The moment Satoru vanished, the battlefield exploded.
Blue activated.
The ground beneath his feet collapsed inward as space itself distorted around him. In an instant, he crossed the distance.
A fist shot toward Hiroyuki.
Fast.
Precise.
Enhanced by Blue.
However...
Mid charge, Satoru noticed a layer of cursed energy spread across Hiroyuki's body, but this one felt oddly different. But definitely not unfamiliar.
Noticing his weakening Infinity as he goes closer to his Brother, Satoru clicked his tongue inwardly.
'Ah, right.'
He almost forgot. That annoying technique. Domain Amplification, was it?
BOOM!
The first clash erupted.
The ground shattered beneath them.
Chunks of earth rose into the air.
A shockwave spread throughout the enclosed battlefield.
Outside the barrier, several servants instinctively took a step back.
Inside. The two stare at each other with a mildly amused expression on their faces.
"Nii-san."
"Hm?"
"That technique of yours, that's cheating."
Hiroyuki didn't even blink.
"Said the kid with both Infinity and Six Eyes."
"...Fair." In an instant that word left Satoru's mouth, he took one step back and then...
BOOM!
The two collided once again.
BOOM!
And again.
BOOM!
And again.
BOOM!
During these exchanges, Satoru's Six Eyes operated at full capacity.
Every movement. Every shift in weight. Every fluctuation in cursed energy. Everything became visible.
All information flowed into him like a sponge absorbing water.
Yet despite that.
Hiroyuki remained ahead.
Always.
A fraction. A movement. A decision. Enough to stay ahead.
Every feint was seen through. Every setup recognized. Every opening exploited.
A palm redirected his punch.
A strike disrupted his footing.
Another collapsed his stance.
Not enough to hurt or cause injury, but definitely enough to teach.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The battlefield suffered. Cracks spread throughout the ground. Large chunks of earth tore themselves free. Boulders rose into the air only to be launched away moments later.
Blue distorted the terrain repeatedly.
The barrier rippled.
Yet held.
Senjumaru remained silent.
Watching.
Maintaining.
Containing everything within its boundaries.
The exchanges continued.
Faster. Sharper. More violent.
Then, moments later... Satoru finally caught up.
His eyes gleamed as he finally started seeing through it.
A feint.
Another.
Then Blue accelerated his movement halfway through the attack.
An adjustment.
A risk.
An opening.
And then...
BOOM!
His fist landed on Hiroyuki's stomach.
Cleanly.
"..."
"..."
For the first time since the spar began, a genuine hit.
The impact of that punch made Hiroyuki take a couple of steps back. But Satoru did not follow up; instead, he immediately created distance.
Breathing slightly heavier, his eyes never left his brother.
The moment contact was made, Six Eyes had already analyzed everything.
And the result was strange.
The hit landed.
Yet the resistance felt wrong.
Not hard.
Not solid.
The force entered.
Then spread.
Instead of a person, he felt like he had just punched through a river just now.
The impact simply dispersed throughout Hiroyuki's body.
Carried elsewhere. Redistributed.
'...So that's what it was.'
The realization struck instantly.
For years, Satoru had noticed it.
The strange circulation. The constant movement. The unnatural flow of cursed energy throughout his brother's body.
Now he finally understood.
*pat*
*pat*
Then, Hiroyuki started casually dusting off the spot Satoru had just punched.
"..."
The meaning was obvious.
Feeling irked, Satoru was about to make some remarks, but he paused when he saw Hiroyuki smile.
A genuine smile.
"Good."
The praise came without hesitation.
"You worked hard."
"..."
For a brief moment, after hearing that, Satoru didn't know what to feel. He is somehow conflicted because the timing of that praise couldn't be more contradictory.
He tried to smile it off and say his thanks, but... he had to pause again. Something about it suddenly reminded him of every lesson that hurt the most.
A small chill crawled down his spine.
"Guess it's time for a new lesson."
And he was right.
CRACK
BOOM!
The ground beneath Hiroyuki exploded.
And he disappeared.
Not immediately.
