Sendai Colony 4

"That was close."

With the Dharma Wheel above his head, Kaneki lowered his eyes. "I almost went down to a dirty trick..."

That last man's cursed technique had caught him completely off guard.

All it needed was a shadow as a medium.

Not only could it bypass [Limitless] and hit him, it could also prevent him from maintaining [Limitless].

"Hey!"

Hana Kurusu flapped her wings, a halo above her head, and tried to approach Kaneki. "How can you use the Ten Shadows Technique?"

Before she could get close.

The mixed-blood fighter manipulated a building to block her.

The others had already prepared for this.

The instant Angel moved, they hurled all sorts of weapons at Ken Kaneki.

Kaneki had to abandon his attempt to clap his hands and swap places.

"Because."

As Kaneki dodged, he still found time to smile at her. "Megumi Fushiguro and I are on the same side..."

"Megumi..."

Hana Kurusu murmured.

She quickly made up her mind. "Angel! I want to help..."

Before she could finish.

Several Granita Blasts from Ryu Ishigori interrupted her, forcing her to flee.

At that moment!

Takako Uro joined the fight as well.

Her cursed technique was called [Sky Manipulation], and it allowed her to grasp the [surface] of the [sky].

She could use it for more than defense.

By striking that [surface] of the [sky], she could also send both the captured [surface] and her opponent flying, as though shattering thin ice.

-[Thin Ice Breaker]!

She opened with Thin Ice Breaker.

Like Ryu Ishigori, she attacked the others rather than Ken Kaneki.

She missed.

But the blast successfully exposed Dwarf, who should have been dead.

He had been hiding in a room the mixed-blood fighter had deliberately created.

A magic circle had been drawn inside in blood.

Dwarf could no longer be called a dwarf. He was now a sinister-looking old man.

This was...

The use of an incarnated vessel's restart mechanism.

Kaneki recognized it at a glance.

Noticing Ken Kaneki watching him.

The old man gave him an eerie smile. "Only noticed now..."

"Too late."

With that.

Kinji Hakari, who had held the upper hand, suddenly went rigid.

Mulong seized the opening and struck his jaw with a backhand, smiling as Kinji Hakari spat out a mouthful of thick blood.

The cursed technique had activated.

Unless the victim dispelled it himself with Reverse Cursed Technique, the only way to lift the curse was to kill the sorcerer.

This was only mild clotting.

As time passed, his blood would clot more and more severely until it solidified completely.

The old man did not hesitate.

He immediately took off running.

He was incredibly fast.

Kaneki had barely raised his hand when Samurai hurled an iron ball covered in Ultra-High-Frequency Vibration at him.

At the same time.

The mixed-blood fighter pressed both hands against the ground.

He transmuted the ground to keep Ken Kaneki from approaching while providing the old man with a clear running track.

Unlike the others.

The old man did know how to fight.

But he was better at running than fighting, and with a clear track, he ran even faster.

The ruins began to collapse.

With [Limitless] active, Kaneki remained unscathed.

He was about to compress space with [Blue] again to teleport when he saw Kinji Hakari open his domain.

After spitting out a mouthful of half-coagulated, jellylike blood, Kinji Hakari decisively opened his domain and pulled the two people near him inside.

"Domain Expansion-Idle Death Gamble!"

The two he dragged into his domain were Mulong and Yuriko.

Seeing this.

Kaneki murmured, "Don't die on me, Hakari."

Okkotsu still had not arrived, which meant someone else was holding him up.

Was it Kenjaku...?

Then.

He looked at the others present.

Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro had both made it clear that they would open their domains.

As for the other four.

Whether they could open domains remained unknown.

But.

At least one of them could definitely use a domain.

He still remembered Tengen saying that, for ancient sorcerers, domains were merely a basic technique.

Modern domains usually incorporated both [sure-hit] and [sure-kill] effects!

In the past.

Sorcerers would forgo [sure-kill] and settle for [sure-hit].

That way.

The requirements for constructing a domain naturally dropped, and using one was not as difficult as it was now.

Whether it was a matter of time.

Or some other reason.

Even now.

Kaneki still could not use a domain.

He could use [Simple Domain], [Hollow Wicker Basket], and even [Falling Blossom Emotion].

But he could not let it show.

If.

His opponents realized he could not use a domain and opened theirs, he would certainly die under their combined assault!

Now.

His only option was to do what Itadori had done.

He had to land a [Black Flash] to fundamentally transform his understanding of cursed energy and speed up his mastery of a domain.

Yuki Tsukumo had used his body to cast domains multiple times.

Which meant...

He did not need to land several [Black Flashes] like Itadori. Just one or two would suffice!

Four minutes and eleven seconds!

That was how long Hakari's jackpot bonus lasted.

Within that time, he had to acquire Angel's cursed technique and eliminate as many enemies as possible!

And...

Land a [Black Flash], master Domain Expansion, and save Kinji Hakari once his cursed technique burned out!

Sensing Ken Kaneki's fighting spirit and the surging cursed energy within him.

Apart from the fleeing old man.

Every sorcerer present grew eager for battle.

Kaneki formed the hand sign for [Dismantle], but before he could release it, the archer fired an Eight-Headed Arrow at him.

Almost simultaneously.

Ryu Ishigori's [Granita Blast] split into several beams, each aimed precisely at everyone on the battlefield.

However.

To everyone's surprise, Ken Kaneki did not use [Malevolent Shrine].

Instead, he used the [Projection] cursed technique.

He became a blur and charged at the mixed-blood fighter, who needed to bring his hands close to his target to activate his cursed technique.

At that moment!

The mixed-blood fighter had just used [Alchemy] to raise a highly elastic stone wall, intending to reflect Ryu Ishigori's attack.

A sharp shout rang in his ears. "Watch out!"

At that same instant, he caught a speeding blur out of the corner of his eye.

Before he could react, Kaneki reached him and seized both his hands.

With a backward somersault.

He twisted both hands off.

Kaneki ducked behind him, using him as a shield, without forgetting to switch to [Limitless].

Ryu Ishigori's [Granita Blast] indeed could not penetrate the highly elastic stone wall the mixed-blood fighter had created with [Alchemy].

But.

The archer had attacked first.

[Eight-Headed Arrow] possessed tremendous penetrating power, enough to pierce the elastic stone wall.

The mixed-blood fighter could only watch as [Eight-Headed Arrow] pierced the stone wall he had created with [Alchemy].

Without losing momentum.

It shot straight toward his chest.

Behind [Eight-Headed Arrow] followed two homing [Granita Blasts] from Ryu Ishigori!

"No!"

The mixed-blood fighter roared, his pupils shrinking.

As he spoke.

His body underwent a dramatic transformation. The hands Kaneki had been gripping slipped free and returned to their original state in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

An explosion thundered.

Everyone saw gravity sweep away the lingering smoke, revealing a corpse.

There was a large hole in its chest.

The front of its body was charred black.

"What a shame..." Kaneki glanced at the corpse. "Your timing wasn't precise enough."

He had activated [Restart] a little too early.

Otherwise.

He really could have survived.

Then Kaneki looked at the distant archer and smiled. "The second one."

As his words fell.

Only then did everyone realize that the Dharma Wheel above Ken Kaneki's head had vanished.

A sense of foreboding welled up within them.