The ravaged outskirts.
Watching Rhaast try to gnaw on Hanami like a savage beast, Mahito and Jogo felt a chill and hurried forward.
Mahito transformed an arm into several ropes of flesh studded with sharp spikes. They shot forward with a whistle, wrapping around Rhaast as he pinned Hanami down.
Then Mahito pulled on the fleshy ropes, trying to wrench Rhaast away.
Pinned beneath him, Hanami was terrified as well. Dense cursed energy shielded both hands as Hanami punched Rhaast over and over, trying to knock him off.
Jogo rushed to their side. No longer caring whether his flames would hurt Hanami, he blasted Rhaast with raging fire from his palms.
"Let go of Hanami!"
Boom!
At last, their combined efforts blasted Rhaast off Hanami, breaking his relentless grip.
Rhaast stopped himself from sliding backward. Savoring the fresh blood at the corner of his mouth, he grinned viciously.
"Sorry. I was simply too ravenous."
"Hahaha!"
Hanami slowly rose, the terror still lingering.
Who the hell grabbed cursed spirits and started chewing on them?!
"#￥@￥%!"
"Don't hold back!"
Mahito nodded coldly. "Let's finish this beast quickly, then leave. I'm worried Araki Itsuki will come after us soon."
"If that happens, we'll be in serious trouble."
Jogo nodded solemnly as well. Suguru Geto wasn't here this time, and he had no desire to face both monsters, Araki Itsuki and Rhaast, at once.
Meanwhile, Mahito had been badly wounded and no longer had enough cursed energy to expand a domain again.
And so.
Jogo and Hanami exchanged a look and nodded solemnly.
They flanked the hulking, hideous Rhaast, simultaneously forming the signs for their cursed techniques.
"Domain Expansion: Coffin of the Iron Mountain!"
"Domain Expansion: Feast of Light Sea!"
Terrifying cursed energy surged from Jogo's body, with its elderly, one-eyed appearance.
His innate domain rapidly unfolded, its dark barrier surging toward Rhaast.
At the same time.
Hanami had absorbed a vast amount of plant life through the left arm to generate cursed energy for fighting Araki Itsuki. Now that energy was used to expand a domain, sweeping forward to engulf Rhaast.
But just before the barrier technique was complete.
Rhaast suddenly hurled his hideous giant scythe with all his strength. Its sharp blade smashed through the still-unsealed barrier and flew toward Dagon, who was hiding in the distance.
Mahito transformed an arm into a whip and knocked the hideous giant scythe down from afar, saving the frightened Dagon.
Crack!
Both innate domains unfolded simultaneously. The pitch-black barrier technique was complete, enclosing the hulking demon who had lost his weapon.
Beneath Jogo's feet, hard, weathered earth spread outward, consuming the darkness and transforming the domain's space into an ancient wasteland.
Scorching, flowing magma appeared as well, pouring from the trembling, splitting ground.
Molten liquid flecked with fiery slag splashed up from time to time.
The strange stench of sulfur filled the air as the temperature rose at an astonishing rate.
Beneath Hanami's feet, twisted trees, old, withered, and dead, surged forth, spreading a desolate aura of death.
They seemed to proclaim the forest's suffering and condemn humanity's atrocities.
At the same time, dazzling, multicolored light appeared above Hanami's head.
It held boundless vitality and seethed with terrifying cursed energy, capable of tearing apart every enemy of the forest.
The hulking, hideous demon stood at the boundary between the two domains.
His left foot rested amid blazing, boiling magma, while his right stood in a silent, withered forest of twisted trees.
Cruelty gleamed in Jogo's single eye. Lowering his hands after completing the technique, he sneered.
"Trying to break through the barrier and escape?"
"You were a step too slow, Rhaast. I've waited a long time for this very moment!"
"Besides, what can you do without your weapon?"
For a moment, all his hatred toward Araki Itsuki shifted onto Rhaast.
Jogo activated his cursed technique without hesitation.
Empowered by the domain's sure-hit effect, a terrifying sea of flames rushed to bombard the hulking, hideous demon.
Hanami immediately activated a cursed technique as well, fueled by the anger of being gnawed on.
Countless sharp roots erupted like shoots after rain, their tips gleaming coldly as they pierced the hulking demon.
In an instant, the demon's massive body was shredded and utterly annihilated, leaving not even scraps behind.
"Haha, hahaha, hahahahaha!"
Jogo's laughter grew louder and louder as he sensed the hideous demon being crushed and annihilated within the domain.
All his pent-up frustration vanished.
Yet Hanami felt that something was wrong.
"@#￥%#!"
"Wasn't that too easy?"
Jogo immediately grew displeased.
"What do you mean, easy? This technique has been the same all these years, you know?
Don't spout nonsense with your eyes wide open. Domain Expansion is powerful."
Suddenly.
The image of Araki Itsuki raising that hideous giant scythe and shaping the hulking demon flashed through Hanami's mind.
Horrified, Hanami shouted.
"*&￥%￥￥%!"
"Dispel the domains! That weapon is his true body!"
Outside.
Dagon, resembling a red octopus with black stripes on the facial tentacles and a white cloth over the head, curiously approached the hideous giant scythe.
Still in cursed womb form, Dagon stood roughly a meter tall, shorter than the hideous giant scythe.
Just as Dagon curiously examined the scythe and reached out to touch it.
The black barrier in the distance suddenly shattered, and Jogo and Hanami fell out.
