Chapter 61: The Great War Begins
Domain Expansion: Infinite Void.
This technique sounded incredibly grand, but its effect was brutally simple: it forced an infinite influx of raw, useless information directly into the opponent's brain, completely frying the target's cognitive system.
In a mere fraction of a second—just zero point two seconds—this technique could pump half a year's worth of sensory and conceptual junk data into the enemy's mind.
Anyone caught in it would inevitably suffer instant, total brain paralysis.
Gojo Satoru floated serenely at the epicenter of his Domain, looking down at Abe no Seimei with a faint, knowing smirk. Right now, Abe no Seimei stood frozen in place, motionless, looking as though he had lost the very capacity to think.
Just as expected, I really am the strongest.
The thought crossed Gojo Satoru's mind as he stepped forward, closing the distance to Abe no Seimei, intending to deliver the definitive, finishing blow.
But just as he prepared to make his move, the dead, vacant look in Abe no Seimei's eyes suddenly vanished, flashing with a vivid, terrifying vitality unlike anything seen before.
Gojo Satoru's heart skipped a beat in sheer shock, and his instincts screamed at him to leap backward.
But he was a split second too late.
A blinding, brilliant flash of a sword tore through the air, and Gojo Satoru's Domain shattered like brittle glass in an instant. A deep, gruesome gash sliced across his chest and upper torso, deep enough to expose the bone underneath, and a thick, pitch-black yoki began to seep from the wound, aggressively corroding its way toward his limbs.
"How... How is this possible..." Gojo Satoru gasped, barely able to process the fact that his absolute Domain had yielded absolutely no result.
"Arrogance is a fatal flaw, Six Eyes."
Abe no Seimei held the Maō's Hammer—the very cursed blade that had just rent Gojo Satoru's flesh—and gazed down at his opponent with chilling calmness. "While your Infinite Void is indeed a formidable technique, in the end, it is still nothing more than a Domain."
Watching from a short distance away, Yumesaki couldn't help but nod silently in agreement.
It was exactly as Abe no Seimei said. No matter how overpowered Infinite Void seemed, its fundamental framework was still that of a Domain.
Furthermore, it was a Domain that operated by trying to flood the opponent's internal processor with malicious junk data.
On paper, it sounded utterly terrifying, but in reality, there were plenty of tactical counters against it.
Yumesaki had seen it clearly. The only reason Abe no Seimei remained completely unaffected by Infinite Void was because he had erected a specialized barrier tight around his own body, perfectly filtering and blocking the incoming data stream before it could touch his consciousness.
Because of that, Infinite Void was stripped of its core functionality entirely.
Of course, not just any ordinary barrier could pull off a feat like that, but Abe no Seimei was a different breed. He wasn't just a legendary grand Onmyoji; he was effectively the primordial ancestor of all Jujutsu Sorcerers. Manipulating barriers was practically encoded into his DNA.
Crafting a barrier capable of neutralizing Infinite Void was well within his wheelhouse.
"Farewell, Six Eyes."
Looking down at Gojo Satoru, who was now forced onto one knee against the cold floor, Abe no Seimei swung the cursed sword once more, unleashing another devastating arc of energy.
The sharp, sweeping slash tore a vacuum through the air, cleaving the stone floor in front of Gojo Satoru clean in two as it raced toward him. Just as the lethal arc was about to slice the sorcerer in half—
A sharp, ear-piercing screech of rending air echoed violently through the main hall of Aoi Spiral Castle. A crimson, cursed spear arrived like a bolt of lightning, striking the oncoming slash with pinpoint accuracy and shattering Abe no Seimei's attack into harmless sparks.
Gojo Satoru looked up, catching sight of a blue figure descending from the sky to stand firmly in front of him.
"Hey there, white-haired brat." Cu Chulainn straightened his posture, resting the terrifying Gae Bolg: Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death casually over his shoulder. His long blue hair fluttered wildly in the residual, raging currents of yoki.
He glanced over his shoulder, flashing a fiercely confident, wild grin at Gojo Satoru. "You had your fun just now. I'd say it's about time for my turn, don't you think?"
Gojo Satoru gritted his teeth, his face a mask of bitter frustration, but he knew he had no choice.
He tried channeling his Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the massive wound, but the results were sluggish.
While the Reverse Cursed Technique managed to close the physical tear in his flesh, that dense, pitch-black energy remained stubbornly rooted deep inside his body, refusing to be purged.
Under the stifling influence of this alien yoki, Gojo Satoru couldn't even tap into half of his usual output.
