Yuan Shanxiao really didn’t want to fight Gojo Satoru.

He found himself in a paradox: to win against Gojo Satoru, he only had a chance when he was engulfed in fear, yet he didn’t want to hurt Gojo, as that would only increase his fear and possibly lead to losing control of his sanity.

If he wasn’t in a state of fear, he definitely couldn’t defeat Gojo and would then have to be taken to fight Cursed Spirits, which he also didn’t want to do.

The dark-haired boy sat high up in the suspended skies of Antarctica, lamenting.

“This is the fish I desire, and the bear paw as well… that doesn’t seem quite right.”

“Let me think… um…”

“Oh, right!”

“This is like picking up the sword and not being able to embrace you, putting down the sword and not being able to protect you.”

Gojo Satoru, who had just arrived in Antarctica, heard this and was speechless…

————

“Is there no choice but to fight?”

Yuan Shanxiao was dragged from the southern hemisphere to the northern, and from the entrance of Tokyo Jujutsu High to the teacher’s lounge, eventually being tossed onto a bench in an empty classroom.

Yuan Shanxiao nodded politely, “Thanks for the lift, Mr. Didi driver, here’s a five-star rating. Hope next time you’ll grab my front collar instead; the back chokes.”

Gojo Satoru habitually ignored his ramblings, pulled out a chair across Yuan Shanxiao, and with a “creak” of the chair, he straddled it, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. “Why—”

“You know by now, right? Even if you don’t take on missions to exorcise Cursed Spirits, there will always be people like those we encountered at the foot of Tokyo Jujutsu High who will come looking for you. You’ll have to deal with Cursed Spirits eventually, so what’s the difference?”

Yuan Shanxiao was silent for a long while before looking up at Gojo. “It’s like a top student asking a failing one, ‘Since you have to sit the finals anyway, what’s a few dozen quizzes and monthly tests in between?’”

Gojo, who was barely keeping himself from reacting to the boy’s words, nearly choked: …

“Should I praise you for your vivid analogies or your clear self-awareness?”

“You can praise both, thank you, teacher.”

Gojo’s mouth twitched as he thought for a moment, then opted for a non-verbal response, choosing instead a commendation suitable for a moth.

————

Yuan Shanxiao didn’t realize that Gojo’s teaching methods were in line with those of his previous teachers; all he knew was that his head hurt from the failed negotiation.

A fight was inevitable, yet how to fight was still a question. It couldn’t really come to a battle to the death—unless Yuan Shanxiao was pushed to fight with all his might when fear took over his brain, leaving him unable to think clearly.

As he explained to Gojo, his attitude toward exorcising Cursed Spirits was like a college student facing final exams: he’d delay as long as possible, reducing the agony to just one day if he could put it off till the last.

And the thought of potentially hurting Gojo felt like—

Yuan Shanxiao searched his mind for a metaphor.

Like accidentally knocking off the wig of a bald class teacher when opening the door? Or like having finished all assignments on the last day of school, only to watch them fall into a river and drown?

Why were his analogies so vividly mundane?

He surely hadn’t really knocked off a bald class teacher’s wig.

Yuan Shanxiao pondered his current class teacher.

…

Good thing Gojo Sensei’s luscious locks were still intact.

————

“So, let’s make it a 3v3.”

Tokyo Jujutsu High, back mountain.

Thinking of someone’s ability to move within a radius in a minute, Gojo, for the sake of the school’s structural integrity, had brought Yuan Shanxiao to the back mountain.

3v3…?

Where are the three people?

Yuan Shanxiao frowned in confusion, “Can you also use the Shadow Clone Technique?”

Gojo: …

“Ah? What’s what? Why is there an ‘also’…”

“My point is, to prevent this whole back mountain from being cleared—after all, the trees here were only half cut down more than ten years ago, and many haven’t fully grown back yet. Let’s set a limit related to ‘three’.”

“We can only attack three times each, and if the other person hasn’t escaped after three attempts, they lose.”

“Ah—escaping, I’m good at that, so Gojo Sensei must have assigned me to the ‘attacking’ role, huh…”

Yuan Shanxiao half-heartedly realized as he looked up,

“That’s right.” Gojo smiled warmly, “Don’t look at me like that. Escaping is not my forte either.”

Yuan Shanxiao: …

This guy is seriously Ver-sailing me with a straight face!

Yuan Shanxiao fell silent for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand and smirked coldly,

“Rules, are meant to be broken—”

The boy teleported—

Teleport failed.

The boy pursed his lips, under Gojo’s expressionless gaze, calmed down and corrected himself.

“—right?”

Gojo: …

————

Gojo knew Yuan Shanxiao would definitely try to escape; on average, he tried to escape 24 times a day, and today, faced with a battle, it would be odd if he didn’t. So—

“This isn’t the back mountain of Tokyo Jujutsu High, I tricked you.”

