The double-domain brothers have entered the battle room

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"

Sukuna's voice rang out from the dust, and the enormous shrine descended upon the battlefield once more.

The monitoring room erupted again.

"How is that possible? How did Sukuna recover from technique burnout so quickly?!"

Itadori stared in disbelief.

"Nothing impossible about it..." Kusakabe frowned deeply, narrowing his eyes. "There's no doubt Sukuna also used Reverse Cursed Technique to repair his burnout."

"As for why he could do it, if I had to say, it's probably because Satoru Gojo showed him that move..."

On the battlefield, Sukuna, who had seized the initiative, stood atop the shrine with his hands forming a sign, looking down on Satoru Gojo as slashes swallowed him in an instant.

Yet a familiar scene played out once more.

"Simple Domain!"

Frosting Blast descended immediately afterward, and Satoru Gojo was fresh from the factory once again.

For the third time, he formed the Indra Hand Sign:

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void!"

The familiar basketball-sized domain, the familiar three minutes.

And the familiar simultaneous collapse of both domains.

But this time, in the hand-to-hand fight inside the domains, Sukuna was clearly at a disadvantage.

His left arm was twisted at a grotesque angle, and half his face was a bloody mess.

Facing the still overwhelmingly formidable strongest of the modern era, Sukuna realized one thing with perfect clarity:

I can't keep dragging this out...

Reverse Cursed Technique began to work, and Sukuna's injuries gradually healed.

You're no longer Megumi Fushiguro's shadow... hurry and make me fall in love with you...

In the darkness, the golden wheel slowly began to turn...

The two on the battlefield formed hand signs at the same time once again.

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void!"

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"

Watching a scene almost identical to the one from moments ago, Yuta Okkotsu and Hiromi Higuruma suddenly noticed something in the monitoring room...

"Just now..." The corners of Okkotsu's mouth rose slightly without his noticing.

"That's right...!" Higuruma confirmed.

Watching the two play off each other, Hakari asked impatiently, "What happened?!"

"Maybe..." The curve of Okkotsu's lips became a hopeful smile. "I mean, maybe..."

"Gojo-sensei's Domain Expansion was a little faster than Sukuna's...?"

"Maybe because he was using Reverse Cursed Technique to repair his physical injuries, Sukuna was a step slower to repair his burnout!"

Just as Okkotsu had noticed, inside the domain barrier, Sukuna had already been affected by Unlimited Void and fallen into a brief daze.

And in that very instant, Satoru Gojo's knife-hand struck through Sukuna's chest once again.

Without a doubt, Satoru Gojo had won.

The shrine of Malevolent Shrine collapsed with a thunderous crash inside Unlimited Void's barrier.

And that meant Sukuna would be directly exposed to Unlimited Void's sure-hit effect.

But at that critical moment...

The golden Dharma Wheel in the darkness finally completed its rotation.

"Furube, Yurayura, Eight-Handled Sword, Divergent Sila Divine General!"

Mahoraga, the strongest Shikigami that represented the pinnacle of the Ten Shadows Technique, appeared before Satoru Gojo in an instant.

Though Satoru Gojo was slightly surprised, he quickly formulated a response in his mind.

Mahoraga was also exposed to Unlimited Void's attack right now. As long as he took it down in one blow before it adapted...

But before Satoru Gojo could act, Mahoraga raised the Sword of Extermination on his right arm high, then drove it viciously into the ground beneath him.

In an instant, Unlimited Void's barrier collapsed completely.

Looking at the fragments of the barrier scattering through the air, Satoru Gojo found everything that had just happened somewhat hard to believe.

The Shikigami before him could ignore Unlimited Void's effects and tear apart the barrier he had constructed from within.

No matter how incredible it seemed, only one possibility remained...

Mahoraga had already fully adapted to Unlimited Void!

That scene, too, was transmitted clearly to the monitors in the monitoring room through Mei Mei's crow.

"That's... Mahoraga?"

Mei Mei lifted her bangs:

"So this is the Zenin Clan's trump card of the Ten Shadows Technique..."

Choso rested his chin in both hands, his brows tightly furrowed. "A Shikigami with the ability to adapt to any attack..."

"No way, can it even adapt to Unlimited Void?!" Itadori questioned it instinctively, only to start worrying immediately afterward.

On the battlefield, Sukuna had recovered the ability to move, and the wound in his chest was rapidly repaired by Reverse Cursed Technique.

What Satoru Gojo didn't know was that during their four domain clashes, which had lasted approximately twelve minutes in total, there had been a slight difference between the sure-hit effects that canceled each other out inside their domains.

Gojo's sure-hit targeted "everything within the domain."

Sukuna's sure-hit targeted "everything within the domain except himself."

In other words, the sure-hit effect targeting Sukuna himself had not been canceled out.

Shiratori Gotsu naturally knew all about this: Sukuna had transferred Unlimited Void's attack to Megumi Fushiguro's soul.

