The Long-Armed Mahoraga seemed not to hear what Satoru Gojo said and fired two more arrows at him. Satoru Gojo shattered them with Red and prepared to pull back.
There was no need to keep fighting here. He could just wait for the swarm of Cursed Spirits to gather again, then come back and wipe them out.
But Satoru Gojo's eyes suddenly widened, and his brows knit together beneath the eyepatch.
In his memory, during the match that morning, the shadow beneath Akira Zenin had started churning as if it were boiling.
The scene in his memory had actually changed...
That immediately made Satoru Gojo suspect he had been affected by some kind of technique. Something oral? Poison?
While he was still analyzing the situation, Akira Zenin in that memory was already completely swallowed by his own shadow. Then a memory that had never existed before surfaced in his mind.
["Satoru, the last time we sparred was back when we were students, right... If we get the chance this afternoon, how about the two of us have a fight?"]
After going through that newly added memory, Satoru Gojo's expression returned to normal. He took off his eyepatch and looked straight at the center the three Mahoraga were guarding so fiercely.
"Now that's really something... Is this your new technique? Even the shadows inside my memories are within the range of your Shadow Manipulation?"
A slightly unhinged smile spread across Satoru Gojo's face.
"It really has been a long time since we sparred... In that case, I'm taking this as your official challenge!"
Cursed Spirits were everywhere, so there was no need to worry about collateral damage.
And since Akira had said his Mahoraga were highly adaptable, there was no reason to hold back. For Satoru Gojo, an opportunity like this was far too rare...
The moment he finished speaking, the Mahoraga wielding the long sword stomped the ground.
With a deafening boom, it launched itself dozens of meters into the air and brought its blade down in a precise slash at Satoru Gojo.
But the closer the slash came to Satoru Gojo, the slower it became. Since this was not a conventional "block," all the force of the attack sank into the Limitless. The long sword hung motionless above Satoru Gojo's forehead like a drowning man trapped in heavy waves, and even the shockwave that should have been produced by the clash never appeared...
Satoru Gojo immediately gathered Cursed Energy and attached a small [Blue] to his fist, driving it into the sword-wielding Mahoraga's abdomen.
As his fist closed in, Mahoraga was pulled toward him as well. In a sense, both sides were rushing straight at each other, and with a thunderous crash, the sword-wielding Mahoraga was smashed into the ground below.
"Phase, Paramita, Pillars of Light. Cursed Technique Reversal [Red]."
A massive red sphere of light instantly chased after the sword-wielding Mahoraga that had been blasted into the earth. Amid roaring noise and violent tremors, it carved out a gigantic crater dozens of meters wide.
Akira had already said this thing could adapt directly to techniques. If he used [Purple] right away and failed to kill all three Mahoraga at once, it might adapt to it. Better to first see whether a straightforward [Red] could do real damage...
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a scarred hand grabbed the edge of the crater. The sword-wielding Mahoraga heaved itself back onto flat ground in one motion, and every wound on its body healed completely.
At the same time, the Long-Armed Mahoraga's eyes suddenly became vivid, and it raised its bow.
It actually opened its mouth and spoke in an extremely hoarse, heavy voice.
"Kanda, Returning Shadow, Demon-Sealing Arrow — 'Gloom.'"
Even as Satoru Gojo was still surprised that a Shikigami could chant an incantation, a vast surge of white energy poured out of the Long-Armed Mahoraga's body and flowed into the arrow in its hand like birds returning to the forest at dusk.
Black sludge and white energy twisted around each other, clashing and merging, gradually fusing into a spinning gray-white flame.
"Buzz."
The sound had only just reached him when the gray-white flame was already hanging in front of Satoru Gojo. But this time, the attack was not ineffective like before.
An identical arrow had somehow pierced straight into the left side of Satoru Gojo's chest.
Had [Limitless] been broken through?
He had felt no neutralization, no cancellation at all...
Then Satoru Gojo suddenly noticed the shadow cast by his own arm at the wound. That arrow had extended out from inside his body...
Seeing the gray-white flame about to spread outward, Satoru Gojo immediately blasted open the left side of his own chest, then used his left hand to cut off his right hand, which had already been contaminated by the gray-white flame, before restoring himself with the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Satoru Gojo almost felt like he could hear Akira Zenin from their Jujutsu High days saying, "Well, well, if it isn't Satoru Gojo~ How did you end up looking this miserable after only being apart for a while~"
Meanwhile, Suguru Geto from their Jujutsu High days stood off to the side with narrowed eyes, offering comfort.
"Ahem... Victory and defeat are common in battle... If you got hurt, that just means you still have room to improve..."
But all of that was only in his imagination...
Akira Zenin still stood silently at the center of the Mahoraga, head lowered, motionless. Even if he woke up, he probably would not be as lively as he had been ten years ago...
But Satoru Gojo had been injured, and injured in battle no less...
That unfamiliar feeling only pushed him further into madness.
"Nine Ropes, Polarized Light, Crows and Declaration, Between Front and Back. Hollow Technique [Purple]."
