When facing Satoru Gojo, one must invariably account for his Domain Expansion. Even throughout the bloody history of jujutsu, Gojo's Infinite Void stands as the ultimate countermeasure against intelligent life. Its overwhelming efficacy far surpasses anything others could even begin to imagine.
So, how do you defend against it?
The answer was actually absurdly simple—
—Since Infinite Void was an ultimate psychic attack targeting thinking, intelligent beings, wouldn't it be solved by simply becoming an unthinking, inorganic object?
Remember the soul structure of the Fusion Soul Knight?
Mahito was the yolk, Idle Transfiguration was maintained on the outside as the egg white, and Jogo acted as the shell.
Every ounce of Infinite Void's mental overload was poured directly into Jogo's mental domain—a shell that had entirely ceased to think, having surrendered its mind and body to the 'yolk,' Mahito. Even though their souls had truly fused, they still unequivocally remained two distinct souls!
In the manga's extra pages, Gege once explained a certain mechanic. Hanami's plant manipulation didn't require seeds; the curse could generate flora out of thin air. So why didn't Hanami just spawn plants directly inside an opponent's body to tear them apart from the inside?
The author's official response was: [Because the human body is also a type of Domain.]
Therefore, the only way to invade this natural domain was to directly inject it through physical contact with Cursed Energy. This was exactly why Hanami's seed projectiles only sprouted after physically hitting and embedding into the target's flesh.
The domain of the human body possesses an innate defensive mechanism. It is an incredibly complex domain structure—and draped over Mahito was exactly this kind of complex, natural barrier: a "human body domain" synthesized from Jogo's unified mind, body, and soul.
Physical trauma could certainly harm Mahito, as his flesh had perfectly merged with Jogo's in a literal sense. However, their soul's unorthodox structure naturally generated a defense against Infinite Void.
Infinite Void was completely ineffective against the Fusion Soul Knight!
The other capabilities of the Fusion Soul Knight were merely secondary benefits. This specific defense was its primary, tailor-made purpose. Satoru Gojo's deduction had been spot on: this was a technique engineered specifically to counter his Domain Expansion. And now, that countermeasure was working flawlessly.
Just as the Crimson Lotus Demon God declared—
—He had been waiting a long time to experience Infinite Void!
Searing heat scattered across the expanse, incinerating all creation! The Crimson Lotus Demon God felt as though the entire world had transformed into a festival of flames. Never before had his heart burned so fiercely—hotter than the magma of Coffin of the Iron Mountain, far more intense than its fires.
He felt it with absolute certainty. In this clash against Satoru Gojo, the one holding the overwhelming advantage was *him*!
The strongest man in the world was currently forced into a disadvantageous posture, dodging and weaving frantically. And rightfully so. The Kirigiri in Mahito's grasp was the world's sharpest blade, capable of cleaving through the Limitless technique. The bio-armor he wore elevated his physical specs into an entirely different dimension. His specially calibrated Domain Expansion was maximizing the restriction on Gojo's mobility.
Furthermore, in this Domain battle, Mahito only needed to attack; he didn't need to defend. Gojo, on the other hand, was forced to continuously weather a torrential downpour of relentless fire techniques.
Of course Mahito had the advantage. Everything he had built was meant for fighting Satoru Gojo. Every technique in his arsenal existed solely for this exact moment.
His advantage was perfectly logical, entirely justified, and absolute.
Yet, he couldn't suppress the rising tide of sheer exhilaration. His extreme excitement caused his Cursed Energy Core to ignite in tandem, sending currents of liquid fire rushing through his limbs and bones. The single cyclopean eye on his chest plate erupted with a massive flare of light.
Because his opponent was Satoru Gojo! The strongest of the modern era! The strongest man in the world!
To cross blows with such a man and actually seize a massive advantage—how could he not be thrilled? He finally understood why, in the original story, when Jogo died by Sukuna's hand and entered his dying vision to meet the King of Curses, Jogo had wept uncontrollably just from Sukuna telling him, "You're quite strong."
Mahito felt that exact same sensation now.
Standing above the strongest in the world, holding the absolute high ground—how could he not be moved? He was genuinely touched, so moved that his murderous intent began to boil over at an unprecedented speed, burning brighter than ever before.
