The Farcical Court
While Kenjaku was completely dead and Satoru Gojo was on his way back with Tengen's embryo and Suguru Geto's body on his back...
Over on the Shinjuku battlefield, the "torture" of Sukuna had officially begun.
"The real culprit is..."
"The, ill-omened, child, born, a, thousand, years, ago..."
"The, deformed, monster, with, two, faces, and, four, arms..."
Watching Higuruma, who was clearly struggling not to laugh, and listening to him keep adding descriptors as he read at an astonishingly slow pace...
Sukuna, confined to the defendant's stand by the domain's rules, laughed in anger.
Once again, he narrowly dodged the Soul Liberation Blade as it slashed straight for his neck. He threw a punch in retaliation, only for it to stop dead in midair.
Seeing this, Higuruma cleared his throat twice and interrupted his reading:
"You were inside Itadori before, so you should know that all violence is forbidden in the courtroom, right?"
"First warning."
Then he turned to Judgeman:
"Judgeman, the defendant's violence just now interrupted my statement. Please allow me to start over."
"The real culprit is..."
"The, ill-omened, child, born, a, thousand, years, ago..."
"The, deformed, monster, with, two, faces, and, four, arms..."
As Higuruma read out the descriptors for Sukuna, written by Shiratori Gotsu himself, one word at a time, he repeated to himself:
No, this is a courtroom. I can't laugh... I'm professionally trained...
"Tch..."
Seeing Higuruma looking like he could barely hold it in, Sukuna once again made a face as if he'd just eaten shit.
This has to be a tactic left behind by that damned worm Shiratori Gotsu!
Only he could come up with something so shameless!
As the Soul Liberation Blade pierced his abdomen, Sukuna hacked Shiratori Gotsu to pieces in his mind once again.
For a closed domain, someone with a Heavenly Restriction like Maki Zenin, who had no cursed energy, was no different from a building.
Neither the techniques nor the rules that operated through the domain's sure-hit effect could lock onto her.
Sukuna, however, was genuinely bound by those rules.
Wait...
Sukuna suddenly realized something.
All compulsory rules within a closed domain were, at their core, enforced through a sure-hit effect applied to the barrier.
"Secret art: Hollow Wicker Basket!"
He immediately interlaced the fingers of both hands, and the moment Hollow Wicker Basket took shape, he counterattacked Maki.
This time, sure enough, he wasn't restricted!
"Finally figured it out? Slowpoke!"
With a mocking look, Maki blocked Sukuna's heavy punch with the flat of the Soul Liberation Blade and used the force to backflip away. "Now, Itadori!"
"Right!"
The next second, a massive fist wrapped in cursed energy slammed into Sukuna's face.
-"Black Flash!"
Black sparks crackled through the courtroom. The sudden blow sent Sukuna crashing through the railing around the defendant's stand and stumbling several meters backward.
The owner of the fist was none other than Yuji Itadori, who had also learned and deployed Hollow Wicker Basket.
"Pah!"
Sukuna spat out two bloodstained teeth and glared at Itadori.
"You little brat..."
Sukuna had just opened his mouth to say something when Itadori quickly closed in and punched him in the abdomen again.
-"Black Flash!"
"Gah!"
The tremendous force made Sukuna cough up a mouthful of blood.
He immediately swallowed the trash talk he'd been about to deliver and punched with two hands at once, attacking Itadori from two directions.
"Don't ignore me!"
Seeing that Sukuna was about to land his counterattack, Maki rushed in and slashed down.
One of Sukuna's fists was severed and fell to the ground.
"Thanks, Maki-senpai!"
As Itadori thanked her, he leaned back to dodge the other punch, then used the force of his turn to deliver a wide, full-powered swing to the other side of Sukuna's face.
Black sparks erupted once more.
-"Black Flash!"
The blow knocked Sukuna's head sideways, knocking out two more teeth and nearly wrenching his neck.
He was truly suffering, and he even felt like cursing.
Maki Zenin's attacks with the Soul Liberation Blade cut the soul along with the body.
And every time Itadori's fists landed, they damaged both body and soul.
Normally, Sukuna could have used his superb Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the damage to his soul as well.
But after the long series of battles he'd just endured, the efficiency of Sukuna's Reverse Cursed Technique had fallen below even Shiratori Gotsu's.
Damage to the soul had a tremendous effect on cursed energy output, physical reactions, and more.
On top of that, his Cursed Technique was currently burned out.
For the moment, Sukuna was completely overwhelmed by Itadori and Maki's combined assault.
"Damn it..." Sukuna finally couldn't hold back his curse.
The next moment, Itadori punched again.
"Black Flash!"
By now, he had clearly found his rhythm.
He had landed four consecutive Black Flashes, something an ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerer might never see even once in a lifetime.
And when that blow landed, Sukuna could barely maintain Hollow Wicker Basket anymore.
This brat... He's been landing Black Flash after Black Flash from the very beginning, like it's the most natural thing in the world...
The next moment, Hollow Wicker Basket shattered.
The rule forbidding all violence within the Deadly Sentencing domain took effect on Sukuna once more.
In the blink of an eye, he was pulled back to the defendant's stand.
Higuruma, who had enjoyed watching Sukuna get beaten up, saw him return and immediately cleared his throat before doing it all over again:
"All violence is forbidden in the courtroom."
"Second warning!"
"Judgeman, the defendant left his stand without permission and interrupted my statement. Please allow me to start over."
"The real culprit is..."
As Higuruma droned on like he was chanting a scripture, Maki thrust her blade again, stabbing straight through Sukuna's left kidney...
"The, ill-omened, child, born, a, thousand, years, ago..."
"Black Flash!"
At that moment, Itadori landed his fifth Black Flash...
"The, deformed, monster, with, two, faces, and, four, arms..."
"Enough!"
Sukuna roared, then spoke at breakneck speed:
"I make a Binding Vow to permanently reduce my cursed energy output by thirty percent in exchange for restoring my Reverse Cursed Technique's efficiency for thirty seconds!"
The Binding Vow took effect.
Sukuna's injuries healed in the blink of an eye. Then, with both pairs of arms, he formed the King of Hell Mudra:
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"
That was right. Just then, Sukuna's Cursed Technique had finally recovered from burnout.
All violence was forbidden within Deadly Sentencing's barrier.
But simply expanding a domain did not fall under the definition of "violence."
He formed the hand sign with both pairs of hands to compensate, to some extent, for the reduction in the domain's power caused by his decreased cursed energy output.
Then Sukuna used the same move he'd employed against Satoru Gojo before.
By canceling Malevolent Shrine's sure-hit effect inside the domain, he made a Binding Vow to further increase the power of the slashes outside it.
Completely circumventing the rule forbidding violence...
Sukuna would forcibly end this absurd trial from the outside!