Chapter 104: Rin's Persistence
"What exactly happens if you get hit by 'Unlimited Void'?"
Miguel remembered it clearly; he and Rin had been squatting on the sand of the training ground, the setting sun stretching their shadows long.
Rin, who was contemplating the trajectory of Gojo Satoru's Cursed Technique, looked up at the question. He curled his lips helplessly, his fingertips still coated in sand:
"That Cursed Technique doesn't harm the body, but it floods your mind with massive amounts of information, like a bursting dam.
By then, you can see and hear the wind blowing, and even feel the stinging on your skin, but your body just won't move.
It's no different from being nailed to the spot, waiting for death."
"Then what if you get hit? You can't just sit there waiting to be beaten, right?" Miguel pressed.
Rin didn't answer directly, only smiling as he patted the back of Miguel's hand. There was a certainty in his eyes that Miguel hadn't understood at the time.
At this moment, behind a broken wall on the Shinjuku battlefield, Miguel stared at the scene before him, his heart feeling as if it were being clenched by a hand.
Gojo Satoru's pale blue domain had barely expanded before it suddenly vanished, leaving almost no trace of residual Cursed Energy.
Was it out of consideration for the civilians caught in the crossfire? Or had he finally gone soft?
But when his gaze swept toward Rin, his blood ran cold.
Rin was frozen in place, black-red Cursed Energy congealing around him without a trace of movement. That usually calm face was now filled with shock, his eyes staring straight ahead, his body like a frozen statue, unable to even lift a finger.
"Damn it!" Miguel realized abruptly.
—It wasn't that the domain hadn't taken effect; it was that the duration was too short—only 0.2 seconds!
But even for just an instant, the information overload from "Unlimited Void" was enough to strip Rin of his ability to resist.
The next second, Gojo Satoru's figure appeared before Rin.
His short white hair fluttered in the wind. His movements were as fast as a streak of pale blue light, his face void of any ripple, as if this battle had long been in his grasp.
"You've done well enough, Rin."
Gojo Satoru's voice was soft, yet carried the weight of ending everything:
"But this is where it ends."
He slowly raised his hand, pale blue Cursed Energy gathering in his palm, his fingertips only half a foot away from Rin's forehead.
Rin remained frozen, able only to watch helplessly as that hand descended. Even blinking felt difficult, and the shock in his eyes had not yet faded.
"Don't touch him!" Miguel roared as he dispelled the barrier, the black rope whipping toward Gojo Satoru like an arrow released from a bow.
But the distance was too great; before it could reach him, Gojo Satoru's hand had already stopped in front of Rin, his tone carrying a calm that bordered on pity: "Go to sleep."
Only Miguel's desperate roar remained on the battlefield, the air itself seeming to solidify.
But in this split second, Rin's Crimson Sharingan suddenly spun at an extreme speed!
Gojo Satoru's pupils constricted sharply; his Six Eyes instantly captured that anomaly.
The next second, he found that his body couldn't move! It was an Illusion!
Pale blue light exploded in his eyes, his Six Eyes operating at full speed, tearing through the Illusion almost instantly, but his body still lagged by 0.5 seconds.
It was that 0.5 seconds that Rin's figure suddenly flashed!
Black-red Cursed Energy wrapped around his form, moving faster than Gojo Satoru could predict, like black lightning tearing through the air.
Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes instantly deciphered the Cursed Technique.
It was "Crimson Blood Manipulation - Crimson Scale Leap"!
Before he could mobilize his Cursed Energy, Rin's fist, carrying pitch-black lightning, had already crashed in front of him!
Gojo Satoru subconsciously relied on the "Limitless" defense around him, but at that moment, Miguel's black rope finally arrived, precisely wrapping around his wrist and forcibly interrupting the flow of his Cursed Energy!
"Boom!"
Pitch-black lightning exploded over Shinjuku, and Rin's fist landed squarely on Gojo Satoru's face!
The immense impact sent Gojo Satoru flying back like a kite with a broken string, crashing over a hundred meters away onto the concrete ground, sending rubble flying as high as a person.
This was the first time in the entire battle that Rin had truly touched Gojo Satoru.
The sensation on his fist made him want to roar in his heart.
So satisfying!
"It worked!" Miguel yelled excitedly as he rushed over.
"Time's up! Hurry to Jujutsu High, I'll hold him off!"
Rin didn't hesitate for a second, turning around and activating his Cursed Energy. His figure instantly dashed toward the distant streets without looking back.
Miguel stopped, gripping the black rope tightly as he stood in front of Gojo Satoru. He knew better than anyone that "the strongest" would never admit defeat just like that.
Sure enough, the next second, Gojo Satoru stood up from the ground.
There wasn't a single scratch on his face, not even a speck of dust. Pale blue Cursed Energy circulated around him, instantly repairing the damage from the impact.
He frowned, his cerulean Six Eyes filled with confusion.
0.2 seconds of "Unlimited Void" was enough to paralyze a Special Grade Cursed Spirit for five minutes; how was Rin completely unscathed?
But no one could answer his question.
Miguel stared at him intently, the Cursed Energy on the black rope reconverging, while Rin's figure had long since vanished at the end of the street, leaving only faint residual Cursed Energy among the distant buildings.
So, how exactly did Rin avoid Gojo Satoru's "Unlimited Void"?
The answer was, Rin didn't avoid it at all.
