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CHAPTER START---
"Damn it," Ino grimaces, seeing the large Domain Expansion Barrier on screen.
They were unable to see inside, but everyone came to the same conclusion.
This was Satoru Gojo's victory.
"What's wrong?" Panda asks, breaking the silence as everyone stares at the screens.
"I bet that Gojo would win without needing a Domain Expansion. Gah, I bet three months' salary on that…"
Mei Mei smiles as she hears other people muttering similar remarks.
They wait for a few more seconds, staring at the large black sphere hovering above the ground, and nothing happens.
"Shouldn't it be over by now?" Yuki asks. "Kusakabe, what's going on?"
"How the heck am I supposed to know? We can't see inside there, and even if she sent a crow, the Barrier would block the connection, or Unlimited Void would kill it."
"He's your student, what's his Domain Expansion?"
Kusakabe shrugs. "Entering a Domain Expansion is dangerous as is. Entering one with a Special Grade who is just now learning it is suicide, I've never been inside. And since that kind of knowledge is a curse that can have people hounding you for it, I was smart enough not to ask."
Principal Gakuganji takes note of this, dismissing his plans to interrogate the man about this event later.
And so, they wait, and wait, and wait.
Growing more confused as each second passes, in disbelief as the fight lasts longer than they could have imagined.
Until, the Domain Expansion Barrier finally shatters…
---Minutes Earlier…
Standing on the broken stage, Satoru Gojo looks around in amazement. His Six Eyes could see the entire campus, all the way to Kyoto City down the mountains.
Only the landscape was different, the Empty Barriers that expanded and hid the campus were gone. The interior of the buildings was entirely wrong. Believable, but different.
And above him, the sky was a void, dotted with shining stars and a collapsed event horizon.
"What is this?" Gojo asks as he looks at his own hands then glances at Taiyo, who is standing across from him with a satisfied smile. "It's still daylight, but the sky is dark.
No, that's my Innate Technique in the sky, my Limitless, my Unlimited Void…my sure-hit technique…my Domain Expansion."
Gojo uses the Six Eyes to observe everything, unable to see the edge of the Barrier, but feeling his Innate Technique bound to it, as he intended.
"You'll figure it out," Taiyo says, pulling Gojo's attention back to him.
Gojo looks at the boy, and his eyes widen as Taiyo disappears, appearing in front of Gojo with his right fist just inches away, glowing blood red and shrouded in Immolation.
This hits Gojo's vision like a flashbang, and he commands Limitless to stop the hit, but his Innate Technique doesn't respond.
Before he can understand what's happening, he reflexively raises his arms, blocking the fist with his forearms.
'Heavy,' he thinks, feeling his clothes and skin burn away as the muscles are scorched and his bones strain.
Gojo is sent tumbling across the ground, rolling to a crouch just in time to see Taiyo's shin moving toward the side of his head.
He crouches under it and pivots on his already healing hand, spinning and kicking Taiyo in the chest, launching both of them away from each other.
But Taiyo doesn't hit the ground like Gojo, he rolls in the air and uses Immolation to combust and control the air beneath himself, rocketing toward Gojo with a flurry of attacks.
Gojo finds himself on the back foot, barely blocking each punch and kick as Taiyo continuously speeds up, his heat rising with each passing second, burning the air around them.
Gojo's Cursed Energy Reinforcement is hammered away as his clothes and flesh burn, his bones crack and creak.
And he grows more interested in how this is even happening.
They exchange in close combat, with Taiyo using his Innate Technique to compensate for Gojo's superior skills and experience, pressing his advantage.
And Gojo considers how this troublesome situation is even happening.
'Unlimited Void is more refined than any other Domain Expansion,' he thinks while healing between attacks.
He launches a few strikes, but Taiyo uses Immolation around himself, burning Gojo and the stone ground, causing them to sink ankle-deep into molten stone.
Gojo leaps away fast enough for his Cursed Energy to protect his feet and shoes, but Taiyo leaps after him and continues the fight, constantly hammering away at Gojo and burning everything.
And every time Gojo is about to land a counterattack, his Innate Technique surges outward, resetting them and giving him the advantage once more.
'The more refined Domain Expansion always wins,' Gojo thinks as they keep fighting all through the campus, smashing through empty building and burning down forests. '
'There is no way he wants a Domain Expansion tug-of-war against me, right? He must have done something else—'
Gojo takes a punch to the face, burning away a piece of his cheek and sending him like a cannonball through the main hall, where outside the Barrier, everyone is watching the fight.
