Rika! Rika! Chomp, chomp, chomp!

[Everyone else: Domain Expansion!!

Me: Furious Flame Mound... it's just so... you know what I mean?]

[Other people's Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerers: Simple Domain!

Me: Furube, yura yura... it's just so... you know what I mean?]

Without spending a single moment worrying about Long Xi being trapped inside the two fighters' Domain Expansions, the viewers in the livestream immediately started spamming prison-boss memes!

Much like Long Xi himself, almost everyone watching the livestream had been fired up by the intense fighting spirit.

Everyone understood what the three were thinking!

If three people expanded their domains simultaneously, the stronger domains would devour the weaker ones, after which their cursed techniques would burn out.

And whichever of the three suffered cursed technique burnout, it would mean one thing.

Once their cursed technique burned out, they were out of the fight.

Neither of the other two had expected Long Xi, who possessed Special Grade strength just like them, to have no domain at all. (Zi says: ...)

He didn't even know a basic skill like Simple Domain.

But now, that was as good as telling them Long Xi would be the first one eliminated!

Even though the Domain Expansions would become extremely easy to break from the outside afterward, none of them intended to drag this out.

"Let's bring this to the sweetest possible end!!"

"Long Xi!!"

Ryu Ishigori was the shrewdest of the bunch.

Of the three, one had no domain, and another would lose most of her fighting strength without her cursed technique.

Only he could toss that thunderous pompadour of his without suffering any consequences and keep firing his thunderous cannon.

So he had tricked the two into expanding their domains together. Not only would it give him an intense thrill, a rush like tasting American saccharin just a tiny notch below industrial saccharin...

It would also give him an absolute advantage!

Once the domains ended, he would win...

Unfortunately, Long Xi had no domain.

Otherwise, he probably would have been even more excited...

Just before the domains completely enclosed the three of them, the sound of a distant building being violently chopped apart reached them, mixed with someone's furious shout!

"Rika!!"

"Let's go together!"

Yuta Okkotsu had arrived.

He had successfully killed Kurourushi. Dust from his hurried journey covered his face, and black cursed spirit residue still dripped from the blade in his hand.

An enormous shikigami manifested behind him.

At the same time, the markings unique to Cursed Speech appeared on Yuta Okkotsu's face, adding a few more shades of brooding darkness to his demeanor.

Controlling three Special Grades at once under these circumstances might inflict severe backlash on him.

But there was no other choice!

"Stop!"

Cursed Speech activated, suppressing all three of their movements for an instant.

But the domains had already activated. They needed only the tiniest bit more to seal themselves completely!

That tiny window was enough!

Yuta Okkotsu expanded his barrier at the same time!

All four were swept inside.

The three domains resisted one another, and Yuta Okkotsu's outside barrier forcibly intruded, making the domains extremely unstable.

This was precisely the situation Long Xi had considered.

In his original plan, a clash between two domains might come down to their strength. But with three or more, there was no need to explain what such powerful forces would cause.

They would make the domains collapse outright!

If that cockroach Kurourushi could disrupt things...

Why couldn't he?

He had already far surpassed that cockroach!

Inside the domains, their rules intersected.

The three domains overlapped, devouring one another!

At this moment, Long Xi's "Void," wrapped in a fifteenfold enhancement, finally reached the critical moment when it could be put to use!

With the fifteenfold enhancement added to his own cursed energy, the tremendous impact swept over everyone inside the sealed barrier almost simultaneously!

Ryu Ishigori's domain, Takako Uro's domain, and Yuta Okkotsu's domain lost their stability amid the tangled cancellation of their forces.

The black spherical shell began to crack.

The next second...

The domains collapsed!

The black sphere in the sky shattered into piece after piece, like a bowl smashed against the floor during New Year's celebrations!

It worked!

Barely able to hide his delight, Long Xi broke into another grin!

Takako Uro had never anticipated this outcome, much less expected Yuta Okkotsu to appear at this exact moment!

In the original story, Yuta Okkotsu had killed Dhruv Lakdawalla and Kurourushi. But because of Long Xi's interference, Long Xi had killed the former, and when the latter was killed, neither of the other two had had time to watch!

That left them completely unaware that Long Xi's side had another Special Grade capable of expanding a domain!

One who was practically at full strength, at that!

"You little brat!!"

Takako Uro cursed again. The window of cursed technique burnout instantly deprived her of Sky Manipulation.

And this was when she was most vulnerable!

Having already reached an agreement with Yuta Okkotsu, the blue-eyed Long Xi darted in from the side the instant he dropped down!

His knife-hand, coated in cursed energy, chopped viciously toward her body!

Takako Uro had no time to react. Only just before the blow landed squarely did she barely manage to dodge!

Almost simultaneously, Yuta Okkotsu charged in with his sword.

The blade flashed.

Most of Takako Uro's forearm was severed.

