Ren adjusted his grip on the black hilt of his katana. He stood entirely still, his mind racing. He had two massive problems.
In front of him was Toji Fushiguro, a GHOST operating on pure, soulless instinct. Above him floated Dagon, a Special Grade Disaster Curse worth a massive payout of System Points.
If he turned his back on Toji, it was a death sentence. But if he didn't secure the kill on Dagon, he wouldn't get the points he desperately needed.
A few yards away, blood soaked into the pristine sand. Megumi was on one knee, violently bleeding as he pushed every last drop of his energy into keeping his incomplete domain open to suppress Dagon's guaranteed-hit effect.
High above the white sand, Dagon let out a wet, angry gargle. Because Megumi was blocking the domain's auto-target, Dagon had to aim his attacks manually. But when he looked down at the beach, his brain stalled.
Dagon strained to read the cursed energy of the teenager and the scarred man, but found absolutely nothing. Even trying to track them manually was impossible; to his senses, they felt like inert rocks or empty space.
"Why can't I track you?!" Dagon gurgled, his multiple eyes narrowing in disgust. "You're just meat! Empty, useless meat!"
Abandoning his frustration, Dagon raised his webbed hands and manually directed the water to attack. The ocean frothed, and dozens of massive, flesh-eating fish burst from the waves, hurtling toward the shoreline like torpedoes.
The swarming shikigami slammed down toward the beach.
Ren swung Nightfall in a fast, tight arc. A sharp hum cut through the air, and the incoming fish split into neat halves. Dead meat and saltwater splashed over his boots.
But Ren kept his eyes locked on the scarred man standing on the water.
Toji was empty-handed. No cursed tool, no knife. But Ren knew exactly what a Complete Heavenly Restriction felt like now. He could feel the terrifying strength packed into his own muscles, and Toji had the exact same power.
If Ren turned his back to fight the floating curse, he was giving an equal opponent a free shot at his blind spot. A bare fist backed by that much force could do quite a lot of damage.
"Nanami-san. Old man," Ren called out, his eyes never leaving Toji. "I need a favor."
Nanami wiped blood from his chin and tightened his grip on his cleaver. "This is a terrible time for jokes, Ren."
"Keep the zombie busy for fifteen seconds," Ren said. He pointed his free hand up at Dagon.
"I'll chop the squid into calamari. But someone needs to watch my back."
Nanami stared at him, his disbelief obvious behind his cracked goggles. "That is a Special Grade curse. You cannot simply—"
"Fifteen seconds," Ren cut him off, his voice flat.
Nanami ground his teeth. He glanced at Megumi, who shook violently as dark shadows leaked from his hands.
Ren looked at Naobito.
The old Zen'in clan head looked awful. He was pale, sweating, and clutching the bleeding stump of his arm. But his wide, unblinking eyes were glued entirely to Toji. Naobito knew exactly who that man was. His body was stiff with pure survival instinct.
"Hey, old man," Ren said loudly. "Can you stall him or not?"
Naobito flinched. He dragged his gaze from Toji to Ren. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the white sand and let out a harsh laugh.
"Fifteen seconds against Toji Fushiguro," Naobito rasped. He forced himself to stand straight, shifting his weight to his good side. "You ask for miracles, boy. Do it fast."
"Count on it," Ren said.
High up, Dagon shrieked. The water bubbled. Another massive wave of fish shot out of the ocean, aiming right for the beach.
At the exact same second, Toji kicked off the water. The ocean exploded under his feet. He shot toward the shore like a missile, aiming straight for Ren.
"Go!" Nanami yelled.
Nanami and Naobito surged forward. They threw themselves right into Toji's path. Nanami swung his cleaver, forcing the scarred man to dodge, while Naobito used his speed technique to try and box Toji in.
Ren didn't stick around to watch. He ignored the fight behind him completely.
He kicked off the sand. The white beach cratered beneath his boots. With his new strength pushing his body to the limit, Ren launched himself straight up into the air, flying directly toward the floating curse.
Ren shot through the air. Below him, the white sand shrank away.
Dagon sneered, raising his webbed hands. To the Disaster Curse, Ren was just an empty, weak target with no cursed energy. Dagon summoned a wall of water, ready to crush the human.
