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Atop the tall pavilion, the fire safety system had completely activated. Sprinkler heads crazily spewed torrents of water onto the burning reception room.
Meanwhile, several hundred meters away on the tree-lined pathway, Bokue Keikain walked leisurely forward, casually gripping the head of the special-grade curse that had just attacked them.
A violet-haired girl carrying a sword walked by his side, followed closely by Gojo Satoru, Gakuganji, and a blue-haired, sword-carrying girl—Miwā Kasumi, if he recalled correctly.
Ahead of them lay a massive, hemispherical black barrier.
"So, that huge black barrier wasn't your doing?"
"Nope~"
"Then it must've been this thing. By the way, what exactly is it supposed to be?"
"A Special-grade curse… probably."
"I know it's a curse. But I mean—it seemed to specifically target you earlier."
Bokue glanced down at the curse's head dangling from his grip. Indeed, it was exceptionally curse-like:
A single massive eye dominated its face, like some super-sized, sinister cyclops. The eye was so enormous it stretched from where a human's eyes should be, down over where a nose would normally be—only there wasn't any nose. Two strange, bowl-shaped holes sat where ears would normally be, and atop its head, a volcanic opening softly steamed like an animated miniature volcano.
These weren't wounds caused by Bokue's hands; they'd been there from the start.
Holding the head up, Bokue turned slightly, showing it to Gojo.
"So, recognize this guy?"
"Sorry, can't say I do."
Gojo shrugged casually, hands in his pockets.
"I've fought plenty of curses before—some even understood human speech—but one that can fluently speak like a person? Honestly, that's a first."
"Alright."
Bokue brought the head back, lowering it to his gaze. The curse's eye was now sluggish and unfocused.
"Hey, speak up. What was your goal? Did you put up that black barrier too?"
Silence.
"Come on, quit playing dead. We all know you speak human. You were quite talkative just now. Say something."
Still silence.
"Not gonna talk? Fine. Should I just crush you here and now, then?"
Again, silence.
"Huh, maybe it really is about to die. It's totally spacing out. Well, whatever—I'll just go over to that barrier and find out myself."
After three failed attempts at communication, Bokue didn't bother any further. He casually flipped the head into the air, then caught it again effortlessly—like gripping a basketball with one hand, its severed neck facing downward as cursed blood dripped to the ground.
Witnessing this, Gakuganji inwardly shuddered.
❁❁❁❁
They arrived at the barrier shortly afterward—the location wasn't far from the pavilion they'd left. Just a few minutes later, Bokue and the others stood directly before it.
There was a grand torii gate ahead; precisely marking the boundary line of the black dome. From a distance, it appeared like a massive inverted cauldron; up close, its shadowy surface loomed imposingly, nearly swallowing the entire competition area.
"Such an enormous barrier…"
Blue-haired Miwā Kasumi murmured in astonishment.
"How was something like this even constructed?" Saeko Busujima frowned, perplexed.
A barrier, fundamentally, was similar to blowing soap bubbles. If you wanted a large bubble, you'd need sufficient bubble solution. Without enough solution, the bubble would quickly pop once it reached a certain size.
The same logic applied to barriers: the larger the barrier, the more cursed energy required. Yet, size alone wasn't enough—you needed structural integrity, strength, and durability. Otherwise, just like a soap bubble, it would break with the slightest touch, rendering it meaningless.
Achieving both scale and strength caused the cursed energy required to increase exponentially. Such immense power wasn't something a few people could simply produce.
"Although we don't yet know what type of barrier this is, let's test it first."
Saeko said this while carefully removing her sword from its sheath. After discarding the sheath aside, she assumed an elegant Iaijutsu stance, preparing to strike—
"Wait!"
Just as Saeko inhaled sharply, about to unleash a dazzling sword strike, Miwā's voice rang out urgently from behind.
"We don't know its nature yet! Blindly attacking might trigger a backlash! Maintaining a barrier this huge requires an enormous amount of cursed energy—if it backfires on us…"
There was no need to finish. Everyone understood: getting struck by the massive cursed energy powering this barrier could easily be fatal.
After brief consideration, Saeko lowered her sword and looked toward Bokue.
Observing the colossal barrier carefully, Bokue nodded slowly:
"Well, not rushing headlong into an unknown barrier is definitely the right approach."
"Typically, barriers like this would have four—or at least three—anchor points placed around its boundary. Removing or destroying these anchors below three should deactivate it automatically."
"So, we should find these anchors now? But how will we locate them quickly in such a vast area?" Miwā asked anxiously.
"We don't need to look."
"Eh?"
"We just destroy all anchors simultaneously in one go."
"Huh?"
Miwā became more bewildered.
Did he mean destroying them without finding them first? Was he just going to randomly strike and hope for the best?
Ironically, she guessed right.
He wasn't just randomly guessing—he intended to thoroughly pulverize everything.
Bokue calmly continued:
"In simpler terms—"
Casually raising one leg, he smiled faintly under Gakuganji's wide-eyed astonishment.
"If precision strikes aren't convenient, just sweep the area with one big AOE."
"Ohh~ So Bokue-kun is planning to give us a demonstration worthy of the Keikain family's acting head, huh?"
Gojo adjusted his sunglasses, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Bokue shrugged lightly.
"Isn't this exactly what you were hoping to see?"
As he finished speaking, Bokue gently placed his raised foot onto the ground.
The next instant, the earth itself convulsed violently.
The entire mountain range shuddered, its surface cracking and fracturing apart.
With a single step, he split the mountain.
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