Kenji's sudden arrival in the subterranean trench beneath the Auction House was not a landing; it was a violent Mana displacement. The air in the trench, thick with stagnant water and Mana residue from the obsolete IAB Conduit, instantly turned cold and suffocating.
He stood ankle-deep in the fetid water, the Dark Mana clinging to him like a second skin. The transition had been instantaneous, powered by the pure reality-warping force of his forbidden Shadow Blink technique. The cold sensation of the Dark Mana was repulsive—it was inherently corruptive and resisted the efficient, clean Jujutsu he valued. But here, facing the Cursed Assembly's ultimate defense, it was his only option.
Facing the Nullification
Above him, the seismic tremors from Zilla's Tectonic Jujutsu intensified, shaking the old conduits. Kenji knew he had seconds before the Blade of Volcanic Flare was fully charged, leading to mass combustion.
He immediately located his target: Glitch, the Assembly's defensive specialist. Glitch was positioned outside the inner vault where the Assembly was preparing their final move, his continuous Kinetic Negation Jujutsu humming like a physical barrier.
Kenji moved, but he didn't use his signature Mana Efficiency speed. Instead, he channeled the Dark Mana into his legs. It wasn't about speed; it was about structural failure.
He lunged upward, punching a fissure in the floor of the vault chamber directly beneath Glitch. Glitch, sensing the sudden, massive upward kinetic force, instantly amplified his Kinetic Negation shield.
"Useless, Grandmaster!" Glitch roared, expecting the attack to hit the shield and instantly die. "Your physical force means nothing to me!"
But Kenji's Dark Magic didn't rely on kinetic force. It relied on Corrosion.
Umbra Weaving: The Counter-Magic
The Dark Mana was not energy; it was a form of Mana destabilization. As Kenji's fist met Glitch's shield, the Kinetic Negation Jujutsu—which was powered by the flow of stable Mana—did not negate the attack. It simply tried to absorb the Dark Mana, and failed.
The Dark Magic instantly began to corrode the internal structure of Glitch's shield. Instead of nullifying the force, the Dark Mana poisoned the shield's very foundation. The high-density barrier didn't shatter; it dissolved in an instant, collapsing inward with a sickening magical pop.
Glitch screamed, not from physical damage, but from the systemic shock of his ultimate spell failing. He crumpled, his defensive power wiped clean.
"Your shield negates Mana-fueled force," Kenji stated, his voice flat and cold, the Dark Mana making his words resonate unnaturally. "My power is based on the absence of stable Mana. It's a structural counter."
The Ultimate Deterrent
The instantaneous collapse of Glitch's defense caused a seismic shift in the battlefield above. Ren and Sora, now free from the nullification field, pressed their attack against Zilla. But Kenji knew his job wasn't done. He had to end the entire operation before Kaelen and Nyx could execute the final move.
Kenji walked toward the vault door, still glowing with residual Dark Mana. He couldn't risk a slow, messy fight against the combined force of Kaelen's Mana Fusion and the charged Blade of Volcanic Flare.
He had to deploy the forbidden ultimate.
Closing his eyes, Kenji let the pure, corrosive Dark Mana flood his body. He opened his mouth and uttered the binding command, not as a shout, but as a chilling, ethereal drone that permeated the air, the stone, and the Mana Conduit itself.
"$\text{\[The Rules of Play\]}$," Kenji commanded, the ultimate, terrible binding spell of his Dark Magic.
The spell didn't generate heat or light; it generated absolute magical subjugation. The Dark Mana flowed out of Kenji, not as an attack, but as a non-negotiable, energetic contract that locked onto the minds and Mana cores of every conscious, non-IAB person in the immediate vicinity.
The Cursed Assembly—Kaelen, Nyx, Zilla, and Finn—froze mid-action. Their Mana flows, which had been chaotic and aggressive moments before, suddenly became utterly passive. Their minds were locked into a single, overriding command, imposed directly by Kenji's forbidden magic.
"The Game is Over. All Hostile Action Ceases."
In an instant, the screaming energy of the Blade of Volcanic Flare died, the Tectonic Jujutsu stopped, and the assembled enemies stood inert, their bodies intact, but their magical will extinguished. The Code Delta was neutralized, not through kinetic force or elemental attack, but through the terrifying, absolute reality-warping power of the Dark Magic.
Kenji stepped back, the Dark Mana receding, leaving him cold, spent, and utterly defeated in his personal mission. He had won the war, but he had just proven to the watching IAB—and to himself—that he was the single greatest threat in the sector. His life as a lazy Grandmaster was finally over.