"What... unfortunate timing."
Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the branches, scattering patches of silver-white across the forest clearing.
Kashimo stood still, his staff resting on his shoulder.
He watched the white-haired man in white across from him, watched those azure eyes glimmering in the darkness. The Six Eyes were studying him. He could feel the subtle discomfort of being seen through, inside and out.
"...You're Kashimo, right?"
Gojo Arashi spoke first. His tone sounded casual, as though he were greeting an acquaintance on the street. But his body remained still. He hadn't even taken a stance.
Not because he didn't want to.
Because he couldn't.
Through his Six Eyes, he saw violent cursed energy filling the space within a meter of the man opposite him. It surged and crackled like thunder, almost solid enough to touch, enveloping Kashimo completely.
When third-rate sorcerers attacked, cursed energy surfaced over their bodies, making the trajectory obvious at a glance.
First-rate sorcerers could conceal their cursed energy well, revealing it only at the instant they struck.
But this man...
He wasn't concealing his cursed energy at all.
Or rather, he had no need to. That thunderous cursed energy was part of him, as natural as breathing, as constant as a heartbeat.
Gojo Arashi's pupils contracted slightly.
Whatever angle Kashimo attacked from, his Six Eyes could catch it. Of that, he was certain. But seeing an attack and stopping it were two different things.
"Yeah."
Kashimo finally answered. He took the Ruyi Staff off his shoulder, casually planted it on the ground, and tilted his head as he sized up Gojo Arashi.
"The Head of the Gojo Clan?"
"That's right."
Gojo Arashi's lips curved into a smile fainter than the moonlight.
"I've heard a great deal about you," he said. "The Strongest of the Modern Era, Kashimo."
"You're too kind." Kashimo smiled too. "The Six Eyes of the Modern Era, Gojo Arashi."
They stared at each other from a dozen or so paces apart.
The night breeze swept up a few fallen leaves, sending them spiraling between the two men.
"Your Limitless can't defend automatically yet, can it?"
Kashimo's voice fell into the night. The breeze kept blowing around them.
Gojo Arashi didn't answer.
Moonlight shone on his face, catching the gravity that flashed through his azure eyes. Across from him, cursed energy continued to surge violently, its thunderous presence pressing closer inch by inch.
I can't.
I really can't.
The "automatic defense of Limitless" recorded in ancient texts required honing the technique to its absolute peak, engraving every thread of cursed energy into instinct-he was still far from that.
Watching his silence, Kashimo's lips lifted slightly.
He took the Ruyi Staff off his shoulder and held it in his hand.
Since it isn't fully automatic yet-
Then I'll finish him here.
Gojo Arashi's pupils contracted.
He stepped forward.
It wasn't an attack, but an instinctive response. His Six Eyes caught the change in that instant: the cursed energy around Kashimo abruptly contracted, like the stillness before a storm.
The next second.
Bang!
The ground beneath Kashimo's feet exploded, and he shot in front of Gojo Arashi like a cannonball.
The Ruyi Staff swept toward him, wreathed in thunderous cursed energy.
Gojo Arashi didn't dodge.
The staff stopped an inch in front of him. It hadn't been blocked; it was as though it had plunged into an invisible mire. Some unseen presence weakened that savage force layer by layer, until it dissipated completely before touching his clothes.
Kashimo raised an eyebrow.
Before he could withdraw the staff, he followed with a side kick aimed straight at Gojo Arashi's waist.
The same result.
An inch again.
That inch was an impassable chasm, keeping all his force on the other side.
Kashimo didn't linger. He smoothly drew his leg back and retreated at speed, putting ten paces between them in an instant. Standing in the moonlight, he stared at the white-haired man in white and grinned.
"Just as I thought..."
He spun the Ruyi Staff once in his hand.
"Limitless is a pain."
Gojo Arashi stayed where he was, without pursuing.
Not because he didn't want to. Those two strikes might have looked as though he had simply stood still, but they had actually forced his technique to its limit. The staff and kick had come too fast for thought. He could only crank Limitless up to its maximum on instinct.
A fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead.
But it didn't show in the moonlight.
"Your speed is a pain too," Gojo Arashi said, his tone still languid. "I almost didn't stop you."
