While Satoru Gojo and Sukuna were fighting, Megumi Fushiguro had already coordinated with the Jujutsu High support staff and the relevant personnel, using the excuse of a "military experiment gone wrong" to evacuate everyone approaching the battle area by every means available.
Megumi Fushiguro could already picture how the people involved would end up kneeling in apology on the news once all this was over...
The battlefield itself was terrifying. Even out on the edge of Shinjuku, wave after wave of heat came rolling through the gaps between the buildings.
It was impossible to imagine what things looked like at the center of it all...
"Sigh..."
Looking at the scene, as grim as a living hell, Megumi Fushiguro could not help letting out a sigh.
"What are you sighing for?"
"I was thinking about how long this is going to take to rebuild. Sukuna really is terrifying..."
"You are seriously not worried about me at all? Ouch, my feelings are hurt~~"
"Since Gojo-sensei is the one handling it personally, all we really need to think about is dealing with the aftermath, right... Uh... Huh?"
Megumi Fushiguro suddenly realized that a familiar voice had come from low at his right side. At some point, Satoru Gojo had appeared beside him, sprawled there like some long legged frog.
"???"
Satoru Gojo gave a quick grin, planted all four limbs, and sprang back to his feet. He patted Megumi Fushiguro on the shoulder, then started walking toward the battlefield again.
"There was a tiny little accident. I will be right back~~"
...
The center of what had once been the battlefield had been vaporized into a smooth hemispherical crater. The ground had turned to lava, and it still had not cooled, bubbling and flowing inside the pit...
Sukuna sat outside the crater, holding a box of fries he had picked up from who knew where. He squeezed ketchup over them, then stuffed half of it straight into his mouth.
"Pfft..."
Sukuna looked speechlessly at the blackened strips in his hand. The temperature here was too high. They had burned bitter, and the ketchup clung to his tongue. The taste was weird too...
He casually tossed the rest into the crater.
"Oh well. That was a satisfying fight... The jujutsu sorcerers of this era really do have some skill..."
Then suddenly, he realized everything around him had started breaking apart, and he himself took a heavy hit out of nowhere, coughing up a mouthful of blood on the spot...
What was this?
Sukuna hurriedly compared the situation to scenes from his memory.
This kind of attack... he had seen something similar a thousand years ago, from the Fuji clan assassination unit [Jitsugetsusei]... It was related to space, but even more violent. It had shredded his internal organs directly. He needed to restore himself with the Reverse Cursed Technique immediately...
"If it is space related, then... [Dismantle]!"
Still in his zero state, Sukuna unleashed a slash crackling with Black Flash. The effect of Black Flash tearing through space was like dropping a stone into a river and splitting the current apart, carving out a narrow wedge of calm amid the invisible assault.
The little cover left in the area was destroyed again. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, a figure slowly appeared.
"Hollow Technique. [Ripples]"
A savage grin spread across Sukuna's face.
"A ghost?"
Satoru Gojo settled into his stance. At this point, there was no longer any need to worry about getting others caught in the crossfire...
"No. More like this is round two~"
"Domain Expansion..."
"Domain Expansion..."
Without giving the other side time to react, the two Domains crashed into each other again.
"[Malevolent Shrine]"
"[Unlimited Void]"
Within the overlapping section of their Domains, the two of them clashed once more. After dodging Satoru Gojo's long range attack, Sukuna answered with a punch of his own.
With shattered stone flying everywhere, Sukuna's lips curled upward.
"Isn't this the same as just now... How many lives do you have left for me to deal with?"
In the next instant, Satoru Gojo rushed in and drove a kick into him, sending Sukuna skidding back several meters.
"It is a little different this time~~ Want to learn?"
As Sukuna controlled his Domain to keep blasting apart the outer shell of Satoru Gojo's Domain, he continued fighting him with Domain Amplification.
"Oh?"
"To describe a point in three dimensional space, you need three numbers in the coordinate system. In the simplest case, those three numbers represent that point's projection along the three dimensions.
By extension, if you want to describe a point in four dimensional space, then you need four numbers..."
"Technique Disclosure?"
Sukuna narrowed his eyes. This disclosure was not quite what he had expected.
Satoru Gojo ignored the question and threw himself back into close combat. The technique he was about to use had never been attempted before, so he needed to disclose it first, raise his state, and fully free up his processing power.
"A point in n dimensional space requires n variables to represent it. Conversely, n variables can also be contained within a single point in n dimensional space..."
"Your Domain is already on the verge of collapse. You have twenty seconds left. Show me what you have left!"
Sukuna laughed wildly in response, while Satoru Gojo kept explaining as if they were not even having the same conversation.
"To define an ordinary particle on the physical level, you first need three numbers for its positional coordinates, then another three numbers to describe its momentum along three directions...
In other words, six variables are enough to describe the state of a physical particle at time t...
And conversely, its behavior can also be represented by a single point in six dimensional space."
"Higher dimensional space is just a construct used to assist calculation. But after going through that one experience of 'leaving the world,' I can now use a Barrier and Domain to simulate the corresponding phase space of a system.
