"The barrier… broke?"
Kita stared in amazement at the sight, her spirits lifting immediately.
Nijika and Ryo visibly perked up at the news.
"Run toward that building!"
Roy pointed at a skyscraper beyond the former barrier.
"There are trustworthy sorcerers there—they should already be on their way. Bocchi-chan is there too, so you'll be safe!"
"But what about you, Mr. Roy…?"
"I still have enemies left."
Roy turned back, his gaze fixed on Shibuya's main street.
Flames flickered, smoke billowed, and the anguished cries of humans filled the air.
The billowing smoke momentarily obscured the enemy's line of sight, preventing them from launching a second wave of attacks.
Roy suddenly pricked up his ears.
Enhanced by his heightened perception, his hearing—which surpassed even that of a fully realized Heavenly and Fiendish Sovereign—caught the faintest fluttering sound.
"Alright, let's move now!"
Roy's gaze sharpened as the Sword of the Black Furnace flashed out.
The blade struck a small shikigami that had fluttered out from the smoke, its wings beating rapidly.
"Clang!"
The glowing edge met the small shikigami, producing a metallic ring as if steel had clashed against steel.
"What?"
Roy's eyes flickered with surprise.
The small shikigami had actually withstood a direct slash from the Sword of the Black Furnace?
"Shhht!"
But the next moment, the small shikigami was cleanly bisected by the Sword of the Black Furnace.
It had only managed to block the blade for an instant.
Even so.
The Sword of the Black Furnace, which had never failed—capable of decapitating Hanami with a single stroke and cleaving through Jogo's meteorites—had actually been momentarily halted by such an insignificant, tiny shikigami?
This small shikigami was nothing more than a rudimentary construct.
Even assistant supervisors could create these, let alone sorcerers!
"It's definitely not the shikigami's ability—it's the effect of a cursed technique!"
Roy immediately reached this conclusion.
Who had summoned this shikigami?
Not Jogo, not Uro, and certainly not Choso... Could it be Dhruv?
"Swish-swish-swish!"
The sound of fluttering wings echoed repeatedly.
One after another, small shikigami emerged from the smoke, darting toward Roy with the agility of swallows!
Roy's eyes narrowed as he swung his blade to meet them.
The Sword of the Black Furnace struck the small shikigami with pinpoint accuracy, yet each time, the blade hesitated for an instant before cleaving them apart.
Fortunately, the small shikigami weren't particularly fast. Though numerous, they were far from overwhelming Roy's limits.
Suddenly, one of the small shikigami slipped past Roy, charging toward the trio behind him—Kita and the others.
The three had been about to flee in the direction Roy had indicated, but the sudden appearance of the shikigami caught them off guard, freezing them in fear.
Now, as the small shikigami flew toward them, their faces drained of color, and in sheer terror, they instinctively shut their eyes.
Roy's gaze turned icy as his blade arced like lightning from behind, slashing into the small shikigami and sending it flying backward.
The small shikigami steadied itself—completely unharmed—and lunged at the trio once more.
Seeing that the shikigami had not only blocked the Sword of the Black Furnace but was now pursuing them again, Roy frowned slightly.
What kind of cursed technique is this...?
The previous small shikigami had indeed blocked the Sword of the Black Furnace, but only for a split second before being destroyed.
How could this one remain completely unscathed after taking a direct hit?
If he recalled correctly, Dhruv's cursed technique involved turning a shikigami's movement trajectory into a domain...?
His mind raced, but his hands never slowed. He pulled out a stack of talismans from his robe and hurled them toward the trio.
"Run! Don't look back!" Roy barked at them before turning to slash at the small shikigami once more.
The blade met the shikigami head-on, and another metallic clang rang out upon impact.
This time, the small shikigami held its ground against the light blade for a brief moment, but unlike before, it failed to emerge unscathed. Instead, it was cleanly bisected like the others.
"This one... I see now! So that's how it is!"
Roy watched as the small shikigami was split in two, and a sudden realization flashed through his mind like lightning.
Behind him, the three girls—Kita and her companions—were enveloped in a simple defensive barrier formed by talismans, their bodies covered in a shimmering light.
Exchanging glances, the trio knew they would only become a burden if they stayed. Gritting their teeth, they lowered their heads and sprinted toward the barrier's edge, not daring to look back at the battle for fear of accidentally locking eyes with those monsters.
