Frieren — Chapter 191 - Open Domain . Unlimited Void

BOOM! BOOM!

The Hoshigumo Shrine was already in ruins. Now it teetered on the edge of total collapse, dense yellow smoke geysering through every gap as the battle of the two strongest tore it apart further.

Having lost the first exchange to Gojo Satoru, Sukuna lay half-propped in a crater, and felt the wind pressure gathering above his head.

Gojo Satoru came down on one foot, knee bent into a full-weight stomp. The impact blasted a circular trench into the earth several meters in radius.

Sukuna had already vacated the spot. A chain of backflips carried him clear before the attack even landed.

Shuu,—

The strongest of the modern era wasn't letting him breathe.

Both silhouettes stretched razor-thin with speed, flickering in and out of each other's reach, fists and feet crashing together in a relentless exchange.

Gojo pressed forward with every step. Sukuna gave ground, fighting as he retreated. Suppressed, but his expression stayed calm, methodically breaking down each strike as it came.

—Deadlocked.

At the level of Gojo Satoru and Sukuna, deciding a winner through pure physical exchange and Cursed Techniques alone was nearly impossible.

Neither Blue nor Red could deal Sukuna a fatal blow outright.

And by the same logic, even a clean hit from Sukuna's Dismantle or Cleave couldn't harm Gojo Satoru. Couldn't even slow him down.

But,—

(The advantage is mine. For now.)

Gojo kept pushing, kept thinking.

(We've met before. And after spending so long inside Yuji's body, Sukuna has a solid read on my fundamentals.)

(But I have more. Kenjaku fed me everything on Sukuna's side. With the intel even, Sukuna has no way to kill me except through his Domain. And in return, the one thing Sukuna has to fear from me is Hollow Purple.)

(The problem is the Immortality technique.)

A sustained barrage of straight punches. Using Tengen's borrowed body, Sukuna was already at a disadvantage in raw striking power, and Gojo was pressing that gap wider with every exchange. Shockwaves from the blows detonated across Sukuna's face, shoulders, chest, one after another.

(If the Immortality technique can tank Hollow Purple, then physical damage probably does nothing to him either.)

(Which means the only path forward is...)

"We're going to expand our Domains. Aren't we?"

Sukuna caught Gojo's straight punch backhand and flung him upward.

The moment contact broke,,

Dismantle.

His fingers swept forward. Not aimed at Gojo Satoru. Aimed straight down into the ground beneath his own feet.

(That was fast.)

Gojo marveled at it.

Sukuna had toggled Domain Amplification on and off in a single instant. That level of Jujutsu control, executed at that efficiency, was genuinely frightening.

A dense grid pattern fractured the ground beneath him. Bricks and tiles split apart into clean, uniform rubble and burst outward.

And in that instant, Sukuna seized his opening,,

His hands came together.

Middle and ring fingers pressed against each other. Index and pinky bent and raised. Thumb tips touching.

Sukuna, proactively deployed his Domain.

[Realizing he couldn't match Gojo Satoru in close combat, Sukuna didn't hesitate. He was going to win on his own terms.]

[And this, without question, was the most dangerous hurdle in this entire battle.]

, An Open Domain would suppress a modern Closed Domain. That was simply how it worked.

Once the battle shifted to Domains, raw Cursed Technique strength didn't matter. It became a contest of Jujutsu mastery at its purest.

The King of Curses had a thousand years behind him. He had absolute faith in himself.

(Even if the Cursed Energy invocation tips you off to what I'm doing before it's done, what exactly are you going to do about it, Gojo Satoru?)

Sukuna's laugh was loose and unhurried.

(Make a run for it using your Cursed Technique?)

At the highest levels, a duel between sorcerers was fundamentally a game of sen no sen, reading the read, predicting the prediction.

, Sukuna moved first, broadcasting the signal: Domain incoming.

, That left Gojo Satoru with exactly two options: meet it with his own Domain, or escape.

, No need to dwell on the first. The second was the smart play.

An Open Domain's range wasn't a cage. With Gojo's technique and raw speed, breaking out was trivial. Then he'd simply wait for Sukuna's technique to burn out,

And there was his window to kill Sukuna.

, But Sukuna had already thought through that exact line.

(Gojo Satoru probably thinks I'm the one who doesn't dare open my Domain in the first place, right?)

Layer upon layer upon layer.

What cut through all of it was the absolute confidence of the strong.

, Sukuna could read Gojo's choice in real time from the scale of his Cursed Energy invocation alone.

,So if Gojo chose to run,,

(I'll close the cage. A Closed Domain, right as you try to flee.)

That's right. Changing the Domain type mid-construction.

Sukuna had that kind of precision. That kind of control.

(Come on, then.)

Ahead of him, Gojo Satoru's bangs fell across his face. Expression hidden. Silent. Unmoving.

The King of Curses looked on, composed. Certain.

Just as he had said.

Gojo Satoru. Okkotsu Yuta.

Nothing more than... slightly lively fish.

And now, he was going to strip off their scales with his own hands.

"Domain Expansion."

(.!)

"What?"

Sukuna's pupils blew wide in an instant.

Because right in front of him, Gojo Satoru was,,

Middle finger hooked over index. Ring and pinky curling toward his palm.

[Domain Confrontation?!]

(Why?)

(He's choosing Domain Confrontation, here, now, in this situation?)

Unexpected.

Sukuna didn't think for a moment that Gojo Satoru hadn't run through the same calculations he just had.

So what was this guy actually,,

No time.

The only thing that decided this moment was this moment itself.

"Malevolent Shrine."

"Unlimited Void."

Domains. Expand.

CRASH!

Domain Expansion detonated with a wall of Cursed Energy invocation.

The purest energy born from negative human emotion exploded outward from both of the strongest as twin origin points, each constructing a hemisphere, each pushing toward the other.

Before the boundary between the two Domains could fully form,, the innate Domains rose to meet each other first.

A sky built from ribs. Mountains of corpses. Seas of blood.

A lightless abyss, vast as the cosmos, nebulae bleeding outward through it like ink dropped in water.

They pressed against each other.

And then, very quickly.

Sukuna noticed something wrong.

"...I didn't expect this. That you could actually reach this level, Gojo Satoru!"

Shock became understanding. Understanding became realization, and realization cracked open into wild, unhinged laughter.

"You've grasped it, haven't you!"

"The core of Domains!"

...Heh.

Gojo Satoru stood before him, forming his hand seals with one hand. One eyebrow lifted slightly.

Because yes.

[This Domain duel produced no boundary suppression.]

[,, Neither Domain formed a boundary.]

[Because.....]

[The Domain Gojo Satoru had deployed,, ]

[Was an Open Domain.]

Painting in open air without a canvas. A technique that should not exist.

Its essence: a Domain sustained without a barrier shell.

What it demanded wasn't raw power. It demanded absolute imagination. Absolute creative will.

Gojo Satoru had first heard of this type of Domain nine years ago. He'd felt it directly six months ago, when Kenjaku attacked, experiencing it through his own body.

Observed through the Six Eyes. Taken apart. Reconstructed.

He understood it now.

[Unlimited Void.]

[Malevolent Shrine.]

The strongest Domains.

Equal in form,,

Expanding. Colliding.

➤ Next: Assimilation Begins — Clash