"Sorry, Yoru. Right now... my head isn't quite right."
These light words, spoken in the desolate and silent underground ruins of the Tombs of the Star Corridor, seemed to carry a bizarre magic that instantly dropped the surrounding temperature to freezing.
Yoru's fingers tightened around Shiranui.
His eyes, which hadn't shown a flicker of emotion even against Toji Fushiguro, were now fixed intently on the blood-soaked, white-haired youth before him.
Pressure.
An absolutely terrifying, suffocating pressure!
Satoru Gojo had completely shed his usual mask of frivolity and arrogance.
In its place was an absolute sense of divinity, as if he had crawled out of a bottomless abyss to stand above all living things.
His clothes were soaked through with blood, the dark red crust forming a jarring contrast with his signature white hair.
But those wounds that should have been fatal...
The throat pierced by the Inverted Spear of Heaven, the punctured chest, the slashed thigh...
At this moment, they were writhing and healing at an illogical speed amidst wisps of strange white steam.
That wasn't ordinary healing.
That was a miracle—converting cursed energy into positive energy to forcibly reverse the laws of physical death.
Reverse Cursed Technique!
And a high-level, fully automated version at that!
"Satoru..."
Yoru's voice was low and raspy. He was desperately squeezing the last of his stamina, trying to regain sensation in his muscles that were on the verge of collapse from overusing the Slayer Mark.
Satoru Gojo didn't respond.
He simply stood there, slowly lifting his head.
Within those blood-stained Eyes of the Blue Sky, no human emotion remained.
There was only endless mania, a pathological excitement, and an absolute arrogance that looked down on the entire world.
"Phew—"
Gojo took a deep breath, then suddenly threw his arms wide and tilted his head back, letting out a burst of manic laughter.
"Hahaha... Hahahaha!"
The laughter echoed through the hollow underground palace, shaking the already unstable debris loose.
"This is great! This feeling... it's simply incredible!"
Laughing wildly, Gojo dug his blood-stained fingers into his hair.
It was as if this was the only way he could vent the power nearly exploding inside him.
"I've got it! I finally understand!"
"The core of cursed energy isn't negative emotion; it's the miracle of multiplying negatives!"
"Reverse Cursed Technique! I feel... absolutely wonderful right now!"
He snapped his head down, those Eyes of the Blue Sky locking onto Yoru in the ruins.
"Yoru! Where is Toji?"
Gojo's voice carried a spine-chilling urgency.
"Where did that guy, Toji Fushiguro, go?"
"Bring him out! I'm going to use this power to cut him into ribbons! To crush him bit by bit!"
Facing Gojo's near-insane questioning...
Yoru merely looked at him calmly, his voice devoid of any fluctuation.
"He lost."
"I broke his blade and bought his life."
"He's already gone."
Hearing this, the wild grin on Gojo's face froze.
He stared at Yoru blankly, a flash of intense bewilderment crossing his Eyes of the Blue Sky before quickly turning into a morbid disappointment.
"Gone?"
"You... you actually let him go?"
Gojo looked down abruptly, covering his face with his hands as his shoulders began to shake violently.
"Ha... haha... Hahahaha!"
He started laughing again, but this time, the laughter lacked its previous fervor, replaced by a skin-crawling neuroticism.
"What a waste... What a complete waste!"
"I... I just saw the truth of this world."
"I... I just crossed the threshold of what it means to be the strongest."
"And he just ran away?"
Gojo slowly lowered his hands. His face, beautiful to the point of being eerie, was now contorted in a heart-stopping twist.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the heavily injured Suguru Geto, then over the trembling Riko Amanai.
Finally, his eyes returned to Yoru.
They locked onto him.
"But... that's fine."
Gojo suddenly smiled.
It was a bright, pure smile, yet one that sent chills down the spine.
He slowly raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together, pointing them toward Yoru standing in the ruins.
*Vrrrm—!*
Following that casual gesture...
A terrifying, condensed burst of dark red cursed energy surged wildly at his fingertips!
The power was so immense that even the surrounding space visibly warped and collapsed.
"Throughout the heavens and earth..."
Gojo's lips parted slightly, uttering the arrogant declaration destined to shock the entire jujutsu world.
"I alone... am the honored one!"
*BOOM—!!!*
As the last word fell...
The mass of dark red energy at Gojo's fingertip instantly transformed into a violent pillar of repulsive force, exploding toward Yoru!
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!
