"Honestly, don't be so temperamental."
Gojo Satoru picked up the teapot and drew the spilled tea back into it, placing it neatly back on the table.
"Betty does not wish to see you in the Forbidden Library again, I suppose."
Looking with pure disdain at the teacup and teapot Gojo had used, Beatrice spoke coldly. Just as in the previous loop, with a flick of her hand, the door behind him swung open, attempting to eject him.
Unfortunately, what the Betty of the last loop couldn't achieve, the Betty of this loop was equally powerless to do.
"Alright, alright, don't waste your energy." Gojo waved a hand, signaling for the struggling Beatrice to stop. "I'll leave on my own after staying a while."
Beatrice stared at the thick-skinned man, her small face puffed out in frustration like a steamed bun. Seeing her quiet down, Gojo sat on the floor beside her.
"Betty, I actually wanted to consult you on something."
"Do not call me Betty! Call me Beatrice, I suppose. You and I are not on such intimate terms!"
"So familiar... but that's not important," Gojo said dismissively, waving her objection away. "Betty."
Gojo's smile vanished. He looked at Beatrice with sudden, piercing intensity. "Does magic that can rewind time exist in this world?"
"Your worldliness is as short as your lifespan, human," Beatrice replied, lifting her chin and looking down at him haughtily. "I do not know where you heard such rumors, but there is no magic in this world capable of rewinding time, I suppose."
"None?" Gojo repeated.
He didn't doubt Beatrice's knowledge. Their contact in the first loop had made that clear. As a Great Spirit and the "daughter" of Echidna, the Witch of Greed, her reservoir of information far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Furthermore, during her four hundred years in the library, she had absorbed nearly every scrap of lore within those walls. If she said it didn't exist, it likely didn't.
Beatrice, seeing his expression and thinking he didn't believe her, added flatly: "The only things in the world capable of something similar are Yin-attribute spells. But at most, they can only stop the time of an individual; reversing it is fundamentally impossible, I suppose. And to reach even that level, only a Great Spirit like Betty could—"
Gojo fell silent for a moment as Beatrice lectured him. "I don't intend to doubt the truth of what you're saying. But, Betty... based on my own personal experience, I just underwent a temporal regression..."
As Gojo spoke, the world around him suddenly ground to a stop. It was as if the universe itself had been paused.
But that wasn't the most important part. The most important part was that Gojo felt it clearly—inside his own body.
Inside his chest... a hand had appeared!
A palm formed from some kind of black energy—a woman's hand—was gripping his heart from inside his thoracic cavity!
His Infinity (Limitless) had been active the entire time. He hadn't sensed any presence, neither Jujutsu nor Mana, before it manifested. Yet this hand had appeared out of nowhere. It was sudden, horrifying, and utterly caught him off guard.
What is this?
Despite his heart being held in a tight grip, Gojo did not panic. Instead, he used the Six Eyes to meticulously observe the energy forming the hand, trying to understand its nature.
Under the scrutiny of the Six Eyes, the palm of pitch-black energy suddenly tightened! The slender fingers erupted with terrifying force, crushing down on his heart.
A wave of violent agony struck him instantly. Yet Gojo didn't so much as twitch a brow; his expression remained virtually unchanged.
Domain Expansion.
Without hesitation, Gojo decisively expanded his Domain. Although he couldn't feel how the enemy appeared or where they came from, inside a Domain, no hidden foe could escape his perception.
"Vroom!"
In an instant, with Gojo at the epicenter, surging Cursed Energy exploded outward like a tidal wave. Space was rewoven, forming a unique territory. Within the Domain, every inch of space was under his control; any energy fluctuation or spatial distortion would be laid bare.
But this time, the suppression of the Domain failed to fully cover that black hand. Gojo's Six Eyes locked onto the black energy inside his chest, his pale blue pupils reflecting infinite, intricate patterns of Cursed Energy.
Through the Six Eyes, the energy structure of the hand was revealed to him. It wasn't Cursed Energy from Jujutsu, nor was it the Mana of this world. It was more like a pure "void energy" radiating an aura of destruction. The energy particles were twisting and annihilating themselves in a frenzy, yet they precisely maintained the shape of a hand, firmly clutching his heart.
Not Jujutsu. Not Magic. Not any known energy.
It's more like... a bizarre energy imbued with a specific will.
The Cursed Energy within the Domain moved according to his will, turning into countless fine threads that attempted to entwine and analyze the black hand. But the moment these threads touched the black energy, they dissolved like snow meeting boiling water, failing to cause even a ripple.
Through the ultimate insight of the Six Eyes, he felt that this black energy was a mixture of madness, obsession, and an endless, stifling sorrow. It was heavy enough to make one's spirit feel smothered.
And the hand, reacting to Gojo's probe, seemed provoked. The slender fingers suddenly squeezed.
The hand, which looked frail and weak, erupted with immense power. Under this force, the heart in Gojo's chest simply could not hold out.
Squish.
A muffled sound echoed. His fragile heart was crushed instantly! It was reduced to a pulp of flesh and blood.
"Hngh."
Gojo had tried everything in his power to stop it, but his current methods were useless against this specific force. He could only watch as his own heart was pulverized by that hand.
The Domain vanished instantly. Gojo let out a muffled groan, and a mouthful of blood spilled from his lips. At that same moment, the frozen world around him suddenly resumed its flow.