The person was chanting a curse, but their hands were wielding the black magic.

pat.

A dull but clear impact.

Lu Suo's head, still frozen in disbelief, rolled among the scorched earth and gravel, bounced twice, and then came to rest.

At the severed neck, the blood no longer gushed out, but slowly seeped into the earth.

As the caster's vital signs rapidly faded, the open field that had been wildly expanding and encroaching on reality was destroyed.

The embryonic growth, which had been deprived of its core power, suddenly ceased.

After losing its support, it withered rapidly, turned gray, disintegrated, and turned into ashes and remnants of cursed power that filled the sky.

The space eroded by the domain quickly returned to its original state of ruins, leaving only large areas of charred and cracked marks, telling the story of the horror that had just occurred.

Is it over...?

A brief, eerie silence fell over the battlefield. Only the heavy, varied breathing of the students from the academy could be heard.

Yi Gu knelt on one knee, panting heavily. The terrifying injuries to his lower body, which had been almost completely eroded by the domain, were being repaired by his own reversal technique and with the assistance of Li Xiang.

It is regenerating and healing at a slow rate.

However, the massive blood loss and the exhaustion from the previous desperate struggle left Yi Gu pale as a sheet, indicating a significant physical and emotional drain.

The situation of both Todo and Fukuro is not optimistic.

This victory was far too hard-won, almost a Pyrrhic victory.

however--

Whoosh! ! !

Just as everyone's tense nerves began to relax slightly due to the dissipation of the domain, another unexpected event occurred!

Several small, wispy spirits emerged again, precisely targeting the rolling head on the ground, attempting to push Lu Suo's head back to its side and try to retrieve it!

"Don't even think about it!"

A furious roar ripped through the brief silence!

A pink figure seemed to burst forth from the ruins on the side.

It was Huzhang who had just arrived at the outskirts of the battlefield!

He didn't have time to see the whole picture, but his beast-like fighting instincts allowed him to instantly capture the bizarre scene of the cursed spirit picking up the head and the danger involved!

Without any hesitation, Tiger Stick channeled all his strength and magical power into his right leg, unleashing a powerful high side kick that slammed into the ground.

boom! ! !

Lu Suo's head was kicked away violently, rolling far into the deeper shadows of the ruins, completely separated from his body.

"Well done, Yuzhang!"

Fu Hei's eyes lit up.

It wasn't just Tiger Stick who arrived.

Almost at the same time that Huzhang charged out, hurried footsteps came from other directions.

The elite forces, which had been rushing to the scene at full speed after receiving the signal or sensing it, finally arrived at the edge of this core battlefield one after another at this most critical moment!

Seven Seas, Dog Roll, Panda, Scale, and other members of the High School, along with Tiger Rod and Bone, formed an encirclement, surrounding Lu Suo's headless body in the center of the battlefield.

They were on guard against Lu Suo's resurrection, while also buying more time for Yi Gu Fu Hei and the others to recover.

The atmosphere tensed again, like a fully drawn bowstring. Everyone waited, waiting for the headless body's next move.

Or wait for it to collapse completely.

however.

Untimely, solid ice falls from the high sky.

A cold, crisp white shadow exploded in the sky above the battlefield without warning!

An indescribable cold erupted and swept through in an instant!

Suddenly, goose-feather-like, pale blue snowflakes fell from the sky, and the ruins on the ground, as well as the dust and remnants of cursed power in the air, were covered with a thick layer of ice in the blink of an eye!

The terrifyingly low temperature even distorted the light, blurring the field of vision.

Caught off guard, the students from the vocational college were forced to retreat by the massive ice-condensing spell and were compelled to defend themselves!

A petite figure with white hair and delicate features, yet exuding a chilling aura like that of millennia-old ice.

She slowly emerged from the falling, pale blue snowflakes and landed lightly beside Lu Suo's headless body.

"You're really late, Rime."

Lu Suo's lonely head looked at the newcomer, revealing an unusual smugness.

Rimei didn't even glance at the academy students around her who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy; her icy blue eyes held only indifference.

"If it weren't for the fact that you're still somewhat useful to Lord Sukuna."

She stretched out her fair little hand and made a grabbing motion towards the void in a certain direction deep within the ruins.

Whoosh-!

The head that had been kicked away by the rubber band was forcibly pulled back by the floating ice and hovered in front of Rime.

The next moment, Rime's other hand moved slightly, and hundreds of ice silk threads, finer than a hair, instantly extended from her fingertips!

Precisely align, interlock, and sew the broken edges together!

Wherever the ice silk passes, it freezes flesh and blood, forcibly reconnects blood vessels, nerves, and bones, and slowly reconnects life.

