"Simple Domain... Falling Blossom Emotion..." Sukuna's voice rose slowly, filled with undisguised admiration and excitement.
"Amazing! Satoru!"
The giant mouth on his abdomen split open, letting out a low, pleasant laugh.
"You truly haven't disappointed me!"
"To think you could pull out such a combined defensive technique at the moment your domain was crushed and you were in a desperate situation?!"
"Using Simple Domain to neutralize the domain's Sure-Hit to gain a moment's respite, and then using Falling Blossom Emotion—already prepared on your body surface like a Cursed Energy counterattack program—to deal with my close-quarters crushing..."
As Sukuna spoke, he paced slowly, his four eyes like searchlights scanning Satoru up and down as if admiring a peerless work of art.
"Fantastic! Satoru! You can still come up with new things!"
Sukuna's excitement was palpable.
Satoru had realized after his brief encounter with Sukuna last time that he absolutely could not defeat Sukuna in his peak state. To gain more of a chance at winning, he had almost emptied the coffers of the Jujutsu World.
Standing before Sukuna now was a cautious and studious Satoru.
To Sukuna, while simple strength was interesting, someone like Satoru, who, despite an absolute gap in power, could still rely on wisdom, skill, heritage, and a tenacious will to repeatedly pull out unexpected trump cards and resist beyond his limits—this possibility and creativity was the true entertainment" that could make him feel pleasure.
Satoru, you really do have a hunger for power too.
Sukuna stopped, his four arms stretching out again, emitting an aura even more dangerous yet more serious than before.
"I am starting to feel that simply crushing you to death seems like a bit of a waste."
"Let me see... how many more interesting tricks you, known as the strongest, still have hidden in that battered body of yours, before I completely break you."
Blood seeped continuously from Satoru's nostrils, the corners of his eyes, and his ear canals, carving shocking trails across his pale, blood-stained face. This was no ordinary external injury, it was "brain blood" overflowing from ruptured cerebral vessels as his brain operated beyond its limits and repeatedly underwent self-repair.
His Six Eyes remained in an overclocked state that transcended all limits. Within those blue pupils, a torrent of data flashed frantically, coldly calculating every millisecond's possibility of survival.
Domain Amplification — concentrating the power of the domain on the body's surface to neutralize and counter the ubiquitous "Sure-Hit" rules within Sukuna's domain.
This was one of only two methods he had to briefly contend with the power of Sukuna's domain after his own had been overwhelmed. However, maintaining this technique meant he could not simultaneously activate the absolute defense, Infinity.
Simple Domain — another technique to counter a domain's "Sure-Hit" effect. It consumes less energy but offers lower defensive strength.
Infinity!
When Sukuna's main body broke through to launch close-quarters physical attacks, Satoru had to drop his anti-domain defense at the moment of impact and switch to Infinity to slow and block those terrifying strikes.
Falling Blossom Emotion!
While Infinity slowed Sukuna's attacks, this Cursed Energy mechanism pre-set on his body's surface, acting like a precise counter-program, would trigger to double the reflection of any intruding force, gaining him a moment to breathe or adjust his stance.
Four skills: two used to counter domain rules, and two used to defend against Sukuna's attacks.
He could not use Domain Amplification and Infinity at the same time. If Sukuna attacked him, he had to switch to Infinity and Simple Domain. Then, during the gaps, he would switch to Domain Amplification to resist Sukuna's domain. Simply put, because Simple Domain could not withstand Sukuna's domain for long, he had no choice but to switch.
A single error in judgment, a switch delayed by a ten-thousandth of a second, or a slight fluctuation in Cursed Energy output could be fatal.
Bang!
Sukuna threw a straight punch.
Satoru instantly dropped the Simple Domain on his body, and Infinity unfolded before the fist, slowing and dispersing the violent power. Simultaneously, the pale pink light of Falling Blossom Emotion flashed, reflecting a portion of the force.
But the Cursed Energy attached to Sukuna's fist was too concentrated, the reflection effect was minimal. Satoru was still shaken until his blood boiled, and he slid backward using the momentum.
