Jiki stared at the scene in front of him, with only a single raised brow serving as the extent of his surprise. "Is that?" he asked leadingly, without turning to face Tengen, though he could feel the amusement on the four-eyed creature's face.
"Yes, your ancestor. I believe she was the second person to be born with the Six Eyes and Limitless technique at the same time, but unlike the unfortunate first, she was a better user and didn't die as young."
Jiki nodded at her explanation. He remembered a woman being vaguely recorded as a Six Eyes and Limitless user, but he had not paid particular attention to it, considering he had not inherited it. Yet the pages were well-worn, which meant Satoru must've rifled through them often.
Words made him redirect his attention to the scene playing out before him.
...
"Lady Tengen…" The Gojo started, taking a step toward Tengen and slipping a napkin out of her kimono to gently wipe the blood from Tengen's split lips. Then she turned around, rounding on the still-surprised Kenjaku with a slight frown on her beautiful features. "What is the meaning of this?"
Kenjaku frowned in response as his eyes trailed from the blue-eyed woman to Tengen. "Who are you?"
The Gojo tilted her head in a very familiar way, and it took Jiki a second to realize it was the exact same way he and Satoru tilted theirs. Her blue eyes roved over Kenjaku's confused form for long seconds before dismissing him like an insect and turning back to Tengen.
"It looks like your injuries are not too serious, my lady. No broken bones or damaged organs, unfortunately, it is still too much damage for your frail form. I'll ensure you get an appropriate ritual for healing done after this is dealt with."
The white-haired woman gently soothed Tengen with kind words, and with each word uttered, Kenjaku bristled. To be completely ignored like an insect, like a passing decoration that warranted nothing more than a glance.
Kenjaku felt annoyance in his guts at the sight of the white-haired woman, an annoyance that turned to anger with each passing breath until it all culminated in a curse that came straight from his stomach.
The woman was turned away. The distance was barely ten feet. With a snarl and a flex of his calves, Kenjaku closed it in two seconds, quiet as a ghost, then locked his hands together above the woman's head before swinging them down with his curse-energy-reinforced frame.
The blow thundered toward her unguarded head, and Kenjaku smiled… then froze as his hands halted three inches away from her white locks.
"Now, if that's all, Lady Tengen, I will deal with this pesky little problem of yours." The woman continued speaking to Tengen without the slightest worry, as though she had not just survived a blow that would've and should've cratered her head into bone and bloody mist.
She turned the slightest bit, pinning Kenjaku with those blue eyes, and Kenjaku realized his mistake. He had frozen for too long. A backhanded blow hit him so hard, he disappeared into the half-finished buildings that Tengen was constructing around the great tree.
He tumbled through sliding doors and broke through hardwood frames that upheld the structures, his journey carving a straight line through the buildings till he came to a stop. Hitting a particular building with enough force to halt his momentum as he spat out blood.
It took him long seconds before he shakily got to his feet, while his head rang with the single barely legitimate thought going through it being, what the hell was that blow?
The woman walked slowly toward him, radiating utter confidence in herself as her cursed energy permeated her form in a way that was indescribable.
Kenjaku racked his brain, shaking off the damage from the blow. White hair, blue eyes. Those were not very common features. While white hair was a more common feature of the Sugawara family, the last time he checked, they came with black eyes, not blue. So what was this, a branch clan? Or a simple bastard. Yet, even if it was that simple, how did Tengen manage to make contact and how did she get her so soon. Then it came to him.
"Haaaahahahahaha." He let out a boisterous laugh as he straightened up completely, before turning to face a recovering Tengen, who had gotten to her feet. "You knew, didn't you? Or at least you suspected this was coming!"
Tengen's reply was a sad stare in response. Pity. And that look lit a fire in his stomach.
"Bold of you to turn away from an opponent such as I."
Kenjaku tilted his head slightly, instincts older than memory guiding his movements. The woman's second backhand swung with lethal precision, missing his face by mere inches as he twisted away. Before his balance could fully return, he retaliated—a straight kick aimed at her knee.
The kick stopped, halting at the same invisible barrier that had foiled his previous strike. Not unexpected. He'd anticipated this, expected it even, and it only fueled the grin that tugged at his lips.
