Chapter 77:
Jujutsu Kaisen: The Zenin Eclipse
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Tokyo, Shibuya.
The enormous barrier with a radius of roughly four hundred meters only restricted ordinary humans at the outermost layer.
Sorcerers and Jujutsu High assistant managers could enter and leave freely.
Near the station platform, the second layer was a Curtain with the condition that forbade sorcerers from entering.
After Gojo and the others entered, a group of curse users found by Uraume had pinned that barrier into place later.
Farther in, the third layer had already been completely destroyed by the Black Rope Yuta carried.
Outside the barriers, each Jujutsu High squad led by a Grade 1 sorcerer began attacking the last layer that blocked sorcerers from entering ten minutes after Gojo reached the fifth basement level.
They moved from Shibuya's east, south, west, and north at the same time.
...
Fifth basement level.
The ruined subway platform had already become a field of wreckage.
Cracks covered the floor. Broken stone lay in heaps.
At the ceiling, only a few flickering lights remained, deepening the oppressive atmosphere.
The remaining two or three hundred ordinary humans...
The lucky ones had been taken out cleanly by the aftershocks of the three-way battle.
The unlucky ones fled to the level above.
What waited for them was...
"Welcome."
Mahito bent at the waist in an elegant greeting, a grin stretched across his mouth.
Only a tiny number of people in the crowd could see Mahito, the curse.
But the entire train car full of transfigured humans beside him...
"M-Monster!"
Surging malice rushed toward them.
Thick blood sprayed freely across the polished floor.
Mahito did not need to look closely. From the fourth level, he could still clearly sense the terror erupting from below.
He had not followed the plan and sent that whole car of transfigured humans down to the fifth level.
After all, Mahito had watched Itsuki's earlier performance from the fourth floor.
Trash like this would only be wiped out instantly if thrown down there.
His stock was prepared.
If he could not interfere with the battle below, then his natural enemy...
Mahito stepped through the flowers of blood blooming at his feet, and his face opened into a smile full of malice.
Mahito was coming for Yuji Itadori.
...
The early form of the Gedo Statue, together with the Ten Shadows shikigami, pinned down Gojo's movements.
Itsuki's main body met Yuta head-on, attacking him with pure taijutsu.
Boom!
The rolling black-red wave blasted half of Rika, the shikigami controlled by Yuta's technique, apart in the blink of an eye.
Itsuki's descending axe kick tore up a boundless surge of air and dropped straight toward Yuta's head.
Hiss. Hiss.
Yuta gritted his teeth and crossed his fists to block. The Black Rope around his knuckles had already burned away by more than half.
As for Yuta's weapon, that sharp katana had long since snapped in two and fallen nearby.
"Yuta!"
Once Gojo realized there were no living humans left on the fifth basement level, he brought both hands together.
In an instant, violent wind swept out.
Teleportation extended through Limitless. Blue cursed energy flickered faintly.
The moment Gojo called out, his body had already appeared beside Yuta.
Bang!
The impact shook like an earthquake as Gojo withstood Itsuki's falling fist.
Then he spun back with a Black Flash kick as his counterattack.
Yuta understood immediately and rushed toward the two shikigami on the side and the terrifying withered-tree-like cursed spirit.
"Rika!"
Yuta roared, and silver light shone from the ring on his finger.
One year ago, Yuta had successfully lifted Rika Orimoto's curse at Jujutsu High.
The special grade vengeful cursed spirit from back then had already passed on.
The special grade entity beside Yuta now was only a remnant left behind when Rika moved on, combined with the shikigami Yuta formed from his enormous cursed energy after reclaiming special grade status in only four months.
Roar!
With the technique fully released, Rika's body swelled.
Killing intent churned in the single eye on her forehead, and she pounced on the shikigami under Itsuki's control.
Yuta kept his distance, his eyes fixed on Itsuki as he fought Gojo.
His grip around the remaining Black Rope tightened until his knuckles cracked.
"What are you planning now?"
Itsuki glanced toward Yuta, who was building momentum behind him, and asked softly.
Without Yuta's Black Rope as support, Gojo switched positions again and opened Simple Domain in an instant.
He gave Itsuki no answer.
Bringing two fingers together in front of his chest, Gojo revealed a wild, reckless smile.
"Round two begins."
Looking at Gojo's hand sign and Yuta's distance from the clash, Itsuki understood something. A faint smile rose on his lips.
"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void."
A massive flood of cursed energy poured out. In an instant, a black domain shell wrapped around both of them.
Boom!
The shell forced the stone walls on both sides to crack.
The earth trembled once, leaving behind a huge circular pit.
The position where Yuta crouched happened to be exactly at the edge of the domain shell.
But when he looked at the shell before him, Yuta's face filled with shock.
...
Inside the domain, absolute black and white reflected one another.
The expression on Gojo's face matched Yuta's. In that instant, it was full of confusion.
The teacher and student had planned for Yuta to wait at the edge while Itsuki and Gojo clashed domains.
The moment both barriers shattered together, there would be a fraction of a second where Itsuki needed Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his burned-out cursed technique.
Yuta would seize that opening and use the Black Rope to disrupt Itsuki's technique.
Then Gojo would heal his burned-out technique first, expand Unlimited Void a second time, and finish Itsuki.
That was the method the three of them had discussed when they originally planned to attack the House of the Children of the Star.
Kinji Hakari's role had been to use the invincible body granted by his domain to hold back all Zenin sorcerers.
Their plan had been disrupted, but it could still be applied here.
That was why the teacher and student could coordinate so well without exchanging words during the battle.
The timing for Domain Expansion came when the fifth basement level had been cleared on a large scale.
The range of Unlimited Void was also set so it would not cover the upper levels or affect Hakari's battlefield farther away.
Everything had been calculated beautifully.
It could even be called perfect.
But...
Itsuki did not expand a domain to clash with Gojo's.
That left both Gojo and Yuta stunned.
There was no time to think about why.
Gojo maintained the domain hand sign with his left hand, while his right fist rolled with black-red ripples.
He flashed forward, killing intent blazing in his eyes.
One second was enough.
Fake Smile was not a cursed spirit.
Gojo only needed one second to blow Itsuki's head apart.
Even if Itsuki's Reverse Cursed Technique was refined, he would still die.
Crack.
Boom!
A tearing pain came from Gojo's right arm.
It did not matter.
In his blue eyes, there was not only flying blood, but deep astonishment.
His peripheral vision swept across the shattered edge of the barrier.
There, the huge shikigami with a wheel above its head slowly sank back into shadow.
This was...
As a member of one of the Big Three Families, Gojo recognized the shikigami's original form in an instant.
The strongest shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique.
Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga.
He was not shocked that Itsuki had exorcised and controlled the shikigami that no Zenin Clan head in history had ever mastered.
After several probes and one direct clash with Itsuki, Gojo had long been mentally prepared for the strongest shikigami to appear.
What shocked Gojo was...
Why had Mahoraga shattered his domain immediately, without any time to adapt?
Boom!
In less than a second, Unlimited Void exploded apart.
Yuta, who had been preparing to rush forward, froze in place.
Blood stained white hair.
Veins of red crawling over a face.
Most of all, a right arm torn off at the shoulder.
The Gojo-sensei Yuta had always believed was invincible...
That brutal scene overturned his understanding and burned itself into his mind.
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