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After the fight between Miwa and Yuta ended, the Tokyo branch was declared the winner of the Goodwill event.
The students were about to regroup with the teachers and principals, but Satoru seemed to have other plans.
"NAOYA!!!"
Satoru came sprinting toward the Kyoto side of the field.
"What?"
"You know, since the two of us are already here and the field is like this...shall we?"
Satoru asked bashfully like a teenage girl confessing to her crush. He fiddled with his fingers while giving Naoya heated looks.
Miwa, who had seen the scene, was blushing like crazy as various scenarios began to play out in her head.
Maki and Mai looked at Satoru in disgust, while Naoya simply smacked the man on the ground.
"Still feeling freaky?" asked Naoya.
"For you? Always," replied Satoru with a dazzling smile. Infinity protected his face from getting planted into the dirt.
Naoya raised his leg, fully intending to stomp on the overly charming face of the Honoured One.
"Stop, stop. Violence is bad!"
"It's fine. At worst, you'll only end up half-dead."
"There are so many things wrong with that statement of yours?!"
Satoru got back on his feet and struck a fighting pose.
Naoya looked at him and lowered his leg.
"What are you proposing? Say it clearly."
"Destroyed ground. Me. You. Fight."
Satoru broke it down into simple caveman language.
At the proposal, the student's windened their eyes in surprise.
A fight between the strongest sorcerers... as scary as it was, they could not deny that they were curious how things would go.
Maki and Mai were not that surprised. They had seen their brother beat the crap out of Satoru quite a few times. Still, if there was a chance, they would like to see the fight.
Naoya could feel the gazes from everyone around him.
Satoru already started to take off his blindfold.
"Yaga will chew us out."
"Don't worry. I've mastered the art of listening through one ear and letting it leave through the other."
Satoru replied with a confident smile and a thumbs-up.
Naoya didn't say anything.
He was a master of that art as well.
Naoya looked back at the students.
No one said anything, but their gazes told him everything. They wanted to watch the fight.
"Well, looks like the audience is very interested. Sure."
"Yay~ Playtime with my besite!" cheered Satoru and grabbed Naoya before pulling him inside the barrier.
Technically, the barrier had been set up by the two of them in the first place, so using it for personal entertainment wasn't completely unreasonable.
As the two of them ran inside, the students started murmuring.
"Who do you think will win?" asked Kirara.
"Huh? Is that even a question worth asking? Of course, my Big Brother!" declared Todo proudly.
"I hate to agree with him, but yeah. Onii-chan beats Satoru anytime," added Mai.
"It's one of the few times when the cocky, immature, hateful Satoru gets his ass kicked," Maki said with a smile.
"I think Gojo-sensei will win. How would Naoya-san even touch him?" asked Hakari.
"He has his ways," replied Maki.
"...Just to disagree with the heartless sisters, I place my bet on Gojo-sensei," said Panda.
"Tuna Mayo."
"Huh? You are in for a loss."
Noritoshi didn't say anything. He was not going to openly take sides with any of the other great clan heirs.
The rest of them bickered about who would win, but the argument stopped as Kamo told them that the match was about to start.
-----
Inside the barrier, the two special grades stretched their bodies and got ready for the spar.
"Anything banned?" asked Naoya.
"No killing."
"Sounds good."
The two finished their stretching and took their stance.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"START!"
Both yelled at the same time as their CE flared.
[CTR: Red]
A mass of [Red] condensed around Satoru's hand as he fired it at Naoya without hesitation.
[Cursed Technique Black: Null Sphere]
It wasn't the full-powered version of his technique, but it was more than enough to break through [Red].
As the black Shadowy sphere broke through [Red], it continued to move forward, but soon came to a halt, just inches away from Satoru.
[Infinity] made it impossible for [Black] to come close to Satoru, who used his space technique to move the sphere out of his path and let it go.
Naoya saw that and smiled.
It's been a while since he got a nice warm-up.
Satoru smiled back. He was thinking the same thing.
Both of them vanished from their spot, and an instant later, Satoru's body flew upward at insane speed.
[Frame Drop]
Naoya appeared near Satoru once again, his fist outstretched and connecting with Satoru, sending him flying in another direction.
Then another.
And another.