Using the leverage, he flipped backward, voice low and venomous as he spat, "Cursed Technique: Divergent self."
His body contorted unnaturally midair. Skin split apart, muscles tore, and bones cracked under the strain. Pain, raw and searing, threatened to overwhelm him, but he endured. The gruesome transformation was swift as skin regrew, muscles knitted, and broken bones mended. By the time Kenjaku landed, there were two of him, identical in every detail, from the red locks that hid most of the face he wore, to the folds in the clothing.
The woman tilted her head, an infuriatingly calm expression on her face as she studied his newly doubled form. Those unblinking, predatory eyes tore into him, peeling away layers with their gaze.
"That was utterly disgusting to watch," she said, her tone almost playful. "But it resulted in something as beautiful as its formation was disgusting."
Her smile was unnerving, sharp and deliberate, and then she spoke again, her words cutting deeper than any blade.
"This isn't just a simple clone, is it?" She squinted as she peered past her white lashes. "It's you, split perfectly, yet completely whole. Why, I wonder…"
Her rapid breakdown froze Kenjaku's cold heart. She had unraveled the essence of his technique with a single glance, while he was still grasping at fragments of theories about hers.
He shook the uncertainty away. That was fine, he planned to test those theories now anyway.
A steadying breath, then he charged. His clone followed close behind, mirroring his every step. The woman didn't flinch, didn't move, her serene smile unwavering as she watched him approach with those eerie blue eyes.
Kenjaku struck first, a blow aimed at her face. She avoided it with minimal effort, her head tilting just out of reach. He widened his palm, obscuring her vision, and used the distraction to leap.
Simultaneously, his clone slid low beneath him, aiming a cursed-energy fueled kick at her shin. A blow meant to cripple, to shatter.
Instead, it stopped, just as his previous two attacks did.
Her invisible barrier blocked physical attacks that came within six inches from her body, regardless of where the blow was coming from or the direction. He paid for that knowledge as her hand snapped upward with blinding speed. Her iron grip locked around his forearm, halting his momentum in midair.
The clone skidded back, retreating into a defensive stance, but she paid it no mind. Her focus remained solely on him.
"I'm curious, you know," she said, her voice soft yet cutting, clear amusement lacing her tone.
Kenjaku futilely lashed out with his free hand, aiming strikes at her ribs, her throat, and her head. She ignored every blow, each one landing on the space between them without effect, as though her body was beyond his ability to perceive or even hurt.
With a sharp tug, she pulled him closer, her grip unrelenting. Then, in one fluid motion, she seized his head with both hands and forced him to his knees.
Panic surged through him. He understood her intent before she even finished her movement.
Kenjaku thrashed violently, his limbs a flurry of strikes and kicks, desperation bleeding into every motion. But it was useless. Her strength was absolute, her hold unbreakable.
Her smile widened into something feral, her piercing blue eyes gleaming with unsettling delight till it was all he could see. "What would happen," she mused, her tone now alight with sadistic curiosity, "if I did this?"
She began to apply pressure, her hands clamping down on his skull like a vise. The first crack of bone was subtle, almost imperceptible, but it sent a jolt of pain shooting through his body.
Kenjaku's curse energy flared instinctively, his body glowing faintly as he pushed every ounce of cursed energy into reinforcing himself yet it was useless. He felt his left eye pop out of Its socket as the force increased. The clone remained frozen, watching the scene, while Kenjaku struggled.
"Fascinating, technique" she said, tilting her head again. Her focus never wavered, her eyes locked onto Kenjaku as though he were a puzzle she was eager to solve. "You can split yourself, divide your essence entirely. But how far does that division go?"
Kenjaku felt his vision blur, her grip tightening as his reinforced skull continued to give under the pressure. His eardrums burst as the ears were compacted. His jaw and sharply defined chin were pulverized, turning his face into a mess.
This woman, whoever and whatever she was, couldn't be human.
A growl escaped him, guttural and raw, as he drew power from the depths of his reserves. His mouth moved without thought, chanting a technique meant as much to free him as to destroy her. But before he could complete it, she spoke again.
"Shall we find out?"