"Dagon!"
"Run!"
All the smug arrogance had vanished from Jogo's face, replaced by boundless terror and anger.
The instant he landed, he stumbled toward Dagon, nearly tripping over the ground.
But just as Dagon felt a chilling dread and tried to flee.
The terrifying eye on the hideous giant scythe suddenly snapped open, fixing its gaze on the little cursed spirit!
Though the scythe was made of cold stone, a crimson demonic claw suddenly sprouted from it and seized Dagon before escape was possible.
Then a hulking, hideous demon reappeared, standing on the battlefield.
Rhaast held the terrified Dagon by the throat in one hand and gripped the terrifying giant scythe in the other.
His savage gaze swept over Jogo and the others, mocking their foolish overconfidence.
"Let go of Dagon!"
Jogo's eye bulged with rage, bloodshot as he wished he could tear Rhaast to pieces.
But at that moment, both he and Hanami were suffering cursed technique burnout after expanding their domains and could no longer use their techniques.
Mahito's cursed energy had already run dry as well, leaving no means of fighting back.
Rhaast kept a crushing grip on the frightened, struggling Dagon, ignoring Jogo and the others' fury.
The hideous giant scythe in his hand traced a cold gleam as it swept toward Dagon's head.
"No!"
Just as Jogo thought Dagon was certain to die, terrifying cursed energy suddenly erupted from Dagon's body.
This curse, born from humanity's hatred and fear of the ocean, had endured the terror of Araki Itsuki and the despair of seeing family wounded.
Finally, at this moment of life and death, Dagon completed a metamorphosis and reached full strength.
An ugly, warped octopus-like monstrosity appeared.
The body was red with a black belly, and a pair of black wings sprouted behind the hips, along with four fully formed, powerful limbs.
The attack that should have severed Dagon's head only left a wound across the chest deep enough to expose bone. Then the erupting cursed energy forced Rhaast back.
Hope and delight replaced the despair and hatred on Jogo's face. He hadn't expected Dagon to evolve at the final moment.
As for the chest wound, a special grade cursed spirit could heal it easily.
"Dagon!"
"You can do it!"
Seeing those battered, exhausted companions, Dagon's eyes flashed with anger.
Dagon immediately formed the signs for a cursed technique, enclosing both the hulking demon and the hideous giant scythe within a barrier technique.
"Domain Expansion: Gentle Waves, Level Horizon!"
Rhaast was instantly pulled onto a peaceful, tranquil shore, with gentle sea breezes, swaying coconut trees, a clean beach, and azure water.
There were even comfortable beach chairs and sun umbrellas.
"I'll never forgive you!"
Rhaast made no effort to hide his scorn and mockery at Dagon's threat.
"Death is upon you, and you don't even realize it. A mark has already been planted on your body."
Dagon didn't understand what Rhaast meant. The octopus-like cursed spirit formed hand signs, and towering waves rose from the ocean behind.
Endless ugly, twisted fish shikigami were summoned from the ocean, hurtling toward Rhaast.
"Death Swarm!"
"Rift Shadow!"
Outside.
Jogo and the others watched the black barrier suspended in the air anxiously, waiting for the final result.
"Dagon has the most cursed energy out of all of us. Victory is certain!"
Finally, the barrier shattered.
The hulking, hideous demon had vanished. Only the octopus-like Dagon stood on the battlefield.
Joy flooded Jogo's eye, and he started running toward the motionless Dagon.
But after only two steps, an ominous premonition gripped his heart.
He gradually stopped, the joy in his eye turning to grief and confusion.
"Dagon..."
Crunch, crunch.
Hair-raising sounds of chewing and tearing came from within Dagon's octopus-like body, as though some grotesque being was frantically hollowing out the flesh.
Dense cracks gradually spread across the surface of the powerful, fully formed octopus body.
Like exquisite porcelain shattering, it began to shine with crimson, bloody light through those narrow cracks.
The octopus head slowly turned, casting a lingering, reluctant glance at Jogo and the others.
Boom!
The entire octopus-like monstrosity exploded into a skyful of pulped flesh and blood, spraying down in every direction.
A hideous demon stood bathed in the rain of blood, terrifying giant scythe in hand, staring at them with savage eyes.
"Dagon!!!"
Jogo's single eye turned crimson, and he tried to charge forward for revenge without a care.
But Mahito held him firmly back.
Jogo and Hanami were suffering cursed technique burnout, and Mahito's own cursed energy was depleted. What they needed to consider now was escape, not revenge.
Yet Rhaast made no further move. He rested the hideous giant scythe on his shoulder, turned, and walked away.
"His Majesty the Harbinger asked me to deliver a message."
"Challenging a god is, in itself... folly!"
At the same time.
Rizakura High School.
Araki Itsuki and Yuji Itadori stood on the rooftop, watching the students in the classrooms below fill out questionnaires and lists concerning school bullying.
Jujutsu High held considerable authority within the government, unlike the Demon Slayer Corps in Demon Slayer, which had no official recognition and faced obstacles in its activities.
"Itadori."
Hearing Araki Itsuki's voice, Yuji Itadori quickly turned.
"What is it, Araki?"
A teasing smile curved Araki Itsuki's lips. Beneath the azure sky, he spread his arms to embrace the bright sunshine.
"My heart and deeds are as clear as a polished mirror. Everything I do is justice."
Before you continue