Sendai Barrier, North Gate.
Yuki and Toji were holding the line against the advancing army of Cursed Spirits.
"This just never ends."
Toji looked at the seemingly endless tide of Cursed Spirits ahead of him, impatience flashing across his face.
At this moment, Toji had already accumulated quite a few injuries.
His physical strength was extremely high, and his complete Heavenly Restriction granted him exceptional resistance to curses.
After picking up a suitable cursed tool, Toji became the kind of frontline fighter many dreamed of.
He could take hits while dealing terrifying damage.
Even so, under dense attacks, many of them coming from advanced Cursed Spirits, Toji could not completely avoid being hit.
"In that case, I'll make sure you can't get close."
Ogama spat out the Chain of a Thousand Miles, and Toji skillfully connected it to the Split Soul Katana.
A chained blade that ignored durability and was almost a guaranteed kill against Cursed Spirits was formed.
Toji first retreated slightly to create distance. His right arm muscles bulged as he swung the Chain of a Thousand Miles continuously.
Splat. Splat. Splat.
Large numbers of Cursed Spirits were cut cleanly in half.
Ogama crawled toward Toji's left hand.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven was carefully handed over.
Soon, several smaller Cursed Spirits slipped through the blade curtain created by the Split Soul Katana and rushed toward Toji.
Toji swung the Inverted Spear of Heaven with his left hand, exorcising them, then raised it in front of his chest like a shield.
A dark attack radiating intense cursed energy slammed into the Inverted Spear of Heaven.
Toji's right hand, which was controlling the chain blade, loosened slightly, increasing the length of the Chain of a Thousand Miles once more.
Even more Cursed Spirits were torn apart by the Split Soul Katana.
However, as the range increased, the attack intervals also widened, allowing more attacks to slip through the gaps and fly toward Toji.
All of them were blocked by the Inverted Spear of Heaven.
In this way, Toji became a living battlefield lawnmower.
"As expected, he's really interesting, Toji."
Yuki punched a Cursed Spirit, causing it to explode, then balanced on one leg and spun, delivering a roundhouse kick with her right leg that sent a licker-like Cursed Spirit flying.
When Yuki charged into the Cursed Spirit army, she activated Star Rage and imbued herself with imaginary mass.
This dramatically enhanced her physical combat ability.
She gripped Garuda's tail and applied the effect of Star Rage to Garuda as well.
Then, copying Toji's method, she swung Garuda like a bone whip and attacked continuously.
Crack.
Garuda struck a beetle-like Cursed Spirit, shattering its body.
However, the attack was hindered by the creature's exoskeleton.
Although the bone whip was not deflected, its remaining force was insufficient to continue through to the next target.
"So Garuda isn't effective…?"
Yuki looked at Garuda in her hand with visible regret.
Garuda then transformed into a sphere.
Yuki adjusted her angle and kicked Garuda with tremendous force.
As Garuda was launched forward, several Cursed Spirits rushed in behind Yuki.
The wind-up for the kick had been too large, leaving too many openings on the battlefield.
However, Yuki made up for it with sheer durability.
A Cursed Spirit's fist struck her back, yet her body did not move at all.
Star Rage endowed Yuki with overwhelming mass.
The attack could not shake her in the slightest.
"Touching a lady without permission in foreign countries can get you sued for sexual harassment!"
Yuki turned and threw a punch, detonating all the Cursed Spirits that had approached from behind.
Even as she fought, Yuki kept her attention on Garuda.
She knew very well that such large, obvious attacks were unsuitable for a chaotic battlefield.
But the North Gate desperately needed a way to break the stalemate.
After weighing the risks, Yuki chose to unleash one of her strongest offensive methods, excluding self-destruction.
Garuda, carrying terrifying momentum, pierced straight through every Cursed Spirit in its path.
Then it flew directly into Dhruv's Domain.
The Great Fish Shikigami beneath Dhruv sensed the incoming attack, one powerful enough to threaten its existence.
The Great Fish Shikigami opened its massive mouth, and its roar transformed into a devastating shockwave that spread toward Garuda and across the entire northern front.
"Rumble!"
Garuda was the first to be struck by the shockwave. Because the affected area was so large, the force was dispersed.
As a result, although Garuda's power was weakened, it was not severely diminished.
Then Dhruv's smaller Shikigami began moving along strange trajectories, repeatedly colliding with Garuda.
Garuda's power was weakened further.
Splat.
"Rumble!"
Garuda slammed into the Great Fish Shikigami, tearing open a massive wound several meters wide.
This was after its power had been reduced multiple times.
If it had not been weakened, the Great Fish Shikigami's body would likely have been pierced straight through.
If a smaller Special Grade Cursed Spirit had taken that hit, it would have been instantly exorcised.
"Tsk. He actually turned a Shikigami into a Domain. Is that old man a genius?"
Yuki looked at Dhruv with a headache.
Because of Dhruv's method of blocking the gate, the North Gate's long-range firepower advantage could not be used.
The firepower meant to intercept Cursed Spirits from afar was completely nullified by the Shikigami inside the Domain and their sure-hit attacks.
As a result, the North Gate was the only front among the four gates where a large number of Cursed Spirits had pushed all the way to the front line.
That was why Yuki and Toji had been forced to constantly move around exorcising ordinary Cursed Spirits.
If the two of them abandoned the front line and went straight to deal with Dhruv, the defensive line would likely suffer heavy casualties under the pressure of the Cursed Spirit army.
Dhruv understood this as well.
That was why he sat calmly several hundred meters ahead of the front line.
It was a perfect position.
It weakened the North Gate's firepower advantage, allowing the Cursed Spirit army to advance efficiently,
and at the same time minimized the attacks he had to endure.
"We need to find a way to deal with that old man."
Yuki punched another Cursed Spirit, exorcising it, while continuously thinking about how to break the deadlock.
"Can't we just go in directly? That old man shouldn't be able to hold out against us for long."
Toji retreated to Yuki's side.
The two roars from the Great Fish Shikigami earlier had heavily disrupted the Chain of a Thousand Miles.
Because of that, Toji disengaged the chain blade and returned to using the Split Soul Katana alone.
"True."
Yuki agreed with Toji.
"But if I rush in and fight him inside his Domain, my combat power will drop sharply due to Cursed Technique Burnout, and a lot of people will probably die."
Yuki glanced worriedly at the area behind her.
Even with her martial skill, without her Technique's boost, she would not be able to intercept Cursed Spirits in large numbers like she was doing now.
"How long can you last in that old man's Domain without using your Domain?"
"…Three minutes."
That was Yuki's estimate, based on prior intelligence, of how long she could endure Dhruv's Domain while retaining enough strength to fight.
"That's enough."
Yuki looked at Toji in surprise.
Did he really have a way to deal with Dhruv in just three minutes?
She quickly understood his intent.
"I'll head back for a bit. I'm leaving this place to you. In ten minutes, charge into that old man's Domain and draw his attention."
"No problem."
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)