It wasn't just the ceiling that collapsed.
The support lines holding the upper part of the barrier twisted violently before the right exterior wall and the center floor caved in simultaneously. Stone dust and debris poured down like a torrential rain, and through the cracks in the barrier membrane, the summer light bled in like shards of broken glass.
What had been a standard practice barrier just moments ago had now turned into a gruesome hellscape.
This hell existed because two individuals were so overwhelmingly powerful that the training grounds were being reduced to nothingness.
Geto Suguru let out a low breath, using a Cursed Spirit to catch a falling piece of the ceiling.
"This is far beyond my expectations."
Kuroi's face was also frozen in shock.
"I heard this practice barrier could withstand a strike from a Special Grade... to think it's failing this badly..."
Geto couldn't respond.
He, too, felt that this was happening much faster than anticipated.
Itadori Yuji had raised his output just a little.
Truly, it was only a tiny bit.
Yet the barrier couldn't handle even that slight increase.
That meant only one thing.
Until now, Yuji had been dealing with Gojo by keeping his own standards lowered significantly.
The moment he realized this, a slight chill ran down the back of Geto's throat.
"Is that..."
He muttered to himself instinctively.
"No way, could it really be..."
Ryomen Sukuna.
The name recorded in the history of the Heian era as the strongest sorcerer in existence.
A calamity referred to as the King of Curses.
Geto couldn't bring himself to speak the name out loud.
But every time he saw Yuji's Dismantle, his thoughts kept leaning in that direction. An overwhelming level of mastery that couldn't be explained by Blood Manipulation alone. And on top of that, those slashes that laughed in the face of any concept of defense.
'As expected, is it the same lineage as that historical technique?'
But what was even more terrifying than the resemblance was the fact that the Yuji before him seemed to have surpassed the very concept of the technique itself.
Inside the barrier, Gojo Satoru couldn't even think about wiping away the blood.
A deep laceration ran across his upper left arm.
For the current Gojo, who lacked the Reverse Cursed Technique, that wound was far from trivial. His muscles twitched with every movement, and his shirt was already soaking in crimson.
Yet, strangely, there was a sensation even more distinct than the pain.
Fear.
That was the primary emotion.
Even with his Limitless active.
Despite the absolute distance that prevented anything from reaching him, Itadori Yuji was cutting through that very unreachable space.
Gojo briefly pressed his tongue against the inside of his lip.
Sweat poured down.
A cold sensation seeped into his temples, the back of his neck, and down his spine. The summer heat was intense, and the air inside the barrier was thick with dust from the ruins, yet he felt as if his internals were freezing over.
And yet, his vision grew even clearer.
In fact, he preferred this.
The certainty that his Limitless was absolute and the arrogance that there was no height he couldn't reach—all of it was being cut down before his very eyes.
The opponent who had shattered his world stood there like an absolute being who existed steps ahead of him.
Gojo laughed, baring his teeth.
"Itadori."
Yuji raised his head slightly. Gojo's blue eyes locked onto him with a biting intensity.
"That just now... you only cut my arm on purpose, didn't you?"
Yuji didn't deny it.
"Yeah."
Gojo let out a chuckle.
"What a nasty personality! If you're going to kill me, do it cleanly. If you're going to let me live, then do it properly. Why do you have to draw a line like this just to piss me off?"
Yuji replied with complete calm.
"There's no point if I kill you."
"Then what's the point of this?"
"To make you understand, with your own body, how lacking you still are."
A brief silence followed.
Outside the barrier, Riko gasped instinctively upon hearing those words.
The statement wasn't so much cold as it was cruelly accurate. It wasn't comfort, nor was it a provocation. It was simply the tone of someone stating a fact.
Gojo narrowed his eyes.
"You know it's really unpleasant when you talk like that?"
Yuji's expression didn't change.
"I know."
"But you're saying it anyway."
"Because I have to."
The moment those words dropped, Gojo moved first.
This time, he didn't pour all the power of Blue into a single point.
Instead, he divided the output into multiple layers. Rather than pulling the opponent with one massive gravitational force, he layered short, sharp pulls in quick succession. The ankles, the waist, the shoulders, the wrists. The idea was to twist the axes of the human body all at once, ensuring a delayed reaction regardless of the direction.
It was a clever move.
He made the Limitless application even thinner.
The Six Eyes read Yuji's muscles, the flow of his Cursed Energy, and the strength in his toes. His martial arts delivered the results of that analysis without a moment's delay.
Gojo closed the distance in three steps.
The first was head-on.
The second was from the left.
There was no third step.
By the second movement, he had already twisted his body half a turn, beginning the third strike completely outside Yuji's field of vision.
Digging in behind the right shoulder, he aimed an elbow strike at the jaw while simultaneously detonating a Blue with his left hand to bind Yuji's upper body. A structure where if he dodged he'd be hit, and if he took the hit, he'd be hit even harder.
This time, Yuji didn't dodge. Instead, he stepped half a pace inward.
Gojo's eyes widened.
'He's diving into this?'
Just before the elbow could connect, the back of Yuji's hand rose from bottom to top.
"Cleave."
It was too brief.
But following that single word, Gojo felt his own body become suddenly foreign to him.
The connection of the shoulder and back, the waist and ankle, which were fueling the elbow strike.
One of those connections was severed.
His body was clearly moving, yet the structural integrity of the strike he intended simply vanished.
The elbow strike grazed past Yuji's jaw.
The attraction of Blue also failed to hold Yuji.
