I can do it too

"Freeze!"

Rihito's fist slammed into Tanaka as he activated his Cursed Technique.

Frost spread, and brittle cracks rang out from Tanaka's body.

But Tanaka seemed unaffected. More sharp bone spikes erupted from his body, shattering the ice covering him in an instant.

Bam!

"Damn it!"

Rihito jerked backward, but still couldn't avoid taking a punch.

The bone spikes pierced his body. Blood poured from the wounds, quickly staining his shirt red.

Even so, Rihito stood ramrod straight, never wavering for a moment.

"I've got this!"

The instant Rihito retreated, several nails imbued with cursed energy flew toward Tanaka.

Kugisaki followed close behind, lashing out with a kick.

Fushiguro didn't lag behind either. Although his Divine Dogs were injured, he charged in at the same time, relying on hand-to-hand combat.

Tanaka no longer showed any sign of his earlier struggle. Nothing remained in his mismatched eyes but pure, icy coldness.

"Die!"

He raised both arms, spreading his fingers and aiming them at Kugisaki and Fushiguro.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The next second, countless tiny bone spikes emerged from beneath Tanaka's skin, spraying wildly at the two charging toward him like machine-gun fire.

"Oh no!"

Rihito's expression changed, and he moved to help.

But the bone spikes fired far too quickly. In the blink of an eye, blood burst from Kugisaki and Fushiguro's bodies, and they crashed to the ground.

Tanaka didn't stop.

He raised his right arm and aimed his palm at the fallen Kugisaki. A bone spear thicker than any of his earlier spikes slowly emerged from his palm, pointing straight between her brows.

Kugisaki's pupils contracted, and she instinctively rolled to the side.

Bang!

The bone spear grazed her ear and buried itself in the ground, blasting a fist-sized crater into the concrete.

Fragments of stone struck her face, leaving a long, thin trail of blood.

Seeing Tanaka trying to finish them off, Rihito sped up and lunged in front of the two.

Should I use that? Rihito asked himself.

Just then, he caught sight of Kugisaki struggling to prop up her upper body out of the corner of his eye. At the same time, Fushiguro's strained gasps reached his ears.

No, I can't!

Rihito instantly rejected the thought.

After that last session with Principal Yaga, I've brought the cursed energy cost of Domain Expansion down to thirty percent, but Tanaka's Cursed Technique seems capable of counteracting that control.

And I still can't freely control the domain's freezing effect. Once I expand it, Fushiguro and Kugisaki won't be spared either.

What happens to them if I fail? I can't gamble. I absolutely can't gamble with my friends' lives!

Without further hesitation, Rihito closed in.

"Cursed Technique-Withering!"

His fist struck Tanaka squarely in the chest, but bone spikes erupted in an instant and pierced his arm.

Fortunately, Withering's effect wasn't canceled out. Bone dust began falling from the spot Rihito had punched, as though it had weathered for over a hundred years.

Tanaka lowered his head and glanced at his crumbling chest. There was no sign of pain on his half-human, half-monstrous face.

He merely watched the bone dust falling, then raised his head and locked onto Rihito again with the eye twice the normal size.

Then he raised his fist and swung even faster than before.

"Rihito, watch out!" Fushiguro's shocked, furious voice rang out behind him.

Before Rihito could react, Tanaka struck him, sending him flying backward.

He hit the ground with a heavy thud.

But the moment his back struck the ground, a shadow loomed over him.

Tanaka had already caught up.

His right arm rose high, five bone spikes springing from his knuckles, carrying an air of death in the grayish-white fluorescent light.

Rihito saw that hand, and his own blood, still wet on its bone spikes.

He tried to struggle, but his body had yet to recover from the heavy blow.

The next second, the bone spikes plunged down toward his eyes.

Clang!

In that instant, a nail flew in from the side and struck the bone spikes, knocking them half an inch off course.

The spikes grazed the side of Rihito's neck and drove into the ground.

Rihito felt a chill against his neck, followed by warm liquid trickling down his skin.

"Rihito, are you okay?"

Kugisaki was on her feet now. She hurried to Rihito's side to check his injuries.

Fushiguro quickly followed.

"Cough... cough... I'm fine..."

