Inside the Naunax stood a baffled Cross.
Cross had explicitly warned Dabura about the Earthlings' petty tricks that they would use, so he wasn't surprised when he saw Gojo use a devastating attack right at the start.
Earth has shown that they aren't honorable warriors, so Cross had a negative opinion about their race and sorcery.
However, he wasn't baffled because he thought the white-haired sorcerer couldn't damage Dabura, but the man on the screen was not who he thought it was.
Dabura has a presence that would make anyone kneel. There wasn't a person on Simuria who could even come close to his strength. Even Dura, the strongest person Cross knew at the time, was helpless.
The sorcerer he ran into radiated a similar presence–one that would make anybody kneel under the pressure, as if he were a king.
If that isn't him, who the hell was the guy I ran into!? No…If this sorcerer could hurt Dabura, what would happen if that other guy joined the fight!?
He hated to admit it, but the sorcerer he ran into was a calamity like Dabura.
Cross grabbed his hair as his thoughts raced. 'It'll be the end of us. If we can't stand up to Dabura, how can we possibly stand up to two hostile sorcerers on his level!?'
He then looked back up at the screen, seeing the fight about to begin. 'Is that why they sent this old man instead of the other one? Because we are nothing but a joke to them?'
Pat
Cross was broken out of his thoughts as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Contrary to his expectations, he saw the one person whom he was fighting for.
"Marulu!" Cross yelled as he pulled his brother into a hug. He was too distracted to notice his brother waking up, despite their mental connection.
Marulu gave a helpless smile. "You're acting like I just came back to life."
He had always been the chipper sibling, but Cross could tell that his mood was anything but. He could tell that Marulu's smile was strained.
After a minute, they separated as Cross calmed down and analyzed the situation once more. 'Everything might be alright. Given the personalities of those officials, they would've attacked us had they the means to remove the Simurians, so why did they try to reason and ally with us?'
Marulu tilted his head to the side. "Brother?"
Cross's eyes widened as he realized something that he had missed. 'They could've attacked us since they would have a greater force, but didn't. It wasn't that they didn't, but they couldn't!'
He was well aware that strength reigned supreme. It was how the Deskunte lived.
Earth had different customs, but every sorcerer he had encountered that was affiliated with Jujutsu Headquarters had been unremarkable, relative to some of the stronger members of their race at best, with the sole exception of Yuji Itadori.
Even so, strength will always be a fundamental, unchanging rule in who calls the shots.
It was now clear to Cross that Jujutsu Headquarters was trying to get rid of both of them. They would put their uncontrollable, strong sorcerers against the Simurians so they could remove two problems at once.
In other words, why should they bother making enemies of two 'Dabura-level' sorcerers if they could remove the middleman? If the Jujutsu higher-ups were planning on destroying their race by starting a fight with powerful sorcerers that are unaffiliated with them, why not kill the higher-ups?
Jujutsu Headquarters controls the killing of cursed spirits, not Gojo, and not Yuji. Sure, Yuji could decide to impose rules and ban the killing of cursed spirits, but the two monsters simply didn't care.
Yuji was living with his brothers and keeping up the barriers. His era ended, so he kept out of Jujutsu politics, and Gojo…was Gojo.
Cross looked back up at the screen. "I need to stop Dabura before the other one joins." He glanced at his confused brother. "I'm heading out, you get back to bed."
He ran out of the room without waiting for Marulu's response. He had to keep their race alive.
-
The two calamities stood apart from one another.
Dabura vanished from his spot. A massive gust of wind followed as he sent his leg flying toward the side of Gojo's head.
Seeing Gojo not moving with a smile, Dabura narrowed his eyes as he felt his leg connect. However, he was surprised since his leg was stopped in place. 'That barrier again!'
Seeing Dabura stuck in place, Gojo simply raised his right arm. "Have a nice flight."
His words confused Dabura until he felt a massive force pulling him backward.
