Everyone's gaze shifted. At some point, Gojo Satoru had started standing nearby with a smile. He reached out a hand to say hello: "Yo, you kids did a good job. Getting to a safe place without my protection shows that my education is quite effective."
Maki Zen'in put her non-prescription glasses back on and looked at Gojo Satoru. "Gojo-sensei is saying it's Senior Hakari's victory? I know Senior Hakari has an immortal body, but immortality can't be maintained indefinitely, right? If she catches that split second, Lady Tsukumo should be able to land an instant kill."
This was also the method Kashimo Hajime used to deal with Kinji Hakari in the original work, nearly killing him. It required perfect timing because the time Kinji Hakari takes to redeploy his Domain aligns perfectly with the duration of his immortality. As long as that split second isn't exploited, Kinji Hakari can infinitely renew his immortality.
Yuki Tsukumo is a senior in the jujutsu world; it's impossible for her not to grasp this timing. Based on paper strength, Yuki Tsukumo's win rate should be higher.
Gojo Satoru crossed his hands behind his head and sighed. "Hakari showed everything without holding back, but that woman Tsukumo wasn't honest—"
"—she didn't use her full strength."
Inumaki Toge said in surprise, "Katsuobushi?"
Panda quickly translated: "Inumaki means, how is that possible?"
"The Yuki Tsukumo I know has a Cursed Tool shikigami that is unique in the world. Her combat style isn't just pure hand-to-hand combat; she skillfully uses her Cursed Tool shikigami while supplementing it with barrier techniques."
Gojo Satoru said regretfully:
"But now, besides the most basic jujutsu sorcerer combat abilities, have you seen her use anything else? Even her Cursed Technique—she didn't fully reveal it… She really treated this battle as a probe; she didn't truly show her hand."
"This… isn't very good," Itadori Yuji said in a low voice. "Senior Hakari showed everything he had."
"That's the adult world," Gojo Satoru said indifferently. "Tsukumo's mission wasn't to spar with Hakari with all her might, but to probe for information on the King of Curses… and she did indeed probe it out. She must be fully aware of the true nature of that giant dragon."
The giant dragon is Kinji Hakari's Companion Spirit. Mei Mei had already reported this to the jujutsu higher-ups, even explaining its operational principles. However, how this external Cursed Energy filtering organ functions remains unknown to the jujutsu world.
But now, exactly how it works has become clear.
Just as Mahito had told Mei Mei at the time: this giant dragon is Kinji Hakari himself!
Every time Kinji Hakari uses Domain Expansion, his own physical attributes rise. This is because Infinite Cursed Energy grants him a nearly boundless ceiling. As long as his body can withstand it, his Cursed Energy output is infinite. Despite this, the fact that he is human can never be changed.
Mei Mei once said: for a jujutsu sorcerer, both Cursed Energy and the body have their limits. This conclusion is both invalid and valid for Kinji Hakari.
It is invalid because Infinite Cursed Energy gives Kinji Hakari the possibility of infinite growth; the conclusion that the human body has limits naturally doesn't apply to him. What is valid is—
Kinji Hakari is still in his growth phase; he's not even 20 years old yet, so he is still strengthening at an endless pace. But eventually, he will grow old. The Cursed Energy filling his body will drop in output due to an aging physique; he will indeed be robbed of his power by aging.
But the appearance of the Companion Spirit, the "giant dragon," has caused a massive change in his future. The Companion Spirit can grant Kinji Hakari immortality!
The giant dragon itself does not possess the ability to grow large. Just as Mahito said, it is an external organ used to circulate atmospheric Cursed Energy, no different from human limbs. But just as skin has a certain stretching capacity, the giant dragon also has a certain stretching capacity.
If it were an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer—even Gojo Satoru—a Companion Spirit would truly be just a small pet. Even with stretching abilities, it would at most grow from the size of a kitten to an adult cat. It could never transform into something as massive as that giant dragon. But Kinji Hakari is different; he possesses Infinite Cursed Energy, and his growth ceiling has no limit!
To repeat once more, the Companion Spirit is Kinji Hakari's external organ; it is Kinji Hakari himself.
This is the truth behind why the giant dragon can grow infinitely large. Because Kinji Hakari's Cursed Energy is infinitely raising its ceiling and can grow without end, Infinite Cursed Energy grants him infinite possibilities. So even a giant dragon that should only be able to stretch limitedly like skin can become infinitely large and infinitely heavy.
The dragon's breath is actually a sorcerer's ordinary use of Cursed Energy impact, but when spat out from the dragon's mouth, it becomes a literal Cursed Energy cannon!
Even more terrifying is that as time passes, Kinji Hakari, who has no aging limit, will only get stronger and stronger without end! The giant dragon's maximum length and weight will also become more and more outrageous and terrifying.
Its potential could even reach that of a true starry sky behemoth! Just like that sentence Gojo Satoru muttered to himself during the battle: Kinji Hakari has truly become stronger.
He has become strong enough to proudly call himself a Special Grade!
(T/N: That's fucking busted. It seems like Hakari is the true potential man!)
The King of Curses indeed gave everything to Kinji Hakari. If the King of Curses were not human… no, even if the King of Curses were not human but a Cursed Spirit, a destroyer of world order bound to start a racial war, its magnanimity would indeed be worthy of Kinji Hakari's loyalty.
It was truly too generous and trusted Kinji Hakari too much. When a lord trusts his vassal, why wouldn't the vassal be willing to die for his lord?
It was only at this very moment that Gojo Satoru completely gave up on trying to turn Kinji Hakari.
Kinji Hakari had indeed fully unleashed his potential and combat power. He had no intention of hiding anything from Yuki Tsukumo, going all out with genuine full firepower.
As Special Grades of the same rank, one side gave their all and even surpassed themselves, while the other side put on an act and stopped at the right point. Who won and who lost was obvious.
"King of Curses…" Maki Zen'in whispered.
Everyone was thinking about this Cursed Spirit that had suddenly appeared. Among them, Miyuki's thoughts were the most chaotic, as she was the spy Mahito had placed here. Although this spy hadn't sent out a single piece of information, and she even suspected Mahito had forgotten her, she didn't know she had already been transformed into a clone of Mahito. Now, her thoughts, sights, and sounds were already fully mastered by Mahito. If Mahito wanted, she wouldn't even need to send messages; Mahito could pry those secrets directly from her mind.
She had thought Mahito's forces were already formed and she had long been forgotten.
Itadori Yuji suddenly asked, "I remember Senior Hakari once said that if Mahito couldn't deal with Gojo-sensei, then he would revive Ryomen Sukuna from within my body?"
Now everyone knew that the name of the King of Curses was Mahito.
In other words, if even the King of Curses couldn't handle Gojo Satoru, then the allied forces of Cursed Spirits and jujutsu sorcerers seeking to overthrow the jujutsu world would not hesitate to revive the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in history from a thousand years ago—Ryomen Sukuna.
And Itadori Yuji was the chosen sacrifice for that revival.
A dangerous thought occurred to Itadori Yuji: if he were to die now as the jujutsu higher-ups wished…
Gojo Satoru could tell at a glance what Itadori Yuji was thinking. He slapped Itadori Yuji on the back, making him let out a cry of pain… Gojo Satoru's palm was truly heavy!
"What are you worrying about blindly? You just need to listen to news about the King of Curses; you don't need to face it at all. That's my responsibility."
Gojo Satoru looked around at all the students, showing his usual frivolous smile. He said:
"As for you all—"
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