Domain Expansion

As the days passed, Takashi was diligently preparing for his fight with Jogo. He now was completely adapted to the increased gravity on his body. Additionally, he made sure that whenever he could, he would put his body against extreme temperatures, resulting in him growing resistant to fire to an extent.

While he wasn't completely immune to it, he didn't have any problem fighting in extreme heat, while also being able to withstand some fire-based attacks without sustaining injuries.

Takashi also continued to improve his Cursed Technique, the Encompassing Abyss. He practiced creating various shapes and manipulating the barrier. With his current cursed energy amount and output, the barrier could reach a maximum of 170 meter radius. Though, maintaining it was very taxing.

Apart from his physical and cursed technique training, he also formulated a plan that he was very confident in, though a bit unsure if he could pull it off.

The day of the time limit had finally arrived, and Takashi was currently in front of his mirror, reflecting his amber eyes that were filled with excitement and a bit of uncertainty. However, that was quickly replaced by determination as he slapped himself in the cheeks.

'I've come this far, and I won't back down now,' Takashi thought, his voice firm in his mind. He took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, and mentally went through his plan once again.

His encounter with Jogo is going to be a straightforward one, at least, that's what Takashi wants Jogo to think. He wasn't planning to reveal Encompassing Abyss completely until he suceeded in his plan.

Takashi also removed the gravity increase on him, and decided to place another Heavenly Restriction on himself to get a better reaction speed, as a good reaction was crucial in order to not mess up his plan.

[Heavenly Restriction: Sense - Modified Restriction: In exchange for losing your sense of taste and smell, the user gets all of his other senses heightened, along with an improved reaction speed.]

Unfortunately for Takashi, he hasn't received a reward from his daily task that could change the tide of the battle, so he had to use what he had.

Now that he finished his neccesary preparations, he still needed just one more thing to win against Jogo.

With that in mind, he summoned the bird-looking cursed spirit with glowing red eyes and a sinister grin. It appeared before Takashi in a wisp of dark energy, seemingly eager to assist its newfound ally once more.

"Take me to the academy," Takashi said, commanding the spirit.

With a chirp, it enveloped Takashi in dark energy, transporting them to the Cursed Yokai Academy, and they materialized in a secluded area within the academy grounds.

The academy was still under construction, but significant progress has been made. The main building stood tall, and the training grounds were taking shape. Cursed spirits of various shapes and sizes were working together in cooperation, seemingly enjoying their work.

As he walked through the training grounds, observing the changes, he reminded himself that there was no time for this. He used his Cursed Spirit Communication, and sent out a message to all Grade 3 cursed spirits.

'I command the presence of all Grade 3 cursed spirits at the training grounds immediately,' Takashi communicated through his ability.

One by one, they began to appear, totaling a number of 23 Grade 3 cursed spirits. Takashi was planning to take all of them with him, but not to fight of course. All of them would be completely useless in a fight against Jogo, but he had something different in mind for them.

"Thank you all for coming. I have a special task for all of you, you'll have to stay in the vicinity of the place we will arrive at." Takashi said to the spirits with a smile on his face, as all of them accepted the task without hesitation.

With this concluded, Takashi took out a strange device that resembled a compass, and headed to the place where it was pointing at with the group of cursed spirits.

As Takashi and the group of Grade 3 cursed spirits reached the destination indicated by the strange device, he took a moment to assess the area. It was a vast, desolate plain with scattered rocks and dried-up grass. There were no humans or sorcerers in sight, which made it an ideal location for his plan.

The compass-like device he held in his hand was a Spirit Tracking Device, a powerful tool that could detect the presence and location of specific cursed energy within a certain range. Takashi had obtained this device as a reward from a previous task and had kept it for a special occasion like this.

He activated the device, and the needle on it began to spin rapidly. Takashi knew this meant Jogo was nearby. The cursed spirit he sought was just beyond the horizon.

As he walked further, the needle's movement intensified, indicating that they were getting closer to Jogo's location. The spirits accompanying Takashi were getting a bit restless, sensing the aura of a much stronger cursed spirit nearby.

Takashi stopped at a certain spot and gestured for the spirits to stay hidden, lurking in the surrounding area.

Taking a deep breath, he moved forward alone until he finally spotted Jogo in the distance. Jogo was standing tall, exuding an intimidating aura. His flaming body flickered as he looked around, his crimson eye narrowed in suspicion.

Takashi could feel his heart pounding in his chest, knowing that this encounter could easily turn deadly if he made a single mistake. But he also knew he had a plan, and he had to trust in his preparations.

