from him, Zenin Sawa knelt on one knee.
There was an enormous hole in the center of his chest.
Not a wound-a hole, running straight through his chest and out his back. Through it, the fading fragments of the domain were visible behind him. Blood gushed from the opening and streamed down his clothes, pooling beneath his knee. Blood also seeped from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth, dripping onto robes whose original color was no longer recognizable.
"You're clever."
Kashimo stood over him, looking down.
"You used a Binding Vow to change your domain's sure-hit effect."
He paused and tilted his head.
"But even if you revived your Shikigami, your domain would still collapse because of your injuries."
Zenin Sawa kept his head lowered and said nothing.
The enormous hole in his chest was closing at a visible rate. Reverse Cursed Technique worked at full capacity, regrowing flesh, knitting bones together, and reconnecting severed blood vessels one by one. But even once the wound healed, it could not dispel the exhaustion seeping from deep within his bones.
He slowly raised his head.
Before him, Kashimo had already raised the Soul-Devouring Blade.
The blade gleamed with a dark, cold light in the sun, its tip aimed between his eyebrows.
Zenin Sawa looked at him for two seconds.
Then he slowly closed his eyes.
Just then-
Kashimo suddenly froze.
His blade hung in midair, his arm trembling slightly. Then blood poured from his nostrils and ran down over his lips. His eyes began bleeding too, the blood following the markings at their corners before dripping onto the already blood-soaked white clothes over his chest.
One drop.
Two drops.
They fell onto his clothes, spreading into small, dark stains.
"Hahaha-!"
Zenin Sawa's laughter exploded across the empty mountain road, hoarse and wild, filled with an almost sickening exhilaration.
"Feels good, doesn't it!"
His eyes snapped open, bloodshot and fixed on the man before him, who was bleeding from every opening in his face.
That was right.
He had used a Binding Vow to alter his domain's sure-hit effect. Kashimo had guessed half of it correctly: he had indeed used that vow to revive his Shikigami.
But that was far from all.
In exchange for temporarily reducing a portion of his Cursed Energy reserves, he had given this deployment of his domain two effects.
Reviving his Shikigami.
And a mental attack.
Kashimo had known only one of them.
Zenin Sawa rose from the ground, his Reverse Cursed Technique having completely repaired the hole in his chest. He watched the man before him, bleeding from every opening in his face, his sword hand trembling, and slowly stretched his lips into a smile.
On his blood-smeared face, that smile looked especially vicious.
Kashimo raised a hand over his mouth and nose. Blood seeped between his fingers, tracing several dark-red streaks across the web of his thumb. He lowered his head and watched the drops fall onto his white clothes, watched them slowly spread.
Seventeen years.
For the first time in the seventeen years since he had transmigrated here, he felt anger.
Not the eager thrill he had felt when facing Gojo Arashi, nor the exhilaration of finding a worthy opponent in Shuten-dōji. This was pure anger, burning through his insides. He pulled his hand away from his face. The blood was still flowing, but he no longer cared.
Zenin Sawa wiped away his nosebleed, a smile returning to his face.
"The damage that mental attack's sure-hit effect did to your brain is persistent."
He rolled his shoulders, steam from Reverse Cursed Technique spilling from his body.
"And I've already repaired my Cursed Technique Burnout."
He looked at the man opposite him, still bleeding from every opening in his face, and his smile deepened.
"What about you, nobody?"
Kashimo said nothing. He kept his head lowered as blood flowed from his nostrils and the corners of his eyes, dripping onto the ground, but he did not wipe it away. A few breaths later, he raised his head.
His eyes had changed.
Gone was that lazy, indifferent gaze. Something deeper, heavier, and more dangerous had taken its place, like the suffocating clouds before a storm, like the silence of thunder gathering deep within the clouds before lightning struck.
He looked at Zenin Sawa, his lips slowly pulling apart.
"I suggest you-"
His voice was quiet, but every word sounded forced through clenched teeth.
"Bring out your strongest Shikigami. Now."
He raised the Soul-Devouring Blade, aiming its tip between Zenin Sawa's eyebrows. Blood still clung to his face, but his smile was colder than the blade.
"Otherwise, get ready for me to chop you into mince."
Zenin Sawa said nothing. He merely raised his eyebrows. The shadows beneath his feet churned, and Agito's enormous body emerged from the darkness once more, landing beside him, empty eye sockets facing Kashimo.
No words were exchanged, but the message could not have been clearer.
Lightning crackled around Kashimo. Blue-white arcs leaped and burst across his body, scorching the air around him. He wasted no more words. Tightening his grip on the Soul-Devouring Blade, he drove off the ground.
The ground exploded.
That pale blue-white figure shot straight toward his opponent like a bolt of lightning.
Blades clashed.
Fists met palms.
Their figures crossed wildly across the battlefield, each collision leaving fresh cracks in the ground. The Soul-Devouring Blade traced black streaks with every slash. Zenin Sawa's purple-black blood and Kashimo's red blood sprayed in turn, splashing over rubble and soil until it was impossible to tell whose was whose.
Zenin Sawa smashed a fist into Kashimo's shoulder, and Kashimo answered with an elbow beneath his ribs. Kashimo slashed at Zenin Sawa's face, but Zenin Sawa tilted his head aside. The edge skimmed his cheek and sheared off a lock of hair. They fought like two tireless beasts, one biting, the other tearing off a chunk, neither willing to retreat even half a step.
Agito attacked from the side, bringing a massive fist down. Kashimo raised his blade to block, the impact numbing the web of his thumb. Zenin Sawa seized the opening and closed in, driving a knee into his abdomen. Kashimo grunted, cut away half of Agito's arm with a backhand slash, then kicked Zenin Sawa away.
The three tangled together, flashing blades, flying fists, lightning, and blood weaving a frenzied tableau.
Suddenly-
Piercing Ox charged out of Zenin Sawa's shadow.
There was no warning, no windup. That enormous figure hurtled like a cannonball born from the darkness, carrying terrifying brute force as he slammed straight toward Kashimo's right side.
Too fast.
So fast that Kashimo had no time to turn, no time to block, not even time to retreat.
The tremendous force struck his right arm. A horn pierced his muscle, caught against the bone, then wrenched violently.
Riiip-
The shrill sound of tearing flesh rang out. His entire arm was ripped from his shoulder and spun through the air, its fingers still curled as though gripping a sword, though the sword was already gone. Blood gushed from the stump, scattering a dark-red trail through the sunlight.
Kashimo staggered a step but did not fall. Gritting his teeth, he reached out with his left hand and caught the falling Soul-Devouring Blade in midair. The instant its hilt met his palm, he pushed off the ground and darted aside, landing ten paces away.
He stood there with blood pouring from his severed right shoulder, staining half his body red. His left hand held the blade, its tip braced against the ground to keep him upright.
Piercing Ox landed where he had stood, breathing heavily, his bloodstained horns gleaming dark red in the sunlight. Zenin Sawa stood behind Piercing Ox, panting as he watched the one-armed man, his lips slowly spreading into a smile.
"You've still got one hand left."
His voice was hoarse.
Kashimo glanced down at his empty right shoulder, then looked up at the man and two Shikigami facing him. Blood still flowed, running down his clothes and gathering in a small puddle at his feet. He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and tightened his grip on the blade.
"That's enough."
His voice was quiet, yet his opponent heard it clearly.
The dark clouds pressed lower, lightning churning within them.
Before you continue