Chapter 170 (Patreon)

“I’ll erase your existence completely.”

Pitch-black cursed energy swirled around Sukuna’s body, coating even the slashes he unleashed.

As the black slash hurtled toward him, alarm surged through Satoru Gojo’s heart.

I can’t let that touch me directly!

Until now, Sukuna’s slashes had embodied only the concept of cutting. The attack before him, however, contained the concept of erasure.

Had the Six Eyes not allowed Gojo to perceive the nature of the slash, he would never have realized the danger. If that attack struck him, even Reverse Cursed Technique would be useless.

Ordinarily, if someone’s arm were severed, Reverse Cursed Technique could restore it to its original state. But if Sukuna’s black slash severed that arm, the very concept of the arm would be erased. It would become as though the person had never possessed an arm in the first place.

How could something that had never existed be restored?

This was a causality-based attack—something that could no longer be defended against through conventional means.

“This just became... dangerous.”

Sukuna’s slash erased everything it touched. It was an attack that could not be blocked, and at that moment, the scales of victory tipped in his favor.

Whoosh!

The black slash tore through the air. Gojo immediately moved aside, and a bottomless fissure appeared through the center of the city behind him.

“Couldn’t you hold back a little?” Gojo complained. “You’ve already wrecked this many buildings. Rebuilding them takes time, you know.”

“Heh. As though you haven’t destroyed your share.”

Gojo looked completely unconcerned.

“It’ll be fine. When this is over, I’ll just blame all of it on you.”

“That assumes there’ll be an ‘after’ for you.”

Sukuna raised one hand. Black cursed energy surged into the heavens as a pitch-black slash tore across the sky.

“Let this be our farewell... Dismantle.”

Gojo pushed the Six Eyes to their limit, attempting to analyze the black cursed energy surrounding Sukuna’s slash.

As long as he could understand it, there had to be a way to counter it.

A blue radiance blazed within his azure eyes. Veins bulged around them, and blood began running from their corners.

Sukuna’s slash was a conceptual attack. Under normal circumstances, Gojo could use the Infinity to defend against any attack. The problem was that his Six Eyes could not yet perceive the true essence of a concept.

Without understanding it at its source, he could not stop it!

No.

That’s impossible!

As long as this power is made of cursed energy, there’s nothing the Six Eyes can’t perceive!

More!

I need to amplify them with even more cursed energy!

Sukuna stared at the motionless Gojo.

“Have you given up? I suppose that’s only natural. Before you, no one in this world had ever forced me to use this attack.”

The black slash descended.

Nothing could possibly survive an attack on that conceptual level.

Just as the slash was about to tear Gojo in half—

“I see it...”

Gojo concentrated every last trace of his cursed energy into the Six Eyes.

At that moment, he finally perceived the thing known as a concept. He also understood why his Infinity had been incapable of stopping it.

“I still have a long way to go with the Limitless.”

Gojo compressed the Limitless to the Planck scale. His control over the technique had crossed into the quantum realm.

He could now clearly observe the mechanism behind Sukuna’s conceptual attack.

This state could also be called—

The Observer Superposition State.

Rumble!

Sukuna’s conceptual slash crashed down, splitting the entire landmass in two.

“You have earned my respect, Satoru Gojo...”

Faced with a slash of that magnitude, Sukuna did not believe there was even the slightest possibility that Gojo had survived.

“You’re not so bad yourself, Sukuna.”

Sukuna’s eyes widened.

At the center of the devastation, Gojo was still floating in midair.

“How is that possible...? I’m certain my slash struck you. And yet...”

“You want to know why I’m still alive, right?”

Gojo casually rolled his shoulders.

“I knew it. Nothing makes you grow faster than a battle like this... Don’t you agree, Sukuna?”

“You really are troublesome, Satoru Gojo.”

Sukuna narrowed his eyes and carefully examined him.

Gojo’s form appeared hazy and indistinct, almost illusory. It was nothing like the presence a living human being should possess.

Sukuna could not even be certain that the person before him truly was Satoru Gojo.

The sensation was far too strange.

He couldn’t be observed.

“Dismantle!”

If observation could not provide him with an answer, Sukuna would attack and uncover it himself.

A horizontal black slash screamed across the sky. Gojo merely smiled and made no attempt to dodge.

No matter how far it traveled, the slash could not touch him.

It was as though an infinitely small distance separated them. That distance continued to shrink endlessly, yet the slash could never reach its destination.

The two remained locked in that stalemate for several moments before Gojo made the first move.

Cursed Technique Reversal: Red manifested directly where Sukuna stood.

Squelch!

A crimson Red erupted inside Sukuna’s chest, blasting open an enormous hole through his torso.

With a furious roar, Sukuna infused his fist with the concept of erasure and swung it at Gojo.

“You still don’t understand, Sukuna?”

Gojo made no effort to avoid the incoming fist.

“Right now, I’m stronger than you.”

He allowed Sukuna’s attack to strike him without resistance. The gap between their strength had become so absurd that comparing the two was like comparing a human being to a banana.

Gojo answered with a casual backhand.

Sukuna was instantly sent hurtling into the city.

Before Sukuna could recover, Gojo appeared behind him and delivered a full-powered kick, launching him vertically into the sky.

“Right now... I am the strongest!”

Gojo appeared above Sukuna’s flight path, clasped both hands together, and hammered them down.

Rumble!

Sukuna crashed through dozens of high-rise buildings before finally coming to a stop. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his injuries.

Then he looked up at Gojo.

Floating high in the sky, the sorcerer resembled a god gazing down upon the world.

Snap!

Gojo snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the ruined city was restored to its original state.

Standing in the middle of the plaza, Sukuna watched the impossible scene unfold before him.

It had truly happened in a single instant.

The restoration was absolute.

“Don’t celebrate too soon... Satoru Gojo!”

Sukuna roared and formed a hand sign. White cursed energy instantly spread across the entire area.

“A domain?”

Gojo watched Sukuna’s movements closely.

“I’ll show you what a true domain is—the pinnacle of domains, their ultimate form...”

“Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!”

Gojo watched as Sukuna’s condition began to destabilize.

“A third Domain Expansion...”

Each of Sukuna’s previous Domain Expansions had granted him power far beyond the ordinary.

And now, this was the third.

A wisp of violet energy flowed from Gojo’s fingertip and instantly vanished into Sukuna’s domain.

Sukuna’s threefold domain caused different powers to overlap, triggering a cursed-energy singularity!

Bzzz—

Gojo suddenly felt an unfamiliar force invading his body.

What is this?!

Something... is trying to observe me!

The sensation of his entire existence being on the verge of exposure nearly brought Gojo’s heart to a stop.

Then his body began to—

Undergo quantum disintegration!