I Probably Won't Ever Forget You, Shiratori Gotsu
Slashes descended in a torrent, instantly wiping out the "health bars" of the crows Mei Mei had placed inside Shiratori Gotsu's domain barrier.
The Jujutsu High group in the monitoring room immediately lost their view of the barrier's interior.
From outside, all they could see were the three green "incense sticks" embedded in the black sphere. Once towering into the clouds, they had begun to "burn" down at an incredible speed...
Shiratori Gotsu's goal from the start had been to destroy Mahoraga. Now that he had achieved it and even forced Sukuna to reveal his original form, there was no way he would linger and fight.
"Okkotsu, Ishigori, split up and retreat!"
They were too far apart to regroup easily, so Shiratori Gotsu ordered them to retreat separately. He immediately channeled all his Cursed Energy into his legs, turned, and ran.
Refrain of the Life Wedge covered an enormous area, which naturally made its barrier more fragile than those of other domains and easier to destroy from the outside.
At the same time, the domain had no sure-hit effect and thus lacked the ability to resist Malevolent Shrine's slashes, allowing them to attack its barrier from both inside and out...
In one second, Shiratori Gotsu covered twenty meters. At the same time, Refrain of the Life Wedge's barrier...
Exploded.
The "extra health bar" granted within Refrain of the Life Wedge would last five seconds after leaving the domain before disappearing.
Malevolent Shrine's slashes covered a radius of two hundred meters.
Yuta Okkotsu had an enormous reserve of Cursed Energy, and he was extremely fast when he used it to reinforce his body. Running out of range in five seconds was no difficult feat.
Ryu Ishigori was slower than Okkotsu, but his physical toughness was among the best even for a Special Grade Sorcerer.
He wouldn't drop dead the instant his "extra health bar" disappeared. He could use Frosting Blast to repair his body and escape in time as well.
But at Shiratori Gotsu's current speed, he needed ten seconds to get out of Malevolent Shrine's range.
With the physical toughness of an ordinary person and a Reverse Cursed Technique that wasn't particularly efficient, he was certain to be unable to withstand the slashes...
At this rate, it seemed Shiratori Gotsu was doomed...
Five seconds passed in the time it took to draw a breath.
The instant the countdown ended, his "extra health bar," already nearly depleted by the unceasing slashes, vanished entirely.
His own "health bar," his last line of defense, was completely exposed to the storm of slashes.
"Shiratori!"
Okkotsu, who had already escaped Malevolent Shrine's range, saw what was happening, and the urgency in his eyes was almost overflowing.
Ryu Ishigori, who had reached the edge, also spun around the moment he heard Okkotsu's shout...
The Jujutsu High group in the monitoring room all held their breath, staring at the monitor in intense anxiety and worry...
At the critical moment, Shiratori Gotsu abruptly clapped his hands together and interlocked his fingers:
"Secret art: Hollow Wicker Basket!"
Hollow Wicker Basket was the prototype for the New Shadow Style's Simple Domain. It could neutralize a domain and negate its sure-hit effect, and was an advanced application of Barrier Techniques.
To make up for his shortcomings, Shiratori Gotsu had learned this move from Ryu Ishigori during their body-swapping special training.
It was precisely for dealing with situations like this.
Then...
He shouted as loudly as he ever had in his life:
"Ishigori! One more time, blast me with your Granite Blast!"
Hearing him, Ryu Ishigori didn't hesitate for a moment.
He leaped backward out of Malevolent Shrine's range, stuck the Rainbow Piercer into his hair, and immediately fired at Shiratori Gotsu's back:
"Granite Blast!"
Empowered by the Special Grade Cursed Tool, the icy-blue beam of Cursed Energy crossed nearly three hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Hollow Wicker Basket negated sure-hits, but it didn't interact with Cursed Techniques themselves.
Granite Blast passed straight through it without slowing, then slammed into Shiratori Gotsu's back!
HP -3000.
With everyone's eyes on him, Shiratori Gotsu instantly took flight, once again riding Ryu Ishigori's Cursed Energy cannon out of Malevolent Shrine's slashing range.
The moment he landed, an HP -100 appeared, and Shiratori Gotsu released his hand seal.
The badly battered Hollow Wicker Basket shattered with it.
But in any case...
"Woo-hoo! Million-value extraction successful!"
Shiratori Gotsu pressed a hand to his little heart, which was pounding nonstop, sprang to his feet, and waved both hands high above his head.
In the monitoring room, Hajime Kashimo saw this, excitedly snatched up his lightning staff, and rushed out the door.
Everyone else broke into cheers.
