The core of the Osaka Colony was a massive plaza that had been completely leveled by some terrifying, immense power.
The instant Yoru's combat boots stepped onto the plaza, the surrounding air—so dead that it bordered on repulsive—suddenly began to boil violently without any warning!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Accompanied by a series of sharp whistling sounds, twelve figures clad in ancient armor and exuding surging cursed energy appeared around Yoru as if teleporting, locking him dead in the center of their encirclement.
The "Twelve Heavenly Generals."
These twelve monsters, who had once struck terror into countless jujutsu sorcerers during the Heian period, finally bared their despair-inducing fangs.
There was no opening banter.
In their eyes, any creature that stepped foot onto this territory had only one outcome: death.
"Kill!"
The leader wearing a tengu mask bellowed furiously.
Almost in the exact same instant, all twelve clapped their hands together!
"Domain Expansion—!"
Rumble—!
Twelve distinctly different yet thoroughly terrifying domain barriers descended simultaneously at this moment!
Fire, frost, lethal poison, gravity, spatial slashes...
Twelve lethal sure-hit rules frenziedly intertwined, overlapped, and collided in midair!
Because the energy of the twelve domains was excessively vast and utterly conflicting, even the space above the plaza could not bear the force, and large patches of black fissures began to tear open!
Space itself was collapsing!
If it had been any ordinary special grade sorcerer—even a genius like Yuta Okkotsu—facing this terrifying slaughter of twelve stacked domains, they would likely be obliterated into nothingness before surviving even a single second!
Outside the barrier.
Kinji Hakari and the others looked at the completely distorted, warped space and the terrifying storm of cursed energy threatening to tear the entire sky apart; they all involuntarily gasped, cold sweat pooling in their palms.
"This... this simply isn't a power humans can fight against!"
Noritoshi Kamo's voice trembled violently.
"Will Boss... really be fine?"
Yet, Yoru stood right at the epicenter of the twelve stacked domains.
Facing this apocalyptic spectacle capable of destroying heaven and earth, not a shred of panic could be seen on his handsome face.
"Twelve stacked domains?"
Yoru tilted his head slightly, the patterns of the Transparent World spinning to their utmost limits within his deep crimson eyes.
The storm of sure-hit rules that seemed chaotic and devoid of flaws to ordinary eyes clearly revealed thin, weak nodes where cursed energy intersected in Yoru's field of vision.
"It makes for quite a grand display."
"Yet a disorderly heap of rules is nothing more than a loose pile of sand in the end."
Hum—!
As Yoru's words fell,
a terrifying aura, like an ancient ferocious beast awakening, detonated outward in an instant from his body that seemingly possessed no cursed energy at all!
Across Yoru's forehead and left cheek, deep crimson marks burning like flames swiftly surfaced and spread!
Slayer Mark, activated!
Under the dual enhancement of the Slayer Mark and the Transparent World, Yoru's physical faculties and perception breached the human ceiling in an instant, reaching a domain bordering on the divine!
Clang—!
Shiranui let out a clear sword chime that echoed through the highest heavens.
The originally pitch-black blade transformed in this instant into a glaring, blinding bright white!
Bright Red Nichirin Sword, complete form!
An extreme heat capable of melting space itself swept frantically outward in all directions with Yoru at its center!
"Wh-What kind of temperature is this?!"
"My domain barrier... is actually melting?!"
Feeling that terrifying heat capable of igniting the very soul, the previously confident Twelve Heavenly Generals experienced an abrupt shift in their expressions!
"Don't panic! He's only one man! Hold the line!" The tengu leader frantically drove the cursed energy in his body, trying to maintain the stability of the domain.
Yet how could Yoru ever give them a chance to catch their breath?
"Total Concentration, Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form."
"Continuous Slash!"
Boom—!
Yoru's figure vanished from where he stood!
No, it wasn't that he vanished; his speed was simply so fast that even the dynamic vision of these ancient special grade sorcerers could no longer track it!
All that could be seen was a dazzling crimson meteor, carrying extreme heat capable of reducing everything to cinders, frantically shuttling and dancing through the twelve stacked domains!
Dance, Clear Blue Sky, Burning Sun, Fake Rainbow, Fire Wheel...
