Rin's voice wasn't loud, yet visible shockwaves rippled across the sunlit tropical beach.
Floating on the sea, Dagon's faceless head twitched violently with rage. As a Special Grade Curse born from humanity's fear of the ocean, it was the absolute ruler within its Domain, Horizon of the Captivating Skandha.
Yet this human before it, a man with no Cursed Energy whatsoever, dared to look at it as if he were staring at a dead fish on a chopping board.
"Arrogant monkey! I'll grind you into meat paste and turn you into the lowest-grade fertilizer at the bottom of the ocean!"
Dagon abruptly crossed its arms before its chest, and the cursed markings on its abdomen erupted with a dazzling blue glow.
"Domain Sure-Hit Technique: Death Swarm! Maximum Output!"
Rumble!
The previously calm sea instantly boiled.
Thousands of enormous sea serpents several times larger than before, deep-sea monstrosities with razor-sharp fangs, and poisonous translucent jellyfish surged forth like a living tsunami that blotted out the sky, crashing toward Rin's position.
The sheer density of the attack was enough to reduce a steel bridge to dust in an instant.
In the distance, Megumi, Nanami, and the others watched with eyes wide in shock. Even at their peak, there was no way they could survive an attack of that magnitude.
"Mr. Rin! Move! Attacks inside a Domain are guaranteed to hit!" Megumi shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Guaranteed to hit?"
Rin looked at the sky-obscuring swarm of sea creatures and sneered.
"That's assuming this trash can even break through my defence."
He remained where he stood, making no attempt to dodge.
His left hand stayed in his trench coat pocket while his right rested on the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword at his waist. His thumb gently pushed against the guard.
Clang.
A streak of purple-black lightning leaked from the scabbard.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Current."
Violent high-voltage lightning erupted from Rin's body, spreading in every direction like a blooming lotus of thunder.
Seawater was an excellent conductor. The moment the overwhelming horde of oceanic shikigami touched the lightning field, piercing crackles echoed throughout the entire Domain.
Hundreds of millions of volts of Lightning Release chakra tore through the shikigami's cursed energy structures with brutal force, reducing them to charred ash and steam in midair.
Ash drifted down from the sky.
Rin stood completely unharmed.
Not even a single drop of water had touched the hem of his trench coat.
"How is this possible?! My Death Swarm was destroyed instantly?!"
Dagon was horrified.
It immediately abandoned its long-range assault. Its massive body plunged into the sea, intending to use its home-field advantage to launch a stealth attack from underwater.
"Want to play hide-and-seek? You've picked the wrong opponent."
The six-tomoe Rinnegan in Rin's eyes rotated slowly.
Under the Rinnegan's supreme perception, Dagon's enormous flow of cursed energy beneath the water was as conspicuous as a searchlight in the darkness.
Rin's gaze fixed on a rolling wave thirty metres to his left.
"Amenotejikara."
Hum~!
No spatial distortion appeared.
Rin vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he swapped places with the wave and appeared directly above the sea.
At that very moment, Dagon burst from the water with its jaws wide open, lunging toward the spot where Rin had originally been standing.
"Above you."
A cold voice descended from overhead.
Dagon looked up in horror and was met by a leather boot carrying the force of a thousand thunderclaps.
Bang!!!
Rin's heavy kick crashed squarely into Dagon's forehead.
The terrifying strength instantly shattered the Special Grade Curse's vaunted physical defence. Dagon didn't even have time to scream before its massive body was blasted out of the sea like a cannonball, hurtling toward the distant beach and carving a deep trench across the ocean surface in its wake.
Boom!
Dagon slammed into the beach, creating a massive crater as sand and dust erupted into the air.
"Cough... Agh..."
Large mouthfuls of purple cursed blood spilled from its mouth. The agony of its fractured skull left it barely able to think.
It struggled to stand, only to discover that the black-haired youth had already arrived at the edge of the crater, looking down at it from above.
"With this level of durability, you think you're qualified to open a Domain?"
Rin drew the Kusanagi Sword.
Purple-black arcs of lightning danced across the blade.
For the first time, Dagon felt true fear.
Its proud Domain had been torn apart like paper before this man. The opponent hadn't even used Domain Expansion. He had simply crushed it through pure physical prowess and that bizarre lightning technique.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, human! As long as I'm in this sea, my cursed energy is infinite!"
Dagon roared hysterically and slammed both hands into the sand.
"Water Prison..."
It intended to create an ultra-dense torrent and completely seal Rin away.
But Rin had no intention of giving it the opportunity to finish.
"Too slow."
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye blazed with a dazzling crimson light.
"Since you love this beach so much, I'll make it your crematorium."
"Amaterasu."
Fwoosh!
Without warning or trajectory, a cluster of eerie black flames ignited directly on Dagon's chest.
"What is this?! It's burning! Water! Give me water!"
Dagon shrieked and immediately summoned massive amounts of seawater over its body, trying to extinguish the flames.
It was useless.
The black flames of Amaterasu were said to burn everything in existence. The seawater became fuel the moment it touched them, causing the fire to rage even more fiercely.