"Mr. Roy, do your best!"
With those parting words, the three dashed out of the smoke in the opposite direction.
Roy didn't respond.
He swung his blade several times in succession, effortlessly dispatching the remaining small shikigami. As he watched Kita and the others flee the barrier, his expression gradually turned icy.
"Druv, you've got some nerve!"
Roy muttered under his breath, a chilling aura radiating from him.
Strangers meant nothing to Roy. Even if they all perished, he wouldn't bat an eye.
But those he knew, those he protected, those he favored, those he treated kindly, those he loved—
Not a single hair on their heads could be touched by the enemy!
"Clang—!"
A sky-blue cursed energy surged from his body, flickering like flames around him.
At that moment, as if a bell had tolled, the cursed energy covering his body trembled like steel being forged in a furnace.
The sky-blue energy deepened, taking on a dull, purplish hue. The flickering flames of cursed energy solidified step by step, vibrating silently like diamonds.
"Boom!"
Roy leaped into the air.
With an earth-shaking roar, the concrete ground beneath him sank over a foot. His figure shot skyward like an arrow released from a bow.
Midair, feeling the convection of the wind, Roy adjusted his trajectory and kicked against the air. A thunderous explosion erupted as he plummeted downward.
With the momentum of his descent, Roy delivered a powerful kick toward the colossal, forty-meter-tall slug monster below!
"He's coming out!"
From below, Jogo's voice rang out, tense and filled with frustration, as if warning the other three.
Four Special-Grade curses working together, and yet they hadn't even managed to scratch him!
How could this be?!
Was he truly invincible?!
The slug monster rose from the ground, waving its stubby limbs in a silent roar before charging headfirst at Roy.
"Boom—!"
Before the slug could even lift its head, Roy's kick landed squarely on its forehead.
In the blink of an eye, the massive slug was pierced through like a cloud struck by a falling rocket. A gaping hole appeared in its head, and its body stiffened before collapsing limply to the ground.
"My shikigami!"
From the shadows, the elderly voice let out a heart-wrenching roar of fury.
Druv Lakdawalla.
A legendary sorcerer of ancient times, renowned for his self-created shikigami techniques. He had once single-handedly quelled the chaos in Wa and dominated the entire archipelago with his might.
In the Sendai arc of the original work, he also scored the highest points, leading the Four Heavenly Kings from the front.
He could transform the movement trajectory of his shikigami into a domain. In other words, when the shikigami moved, it would naturally be enveloped in a layer of domain!
This domain was the key to blocking the Sword of the Black Furnace in an instant.
This technique of imbuing shikigami with their own innate domain allows for a strike that no cursed technique can defend against in an instant—even "Infinity" can be neutralized. Even if Gojo Satoru were here, he wouldn't dare to tank the hit with his Limitless Cursed Technique.
The biggest drawback of this technique is that the domain only envelops the shikigami while it's in motion. The moment the shikigami stops moving, the domain naturally dissipates.
Against Dhruv's shikigami, you can't slash it away—the act of "flying away" itself would cause the shikigami to regain its domain. You have to slash it into complete stillness. Only by stopping it, stripping it of movement, and making its domain vanish can you deliver a fatal blow in one strike!
"Seems like you didn't discuss this beforehand. Guess I'll make the decision unilaterally, then!"
Roy kicked open the iron door of the basement, revealing Dhruv hiding inside. A cold smile curled on his lips.
The compressed cursed energy cloaking his body, shimmering in blue-violet, resembled diamond armor. An overwhelming aura radiated from him, making him seem like an invincible god of war in that moment.
Dhruv stared at him in horror, his aged body emaciated to skin and bones. He knew his frail physique would only hinder his shikigami, which was why he had hidden away.
He had concealed himself so thoroughly—how had he still been found?!
In his panic, Dhruv hastily summoned his other independent shikigami.
"—You're the third one!"
The words had barely left Roy's mouth when his figure blurred.
A flash of steel, fleeting as a passing shadow, sliced through the air.
The slash was impossibly fast.
So fast that Duruf didn't even have time to summon his shikigami. All he saw was a streak of white light.
Then, his head toppled from his shoulders, and his body collapsed into a pool of blood.