Tsukumo looked to Kenjaku, thinking, 'According to the plan, I'll get Kenjaku to expand his domain. Next, I'll back him into a corner once the aftereffect of Domain Expansion takes hold, and he enters a state in which it's harder to use Cursed Techniques. Even if I'm in the same state, I still have [Garuda] so I can win. To get this plan to work, I'll have to chip away at Kenjaku, reducing the intensity of his Domain as much as possible.'
[Kiyotaka stood there as he said, "Thank you for teaching me the principles of Domains."
Tengen nodded and said, "It's fine. If it helps you put an end to the Culling Game, then it's to my benefit as well."
"I'll give you a warning about Kenjaku. There's a chance that his Domain is like Sukuna's."
Kiyotaka said this as Tengen's eyes widened, asking, "Why do you think so?"
"He's second only to you in Barrier Techniques. It wouldn't be surprising in my opinion. In that case, there should be a structure in the middle of the domain. Destroy it, and the sure hit will collapse."
Kiyotaka said this as he turned to Tsukumo and said, "If you manage to survive his Domain Expansion, use yours immediately after", before leaving.]
'Ayanokoji did mention that possibility, but Tengen and I have factored that in now.'
Tsukumo thought this when Kenjaku made a two-handed hand sign and said, "No. No. That won't do. Your technique is quite dangerous. Still, you haven't expanded your domain to dominate the battle. You're practically confessing that you don't have faith in your ability to win a Domain Battle."
Kenjaku then chanted, "Domain Expansion: Absolute Decree Of My Facination."
A pillar of flesh appeared behind Kenjaku with mouths upon mouths.
Tengen's eyes flared, thinking, 'It was as Ayanokoji predicted! I must attack the central structure!'
Tsukumo took a stance, thinking, 'New Shadow Style: Simple Domain!' as she covered her ears with Cursed Energy.
Tsukumo looked to her Simple domain, saying, "Shit!!" as she thought, 'How is this barrier so strong?! The simple Domain is about to be ripped apart?'
She looked to the totem of mouths that were incanting commands as she thought, 'He doesn't even need to speak to chant anymore? He's using the voices from the totem to do it for him. If my simple Domain breaks, who knows what will happen to me or if he'll even suffer recoil, considering this is within his Domain Expansion.'
Kenjaku looked confused, asking, "Did you really think something of that level could withstand my domain?"
Tsukumo rushed forward, thinking, 'Hurry up... Tengen!'
Kenjaku smiled, thinking, '... Oh? I see what you're doing. Just the kind of strategy I'd expect from that shut-in.'
Tengen readied themselves, making hand signs and thinking, 'Together with my Sunyata barrier... I will erase it!!'
Then Tsukumo's Simple Domain was torn apart, and Kenjaku said, "Tengen. I'm not the same as you. I have lived through..."
"Resonance!"
Before Kenjaku could activate his sure hit, nails jutted out of his body as he coughed up blood, thinking, 'This Cursed Technique! Kugisaki Nobara!'
Below, Nobara had hammered a nail into a doll with Kenjaku's severed ear attached to it.
Kenjaku coughed up blood as the totem spoke, and his body healed, making him think, 'But why not keep hitting me with that attack in secret? Were you saving it for this moment?'
The totem disintegrated, and Kenjaku sighed, thinking, 'You erased the central structure of my Domain using the Sunyata barrier. So you used Kugisaki Nobara's technique to protect Tsukumo Tsukumo in the event that her Simple Domain fell, and more time was needed to erase my central structure. You're really as stubborn as you are old.'
Kenjaku took a second, forming a barrier around his soul, thinking, 'That should prevent any troublesome flinching.'
He felt a thud upon the barrier to his soul, thinking, 'This will be quite problematic if the battle drags along for too long. Eventually, the barrier will break, but it should hold up for long enough. Still... maybe the suspense of when she'll manage to break through will be the most troublesome thing.'
