Chapter 22

"H- How?" Satoru muttered in pure disbelief as he heard what Hiroyuki just said.

"There are many ways to bypass Infinity. The most effective one is probably using a domain. The sure hit effect that the Domain applies is already enough to neutralize that Cursed Technique of yours. And then there's also this thing called Domain amplification which is basically..."

Satoru, as he hears Hiroyuki go on and on with lots of things, his words for him start turning like cursive. His brother kept using some strange words that were unfamiliar to him. It's almost like he's speaking in a different language all of a sudden.

But he isn't that ignorant. Although the majority of it is still unknown to him, one thing is for sure. Everything that his brother is saying revolves around the idea of Domain. And Domain, he's aware of that.

He heard the elders say something about it during his lectures.

Domain Expansion. It is one of the hardest techniques to perform. The pinnacle of Jujutsu Sorcerery. Something along those lines.

'Don't tell me, he can already do that?? N- no way. Isn't that supposed to be-'

Satoru, who was in the middle of his thoughts, was forced to stop when he suddenly noticed his brother's gesture at him. Making him regain his focus on what's in front of him.

"Stop thinking too much about it. I'm not going to use something like that anyway. I'm just making you aware of it. Besides, I don't have much leisure to pull out a domain whenever I want. Every drop of my curse energy is important you know?" 

"Then Nii san... what are you going to do then if not that??" Satoru asked, genuinely curious.

"Hmm. I'll probably just resort to some kind of mental attack."

"Huh... Mental attack?"

"Yeah, basically overloading your brain with enough stress. I mean, just like any technique, if you lose focus, then there's no way you can still keep it running, right?" Hiroyuki said while repeatedly tapping his head, showing an expression that clearly said 'You don't know about that?'

"I- I know about it of course! But that's not the point here! Nii san, you can do mental attacks!?" Satoru said out loud, all while wearing an absurd expression on his face. Finding such a fact is hard to believe.

"Umm... Kinda? I used to practice something like that in the past. Though, I'm not good at it. Psychic stuff isn't my forte in the first place." Hiroyuki said while giving off a light laugh as, mid-speech, a certain rude girl suddenly overlapped through his vision.

However, he had to shake it off immediately as he was not in a situation to reminisce.

"Anyways, all I'm saying is that... I can do some kind of mental attack. If you find that unbelievable, no worries. I'll show you." Right after that, Hiroyuki finally stopped walking around. At the same time, the aura around him changed drastically.

!!!

Satoru on the other hand, right after seeing the change in his brother's movements, alarms started going on inside his head.

In response, he instinctively increased everything he had to its maximum output. At the same time, keeping his eyes locked on his brother, trying to perceive his next possible moves.

The problem is...

"huh?"

He immediately realized that what he just did is a bad move. Because the moment the two of them met gazes...

Thud!

Whatever happened after that, made Satoru's whole body lose its strength and shake uncontrollably, ultimately making him fall to the ground.

"HAAH~! HAAH~! HAAH~!" In the midst of all that happening, Satoru found himself gasping for air as his breath, over the moments that had passed by, got shorter and shorter. 

Fortunately, a couple of seconds after that, his body started stabilizing again.

The strength of his body and breathing slowly turned back to normal. Satoru also gained enough focus to finally think about what in the world had just happened to him. 

Because, the moment he saw his brother's eyes, Satoru suddenly found something sharp fly toward his neck at unimaginable speed. He did not even have time to react...

Slash~

His head was suddenly separated and fell to the ground, making him see his headless body as it bath from his blood and convulse nonstop.

A pretty horrifying scene to witness.

It didn't take him that long to realize that what he just experienced was not real. That it was just some kind of illusion. The same mental attack that his brother had just talked about.

But somehow, the feeling he got at that moment was very real.

For him, In that one instant, he just died.

"Wha— What was that?" Satoru threw away a question as he staggeringly stood up. All while holding his neck, as if it would somehow fall again at any moment.

"I don't have a name for it but you can call it, Killing Intent. It's an imaginary ability that some people can develop after witnessing death so many times. Although it isn't effective against people with enough experience, a kid like you who barely has any, has no way of defending against it."

"...witness deaths??"

"Ignore that part... All I'm saying is what I just did is one part of the possible ways to deal with your INFINITY."

???

After Hiroyuki said that, as if waking up from a very long dream, Satoru's eyes shot wide open once again as he finally realized that he actually stopped using Infinity throughout this whole sequence.

From the very moment he fell to the ground up until now, turns out, his whole body is wide open for attacks. If Hiroyuki attacked him at those moments, then...

"Did you finally get it? Infinity isn't absolute. Given enough understanding of the technique, many could breach it and reach you." Hiroyuki paused for a second after that as he walked closer to Satoru.

But unlike before, Satoru isn't on guard anymore.

Even when Hiroyuki reached out to him, he didn't do anything. Satoru can't explain it. For some reason, there are just some moments when he knows what he should or shouldn't guard himself from.

And he knows that this isn't one of those.

"All I'm saying is that, don't make the same mistake as the other guys I mentioned before. Those who trusted their defensive technique so much, that it almost became their identity. Such thing is nothing but foolishness, trust me, I know better."

After that, Hiroyuki flashed Satoru a smile while ruffling his already messy hair...

"Remember Satoru, when you become untouchable... even those who cared about you, wouldn't be able to reach you."

Before smacking his head using the same hand.

"Ack!"

"With that, this counts as my win again." 

"N— NO FAIR!"

"I'm hungry already. Let's continue this spar another time." As he walked away, Hiroyuki gave the maid who came with Satoru a side glance and said with a tone that left no room for discussion "Take him back."

"Yes, Hiroyuki sama."

Leaving the protesting Satoru behind, Hiroyuki ignored everything as he just kept on walking away until he was gone from everyone's sight. Once he's finally far enough, suddenly, his expression changes from a neutral to a pretty grim one.

"That kid is already starting to build up his shell."

"You mean the Infinity?" Senjumaru, who was silently following behind Hiroyuki, replied in a pretty calm manner.

"Yeah."

"Well, the young master possesses the Six Eyes, that's an inevitable fate. It has been like this since the very beginning."

Hearing what Senjumaru just said, Hiroyuki couldn't help but shake his head.

"A fate indeed. The cruel fate of being the strongest. Or so they said..."

"..."

"I made up my mind. Starting tomorrow, I will beat the crap out of that brat over and over." Hiroyuki said with a serious tone, although his expression remained the same.

"You're too kind."

???

Hiroyuki phrased what he just said in probably the worst way possible, so he already expected to be misunderstood. Yet somehow, Senjumaru seemingly understood what he truly meant.

*sigh*

"Not really. Just doing my job as his brother. Fate or whatever, no kid deserves that kind of burden." Hiroyuki said as his expression hardened even more.

"Besides, if not me, no one in this godforsaken house will take that role. Everyone only sees Satoru as some kind of tool, nothing else."

"That's true... Don't worry, I will do my best to assist you on that."

Hearing Senjumaru say what she just said in probably the most nonchalant tone ever, Hiroyuki couldn't help but give off a light laugh.

"Then, I'll be relying on you when that happens."

After that, they didn't talk anymore as they just continued with their stroll in silence.

A couple of minutes later, the duo finally reached their house and quickly proceeded with their preparation for the upcoming event next month. 

So many things could possibly happen in the near future. They can't be caught lacking like before that's why they are making their preparations this early. 

Because soon, things will finally start to roll. 

That's for sure.

___ To be continued... ___