Yuta glanced over with wide eyes as Kiniro calmly stepped in front of him with an easy-going smile across his face, "Kiniro, what are you doing!? This technique of his-"
"I heard the whole spiel," Kiniro interrupted without taking his eyes off Suguru, who regarded him with narrowed eyes. "It's his most powerful attack, uses all his curses, etcetera. Now get out of here. You've done your part already."
"No!" Yuta refused with a surprising amount of force behind his voice and an unyielding conviction in his eyes, "We can fight him together, against you, Rika, and me. He doesn't stand a chance!"
Kiniro smirked as he glanced at Yuta out of the corner of his eye, "Exactly, where's the fun in that. Besides, after watching you fight for so long…"
Kiniro's voice trailed off as the air around him started to warp, distorting like heat waves on the horizon. But instead of emitting an immense amount of heat, it was cursed energy that rolled off of Kiniro's body in waves.
And as the seconds ticked by, Yuta expected Kiniro to hit his limits, but instead his output kept climbing, making the air around Kiniro heavy with his cursed energy until it became visible to the naked eye as a writhing mass of glowing pink energy.
"After watching you fight for so long…I'm all worked up," Kiniro said in a hushed voice as his eyes shifted, transforming into pointed stars while still staring Yuta down, "So I'll tell you this one last time…leave or I'll be just as liable to attack you as I am Suguru."
Yuta flinched as he suddenly felt a looming sense of dread from staring into Kiniro's eyes. Reacting to his apprehension, Rika loomed over Yuta, staring down at Kiniro with a menacing presence, her mouth opening to reveal a jaw filled with long, needle-like teeth.
"Rika no!" Yuta admonished, holding out his hand, making the Queen of Curse Spirits freeze, "We did our part…it's time to fall back."
Rika let out a menacing hiss but retracted nonetheless, moving to hover directly behind Yuta, who regarded Kiniro with a judgmental look, "Just make sure to finish the job. Don't make everyone else suffer from the consequences of your selfishness."
Instead of being offended by Yuta's sternness, Kiniro grinned, "It's nice to see that you've finally found yourself…now just sit back let Rika rest and let me handle this."
With those final words, Kiniro turned to face Suguru and the swirling whirlpool of disembodied curses behind him, "Suguru Geto, we finally meet at last."
"Kiniro," Suguru replied with a grim smile, "To be completely transparent, I was hoping that you wouldn't respond to the headquarters' call. And still now I find it difficult to imagine why you're here standing against me, after how they've treated you."
"I try not to take it personally," Kiniro replied, "But I would be lying if I said I had the slightest care about the broader consequences for your declaration of war. My intervention is a purely selfish desire."
"Have I done something against you personally, " Suguru asked, his face completely at ease, clearly more than content to continue their conversation, "If not, I can't see why you would ever stand against me. It would be a shame if I were forced to kill both of the next generation's most promising sorcerers."
Kiniro grinned, "Bold of you to assume that you can pull that off. You don't really think I'm that easy of a mark, do you?"
"I've been preparing for this day longer than you've been aware of the existence of Jujutsu Sorcery," Suguru bragged as he raised his finger into the air, "Now leave, or die like everyone else who's dared to stand in the way of my vision."
"Your vision is a false one," Kiniro replied with a chilling edge to his voice, "There can never be a world without curses, just as there can never be a world without jujutsu. The absolute you wish to enforce on the world is unobtainable."
Suguru's face tightened as he glared at Kiniro, "Nothing is unobtainable. You just need the power to make your dreams a reality. And that is what I intend to achieve."
Suguru lowered his finger, pointing it directly at Kiniro and Yuta, and the whirlpool behind him exploded, unleashing a torrent of shadowy specters that shot through the air, their mouths opened in slight cries of agony.
Gritting his teeth, Yuta was ready to command Rika to unleash her strongest blast of cursed energy when Kiniro suddenly reached down and grabbed the flask at his waist, "Hmm, I was looking for an excuse to have a drink."
Then, without any warning, Kiniro thrust out his other hand, and Yuta watched as the cursed energy around him surged forward like a rogue wave, 'He's not going to try and face it head-on, is he?'
Yuta's question was answered when Suguru's Uzumaki crashed into Kiniro's cursed energy and slowed, but only a little bit, and quickly started breaking through.
'It's not enough! There's no way he has enough cursed energy to beat out over four thousand spirits!'
As if hearing Yuta's thoughts, Kiniro started drinking from his flask as if he had been dared to chug at a party, causing his cursed energy to swell.
Watching the scene, Suguru's brow furrowed as he watched his ultimate technique being held off by nothing more than a ridiculous amount of cursed energy, 'What is that cursed tool in his hands?! It's somehow replenishing his cursed energy! How have I never heard of such an item before?!'
For a split second, Suguru felt a moment of doubt cross his mind as he considered fleeing in the face of such an unknown variable, but in an instant those thoughts were squashed, 'This is my once chance! After this, Okkotsu will be beyond my reach, and then my vision will truly be unattainable.'
Suguru's conviction soared, and as he watched Uzumaki slowly wind down, failing to penetrate the dense blob of cursed energy surrounding Kiniro and Yuta, his hands slowly moved together as a surge of cursed energy exploded off of his body.
"Domain Expansion: Woe of the Spiteful Devourer"
Yuta's eyes widened as he watched Suguru's fingers form a seal causing the space around them to warp and distort, changing the scenery into something completely new.
Jujutsu high was replaced by a cavernous enclosed space, with the air feeling humid and stale like a cave. But instead of stone the walls and floor were made out of a spongy material the color of flesh and even more horrifying was the way the walls seemed to writhe and move in unison, squeezing and contracting.
Standing in the back of the cavern, Suguru regarded Kiniro and Yuta with a broad smile, "I'm somewhat ashamed having to resort to such a technique against my juniors, but it seems that I have no other choice. Commend yourselves for pushing me this far! But I'm afraid you go no further."
Suguru pulled apart his hands and as he did the wall of flesh behind him opened, revealing a long tunnel that seemed to extend forever. After getting a look at it Yuta realized what the passage reminded him of, 'It's like a throat his domain is going to try and swallow us!'
Just as the thought crossed Yuta's mind an immense suctioning force attempted to rip from the ground and pull him down the passageway, but before it could Kiniro raised a hand and extended his cursed energy.
"Domain Amplification"
Yuta stumbled as the pull suddenly vanished and he looked at Kiniro with wide eyes, "How are you?"
"A little trick a senior taught me," Kiniro replied with a smile as his hair was whipped around his face from the gale-force winds being pulled to the back of the cavern, "As long as you stay within a foot of me, you should be just fine."
'Domain Amplification?!' Suguru gritted his teeth as he watched Kiniro flawlessly execute one of the most advanced jujutsu techniques, 'If he's able to execute such a technique, that means he should be capable of expanding his domain as well. But why hasn't he, is he worried that he would lose in a direct clash? Does he hope to somehow defeat me in my own domain without expanding his?'
"Seems we're at a bit of an impasse for the moment," Kiniro spoke with a grin on his face, "So let's have a little chat, I've been dying to talk about your soul!"