Chapter 42: Transcendence-3
The moment the anglerfish’s mouth snapped shut, tremendous pressure slammed down on Gojo’s upper body inside it.
Crack!
In that instant, he released cursed energy and protected his body with [Coffin], but it was still a serious injury that couldn’t be ignored.
One attack had crushed his spine and damaged his internal organs.
Any ordinary jujutsushi would have died from a single blow, yet he survived.
[Coffin], deployed at the last second.
A method the Gosan clan had long used to protect the body inside a domain.
Because defensive techniques are neutralized within a domain, the method is to burst pure cursed energy outward and repel attacks that penetrate the body.
On top of that, he endured the strike with the strength of his natural body, then focused on recovery through the agony.
Reversed cursed technique.
Negative energy is inverted into positive energy to restore the body.
Massive cursed energy circulated through him, filling in the shattered and ruined parts.
It didn’t stop at simply repairing broken flesh and bones; it also neutralized Junpei’s poison that had entered his blood vessels.
Neutralizing poison required far more precise and complicated control than ordinary bodily recovery.
Because he had to pay attention to both at once, the restoration of his body inevitably slowed, and soon the blood flowing from him spilled out of the anglerfish’s mouth.
“Huh? W-wait, what?”
Only moments after his confident grin, Junpei, watching from outside, panicked hard.
He had expected to pierce [Limitless] and injure Gojo, but he hadn’t expected a severe wound.
It was none other than Gojo Satoru, after all. At most, he had thought it would leave a scratch or a light cut.
But now, judging by the amount of blood pouring out, this was no ordinary injury.
And the fact that he couldn’t even hear a groan meant maybe he was...
“S-sensei!!”
Overcome by a terrible feeling, Junpei hurriedly canceled the summoning of [Dot Lamp].
The instant the anglerfish vanished into thin air, Gojo’s bloodied figure was revealed.
Fortunately, he looked perfectly fine, without a single visible wound, but the slight sheen of sweat on him made it clear the damage had landed.
“Whew, that stings.”
“A-are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I can recover with reversed cursed technique.”
The black mark that had faintly gathered on Gojo’s abdomen, exposed where his clothes had been torn, soon disappeared without a trace.
“Phew....”
He had come in with a light heart, but during sparring, his strongest weapon had nearly been split in half and killed in vain.
If Gojo had actually died there, Junpei probably would have become a hero among curse users.
After confirming that Gojo had fully recovered, Junpei collapsed in a cold sweat.
----------------------------
Part of it was because he’d relaxed after confirming Gojo hadn’t suffered an irrecoverable injury, but [Dot Lamp] devoured an enormous amount of cursed energy in proportion to its size and power.
One summoning had burned through half of Junpei’s cursed energy.
Still a little dazed from overdoing it, Junpei was approached by Gojo.
“What a shame, Junpei. If I’d died, you would’ve become the strongest.”
“Please don’t say creepy things like that....”
The moment he imagined that blood streaming from the anglerfish’s mouth again, it was horrifying all over.
He had believed Gojo wouldn’t die, but he had almost killed his benefactor, his teacher.
Junpei thought it was truly a relief that he hadn’t tested this on Yuji or Fushiguro.
Because the opponent was Gojo, it had ended at this level. If it had been one of the other kids, they would have died before they could even react.
“I did want to land one on you, but I didn’t want to see something that brutal.”
The guilt of failing to control his strength and hurting Gojo kept prodding at a corner of his heart.
Meanwhile, Gojo, having pulled out clothes from somewhere and changed into a neat outfit, shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Don’t beat yourself up. Just the fact that you landed a real hit on me is enough for me to praise you to the heavens.”
“I’m happy about that too, but... anyway, I’m sorry.”
Gojo laughed heartily, patted Junpei on the back, and sat down beside him.
“I didn’t defend myself seriously, but since my high school days, you’re the first person to inflict a fatal wound on me.”
“!”
With a face twisted into something ridiculous by guilt and joy at once, Junpei looked up at Gojo.
“I’m impressed. Truly. Yuji and Megumi are geniuses too, but you’re.... on another level. You’ve got talent equal to mine, or maybe even greater.”
Even if there had been a minor mistake, he had been able to confirm [Dot Lamp]’s power properly.
