"Die! Become food for my children!"
Along with Dagon's cold and cruel declaration, the seawater within the entire Horizon of the Captivating Katana domain seemed to boil instantly.
This wasn't a normal Domain Expansion; it was an absolute killing ground constructed by a Special Grade Cursed Spirit specifically for slaughter!
Rumble!
The previously calm sea surface surged with towering waves.
Following that, the clear seawater rapidly condensed and deformed in mid-air, turning into tens of thousands of various marine predators!
Schools of piranhas with razor-sharp teeth, giant sharks covered in hard bone armor, deep-sea eels bristling with poisonous barbs...
These were all shikigami formed from pure cursed energy mixed with seawater—the "children" Dagon spoke of.
Death Swarm! This was the true terror of Dagon's domain.
"Damn it! There are too many of them!"
Maki Zenin gritted her teeth, her hands death-gripping the Special Grade Playful Cloud as she smashed a school of piranhas lunging at her into smithereens.
But no matter how powerful her Heavenly Restriction body was, she felt a deep sense of helplessness in the face of this seemingly infinite army of monsters.
Most lethally, this was Dagon's domain!
Inside a domain, all attacks imbued with a technique possessed the "Sure-hit" absolute attribute!
Puchi!
Without warning, a poisonous eel hidden in the shadows materialized out of thin air in Maki's blind spot, its toothy maw snapping toward her shoulder.
"Maki!"
At the critical moment, a broad-bladed cleaver wrapped in cursed energy whistled through the air from the side, accurately slicing the eel in two.
It was Kento Nanami!
This mature and steady Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer had long since lost his usual composure. One lens of his signature goggles was shattered, and his suit was stained red with blood.
"Don't let your guard down! The attacks here have no trajectory!"
Nanami shouted as he swung his cleaver to shatter the surrounding shikigami.
"Under the domain's sure-hit effect, these monsters don't need to fly or move. They appear directly at our blind spots the very instant the attack lands!"
This was the fundamental reason why Domain Expansion was called the pinnacle of jujutsu battles.
It was impossible to dodge; one could only endure!
"I'd like to see if you have more shikigami than I have speed!"
An old but domineering voice rang out on the beach.
It was the current head of the Zenin family, Naobito Zenin!
The man known as the "fastest sorcerer" finally showed his true strength.
Projection Sorcery erupted in full force!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Naobito's figure turned into an afterimage that the naked eye couldn't track, darting wildly across the sand.
Those marine shikigami that had just appeared out of thin air were reduced to water splashes by his lightning-fast strikes before they could even bite down.
With the extreme speed of twenty-four frames per second, he forcibly carved out a temporary safe zone within the sure-hit domain by moving faster than the attacks could generate.
"Huff... huff..."
Naobito stopped, gasping for breath. His once-neat clothes were now tattered, and he was even missing an arm!
Indeed, under the relentless barrage of sure-hit attacks, the proud old head of the family had paid the heavy price of an arm to protect the others.
"Old man..."
Maki's eyes trembled violently as she looked at Naobito's empty right sleeve.
Although she had always hated the decaying Zenin family, at this moment, the old man was truly putting his life on the line to protect them.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not dead yet!"
Naobito spat out blood-stained saliva, his eyes still as sharp as a lion's.
"Now isn't the time for sentimentality. We have to find a way to break this stalemate!"
Nanami quickly analyzed the situation while staying alert to their surroundings.
"The domain's sure-hit effect is too strong. We're constantly on the defensive. No matter how fast Naobito-san is, his stamina will eventually run out."
"We must find a weakness in this domain, or... break it from the outside!"
As soon as Nanami finished speaking, Megumi Fushiguro immediately performed hand signs.
His forehead was beaded with sweat; maintaining combat within this Special Grade domain was clearly draining his cursed energy at an immense rate.
"Since we're surrounded by seawater, we'll break through from the sky!"
"Divine Dog! Nue!"
At Megumi's low shout, the two majestic Divine Dogs, black and white, roared out to tear apart the shikigami trying to approach.
Meanwhile, a cry that pierced the clouds rang from the sky!
The massive owl shikigami, Nue, spread its lightning-wreathed wings and soared upward like an arrow from a bow, attempting to tear a hole in the top of the closed domain.
If they could break the domain's barrier, the sure-hit effect would vanish, and they would have a chance at survival!
"Naive."