Seeing that Shiratori Gotsu had managed to escape Malevolent Shrine's range even under those circumstances, Sukuna instantly broke into a savage grin:
"Excellent, Shiratori Gotsu! Struggle all you like! Let me see just how far you can go!"
Sukuna glanced back at Ryu Ishigori and Okkotsu, more than two hundred meters behind him, and promptly dispelled his domain.
He gathered his Cursed Energy and kicked hard off the ground, crossing more than two hundred meters almost instantly and smashing his fist into Shiratori Gotsu's face.
HP -8000.
"Holy crap!" Shiratori Gotsu only had time to cry out before he was sent flying.
Before he could land, Sukuna flashed into his path and struck with both fists, punching him higher into the air like a sandbag.
HP -10000.
"Hey, stop, stop! I'm getting motion sickness!" Shiratori Gotsu shouted from high in the air.
"Let's see how much longer you can keep running your mouth!"
Sukuna sprang up high above Shiratori Gotsu and aimed a powerful kick at his neck.
HP -10000.
The kick sent Shiratori Gotsu flying dozens of meters before he crashed heavily onto the roof of an office building.
HP -10000.
Remaining HP: 8900.
"Urgh..."
Sukuna had enjoyed a thoroughly satisfying bout of dribbling in midair.
As the "ball," Shiratori Gotsu felt as though his brains had nearly been shaken into a uniform paste, his whole body as if it had been tossed into a washing machine for a spin.
"Urgh... cough, cough!"
On his hands and knees, his stomach spasmed, and he threw up every last bit of his breakfast and the snacks and drinks he'd had earlier in the monitoring room.
Before this, Shiratori Gotsu had never experienced such a fierce battle...
No, this wasn't a battle anymore.
Facing Sukuna in his original form, with an anger buff on top of it, Shiratori Gotsu was no different from a sandbag. He had no teammates to cover him, had lost his domain, and had nearly exhausted his Cursed Energy.
He was completely unable to fight back.
In the end, he had only ever been an epic fraud with the Cursed Energy reserves of an ordinary Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer, the hand-to-hand combat skills of an ordinary Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer, and the physique of an ordinary person.
"What a sorry sight, Shiratori Gotsu."
Sukuna landed lightly no more than ten meters from Shiratori Gotsu, looking pleased and gratified:
"Looking at the 'health bar' above your head, you've got less than a fifth left."
"This building is probably about eighty meters tall. In other words, all I have to do is throw you off, and your life will be over..."
"So, do you have any last words?"
"Ptui, ptui, ptui..."
Shiratori Gotsu spat out all the vomit remaining in his mouth, wiped his face, and lay back, looking utterly spent:
"You really are the King of Curses. You've driven me into a corner..."
"I'm really dizzy right now, and my Cursed Energy's run dry... I have nothing more to say, so please get it over with!"
Hearing this, Sukuna's face immediately twisted into a cruel smile. He took two steps forward, grabbed Shiratori Gotsu by the neck and lifted him up, then walked to the edge of the roof:
"Farewell... You really did cause me a lot of trouble... I probably won't ever forget you, Shiratori Gotsu."
With that, Sukuna let go.
The instant his body was suspended in midair, scenes from Shiratori Gotsu's past flashed through his mind one by one-
Transmigrating after drowning in a toilet, everything he had experienced in the Sendai Colony, the bonds he had formed with everyone during special training...
...The flashing memories caught up with reality.
Shiratori Gotsu looked up at Sukuna standing on the edge of the roof and gave him a brilliant smile.
He admitted that what he was about to do was a gamble.
If he lost, the worst that could happen was that he'd return to the system space with nothing, get mocked by the system a couple of times, and start over.
But if he won...
Shiratori Gotsu raised his hand and gave Sukuna the middle finger:
"Sukuna, if I make it back alive, once my companions kill you, I'm going to dance on your grave!"
-If he deactivated Fate Track Binding Curse while his "health bar" was below full HP, he had two options:
First: The parts of his body that had been struck would suffer corresponding wounds. This damage could not be reduced by defending with Cursed Energy.
Second: The damage would not be applied to his body, but the next time he was affected by a Cursed Technique, his "health bar" would retain its current reduced HP.
Shiratori Gotsu chose the second.
With only 8,900 HP left, he certainly couldn't survive the fall unprotected.
In just 0.1 seconds, he decided to deactivate his Cursed Technique, and then...
"I make a Binding Vow: in exchange for being unable to expand my domain for the next three months, restore my Cursed Energy to its optimal state!"
-The Binding Vow was established!
The next moment, beneath the disbelieving gazes of the belatedly arriving Okkotsu and Ryu Ishigori...
Shiratori Gotsu slammed into the ground, blood splattering everywhere.