No one expected that Ditto would actually complete a triple-kill.
It was an instantaneous slaughter, and every witness was visibly shaken.
"Yuji, that Mahito... he had an ability that could touch the soul, right?" Satoru Gojo asked, stroking his chin.
"Yeah." Yuji's expression soured as he recalled the past. "He turned many people into transfigured humans. A boy caught up in it told me that Mahito could reshape a person's soul."
"The soul, huh? Sounds like bad news. For that Subordinate Deity to kill Mahito in a flash is no simple feat. Perhaps it's actually the strongest of the four," Gojo said pensively.
"Yeah, I never would have guessed. This guy was hiding its strength so deep," Megumi muttered, blaming himself for the oversight.
"Keep an eye on it from now on. Unless it's absolutely necessary, stay away from it."
"Understood!"
"Huh? I didn't feel like I did anything. How did I win?" Suddenly victorious, Ditto was like a monk in a fog, completely clueless.
But it quickly shrugged it off. It didn't know why, but winning was winning. Having achieved the feat of a triple-kill, it strutted over to Absol and Pidgeot to gloat, receiving only a pair of eye-rolls in return.
In the entire area, only Aomori had a faint inkling of how Mahito had died.
Just now, when Mahito activated his Domain, there was a split second where I felt like a giant, with Mahito beneath my feet. Then, I glanced at him, and he simply shattered.
With his exceptionally high Spirit attribute, few in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen could trap Aomori in an illusion; what he saw was a reflection of reality. Combining this with the mechanics of Mahito's Domain, he quickly deduced the truth.
Mahito's Domain allows him to touch souls without physical contact. In that moment, he touched Ditto's soul. Because Ditto is bound to me by contract, its soul is linked to mine. Thus, Mahito found himself standing before my soul, just as he encountered Ryomen Sukuna when he touched Yuji.
In that case, was that giant his own soul? Why was there such a massive difference in scale? And why did a single glance cause Mahito's soul to tear apart? Was it because he was a transmigrator, or because of the system within him?
He didn't know. Currently, the only soul-related skill he possessed was a move from Bleach. He couldn't yet actively see or touch his own soul. Perhaps that would only be possible when his Spirit attribute increased further, or when he entered a soul-centric dungeon.
Aomori shook his head, pushing the matter aside. He extended his hand, using psychokinesis to retrieve four of Sukuna's fingers from Mahito's remains.
The Prison Realm was nowhere to be found. It wasn't in Suguru Geto's corpse, nor among the belongings of the Cursed Spirits. Kenjaku must have hidden it away.
With this, the Special Grade Cursed Spirits known as the Four Natural Disasters had all fallen. Next was the closing act of this world.
Aomori rose slowly and flashed in front of Gojo and the others, startling Yuji and Megumi.
"Oh? The opening act is over, so the main event is taking the stage?" Gojo stretched his legs and twisted his waist, warming up. "Okay, I'm ready. We can start whenever."
"Gojo-sensei!"
"Relax. Defeating me isn't that easy." Gojo flashed an excited grin. "Come to think of it, I haven't been serious in a long time."
Not since last year had he used his full power. His opponents simply hadn't been stimulating enough. A life-and-death crisis? That was something he hadn't felt in ten years.
"One of you isn't enough." Aomori shook his head. He pulled out the five Sukuna fingers in his possession and addressed the Ryomen Sukuna within Yuji: "How about it? Do you dare to fight me again?"
"Heh, am I not enough to satisfy you? You're greedier than I thought," Gojo said with a shrug. "No offense to Sukuna, but an incomplete version of him can't keep up with our battle."
Enraged by the taunt, Ryomen Sukuna immediately uttered the word "Enchain," taking control of Yuji's body.
Previously, he had made a Binding Vow with Yuji: upon saying "Enchain," Yuji would surrender his body for one minute unconditionally, under the condition that Sukuna could not harm anyone during that time.
As expected, Yuji made a secret pact with him when he was resurrected. We just don't know the specifics yet, Gojo thought, observing the black markings appearing on Yuji's face.