He felt like a competitive gamer who had finally encountered the ultimate final boss of the pro circuit. His respect was genuine, straight from the heart, and his killing intent was equally real. His absolute resolve was unparalleled!
*Kill Satoru Gojo! Right here, right now! I have the power to do it!*
Any thoughts of probing attacks, any prepared escape routes, any rationalization that 'failure is acceptable'—he violently discarded all of it! He felt an overwhelming certainty that entertaining such fallback plans now would only taint his absolute purity in this fight.
In that single fraction of a second, he made his choice—go all out, with no thought of retreat!
He had never felt so utterly liberated. His limbs were literally ablaze, yet his core felt as if it were submerged in a soothing winter hot spring. Finding utter tranquility amidst the raging inferno, he felt a premonition that he could strike a Black Flash at any given moment.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God roared with a dual-layered, reverberating voice: "Satoru Gojo! At this moment, I can finally shout these words with my chest high—Modern Strongest, I! HAVE! COME! TO! KILL! YOU!"
*What utter arrogance, Lord of Cursed Spirits!* Gojo Satoru opened his mouth to roar back:
"Then what are you waiting for?!—Mahito, BRING! IT! ON!"
*Wait, did I just stumble over my words?* Gojo thought to himself.
Unknowingly, the corners of his mouth had curled upward. His heart was racing. His body had been sluggish for far too long, but right here, right now, it had been violently awakened. He could feel the Cursed Energy from his core being endlessly refined, its circulation churning at terrifying speeds, coating his body with Cursed Energy reinforcement almost on pure instinct.
The immense sense of crisis didn't instill an ounce of fear in Gojo. Quite the opposite—his heart felt like it was soaring, seeking the truest form of battle within the jaws of death.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God and Satoru Gojo unleashed deafening roars simultaneously, violently crashing into one another!
Without a second thought, the Crimson Lotus Demon God swung Kirigiri in a devastating arc. As the blade sliced through the air, it briefly flashed a brilliant crimson-gold. Mirokuji Kirigiri's Cursed Energy and the Demon God's Cursed Energy naturally leaned into one another, fusing so perfectly that Mahito could harmonize with the blade's will without even needing Tool Manipulation.
He felt it viscerally. Mirokuji Kirigiri was burning in sync with him. She, too, was deeply moved by this clash against the world's strongest, her bloodlust blazing! In this exact moment, wielder and weapon were perfectly linked, sharing a single heart.
Without a single application of Tool Manipulation, the Crimson Lotus Demon God instantly understood Kirigiri's intent, and Kirigiri mirrored his soul. He wasn't using the technique, yet it felt as if the ultimate mastery of Tool Manipulation had descended upon him.
Gojo only saw a golden-red sun descending upon him. The massive, scorching sphere seemed to fall slowly, but before it even descended, its blinding light washed over his entire body. That light was the lethal gleam of Kirigiri's edge—
BOOM! Massive explosions of fire mirrored each other. The Crimson Lotus Demon God stalled for a fraction of a second, because Kirigiri had been intercepted! Gojo Satoru's clenched fist viciously smashed into the flat of Kirigiri's blade, violently deflecting its trajectory. Driven into a dead angle, the warped trajectory of the slash slammed into the mountain wall behind Gojo, triggering a deafening explosion.
Amidst the waves of fire, Gojo grinned wickedly. "I see it! You Tsukumogami, you can only cut through all creation with your *edge*, right?!"
This was the exact method Ogi Zen'in and Naobito Zen'in had used to counter Kirigiri!
But there was a massive difference: Ogi Zen'in had sacrificed the lives of others to discern the sword's flaw, and Naobito had gambled his own life to knock it away. Satoru Gojo only needed to see it *once* to completely see through Kirigiri's weakness.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God couldn't help but laugh. "Mirokuji Kirigiri is the strongest blade under the heavens. She severs all matter, cutting down gods and buddhas alike! Gojo, do you dare face her edge head-on?!"
Gojo didn't show a hint of embarrassment, laughing candidly. "Hell no!"
They were locked in a desperate struggle for survival, yet they were bantering and laughing mid-combat. Never before had their mindsets felt so synchronized. Amidst the violent clashes of Cursed Energy, they greeted each other with boiling killing intent.
