Frieren: Himmel — Chapter 182 - I Know I'll Die, But I'm Still Going to Stall Them!
[KANG.]
[KANG.]
Once the Domain formed, the outside world saw only a pitch-black sphere.
Yuji stared intently at the Domain Hiromi Higuruma had built.
Seconds bled into minutes. The fact that Hiromi hadn't been sliced apart instantly already proved his Domain tactic was working. What remained was only a question of time.
Yuji didn't keep count. For him, every single second felt like a year.
He had to keep his eyes locked on that sphere, alert to even the faintest tremor. If he could predict the exact moment of Domain Destruction, he would still have a chance to pull Hiromi out alive.
Further back on the battlefield, Kusakabe knew the exact number.
[Ten minutes.]
Hiromi Higuruma had stalled Mahoraga for a full 10 minutes using nothing but his Cursed Technique.
That might sound like nothing, barely a recess break. But this was Mahoraga. Mahoraga, whose mere battle residuals had already demolished most of Toshima Ward. Most of Ikebukuro.
(Looks like it played out exactly as that lawyer Hiromi Higuruma predicted.)
Kusakabe turned it over in his mind.
(What governs Mahoraga's adaptation isn't [time]. It's [attack type].)
(Mahoraga hasn't been tamed, so everything it does runs on pure instinct. Hiromi Higuruma never displayed extreme aggression. His Cursed Technique carries zero offensive properties. Because of that, Mahoraga's adaptation speed has been ground down to its absolute minimum.)
(Even understanding the principle... it's still something else.)
Kusakabe couldn't help thinking it.
At the very least, having spent his entire life studying Jujutsu, he knew for a fact that he himself could never stall Mahoraga this long.
Hiromi Higuruma. He really is a remarkable man.
(After him...)
(Can those two actually handle Mahoraga?)
As if the world had heard that thought,
The precise instant those 10 minutes elapsed, the Domain's outer shell...
[CRACK!]
"!"
Yuji's eyes snapped to the fracture spreading across it.
"Hiromi!"
BOOM!
[Domain, shattered.]
It blew apart. Fine black shards sprayed in every direction, and Hiromi Higuruma's figure materialized through the debris.
A long, narrow wound had already been carved across his chest. The two Mahoraga, one distant, one close, were already surging toward him, both raising the Sword of Extermination high.
(Even without explanation, the people outside should have read Mahoraga's adaptation condition by now.)
(In that case, my work...)
(...is finished.)
Hiromi Higuruma closed his eyes and prepared to die.
BOOM!.
Wind erupted. Hiromi Higuruma felt his balance lurch violently as the ground vanished beneath him. He opened his eyes.
He was in Yuji's arms.
The boy had been watching that Domain every single second for the past 10 minutes.
He had never once considered letting Hiromi Higuruma die for them. His nature simply wouldn't allow it.
But even with Yuji's physical capabilities, pulling off a rescue right under Mahoraga's nose was still pushing far past the limit.
So,
(Maximum Cursed Energy output.)
(In a state of [prediction].)
His feet drove deep into the earth. The boy's eyes seemed to blaze with the intensity of pure, concentrated focus.
(Strike with [Black Flash]!)
[ZZT!]
Black lightning.
It chose the prodigiously gifted boy.
Yuji surged to Hiromi Higuruma's side, scooped him up, wrenched into a sharp pivot, and barely cleared Mahoraga's swinging blade.
BOOM!
The blade hammered down and cratered the already sunken ground even deeper.
The shockwave transferred straight down into the underground waterways. Pressure burst through every seam. Subterranean currents ripped through the crisscrossing cracks and erupted upward. A thick column of water drove straight into Mahoraga's abdomen, catching both of them square and launching them into the air.
Lucky!
Yuji bit down and accelerated.
The raw talent of a born athlete, fully unleashed. At a speed that barely registered to the naked eye, he tore from the center of the battlefield to the outer edge in an instant.
"Wait — Yuji!"
Even with reaction speed on par with a Grade 1 Sorcerer, Hiromi Higuruma only snapped back to himself now.