The ground beneath them trembled. An unstoppable force met a very movable object, and it didn't take it long to move. Kenjaku's skull exploded in her palms and his scream and chant ended all at once. All that was left of his head was bloody mist, with remnants of blood, bone, and brain fragments as they scattered in the air. Some hovered a few inches away from the woman's skin.
Then she turned to the clone, to Kenjaku, and smiled at whatever she saw. "How fascinating. It is still you. The six eyes told true then. There is no difference between the clone and the original. You are both real in every essence of the word." She clapped her hands together, a smile written on her features. "How delightful. Now, what next?"
Kenjaku's eyes drifted to Tengen's behind the woman, and he suddenly understood Tengen's stare of pity. Tengen had been scared for him. What sort of a monster had his old friend released upon him? She fought with a level of brutality that was rare, but what worried him the most were those eyes. Eyes that seemed to see and understand all. What could he do with such eyes?
"What is your name?" Kenjaku asked as he walked to the side, attempting to flank the woman. She smiled, her eyes following him, but she didn't turn her head when he passed her line of sight.
"Gojo Nozomi. But you should not worry about that. You're not going to live long enough to ever need that particular knowledge."
Kenjaku did not bother with a response. Instead, the moment he left her line of sight, he whispered his curse technique beneath his breath and split once again. But this time, there were four of them, and Kenjaku felt a hole in all four guts at the expenditure of cursed energy.
"I recognize you, do you know that?" The woman started with a conversational tone. "While this is my first time seeing you, Tengen has talked about you enough that I can recite your favorite poems and meals off the top of my head, which makes me curious. Why would you betray your... friend?"
Kenjaku had already formulated a hundred distracting answers, but the woman waved them off before he could even speak them.
"Don't waste your breath. Whatever explanations you offer, it's already irrelevant." Her smile sharpened, her tone carrying a promise. "Come at me, the creature named Kenjaku and show me what a sorcerer with your experience is capable of, for I suspect…" Her eyes gleamed with unshakable certainty mixed with a feral light. "…the moment I decide to make the first move, this fight ends." she continued as she faced the one body that had walked into her line of sight.
Kenjaku obliged her. So far, he knew physical attacks were redundant. They didn't get past whatever barrier she had. But there were other cards to play.
Two clones charged her from behind, as quietly as possible. Then they lunged again, this time aiming varying blasts of raw cursed energy at the back of her head. Pure beams of energy designed to overwhelm even the most skilled sorcerers.
But she didn't dodge.
Instead, she spun to face it and stretched out her two arms to catch the blast with her bare hands. The energy sizzled and crackled, distorting the air around her, but she absorbed the blows effortlessly. The cursed energy dissipated, leaving not a mark on her flawless skin. Halted once again by her barrier, it was evident that not even raw cursed energy could get past it. It was not simply a kinetic barrier but also an energy one.
A split second later, she was in front of the two clones. Too fast for what should've been a simple movement, her hands lashed out, and she buried both limbs into the chest cavities of the two clones before ripping her arms out in a brutal display of gore and viscera that sprinkled everywhere—everywhere except on her figure. Then she opened her hands, revealing the two still-beating hearts.
With a mad grin and a flex of her arms the hearts burst in her hand, and not even slowing down, she spun on the spot in a kick, her back heel obliterating the heads of his two clones in a single devastating and vicious blow that turned their heads into mist.
Those eyes again. Somehow without looking, she had known the exact positions and spots the two clones had been. The angle and velocity of their attacks. That was why she allowed him to leave her sight. Allowed him the delusion of him activating his technique behind her had been hidden.
The woman remained where she stood, watching the body that had faced her with that same infuriating smile. She brushed her hands together as though dusting them off after a mundane chore.
"You're resourceful," she remarked, her voice tinged with amusement. "But you're not fighting me. Not really. You're testing me. Probing for weakness." She tilted her head, her eerie blue eyes narrowing slightly. "I'll save you the trouble, I've none."
Kenjaku grimaced, wiping blood from his mouth. The rapid deaths of too many were taking a toll. His mind raced, piecing together theories and countermeasures. She hadn't countered his cursed energy—she'd simply negated it. He had fought people who possessed some kind of barrier-cursed technique before, but never on this level. No human, no sorcerer, should be capable of such precision, of such a barrier that negated and inviolated any attack. To calculate and account for that much variance in attacks and divergence was too much.