However, in here, the hall is filled with the unoccupied furniture.
Gojo instantly heals as Taiyo smashes through the wall and unleashes massive beams of heat at him. He expertly dodges them and closes the distance while the boy is in the air.
Taiyo uses Immolation to move in mid-air, shifting himself to the side, only for Gojo to step off the air -exactly as Kusakabe described- and grab him by the shoulder.
In response, Taiyo raises the heat around his body, charring Gojo's upper body, burning away his jacket and shirt, before spinning and gripping Gojo's arm.
He accelerates the spin and then throws Gojo through the roof, launching him toward Kyoto City.
Gojo finds himself soaring above the campus and beyond its border, already fully healed as he stares up at Unlimited Void in the sky.
Taiyo races through the sky to catch up, allowing Gojo a moment to think.
'We body used Domain Expansion, but instead of fighting to control the same space, his Barrier held onto mine. He didn't try to cast his full Domain Expansion, he formed the Barrier and allowed my Innate Technique to fill it.
And since the Innate Technique is part of the Barrier, not me, until the Barrier breaks… his barrier is between myself and Limitless. He made his Barrier into Domain Amplification. And since he never put his Innate Technique into it.
Ahh, I didn't know that was possible. So he disabled my Innate Technique but kept his own. But how did he do this?
It would make more sense if neither of us had an Innate Technique in here, but keeping his seems unfair, and Jujutsu is always fair.
He must have made some heinous and detrimental Binding Vow.
And this Domain, a procedurally generated approximation of the world. It fits his personality for sure. A stage where he doesn't have to hold back, fighting with no concern for collateral damage and rules.
Taiyo Daburu, what a little monster. You're certainly strong, but not quite at my level… at least not yet.
But you have until this Domain Expansion ends, either by your Cursed Technique running low, the Barriers becoming unstable, or me damaging you too much for you to maintain it.
So show me something interesting…'
Gojo spins in mid-air to see a rain of lasers descending toward him.
He leaps off the air, allowing them to strike and ignite the city below while he rushes toward Taiyo in the sky above.
Taiyo smiles and rockets down at Gojo, rearing back his fist as they clash in the air.
A wave of heat radiates outward as their fists collide, breaking both their arms, but Gojo's is charred black in an instant.
Taiyo reaches out with his free hand and grabs Gojo by the shoulder, spinning and throwing him toward the skyscraper before chasing after him.
Gojo smashes through the rooftop and three floors down onto the 19th floor, arm already healed by the time he lands in the empty room.
He looks up with the Six Eyes and sees an absurd amount of Cursed Energy descending upon him and leaps to the left, smashing through the walls blocking him and launching himself out of the building as a massive beam of heat instantly melts the entire structure.
'His output is insane,' Gojo thinks as he disappears into the city, controlling his Cursed Energy and minimising his presence.
He leans against a wall to consider his options, feeling annoyed that for the second time in his life, he's on the back foot.
And once again, it's a fight he could have ended if he had been serious from the beginning.
'Maybe I could—' Gojo senses something and leaps away, toward a junction at the end of the street. And the city block at his previous location is melted by beams of heat. 'So he can always find me…is this how other people feel when I look at them?'
Taiyo descends like a meteor, and Gojo leaps away.
The boy crashes feet first into the road, and a wave of molten earth rushes out in all directions, accelerating the fires tearing through Tokyo.
Gojo leaps off the air to get away from the molten earth, and Taiyo rushes out of the wave directly at him, launching a punch at Gojo's face.
The man blocks with his forearms and feels his shoulder almost dislocate as the bones in his forearms crack.
'Stronger?' Gojo wonders as the force launches him deeper into Kyoto City, toward Kyoto Tower, the tallest structure in the city. 'He's getting more used to fighting at this level. As expected, even when I'm not trying, having someone as powerful as me to chase behind forces others to improve…sometimes my greatness truly is a curse.'
Gojo lands on the observation deck of the building, smashing through the structure and almost flying out the other side.
His blackened arms and bones have already healed as he senses Taiyo ascending toward the other side of the building.
Gojo looks back at the hole he made in the structure and frowns, realizing the only way to speed this up is to force Taiyo to use the Reversed Curse Technique to burn through his reserves.