"I'm shocked by your speed, but this changes nothing!"
"Mahoraga's aggro is still locked onto me. The moment I leave this area, more people suffer!"
[Someone has to be ready to take Hiromi Higuruma's place bearing Mahoraga's fury.]
Everyone already knew that.
The problem was, even Hiromi Higuruma had only managed to stall Mahoraga because of how specifically unusual his Cursed Technique was.
Before Himmel and Satoru Gojo arrived, who on earth could claim they were capable of standing against Mahoraga?
That kind of existence... was simply...
"Relax! It's already handled!"
Yuji talked while sprinting flat out.
"Thanks to everything you did, a lot of our fighters have made it back. Aside from the teachers who are still too far out — these two are the best stalling specialists on our side!"
The best at stalling?
"Heyyy, didn't expect to walk right into this the second I got back~"
"Japanese people really love making life complicated for everyone else!"
At the rim of the completely caved-in basin, two silhouettes stood backlit against the light.
A golden, American-style pompadour.
And a pitch-black... bald head.
"I'm leaving the rest to you two! Kinji-senpai! Miguel-senpai!"
"Oh!"
Kinji swept a lock of hair back with one hand, cracked his knuckles against each other, and walked down into the basin.
"Don't call me senpai! I'm way older than any of you!"
Miguel followed with a pained expression on his face.
[Kinji]
The [strongest] third-year. Shone brilliantly during the Shibuya Incident. One of the students Satoru Gojo personally keeps his eye on.
[Miguel]
Also appeared during the Shibuya Incident. Went toe-to-toe with Satoru Gojo himself in a desperate close-quarters fight. A physical powerhouse who managed to keep him occupied for several minutes straight.
Two of the absolute top-tier fighters in the Jujutsu High faction.
In the 6 months since the Culling Game began, the two of them had been running circuits between cities across Japan, handling exorcisms nonstop.
The moment the Culling Game kicked off, they had been racing from place to place to save civilians without pause.
The scale of destruction wrought by 10 million Cursed Spirits had blown past every estimate, and the Sorcerers had been pushed to their absolute limits. Their feet had barely touched the ground.
Miguel felt something stir deep in his blood, something like his ancestors answering.
But people like them had finally, finally gotten a moment to breathe. That was because of Himmel and Satoru Gojo's ferocious grind through the northern warzone, and because of the new rules Megumi and Yuji had put into place.
They had rushed back to the school.
And what they found was this.
"So basically we just need to fight a monster, right? Relax. Getting hit is what I'm best at."
"Sorry, but the title of Jujutsu High's Number One Punching Bag is mine. I'm not giving it up."
They walked in side by side, both of them completely unhurried.
Kinji, holder of [Domain: Idle Death Gamble]. Hit the jackpot, and he generates infinite Cursed Energy with a fully automatic Reverse Cursed Technique to go with it.
Miguel, a physically exceptional specimen. In a straight contest of raw striking power, he could push past a Satoru Gojo not using his Cursed Technique. His durability had been tested and proven, repeatedly.
"Don't worry." Kinji tilted his head and smirked. "In manga, when a character who's been off-panel for a long time finally comes back, they always get a highlight scene — Sorry, Yuta, you didn't quite make it in time. This delicious chunk of screen time goes to me."
"Sorry to break it to you, but modern manga values diversity. I'll be getting more screen time than you."
Two long-absent characters, making their entrance in a freeze-frame shot, one slightly ahead, one slightly behind, both absolutely dripping with swagger!
Yuji Itadori stood behind them, staring hard, swallowing over and over.
Okay, the two of them looked incredibly cool, sure...
But why did this entrance hit so simultaneously badass and cannon-fodder? It had the exact same energy as the Shadow Beasts from Yorknew!
Because standing in front of them, were two ordinary, just-wandering-by Shikigami, grinning their big stupid grins.
Kinji! Miguel!
Are they going to win?!
Find out next episode.
About to Die
➤ Next: Mahoraga: I’m Telling You Right Now, You’re Attacking Me!