[You did not waste so much as a second on the athletic field.]
[After confirming that Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto had been thoroughly stunned for the moment by your theory of "Domain Expansion" and had sunk into thought, you turned without hesitation, headed straight for the Restricted Storehouse deep within Jujutsu High, and stepped onto the dark staircase leading to the Tombs of the Star Corridor.]
[By your reckoning, the usual "Star Plasma Vessel" escort incident would come next.]
[Only this time, you did not intend to follow the original course of events, handling Riko Amanai's protection first and then facing Tengen.]
[You intended to reverse that order outright, first "persuading" Tengen at the source and completely eliminating the need for assimilation.]
[As for the Star Plasma Vessel, going through the motions afterward would be enough.]
[In theory, as the heart of the barriers of Japan's entire Jujutsu Society, the Tombs of the Star Corridor boasted virtually absolute defenses.]
[Under normal circumstances, anyone Tengen did not permit an audience would be firmly blocked by an enormous labyrinth of countless nested "Emptiness Barriers," constantly shifting without any pattern, and would forever lose their way in its empty white halls.]
[But to you now, this hardly counted as an obstacle.]
[During your previous simulated life, you had spent decades dismantling and studying Tengen's vaunted barrier techniques, inch by inch.]
[The barrier nodes that appeared unpredictable to others were as plainly visible to you as the house numbers in your own backyard.]
[When you passed through layer upon layer of space with practiced familiarity and finally set foot in that pure-white space stripped of all color and sense of direction, you had already spotted the figure standing in the void.]
[That was "Tengen," whose body at this moment had come infinitely close