Chapter 37: Unlimited Void

Chapter 37: Unlimited Void

The white silk falling from the sky completely covered the shattered houses, and the originally chaotic scene became gentle in this soft embrace.

Not long after, Kamihara Hajime also received his official Special Grade Sorcerer rating, along with the reward he earned during the Hyakki Yagyō battle, which was a large sum of money.

But for Kamihara Hajime, who had food and shelter and no bad habits, it was just a number. He treated Panda and the others to a big meal. Kamihara Hajime planned to use the remaining money to find a cursed tool or Shikigami that could hold weapons with him.

Otherwise, his three swords were indeed difficult to carry; even in a cello case, they were still half a person tall. However, such things were quite hard to find, and there had been no news for a while.

After Yuta Okkotsu and Rika were uncursed, his rating dropped from Special Grade to Grade 4. He would then have to work hard to rise again, but it seemed unlikely to stop him; it was just a matter of time. Everyone was very optimistic about him.

During this time, Kamihara Hajime also asked Gojo Satoru about the criteria for Special Grade, and the answer he received was that there were no unified criteria, but all Special Grades had one commonality: they were unusually powerful.

"Can I be rated as Special Grade now?"

Hearing Kamihara Hajime ask this, Gojo Satoru casually replied, "Actually, the higher-ups also have this intention, but first, they haven't had a direct experience of your strength, and that Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Shuten-dōji, is also a Curse of unknown specific strength."

"So it's just a suggestion, and more importantly…"

Kamihara Hajime understood immediately: "It's also because I'm considered to be under Gojo-sensei's sphere of influence, right?"

"Bingo! If you are also designated as a Special Grade Sorcerer, from their perspective, with the previous Yuta Okkotsu, I would have three Special Grades on my side. However, if Hajime, you were to reveal your Technique, you should be able to firmly secure the title of Special Grade."

"We didn't have time to chat before. Speaking of which, did Hajime comprehend the use of Reverse Cursed Technique during the battle with Shuten-dōji?"

Kamihara Hajime was waiting for this sentence. Hearing it, he showed a smug smile: "Haha, Gojo-sensei, in a desperate situation, I suddenly understood the true meaning of Reverse Cursed Technique. After that, the burden-free Technique Reversal allowed me to ignore the damage from the enemy's Domain. I'm so strong now that I don't even know how strong I am, haha!"

Gojo Satoru showed an interested expression: "You're full of spirit! Then let's have a spar, sensei and I."

Kamihara Hajime readily agreed, and with Gojo Satoru's raised eyebrow, he even brought his three curse swords. The former chuckled, "Sensei, it's okay, right? And even if I injure Sensei, there's Reverse Cursed Technique."

Gojo Satoru stood up and walked out of the room, saying with a smile, "Then Hajime, you must do your best. If it's really not enough, Sensei can go easy on you."

The two exchanged childish trash talk as they walked towards the largest training ground at Jujutsu High. Maki and Panda were out on missions, so the only spectators were Principal Yaga and Byakuro. Principal Yaga was called to maintain the barrier Technique of the venue, to prevent it from becoming a ruin again in a few moves.

Actually, he was only notified, otherwise the fluctuations of the upcoming battle might cause Yaga Masamichi to misunderstand. And when Yaga Masamichi heard that Gojo Satoru was going to spar with Kamihara Hajime, he also became interested and came to watch.

Kamihara Hajime took off his jacket, wearing only a white top and black bottoms. His somewhat long hair was tied behind his head. He held Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and Onikiri in his left and right hands, respectively, while Spider Cutter hung at his waist.

Gojo Satoru, standing opposite him, also took off his blindfold, revealing his brilliant eyes, and began to stretch his body where he stood.

"Sensei, open—"

Kamihara Hajime's words were still hanging in the air when a large cloud of dust exploded behind Gojo Satoru, and a neat, deep mark extended from the ground behind him.

Maintaining his hand-forward posture, Gojo Satoru looked at Kamihara Hajime to his left, his eyes lighting up: "Oh, Hajime, you didn't even use your Technique just now?"

Kamihara Hajime's speed just now was very fast; Yaga Masamichi, watching from the side, barely reacted, only seeing a blurry afterimage. But Gojo Satoru, with the vision of Six Eyes, still locked onto Kamihara Hajime's slash and blocked it.

