"Domain Expansion: Celestial Collapsing Horizon."
The moment Yuki spoke, the entire 50 meters around her went black.
Ren didn't even have time to react. He hit the ground hard, face first — except it didn't feel like a ground. What he saw beneath him was almost unexplainable. Stars. Bright, countless stars. And then a deep, yawning black hole below them all. It felt like he was falling — endlessly, with nothing to catch him. He could barely move his fingers. He couldn't speak.
Yuki was the only one standing upright, perfectly stable, as she looked down at him.
"You know, my domain pretty much makes it so I can apply the mass effect of my cursed technique to others." Her tone was conversational, almost bored. "So right now I'm making your mass so large that your own body can't handle it. And because this is a domain, I can make the space feel limitless — so you keep falling and falling. On top of that, the extra mass makes your heart itself struggle to beat." She tilted her head. "Pretty much checkmate."
Yuki smiled, then bent forward slightly. Somehow she was looking at Ren's face from below — standing upside down, effortlessly.
'What? Yuki had this kind of domain all along? No, if she did, why didn't she use it before?' Ren's thoughts lurched. 'No — forget that! I might actually die here!'
"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this, right?" Yuki said, as if reading him. "Well, if you're halfway decent, you already know about the Showing One's Hand binding vow. My domain is strong, but it has one real weakness — the barrier is fragile. And I know you have Rika." She shrugged. "I've never seen her myself, but I'm sure she'd be able to break through from the outside."
She sat down on nothing, as if settling into an invisible chair.
"So here I am, using the binding vow. The more you understand about my domain, the stronger the outer barrier becomes. Even if Rika tries to break in, she'd need at least a few minutes." Yuki laughed softly. "So yeah. Checkmate."
Her amusement faded into something colder.
"Though honestly... you're much weaker than I expected. I thought you'd have a domain by now. I expected more from the youngest special grade sorcerer." A pause. "I guess most of what they said about you was just talk. You got lucky and killed Todo."
'WHAT?!' Ren's thoughts exploded. 'When did I kill Todo?! He's alive — bedridden, but alive! What the hell?! Why does she think I killed him? I didn't — this is wrong! I'm being framed for something I didn't do!'
He tried to move his mouth. He truly, genuinely tried.
For the first time in a long time, he felt like he had actually lost.
'No. No, this can't be how it ends. I die because of a misunderstanding?' His mind raced, thoughts crashing into each other. 'Fuck — I need to summon Rika. Somehow. Some way.'
He felt his eyes growing heavy. His heartbeat slowed. And slowed.
And slowed.
...
"Eh?" Yuki's voice cut through — sharp and stunned. "I reinforced the barrier. What the hell is—"
Her entire domain began to shake.
Outside, Mei Mei smiled.
She whispered quietly, almost to herself:
"Though the black feathers, and the lost promises, and golden eyes... come forth."
Around her, crows began to descend. Slowly at first, then more and more, circling down from above in a wide, dark ring.
Mei Mei spread both arms wide. She let out a slow breath.
"Maximum Output: Crow Murder."
She pointed toward the domain barrier.
The crows dropped like a storm.
Each one hit and exploded.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
They kept coming, wave after wave, a relentless cascade crashing against the barrier. At the eye of the storm, cracks began to split across the surface of Yuki's domain — splintering, fracturing —
And then it gave.
Like a water droplet hitting a hot pan, it burst apart.
Yuki was sent flying. Ren blinked.
He looked up.
Black feathers drifted down through the air. Countless crows, their wings folding as they fell. It felt unreal, genuinely unreal — just seconds ago he had been inches from death.
The moment he could move, without even thinking, he said one word.
"Rika."
A black tear ripped open in the air. Rika came through. Instantly a ball came screaming toward Ren at high speed — Rika swatted it away without hesitation.
The ball curved back. Yuki caught it as she rose to her feet, expression tight with irritation.
'That shikigami — Garuda. That's going to be a problem.' Ren's eyes moved. Then, behind him, he registered movement.
The building was gone — nothing left but its foundation. And out of the rubble, Haruta came leaping free, Juzo Kumiya thrown over his shoulder. He spotted Ren, said a short "Oh no!" and immediately turned and ran.
Ren moved to chase — and Yuki swung Garuda like a whip.
He dodged. Snake Eyes and Fangs appeared across his mouth.
"Don't move!"
The cursed speech hit. Yuki froze — and Ren immediately doubled over coughing.
'Damn it. Why is the backlash this heavy?' His mind worked fast. 'It's because Yuki and Garuda are connected but still individual beings. So I basically just used cursed speech on a special grade sorcerer and a shikigami that's probably close to special grade itself. No wonder...'
He steadied himself.
'Whatever. I'll have Rika hold Yuki back, grab Haruta myself, finish it there, and then figure out the rest.'
It wasn't the right call — he should have sent Rika after Haruta and had her deal with it cleanly. But Haruta's miracles had been quietly eroding Ren's judgment without him realising it.
Ren pointed at Yuki and murmured, "Keep her busy, Rika."
Then he turned and ran — not flying, running — toward Haruta.
And then another person appeared.
A man in a black suit, suitcase in hand, riding a scooter. He came in fast, cut across the path, and stopped directly in front of Ren.
He opened the suitcase.
Inside: five sticks of TNT and something that looked very much like a bomb.
"Hello, nice to meet you." The man smiled pleasantly. "I am Clot. I've finally caught up to you." He looked Ren in the eyes. "I think we need to talk right now, Ren Sato."
Ren stared at him.
"What the fuck?"