Akira Zenin scratched his head.
"Just messing around? I thought that looked pretty cool."
Satoru Gojo suddenly turned around and caught sight of Akira Zenin sprinting up behind him in a flash of lightning. He proactively released his Limitless Technique, drew Blue around his right hand, and met the incoming punch head-on.
With a thunderous boom, both of them were forced back several steps, though Akira Zenin was pushed much farther.
Among the onlookers, several tense members of the Gojo Clan's upper echelon finally let out the breath they had been holding.
Moments earlier, when Satoru Gojo had voluntarily released his immobilizing power, they had nearly leapt to their feet in alarm. Thankfully, he was still in control.
Satoru Gojo glanced at his right hand, the one that had just taken the attack. A faint purple mark lingered on his palm.
"[Punishment]!"
Dark clouds formed from cursed energy rapidly converged overhead. A bolt of lightning tore through the air and crashed straight down onto Satoru Gojo's position.
Dust exploded upward, and the deafening roar echoed throughout the Gojo Clan's inner courtyard.
The elders' hearts, which had only just settled, immediately shot back into their throats. Even for a Grade 1 sorcerer, choosing whether to block or dodge lightning like that depended heavily on affinity. Had Satoru Gojo actually activated Limitless or not?
As the lightning faded, spiderweb-like black cracks spread across the ground. Only the area around Satoru Gojo was untouched, a white circle clearly visible beneath his feet.
Akira Zenin showed no surprise at all.
Only he, as the caster, understood just how low the cursed energy conversion efficiency of the Ten Shadows Technique truly was. On top of that, the technique had to be relayed through Nue's spell structure, which dragged the efficiency down even further.
A lightning technique of that scale was only possible because of Akira Zenin's abnormally vast cursed energy reserves. It was sheer brute force bordering on a miracle.
"So even a normal attack really can't break through Limitless Mode, not a scratch on it?"
Satoru Gojo, whose cursed energy had dropped significantly, stared at the fading mark on his palm, lost in thought.
'First, release the technique's target lock and use that as a binding condition to amplify its power. Then apply a second mark—weak but long-lasting—to guide the enhanced technique's direction.'
That way, there's no need to worry about the directional control of high-destructive abilities. It drastically reduces the complexity of cursed energy calculations. And now that I understand the principle, with the Six Eyes, I can refine it even further.'
A small, pleased smile tugged at Satoru Gojo's lips.
"You didn't rush to release the technique. Instead, you split its operation into two phases. That takes some imagination."
"Blue!"
Satoru Gojo released the [Force of Stasis] once more. Blue gravitational vortices coiled around both his hands as he lunged at Akira Zenin. Akira Zenin met the assault head-on with fists reinforced by cursed energy, neither side gaining an advantage for a brief moment.
Suddenly, Akira Zenin felt something was off.
Outside the boundary lines of the field, he spotted a tiny, easily overlooked blue dot floating quietly in midair, emitting an extremely faint gravitational pull.
"When did that get there?"
Satoru Gojo pointed toward the blue dot.
"Phase
Twilight
Eye of Wisdom
[Blue]!"
The blue dot abruptly expanded, erupting with overwhelming gravitational force. The sudden surge yanked Akira Zenin straight out of bounds. Unable to keep his balance, he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
The Gojo Clan's upper echelon settled back into their seats. The tension from earlier vanished without a trace, replaced by expressions of quiet superiority.
Akira Zenin stood up, rubbed his backside, and yawned with his other hand.
"Haah…I told you I'm weak.
That was terrifying. He learned it just by watching.
I lost. Heh heh. Time to go home and sleep."
Satoru Gojo shook his head.
"I relied on some rule-based tricks, and you still haven't used a lot of your abilities, right?"
Akira Zenin hurriedly cut him off.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't say that. That was already my strongest output. If we keep going, it'll just turn into us grinding down each other's cursed energy. That's way too time-consuming.
Winning or losing doesn't matter. You agreed to a quick spar, so we're done. Time to go home."
Satoru Gojo swallowed the words that had been about to come out and nodded blankly.
Akira Zenin brushed the dust off himself, then turned to the seated head of the Gojo Clan.
"No need to end the banquet. I'll head out on my own. Your Divine Child said it himself, so no takebacks!"
Then he waved toward Naobito.
"I'm off. Eat well and have fun."
Even though he had technically lost under the rules, Naobito didn't look upset at all. He quickly nodded and had the attendants see Akira Zenin off.
Satoru Gojo glanced in the direction Akira Zenin had left.
For someone like him, blessed with the overpowered combination of the Six Eyes and the Limitless Technique, using cursed energy was practically a game. Normally, sorcerers his age couldn't even survive a single exchange with him.
But today, he might have found his first real playmate.
The Gojo Clan Head turned to Naobito.
"I never expected the Zenin Clan to produce someone like that. Only slightly inferior to our Divine Child. A true genius. Though I do wonder, when did you bring in a lightning technique?"
(The Zenin Clan really is running out of people. Now they have to rely on outside bloodlines just to keep up appearances? No matter how hard they struggle, they still can't compare to our Gojo Clan's Six Eyes.)
Naobito tipped his head back and gulped down a mouthful of sake.
"Ah, we'd love to show off stronger techniques at a banquet too, but you know how rare the awakening of the Ten Shadows Technique is."
(Heh. You tactless old fool. If our Ten Shadows user had gone all out, who would win wouldn't be so certain. But since he chose not to expose it, I'll keep my mouth shut.)
Off to the side, the Kamo Clan Head drank in silence as he watched the two of them, his face twisted with envy.
Why?
The Kamo Clan clearly had the purest bloodline. So why, after all these years, had not a single Blood Manipulation Techniques user appeared? The Gojo Clan produced a Six Eyes after four hundred years of nothing, and even the Zenin Clan, with its mixed bloodline, had brought in a new and powerful technique.
This wouldn't do.
Once he got back, he would issue an order.
Increase reproduction efforts.
The entire clan would increase reproduction efforts!