Chapter 186 - 187: Sorry, Emiya Shirou, I Couldn't Make You Go All Out

Thud—! The invincible Gojo Satoru has fallen!?

Yes, the battle ended that simply. Even Emiya Shirou, the one who caused it, looked at the fallen Gojo Satoru with surprise.

'Wait, Gojo Satoru, what about your [Limitless]?'

While Shirou looked at Gojo with a face full of confusion, he didn't forget to take the two DISCs—inscribed with Gojo Satoru's spirit and his [Limitless Cursed Technique]—from the hands of [Pseudo-White Snake].

Though Emiya Shirou truly hadn't overthought things as much as Gojo Satoru had, it was precisely because he didn't overthink that he was surprised by how easily he had won.

After all, Emiya Shirou didn't have the [Six Eyes]. He actually couldn't tell if Gojo Satoru had deactivated the [Limitless]. Sending out [Pseudo-White Snake] was merely Shirou's attempt to make Gojo sense that he was being attacked. When Gojo's attention was drawn to the [Pseudo-White Snake] behind him, the Shirou in front of him could naturally project [Rule Breaker] to dispel the [Limitless], draw Gojo's attention back, and then let [Pseudo-White Snake] extract the DISCs.

In simple terms, it was the same method Fushiguro Toji used to defeat Gojo Satoru during their first battle. The method was cliché—a bit too cliché—but as long as it worked, it was fine.

What Shirou hadn't expected was that he had only just started the first step. He used [Pseudo-White Snake] to feign an attack, and Gojo Satoru was actually defeated by having his DISCs extracted right then and there.

"Am I in an illusion?

Can the information bombardment of [Unlimited Void] be used like this?

Not using a massive flood of information to make the brain unable to process and crash, but concentrating specific information into my brain so I can no longer receive other signals—only accepting this processed information and falling into a dreamscape?"

Because Gojo Satoru fell so quickly, Shirou began to suspect if Gojo was acting. Where was the "Strongest Sorcerer"? Where was the mechanically perfect [Limitless]? Based on Gojo's performance just now, never mind [Pseudo-White Snake] using its Stand ability; even an ordinary person who couldn't be seen by others could probably have knocked Gojo out with a few hits of a stick from behind.

"But my senses are telling me there's no problem here.

Moreover, now that I've projected the [Limitless] DISC, if I want to, I can put this projected DISC into my own body and possess the [Limitless] myself."

It could be said that Shirou's goal in challenging Gojo Satoru had been achieved. From here on, whether this was an illusion or not, Shirou, having obtained what he wanted, had no motivation to continue.

Of course, holding this thought, Shirou gained a deeper impression of Gojo Satoru.

Although it didn't appear in the original work—and because the indiscriminate information bombardment of [Unlimited Void] once became Gojo's weakness, preventing him from expanding his domain in crowded areas—the sure-hit effect of a Domain Expansion can lock onto a single target rather than just being a large-scale AOE.

Okkotsu Yuta demonstrated this in the original story by aiming the sure-hit effect only at the enemy without affecting his allies. If Okkotsu could learn that technique, there was no reason Gojo Satoru couldn't. Even if Gojo didn't seem to know it yet—or rather, hadn't thought of it. Much like how before meeting Sukuna, Gojo didn't think Reverse Cursed Technique could heal technique burnout, allowing one to immediately expand a domain again without waiting for the "overload" cooldown.

"But it's only natural that Gojo could learn such a move.

The microscopic manipulation of the [Six Eyes] ensures that techniques requiring fine control won't be an obstacle for him. And the high-efficiency information processing power of the [Six Eyes] allows him to select specific information from an infinite pool to precisely flood into my brain."

Shirou, who quickly understood the theory behind Gojo's trick, failed to notice something. While he was marvelling at Gojo's ability to pull him into an illusion so stealthily, the Jujutsu High students—whom Gojo had brought along to watch the duel in hopes they would learn something—were currently standing there completely stunned, looking at the suddenly fallen Gojo Satoru.

"Gojo-sensei... he's playing dead, right...?"

Zen'in Maki was the first to speak. Although Maki and the others usually acted annoyed by Gojo Satoru—criticizing him for being too casual when teaching or playing favorites with certain students like Okkotsu Yuta—wasn't the reason they were annoyed precisely because they felt his lack of seriousness in teaching didn't match his strength?

When it came to strength, even the person most annoyed by Gojo never looked down on him.

So, after Maki spoke, Fushiguro Megumi, who had been overthinking the business with his father, agreed: "Right. The only person who would choose to play dead at a time like this is Gojo-sensei."

"Salmon." Following Toge Inumaki's agreement, Okkotsu Yuta added, as if trying to cover for Gojo: "Gojo-sensei is probably trying to teach us the lesson that 'there is always a higher heaven' and 'someone stronger always exists'."

"Even if we become very powerful in the future, we will eventually meet someone stronger than ourselves. We can't be arrogant or lose our vigilance and our will to strive upward."

"..."

However, regardless of whether Emiya Shirou or Okkotsu and the others thought this was Gojo Satoru's hidden plan or acting, the fact remained that his DISCs had been pulled out by [Pseudo-White Snake] and were now in Shirou's hands.

Gojo Satoru could not respond to their expectations by standing up. Rather, the moment his Spirit DISC was pulled out and his consciousness fell into silence, Gojo Satoru realized he had lost. He had lost so completely, and so pathetically.

'Sorry, Emiya Shirou, I couldn't make you go all out...'

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