Tachibana Mio

Then...

Black Rika manifested before everyone, cradling Okkotsu protectively in her arms.

Before the words had even faded!

Yuki Tsukumo charged at Kenjaku, together with Kusakabe and the other two.

A bone-chilling cold swept through the entire Main Hall.

"Ice Formation: Frost Calm!"

Crack-

Of everyone present besides Kenjaku, only Yuki Tsukumo and Choso, who stood beside Tengen firing [Piercing Blood], remained unaffected.

The other two.

Along with Choso's [Piercing Blood], they were all frozen in place.

The next second!

The sound of shattering ice rang out.

Yuki Tsukumo controlled Garuda to smash the ice encasing the two.

She herself kept moving.

She kicked straight at Kenjaku's face.

Naturally, Kenjaku dared not take it head-on and twisted aside.

He had only just begun to dodge, not yet clearing the attack, when Kaneki's Great Serpent and Naobito Zenin's attacks came at him.

Elsewhere...

Uraume alone kept Kusakabe and Choso occupied.

Meanwhile, Kaneki hid behind Tengen's outward form, maintained through a barrier technique, breathing hard.

He was immensely relieved.

He had gotten behind Uraume and the character who had never appeared in the original story before the two sides expanded their domains.

As for Mahito?

Kenjaku had recalled him the instant he entered the Emptiness Barrier.

He feared even the slightest mishap might befall him.

Clearly.

As long as Kaneki remained within the domain's range.

Even hiding in the shadows would not spare him from the domain's sure-hit effect.

Otherwise.

In the original story.

Sukuna would never have foolishly clashed domains with Satoru Gojo. Wouldn't hiding in the shadows to adapt have been better?

Beyond that.

He had also gained a useful piece of information.

Against an Open-Barriers Domain, Okkotsu's domain seemed to last longer than Satoru Gojo's.

He had only read the manga.

He had never witnessed this scene in reality.

But judging from the scenes shown in the manga, it had looked more like an instant collapse.

Yet...

Okkotsu's domain had held out a little longer.

Almost two seconds.

That also matched the original story's setting. Though both used an Open-Barriers Domain, Kenjaku should have been weaker than Sukuna.

Otherwise.

The title of the strongest in history would have belonged to Kenjaku.

Seeing Yuki Tsukumo choose to continue fighting Kenjaku hand-to-hand rather than deploy her domain, Kaneki, who had only just caught his breath, immediately shouted, "Quick! Expand your domain!"

In the original story.

Kenjaku had never demonstrated a way to heal cursed technique burnout.

But.

That did not mean he could not.

After all, his cursed technique ultimately left him with nothing but a brain.

He should have understood this subject very well.

Given Kenjaku's experience.

It was hard to believe he did not know how to heal cursed technique burnout. Kaneki was more inclined to think he was unwilling to use it.

After all.

He had nothing left but a brain.

Even a slight mistake could easily kill him!

To be safe, it would be best to kill him before he recovered from cursed technique burnout!

As his words fell.

Everyone present abruptly changed expression.

Naobito Zenin immediately reached Kusakabe's side and flung him toward Ken Kaneki.

Kenjaku remained calm.

He formed a hand seal.

He was ready to deploy Hollow Wicker Basket at any moment to counter Yuki Tsukumo's domain.

As Yuki Tsukumo formed her hand seal, Tachibana Mio also formed one with both hands.

The two women expanded their domains simultaneously.

"Domain Expansion: Star Balance Domain."

"Domain Expansion: Court of Words That Bind Fate."

Both domains immediately enveloped everyone present.

One half was studded with stars.

The other half was a vermilion shrine worship hall.

Within the shrine stood a statue of Ōkuninushi, renowned for his compassion and justice!

Unlike the Ōkuninushi of myth.

This statue.

Was gilded.

Its expression hovered between a smile and a smirk, brimming with amusement, and its body was slightly hunched, lacking the solemn majesty of the myths.

Its left eye was slightly open.

The pupil depicted a balance scale with one pan hanging lower and a chipped weight.

Its right eye was gently closed, with a silver crack as fine as a hair etched at its outer corner.

It had abandoned the mudra of equality.

Instead, its palms faced each other, but its fingertips did not meet.

Every detail of the statue expressed inequality.

Neither domain overwhelmed the other.

Instead.

They reached a stalemate.

Within the domains, the two sides were evenly matched.

Just as expected.

A smile appeared on Yuki Tsukumo's face.