Then, with the help of Hamilton's canonical equations, I can use the theory Akira mentioned in Conjectures on the Analysis of Barrier Arts through the [Six Eyes] to microscopically manipulate the generalized momentum of every 'particle' inside the Domain~~"
Sukuna's brow tightened more and more. At first, he had still been trying hard to follow Satoru Gojo's "Technique Disclosure," but by the end, he was completely overwhelmed by Satoru Gojo's terrifying top student energy...
What the hell are you even talking about?
Can we not just talk properly about jujutsu?
My brain itches...
The part I just healed from the burnout feels like it is about to grow back completely!!
It had to be said, Satoru Gojo's words really did affect Sukuna. Sukuna liked to think things through, and even the attacks from his Barrier started to slow down...
"What is this supposed to mean? Are you trying to stall for time by throwing words at me?"
Satoru Gojo drove Sukuna back with a punch.
"I'm just telling you to study harder so the times don't leave you behind!!"
Satoru Gojo formed another hand seal and directly changed the nature of his Domain Barrier.
The outer shell of [Unlimited Void] began to shift. By simulating a state "outside the world," he made the shell like a Klein bottle, with no distinction between inside and outside.
As a result, through the overlap and interaction of the concepts of "inside" and "outside," the Barrier simultaneously took on the traits of both a "closed Domain" and an "open Domain."
A sphere of pale blue light floated quietly behind Satoru Gojo. It looked like an enlarged [Six Eyes], silently watching everything before it.
The moment Satoru Gojo's Domain changed, Sukuna immediately began analyzing it. But having never experienced a higher dimension himself, no matter how strong his ability to learn was, at most he could only construct a hypothetical simulation...
Even so, Sukuna still grasped the core of the issue. No matter what form it took, a clash between Domains would ultimately come down to Barrier interference and technique compatibility...
"So what? Making the Barrier shell intangible only turns this battle into a war of attrition..."
"Why so impatient? Right now I've only brought out the tool called the 'system phase space Barrier'..."
"Domain Reversal..."
Satoru Gojo directly manipulated every quantity within the entire Domain, reversing the direction of every vector. At the same time, the Barrier whose inside and outside had been made intangible changed once again.
When the shell of this high dimensional Barrier switched between inside and outside, the distortion of dimensional projection caused it to enter an "indecipherable state." As a result, for that stretch of time, Satoru Gojo's Domain and Sukuna's Domain would be unable to interfere with each other.
Both of them would be hit by the guaranteed effects of the other's Domain at the same time!
"[All Forms Are Formless]"
The instant the words fell, the effects of both Domains landed on their opponent simultaneously.
Satoru Gojo ignited from the inside out, like the burning candle on the shrine behind Sukuna.
Yet even that pain, far beyond the limits of the human body, did not bring any sign of agony to Satoru Gojo's face. He only bared his teeth in wild laughter, staring at Sukuna through blurred flames.
As for Sukuna, he only took one look at the sphere of light behind Satoru Gojo as it suddenly expanded, and the plan he had just been about to think through vanished from his mind...
[Unlimited Void] forces information into the opponent.
[All Forms Are Formless] strips the opponent's information away!
Little by little, Sukuna's memories began to fade. His train of thought scattered, and soon he lost the ability to think or work out a counter...
Even the intention to attack slipped from his mind, and his hands slowly relaxed...
After that, his muscle memory, his personality, even the information of his soul was stripped away piece by piece.
The fierceness in his eyes faded into calm, then confusion gave way to clarity... In the end, he unconsciously sat down cross legged, staring straight ahead with a gaze that seemed curious about everything...
Satoru Gojo, now almost burned into charcoal, immediately released his Domain. He coughed a few times in a hoarse voice, then collapsed to the ground and poured everything he had into Reverse Cursed Technique just to stay alive.
[Only four seconds... That is seriously insane.]
At that moment, a huge black bug came writhing over. Akira Zenin jumped down from it, took out the [Makaru-kaeshi-no-tama], and placed it on Satoru Gojo's forehead.
Divine treasures were unique, shared among the [Ten Shadows]. And Akira Zenin, who possessed the [Ten Directions Sacred Realm], was even more skilled at using them...
"You really went all out..."
Satoru Gojo had only just stabilized his condition, and his eardrums still had not healed. He only tugged at the corner of his mouth, dry and cracked all over.
...
About half an hour later, Akira Zenin sat off to the side flipping through a book from who knew where, occasionally jotting down notes.
"All done?"
"Ahh~~ That feels good~~"
"What are you yelping about over there? What are we supposed to do about all this stuff you wrecked?"
"You want me to pay for half the city?"
"I'm worried you'll find it annoying. Those old higher ups are definitely going to use this as an excuse to come after you like crazy..."
Satoru Gojo dug the black charcoal out of his ear with his finger.
"They're just like this chunk of charcoal... once they're nothing but harmful, you just dig them out~~"
Then Satoru Gojo looked over at Sukuna, who was still sitting upright nearby.
"Besides, I've got a better idea. Let the one who actually caused all this pay it back..."