Jujutsu Kaisen: Reincarnated as Hajime Kashimo Chapter 17 17: Lightning vs Limitless – Part 5 (Bonus Chapte

A figure erged slowly from the edge of the shattered domain.

White hair shifted in the night wind, matted with dried blood. His robes were stained a dark, mottled crimson, torn in several places to reveal skin that was already knitting itself back together. And those eyes. There was no mistaking them.

Kashimo instinctively shifted his stance, holding the Soul Split Katana in front of him. For the first ti, a look of genuine shock crossed his face.

"Six Eyes?" His voice carried a flicker of uncertainty. "Are you kidding ?"

By all accounts, it shouldn't have been possible. His chest had been vaporized, his head struck, his body destroyed to a point beyond recognition. No one survived that. Unless, in that final heartbeat, he had grasped the spark of a reverse cursed technique.

It was the sa miracle that had saved Satoru Gojo from a terminal blow centuries in the future. The sudden manifestation of positive energy, flowing through the body to repair the irreparable.

Kashimo's gaze sharpened. Arashi Gojo had done it. He had awakened.

Under the moonlight, the blood-stained figure ca to a halt. He raised a hand and casually brushed the white hair from his forehead, revealing a face sared with gore. He smiled. Despite the carnage he'd just endured, he looked as if he had just woken up from a long, refreshing nap.

"Yo," Arashi said. His voice was raspy, like he'd crawled out from the bottom of a well. "It's been a while."

Kashimo stared at the white silhouette. "Reverse cursed technique."

"Hehehe… HAHAHAHAHA,"Arashi laughed. It started low, almost private, like a joke only he'd heard. Then it climbed.

His head tilted back, white hair falling away from his ruined face. There was a manic glint in his eyes.

"That's right," Arashi said, his words slow and deliberate. "When you blew a hole in my chest, I stopped thinking. I threw everything into finding the core of cursed energy."

He paused and tapped his temple with a finger.

"Your mistake was that your staff didn't finish off my brain."

Kashimo didn't respond. The look of shock had already faded, replaced by a cold, calculating calm. He wasn't afraid. He was simply re-evaluating the threat. He had guessed as much, a mont of clarity at the edge of death, a surge of positive energy, and a head that remained intact just long enough to process the miracle.

Kashimo didn't waste ti with words. He lowered the Soul Split Katana from his shoulder and gripped the hilt tight. The black blade shimred under the moon. Cursed energy began to surge through him once more, forming that familiar, vibrating film over his skin.

Domain Amplification.

Behind him, Fuka was struggling to stay upright, her technique burnt out and her body spent. Hotaru lay in the dirt, her shikigami gone, able to do nothing but watch. They didn't matter anymore.

Kashimo tightened the muscles in his legs, the ground beneath his feet beginning to crack under the pressure. He looked at the bloodied man across from him and felt a jagged smile spread across his face.

"Mistake?" he asked, his voice steady in the night air. "The fight's only just starting."

The ground exploded.

Kashimo vanished in a cloud of dust and stone, reappearing above Arashi. The Soul Split Katana cut a black arc through the moonlight, aid directly at Arashi's head.

The blade hit nothing but air.

Arashi didn't block or parry. He simply drifted backward and up, floating like a feather caught in a breeze. He drifted out of the attack range with effortless grace.

Kashimo's blade bit into the dirt. He looked up instantly. Arashi was suspended in the air, looking down at him.

The blue eyes were different now. The anger was gone, replaced by sothing purer and far more dangerous.

"You know, Kashimo," Arashi said, his voice sandpapery but firm. "If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have ever reached this point."

He paused, his smile widening into sothing almost unhinged.

"But now, I feel... incredible."

Cursed energy began to churn around him. It wasn't the frantic explosion of a man pushed to his limit; it was a smooth, controlled flow, as if he had finally found the right dial.

"Phase," he chanted. "Paramita. Pillar of light."

He raised his hand. Cursed energy condensed into a microscopic point in his palm.

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red"

A flash of crimson light erupted.

It wasn't a shockwave of suction. It was pure repulsion, the polar opposite of Blue. It was the power of infinity turned outward. A pillar of red light poured from Arashi's palm and crashed into Kashimo with everything it had.

The ground buckled. Stone was crushed into powder, and the air shrieked as it was compressed.

Kashimo didn't try to run. There was no ti. He held the Soul Split Katana in front of him, the black steel reflecting the oncoming crimson glare.

The explosion swallowed the world.

When the dust finally began to settle, Kashimo was still standing. His arms were trembling from the impact, and the skin of his palms was raw and scorched. The lingering red light bled away from the blade of his sword.

He hadn't retreated. Instead, he was laughing.

He realized then that he had been carrying a burden he never needed to carry. For seventeen years, the legends of the future had followed him like a shadow. Satoru Gojo. Ryon Sukuna. Nas that had once felt too large, too distant, too absolute to stand against. He had told himself, over and over, that there was no way forward. No way past them. No way to win.

But his arms were still working. His bones were still holding. His heart was hamring against his ribs, not with fear, but with the raw, violent instinct he had forged through a thousand battles.

A true warrior does not turn back because the enemy seems untouchable. A true warrior keeps swinging until the world itself is forced to answer.

Kashimo tightened his grip on the black sword, crushing the tremors in his hands. He looked up at the white silhouette in the sky, at those blue eyes and that bloody, smiling face.

There was no difference between him and the Kashimo Haji of the legends. Both were monsters that thrived on the edge. Both were n who would swing a blade even at the peak of the world.

He took a deep breath.

The arcs of electricity around his body exploded. Blue and white light snapped violently, turning the air to ozone. Stone shattered and the earth groaned as a tide of cursed energy poured out of him, turning the clearing into a sea of blinding lightning.

The black blade reflected the storm, and the smile on Kashimo's face was nothing short of manic.

Prove it to the world.

Kashimo launched himself off the ground, a bolt of lightning rising to et the moon.

Prove it to this era.

High above, Arashi's eyes flared.

Prove it to yourself.

The two silhouettes collided under the moon. Red light and blue lightning tore the night sky apart.

Only one could be the strongest.

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