Despite his earlier words, Gojo Satoru never let his guard down. He remained wary not only of the powerful opponent before him but also of any potential surprise attacks from other cursed spirits.
After all, while the other party claimed to want a one-on-one fight, Gojo wasn't willing to bet on them playing fair.
Besides, there seemed to be divided opinions within their ranks—just because she agreed didn't mean the others would. It was better to be cautious.
However, it didn't take long for Gojo to pay the price for his vigilance.
Not that he was wrong to be cautious—but rather, the level of caution he'd exercised still wasn't enough.
The Herrscher of Sentience hadn't intended to bully the so-called strongest jujutsu sorcerer.
By all accounts, this guy was her martial nephew's teacher, someone her nephew respected. But she had her own pride.
Initially, she'd only planned to go through the motions, giving Gojo a chance to back down—but the man just had to challenge her.
Annoyed at being treated like some newbie, she decided she might as well cut loose.
She hadn't meant to pick on the kid, either—she'd already toned down her strength and speed to match Gojo's level.
But… the gap in martial skill and combat experience became painfully obvious in an instant.
Domain Amplification wasn't anything difficult to grasp.
And given the Herrscher of Sentience's natural talent and breadth of experience, how could she possibly lose out to Gojo and Kenjaku?
She didn't need something like Domain Amplification—merely witnessing the essence and principles behind a technique once was enough for her to easily dissect it and reverse-engineer its underlying cursed technique.
In other words, any technique she saw even once, she could dismantle—and then use it herself.
Things like the limitations of innate techniques were practically meaningless to her.
"How did you do that? It's like my Infinity completely failed."
They had only exchanged a single round—just a few moves—and yet Gojo had already felt heavy blows land in multiple places across his body.
Even though his Reverse Cursed Technique quickly patched him up, it was undeniable: she'd bypassed the Limitless and struck him directly.
Her hand-to-hand skills were also above his.
Though neither side had seriously deployed their cursed techniques yet, Gojo knew he couldn't afford to go all out here—whereas his opponent had no such restrictions.
Using his techniques now would only put him at a greater disadvantage.
Still, he couldn't let his tension show. So he kept a relaxed smile and asked, as though it were nothing:
"Pretty simple, really. I just reversed the operation of your technique."
The Herrscher of Sentience never missed a chance to sing her own praises—not that this counted as bragging, since she was just stating facts.
Thriving on showing off, she struck a master's pose and didn't press her attack, simply waiting where she stood for Gojo to regain his stance—and seizing the moment to explain just how incredible she was.
"Reversed?"
Gojo wondered if she was bad with words. "Reversing" a technique meant starting from the goal and deriving the conditions and path to get there.
It made sense when talking about cursed tools—that was a technical process.
But the Limitless wasn't something you could use through technique alone. It required incredibly precise cursed energy control—and an innate technique from birth.
"Well then, take a look—what's this?"
The Herrscher of Sentience never humored doubts. She simply raised a finger, and as Gojo's eyes widened in recognition of that familiar operational pattern, a black-red sphere materialized at her fingertip.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
The Herrscher of Sentience grinned.
Just as Gojo thought she was about to detonate it in such a confined space and began figuring out how to save more people, she withdrew the sphere just before it dispersed.
"Relax, I'm not here to flip the table."
She laughed. "This kind of technique doesn't really suit me. I only learned it to break through that turtle shell of yours."
But Gojo wasn't laughing anymore.
Even Kenjaku had fallen silent.
Seriously, sis? You can copy other people's techniques? Something like Yuta Okkotsu's Mimicry? But even Yuta can't copy the Limitless.
Kenjaku felt a little incredulous, even beginning to suspect whether this Celestial and Gojo were actually in cahoots.
"Truly terrifying. Why does this era keep producing endless monsters?"
Now Gojo was genuinely nervous; a cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"That was just the first round. Nine more to go."