In the next millisecond, a denser, more ferocious storm arrived—a torrential downpour composed entirely of sword strikes.
Streams of fire flowed across Kirigiri's blade as Gojo's palms repeatedly clashed against it, each strike landing flawlessly on the flat of the steel. The Crimson Lotus Demon God mercilessly compressed Gojo's space to dodge, but in the next blink, Gojo vanished from his line of sight, reappearing directly behind him with a fist raised to deliver a crushing blow.
But before the fist could fall, the Crimson Lotus Demon God had already spun around. Simultaneous with his pivot, the blade reached Gojo's fingertips first. Under the crimson-gold flash, a faint mark kissed Gojo's wrist. In an instant, the blade sheared cleanly through the Limitless.
Gojo spun in the direction of the blade's cut, matching its momentum. His speed was utterly terrifying—even the Crimson Lotus Demon God's swinging speed couldn't keep up! Naobito Zen'in once claimed to be the second fastest man in the world, solely because Satoru Gojo stood above him. Right now, the Crimson Lotus Demon God understood exactly why that was an undeniable fact.
Naobito had to continuously stack Projection Sorcery to achieve logic-defying speeds. Gojo didn't even need that. With a mere tap of his foot, his Limitless allowed him to freely warp to any location. It was an absolute agility that no speed-based cursed technique could ever hope to rival.
Within a scant few seconds, Gojo's afterimages blanketed the entirety of Coffin of the Iron Mountain. The Crimson Lotus Demon God chased him like a rabid dragon, swinging Kirigiri with feral ferocity. Every swing left behind a colossal explosion of fire, setting the very air ablaze.
The temperature spiked once again!
The extreme heat had completely distorted the atmosphere. During an exchange of blows, Gojo glanced at the hem of his jacket. Even with his Cursed Energy reinforcement acting as a shield, his clothes were beginning to spontaneously combust.
*Just how hot is it inside this barrier now? 3000°C? 5000°C?*
At 600°C, steel melts. At 1000°C, it flows like water. At 3000°C, steel vaporizes.
There was no material on earth capable of withstanding the outer corona of the sun, which burned at a staggering 6000°C. The temperature within the barrier was rapidly approaching that apocalyptic threshold!
As time ticked on, the temperature would only climb higher and higher! This was originally a phenomenon triggered by Cursed Energy, but the heat had reached such an extreme degree that even if the Cursed Energy were deactivated, the physical reality of the thermal radiation wouldn't just vanish.
What would happen if it kept rising?
There was an absolute pinnacle of natural combustion in this universe—found outside the atmosphere, at the dead center of stars. The deepest core of the star known as the sun burned perpetually at over 150 million degrees.
Without even needing to think deeply about it, Gojo deduced it immediately—the phenomenon at the sun's core: *Nuclear Fusion*.
Under normal circumstances, Gojo was confident he could go for a swim in the center of the sun without an oxygen tank! Because he could continuously deploy the Limitless while simultaneously running Reverse Cursed Technique. Oxygen wasn't even a prerequisite for his survival.
But right now, they were in a Domain Clash. Both techniques were guaranteed to hit, and he was unilaterally subjected to a relentless barrage of fire techniques while simultaneously dodging Kirigiri's edge, forced to constantly deflect the blade by punching its flat side.
Just one tiny slip-up, and the heat of nuclear fusion would instantly vaporize him, erasing his body entirely. That was the absolute limit of raw stats!
*If this drags on, I'll die.* Gojo processed this terrifying reality. He threw his head back and laughed out loud:
"Is that so? You even factored in a war of attrition! Amazing, you've genuinely backed me into a corner! Mahito, you never cease to surprise me."
"Facing you, Gojo, I don't dare hold a single thing back!" The Crimson Lotus Demon God surged forward, blade raised.
"Since when did you stop calling me 'Gojo-san'?" Gojo precisely knocked Kirigiri's flat edge aside with a pinpoint strike.
"Because I don't need to anymore!" Mahito laughed uproariously.
