Shion stood rigid, hands clasped behind his back, the muscles in his arms and shoulders straining against his fitted clothes. Then abruptly, he lifted his head, eyes gleaming with predatory intensity.
Boom.
Shion vanished from sight in an instant, leaving fractured rock and splintered ground where he had just stood.
"So fast…" a voice murmured.
Even with the Six Eyes, Satoru Gojo only caught a fading afterimage.
"Satoru, watch out!" another voice called.
But before the warning had fully registered, Toji Fushiguro was already before Satoru Gojo.
Between the two brothers, Shion was clearly the greater threat, so Toji had chosen to eliminate the younger first.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue," Satoru intoned, unleashing a torrent of swirling energy that carved through trees and obliterated the nearby huts.
Unable to match Toji's speed, Satoru released a full‑range area technique in desperation.
Even so, Toji danced out of the blast with terrifying precision.
Inside the forest, dark shadows flickered as Toji leapt from trunk to trunk, ignoring gravity altogether.
"Huh?" Toji hesitated as he realized someone was keeping pace with him.
Shion's form stayed with him effortlessly.
"Taijutsu competition?" Toji smirked and shifted direction, choosing to face Shion head‑on.
Shion showed no hesitation, stepping forward with confidence.
He executed a technique resembling the two‑sword style, inspired by ancient swordsmanship. His strikes were delivered with speed and intention, flowing without gaps or hesitation. Each hit carried the impact of a Black Flash, a crackling strike of pure cursed energy that shook the air.
At a glance, it looked like arcs of black lightning dancing in the forest.
Toji did not dodge.
Instead, he withdrew the Inverted Spear of Heaven and met Shion's assault directly, hands moving like petals in wind as he parried each strike one after another.
From Satoru's perspective, all he could see were two blurs exchanging blow after blow, the sounds of impact echoing like explosions.
"So powerful…" Satoru admitted, a genuine awe in his voice as he watched Shion and Toji.
Until that moment, Satoru had never cared much for taijutsu. With the Limitless technique at his command, he had always believed that hand‑to‑hand combat was secondary. But now, seeing Shion execute flawless taijutsu against someone like Toji, he was struck by how deadly mastery of physical combat could be.
Shion's expression, previously steady, became serious as the fight wore on. What began as an even match was slowly tipping in Toji's favor.
Shion realized the difference was not in technique but in raw physicality.
Toji lacked cursed energy entirely, a result of his Heavenly Restriction, but in exchange he had gained superhuman strength, reflexes, and senses—ultimate hearing, vision, touch, smell—all honed to perfection.
Even though his taijutsu matched Shion's, Toji's speed and power were greater. He moved with brutal force and instinct.
Bang.
Shion was sent flying by a punch that rocked space itself.
"This strength…" he thought, barely keeping his focus as he was thrown back.
Meanwhile, Satoru saw his chance and fired another Blue toward Toji, the explosion momentarily obscuring his view.
But then swarms of low‑level cursed spirits, grotesque flying heads, materialized around him. Their shrill screeches filled his ears, their numbers blocking his sight and focus.
"What?" Satoru spun, pushing the Limitless technique to its utmost edge, but the sense of threat wouldn't fade.
Then he saw it—Toji's weapon.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven. A special‑grade cursed tool forged to nullify any cursed technique, including Limitless.
The instant the spear touched Satoru's technique, a crack of resonance snapped through the air. In a blink, the spear was buried in Satoru's neck.
Toji grinned viciously and drove the spear forward. It pierced Satoru Gojo from top to bottom.
But Toji didn't stop there. He twisted the blade, drove the weapon deeper, and then withdrew a dagger, burying it in Satoru's skull.
Death crept in like ice water.
Satoru's body fell, breathless, a lifeless shell.
Yet in his mind, everything was strangely clear.
"Is this how I die?" Satoru's awareness flickered, the world around him frozen in silence. The cursed spirits. Toji. The spear and blood hovered like distant images.
A feeling unlike fear washed over him, calm and distant.
Cursed energy. Techniques. Construction and destruction. Attraction, repulsion.
Countless visions flickered through his consciousness.
His body lay down like a puppet discarded, breath gone, life drained.
Toji turned back toward Shion, expression unbothered.
"Your turn," he said, voice almost light.
Shion surrounded himself with a thin spiral of Blue, adding an extra barrier outside of Limitless.
Toji raised an eyebrow, impressed.
"So you know my spear nullifies Limitless, but you still use a technique for defense?"
He took a step closer.
"You watched your brother die at my hands and stayed calm. Not even a shout, not even a flinch."
Shion's eyes narrowed, lips tightening.
"Save the talk."
His response was simple.
Clink, clink.
Chains rattled sharply.
One end was in the mouth of a cursed spirit, the other connected to the Inverted Spear of Heaven, which extended indefinitely as long as the full length wasn't observed.
With no warning, Toji hurled the weapon straight at Shion.
The spear struck the Blue barrier and nullified it.
"Damn," Shion muttered, eyes tightening. The weapon was a perfect counter to cursed techniques, especially in Toji's hands.
Toji closed the distance as if inviting Shion to strike.
Then he slashed the spear at an odd, unpredictable angle.
Shion rolled aside smoothly.
But before he could recover, Toji yanked the heavenly rope.
The spear fired back like a dart and struck Shion in the back with piercing precision.
Pain flared.
"To the heart," Shion whispered, staggering forward, breath sharp.