"So your plan is to skewer Mahito with three syringes loaded with Simple Domain? That's it?"
A day earlier, while exchanging information with Mechamaru, Hajime Kashimo had learned about the special countermeasure he had devised against Mahito's abilities.
Kashimo hardly knew where to begin with this guy's thought process.
True, although Simple Domain was a "technique for the weak" created to neutralize a domain's sure-hit effect, the fact that it counted as a domain meant it could indeed damage Mahito's soul...
But the problem was...
If Mahito's soul had a hundred hit points, Yu Xingji's Simple Domain would only deal a little over twenty points of damage.
Even if all three mechanical syringes loaded with Simple Domain hit Mahito, the chances of exorcising him outright would still be next to nonexistent...
After all, even a gravely wounded Mahito could kill Yu Xingji, whose real body had no combat ability, with ease-as long as Kenjaku didn't intervene to devour him...
So Kashimo flatly rejected Yu Xingji's battle plan and adopted another approach, one that required coordination but was far more reliable-
"Lure both of them into expanding their domains at the same time."
Once a domain was expanded, its user gained a [sure-hit] effect for their cursed technique.
The problem was that if both sides possessed domains and engaged in a "domain clash," that sure-hit effect would be neutralized.
Simply put, one side's domain had to shatter before the owner of the other domain could regain the sure-hit effect.
An opponent might not care about that. Crushing the enemy's domain was their goal in the first place...
But the problem was-Kenjaku and Mahito were currently "allies."
"Self-Embodiment of Perfection-"
A black sphere dragged Mechamaru Unit Zero out of real space, and at that same moment, Kenjaku expanded his own domain:
"Womb Profusion-"
Without enclosing a barrier, countless malformed, mutated cursed wombs appeared behind Kenjaku. They locked tightly together, back to back, forming the foundation of his domain.
"An open domain... heh."
The cursed wombs opened their hideous mouths, and twisted vengeful spirits crawled out, merging into a floating mass.
Those spirits spiraled upward. In the time it took Kashimo to form a hand sign, they had gathered into an enormous, deathly white pillar that pierced the clouds.
Immense gravitational fluctuations radiated outward from the center of this "pillar of dead souls." More grotesque cursed object statues, each a different shape and exuding an ominous aura, coalesced around it, completing Kenjaku's terrifying domain...
Doubled gravity followed close behind...
Humm-!
Kashimo dodged Kenjaku's attack, and the spray of flesh and blood Kenjaku had expected never came.
But he soon realized what had happened.
He turned to look. Directly above the reservoir, cracks were spreading across the black sphere's shell under the pressure of Kenjaku's domain-
It was Mahito's domain.
Domains based on barrier techniques had one major characteristic: the stronger they were inside, the weaker they were outside.
Kenjaku's domain, however, had already transcended barrier-enclosed domains-it broke straight through the physical boundaries of a conventional domain.
Unlike an ordinary spherical barrier, [Womb Profusion] was a manifested domain that did not require an enclosed barrier. Like Ryomen Sukuna's [Malevolent Shrine], it was an "open domain."
Inevitably, then, when both domains were expanded on the same battlefield, Kenjaku's open domain would put pressure on Mahito's spherical one.
And once Mahito's domain shattered, unavoidable cursed technique burnout awaited him...
A fight between Mahito, stripped of Idle Transfiguration, and Mechamaru Unit Zero...
Kenjaku truly couldn't guarantee who would win.
And that was without even considering whether Mahito would be affected by Kenjaku's open domain after his own domain ended...
"Tch. Trying to force me to release my domain this way..."
Kenjaku saw through Kashimo's intentions, and a trace of gravity finally appeared on his calculating face.
Release his domain, or sacrifice Mahito?
Kenjaku chose neither.
He closed in on Kashimo at tremendous speed, his massive fists raining down on him!
Advance instead of retreat-that was his answer!!!
Faced with the threat, Kashimo raised his left arm and took Kenjaku's heavy punch.
As the blow landed, Kashimo distinctly felt the Anti-Gravity Technique take effect on his arm.
Through direct physical contact, Kenjaku successfully activated the Anti-Gravity Technique, twisting Kashimo's left wrist backward and breaking it, putting that arm out of commission...
A smug smile curled his lips. At this rate, he would land a blow on Kashimo's head within three punches and churn his brain into mush.
He could release his domain afterward!
But when he looked at Kashimo, Kenjaku saw a triumphant gleam in those eyes crackling with electricity-the look of someone whose scheme had succeeded...
"You don't have the Six Eyes."
"So you can't see through the strange cursed energy flowing through this blade."
Kashimo's voice was cold, without the slightest tremor of pain.
On the contrary, he was enjoying every second.
"What..."
Sickeningly salty blood rose in Kenjaku's throat. Looking down, he saw that Kashimo had somehow already drawn the Inverted Spear of Heaven, the weapon that could prevent any cursed technique from activating.
Kashimo's attack had slipped beneath Kenjaku's field of vision. With the enhanced speed granted by his lightning cursed energy, he had driven the blade hard into Kenjaku's abdomen...
Crack... crack-CRASH!!!
The spherical domain's shell shattered amid a chorus of cracking sounds, and at that same moment, Kenjaku's domain collapsed as well...
The Inverted Spear of Heaven's technique-nullifying mechanism could not directly cancel a Domain Expansion. The problem was that Kenjaku's ability to possess another person's body was, fundamentally, also a [cursed technique]!
"Suguru Geto's" body crashed to the ground. Kashimo's stab was not fatal, but it had indeed temporarily severed Kenjaku's control over that body...
The black Curtain lifted as Kenjaku fell. Kashimo quickly put away the Inverted Spear of Heaven and rushed toward the center of the reservoir-
His plan had succeeded.
Yu Xingji, however, had not.
Mahito's cursed technique burnout had shown him a chance to exorcise his opponent. Without thinking it through, Yu Xingji took out his last technique-loaded syringe and tried to plunge it into Mahito's body with his own hands...
He believed he had analyzed every aspect of Mahito's abilities. Without his technique, Mahito couldn't possibly evade this strike...
Little did he know that Mahito's ability to change his own form was not affected by cursed technique burnout at all...
The only thing affected, from beginning to end, was the technique [Idle Transfiguration]...
"Lightning strike: release!"
The distance left Kashimo unable to personally stop Yu Xingji from launching the attack that would get him killed.
With no other choice, Kashimo hurled the iron rod cursed tool in his hand, which was infused with lightning cursed energy...
Barring any surprises, this would be the second cursed tool destroyed in his hands.
Dazzling lightning filled the sky above the reservoir.
As the explosion sent towering waves surging upward, Mechamaru Unit Zero, which carried Yu Xingji's remaining years, broke apart amid the lightning and fell from the sky, sinking deep beneath the water...
Kashimo's agile figure landed steadily in the nearby woods. In the end, he had been a step too late. Mahito's bone spike had pierced the abdomen of Yu Xingji, who now lay in his arms, and the paralysis caused by the lightning had rendered him unconscious.
Protected by Mechamaru Unit Zero's shattered shell, Yu Xingji had survived the maximum-output lightning strike, but its paralyzing effects were enough to leave him unconscious for days...
At least Yu Xingji's life had been saved.
Now, what awaited them next...
Was the "Shibuya Incident"...