"Jogo," Takashi called out calmly, making sure his voice carried confidence and respect.

The fiery cursed spirit turned his attention towards Takashi, his gaze scrutinizing the young sorcerer. "Who are you, human?" Jogo growled, his voice laced with hostility.

"My name is Takashi Suzuki," he replied, keeping his tone steady. "I have a proposition for you."

Jogo snorted, flames dancing around him in agitation. "A proposition? You think I would be interested in anything a human has to offer?"

"I understand your disdain for humans, Jogo," Takashi said, choosing his words carefully. "But hear me out. How about we have a bat-" Takashi was interrupted by a torrent of flame that was coming towards him, and he reinforced himself with cursed energy as he dodged the flames.

Without wasting any more time on words, Jogo lunged forward, flames enveloping his fists as he threw a powerful punch towards Takashi. Takashi swiftly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Deciding on fighting in closed quarters, Takashi took out Playful Cloud.

"Is that the best you've got, human?" Jogo taunted, a cruel grin forming on his fiery face.

Takashi wasn't fazed by the taunt, and replied with his own, as he wrapped Playful Cloud around his neck.

"Let's find out, Jogo," Takashi responded, his voice steady. He knew he had to be careful, as underestimating Jogo would be a grave mistake.

Takashi activated Encompassing Abyss, however, the barrier only extended for a few centimeters around his body. This ensured that the consumption of cursed energy would be relatively low, but he could only use Strengthening Mode in this form.

As the battle raged on, Takashi noticed that Jogo was beginning to take him a bit more seriously, and Jogo used an ability he was anticipating.

Jogo summoned small flying insects from the volcanic opening on his head. As the insects lunged at Takashi with high speeds, he extended his barrier and summoned some energy projectiles that met with the insects as they exploded from the impact.

Takashi's projectiles clashed with the explosive insects, creating a series of small but intense explosions as he deflected them. The force of the explosions rocked the ground beneath them, sending debris flying in all directions. Takashi's eyes remained focused, his senses heightened.

As the smoke from the explosions cleared, Jogo grinned wickedly, deciding to take Takashi seriously.

"Enough playing around, brat."

With that, Jogo lunged at Takashi with speeds that he was barely able to react to.

Takashi's heightened reaction speed allowed him to barely evade Jogo's lightning-fast attack, but it was evident that Jogo was not holding back anymore. The ground beneath them trembled as the fiery cursed spirit unleashed his devastating power.

Jogo, already anticipating Takashi would dodge his attack, he generated heat rays from his palms that managed to catch Takashi off guard, searing through the air towards him. Takashi reacted quickly, crossing his arms to form a protective barrier just in time to block the scorching heat rays. The intense heat and force behind the attack pushed Takashi back, leaving him disoriented as he felt the scorching pain on his arms.

'Damn, if this goes on, I'll die. I have to make him use it.' Takashi thought while in pain, and said with a smile.

"Well played, Jogo," Takashi managed to say through his gritted teeth, trying to hide the pain from his voice. "But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me."

As Takashi said those words, he slowly began to cross his fingers. Jogo noticed this, and his eyes widened as he saw what Takashi was trying to do, and in response, he clasped his hands together.

With Takashi's fingers crossed, and Jogo's hands clasped together, the same words could be heard coming from their mouths.

"Domain Expansion."

In an instant, the atmosphere changed drastically. The surroundings took on the inside of a volcano, with molten lava flowing around them, and the temperature skyrocketed to unbearable levels.

"Coffin of the Iron Moun-" Jogo's eye widened with disbelief, as his eyes took on something that he did not expect!

Takashi was nowhere to be seen! No matter how much he scanned the area, he couldn't even see a hair of Takashi. It was as if he had vanished into thin air. Confusion, anger and frustration marred into Jogo's fiery face as he realized that Takashi had just tricked him, but he still didn't understand how did he escape his Domain Expansion!

"How? He was just standing there.. then vanished into air," Jogo's eye had a sudden realization as he gritted his teeth in anger. "Teleportation!"

That's right, in the last moment, Takashi extended his barrier to its maximum, and used Barrier's Embrace. This was the sole reason he chose to bring the cursed spirits with him, to use them as a sacrifice!

As Takashi was observing the black sphere from outside of Jogo's Domain, he took a deep breath to steady himself. It was a risky move, but one he had to make to gain the upper hand in this battle.

Now, all he had to do was to wait, the victory was already in the palms of his hand.