"Almost?" Kashimo tilted his head. "So I didn't hit you."
They stared at each other.
The night breeze kept blowing.
Kashimo tightened his grip on the staff.
Those two strikes hadn't been probes. He had genuinely meant to hit him. If he could eliminate the Six Eyes here, everything afterward would be much simpler. Unfortunately...
This Limitless crap is even nastier than I thought.
Only an inch away.
And I just can't get past that inch.
Gojo Arashi remained still too.
He was waiting.
Waiting for Kashimo to reveal an opening, for a gap in the flow of his cursed energy. His Six Eyes saw it clearly: the thunder surrounding the man remained violent, but after every attack, there was an almost imperceptible pause.
If I can catch that pause...
Kashimo suddenly smiled.
"Thinking of catching me off guard?"
Gojo Arashi's pupils contracted.
"...You can see through me?"
"A guess." Kashimo slung the staff over his shoulder. "But that look on your face just told me I was right."
Silence.
The moonlight grew brighter.
The distant bustle of the festival drifted faintly over, but in this forest clearing, there was only the breathing of two men and the rustle of the night breeze through the leaves.
Kashimo didn't attack again.
Neither did Gojo Arashi.
They simply stared at each other from a dozen or so paces apart, as though waiting for something-or for nothing at all.
Both knew this fight wouldn't be decided anytime soon.
Kashimo's mind kept working.
The man in white still stood where he was, the Limitless technique enclosing him like a transparent shell. The Six Eyes were fixed on Kashimo, their twin gleams seeming capable of seeing straight through his bones.
Without a domain, it looks like I can't do anything to Gojo Arashi.
Kashimo quickly ran through his current options again. Hollow Wicker Basket could only neutralize a domain's effects when his opponent used Domain Expansion. Cursed tools? Forget it. Who knew what forgotten corner the Inverted Spear of Heaven was lying in right now?
That left only one option.
Domain Amplification.
He had seen the concept while reading manga in his previous life: wearing a domain like clothing and using its boundary to neutralize an opponent's cursed technique. He roughly remembered the principle, but putting it into practice...
(Consider this a refresher: Domain Amplification has nothing to do with Domain Expansion. It is an advanced form of cursed energy manipulation and also a type of barrier technique. By wrapping cursed energy around the entire body like water, the user forms an empty domain, then allows the opponent's cursed technique to enter it, thereby neutralizing the technique.)
He had never tried it.
Kashimo grinned.
Doesn't matter. I'm a hands-on guy anyway.
With a flick of his wrist, he released the Ruyi Staff, sending it flying straight toward Gojo Arashi.
Gojo Arashi's gaze instinctively followed the staff for an instant-
Now.
Kashimo vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he was in front of Gojo Arashi.
He drove a punch forward.
Gojo Arashi reacted quickly. Limitless activated almost instinctively, and that transparent barrier once again stood before the oncoming fist.
But this time, something was wrong.
Something had changed.
A faint layer of cursed energy covered Kashimo's fist. It seemed alive, vibrating with an extremely minute tremor. When the Limitless barrier met that layer of cursed energy, instead of repelling it as before, it...
Was neutralized.
Like ice meeting fire, like darkness meeting light.
The punch passed through the barrier and slammed squarely into Gojo Arashi's abdomen.
"Gah-!"
Gojo Arashi doubled over violently, spittle bursting uncontrollably from his mouth. His eyes went wide, those azure irises filled with disbelief.
Was he that fast?
No, it wasn't speed. It was teleportation. How did he do that?
And...
Why did my Limitless... stop working?
Having landed his strike, Kashimo didn't overreach. He smoothly retreated, opening the distance, and stood in the moonlight watching the man clutching his abdomen.
His lips slowly curved upward.
It worked.
Domain Amplification. Wrap an empty domain around myself and use its boundary to neutralize a cursed technique based on the concept of space. In theory, that should prevent me from using my innate cursed technique, but-
My lightning never came from an innate cursed technique.
It was a property of his cursed energy. A part of his body. Thunder itself, capable of tearing through the atmosphere.
Kashimo took his stance again.
That should solve the problem.
Before you continue