She had taken a gamble, too. Tengen had told her this person's domain was powerful, and a domain clash would most likely end in a stalemate.

That way.

It did not matter even if Kaneki and the others were dragged into the domains.

Without a sure-hit effect.

There would be far more room to evade targeted cursed technique attacks.

Having reasoned it through.

She did not attack Kenjaku, instead rushing toward Tachibana Mio.

As long as she beat her badly enough that she could no longer maintain her domain.

She would have a very good chance of killing Kenjaku, who could not expand his own domain!

She went after Tachibana Mio.

Everyone else attacked Kenjaku, who had yet to recover from cursed technique burnout.

Kusakabe stayed close to Kaneki.

He remained ready to deploy Simple Domain at any moment.

"Too late."

Kenjaku spoke with a smile.

As soon as he finished, a force of gravity pinned both Naobito Zenin and Choso firmly to the ground.

That was right.

Kenjaku's cursed technique had recovered!

Seeing the two domains reach a stalemate and their sure-hit effects cancel each other out, Kenjaku abandoned the idea of deploying Hollow Wicker Basket.

Instead, he opened directly with Gravity.

At that moment.

Under Rika's protection, Okkotsu finished using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his cursed technique burnout.

If he wanted...

He could expand his domain again at any time.

"Sorry..."

Looking at the two men pinned to the ground by gravity, Okkotsu wore a guilty expression and apologized softly.

He was still unfamiliar with healing burnout, since this was his first attempt.

He had also wanted to ensure that nothing went wrong.

So.

He had taken a little more time.

Kenjaku was also curious about what exactly Okkotsu was doing, but he had no time to dwell on it.

Because.

The instant the gravity dissipated.

Kaneki, Okkotsu, and Black Rika attacked him simultaneously.

Their attacks were about to strike Kenjaku.

Just then!

They heard Kenjaku murmur, "I agree," and all sensed an increase in his total cursed energy.

"Finally..."

Kenjaku murmured with a smile, "It's here."

Not only had his total cursed energy increased, but his cursed energy output had risen as well.

This...

Was another application of Tachibana Mio's cursed technique!

Then he used cursed spirits to briefly hold off Okkotsu and Kaneki's attacks.

At the same time.

He retreated.

He dodged Black Rika's attack.

But a moment later, Kaneki and Okkotsu, having killed the cursed spirits in a single strike, came at him again.

One fought barehanded, while the other wielded the Samurai Sword.

At the sight.

Kenjaku remained utterly unruffled.

He aimed both hands at them, unleashing low-grade cursed spirits reinforced with his cursed energy in a frenzied torrent, as though they cost him nothing.

Then...

He did not stop releasing them.

Instead, he ran toward Tachibana Mio while continuing to release cursed spirits.

Even though.

Uraume had also received a boost.

Uraume was still no match for Yuki Tsukumo, a Special Grade Sorcerer.

Seeing this.

Kenjaku immediately released cursed energy-reinforced low-grade cursed spirits to interfere.

Meanwhile...

Okkotsu and Rika were like cursed spirit harvesters, casually killing several cursed spirits with every attack.

Kaneki, Choso, Kusakabe, and Naobito Zenin all exorcised the surrounding cursed spirits as quickly as possible, trying to reach the others and provide support sooner.

But.

They were not as fast as Okkotsu and Rika.

The two of them cleared out the surrounding curses first, then went to support Yuki Tsukumo.

Rika now served as Okkotsu's external storage for Cursed Techniques and Cursed Energy.

Strictly speaking, she was a shikigami.

She could also be understood as a construct created by a Cursed Technique, possessing the intelligence of Rika, the cursed spirit.

Using too many Cursed Techniques would fry Okkotsu's brain.

So.

He needed Rika to store the Cursed Techniques he acquired through Copy.

For that very reason, he could only use his stored Cursed Techniques and draw on his Cursed Energy reserves by connecting to [Rika] through his ring.

And.

The connection lasted only five minutes.

Excluding Armored Rika from the sequel, Rika had three forms in total.

Black Rika, White Rika, and Open-Eyed Rika.

Black Rika was also her partially manifested form.

There was no time limit on this form, but its output was the lowest of the three.

In this form.

Okkotsu could not use his stored Cursed Techniques and could only perform basic Cursed Energy manipulation.

White Rika, meanwhile, was her connected state.

She manifested fully in physical form, with higher output, and Okkotsu could also use his stored Cursed Techniques and Cursed Energy.

Open-Eyed Rika was her enraged form.

Her output was the highest.