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CHAPTER START---
"Atsuya Kusakabe," Principal Gakugaji's grating voice permeates the silent viewing hall, carrying a sense of gravity and intensity that had most of them holding their breaths.
"No," Kusakabe says as Gojo and Taiyo trade blows on the screens, surprising everyone by how equal they are. "I didn't teach him the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain. And he hasn't joined the school either. I'm guessing he's seen me use it enough times to copy it. After all, Gojo saw it once and was able to copy the basic version."
"Tayio Daburu's appears much more advanced," Gakugaji says. "He is a Special Grade, so it is not unbelievable that he figured it out himself. Especially since the penalty for breaking that Binding Vow is execution."
Mei Mei schools her expression, maintaining her slightly surprised yet oblivious facade as the fight continues.
On the battlefield, much to the horror and amazement of everyone, Taiyo is barely keeping up with Satoru Gojo, leaving the man to use his Six Eyes and figure out this anomaly.
Gojo unleashes a flurry of blows, increasing his speed enough that Taiyo shouldn't be able to react to them, yet the boy's body moves on its own to either block, parry, or counterattack.
Gojo finds himself getting hit once for every few strikes he lands, and is growing more curious by the second.
Deciding to change tactics he spins and kicks Taiyo in the gut, sending him tumbling away before leaping upward and kicking off the air.
Taiyo responds before he sees Gojo, rolling out of the way as the man crashes into the stone arena, shattering the ground.
The impact causes a small dustcloud and Gojo uses it to his advantage, easily seeing through it with his Six Eyes but leaving Taiyo blind.
He moves around Taiyo, striking from what should be blind spots before retreating and approaching from different angles, but the boy blocks every strike.
'Two meters?' Gojo wonders and the wind stirred up from their clashes clears the cloud.
He leaps away to three meters and stops for the moment, carefully observing Taiyo.
'His Simple Domain is two meters, just like Kusakabe.' Gojo can clearly see a blue outline of the sphere around Taiyo with his Six Eyes, and is one step beyond it. 'Kusakabe taught him the New Shadow Style, which means the Binding Vows are keeping both feet on the ground and taking a defensive stance.
But Taiyo has been kicking and punching without breaking his Simple Domain, so those don't apply here. And that name, 'All Combat', I wonder wha—'
Taiyo rushes forward as the Simple Domain expands to five meters, and much to Gojo's surprise, the sphere moves with him, keeping him in the center of it.
"Extending and moving his Simple Domain," Kusakabe mutters. "Even I can't move it after forming the Binding Vows…"
Taiyo surges forward, pouring more Cursed Energy into the fight and pressing his dwindling advantage on Gojo.
His Simple Domain is anything but simple.
All Combat is a stack of Binding Vows that programs his Simple Domain to move his body automatically, defending, blocking, and parrying.
The same as Atsuya Kusakabe, the greatest Simple Domain user in history.
In this regard, he is in no way inferior to his sensei. However, Taiyo's Simple Domain moves to keep him at the center of the sphere at all times.
In addition to that, it also acts as a responsive factor, flickering between his conscious thoughts.
Unlike Kusakabe who must either remain on the defense, or pre-program his movement into the Simple Domain.
Taiyo's does this automatically, allowing him to go on the offense and leave the Simple Domain to calculate incoming attacks and seize his body in the split second they are detected to respond appropriately.
Hence the name 'All Combat', as this Simple Domain was intended to close the massive gap of talent and experience between Taiyo Daburu and anyone he engages in close combat with.
And against any opponent he would easily overwhelm them, shattering them with the immense force of his punches, breaking them with the recoil of his defense, reacting faster than they could see to avoid and counter every attack.
To face him in this situation is to stand against a tsunami while hiding behind a napkin, utterly hopeless and impossible.
Except for Satoru Gojo, of course.
"Acgh!" Taiyo coughs up blood as Gojo's punch moves faster than the combination of his Simple Domain and raw speed, breaking his ribs and puncturing a lung as it knocks him back.
In the instant he flinches, Gojo lands a dozen more hits, pushing him farther back with each strike and step as his Reversed Curse Technique heals his injuries.
Even after overtaking Atsuya Kusakabe as the greatest user of Simple Domain, the overwhelming might of The Strongest was too much to withstand.
Kusakabe explains as much to everyone watching, and is both proud and horrified at his student's accomplishments and potential.
Then, as Gojo is pummeling Taiyo faster than his automatic response can defend, Taiyo does something that has Kusakabe leap out of his chair and slam his hands on the table.
"That's impossible!" his lollipop clattered to the ground while everyone in the room and the people watching remotely fail to understand the gravity of what they are now witnessing.
As Gojo was pressing his advantage, leaving Taiyo more battered and bloodied by the second, Taiyo leaps back and seemingly flails his right hand at Gojo.
The man advanced, and in the moment Taiyo's had would miss Gojo's chest by a scant few inches, a blade of solid blue Cursed Energy manifests, and slashes into Gojo's chest.
It leaves a shallow wound, but Gojo responds by moving to the side, just as another blade forms in Taiyo's left hand.
"How are you doing that?" Gojo asks as he narrowly avoids the onslaught of dagger strikes. "You have an Innate Technique, you can't do that…"
Gojo observes Taiyo, looking through him with the Six Eyes, picking apart his Cursed Energy Circuit, and still can't make any sense of it.
