The air itself seemed to freeze.
Sukuna's invisible slashes hung motionless before Mahito, suspended in midair like broken glass caught in resin. The crescent arcs of Dismantlethat should have carved Mahito into ribbons stopped a breath away from his body, trembling as though denied existence.
Sukuna's eyes narrowed, rage tightening into suspicion. His lips curled, fangs bared as his voice rumbled across the fractured battlefield. "…Infinity."
Mahito only tilted his head, his smile serene in its cruelty. The golden wheel at his back turned with a faint groan, its grinding echoing through the molten air.
For the first time since Gojo's death, Sukuna's gaze hardened with something resembling shock. Not disbelief. Not denial. But the bitter confirmation of a suspicion that had lingered in his gut the moment Gojo left behind no body.
"You gluttonous insect," Sukuna spat, the words raw. "You swallowed him whole. Even his cursed technique."
Mahito gave no answer. His silence was his gloating.
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At Jujutsu High, the spectators stiffened. Kusakabe was the first to speak, his voice rising with ragged fury. "He… he took Limitless, huh? That's…"
He trailed off, unable to find the words. There were no words that could describe just how troublesome he found the situation.
Mei Mei's eyes sharpened, silver hair catching the low light of the monitor. "Even if he devoured Gojo... Limitless should still be a wasteful technique to use without the Six Eyes. They are a genetic trait after all, not necessarily tied to the soul."
Maki clenched her jaw until blood ran down her lip. Her voice was nearly a growl. "Tsk, no. He likely has the 6 eyes as well. I've learned from him a bit, the body takes after the soul... Ultimately, genes are also related to the soul."
Yuta's nails dug crescents into his palms, blood dripping unnoticed as his eyes locked on the screen. "Sukuna… Has to kill him. At this point, he's our best chance."
Still, they were all too weak. They couldn't interfere in the battle that ensued.
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On the battlefield, Sukuna's fury crystallized into action. His three remaining arms surged forward, crimson light flaring along his tattoos as Cleaveand Dismantlewove together in a storm of invisible blades.
Mahito simply raised one hand. The space between them shimmered. The slashes shattered against Infinity, dispersing into harmless sparks.
Sukuna snarled and closed the distance instantly, his hands forming claws and swiping downward. His black nails screeched against an invisible wall, stopped an inch from Mahito's mask.
In the same instant, Mahito's knee drove upward into Sukuna's stomach with crushing force, the blow bending the King of Curses forward before he was hurled back across the fractured ground.
Sukuna twisted in midair, catching himself on three limbs, blood dripping from his mouth as he skidded across molten stone. He spat crimson and grinned despite the pain. "So be it."
He lunged again, his body blurring. Both fists struck together, one overhead, the other undercutting at a vicious angle meant to shear Mahito's body in half.
Mahito raised both palms, Infinity sparking against Sukuna's strikes. The force of the collision split the ground in a crater, shards of molten debris scattering outward.
Sukuna did not relent. His lower arm lashed upward, palm pressing against Mahito's torso. "Cleave."
Mahito's chest split in a vertical line, cursed blood spraying outward. But the wound stitched itself almost instantly, muscle and bone snapping back together as if taunting Sukuna's efforts.
Mahito leaned forward into the strike, his mask inches from Sukuna's face, and whispered with a smirk, "Predictable. But now you need domain amplification to even touch me~"
His six arms slammed down all at once, a flurry of hammering blows. Each strike reverberated against Sukuna's body, breaking bone, tearing flesh, and cracking the ground beneath him. Infinity shielded Mahito's own frame, allowing him to lean into every attack without restraint.
Sukuna's body crumpled under the barrage, yet he forced his limbs upward, answering with more slashes of Dismantle. Each one useless against the invisible barrier.
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At Jujutsu High, Yuki Tsukumo's voice broke the silence. "This is worse than I thought… He's already using the Limitless instinctively and enhancing his strikes... He must've learned from watching Gojo."
Utahime covered her mouth, her voice trembling. "It wasn't enough to devour his soul... He had to take everything..."
Shoko's tone was hollow. "At this point, it will be a miracle if Sukuna wins..."
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On the battlefield, Sukuna refused to yield. His claws scraped at the invisible wall again and again, each swipe precise, probing, testing for the faintest weakness. His crimson eyes burned with hunger.
Mahito smiled wider, raising one hand before flicking his wrist. The air warped.
Sukuna staggered as if crushed by invisible pressure, ribs cracking as Mahito's Infinity folded space inward, pinning him in place.
Mahito's fists descended like falling meteors, crashing against Sukuna's chest, shoulders, and face in a brutal rhythm. Each strike detonated with the weight of mountains.
Blood gushed from Sukuna's mouth. One of his eyes swelled shut. Still, he laughed through broken teeth. "You hit harder than Gojo ever did."
Mahito tilted his head in mock thought. His tone dripped with amusement. "And yet… You still stand. You really are a cockroach."
He slammed a fist into Sukuna's gut, sending him flying across the battlefield. Sukuna crashed through molten stone, his body leaving a trench before he forced himself upright again. He tore off charred flesh from his own torso and let it fall, crimson aura reigniting.
"You mistake endurance for weakness," Sukuna growled. His body straightened, aura climbing higher, tattoos burning across his flesh. "What survives the longest is always the most dangerous."
The King of Curses blurred forward, his movements savage yet sharpened with intent. His fists slashed upward in a diagonal arc, the invisible blade of Dismantlefollowing. Mahito tilted his head aside, the blade cutting the air a hair's breadth from his mask.
In the same instant, Sukuna's lower arm lashed forward, coming in contact with Mahito's ribcage, palm glowing. "Cleave."
The cut split Mahito's left shoulder, shearing off half an arm. Yet the curse only laughed, his right fist hammering downward to snap Sukuna's head into the ground.
The battlefield shook.
Sukuna caught Mahito's wrist mid-swing, or at least the air around that arm, as infinity glowed most bright now. He wanted to use domain amplification again, to rip his arm out of its sockets, but in a split second, Mahito had already kicked him away.
They clashed again. Strike for strike, cut for cut, blood for blood. The few times Sukuna found flesh, Mahito regenerated. Every time Mahito crushed a bone, Sukuna forced himself upright again.
It was a battle of attrition, one tilted so much in Mahito's favor that it felt unfair.
The two fought, not like sorcerers, but as monsters. Unfortunately for Sukuna, he was facing a true Curse, while he was just a human.
Mahito pressed forward, his six arms blurring, each strike hammering against Infinity's perfect barrier. Sukuna answered with a hurricane of Cleaveand Dismantle, carving at empty air until even the space between them seemed to scream.
And then, without a word, both shifted at once.
Mahito's wheel spun faster, cursed energy flaring as his six arms pulled together into a single strike aimed straight for Sukuna's heart.
Sukuna's tattoos ignited, his palms glowing crimson as he gathered every ounce of hatred into a final Cleave.
The air warped. The ground split. But regular attacks could never kill the two monsters...
They needed something more. Something final.
Two voices roared as one.
"Domain Expansion!"
The battlefield drowned in colliding egos, the world itself bending once more under the clash of souls intent on annihilation.