Now that the activation is complete, the binding has increased its power.
It would be over in an instant if they just took it head-on and got crushed.
There was no time to hesitate.
The moment the two of them kicked off the ground, Tsukumo’s shoulder, with Garuda wrapped around her hand, flickered.
Kugugugugwang!
The whip that had once boasted the fastest speed among humanity’s weapons.
A blow containing the mass of a mountain was swung at near-sound speed, pulverizing everything in its range.
If Todo had not quickly clapped to sense the prelude to the attack, both of them would have been swept up and turned into a handful of blood.
Seeing the ground where the whip had passed shaved clean like a razor, Kusakabe swallowed hard in tension.
"I knew it was strong, but this is insane! If we get hit, we’re done for!"
To get out of the [Domain Expansion] within the time limit, they had to close in, but there was no way that would be easy.
In this hellscape, where every single attack carried the power of a finishing blow, he didn’t have much confidence in breaking through the bombardment.
He absolutely, absolutely could not get hit.
Not even by that tiny pebble the woman was throwing now.
"Hup!"
Swaaaash!
It was only a little bigger than a fist, but if it hit, his whole body would explode.
It was nothing less than a deathly barrage.
If it landed, it wouldn’t just be a light "ow"—his whole body would blow apart for sure.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
"Whoa!"
"Tahat, huh, hff!"
"Can’t you dodge a little more quietly? You’re making my head spin!"
Fortunately, the trajectories were obvious enough that they could twist their bodies and evade them, but Tsukumo Yuki’s offensive was far from over.
While their attention was drawn to avoiding the stone throws, she compacted Garuda into a ball and took a familiar stance.
A picture-perfect shot worthy of a famous soccer player, the kind you sometimes saw on the internet, burst from the tip of her foot.
METEO-RO
Kwaaaaang!
"Aaaagh!"
"Ugh!"
They hurriedly clapped to escape, but this time neither of them could be completely free from the aftermath of the attack.
The Garuda ball flew in a bizarrely bent trajectory and slammed into the ground, producing a deafening blast and shockwave.
This wide-area annihilation attack, which exploded indiscriminately in every direction without distinguishing friend from foe, reached farther than Todo’s Boogie Woogie could affect.
Tsukumo charged toward the two of them, who had been tossed around by the wind pressure and vibrations and were still struggling to get their bearings on the ground.
"Damn it...!"
Forcing down the nausea rising to his throat, Kusakabe barely got back up, then suddenly felt something was off.
"Where did it go?"
The Garuda that had been stuck in the ground a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
When did it...?
Whirrr, thud!
"Kraaaah?!"
Before he could even activate the [Simple Domain] program, Garuda wrapped around Kusakabe’s body in an instant.
Under the tremendous burden, Kusakabe, who had just barely gotten back up, was slammed back into the ground.
When he raised his creaking head, Todo came into view, engaged in a one-on-one physical brawl with Tsukumo Yuki.
Tap, tap, thwack!
Even though they were teacher and student, their fighting styles were completely different.
Was it because of the difference in their technique traits, trickster versus slugger?
Unlike Todo, who carefully distinguished between attacks that could and could not be taken even amid countless exchanges, moving with restraint, Tsukumo Yuki relied on nothing but ferocious offense.
"Damn it, Teacher. I’m starting to hate you!"
Smack!
"Your fist’s gotten pretty spicy, Aoi!"
Maybe because she could use [Cursed technique reversal], or maybe because she was confident that one clean hit would be enough to win—whatever the reason, she didn’t spare her body at all.
Even when she occasionally took hits to the face, the way she kept bulldozing forward was like a tank in human form.
Attack, attack, and attack again.
She wasn’t especially fast, and her movements were straightforward, but Todo didn’t have the spare capacity to deflect them now.
Thud!
"Guhk...!"
Because Tsukumo kept charging at him without pause, there was no opening to use Boogie Woogie.
Kusakabe, who should have been his partner, was bound by Garuda.
With his technique effectively sealed, there was no way Todo could beat her one-on-one while being outmatched in raw physical power.
Tsukumo Yuki’s front kick slammed into the same spot he’d been hit before, sending his massive body flying backward.
Todo had truly reached his limit now, and Kusakabe was tied down.
It was a hopeless situation.
And yet, the one who had watched the exchange from beginning to end felt, instead, as if he had grasped the key to victory.
"Maybe...!"
This might work.
The [Simple Domain] was already getting shaky, so it was time to throw in a gamble.
What he needed to do now to create a foothold was...
New Shadow Style - Obscure Moon
Puk!