Sukuna had no intention of kindly explaining the contract. He held out his hand to Aomori with a look of pure irritation. "Give them to me."
"Heh." Aomori chuckled and tossed the fingers to him.
Sukuna caught them and swallowed them instantly. Now wielding the power of sixteen fingers, a wicked smile spread across his face.
"This level is still not enough. I need more power!"
His hands moved in a blur, forming complex seals. Sukuna's Cursed Energy boiled over, and a strange ripple expanded into the distance.
"This is...?" Gojo pulled at his blindfold, uncertain. "You can actually locate your own fingers?"
"Of course. They were part of my body. It would be stranger if I couldn't."
It required a heavy price, but he didn't care anymore. If he missed this chance, he would regret it for a lifetime!
The Cursed Energy surge reached its peak as Sukuna threw his head back and roared, "Assemble!"
The four remaining fingers scattered across the land broke through the constraints of space, summoned directly to his side.
"Gojo-sensei?!" Megumi shouted.
"Megumi-chan, you know I've always been selfish." Gojo kept his hands in his pockets, making no move to stop Sukuna from consuming the fingers.
"But what about Yuji?!"
"Life and death are up to fate. From the moment Yuji ate that first finger, this end was inevitable. I don't know what his ultimate fate will be. It all depends on his own luck now."
"How can this be?" Megumi clenched his fists. "He's our comrade!"
Since Gojo didn't stop him, Aomori certainly wouldn't. He also wanted to know how strong a "complete" Sukuna would be. Between him and Gojo, who was truly the strongest?
With the silent permission of both Gojo and Aomori, Ryomen Sukuna successfully consumed the remaining fingers. In an instant, a majestic, world-dominating aura was revealed without reservation.
"Satoru Gojo, Aosora... you both will regret this. I guarantee it!"
"Whoa, looks pretty good. Just barely enough to catch my eye." Gojo pulled off his blindfold, revealing his beautiful eyes that seemed to contain the starry sky. "Megumi-chan, take Shoko to a safe place. Run as far as you can. This place is about to become a battlefield for slaying a God."
Megumi gritted his teeth, glanced at Yuji, and departed with Shoko Ieiri.
"Are you both in the zone? Then I'll show some respect as well." Aomori raised his right hand and clenched it tight. "Retract!"
The three layers of Screens he had set up rose in sequence. Most of the Dark, Lightning, and Light energy within them was pulled back into his body. The massive energy circulated within him, stimulating his hair until it stood up like sharp spikes.
As his body shuddered slightly, the clouds and winds outside shifted violently.
"Damn, are you a Super Saiyan?" Seeing Aomori's new look, Gojo couldn't help but crack a joke. He stretched his limbs, his piercing gaze darting between Aomori and Sukuna. "Which one should I hit first?"
"I choose to hit both. All of you, drop dead!" Sukuna pressed his fingers together and slashed downward like a sword. His trademark slashes became as pervasive as spring rain, raining down on the other two from every direction.
His slashes were invisible, but Aomori, having fought him before, had already mapped out the logic of the technique. He saw the trajectory of every strike and dodged them all with superhuman speed.
Gojo, meanwhile, didn't even move. He took every hit head-on.
This was the effect of Gojo's Infinity. He brought the convergent infinite series from Zeno's Paradox, where Achilles can never catch the tortoise, into reality. In other words, the Infinity technique created a state of "relative stillness" in reality; the closer an object got to Gojo, the slower it became, until it could never touch him.
Such a broken, bug-like technique wasn't something every generation of the Gojo family could use. It required an indispensable prerequisite: the Six Eyes, those star-glimmering eyes. The Six Eyes gave the user extraordinary perception, a 360-degree long-range vision with no blind spots, and the ability to see through an opponent's techniques to track and predict Cursed Energy.
Only a possessor of the Six Eyes could process such vast amounts of information and perform the precise operations necessary to use Infinity. There had only been three such individuals in a thousand years; currently, Satoru Gojo was the only one.
