Chapter 88 (Patreon)

Jogo’s Domain was swallowed in an instant.

Golden seawater surged through the volcanic landscape, drowning the burning earth beneath a radiant flood.

The heat vanished.

His flames cooled.

Even the air inside his Domain began to lose its ferocity.

“Rejoice now, and turn into hope—”

The golden tide rose higher.

“Noah’s Ark.”

Jogo’s single eye widened.

The moment he understood what was happening, he tried to escape his own Domain.

He had no intention of taking that attack head-on.

But Ragnar Kagenou looked down at him from beyond the flood, his expression unchanged.

“A cursed spirit is still a cursed spirit.”

The golden sea crashed forward.

“You were never invited aboard.”

This was no ordinary flood.

It was an apocalyptic deluge.

A flood meant to wash away an entire world.

Bang!

Jogo’s Domain shattered.

The barrier collapsed under the weight of the Noble Phantasm, and the golden seawater tore through it like judgment itself.

At the last possible moment, Jogo forced half of his body out of the collapsing Domain.

Only half.

The rest was crushed and swallowed by the flood.

His ruined body fell from the sky like a meteor, smashing into the ground and carving out a massive crater.

Ragnar looked down at him.

“In the end, that is all you amount to.”

His eyes were cold.

“A stray dog.”

Jogo’s upper body twitched inside the crater. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

From a distance, Kenjaku watched the scene with a faint sigh.

“How unfortunate,” he said lightly. “He is probably beyond saving.”

Hanami, standing nearby, reacted.

Kenjaku noticed immediately.

Among cursed spirits, Hanami was the gentlest.

At least, by their standards.

Watching another cursed spirit die in front of it was not something Hanami could ignore.

To Hanami, companions were not tools.

They were family.

Kenjaku glanced at it from the corner of his eye.

“If you want to die with him, go ahead.”

His voice carried open ridicule.

“Cursed spirits developing feelings... how ridiculous.”

Hanami let out a low, distorted sound.

Its voice entered Kenjaku’s mind directly.

“Jogo... is... family.”

“You... who feel nothing... would never understand.”

The grass beneath Hanami’s feet trembled.

“We are the true new humans.”

With that, Hanami dashed toward Jogo.

Kenjaku watched it go, his smile thinning.

“How arrogant.”

Back at the crater, Ragnar stepped closer to Jogo’s broken body.

“This suits you better.”

Jogo glared up at him, his body still being eaten away by the lingering golden seawater.

“If you’re going to kill me...” Jogo forced out, his voice hoarse with pain, “then do it already, brat.”

Ragnar did not move.

“Die slowly.”

Jogo’s eye narrowed.

“Feel your soul being scraped away, piece by piece.”

Ragnar’s voice remained calm.

“Regret the moment you were born.”

Jogo’s teeth clenched.

“I... will kill you...!”

Before Ragnar could answer, roots burst down in front of him.

White chrysanthemum petals scattered through the air.

In the next instant, the ruined forest transformed into a brilliant field of flowers.

A sweet fragrance drifted through the battlefield.

It was gentle and pleasant.

Almost enough to make the body relax on its own.

But against Ragnar, it meant nothing.

A blur shot through the flower field, seized Jogo’s ruined body, and tried to escape.

Ragnar’s gaze shifted.

“So even dogs travel in packs.”

Snap.

Chains burst from golden ripples in the air.

The Chains of Heaven spread instantly, sealing the surrounding space.

Hanami stopped with Jogo in its arms, its body tense as it watched Ragnar.

Ragnar’s expression did not change.

“Who allowed you to leave?”

Hanami released a strange, distorted sound.

Normally, its meaning would have been impossible to understand.

But with the Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence, Ragnar understood every word.

It was pleading.

Ragnar’s lips curved faintly.

“That is exactly what a stray dog would say.”

The chains tightened around the area.

“Struggle, then.”

Each time Hanami tried to escape into the air, the Chains of Heaven forced it back down.

Golden ripples opened beside Ragnar.

From within them emerged a massive blue-and-gold bow.

Maanna.

Ragnar raised his hand.

