Time reverts to three minutes ago.
After ending the call with Itadori and the other, Cain, who had just eaten Sukuna's finger, projected his consciousness into his body.
Unlike his usual trips to the Mist Space, Cain's target this time was the Sukuna finger he had just consumed.
After eating it and establishing a connection, the barrier on the finger's surface lost its effect. With just a little force, Cain pierced through it and arrived in a deep red sea of blood.
Giant white bones shaped like ribs served as doorframes, extending all the way to the end of his vision. In the center of the path, countless corpses were piled together to form a small mountain.
At the highest point of the peak, a figure dressed in a white kimono sat sideways, leaning his head on his right hand as he looked down.
"Who permitted you to look up at me, brat?"
The existence known as Ryomen Sukuna, who had once slaughtered his way through the entire Jujutsu world, narrowed his eyes. Killing intent, swept in from all directions, attempting to press Cain to the ground.
"As expected of the strongest from a thousand years ago."
Standing in the center of the killing intent, Cain let out a word of praise.
Sukuna's aura was very strong. From this aura alone, one could see that his strength a thousand years ago exceeded that of Ottar.
However...
Golden lightning illuminated the sea of blood. A vast thunderbolt gathered in the sky and crashed down in the next instant.
Boom!
A deafening roar sounded as the corpse mountain, dozens of meters high, was submerged in lightning. Sukuna was forced to jump down from his throne and come before Cain, narrowing his eyes.
"Kid, you have quite a lot of nerve."
"If I didn't have the nerve, I wouldn't have come here."
"Heh, interesting."
Sukuna narrowed his eyes: "I hope your strength is as great as your nerve, brat."
At this moment as dozens of invisible slashes fell from all directions, forming a large net that blocked all paths of retreat, attempting to trap the prey in the middle and grind him into pieces.
But at the same time, a massive amount of lightning shot out, piercing through the slashes like sharp needles and flying into the surroundings.
Lightning flickered, and like a god controlling divine punishment, Cain walked forward step by step. Raikiri engraved with Divine Script appeared in his empty right hand.
"The mental world is really great; you can get whatever you want just by thinking about it. Speaking of which, have you never considered improving the environment here?"
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? This isn't something that can be changed so casually." Sukuna narrowed his eyes.
"Not even knowing something like this... you wouldn't happen to be a newcomer who just suddenly awakened a technique, would you?"
"Something like that."
"In that case, let me give you a lesson."
Sukuna's hands formed hand signs in front of his chest. A vast, surging cursed energy rose from his body, sweeping out in all directions.
After a brief probe, he had realized how strong Cain was; he wasn't an opponent that could be dealt with easily.
The power of a single finger was truly limited. Continuing to fight like this was just a waste of time and served no purpose.
"Domain Expansion... Hm?"
Just as his cursed energy began to converge, Sukuna felt a sense of fatal danger rushing at him, as if the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head was about to fall. Warning bells rang frantically in his mind.
Subconsciously, he canceled his movements and followed his instincts, flashing toward the empty space beside him.
At that same moment, a roar sounded, and a bolt of lightning pierced through the entire sea of blood like a sharp blade.
"...Interesting."
The corners of Sukuna's mouth slowly curled upward.
Looking at the figure not far away, the casual air around him vanished, and he became completely serious.
"It seems I underestimated you a bit."
"Only a bit?"
"What else? You didn't think an attack of that level could hit me, did you?"
"That's hard to say."
Cain gave a soft chuckle.
Mahito once said that the soul is born before the body, and the shape of the body is influenced by the soul.
But conversely, the physical body can also influence the soul.
"Sukuna, the reason you are called Ryomen Sukuna is because you devoured your twin brother to gain four arms and two mouths, thereby obtaining an absolute advantage."
"However, after your soul was cut into twenty fragments and separated, your soul's form was also affected. In a state where you only have one finger, you cannot manifest your true form."
"And then? Do you think you can defeat me?"
"No, what I want to say is that it's a pity I won't have the chance to compete with you in the number of arms."
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of churning flesh rose within the sea of blood.
Like a mutating monster, six new arms extended from Cain's back, each holding a Sword.
Flesh Mimicry: Eight-Armed Form.
"Are you kidding me?"
