Yuji was the first to strike, as blood stored in the marks on his fingertips came gushing out.
Blood Manipulation: Slicing Exorcism!
Several half-human-sized blood discs spun at high speed toward the Cursed Spirit.
Megumi summoned two Shikigami, Round Deer and Piercing Ox. Since Shin was not joining the team, Megumi had no choice but to temporarily act as the team's healer.
Junpei threw a powerful punch forward. His training with Satoru during this time had taught him how to compress high-density Cursed Energy and discharge it. Although it was just a simple Cursed Energy Cannon without any added Cursed Technique, his Cursed Energy naturally carried a Paralysis attribute. Multiple hits would slow down the opponent or even leave them unable to move.
Clatter... Clatter...
Piercing Ox first backed up as much as possible to increase its charging distance before charging straight at the Cursed Spirit, following closely behind Slicing Exorcism. Junpei's Cursed Energy Cannon followed right after.
The Cursed Spirit, however, stood its ground without moving, taking the attacks of the three head-on. Several crimson mouths suddenly sprouted all over its body, snapping at the blood discs. Although the high-speed spinning discs sliced its mouths open, it still managed to consume a small portion of them.
Bang!
Piercing Ox's head collided violently with the Cursed Spirit's arms. The powerful impact forced the Cursed Spirit's feet to drag two long furrows into the ground. However, while enduring Piercing Ox's strike, the Cursed Spirit opened its mouth wide and bit off one of Piercing Ox's horns.
Almost simultaneously, Junpei's Cursed Energy Cannon slammed squarely into the Cursed Spirit's face. While Junpei's Cursed Energy Cannon wasn't very powerful, its main purpose was crowd control.
The Cursed Spirit pushed against Piercing Ox's arms with a sudden burst of strength, flinging it away. At the same time, it clapped its hands, and three discs formed from purple blood spun rapidly toward Megumi's group.
Yuji's eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately activated Slicing Exorcism to shoot down the discs in mid-air.
From the rear, Megumi carefully observed the Cursed Spirit's body and noticed two extremely blurry faces slowly emerging on its arms, while a small protrusion appeared on its head.
Megumi shouted, "Itadori... the Cursed Spirit ate our Cursed Energy!"
When Shin saw this Cursed Spirit's technique, the first thing that came to mind was Mahoraga.
'What a powerful technique. Can it devour and assimilate Cursed Energy? If it's allowed to grow, it would surely be stronger than Mahoraga.'
However, it was currently within the range of the Command Block, so there was no way it would survive the day. There was no need to worry about its future growth, but just in case, Shin issued a new command.
/Prohibit Domain Expansion within range except for Kagura Shin
Shin had experimented with this command before. The last time he issued a command like [Prohibit Domain Expansion within range], even he couldn't expand his domain. Aside from the ridiculous rate at which experience points were consumed, this command was overpowered.
On the battlefield, the expressions of Megumi's group were solemn.
In the brief moment Shin was thinking, Yuji had already exchanged several blows with the Cursed Spirit. This Cursed Spirit possessed considerable intelligence, it would intentionally take Yuji's attacks with as little injury as possible. After taking two hits, the face on its right shoulder became even more distinct.
Under the cover of Megumi and Junpei, Yuji charged up a Piercing Blood and fired it at the Cursed Spirit's head. However, to their surprise, the Cursed Spirit intercepted Yuji's Piercing Blood in mid-air with one of its own.
"Impossible! It didn't have time to charge! How could its Piercing Blood block mine?!"
Megumi frowned, thinking hard. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon Piercing Ox, which was having its missing horn treated by Round Deer.
"It's Piercing Ox's technique! It can activate several techniques simultaneously and coordinate them!"
Piercing Ox's technique increases attack power the longer the straight-line distance. Adding it to Piercing Blood would produce unexpected results. This meant that the power of the Cursed Spirit's Piercing Blood far exceeded Yuji's.
However, there was still a chance for them to win. After all, while the Cursed Spirit could assimilate the Cursed Energy it devoured, it couldn't "adapt" like Mahoraga. This meant the damage it took remained the same. As long as they found an opportunity for a fatal blow, the battle would be over.
Yuji gritted his teeth and activated another technique.
Rot Technique: Decay!
With every attack, a portion of his blood would remain inside the Cursed Spirit. Originally, Yuji wanted to land a few more hits to leave as much blood as possible inside the Cursed Spirit so the Rot Technique would activate faster, but there wasn't enough time left.
Black patterns instantly crawled over the Cursed Spirit's body, and the immense pain made it wail.
Megumi and Junpei immediately seized this slim opportunity to launch their most powerful attacks.
Max Elephant!
Anesthetic Cannon!
The massive Max Elephant descended rapidly from above the Cursed Spirit. Simultaneously, Junpei fired a Cursed Energy Cannon at his maximum output.
Sensing the threat of death, the Cursed Spirit's Innate Technique suddenly contracted, and Cursed Energy erupted from its entire body—the precursor to a Domain Expansion.
If it had succeeded in expanding its domain, Yuji's group would certainly have been in danger. Regrettably, no matter how hard the Cursed Spirit tried to accumulate Cursed Energy, it still couldn't expand its domain.
Even though the Cursed Spirit only had a giant mouth on its face, Shin seemed to see its shock. Its inner thoughts must have been quite eventful.