Chapter 152: Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One
"Sorry, Yami."
Satoru Gojo's voice drifted through the ruined depths of the Tomb of the Star Corridor.
"Right now… my brain isn't quite normal."
The light sentence carried an eerie weight.
In the vast, dead silent underground chamber, it made the temperature seem to drop.
Yami's fingers tightened around Shiranui.
When facing Toji Fushiguro, his eyes had remained steady from beginning to end. But now, as he stared at the blood soaked white haired boy before him, a trace of gravity finally entered his gaze.
Pressure.
Terrifying pressure.
At this moment, Satoru Gojo had completely shed his usual frivolous arrogance.
What replaced it was something almost divine.
He stood there as if he had crawled out from the depths of death itself, no longer bound by the limits of ordinary life.
His clothes were soaked with blood. Dark red scabs clung to his torn uniform, forming a stark contrast against his white hair.
But the wounds that should have killed him were healing.
The throat that had been pierced by the Inverted Spear of Heaven.
The chest that had been run through.
The thigh that had been slashed open.
All of them were releasing wisps of pale steam. Flesh wriggled. Muscle closed. Bone repaired itself beneath the skin at a speed that defied reason.
This was not ordinary healing.
It was the conversion of Cursed Energy into positive energy, forcibly reversing the direction of death.
Reverse Cursed Technique.
And it was not crude or unstable.
It was advanced.
Automatic.
"Satoru…"
Yami's voice was low and hoarse.
He was forcing every last trace of strength through his body, trying to regain control over muscles that had nearly collapsed from overusing the Demon Slayer Mark.
Gojo did not answer.
He only stood there quietly, then slowly raised his head.
His Six Eyes were stained red with blood.
Inside them, there was no trace of ordinary human emotion left.
Only endless excitement, feverish enlightenment, and an arrogance so absolute that it seemed to look down on the entire world.
"Haa…"
Gojo took a deep breath.
Then he spread his arms, tilted his head back, and laughed.
"Hahaha… hahahaha!"
The laughter echoed through the underground palace, shaking loose bits of rubble from the already unstable ceiling.
"This is amazing."
Gojo pressed his blood stained fingers into his own hair, gripping it hard, as if that was the only way to contain the power exploding inside him.
"This feeling is amazing."
He laughed again.
"I get it now. I finally get it."
"The core of Cursed Energy isn't just negative emotion."
His smile widened.
"It's the miracle of multiplying negative by negative."
"Reverse Cursed Technique."
Gojo slowly lowered his head.
His Six Eyes locked onto Yami.
"I feel great right now."
Then his voice shifted.
"Yami."
A chilling urgency entered his tone.
"Where's Toji?"
His smile remained, but the air around him distorted.
"Where did Toji Fushiguro go?"
He took a step forward.
"Call him out. I'm going to use this power to cut him apart. Crush him piece by piece."
Faced with Gojo's near manic questioning, Yami only looked at him calmly.
"He lost."
His tone held no fluctuation.
"I broke his blade and bought his life."
"He already left."
The wild laughter on Gojo's face froze.
He stared at Yami.
For a moment, intense astonishment flashed through his Six Eyes.
Then it turned into a sick, hollow disappointment.
"Left?"
His voice lowered.
"You let him go?"
Gojo lowered his head and covered his face with both hands.
His shoulders began to shake.
"Ha…"
A laugh slipped through his fingers.
"Haha… hahaha…"
This time, the sound lacked the earlier exhilaration.
It carried something far more unstable.
"What a pity."
Gojo slowly dropped his hands.
"What a real pity."
His face, beautiful enough to seem almost unreal, now carried a distorted expression that made the skin crawl.
"I finally saw the truth of the world."
"I finally crossed that threshold."
His eyes narrowed.
"And he ran away?"
Gojo's gaze drifted.
It passed over Suguru Geto, unconscious and heavily wounded.
It passed over Riko Amanai, trembling behind Yami.
Then it returned to Yami.
Locked on.
"But…"
Gojo smiled.
"It doesn't matter."
It was a bright smile.
Pure.
And terrifying.
He slowly raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together as he aimed them at Yami.
Hum.
A terrifying mass of dark red Cursed Energy gathered at his fingertips.
The power condensed so violently that the space around it visibly warped.
"Heaven and earth…"
Gojo's lips moved slightly.
His voice carried the arrogant declaration that would one day shake the Jujutsu World.
"I alone am the honored one."
Boom!
