"Damn, my head is actually ringing," Sukuna said, stretching as he stood up.
He knew the current him wasn't really a match for Gojo; he lacked the full scope of his strength, speed, and more. At least, that would be the case if he hadn't obtained that boost from the Super Soldier Serum. You see, he didn't just gain the strength of Captain America from that fight. He gained the proportional boost of the serum itself.
To be honest, even he thought that the boost would simply bring his base physical strength to the peak of what his body was capable of. But due to the fact it was his soul that absorbed all the serum had to offer, it amplified his normal physical strength by what his soul considered its base.
All of this to say, right now, despite lacking most of his Cursed Energy, his physical peak strength should be beyond even his Heian Era self. So far, ever since he'd gotten the reward, he'd been suppressing his physical power so as to not immediately ruin his fun by one-shoting all his opponents. But now that Satoru Gojo was here, he might need that strength to make up for a lack of Cursed Energy!
"What's the matter? Got nothing to say, dipshit?" Gojo said, teleporting atop a building near Sukuna with narrowed eyes.
"Nah, I'm just thinking about how much I'll be enjoying this, assuming the brat I'm controlling doesn't wake up again." Sukuna dusted himself off.
"Well, until he does, I'll be happy to kick your ass for you!"
Immediately, Gojo vanished with violent speed, throwing a punch that he used Blue to pull Sukuna into. Sukuna let everything loose, his muscles exerting full force.
BANG!
A powerful shockwave shattered all nearby structures twenty meters around them. Gojo was surprised Sukuna wasn't sent flying this time around.
"Shocking, huh?"
A crimson Cursed Energy coated Sukuna's fist—the energy malevolent and chilling like Sukuna's nature. Sukuna punched toward Gojo's face, almost reaching it due to Domain Amplification before Gojo amplified Infinity. It seemed Sukuna could get past his neutral Infinity soon; if he didn't have so little Cursed Energy relative to Gojo at this moment, the blow definitely would have landed!
"What a freak you are!" Gojo pointed two fingers at Sukuna's chest. "Unfortunately, I'm a freak of nature myself! Cursed Technique Reversal: RED."
Vrrrnnn—Bang!
A beam of condensed red energy slammed into Sukuna's chest, leaving a heavy burn where it landed. Sukuna felt a genuine smile gracing his face.
"Dismantle~" Sukuna spoke, shoving his hands into his pockets as hundreds of slashes cut apart everything between him and Gojo. Gojo himself rushed toward him at full speed, his Infinity nullifying all the slashes that would have effortlessly turned anyone below Special Grade into minced meat.
"BLUE," Gojo muttered as an azure vortex pulled Sukuna into his range before he could fully dodge. "If you can hear me, Yuji, sorry in advance!"
Gojo punched so hard that the skin on Sukuna's face at the corner of his lip was torn off, exposing his teeth as Sukuna tore through the landscape like a missile.
"This is so fun!" Sukuna laughed as RCT easily healed all the damage he took. "Should be my turn to go on the offensive, right?" Sukuna asked with a smirk. The moment his feet hit the ground, he vanished.
"It was like this, right?" he asked in mockery as he formed four afterimages that circled Gojo, similar to what Gojo did during the Shinjuku Showdown in the original timeline.
Gojo didn't know why, but he felt he was slighted somehow as he turned in time to clash with Sukuna's powerful fist that pushed back against his own.
"Hmph, I guess you're not so physically gifted compared to me," Sukuna mocked as Gojo ignored him, using his free hand to fire another Red at Sukuna's face. Tilting his head to the side, Sukuna dodged it as it carved a wide trench in the land behind him. Sukuna tried to uppercut Gojo, only for sparks to appear between his fist and Gojo's skin. Infinity had stopped him a hairsbreadth away again as Gojo leaped backwards to get some distance.
Damn, every time we clash, I can barely overpower the guy in a physical sense. Maybe I need to work on my physicals sometime. I have the ranged advantage, however, but I don't want him to switch back to Yuji before it lands. Man, that would suck, Gojo thought as he wondered what he should do.
He had teleported Megumi to safety a while ago, so at least that problem was solved, but he had no idea how Sukuna grew in physical strength so fast. Back on that rooftop, he could easily blitz the weakened King of Curses, yet now he couldn't. Although Sukuna couldn't touch him or even harm him without his Domain at the moment, Sukuna was still able to see his movements.
'Damn, this is bad. He should only be a few fingers in power so far. If this is what I'll have to deal with, maybe I should just nip the problem in the bud...' Gojo's thoughts became dark before he pulled himself together.