"This Totsuka-no-Tsurugi is quite effective against Cursed Energy defense."

Although the previous attack, as expected, failed to break through Limitless, it still brought back some memories for Gojo Satoru. If it were an ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerer or Cursed Spirit, taking that blow head-on would probably only result in their defense being shattered in one strike, at which point victory and defeat, life and death, would be clear.

And this kid didn't even use his Technique.

"Hajime, your Technique Reversal can reverse even fatal injuries, right?"

Kamihara Hajime immediately understood what Gojo Satoru meant. He loosened his grip on the sword hilt, then tightened it even more, and astonishing fighting spirit burned in his eyes.

"Yes, Gojo-sensei, bring it on. I'm going to go all out too."

As soon as his words fell, Gojo Satoru's figure dissipated from his original spot. Kamihara Hajime only felt the sensation of wind flowing behind him, and even seemed to hear the sound of clothes tearing.

"So fast! It's teleportation done by Technique."

But Kamihara Hajime ultimately reacted. With his perception fully activated, everything around him slowed down like a slow-motion film. When he activated his Technique, this slow-motion world was paused again.

Kamihara Hajime, having moved away, looked back to see Gojo Satoru reaching out to stab at the position where his left rib had been. If that had landed, he might have had his kidney taken out.

Kamihara Hajime, silently complaining, raised his two swords crisscross. As his stance rose and fell, his long breath was continuous like a whale drawing in a white river. Then, sword light burst forth, like the moon falling through cloud gaps, wind wrinkling water, rivers roaring, and flying clouds flashing lightning.

Countless intersecting sword lights submerged Gojo Satoru. Kamihara Hajime frantically squandered Cursed Energy, reversing and re-reversing. The slashes from the three curse swords almost filled this space.

Until he reached almost his limit of self-acceleration, Kamihara Hajime then deactivated his Technique. Then, countless sword cries merged together, a strange screeching sound causing the static sword lights to come alive, instantly shattering this space.

But at the same time, Kamihara Hajime, who had just deactivated his Technique, felt an extremely majestic force repelling and pushing him backward. The sky full of sword lights shattered inch by inch in the air like glass, and the surrounding ground, in Kamihara Hajime's eyes, seemed to be pressed down evenly by an invisible hydraulic press, instantly collapsing without a speck of dust or earth flying up.

Kamihara Hajime, who had just activated his Technique and entered Time Null State, felt a pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a fist-sized hole in his left abdomen that had appeared at some unknown time. Unable to accelerate himself further, Kamihara Hajime could only choose to exit Time Null State to recover from the injury.

He didn't use Reverse Cursed Technique, which was still a bit slow for Kamihara Hajime. Then, with just a scene jump, the terrifying wound on his abdomen disappeared, and even the clothes that had been pierced through were restored to their original state.

However, in that instant, Gojo Satoru's next attack arrived, also an attack without a process. But Gojo Satoru used his Technique to pull himself towards the target; even fragile objects hit along the way might be instantly shattered.

This speed was completely impossible for a body strengthened with Cursed Energy. Only in the interval when Kamihara Hajime deactivated his Technique and then 'erased' the wound with Technique Reversal, Gojo Satoru appeared in front of Kamihara Hajime. Those eyes seemed unfocused yet were tightly locked onto his direction.

The Cursed Energy radiating from the fist that had already landed on Kamihara Hajime was terrifying; it was clear that Gojo Satoru had held back very little with this punch, because this single blow nearly shattered Kamihara Hajime's right chest and shoulder.

The shattered flesh and bone and flying blood seemed like a mere illusion. Kamihara Hajime appeared behind Gojo Satoru. When Gojo Satoru disappeared from his spot, Kamihara Hajime, being faster, still managed to activate his Technique.

Time Wheel Spin

Since these three curse swords couldn't harm Gojo Satoru, Kamihara Hajime gave up on that idea. He casually stuck the three swords into the ground, then curled his fingers into a fist, and astonishing Cursed Energy surged from it, smashing towards Gojo Satoru, who had instantly moved to the other side.

After realizing it was still futile, Kamihara Hajime stood still. A translucent small ball condensed on his raised fingertips, then stretched into a line in the air, with the other end connected to Gojo Satoru.

