Uro crossed her arms and closed her fist tightly, her words unmistakable.
"Domain Expansion: Shattered Stellar Sky!!"
Furōkawa instinctively knew if he didn't release his domain at this very moment, his life would have an extremely crushing end, even though he's had the momentum for most of the fight.
But inspiration and intuition flowed inside Furōkawa like a magical, divine whirlpool.
Being inside a pre-existing building already omitted one of the steps to expanding your own domain— constructing the barrier!
Now that the hard part was over, he could proceed with relative ease.
Imbuing a sure-hit onto this space!
The area was much more narrow and limited than when he fought the Valkyrie Queen, Sigrun, in an open field, so it was easy to imagine…or so he thought.
He put his fingers together to assemble the Harmony mudra, and uttered his incantation. All pieces of his jewelry glowed and vibrated brightly, its sound reminiscent of sizzling on top of an extremely hot pan with fajitas.
"Domain Expansion: River of Styx!"
The boatman appeared right behind Furōkawa, ever rowing his rotting wooden boat with an alluring, silver oar. He gently pressed the oar against the dark, sizzling river that materialized inside of Uro's domain, though not moving a single inch.
"You idiot! You thought you could constitute a domain without a barrier?! The hubris of you Fujiwara baffles me… now die!"
Inside Uro's domain, the heaven's and earth were reversed in position, causing Furōkawa to feel like he was falling off the planet.
But there was no landing to stick.
His movements were chaotic and shaky as he attempted to stabilize midair, but cracks continuously appeared from Uro's sure-hit— Thin Ice Missile— and blasted Furōkawa all over the place.
The boatman carried on, slowly and rhythmically. It was as if it were completely unbothered by its master getting pummeled into a bloody mess.
'That boatman is still there..! Maybe it's the monolith of his domain, but he misfired! Just in case, I'll destroy it— and him with a maximum output Thin Ice Breaker!'
Uro gracefully hovered in her domain while watching Furōkawa silently fall endlessly below his own boatman.
However, she sensed something amiss on the outside of the barrier.
External interference!
Someone or something was trying to break inside the domain!
Furōkawa laughed wildly, unfurling his wings and revealing his battered and bloodied body.
"You actual dumbass! You really fought me for this long and didn't figure my domain would inexplicably destroy yours?! What a fool!" Furōkawa laughed and laughed as Uro's domain slowly deteriorated from the outside, effectively shutting down the sure-hit effect of the domain while the barrier broke down.
In a few moments, they found themselves back in the food court, both gasping from exhaustion and overwhelming pain. Furōkawa knelt down on one knee, holding his chest with a grim smile plastered on his face.
The boatman was still eerily rowing!
Black rain resembling ink fell from the darkened cloud near the ceiling, hovering over the entire food court.
"Do you feel that?"
Uro furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed something very wrong.
She couldn't manipulate a single drop of cursed energy for… any purpose!
No circulation or reinforcement.
In this current moment, Uro was a sitting duck, waiting to be slaughtered.
Uro was completely naked and useless in the face of someone she shit-talked since their first encounter. The sure-hit effect of this domain was entirely too potent, even though it's non-lethal! All she could do is hope Furōkawa was beaten enough to fall where he stands.
And Furōkawa did just that, fainting flat on his face.
'He's out? Like that?! Wait…the boatman-'
Before she could finish her thought, the golden ring on Furōkawa's right middle finger vibrated intensely before turning black. A dark miasma emanated from the jewelry, rising like an ominous fog. It's shape went through many phases before settling on a particular form.
Wings bursted out the back, a woman reached out the fog with beautiful black armor, Nordic runes etched in each garment. The helmet she wore covered the top half of her face, obscuring a deeply sinister gaze that Uro could feel.
"You… the Valkyrie Queen," Uro grimaced as she limped backwards.
"One of her vestiges, yes. I am Geirdriful, the Spear Flinger. Unfortunately, my existence is tied to this boy's…vitality."
Geirdriful with her menacing aura, slowly strutted towards Uro wielding a long, black spear with silver etched into the metal. Her long silver hair gleamed in the light.
"My master…does not wish to end your life— if you surrender your poi—"
"Can it!" Uro yelled at the dark figure.
"…"
The Valkyrie stood motionless, propping her materialized spear over her shoulder. Uro stared down Geirdriful, anticipating a sudden attack that could end her life.
But Uro couldn't foresee the overwhelming ferocity of spirits shaped by their new master's instinctual decree: protect him at all costs!
Geirdriful was no longer in Uro's sight.
Then, an arm came off.
'Wha-'
Before she could even turn around, she was knocked out cold by a black metallic backhand to the chin. Uro's body sprawled on the ground, unconscious.
Shortly after, Geirdriful looked around and noticed the boatman stopped rowing the rotting boat, slowly turning into dust. Furōkawa laid face down, unclear if he was still awake.
"How pitiful…"
Geirdriful picked up Furōkawa, whose nose was bleeding profusely while he muttered incoherently.
"Eir, our master is facing brain trauma from releasing a barrierless domain.. If there is a way to save him, would you know?"
The earrings that dangled from Furōkawa's earlobes pulsed once before dying out again. Eir could only produce a single word:
"Rest."
The Valkyrie stood stoically silent, holding Furōkawa and Uro by one of their legs respectively. Geirdriful dragged them while finding the exit of the mall, extremely confused about this modern market layout. Eventually, she found the exit, and walked out, slowly lugging the fighters.