Megumi finally activates his Domain Expansion, Chimera Shadow Garden, pulling Reggie into his shadow. Reggie doesn’t hesitate and counters with Hollow Wicker Basket, an anti-domain technique and predecessor to Simple Domain that’s supposed to block guaranteed-hit attacks. At first, he thinks it worked—but then four toads pop out of the shadow and wrap up his legs. Reggie’s confused. He used Hollow Wicker Basket, so how did he still get hit? What he doesn’t realize is that Megumi’s domain isn’t complete.
Hollow Wicker Basket and Simple Domain don’t actually cancel cursed techniques—they neutralize a domain’s barrier to remove the guaranteed hit. Megumi gets around this by turning the gym into his domain without fully closing a barrier. No barrier means no guaranteed hit to cancel. Instead, Chimera Shadow Garden just amps the Ten Shadows Technique to 120%.
That detail throws Reggie off. Megumi notices immediately and calls him out for not smiling anymore, clearly getting under his skin. Before Reggie can fire back, two shadow clones rush him. With his legs still tied up by the toads, he can’t move and takes a full barrage. He gets knocked back but quickly summons knives to cut himself free.
Once he’s mobile again, Reggie pulls out a machete and tries to reset the fight. Megumi shuts that down fast. A shadow clone grabs Reggie from below and throws him straight toward Megumi, who’s already mid-swing with his sword. Reggie blocks the strike, but the second clone comes in right after and lands a clean elbow to the face.
The limits of Megumi’s domain
Reggie is completely overwhelmed and starts analyzing Megumi’s domain. He realizes that the clones and shikigami are taking physical form before hitting him and figures out this domain doesn’t have a guaranteed hit. He barely blocks one of Megumi’s slashes and admits his cursed technique has improved, even calling it more troublesome than a lethal domain. Reggie also knows that if Megumi uses Max Elephant and floods the area, the fight is basically over.
Not letting that happen, Reggie activates his cursed technique and releases a stack of receipts into the air. Megumi tries to destroy them with Nue but he’s too late. Contractual Re-Creation activates.
Three cars are created from the receipts and sink into the shadowy floor. Reggie realizes the entire domain is made from Megumi’s shadow and notices he’s only carrying one cursed tool. He figures that anything stored in the shadow adds weight that Megumi has to handle, so he uses the cars to turn the domain against him. With about 2.4 tons added, Megumi’s clones disappear and he’s forced to hunch over, unable to move.
Reggie assumes Megumi might still be able to summon shikigami, so he stays on guard and plans to keep adding weight until he crushes him. Just when it looks like Reggie has the upper hand, Megumi tells him he’s forgetting something. He reminds him that even an incomplete domain is still a domain, and there’s shadow everywhere, even above them.
Battle of weight
Megumi suddenly summons Max Elephant from the shadows above and drops it right onto Reggie. Now that the fight turns into a contest of who can more weight, Megumi stays confident and asks Reggie which one of them will be crushed first.
Reggie regrets not saving the trucks he used earlier for extra weight. Max Elephant soaks him with water, but he still has receipts left, including his ace. He considers entering the shadow to finish Megumi but decides against it—anything caught inside might not escape, and he doesn’t know what it’s like inside. Instead, he braces under the elephant’s weight and prepares to use his ace.
Reggie tries to hold up Max Elephant with one arm while pulling out the right receipt. Before he can activate Contractual Re-Creation, the weight overwhelms him and he falls into the shadow. There’s no resistance, no oxygen, and he starts losing consciousness. Megumi waits, thinking Reggie is done, ready to end the domain.
At the last moment, one of the cars inside the shadow brings Reggie back to the surface. He hadn’t commanded the cars to disappear earlier because he wanted their weight on Megumi. Now free, Reggie acknowledges Megumi’s strength before claiming he’s even stronger. He activates Contractual Re-Creation and summons a two-story wooden house weighing at least thirty tons.
