Under the full moon, Gojo Satoru, dressed entirely in black, brought Luke to the school’s Fourth Training Ground.
The two stood facing each other.
A faint smile rested on Gojo’s lips.
“Just so you know beforehand, I’ll be mixing cursed technique effects into my hand-to-hand attacks. Getting hit by them feels pretty awful.”
As the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, Gojo’s strength was comprehensive.
In particular, the Limitless inherited by the Gojo clan had been developed in his hands into an all-purpose technique with virtually no weaknesses.
Gojo’s warning was sincere.
His punches were both fast and heavy.
Even a Special Grade Sorcerer like Yuta Okkotsu would have a miserable time taking them.
Luke, however, still looked eager.
“That’s fine. If I’m taking your punches, that means we’re making physical contact. In that case, your Infinity defense won’t be active, right?”
In everyday life, Gojo used Limitless to maintain an untouchable layer around his body.
Ordinary attacks aimed at him would slow more and more the closer they got, making it impossible to actually touch him.
Because of that conceptual defense, anyone who normally wanted to hit Gojo had no way of doing so.
Only during hand-to-hand training with students would Gojo deactivate Infinity and allow his body to be touched.
Hearing how interested Luke seemed in hitting him, Gojo smiled.
“I get the feeling you’re thinking something disrespectful, but whatever. A student being motivated is worth encouraging. I’ll use ten percent of my strength for your training.”
He placed both hands on his knees and stretched from side to side.
At the same time, Luke formed a hand sign and summoned Round Deer from his shadow, leaving the shikigami hidden there to continuously output healing positive energy.
He quickly entered a state of intense concentration.
Gojo gave an approving look.
“Mm. You’ve grown a lot.”
The moment he finished speaking, Luke rushed forward.
His cursed-energy-coated fist flew straight toward Gojo’s face.
Gojo’s smile remained unchanged.
He punched back.
The instant their fists collided, Luke immediately sensed the special effect attached to Gojo’s strike.
Blue.
It generated tremendous attraction.
Gojo’s Blue-enhanced punch carried not only direct destructive force, but also a powerful pulling effect.
Luke felt as though his entire body, including his vulnerable internal organs, was being dragged by Blue.
An intense discomfort surged through him.
Before he could adapt to the effect, Gojo’s lighthearted voice came.
“If you’ve got Reverse Cursed Technique healing you, then your teacher doesn’t need to hold back too much.”
Luke heard the sharp rush of air and immediately crossed both arms in front of his chest.
Bang!
The impact was heavy.
Even with cursed energy reinforcing his body, Luke felt both arms go numb.
One casual punch from Gojo carried enough force to smash a Grade 1 cursed spirit apart.
But Gojo gave him no chance to retreat, disperse the force, or catch his breath.
The attraction of Blue forcibly kept Luke close, and a third punch came crashing toward him.
At the critical moment, Luke’s eyes sharpened.
A layer of shadow-like armor instantly covered both hands, while cold blades extended from his fingertips.
It was the power of the Razor Shadowkhan, applied directly to his own body.
As Gojo shattered the shadow armor, Luke countered with a clawed swipe and tore open the skin on Gojo’s fist.
After their second exchange, Luke broke free from Blue’s control and opened several dozen meters of distance.
Gojo didn’t continue attacking.
Instead, he looked at the cut on his fist in mild surprise, thin traces of blood seeping from the wound.
“This cursed aura…”
The cut healed in the blink of an eye.
Gojo set aside some of his usual playful attitude and looked more carefully at Luke, who was now using the power of the Shadowkhan.
The cursed energy surging around Luke had become deep and cold.
Traits of an Oni General appeared across his face.
His right eye turned crimson, while blue-purple markings spread across the surrounding skin.
The shadows beneath his feet churned.
Gojo pulled half of his blindfold aside and observed Luke with the Six Eyes fully exposed.
After a moment, the strongest modern sorcerer reached a conclusion.
“I see. It’s power born from the fear of darkness. That really is quite an impressive curse.”