After confirming that Tsukumo wasn’t paying attention to him, Kusakabe grasped a blade manifested with cursed energy in his hand and drove it down into Garuda’s torso.
Even a self-sustaining shikigami wasn’t numb to damage, apparently, as Garuda twitched in reaction.
Seizing the moment when the restraint loosened slightly, Kusakabe’s right hand flashed and tore into Garuda.
Chachachak!
Garuda let out a faint cry, kiiik-, and shot up into the air.
Breaking free of the restraint and springing out, Kusakabe grabbed a suitable stone and shouted,
"Look over here, Tsukumo Yuki!"
"....!"
At first glance it looked reckless, but inside it was a plan built on thorough calculation.
The moment Tsukumo’s expression twisted at the sight of Kusakabe, who had broken free, his eyes met Todo’s.
He looked like he could barely move now, but the fire in his eyes still hadn’t gone out.
That was enough.
"What are you thinking?"
"Just trust me for now!"
Both of them were first-grade sorcerers.
The trust they had built while working side by side all this time was not light.
With only a glance, the two of them roughly understood each other’s intent and silently prepared to counterattack.
Whoosh!
Clap!
The moment Kusakabe infused the stone with cursed energy and threw it, a clap rang out.
Without any separate instructions, their coordination was now seamless.
As their positions switched, Kusakabe’s charging body was sent to the front of Tsukumo.
Smack!
A drop kick loaded with acceleration crashed straight through her guard.
The instant the kick was blocked, Kusakabe immediately drew his sword and activated the automatic [Simple Domain] program.
An attack program that cut down objects within range by spinal reflex.
The [Simple Domain] had already been deployed, and the distance was close enough, so the conditions were met.
Swish! Swish!
The master’s sword swung at a speed invisible to the eye.
The first slash dug diagonally into Tsukumo’s shoulder, and the second aimed for the vulnerable neck, but...
If she were to take this cleanly too, the name of a special grade would be wasted on her.
Grab!
Blood ran down from Tsukumo’s bare hand as she caught the blade.
Maybe because of the cursed energy reinforcement, it hadn’t fully cut through. By ordinary logic, it should have split her in two the moment it touched, but the difference in their basic physical scale showed itself here.
The moment the follow-up attack was blocked, a fist packed with tremendous mass came flying toward Kusakabe’s solar plexus.
Clap!
But at the perfect timing, another clap rang out and distracted Tsukumo.
Kusakabe’s position was still the same.
Wary of Todo, who might strike from behind at any moment, Tsukumo’s gaze turned, and in that gap Kusakabe, having let go of the sword, twisted his body to evade the incoming punch.
Tap, tap
Just because he’d lost his sword didn’t mean he’d lost his fighting power too.
With a fluid motion, Kusakabe wrapped around Tsukumo Yuki’s arm and planted his feet, locking her in place.
"Now, Todo!"
"....!"
Right after that earlier clap, Todo had not moved.
Was this a feint again? No, maybe it was real? Why had he deliberately chosen to grab instead of strike here?
No, trust instinct. If he moved according to thought, he’d get dragged into it.
BOM-BA-YE
Todo was more dangerous than Kusakabe, who had let go of the sword. If he was allowed to close in, the mind games would get annoying.
Tsukumo, having expanded her technique, gave mass to the air, and soon the ominous power of a star that dragged everything down spread out.
In an instant, the atmosphere within the [Domain Expansion] grew heavy, and everything except the one-meter radius around her caved inward.
Thoom!
"....!"
"Hah... ha... too... bad!"
And what entered her field of vision was Todo, collapsed in the exact same spot as before.
Even while being crushed by the heavy air, the smile on his face never disappeared.
In fact, since beginning the counterattack, he hadn’t moved a single step.
"I’m already a wreck. I can’t afford to rush the front line recklessly."
The damage from taking successive hits had been severe.
His organs were battered. His cursed energy was running dry.
With no certainty how much longer he could keep using his technique, Todo wasn’t foolish enough to throw himself forward blindly.
So he changed direction.
The punching and trading would be Kusakabe’s job alone.
He himself would support him with everything he had from behind!
"Huh..."
Tsukumo Yuki let out a dry laugh, and her field of vision flipped over in an instant.
"Hff!"
During the earlier physical clash, Tsukumo Yuki had unknowingly exposed a weakness in her technique.
The kick she had thrown at Todo at the end carried no mass at all.
In other words, she hadn’t used her technique.
As Kusakabe thought about why, he arrived at one conclusion.
That the technique target of BOM-BA-YE could only be designated one at a time.
Tsukumo Yuki herself, Garuda, or a technique target within the [Domain Expansion].