'No, I refuse to think like those weaklings calling themselves higher-ups. I should have expected the supposed strongest sorcerer in history to be at least this impressive. Perhaps I've grown too reliant on Infinity after all this time. Too used to fighting weaklings and winning effortlessly that I stopped improving myself.'
Suddenly, Gojo smiled.
"What are you over there cheesing for?" Sukuna asked as he and Gojo grinned at each other. If anyone else saw such a sight, they'd think they were insane.
"It's nothing. You just helped me understand something is all." Gojo raised one hand in front of his face, his fingers crossed.
"Oh, I see," Sukuna said, forming hand signs in front of himself as well.
""DOMAIN EXPANSION""
"Malevolent Shrine!" / "Infinite Void!"
WUUURRRR!
The space between the two powerful sorcerers warped. One side formed an eerie shrine with teeth and sharp bones, and on the other, the vastness of space seemed to manifest as a black hole formed into the vast horizon behind Gojo, along with a backdrop of endless starlight.
Both Sukuna and his shrine were encased in the barrier of Gojo's domain, yet everything within 200 meters of the strange black bubble that anyone would see on the outside was being shredded to dust without exception.
"Looks like it's my refinement vs. your Cursed Energy reserves," Sukuna said. His much more refined domain wouldn't last as long due to his low reserves. Not to mention his open domain cost more than regular domains to expand due to him forcing his innate domain onto the real world instead of pulling it within a subspace surrounded by a barrier.
"Heh, I didn't expect you to be able to clash domains with me in your current state," Gojo smirked as he immediately fired another Red at Sukuna.
"That trick's getting old," Sukuna mock-yawned as he fired a massive Dismantle at the Red; they exploded on contact. Rushing through the dust, Sukuna slammed a fist toward Gojo's head. Gojo dodged and tried to sweep Sukuna's leg, but with his enhanced perception and physical strength, Sukuna blocked it easily enough as he tried to grab Gojo, only to be stopped by Infinity.
They sped up—Gojo throwing hundreds of punches while also blocking and dodging blows, using Infinity to avoid a punch that may have blown his pretty head off if he wasn't who he was. As they battled within their domains, Gojo suddenly felt something was off.
That's when it happened.
CRACK.
The barrier around them cracked. And then, more and more cracks began to appear in the barrier as Gojo's pupils shrunk.
Slash!
A thin slash stretched across his chest as, with every passing second, slashes bombarded him over and over again. He started using RCT to heal before the slashes got any deeper.
"You're really pissing me off, you sly bastard!" Gojo chuckled. This was the first time he'd taken damage since he met that man. Using RCT to heal the burnout on his brain Gojo raised a finger.
With a burst of an omnidirectional Red, he pushed Sukuna away from him and took that chance to leave the range of Malevolent Shrine.
"It won't be that easy!" Sukuna appeared in front of Gojo, and he felt it. "Ah, the brat is regaining consciousness. Here's my farewell gift~"
Sukuna punched toward Gojo's chest his fist coated in domain amplification, and his Cursed Energy spiked in that tiny instant before impact.
"BLACK FLASH!" Space warped around Sukuna's fist as it slammed into Gojo's chest. Before Gojo could mobilize his cursed energy to amplify his neutral Infinity, the blow pushed past it due to Sukuna's own extreme speed and Gojo's forward momentum.
Gojo's body went rigid, and he spit out a bit of blood as he stumbled, touching the corner of his mouth as his body shook. Sukuna broke through his Infinity... and actually dealt him noticeable damage from both his domain and his fist.
"Hahahahaha! Guess you're not all that special after all, brat. When I'm finally free of this brat, you'll be the very first one to die!" Sukuna laughed as his markings vanished and Yuji fainted, leaning on Gojo. The fist that was pressed to Gojo's chest fell limp as Gojo stood frozen.
He could have accepted this if it was Sukuna at full power, but it would seem he can't judge the strength of others off Cursed Energy alone...
"Damn. Yuji, Megumi... I've got my work cut out for me now, eh?" Gojo said to the air as he healed his wounds with RCT and picked up Yuji, deciding that he'll leave the destruction here for the higher-ups to solve on their own.
Within Yuji's mind, however, in Sukuna's innate domain, a furious Yuji was staring up at Sukuna, who was seated lazily on his throne.
"Who gave you permission to look up at me, useless brat?"
"Then come down here so I can look down on you properly, you bastard!" Yuji said through gritted teeth.