In just a few breaths, under the horrified or incredulous gazes of everyone.

The almost bloodless body stood up again.

"cough……"

Lu Su coughed violently, black blood mixed with icy shards spilling from his mouth, and a twisted smile of relief reappeared on his face.

A tense silence, as if facing a formidable enemy, once again enveloped the entire venue.

A suffocating atmosphere of despair spread, and everyone at the college took a stance.

At a time when everyone felt it was a difficult situation and looked troubled.

Only Fu Hei's eyes were perfectly clear!

"Everyone, listen to me..."

"One of them is out of the running, and the other has been suspended due to a circuit breaker!"

Fukuro mobilized his intelligence network once again.

"Now's the time! Open up any domains you can, and overwhelm them with poison!!!"

"...!"

Yuta Otsu and Kinji Shō, the two most theoretically capable domain users present, suddenly exchanged glances the moment Fushiguro let out that roar!

Without words or hesitation, they showed everything through their actions!

"superior!"

With a low roar, the curse power around him surged and boiled.

Yi Gu did not answer. He endured the excruciating pain in his lower body, used his knife to support himself on the ground, and suddenly stood up again. His immense magical power began to be awakened with unprecedented speed and determination!

"Domain Exhibition -"

"Domain Exhibition -"

Their low shouts almost overlapped!

At the critical moment, just as the domain was about to take shape—

boom! ! !

Another layer of solid ice appeared, not from Rime, but falling from the sky.

Like a meteorite, it crashed into the center of the battlefield, landing right between Lu Suo, Rimei, and the rest of the students from the high school! Ice crystal fragments exploded like a torrential rain!

The ice hockey puck is not completely transparent; at its core, one can vaguely see the figure of a young man curled up, eyes closed, and an expression of pain.

He exuded an extremely faint yet inexplicably unsettling aura.

"There's someone inside the ice!"

The scale's pupils contracted, and the momentum of its expansion came to a halt.

"Hostages...?"

Yi Gu frowned, equally finding the situation difficult.

If there are hostages in the hockey puck, their territorial attacks could potentially harm innocent bystanders.

Only Fukuro, upon seeing the completely unfamiliar young man on the ice hockey puck, realized that the young man had never appeared in the "original work" or any known information.

His heart felt as if it were being clenched tightly! An extremely ominous premonition instantly overwhelmed him!

This completely goes beyond the "original work"!

It's beyond his intelligence network!

This is a truly unknown variable!

Is this Lu Suo's trump card that he has never revealed before?!

"Mustard Seed"

Fukuro keenly picked up on the name from Rōsō's murmur.

Mustard?

A name never heard before, a hostage so precious to Lu Suo, summoned only in dire straits?

No, that's not right!

This is by no means a simple hostage situation.

Beneath the young man's pained and contorted expression, there must be serious consequences that Fu Hei could not possibly fathom!

"quick!"

Fu Hei, disregarding everything else, used his last ounce of strength to roar at Yi Gu and Cheng:

"Never mind those ice hockey pucks! Let's take care of them, senior!"

Yi Gu and Cheng's eyes sharpened, and without further hesitation, their magical power surged once more!

"Domain Exhibition -"

"Domain Exhibition -"

However, faced with this desperate situation, the dying Lu Suo did not attempt to evade or defend against the impending onslaught.

Instead, he focused all his attention, remaining magical power, and willpower on the sleeping youth in the ice hockey puck.

"You did a great job and deserve praise."

However, for this playthrough, that's all.

"Kiss! Now—"

Lu Suo suddenly raised its head.

"Skill Liberation—"

Reincarnation!

The ice hockey puck exploded!

The young man, who was curled up inside, suddenly opened his eyes!

A massive wave, surpassing all magical power, spells, and even physical rules, swept across the entire battlefield unstoppably, centered on Jie Jian.

It swept across the Tokyo barrier, and across every single person.

"Varied……?!"

Yi Gu felt the structure of the domain he was building collapse silently the instant the wave passed by.

The surging magical power within his body became blurred and impossible to control precisely.

Fuhei tried to manipulate the shadows, but felt that his consciousness, memories, and even his very existence were being pulled and diluted by this fluctuation.

next moment.

My field of vision was completely overwhelmed by the endless, rapidly receding streams of gray-white light.

Perception, consciousness, existence itself... are all being forcibly dragged backwards towards a certain point in the past!

……

……

……

It felt like only a moment had passed.

It's as if it has drifted through the river of time for thousands of years.

"Well……!"

Fu Hei suddenly opened his eyes, like a drowning person surfacing, breathing heavily.

A familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar feeling of fatigue washed over me.