Right now, since it was being applied to the target called "air," Tsukumo Yuki herself was not being affected by mass at all.
He twisted his body from the grappling stance and shifted his center of gravity.
He kept his feet planted, lowered his upper body, and shoved the opponent’s body over him.
A grappling technique he would never have even considered using in a situation like this.
But with no mass being applied to Tsukumo Yuki now, she was nothing more than a woman with a somewhat large frame, and slamming her into the ground was not that difficult.
Kwaang!
"Ghk!"
Tsukumo, thrown onto her back against the hard ground, thrashed at the sensation of her breath being crushed out of her.
There was certainly a huge gap between her and the two men. From whether or not they could use [Cursed technique reversal] to the difference in technique power, there was nothing she had over them.
They had overcome that with skill, psychological warfare, and quick thinking.
If one were to point to the one flaw in her defeat, it would be that she had overestimated her own firepower.
"Garuda...!"
Clap!
Garuda flew toward Kusakabe’s back as he raised his sword for the final blow, but just as it reached close range, it vanished with the sound of a clap.
In its place appeared Todo Aoi.
With even the last card blocked now, there was no escape route left.
"It’s over!"
The moment Kusakabe’s sword was about to plunge toward her heart—
Krazzzk!
The [Simple Domain] that had been overworked all this time was stripped away completely.
Guuuuuh!
"Kk...aaah...!"
Kusakabe was the first to notice the change.
The increased mass slammed tremendous burden onto his body, making it impossible to move properly, and his sword missed Tsukumo Yuki’s heart by a hair’s breadth and stabbed into the ground instead.
Grinding his teeth, he tried to hold on somehow, but Tsukumo’s foot immediately kicked out his leg and broke his stance.
Thoom!
Kusakabe collapsed onto the ground, unable to withstand his own weight.
The ground caved in beneath his body, clearly showing just how much mass he was being forced to bear.
"No!"
Todo, filled with frustration, hurriedly dragged his exhausted body forward, but of course he was no match for her.
She was not a special grade to be taken down by movements that had clearly slowed.
Tsukumo Yuki easily dodged the punch, seized Todo’s leg, yanked it up as if uprooting something, and hurled him onto Kusakabe.
Thud!
"Guhk!"
"Kusakabe-sensei...!"
If you can only designate one technique target, then just overlap the two of them.
As the technique target shifted to Todo, Kusakabe, pinned underneath, was gradually being crushed like rubber under a press.
Kusakabe, sprawled face-down and pinned beneath a mountain.
His face turned bright red, as if it were about to burst, from the unimaginable pressure.
"That was close."
Tsukumo looked at the two of them, now completely subdued, with a regretful gaze and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Maybe because their skill had been more impressive than expected. If the [Simple Domain] hadn’t broken, she might have lost.
But in the end, the one who won was her.
If she left them like this, they’d be completely crushed.
Even though she didn’t know them well, Tsukumo didn’t want to watch good people die horribly, so she made one last offer.
It carried her respect for their excellent skill, and the lingering traces of old affection she hadn’t fully shaken off.
"I don’t want to kill you painfully. If you tell me the angel’s location now..."
"Go to hell... and eat it...!"
The intention came through clearly even through the mangled pronunciation.
There seemed to be no room for compromise.
"...I see."
Then I’ll send you off quickly, at least, as a minimum courtesy.
Kkwajijijik!!
"Aaaaaaah!!!!"
"Stop!!!!"
Kusakabe’s scream and Todo’s howl rang together.
Tsukumo, eyes squeezed shut, forced herself to ignore their voices and increased the output.
"I’m sorry."
I’m really sorry.
But I can’t give up.
If I stop here, then everything I’ve done until now will just be...
She offered an apology that would never reach them in her heart, then turned her head away.
She didn’t have the nerve to look directly at them as they died.
As Kusakabe’s screams, already nearing their limit, began to fade and Todo’s consciousness also started to blur, at that very moment—
Luck arrived.
Crash!
"What!"
The weakness of a [Domain Expansion] is that it is vulnerable to attacks from outside.
Someone’s attack shattered the barrier surrounding the domain, and the pressure crushing Todo and Kusakabe vanished.
While the flustered man and woman were still bewildered, a fist appeared through the gap that had opened.
"Haaah...!"
"Y-you...!"
"Sorry. Am I a little late?"
His face was hidden by the backlight, but there was no mistaking it.
That unmistakably laid-back vibe, and a massive frame comparable to Todo’s.
And cursed energy rising endlessly from his entire body.
"Looks like you’re not turned into a rice cake after all!"
Third-year student at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, Hakari Kinji.
The team’s final puzzle piece had appeared.
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