The moment the last word fell, the dark red energy at Gojo's fingertips erupted into a beam of repulsive force, blasting toward Yami.
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
The repulsive power born from applying positive energy to the Limitless.
Its force was enough to flatten a mountain in an instant.
"Since Toji ran away…"
Gojo's unstable voice cut through the roaring energy.
"Then that fight we never finished outside…"
His smile widened.
"Let's continue it now."
The dark red beam rushed toward Yami like divine punishment.
Yami's pupils shrank.
This power…
He absolutely could not take it head on.
In his current condition, with the Demon Slayer Mark fading and his muscles nearly failing, a direct hit from Red would reduce him to nothing.
"Madman."
Yami clenched his teeth.
In the span of a heartbeat, he squeezed out the final reserves of his body.
"Total Concentration."
"Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent."
Whoosh!
Yami's figure blurred into a water blue afterimage.
With footwork that defied normal movement, he narrowly slipped past the edge of the dark red beam.
Rumble!
Red tore through the place where Yami had stood.
The stone wall behind him, several meters thick, was vaporized in an instant, leaving behind a massive black tunnel that seemed to have no end.
The shockwave swept through the underground palace like a hurricane.
Debris tore through the air.
"Cough!"
Yami avoided the direct hit, but the aftermath still slammed into him.
He groaned as his body flew backward like a broken kite, crashing hard into a pile of rubble.
"Yami!"
Riko screamed from the distance, her voice filled with despair.
She could not understand it.
Satoru Gojo had returned.
He was supposed to be their ally.
He was supposed to save them.
So why had he become something even more frightening than Toji Fushiguro?
"Too slow."
Gojo stared at Yami, who was struggling to rise from the rubble.
"Too slow, too slow, too slow."
The fanatic light in his eyes grew brighter.
He did not even check how badly Yami was hurt.
Instead, he stepped forward.
In an instant, he crossed dozens of meters with a movement almost like teleportation and appeared in front of Yami.
"Where's the speed you used against Toji?"
Gojo's voice rose.
"Where's that flame that could melt everything?"
His Six Eyes burned with excitement.
"Bring it out."
"Bring all of it out!"
Gojo roared.
Then he raised his right leg.
A terrifying surge of Cursed Energy wrapped around it as he brought it down toward Yami's head like an axe.
There was no technique behind the strike.
No refined form.
It was pure, savage violence, fueled by Limitless, Reverse Cursed Technique, and a body that now seemed incapable of tiring.
Clang!
Yami barely raised Shiranui to block.
The collision exploded with a harsh metallic sound.
A massive force poured through the blade and into Yami's arms. The skin between his thumb and index finger split open, and blood instantly stained the hilt.
Bang!
The ground beneath Yami shattered.
His body was forced down to one knee by the impact.
"What's wrong?"
Gojo looked down at him, Six Eyes glowing with a chilling light.
"Can't hold on already?"
His smile sharpened.
"Aren't you strong?"
At this moment, Satoru Gojo had fallen completely into the delirium that came with his sudden awakening.
He needed to fight.
He needed to vent.
He needed a target strong enough to withstand the invincible power now surging through him.
And Yami, who had just defeated the Sorcerer Killer, was the perfect prey in his eyes.
Yami gritted his teeth as pain tore through his arms.
His stamina was nearly gone.
The oxygen in his lungs was burning out too quickly. Even breathing felt like swallowing broken glass.
But there was no fear in his black eyes.
Only rationality.
Colder than Gojo's madness.
"Looks like…"
Yami slowly raised his head and met Gojo's manic gaze.
His voice was hoarse.
"I really do need to wake you up."
The next instant, Yami closed his eyes.
In this desperate situation, he willingly gave up his sight.
[Ding! Life and death crisis detected.]
[Transparent World forcibly activated again.]
Hum.
The cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
Yami's world fell silent.
Gojo's wild laughter disappeared.
The sound of falling rubble disappeared.
Riko's crying disappeared.
All that remained was a clear and transparent world.
Within it, Yami saw the violent river of Cursed Energy surging through Satoru Gojo's body.
He saw the subtle irregular tremors in Gojo's muscles, caused by excessive excitement.
He saw the rhythm of Limitless.
And then, in that seemingly flawless defense, he saw it.
A pause.
Only 0.1 seconds.
A gap created because Gojo had only just mastered full automation and Reverse Cursed Technique.
A flaw.
Yami's eyes opened.
A sharp light burst from his dark pupils, brighter and colder than the Crimson Blade.
The opening had been found.
....
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