The crackling sound of burning wood echoed throughout the forest.
In the area where Gojo and Jin were fighting, the green that symbolized life was rapidly disappearing.
Maki and the others, who were watching from a distance, kept retreating until they finally stopped atop the tallest tree in the forest.
Megumi stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the trunk.
He waved his phone and looked calmly at Maki.
“Maki-senpai, you lost.”
The timer on the screen had already passed one minute.
Maki’s expression wasn’t particularly pleasant.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.
He’s practically a monster.”
The ability Jin had just shown—immunity to physical attacks—was practically her natural enemy.
Panda sat on a branch nearby, its enormous body making the branch sway dangerously beneath its weight.
“He really is impressive.
He can actually fight Satoru like this.”
Panda shaded its eyes with one paw and looked toward the heavily damaged forest in the distance.
“But if they keep this up…
won’t the principal get angry?”
Maki glanced back at Megumi.
“Don’t celebrate yet, Megumi.
The fight isn’t over.”
“Maybe he’ll make it past two and a half minutes.
We don’t know who won the bet yet.”
Maki, who had been completely pessimistic about Jin just moments earlier, changed sides at light speed.
Now she could only hope he lasted longer than two and a half minutes so nobody would win the bet.
Megumi thought back to the moment Jin had transformed into flames and fell into thought.
‘His cursed technique gives him a form of untouchability similar to Gojo-sensei’s.
Hand-to-hand attacks reinforced with cursed energy are ineffective.’
‘Can innate cursed techniques hurt him?
Purely physical attacks are probably limited.’
His brows furrowed slightly as he looked down at the shadow beneath his feet.
‘If I had to deal with him, the only shikigami that might be useful would probably be…’
………
The afternoon sun was obscured by thick smoke, leaving the sky gray and dim.
Flames continuously devoured the surrounding trees, causing wood to crack and burst beneath the extreme heat.
Dense masses of fire gathered and rose upward.
Viewed from high above, the flames could vaguely be seen forming an ugly circle.
And that circle was gradually expanding outward from its center.
It looked as if hell had descended upon the forest, orange-red firelight reflecting across Gojo’s face.
“This is a little worse than I expected.
I feel like I’m going to get yelled at.”
His eyes continuously swept across the surroundings as he searched for Jin, who had merged into the natural flames.
“Without using my cursed technique, there’s really nothing I can do to him.
What a slippery brat.”
Against a Gojo who had started taking the fight seriously, Jin had no intention of engaging him in close combat.
In melee range, other than having his body blown apart over and over again, he had no opportunity to retaliate at all.
He also had no need to defeat Gojo.
Once he lasted two minutes, there would be no reason for this fight to continue.
A white figure suddenly flashed through the sea of flames.
The violent wind created by his movement roared past.
The fire bent backward beneath the gust, exposing Jin hidden within it.
Gojo’s Six Eyes dragged streaks of blue light through the air.
Then came a straight punch packed with cursed energy, rushing directly toward Jin.
Jin’s pupils contracted sharply, golden light flashing through them.
Observation Haki activated.
The instant the attack arrived, he automatically transformed the center of his chest into flames and dispersed them in every direction.
Gojo’s punch struck empty air, but there wasn’t the slightest frustration on his face.
Whether he landed a hit or not no longer mattered.
He had already shifted his mindset and begun testing Jin’s potential instead.
‘He’s already starting to adapt to my attack rhythm.
He’s predicting my attacks in advance and dodging them.’
‘Compared to the beginning, he’s constantly improving!’
The scattered flames rapidly spun together, reforming Jin’s body.
His upper torso twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.
He coated his raised elbow in Armament Haki and slammed it heavily toward Gojo.
Gojo raised his forearm horizontally and blocked.
A dull impact rang out as flesh collided with flesh.
Feeling the force behind the elbow strike, Gojo confirmed his earlier guess.
‘As expected, that black coating increases the power of his attacks.’
