"Ratio Technique: Collapse!"
Taking advantage of the opening Haibara created, Nanami leapt into the air again. Dense cursed energy wrapped around his weapon as he brought it down toward Dagon, the strike twisting space once more.
With this attack, Nanami completely matched the highest number of Black Flashes he had ever performed in a single day.
Beside him, Megumi's Nue spread its wings and charged forward. Maki's naginata also closed in on the target.
"Straw Doll Technique!"
From above, Nobara's nail shot forward after being hammered into the air.
Boom!
The combined assault from all four of them struck almost at the same time, slamming Dagon out of the air and into the ground.
No matter how tough his body was, the curse could not endure that without consequence. Blood burst from his mouth as his body was driven deep into the floor, cracks spreading across the ground like a spider web.
The aftershock from Nanami's strike nearly punched through the entire floor.
Unfortunately, when they prepared to launch another attack, Dagon suddenly forced himself free. With a powerful push of his legs, he escaped the group.
"Could it be… Haibara!"
After stepping back to steady himself, Nanami quickly looked toward the staircase on the other side.
Haibara stood there with blood seeping from his nose and mouth. He was breathing heavily and looked completely drained. Using his technique to restrain a curse of this level for several seconds was an enormous burden for him.
On the way down, he had already spent a large portion of his cursed energy fighting transfigured humans and weaker curses.
"Hairpin!"
At this moment only Nobara still had a follow-up attack. The nail she fired earlier had only pierced slightly into Dagon's body, but it had pierced.
With a snap of her fingers, the nail exploded with cursed energy, sending dust and debris everywhere.
"If that had lasted ten seconds longer, I might have died."
As the smoke cleared, Dagon still stood there. Both his arms were gone and his face was covered in wounds. His tone carried relief and lingering fear.
While he had been immobilized earlier and could not dodge, at the last moment before Nanami's attack landed he managed to raise his arms to block his head. That single strike had shattered both arms.
Fortunately, most of the force had been absorbed by them.
'So this is… a grade 1 sorcerer? This level is completely different!'
Now, Nobara and Maki had to accept their own weakness. During that entire assault the two of them had barely hurt Dagon.
Even Megumi's Nue dealt only limited damage.
Only Nanami's full-power attack had nearly killed the curse.
"Domain Expansion—"
"Not happening!"
Dagon's injured body quickly regenerated under cursed energy. He stretched his hands forward, preparing to expand his domain to decide the battle.
Nanami saw his intention immediately. Without hesitation, he dashed forward, determined to stop the domain before the hand signs were completed.
Dagon never expected this.
Before his hands could form the seal, they were smashed apart again. Nanami's tonfas crashed into his abdomen.
But a moment later, Dagon disappeared.
Along with Haibara, who had just arrived from the other staircase, everyone suddenly found themselves standing on a golden beach under bright sunlight.
"When did…"
Nanami's eyes filled with disbelief. He had clearly destroyed Dagon's hands before the hand signs were completed. How had they still been dragged into the domain?
Psh!
Simultaneously, wounds suddenly opened on the shoulders of Maki and Nobara, and blood splashed into the air.
The attacker was a strange shikigami that resembled a cursed spirit. It was the guaranteed-hit effect of the domain.
Nanami and Megumi immediately activated Falling Blossom Emotion to repel the cursed energy, while Haibara deployed a Simple Domain to neutralize it.
But Nobara had not yet learned Simple Domain and did not know Falling Blossom Emotion. She had no way to defend herself.
As for Maki, her cursed energy was far too weak to use such techniques.
"Domain Expansion: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha!"
Dagon's figure appeared on the ocean in the distance.
When Nanami struck him earlier, Dagon had used his own blood to draw a symbol on his chest. It functioned like a hand sign and allowed him to deploy the domain anyway.
"Those shikigami are the domain's guaranteed-hit effect. Don't rely on your eyes. Use your instincts to strike! They barely exist until the moment they bite you!"
Nanami shouted to the students once he understood the domain.
Oddly enough, he felt slightly relieved. The technique embedded in this domain was not as overwhelming as the stitched-face curse he had fought before. It was not an instant-kill type.
Since the guaranteed-hit effect relied on shikigami, they at least had a chance to fight back.
"Got it!"
The two girls steadied themselves, preparing for the invisible attacks.
'That one really is troublesome… testing is over. Eighty percent for the man in the suit. The remaining twenty percent for the other two…'
Dagon had already finished calculating. In his eyes, Maki and Nobara were not even worth focusing on.
The key was killing the man in the suit.
"Technique Release: Death Swarm!"
Dagon clasped his hands together.
The next instant, countless shikigami surged out of the ocean and rushed toward them.
"Megumi! Now!"
"Right!"
Nanami shouted and canceled Falling Blossom Emotion.
"Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden!"
Megumi formed a hand sign and deployed his domain. The shadows beneath him spread out like a dark pool. Compared to the endless sea around them, it occupied only a tiny area.
Yet that small space neutralized the domain's guaranteed-hit effect.
"Move! Its technique no longer has the guaranteed-hit ability!"
Haibara ran forward and grabbed the two stunned girls, throwing them over his shoulders and pulling them away just as the swarm attacked.
Dagon's technique created two layers of guaranteed-hit effects.
Before the attack truly activated, the shikigami did not exist. They became real only when they were about to bite. But once the guaranteed-hit effect was removed, they became ordinary shikigami with real bodies from the start.
"That boy…"
Dagon finally realized he had been tricked. With a wave of his hand, dozens of shikigami burst from the sea and rushed toward Megumi.
If he could regain control of the domain, victory would be his.
"Mirror Binding Technique!"
Haibara had just set the students down but immediately used his technique again on Dagon. This time the veins on his face bulged as he held back a mouthful of blood that threatened to spill out.
"Again?!"
Dagon's movements slowed drastically. He raised his arms to guard himself and spat several shikigami from his stomach to crawl over his head.
It was the only way he could protect his vital points.
"Ratio Technique: Collapse!"
'As a teacher, no matter when danger appears, I must stand in front of my students.'
Sunlight reflected off Nanami's goggles as he brought the strike down on Dagon's chest.
Space twisted once more.
Black and red cursed energy flashed like lightning, carrying Nanami's anger and refusal to yield.
He had broken his own Black Flash record.
At that moment, time seemed to stop. The world became silent.
Nanami looked at the wall that had always blocked his path forward.
Then he reached out his hand.
Crack!
The wall shattered.
**
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