Thunder and Limitless (2)

"Get ready, Six Eyes."

Kashimo tightened his grip on the Ruyi Staff again. The two purple markings at the corners of his eyes glimmered with faint lightning, as though something were flowing inside them. His cursed energy grew increasingly wild, the presence of thunder rampaging through the forest clearing until even the moonlight seemed to tremble.

Gojo Arashi frowned.

The next instant, he raised his hand.

"Blue."

The moment that single word fell, the surrounding air abruptly warped.

A powerful suction erupted from Gojo Arashi's palm. The surrounding trees seemed to be wrenched by an invisible giant hand, their trunks groaning under the strain as branches and leaves scattered. Loose stones and soil surged toward him all at once.

Boom-

A great tree was uprooted, twisting into splinters in midair.

But Kashimo was outside its range.

He had already started moving the instant the suction erupted. Planting the Ruyi Staff against the ground, he propelled himself forward, his figure trailing afterimages beneath the moonlight. His movements followed no pattern, veering left and right, speeding up and slowing down, keeping Blue's pull from ever locking onto him.

Gojo Arashi's gaze tracked him, his Six Eyes capturing every movement.

Too fast.

And completely unpredictable.

Just then, Kashimo flicked his wrist.

The Ruyi Staff left his hand, flying straight toward Gojo Arashi.

Again?

Gojo Arashi's pupils contracted slightly, his gaze instinctively following the staff.

He saw it.

The instant Kashimo vanished from where he stood.

The next instant.

"What-!"

Gojo Arashi's eyes widened.

That fist was already in front of him. Just as before, it was coated in that vibrating layer of cursed energy, Domain Amplification still in effect. The barrier of Limitless was neutralized once again, and the punch passed through the transparent wall, slamming squarely into his face.

Thud!

A dull impact.

Gojo Arashi pitched backward, blood instantly pouring from his nose and spattering his white lapels.

But Kashimo did not stop.

The second punch followed the first. The same spot, the same force, the same Limitless neutralized by Domain Amplification.

Boom!

Gojo Arashi's mind went blank for a moment.

Two punches.

Kashimo withdrew his hand, landed, and steadied himself. Watching the white-robed man stagger backward, he curled his lips slightly.

Through the contact of his blows, he injected negative charge into his opponent's body.

Three points of contact, and the charge would be full.

Detonate it from within.

That was what allowed him to become the strongest.

His edge.

Gojo Arashi felt anger flare in his chest.

He, the Six Eyes of his generation, was being toyed with by some brat who had crawled out of nowhere and proclaimed himself the strongest. Two punches. Two solid punches had struck his face, struck the Limitless he took such pride in-and that was supposed to be an absolute defense.

He raised his hand.

"Blue-"

Cursed energy surged wildly, and the surrounding air warped again. This time, he was not testing the waters. He was going all out.

"Maximum output."

An enormous suction abruptly erupted, several times more violent than before. The surrounding trees were uprooted, the ground split apart, and loose stones and soil rushed toward Gojo Arashi like a raging torrent.

Kashimo darted away, trying to repeat his earlier trick.

But the next instant, his pupils narrowed slightly.

Gojo Arashi was not at the center of Blue.

The white-robed figure had already broken away from the core of the suction, charging straight toward him along the path he had taken to evade its pull.

"So you're going on the offensive now?"

Kashimo narrowed his eyes.

Just one more.

As long as I land one more hit, inject negative charge one more time...

Gojo Arashi's fist was already before him.

Kashimo raised his hand to block. The two figures crossed beneath the moonlight, their fists and feet colliding with dull impacts. But at the instant they came closest-

Gojo Arashi raised his other hand.

"Blue."

Instant activation.

Kashimo felt a tremendous force strike from the side, and that suction hurled him away. His body tumbled through the air, snapping several branches before slamming hard into a large tree.

The trunk shuddered violently, leaves scattering everywhere.

Gojo Arashi stood where he was, breathing hard and staring at the figure he had sent flying. His nose was still bleeding. He casually wiped it with one hand, his gaze terrifyingly dark.