He thought this with a laugh as Tsukumo made hand signs and chanted, "Domain Expansion: Starburst Singularity."
A barrier formed as a dark expanse was painted upon the world, and several stars flickered into existence as if in the distance as Tsukumo thought, 'I have to kill him in my Domain. He'll probably use Hollow Wicker Basket, so I have to move quickly!'
Tsukumo rushed forward as she swung her fist at Kenjaku, who piled on an immense amount of Cursed Energy into his arms as her attack landed, shattering his arms and sending him flying back as he thought, 'Weight is being applied to me? At a constant rate, too. That must be the sure-hit effect of the Domain. I suppose her Cursed Technique protects her from her own virtual mass, but it doesn't protect me. I see now. The strategy of her Domain. Increasing her opponent's mass to a point that they can't dodge or even block her strike, letting her obliterate them in a single hit.'
"How mean."
Kenjaku said this with a slight laugh, thinking, 'Back then, when she made contact, she reduced my weight to send me flying at top speed and right before I landed, she added weight to me to increase the damage I would take from the landing.'
Kenjaku healed his arms, thinking, 'Well, well. Not bad.'
Tsukumo rushed forward, and Kenjaku, who took a stance, chanting, "White Domain: Anti-Domain Room."
He said this as a white barrier formed around him, and he thought, 'Learning this from Takuya before he left for the ANHS Colony was a good idea. Even when handled by an amateur like him, it surpasses the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain, but when I use it...'
Tsukumo threw a punch, thinking, 'Not Hollow Wicker Basket? What type of Anti-Domain Barrier is that? It hasn't even torn slightly?! I've never seen one so proficient at withstanding erosion in a domain! Just how strong is that barrier?!'
Kenjaku, who no longer had mass added to him, dodged the attack, thinking, 'I'll just have to hold on until her Domain ends or my Cursed Technique recovers.'
Tengen sweated thinking, 'A barrier crafted with such efficiency being handed to Kenjaku. Of course, it would be able to withstand the tear-away effects of a Domain more efficiently. I can't target it without disrupting Tsukumo Yuki's Domain either. Whoever can keep their barrier up for longer will win.'
Tsukumo clapped her hands, breaking her own hands as the shockwave flowed towards Kenjaku, whose eyes widened, thinking, 'She can even apply weight to air in this domain?!' as the air hit him with enough force to push him back as he smiled, thinking, 'If I were using Hollow Wicker Basket or Simple Domain that would have torn, but... this domain is too efficient.'
Then Kenjaku felt a small tear in his White Domain as he thought, 'I see. Even this has limits. Still, she'll heal, so I'll be able to recover my Cursed...'
Tsukumo was in front of him as she punched her broken hand towards him, and his eyes widened as she dodged the attack
He looked to her, thinking, 'Heal yourself!!'
'Hell no!!!'
Tsukumo could tell what he was thinking as she began chasing after him, not giving him a second to breathe, throwing punches and kicks as he blocked the attacks.
Kenjaku sighed, thinking, 'That Kugisaki Nobara had been slamming her hammer away at my soul, but she suddenly stopped? Did she think she couldn't get through the barrier I put around my soul?'
Suddenly, he threw up his arms, and Tsukumo slammed her fist into them as his arms broke and he was sent flying.
Kenjaku landed a distance away as he lay there and looked at Tsukumo's hands and thought, 'Shoddy work, but Reverse Cursed Technique. Did she heal herself? No. Not her. I saw a spike of foreign Cursed Energy coming off of her.'
[Kiyotaka looked to Nobara and asked, "Reverse Cursed Technique?"
"Yeah. Tell me how to use it. If this pretty face gets damaged or something, I wanna be able to use it on myself."
Nobara said this as Kiyotaka then said, "You multiply Cursed Energy over itself to create positive energy."
"Wait, positive? So should I think about good things like being on the cover of Vogue or something like that?"