Rihito coughed several times, the metallic sweetness of blood welling uncontrollably in his throat.

He looked at the two of them worrying over him and forcibly swallowed the blood back down.

"I'm fine." After repeating himself, Rihito forced himself to his feet.

Apparently satisfied that Rihito wasn't in immediate danger, Kugisaki and Fushiguro turned their attention back to Tanaka.

"He's a tough opponent. Looks like we'll have to hold out until Mr. Nanami gets here."

Fushiguro spoke quietly, glancing toward the passage they had come through.

The passage was deathly silent. There was no sign of Nanami coming.

"We can't wait for Mr. Nanami. I'm not losing to something like this!" Kugisaki wiped the blood from her face, looking vicious.

"The Divine Dogs won't last much longer. We have to finish this quickly!" Fushiguro straightened too, staring ahead with a grim expression.

"Roar!"

Seeing the three regain their fighting spirit, Tanaka let out a furious roar.

The next second, bone spikes thrust out from both his arms, extending to a meter in length. Like a pair of long blades, they slashed toward the three.

"Just die already!"

Clang!

A nail shot out in an instant, imbued with even more cursed energy than before.

Fushiguro followed silently with his two Divine Dogs, whose movements had visibly slowed.

Watching the two charge ahead, Rihito's gaze hardened with determination.

I can't fall behind either. I have to do something.

With that thought, Rihito's mind gradually calmed.

Right now, I can expand a domain, but the way I use it is still far too crude.

What would Mr. Gojo do?

An image of Satoru Gojo suddenly surfaced in Rihito's mind.

Applying a Cursed Technique forward, operating it in reverse, drawing it inward, releasing it outward.

Every movement in battle was like a work of art. If I could do that too...

Time slowed at that moment.

On the battlefield ahead, Tanaka kicked Fushiguro, leaving him curled on the ground like a cooked shrimp.

The two Divine Dogs dissipated as well, their injuries too severe.

Kugisaki was seized by the throat, her feet dangling above the ground as she struggled desperately. Her hammer had fallen somewhere out of sight.

In just two seconds, both his companions had been plunged into grave danger.

Rihito knew he couldn't hesitate any longer.

"Heat Blast!"

With a thunderous boom, a massive surge of heat struck Tanaka. Kugisaki broke free and immediately put distance between them.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Kugisaki's face flushed red as she coughed incessantly, unable to utter a complete sentence.

"Mr. Gojo said it wasn't about spreading cursed energy out, but holding it in."

Rihito murmured to himself as he watched Tanaka charge at him.

Fushiguro knelt on one knee, his chest heaving.

He raised his head to look at Rihito, and his breath suddenly caught.

Rihito stood there with his center of gravity slightly lowered and his hands hanging naturally at his sides, like a blade driven into the earth.

Cursed energy coated his body like mercury, resembling a layer of transparent flame.

"...Monster."

Nearby, Kugisaki pressed her palms against the rubble, bracing both hands on the ground as she tried to stand.

After failing twice, she finally steadied herself on her third attempt.

Then she saw Rihito's face in profile.

Kugisaki froze. Seemingly forgetting the pain in her body, she remained half-kneeling, her eyes fixed on Rihito.

"Ha!"

She laughed, then broke out in a cold sweat as it tugged at her wounds.

"Cough, cough. Looks like we're in for a good show."

Boom!

Just then, the rust-covered iron door was violently smashed open from outside.

The next second, Nanami appeared before them.

His suit was torn, and a rip in his shirt at the left shoulder exposed the bleeding skin beneath.

The Cursed Tool in his hand was still dripping some unidentified slime.

"Sorry I'm late-"

The moment he stepped through the door, Rihito caught Nanami's attention.

That look in his eyes, that bearing on the verge of transformation-he had only ever seen them in Satoru Gojo.

At that moment, even his perpetually unchanging expression finally shifted.

"It seems Mr. Gojo has another remarkable student."

At the center of the group, Rihito's gaze changed.

Watching Tanaka charge right up to him, he felt the last layer of fog in his mind slowly lift.

It revealed something at the deepest, most fundamental level.

"Mr. Gojo, I can do this too!"

"Domain Expansion-Static Universe!"