*That's right, because he doesn't need to anymore!* Gojo found himself miraculously accepting this rationale. Through the violent clash of their Cursed Energy, he could strongly perceive the King of Cursed Spirits' true heart. He now fully understood why Kinji Hakari and Yuki Tsukumo had instantly changed their tune about Mahito after crossing blows with him just once, despite firmly opposing him before.
Gojo felt it intimately. Mahito's heart was pure and untainted, a state of ultimate benevolence that wholly transcended the base instincts of a curse.
*I see.* In a single instant, Gojo understood: *This is a Noble Soul.*
[Listen well. Master Tengen is me, and I am Master Tengen!]
Riko Amanai's words from years ago echoed in Gojo's mind. When he first met her, her soul was just as exceptionally pure: her emotions burned fiercely, yet lacked even a sliver of hesitation. Her eyes held nothing but absolute resolve.
Exactly like the Crimson Lotus Demon God before him!
Gojo took a deep breath, and mid-dodge, began an incantation: "Nine Ropes."
The Crimson Lotus Demon God's pupil contracted, instantly recognizing what Gojo was attempting.
The absolute pinnacle of jujutsu is the mastery of subtraction—omitting incantations, hand signs, mental preparations, environmental factors, and so on. The ability to skip these numerous steps to instantly manifest a technique dictates a sorcerer's true skill.
But Satoru Gojo, right now, was chanting an incantation without skipping a single step, all while continuing his high-speed melee against the Demon God.
A ring of Simple Domain silently expanded, centering on the Crimson Lotus Demon God.
"Polarized Light." Gojo remained unfazed.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God suddenly leapt backward. He leveled Kirigiri before his eyes, his hand gently sweeping across the blade. A crimson scabbard slowly materialized over the steel, adorned with intricate, lifelike flame patterns.
"Crow and Declaration." Gojo immediately perceived Mahito's intent. His smile widened into that of a bloodthirsty demon. Masking his intentions no longer, his hands formed a sign. Despite the demonic grin plastered across his face, his posture was as solemn and dignified as a Buddha.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God lowered the sheathed Kirigiri to his hip, sinking low into his stance. He stared down at the hilt. The Simple Domain suddenly surged outward, completely overriding the Domain Expansion. Gojo could distinctly feel the bone-chilling hostility radiating from the Simple Domain.
"Between Front and Back." Gojo shifted his hand signs, bringing his hand before his face in the Buddha's flower-holding mudra. Suddenly, the light in the Crimson Lotus Demon God's eyes extinguished. He froze perfectly still.
A tiny sphere of absolute void materialized before Gojo's mudra.
"Hollow Technique—"
With the detached serenity of a meditating Buddha, he softly spoke: "—Purple."
In that exact same microsecond, the Crimson Lotus Demon God drew his blade.
This was—New Shadow Style: Shinmyoken: Muku-Kushiki.
Satoru Gojo and the Crimson Lotus Demon God had simultaneously chosen to unleash every last drop of Cursed Energy in their bodies!
A lunar arc of blinding light drew from the Crimson Lotus Demon God's waist. As he swung, Mahito's consciousness was as still as a mirrored lake. The strike of absolute nothingness transcended time itself, delicately kissing Gojo's waist—the exact location of his Cursed Energy Core. When both fighters exhausted all their energy in a single breath, destroying the core was far more lethal than destroying the brain where the innate technique resided.
Even for Satoru Gojo, if his internal reserves were thoroughly depleted, Reverse Cursed Technique wouldn't activate!
Purple had not yet fired. Kirigiri's tip had already passed entirely through Gojo's abdomen. Naturally, the Limitless had failed to block it. Because the blade was incomprehensibly sharp, passing right through Gojo's flesh didn't even register a physical phenomenon in the first millisecond.
Infinite Void silently and naturally dispersed. Coffin of the Iron Mountain reclaimed the world. Gojo shifted his Six Eyes downward, looking at his own bisected waist in genuine awe.
"Ah, to think you had a move like that hidden away. No wonder you didn't try to interrupt my chants, choosing instead to clash head-on with an Iaijutsu. Just like when you questioned why I didn't use a Domain after you transformed... you deliberately baited me into firing a full-power Hollow Technique, didn't you?"