Nobara asked this as Kiyotaka deadpanned and said, "No. Not really. More like two wrongs make a right. Something like that."
"Seriously? That's lame."
"That's Reverse Cursed Technique."
"Well, I guess if you explain it that simply..."]
"If you explain it that simply, then I can understand it!"
Nobara shouted this as she put a severed toe on her arm and stabbed a nail into it and into herself, shouting, "Resonance!" as she started using Reverse Cursed Technique, and it flowed into Tsukumo via Resonance.
Tsukumo smirked, thinking, 'She's not actually that good at it, but it's good enough', and shouted, "Alright! Let's keep going!"
Kenjaku looked to his White Domain and thought, 'It's been torn away a bit more. Maybe its integrity is at 75%?'
Tsukumo rushed forward as Kenjaku dodged her attack, only to feel sluggish as he froze on the spot and thought, 'What?! Why?! My White Domain is still active.'
Tsukumo Yuki had given up on affecting Kenjaku with her Domain's Sure-Hit Effect. Instead, she decided to target Kenjaku's White Domain, giving it mass so that when Kenjaku moved, the White Domain was practically stripped from his body like a wrapper off of candy.
Tsukumo rushed forward and slammed her leg into Kenjaku, bisecting him top and bottom as he lay there, and Tsukumo's Domain finally fell. She took a deep breath as she began healing herself, thinking, 'We managed it. Kugisaki's Reverse Cursed Technique isn't all that good, but after a few attempts, the effects stacked until they were able to heal my hands.'
She sweated in relief when she heard it.
"Heal."
Kenjaku's Cursed techniques had recovered.
She turned around only for a Cursed Spirit to pop out and fling her back as Kenjaku's body stitched itself back together, and Kenjaku smiled, saying, "Phew. You almost got me there. You just barely missed this body's navel."
Kenjaku looked at Tsukumo and said, "Fall."
Tsukumo fell to the ground as a force held her down, making her think, 'Not good!'
She looked up to Kenjaku and smirked as he asked, "What's with that smile?"
Tsukumo smiled and said, "Did you forget? I like a man... who's hard-working and muddy!"
Suddenly, Choso appeared behind Kenjaku from an opening in the Sunyata barrier.
Choso's role in this battle was three-pronged. His primary objective was to force the reveal of Kenjaku's mastery over Cursed Speech, and his secondary objective was to slice off a piece of Kenjaku's body that could be used as a conduit for Resonance, and his third objective was...
Choso landed behind Kenjaku, who turned around when Garuda wrapped around him, holding him down with Virtual Mass as he thought, 'So heavy!!'
Choso aimed it right at Kenjaku's head, thinking, 'Are you watching, my little brothers?!' as he said, "It's parent killing tiiime!!"
Kenjaku turned his head as the Piercing Blood twisted the cap of his head off, and he said, "Don't sweat it!!" as he fixed it in a second.
Tsukumo got up and swung her leg at him, saying, "Things are getting interesting, fallen warrior!!"
Kenjaku blocked it as he thought, 'If her Cursed technique wasn't burned out, I'd be a puddle of blood on the floor right now.'
Tsukumo and Choso both started attacking as Kenjaku blocked their blows, but a few managed to make it past his guard, hitting him.
Kenjaku slipped out of Garuda's hold, jumping back as Tsukumo thought, 'Without my Cursed Technique being at full power, of course, he was able to eventually slip loose.'
She then called out, "Garuda!!" as the shikigami returned to her hand, and she threw it, slamming it into the ground as a crater appeared and rubble flew about everywhere.
Kenjaku then chanted, "Fall!" as Choso and Garuda fell to the floor.
Tsukumo rushed in, thinking, 'He's used it. If he loses focus, then they'll be able to move again! My technique's not fully recovered, but I can use it a bit more freely now.'
