Both men froze in place, staring at each other, then glanced around at the completely overlapping scenery. Their expressions were identical.
Both looked utterly dumbfounded, as though they had never seen anything like it.
"What the hell?!" Luo Wen Tianmo spoke first, shouting with a frown. "What's wrong with your domain? Why isn't it clashing with mine?"
"I was about to ask you!" Kinji Hakari snapped out of it too, his brows knotting together. He stared at the colored tiles beneath his feet, identical to those in his memory, then looked up to glare at him, his voice full of disbelief:
"A normal domain clash should've smashed them apart by now. What kind of freak Cursed Technique is that?"
"Who's sticking to you?!" Luo Wen Tianmo bristled at once, stiffening his neck as he retorted, "Obviously, your domain was too weak and got assimilated by mine!"
"Bullshit."
They traded barbs for ages, but the domains beneath their feet remained peacefully layered together, showing no sign of separating.
In the end, Kinji Hakari lost the will to argue first. He rubbed between his brows and clicked his tongue.
"Enough, enough. Arguing won't help."
He glanced around at the slot machines and card tables, the corners of his mouth slowly rising:
"Since we're already here, and our domains have come together into a whole casino, why don't we settle this another way?"
Luo Wen Tianmo narrowed his eyes warily. "What way?"
"By the rules here."
Kinji Hakari tipped his chin toward a nearby card table:
"We gamble.
"Winner takes the points, and this territory too."
"No." Luo Wen Tianmo immediately shook his head and stepped back half a pace. "I came to fight."
"Oh, scared already?" Kinji Hakari raised his eyebrows, putting just the right touch of mockery into his voice:
"Weren't