Chapter 156 (Patreon)

“Yorozu! You can’t do something like this...!”

Tsumiki Fushiguro cried out from within, desperately trying to stop Yorozu from killing anyone else.

“Hmph. Spare me the lecture. Since when do I need your permission?”

Holding Hanyu in one hand, Yorozu hurled her toward the ground with all her strength.

Boom!

A cloud of dust erupted from the impact.

It was impossible to tell whether Hanyu was still alive, but judging from the force of the blow, even survival would likely leave her crippled.

A dark shadow flashed through the air, and Tsumiki Fushiguro’s body landed on the rooftop.

Hiromi Higuruma stared into her eyes and saw nothing but utter disregard for human life.

“What happened to her? The Fushiguro I met earlier and the woman standing before me now seem like completely different people.”

“Hmph. Letting an enemy live has never been my way of doing things.”

Yorozu stepped onto the edge of the rooftop and jumped.

“What are you doing?! Are you insane?! A fall from this height will kill us!”

Tsumiki screamed inside her mind.

As Yorozu plummeted toward the street below, her brow furrowed slightly.

“What kind of Cursed Technique is that?”

A man was flying toward them from the distance, an enormous propeller spinning atop his head.

“What?! He has a propeller growing out of his head!”

Tsumiki was left completely dumbfounded.

Just how much stranger could the world become?

“What did you do to my woman—?!”

Haba did not even have the chance to finish speaking before Yorozu struck him across the face with a single backhand.

He was sent flying through the air.

“What an ugly creature.”

Without another word, Yorozu began pulling at her clothes.

“Wait! Stop! What are you doing?!”

Tsumiki hurriedly seized control of her other hand and clutched the fabric tightly, refusing to let Yorozu remove it.

“Clothes are uncomfortable. Why shouldn’t I take them off?”

Yorozu spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Of course you can’t! Have you no sense of shame at all?!”

Tsumiki’s cheeks turned as red as ripe apples.

After enduring a relentless lecture from Tsumiki, Yorozu finally lost patience. As irritating as the clothes were, Tsumiki’s nagging was somehow even worse.

Yorozu descended steadily toward the ground. The liquid metal beneath her spread into a cushion, completely absorbing the force of the fall.

She walked over to Hanyu, planted one foot on her back, and seized her by the hair.

“Well? What happened to you?”

Hanyu hung limply in Yorozu’s grasp like a dying animal.

This was the difference between Cursed Techniques—the overwhelming gulf separating a special-grade sorcerer from an ordinary one.

Comparing the two was like comparing a human being to a banana.

“Would you like me to help you fly again?”

“Ugh... Ah...”

Blood trickled from the corner of Hanyu’s mouth. Her lips moved as though she wanted to speak, but no words came out.

Seeing this, Higuruma hurried down from the rooftop.

“Stop! Don’t kill her, Fushiguro!”

“Boring.”

The liquid metal hovering around Yorozu transformed into a sharp blade.

It hesitated for the briefest instant before plunging downward.

Shhk!

Yorozu looked toward the approaching Higuruma, the corners of her lips curling upward as she pulled the blade from Hanyu’s body.

“You... killed her.”

Higuruma’s expression remained calm.

A gavel appeared in his hand, while a black shikigami materialized behind him. Judgeman held a set of scales in its hands and stared silently at Yorozu.

“A shikigami?”

Yorozu studied Higuruma with newfound interest.

“Domain Expansion: Deadly Sentencing.”

Pitch-black cursed energy instantly swallowed them both.

When their vision returned, they were standing inside a solemn courtroom filled with an oppressive sense of authority.

“So this is the Domain of a modern sorcerer? It doesn’t feel much different from the Domains of our era.”

Domain Expansion had been far more common among sorcerers of the past. At the time, a Domain only needed to establish a sure-hit effect.

Modern Domains, however, were expected to combine both sure-hit and sure-kill effects. The increased difficulty meant that only a small number of modern sorcerers could manifest one.

“Go on, then. Show me what your Domain can do.”

The liquid metal in Yorozu’s hand swelled into an enormous hammer before crashing toward Higuruma.

“Hm?”

The attack abruptly stopped before reaching him.

“It was blocked?”

Higuruma saw no reason to conceal the Domain’s rules.

“All acts of violence are prohibited within this courtroom. That restriction applies equally to both of us.”

“Violence is prohibited... So that’s the effect of your Domain.”

The space around Yorozu suddenly shifted.

In the next instant, she had been returned to her position on the opposite side of the courtroom.

“Verbal abuse is another matter, of course.”

Higuruma glanced toward the shikigami behind him.

“Judgeman. Begin.”

Judgeman opened its mouth.

“Although Tsumiki Fushiguro was under eighteen years of age, she is suspected of purchasing and consuming alcohol at a convenience store in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, on January 20, 2015.”

This time, it was Tsumiki who could no longer remain calm.

“What?!”

When had that happened?

Even she barely remembered it, yet this shikigami had somehow dug it up?

“Pfft.”

Upon hearing the charge, Yorozu could not suppress her laughter.

“What are you laughing at?! It’s perfectly normal for someone that age to be curious about alcohol!”

Yorozu’s answer immediately left Tsumiki speechless.

“At your age, I had already slaughtered the Fujiwara clan’s entire subjugation force—the Five Empty Generals. Compared with that, being tried for drinking a little alcohol is simply laughable.”

Tsumiki fell silent for a moment before answering.

“S-So what? I may be the one standing trial, but if I’m punished, you’ll suffer along with me.”

“Obviously. I simply want to see what this man is capable of.”

Higuruma held a report in one hand as he addressed them.

“Present your defense. Judgeman is not known for its patience.”

“Can you hurry this up? I’m about to fall asleep. Your Domain is unbearably tedious.”

“You may remain silent, but your conduct will still be admitted as evidence.”

Higuruma watched Yorozu’s blatant contempt for the courtroom.

At this point, her behavior was practically another offense in itself.

Judgeman spoke from behind him.

“Guilty. Confiscation.”

“Nothing seems different...”

Yorozu carefully examined herself before noticing the change.

“No. I can’t use Domain Expansion.”

However, losing access to her Domain was hardly a serious problem for Yorozu.

She was not a modern sorcerer who depended upon a Domain’s sure-kill effect to eliminate her enemies.

For Yorozu, Domain Expansion was primarily another means of forcing her opponent into a direct confrontation.

“So violence is permitted now, correct?”

Gavel in hand, Higuruma rapidly closed the distance and swung it toward Yorozu.

“Your movements are crude. You only became a sorcerer recently, didn’t you?”

Higuruma did not answer.

Reversing his grip, he caused the gavel to expand and lengthen before bringing it down upon her with tremendous force.

“This ends it—!”

The instant Higuruma released the gavel, he saw a pitch-black metal shield standing between him and Yorozu.

“Ends it?”

Yorozu’s mocking voice came from behind the shield.

“You think far too highly of yourself.”

A torrent of black liquid metal poured across the floor.

Countless spikes erupted from the ground in an instant.

Higuruma immediately leaped backward, but he was not fast enough to escape completely.

Several of the spikes tore into him before he could leave their range.