Chapter 129 (Patreon)

“Dagon! Get out of there!”

The moment Jogo saw Ragnar Kagenou turn the Gate of Babylon toward Dagon, he shouted a warning.

“Too late.”

A faint smile touched Ragnar’s lips.

Golden ripples spread across the air behind him, and the Noble Phantasms within them were unleashed.

Squelch!

“A mere human weapon could never pierce my—my body...!”

Dagon’s defiant words died in his throat.

The magnificent weapons tore through his scales as though they were paper. They ripped apart his flesh, pierced his muscles, and shattered his bones with terrifying ease.

“Damn you!”

Countless small volcanoes erupted from the ground around Jogo.

Scorching flames and molten rock surged forward, engulfing Ragnar from every direction.

“Is this really all your Cursed Technique amounts to?”

Ragnar regarded the approaching inferno with complete indifference.

“What a worthless display.”

Golden ripples opened directly in front of Jogo.

Before he could evade, several Noble Phantasms shot through the flames and pierced his body, hurling him backward and pinning him against the subway station wall.

At the same time, Choso brought his hands together.

Blood condensed between his palms.

“Piercing Blood!”

A compressed stream of blood shot forward at the speed of sound.

Clang!

“What...?”

Choso’s eyes widened.

“It didn’t pierce through?”

The attack had been stopped by a small, round shield floating in front of Ragnar.

Hearing Choso’s disbelief, Ragnar let out a quiet laugh.

“Pierce it?”

He looked at Choso as though the very suggestion amused him.

“You greatly overestimate yourself, Death Painting.”

Ragnar’s hand rested lightly against the shield.

“What stands before you is an entire world. Did you truly believe blood that barely surpasses the speed of sound could break through it?”

It was nothing more than a hopeless fantasy.

Against such a weak Cursed Technique, having Akhilleus Kosmos appear in even this reduced form was already giving Choso far more recognition than he deserved.

Even if Choso continued refining Blood Manipulation for a million years, he would never leave so much as a scratch upon that shield.

Nearby, Dagon’s body had been transformed into something resembling a graveyard of swords.

Noble Phantasms protruded from nearly every part of him.

With Jogo and Choso covering him, Dagon finally managed to catch his breath.

He immediately formed a hand seal.

“Domain Expansion!”

Cursed energy erupted around them.

“Horizon of the Captivating Skandha!”

In the next instant, Ragnar and Dagon vanished from the subway station.

They reappeared beneath a clear blue sky.

White clouds drifted lazily overhead, while gentle waves washed across a wide tropical beach. Under any other circumstances, it would have been the perfect place for a vacation.

Ragnar calmly surveyed the scenery.

“For a Cursed Spirit, your Domain is one of the few I find somewhat interesting.”

Dagon floated above the sea, watching Ragnar with undisguised vigilance.

“I’ll kill you here, Ragnar Kagenou.”

The ocean behind Dagon rose.

A wave more than a hundred metres high towered over the beach before crashing toward Ragnar with overwhelming force.

Ragnar’s expression immediately cooled.

“Who gave you permission to address me by name, mongrel?”

Swish!

A flash of blue light crossed the Domain.

The enormous wave was split cleanly through the middle.

“What?!”

Rumble!

The severed halves of the wave collapsed in opposite directions.

Between them, an enormous blade tore through the sea and continued straight toward Dagon.

“Your ocean is hardly worth mentioning before the Sea-Severing Sword.”

Dagon’s eyes widened.

He immediately turned and swam toward the open sea with everything he had.

The colossal slash chased him across the water, carving a massive path through the ocean.

Only after escaping beyond the range of the Sea-Severing Sword did Dagon finally stop.

He floated upon the waves, breathing heavily.

Ragnar watched him from the shore.

“Not bad.”

His tone carried the faintest trace of approval.

“To survive the Sea-Severing Sword’s strike is worthy of praise.”

Ragnar’s interest in Dagon seemed to grow.

“Then tell me, Cursed Spirit...”

Another enormous golden ripple spread across the sky.

“What will you do about the second one?”

“What?!”

Dagon looked upward in horror.

“There’s another one?!”

A colossal sword emerged from the golden ripple above him.

It was every bit as massive as the Sea-Severing Sword. Its enormous blade shone with a deep verdant light as it descended from the heavens.

“Ig-Alima.”

Ragnar raised one hand.

“Crush him.”

Ig-Alima—the Mountain-Severing Sword—fell toward Dagon.

“No...!”

Dagon’s instincts screamed at him to flee, but it was already too late.

The Mountain-Severing Sword had locked onto him.

No matter how quickly he swam, escape was impossible.

“Raaaaagh!”

Dagon roared and poured every last trace of his power into the Domain.

The surrounding ocean surged upward.

All the seawater within his reach gathered above him, forming layer after layer of protection against the descending sword.

Ragnar made no attempt to finish him immediately.

He simply watched.

“Show me how far you can go.”

He wanted to see whether Dagon could withstand Ig-Alima.