'Must be a Binding Vow of some kind. But what kind of crazy person would make that kind of deal?' Gojo thinks before remembering the situation he's in.
'Special Grade,' Gojo smiles as he's already familiar with Taiyo's new attack pattern and goes on the offensive yet again. 'Jujutsu Sorcerers are all a bit crazy, that's the only way to survive and thrive in our cruel world. But to be Special Grade,... You have to be completely insane!'
As they continue fighting, Kusakabe sits back in his chair, staring at the screen with newfound intensity as he tries to make sense of it.
And he can feel everyone anxiously waiting for an explanation, so he indulges them.
"Crashing Cursed Energy is what they use to attack and defend with their bodies," he says. "But Flowing Cursed Energy is an entirely different beast.
It is what forms Barrier and Simple Domains. It is the most basic application of Cursed Energy, laying the foundation for Jujutsu itself.
However, it is naturally obstructed within the body of this with an Innate Technique.
Cursed Energy is often described as water pipes or power lines into appliances, but in this case, it's more easily explained as bloodflow.
Even if you aren't using your arm, your blood still flows to it. That's how your Cursed Energy Circuit treats your Innate Technique. Flowing Cursed Energy is limited because of that, as your entire Cursed Energy Circuit can never be focused on anything aside from Innate Technique.
Domain Expansion is the result of accomplishing that along with some other variables."
Kusakabe draws his sword and holds it up for everyone to see, and Mei Mei shifts one of the crows in this room to have him appear on one of the screens.
"Hazy Moon," Kusakabe says, and around the blade of his Katana, a solid blue construct of Cursed Energy is formed, making the blade an inch wider, now more so matching a European sword.
"To form a construct of Flowing Cursed Energy requires the same commitment, and cannot be accomplished by those with an Innate Technique because a human can never simply command their blood to stop flowing to one limb.
Satoru Gojo is correct. It should be impossible. Especially since accomplishing such a thing without a medium such as my sword increases the difficulty even moreso. Taiyo must have done something to get around this restriction…"
"Your student is already an exceptional student of Jujutsu," Gakugaji says.
"Respectfully, Principal Gakugaji. I'd drop him as my student after this battle if I could, but I know I have to wait out the school year because I can't imagine the type of missions a person like him would be sent on. That would be bad for my health."
"The connection between student and master is sacred," Gakuganji says. "But I will relay your desire to the higher-ups."
As the fight continued, everyone tried, and eventually gave up on figuring out how Taiyo accomplished something that they didn't even know was an option for some.
Most simply shrugged and cast it to the back of their minds, adding it to the large pile of 'Special Grades are special' incidents.
As the fight continues for a few more seconds, as Gojo is now comfortable enough to go on the offensive again, Taiyo dissipates the dagger construct in his left hand, flowing the Cursed Energy to the blade in his right.
As he does this, Gojo lands a left hook to his jaw, knocking him away and splitting his chin, but the blade slices clearly through Gojo's left wrist, once again shocking everyone.
Taiyo rolls to a stop and jumps into a crouch, and the strongest descends upon him once more.
Gojo allows his excitement to guide him, holding back slightly less and battering Taiyo to the point of making him forcefully stop his blade construct.
For the first time in years, Gojo sees it.
Looking down from the summit of Jujutsu, he sees all the little people below him, including the Special Grades.
But among them, Taiyo Daburu is climbing the mountain.
In blistering cold, with bloodied hands, keeping his eyes on Gojo the entire time. A burning desire to reach him.
But there is no jealousy, anger, or hate in his gaze. Only a profound sense of self and purpose.
So powerful that it pushes him to reach Gojo.
And Gojo smiles, knowing this boy would never be satisfied with that, and would continue improving for the sake of improvement.
'This next generation may even surpass the label of 'Special Grade' after all,' Gojo thinks as he leans back, narrowly avoiding a backhand and stepping away.
"Taiyo Daburu," Gojo says as he easily sidesteps every strike, seeing that the boy is down to his final reserves of Cursed Energy. "Keep improving, keep growing. Keep pushing the limits of yourself and Jujutsu. Because this is truly exciting.
And one day, I wish for you to be a few times stronger than you are now. So that finally, I'll have someone I don't need to hold back against…"
Taiyo's eyes widen as Gojo shows off his true physical speed for the first time in this fight, seemingly disappearing even while the boys was staring right at him.
Gojo lands a punch to Taiyo's gut, and with this sense of excitement and hope flowing through him, The Strongest unleashes massive arcs of red and black Cursed Energy.
BLACK FLASH!
The arcs of energy carve away pieces of stone around them as Taiyo is folded around Gojo's fist, launched hundreds of meters, to the edge of the arena and deep into the forest beyond, while smashing everything he collides with into bits.
Taiyo feels pain like never before, coughing up blood and dirt before he vomits up his breakfast, desperately trying to breathe but feeling like with each breath he was inhaling lit napalm.
He moves to get up but crumples back into the dirt, mind hazy as his limbs fail to respond. Even his Cursed Energy wasn't responding properly.
As Cursed Energy is formed in the stomach, which was currently trying to pull itself back together.
And controlled by the brain, which is still rattling around his skull.
He releases pained groans almost a minute later, finally lifting his face from the red mud and vomit, wiping his face with his forearm.
But as he looks to his left, he sees Satoru Gojo floating in the air above him, fully healed with his right hand lifted, fingers crossed in the Mudra of Indra, the strongest god.
"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void."
END CHAPTER---
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