With Utahime's shout of "The Special Grade sorcerer is apparently going to show us a new move!" Satoru Gojo took over the spotlight from the children.
After checking with Megumi, who readily agreed with a simple "I don't mind," Chatty-makoora stood tall before Gojo. Just as with the previous fight against Naoya, the shikigami had been given only a few rules: "Do not kill the opponent" and "Follow Gojo's instructions to the extent possible, as this is Gojo's training." It stood there with a commanding presence, its cursed energy circulating throughout its body with unwavering vigilance.
As Megumi Fushiguro's pride and strongest shikigami—further bolstered by repeated experiences that had made it tens of thousands of times stronger than when it was first tamed—even Satoru Gojo viewed it as an overwhelmingly superior being.
In its ultimate combat form, where it stored its wheel within its body, not even the combined maximum output of the four remaining Special Grades could guarantee a victory. This existence, positioned at the very pinnacle of power, forced Satoru Gojo to maintain his awareness as a "sorcerer." It stripped away the arrogance of the boy who had been born the strongest, the one who once struggled to distinguish between humans and wildflowers.
To defeat such a superior foe, Gojo had brought two new techniques to the table.
"Chatty-makoora, I want to test the 'offense' part of my offense and defense first, so just take one hit normally."
[Acknowledged. Priority defined as defense and analysis. Beginning parallel deployment of defensive barrier, Simple Domain, Falling Blossom Emotion, and 'Yu' under the condition of a 'Binding Vow of Immovability.' Deployment complete.]
"You're always doing such incredible things so casually. Can I copy that quadruple defense later? Well, whatever. Here goes the first one. 'Phase,' 'Propagation,' 'Resonance' — Extension Technique: 'Kou'."
Immediately after he whispered those words, a high-speed cursed energy bullet accompanied by a dazzling white light was fired from the technique deployed around Gojo.
The mechanism of this technique, devised to counter Naoya's extreme speed, was similar to a multi-stage coilgun. It was a simple structure that used multiple small instances of 'Blue' to create a vacuum of attraction, ultra-accelerating the cursed energy projectile as it was launched.
The idea of using a series of 'Blue' instances as a barrel was inspired by Naoya's technique of using each step of internal power as a stage for acceleration. To put it bluntly, it was a total rip-off.
However, this was the genius and strongest sorcerer, Satoru Gojo. Having committed himself to developing the technique, he succeeded in modularizing the entire process of firing the multi-stage cursed energy bullet into the extension technique 'Kou.' Unlike Naoya, who accelerated manually, Gojo built it as an automated, easy-to-use technique.
"And that's the gist of it. My 'Kou' is easier to activate, faster on the draw, and more powerful than Naoya's technique. Plus, it's a long-range attack. What do you think? You've been hit by both, so you're the best judge."
[Evaluation start. Under other conditions, I judge Naoya to be at an advantage.]
"Oh, so that's how it is? I mean, I figured you'd be able to withstand this too. At the end of the day, it's just a cursed energy cannon with speed added to it."
[Since I am periodically hit by cursed energy bombardments in an unavoidable state, I am currently executing the 18,279,374th adaptation. Currently, I am mixing an equal amount and quality of cursed energy as a counter-intercept against the negative cursed energy striking my body surface, converting it into Reverse Cursed Technique and absorbing it.]
"Yikes, that's cheating. No wonder the head of the Gojo clan back in the Edo period couldn't win. Changing the nature of cursed energy like that is absolutely impossible for a human."
While saying this, Gojo continued to test the limits of Chatty-makoora's defenses, sometimes concentrating 'Kou' on a single point or surrounding the shikigami to bombard it from all sides. However, Chatty-makoora endured it all with genuine ease. To make matters worse, once it had adapted to a certain degree, it deactivated its quadruple defense and intentionally took the hits with its body to accelerate the adaptation—a display of logic-driven adaptability that made it the very incarnation of rationality.
"Hmm. I still want to sharpen it more, but for now, it doesn't seem bad. Let's move on to the next one. I don't have any specific movement requests for you from here. You can ignore my instructions until I say 'give up' or 'I give'."
[Understood. Until Satoru Gojo says 'give up' or 'I give,' I will execute combat while only observing the summoner's rule to 'not kill the opponent.' Recognizing the surrounding situation. By my own judgment, the combat target is limited solely to Satoru Gojo. Commencing combat.]
Immediately after that mechanical declaration, Geto thoughtfully raised a barrier around the spectator area. Seeing this, Chatty-makoora charged toward Satoru Gojo, breaking the sound barrier. It breached the Infinity barrier Gojo had deployed by 'shrouding its fists in cursed energy identical to Satoru Gojo's.' It slammed a glowing red fist—a brute-force version of Naoya's technique—into Gojo's defenseless abdomen. A split second later, a roar like a tanker truck slamming into an oil vat and exploding echoed from Gojo's stomach.
"Whoa, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. I know you're assuming I'll defend, but you're punching with just enough force to leave me on the brink of death after being dampened by the infinity on my skin, aren't you? I mean, I did say I wanted to test my offense and defense with a new move, but still... so, do you know what I just did?"
[Executing inductive reasoning. I surmise it is a defense using a virtual 'Rigid Body' with infinite strength.]
"Correct! As expected of a calculation monster. But no matter how much you calculate and adapt, it's going to be hard to break through this 'Yu' with brute force, right?"
