Meanwhile.
Shibuya Station, B5 Floor, Fukutoshin Line Platform.
The atmosphere was so oppressive that even the air itself seemed frozen solid.
Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer Nanami Kento, Special Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer Zenin Naobito, and Zenin Maki stood back-to-back, staring at the grotesque monster floating in midair.
It was a crimson, tentacle-covered Cursed Womb resembling an octopus.
Just moments earlier, it had devoured a massive amount of human flesh, completing its evolution from a Cursed Womb into its fully matured form.
Special Grade Cursed Spirit—
Dagon.
Now fully transformed, Dagon had become a heavily built monster draped in something resembling a straw raincoat.
Its face lacked any clear features, containing only rows of jagged teeth while radiating an immense and tyrannical aura like the depths of the sea itself.
"For Jogo... for Hanami... every human here will die."
Dagon's voice sounded like whispers rising from the deep ocean as immense Cursed Energy spread outward in visible blue ripples.
"Everyone, stay alert. This thing's total Cursed Energy is overwhelming."
Nanami adjusted his goggles, gripping his blunt sword tightly.
Zenin Naobito took a swig from his sake gourd before hanging it back at his waist.
"I've lived a long time and seen all sorts of Cursed Spirits. It's just a mutated seafood monster. Watch me turn it into sashimi."
"Projection Sorcery!"
Naobito instantly vanished from sight.
Dividing one second into twenty-four frames, his supreme speed made him appear above Dagon like teleportation itself as he slammed down a fist wrapped in Cursed Energy.
But Dagon's reaction exceeded everyone's expectations.
It didn't dodge.
Its abdomen suddenly split open, unleashing hundreds of giant piranha-like Shikigami.
The watery Shikigami surged upward like a reverse waterfall, smashing Naobito away instantly.
"This thing can summon Shikigami without hand signs! Maki, fall back!"
Nanami shouted as he slashed apart several piranhas lunging toward Maki.
But Dagon's attacks flowed endlessly like a tsunami.
Countless marine-life Shikigami filled the underground space, suppressing all three of them.
"It's useless! There are too many! We can't even get close!"
Maki swung her cursed tool spear repeatedly, breathing heavily.
With no Cursed Energy of her own, she relied entirely on physical strength, and her arms were already numb.
Watching the three struggle, Dagon seemed to lose interest in the fight.
It calmly brought its hands together into a strange hand seal.
"Humans... witness the wrath of the ocean."
"Domain Expansion: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha!"
Boom!
The moment Dagon activated its Domain, the entire fifth basement floor was instantly rewritten.
The concrete walls, train tracks, and emergency lights vanished completely.
In their place appeared a tropical beach bathed in sunlight, with swaying palm trees and an endless blue ocean stretching into the horizon.
Yet beneath the paradise-like scenery lurked overwhelming killing intent.
"A Domain?!"
Nanami's expression changed drastically.
The instant they were dragged inside, they lost all initiative.
Within a Domain, Dagon's attacks possessed a sure-hit effect.
Every strike would bypass distance and defense entirely.
"Death Swarm!"
Dagon coldly waved a hand.
The ocean exploded.
Thousands of massive sea serpents, giant piranhas, and poisonous jellyfish surged toward the three sorcerers like a tsunami of flesh.
Puchi! Puchi!
There was no way to dodge.
Zenin Naobito's right arm was instantly torn off by a sea-serpent Shikigami erupting from empty space, blood spraying everywhere.
The elderly sorcerer screamed as he collapsed heavily onto the beach.
Nanami's left eye was pierced by a strange fish, while half his body was ripped into a bloody mess.
Maki became entangled by several jellyfish, their poison invading her body and making it difficult even to stand.
"It's over."
Floating above the sea, Dagon looked down upon the completely overwhelmed trio and prepared to finish them off.
Then—
"Chimera Shadow Garden!"
A youthful yet resolute voice suddenly echoed from the edge of the Domain.
Above the beach, the barrier of Dagon's Domain was being forcibly eroded by thick black shadows, opening a massive hole.
Fushiguro Megumi descended through the gap, drenched in sweat, his hands maintaining the sign for Domain Expansion.
Using his incomplete Domain, he forcibly neutralized the sure-hit effect within Dagon's Domain.
"Nanami-san! Zenin Clan Head! Maki-senpai!"
Megumi's legs sank into the shadows across the beach as he desperately maintained the opening.
"I've neutralized the sure-hit effect! Hurry and escape through the gap!"
Seeing hope, Nanami and Naobito endured their severe injuries and rushed toward Megumi with the last of their strength.
"Trying to escape? Don't make me laugh!"
Dagon roared furiously and prepared to command the Shikigami to intercept them.
But just as everyone believed they had a chance to escape—
Outside the opening Megumi had forcibly torn into the Domain, a steady, unhurried set of footsteps suddenly echoed.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of leather boots against concrete passed through the opening and reached the tropical beach clearly.
Megumi froze.
He was desperately holding the gap open so people could escape.
Yet now, someone was actually trying to enter from outside?
A slender hand casually rested against the edge of the Domain's opening.
Then a tall figure in a black trench coat stepped through the boundary between life and death with calm composure, entering Dagon's Domain Expansion.
Short black hair.
Deep dark eyes.
A straight sword wrapped in gray cloth held loosely in one hand.
The instant he stepped inside, an indescribable pressure like a bottomless abyss swept across the entire tropical beach.
The roaring marine Shikigami froze midair as though time itself had stopped.
"R-Rin-san?!"
Megumi's eyes widened in shock. In his astonishment, he nearly forgot to maintain his Domain.
Yet the opening did not close.
Simply by standing there, the massive Chakra radiating from Rin forcibly suppressed the laws of the Domain itself.
Nanami clutched his bleeding eye while Naobito held his severed arm, both staring in horror at the black-haired young man who had suddenly appeared.
Naobito recognized that face.
The monster who had intimidated the entire Zenin Clan with a single glance.
"Who... are you?"
Floating above the sea, Dagon felt an unprecedented sense of danger.
Though its face lacked visible expressions, its tensed muscles betrayed its fear.
It could not sense any Cursed Energy from this human.
Yet he stood there so casually, as though he were the true master of this Domain.
Even the surrounding air seemed to submit to him.
"You turn a sewer into a beach and suddenly think you're ruler of the ocean?"
Rin's gaze swept over the heavily injured Nanami and the others before finally settling on Dagon.
"You're nothing more than a grain of sand before me."
___
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