"But!" Hakari Kinji's emotions flared up, and he broke into a broad, toothy grin. "This is even better!!"
Extremely dangerous?
Extremely dangerous is exactly what I love most!!
The Domain expanded successfully.
[Idle Death Gamble]—As Hakari Kinji's core combat move, because its sure-hit effect carries no negative side effects, his Domain Expansion is the fastest of all.
Basically, no one can dodge it.
"Huh? A Domain?!" Yuji Itadori was utterly shocked.
A black barrier enveloped Yuji Itadori and Mahiru, and the surrounding scenery transformed accordingly.
The Domain's sure-hit effect began to introduce the "game rules" of this Domain to Mahiru and Yuji Itadori.
"Wait a second, senpai! We're from Jujutsu High!" Yuji Itadori shouted. "Teacher Gojo needs your support!"
But the Domain had already been deployed—at this very moment, who would still stop to listen to explanations?
What's more...
"Satoru Gojo needs help?" Hakari Kinji, feeling his body climbing toward its peak state, laughed loudly. "You think I'm an idiot?!"
He didn't know who that little girl was, but she was very dangerous.
That Yuji Itadori had potential, but wasn't worth worrying about.
Danger, death, failure... and a bizarre sort of madness—this was the feeling that girl gave him, the kind of negative sensation that countless people wished they could flee from forever, yet in Hakari Kinji's eyes, these were the sweet nectar he craved as if starving for it.
If you didn't dare relish the rush of surging adrenaline, then how could you ever be called a "gambler"?!
"Come on!" Hakari Kinji felt his condition was incredible; pointing one hand to the sky, he unleashed his Domain's ability. "First shot!"
Suddenly someone brushed shoulders past Yuji Itadori from behind; the boy's pupils contracted in fright and he staggered back two steps.
A panting, frantic office worker—looking every bit like a man who'd overslept, was running late, and couldn't catch the subway—clutched a briefcase and bolted for dear life toward the subway turnstile.
In midair, a little steel pachinko ball dropped to the ground, ringing out with a crisp sound.
The scene of the Domain had grown clear.
Hakari Kinji's Domain... was the ticket-gate entrance of a subway station.
And above Yuji Itadori's head, a red subway car door hovered in midair.
"This..." Yuji Itadori let out a stunned voice. "It's actually pachinko?!"
Hakari Kinji's Domain was a lottery draw—or rather, gambling.
Pachinko is a gambling pastime rampant across Japan, and the rules of Hakari Kinji's Domain were identical to the rules of playing pachinko.
Within the Domain, Hakari Kinji could draw endlessly, with each draw carrying a winning probability of 1/239.
If a draw came up empty, he could keep drawing.
And if he hit the jackpot, he would enter an invincible state lasting four minutes and eleven seconds—possessing infinite Cursed Energy plus infinite automatic Reverse Cursed Technique.
The scenes within the Domain before them—whether the subway or that running man—were in essence the performance of the game.
The start of the performance signified the start of the draw.
If he hit the jackpot, the character in the performance would reach a Good End; conversely, if the draw failed, that character would arrive at a bad ending—being late to work, for instance.
"The performance's effect can't be interrupted, and interrupting it would be meaningless anyway, so if I want to win," Yuji Itadori clenched his fists and looked toward Kinji Hakari, "I have to, before he hits the jackpot...
defeat him!"
The thought arose, and his body moved at once.
Yuji Itadori shot at Hakari Kinji like an arrow loosed from the string. The two collided fist against fist, and Yuji Itadori was driven back step after step.
"Ah! Crap!"
In the distance, the protagonist of the story failed to make the subway.
The slot machine overhead revealed the draw result—Hakari Kinji had failed to win.
"Again!" Hakari Kinji laughed, blasting Yuji Itadori flying with another punch as he tossed out a second steel ball. "Keep it coming!!"
A car door appeared overhead once more, and the door was red—different colors indicated different winning probabilities, and red represented a medium winning probability.
—"Ah! Wait for me, I haven't boarded yet!"
The draw failed again.
"Again!!"
Even setting the Domain aside, Hakari Kinji himself possessed very strong hand-to-hand combat skills.
His Cursed Energy was rough, inflicting more severe abrasion damage when it struck someone—in other words, he came with innate bonus damage.
Yuta once remarked that when in good condition, Hakari Kinji was stronger than him.
Whether that remark was mere modesty is still up for debate, but there was no doubt that, taking his mechanics, stats, and even his luck factor all into account, Hakari Kinji could rightly be called a powerful special-grade combatant.
And even without the jackpot, he was already very strong.
Bang!!
Hakari Kinji kicked Yuji Itadori away and pointed both hands to the sky.
"One more time!!"
Beep beep—
A special sound effect rang out, and above their heads appeared a golden subway door.
This was the herald of an extremely high winning probability!
"Sweet!"
Hakari Kinji laughed, twisting his body where he stood, and broke into a dance.
He had fought others using his Domain plenty of times, but the occasions that sent his adrenaline soaring like this were truly few and far between!
"What are you still waiting for!" Hakari Kinji yelled at Mahiru. "Hurry up and come at me!"
Don't tell me your Technique is just scaring people!
"Don't be impatient." Mahiru smiled, and in the palms of her hands a single drop of crimson blood condensed. "It's already here."
A special surge of Cursed Energy rippled out from Mahiru.
This kind of Cursed Energy ripple was something Yuji Itadori had never sensed from Mahiru before—instead, it appeared very often on Nobara Kugisaki.
This was Nobara Kugisaki's [Straw Doll Technique].
Mahiru had earlier added the [Straw Doll Technique] to every member of the "Kugisaki Squad," so of course, she herself must have learned Nobara Kugisaki's Technique as well.
Just like those members of the Kugisaki Squad, once Mahiru had learned the Technique, the object serving as its medium was not a hammer and nails, but something else that suited her style.
—Blood.
To be precise, the blood of Blood Manipulation.
This was utterly astonishing.
Everyone else's medium was some kind of tool or weapon.
But Mahiru's medium alone was, of all things, tied to Blood Manipulation.
The only explanation was that Mahiru simply had far too many Techniques, so that even when randomly attached to a medium, what the technique managed to find was still a Technique.
Regardless, no matter how you looked at it, in Mahiru's hands the [Straw Doll Technique] and Blood Manipulation had already completed their fusion.
Forming something new——
"[Blood Manipulation · Conjoined Hairpin]."
The drop of blood in Mahiru's hand transformed into a long spear, perpendicular to the ground; as Cursed Energy was mobilized, the blood-red light blended with the cursed light of the Straw Doll Technique into a dark crimson.
As Mahiru swung her arm, the [Conjoined Hairpin] spear dropped down, piercing straight through into the floor of the subway.
"—?!"
Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted.
Squelch——
The spear tip that Mahiru had thrust into the ground actually bored its way out from Kinji Hakari's chest.
"The [Straw Doll Technique] can track the Resonance of a soul or the Resonance of a Technique to strike the sorcerer's true body." Mahiru revealed a smile. "And a sorcerer's Domain contains both."
A sorcerer's Domain is at once the outward manifestation of their innate domain and a space that concentrates the entirety of their Jujutsu.
Here, wherever Mahiru jabbed, it was all true damage.
____
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