Before it could, Yuji had severed the very weave of the gravitational flow acting upon his body.
Gojo tried to twist away to regain distance.
Too late.
Yuji's palm was already right in front of him.
Instinctively, Gojo layered the Limitless thick. An invisible distance, an unreachable gap, the absolute defense that only ever converges and never reaches zero.
And directly above that, Yuji's index finger flicked up slightly.
"Dismantle."
The air wailed. Truly, that's how it felt.
In the next moment, Gojo felt a layer of the distance surrounding his body be sliced apart.
The fact that he felt it was what mattered.
He hadn't seen it with his eyes. The Six Eyes had already read the result before it even occurred.
Rather than saying the Limitless was pierced, it was more accurate to say the very structure constituting the Limitless was cut. The law that prevented things from touching him was severed before that single line.
Gojo reflexively twisted his torso. Even so, it was too late. Blood splattered.
This time, it was much deeper than before.
A slash that ran diagonally across his left flank. It was a blade-like wound that grazed just above his ribs.
If it had been just a little deeper, his lung would have been exposed. Gojo's breathing hitched momentarily.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
Without Reverse Cursed Technique, a wound of this magnitude was serious. His rhythm faltered, and his vision shook for a split second.
That moment of instability was the most terrifying part. The sensation of his body recognizing death before his own calculations could.
From the outside, Kuroi covered her mouth with her hands.
"Satoru-sama..."
Riko didn't even hear her. Her eyes were wide, fixed on the interior of the barrier. Yuji, who had said "I'll end this quickly" just a moment ago, was now nonchalantly unleashing attacks that could actually kill someone.
Geto's gaze also wavered.
'The Limitless... twice in a row...'
It wasn't a fluke.
When it grazed the arm earlier, he could have dismissed it as luck or ultra-precise timing.
But this was different. Gojo had clearly readjusted his defenses and layered the Limitless more finely.
And yet, he was cut again.
This was no longer a matter of Gojo making a mistake. Yuji's Dismantle was truly reaching through the Limitless.
Inside the barrier, Gojo gritted his teeth and regained his stance.
Yuji was watching him quietly. There was no sense of superiority or excitement in his eyes.
It was just the gaze of someone far removed, looking down calmly at one who was struggling.
That was what made him even angrier.
Gojo laughed, pressing his bloody hand against his side.
"Wow..."
His breathing grew a bit ragged. Sweat trailed down his jawline.
It was a cold sweat, different from the summer heat. It was proof that his body had accepted the danger before his mind could.
Catching his breath, Gojo spoke.
"To actually cut through the Limitless...!"
Yuji replied.
"I told you."
"Talk is cheap."
"It isn't easy."
Gojo's brow furrowed.
"And yet you use it so casually?"
Yuji let out a very short breath.
"This is still on the casual side."
Silence.
Outside, Geto subconsciously clenched his fingers upon hearing those words.
On the casual side.
Gojo is sweating, the Limitless is being cut, and the barrier is collapsing, yet this is still casual?
In that moment, Geto became certain.
Itadori Yuji was an existence on a different plane than the one they stood on.
If Gojo and Toji were powerful humans, Yuji was closer to someone who redefined the very meaning of strength from above them.
Gojo felt it too.
And that fact was maddeningly annoying, yet exhilarating.
Gojo slowly inhaled.
The pain in his side flared like a tearing sensation with every breath. His vision was clear, but his body felt heavy. Since he didn't have RCT, these wounds would only accumulate. From here on, fatigue, blood loss, and pain were all his enemies.
And yet—that made everything even more vivid.
'Not yet.'
It wasn't enough to kill him yet. He could still be pushed further. He could still get closer.
Gojo removed his bloody hand and spoke.
"Fine. Then I'll tell you one thing too."
Yuji watched him. The corners of Gojo's mouth lifted. This smile was even sharper than before.
"Just because the Limitless gets cut, don't think for a second I'm going to break."
Simultaneous with his words, Gojo spread his arms wide.
The density of Blue exploded.
If the Blue from before was a gravitational pull from a single point, this was different.
Multiple points within the barrier area collapsed inward at once. The floor dented in places, and the fragments of the fallen exterior walls were sucked in from various directions.
The barrier itself screamed, unable to withstand the pressure.
Kradzk, crrrack, BOOM—!!
The ground buckled and surged everywhere.
One of the left support pillars snapped completely, and as the upper layer of the barrier tore, the sunlight from the forest poured through the jagged gaps. The air inside the barrier swirled amidst the ruined structures, with small stones and dust flying like bullets.
Yuji narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at the sight.
Good.
Satoru was now truly coming at him while being prepared to let his own body fall apart.
Gojo said with a grin,
"I don't care if you're the strongest."
His breath was labored, and blood was still flowing, but the light in his eyes hadn't died.
"I'll just climb up there. To where you are."
Hearing that, Yuji's lips relaxed for just a brief, very brief moment.
Then he spoke.
"In that case."
His index finger rose once more.
"Show me how much you can endure."
At that moment, a black line surged vertically, splitting the entire barrier training ground.
The smile vanished from Gojo's face.
This one was different. The output was higher.
Much higher.
The Six Eyes screamed first.
Before he could even finish calculating how many layers of Limitless he needed to stack, the conclusion arrived: that slash would gouge out distance itself.
Gojo pulled the center of Blue again, his sweat-slicked hands gripping the empty air.
Blue pressure and a black slash collided head-on in the center of the collapsing barrier.
And half the barrier was obliterated.