'His Cursed Energy reserves truly are ridiculous…' Gojo rushes through the destroyed walls as heat beams slice through the tower, dicing it apart as Gojo leaps out and runs through the air.
Taiyo smiles and rockets toward the man, and Gojo pushes off the air above him to meet his charge in mid-air as the Kyoto Tower falls beside them.
"No Limitless and you can still fight in the air!" Taiyo says excitedly as they continuously trade blows.
He and Gojo heal after each strike, with his hits landing much more damage than Gojo's since not only are they heavier and more numerous, but they also burn Gojo on contact.
Even Gojo's lunch and eyes are constantly healed as the air surrounding Taiyo is constantly super-heated, scorching his organs with each breath.
But even with a mountain of disadvantages pressing down on him, Satoru Gojo's efficiency and skill allow him to keep up.
His superior training and experience allow him to be only a few steps behind Taiyo in mid-air, where the boy can fly, but Gojo must constantly kick off the air.
"What did you expect?" Gojo lands a kick on Taiyo's leg, breaking the boy's shin before punching him in the face, knocking out some of his teeth. "I'm the strongest."
Taiyo pushes aside the pain as he grabs Gojo's arm and pivots in the air, positioning Gojo between him and the ground before rocketing them toward the earth as fast as he can.
"With enough power, anyone can be the strongest," Taiyo says as he heals through Gojo's numerous punches on their way to the ground. "This is because you're you, Satoru Gojo!"
They slam into the ground like a bomb, releasing a wave of heat that decimates multiple city blocks.
Gojo recovers first, pulling himself out of the molten earth and kicking Taiyo in the arm, not hard enough to break it as his entire body is healing from that last impact, lowering his output.
Taiyo tumbles and skids on the molten earth, then looks up to see Gojo leaping away by kicking off the air, and rockets toward him, landing one final hit, which Gojo blocks.
But he once more pivots into a grab and spins Gojo, raising his heat to his limit and exploding like a bomb before throwing him.
And in that moment, both Barriers shatter…
Everyone watching the fight feels the change in Cursed Energy and leans forward.
Shoko is ready to scold Gojo for not pulling his punches enough, expecting to have to heal Taiyo back from the brink of death.
Ino is worried about his friend.
Kusakabe is interested in the outcome of Taiyo's secret plan that even his sensei doesn't know about.
But regardless of their desires, everyone's eyes widen as Satoru Gojo is launched out of the Barrier.
Shattering the sphere with his body as he tumbles through it and rolls across the stone ground, immediately skidding to a halt and rising to his feet.
Most of his clothes had burned away, leaving his pants as a pair of shorts, as everything else was exposed.
But before they could gaze upon his perfectly balanced athletic figure, with clearly defined and immaculately proportioned muscles.
They witnessed his entire body healing, burnt flesh and charred bones surging with positive Cursed Energy, growing new flesh and muscle, generating blood and skin, shedding the charred flesh from his body as he's repaired as if no damage was done.
Across from him, Taiyo is standing in a similar state, but as he is immune to heat and cold, his body is merely healing from blunt force attacks.
Broken limbs and missing flesh healed before their eyes, and Gojo stares through him with the Six Eyes.
'Immolation stopped,' Gojo notices. 'Innate Techniques enter a cooldown period after a Domain Expansion because they were in the Barrier. But his wasn't in the Barrier, so it should be fine, right?
Or am I missing some piece of information? Is it the Barrier itself that causes burnout? No, I'm definitely missing something. If he had his Innate Technique, he'd still be pressing the assault since he knows my Limitless is burnt out right now. Something is wrong here…'
Taiyo takes his combat stance once more, then rushes at Gojo.
"So you don't have your Innate Technique either, huh?" Gojo charges forward to meet his challenger. "Mine will refresh first, so make this time count."
Everyone knew that was a fact.
Gojo's efficiency is too great.
They were still amazed that the battle lasted this long, that Gojo took any damage, much less the absurd amount they saw him heal from.
But they, along with Taiyo, understood one simple fact.
After Domain Expansion, Gojo would recover his Innate Technique before Taiyo, and the instant he does, this battle will be over.
But Taiyo smiles, as this is the chance he'd been waiting for all along.
As Gojo arrives in front of him and launches a kick at his head, Taiyo moves to block it and steadies his Cursed Energy.
Activating his unique Simple Domain.
"Simple Domain: All Combat!"
END CHAPTER---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
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