"I learned from Itadori Yuji that you can resurrect yourself." Gojo Satoru looked down as Ryomen Sukuna's corpse once again turned into shadows. "It's also the first time I've known anyone besides Mahito who can resurrect themselves. Mahito relies on his innate Soul interference ability. What do you rely on?"
Bang.
Ryomen Sukuna crawled out from the shadows for the second time.
Gojo Satoru casually swung the Six Eastward Crossings.
This time, Ryomen Sukuna had learned his lesson. He pushed off hard with both feet and suddenly dodged away from where he stood.
Ryomen Sukuna no longer had any desire to converse with Gojo Satoru.
He devoted all of his attention and thought to figuring out how he could kill this formidable enemy.
The Six Eastward Crossings is by no means as invincible as it appears!
The ability to erase all Cursed Energy is indeed unrivaled among Jujutsu Sorcerers.
But if it could truly erase everything, then my resurrection ability shouldn't work either.
Because my [Eleven Lives]is also carried out through the inheritance ritual of the Ten Shadows Technique, which is likewise a use of Cursed Energy.
Yet the Six Eastward Crossings cannot interrupt that inheritance ritual.
Why?
As long as I discover this point, I can turn defeat into victory!
What is it?
What is it?
What is it?!
Swish!
The head of the Six Eastward Crossings suddenly appeared before the running Ryomen Sukuna.
Ryomen Sukuna's four hands formed hand seals simultaneously once again.
This time, the seals were for the merciless final sure-kill of a jujutsu battle.
"Domain Expansion—"
Ryomen Sukuna's two mouths roared in unison:
"—Malevolent Shrine!!"
In an instant, two kinds of slashes filled the entire space.
Dismantle and Cleave manifested simultaneously.
Because the omnipresent slashes spared not even the underground, the white desert was completely shredded into dust.
A white radiance spread silently, a phenomenon created by endless slashes breaking free from the constraints of the physical world with inevitable death.
In this windless world, a storm arose—
a storm of slashes!
Clang!
Gojo Satoru did not deploy his own Domain Expansion.
Instead, he swung the Six Eastward Crossings once more, and a visible ring of golden radiance silently rippled outward.
The storm of slashes collided head-on with Buddha's Sound Purifying the World...
Nothing happened.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
No violent collision of shockwaves.
No clash of unmatched destructive force.
The storm of slashes, capable of shredding everything within the Domain's range, quietly dissipated the moment it touched the golden halo of Buddha's Sound Purifying the World, like a Curse being purified.
There was no magnificent destruction.
Only an incomparably sacred silence.
"How is this possible... Even a Domain Expansion doesn't work?!" Ryomen Sukuna exclaimed in shock.
A Domain Expansion is universally acknowledged as the strongest sure-kill technique in a jujutsu battle.
No matter how varied a Jujutsu Sorcerer's abilities may be, the best way to confront a Domain Expansion is generally another Domain Expansion.
Any other method possesses obvious flaws.
No—
even Domain Expansion against Domain Expansion is not necessarily the optimal solution.
That is because they do not simply neutralize one another.
Rather, the Domains suppress one another.
When two Jujutsu Sorcerers engage in a Domain clash, whichever Domain is more refined, more skillfully used, or more overwhelming will completely crush the other.
That was exactly what happened during the Domain battle between Ryomen Sukuna and Gojo Satoru in the original work.
But now—
a true method of countering Domain Expansion had appeared.
Buddha's Sound Purifying the World!
Covered by Malevolent Shrine, Gojo Satoru leisurely strolled forward.
Rather than using Limitless teleportation, he simply walked toward the stunned Ryomen Sukuna.
His posture was unbelievably natural.
His expression utterly relaxed.
Ryomen Sukuna refused to believe it.
His two mouths chanted while all four hands formed seals simultaneously.
Incantation and hand seals—
activated once more.
"Dragon Scales."
"Repulsion."
"Meteor of Encounter."
His layered voices roared:
"—Dismantle!"
[World Cutting Slash]!
The magnificent slash bloomed once more.
This time, it blossomed within his own Malevolent Shrine.
The Domain Expansion naturally amplified his Cursed Technique—
including the current Dismantle.
Ryomen Sukuna unleashed this ultimate slash capable of cutting the world at maximum output without the slightest hesitation.
Before the tremendous roar could even erupt—
the entire world split in two.
This was no metaphor.
It was reality.
Like a sheet of paper sliced cleanly apart by a paper cutter guided along a ruler, the world before Ryomen Sukuna was divided into two.
Only afterward did the displaced space erupt into a deafening roar.
This was the phenomenon of spatial backflow attempting to repair the severed space.
But how could space that had already been cut truly return to its original state?