This was the staggering repulsive force generated by materializing the positive energy of Limitless, which Gojo had achieved after mastering the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Its power was enough to level an entire mountain in an instant!
"Since that Toji fellow ran away..."
Gojo's sick voice remained exceptionally clear amidst the roar of the violent energy.
"Then that fight we didn't finish outside..."
"Let's continue it now!"
Facing the dark red pillar of repulsive force that struck like divine punishment...
Yoru's pupils constricted to their limits.
This power...
I absolutely cannot take it head-on!
In his current state—stamina depleted from the fading Slayer Mark and muscles nearly non-functional—a direct hit from this 'Red' would disintegrate him instantly!
"Crazy bastard!"
Yoru gritted his teeth, forcing out every last drop of potential from his body within a thousandth of a second.
"Total Concentration: Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow - Turbulent!"
*Whoosh!*
Yoru's figure turned into a blurred, watery blue afterimage.
Using steps that defied physical inertia, he narrowly avoided the edge of the dark red pillar.
*BOOM!!!*
With an earth-shaking roar...
The 'Red' blasted straight through where Yoru had been standing, vaporizing the meters-thick stone wall behind him and leaving a bottomless black hole!
The violent shockwave and debris swept through the underground palace like a hurricane.
"Cough..."
Although Yoru avoided the direct hit, he was still caught by the violent aftershock.
He let out a muffled grunt, sent flying like a broken kite and crashing heavily into a pile of rubble.
"Yoru!"
From nearby, Riko Amanai let out a desperate scream.
She couldn't understand.
Why had Satoru Gojo, who was supposed to be their savior, turned into a murderous maniac more terrifying than Toji Fushiguro?
"Too slow, too slow, too slow!"
Watching Yoru struggle to his feet from the ruins, the fervor on Gojo's face grew more intense.
He didn't even bother to check Yoru's injuries. Instead, he stepped forward, crossing dozens of meters in a near-instant, appearing directly in front of Yoru!
"Where's the speed you used against Toji?"
"Where are the flames that can melt everything?"
"Show me! Show it all to me!"
Gojo roared manically.
He swung his right leg with terrifying cursed energy, hacking down at Yoru's head like a battle axe!
This strike had no finesse or technique.
It was purely a display of brutal violence, fueled by the absolute defense and infinite stamina of Limitless and the Reverse Cursed Technique!
*Clang—!!!*
Yoru barely raised Shiranui to parry.
With a piercing metallic explosion...
A massive force surged through the blade into Yoru's arms, tearing his webbing and instantly staining the hilt with blood.
*Bang!*
The ground beneath Yoru's feet shattered again, and he was forced to one knee by the overwhelming power.
"What's wrong? Can't take it anymore?"
Gojo looked down at Yoru, his Eyes of the Blue Sky shimmering with a chilling light.
"Weren't you... supposed to be strong?"
By now, Gojo was fully immersed in the divine megalomania that came with his explosive growth in power.
He needed to fight.
He needed to vent.
He needed a punching bag that could withstand his invincible power!
And Yoru, who had just defeated the Sorcerer Killer, was undoubtedly the perfect prey in his eyes!
Yoru gritted his teeth, feeling the tearing pain in his arms.
His stamina was at rock bottom.
Oxygen was depleting rapidly in his lungs; every breath felt like swallowing shards of glass.
But in his dark eyes, there wasn't a single trace of fear.
There was only an absolute rationality, perhaps even colder than Gojo's current state.
"It seems..."
Yoru slowly looked up, meeting Gojo's manic gaze, and spoke in a raspy voice.
"I really do... need to help you clear your head."
In the next second, Yoru snapped his eyes shut.
In this life-or-death crisis, he had actively chosen to abandon his sight!
[SYSTEM: SURVIVAL CRISIS DETECTED!]
[SYSTEM: TRANSPARENT WORLD... FORCED ACTIVATION!]
*Hum—!*
With the cold electronic voice in his mind, Yoru's world instantly fell silent.
Gojo's manic laughter, the sound of falling rocks, Riko's cries...
Everything vanished.
All that remained was a clear, transparent world.
In this world, he could clearly see the cursed energy surging through Gojo like a raging river.
He saw the subtle, irregular muscle tremors caused by Gojo's over-excitement.
He even saw... within that seemingly flawless Limitless defense, a 0.1-second gap in the technique's activation because Gojo had just mastered its automation!
A flaw!
Yoru snapped his eyes open.
In that moment, a sharp light, more brilliant than even a Bright Red Nichirin Sword, erupted from his eyes!