However, maintaining the Six Eyes required immense mental processing, which could damage brain cells. Thus, Gojo used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his brain every second of every day. Because of the Six Eyes, his passive consumption of Cursed Energy was nearly zero, allowing him to keep Infinity and Reverse Cursed Technique active indefinitely, turning active skills into passive ones. This was the root of Gojo's invincibility.
"Tch! The Gojo clan's technique is as annoying as ever." The Six Eyes sorcerers Sukuna had encountered in the past lacked Gojo's talent; they couldn't keep Infinity active constantly. Infinite slashes should have exhausted him, but that method was useless against Gojo.
However, the King of Curses was still the King. A simple thought revealed the countermeasure. He flickered behind Gojo and swung a claw.
"Coming for close-quarters combat?" Gojo's melee skills were also top-tier, capable of overwhelming Special Grade Cursed Spirits with his bare hands. He raised an arm to parry Sukuna's right hand.
"Why block? Weren't you tanking everything with your technique just now?" Sukuna taunted.
"Under these eyes, I'm like your homeroom teacher. I see your little tricks perfectly." Gojo blinked, gesturing toward Sukuna. "It's Domain Amplification, right? By wrapping your hands in a Domain, you use the 'sure-hit' effect to neutralize my Infinity. If I hadn't blocked, that hit would have taken half my life."
"I've only ever seen you use that trick. As expected of a thousand-year-old monster."
"Trying to show off your perception? Stop bragging!"
"Me?" Gojo cried out in mock grievance. "I'm worried about you! If you use Domain Amplification, you can't use your innate technique, right? Do you really think you can beat me like that?"
"You're welcome to try."
The two smiled at each other for a brief second before the smiles vanished, and they instantly clashed. Fists and feet collided in a dead heat.
"Hey, hey. Did you two forget something?" Watching Gojo and Sukuna fighting so fiercely, Aomori felt a bit ignored. "You've got the wrong script. Isn't it more logical for the two weakest to gang up on the strongest?"
Aomori intercepted them, his fists imbued with the destructive intent of thunder. He struck out with both hands, a flurry of punches that sent both of them flying back.
After sliding a distance, Gojo stabilized himself and shook his numbing arm. "How can you use Domain Amplification too?"
The novelty of being hit began to excite Gojo. He utilized the negative infinite attraction of : Blue to close the distance instantly. Appearing at Aomori's side, he opened his palm and switched to the positive infinite repulsion.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
A massive force slammed into Aomori. He felt as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding train, and he was launched away with a whoosh.
Simultaneously, the freshly-punched Sukuna was feeling irritable. He stretched his arm as if drawing a bow, and a flaming arrow appeared in his hand.
"Die! Open!"
Sukuna released the arrow, which streaked toward the point where Aomori was being launched. The entire path was engulfed in flames, carving a searing scar across the already battered earth.
"God, take this!"
Gojo's assault wasn't over. He crossed his hands over his chest and whispered, "Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue. Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Extending his right hand, he aimed squarely at Aomori: "Hollow Technique: Purple!"
By causing the positive infinity of 'Red' and the negative infinity of 'Blue' to collide, he created an "imaginary mass." This violet-black "mass," propelled by Gojo's "motion," tore through space directly toward Aomori, erasing everything in its path.
"Damn it!" Aomori felt targeted.
Either these two were brawling with each other and ignoring him, or they were working in perfect sync to take him down. How could Aomori stand for this?
Faced with Sukuna's fire arrow and Gojo's ball of imaginary mass, Aomori decided to pull out his own trump card. He flipped and landed firmly, crouching slightly. His right fist was at his waist, his left hand guarding his right wrist as Lightning and Light energy concentrated frantically in his right fist.
"Thunder-Light Duality Fist, Second Form: Overwhelming Force, Endless Rain of Fists!"
With a swing of his right fist, surging lightning and light energy poured out like a tide, forming countless dense, small energy orbs. Like a swarm of piranhas, they surged forward to collide with the fire arrow and the sphere of imaginary mass.
First, a blinding light erupted from the point of impact. Then came a massive explosion that seemed to tear the sky apart. Finally, a super-powered shockwave equivalent to a Category 18 hurricane swept through.
As the heavens collapsed and the earth split, the shrine was finally erased from existence.