He had Megumi Fushiguro help Mahoraga complete his adaptation to Unlimited Void.

That meant the time was ripe.

"Ishigori, put away Rainbow Piercer. We're getting ready to enter the fight."

Shiratori Gotsu flashed a cheeky, plainly ill-intentioned smile.

And on the battlefield, Satoru Gojo, who was facing Sukuna, quickly pieced the information together and arrived at the truth.

Seeing Gojo look as though he had something to say but was holding back, Sukuna waved Mahoraga back into the shadows, while the golden wheel remained suspended above his own head.

He spoke with a teasing smile:

"What is it? You look like you have something to say."

"Nothing," Satoru Gojo said with a raised eyebrow and a smile. "I'm just pretty happy to see you trying so desperately to win this fight."

"Heh... aren't you the one trying harder?"

After their exchange of trash talk, Sukuna also revealed a smile as though victory were in his grasp, rubbing his neck as he began explaining everything that had just happened:

"To be honest, Unlimited Void's effect really was troublesome, so I had to find a way to deal with that card of yours first."

"So, starting with our first domain clash, I used the Ten Shadows Technique to have Megumi Fushiguro adapt to Unlimited Void in my place."

"That's why I couldn't use any other Cursed Techniques besides the one imbued into my domain.

"But judging by how things stand, it worked pretty well."

Faced with Sukuna's contemptuous attitude, as though he were about to celebrate a triumphant victory the very next second, Satoru Gojo's response remained defiant:

"This so-called adaptation in your place was only the process, not the result..."

"You haven't adapted to Unlimited Void yourself. In other words, if I open my domain one more time, you'll still have to bring out Mahoraga to deal with it!"

"And when you do, I'll take him down in one blow!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand to form a sign once more.

But Sukuna kept his arms folded. "Hmph... you can't use your domain anymore."

As if to confirm his words, Satoru Gojo's eyes widened abruptly the next moment, and two streams of blood spurted from his nostrils.

Watching this, Sukuna wore a mocking expression as he once again took on the role of battlefield commentator:

"You used Cursed Energy to destroy the right prefrontal cortex, where your Innate Technique is engraved, then used Reverse Cursed Technique to repair that part, thereby repairing your technique burnout."

"You're truly remarkable for coming up with that method. But you've reached your limit too, haven't you?"

"So, next..."

Sukuna slowly raised his hands to form a sign:

"I'll close my domain's barrier, leaving you nowhere to run, and I'll fully adapt to your Limitless amid endless slashes!"

"Goodbye, so-called strongest of the modern era... you were born in an era without me, ordinary fool!"

"Domain Expansion!"

Bang!

The enormous shrine collapsed and burst apart the instant it appeared. Sukuna felt his mind reel, and his vision gradually turned blood-red.

In their last domain clash, Malevolent Shrine had collapsed first, and Sukuna had indeed taken Unlimited Void's attack directly inside the domain.

Although Mahoraga had shattered Unlimited Void's barrier in less than ten seconds, it had still damaged Sukuna's brain enough to leave him unable to expand his domain.

Now blood flowed from all seven of Sukuna's orifices. Compared with Satoru Gojo, who only had a nosebleed, he looked far more than twice as wretched.

"Ha! Didn't that work out nicely?"

Following Satoru Gojo's mocking words came several blasts of Cursed Energy.

"Granite Blast!"

Sukuna's figure was instantly buried in dust. Seizing the opportunity, Ryu Ishigori, who had already arrived, turned toward Satoru Gojo:

"Frosting Blast!"

The high-output blast of reversed Cursed Energy struck Satoru Gojo's body for the third time, and for the third time-

"Back with three bars, teach!" Shiratori Gotsu joined the battlefield with a thunderous leap.

He cracked his knuckles, then gave Satoru Gojo a thumbs-up:

"It'll take a little while longer for the damage to your brain to fully heal, right? Take a break and let Ishigori and me have a go at Sukuna!"

Meeting Shiratori Gotsu's supremely confident gaze, Satoru Gojo rubbed the back of his neck and said with a smile:

"I was planning to show off a little longer, but who knew you'd time your entrance to steal the spotlight~"

"Oh well, fine, fine. You really are an impossible, nasty piece of work. All right, since you're so determined to fight Sukuna and all, I'll watch for now."

That was right.

At first, Satoru Gojo had intended to deal with Sukuna on his own, without relying on anyone else's strength at all.

After all, because the gap in strength was so great, having teammates nearby would instead distract Satoru Gojo and constrain him in battle.

But Shiratori Gotsu, that marvel of a man, not only stayed up clanging away making Cursed Tools, he also kept pestering Gojo to agree to the so-called "relay baton tactic."

If he refused, Gotsu would keep banging away beside his bed from evening until dawn.

At one point, he had even left Satoru Gojo feeling a little on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

In the end, to ensure the quality of his sleep, Satoru Gojo compromised.