What had originally been nothing more than a razor-thin slash now became, through the violent explosion caused by the spatial backflow, a devastating strike rivaling a great canyon.
Suddenly—
the world collapsed.
The world shattered.
Clang!
For the first time, Gojo Satoru made a dodging movement.
He lightly shifted his footing.
The massive slash generated by the spatial backflow failed to strike him.
Only the faint aftershock reached his feet.
The golden halo of Buddha's Sound Purifying the World activated, and the World-Cutting Slash once again failed to affect Gojo Satoru.
But...
its aftershock had reached his feet.
Ryomen Sukuna was overjoyed.
"So that's it! I understand!"
"Your World Purification only works on phenomena created through Cursed Energy!"
"It's an ability specialized against energy."
"But your World Purification cannot affect ordinary physical phenomena!"
"Furthermore, you cannot use your own Cursed Energy while World Purification is active."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have needed to dodge the aftershock just now—you could have blocked it with Limitless!"
"The reason you were able to kill me the first time with the Six Eastward Crossings wasn't because you could reinforce yourself with Cursed Energy while I couldn't."
"You first reinforced your arm with Cursed Energy."
"Then, at the instant you swung down, you canceled the reinforcement while simultaneously activating World Purification, using the enormous momentum alone to kill me!"
"There must still be bruises on your arm from that excessive force."
"But you're wearing those robes, hiding the injury beneath the wide sleeves."
"You..."
"...used deception against me."
"The key is that you can freely switch between World Purification and abilities involving Cursed Energy."
"That clever combination created the illusion."
"Your invincibility..."
"...I've broken it!"
Gojo Satoru looked at him deeply.
Then he suddenly smiled.
"Impressive."
"Most people would have fallen into despair after witnessing the Six Eastward Crossings."
"But you didn't."
"You kept thinking."
"You kept analyzing."
"You searched desperately for a way out."
"And you boldly used your own abilities to test your conclusions."
"King of Curses..."
"I'll admit it."
"You're worthy of the name."
Gojo Satoru gently lifted the sleeve of his robes, revealing his arm.
It was fair.
Completely flawless.
Ryomen Sukuna's pupils contracted.
"How can there be no injury...?"
"No..."
"Reverse Cursed Technique!"
"The World Purification ability only affects Curses."
"In other words, positive energy can still function within World Purification!"
"You..."
"...you're actually fighting using positive energy!"
"Is that even possible?!"
Cursed Energy is negative energy.
Although it can be used for reinforcement, it cannot be used for healing.
The principle behind Reverse Cursed Technique is obtaining positive energy by multiplying negative energy with negative energy.
That positive energy is then used for healing.
For a thousand years throughout the Jujutsu World, this had always been the established method.
Yet during those thousand years...
no one had ever attempted to discover what would happen if positive energy itself were used for reinforcement.
This was because Reverse Cursed Technique was inherently extremely difficult.
Even in this era overflowing with Jujutsu Sorcerers, fewer than twenty people had mastered it.
Among those twenty, more than half relied purely on innate talent.
They couldn't even explain how to teach it to others.
Therefore—
using positive energy instead of negative energy in battle—
Gojo Satoru was the first.
Thud.
Gojo Satoru stepped forward.
It wasn't Limitless teleportation.
Instead, he reinforced his legs with positive energy.
Ryomen Sukuna realized he could do the same.
He generated positive energy through Reverse Cursed Technique, concentrated it into his arm, and imagined reinforcing himself with it.
But—
Clang!
The head of the Six Eastward Crossings snapped his arm like dry wood before smashing into his head.
Ryomen Sukuna's head exploded for the third time.
"Next comes riddle time!"
Gojo Satoru laughed.
"How am I still able to use positive energy within World Purification?"
Even when using positive energy, a Jujutsu Sorcerer first extracts negative energy from negative emotions.
They then process that negative energy a second time using negative energy itself to produce positive energy.
Only then can positive energy be used.
But the World Purification ability directly eliminates intense negative emotions.
Ryomen Sukuna's learning ability was indeed astonishing.
After realizing that positive energy could reinforce the body, he immediately attempted to use the method.
However, just like every other Jujutsu Sorcerer, he first had to generate negative energy from negative emotions before converting it into positive energy.
Within World Purification, however, one cannot even produce negative emotions.
Without negative emotions, how could one carry out the second-stage processing needed to create positive energy?
Thus—
he met his third death.
[Eleven Lives], minus three!
"A Jujutsu Sorcerer's battle is a battle of information."
Gojo Satoru suddenly swung the Six Eastward Crossings.
"You thought that by forcing me to choose your Malevolent Shrine as my third imprintable technique, you could gain an informational advantage and control me?"
"How ridiculous!"
"The one truly lacking information..."
"...is you, Sukuna!"
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Next Bonus Chapter at 700 Powerstones.