An Incomplete Domain?

"It looks like this kid isn't some ordinary person who knows nothing about Jujutsu Society. With fighting skills like that... he should have no trouble getting out alive if he were alone."

Standing in a tree a short distance away and watching the battle below, Suguru Geto raised an eyebrow and sighed with a look of compassion.

"Too bad he's got a monkey dragging him down."

"Geto, don't turn into one of those old fossils who criticize young people's growth and keep getting in their way!"

Satoru Gojo vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was beside Suguru Geto, crushing a mud-like cursed spirit the other man had released.

"I just couldn't resist lending a hand."

Suguru Geto's smile remained unchanged. He wasn't surprised that his little trick had been exposed.

They were in a busy downtown area, during the busiest hours of the day. Even Satoru Gojo, who often "forgot" to put up a Curtain, wouldn't capriciously do nothing under these circumstances.

So the moment he spotted this Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, Satoru Gojo had placed a Curtain over the backyard.

This kind of barrier effectively prevented anyone outside from seeing what happened within.

Satoru Gojo was completely confident that he could save the two kids below if they were in danger, so he had simply trapped both the older boy and the little girl inside the barrier as well.

After all, if they ran outside and tried to evacuate the crowd, it would only cause unnecessary trouble.

Suguru Geto naturally knew that he couldn't hide his little trick from Satoru Gojo. He also knew that with the "strongest" here, the two kids below were in no danger whatsoever, but he had done it anyway.

He merely wanted to make his stance clear and remind his friend of the "righteous cause" he had now chosen.

"Those with ability, those with strength, are born with a duty to protect the weak."

Those decidedly un-Gojo-like words came from Satoru Gojo's mouth. Looking at Suguru Geto before him, he wanted to try once more, perhaps for the last time.

"Geto, that's what you once taught me."

"I also told you, Satoru, that I realized I'd been on the wrong path." Suguru Geto's gaze was firm and unwavering. "Kill all ordinary people and create a world of only jujutsu sorcerers. That's my [righteous cause] now."

His gaze shifted to the boy fighting below.

"Ordinary people create cursed spirits, forcing jujutsu sorcerers to face danger for them, yet they don't feel the slightest gratitude. They're useless and so disgusting they make me sick-just like everything happening down there."

The boy wielding the cursed tool seemed to have received some training, but every indication suggested that he had only learned some ordinary self-defense techniques, rather than how to truly fight.

Still, the kid had talent. In just a few minutes of combat, he had already improved rapidly.

Just as Suguru Geto had said, if he hadn't been protecting that little girl, he could at least have escaped unscathed, even if he couldn't kill the cursed spirit.

Instead, protecting her had left him covered in injuries.

"Come to think of it, I might be partly responsible for that."

Satoru Gojo tapped his right fist into his left palm, looking as though realization had just dawned on him.

"He tried to get that little girl to run outside earlier, didn't he? But she couldn't because of my Curtain?"

That was why the boy had been forced to fight while protecting her.

Suguru Geto: "..."

-You only just noticed?

Suguru Geto shook his head speechlessly. When it came to being ridiculous, Satoru Gojo hadn't changed at all.

Of course, with him here, this incident would definitely be resolved, so Geto wasn't worried.

What kept Suguru Geto here was his curiosity about that boy.

He seemed to know something about Jujutsu Society without being particularly familiar with it. He possessed vast cursed energy and considerable combat talent. Perhaps he could become "family."

As for his beliefs...

Hadn't Suguru Geto himself once been a jujutsu sorcerer who believed in "righteous principles" and protected ordinary people?

As long as the boy came to understand the truth of the world and how disgusting the monkeys were, he might accept Geto's ideals.

Suguru Geto hated monkeys, but he was very tolerant and patient with jujutsu sorcerers, especially young children.

He wanted to see the kid's potential.

Although the boy might win if this battle of attrition continued, would things really be that simple?

Aikawa Kaze felt that he was truly unlucky.

His original plan had been to hold off the cursed spirit himself while Sakura escaped, warned everyone to evacuate, and called the police.

In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, the authorities were bound to have a way to contact Jujutsu Society. Even if he couldn't kill the cursed spirit, he only needed to hold out until help arrived.

Sakura had obediently run off to call the police after realizing she couldn't help.

What he hadn't expected was that Sakura couldn't get out!

"A barrier? A Curtain? No, that can't be right. I don't see anyone else here!"

Aikawa Kaze looked up and only then noticed that the sky had darkened. It did look a little like a Curtain.

But if another jujutsu sorcerer were here, shouldn't they come rescue the hostages and then exorcise the cursed spirit?

Having only watched the anime and learned the basics without digging deeper, he spoke uncertainly. After looking around and finding no sign of help, he frowned.

"Could it be an incomplete domain?"

He remembered that powerful jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits could deploy domains. Apart from their distinct abilities, these also produced an effect similar to a barrier.

He guessed it was unfinished because he figured he would probably already be dead if it were a complete domain.

With no other choice, he could only fight while protecting Sakura.

Fortunately, this cursed spirit's special ability was creating clones. The slime-like creature could split off part of its body to form a separate cursed spirit.

