In a world resembling a luxury resort, Gojo Satoru suddenly jolted awake. He sat up at once, scanning his surroundings.
"Yo, you're awake, Satoru."
Beside him sat a figure he knew all too well, smiling as he greeted him.
It was Suguru Geto, dressed in his old Tokyo Jujutsu High uniform. When he saw Gojo awaken, there was a trace of regret in his gaze—but even more so, a sense of release.
"Geto, you bastard…"
Realizing where he was, Gojo clenched his fists. After a long sigh, he collapsed back down.
"So, how was it?" Geto asked with a smile. "That Miss Makima's strength."
"Terrifyingly strong. I couldn't find any weakness in her technique at all," Gojo replied gloomily.
"Because I had to worry about the civilians, I couldn't go all out—but I could feel that she was holding back even more. Even if both of us fought without any reservations, she'd probably still win."
"If I hadn't been worried about my Domain killing civilians… the moment my Unlimited Void clashed with her Domain, the fight might have ended right there."
Geto couldn't help but feel surprised.
"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that. Looks like she really left a deep impression on you."
Recalling every detail of his fight with Makima—her techniques, her demeanor—Gojo raised his hands and slowly clenched them.
"Makima… she's different from other curses. Before her, I'd never seen a curse that felt so human. In fact, to me, a lot of humans are less human than Miss Makima."
"For a moment, I even thought that handing the jujutsu world over to a curse with more humanity like her might be better than leaving it to those higher-ups."
Before this, Gojo had always regarded curses as beneath consideration. For his view to change so drastically could only mean how profound the impact of this battle had been.
Geto offered no comment on that.
"Satoru, are you leaving?"
"Yeah. In that fight, I didn't sense any killing intent. She probably won't kill me."
"It's just… when I wake up, I'll probably forget everything, just like she said at the beginning."
Gojo let out a bitter smile as his body gradually faded under Geto's gaze.
"What the future of the jujutsu world becomes no longer has anything to do with me. From now on, I'll just be an observer."
"Geto—next time I come here, if I really can't remember any of this… make sure you tell me about it again."
"Well… we'll see," Geto replied casually. "Don't think I'll be waiting around here just for you."
...
In the real world, dark red blood dripped steadily onto the ground.
Gojo Satoru's lower body remained standing in place, while his upper body lay collapsed in a pool of blood. His unfocused eyes barely regained a trace of clarity as he looked at Makima standing before him.
"That ability just now… was that also your technique?"
The weapon formed of cursed energy in her hand dissipated as Makima gave a slight nod.
"Verbal Command. You can think of it as something similar to Cursed Speech—using words to forcibly control others."
"Unlike the permanent domination of my usual technique, Verbal Command only allows for temporary control. However, the control strength of techniques activated through it far exceeds that of normal domination, and the conditions for activating it are much easier."
Just moments ago, when Gojo rushed in close, Makima had used Verbal Command to forcibly halt him—then immediately followed up with her attack.
And thus, things had ended up like this.
Under the absolute control of Verbal Command, Gojo had no ability to resist at all. He was cleanly severed at the waist by Makima's condensed cursed energy, recreating a scene worthy of a grim masterpiece.
As for why Makima didn't simply use Restraint chains to strip Gojo of his resistance and dominate him directly, instead of going out of her way to attack—
One must not forget that Makima possessed all of An Xora's memories, as well as the complete memories of her original character. As a "bad woman," she naturally had her own small, twisted sense of amusement.
"Quite delightful, Mr. Gojo," Makima said softly. "Now, please sleep here for a while."
Activating the authority of the Domination Devil, she brought Gojo under her control. As he lost consciousness, all memories of this period were erased.
In Gojo's recollection, he would only remember entering the subway station and falling into an ambush. All details and processes would be completely blank—and impossible to recover by any means.
Taking out her phone, Makima snapped a photo of Gojo and sent it to An Xora. She then produced a prepared mass of creation power and tossed it onto Gojo's body, before issuing commands to Kenjaku and the cursed spirits already lying in wait outside the barrier.
"Everyone—begin the operation."
...
Outside the barrier, groups of jujutsu sorcerers stood gathered, uneasily watching the situation within.
Just moments ago, an intense surge of energy had erupted inside the barrier. Everyone present was an experienced veteran, including Yuki Tsukumo and Yuta Okkotsu, both special-grade sorcerers. Even through the barrier, they immediately recognized it as the phenomenon of a Domain Expansion.
Clearly, Gojo Satoru had engaged someone in combat inside.
However, that burst of cursed energy lasted for less than a second before disappearing, leaving them unable to determine the current situation.
"Gojo probably won, right?" Mei Mei said uncertainly. "After all, his strength is the one thing that's always reassuring."
"But if he won," Naobito Zen'in replied gravely, "the barrier should have been lifted by now."
As the head of the Zen'in clan, a grade-one sorcerer, and one of the few higher-ups willing to fight on the front lines, Naobito possessed both experience and insight.
Faced with this bizarre situation, a sense of unease was already creeping into his heart.
Could it be… that Gojo lost?
No—impossible. The surge of cursed energy had lasted only an instant. As the head of the Gojo clan, a special-grade sorcerer, and the inheritor of the Six Eyes, how could Gojo Satoru be defeated so quickly?
There had to be some other explanation.
Suddenly, every sorcerer present snapped their gaze outward.
"Careful—massive cursed energy signatures are approaching!"
Moments later, countless cursed spirits surged through the city. At some point unknown to them, they had already completely surrounded the group.
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