“True Name Release.”

The night sky tore open.

A vast circular rift appeared above the battlefield, revealing a magnificent starry void beyond it.

“Open the gate.”

A massive Venus emerged from the rift, bathing the darkness in divine radiance. The surrounding air was dragged violently upward, surging into the opening as if the sky itself had become a mouth.

Far away, Kenjaku’s expression finally changed.

“Are you joking...?”

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the descending planet.

“That is not something a jujutsu sorcerer should be able to do.”

Hanami and Jogo were directly beneath it.

There was nowhere to run.

Ragnar’s voice echoed across the battlefield.

“From the great Heaven—”

Venus began to dissolve into golden energy.

“—to the great Earth.”

That divine mass flowed into Maanna’s ammunition chamber, transforming into a conceptual projectile.

Hanami’s face stiffened.

Even so, it refused to collapse.

It placed one hand against the ground.

The grass, trees, roots, and flowers across the battlefield began to wither. Their life force was drained away, gathering toward Hanami’s arm.

The flower on Hanami’s left shoulder bloomed.

At its center, a giant eye opened.

“Domain Expansion.”

Cursed energy surged.

“Sea of Gluttonous Light.”

Hanami’s Domain unfolded without closing a barrier.

An open-barrier Domain.

The same terrifying class as Sukuna’s and Kenjaku’s.

Nature itself poured into Hanami.

The eye on its shoulder stared up at Ragnar in the sky.

Golden light condensed within it as countless fragments of cursed energy were gathered and compressed.

The forest withered at a visible speed.

In the span of a breath, the entire area became dead land.

Above, Venus finished transforming.

A massive purple arrow took shape inside Maanna, aimed at the two cursed spirits below.

Ragnar released it.

“Mountain-Shaking Star of Venus.”

The purple energy descended.

Hanami’s all-out attack met it head-on and was crushed.

The golden light could not stop the enormous purple arrow.

Not even for an instant.

“Hanami!”

Jogo watched as countless roots wrapped around his body.

Rumble!

The world flashed white.

A violent explosion followed, blooming upward into a massive mushroom cloud of flame and cursed energy.

The shockwave blasted away the surrounding lake water and sent the withered trees flying.

When the aftermath finally faded, the entire battlefield looked as if it had been carved open.

At the center of the explosion was a vast, bottomless void.

Jogo and Hanami were not at the center.

At the final moment, Hanami had moved them away from the direct point of impact.

“Ha... Hanami...”

Protected by Hanami’s power, Jogo had been reduced to half a head.

Hanami knelt beside him, its body covered in deep wounds.

“Th... that’s... good...”

Hanami’s voice trembled faintly.

“You... didn’t... die...”

“Hanami... Hanami!”

Thump.

Thump.

The sound of footsteps approached.

Jogo slowly turned his eye upward.

Ragnar stood before them.

His gaze was cold, almost bored.

“You really are hard to kill.”

He looked at the two broken cursed spirits.

“Cockroaches, both of you.”

Jogo’s hatred flared.

“You bastard...!”

His voice was nothing more than a rasp.

“I will absolutely kill you!”

Ragnar stared at him for a moment.

Then he laughed.

“Hahahaha!”

Jogo’s eye burned with fury.

“What the hell is so funny?!”

Ragnar’s laughter faded into a mocking smile.

“It is just amusing.”

He lowered his gaze.

“I never expected cursed spirits to be this naive.”

Jogo trembled with rage.

“You bastard...!”

——————

Noble Phantasm: Mountain-Shaking Star of Venus

Rank: A++

Type: Anti-Mountain Noble Phantasm

Description:

In Sumerian mythology, this is one of the most destructive and cruel acts ever committed by Ishtar.

It originates from the legend in which Ishtar, simply because she disliked the sight of it, devastated Mount Ebih—a sacred mountain feared even by the king of the gods—and caused the entire mountain to die.

When activated as a Noble Phantasm, the user connects to Venus, takes the concept of the planet into their hand through divine authority, and loads it into Maanna’s ammunition chamber as a conceptual planet.

The result is an act of destruction feared even by gods.