But a second later, his expression changed.

Kashimo planted both feet against the trunk and shot back toward him like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Beneath the moonlight, the face marked with purple still wore a smile.

"You've still got a long way to go-"

The Ruyi Staff crashed down, wreathed in lightning.

Gojo Arashi raised his arms to block, but the blow was far too heavy. His body sank uncontrollably, the ground beneath his feet cracking as he staggered back two steps.

Before he could regain his footing-

"Blue."

Another blast.

Kashimo had only just landed when the suction seized him again. Like a kite with its string cut, he tumbled into the distance. With a thunderous crash, his back slammed into a boulder, a dense web of cracks spreading across its surface as stone fragments rained down.

Dust filled the air.

Gojo Arashi stood where he was, breathing hard. His nose was still bleeding, the punch to his abdomen still throbbed, and the spot on his face where he had been struck had already swollen. But he had no time to worry about any of that.

He stared into the dust.

His Six Eyes pierced the haze and saw the man getting up.

"...Fully charged already."

Kashimo's voice drifted out of the dust, sounding almost satisfied.

He rose from the rubble and brushed the dust off himself. His white clothes were dirty and his hair was disheveled, but his eyes remained bright. He was even smiling.

Gojo Arashi's brow furrowed deeply.

Kashimo was far tougher than he had imagined.

That last Blue had been instantaneous, unleashed at such close range that he had taken the full impact. An ordinary sorcerer would have been lying on the ground, unable to get up by now. But him? He stood up, brushed off the dust, and acted as though nothing had happened.

And then there was his hand-to-hand combat.

That leap back from the tree-was that really something a human could do?

Gojo Arashi's Six Eyes swept over Kashimo's entire body, searching for traces of his cursed technique. Nothing. There was no cursed technique at all. From beginning to end, this man had used nothing but pure hand-to-hand combat and cursed energy.

He had not used his cursed technique even once.

Why?

Did he not need it, or was he waiting for something?

Beneath the moonlight, the two men stared at each other from a dozen or so paces apart.

Kashimo rolled his shoulders, his joints cracking. As he looked at Gojo Arashi, his smile deepened a little.

Gojo Arashi raised his hand, cursed energy beginning to gather.

A maximum-output Blue would erupt in the next instant.

But Kashimo's voice reached his ears first.

"I say...let's end this here."

Gojo Arashi froze.

Not because of those words.

But because he had seen it.

Beneath the moonlight, a faint connection had appeared between him and Kashimo at some unknown point. Blue and thin as a strand of hair, it resembled the trail of an electric current through the air. One end was attached to him, the other to the smiling man opposite him.

When-

Snap.

A sharp crack, as soft as someone snapping their fingers.

Gojo Arashi lowered his head.

His chest had exploded.

It was not a wound. It had exploded. Flesh, shattered bone, and fragments of his heart burst into a crimson mist beneath the moonlight. Most of his chest had been hollowed out. Through that enormous hole, the trees behind him were visible, along with the moon between their shadows.

"...!"

He tried to speak, but only blood poured from his mouth.

His azure eyes opened wide, staring in disbelief at his vanished chest before slowly lifting toward the man with white clothes and blue hair standing a few steps away.

Kashimo watched him without expression.

"You're just like all those others."

His voice was calm, as though he were stating a fact.

"Nothing but a bunch of people with a few half-baked tricks."

Through the enormous wound in Gojo Arashi's chest, the moonlit woods behind him were visible.

Gojo Arashi swayed.

He had not fallen yet. The bearer of the Six Eyes, the current Head of the Gojo Clan-those azure eyes were still open, still watching Kashimo.

Kashimo looked at him.

Then-

He raised the Ruyi Staff, aiming at that white-haired head.

Thud.

The staff came down.

The dull impact echoed through the night air.

Gojo Arashi finally collapsed, his white clothes stained with blood, his white hair scattered in the mud. His azure eyes remained open, staring at the moon overhead, but there was nothing left in them.

The Six Eyes of the Modern Era.

Gojo Arashi.

Dead?