"Use!"
With a silent command in Yoru's heart.
Boom!
An ancient, vast, and scorching aura instantly erupted from within him.
If Yoru had been a flickering flame just a moment ago, now he was the rising sun!
Dark red markings spread across the left side of his forehead like licking flames.
The bent, rusty iron bar in Yoru's hand let out an overwhelmed hum.
Then, an incredible sight unfolded.
The rusted iron bar turned glowing red in an instant, as if it had just been pulled from a forge.
Crimson Red Blade (Pseudo).
Although forced through ordinary iron, it possessed a trace of the Crimson Red Blade's properties—
Burning through everything!
The smile on Satoru Gojo's face widened.
He could clearly feel the shift in the boy's aura.
No longer a nervous high schooler, but a battle-hardened sword saint.
"Oh? This just got a lot more interesting."
Satoru Gojo leaned forward slightly with his hands still in his pockets.
"Then let's give it a try."
Before the words even landed, Satoru Gojo's figure vanished.
Teleportation!
High-speed movement using 'Blue'!
Almost simultaneously, a slender palm appeared before Yoru, carrying a cursed energy impact strong enough to shatter stone.
Fast!
Too fast for the naked eye to track! But in Yoru's eyes, the world had become entirely different.
Transparent World!
In his vision, Satoru Gojo was no longer a solid body, but a precision instrument composed of muscles, blood vessels, bones, and the flow of cursed energy.
Every movement Satoru Gojo made, every muscle contraction, and even the trajectory of his cursed energy flow was laid bare to him.
'I see it.'
Yoru's body reacted at the critical moment.
With no wasted motion, he simply stepped to the side.
The palm, brimming with terrifying cursed energy, grazed past the tip of Yoru's nose.
He dodged it!
A flash of surprise crossed Satoru Gojo's eyes. Pure physical reflex?
No, it was anticipation!
Before Satoru Gojo could change his move, Yoru's counterattack arrived.
[Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance]
The Crimson Red Blade traced a perfect arc through the air, carrying the momentum to sever anything in its path as it swung toward Satoru Gojo's neck.
Clang!
A crisp metallic sound rang out. The Crimson Red Blade stopped a few centimeters from Satoru Gojo's skin.
The Limitless.
An absolute, insurmountable distance of infinity.
However.
"Hmm?"
Satoru Gojo's brow quirked slightly.
He felt the intense heat from the blade penetrating the Limitless, giving him a faint sensation of warmth.
Though it couldn't breach his defense, this was the first time he'd seen a physical phenomenon capable of affecting the infinity.
"To achieve this much without cursed energy..."
The blue light in Satoru Gojo's eyes flared.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
A powerful suction force instantly erupted between them.
Yoru's body was pulled uncontrollably toward Satoru Gojo. Unable to find footing in the air?
No!
[Sun Breathing, Fourth Form: Fake Rainbow]
Yoru's figure twisted strangely in mid-air, a visual afterimage created by high-speed rotations.
Satoru Gojo had only caught an afterimage!
The real Yoru had already appeared behind and to his side.
[Sun Breathing, Sixth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun]
A vortex of fiery slashes enveloped Satoru Gojo.
This strike was powerful enough to cleave through steel!
Satoru Gojo pointed backward.
"Red."
A red shockwave erupted once more, colliding violently with the fiery slash.
BOOM!!!
The entire abandoned construction site collapsed completely.
Amidst the rolling dust, two figures streaked past each other.
Yoru landed, gasping for air.
The iron bar in his hand finally succumbed to the heat of the Crimson Red Blade and the impact, melting away into molten iron droplets.
The markings on his forehead slowly faded. A tidal wave of exhaustion hit him, making him nearly unable to stand.
Trial card duration ended.
Ten minutes—though the exchange had actually lasted less than thirty seconds.
But Yoru felt as though his body had been completely drained.
As the dust settled, Satoru Gojo remained where he was, not a single hair out of place.
But the way he looked at Yoru had changed completely.
No longer looking at a rare specimen, but at an unpolished diamond in the rough.
"Impressive, impressive!"
Satoru Gojo clapped his hands, approaching like a curious child.
"Even without cursed energy, that strange breathing technique and swordsmanship actually allowed you to keep up with me."
"Especially those eyes that can anticipate my moves, and that blade that can burn cursed energy..."
Satoru Gojo leaned in close to Yoru, grinning.
"Hey, kid."
"What's your name?"
Yoru forced himself to stand straight.
"Yoru."
"Yoru, huh..."
Satoru Gojo nodded, then pulled a phone from his pocket and snapped a photo of Yoru.
"Very well, Yoru."
"As of today, you are a first-year student at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College."
"Huh?"
Yoru blanked.
"Don't I need to go through some kind of entrance exam?"
"An exam?"
Satoru Gojo pointed to the ruined construction site, then to the remains of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Yoru had just slain.
"Surviving against a Special Grade and managing to exchange blows with the strongest sorcerer."
"That's the best exam there is."
With that, Satoru Gojo threw an arm around Yoru's shoulder like an old friend.
"Come on, let's go meet your new classmates."
"I have a feeling you're going to be an even bigger problem child than I am."
"But..."
Satoru Gojo's voice dropped, carrying a hint of a smile meant only for himself.
"That's what makes it fun."
On this night, the gears of the jujutsu world's history...
...began to turn silently because of the appearance of a boy without cursed energy.