The game then turned into a turn-based one. Kamihara Hajime tried every possible way to change his attack method, and the moment he deactivated his Technique, it was Gojo Satoru's turn.

Besides Purple, Kamihara Hajime experienced both Blue and Red. He couldn't break Gojo-sensei's defense, but Gojo Satoru's attacks on Kamihara Hajime were like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water; in the end, Kamihara Hajime remained completely unharmed.

"How do I break my Technique?"

Gojo Satoru laughed carelessly: "Then you first master Domain Expansion."

Kamihara Hajime, feeling a bit disheartened, said helplessly, "After fighting Shuten-dōji, I tried to work on Domain Expansion, but I couldn't find any leads. I even tried approaching it from the aspect of barrier Techniques, but still got no results."

Gojo Satoru continued, "Don't be so impatient. It's only been a short while, and sometimes Domain Expansion just requires an epiphany. How about this... I'll let you briefly experience my Domain."

"Huh?"

Just as he recalled the effect of Gojo Satoru's Domain Expansion, Kamihara Hajime heard Principal Yaga's shout of warning from beside him: "Satoru, don't mess around!"

Gojo Satoru said easily, "Relax, I'll keep it very short."

Then he raised his hand, crossing his middle and index fingers, and a light spread out from Gojo Satoru as the center. In just an instant, it expanded and contracted, then was released.

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void."

Kamihara Hajime, who had intended to activate his Technique to try and escape, suddenly changed his mind. Since Gojo-sensei could control the power, perhaps he could try it?

So, with just a thought, Kamihara Hajime was hit by Gojo Satoru's Domain Expansion right where he stood. Even in that extremely brief moment, Kamihara Hajime still entered a peculiar state. An endless stream of useless information poured into his mind, whether Kamihara Hajime wanted it or not.

He could perceive everything around him, yet he couldn't move at all. This feeling of body and consciousness seemingly separating into two parts was extremely uncomfortable, and the endless information rushing in simultaneously was very similar to the feeling when Kamihara Hajime's thoughts were operating at high speed, experiencing time passing differently from the material world.

He couldn't activate his Technique… Kamihara Hajime couldn't even control blinking his eyelids now. Mentally, he felt like he was passing through a long period of time, but Kamihara Hajime's instinct was telling him: one second passed, two seconds…

When he emerged from this state and regained control of his body, Kamihara Hajime saw Gojo Satoru with a smiling face and Principal Yaga looking somewhat concerned. Casually refreshing himself with Technique Reversal, Kamihara Hajime savored the feeling he had just experienced.

Gojo Satoru said with a smile, "How was it? I maintained it for less than a second, you know."

"You bastard, how can you just use such a move on your student!" Gojo Satoru, dodging Yaga Masamichi's iron fist, made a loud fuss.

Meanwhile, Kamihara Hajime mentally compared Shuten-dōji's Domain with Gojo-sensei's. At that time, facing that type of direct-damage Domain, Kamihara Hajime almost regarded it as nothing, but Unlimited Void against this type of Domain seemed to require him to get away immediately, otherwise, if he was hit, it would be troublesome.

"Domain Expansion can counter Domain Expansion."

Looking at Kamihara Hajime, who was still deep in thought, Gojo Satoru, who had dodged, pulled him into an embrace: "It'll happen naturally, naturally… Don't get stuck in a rut, Hajime. Go on a mission, and there's something else I need you to do."

Pulled back, Kamihara Hajime asked with a look of disdain, "What is it? Every time you say that, it feels unreliable."

"Where? This time it's about Megumi. We haven't confirmed many students for the next class yet. I've decided to let Megumi prepare for enrollment first. You haven't been back for a while, have you? It's a good chance to go back and see."

"Hmph, I often contact them and have sent back a lot of things."

Kamihara Hajime said with disdain, but still tacitly accepted Gojo Satoru's arrangement. Every video call was basically him chatting with Tsumiki, while that kid Megumi was like a photo except for his mouth moving. This time, he would go back and torment him in person, to see if he could still maintain that poker face.

"Hehehe, you said you weren't interested in Jujutsu. Let's see what you'll use to fight back?"

"Hajime, you're smiling strangely."

"Don't you understand memes?"