For once, Sukuna's eyes widened.
Even in the mental world, one's own form isn't something that can be changed just like that or rather, it shouldn't be changeable at all.
"Actually, I could manifest even more, but eight arms are just about enough."
With the shared experiences of the other Cains, Cain was not unfamiliar with the Eight-Armed Form.
As if eight different people were in control, each of the eight arms held a blade in a different stance.
"Come, let's start the second round."
As his voice fell, a vast light of thunder transformed into dozens of sharp needles that shot out, covering the sky like an invading army.
Sukuna waved his hand, and countless slashes met them, blocking the surging thunder needles while he himself flashed backward.
He brought his hands together in front of him, attempting to activate Domain Expansion again to suppress Cain with his trump card.
But Cain, who had been staring at him, naturally wouldn't give him such a chance. The two uppermost arms on his back swung their blades simultaneously.
Afterglow: Raikiri Double Strike!
Compared to the very first strike, a Afterglow without charging had limited speed, but Cain, who kept moving, made up for this shortcoming.
While his main body moved, the distance for the newly swung Afterglow was shortened, catching up to Sukuna once more and interrupting him.
Seizing this gap, lightning exploded beneath Cain's feet, the massive impact propelling him right in front of Sukuna.
Two fists were no match for eight blades. In close-quarters combat, Cain gained an overwhelming advantage in an instant.
The sharp Raikiri suppressed Sukuna relentlessly and wounds started appeared on his body.
Even if he intended to counterattack, the newly generated slashes would be blocked by the lightning covering Cain's body.
A few seconds later, the moment Sukuna revealed an opening, a fully charged Afterglow fell right in his face.
...
"Simply put, that's what happened."
Withdrawing the cursed energy overflowing from his body, Cain told the mysterious blindfolded man in front of him about what had just occurred.
"Defeating Sukuna head-on in the mental world, huh? That's quite something." Gojo Satoru mused thoughtfully.
After he had grown stronger, he had also tried to use [Hollow Purple] to destroy Sukuna's finger, but unfortunately, he failed.
Without having had a direct confrontation, Gojo Satoru didn't know exactly how strong Sukuna was.
However, he was the strongest from a thousand years ago, after all, a being who had annihilated the Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad and the Five Void Generals single-handedly, killing so many that the people of that era were unable to resist.
In all fairness, if he divided himself into twenty parts, Gojo Satoru would still be confident in suppressing a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
By that logic, it meant the boy in front of him possessed the strength to annihilate a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
Was that possible?
The answer was: he didn't know.
Gojo Satoru beckoned to Cain with his finger: "Whether it's a charged attack or whatever, hit me with your strongest attack."
Cain silently took a step back: "Excuse me?"
Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow: "Don't misunderstand. I just want to test how strong you are and, while I'm at it, see if you're actually Cain or Sukuna."
Pure verbal communication couldn't confirm the truth.
But with a single direct exchange, many doubts could be resolved. However...
"I can't do it."
Cain spread his hands: "I can summon weapons to use in the mental world, but it doesn't work here. Without a suitable weapon, the attacks I can unleash are very limited."
"What kind of weapon do you need?"
"A sword or a blade would do. At the very least, it needs to be something with an edge like an axe; otherwise, it's not convenient to charge the attack."
Afterglow wasn't a technique that could be used just by wanting to.
Perhaps in the future, when Cain progressed further and had a deeper understanding of slashes, he could be like the masters in wuxia novels, using anything as a sword to unleash a Afterglow.
But unfortunately, he couldn't do that yet and had to rely on a corresponding weapon.
"A bladed weapon, huh... Wait a moment."
Gojo Satoru's figure flickered and vanished from the spot.
A minute later, he reappeared holding a short sword.
"Is this okay?"
"It'll do."
Cain gripped the short sword with a reverse hold.
With the sharing from the Mist Space, Cain effectively had several times the training time of an ordinary person.
Even though DanMachi Cain had only mastered it for a few days, the Cains of other worlds had already practiced it repeatedly hundreds or thousands of times.
Lightning surged, and a cold light broke through the air.
With almost no delay, a lightning sword aura over ten meters high shot out.
"Oh! This is pretty good!"
Gojo Satoru raised his hand and caught the lightning sword aura.
