This was the final round.
Both Mahito and Kinji Hakari clearly realized this.
These thirteen seconds would be the round that decided victory or defeat.
After thirteen seconds, Kinji Hakari would be able to use Domain Expansion again, and the recursive cycle of Infinite Cursed Energy would restart.
Everything that needed to be said had been said, and all resolutions had been made.
Next, there was only one thing left to do.
Fight.
Thirteen seconds left!
The dragon suddenly opened its mouth, and a sphere of blazing radiance appeared deep in its throat.
This was a phenomenon of Cursed Energy accumulation; a massive amount of Cursed Energy was being compressed and gathered deep within the dragon's throat.
It lowered its head, aiming the gathered Cursed Energy directly at Kinji Hakari.
At this moment, Kinji Hakari's first reaction was not to dodge or run, but to sprint toward that sphere of blazing radiance.
The man let out a thunderous roar, like a charging bull.
Dragon's Breath!
The dragon let out a long exhale, and a massive pillar of light erupted from the blazing radiance deep in its throat, extending forward.
The entire fighting arena shook, as if heaven and earth themselves were terrified of the dragon's breath.
The bombardment formed by the excessive Cursed Energy was like divine might.
Before even making contact, Kinji Hakari sensed that if he were hit directly, he would surely be vaporized by the Cursed Energy, with not even ashes remaining.
His heart pounded like a fast-paced drumbeat, and he could almost envision himself becoming human steam.
Fear nearly took control of his mind, but at this very moment, he was actually still smiling.
His face was full of laughter as he drew strength from his fear and transformed terror into courage and then even more cursed energy.
Just before the dragon's breath reached him, he performed a sudden power slide.
The torrent of energy from the dragon's breath passed right over him, the heat and gales from the massive flow of Cursed Energy blowing his hair about like seaweed.
Relying on this unexpected slide, Kinji Hakari slid right in front of the dragon.
He jumped up before it, clenched his fist, gritted his teeth as veins popped all over his body and his muscles bulged, and threw a punch with all his might.
In the next instant, he was struck by the dragon's claw.
The dragon's hawk-like, tiger-palmed claw swept across Kinji Hakari.
It turned out the dragon never intended to hit him with the dragon's breath in the first place, because the dragon knew perfectly well that when it came to experience fighting giant creatures, Kinji Hakari was superior.
Kinji Hakari was an experienced Jujutsu Sorcerer who had likely fought more Cursed Spirits in his life than he had seen people.
Most low-intelligence Cursed Spirits followed the rule that bigger meant stronger, so Kinji Hakari was certainly more skilled at dealing with giants than any beast of the forest.
Kinji Hakari's past experience in dealing with giant Cursed Spirits had actually worked against him.
The dragon had deliberately held back power during its breath attack, waiting for Kinji Hakari to run over.
And Kinji Hakari had indeed run over.
The dragon had prepared before he even jumped; just as he was airborne, the dragon's claw had already swung, and now he had crashed right into it.
A completely defenseless strike.
Whether a Jujutsu Sorcerer is prepared or not are two entirely different concepts.
Kinji Hakari had not expected to be attacked at all and could only make a hasty defensive movement before the strike landed.
But even so, when the dragon's claw hit him, it delivered a heavy blow.
He was sent flying like a cannonball, coughing up blood in mid-air mixed with bits of internal organs.
The lethal pain made his brain dizzy, and then he crashed into the outer wall of the fighting arena.
It wasn't over.
He smashed right through the wall and tumbled into the plaza of the multi-story parking garage.
Kirara screamed and wanted to act, but in the next instant, a blaze of fire blocked their vision as Jogo glared at them menacingly.
Hanami suddenly slammed both hands onto the ground, and a circle of trees rose up, trapping Jogo and Kirara inside.
Hanami stood at the edge, nodding slightly toward the dragon.
"Leave it to me," Hanami said.
One second passed; twelve seconds left.
The dragon did not shift its attention to Kirara for even a moment, because Mahito had confidence that his companions could easily handle them.
He concentrated all his attention on Kinji Hakari.
The dragon changed the vision mode of its eyes, seeing through the smoke and the walls of the fighting arena to witness Kinji Hakari's battered state as he tumbled like a rolling stone in the parking garage plaza.
Taking a deep breath, the energy of the atmosphere and his own Cursed Energy merged and gathered deep in his throat.
His mane moved on its own without any wind, fluttering wildly.