Attempting to clash with Abe no Seimei in this state would be nothing short of suicide.
Seeing the sheer reluctance painted across Gojo Satoru's face, Cu Chulainn burst into a hearty, unbridled laugh. He then snapped his head back toward the legendary Onmyoji, shouting, "Hey! I'm your opponent now, old man. You ready to take a beating?"
Abe no Seimei narrowed his eyes, completely ignoring the Lancer's trash talk. Instead, he brought Maō's Hammer up into a defensive guard in front of his chest, responding with an utterly emotionless expression, "A savage from a foreign land... It makes no difference. You will fall all the same."
"We'll see about that, you bastard!"
Cu Chulainn laughed uproariously, his foot violently planting against the ground.
Moving at a speed that left instantaneous teleportation in the dust, the cursed spear transformed into a streak of crimson lightning, thrusting violently toward Abe no Seimei.
Every single thrust carried a heavy curse; every strike was perfectly calculated to pierce the heart.
Abe no Seimei deflected the onslaught with Maō's Hammer. The demonic sword collided with the cursed spear, unleashing a cascade of sparks that seemed to tear microscopic, black fissures into the very fabric of space.
After several rapid exchanges failed to force Cu Chulainn back, Abe no Seimei took a swift half-step backward, and five paper talismans shot out from the depths of his wide sleeves like bullets.
"Five Elements Mutual Conflict: Demon Sealing Barrier."
"A barrier?" Cu Chulainn executed a flawless backflip to create some breathing room, spinning the cursed spear deftly in his hand. "Man, I absolutely loathe people like you who do nothing but draw circles all day!"
He poured the entirety of his Mana straight into the cursed spear, the deadly tip locking dead onto Abe no Seimei. "If that's how you want to play, don't blame me for getting rough. I'm taking that heart of yours."
"Gae Bolg!"
In that singular moment, the laws of cause and effect were completely inverted.
It was no longer a matter of the spear being thrust to strike the heart; the absolute outcome of the heart being pierced was established first. Only then did the cursed spear tear through space, bending reality itself as it transformed into a streak of crimson light that could not be dodged, racing directly for Abe no Seimei's chest.
Reflected in Abe no Seimei's pupils was the crimson spear destined to pierce through all creation.
The crimson lance of inverted causality bypassed the physical distance, tearing through the Demon Sealing Barrier like paper before making contact with Abe no Seimei's Onmyoji robes.
Yet, Abe no Seimei didn't even flinch. He didn't bother to dodge, nor did he raise his blade to parry. He simply allowed the spearhead to plunge deep into his chest, impaling his heart through and through.
"Reversing cause and effect? A magnificent technique, truly."
Even with his heart utterly destroyed, Abe no Seimei's voice remained as calm and undisturbed as still water, completely devoid of any pain or panic.
"However, you made one fundamental mistake, savage."
The confident grin on Cu Chulainn's face instantly froze.
He watched in disbelief as the cursed spear withdrew from Abe no Seimei's chest. Instead of a fountain of fresh, crimson blood, a mass of writhing, pitch-black yoki spilled from the wound.
Countless microscopic tendrils of flesh erupted along the edges of the tear, weaving and binding back together at a speed that could easily be tracked by the naked eye.
In the span of just three short breaths, the gaping hole where his heart used to be vanished entirely, looking as though it had never existed in the first place.
At the same time, Abe no Seimei's icy voice resonated through the hall, "To a mere mortal, a pierced heart is a fatal blow. But I have long since transcended humanity. Therefore..."
In the next fraction of a second, Maō's Hammer swung in a devastating horizontal arc.
Cu Chulainn wrenched his spear back and retreated at a blinding speed, the shaft of his weapon letting out a heavy, groaning screech as it absorbed the immense weight of the demonic sword's impact.
He was skidded back over ten meters, the rubber soles of his shoes carving two deep trenches into the shattered stone floor. Before he could even stabilize his stance, a massive, dense web of runic arrays suddenly ignited directly beneath his feet.
He looked down to find a giant spell circle covering a hundred-meter radius completely active.
"Onmyodo: Soul Binding Barrier."
Abe no Seimei's voice seemed to echo from every direction simultaneously as countless ethereal chains erupted from the glowing array, lashing out to tightly bind Cu Chulainn's limbs, torso, and neck.
"My heart is not a weakness."
With those final words, Abe no Seimei raised the demonic sword high, bringing it down in a swift, lethal strike meant to decapitate the immobilized Lancer.