It had gone beyond piercing Gojo’s defense and nearly killed him once.
That was even better than the result he had hoped for.
He had completed the assignment admirably.
“If you can even manifest a simple domain inside a shikigami, then you should be able to call forth a domain soon, right?”
“Probably. While designing [Dot Lamp], I felt like I’d taken one step closer to the essence of a domain. Techniques and bindings imposed on divided space. The completion of an absolute rule because of that. I think I’m starting to get it.”
“Good. Keep growing like that. I’m looking forward to it.”
Not a trace of resentment could be found on Gojo’s grinning face.
The joy of finding a talent capable of reaching a realm beyond the heavens, a realm even he alone had once occupied.
And yet, there was no thought in him of having found a “comrade” who could look at the world the same way he did.
Right now, he was simply delighted by his student’s achievement.
Usually unreliable, but every so often, he had a way of moving people like this.
He taught from the position of an absolute strongman and bestowed blessings upon their growth.
That was Gojo Satoru’s philosophy as a teacher.
“...Thank you, sensei.”
Feeling strangely moved, Junpei thanked him.
Being praised for his accomplishment by an adult he admired.
It was what he had always longed for.
“Enough pleasantries. Let’s get to the point.”
“The point...? Oh.”
“I was sure I’d picked the right answer inside that simple domain. And yet I still fell into a trap.”
Junpei’s feat had fooled even Gojo Satoru, who possessed the Six Eyes.
The secret art of the technique he had finally completed.
It was time to hear the hidden truth.
“Care to give me the exact explanation?”
Junpei’s eyes gleamed sharply.
----------------------------
[Dot Lamp].
A shikigami inspired by the anglerfish, that classic deep-sea predator.
In the pitch-black depths of the ocean, the anglerfish lures prey with its light and hunts them.
On the surface, that’s just a straightforward shikigami.
However,
Junpei’s creativity.
The countless materials he had researched for domain expansion.
The experience he had condensed in a short span of time all fused together and were reborn as a shikigami of vicious power and conditions.
Junpei’s technique could instantly summon shikigami from thin air.
There were range limitations, but within a certain area covered by his cursed energy, he could summon it anywhere without warning or any medium.
[Moon], [Aureole Basin], and [Black Scale] had all been created to compensate for Junpei’s lacking specs, so he hadn’t had much chance to use this ability.
But now that his one-on-one combat ability had reached the top tier, his masterpiece born of soul and sweat, [Dot Lamp], was a little different.
Using its absurd size and range, it could almost certainly trap an opponent the moment it was summoned.
If space were expressed in three-dimensional coordinates, Junpei could summon [Dot Lamp] pinpointed at the opponent’s location and create an effect similar to a sure hit.
Using the properties of a shikigami made of cursed energy, he would “overlay” the shikigami onto the target.
Once the opponent was trapped inside [Dot Lamp], the stage belonged to Junpei.
Inside [Dot Lamp]—that is, inside its mouth—the atmosphere takes on the qualities of a domain.
It doesn’t divide space with a barrier to prevent escape like a proper domain, but it substitutes that with the shikigami’s size and outlines the area to confine the target at first.
Then a simple domain neutralizes the technique and reinforces stability.
After the technique is canceled, or at least weakened, the binding that tells the opponent this is a “simple domain” activates, and a large-scale attack begins.
A clever trick exploiting the loophole in the binding. Once the target realizes it is a “simple domain,” they naturally try to escape according to Junpei’s rules rather than brute-forcing their way out.
Without even knowing it’s a bluff.
He leads the opponent into his trap while quietly hiding the real solution.
The lights Gojo saw inside.
At a glance, it seems that if you identify the real one among them, you can get out—but in truth, they are all traps.
The choices aren’t split into right and wrong, but into “very bad” and “bad.”
Within the time limit, the opponent must make a choice.
There are four possible outcomes here.
“What is it, what is it?”
“Come on. I’m explaining. Listen to the end.”
First, if they choose the “wrong answer that looks like the right one,” like Gojo did.
That can be considered the middle ground.
In that case, the simple domain is released, the trigger that opens the anglerfish’s mouth activates, and as a “reward” for getting the right answer, they’re given a chance to escape.