Dagon, who had been floating in mid-air watching coldly, curled his lip in a mocking sneer.
"My ocean is everywhere."
Boom!
Just as Nue was about to touch the ceiling of the domain, the seemingly peaceful blue sky and white clouds instantly turned into an inverted, violent ocean!
Countless massive deep-sea whales leapt from the "sea surface" of the ceiling, crashing down onto the mid-air Nue with the terrifying pressure of millions of tons of water.
Bang!
In a single collision, the giant whale completely crushed Nue, causing it to dissipate into a cloud of cursed energy light.
Pffft!
As his shikigami was destroyed, Megumi suffered a backlash, coughing up a large mouthful of blood and falling to one knee on the sand.
"Megumi!"
Maki's face paled as she rushed over to shield him.
Despair.
A suffocating sense of despair began to spread wildly through the hearts of the four sorcerers.
Above and below, in every direction, there were enemies and sure-hit killing intent!
They were like prey caught in a spider's web, forced to watch as their stamina was drained bit by bit before being devoured by these monsters.
"Damn it... are we really going to die here? Completely trapped..."
Maki bit her lip hard, not even noticing as it began to bleed.
She hadn't proven herself to the Zenin family yet; she hadn't fulfilled her promise to Mai. How could she die in a place like this!
"Breaking the domain from the outside... that's practically impossible."
Nanami adjusted his broken goggles, a flash of frustration in his eyes, but it was mostly replaced by the resignation of facing death.
As a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, he understood the nature of domain barriers perfectly.
A domain's barrier had absolute defensive and suppressive power from the inside, but to achieve that, its external defense was often relatively thin.
However, even if it was thin, it was still a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's domain!
People on the outside had no idea what was happening inside, let alone the ability to accurately locate and shatter the barrier.
"Your struggle ends here, jujutsu sorcerers."
Dagon seemed to have lost his patience for playing with his prey.
It slowly raised both hands. The cursed energy of the entire domain began to go berserk as all the seawater converged above its head.
It was preparing to launch the final and most powerful wave of Death Swarm to completely consume the four humans!
"Become fuel for my evolution!"
Dagon roared. The terrifying tsunami, gathering the power of the entire domain, crashed down toward the four people on the beach like the apocalypse itself!
Facing this sky-obscuring, unavoidable, and certain death strike, Maki, Megumi, Nanami, and even Naobito instinctively closed their eyes.
It was over.
The gap in power was like a vast chasm.
However...
At the very microsecond before the destructive tsunami swallowed them!
Vroom—!
The entire space of the Horizon of the Captivating Katana domain shook violently!
It was a bizarre tremor, as if something incredibly terrifying was forcibly tearing this space apart!
Crack!
The sound of something shattering rang out clearly, almost piercing, in a world filled with the roar of the tsunami.
Dagon's eyes widened. For the first time, a look of horror appeared on its cold face.
It looked up in disbelief at the ceiling of its domain.
There...
On the indestructible outer wall of the domain, a massive crack dozens of meters long had appeared!
"How is this possible?! Someone is destroying my domain from the outside?!"
Dagon cried out, its voice tinged with uncontrollable panic.
This was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's domain barrier!
Who possessed such terrifying power to tear open a domain barrier from the outside through sheer violence?!
Boom!
Before Dagon could react, the massive crack shattered completely!
Then.
A deep blue sword light—peaceful as the deep sea yet containing the power of an endless abyss—slashed inward through the broken gap!
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form..."
A calm voice, devoid of any ripples, suddenly echoed in everyone's ears.
"Dead Calm."
In an instant, time seemed to stop flowing.
As the blue sword light descended, an invisible blue ripple of absolute tranquility radiated outward like a wave.
Shhh—!!!
Everywhere the blue light passed, the terrifying tsunami that could destroy everything and the billions of carnivorous shikigami condensed from cursed energy...
They vanished, collapsed, and dissolved into nothingness without a sound, like spring snow meeting the sun!
The previously berserk Special Grade domain was suddenly plunged into a deathly silence!
Amidst the vanishing seawater, a slender figure wearing a black Jujutsu High uniform with a long sword at his waist slowly stepped into this desperate world from the shattered ceiling.
His gaze was calm and deep, like a god looking down upon the mortal realm.
Maki snapped her eyes open. Looking at the back of the figure who had descended like a divine warrior, her eyes instantly turned red.
That man... he had come!