Smashing through a building, Dabura was pulled by the force of Gojo's [Blue], debris flying everywhere.
Suddenly, the smoke was pierced by hundreds of light rods, turning the entire landscape into a massive crater with a ball of light at its center.
'Did I get him?' Dabura thought, but his thoughts were dismissed when a figure burst through the ball like a rocket.
Dabura raised his arm in a guard before Gojo punched his stomach.
His guard was pulled down, and Gojo's enhanced punch landed, sending Dabura flying once more.
He didn't have time to reposition himself before he heard a voice behind him. "Come on, stop trying to hit me, and hit me!"
Dabura spun his head backward only to see a fist inches from his face.
He grit his teeth as he threw his fist at Gojo's stomach, which, like his kick and Light attack from earlier, didn't reach him.
Dabura brought his arms back to block the punch, but Gojo's fist opened, and he did something unexpected.
Gojo grabbed his horn and used it as a handle to throw Dabura through the city, destroying whatever was in his path.
Luckily, he could go all out since Yuji created a copy of Tokyo where he could freely fight.
Raising his hand above his brow to get a better look at the destruction and the Dabura-sized hole, he spoke. "Damn, I feel good. Haven't stretched this much in a while."
While Gojo was fairly calm and in a great mood, Dabura felt the opposite.
He felt emotions he hadn't felt in a long time: anxiety and panic.
He sat unmoving in the debris as he was trying to figure out what was going on. '[Light] doesn't work, my physical attacks won't land, he can teleport, and he can pull using his technique. The force of his strikes isn't the issue. How can I fight him if I can't even hit him!?'
Despite taking hits from Gojo, he hadn't taken much damage aside from the Hollow Purple from before.
Glancing down at his arms, which were still burnt, he clenched his right hand into a fist. 'I can manage, but even so, his rolloluca hasn't gone down at all. After using that thing (150% Hollow Purple), he should be showing signs of reduced rolloluca, but he still has the same reserves he had when we met.'
His eyes widened as he realized something. 'Infinite rolloluca too!? If that's the case, and I can't hit him, does that mean he can fire off those blasts infinitely, and I'm helpless to do anything about it!?'
Dabura sat in the debris with a panicked expression. "Am I really about to lose? What should I do? What can I do?"
His eyes hollowed. "I'm scared."
Dabura's words faded as if carried by the wind. It was quiet, but it felt like the loudest sound he'd ever heard.
Suddenly, he blinked as he realized what he said. "Scared?"
He began to mull over his words and closed his eyes as he thought about his past. His past in Simuria and Dura's words to him.
His eyes opened as his gaze became determined. 'I already made up my mind when I decided to fight this man.'
"If I'm too weak now, I'll break through my weakness!" He practically roared those words toward the heavens.
He shot to his feet as he felt a massive, cursed energy signature being sent his way. It was the very thing he was worried about.
Dabura's eye twitched as he saw the Hollow Purple. "You've got to be kidding me…"
This time, he noted it was weaker than the 150% Hollow Purple used as the opener.
He gathered an immense amount of cursed energy and hardened his expression as he stomped on the ground to hold himself in place.
Moving his hand to his mouth, he spoke a single word. "[████]."
Almost instantly, the Purple vanished as if it hadn't been tunneling through the city, to the surprise of everyone watching.
Dabura brushed aside his previous worries. 'Every technique has a weakness, and I'll find it for my fellow Simurians. If he blocks my fists, if he blocks my [Light], if he blocks my [████], I simply need to create something he can't block.'
BOOM
A man landed a few meters away from Dabura.
As he looked up at Dabura, Gojo noted that he seemed different, which caused Gojo to smile. "Seems like you're finally feeling it–a real battle. Sucks when you're too strong, doesn't it?"
Dabura moved into a fighting stance. "Enough talking."
Gojo did the same, but smirked. "Sorry, but that's really not my style."
Round 2 of the battle that determines the fate of the Simurians, begins!