Four Giant Black Rocks hurtled toward Satoru Gojo from four directions at once.
Satoru Gojo regained his composure. Although he was startled by how many variations Tan Man could use, he spoke with disdain.
"Useless. These things can't hurt me."
The Head of the Gojo Clan and the Head of the Kamo Clan, who were watching the fight, were both shocked. They recognized at a glance that the Eight Hot Hells was a rare cursed technique with multiple abilities.
"The Zenin Clan can produce a cursed technique of this caliber besides the Ten Shadows Technique?"
The Head of the Kamo Clan spoke with mixed feelings.
But Tan Man ignored Satoru Gojo. Instead, he made sure the four black rocks formed a sealed enclosure, with Corpse's enormous hand serving as the lid. It did not matter if they could not crush Satoru Gojo; that was exactly what he had expected.
The container and lid were both in place. All that remained was to carry out Tan Man's plan-the method that could kill Satoru Gojo without breaking through his defenses.
The black flame representing the Black Rope became shackles binding Equal Lives and Sanghata Hell together. Then the enormous mass of black flame erupted into a raging blaze.
What Tan Man intended to do was suffocate Satoru Gojo with the burning black flame.
After all, the essence of Limitless was not creation. It merely controlled the gap between the user and the outside world, extending it to infinity, but the matter within that gap did not increase just because it was infinite.
Even if the burning black flame could not consume the air within Satoru Gojo's Limitless, as long as it prevented him from obtaining fresh air, his supply would eventually run out.
The Satoru Gojo of the future might have been able to channel cursed energy into Reverse Cursed Technique to keep his body alive, but his eight-year-old self absolutely could not!
Most of those present did not understand what Tan Man was doing. They simply thought he was wasting his effort.
After all, neither physical compression nor flames could penetrate Limitless. Unless he could break through Limitless, everything he did was meaningless.
But the Head of the Gojo Clan frowned. Flames and an enclosed space-he had realized what Tan Man was trying to do.
For the moment, however, he did nothing and merely watched.
This was only a contest between children, after all, and Satoru Gojo had not lost yet. Just because Tan Man had thought of this method did not mean he could guarantee that Satoru Gojo would be unable to break out.
But Naobito Zenin noticed every change in the Head of the Gojo Clan's expression.
At first, he did not understand why the man had reacted to Tan Man's meaningless attacks. Only after thinking it through carefully did he make the connection: anyone who could not breathe would die, and even the Six Eyes was no exception.
Naobito Zenin marveled at Tan Man's ingenious idea. Was this really a plan that a six-year-old could devise?
Even if he had been told about Satoru Gojo's cursed technique beforehand, wasn't his ability to put that information into practice a little too extraordinary?
Inside the cage, Satoru Gojo still had plenty of oxygen within Limitless and had yet to grasp Tan Man's intentions. Even so, he instinctively began destroying the black rocks, intending to escape.
Outside, Tan Man noticed this as well. But the black flame already covered a wide enough area that, even if the cage suffered some damage now, Satoru Gojo would still be unable to obtain fresh air.
Corpse possessed limitless regenerative abilities. By contrast, although the black rocks were much harder, their inability to repair themselves made them the likelier escape point.
Tan Man had accounted for this too, so he immediately put his countermeasure into action.
"Crushing Kill." "Crush." "Mutual Slaughter." "Great Hell of Crushing."
As Sanghata Hell was unleashed again, an enormous rock appeared directly above Satoru Gojo's cage and plummeted at a terrifying speed.
With a thunderous boom, it smashed the ground open and drove the entire cage into the earth, making the earth itself a fixed part of Satoru Gojo's prison.
By now, Ogi, Toji, Jinichi, and the other elite fighters had all realized what Tan Man was doing.
They also understood why Tan Man persisted with attacks that could not kill Satoru Gojo.
Jinichi and Ogi stood some distance from Naobito Zenin. Jinichi spoke softly, in a voice only Ogi could hear.
"Is he trying to kill the Six Eyes?"
Ogi noticed the two trails of blood slowly running from Tan Man's nose and answered with a frown.
"That would require him to keep this up long enough. This is already his fourth time unleashing his cursed technique. Unless he still has the strength to continue using it at this intensity, it's only a matter of time before the Six Eyes brat breaks free."
Jinichi rubbed his chin and continued.
"I underestimated him before. I never imagined there was a method like this. If the Six Eyes really..."
Given the occasion, Jinichi left the rest unsaid. But Ogi understood what he meant and immediately contradicted him.
"Impossible. If it actually came to that, they wouldn't just stand by and watch. They're keeping their composure now because they know this alone isn't enough. If we truly wanted that outcome, that brat's efforts alone wouldn't suffice. We'd have to make a choice too."
Ogi was genuinely considering the possibility of stepping in to stop the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan if Tan Man really could drive Satoru Gojo to his death.
A curtain had already been raised over the hotel far from the city, preventing ordinary monkeys from wandering inside.
[Given the limitations of the era, there was no need to worry about electronic devices.]
Ogi suddenly wondered where Tan Man's ruthlessness came from. After all, his father, Naobito Zenin, could never be so decisive in matters like this.
Ogi also had to admit that Tan Man and Naoya were on entirely different levels. Suddenly, he even found himself wanting to root for Tan Man.
Just then, Satoru Gojo's shout rang out from the cage imprisoning him.
"Phase." "Twilight." "Wisdom Eyes." "Blue!"
Under Tan Man's relentless pressure, Satoru Gojo unleashed Blue at one hundred percent of his current power to break out.
An enormous sphere of brilliant blue light instantly appeared above the cage, violently drawing in the giant rocks, Corpse, and the black flame.
The black flame it drew in covered Blue's original azure radiance, making it resemble a black sun.
The enormous Corpse still tried to swing his massive leg and attack Satoru Gojo.
But Satoru Gojo took control of Blue and hurled it straight at Tan Man.
"You think you can beat me with this garbage!"
Everything was still proceeding according to Tan Man's calculations. He had been waiting for Satoru Gojo to focus all his attention on attacking, because only then would he lower his defenses.
Tan Man stared with his bloodshot Golden Eyes. Splitting his attention to activate and control Evil Eye, he gritted his teeth and chanted in a low voice.
"Boiling." "Scorching." "Mournful Wailing." "Great Wailing Hell."
Before you continue