The first twelve sword forms of Sun Breathing were seamlessly connected in Yoru's hands, forging an endlessly revitalizing, eternal loop of death!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Accompanied by a series of tooth-grating ripping sounds,
those twelve stacked domains jointly cast by twelve special grade sorcerers—claimed to be capable of trapping even fifteen-finger Sukuna—actually underwent an eerie resonance at this moment!
Frost and fire intertwined, gravity and space superimposed, forming an absolute barrier capable of tearing everything to pieces!
Clang—!
Yoru's Bright Red Nichirin Sword struck heavily against the barrier, and a recoil force terrifying to the extreme surged wildly along the hilt into his arm.
The skin between his thumb and index finger tore instantly, several drops of crimson blood splattering out, and the black uniform on his body was also slashed with several tears by the turbulent spatial currents!
"You can block my Continuous Slash?"
Far from retreating, a rare flicker of excitement flashed across Yoru's eyes.
"Then let's see whether your barrier is harder, or my blade is sharper!"
Boom!
The temperature of the Slayer Mark rose once more; the sound of breathing in Yoru's lungs detonated like muffled thunder, and the speed of Continuous Slash broke through its original limit in an instant!
Under Yoru's unsparing, borderline-frenzied succession of slashes,
that indestructible absolute barrier finally began to show dense networks of cracks, until at last...
Like fragile soap bubbles, they were ruthlessly sliced open and shattered, one after another!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The backlash of the domains instantly caused the Twelve Heavenly Generals to violently cough up mouthfuls of blood simultaneously, and a huge gap was violently forced open in their previously tight encirclement by the powerful shockwave!
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
Clutching his chest, the tengu leader stared in disbelief at the man before him, who stood uninjured like a Shura bathed in fire.
"Our twelve stacked domains... how could they be slashed to pieces with a single blade by a monkey with no cursed energy?!"
The other eleven Heavenly Generals were likewise filled with shock and despair.
Their prized sure-hit rules had been evaporated directly by that terrifying heat before they could even brush the corner of his clothes!
"Your understanding of power is far too shallow."
Yoru slowly halted his steps, the high temperature on Shiranui's blade distorting the surrounding air beyond recognition.
In his deep crimson eyes gleamed an absolute dominance that held everything in contempt.
"A domain is merely imposing your own rules upon others."
"Whereas my blade..."
Yoru gripped the sword with both hands, the tip pointing directly forward at that pack of ancient monsters whose courage had already been shattered.
"...can sever the rules themselves!"
Before his voice finished fading,
Yoru turned into a streak of red lightning once again, taking the initiative to charge into the enemy ranks.
"Do not retreat! Form ranks! Strangle him in close combat!"
Forcing down the dread in his heart, the tengu leader roared as he unsheathed the tachi at his waist, leading the other eleven Heavenly Generals in an attempt to engage Yoru in hand-to-hand melee using their equally formidable physical might.
However,
only when they truly crossed blades with Yoru did they finally understand what true despair meant.
Under the foresight of the Transparent World, every attack trajectory, every muscle exerting force, and even their subsequent transition of moves were seen with utter clarity by Yoru!
Moreover, every swing of Yoru's Bright Red Nichirin Sword carried lethal heat; even grazing the barest sliver of skin brought unbearable agony as if their very souls were being set ablaze!
Yet these twelve ancient special grade sorcerers had also completely lost themselves to bloodlust; discarding all defense, they mounted a torrential counterattack against Yoru in a mad bid to trade life for life, braving the scorching heat of the Bright Red Nichirin Sword!
Poisonous mist corroded Yoru's sleeves, frost slowed his steps, and sharp slashes of cursed energy left bloody gashes of varying depths across his body.
In an engagement lasting less than half a minute,
though Yoru suppressed these twelve once-unrivaled Heian-era special grade sorcerers all on his own, he also paid a considerable price; his breathing began to quicken, and several shocking wounds appeared across his frame.
Blood and severed limbs flew through the air, and piercing shrieks resounded through the entire Osaka Colony.
This ultimate encirclement, upon which Kenjaku had placed such high hopes to eradicate Yoru,
had already devolved from the moment Yoru drew his blade into an exceptionally brutal, fist-to-flesh, life-or-death brawl!
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