Domain Expansion! Guanghan Collapsing Moon Realm!

Wangchuan let his hands hang naturally at his sides, slowly raised his head, and closed his eyes.

The giant chopsticks flying around him were already less than three meters from his body.

Scalding broth clung to their tips, and the churned air gave off a piercing shriek.

But he did not move.

He seemed to be listening for something.

Deep within the domain, Hōzō's bloated body squirmed, his enormous mouth stretched wider, and a muffled growl carrying a sense of devouring rose from deep in his throat.

"Have you given up resisting? Your organs are already swelling. You can feel it, can't you? That pain of your stomach walls being stretched to their limit..."

Wangchuan did not answer.

The slight curve remained at his lips, and he looked like a statue steeped in moonlight.

Then he spoke.

"Domain Expansion!"

"Guanghan Collapsing Moon Realm."

The instant his words fell, Hōzō's domain shuddered violently.

Starting at the edges, the surface of the dark red broth solidified as though frozen.

Deep purple seeped down from the sky, like a bucket of thick ink poured into clear water, swiftly and irreversibly engulfing the entire dome of the domain.

The dark red surface of the boiling broth vanished, replaced by a deep, almost black purple.

It was as though the color of the deepest part of midnight had been compressed into a thin layer.

Then the moon rose.

An enormous, whole full moon emerged from the center of the purple sky, occupying a third of the entire view.

The moonlight was cold white, carrying an almost weighty silver radiance as it poured down from overhead, soaking the entire space in liquid moonlight.

Ancient runes appeared on the ground.

Silver lines spread in every direction from beneath Wangchuan's feet, circle after circle, ring within ring.

The entire domain grew silent and heavy.

That weight was not physical, but something more fundamental.

It was as though gravity itself had been redefined, as though every speck of dust in this space had suddenly gained its own consciousness and knew which direction it should fall.

Hōzō's body froze.

His bloated body, piled together from kitchen waste, cast a twisted shadow in the moonlight, but that enormous mouth.

That mouth, which had been splitting open, roaring, and making swallowing noises all this time, closed for the first time.

His voice squeezed out from deep in his throat, carrying a faint tremor that even he had not expected.

"What?!"

"What is this... this domain..."

He felt his cursed energy being suppressed.

It was not being neutralized or canceled out, but overwritten by a higher order of rules.

Like pencil lines on a sheet of white paper pressed beneath a thick, solid layer of ink.

Wangchuan opened his eyes.

The full moon in the sky was reflected in them, and silver light flowed deep within his pupils.

He lifted his chin slightly, and that faint curve at his lips finally became a full smile.

"My domain is called Guanghan Collapsing Moon Realm."

His voice echoed through the moonlight, unhurried, carrying the patience of someone explaining the rules of a game to a little child.

"Within this domain, all targets."

He extended one finger and pointed toward Hōzō.

"Automatically undergo a Gravity Judgment every half second."

Hōzō's unseen eyes locked onto him. His body retreated a slight half step, and the ground beneath his feet gave a dull thud.

"The result is completely random."

A hint of pleasure entered Wangchuan's voice.

"It might be uncontrolled weightlessness. You'll suddenly lose every restraint of gravity and float up like a balloon, flying all over the place, unable to find purchase or keep your footing."

"Or it might be supergravity suppression."

"Every cell in your body will bear hundreds of times normal gravity. Your bones will groan, your organs will be crushed flat, and even lifting a finger will take every ounce of your strength."

"It could also be Lateral Gravitational Pull."

"It'll fling you toward the edge of the domain like a ball of wastepaper, slam you into the boundary, bounce you back, then slam you into it again."

He paused, watched the chunks of flesh on the surface of Hōzō's bloated body begin twitching involuntarily, then added another sentence.

"Each judgment is calculated independently."

"One second you might be floating in midair, and the next you might be pinned to the ground, unable to get up."

"Impossible to predict. Impossible to adapt to."

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Hōzō spun around, but he was too late.

Wangchuan appeared at his side, one foot resting lightly on the air as though on an invisible foothold, his body leaning slightly forward.

"Because there really aren't many opponents who can make me seriously open my domain."

"Of course, don't get the wrong idea. You don't qualify."

"I just felt like opening it."

Hōzō let out a furious roar. His enormous mouth snapped open, and dark red light gathered into a mass deep in his throat.

But the very next second, just as he was about to unleash his attack.

[Gravity Judgment-Supergravity.]

An invisible force bore down from overhead.

Hōzō's enormous body buckled sharply, all four limbs braced against the ground. A vast section of the ground caved in beneath the pressure, and the grease and sauces that had floated on its surface burst apart in an instant, spraying in every direction.

His body trembled, and his bones creaked and groaned.

"...Bast...ard..."

Wangchuan stood in midair, looking down at him from above.

He extended one hand, all five fingers spread, his palm facing down.

"Don't rush."

"You still have a chance."

"In half a second, the next round of judgment will come."

Hōzō jerked his head up, his enormous mouth splitting open as he tried to gather another attack.

Wangchuan's lips curved as his gaze settled on the figure forced to kneel on the ground below by supergravity.

Moonlight poured down from behind him, gilding his outline with a cold silver edge.

"...Ah, right."

As though something had suddenly occurred to him, he raised his other hand, held up his index finger, and gave it a gentle wag in front of him.

"I forgot to tell you."

Hōzō raised his head with difficulty.

Dark sauce trickled along the edges of his enormous mouth, and the dark red light gathered deep in his throat flickered unstably as his body trembled.

"What... what exactly are you trying to say..."

Wangchuan's smile deepened.

"My domain, every ten seconds."

He pointed up at the full moon occupying more than half the sky overhead.

"Drops a moon."

"What?!"

Hōzō's body abruptly stiffened.

He raised his head.

The enormous, cold white full moon hung silently at the center of the deep purple sky, its silver radiance spilling down and illuminating the entire domain as brightly as day.

Then it moved.

The moon began to fall.

At first, it was only a slight movement, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

But the next second, its speed suddenly increased.

Trailing a long, silvery-white plume of flame, it hurtled down from the depths of the heavens like a meteor set ablaze.

The sound of air being torn apart drew closer, changing from a low hum into a piercing howl.

The entire domain trembled. The moonlight no longer poured down silently, but surged violently.

Hōzō's unseen eyes locked onto the falling moon, and the sound rising from deep in his throat changed pitch.

It was mixed with disbelief and an instinctive fear he had never experienced before.

"Impossible... a domain itself is the caster's inner world... how could it actually..."

"Who told you things in an inner world couldn't be real?"

Wangchuan hovered in midair, his hands back in his pockets, watching the moon plummet with its trailing silver flames.

His voice was mild, as though he were stating some minor, self-evident fact.

"Of course the moon is real."

"Why else would it be called Guanghan Collapsing Moon Realm?"

"Oh, right, I forgot to warn you. The attack covers the whole map!"

The instant his words fell.

The moon crashed down.

The silver radiance violently exploded the instant it touched Hōzō's body.

An entire tsunami of moonlight seemed to overturn upon him, utterly engulfing that bloated body piled together from countless scraps of kitchen waste.

Hōzō did not even have time to let out a single roar.

Not even ashes remained.

After the moonlight flowed past, the spot was utterly empty.

There was not even a trace of residual cursed energy.