Chapter 31: Duel

KAGAGAGAGAGA──

The crimson light shot out by Aka in an instant slammed against the blade I barely managed to raise and sent me sliding backward with a drawn-out screech.

I wanted to cut it down, truly, but it had happened so suddenly that I hadn’t had time to activate any technique.

Even when it came to Limitless, I needed a certain level of focus to slice through it—this was inevitable.

But in the end, all Aka managed to create was distance.

Without taking any damage, I twisted my blade to deflect the rest of the impact and turned my eyes back to Gojo Satoru.

“…The awakening of Reversed Cursed Technique, huh…”

“Hahaha!!! I told you it’s not over yet♪”

Grinning wide, Gojo Satoru looked high—clearly riding the wave of euphoria.

He had no intention of ending things here, and watching him made me frown.

In the original work, he awakened after nearly being killed by Fushiguro Toji.

Now, it had taken a serious injury from me for the same to happen…

This was not what I expected. If it kept going like this, it might become more difficult to take the Six Eyes…

Of course, that didn’t mean I’d give up.

The Six Eyes were something my sect needed.

It just meant things had gotten a little harder.

“Let’s go again, Shoko! I haven’t shown you nearly enough for this to be over!!!”

Oblivious to my circumstances, Gojo stood drunk on confidence, bathed in the afterglow of awakening.

Despite being covered in blood, he still smiled like nothing had happened and raised his fingers once more.

KIIIIING──

From his fingertips, a violet glow began to bloom.

It wasn’t Aka. It wasn’t Ao either.

It was something beyond—a secret technique born from combining the two forms of Limitless.

Hollow Purple.

(TL NOTE: Hollow Purple is a powerful technique in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe, combining both Ao i.e Blue and Aka i.e Red techniques.)

Having known it through the original story, I immediately drew my blade and steadied my breathing.

It’s coming…!

‘…The collision of Ao and Aka. The resulting release… pushes out a mass that doesn’t exist…’

With output incomparable to either Ao or Aka alone, Gojo flashed a smile.

Right now, he looked invincible.

Even with the technique that once sliced through Limitless, Hollow Purple was something I wouldn’t be able to cut—at least, that’s what he believed.

That’s why─

‘I’m going to win this♬’

Hollow Technique: Purple.

As the violet stream surged toward me, I poured everything into my breathing and swung my sword with unmatched precision.

A technique that maximized sword intent and sliced through even space itself—my sect’s secret move to sever fictional mass in two…!!

I threw myself toward the oncoming Purple.

At the same time, I twisted midair, accelerating into the arc like a blooming flower cutting through the air.

A centrifugal, rotational strike.

Flower Breathing.
Fourth Form: Scarlet Bloom──!!!

Centrifugal force + momentum + acceleration—together, the swing carried more power than ever before.

Concentrating it into a single point, I turned the kinetic energy entirely into sword intent.

Even without my sect’s blessings, this move alone could’ve easily sliced through steel like butter.

And now, with the sect’s technique layered over that…

Even space should split. Even Purple should be cut.

That was arrogance.

“…!!!”

In a slowed-down world, I saw it.

My blade striking the violet stream—and slowly beginning to crack.

There was no sensation of slicing through it. No resistance.

Like trying to cut a mass of water that existed in empty air… I cut it, and yet I didn’t.

A strange, surreal sensation.

And in that moment, I instinctively understood.

My sect’s secret art had failed to cut through Purple.

‘So this is fictional mass…!!’

Because it was fictional, it had no true shape. No vessel to contain it.

Even if cut, it would simply reform like water.

It wasn’t just manipulating space anymore—this technique was in a class of its own.

And that mistake—my assumption—led to tragedy.

Not only did Purple shatter my technique and my sword, it also ripped clean through my upper body.

KAGAGAGAGAK!!!

And still, Purple tore forward, carving a deep path behind me like a highway made of destruction.

“!!! IERI!!”

“GOJOOOO!!!”

I heard voices calling our names from the outside.

But Gojo Satoru, even then, didn’t move. Suspended midair by Limitless, he simply watched me.

I glanced to my left.

My arm. My shoulder. Half my heart—

Gone.

Blood poured out in heavy streams. It was an obviously fatal injury.

I had anchored my life with my cursed energy, but even then, I wouldn’t last a minute like this.

That is—if I didn’t have the Reversed Cursed Technique.

“It’s not over yet, is it, Shoko?”

He seemed to know that too.

Spitting out the blood that had welled in my mouth with a splurt, I forcefully activated my Reversed Cursed Technique.

PAAT!

Flesh began to regrow in an instant.

With my clothes torn away, part of my chest was completely exposed, but I was too focused to care about something like that.

If someone sees, good for them.

Spinning my arm around, I seemed to hear a faint crunch from the onlookers.

Even Gojo glanced slightly upward.

Was his face red?

Whatever. I ignored it.

With my condition suddenly restored, I couldn’t help but be amazed once again by the power of this technique.

Arms, hearts, even part of my brain—if lost, I could regenerate them all.

Isn’t this the most broken ability in existence?

“Yeah, it’s not over yet. I didn’t expect you to awaken the Reversed Cursed Technique. Gojo Satoru.”

“…Ha… Ha! That’s because I’m the strongest!”

Still unable to meet my gaze, he laughed awkwardly.

I clenched and released my newly grown fist, adjusting to the fresh sensation of the regenerated limb.

And the moment I thought I had fully adapted—

PAZZZZZ!!!

A black current began to surge through my body.

“So—
Let me raise the gear one more level.”

“…Black… Flash?”

At the mention of “raising the gear,” Gojo’s gaze flicked around, unsure where to look.

But the moment he locked eyes with me—he froze.

Because now, the black current dancing around me…

Was the sign of something he knew well.

Something he couldn’t replicate with his Six Eyes.

Black Flash.

An occurrence—no, a phenomenon—where physical and cursed energy impacts align within 0.000001 seconds.

Normally, combining cursed energy and physical blows creates a strong hit.

But if they align perfectly, the force becomes squared—a terrifying phenomenon.

Even Gojo Satoru, with his Six Eyes and atom-level cursed energy control, couldn’t replicate it at will.

It was that precise.

This phenomenon, born in the micro-level domain, required extreme luck—or entering a state known as the “Zone,” where one’s senses reached a level of transcendence.

But that rule only applied to the average sorcerer.

Ieri Shoko, who had cut through her limits since childhood, had long surpassed that domain.

By the time she turned fifteen—

She had completely entered the realm where Black Flash was under her control.

A domain where that absurd phenomenon could be summoned at will through cursed energy mastery.

Watching it unfold—

Gojo’s eyes widened.

“This time, it’s Benda.”

“Try to cut it!!!”

False Technique

Murasaki (Purple)!!!

Flower Breathing.
The 4th form.

Honghwa’s──!!! (Black Dome version)