This place was a mirage woven with a lattice of cursed energy barriers, like prisms, which meant Yuan Shanxiao’s judgments of spatial directions here were all incorrect.

“That means you can’t escape, huh?”

Yuan Shanxiao’s eyes gradually darkened as he looked up quietly at the taller youth.

The young man’s pale face was overshadowed by the shadow cast by the tall figure. His light gray-green eyes also darkened, blending into the shadows.

Gojo had considered everything well.

The multitude of cursed energy prisms cutting through the space were just right for some short-range teleportation, just enough to create spaces capable of attack.

So, there was no escape.

Only—

The white-haired young man suddenly pulled off his eyepatch, lifting his white lashes, revealing clear blue eyes that looked calmly back at him.

Gojo, seeing Yuan Shanxiao’s slightly stunned face, smiled.

“Chase me then.”

“Xiao.”

Yuan Shanxiao’s pupils shrank.

————

Only three attacks allowed.

Actually, Yuan Shanxiao’s head was buzzing like it was filled with insects.

Should he attack Gojo Satoru? Should he aim to win?

Attacking someone he had predetermined as a protective shield felt like making a character designed only to move forward suddenly start retreating, causing a program conflict.

Gojo Satoru didn’t know what Yuan Shanxiao was thinking; he could only see the boy slightly frowning, looking distressed, then looking around.

The area was divided by invisible cursed energy prisms, visible only to those with the “Six Eyes” like Gojo. He couldn’t see them, only detecting some cursed energy through his faint danger perception—of course, if he were fearful enough right now, his perception would be much clearer. But with Gojo here, he wasn’t fearful enough.

The precisely arranged, only visible to Gojo prisms, were unclear in their spacing, but the distance between each pair was probably no more than a meter at most. This not only limited his long-distance teleportation to escape the battle but also somewhat restricted his short-distance teleportation, completely calculable where he would appear—especially when Gojo, who could see the prisms and also possessed the Six Eyes capable of rapid calculations, was present.

It felt more like a “live combat training” than a “duel.”

Thoughts flickered through Yuan Shanxiao’s mind, “…So, what should I do?”

Gojo heard the boy’s sigh and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and chuckle, about to say something—

The sound of air breaking, and not the whirlwind circling to the back, but the cold sensation suddenly arriving from behind.

Gojo continued to smile softly, simply sidestepping to avoid the instantaneous space column that stretched from in front of him to behind him, and at the same time—

Without looking up, he reached out precisely grabbing the just-teleported young man’s arm, and then pulled—

“This is the decisive action.”

Yuan Shanxiao, still immersed in the tension of the sneak attack, was suddenly caught off guard, barely having time to look up before his arm was pulled close, seeing the rapidly approaching blue eyes, and the youth’s smiling arc below them.

“You could teleport directly behind and strike, failure also allows immediate start of the next step of adjustment, why appear behind hesitantly? The initial ambush was good, but the reaction was somewhat slow, kiddo.”

Indeed, without the boost of fear, Yuan Shanxiao’s physical and mental reaction speeds were only considered excellent among normal people—lacking basic combat skills, no battle experience or awareness.

In the eyes of a Jujutsu Sorcerer—especially in the eyes of Gojo Satoru, who was extremely experienced in combat and aided by the Six Eyes, it was entirely insufficient.

But,

The boy sighed.

“What can I do if I’m not scared enough…”

“The first time—” the man dragged out the sound,

“Failed—”

“Um…” Gojo first made sure the dazed boy was standing properly by holding his collar, then continued. “Your space and my unlimited reactions are subtly aligned, meaning when your space approaches me, I can sense it, and, moreover,”

Gojo’s voice trailed off, and Yuan Shanxiao didn’t hear what he was saying.

Gojo didn’t finish his sentence. And,

And damn it, having been rescued by those unlimited reactions so many times, as soon as his familiar space was breached, he’d feel a cold shiver down his spine, and then instantly react—

“Xiao, try once when you’re not scared—” Gojo paused, considering his words, “When your emotions are relatively stable.”

“Just relying on your rationale, Xiao.”

Gojo lowered his head, his blue eyes continuously staring at the top of the boy’s bowed head. “Aren’t you worried that fear will prevent you from controlling your sanity?”

“Even if the fearful you is also a student I’d carefully bring back, but—”

“Let me see the power of your rationale—”

The youth finished speaking,

The next second, the boy in his palm vanished.

————

Left side? The air faintly fluctuated, Gojo lowered his brow, the space suddenly cutting through the air beside his left ear, lifting his sideburns in an instant.

Hasn’t appeared yet? Seems he listened to what I said.

How did he judge the position? Or is it randomly smashing around, teleporting wherever he can, then linking the starting and ending points into a space column for a surprise attack?

