Fighting to the Brink

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

✦

"Domain Expansion: Womb Profusion!"

"Domain Expansion: Star Rage Prize Ring!"

During the three days they had spent in the Tombs of the Star Corridor, Jujutsu High's sorcerers had prepared several counters for Kenjaku.

For the moment, they had pushed aside the problem of Itsuki Zenin, the monster who had destroyed Jujutsu High in a single strike but had not entered the Tombs.

Ten minutes before Kenjaku's invasion, Tengen informed them that Itsuki had entered the Sendai Colony.

Tengen could not observe the interior of a Culling Game colony.

Still, Itsuki's movements before entering the barrier were not hidden.

Because Itsuki had already displayed an open-barrier domain, Tengen, Yuki, and the others had prepared for the possibility that Kenjaku might possess the same divine-level skill.

But that was the worst possible outcome.

Inside the domain, the two sure-hit effects canceled each other out.

Two completely different waves of cursed energy battered Yuki's domain shell again and again.

Behind Kenjaku rose a sinful tree of blood and spirits.

Headless, broken bodies.

Savage faces blurred by blood and mangled flesh.

Deformed shapes stitched together by invisible blood threads.

The grotesque creation seemed to speak of the countless sins Kenjaku had committed over a thousand years.

Yuki stared at the terrifying object standing behind him, her face grave.

This was an open-barrier domain, just like Itsuki's, one capable of manifesting an imagined scene directly into reality.

They had a method to counter it.

The cost would be brutal.

"What is wrong?" Kenjaku asked when he saw her expression. "Do you lack confidence in your own domain?"

If he could shake Yuki's emotions and accelerate the collapse of her domain, he could save more cursed energy for whatever came next.

He did not know why.

Itsuki and White Zetsu were both supposed to be inside the Culling Game, yet unease still coiled faintly in Kenjaku's chest.

Yuki did not answer.

She poured a massive amount of cursed energy into her domain.

Even if its collapse was inevitable, she would at least force Kenjaku to spend more of his own reserves.

That choice only made the irritation in Kenjaku's heart sharper.

She really was troublesome.

Cursed energy surged, and killing intent filled Kenjaku's eyes.

The shell of Yuki's domain, packed with cursed energy, began to crack under Tengen's tense gaze.

Then it shattered.

The collapse of her closed domain meant Yuki had entered cursed technique burnout.

"Die, insane woman."

Kenjaku's patience ran out.

A crimson tide, strengthened by a massive amount of cursed energy, crashed toward Yuki Tsukumo.

Technique burnout, combined with the sure-hit effect of Kenjaku's domain.

The attack nearly punched through her waist and abdomen. Yuki spat a mouthful of blood and, without surprise, was blasted into a deep pit.

Kenjaku moved to finish her.

Two figures suddenly rushed into the range of his domain.

An open-barrier domain had no shell, so entering and leaving it was not restricted.

But anyone who entered would be struck by the sure-hit effect.

Kenjaku watched them coldly.

"You do not know when to die."

With a sweep of his hand, a crimson tide rippled through space.

Choso, half his body covered in blood markings, and Ino, face hidden beneath his mask, charged in with the resolve of men walking into death.

"Auspicious Beasts Summon: Ryu!"

Ino fired his final major attack at Kenjaku in the instant before the sure-hit struck him.

"Blood Manipulation: Supernova!"

Choso's earlier Canal had not landed cleanly, but several scattered drops of blood had splashed onto Kenjaku's robe.

The moment Choso activated the technique, those blood spots erupted with frightening cursed energy.

Their techniques did not cover as wide an area as Kenjaku's domain.

To attack him effectively, they had to enter the domain themselves.

It was a suicidal charge.

They were not aiming to kill him.

They only needed to delay him.

The explosion swallowed the hall.

Ino hit the ground with one arm broken, his breathing so faint it nearly vanished.

If he had not used Auspicious Beasts Summon: Kirin on himself before entering, that single attack would have killed him outright.

As a support-type auspicious beast, Kirin could shut off pain and slow the worsening of injuries.

Its backlash was just as severe.

After a single use, the user could not move for five minutes.

Choso, with his incarnated body, was in similarly terrible condition.

He barely kept his eyes open as he lay on the ground, hanging by a thread.

The reason they survived was not only their techniques or their unusual constitutions.

The deeper reason was that Kenjaku had deliberately conserved cursed energy and kept most of his focus on Yuki.

Still, their desperate strike had created a critical delay.

Both Canal and the current Supernova were techniques Choso had created for himself after a century of contemplation inside his vessel.

Kenjaku had suffered from lacking detailed information on them.

The blood spots on his robe pierced unexpectedly into his flesh.

But as Choso's father, Kenjaku was not vulnerable to the poison in his blood.

His damaged body restored itself in moments.

Looking down at Choso, now almost a blood-soaked corpse, Kenjaku's eyes turned cold.

"You are nothing but failed products. Would it not be easier to lie still and wait to die?"

The grotesque creation behind him released a terrifying wave of blood.

It shaped itself into a giant mouth that looked ready to devour the two men on the ground.

From the bottom of the pit, Yuki, her face smeared with blood, swung Garuda's extended body.

Garuda itself was formed through her technique. Even during burnout, it could still unleash terrifying power.

Like an iron whip, it smashed the incoming blood-red conduit apart.

"If you have time to worry about others," Kenjaku said, returning his attention to the special grade before him, "you should worry about whether you can survive."

Even as he mocked her, the blood surging from his domain became more terrifying.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain!"

A faint blue ring formed beneath Yuki's feet, and Garuda's whipping body shattered Kenjaku's killing blow again.

The first time Itsuki's open-barrier domain had brought her to the edge of death, Yuki had learned how to heal her body with Reverse Cursed Technique during technique burnout.

Now, forced into another life-or-death corner, Yuki evolved again.

During burnout, she activated New Shadow Style: Simple Domain.

Among countless sorcerers, only a handful could climb to special grade.

Yuki Tsukumo's talent was monstrous as well.

Her long whip tore through afterimages, and Yuki, covered in blood, fought like a woman past the edge of sanity.

Kenjaku frowned faintly.

The unease in his heart grew more solid.

"Even so, how long can you hold out?"

Kenjaku increased his output.

The hanging blood-red conduits grew even more oppressive.

Three meters.

Two meters.

One meter.

The ring of Simple Domain beneath Yuki's feet grew dimmer and smaller under the pressure.

Two crisp cracks rang out in succession.

The instant Yuki's Simple Domain disappeared, Kenjaku abruptly turned his head.

"Is that you, Tengen?"

The terrifying construct behind Kenjaku silently dissolved.

His gaze turned dark.

In the shadows, Tengen held both hands in a seal, sweat beading across his forehead.

Then the Empty Barrier shattered.

Whoever was coming was close.

✦

✦

✦

Want to keep going?

You can read ahead on my Patreon, with early access, previews, and extra story updates 🔑

https://www.patreon.com/c/EliasVane