But it isn’t a complete escape.
The opponent, thinking they were trapped only inside a “simple domain” that divided space and confined them, realizes the shikigami’s true form and must take the follow-up attack directly inside the anglerfish’s mouth.
If they bolt the moment the mouth opens, they can avoid it, but unless their situational awareness is unusually sharp, they’re guaranteed to get hit at least once.
The second case is choosing the “wrong answer.”
It’s not the worst outcome, but it’s still a bad move.
If there’s a reward, there’s also a punishment. The instant they choose wrong, all the approaching lights shrink into miniature [Dot Lamp]s and bite into the target.
Even without a sure-hit effect, if the technique is neutralized and their senses are thrown into disarray, they won’t have any way to respond when they’re overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
He had sacrificed durability to raise attack power, but each tiny [Dot Lamp] had enough force to rip away chunks of flesh strengthened by cursed energy with ease. The fact that each one also carried poison was a bonus.
Anglerfish that twist into monsters in the dark and keep charging at you without rest.
It’s no different from hell.
The third is time over.
Unless you’re an idiot, it’s almost impossible to get caught by that.
It’s the worst.
“What happens then?”
“As long as my cursed energy allows, anglerfish keep pouring in from every direction.”
“Oh....”
“And I did say you had to choose. That’s where the binding activates again and gives me a limited sure-hit effect.”
“Ooooh....!”
“Well, I don’t think I’ll use that one much. It’s a lottery-ticket ability. The odds are slim, but the power and bonus effects are overwhelming.”
“Did you maybe hear that from Yuji?”
“Yes. I got the hint from Sukuna’s domain.”
Compared to Sukuna, Junpei was still immature, but through various loopholes he had managed to reproduce an effect similar to [Coffin of the Iron Mountain].
And finally.
If they ignore all the choices given and just force their way out from the start.
That’s the real correct answer.
They have to face the powerful anglerfish head-on, and Junpei, wrapped in [Black Scale], will be waiting, but that’s the best move.
“A proper domain raises the strength of the internal barrier to stop escape, but [Dot Lamp] doesn’t. If you have enough output to break through even after the technique is neutralized, you can escape.”
“Isn’t the counter too simple?”
“That’s why I told you, wasn’t it?”
The shikigami is overlaid without warning.
The binding that announces a “simple domain.”
While the shikigami’s true form remains hidden, it guides the opponent’s psychology.
Because unless they’re a total muscle-brained idiot, most people trapped like that would think this way.
-What is this? I need to get out of here! Heave-ho!! (X)
-A simple domain. I need to find the best possible move somehow. (O)
He induces them to overthink a simple situation.
Anyone with a half-decent brain will tangle themselves up and make a foolish mistake.
And in that opening, he drags them deeper into the swamp of despair and cuts off their breath with even greater malice.
Junpei’s flaw had been pointed out for a long time.
[Dot Lamp] was born from that flaw.
-----------------------------
Junpei’s explanation ended.
An overwhelming thrill ran up Gojo’s back.
The shikigami’s abilities were complex and highly detailed.
Just implementing them would be enough to make anyone’s head explode, but Junpei had done it.
He had beautifully blended together the essence of the jujutsu he had learned so far.
He hadn’t stopped at learning; he had sublimated all of it into his own.
Having completed the technique, he had become a being one step beyond what he had been before.
Not in the sense of growth as a jujutsushi, but in the “rank” of a living being.
He was now eyeing a realm reserved only for a handful of the strongest.
What was even more frightening was that he still had room to grow.
The “essence” he had encountered while manifesting [Dot Lamp] had not yet been fully revealed.
“Excellent.”
Gojo, who had been staring blankly, finally spoke.
Unlike before, Junpei’s expression was calm.
As if praise was only natural.
As if he deserved even more applause.
An intangible pressure drifted from Junpei’s still figure.
“I’m not completely sure yet, but for now, I think I can call my technique complete.”
He hadn’t been able to define it until now.
Because even he couldn’t say what he was.
Now, a little over a month after becoming a jujutsushi.
All those moments had formed the Junpei of now, and by reflecting on them he had been able to reach understanding.
Now he could say it.
“What’s the name of the technique?”
“Sea God Manipulation Technique.”
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