"So this is… death… My Limitless… was broken…"
Rin walked over and stood above him, looking down at the young man struggling at the edge of life and death.
"Your Six Eyes process an enormous amount of information every second. Maintaining Limitless puts your brain under constant overload."
Rin's voice drifted through the sea breeze, reaching deep into Gojo's fading consciousness.
"If you don't want your brain to burn out, if you want to live, you need to learn to heal yourself."
"Cursed Energy is negative. But when negative energy collides with negative energy, it becomes positive. That positive energy can heal the body."
"If you can't grasp Reverse Cursed Technique before your last breath, then all your talent is meaningless."
At the brink of death, Gojo Satoru's mind shut out all unnecessary stimuli.
The wind, the waves, even Geto Suguru's shouts faded away.
All of his consciousness focused inward, on the chaotic flow of Cursed Energy within his body.
"Negative… collision… negative times negative becomes positive…"
Under the extreme pressure of death, Gojo Satoru's terrifying level of comprehension, worthy of standing at the very peak of the jujutsu world, finally erupted.
He grasped the essence of Cursed Energy.
Hum~~!
A completely different, warm energy surged from his nearly exhausted body.
That energy rapidly gathered at his pierced throat. Damaged blood vessels, trachea, and muscle tissue began to steam faintly as they reformed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye under the nourishment of positive energy.
In just a few breaths...
The blood on the ground stopped spreading.
Gojo's body grew still.
Then he slowly rose from the beach, lifting a hand to wipe away the blood from his neck. The wound had completely vanished, leaving not even a trace behind.
His head remained lowered, his shoulders trembling slightly, before a low laugh escaped him.
"Haha… hahahaha!"
The laughter grew louder, tinged with both madness and clarity, the kind that came from stepping beyond the boundary between life and death.
He lifted his head. Those Six Eyes shone with such brilliance that they were almost impossible to look at directly.
His entire presence transformed.
It was as if he had cast off invisible shackles, becoming boundless like the sky itself, yet carrying an unmistakable arrogance.
"Sorry about that, old man."
Gojo tapped his temple, a wild grin spreading across his face.
"Right now, I don't feel angry at all."
"In fact, this world feels incredible."
He pointed one finger toward the sky and one toward the ground.
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."
Rin watched this moment of awakening, a faint look of satisfaction flickering in his eyes.
"Looks like your mind's finally cleared up."
Rin crossed his arms.
"Not only did you grasp Reverse Cursed Technique, you can even keep it running constantly in your brain. Now you're barely worth paying attention to."
"As thanks for helping me clear my blockages…"
Gojo Satoru raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together.
"I'll return the favor with my strongest attack."
The Cursed Energy at his fingertips began to undergo a violent transformation.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
A sphere of blue energy that pulled everything toward it formed instantly.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
A burst of red energy that repelled everything surged forth.
Two completely opposite forces merged and collided in front of him. The resulting mass warped space itself as it compressed into something terrifying.
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
BoOOOOOOOOOOom!
A massive sphere of purple energy surged forward, carrying absolute destructive power capable of erasing everything in its path.
Where it passed, the white sand was instantly annihilated. The ocean itself was split open, forming a deep trench so vast that the seawater could not even rush back in time.
In the distance, both Geto Suguru, pinned to the ground, and Toji froze.
Toji stared at the incoming purple mass, his scalp prickling.
He knew without a doubt that he could not withstand it. It was a technique that erased its target at the most fundamental level.
Facing the world-destroying Hollow Technique: Purple, Rin did not retreat.
He did not even consider dodging.
"So you merge positive and negative energy to create imaginary mass. Not bad."
The hexagram patterns in his eyes spun rapidly.
"But against me, it's meaningless."
Just as the massive purple sphere was about to engulf him—
"Kamui."
Space itself was violently torn apart.
A pitch-black vortex, its edges rippling with distorted space, burst open in front of Rin.
The Hollow Technique: Purple, which had just erased sand and seawater with ease, didn't create the slightest disturbance when it collided with the vortex. It was swallowed whole, dragged completely into Kamui's alternate dimension.
The vortex closed.
The sea breeze returned.
Aside from the massive trench carved into the ocean, there was nothing left to show for that devastating attack. Rin stood where he was, completely unharmed.
"This…"
The wild, triumphant smile on Gojo Satoru's face froze.
His strongest attack, one he had only just awakened, had been erased without even touching the target.
"Done?"
Rin lowered his hand, brushing nonexistent dust from his clothes as he looked at Gojo calmly.
"Your control over your power isn't bad. But if this is what you call 'the strongest,' I suggest you go back and study for a few more years."
Gojo stood there, stunned for a full five seconds.
Then, like a balloon losing all its air, he dropped onto the sand and scratched his white hair in frustration.
"Ah—! I'm done, I'm done!"
He sighed up at the sky, completely giving up.
"You're a monster. You can even swallow Purple. How am I supposed to fight that?"
Despite being utterly outmatched, Gojo's mindset had improved after grasping Reverse Cursed Technique.
He had already realized that Rin had no intention of killing him, and that everything just now had been a crude but effective way to push him past the boundary between life and death.
"Hey, old man, you went through all that trouble just to beat me half to death so I could awaken Reverse Cursed Technique?"
Gojo rolled his eyes.
"I'm in my early 20s! And don't flatter yourself."
Rin walked past him, leaving behind a cold remark.
"I just didn't want the so-called ceiling of this world to be some half-baked brat who can't even fix his own brain."
At that moment, the long-silent system notifications finally rang out in his mind like a rising tide.
[Ding! Detected that the host has subdued the 'Heavenly Restriction monster, Toji Fushiguro' with absolute force, altered his fate of dying in battle, and recruited him as a combatant!]
[Reward: 15,000 dimension points!]
[Ding! Detected that the host has forcefully intervened in the Star Plasma Vessel incident, protected Riko Amanai, and completely overturned the fate of Tengen's assimilation!]
[Reward: 20,000 dimension points!]
[Ding! Detected that the host pushed Gojo Satoru to the brink, prematurely triggering his awakening of Reverse Cursed Technique and Hollow Technique: Purple, and neutralized his strongest attack without injury using Kamui!]
[The host's absolute deterrence in this dimension has been firmly established! The worldview of the strongest duo has been reshaped!]
[Reward: 10,000 dimension points!]
Hearing the series of crisp notifications, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Rin's lips.
Forty-five thousand points.
This trip to Okinawa had been a huge gain.
"Alright. Now that your 'blockage' is cleared…"
Rin turned and looked at Geto Suguru, who had just gotten back on his feet, and Toji Fushiguro standing behind him.
"Take that Star Plasma Vessel girl and go wherever you want. Charge all your expenses from the past few days to the Star Religious Group. I've already had their vault emptied."
Rin no longer paid them any attention. With one hand in his pocket, a slight shift of his will caused a Kamui vortex to open beside him.
"Toji. Keep up. We're going to pay a visit to those old fossils at Jujutsu Headquarters."
___
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