He never got the chance. Ren's speed was completely beyond Dagon's perception.
In Ren's right hand, Nightfall began to vibrate. The katana had just sliced through dozens of Dagon's flesh-eating fish. The blade's special trait activated, instantly converting the stolen cursed energy from the shikigami into pure Positive Energy. The pitch-black steel rapidly shifted, glowing with a blinding, bright white light.
Ren closed the distance in a fraction of a second, appearing right in front of Dagon's face. He pulled Nightfall back, pointing the glowing white tip directly at the curse's chest.
Dagon panicked. He hastily crossed his thick arms to block the incoming stab.
But Ren didn't stab him.
Ren dropped his sword arm, twisted his hips, and threw a brutal left hook. His bare fist slammed directly into Dagon's face. The raw, terrifying force of the Complete Heavenly Restriction crushed Dagon's jaw instantly.
The Special Grade curse folded in half. Dagon plummeted out of the sky like a dropped boulder, slamming into the white beach. The impact blasted sand fifty feet into the air.
Ren hovered at the peak of his jump for a split second. He flipped the glowing white katana in his hand, aiming the point downward. With a sharp exhale, he threw Nightfall like a javelin.
The sword cut a white streak through the air and drove straight into Dagon's chest, pinning the curse to the bottom of the crater.
Dagon's multiple eyes bulged. He opened his ruined mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
The concentrated Positive Energy inside Nightfall violently expelled into his body. Because curses are made entirely of negative energy, the positive charge acted like a lethal poison, vaporizing him from the inside out.
A blinding flash of white light erupted from the sand. There was no fire or shockwave. Dagon simply exploded into a massive cloud of purple ash.
On the beach, Megumi dropped to both knees. The dark shadow puppets slipped from his bloody, trembling fingers. He stared at the giant crater of ash, his jaw completely slack.
A Special Grade curse had just been annihilated in exactly three seconds. He looked up at Ren, his exhausted mind completely failing to process what he just watched.
A few yards away, Nanami and Naobito barely dodged a sweeping kick from Toji. They both snapped their heads toward the massive explosion of Positive Energy. Even Naobito forgot to breathe, his eyes wide in absolute shock.
Without Dagon alive to sustain it, the sunny beach and crashing waves flickered like a broken television screen.
The sky cracked. The ocean tore apart like wet paper. The entire Domain Expansion shattered into millions of black, glassy fragments that instantly melted into the air.
The blinding sunlight vanished. The harsh, flickering fluorescent lights of the underground station snapped back into reality. The smell of ocean salt was replaced by the dry, metallic scent of train tracks and concrete dust.
Ren landed smoothly on the tiled floor of the Shibuya subway station. He walked forward, pulling Nightfall out of the small pile of ash left behind, and flicked his wrist to clean the blade.
He looked over his shoulder. Nanami, Naobito, and Megumi were staring at him in stunned silence.
Then, right across the station floor, Toji Fushiguro slowly turned his head. His soulless, pitch-black eyes locked entirely onto Ren.
Before either of them could make a move, the space right in front of Ren's face violently rippled.
A blinding flash of gold shattered the gloom of the subway station. It wasn't the system's usual pale blue.
The massive holographic window was screaming in pure, bright gold, its borders pulsing so intensely that the light reflected off the broken glass scattered across the floor.
[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Calamity Quelled (Ocean) ]
,,,
Nanami slowly lowered his wrapped cleaver.
He didn't immediately move. He just stared at the small pile of purple ash settling on the cracked tiles, and then at the teenager who was casually flicking his black katana clean.
Aura farming.
The phrase echoed in the forefront of Nanami's mind with the piercing, agonizing clarity of an impending migraine.
Behind his cracked goggles, Nanami closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. The metallic stench of the subway tracks faded, instantly replaced by the damp, stale air of a concrete basement months ago. He could perfectly hear Satoru Gojo's utterly obnoxious, sing-song whisper.
"He's just acting like a clumsy newbie on purpose. He wants to look cool... He's just waiting for the perfect, dramatic moment where everyone is cornered and all hope is lost, just so he can suddenly reveal his true strength..."
T_T
"Mannn what a dragg..."