The wind beside his right ear whistled again, Gojo licked his canine tooth, his hand still in his pocket as he dodged sideways.

Although the first attack seemed to indeed have the above possibility—not clearly aware of his teleport points, just randomly teleporting wherever possible, and then linking the space. Because the first ambush’s space didn’t precisely aim at him, but stabbed past from a little beside him.

But—

Looking at the second space brushing past him from the side, and the deviation from him being almost exactly the same as the last one…

It must be intentional, then.

Thinking about the calculations involved, Gojo pursed his lips and smiled.

“Hey, I don’t need your mercy, Xiao.”

“After all, I didn’t show you any mercy, if you lose I’ll take you to see a Special Grade.”

…

The next space to pierce through seemed even more off.

Gojo guessed that Yuan Shanxiao must have some plan, so he stood straight with his hands in his pockets and smiled, “Teacher will give you a discount, before you appear next time, all these previous attacks will only count as one—”

He finished speaking.

“The second time.”

The boy appeared. At the same time, the several space columns that had just appeared locked onto Gojo from all directions in an instant.

“Eh—” Gojo spread his arms, as there was a space crossing right under his arms, “Want to catch the teacher?”

The space woven into a net suddenly closed with the appearing boy’s clenching fingers.

Gojo finally spread his hands and looked up at the boy smiling. “Seems like you want to crush the teacher.”

However, the next moment when the space hesitated to close, the white-haired youth who should have been blocked and locked in the space net vanished.

Yuan Shanxiao’s pupils contracted, his gaze involuntarily moving sideways, although he couldn’t see those cursed energy prisms or sense very clear cursed energy fluctuations, his brain quickly deduced the outcome—was it because prisms were used to reflect a false image?

Did he leave the false image there, having realized the plan beforehand?

Then where is Gojo now—

Suddenly, there was hot breath on the back of his neck, the damp warmth, along with the lips opening and closing, seeped into the collar of Yuan Shanxiao’s back.

“Too slow, Xiao, if you let someone realize your plan ahead of time, it doesn’t count—”

Gojo’s voice suddenly stopped,

…plan.

The boy had prepared a space counter-strike aimed at his chest beforehand.

Gojo then truly smiled.

“So this was your plan.”

“It’s the third attack.” Yuan Shanxiao corrected.

Gojo, however, looked at the space spike resting against his chest, almost five centimeters away, and laughed, “This doesn’t count as an attack, does it?”

Gojo sighed, this distance, he could dodge in the first second he noticed—before he could even see what Yuan Shanxiao was doing.

Yuan Shanxiao’s plan was good, just lacking in combat awareness. Combat isn’t entirely about gambling, not a matter of ‘I’m right, so you’re wrong.’

Before the final moment arrives, you can’t say, ‘I’ve almost got the steps right, so I won’t write the outcome.’ In the world of Jujutsu, even a person’s death could involve necromancy bringing them back to life, let alone leaving a whole five centimeters of reaction space.

But Gojo didn’t dodge anymore. Because the third attack had already ended.

“Although the plan reversal was interesting.”

Gojo grabbed Yuan Shanxiao’s counter-stabbing wrist, the boy in front of him stiffening, but obediently turning around to face him.

“But if the attack doesn’t land, how can you know if the attack was successful?”

“Your mind is sharp, Xiao, but combat, it’s not like playing chess—”

Gojo, holding the boy’s wrist, slowly brought it close to the chest that the boy had originally targeted, Yuan Shanxiao initially not understanding Gojo’s intentions, only hearing the young man’s voice.

“It’s not like seeing the chessboard already entering a checkmate, you shout ‘Checkmate’ and it ends. Before the last moment, no one knows if there will still be a reversal, so—”

Gojo, leading the boy’s hand down, Yuan Shanxiao tilted his head, still pondering whether this counted as ending the duel or if he had won, then saw—

“So you see, according to the speed of a typical Jujutsu Sorcerer, you have to stab down at least this fast—”

Gojo suddenly stabbed down with his hand.

Yuan Shanxiao: …

Yuan Shanxiao watched the space’s transparent glow sweep past his eyes, cutting through his gray-green pupils like a blade’s gleam, his eyes painfully twitching.

“Gojo Sensei, you’re a bit too extreme…”

Gojo didn’t hear the boy’s almost inaudibly tiny moan, just continued speaking, “See, at this speed I can still dodge. So before the last moment, don’t overlook the possibility of reversal—”

Gojo watched as Yuan Shanxiao, in the moment he was holding the boy’s hand leading the space spike about to stab down, suddenly reversed—

Gojo watched as the boy counter-stabbed him and blood spurted out in that moment of realization.

Gojo: …

So before the last moment, don’t overlook the possibility of reversal.

“I think you’re a bit too extreme.”