‘But why are there no cursed energy fluctuations?’
After easily blocking Jin’s attack, Gojo didn’t immediately counterattack.
Instead, he spoke.
“There’s no point dragging this out, is there?
Personally, I don’t mind continuing.”
“It’s just that if I let you burn down the entire forest, I’m probably going to get nagged to death.”
Jin remained expressionless.
His other hand rose, a scorching fireball forming at his fingertip.
Seeing this, Gojo immediately knocked Jin’s elbow aside and kicked out.
BAM!
Jin voluntarily dispersed his body into flames, the scattered fire bending backward along with the force of the kick.
The flames continuously reorganized and formed his body again.
Jin raised one palm and began pouring cursed energy outward as if it cost him nothing.
Ferocious flames instantly exploded around his entire body.
Gojo frowned.
He couldn’t understand why Jin insisted on continuing such pointless resistance.
Then he noticed the unusual fluctuation in cursed energy.
Gojo stomped the ground and instantly appeared in front of Jin, throwing a powerful hook.
Unlike his earlier passive attitude of not defending at all, Jin raised both arms this time, coating them with Armament Haki and crossing them in front of his body.
The instant the fist collided with his forearms, a crisp cracking sound rang out.
CRACK!
Both of Jin’s arms broke instantly, shattered bone piercing through flesh.
The tremendous impact traveled through his arms and into his entire body, sending him flying backward.
Blood scattered through the air.
Jin’s face twisted from the severe pain, yet the corner of his mouth forced out a crazed smile.
“Then let’s settle this with one attack!”
Gojo roughly understood Jin’s plan.
He had deliberately used that blow to create distance and buy himself time to unleash his finishing move.
It was an insane idea.
Watching Jin fly backward, Gojo’s mouth unconsciously curved upward.
Excitement and anticipation flashed through his brilliant blue eyes.
“You’re almost out of cursed energy and you’ve still been saving a finishing move?”
Jin burst into laughter and shouted.
“That’s just your imagination!”
[Random Quest Completed]
[Quest Reward: Total Cursed Energy +20%.
Claim?
Yes/No]
“Yes!”
[Current Total Cursed Energy: 504/504]
Power surged into his body.
His nearly exhausted cursed energy instantly refilled, while the total amount increased by another twenty percent!
More than half of Jin’s body transformed into fire, flames rapidly spreading along the path of his flight.
Even the natural flames around him seemed to be drawn toward him.
Without hesitation, they abandoned whatever they were burning and surged toward him in a torrent.
All the flames gathered above Jin’s head.
An enormous fireball more than ten meters in diameter formed above his palm.
The concentrated flames outshone the sun, dyeing the entire sky orange-red.
Jin held the enormous sphere of fire overhead, his voice low and blazing.
“Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!”
Sensing the abrupt change in Jin’s cursed energy, Gojo’s pupils contracted slightly.
“His cursed energy recovered instantly—and increased by quite a bit…
What are you, a phoenix?”
He raised his head and looked at the enormous fireball suspended in midair.
Blazing streams of flame churned across its surface.
The heat distorted the air into layer upon layer of rippling waves.
Even the soil beneath Gojo’s feet rapidly dried, cracked, and blackened.
“I don’t really want to break the rules, but if I let you do that…”
Gojo’s tone remained relaxed, but his gaze gradually turned serious.
“This might get a little dangerous.”
He raised his right hand and pressed his index and middle fingers together.
A dark-red sphere of light began gathering at his fingertips.
A passion he hadn’t felt in a long time surged through him, and Gojo’s lips spread into an excited grin.
“Besides, during the exciting part where we both fire off our ultimate moves, it’d be pretty lame if I could only dodge or tank yours!”
The artificial sun about to descend was reflected in his brilliant blue eyes.
Gojo shaped his raised hand like a pistol, and the dark-red sphere at his fingertip shot forward with a sharp whistle.
“Cursed Technique Reversal—Red!”