But just as the edge of the blade was about to fall, a single arrow slammed heavily into the flat of the sword.
The immense kinetic and magical force packed into the arrow detonated violently, forcing Abe no Seimei a few steps back. The explosive shockwave simultaneously shattered the binding barrier, allowing Cu Chulainn to break free from the tightening chains.
The Heroic Spirit Emiya had intervened.
"Tch." Cu Chulainn spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, looking up at the crimson-clad Archer with a smirk. "Guess I owe you one."
"You were reckless," Emiya replied evenly, his eyes never leaving the enemy. "Do not forget that you are facing an ancient monster who has lived for over a thousand years."
In a thousand years, even a common pig could cultivate enough spiritual power to become a yokai, let alone a historical genius like Abe no Seimei.
This was a man who had left an indelible mark on history within a short lifespan of just a few decades.
God only knew how monstrously powerful he had become after a millennium of continuous refinement.
Cu Chulainn chuckled, "Yeah, yeah... I admit I got careless. But it won't happen a second time."
He gripped the cursed spear tightly, adjusting his stance and pointing the tip directly at Abe no Seimei's head. "With my next thrust, I'm turning your skull inside out."
He refused to believe the old monster could survive having his brain completely pulverized.
Abe no Seimei paid absolutely no attention to Cu Chulainn's threats. Instead, he murmured softly to himself, "It is about time."
Cu Chulainn let out a confused grunt, his eyebrows knitting together in utter bewilderment at what the old man was muttering about.
At that exact moment, an ominous, eerie shift occurred throughout the Spiral Castle.
From near and far, spanning every single corridor and shadow, countless dim, pale-blue flames flickered into existence against the darkness.
Emiya's pupils contracted instantly, and his head snapped upward.
Within every single flickering flame, a distinct silhouette materialized. They wore Onmyoji robes of various designs, their feet resting atop massive, summoning Shikigami, pouring into the main hall of Aoi Spiral Castle like an unstoppable, rising tide from all directions.
From a nearby balcony, a young man with a shock of stark white hair descended, riding atop a massive, wolf-like Shikigami. The moment his feet touched the ground, a localized vortex of freezing, razor-sharp spiritual energy erupted around him.
From the deeper shadows further away, a middle-aged man with a grim, hollow gaze stepped forward, a ghostly lantern that never blew out dangling from his hand. Marching silently behind him was a dense, unending parade of grotesque monsters.
In the northeast sector, a regiment of Onmyoji clad in stark black robes advanced in flawless military synchronization, their paper talismans weaving a glowing, restrictive grid across the air.
Over in the southwest, a noblewoman dressed in an ornate Kariginu commanded a massive white fox and a sleek black panther, the dense mixture of yoki and spiritual power weaving into invisible, sky-spanning threads that choked the air.
Southeast, northwest, south, north—Onmyoji converged from every imaginable coordinate, and from every direction, the deafening roars of Shikigami echoed through the rafters.
These forces represented the absolute accumulation of Abe no Seimei's power over the course of a thousand years.
The white-robed Abe Clan, and the black-robed Gokadoin.
In the original lore of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, these individuals were the direct bloodline descendants of Abe no Seimei himself.
By utilizing the forbidden ritual known as the Taizan Fukun no Sai, a technique perfected by Seimei, they had achieved an ageless, eternal existence.
Their singular, absolute purpose was to guard Seimei's jade throne and his sacred sanctuary, biding their time until the day of his true resurrection.
To achieve this, they had embedded themselves seamlessly beside the ruling authorities of every historical era, existing in secret as a specialized, elite faction of Onmyoji.
Though they rarely stepped into the limelight of mainstream history, it was whispered that their individual strength easily surpassed that of a Daiyokai.
The leadership of the clan shifted over time as history underwent violent, turbulent upheavals.
By the time the leadership reached the fifth generation, the clan officially changed its surname from Abe to Gokadoin, simultaneously trading their traditional white robes for ominous black attire.
The specialized barrier formations utilized by the Gokadoin family naturally took the shape of intricate, multi-pointed stars.
And in this chaotic, merged universe, this exact group of individuals continued to exist, dwelling deep within the hidden confines of the Spiral Castle.
The high-octane battle between Gojo Satoru, Cu Chulainn, and Abe no Seimei had long since alerted them.
However, they hadn't rushed blindly into the fray. Instead, they had spent the time stealthily gathering their spiritual power and meticulously weaving their barriers. Now that the stage was perfectly set—
The ancestral army finally showed its hand.
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