Chapter 56: Domain Expansion vs. Time Stop
"Ice Dragon, my name is Ice Dragon."
A grand "flower" bloomed on the ice plain, but these ice flowers, each the size of a house, were extremely deadly. Their petals were clusters of ice crystals that crushed each other to form, so sharp that they twisted the scattered sunlight into golden light crumbs.
But these beautiful and deadly sights were all in vain. The Ice Dragon had lost sight of the little person in its view. Its attack had not succeeded. As it prepared to soar into the air to gain a high-altitude view, a sharp pain struck its body down.
Kamihara Hajime's first target was naturally the wings of this Cursed Spirit that called itself "Ice Dragon." After approaching the Ice Dragon in Time Null State, Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and Onikiri continuously slashed at its right wing. Unexpectedly, this wing was extremely hard. It was only after a continuous slash with both swords that this half was barely torn off.
As half of its wing fell to the ground, the Ice Dragon let out a piercing shriek, and a visible current of wind swirled around it, instantly turning into a tearing gale.
Kamihara Hajime, who had activated his Technique again, found that upon approaching the Ice Dragon, a nearly solidified "cover" isolated it. This was not merely a protective layer formed by the storm; it was also supported by the Ice Dragon's Cursed Energy within it.
"Time Arrow."
After inserting the two curse swords into the ground, Kamihara Hajime took out Extermination. The Cursed Energy infused into it almost reached the limit of this cursed tool. Then, the taut light was suddenly released.
The blizzard enveloping the Ice Dragon was brutally torn open, creating a gap. Since its position was invisible, this attack only left a crescent-shaped notch on its massive body. The wound was perfectly clean, and the flesh and blood had vanished.
The Ice Dragon had already sensed something was wrong when it suffered the first attack. The surrounding wind and snow, under its control, could be its eyes and ears, but the first attack that severed its right wing left no trace.
Under the opponent's unknown Technique, its subsequent actions were swift and planned, yet it was still pierced through its defense by this undetectable arrow. The resulting injury was also very strange; compared to the wing, which was already barely recovering, this wound was extremely difficult to heal.
"Crack!"
Although this injury looked quite large, it was not fatal to the Ice Dragon's body. As its winding body instantly soared around the ice pillar, standing in the air, Kamihara Hajime was about to break its other wing as well when a movement not far away suddenly caught his attention.
A hole, about the thickness of a finger, appeared on the ice surface. Its edges were smooth and round, looking very deep, and there were no cracks around it. It must have been caused by something extremely sharp and fast, and Kamihara Hajime quickly realized what had caused it.
It was rain.
Rain falling from the sky, shining with brilliant light under the sun's gaze, created a hole upon landing on the ice surface, which had formed an unknown amount of time ago. There was no doubt that this was caused by the Ice Dragon. In Kamihara Hajime's perception, the range of this "rain" was roughly a three-hundred-meter radius centered on himself.
The lethality of these raindrops was of a penetrating nature and carried the Ice Dragon's icy attribute. Kamihara Hajime estimated he could withstand one or two hits for a while, but now it was a sky full of ice rain. It seemed foolish to rely on Reverse Cursed Technique or reverse himself to resist it head-on.
Various solutions flashed through his mind, and Kamihara Hajime chose the most direct method. He raised Extermination again.
Time Wheel - Reverse
Heaven and earth suddenly reversed. The heavy rain fell towards the sky, disappearing completely into the endless darkness. This momentary scene merely flashed through Kamihara Hajime's senses.
Time Wheel Spin
Five almost invisible trajectories, obscured by sunlight, appeared in the air. The Ice Dragon's humanoid torso, left wing, and the middle section of its dragon-snake body were consecutively struck at three points, instantly creating five grotesque and terrifying wounds.
The ice pillar beneath it also shattered and began to collapse, and only then did the Ice Dragon's roar reverberate in all directions.
"Domain Expansion: Unmelting Ice Prison"
The great sun hanging in the sky and the vast expanse of the heavens had vanished. All directions were sealed off by chilling ice prisons. This place was now an icy hell from which escape was impossible.
The space within the Domain was also somewhat abnormal; it was surprisingly spacious. The Ice Dragon hovered in the air, its previously severed right wing now re-formed from transparent ice crystals, and the wounds on its body had also vanished.
The rising blizzard began to rage within this space. The bone-chilling cold disregarded Kamihara Hajime's Cursed Energy defense. It only became less reckless after he deployed Simple Domain, but this Domain...
It's not just an enhancement of environmental factors, but also this abnormal feeling. This Cursed Spirit, the surrounding blizzard, and this Domain have merged into one. Is that why it has such an abnormal recovery rate? Let's try again!