The Crimson Lotus Demon God elegantly flicked Kirigiri as he exhaled. It was the ceremonial *Chiburi*—a blade-shaking motion performed only when a swordsman is absolutely certain their opponent is dead.
"My Shinmyoken can reach the gods," the Crimson Lotus Demon God said evenly.
"New Shadow Style's 'Shinmyoken', huh? I always thought it was more esoteric mumbo-jumbo than actual jujutsu—an impractical fantasy. I never imagined someone could actually pull it off." Gojo stared at him intently, a smirk lifting his lips. "Well done. That was a truly enjoyable..."
"...AS IF!" Gojo stuck his tongue out. In the next instant, the void sphere before his mudra violently expanded.
"Impossible—!" the Crimson Lotus Demon God roared.
The bloodline finally manifested. Using his waist as the dividing line, Gojo's upper and lower body were cleanly severed. It was an undeniable bisection, with zero room for debate! Even during the final battle in Shinjuku, Gojo had died to a bisection. Reverse Cursed Technique wasn't supposed to be able to heal a severed waist!
Not to mention, he had clearly just exhausted his Cursed Energy reserves! He shouldn't have possessed the required energy to run RCT! Yuki Tsukumo had died when her Cursed Energy Core was severed; common sense dictated that Gojo should be closing his eyes and awaiting death exactly like she did!
Even the Infinite Void barrier had shattered! Gojo had objectively sustained critical damage severe enough to collapse a Domain!
If the pinnacle of jujutsu is the mastery of subtraction—where the most skilled sorcerers simplify their techniques—then conversely, what happens when a sorcerer who has already reached the pinnacle reverts to the basics, perfectly executing the most primitive, unaltered form of their technique?
The Hollow Technique Gojo executed just now lacked absolutely nothing: incantations, hand signs, a calm mind, absolute focus.
This Hollow Technique was operating at 150% output—!
The Purple was finally unleashed. Though shocked, the Crimson Lotus Demon God had maintained his *Zanshin* (state of lingering awareness). His body reacted faster than his thoughts, diving to the side as a colossal silhouette of annihilation swept past him.
Hollow Technique: Purple. A hyper-precision technique unique to Satoru Gojo. He was the only one in existence capable of simultaneously blending Cursed Technique Lapse and Cursed Technique Reversal. The result was an imaginary mass where spatial convergence and spatial divergence existed simultaneously. Acting as both a black hole and a white hole, it violently crushed everything in its path to dust.
Just as it did now!
Bolstered by its complete incantation, the roaring Purple slammed into the mountain walls of Jogo's Coffin of the Iron Mountain. Without a microsecond of resistance, the entire mountain wall was annihilated! Mahito could distinctly feel Jogo's soul violently shudder from the feedback.
But it didn't stop there! After shattering the Domain, the Purple's residual momentum didn't falter in the slightest. It continued hurtling toward the horizon, a horizontal tornado swallowing absolutely everything in its path.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God looked back. Escaping the shattered Domain, the Purple had erased half of the flower field outside. Only 'half' because the attack had originated from the center; had it been fired from the edge, the entire field would have become history.
Relentless, it then slammed into the rock walls of the valley surrounding the field, grinding them to powder. It reminded Mahito of the legendary Sandworms, whose jaws acted like rotary drills capable of chewing up and swallowing any substance.
But unlike a Sandworm, Purple didn't eat—it eroded. Gojo's spatial manipulation was precise down to the atomic level, grinding all matter it touched into subatomic fragments. Its penetrating power was unparalleled in the entire world!
The flames adorning the Crimson Lotus Demon God slowly flickered out. Mahito had entered Cursed Technique Burnout. He turned his head back, locking eyes with Satoru Gojo once more.
"Honestly, I genuinely wanted to test your Iaijutsu against my Hollow Technique. Just thinking about the sparks that clash would make got me so hyped! But I didn't expect your draw to be *that* fast. I got hit before Purple even fired. That was way too close!" Gojo cheered, his spirits entirely undamped.
Gojo had already reattached his upper and lower halves. His Reverse Cursed Technique had flawlessly healed the bisection. He casually tossed aside his ruined black jacket, revealing his black fitted shirt underneath. The shirt bore a clear, horizontal slice—proof of his bisection.