At first, Satoru could still see him. Six Eyes tracked the movement perfectly.
A blur.
Then another.
Then another.
The battlefield cracked beneath Hiroyuki's feet as he moved.
One step.
Two steps.
Three.
The speed kept increasing.
Faster.
Faster.
Even faster.
Satoru's grin widened.
There.
Got you.
Six Eyes followed the flow of cursed energy.
The movement.
The trajectory.
Everything.
And just when Satoru thought that he had caught up...
Hiroyuki accelerated again. But this time, it's different.
The afterimages are gone.
And most importantly, the cursed energy... vanished.
"...What?"
Satoru's eyes widened.
The world suddenly started to feel wrong. Very wrong.
For the first time since the spar began. The strongest eyes in existence lost their target.
Not because Hiroyuki was invisible. Not because Six Eyes failed.
But because there was simply nothing left to track.
No cursed energy. No flow. Nothing.
But before he could even question the current happening...
A small chill crawled down Satoru's spine.
Then.
His instincts, the same instincts that were drilled into him during these past few years, finally bore fruit as they screamed to him.
!!!
Behind.
BOOM!
Satoru barely twisted his body.
A fist passed by his shoulder.
The resulting shockwave carved a trench through the battlefield.
The ground erupted.
Boulders launched into the air.
The barrier rippled violently.
"..."
For a moment, seeing what just happened, silence descended upon the entire area.
But inside Satoru's mind, it is as noisy as it can get.
Because he's starting to understand.
Just a little.
What ordinary sorcerers must feel when facing something they couldn't perceive. Or even understand.
The sensation was irritating.
Wrong.
Uncomfortable.
He is not used to feeling this way.
Regardless, somehow. As weird as it sounds, the young Gojo found all this interesting. That's the conclusion he arrived at.
"I see."
His excitement for the current battle peaked.
All his restraints started coming loose.
"So there's only one way."
And as a response to that emotion...
VHWOOM~
Blue erupted.
The battlefield trembled once more.
One.
Then another.
Then another.
The terrain began collapsing inward from multiple directions. Massive chunks of earth tore free from the ground.
The pressure inside the barrier rose dramatically.
Even Hiroyuki's expression became slightly more serious.
Good.
Very good.
Satoru thought to himself as his chest rose and fell heavily.
Sweat dripped down his chin. His arms felt heavier than before. His legs too.
Not cursed energy.
Stamina.
The Six Eyes continuously reduced consumption, but it didn't eliminate effort.
And Satoru had been pushing himself since the fight began.
Regardless, that's good.
That only meant he was getting somewhere.
Because if his brother still looked that relaxed, then only one conclusion remains.
He simply needed to try harder.
Satoru had stopped trying to win exchanges. Now he was trying to overwhelm.
Curse Technique Amplification
Maximum Output
Blue!
The battlefield groaned.
An overwhelmingly attractive force exploded outward.
The ground beneath Hiroyuki collapsed.
Earth.
Stone.
Debris.
Everything was dragged inward.
For the first time.
Hiroyuki's movements stopped.
Pinned.
Satoru's breathing became ragged. Sweat dripped down his forehead. Every muscle in his body screamed.
Yet his grin only widened.
A second Maximum Blue formed high above the battlefield.
The surrounding terrain fractured. Chunks of earth tore themselves free from the ruined battlefield.
It all condensed into a singular point until it formed an enormous boulder larger than a house.
Larger than anything Satoru had ever created before.
The sheer size of it made even the spectators outside the barrier stare with ridiculous expressions on their faces.
For a brief moment.
The battlefield darkened beneath its shadow.
Satoru leapt into the air.
Both hands extended.
This was everything.
Everything he had.
Everything he learned.
Everything he improved.
Poured into a single attack.
The boulder descended. It started accelerating towards Hiroyuki.
Like a falling mountain.
Like a meteor.
And for the first time during the entire spar.
Satoru genuinely thought.
'Got him.'
Not certainty.
Not arrogance.
But because this attack represented everything he had learned so far.
If even this wasn't enough.
Then it simply meant he needed to grow stronger.