Because Hollow Technique [Purple] required using both Cursed Technique Lapse and Cursed Technique Reversal at the same time, he could not simultaneously use the levitation and movement provided by [Blue] and [Limitless]. So Satoru Gojo dropped to the ground and launched a long range bombardment.
The full power [Purple] exploded the instant it hit, rising into a mushroom cloud. Air currents roared outward, sludge churned, and in the blink of an eye nearly one fifth of the entire forest was reduced to ruins...
Once the aftermath of the explosion had completely settled, the sword wielding Mahoraga had already returned to Akira Zenin's side and lowered its head, while the wheel above it began to turn slowly...
At the same time, the wheel above the shield wielding Mahoraga suddenly stopped spinning. It opened its eyes and raised its enormous shield to protect its side, while the wheels above all three Mahoraga turned three full rotations in perfect unison...
Throughout the entire battle, Satoru Gojo had not used his Domain. Akira Zenin could not use that right now, and doing so would have been too unfair.
But even so, Akira Zenin's side had actually managed to attack him by bypassing [Limitless] through non Domain means. That made Satoru Gojo rely a little less blindly on [Limitless]...
The Mahoraga did not continue attacking. Satoru Gojo stepped forward and looked at Akira Zenin's figure.
"Honestly, I'm a little jealous that you can develop your technique however you want...
The [Limitless] system itself is far too mature. It makes me look powerful, but the truth is I've never really broken free of the fixed thinking of the Six Eyes users from the Gojo Clan through the generations. At most, I'm just more flexible, broader in scale, and more precise...
That's why I've been watching you. Your way of thinking and your ideas have inspired me a lot...
And that's how this move was born, but..."
As he spoke, Satoru Gojo suddenly froze. Akira Zenin's figure in his memory began twisting and distorting over and over, until along the timeline of that memory, it turned into words made of flesh, blood, and shadow...
[Use it...]
Already somewhat used to this eerie way of communicating, Satoru Gojo answered on instinct.
"This is my first time using it. I still can't control the power and range very well. It would be better to use it after you wake up..."
[Don't worry... that body means nothing to me... Shadows are free, aren't they?]
Satoru Gojo fell silent for a moment. If he kept being sentimental, that would not be like him at all.
"The energy of Hollow Technique [Purple] is not made entirely from [Blue] and [Red].
It also borrows from spatial potential energy.
That's what creates an effect far greater than one plus one.
It's like throwing a stone across the surface of water and creating ripples. The waves that spread out depend not only on the size and weight of the stone, but also on the technique used to throw it.
If I think about it the way you would, then maybe instead of merging [Blue] and [Red] right away, I should find a way to control them and let them blend little by little.
That way, like skipping stones across water, I can keep disturbing the surrounding space.
And if the ripples created by each point of impact produce constructive interference, then the destructive power of that spatial disturbance will rise dramatically."
After saying that, Satoru Gojo raised a hand and began moving it in a steady rhythm, using [Blue] and [Red] at the same time and making them rotate around each other at a fixed speed.
"This is Hollow Technique. [Ripples]."
[Blue] and [Red] danced together in the sky. As they spiraled around each other and intertwined, they slowly merged into one another. Purple light flickered constantly, carrying outward spreading spatial ripples that only Satoru Gojo, the one using the technique, could truly "see."
Those ripples in space collided with one another and, under precise calculation, grew larger and larger. The distortions in space also became more and more obvious.
But if any other jujutsu sorcerer had been there, what they would have seen was simply this. Two glowing spheres moving through the sky in a steady pattern, drawing close and circling each other, while everything nearby suddenly shattered under attacks from nowhere.
If [Purple] was pure violence, then [Ripples] was beauty and art...
[Now I can finally sleep without worry...]
"If it's sleep, then there'll be a time when you wake up, right?"
[Maybe a year? Ten years? A hundred years? Or a thousand...]
"I see... In this life, I'm glad I got to know you... my best friend.
When I saved Amanai, I learned just how painful exhaustion could be... I understand you. So go to sleep in peace."
[Then I'll leave everyone to you...]
"You really are something, putting a curse on me inside my own memories..."
[Hehe~~]
While the two of them "talked," the dance between [Blue] and [Red] had already come to an end, and Hollow Technique [Ripples] was reaching its conclusion.
Half the forest had completely vanished. The hills and jutting rocks had all been erased, leaving behind a smooth stretch of sand. Only Satoru Gojo remained, standing alone at the center of that sandy expanse...
A moment ago, the Mahoraga had been erased without any warning, and Akira Zenin's body had vanished as well. But what gave Satoru Gojo a slight sense of relief was this.
After Akira Zenin's body disappeared, his shadow did not fade. Instead, it stretched out two shadow hands, waved at him, and then slipped away into somewhere unknown…
…
"Wait..."
No reply came from anywhere around him, and even Satoru Gojo did not know who he was saying that to.
After waiting a while and seeing that his memories had not changed, he glanced at his watch and walked to the center of the forest, or rather, the center of the sandy plain. Then he took something out of his pocket and set it on the ground.
It was a small cake that had been crushed so badly its shape was unrecognizable. A few rebellious streaks of coffee colored cream poked out through gaps in the wrapping, searching for freedom...
"Happy birthday."