Chapter 164: Breaking the Palace
"Domain Expansion: Thousand-Script Resentment Palace."
The world around Ren shattered.
Scrolls—thousands of them—rolled and unrolled in midair, drifting like leaves on invisible wind. Vast pillars of floating parchment stretched upward into nothing, their surfaces scrawled in dense kanji. Empty canvases swayed like the ghosts of unfinished curses.
There was no sky. No ground. Only the endless white void, marked and bound by Sutoku's writing.
At the center, Emperor Sutoku stood still—his form framed by an orbiting halo of kanji, circling like a crown of scripture. The cursed energy here was suffocating, thick enough to make the air feel like glue.
Ren barely had time to react before the water beam he had launched moments ago simply vanished—not deflected, not blocked, but erased from existence as if it had never been. A faint flicker of kanji shimmered in the air before him—無Nothing—and then Ren's mind went blank for the briefest second.
When the fog in his head cleared, Sutoku was already walking toward him.
"Ah," Sutoku's voice was calm, almost warm. "You are so impressive, you know that? Using more than one cursed technique like that… And you don't seem to be running out of cursed energy anytime soon. Plus, I haven't forgotten about how you came back from death. But…"
His pace never slowed. His smile sharpened.
"You're still young. Too bad you met me."
In a blur, Sutoku's finger carved the air—another kanji formed before Ren.
死—Death.
But before the deadly script could trigger, Ren's body dissolved into mist.
Sutoku's steps halted. His eyes scanned the empty space. "Wait… when did he make a clone?!"
Ren's real body slipped silently through the folds of the domain, thinking quickly. 'Domain, really? Fine. I'll control it. Veil of Still Darkness… plus Foxflame Mirage: Illusion Mist. He knows about the veil, but not about the illusion mist that should throw him off...'
The black fog surged out from his body, swallowing Sutoku's endless parchment in seconds. ' From what I've seen, his domain isn't the standard sure-hit type. When I fought with Geto, his cursed spirit, Tamamo-no-Mae, had a clear and simple sure-hit effect. This one… feels different. It's not a sure-hit; it's something else… He needs to know where I am so he can target me. If I am not wrong, I am pretty sure that's how it works...'
Sutoku's grin didn't falter as the darkness rose around him. His finger traced another kanji in the air—落—Fall.
The mist obeyed, crashing to the ground in a heavy wave.
But Ren was nowhere.
"Impossible. I caught him in my domain… He couldn't have escaped—"
His thoughts were cut short.
Shhhhk!
A crimson lance tore through the air—Piercing Blood—slamming into Sutoku's face.
Ren emerged from the shadows in front of him, eyes narrowed. 'Even weakened, Piercing Blood is still Piercing Blood. It'll do enough damage… enough time for Rika to break the domain...'
Flashback.
When Sutoku first appeared over the mansion, Ren had whispered into the void, "Rika… come out. Stay in the shadows... meters away. If I get caught in a domain… break it from the outside."
He had smirked to himself. 'I've never used Rika in front of him. So my true trump card against his domain is Rika!'
That's the advantage of having knowledge about your opponent... I already have some knowledge about him, while he? does not even know about Rika's existence! I will win because of the gap of information!
CRACK.
CRACK!!!
The barrier fractured like glass under pressure. The ornate parchment pillars splintered. Sutoku's Thousand-Script Resentment Palace shattered outward into motes of fading light.
Ren stood in the open air once more. Sutoku was still reeling, his eyes wide.
Ren didn't give him time to think. He swung Playful Cloud in a wide arc—Sutoku dodged, but sluggishly, his body heavy after deploying a domain.
That's when the shadow behind Ren split open.
A massive, fanged curse lunged forward—Rika—her jaws snapping shut over Sutoku's arm, tearing it clean off.
Sutoku's shock was pure and unguarded.
Ren grinned wide, the heat of the fight roaring in his veins.
'HA—this is it. I win! This is the second time he's used his domain. Even if he's like Sukuna or Gojo, even they slow down after multiple domain expansions... he used one before on me, and now he used it again. It's barely been more than 20 minutes between the use of domain expansion. If I am lucky, he might go into cursed energy burnout; if I am unlucky, he will only slow down a little... but all I have to do now is to go full offense and end him.
I still have 2 minutes and 23 seconds with Rika...
I win...