The Herrscher of Sentience kindly reminded him, then flashed in front of Gojo.
Although he couldn't use his techniques on a large scale, Gojo had already moved—seemingly without anyone noticing—to a spot farther from the crowd.
That way, when the Herrscher of Sentience closed the distance, she'd also entered a zone where he could afford to be a little less restrained.
With the precise control of the Six Eyes, he didn't even need hand signs or incantations.
Infused with cursed energy, the neutral form of the Limitless technique erupted into swirling vortexes along the Herrscher's path.
But to the Herrscher of Sentience, this world was far more transparent than what the Six Eyes could perceive. Pinpointing the locations of each Blue was child's play.
Based on her earlier remarks, Gojo clearly understood now how far her grasp of the nature of cursed energy surpassed human comprehension.
Sorcerers used cursed energy to enhance their bodies during combat, so the flow of cursed energy within them could betray their movements.
The more refined the control, the harder it was to predict.
Yet in Gojo's eyes, the Herrscher of Sentience didn't leak a single trace of cursed energy.
Even though she was a cursed spirit, that fact remained terrifying. By contrast, even with the Six Eyes, he must seem like a novice sorcerer to her—every next move completely exposed.
But even if she could predict his moves, it was another matter entirely whether her body could keep up, right?
Realizing that the Herrscher of Sentience matched him in both strength and speed, Gojo had already abandoned the idea of subduing her with hand-to-hand combat.
With their physical abilities so close, the chasm in their martial skill was like heaven and earth. In that case, the only option was to use his techniques to gain an advantage.
Just as the Herrscher of Sentience came within striking distance, Gojo's body was instantly pulled away by the enhanced attraction of the Blue orbs he'd placed along her approach path.
This pulling force allowed for near-instantaneous short-range movement—faster than a jet plane—and Gojo had often used it to travel.
Their positions swapped in an instant. Like the hand of a clock swinging around, Gojo reappeared behind the Herrscher of Sentience.
The attraction wasn't aimed only at Gojo. Because he'd increased Blue's output, the Herrscher's punching form was inevitably disrupted.
Gojo had no reason to let this chance slip. Using Blue's pull to accelerate between two points, he launched a heavier, more powerful punch straight at the back of the Herrscher's head.
Yet, even with her body in an extremely awkward position, the Herrscher of Sentience managed to adjust mid-air as if finding leverage from nothing.
Not only did she lean back and evade the punch, she also borrowed Blue's traction to deliver a downward axe kick aimed at Gojo's shoulder.
The force behind this strike was clearly anything but ordinary. Just as Gojo had used Blue to try and secure a major advantage, now the Herrscher of Sentience was doing the same.
But Gojo showed no intention of dodging. A wild grin spread across his face as he transformed his fist into a pointed finger, angling it downward to aim directly at the Herrscher's head.
Scarlet cursed energy rapidly gathered at his fingertip. A black sphere formed just as his shoulder and entire arm were shattered by her kick.
"Cursed Technique Reversal—Red!"
He aimed down the tunnel he'd come from—the same tunnel he'd already confirmed was clear of any ordinary people.
Not that it would have mattered if there were. Gojo wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could protect everyone from her. He felt sorry, but he wasn't about to compromise excessively because of it.
Wrapped in an unstoppable wave of repulsive force, a red light flashed through the subway station, blasting a crater far deeper than the station itself.
The dust made it impossible for anyone to clearly see what was happening.
But with his Six Eyes, Gojo could see perfectly: the cursed spirit girl, who as promised hadn't used "Infinity" to defend, now stood ragged at the bottom of the crater, not a single part of her body left unharmed.
Having seized what was almost a victory-sealing advantage with this strike, Gojo regenerated his arm and finally allowed himself a smile.
"Even for a cursed spirit, recovering from injuries like that won't be easy. But of course, I'm not going to give you the chance to recover. Ten rounds—eight left. Don't say I'm kicking you while you're down."
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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