Gojo tauntingly toyed with a blue-black cube generated from his palm. This was the virtual existence from physics, the 'Rigid Body,' which Gojo had created by extending his Limitless technique. By definition, it was 'an object that does not deform no matter what force is applied.' Gojo interpreted this as 'an object of infinite strength' and constructed a virtual object that does not exist in the real world. In sorcery terms, it was something close to a 'Barrier' reinforced with the Limitless to become a rigid body.
That said, no matter how infinite the strength of the 'Rigid Body' was, it was impossible to nullify the energy received. However, by adding a further arrangement to this rigid body, Gojo succeeded in utilizing it as an invincible shield.
The mechanism was simple: he just placed an infinite barrier on the back side of 'Yu,' creating a double layer. In essence, by arming the outside of his usual Infinity barrier with 'Yu,' he had created a countermeasure against the recent trend of gorilla-like sorcerers who believed 'might is power.'
"I actually tried an idea to make the mass infinite too, but the energy required became infinite as well, so the cost-performance was the worst. I figured it would be easier to just put it on the outside of my usual Infinity. And as for this 'Yu'... well, obviously, it's not just hard!"
The moment he said that, Gojo swung his hand, and Chatty-makoora's torso was slashed diagonally. The shikigami hurriedly pulled back to begin regeneration and adaptation.
What Gojo had swung was a sword of 'Yu' with a thickness of 0.01 micrometers—thinner than a razor blade. With its haphazardly attached guard and hilt, it looked like a toy sword, but its reality was peerless. After all, it was a rock-hard blade that would never nick, had no weight, and wouldn't bend no matter how thin it was. It was an utterly nonsensical weapon; no matter what sword it clashed with, as long as the user had the physical strength, they could cleave through the opponent's weapon and all.
However, this was Chatty-makoora. Since it already possessed significant resistance to slashing attacks, it remained standing calmly despite being cut. It had only distanced itself to stay wary of 'Yu.'
"Slashing doesn't work on you, but this sword would be incredibly effective against anyone else. I might have accidentally made the ultimate sword."
[Negative. I judge this to be the third most dangerous cutting weapon attack I have received to date.]
"Huh? It's not number one?"
[The top two are cursed tools owned by Toji Fushiguro. I am prohibited from transmitting the details.]
"That gorilla... he still has hidden trump cards like that?"
[Furthermore, if the scope of statistical analysis is expanded to all physical attacks, a full-power flying kick from Toji Fushiguro is more powerful than both of those weapons.]
"Wait... that's terrifying."
While exchanging words, Gojo also exchanged sword strikes and punches. Having practiced the defensive technique 'Yu' extensively—perhaps because he was bothered by losing a contest of strength to Naoya—Gojo displayed the dexterity to manifest the 'Rigid Body' in the form of gauntlets and armor. The battle between them seemed to reach a stalemate, but in such a situation, the advantage naturally went to Chatty-makoora. After repeated calculations and adaptations to breach the 'Rigid Body' armor, Chatty-makoora finally reached a 'solution' and unleashed it through the Sword of Extermination on its right arm.
Suddenly.
Both of Gojo's thighs were severed along with his 'Yu' armor. He lost his balance and fell grandly to the ground. The sight was so gruesome that the children reacted with a chorus of "Wow, that looks painful!"
Of course, having continued to hone his RCT precision ever since being bullied by Toji's hallucinogen punch, Gojo immediately sprouted two new legs and stood up. However, this time, both his arms were sliced off by two swings of the Sword of Extermination. He loudly and cheerfully shouted, "I give up!" and raised his brand-new hands in surrender.
"Wow, I'm beaten. What was that just now?"
[I expanded the target of the technique to the entire four-dimensional space, including Satoru Gojo, and cut the space itself.]
"You did what???"
"Chatty-makoora, you learned Spacial Rend!? You're basically Palkia now!"
"What is that, Megumi? I don't know that one."
"You don't know Pokemon!?"
"I'm more of a Digimon guy..."
"Satoru, I think it's like the Slash Dimension from Devil May Cry 4."
"Ah... no, I don't get your examples either, Suguru."
As Satoru Gojo tilted his head in confusion, it was none other than Chatty-makoora who offered a helping hand.
[Searching for a metaphorical expression Satoru Gojo can understand. In terms of Yu-Gi-Oh, normal sorcery and physical phenomena are effects that 'target,' similar to Mystical Space Typhoon. However, this time I activated a destruction effect that 'does not target,' like Torrential Tribute. As a result, I completely ignored Satoru Gojo's sorcerous defenses and cut him along with the space itself.]
"Ah, I kind of get it... or maybe I don't. Basically, for the act of cutting, you expanded the target of the technique to space itself. And since space was cleaved, I, being inside it, was cleaved along with it. It's like killing Schrodinger's cat by cutting the whole box during the experiment? No, that's also slightly different... hey, show me that again later. I want to see it with my bare eyes."
[I judge this to be a request requiring the summoner's permission.]
"Seriously? Megumi, give Chatty-makoora permission."
"I will if you buy me a Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl."
"Hey, Megumi! You're pestering him for game consoles again!"
"Shut up. This has nothing to do with you, Tsumiki. It's my shikigami."
"I'm your older sister, so it has everything to do with me! Ask for something else!"
"Sigh... see? Well, since the topic of Yu-Gi-Oh came up, I'll settle for one full cardboard box of the latest booster packs."
"Alright, leave it to me!"
The group on the field grew noisy with their banter. In the midst of it all, Ieiri muttered a single sentence: "Am I the one who has to go pick up Gojo's parts again?" Because of that, Gojo's nickname for a while became 'Exodia the Forbidden One,' but that is a story for another time.
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