In less than half a second, the dragon opened its massive mouth again and exhaled a torrent of energy.
Dragon's Breath!
The torrent of Cursed Energy, like a beam of sunlight, pierced through the outer wall of the multi-story parking garage like a giant sword and slammed toward Kinji Hakari.
But before it hit, Kinji Hakari had already gotten up and was running outward.
The dragon's breath hit the spot where he had just been lying, creating a massive roar.
The resulting shockwave expanded outward in a frenzied circle.
Kinji Hakari concentrated his Cursed Energy on his back for reinforcement; when the shockwave hit, he was sent rolling forward as if struck by a cluster missile, bouncing and scraping against the ground like a skipping stone.
Kinji Hakari was about to stand up, but his body wavered.
He had lost his hearing.
His ears were sealed.
Two seconds passed; eleven seconds left.
The dragon finally began to move, violently smashing through the outer wall of the multi-story parking garage to enter the plaza.
Its winding, massive body seemed capable of filling the entire plaza.
Its serpentine form did not touch the ground, held aloft by some kind of Cursed Energy as it flew.
Its sharp claws lightly brushed the ground, leaving hideous gouges in the surface.
The dragon charged at Kinji Hakari, its claws sweeping out without hesitation.
Kinji Hakari, having just stood up, had no time to dodge.
He had thought the walls of the fighting arena would slightly obstruct the dragon's vision, never expecting its eyes to have a perspective-like function.
Consequently, he hadn't realized the dragon's follow-up attack would be so lethal.
He had barely managed to stabilize himself and stand up when the dragon's claw arrived before his eyes.
He was already blind and could see nothing, and his ears were deaf, unable to hear any sound.
However, the rushing Cursed Energy let him understand the incoming attack.
He gathered Cursed Energy all over his body for defense.
The dragon's claw suddenly snatched him up and then slammed him into the ground, burying Kinji Hakari deep beneath the surface.
It didn't stop there.
The dragon didn't stop its flight; it kept him in its grip, clutching him tightly while dragging him across the ground at high speed.
The massive impact and the pressure of the ground oppressed Kinji Hakari every second.
Although Kinji Hakari had reinforced himself with Cursed Energy, he still felt the agony of the immense friction eroding him.
Currently, Kinji Hakari did not have the automatic Reverse Cursed Technique provided by Infinite Cursed Energy.
He felt his insides churning and severe external injuries accumulating.
He was on the verge of fainting, but he didn't.
He only felt a parching heat throughout his body, unable to tell if it was adrenaline or his own fanaticism that had overridden the pain.
He suddenly grabbed one of the dragon's claws and snapped it with all his strength.
The dragon let out a startling roar and threw Kinji Hakari into the distance.
It looked down.
One of its claws had been broken.
This was the dragon's sharp claw.
Its hardness was even greater than that of its scales, yet it had still been snapped.
If he were hit directly by Kinji Hakari's fist, even this dragon body would likely suffer heavy damage.
Three seconds passed; ten seconds left.
The dragon stared at the broken claw.
The phalanges of the claw set themselves, and in an instant, the claw had healed.
No, this wasn't healing.
Because he maintained the shape of his soul, even if the physical body suffered heavy damage, it could automatically recover based on the soul's shape.
As long as the dragon form was not canceled, Idle Transfiguration would automatically maintain it.
Unless attacked by means that targeted the soul, the dragon's body would never suffer true damage.
Kinji Hakari crashed into the distance with a sound like a thunderclap.
A massive crater was smashed into the ground where he landed, and he lay in the center of it.
He wanted to stand up immediately, but unexpectedly lost his footing and almost fell again.
He shook his head, and blood overflowed from his mouth, but he swallowed it back down.
The reason he couldn't stand steadily was that he was both blind and deaf.
A person's ears are more important than one might imagine; losing sound also affects one's sense of balance.
Not to mention he was currently blind as well.
An untrained person wouldn't even be able to walk normally, let alone fight; they would only be able to shuffle along while holding onto a wall or something else.
But even so, Kinji Hakari had not lost his combat effectiveness.
His Cursed Energy perception had not failed.
Even without his eyes and ears, he was as swift as ever.
The real trouble was his internal and external injuries.
Internal injuries affected his Cursed Energy circulation, while external injuries affected his mobility.
He took a deep breath, wanting to quickly recover his state, only to find that he could no longer smell anything.
His nose was sealed.
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