A short-sleeved black shirt, dark pants, and dress shoes. His current appearance perfectly mirrored his aesthetic from the final Shinjuku Showdown. Even that cocky, unhinged smile was identical.
Just looking at him, one could tell he was firmly in the zone. He was like a basketball player shooting threes—taking ten shots and sinking all ten!
The Crimson Lotus Demon God couldn't help but interject. "Reverse Cursed Technique shouldn't be able to heal a bisection! That surpasses the absolute upper limits of RCT! Furthermore... you had exhausted your Cursed Energy. I saw it clearly with my own eyes. Even if you *could* use RCT, you shouldn't have had the fuel to cast it! I cut you in half, why are you alive?"
"Ah, what are you talking about? The upper limits of RCT? Exhausted Cursed Energy? Didn't you see clearly? My Hollow Technique hadn't fired yet! Siphoning off a tiny fraction right before getting cut in half is child's play for me. As for the limits of RCT..." Gojo smiled softly. "Don't say such depressing things—I am Satoru Gojo."
The Crimson Lotus Demon God froze, suddenly recalling a specific author's note Gege made after the manga ended:
[If Satoru Gojo had maintained a state of vigilance, Sukuna's final spatial slash could never have worked on him.]
During his fight with Ryomen Sukuna, Gojo had definitively lowered his guard after killing Mahoraga. He had mistakenly believed that once he destroyed the only entity capable of adapting to his Limitless, Sukuna had no other lethal cards left to play.
So, facing the Crimson Lotus Demon God, would Gojo drop his guard?
Gojo had let his guard down against Sukuna because Mahoraga was dead. But right now, the Crimson Lotus Demon God was still gripping Mirokuji Kirigiri tightly in his hands!
Intercepting and siphoning Cursed Energy from an attack that was basically already fired was impossible in the eyes of normal sorcerers. But for the Six Eyes of Satoru Gojo, who possessed the ultimate mastery over Cursed Energy manipulation, it was elementary.
And as long as he siphoned even a single drop, for the Six Eyes—which could perform the equivalent of 10,000 units of CE output using only 1 unit—that single drop was more than enough to heal a bisection!
Let alone Gojo himself; didn't Yuta Okkotsu, using Kenjaku's brain-swapping technique to hijack Gojo's body, immediately use RCT to heal the stitched-up bisection wound?
The Crimson Lotus Demon God glanced at the Kirigiri in his hand, chuckling wryly. "I see. I fell victim to empirical bias. You had already prepared yourself for the possibility of me destroying your Cursed Energy Core... No, it goes further than that. You even prepared for me destroying your innate technique in your brain."
Gojo tapped his forehead, the seat of his innate technique.
He laughed out loud. "Excellent, Mahito. I'm starting to feel more and more like we're kindred spirits. Spot on. Whether your Iaijutsu severed my Cursed Energy Core, my innate technique, or even both simultaneously, I was fully prepared to resurrect myself."
Mahito recalled a specific scene from the original manga:
When Gojo was a high schooler, before he had even learned RCT, Toji Fushiguro had ambushed him, utterly destroying his throat, chest, and leg. His innate technique and Cursed Energy Core had been completely ravaged.
Toji Fushiguro assumed Gojo was a corpse.
But he wasn't. Gojo grasped the core of Cursed Energy right there on the verge of death. He had unconsciously set up an RCT healing loop. Even with a ruined brain and core, he continuously healed himself after Toji left, eventually achieving a perfect resurrection.
Why?
The teenage Gojo had smiled and answered: [You lost because you didn't sever my head. And you didn't use that cursed tool when you stabbed me.]
Conversely, unless his head was completely severed, or his innate technique was stabbed directly by a cursed tool with a technique-extinguishing effect, even the teenage Gojo couldn't be killed.
A simple bisection absolutely could not kill this man!
Let alone a bisection; he could resurrect from simultaneous brain and abdominal destruction back in high school.
By the end of the series, Gojo was using RCT while under Technique Burnout, forcibly healing his burned-out technique. The spectator sorcerers called it impossible, because RCT inherently relied on the innate technique to function; theoretically, using RCT during burnout was a paradox.