Hand to Hand battle
The fight flips instantly. Even after using his ace, Reggie finds himself underwater with Megumi strangling him from behind. Megumi uses his weight to drown him, forcing Reggie to deactivate his technique and release the cars. Reggie swims up for air and realizes he’s in the gym’s basement pool. Megumi had ended the domain, causing the house to crash through the floor and drop Reggie into the water. Reggie guesses Megumi ejected himself from the shadow to move under the weight.
Megumi approaches as Reggie crawls out of the pool. He tells Reggie the receipts are too wet to use now. Normally water alone isn’t enough, but soaking them prevents Reggie from burning the receipts with cursed energy, making Contractual Re-Creation unusable.
Reggie doesn’t agree with Megumi and points out that he can’t summon shikigami anymore. Megumi admits that’s true and says from here on out it’ll be a straight physical fight. Reggie doesn’t believe him. He noticed earlier that Megumi let go of him in the pool and didn’t attack right away, buying time to recover his cursed technique after dropping his domain. Reggie is convinced Megumi is waiting for another chance to summon something and plans to counter the moment he does. He’s also confident none of Megumi’s shikigami can finish him since he thinks Divine Dog is no longer usable.
Once they engage in close quarters combat, Reggie starts to take control. Megumi admits he’s tough, especially after surviving Max Elephant’s weight earlier. Reggie is also a skilled fighter with refined cursed energy reinforcement, and he uses that to pressure Megumi into summoning a different shikigami.
Divine Dog to the rescue
Just as Reggie is about to land a clean hit, the left side of his face, his ear, and most of his shoulder are suddenly sliced off. The attack happens so fast he doesn’t even realize it at first. When he looks back he sees Divine Dog: Totality. It has wounds in its nose from the knives and pieces of Reggie’s hair and flesh in its mouth. Megumi waited until Reggie completely ruled out the dog, proving his point that a sorcerer is nothing but a con artist. Reggie repeats this as he collapses into a pool of blood.
Reggie lays bleeding out on the ground, staring up at Megumi, the one who just defeated him. He realizes too late that the domain and the pool masked Megumi’s final move. Megumi could still attack with Divine Dog: Totality. He didn’t escape into the gym with Nue—he baited Reggie inside from the start. The veteran sorcerer is left embarrassed, outplayed by someone much younger. Megumi adds that Nue can’t carry people for long, something he learned back in Shibuya when it struggled lifting Yuji and Ino up C Tower.
Megumi then asks about Reggie’s connection to Master Tengen. There really isn’t one. Reggie barely even remembers him at first, only recalling that the hermit is immortal. He isn’t surprised Tengen is still alive. Reggie claims Tengen’s explanation of the Culling Game is likely a bluff. Megumi considers the possibility that Tengen could be working with Kenjaku, but ultimately finds it hard to believe.
As he’s dying, Reggie orders his Kogane to transfer all 41 of his points to Megumi. The shikigami questions it, but Reggie brushes it off as one last good deed. He makes it clear he’s just a player, not an ally of Kenjaku. With his final words, Reggie tells Megumi to let fate toy with him before he ends up dying like a fool. Moments later, Reggie dies, and Megumi gains five more points from his Kogane.
The Sendai Colony
Meanwhile in the Sendai Colony, the fights are even more intense than in Tokyo. Four powerful players are locked in a deadlock. Dhruv Lakdawalla, a reincarnated sorcerer from the Civil War of Wa, leads with 91 points and uses shikigami that can form a domain through their movement. Ryu Ishigori has 77 points and the highest cursed energy output in the game. Takako Uro, former captain of the Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad under the Fujiwara clan, has 70 points and can manipulate the sky. Then there’s Kurourushi, a special grade cockroach cursed spirit released by Kenjaku, sitting on 54 points and waiting for the right moment to act.
None of them can make a move without exposing themselves, so the situation turns into a stalemate. That finally changes when one of them falls. Dhruv Lakdawalla is taken out by Yuta Okkotsu, a second-year from Tokyo Jujutsu High. Yuta now has 35 points and regained his special grade status just three months after the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, putting him second only to Gojo in overall strength.