Because if this didn't work.
Nothing else would.
Then he saw it.
Hiroyuki smiling.
???
A genuine smile.
"Feeling proud of yourself?"
The question caught him off guard.
"..."
"You should be."
For a brief moment.
Satoru's exhaustion disappeared.
Because those words... As much as he didn't want to admit it, this is what he longs for.
Validation.
Validation and Recognition of all the efforts he had made so far.
For him, it probably meant more than victory ever could.
But that bliss didn't last long as Satoru's focus returned to the field. No, he was forced to return.
!!!
Because he felt Hiroyuki's cursed energy surge.
Not outward. Not explosively.
It spiraled.
Like a river becoming a storm.
And for the first time.
Satoru saw something he had never seen before.
Hiroyuki's stance shifted.
His arm lowered.
His fingers curled.
Twisted.
The joints bent into an unfamiliar configuration.
The movement looked strange.
Yet somehow.
Dangerous.
The air around his hand began spiraling.
A violent current formed around his fingers.
As though countless invisible blades were gathering there.
And then...
"...Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist."
The words left his mouth calmly.
Then he moved.
His arm swept upward.
Not with explosive force.
Not with overwhelming power.
Like a blade carving through a current.
The spiraling force followed. And the meteor collided with it.
Immediately.
Something changed.
The attack didn't stop.
It unraveled.
Satoru's eyes widened.
Through Six Eyes.
He saw it.
The boulder wasn't being overpowered.
It wasn't being shattered.
It was being dissected.
Countless spiraling fissures spread throughout its structure.
Layer after layer peeled away.
The force holding the attack together rapidly collapsed.
The entire meteor began coming apart from within.
As though it had entered a giant invisible grinder.
The immense construct lost cohesion.
Its structure collapsed.
And then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The remains detonated.
A violent shockwave swept across the battlefield.
The barrier rippled so heavily that even Senjumaru's sleeves fluttered.
Yet it held. As expected.
Meanwhile.
Satoru was thrown backward.
His body rolled across the ruined battlefield several times before finally coming to a stop.
Silence followed.
Heavy breathing echoed throughout the arena.
Satoru slowly pushed himself upright.
Panting.
Every muscle in his body burned.
His vision swam.
His arms felt heavy.
His legs felt heavier.
He was exhausted.
Completely exhausted.
Yet despite everything.
A satisfied smile remained on his face.
He gave it everything.
Absolutely everything.
Then.
A shadow appeared before him.
Satoru looked up.
Hiroyuki stood there.
Completely unharmed.
"..."
"..."
For a few moments.
Neither spoke.
The ruined battlefield stretched around them.
Cracked earth. Scattered debris. The remains of Satoru's 'strongest attack'.
And existing in the middle of it all.
Hiroyuki.
Still standing. Still calm. Still impossibly far ahead.
Satoru stared at him.
Then laughed.
A tired laugh.
The kind that escaped after giving everything you had.
"...I almost got you."
"You wish."
The answer came immediately.
"..."
"..."
A grin slowly spread across Satoru's face.
"Had to try."
"Good."
The response caught him slightly off guard.
Hiroyuki stepped closer.
A hand landed on top of his head.
Not a bonk this time.
A simple pat.
"You've improved more than I expected."
For a brief moment.
Satoru froze.
Then immediately looked away.
Trying and failing to hide the satisfaction on his face.
"Obviously."
"Hm."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
"..."
The smile on Satoru's face widened anyway.
Because he knew.
His brother wasn't the type to say things he didn't mean.
A comfortable silence settled between them.
Above.
The barrier slowly began disappearing.
Sunlight returned to the ruined battlefield.
And for the first time since the spar began.
Everything felt peaceful.
Then—
Bonk.
"OW!"
"You were getting cocky."
"Nii-san!"
"Come on."
"...I take it back."
"No you don't."
"...No I don't."
A chuckle escaped Hiroyuki.
And for the first time that day.
The gap between them didn't feel discouraging.
It felt like a goal.
One day.
He'd reach it.
Eventually.