The black flames spread rapidly across Dagon's body, greedily devouring its flesh.
"It's not over yet."
Rin's expression remained cold as the power of his right eye focused once more.
"Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi."
Under Rin's control, the Amaterasu flames consuming Dagon were stripped away and drawn into the air.
The enormous mass of black fire compressed and condensed at an astonishing rate.
In the end, it transformed into three enormous interconnected black tomoe.
The three tomoe, forged from inextinguishable black flames, floated behind Rin. They radiated a terrifying heat that seemed capable of scorching even space itself.
In the distance, Nanami, Naobito, and the others stared at the three pitch-black tomoe, their souls trembling uncontrollably.
This was a destructive force that completely transcended the jujutsu system.
A power that stood above its very rules.
"It's over, seafood."
Rin raised his right hand like a blade and slashed it forward.
"Blaze Release: Yasaka Magatama."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three pitch-black tomoe transformed into blazing meteors, screaming through the air as they shattered the sound barrier and slammed into Dagon's massive body with overwhelming force.
BOOM!!!
A world-shaking explosion erupted within the Domain.
The black inferno bloomed like a lotus of death, instantly swallowing Dagon's screams and sweeping across the surroundings.
The seawater evaporated.
The beach was scorched into glass-like crystal.
Dagon's body, which could withstand the bombardment of Grade 1 sorcerers, failed to endure even a single second against the combined power of Yasaka Magatama and Amaterasu. It was reduced directly to the finest ash.
With the complete death of its caster, Dagon...
Crack... Crash!
The bright sky and azure ocean shattered like broken glass.
Pieces of the scenery peeled away and dissolved into nothingness.
The Domain Expansion, Horizon of the Captivating Skandha, had been burned through by the black flames and completely collapsed.
...
Shibuya Station, B5F.
The cold, damp air of reality enveloped everyone once more.
Broken railway tracks.
Flickering emergency lights.
Everything had returned to normal.
Megumi's legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. Forcing his Domain to counter Dagon's had nearly drained every last bit of his cursed energy and stamina.
Naobito clutched his severed right arm, his face pale from blood loss and teetering on the verge of collapse.
Nanami's left eye was a bloody mess.
Maki had fallen into a semi-conscious state from the poison coursing through her body.
Rin sheathed the Kusanagi Sword.
The lingering black flames around him vanished instantly with a single glance.
He turned and looked at the battered sorcerers.
"You couldn't even handle a single piece of seafood. You're all weak enough to give me a headache."
Walking over to Naobito and Nanami, Rin let out a sigh.
If left untreated, the old man would be crippled by the loss of an arm. Nanami's combat ability would be severely reduced with one eye gone.
As for Maki, that poison was hardly worth mentioning.
"Consider yourselves lucky you ran into me while I'm in a good mood."
Rin raised his right hand.
A rich emerald-green light, almost liquid in appearance, bloomed in his palm.
Yang Release Chakra.
With a casual wave, the green radiance split into three streams and entered the bodies of Naobito, Nanami, and Maki.
A miracle unfolded before everyone's eyes.
An intense itching sensation spread through the stump of Naobito's severed arm.
Then, under Megumi's dumbfounded stare, white bone, red muscle fibres, blood vessels, and skin rapidly grew and intertwined.
Within ten seconds, a perfectly intact right arm had regenerated.
Nanami's ruined left eye underwent a similar transformation.
The dead tissue was replaced by newly formed flesh, and his vision was instantly restored.
At the same time, the poison within Maki's body was forcibly purged by the overwhelming vitality of Yang Release.
Her eyes snapped open.
She sprang to her feet, disbelief written all over her face.
"This... my arm..."
Naobito stared at his regenerated limb as he flexed his fingers and clenched his fist.
It felt like a dream.
In over seventy years of life, he had never heard of a Reverse Cursed Technique capable of recreating lost body parts from nothing.
This had already surpassed the realm of medicine.
It was a miracle belonging to the domain of gods.
Nanami touched his restored left eye.
Even his usually calm and composed expression couldn't conceal the shock in his gaze.
He bowed deeply toward Rin.
"I will never forget this kindness."
"No need to thank me. If all of you died, who would deal with the small fry outside?"
Rin turned away.
At that moment, the familiar notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Detected that the host has killed Special Grade Curse: Dagon!]
[Successfully broke through the Domain Expansion, Horizon of the Captivating Skandha, and saved Nanami Kento, Zenin Naobito, and Zenin Maki from the fate of severe injury or death!]
[Congratulations! Host has obtained 18,000 Dimension Points!]
The numbers on the system panel jumped.
Eighteen thousand points.
Added to his existing balance, it was another substantial profit.
A satisfied smile tugged at the corner of Rin's lips.
He looked toward the dark tunnel leading deeper into the underground station.
From there, he could sense an incredibly violent and scorching surge of cursed energy rampaging unchecked.
"Looks like Jogo is making quite a commotion."
Hands in his pockets, Rin walked past the still-stunned sorcerers and headed deeper into the passageway.
"Clean up this place."
"I'm going to crush the remaining rats one by one."
___
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