Eerie blue eyes stared down at him like an insect. I came down to those eyes again.
"What are you?" he asked, his voice rough.
Her smile grew wider. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
She moved then, and Kenjaku barely had time to react. One moment, she was standing still; the next, she was upon him, her speed blinding. He raised his arms instinctively in a block, but he was too slow. She slipped beneath his guard with disgusting ease. The blow slammed into his chest, and the force behind it caved it in, sending him skidding backward, his feet carving trenches into the earth.
His clone charged, unleashing a flurry of attacks from every angle, its strikes coordinated and precise. But she moved through them effortlessly, her body twisting and contorting with an almost unnatural fluidity. Like she could see everything. Every blow missed its mark, her movements a dance. She was toying with them, with him.
Kenjaku snarled, weaving hand signs in rapid succession. Cursed Technique: Interwoven Labyrinth! His clone jumped back, while the woman looked on in curiosity as the technique took effect with her at the center.
The air around them warped, shifting as layers of glass unfolded like blooming flowers. The space distorted, creating a maze of reflective surfaces and twisting paths that would confuse even the most perceptive sorcerer or curse.
There was silence, and for a moment, Kenjaku dared to feel a flicker of hope. Within the labyrinth, he and his clone could strike from any direction, their attacks amplified by the pseudo-domain technique.
But then she laughed. A soft and beautiful sound that sent chills down his spine.
"As interesting as it is to see you possess two innate techniques in one body, the fact that you think this will contain me is insulting," she stated, her voice echoing within the maze.
Her hand reached out, and the nearest glass shattered.
Kenjaku's eyes widened as he felt true fear for the first time. This wasn't just strength for Kenjaku had faced the strong. It was dominance. A near complete disregard for the rules of cursed energy and techniques.
"You're out of your depth," she said, stepping through the maze as though it didn't exist, her presence destroying and rendering the technique useless as she made a slow beeline for him. "But don't worry, little sorcerer. Age does not necessarily translate into power, and I'm here to teach you that."
She disappeared from his perception despite how impossible it should have been with his technique in effect, her presence vanished entirely. Then, out of nowhere, he felt a soft breath against his hair as it stirred his red locks.
"Lesson one," she whispered. "Know when to run and when to hide."
Before he could react, her knee drove into his spine like a hammer, launching him through one of his own barriers with bone-rattling force. He hit the ground hard, but he forced himself up, ignoring the pain coursing through his body.
He barely managed to stabilize when she appeared again, silent as a shadow. This time, she was directly in front of him, slightly to the side, her movements impossibly fluid.
"Lesson two, know that there is always a bigger monster than you." Her hands snapped out, seizing his arm with surgical precision. With a brutal twist and pull, she tore it from the socket in a grotesque eruption of blood. Then she used the severed limb to flog him over the head sending him to the ground.
Her foot slammed into his chest with crushing power, driving him further into the ground and leaving a crater beneath his broken body. Blood sprayed from his mouth in a sickening torrent, painting the dirt as he gasped and choked.
"Lesson three, at a certain stage, skill and experience are nothing in the face of sheer overwhelming power." she finished, her tone almost pitying. Her smile remained although her eyes lost their maniacal light as boredom began to creep in once again. She discarded the limb in her hand with a flick, like garbage.
Kenjaku's gaze flickered to the slumped figure of Tengen, fear worming his way into him, pain clouding his senses, and dread enveloping him as he tried his best to ignore the monster above him. He was not a fool. He recognized when victory was out of his grasp, and for now, there was no point in continuing a fruitless struggle. So, instead, he chose to speak to the one person who had been a thorn in his side, his voice barely masking the pain and fear.
"Why do you fight this, Tengen?" he asked, his tone pleading, desperate. "Your barriers, your immortality, they are wasted in stagnation. Discard the Star Plasma Vessel and your humanity. Fulfill your role, and let us reshape this world together!"
The Gojo, with her foot pressed firmly against his chest, scoffed at his words with a huff. She shifted slightly, applying more pressure, but paused the moment Tengen's voice rang out.
