The domain expanded, the area was once again shrouded in darkness, and a very familiar giant cross with weight plates hanging from its sides arose behind me.
Jogo could only have time to turn around and catch sight of my domain already established before he was completely locked onto his place.
His one big eyeball roamed all over the domain as if he was hallucinating.
"But... but how? How come you're not falling into technique burnout?" Jogo honestly couldn't get it. To open the domain back-to-back two times was almost impossible.
Domains put a huge impact on the brain, so much so that after opening the domain, the user has to wait for his technique to cool down before he or she can even attempt to use his technique, let alone open the domain once again.
All the huge cursed energy expenses on opening one domain aside, even considering that the human had enough cursed energy, there is no way he should be able to perform domain expansion two times in a row.
Jogo's trembling eyes were fixed on me, occasionally glancing back at the giant, ominous cross hanging behind me with dread building inside him.
I wasn't in such a good condition either, Jogo's earlier attack had done a number on me, my entire upper body was charred, I couldn't even feel my own hands at this point, that's how bad my condition was.
I was running on fumes, I knew it. Just push it a bit more, and I'm as good as gone.
And that's why I had to pull the last trick I had in my arsenal.
"I agree," I replied to the hostile feral curse spirit with a calm, almost too calm response. My voice barely came out, I could hardly hear myself, let alone him.
But surprisingly, he did.
One thing more to be grateful about in this accursed world, I suppose.
Jogo, seeing my condition, once again tried to move, but my sure-hit effect of the domain had already made him immobile. He wasn't going anywhere.
Irritation snarled onto him and he tried to use Domain Amplification to cut out the sure-hit effect of my domain.
Next second, his one big eye was wide open enough for me to just pluck it out from its socket.
Knowing his shock, I continued.
"I knew even if I were to open my domain after you recovered your technique, the outcome would have been the same as earlier. Even if I made sure you lose your technique by trading away Dagon's technique inside the domain, I knew you had Domain Amplification," I replied, making Jogo confused.
It's understandable, Jogo still hadn't figured out the nature of my technique. I was fighting him all the while using Dagon's technique.
"What do you mean?" Jogo asked, getting desperate at his helpless condition. His technique was on cooldown, he couldn't open his domain, he couldn't move, nor was he able to use amplification to shake off the sure-hit effect of the domain.
"Hehe... explaining my technique, huh? What a JJK thing to do." I genuinely felt a strange sense of irony in what I was about to do.
Explaining my technique to an enemy, it would be idiocy in any other world, but here, it was rewarded. While my memories of everything else were still at the back foot, I did figure out everything I had to know about this world thanks to all those black flashes earlier.
I chuckled to myself, though I had to cease that action immediately when those motions felt like breaking my insides apart. I was already a living mess, I didn't wish to be a dead mess anytime soon.
I was in the worst condition, and I apparently had expected it. Death was around the corner, but at this moment, I was alive.
"Well, what the hell. I'll bite."
"My technique allows me to forcefully impose trades on anyone inside my domain. As you can feel it yourself, you can't move. That's a trade. I have restricted your movement by trading away my own movement. Both of us are no better than stones until the domain doesn't collapse."
Jogo blinked, finally starting to figure out the nuance of my technique. He finally started to connect the dots.
I continued.
"Usually, trades have to be equal in value for them to work. I can't ask you for your life in return for something less important, can I now?
Back when my domain connected, before you clashed your own domain with mine, I had you in there. But couldn't figure out a suitable trade in my favour. Didn't have anything on me which could have given me a leg up."
Jogo's brows furrowed. "What about Dagon's technique? What about this domain? How did you do that?" Seems like he wasn't interested in me boosting my technique by revealing it.
Shame, I wasn't stopping just because he wasn't interested in it, and it's not like I was talking because I needed that power boost. Though I certainly could use some in this condition.
"What do you think is the biggest trade someone can make with Volcano Head?" I asked, with a glee.
His face visibly reddened in anger and heat upon me calling him that name, but he did give it a genuine thought before answering.
"Ideals, identity, or one's life."
I nodded.
"Inside my domain, whoever loses, loses the trade of death. He loses everything while the winner gets it all."
Jogo's eyes widened. "Dagon."
"You're smart." I smiled.
"Your cursed friend lost, and thus I had his technique, cursed energy, and anything else I desired from him."
If earlier Jogo's face looked angry, then now he was livid. So his assumption was correct. The human had stolen Dagon's power.
"That still doesn't explain how you used his domain, or used your domain immediately afterwards," Jogo shouted, struggling his damndest to move but couldn't.
"Sacrificial Trade..." I added.
"Sacrifice?"
"Technically, I should retain his power for as long as I wished to, but in times like this, I can sacrifice a power or technique which I acquired from someone else. This contains everything I took from them.
And in return, I can summon a mirage of them to fight for me. Someone who is treated just like the original, not as me or an extension of my technique."
