A hint of emptiness appeared in Sukuna's eyes as his entire body seemed to enter a temporary shutdown. It lasted for only a brief moment, but it was enough to prove that Satoru's earlier strategy had been correct.
Only a difference of just 0.01 seconds was enough for Unlimited Void to flood Sukuna's brain with nearly three days' worth of useless information. Even the King of Curses could not possibly process all that information in an instant.
And this was the chance to turn things around.
Cursed energy surged from both of Satoru's fists. It was so overwhelming that it seemed capable of lighting up the entire space. This time, he had to make Sukuna's domain break apart first.
His fist, strengthened by cursed energy, suddenly slammed toward his opponent's chest. It was only when the punch was about to land that Sukuna finally recovered from the effects of Unlimited Void.
Although he immediately gathered his cursed energy to defend himself, the punch, carrying the power of Blue, still forced blood to seep from between Sukuna's clenched teeth. The attack had gone almost straight for his heart.
'There really isn't enough time...'
Satoru had never expected such a brief activation of Unlimited Void to control Sukuna for very long, but the fact that his opponent could still respond at the final moment surprised him. He had hoped that at the very least, this punch would injure Sukuna's heart.
Heart, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys.
If he wanted to save Yuta, he first had to destroy all of these parts and leave Sukuna unable to fight back. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time.
Using the force of Satoru's punch, Sukuna's body quickly retreated. As he flew backward, he even reached out and tore at the surrounding space as if trying to stop himself.
The space stretched out under his grip like a long, elastic sheet being forcibly pulled.
"Trying that again..."
Satoru's moving body followed close behind.
Thin Ice Breaker was currently the only attack Sukuna could use within his domain that could cause him any truly substantial damage. But now that his opponent had displayed such an obvious preparatory movement, Satoru had enough time to prepare for it.
"Thin Ice Breaker."
Yet when Sukuna spoke, something completely unexpected happened.
The target of the spatial attack was not Satoru.
After stabilizing himself in midair, Sukuna suddenly spun halfway around and violently threw the Thin Ice Breaker in his palm toward the rear.
'His target couldn't be...'
It was.
At that moment, Satoru finally realized what he was trying to do.
After the space shook violently, the atmosphere shattered along with the inner shell of Unlimited Void. The spherical domain had been blasted from within, creating an irregular hole large enough for a person to pass through.
* * *
"What is that?"
From the outside, all that could be seen was a sudden burst of wind around one section of Unlimited Void's outer shell. The ground beneath it then exploded as if it had been hit by artillery.
"Just as I thought?!"
For the first time, an uneasy look appeared on Higuruma's face.
A basketball-sized Unlimited Void now had a hole the size of a fingertip in its outer shell. This proved that his earlier suspicion had been correct.
Satoru had reversed the conditions between the inside and outside of the domain, giving the outer shell enough strength to withstand the slashes of Malevolent Shrine. However, this also made the inside relatively fragile.
The restriction that originally made it difficult to escape from within had been changed into one that made it difficult to invade from outside. With Sukuna's level of strength, he could completely break through from the inside.
Once that happened, all of Satoru's current advantages would disappear.
"Then what about Gojo-sensei..."
The sentence was left unfinished.
The students swallowed nervously. This was almost an impossible situation to overcome. Sukuna seemed capable of escaping from Unlimited Void at any moment.
Satoru Gojo's defeat.
That thought once again began to linger in their minds.
* * *
"Checkmate~"
Looking at Satoru, who was charging toward him with a stunned expression, Sukuna's lips curled upward once more.
Although he had only been caught in Unlimited Void for a very short time, he had no intention of taking any unnecessary risks.
If he were seriously injured inside the domain and became unable to maintain his own, he would be hit by an even longer period of useless information. Even if he continued fighting here, the best possible outcome would only be for both domains to collapse at the same time.
The risk and reward simply did not match.
However, just as Sukuna was about to quickly escape through the hole behind him, he saw Satoru form the hand sign for Taishakuten once again.
"Come on, play with me a little longer!"
The hole that had originally been behind Sukuna was instantly filled again. At the same time, its distance was extended several times over.
"The fish on the chopping board seems to jump harder when it's facing death."
Faced with Satoru's actions, Sukuna stopped trying to escape and instead laughed.
Even if the barrier was filled with cursed energy again, it could not change the fragile nature of its interior. No matter where he attacked, a little force behind a punch could once again create an opening.
And as long as the strength of the outer barrier was not affected, there was only so much the internal space could be expanded.
What Satoru was doing now was nothing more than a foolish attempt by a loser to deceive himself.
"Goodbye."