The Ice Dragon, attempting to dodge by flapping its wings, once again froze in the air in Kamihara Hajime's eyes. The Cursed Energy light emitted by Extermination, pushed to its limit, reflected a vast scene within this ice prison. Arrows, tearing through the air, followed one after another, ripping open its surface defense and leaving large holes.
The moment the Technique was dispelled, Kamihara Hajime, observing intently, saw the Ice Dragon's body, as the wind and snow surged, being mended like a damaged oil painting splattered with new paint. Its body at this moment didn't resemble flesh and blood; instead, it was more like the boundless wind and snow, freed from the shackles of a physical form.
"This Domain effect is troublesome."
A few arrows cleared several paths through the overwhelming ice spikes in the air. Kamihara Hajime put away Extermination and drew Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and Onikiri. He then instantly appeared in front of the Ice Dragon. The boundless ice behind him suddenly shattered into ice shards. Looking up, the towering Ice Dragon spread its wings, circling and dancing in the air. Suddenly, many ice-formed beasts emerged from the wind and snow, pouncing towards him.
These attacks formed by Cursed Energy were not worth worrying about; their defensive power was something Kamihara Hajime could shatter with a single slash. The troublesome part was the chilling aura that escaped after they shattered. After clearing the surroundings in an instant, Kamihara Hajime, in Time Null State, stepped onto a giant ice snake that was pouncing from the air.
The two swords were alternately inserted into its ice-forged body. As Kamihara Hajime continuously ascended on it, only the shattered body of the ice snake was left behind him. With a piercing scraping sound, Kamihara Hajime pulled the blades from the ice, gathered strength, and leaped from the ice snake's body. After leaving a cracked pattern, he soared into the sky, flying towards the Ice Dragon, which maintained an odd posture in the air.
Godspeed Slash
Spider Cutter also appeared amidst the sharp sword light. The ice shards shattered by the three curse swords dotted the air like a rain of light. Stepping on the Ice Dragon's coiling body, Kamihara Hajime instantly "dismembered" it into several parts.
Falling to the ground, Kamihara Hajime created a large crater, then saw the broken Ice Dragon, which had fallen with him, coil and rise from the ground again, as if the previous injuries were merely an illusion.
"Asura!"
The Technique of the curse sword was ignited, and an eerie phantom appeared in the air behind the Ice Dragon. As it was about to coil its body to defend, the decaying sword in the phantom's hand ignored the wind, snow, and Cursed Energy enveloping its body, striking it vertically and precisely, severing its body by more than half.
The Ice Dragon, for the first time in the Domain, let out a painful shriek. Then, to Kamihara Hajime's speechless gaze, its body healed once more. Its aura even intensified amidst the more violent wind and snow.
"It focuses on enhancing its connection with environmental factors, even its own existence has become a part of the wind and snow here. If the Domain isn't broken, the blizzard won't stop. As long as the blizzard continues, the Ice Dragon is practically immortal, and this Domain is also specialized in defense."
Kamihara Hajime, deep in thought, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. An ice spike, about the length of a forearm, drilled out from within him. Kamihara Hajime could even clearly see it rotating and solidifying, still stained with steaming fresh blood.
Although it vanished in an instant, and the wound and damaged clothes were perfectly intact, Kamihara Hajime still frowned. This wasn't a sudden attack, but rather the accumulated coldness from his continuous battles with the Ice Dragon earlier. Under its Technique's control, it had burst forth from his body. While his reversal had healed the injury, it couldn't reverse to the time before the coldness entered his body, so...
"Damn it."
The ice spike again emerged from Kamihara Hajime's chest and abdomen. This time, he deliberately canceled the reversal and instead used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal. However, as long as he continued to fight the Ice Dragon, such coldness would only accumulate, and neither side would be able to truly defeat the other, resulting in an endless battle.
Taking advantage of its properties within the Domain, the Ice Dragon began close-quarters combat in addition to its Technique-based attacks. Although it couldn't inflict any effective damage on Kamihara Hajime, and would instead have its body shattered by the latter's opportunistic sword light, the Ice Dragon sought precisely this effect. Undeterred by these injuries, it would only release a large amount of cold air when its body shattered, achieving a "damage for damage" exchange.
He activated the curse sword's Technique again. Although it was more effective than ordinary attacks, could it be that in the Domain, not only is its body merged with it, but even its soul cannot be killed?
The Ice Dragon returned to the air, the surrounding ice and snow congealing on its body into a dazzling armor. The howling wind and snow also gathered around it. The Ice Dragon spread its wings, looking down at Kamihara Hajime on the ground: "Human! You are indeed very strong. I will remember you. When I return again, it will surely be with the wind and snow that will sweep everything away..."