"We have two different goals, Kenjaku," Tengen's voice was calm. "I don't know when or where we diverged, but my barriers are not for shaping humanity, not for turning people into something else, just to see how it plays out. My purpose has always been simpler, and more grounded. My immortality to teach and guide. My barriers to protect, to bolster. Not to indulge in some sick, grandiose vision for the world."
Kenjaku's lips curled into a scowl, anger overthrowing fear and pain as his eyes narrowed in silent fury at the defiance. He wasn't a stranger to rejection, but Tengen's refusal stung in a way that irritated him, cutting deeper than the physical blows he'd endured.
"And what happens next time, then?" Kenjaku hissed at her, his voice dark and dripping with venom. "We are both immortal. Your helper isn't. You will be alone then, Tengen, and I'll be back."
Kenjaku allowed his eyes drift up to the woman to measure her response to his words. To the Gojo with the unshakable smile. She merely stared at him, her expression unreadable. It was clear she wasn't concerned. Her smile didn't falter, and she made no move to intervene, even as Kenjaku's words took on a sharper edge.
"And I would be here, waiting," Tengen replied coolly, her voice calm, almost serene in its finality. "My barriers are woven into the fabric of Japan itself, at such a scale that they skim the tapestry of fate itself. I need only add a little... something. A small touch, at great cost to myself." She lifted her hand, fingers brushing through the air as if she touched and felt something only she was aware of, and her smile deepened.
Kenjaku's brow furrowed as he tried to piece together the implications of her words, but hardly made any progress with the Gojo above him. "What are you saying?"
Tengen turned to face him once more, but before she could speak, the Gojo interrupted. "You keep mentioning the fact that you will be back. Is it because of the clone that is running off?"
Kenjaku felt ice trail down his spine, and the woman twisted her heel into his chest with a grin. "I can see him. I can see everything in my range, and he is still deep into it. It's only going to take a second."
She knew she had always known. She had seen through his distraction for what it was but had kept quiet so she could see and savor the fear and anguish on his face.
"Goodbye, little sorcerer. This was fun-"
Kenjaku slammed his hands together, desperation fueling his movements the moment his chest was completely crushed and the woman's feet obliterated his heart.
"Domain Expansion!"
The Gojo tilted a brow in amusement, while Tengen yelled. "The child! The Star Plasma Vessel!" A split second later, as the black bubble of the domain surrounded them, the woman disappeared above him, but Kenjaku was not worried. This body was dead. All he had to do was keep up the domain long enough for the other body to escape.
"Know when to run and hide," she said, and Kenjaku was a fast learner with the patience of centuries. It would take him years to ingrain the second lesson as deeply.
The black sphere lasted for long seconds, then suddenly cracks spread, and continued to spread, before with a heave, the whole thing crumbled from the inside, revealing the Gojo, with the Star Plasma Vessel in her hands, and Tengen beside her.
The white-haired woman looked into the distance and frowned. "He's out of my range, Lady Tengen, but that does not matter. Give me an hour and I'll dig him out of whatever hole he has dug himself into and crush him beneath my feet once more."
Tengen let out a chuckle. "You underestimate Kenjaku, my dear Nozomi. If he doesn't want to be found, not even your Six Eyes could hope to detect him."
Nozomi hmphed again like a spoiled child denied a gift, and Tengen let out a chuckle once more as she sat down and rested her back. Nozomi was her best student. Yet even she had underestimated the girl. The power of the Six Eyes and the Limitless Technique being wielded by the same person.
Yet, as Kenjaku said, he would be back, but Tengen's rebuttal had not been an empty dare. She turned to the petulant girl with eyes that gazed into the distance.
"I would bind you to my fate and that of the Plasma Vessel, with your permission, Nozomi-san."
The girl turned back to her, bare traces of interest on her face. "How?"
"My earlier words were not an empty boast. The barrier surrounds all of Japan and skims at our fate. A side effect of such a grand working of this scale that would shock even gods. It is still fresh enough that I can manipulate it in my favor, therefore binding your eyes to my protection."
The girl stared at her for an extra second with amusement before turning away. "Do as you will, Lady Tengen. It doesn't matter. I do hope one of my descendants faces him once again. Oh, what fun to be had, don't you think?"
The girl finished as she shifted her focus to where Tengen and Jiki stood, and smiled at them.