Its weakness was also obvious, however. The strength of each separated spirit depended on the size of the portion used to make it, and creating a clone weakened the main body accordingly.

The clone-making monster had initially tried to use this method to ambush Sakura, but he had stopped it.

The Jewel Sword couldn't cleave the cursed spirit's main body in a single stroke, but dealing with those little offshoots was easy. Destroying them also weakened and injured the main body.

By his estimate, the cursed spirit, which had originally stood nearly three stories tall, was now only two and a half stories tall.

Aikawa Kaze couldn't help feeling a little more confident.

If this keeps up, I can win!

During the battle, he had instinctively grasped how to reinforce himself with cursed energy. His control had been clumsy at first, but he gradually found his stride as the fight went on.

That was also why Aikawa Kaze had abandoned the idea of using that unreliable cursed technique.

After all, who knew what would appear if he used Heroic Spirit Summoning now? If he summoned a plate of mapo tofu, was he supposed to stuff it into the cursed spirit's mouth and burn it to death with the spice?

Not only would it be useless, it would waste cursed energy. He was better off saving that energy to reinforce himself!

He thought he could keep wearing it down.

The separated cursed spirits could be dealt with in two or three sword strikes. If the main body attacked directly, it couldn't split off clones to ambush Sakura without sacrificing its own strength, leaving him free to dodge and strike.

After he whittled the cursed spirit down from two and a half stories tall to two stories, the creature, which wasn't very intelligent but still had some brains, realized that its "Spirit Sea" tactics weren't working. At this rate, it would be exorcised.

The eyes scattered across its body swiveled, as though it had made some decision.

Every nerve in Aikawa Kaze's body suddenly went taut. His instincts warned him that something bad was happening.

Sure enough, the cursed spirit did something different. The portion of its body wrapped around Ryomen Sukuna's finger gradually pushed the finger deeper inside itself.

Aikawa Kaze: !!!

Ryomen Sukuna's finger was a Special Grade Cursed Object that could strengthen cursed spirits, but hadn't this one been carrying it all along?

Baffled, Aikawa Kaze watched its movements warily, unsure what was happening.

He had assumed that the incomplete domain here probably existed because this cursed spirit was carrying Lord Sukuna's finger. But what was this supposed to be?

"Wait, was it only [carrying] it before, and now this cursed spirit is about to [swallow] it?"

He knew that only Yuji had accomplished that feat. Did this cursed spirit want a taste too?

What would happen if a cursed spirit swallowed Ryomen Sukuna's finger?

Would it burst apart? Evolve? Or would Ryomen Sukuna return?

"-"

An indescribable scream echoed through the air. Under an immense sense of pressure, Aikawa Kaze watched with his hair standing on end as the huge mass of cursed spirit twisted and exploded, its fragments scattering before dissolving into dust.

Through the smoke, some figure seemed to be laughing wildly.

"Hahahahahahaha-"

"To think there was a cursed spirit foolish enough to swallow my finger... hahahaha, how delightful!"

"Oh? There's even a little girl and a boy. They look delicious. Wonderful! Hahahahaha!!!!"

"Mmph..."

Sakura covered her mouth with both hands, desperately holding back her tears, but her body wouldn't stop trembling.

She tried her hardest to make herself less noticeable, not wanting to cause trouble for Hefeng, but her instincts told her that the monster behind the smoke was terrifying. She would die! She would be eaten!

"Damn it..."

Aikawa Kaze hadn't expected anything like this to happen. Wasn't Yuji, with the body Brain had painstakingly selected and engineered, supposed to be the only one who could allow Sukuna's incarnation?

Or perhaps this apparent "Sukuna" had no physical body and had merely absorbed the cursed spirit's power, allowing him to appear briefly.

Either way, there was no room for hesitation now.

"It's okay, Sakura. I'll get you out of here. I promise."

This was no time to hesitate. Whatever form his opponent existed in, he was far beyond anything Aikawa Kaze could fight. His only option now was to gamble again.

Aikawa Kaze took the summoning circle he had drawn in advance out of his pocket.

A short distance away, Satoru Gojo, noticing the unexpected development, raised his hand slightly, then suddenly lowered it again.

"You're not stepping in?"

"No rush. I have a feeling we're about to see something interesting."

Satoru Gojo rubbed his chin and looked thoughtfully at the boy.

He was certain the boy possessed a cursed technique, but even the Six Eyes couldn't fully discern what it was. That made it very intriguing.

Suguru Geto looked at the cursed spirit.

He hadn't cared whether he captured the original weak one. After all, its cloning ability had too great a drawback and didn't seem particularly useful.

This cursed spirit, however, was rather interesting.

His Cursed Spirit Manipulation could subjugate cursed spirits for his own use, and this one seemed promising. Special grade cursed spirits weren't something one could find whenever one wanted!

Judging by the situation, the boy still seemed to believe he could put up a fight against this suddenly appeared "Special Grade."

What gave him that confidence? His cursed technique?

For Satoru to say that, he couldn't have fully seen through it either, could he?