All Creation

On a boundless stretch of primeval wilderness, the three who had suddenly been dragged into the domain stood back-to-back, warily surveying their surroundings.

The sky here was an eternal blood-red dusk. Bones and dead wood covered the ground, and from the distant crimson forest came the growls and howls of countless beasts, sending chills down their spines.

Nanami and Naobito watched the countless pairs of animal eyes glittering in the domain's darkness. They were certain Thousand Fangs was hiding among them, waiting for a chance to attack.

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, Maki's pained grunt drew their attention.

Nanami turned and discovered that a venomous snake had somehow coiled around Maki's ankle. Its sharp fangs had pierced her pale skin and sunk into the flesh beneath.

"Is this its Cursed Technique?!"

Nanami raised his blunt blade and brought it down hard, severing the snake's head. But just as he freed Maki with that strike, his own back suddenly split open in a spray of flesh and blood-

A large vulture had appeared from nowhere and torn through his skin with its sharp beak and talons. The overpowering scent of blood agitated the beasts lurking in the surrounding darkness, drawing piercing shrieks from them.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on with you two?!"

Pale blue cursed energy rose from Naobito Zenin's entire body as he turned toward them with a displeased expression.

What he was using was [Falling Blossom Emotion], one of the Three Great Families' secret techniques for countering domains.

Unlike [Simple Domain], which deployed a domain of its own, [Falling Blossom Emotion] coated the entire body in cursed energy and automatically counterattacked just before a sure-hit technique struck, neutralizing the attack.

Although he was still at a disadvantage inside the domain, he was undeniably safer than the other two, who had no means of neutralizing its technique.

But safe as he was...

There was something he could not understand.

Why had Maki and Nanami dropped to their knees without any apparent cause, gasping heavily?

Beads of sweat rolled down their foreheads. Naobito Zenin had seen nothing at all, yet they had fallen into desperate straits as though they had truly been attacked...

Faster than me? Absolutely impossible!

Naobito Zenin's mind raced. His technique was [Projection Sorcery], one of the inherited techniques of the Zenin Clan.

This technique divided a second into twenty-four frames, using the user's field of vision to generate a preset sequence of movement across those twenty-four frames.

As long as the user touched an opponent, that opponent would be forcibly subjected to this set of movement rules, measured in intervals of one twenty-fourth of a second.

This was an absolute rule, an immutable fact.

Thus, if an opponent deviated from the preset path, failed to complete the corresponding movement within a single frame, or violated the laws of physics-

They would instantly freeze like a photograph, completely unable to defend themselves. Any physical attack that struck them would land in full.

It was through this technique, which pushed speed to its absolute limits, that Naobito Zenin had become the fastest person in the modern world after Satoru Gojo.

Yet the fact remained-even he, with all his speed, had failed to catch the opponent making an attack.

"Could it be... hallucinations?!"

Having ruled out any failing on his own part, Naobito Zenin immediately deduced part of the opposing technique's nature:

Thousand Fangs' technique most likely inflicted hallucinations and negative emotions after striking an opponent in some way.

Inside the domain, these hallucinations no longer required a close-range hit. It merely had to wish it, and sorcerers without anti-domain techniques would fall prey to hallucinatory attacks.

And that was why Maki and Nanami had collapsed without suffering any visible attack:

They had already been attacked by hallucinations. At this moment, within those illusions, both their minds and bodies had sustained grievous injuries...

"This thing plans to wear us down until we die!"

Naobito Zenin saw through Thousand Fangs' intentions. As a cursed spirit, it naturally possessed greater reserves of cursed energy than they did as humans.

It only needed to remain hidden in the darkness. Thousand Fangs could toy with them to death without expending any physical effort...

"Where... where is it...?"

Naobito's eyes constantly scanned the surrounding darkness.

Countless pairs of animal eyes followed his every move. Somewhere among those beasts, Thousand Fangs was undoubtedly hiding, staring straight at him.

The problem was that Naobito could not move while using Falling Blossom Emotion. The moment he moved and the technique vanished, he would suffer hallucinatory attacks just like Nanami and Maki.

But if he stayed here forever...

Caught between two impossible choices, Naobito Zenin hesitated.