Outside the Domain, Jogo tore the Noble Phantasms from his body one after another.

Cursed energy surged through his wounds, rapidly regenerating his damaged flesh.

“We were fortunate Dagon managed to drag him into his Domain.”

Jogo glanced at Choso.

“Otherwise, we would already be dead.”

His gaze then shifted toward the upper levels of the station.

“Use this chance to find Satoru Gojo.”

Choso stared at the black sphere formed by Dagon’s Domain.

Jogo understood what he was thinking.

“Dagon won’t survive.”

His voice hardened.

“Find Satoru Gojo. Don’t let his sacrifice be wasted!”

Jogo then turned toward the crowd of civilians packed into the station.

Hatred burned within his single eye.

Flames gathered around his hands before he launched a fireball straight toward them.

“Run!”

“A fireball appeared out of nowhere!”

The civilians at the outer edge of the crowd screamed and desperately tried to escape.

However, those farther behind could not see what was happening. Unaware of the danger, they continued pushing forward, trying to find out what had caused the commotion.

“Fire!”

“There’s a fire!”

Boom!

Jogo’s expression changed.

“What?”

His flames had been stopped.

The Chains of Heaven had moved on their own, stretching across the station between Jogo and the civilians.

Clatter!

The chains intertwined and formed a massive shield around the crowd.

No matter how fiercely the flames struck, they could not pass through.

Jogo clicked his tongue.

“Even after being dragged into a Domain, he can still control his weapons?”

He looked upward.

“We’ll leave through the upper level.”

“We can’t.”

Choso’s gaze remained fixed on the Chains of Heaven.

“Unless we deal with those chains, we won’t be able to escape.”

“Damn it!”

On the fourth basement level, Kenjaku stood hidden among the crowd.

His eyes remained fixed on Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.

“You two should avoid making any reckless moves.”

A faint smile crossed his face.

“Otherwise, everyone here will die.”

Gojo watched Kenjaku without immediately attacking.

Geto also remained still, waiting for Gojo to make the first move.

Yes.

That was exactly what Kenjaku wanted.

The greatest weakness of a jujutsu sorcerer was their inability to abandon civilians who were about to be killed.

As long as the stalemate continued, all Kenjaku had to do was wait for the Prison Realm to activate.

Satoru Gojo...

No.

Bearer of the Six Eyes.

You cannot defeat me.

It had always been that way throughout the past thousand years.

This time would be no different.

The bearer of the Six Eyes would be completely sealed.

“Satoru...”

Geto glanced toward Gojo.

“Is there really no other way?”

He then noticed the corners of Gojo’s mouth beginning to rise.

“Domain Expansion.”

Kenjaku’s eyes widened.

His mind went blank for an instant.

Impossible!

He intends to use Domain Expansion in the middle of this crowd?!

Everyone nearby would be caught inside it.

They would all die.

Damn it!

Has he decided that the civilians’ lives no longer matter?

“Unlimited Void.”

A vast, lapis-lazuli light spread in every direction.

However, something was wrong.

Rather than engulfing the civilians, the light twisted around them.

It avoided every person in the crowd and converged solely upon Kenjaku.

Kenjaku’s eyes widened in horror.

Without hesitation, he severed the connection between his consciousness and the body within Shibuya.

“Hah... Hah...”

Somewhere else in the city, Kenjaku slowly opened his eyes.

“That was close.”

His breathing was unsteady.

“I was almost caught inside his Domain.”

He frowned as he recalled what had happened.

“Strange...”

There had been something unusual about Satoru Gojo’s Domain Expansion.

Behind Kenjaku, Tengen continued manipulating the space encompassing the entirety of Shibuya.

The Mountain-Severing Sword descended.

The immense mass of seawater Dagon had gathered was obliterated upon contact.

It did not split or scatter.

It simply disintegrated beneath Ig-Alima’s overwhelming power.

The colossal blade crashed into Dagon.

Half of his body was smashed apart.

“Did I... survive?”

Dagon floated weakly in the sea as his missing flesh began to regenerate.

Ragnar watched his recovery without interfering.

Dagon gritted his teeth.

“Death Swarm!”

Countless shikigami emerged from the Domain.

Fish-shaped monsters flooded the sea and sky, forming an endless swarm around Ragnar.

Dagon concealed himself among them.

He had no intention of facing another Noble Phantasm from a distance.

Instead, he planned to close the gap and force Ragnar into close-quarters combat.

Ragnar immediately understood his intention.

“You want to fight me at close range?”

He watched the swarm approach without moving.

“It isn’t a bad tactic against a jujutsu sorcerer who relies upon long-range attacks.”

A deep blue knight’s sword appeared in Ragnar’s hand.

“Unfortunately for you...”

He calmly raised the blade.

“You chose the wrong opponent.”

Hidden among the fish-shaped shikigami, Dagon stared at the weapon in Ragnar’s hand.

A sense of danger far greater than before spread through his body.

“What is that...?”