Each impact created booming shockwaves through the air.
Satoru, though, was not worried at all.
His injuries were healed almost instantly by [RCT], and he was preparing his counterattack anyway.
His eyes were tracking Naoya's movement very closely.
He was simply waiting for Naoya to slip up and fail to Frame Drop from his blind spot.
And that opportunity soon came when he shifted his body, catching Naoya off guard.
Naoya's body halted a bit to [Fram Drop], and Satoru immediately calculated where he would be appearing.
[Red]
Naoya, who appeared at the predicted spot, was immediately attacked by a swirling red.
Satoru smirked.
[Solid Shadows]
Naoya's hand got covered in shadows as he swiped it towards the small red orb, sending it into his shadow realm.
"At this point, I expect you to know how this would go," said Naoya and readied his fist to punch Satoru again.
"Oh, don't worry. I do."
Satoru suddenly lunged forward, grabbed Naoya's arm, and used Limitless-enhanced leverage alongside CE reinforcement to violently dislocate his shoulder.
"F*ck!"
Naoya cursed as pain shot through his arm.
The damage wasn't serious, but it definitely hurt.
He yanked Satoru off him, but the white-haired bastard smirked.
Naoya felt it in his gut. The bastard was gonna do something.
And the bastard did.
With Naoya's arm momentarily not able to function properly. He had free rein.
[Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void]
Naoya and Satoru were pulled into the domain, with Naoya unable to activate his because his shoulder was not in place.
Still, the Zenin managed to activate his [Simple Domain], momentarily negating the sure-hit effect.
Though he wasn't safe for long. Satoru's domain was super refined, meaning the [Simple Domain] set up by Naoya was crumbling at a rapid pace, and at max, he had 7 seconds before he was left defenceless.
Still, that was enough time for Naoya to recover.
With his RCT efficiency, his body was already healed.
Satoru, seeing that, sighed. Looks like they will be going for a domain clash after all.
Unfortunately for him, Naoya had different plans.
Naoya's body faded out of existence, and an instant later, Satoru felt Naoya's hand on his face. There was no force behind it. Naoya didn't hit him this time, just touched him.
[Projection Sorcery]
At the exact instant when he touches Satoru, Noya turned off his positive energy and let CE flow through his CT and used that to trap Satoru in a frame.
Projection Sorcery was dangerous because once the target is trapped in a frame, their body is completely defenceless and could be struck to deal the damage their bodies would normally take without CE reinforced defences.
However, the targets are not just trapped. They are struck in time inside the frame. They cannot perceive or feel what is going on around them. In other words, they lose connection with the outside world.
And if the caster of a [Domain Expansion] is trapped, their bodies lose connection with their domain inside the frame, which results in the domain getting destroyed because the connection with its sorcerer was forcefully cut.
*CRACK!!!*
And just like that, Satoru's domain broke apart with 1 whole second remaining for Naoya's [Simple Domain] to crumble.
Without any restraint, Naoya slammed the frame and struck Satoru, pummeling him to the ground, causing a giant crater to form below them.
Satoru coughed blood violently as his body took the full force of Naoya's non-reinforced physical strike.
"You dumbass! How dare you use your domain after dislocating my shoulder?! Do you WANT me to suffer from a migraine?!" yelled Naoya as he kicked him again.
With his Domain forcefully being destroyed, Satoru's technique was burnt out as well. Meaning the Gojo Special Grade was a free punching bag at the moment.
Gojo, though, soon came back to action.
He didn't expect his technique to be burnt out and him needing to fight without it. But it's not like he couldn't. He still had CE and RCT to keep on fighting.
Naoya, though, didn't go easy on the no-CT boy.
Since he had CE reinfocement. He could go a bit harder, right?
CE reinforced Naoya as he activated his [Projection Sorcery].
A relentless barrage of punches slammed into Satoru while [Projection Sorcery] repeatedly froze him frame by frame.
Naoya thoroughly beat the crap out of Satoru.
"Oi! Hit me a bit lighter! I still feel pain, you know!" yelled Satoru as he landed a kick on Naoya, who caught his leg and flung him up in the air.
"I would have felt that headache too, you know?!"
"Just walk it off!"
Satoru got back on his feet. His burnout was finally over.