"It wants to escape! If this continues, it's the one maintaining the Domain who will collapse first. So, realizing it can't kill me, it's choosing to flee. The sky is manageable; I can use Extermination and Time Arrow to shoot it down. But there's another escape route here..."
It's the ocean!
The deeper ocean beneath this endless ice plain. If it breaks through the weaker spots and dives into the sea, it will truly escape. I can't gamble on whether I can kill it when it dispels its Domain, either. From the looks of it, it's still accumulating some big move...
"I can only try that technique I'm still conceptualizing. If it doesn't work, I'll just have to try again when it dispels its Domain."
Time Wheel Spin, Time Wheel - Reverse
When the forward and reverse rotations of a Technique collide, what kind of phenomenon will be born when time acceleration and reversal unfold simultaneously?
As Kamihara Hajime's Technique unfolded, the time of everything enveloped began to accelerate simultaneously, yet at the same time, it was reversed, rewinding time. The effects of the Techniques, occurring simultaneously, clashed contradictorily, then began to merge.
Time was chaotic in that instant, and then everything… stopped.
It wasn't the kind of "stop" that Kamihara Hajime experienced in Time Null State. Kamihara Hajime could feel the boundless wind and snow stirred up by Cursed Energy, and the Ice Dragon in mid-air—their Cursed Energy had also stopped flowing. And the "Unmelting Ice Prison" he was currently in became very strange; although it still maintained its appearance, in Kamihara Hajime's perception, this Domain had lost its connection with the Ice Dragon.
Kamihara Hajime, who could only wield a portion of his Cursed Energy after the Technique sustained this miraculous phenomenon, almost immediately took out Extermination, drew the bow, and released the string. However, the flying Cursed Energy arrow stopped in mid-air the moment it left him. A startled Kamihara Hajime had no time to think further; the burden of this technique was simply terrifying.
Wielding Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, he swiftly approached the Ice Dragon. After leaping onto its body, Kamihara Hajime's slashes were incredibly effortless. Even without Totsuka-no-Tsurugi's defense-piercing ability, it probably wouldn't have been much worse. The Ice Dragon's body was instantly shattered again.
Feeling he was reaching his limit, Kamihara Hajime delivered the final blow, diagonally splitting the Ice Dragon's humanoid upper body face in two, then canceled the Technique.
Time resumed its flow.
The warm sunlight gently fell. The Ice Dragon's Unmelting Ice Prison had silently shattered. It, cut into several segments, seemed to not notice any abnormality, continuing its previous words, but before the first word could even be uttered, its life and death reversed, it froze in a daze.
"You—"
Stripped of its Domain, and with its Cursed Energy and Techniques unable to defend, the Ice Dragon had already reached the end of death in non-existent time. Its tall, dragon-snake body, which had obscured the sunlight, subsequently fell.
"Cough."
A large gush of blood overflowed from his mouth and nose. Kamihara Hajime glanced at his left hand, stained with blood from covering his mouth and nose, then attempted to activate Technique Reversal. However, it only succeeded halfway?
"The Technique can't be fully used temporarily... and its effect is limited. Was there a problem with the collision just now? But... thankfully, it still succeeded."
Kamihara Hajime then switched to using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his internal injuries. Although not fatal, the injuries were almost pervasive throughout his body, which was somewhat troublesome. The Ice Dragon's remains on the ground had already begun to dissipate. This Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the Ice Dragon, which had caused the blizzard to rage here, was confirmed to be exorcised.
The wind and snow dispersed, and the boundless ice plain reappeared under the blue sky. In the distance, a light greenish-blue veil suddenly ascended the horizon, incredibly spreading in the blink of an eye, enveloping the entire sky within view.
The slowly changing light seemed to flow gently, like the skirt of a goddess dancing gracefully. This was a miracle of nature, an exquisite stroke of genius, enough to awe the heart and mind of any observer.
After standing still and admiring it for a while, Kamihara Hajime watched the "skirt" flutter much more before coming back to his senses and stepping onto the snowy path he had come from. He took out the satellite phone Aykut had given him for communication. The person on the other end must have also noticed the dissipating celestial phenomenon, so excited that he could barely speak.
Kamihara Hajime walked leisurely across the ice plain, enjoying the rare and magnificent scenery, while waiting for support to arrive.
"Time Stop... This concept actually succeeded on the first try. I'll try to practice and master it further when I get back... I got it! I'll trouble Gojo-sensei to help again, haha!"
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