"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void."
Satoru's voice was calm and distant.
Centered on him, a sphere of absolute darkness that devoured all light and sound rapidly expanded, instantly engulfing Sukuna who had charged into close range.
This was not a traditional physical space coverage, but a closed domain created by Satoru.
Inside the sphere was both a desert of information and an ocean of information—an endless torrent of meaningless data forcibly poured into the intruder's consciousness, causing their brain functions to overload, leading to an absolute state of stagnation where they 'could perceive nothing, yet perceived everything,' stripping away all ability to act.
This was the ultimate cage for the soul and consciousness.
However, at almost the same moment, Sukuna, swallowed by the darkness, let out a haughty declaration, "Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine."
What responded to him was not another opposing spherical space. Instead, outside the dark sphere of Unlimited Void, the scenery suddenly twisted and changed.
The view of the training ground peeled away like a faded oil painting, replaced by a bloody and cruel landscape of the mind that directly overlaid reality.
Sukuna's domain was not a closed sphere, but an altar or kitchen, with himself as the shrine. This was the rare open domain.
The two domains, one inside and one outside, formed a bizarre yet magnificent superimposed state.
Satoru's Unlimited Void resembled a black offering placed precisely in the center of Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine altar.
The core of the domain clash lay in the rule-level conflict of their sure-hit effects.
Inside Unlimited Void, the endless stream of meaningless data, like billions of invisible needles, followed the domain's rule to strike Sukuna's consciousness, attempting to wash it into idiocy.
However, although Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine was open in form, its sure-hit rule was also active—except its rule applied to all ingredients within the entire open domain coverage, delivering indiscriminate slashes.
Thus, at the boundary of Unlimited Void, an extremely microscopic yet fierce rule confrontation occurred.
The sure-hit effects of both domains continuously appeared and continuously neutralized each other.
This caused the pressure of information that Sukuna inside Unlimited Void endured to be far lower than Satoru had anticipated.
'As expected... a closed shell is sturdier on the inside.' Sukuna sneered internally.
He could feel that if they remained in a stalemate like this, the Cursed Energy consumption for both would be enormous, but the stability inside Unlimited Void was extremely high. Breaking through forcefully from within would require a considerable price even for him.
But Sukuna's domain's terrifying aspect lay in its openness. An open domain sacrifices some of the advantage of absolute internal control in exchange for unparalleled adaptability, variable range, and... the ability to directly intervene in the external environment.
When a closed domain is deployed, the user is usually located inside. The domain itself is like a sturdy fortress, protecting the sorcerer while trapping the enemy.
However, the outer walls of the fortress are often designed to withstand internal shock. Their defense mechanisms against external attacks are far less complete than those inside.
This is a potential weakness of the closed domain, one that very few people can exploit—because the enemy is usually locked inside the domain.
However, in Sukuna's open domain, although he is inside Unlimited Void, the domain's effect range envelops the outside. With a mere thought, the boundaries of Malevolent Shrine began to slowly expand outward.
The larger the domain's range, the geometrically increasing the Cursed Energy consumption, but Sukuna, relying on his immense Cursed Energy, paid no heed to this cost.
As the open domain expanded, the rule-power began to apply itself more extensively and densely onto the outer wall of the black sphere known as the Unlimited Void.
Crack... Snap...
An extremely faint cracking sound, yet one sharp enough to make Satoru's pupils contract violently, sounded exceptionally jarring in the absolute silence.
The people from Jujutsu High outside the battlefield clearly saw a crack thinner than a strand of hair appear on the smooth, perfect outer wall of Satoru's Unlimited Void sphere.
Masamichi cursed the monster inwardly, deeply astonished.
An open domain—something as incredible as drawing a picture in the air without a canvas—someone actually managed to realize it.
The impact was not coming from Sukuna inside, but from the outside—the endless sure-hit slashes of Sukuna's domain, like a continuous, fine drizzle, hammering against the black dome.
Initially, these slashes were blocked and neutralized by the domain's concept of Infinity.
But as the frequency, density, and the rule-power of cutting contained within the slashes continuously increased with the expansion of Sukuna's domain, a quantitative change triggered a qualitative one.
The outer wall of the closed domain is structurally solid in a unidirectional manner to maintain the absolute nature of the internal rules.
It is like an eggshell. Breaking it from the inside requires immense force, but from the outside, perhaps only suitable pressure and a precise tap are needed.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang...
It was no longer silent annihilation, but a substantial, ear-splitting roar like millions of giant hammers wildly striking an anvil. It was the explosion of both rules and physical impact.
Satoru's Six Eyes operated frantically, attempting to reconstruct the structure of the domain's outer wall and mend the cracks.
However, the speed of repair was far outpaced by the speed of the frantic destruction focused on a single point, originating from the outside of Sukuna's open domain. The cracks spread rapidly like a spider's web, instantly covering more than half of the black sphere.
"This is bad..." Satoru's internal alarm bells rang loudly.
He tried to contract the domain to concentrate his defense, but it was too late.
Sukuna seized the opportunity, phantom images of his four arms flashing behind him, pouring the last of his Cursed Energy into the domain.
"Break!!!"
Following Sukuna's roar, all the slash rule-power of Malevolent Shrine transformed into an invisible giant blade, condensing the very origin of the 'cutting' concept, and fiercely struck down along the dense network of cracks.
BOOM!!!
The pitch-black sphere, Unlimited Void, shattered completely amidst a world-shaking explosion. It dissolved into scattered fragments of untethered Cursed Energy.
The open domain holds an absolute advantage over a closed domain.
The massive backlash from having his domain forcibly broken caused Satoru to grunt, his body shaking violently. His Cursed Technique instantly short-circuited, preventing him from deploying a domain again for a short time.
The pair of Six Eyes on his face were filled with shock and an unprecedented gravity.
As the dust settled, Sukuna, controlling Utaha's body, stood proudly in the center of the ruined earth. The dark red Cursed Energy around him flickered, indicating his consumption had also been enormous, but his four scarlet vertical pupils burned with the ecstasy of victory and a yearning for a stronger opponent.
"A closed domain... is nothing more than this." Sukuna's voice, hoarse from the fierce battle and carrying undisguised mockery, stated.
"A thousand years have passed, and the tricks of the Jujutsu Sorcerers still haven't escaped my expectations."
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
patreon.com/alex_1000