Just then, a fierce rush of wind suddenly came from behind him.

That was no hallucination.

It was a wolf-shaped beast summoned by Thousand Fangs.

Splat!!!

The enormous wolf's head burst apart under Falling Blossom Emotion's automatic counterattack.

Blood and brains scattered at Naobito Zenin's feet, but the gruesome sight barely stirred him.

"So this thing lost its patience before I did?"

Naobito Zenin snorted. Domain Expansion consumed enormous amounts of cursed energy. Judging by the opponent's timid, painstakingly cautious tactics, this was very likely its first time expanding a domain.

Without knowing how much cursed energy it had left, attacking first rather than committing to a prolonged battle of attrition certainly suited a cursed spirit's style.

However...

Perhaps the opponent was playing along with his assumptions, feigning weakness to catch him off guard. That was possible too.

But...

Without question, the situation no longer allowed Naobito Zenin to weigh the risks and consequences.

Nanami and Maki were both in bad shape. If he did not take the initiative now, they really would lose their lives here!

"Hah!"

He released Falling Blossom Emotion and, drawing on the secret technique's final lingering effects, smashed the ground beneath him with a heavy punch.

Clouds of dust rose to obscure his vision. Amid the chaos, he quickly used Projection Sorcery to plot a route straight toward the direction from which the wolf-shaped beast had attacked-

If he did not know where the enemy was, he would choose the likeliest direction and kill every cursed spirit there!!!

That was Naobito Zenin's solution!

And, just as expected-

Thousand Fangs smiled in the shadows.

Naobito Zenin's guesses had not all been correct.

Of course, they had not all been wrong either.

Its cursed energy was indeed running low.

But its technique had two forms.

[Ten Thousand Beasts: Devour All] and [Ten Thousand Beasts: Devour Illusions].

The former was the basic technique it had grasped during the Goodwill Event. By striking an opponent, it could suppress their cursed energy output and take that energy for itself.

The latter was the complete technique it had learned during this period by continually hunting low-level cursed spirits and sorcerers, as well as experimenting on ordinary people:

By striking an opponent, it could inflict two abnormal states upon them: [Fear] and [Prey].

In these states, those struck by the technique could no longer distinguish the boundary between reality and illusion. They would be injured by beasts that suddenly appeared beside them. Those injuries existed only on a mental level, but the pain would be transmitted directly to their physical bodies.

After Domain Expansion, its technique was strengthened further:

The beasts it summoned with cursed energy, which had previously existed only in physical form, could switch between [Illusion] and [Reality], no longer restricted to corporeal bodies.

Furthermore, thanks to the sure-hit effect, [Ten Thousand Beasts: Devour Illusions] and [Ten Thousand Beasts: Devour All] could inhabit summoned beasts on the [Illusion] and [Reality] planes respectively. It no longer needed to attack in person. As long as those beasts landed a hit, they could indirectly trigger the techniques' effects...

Simply put, the moment the three entered Thousand Fangs' domain, All Creation, they had all been attacked with [Devour Illusions] by its summoned [Illusory Beasts].

But Nanami and Maki, who had neither [Simple Domain] nor [Falling Blossom Emotion], were undoubtedly the most severely affected.

Naobito Zenin, who had maintained Falling Blossom Emotion, had automatically shattered the illusory beasts outright.

Naobito Zenin had already raced far away in the opposite direction.

Thousand Fangs did not rush to attack him with illusory beasts and inflict the same negative states that plagued the other two.

It planned to use [Devour All] to absorb their cursed energy first, restore itself to peak condition, and then fight Naobito Zenin to the death.

It refused to believe he could withstand the immense pressure of having his cursed energy suppressed and drained while still landing a hit with that bizarre technique.

Today, it would see whether its technique was stronger or his speed was superior...

Its towering body approached the fallen Maki. By the time Naobito Zenin realized he had been running in the wrong direction, it seemed everything was already too late.

Projection Sorcery's route was absolutely fixed. Even the user could not alter it.

Thus, if Naobito Zenin stopped and turned around now, he would be the one frozen in place...

Thousand Fangs raised its sharp claws high and eagerly licked the corner of its mouth at the sight of the two delectable meals before it.

Now...

It was time to dig in~~