Ssh!
Almost as he was redirecting the force, several invisible slashes from the domain struck from his rear flank.
Satoru immediately reactivated Domain Amplification, dark red Cursed Energy flowing over his body to annihilate the "Sure-Hit" rules of the slashes with a piercing grinding sound. The repulsive force of Red erupted beneath his feet, causing his figure to shift unnaturally to avoid the densest area of the slashes.
Swish!
Sukuna followed him, his four arms turning into a blur of afterimages as they attacked simultaneously from all directions.
Blood continuously gushed from Satoru's split palms, his concussed lungs, and his overloaded brain. Every breath carried the taste of rust and the burning pain of internal fragments. Yet he was still fighting, still switching, still resisting.
He squeezed, tempered, and fused the Jujutsu, Taijutsu, tactics he had learned throughout his life, and his talent hailed as "The Strongest," to an unprecedented level.
Sukuna's offensive did not slow due to Satoru's tenacity. Instead, it became increasingly sharp and varied.
The coordination of his four arms was seamless—fists, palms, fingers, claws, elbows, and knees—every part of his body turned into a weapon of slaughter. Combined with the elusive slashes and the domain's suppression, they wove a web of death without a single blind spot.
But Satoru, the scarred and trapped beast within this web, relied on his limit-transcending "technique" to break through the gaps of the net time and again by a hair's breadth, leaving behind a body full of wounds and spraying blood, yet never falling.
"Ha... ha..."
Satoru knelt on one knee, panting heavily. Blood dripped onto the pitch-black ground and was quickly absorbed.
He looked up at Sukuna, who stood nearby at leisure, his aura still as steady as an abyss. In Satoru's blue eyes, the dark red phantom of the wheel slowly rotating above Sukuna's head, its edges serrated, was revealed.
Sukuna's voice carried a strange calmness. "If it were me from a thousand years ago, facing you as you are now, I'm afraid I would have already lost."
Satoru acknowledged the gap, acknowledging Sukuna's era-transcending power. But he also felt a complex emotion that he was still standing here at this moment.
He, Gojo Satoru, had exhausted everything. Every technique, every Cursed Technique, everything he could and could not do—he had pushed it all to the absolute limit.
Only now was he barely able to stand on the same battlefield as his opponent, rather than being instantly crushed.
"Very well..."
Sukuna spoke slowly, his voice no longer containing his previous excitement or mockery, but a coldness that came after completing an evaluation.
"It's time for you... to end."
A dead end.
However, Satoru's lowered head slowly rose. Beneath his blood-stained white hair, those blue eyes known as the Six Eyes were now exceptionally calm. There was no fear, no despair, not even the burning battle intent from before.
There was only a decision that was as cold as it was clear.
"Cough..."
He coughed up another mouthful of black blood containing internal fragments.
"Sukuna..."
Slowly, using his trembling arms whose bones might already have been fractured, Satoru supported himself and, bit by bit, with great difficulty, stood up again. His body swayed violently as if he might collapse at any moment, but his spine was held perfectly straight.
"You're right... old monster." Satoru grinned, revealing teeth stained red with blood.
"My domain was crushed by you. Simple Domain and Falling Blossom Emotion can only block you for a moment. My physical body, Cursed Energy, speed, understanding of rules... I'm crushed by you in every aspect."
He raised his blood-streaked, skin-cracked hands before his eyes and gazed at them. Those hands had once performed countless exquisite Cursed Techniques and defeated countless strong enemies, serving as the symbol of 'The Strongest.' But now, it was difficult even to hold them up steadily.
"Compared to you, I indeed seem... to be just a 'slightly stronger bug'."
Sukuna did not interrupt him. His four crimson eyes watched with interest, as if appreciating a prey's final words.
"But Sukuna..."
Satoru lowered his hands and looked directly into Sukuna's four inhuman eyes with those terrifyingly calm blue pupils.
"Even a bug... when driven to a dead end, will bite back."
"And..."
His voice suddenly dropped, yet it carried a strange weight as if his very soul were burning.
"My title of 'The Strongest' isn't for show."