Naoya caught the glow of excitement in Satoru's eyes.
Satoru's arm started to move, ready to use the Domain once again.
[Projection Sorcery]
Naoya, though, used his technique to boost his speed and immediately threw out his hand sign.
[Domain Expansion - Death Theatre of the Underworld]
Satoru, who was still in the middle of throwing out his handsign wad pulled inside the domain.
Before he could use his own Domain for a clash, Satoru was struck by the Domain's sure-hit effect.
The domain's barrier finally closed as it trapped Naoya and Satoru inside.
[Domain Expansion - Death Theatre of the Underworld] is the domain that is formed by the inner world of Naoya Zenin.
Like most domains, Naoya's is a barrier-enclosed domain, though unlike other normal domains, Naoya's domain's barrier is a [Perfect Sphere], meaning that though it is brittle from outside, anything or anyone that tries to force their way inside is obliterated by the infinite pressure of the barrier.
Inside the domain existed a vast pitch-black stage.
An endless theatre crafted entirely from shadows.
Naoya could freely reshape the environment to make any set came to life with his shadows.
There was also no limit on the number of actors inside the domain, as Naoya was able to manifest an infinite number of his contracted shikigami and even himself, though the more he summoned, the more CE it consumed.
For the final nail in the target's coffin, the targets inside the domain are constantly hit by variable projection sorcery sure hit effects, which forced them to follow the FPS rule or else their body would get stuck inside the frame. To make it even more lethal, the target is hit at a cellular level, meaning each cell in the target's body is subjected to [Projection Sorcery], and each cell has to follow a different FPS rule.
Every time the frame breaks, the target gets one step closer to death.
That was the terrifyingly "human-friendly" domain of Naoya Zenin. [A/N: The design is very human.]
And Satoru Gojo was experiencing it firsthand.
The moment Satoru froze inside a frame, pale white hands emerged from the shadows and struck him out of it—
Only for another frame to instantly capture him again.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The cycle repeated continuously for ten full seconds before Naoya deactivated his domain.
As the Domain was undone, Satoru lay sprawled across the destroyed ground, drenched in blood.
RCT rapidly repaired the damage, but every inch of his body screamed in pain.
"F*ck Seph(Mahoraga). F*ck you," muttered Satoru in pain.
"Want to say that to his face?" asked Naoya, though he could not do it right now. His technique was in the burnout phase.
He would have helped Satoru heal faster with Senzu, but he couldn't because all of his techniques are currently unavailable and would require around half a minute to get back online.
Satoru's magic eyes made it faster to recover from a burnout, but that wasn't the case for Naoya and most of the other sorcerers.
Well, the gambler was the odd one out, though that heavily depended on his luck.
"Satoru you alive?"
"Yes."
"I want to eat something sweet. You in?" asked Naoya as he sat down on the ground, already thinking about dinner plans.
Satoru, still covered in blood, though mostly recovered, crept closer to Naoya and lay his head on his lap.
"What are we having?"
The two Special Grades had already returned to normal like nothing happened.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier, Yaga and Gakuganji were both on the verge of a stress-induced heart attack after witnessing two walking disasters hold an unauthorised Special Grade death match on school grounds.
Naoya absentmindedly patted Satoru's head while scrolling through restaurants.
Because Satoru lost, he was paying.
As a good friend, Naoya was generously allowing him to choose where they ate.
"I promised my students that I would take them out for sushi. Want to go there? We will get something sweet on the way or after that."
"My students?"
"Bring them..... no Utahime though."
Naoya stared at his white-haired friend before flicking his forehead.
"Ow! It hurts you, bastard!"
"Good. That means you are alive."
"Check my pulse if you want to know if I am alive or not!!!"
Naoya grabbed Satoru's wrist to check for a pulse before he started crushing it.
"Ow Ow Ow. I am alive! Stop checking my pulse!"
"Wait, I am almost there."
"It will stop if you continue further!!!!"
"You will be missed, Satoru."
"Don't just kill me like that!!!!"
The two special grades messed with each other without any care in the world.
---Outside the barrier---
The principals stood there radiating unrestrained fury.
They had officially decided to give the two biggest headaches in the jujutsu world the scolding of a lifetime.