As Satoru drew closer, Sukuna had already reached the inner shell of Unlimited Void. He turned sideways to face him, waving one hand mockingly while gracefully placing the other against the barrier.
"Cleave."
The slashes from Malevolent Shrine instantly spread across the barrier. With the enormous cursed energy output of Unlimited Void, the output was also pushed to its maximum.
Crack!
A tearing sound rang out.
Yet the expected shattering did not occur. Instead, there was only a crack that was not even particularly noticeable.
'The strength increased? Could it be...'
A flash of surprise passed through Sukuna's eyes.
* * *
"What's going on?! It hasn't even been ten seconds!"
The people in the viewing room were even more incredulous. Unlimited Void's outer shell had shown signs of breaking much earlier than it had before.
It was not yet covered in countless cracks, but several cracks had already appeared across the black sphere.
"Could it be that to prevent Sukuna from escaping, he switched the conditions inside and outside the barrier again? If he did that, it would be very easy to break from the outside!"
The most anxious of them all was Kusakabe.
However, after two cracks appeared on Unlimited Void's outer shell, there was no further movement.
* * *
Inside the domain, Satoru was charging toward Sukuna when he suddenly began using Reverse Cursed Technique. More than a dozen bloodstains suddenly appeared across his body.
It was similar to what had happened when the first domain clash failed. More accurately, the slashes had appeared on his body in an instant, but there simply weren't as many of them this time.
"How boring..."
Seeing Satoru's body slow down because of his injuries, the interest in Sukuna's eyes faded.
Satoru had probably used the cancellation of his technique's guaranteed-hit effect as a binding vow to strengthen the inner shell of the domain.
This was no different from trying to drink poison to quench thirst.
Although it prevented Sukuna from escaping, the price was that Satoru had to endure the slashes from Malevolent Shrine. Under the endless barrage of attacks, there was no way he could fight Sukuna in close combat and force him into a state where he could no longer maintain his domain like before.
"Since you're in such a hurry to die, let me help you along."
Satoru's body was already almost within reach, but Sukuna formed the hand sign for Enmaten.
He intended to cancel the guaranteed-hit effect and increase Malevolent Shrine's slashing output, forcing Satoru to constantly use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself. He could then interfere with him through close combat.
If Satoru wanted to restore the guaranteed-hit effect, Sukuna would do the same at the same time.
However, just as Sukuna was about to do so, a strange feeling suddenly appeared in his heart.
It was very subtle.
But the guaranteed-hit effect of Unlimited Void was still there?!
That meant Satoru had only reduced the efficiency of the guaranteed-hit effect from the beginning in order to change the conditions of the domain.
Thinking about it carefully, the number of slashes that had suddenly appeared on Satoru's body really was too small.
But if that was the case, the strength of the inner barrier should not have increased this much.
'Could it be that the moment I used my technique and caused Malevolent Shrine's output to decrease, that guy had also reduced the output being used to strengthen the outside of the barrier...'
"You figured it out!"
As Sukuna stared in shock, the white smoke from Reverse Cursed Technique had already dissipated from Satoru's body.
The difference in timing and distance was already enough for him to stop Sukuna from attempting another escape. Therefore, the guaranteed-hit effect was raised all the way to maximum power to clash with Sukuna's own guaranteed-hit effect.
Satoru reached out and grabbed Sukuna by the collar. His fist, wrapped in the power of Blue, once again crashed into him.
Sukuna was knocked away from the edge of the barrier, but Satoru stayed close and immediately resumed their close-quarters battle.
"That means your Unlimited Void shouldn't be able to hold out for much longer, right? Can you still keep going?"
While constantly blocking Satoru's attacks, the corner of Sukuna's bloodstained mouth slowly curled upward. This time, Malevolent Shrine would destroy Unlimited Void even faster than it had during the previous two clashes. As long as he paid a little more attention...
"You worry about whether you can hold out first!"
Although he said that, Satoru knew better than anyone how long Unlimited Void could continue to withstand the pressure.
One minute.
After about one minute, Unlimited Void would break.
If they continued this back-and-forth battle, the one who would eventually lose out would only be him.
Blue. Red.
Any projectile he fired would have its trajectory twisted by Sukuna using the Sky Manipulation Technique. As for the Blue punch, if he wanted to beat Sukuna to the point where he could no longer maintain his domain within one minute...
'Four times. Your current limit is probably four times. After that, if you want to expand your domain again, you'll probably need quite a long period of rest.'
The scenes from his sparring sessions with Mukuro were still vivid in his mind.
A smile suddenly appeared on Satoru's face, like a child about to play a mischievous prank.
'Looks like I'll have to use that move.'
**
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