"Still… not enough…"
Megumi Fushiguro dropped to one knee.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His Domain Expansion — Chimera Shadow Garden was collapsing.
The black shadow space was shrinking rapidly.
Like a candle in a violent storm.
Across the beach-like battlefield—
The enemy domain continued to expand.
Rippling Horizon devoured everything in its path.
Megumi's shadows were being pushed back meter by meter.
The escape route he created—
A shadow tunnel leading outside the barrier—
Was now completely blocked.
Hundreds of piranha-shaped shikigami piled together.
A living wall of teeth and flesh.
Each impact from the monsters made Megumi's domain tremble violently.
"Don't give up!"
Kento Nanami raised his blunt blade.
Blood soaked his suit.
One eye was nearly swollen shut.
But his voice remained steady.
"As long as we are breathing…"
"…we keep fighting."
"We are sorcerers."
"And sorcerers die on the battlefield."
"That is our responsibility."
"But…"
Maki Zenin clenched her weapon tighter.
Her knuckles turned white.
The shikigami swarm was endless.
Every direction was filled with monsters.
No matter how strong she was physically—
This was a Domain Expansion.
A battlefield where the enemy ruled absolute law.
Was this the difference between them and a true Special Grade?
A gap that effort alone could never cross?
The cursed spirit laughed wildly.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"Struggle!"
"Fight!"
"Become food for my domain!"
More shikigami burst from the sea.
Their numbers multiplied endlessly.
To the curse—
Watching powerful sorcerers fall into despair was pure entertainment.
Then—
A sound echoed across the beach.
Crack.
It was quiet.
Almost delicate.
Yet unmistakable.
The sound of something breaking.
The cursed spirit froze.
Its laughter stopped.
"What…?"
The crack spread across the horizon.
Thin.
Jagged.
Growing larger.
But the crack wasn't inside Megumi's domain.
It appeared on the barrier of Rippling Horizon itself.
Someone was attacking it.
From outside.
The domain barrier pulsed violently.
Trying to repair itself.
Trying to reject the intruder.
But something was forcing its way through.
A pair of hands embedded into the glowing membrane.
Fingers digging deep.
On the other side stood Yagami Sora.
System warnings flashed rapidly across his vision.
[WARNING: Spatial stability abnormal]
[Required computational load: 270%]
[Brain temperature: 39.1°C → 39.4°C]
Sora ignored them.
His fingers tightened.
The domain barrier pushed back violently.
Like a living creature trying to expel a parasite.
The pressure crushed his muscles.
His bones creaked under the strain.
But he refused to let go.
This wasn't simply tearing through a barrier.
It was a tug-of-war with the rules of reality itself.
[Brain temperature: 39.7°C]
[WARNING: Continued overload may cause irreversible neural damage]
His knuckles cracked.
Blood seeped from the skin of his fingers.
The high density of cursed energy instantly vaporized the blood.
Turning it into a faint red mist.
But he didn't stop.
Three seconds.
For the curse—
Three seconds meant nothing.
For Nanami—
Three seconds was enough for dozens of attacks.
For Megumi—
Three seconds was the last moment before his domain collapsed.
For Sora—
Those three seconds were enough to use the laws of physics themselves as leverage.
SSSSSSHHH—
The sound wasn't a tear.
It was the scream of space itself.
The domain barrier split open.
A gap large enough for a human body.
Artificial station lights from outside poured through the opening.
Blinding.
Breaking the illusion of the tropical beach.
Yagami Sora stepped through the tear.
Behind him—
The edges of the crack curled inward.
Like burnt paper trying to repair itself.
But the damage had already been done.
The domain's structure had been violated.
The cursed spirit stared at him.
For the first time—
Fear appeared in its compound eyes.
"You…"
"Who are you?!"
Not because Sora's cursed energy was overwhelming.
But because—
He had torn open a domain barrier with brute force.
That was impossible within normal jujutsu theory.
Unless—
He wasn't using cursed technique alone.
He was using the laws of the world itself.
Sora didn't answer.
He simply looked around.
At the artificial beach.
The ocean.
The sunlight.
"…Not bad."
He muttered casually.
"You've got good taste."
Then he glanced toward the corner of the battlefield.
Three wounded figures stood there.
Nanami.
Maki.
Megumi.
"Oh."
Sora said.
"You're all here."
Nanami exhaled slowly.
His legs nearly gave out beneath him.
"…Saved."
Because when Yagami Sora arrived—
The battle was already decided.
It didn't matter whether the enemy was a Special Grade curse.
Or even something worse.
The game—
Was over.
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