A Cursed Spirit appeared as Tsukumo killed it with a single attack and rushed forward, slamming her fists into Kenjaku, thinking, 'Using Cursed Spirits won't buy you time against me. I can win!!'
Tsukumo slammed her fist into Kenjaku's face as she thought, 'I gotta attack!! A chance like this doesn't come twice!!'
That's when she noticed it. A sphere floating above her arm as it blasted her face, and she thought, 'A Mini [Uzumaki]?'
Another formed at her stomach, and Kenjaku said, "You missed the navel. I won't. The fact that your weight doesn't seem to change when you use Bom Ba Ye, means that even if the density increases, your durability doesn't."
Tsukumo looked shocked, thinking, 'I messed up!'
Choso stared in shock from the ground where he was pinned and shouted, "Tsukumo!!!" as he remembered their conversation.
[They sat together as Tsukumo asked, "Aren't you a necessary part of Ayanokoji's future?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said. You can sacrifice yourself for your little brother's future, but is there really any point if you're not in that future?"
Tsukumo said this as Choso asked, "Tsukumo, Am I... [Human]? When my little brothers incarnated, I realised... their abnormal bodies meant [Humans] would never accept them. That's why I decided we should live as [Curses]. That's why I killed people in Shibuya. I killed a lot of people, and it wasn't just people that I killed. The one who killed Eso, Kechizu and Tanso was me. If I'd chosen to live as a [Human] back then, my brothers wouldn't have had to kill each other. Why... Why... then... why did I..."
Choso cried as he asked, "Why did I choose the easy way out? I didn't want to see... I didn't want to see them in pain from living as [Humans]. Even though they weren't that weak. You can guess what happened next. Like some kind of divine punishment, Kiyotaka appeared. Kiyotaka, who is living in pain because the feeling of being [Human] was stripped away from him."
He imagined them together and said, "I'm sure we were meant to be there for each other to fill each other's loneliness. But just because I wanted an easier life, Kiyotaka was left alone."
Tsukumo looked at him and said, "If you die, he'll be alone again."
"You're kind, Tsukumo."
Choso said this as he wiped away his tears and said, "But I can't. I killed a lot of people for no reason. I no longer have the right to live alongside Kiyotaka."]
Tsukumo spat out blood, thinking, 'My Cursed Technique still hasn't fully recovered and... my navel is gone. I can't bring up enough Cursed Energy to use that. Damn it. We've been had. We've completely lost.'
She looked to Choso, thinking, 'I have to find a way to push through for him. So that he survives.'
Choso then shouted, "This is all that's left. This is the last place where my life has use. It's here!"
He gathered blood in his hand in the shape of a throwing star and shouted, "Kamo Noritoshi!!"
Suddenly, the Sunyata barriers fell beneath Tsukumo and Choso as both thought, 'Huh? What are you doing, Tengen?!'
Tengen then spoke, saying, "Death Womb Painting. Your life as a Curse has ended here. Tsukumo Yuki. Your life as a Star Plasma Vessel has ended here. You are both just humans from now on, so live on as Humans from now on."
They both looked shocked, shouting, "Tengen?!!
Tengen's projection stood before Kenjaku, who asked, "Sacrificing yourself to save them? I didn't expect that from you, Tengen. Wouldn't it have been better to just let them use their lives for just the chance of defeating me?"
"I already know there is no way to save myself anymore. There was nothing they could do to stop you after Tsukumo Yuki's navel was ruptured. At least with this, those two will live on. I'll leave the rest to their allies."
Tengen said this as her projection faded and Kenjaku arrived in the [Tomb Of The Star] and stood before Tengen's true body, saying, "Farewell, my friend."
Kenjaku smiled as he used Cursed Spirit Manipulation and absorbed Tengen, thinking, 'Well, that step is done. I do wonder. When will the next step be done? Or... have you already done it, ------?'
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To Be Continued
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Rating Out Of 10 For This Chapter?
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