"Was… swept away…"
Mahito, with only twenty percent of his soul remaining, pressed his wings against his head in pain… Just moments ago, he had been flying upward, holding Sukuna's finger in his mouth, only to be blocked by the top of the "canopy." On top of that, his soul was badly injured, and he couldn't hold on…
Who would've thought that cloak-wearing woman wouldn't put him on the "approved list"? Now, his finger was gone, and he couldn't reach Sukuna…
"But… before leaving, there's still a chance…"
Mahito spread his wings to dodge a rock, sneering at the Jujutsu Sorcerer pitcher before him.
"A caveman or a gorilla? Since when do Jujutsu Sorcerers infuse stones with Cursed Energy to attack?"
Suddenly, Mahito lost sight of Aoi Todo. A sharp pain struck his face, and he was slammed to the ground.
"Cough… your technique is… quite interesting…"
Mahito restored his body to human form. Strictly speaking, his soul was already depleted. It felt like forcing a lump of clay into shape.
Aoi Todo wasn't one to converse with Cursed Spirits. He certainly couldn't ask, "Hey, Cursed Spirit… what kind of female Cursed Spirits do you like?" Wait—do Cursed Spirits even have genders? (These thoughts lasted a mere 0.0001 seconds.)
He didn't answer. Instead, he landed punch after punch, driving Mahito into the ground. Mahito didn't even get a chance to touch Aoi Todo before he was embedded into the earth…
"Haha…"
As Aoi Todo continued to rain down blows, Mahito seized an opportunity. He transformed the ground beneath him into a "tunnel," digging an escape route and leaping out elsewhere. After his fight with Kokichi Muta, he had begun experimenting with reshaping his body into an artificial construct for combat—and so far, it seemed to work well.
Emerging from the ground, Mahito fully restored his body—unscathed and with barely any Cursed Energy spent. Aoi Todo narrowed his eyes.
"It's the soul… As long as you don't destroy the soul, you can't hurt me…"
Mahito immediately performed [Technique Disclosure].
He didn't know if the cloaked woman's technique would interfere, but revealing his ability now offered more advantages than risks. Even if a Jujutsu Sorcerer knew his technique was soul-based, without detecting the soul itself, that information was meaningless…
Yet Aoi Todo's expression went beyond Mahito's expectations, and the latter grinned.
"Cursed Spirit… if we had fought last year, I'd have had to come up with other ways to fight you…
But after Akira's guidance, I've achieved a spiritual awakening!"
Aoi Todo raised his hands. Two streams of tears slid down his cheeks.
"A Sensei truly worthy of my respect."
Watching the chattering gorilla-like sorcerer, Mahito prepared to wait for the right moment to unleash his Domain Expansion.
Because of the unique nature of Idle Transfiguration, the disruption of Mahito's technique was extremely brief. Once restored, he would forcibly draw out his Cursed Energy to cast a fleeting Domain, disrupt his opponent's soul, and escape… The plan was solid.
But before Mahito could act, Aoi Todo clapped his hands.
"Domain Expansion—"
The dim surroundings were replaced by a serene water surface. Within a pale blue sphere, leaves drifted slowly downward. Two Shara trees, shaped like hands, sprouted behind Aoi Todo and clapped together as if applauding.
"——[Twin Sal Trees]"
Mahito's grin vanished, replaced by shock. He spun around, preparing to flee.
Aoi Todo clapped his hands again, swapping the air between himself and Mahito. Mahito immediately lost his balance, fell to the ground, and was sent flying by a knee strike.
Another clap. The air in front of Mahito and Aoi Todo was swapped again, and Mahito—still midair—was kicked further away.
A final clap, and Mahito's head was swapped with his heart; his limbs were tied into a knot.
Inside the Domain, Aoi Todo could swap any unit infused with Cursed Energy. Everything within the Domain was saturated with Cursed Energy…
People, air, every physical form and organ…
And within the Domain, anything—body or soul—was subject to [guaranteed-hit guaranteed-kill], sharing the full impact of every attack…
However, the strange nature of Mahito's technique still went beyond Aoi Todo's expectations.
"Idle Transfiguration…"
After a series of twisting motions, Mahito's body returned to normal. He scrambled to his feet and assessed himself.
[It interfered with my soul, but it only shifted it—it didn't destroy it… Since Idle Transfiguration can restore it, the opponent can't actually hurt me!]
Cracking his neck, Mahito used [Idle Transfiguration] to repair and restore his broken limbs.
Seeing this, Aoi Todo exhaled sharply.
[It seems that directly swapping bodies causes no real damage.]
"It's useless! A gorilla is still just a gorilla. I was worried for nothing—you can't touch my soul!"
Mahito extended the small hand from his mouth again and formed a seal.
"Domain Expansion—[Self-Embodiment of Perfection]!"
At that moment, clapping erupted around them once more, louder and heavier than before.
It was the sound of the two hand-shaped "Sala trees" behind Aoi Todo striking each other.
Suddenly, Mahito felt something missing from his body, and his Domain activation failed. His previous movement had only caused the hand in his mouth to almost choke him…
Aoi Todo sprinted forward and punched Mahito square in the face, sending him flying.
After dragging himself across the ground for over ten meters, Mahito got up again. The thing he'd lost moments ago had returned, and he touched the blood trickling from his nose.
"Have I… been hurt?"
Aoi Todo wasted no time performing Technique Disclosure.
"Cursed Spirit, within my Domain, I can swap the spells of both parties. From what you said, your technique is called [Idle Transfiguration], correct?"
Mahito's playful attitude faded. The sorcerer before him now had the power to kill him.
"You can do this without even understanding the soul? That's clever."
[The loss and return of my technique just now lasted about a second. The opponent's spell swaps the positions of objects imbued with Cursed Energy with a clap. But within this Domain, Cursed Energy is everywhere in the air. That means, during that split second of technique exchange, I can use the opponent's spell to gain incredible mobility!
And since this swap requires the clapping of two trees, I can predict it…]
Mahito relaxed completely and stared at Aoi Todo with a manic grin.
"Then let's have a thrilling battle of wits!"
Aoi Todo clapped his hands, and Mahito instinctively clapped as well. In an instant, Aoi Todo appeared beside Mahito and landed a hard punch on his face.
"A battle of wits against someone with an IQ of 530,000? I'm not necessarily going to swap techniques with you, Cursed Spirit!"
[There are three types of claps now: the clap that triggers a position swap, the clap that swaps techniques to deal damage, and the simple clap that serves as a distraction. Get confused, Cursed Spirit!
And the clap that swaps techniques doesn't even have to come from the twin trees behind me…]
Mahito straightened up, a feral grin spreading across his face.
"Then I'll just keep clapping. If you don't swap techniques with me, you can't hurt me at all.
If you do swap techniques, I can use your technique to dodge your attacks."
Aoi Todo raised a finger and flicked it a few times.
"No, no, no. That might work if I were alone, but I'm not by myself."
He flashed a supremely confident smile.
"Brother!"
Aoi Todo clapped his hands again, and suddenly a figure appeared in front of Mahito, sending him flying with a straight punch.
Aoi Todo walked over to Yuji Itadori, grabbed his shirt with both hands, and tore it off smoothly, revealing his incredibly muscular upper body.
"You're just in time. People with the same XP really do attract each other… my brother~~"
Yuji Itadori didn't understand why Aoi Todo was so enthusiastic—after all, they'd only met once before the match.
Still, he gave a firm nod.
"Yeah! Then let's exorcise this Cursed Spirit together, Todo!"