In the work Jujutsu Kaisen, there are four characters universally acknowledged, beyond any doubt, as the "strongest."
Satoru Gojo.
Sukuna.
Yuji Itadori, sixty-eight years later.
And…
"That is…"
Satoru Gojo stood atop a skyscraper, head tilted back, his solemn gaze piercing through a shimmering forest of lightning to lock eyes with something deep within the swirling black clouds.
— Dabura.
Bull horns. Curse markings. A vertical eye on the forehead.
These were the hallmarks of the Simurians, the alien race that wouldn't arrive on Earth aboard their mothership until sixty-eight years later. And the being before him now was one of the universally acknowledged strongest existences in Jujutsu Kaisen — a new character introduced in the sequel to Jujutsu Kaisen —
— Dabura.
Just standing there, locking eyes with him, was enough for Gojo to feel immense pressure bearing down.
Rumble—
Another bolt of white "lightning" struck down, reaching all the way to Gojo's side, only to be stopped cold by Limitless's defense.
Then the thunder fell silent.
In that moment, the whole world went utterly still.
Across half the sky, across an entire mass of black cloud, at some unknown distance, for some unknown length of time, the two stared at each other in silence.
"Heh…" Gojo let out a soft, unreadable laugh.
Both of them moved. Their figures vanished in an instant, reappearing simultaneously at the midpoint between them above the skies of Tokyo, Cursed Energy detonating like a nuclear blast.
Expressionless, Dabura raised his fist. Killing intent solidified along with his Cursed Energy, condensing over his knuckles. He drove the punch forward — the air tore apart, and the sky itself seemed to be punched clean through.
As he was now, Dabura had no grasp of Cursed Technique Reversal, nor of the Reverse Cursed Technique, no Domain Expansion, and certainly no Domain Amplification. The simple, unspoiled alien world he came from hadn't developed cursed arts anywhere near as far as Earth had.
But even armed with nothing more than the crudest Cursed Energy assault, a single punch from Dabura could still shatter heaven and earth.
That one punch shattered an entire swath of sky, sending a colossal shockwave rippling outward and whipping up hurricane winds over the distant Tokyo city center.
"...?" But Dabura froze for a moment.
His fist, driven by his Cursed Technique at full power, capable of pulverizing anything — had stopped just short of Gojo, unable to advance another inch.
[By the way, here's some information on your opponent this time... He has a technique called Limitless. Ordinary attacks are useless against him.]
So this is... Limitless?
Dabura's eyes widened at the sheer strangeness of his opponent's Cursed Technique. Before him, the white-haired young man's eyes blazed with murderous intent, and in the snap of a finger, a crimson light source charged with terrifying Cursed Energy had already flared into being.
"— Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Dabura channeled his Cursed Technique to block.
In the sky, the white-hot Light of Killing Intent collided head-on with the crimson glow of Cursed Technique Reversal: Red, triggering another explosion.
"You bastard! Just who are you!" Gojo gritted his teeth.
Dabura said nothing, only slammed down his second punch.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Punch after punch, wrapped in the Light of Killing Intent, rained down like a storm. It looked as though he were overwhelming Gojo, but in truth, Dabura was probing the nature of Gojo's Limitless technique.
He condensed the Light of Killing Intent into long spikes, into heavy cones, into droplets, into countless needle-thin points of light…
Dabura tried every attack he could think of, attempting to break through Limitless's defense, but in the end, every single one failed.
Gojo, who had been purely on the defensive this whole time, grew steadily calmer inside.
Because he'd realized something: the man before him was simply, overwhelmingly strong — in fact, in raw Cursed Energy reserves and output, considerably stronger than himself!
"Are you connected to that Blue Existence somehow? Or are you something else entirely!" he demanded loudly while defending.
He wasn't sure of his opponent's identity. If this man was allied with that Blue Existence, he'd also have to watch for her suddenly appearing to hit him with another combo.
But infuriatingly, the man seemed to be both stone-faced and mute, utterly absorbed in the single task of hammering away at Limitless's defense.
In truth, neither the current Gojo nor the current Dabura had reached their complete, final forms.
Neither had a Domain; both still fell somewhat short.
But if forced to compare, Dabura's current level of growth actually outstripped Gojo's by quite a margin.
Dabura was only a single sufficiently intense battle away from awakening both the Reverse Cursed Technique and Domain Expansion — practically a single step away. Gojo, on the other hand, still had a long way to go before he'd awaken Domain Expansion the way he had in the original story.
One had only just learned how to properly use his own cheat ability, while the other already stood half a step from his peak — in raw power, Dabura was considerably stronger than Gojo.
Of course, when it came to the mechanics of their techniques, that was another matter entirely.
It always felt like, later in the story, practically anyone could crack Limitless open — whether with a World-Cutting Slash or with Domain Amplification, as if everyone had been handed their own key to unlock it. But unfortunately, without one of those keys, Limitless was simply unbeatable.
Right now, Dabura was still a pure alien native who knew nothing else — the compatibility between his techniques and Limitless was worlds apart. Gojo couldn't hurt Dabura, but Dabura likewise couldn't break through Limitless.
The Phantom Kenjaku had sent Dabura here with full confidence, reasoning from his own memories — he believed that at this point in time, Gojo hadn't yet learned how to keep Limitless active as a constant, passive state.
If Gojo couldn't maintain it around the clock, then so long as the fight dragged on, Dabura would eventually beat him to death.
Of course, this was a miscalculation on the Phantom Kenjaku's part.
The timeline had already shifted.
The Gojo who had fought Mahiru had clearly progressed far more than the Gojo who had fought Toji Fushiguro. After getting thoroughly beaten by the blue-haired girl, his growth had leapt forward by bounds — now he could already maintain Limitless's defense passively.
For Gojo now, the real problem wasn't whether he might get hurt — it was what he'd do if his opponent suddenly turned to attack the city instead.
Fortunately, though, the bull-headed man in front of him hadn't shifted his target yet.
Right now, Dabura was like a hawk, striking wildly from every angle. Gojo, meanwhile, was like a tortoise curled inside its iron shell — unable to strike back, but Dabura couldn't touch him either.
Less than a minute into the fight, the two had visibly locked into a stalemate — until Gojo, every inch of space around him wrapped in the Light of Killing Intent, caught sight of a streak of blue glowing in the distant sky.
Gojo startled.
So did Dabura.
The white-haired young man thought it was all over — his heart nearly stopped for an instant.
The bull-headed man, brow furrowing, swung a backhand punch, flinging out a solidified sheet of the Light of Killing Intent.
Riiip—
The blue-haired girl gripped the Inverted Spear of Heaven backhanded in her left hand, its blade slicing through the long sword condensed from white light. Her right hand rested against her left wrist, dazzling Cursed Energy already charged and ready in her palm, aimed point-blank at Dabura's face.
"—[Husk]!"
At zero range, at maximum output, it blasted straight into Dabura's face.
____
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