The aftermath of thunder and fire over the training ground had not yet dissipated, and the air was filled with a sharp smell and the stinging sensation of ozone from the intense friction of cursed energy.
The combined shikigami "Divine Beast Xiang" hovered above Genji, its lightning and flame wings slowly flapping, casting a pulsing shadow, its golden and crimson eyes fixed on the white-haired figure standing in the air opposite him.
The smile at the corner of Genji's lips deepened—the expression of a researcher seeing an unexpectedly interesting reaction in an experiment.
He didn't continue to attack or summon new shikigami. He simply raised his left hand slightly, brought his index and middle fingers together, and elegantly and casually pointed them at Satoru Gojo.
"Try this."
There were no incantations, no complex hand seals, and even the sharp fluctuations of cursed energy were extremely restrained.
But the moment his fingertips pointed—
Roooar—!!!
The spiral thunder horn on Xiang's forehead suddenly erupted with a flash of indigo light far more dazzling and compressed than ever before! The light wasn't scattered but was intensely compressed and condensed, ultimately transforming into a dark blue pillar of thunder as thick as a rice bowl, but solidified like liquid metal, tearing through the air and shooting towards Satoru Gojo with terrifying speed, almost a spatial leap!
This thunder pillar was completely different from the previous powerful thunderstorm and firestorm.
There was no deafening roar, only a high-frequency, sharp hum that seemed to pierce the soul. Wherever it passed, light was absorbed, space slightly distorted, leaving behind a fleeting, scorching vacuum trail.
Deadly condensation. Extreme speed.
However, the moment the thunder pillar was fired, the flow of galaxies within Satoru Gojo's pale blue Six Eyes suddenly accelerated!
He hadn't seen the technique activate, hadn't felt an abnormal surge of cursed energy, but some combat intuition, born from countless life-and-death battles and infinitely enhanced by the "Six Eyes," sent him the sharpest warning before the thunder pillar had fully separated from Xiang's horn!
This is bad! It's not ordinary lightning!
In the blink of an eye, the cynical smile on Satoru Gojo's face remained, but his right hand moved faster than the visual trace. He didn't even have time to think about the specific meaning of the warning; his body had already reacted instinctively.
"[Cursed Technique Reversal: Red]."
A low, clear incantation sounded.
A dark blue sphere of cursed energy, with what looked like a miniature black hole inside, emitting a terrifying gravitational pull—Red—instantly formed and compressed in front of his palm. Then, as if throwing a baseball, he hurled it directly at the oncoming dark blue thunder pillar!
Buzz—!!!
Red and the thunder pillar collided in mid-air!
There was no earth-shattering explosion. The two massive, similarly dark blue but fundamentally different, cursed energies did not annihilate each other upon contact. Instead, they underwent an extremely strange confrontation and neutralization.
The "attraction" and "compression" force that Red carried, distorting space, frantically tore apart and absorbed the energy of the thunder pillar. The devastating light of the thunder pillar, compressed to the extreme, was like countless life-like high-temperature drills, fiercely striking, trying to penetrate and destroy Red's internal structure.
Most of the thunder was captured, repelled, and sucked in by Red's terrifying "infinity gravity," ultimately vanishing back into extreme compression within.
The dazzling lightning and the deep blue vortex eroded and neutralized each other, forming an unstable mass of energy that expanded and contracted at the point of impact, emitting a teeth-grinding twisting sound.
However—
Just as everyone thought this thunder pillar, intercepted by Red, had been completely resolved.
Zzzzt—!
An extremely faint sound, almost masked by the roar of the collision, like an electric current passing through metal.
Satoru Gojo, hovering in the air, trembled almost imperceptibly.
For the first time, the brows beneath his ever-relaxed smile slightly furrowed.
Not an injury, but… numbness.
Something like countless tiny, invisible thunder needles had pierced through the "infinity" defense, lightly pricking the surface of his skin, causing a momentary numbness and lag, like an electric current stimulating a nerve ending.
The feeling was fleeting, as fast as an illusion, but for Satoru Gojo, it was as clear as lightning in the night.
A more subtle change—on the left side of his chest, near the collarbone, a tiny piece of the dark blue tracksuit fabric seemed slightly darker than the surrounding area, and the texture of the fibers showed a very unnatural slight curling and scorching, as if instantly licked by high heat.
The change was so minor that it was almost impossible to capture with the naked eye under the interference of the energy light and shadow of the fierce battle.
But on the edge of the training ground, Yuji Itadori's eyes suddenly widened, and he instinctively leaned forward to get a better look, his short pink hair seeming to stand on end.
"Huh?! Wait!" Itadori rubbed his eyes and pointed at Satoru Gojo in disbelief. "Did that... did that thunder just now actually hit Gojo-sensei?!"
His dynamic vision was far superior to an ordinary person's. Even if only for a fleeting moment, he had caught the subtle anomaly.
"Sensei's clothes... there, it's a little singed, isn't it? A little bit!"
Megumi Fushiguro was silent, but his brows were deeply furrowed. He had seen it more clearly and understood more deeply than Itadori. He had not only seen the faint burn marks on Satoru Gojo's clothes but also "felt" that in the final moment when Red and the thunder pillar neutralized each other, an extremely subtle remnant of cursed energy had crossed Red's defensive zone and touched Satoru Gojo's body.
Not a powerful attack, but more like... a kind of "proof."
Proof that "your defense is not absolute."
"How is that possible..." Nobara Kugisaki was also stunned. She hadn't seen the details clearly but trusted Itadori's eyesight and Megumi's judgment. "The Limitless technique... got through? Even if it was just a little?"
The Limitless, symbolizing the absolute defensive power of the jujutsu world—the defensive power as a rule—had actually shown a possibility of being broken.
Panda and Inumaki looked at each other, both seeing the gravity in each other's eyes. "Salmon..." (Translation: Big trouble.)
Zen'in Maki tightened her grip on her staff, her knuckles white.
She was still far from the real main battlefield, but the shock of the "rule-breaking" was also affecting her thoughts.
---
"Oh?"
Satoru Gojo lowered his head, looking at the almost imperceptible burn on his chest, then raised his eyes to look at Genji on the opposite side. Surprise, doubt, and an even stronger desire to explore intertwined in his blue Six Eyes, ultimately transforming into a brighter smile that, however, held no trace of warmth.
"So... I actually got hit," he said, shaking his left hand, which had just been numb, his voice full of novelty. "It wasn't an illusion."
"Fast reaction," Genji's voice carried a note of approval and calmness. "Noticing the anomaly, you used 'Red' as a hedge, minimizing the direct impact. But…"
He paused and looked at Satoru Gojo, his tone flat but carrying an undeniable force:
"If you still fully rely on the 'stop' or the 'infinity' interval of the Limitless for defense, like just now, you'll suffer a bit, Satoru."
"Suffer? Haha, sounds great!" Instead of being annoyed, Satoru Gojo laughed out loud. He hovered in the air, touched his chin, and his Six Eyes stared at Genji and Xiang behind him, radiating a dangerous aura.
"But I'm very curious, Lord Zen'in Genji," Satoru Gojo tilted his head and asked the question on everyone's mind. "I just confirmed. It's not a domain expansion, and you didn't neutralize my Limitless with it. So…"
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