In the world of jujutsu, human fear could give birth to curses.
Urban legends, social pressure, volcanoes, forests, oceans, even fear of humanity itself could all produce terrifying cursed spirits.
At this moment, Gojo could confirm that the curse corresponding to the cursed-spirit characteristics within half of Luke’s body originated from one of humanity’s oldest and most universal fears.
Darkness.
Ever since prehistoric times, fear of the dark had been carved into human instinct.
Even now, humanity had never completely escaped that innate fear.
Ever since the Shadowkhan arrived in this world, their nature had allowed them to draw cursed power from humanity’s fear of darkness.
Because the curse was rooted in something so ancient, the Shadowkhan’s power and potential far exceeded that of ordinary Special Grade cursed spirits.
At minimum, it was on the level of a broad natural disaster.
A smile rose on Gojo’s lips.
“In that case, I’ll take this a little more seriously.”
He brought his hands together.
His figure disappeared from in front of Luke in an instant.
It was Gojo’s teleportation through Limitless, activated under the condition that he formed the necessary hand sign.
Its speed far surpassed the range of sound.
Gojo reappeared silently behind Luke and raised a hand, apparently intending to startle him.
Then the Six Eyes noticed something.
Within the shadows scattered across every corner of the training ground, crimson eyes had appeared.
They stared directly at Gojo, taking in even the slightest movement.
Gojo immediately understood their purpose.
As expected, Luke shared vision with the Shadowkhan.
He instantly detected Gojo teleporting behind him.
Shadow spread over both of Luke’s arms, turning them pitch black. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He twisted his waist and hips, then drove an elbow viciously toward Gojo.
Bang!
Gojo caught the elbow firmly with one hand.
Luke had detected his Blue-based teleportation, but Gojo’s enormous cursed-energy output meant that even without relying on cursed technique effects, his physical combat ability remained extremely powerful.
He had overwhelming mechanics and overwhelming raw stats.
Holding Luke’s arm in one hand, Gojo threw another Blue-enhanced punch.
He even gave him a friendly warning.
“This one’s going to hurt.”
Luke immediately sensed that Gojo had increased the cursed-energy output behind this punch.
Its destructive force would far surpass any of the previous strikes.
He couldn’t take it head-on.
Luke’s gaze sharpened as the shadows beneath his feet surged.
The instant Gojo attacked, dozens of Razor Shadowkhan claws burst out from the darkness, weaving into a dense cutting net aimed at Gojo’s lower body.
The attack carried enough destructive power to tear apart a Special Grade cursed spirit.
The Six Eyes immediately detected the assault coming from below.
“Oh? So you can use your ability like this too.”
Gojo remained completely calm.
The blue light gathered around his fist instantly shifted into a deep red.
This was an extremely difficult jujutsu technique that, among the current students and staff of Jujutsu High, only Gojo had mastered.
By feeding positive energy into his cursed technique, its effect underwent a complete reversal.
The attractive force of Blue abruptly transformed into a power that repelled everything.
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
A miniature deep-red sphere shot toward the shadow beneath his feet.
The powerful repulsive force instantly destroyed the slashing claws of the Razor Shadowkhan.
Luke was blasted away along with them.
After landing, Luke felt pain throughout his entire body.
Even though Gojo had deliberately controlled the output, wounds were visible all over him.
“So this is the effect of reversal…”
Luke’s eyes flickered as he recalled the process by which Gojo had produced Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
At the same time, the completely unharmed Gojo teleported in front of him.
Looking at Luke’s battered state, Gojo defended himself in an innocent tone.
“You’re okay, right? I already held back a lot, but Red’s destructive power is at least twice that of Blue.”
Luke’s mouth twitched.
If you know you can’t control the minimum output, then don’t use it…
Still, the fight wasn’t over.
From within Luke’s shadow, Round Deer released Reverse Cursed Technique.
The injuries across Luke’s body rapidly healed.
Being hurt hadn’t made him want to retreat.
Instead, it stirred up an even stronger desire to fight.
“We’re not done yet.”