And the next moment, Rin's advancing figure crashed heavily to the ground.
Rin stumbled forward, his knees slamming hard into the concrete.
He tried to push himself up from the ground, but fell again.
It wasn't exhaustion; it was the sudden, overwhelming pain surging in his brain, like countless needles pricking his nerves.
He sat on the ground and wiped his face, his palm instantly covered in blood.
Blood was seeping from his eyes, nostrils, and ears, dripping down his jawline onto his collar, staining it with dark marks.
Yet, even in this wretched state, Rin curled his lips into a smile, his teeth clenched tight. His laughter held the relief of surviving a catastrophe, yet hid a trace of determination that others couldn't understand.
Leaning against a broken wall, he shuffled forward step by step toward the Teleportation Cursed Spirit, the memory of that afternoon at the training ground involuntarily surfacing in his mind.
"Then what if you get hit? What should you do?"
Facing this question, Rin pondered for a moment before finally summoning a peculiar Cursed Spirit in front of Miguel.
At the time, Miguel, gripping the black rope, looked at the transparent Cursed Spirit he had summoned, his face full of confusion:
"This Cursed Spirit... what's so special about it?"
"Punch it once and you'll know," Rin said.
Half-doubting, Miguel raised his hand, his fist coated in Cursed Energy, and smashed it hard into the Cursed Spirit.
The force of that punch was enough to repel a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, but the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit before him didn't budge, not even a ripple appearing on its transparent body, as if the attack had passed right through it.
"This... what's going on?" Miguel widened his eyes.
Rin didn't speak, only pointing at the Cursed Spirit.
After about half a minute, a pale red mark suddenly appeared where the Cursed Spirit had been hit. Then, the mark grew deeper and deeper, eventually splitting into a wound, from which black Cursed Energy blood slowly seeped out.
"Its Cursed Technique can 'delay' the damage it receives, transferring it to its future self in batches."
Rin crouched down and poked the Cursed Spirit's wound:
"It's like a 'delayed damage' buff in a game. You don't die immediately, but the damage slowly accumulates. You keep losing health until, eventually, you receive all the damage."
Miguel instantly realized:
"You're trying to... use its Cursed Technique to tank 'Unlimited Void'?"
"Yeah." Rin nodded, his eyes darkening:
"I guessed that Gojo Satoru would be considerate of the civilians and only open the domain for 0.2 seconds.
I delayed the information overload from that 0.2 seconds, letting the damage slowly manifest after a few dozen seconds.
This way, I could take advantage of the delay to complete the sneak attack and still manage to get to Geto Suguru."
"But what about after the delay?" Miguel pressed, his voice tight:
"'Unlimited Void's' information overload isn't ordinary damage. Even if you delay it, you still have to endure it in the end. You'll still end up frozen!"
"I can forcibly digest it."
Rin's tone was soft, yet carried an unquestionable certainty:
"As long as the time is short enough, I can force myself to suppress that information, but the cost is that my brain will overload and suffer damage from this massive amount of data."
"Damage? How severe?"
"In the ideal scenario, if I forcibly digest a 0.05-second impact, my brain will explode."
Rin said it nonchalantly, as if talking about someone else.
Miguel was frantic then, grabbing his arm:
"That won't work! A 0.2-second impact is enough to kill you several times over! It's too risky!"
But Rin smiled, pulling his hand away and summoning Reverse Cursed Technique, pale red light flowing at his fingertips:
"Don't forget, I know Reverse Cursed Technique."
Miguel finally realized.
The Delayed Cursed Technique lets the damage accumulate slowly, while the Reverse Cursed Technique repairs the brain damage simultaneously—it's like losing health while healing. As long as the rhythm is kept, the damage can be kept within a controllable range before it fully erupts.
"But that's just theory!"
Miguel was still worried:
"Enduring brain damage while maintaining the Delayed Cursed Technique, and having to perform precise repairs with the Reverse Cursed Technique—if a single link goes wrong, you'll die!"
Rin didn't argue back then, only withdrawing the Cursed Spirit and turning to walk toward the training ground gate.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long. His voice drifted over, light and airy, carrying a hint of imperceptible fatigue:
"There's no other way. This is the best method I could think of."
"I must go to Geto Suguru's side."
"I'm worried about him."
Miguel wanted to persuade him further:
"Don't do this. If Geto Suguru knew, he definitely wouldn't agree to you taking such a risk."
But Rin only waved his hand, his footsteps not stopping:
"So don't tell him. He doesn't need to know.
This is all I can do."
Thinking of this, Rin coughed up another mouthful of blood, which splattered on the ground, staining the rubble red.
The pain in his brain grew more intense, his vision starting to blur, yet he gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
He could feel the delayed damage accelerating, and the repair speed of the Reverse Cursed Technique was already struggling to keep up.
But he couldn't stop.
Geto Suguru was still waiting for him, and the situation at Jujutsu High was still unclear. He had to make it to the Teleportation Cursed Spirit; he had to ensure Geto Suguru was safe and sound.
Rin leaned against the broken wall, staggering around the corner, and finally saw the pitch-black Teleportation Cursed Spirit.
He smiled, his vision going black, and he nearly collapsed, but relying on his last bit of strength, he reached out and touched the body of the Cursed Spirit.
"Geto Suguru..." he whispered the name, the pale red Reverse Cursed Technique lighting up once again, "I'm coming."