Jogo's eyes widened. "That—"
"The one fighting you inside that domain, it was indeed your friend, it has everything of your friend, besides his mind and soul.
I knew I can't beat you without putting you inside my domain. But you own a domain and that amplification technique was a hindrance.
If I had used my domain, the most likely outcome would have been the same as what happened before. A domain clash, leaving both of us burned out again. And I don't think I can survive that next clash.
So I sacrificed the technique and power I got from Dagon, made him use his domain to consume yours," I replied calmly.
But every word of mine made Jogo bust a vein.
Steam rose from his head, but he surprisingly reined in his anger somehow.
"And what about my Domain Amplification? What the hell did you do?" he asked with clear hostility.
"Ah, that annoying technique." I grimaced. If not for Jogo knowing both domain and Domain Amplification, this match wouldn't have lasted this long.
"As I said, generally every trade I make inside my domain requires me to trade away something of the same value to activate the trade.
This was the exact reason I couldn't stop you last time, I wasn't fast enough to find the right trade. But, guess what. Those black flashes really give a sorcerer a new perspective on Jujutsu.
As if someone had cleared the path for me, I realised how to solve that issue.
Can you guess what I did?" I asked, once again amusement entering into my tone.
Jogo kept glaring at me, as if ready to throw me into molten lava the second he had a chance. After a silent wait, he finally spoke.
"A Binding Vow."
"Hehe... you're indeed smart."
"Yes, I used a Binding Vow. Instead of making my trade on a value basis, I made a vow to make the trade on conditions."
Jogo contemplated that, but couldn't figure out what that was supposed to mean. What's the difference?
"Let me explain..." I offered.
"The first trade I made inside this domain is our movement. As you can see, it's restricted. Neither I can move, nor you.
If one has to point it out, the value of this trade is on point. In general, it's fair to both sides."
Jogo increasingly looked impatient.
"The second trade was to restrict Domain Amplification or any other sort of anti-domain techniques inside my domain. Once again, this goes both ways."
Jogo's single eye immediately narrowed. He snorted almost. "Why the hell would you use Domain Amplification inside your own goddamn domain?"
"Hehe... well, true, but it's not as much a question of why would I use it, as it is can I use it. And I'm not just saying in terms of one can't use Domain Amplification inside their own domain," I replied with a smile.
Jogo blinked. What does that mean? He replayed those words again in his mind, trying to figure out what the human meant until it finally clicked.
And when it clicked, his eyes widened.
"You don't know amplification." Jogo wasn't asking, it was a statement.
I nodded.
"But... that's not fair, you said the wager would be equal..." He trailed off, recalling what the human said his Binding Vow was about.
Condition.
"The vow I swore was simple. I shall have the same condition on both sides of the trade, shall bear the same burden and restriction as my target of trade, as long as the value of the trade is a non-issue.
Now it doesn't matter whether I know Domain Amplification or not to trade away, because we are not trading in value, instead on condition.
Rather than giving up the technique itself, we are giving up the right to use the technique inside the domain; either we can use it or not.
It's more of an imposed restriction than an imposed trade, one which I am in control of," I sighed, already ready to end this conversation.
Jogo's face looked like he was ready to burst any second.
"Whatever, I don't care. We are both frozen. What are you going to do? If those two are your only trades, then you have nothing to attack me with. I'll just wait here until your domain collapses and then kill you and that woman you tried so hard to protect in front of your eyes," he shot back.
"Tsk tsk tsk... do you really think I made this entire plan to capture you without a way to end it?" I snorted.
"Did you feel something wrong when you fought Dagon in his domain?" I pointed out.
As if thunder struck his mind, his eye widened to epic proportions, then shifted to my hands, which weren't quite on the domain hand sign by now as he thought they were.
Both my palms were joined, like I was praying. And then, I tilted my joined hands forward towards him, pointing at him.
"Water..."
"The one thing inside Dagon's domain which was missing was water," Jogo muttered with dread, finally building in.
"Yeah." I nodded. And at the same time, a shockwave of water erupted from my connected palms.
"I intentionally withheld him from using water, so I could use it as a one-time attack later."
"I'm sure you have seen this move before, I'm calling it...
"Piercing Water."
A sharp burst erupted from my hands and an arrow-like jet of water, condensed, lightning-fast and deadly, rushed right at Jogo.
Jogo's big eye saw the water beam in slow motion as it arrived in an instant at his eye with deadly force.
"Stand proud, Volcano Head—You Are Strong."
xXx
A/N : Man ! I had this ending for this fight for so long in mind. I planned to explain my technique in one place for those who couldn't understand from bit and pieces.
And gave another piece of what the capable of doing with Sacrificial Trade. There is more of course, but for now, that all you guys are getting. Hehe !
Would appreciate stones if you can spare any. Thank you.
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