He looked down at himself.

The college uniform, which should have been tattered and stained with blood, was completely intact!

Clean, crisp, with only normal signs of wear.

He stood on a relatively intact urban street.

On both sides are broken shop windows, overturned vehicles, and scattered debris, but most of the building's framework is still intact.

"This is……"

Fu Hei awkwardly jabbed his temples, trying to use the pain to confirm the reality and sort out the explosive information in his mind.

The memory of what just happened is crystal clear—

The death battle with Lu Ziyun, the clash with Shi Liulong, the summoning of Mo Xuluo, the game with Lu Suo, Yi Gu's decisive blow, the arrival of Li Mei, and the shrewdness in the ice hockey.

And the gray-white backflow that swept everything after the technique was unleashed...

"I've returned to..."

Fuhei muttered to himself, an unbelievable yet perfectly fitting answer emerging:

"That morning, when we first entered the barrier?"

"And what about the results of my battles these past few days?"

Immediately afterwards, an overwhelming feeling of nausea surged up my throat!

"What about everything I fought and died for?!"

All the effort, all the sacrifices, all the struggles—all wiped out?!

Despair, like a cold, venomous snake, coils around the heart.

Fu Hei's legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

However, just as he lost his balance and instinctively leaned to the side, he felt a cold, yet incredibly familiar touch on his waist.

Fu Hei's movements suddenly froze.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at his waist.

There, hanging silently, was a strangely shaped, ancient, and menacing blade.

Tian Ni Zhu.

Fuhei blinked, wondering if he was hallucinating. He reached out with trembling hands and gripped the hilt of the knife.

A cold, heavy, and real tactile sensation came through.

It's not a hallucination.

He abruptly closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and sank into the source of the Ten Shadows Technique, sensing the shikigami that existed deep within the shadows.

But they discovered that the round deer and the piercing ox had been subdued and were perfectly intact in their senses!

"Status...not reset to zero."

"All shikigami... will be retained."

"Cursed power..."

Fu Hei subconsciously circulated the magical power within his body, and a surging torrent of magical power, far exceeding the level that a second-level sorcerer should have, obediently rushed out from the shadow!

"I brought them all."

Fukuro finally reached a conclusion.

This is not a simple case of time reversal.

It's a true "second playthrough"!!!

The state accumulated in the past will not be cleared, but will be accumulated.

With a completely new attitude, they will once again engage in battle in a new timeline.

Fu Hei suddenly looked up at the sky.

Almost simultaneously.

call out!call out!call out!call out!

A sharp, piercing sound came from above, rapidly approaching!

The short-handled cursed throwing knives, like venomous snakes locking onto their prey, slashed precisely at Fukuro's location in a crisscross pattern!

Its trajectory is tricky, blocking all conventional dodge angles.

That familiar attack method, that familiar aura of cursed power.

It's Reggie.

Looking at the familiar faces passing by, Fu Hei's lips slowly and uncontrollably curled upwards.

At this point in time, which has just been rewound, Reggie is still the same Reggie from the beginning.

His understanding of Fu Hei was still at the level of a second-level mage.

"Oh……"

Facing the deadly throwing knife that could severely injure the original version of himself.

Fuhei didn't even make any significant dodging movements.

He merely turned slightly to the side, the shadow flowing naturally beneath his feet, and Guan Niu silently rose from the shadow behind him, like a loyal shield, blocking the trajectory of the flying knife.

clang!clang!clang!

The crisp metallic clang rang out almost simultaneously! The throwing knife slammed into Guan Niu's thick, cursed body, exploding into sparks.

"What?!"

A startled gasp came from the shadow of a half-collapsed building in the distance.

Reggie was clearly surprised that his target had blocked his attack so easily with just a shikigami.

Fu Hei slowly turned around and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

His gaze was calm and unwavering, yet it sent a shiver down Reggie's spine from the shadows.

That wasn't the look of a young sorcerer who had just stepped into a life-or-death battlefield and was forced to face the enemy; it was more like the look of a hunter who had already seen through everything.

The next moment, Fu Hei's figure vanished from Reggie's sight.

When Reggie sensed the changes around him, blood was already flowing from his neck and covering his entire body.

Fukuro's movements were crisp and clean, having shed the awkwardness and comicality of his "first playthrough".

Now, with this newfound power, he will once again sweep across the East Point Barrier.

"I'm sorry."

Excuse me.

……

……

(How could Lao Lu, Shi Liu, and the others only appear once before disappearing?! The author will continue to use the loop-opening format, allowing these characters to act in different styles in each loop, and will continue to use his genius to write unique and thunderous operations. Please look forward to it~)