And that logic was true. During the bloodbath between Choso and Kenjaku, Kenjaku crushed Choso's neck to prevent him from using RCT, stopping the healing energy from flowing downward. Kenjaku directly stated, [Now you can't use RCT to heal your body.]
RCT *had* to circulate through the innate technique. That was the established common sense of the jujutsu world!
But Satoru Gojo was a man who transcended all common sense.
This was exactly why readers had such a massive backlash when Gojo was bisected by a spatial slash and died in the manga, calling him a clown. Because logically, if his teenage self could heal a shattered abdomen, his adult self should be vastly superior! How could he regress?
So why did he die to a bisection in the original work?
After surviving this exact scenario, Mahito had the definitive answer: *He wasn't prepared!*
This was a crucial distinction. A prepared sorcerer and an unprepared sorcerer were two completely different species. Just like in high school, when prepared, he could survive his brain and core being destroyed simultaneously. But when caught off guard by a sudden spatial bisection, he could only die helplessly.
At that moment in Shinjuku, Gojo must have expended every last ounce of his Cursed Energy just like he did now. Before his core could refine new energy, Sukuna's spatial slash severed it. The difference was, right now, he was fully prepared. Back then, in the blank fraction of a second after killing Mahoraga, he was completely unprepared!
No wonder Gojo said in the afterlife airport that he felt bad for not letting Sukuna give it his all—a line that ruined his character for many. He said it because he genuinely believed his death was his own fault! He was apologizing to Sukuna because his failure to detect the spatial slash felt like a disservice to such a magnificent technique.
In other words, that 'apology' was actually born from supreme arrogance. The arrogance to believe that he *could* have dodged or healed, but lost the opportunity purely due to his own carelessness.
Gojo was so arrogant that he believed he should have effortlessly dodged Sukuna's painstakingly prepared ambush. By failing to dodge, he felt he had slighted an opponent who was giving it their all.
Mahito suspected this had nothing to do with Sukuna at all. If *anyone* managed to kill Gojo with a sneak attack, Gojo would likely lament in the afterlife that he hadn't let them have enough fun. In Gojo's mind, dying to a sneak attack instead of a frontal assault was an embarrassing failure on his part, and a discourtesy to his killer.
*If I die because I failed to see through your ambush, then I'm sorry for ruining the fight!* What unfathomable arrogance!
Yet, this man, who was arrogant enough to look down on even Ryomen Sukuna's ultimate ambush, was currently facing Mahito with an absolutely perfect, flawless mindset—
Mahito realized it. The Satoru Gojo standing before him right now was a more terrifying entity than the Gojo from the end of the manga. Because Gojo hadn't dropped his guard against Mahito for a single second. He was meeting every one of Mahito's assaults in peak condition, dismantling them one by one.
Mahito finally understood the true weight of the title 'World's Strongest'.
The Crimson Lotus Demon God gripped his blade anew. He leveled Kirigiri to his shoulder line, the tip pointed directly at his opponent. It was the standard *Seigan no Kamae*, the absolute most powerful stance for executing a forward thrust.
Gojo casually did a few torso twists right in front of Mahito. His movements were fluid, devoid of any stiffness. Mahito could clearly see the Cursed Energy flowing around Gojo—it was smooth, beautiful, flowing like a natural cycle. The man had just been cut in half, yet within a few breaths, he had completely returned to his peak state.
"It's truly incredible. We just met, we've been fighting for less than fifteen minutes, yet I can vividly feel your heart, and you can instantly read my thoughts."
Mahito spoke softly, "Perhaps... this is what it means to be fated rivals."
"Heh. Fated rivals, huh? I love it—"
Gojo's face erupted into a grin, radiating an overwhelming, palpable bloodlust as he issued his challenge:
"—Then let's see if you're actually worthy of the title!"
"Here I come, Satoru!" the Crimson Lotus Demon God roared.
—Reverse Cursed Technique, Soul Creation: Yuki Tsukumo.
—Technique Release: —STAR! RAGE!
Gojo's Six Eyes widened as they perceived the sudden, astronomical addition of imaginary mass. For the first time, his pupils violently trembled in pure shock. Shattering his arrogant facade, he yelled out, "Impossible! You're in Technique Burnout—!"
In the next instant, the *Gatotsu* thrust was unleashed!