Through the consumption of cursed energy, he could roughly confirm the power of this slash.
A Grade 1 Cursed Spirit would die on contact. For a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, it would depend on the situation; those with strong recovery could survive.
"Is this your full power?"
"I can probably increase it by another two to three times. With a more suitable weapon, I could raise it to five times that level."
"Then I believe you."
Gojo Satoru lifted his palm, tossing the slash, which was enough to cut down a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, into the sky.
Under the night sky, the heavy dark clouds were split in two, and moonlight shone through the gap to illuminate the forest.
"By the way, when you mentioned defeating him just now, did you completely wipe out Sukuna's soul?"
"No, just suppressed it."
Cain sheathed the short sword.
Sukuna's soul was housed within the fingers.
After swallowing the finger, Sukuna's finger merged with his body, and a connection was established with the soul.
Unless he mastered soul attacks, the soul of Sukuna inside him would only be suppressed, not completely gone.
"After suppressing Sukuna's finger, I obtained the power within that finger, and my total cursed energy has increased."
"In the short term, I should be able to eat another two or three of Sukuna's fingers. Any more and I'd easily exceed my limit."
"I see. Then you seem to be in quite a dangerous position."
"Because Sukuna will use my body to be resurrected?"
"That's part of it, but more importantly, it's the fact that you can withstand the toxicity of Sukuna's fingers. If those higher-ups in the jujutsu world find out about this..."
Gojo Satoru mimicked a handgun with his fingers, pointing it at Cain and making a "bang" sound effect.
"You'll die."
"Oh."
"Eh? Why is your reaction so flat? Shouldn't you be crying and saying 'please don't kill me' at a time like this?"
"Can you stop being so dramatic?"
Cain rolled his eyes. "If you want to kill me, at least act like it. Do you think I'm blind? You don't have a shred of killing intent."
Gojo Satoru sighed. "Honestly, you're too stiff. You could at least play along with me... Anyway, your current situation is quite special. You'll have to come back to Tokyo Jujutsu High with me. Is that a problem?"
Cain hesitated slightly. "I'm a top student with excellent grades and character, a top-tier talent who could get into Todai in the future. If I go to a vocational school, is there any academic compensation?"
"Good question. I can ask for you."
Gojo Satoru cooperatively pulled out his phone.
After a series of rings, the call was quickly connected.
"Moshi moshi~ Yaga? I've found a talent who could get into Todai. If I kidnap him to our vocational school, is there any academic compensation?"
"Idiot! Tokyo Jujutsu High is not a vocational school!"
A furious roar came through, and the just-connected call was hung up.
Gojo Satoru dug his ear with a finger and pointed the phone at the black-haired boy in front of him.
"So~ that's pretty much how it is. They refused to give you any compensation, so let's get back at them together."
"You're really good at shifting the blame."
Cain was a bit dumbfounded: "Forget it, I'm not going to waste time arguing with you about this useless stuff. As for compensation, just help me bring someone along."
"Bring someone?"
"Yeah, a sports student. It's a perfect fit for that no-name technical college of yours."
As the words fell, Cain turned to look at the bushes on the right, pointing towards the figure that had just darted out.
"That's him. Is that okay?"
"Huh?"
Itadori, who had just arrived at the destination, was taken aback.
What's going on?
Questions rose in his mind, but before he could calm down and assess the situation, he saw a white-haired man with an eyepatch approach and start groping him all over.
"Let me see, let me see! This physical condition looks pretty good! A promising seedling!"
"So, what's your answer?"
"No problem! You're joining our Tokyo Technical College too!"
"It's Tokyo Jujutsu High, you idiot!"
Megumi Fushiguro's voice came from further behind.
Compared to the energetic Itadori, his physical fitness was a notch lower; he was almost out of breath from running all the way.
Leaning on a nearby tree with his right hand, Fushiguro took a few heavy breaths before looking at Cain and Gojo Satoru.
"Teacher Gojo, can you explain the current situation?"
"Simply put, I've recruited two promising seedlings to join Tokyo Technical College, Megumi! You'll have two new classmates from now on!"
"I said it's Tokyo Jujutsu High!"
A vein popped on Fushiguro's forehead.
This idiot, can't he just speak normally?
...
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Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.