She grunted. Just as she tried to retaliate, Long Xi kicked her in the stomach!

With his other hand, he controlled a stream of water, blasting the severed arm toward Rika like a cannonball!

"Yuta-"

Rika's enormous hand caught the severed arm. Then, almost without hesitation, she began tearing into it with her teeth, devouring its lingering cursed energy.

Of everyone affected by the burnout after expanding their domains, Takako Uro suffered the most. Her hand-to-hand combat skills fell somewhat short of the others'.

She relied almost entirely on her cursed technique to attack!

Without it, she was the weakest of the three!

Above all, she had never imagined that Long Xi would choose to attack her in that brief window of cursed technique burnout.

Takako Uro glared at Long Xi, her fury almost enough to tear him apart.

"You despicable bastard!"

Long Xi looked at her with a cheerful smile and waved a hand.

"All's fair in war, pal... don't put too much trust in other people during a fight~..."

He shook his head.

"How strange..."

"Women really are the hardest creatures to understand."

Yuta Okkotsu glanced at him.

Somehow, there seemed to be a hint of Isn't this a little wrong of us? in his eyes.

Long Xi coughed and immediately composed himself.

The blue-eyed Long Xi had already flashed back from beside her. Almost simultaneously, the two brought their palms together.

The Long Xi from the second account flowed into Long Xi's body like a stream of data.

His cursed energy returned!

His condition recovered to near its peak once again.

Though he couldn't output Reverse Cursed Technique, Okkotsu could.

That was why he hadn't let Okkotsu cut off Takako Uro's entire arm.

Restoring an entire arm with Reverse Cursed Technique was difficult. Since she wasn't some utterly evil person who had to be killed...

Leaving her hand and a short section of the arm meant they could still reattach it later.

After all, they might have to fight Sukuna together in the future.

Takako Uro was still useful.

Naturally, he couldn't be quite that ruthless...

With one side down, the three-way melee instantly became two against one. But as Ryu Ishigori watched Yuta Okkotsu enter the fray, there wasn't a trace of warmth on his face.

He gathered another Cursed Energy Cannon.

The burnout after his domain had no effect on him whatsoever!

"I didn't invite any of you to dine with me!!"

As his words fell, the cannon blast thundered toward Takako Uro, who was already at a disadvantage.

She couldn't use her cursed technique right now. Even when she tried to manipulate a plane with her remaining hand to defend herself, it was completely useless. She could only reinforce herself with cursed energy and take the hit.

Boom!

Takako Uro was blasted into a wall and knocked unconscious on the spot.

Yuta Okkotsu looked at Long Xi, his brows already furrowed. Rika had finished eating her arm.

That meant they had already won!

If they joined forces, they could finish this quickly...

Long Xi looked at Yuta Okkotsu and shrugged.

"Leave her alone for now. Let me handle this."

Yuta Okkotsu still didn't understand why his junior wanted to do this. The reasoning was far too flimsy.

But he chose to trust him, because trust needed no reason!

Ryu Ishigori stood in the middle of the rubble, took out a comb, and combed his disheveled pompadour back into place.

As he combed, he muttered to himself.

"It's been so long since I've tasted anything like this..."

"Long Xi, you're the most unusual person I've ever met..."

"I'm pretty curious, actually. How old are you?"

"Are you an ancient sorcerer like me?"

He put down the comb, and his cursed energy began gathering again.

"If you really want to ask, ask after this fight is over..."

"I think we could become friends..."

Looking at Long Xi, Ryu Ishigori's lips still curled into a subtle smile as he murmured.

"Just as I thought... compared to all the other strong fighters, I still like you best..."

Ryu Ishigori held his right hand upright in front of him, shaping it like a gun.

"Let's dine together, Long Xi."

Long Xi was silent for a moment, then raised his hand in the same gesture.

He had already prepared his plan.

The instant his opponent unleashed his full power, he would split off a clone, concentrate his strength, and use "Flame Seed" to break his arm.

If it worked, the fight would become completely one-sided.

He would win!

But...

Give it everything you've got!

Four hundred years of longing.

That heat, rising in proportion to his hunger, shone from Ryu Ishigori's eyes, carrying all the emotions he had almost entirely stopped concealing.

Just as he'd said, his life had only left him seventy percent full.

It reminded Long Xi of himself, too.

In his previous life, he had wanted too much and received too little. No powerful opponents, no glory, no love untainted by self-interest.

Only after coming to this world had he first felt life could be this loud, this painful, this exhilarating.

If he kept taking the clever shortcut according to plan now...

He probably would never find meaning in battle again...

Long Xi abandoned the act of splitting off a clone halfway through, and the two fully merged once more!

Yuta Okkotsu sensed something was wrong and raised his sword to intervene.

Long Xi lifted a hand to stop him.

"Sorry."

"Just this once."

"Please let me be selfish, too."