As it turned out, trying to absorb the ambient Cursed Energies was a lot like trying to fill a bucket without a bottom or trying to paint on air. Not impossible. But extremely difficult. It reminded him, somewhat, of Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine, a barrier-less domain. Though impossible, until the King of Curses went and used it anyway. That was another thing Satoru had to figure out at some point. He'd seen the flow of Cursed Energy when Sukuna activated it. He understood the theoretical portion of it, at least. The practical aspect of it would be an entirely different ballgame.

Satoru could not help but grin. This... this was all so exciting!

He wasn't the strongest anymore. He wasn't even sure if he could be considered strong in this new world he found himself in – an entire galaxy of beings, all with unique abilities and powers. Satoru was in a place, where he couldn't afford to even be confident. He was in a place, where he had to be careful, wary, and maybe a little paranoid and wasn't that incredibly exciting? He'd never been truly pushed before, never been brought to the absolute end of his wits. Here, in this... wider galaxy, fill of Demons and other nasty things, Gojo Satoru needed to get even stronger than he'd ever been.

So, as it was, there were two techniques he needed to learn, both of them previously believed to be impossible, if he was ever going to reach a whole new level. Absorb and refine ambient Cursed Energy, essentially granting him an unlimited amount of Cursed Energy to work with. This was important, because his enemies, Satoru mused, just got a whole lot bigger, stronger, and likely more numerous. He wouldn't be surprised if he'd eventually find himself fighting against entire armies or legions of soldiers and Astartes and demons and cyborgs and whatever else the future could throw at him.

After that, he'd figure out the barrier-less domain. The disgusting volume of brain damage he'd be able to inflict with Unlimited Void would be ridiculous. And that was just the start. Already, a thousand possibilities appeared before him. Without the need of a barrier, for instance, Satoru could play around with the shape and range of Unlimited Void as much as he pleased. He could extend it well beyond a hundred and fifty meters, or as little as one meter in a single direction, hitting only a single target.

The possibilities were limitless. All he had to do was cross that threshold by learning and mastering these two techniques. That was, however, easier said than done. But the fortunate part was that Satoru knew that it could be done and that he wouldn't be wasting his efforts.

A sudden explosion of Cursed Energy on the rooftop interrupted his meditation. One of the Astartes, he quickly realized, but also more than that; a sorcerer among them – not especially strong, having just enough Cursed Energy to probablybe a First Grade Sorcerer. Still, that much Cursed Energy, combined with their genetic and physical augmentations was the perfect recipe for the creation of a Special Grade.

Satoru's eyes snapped open, his lips parting into a wide grin. What made things even more interesting was the fact that there werefour of them, out there. "Oh boy, this should be pretty good."

He did not don his blindfold. Satoru had no idea what these augmented sorcerers were capable of and he'd rather not find out the hard way. This was another factor that made things exciting, he supposed, because – now – he needed to treat them as though they were a threat, based entirely on the possibility that they might have something that could breach Infinity. The excitement gave him goosebumps. Still, since this couldn't possibly end without a fight, Satoru had to remain conservative and that meant not using Unlimited Void, unless strictly necessary. Beyond that, he was going to attack them with everything else he had.

Grinning, Satoru walked out onto the rooftop. Four sorcerers stood there, waiting for him, giants in armor, wearing fancy fur cloaks and decked out in... bone and teeth fragments. Satoru had to admit, they looked pretty dope with the viking aesthetic. Though their powers fluctuated somewhat, all four of them had a, more or less, uniform level of Cursed Energy. Huh, Satoru couldn't quite say if he'd ever faced four Special Grades before. But, if nothing else, this should be fun."Hey, guys! Fancy meeting you here. Would you like to come in? I have a cool batch of DVD's and an awesome, flatscreen TV to go with it."

The four Astartes did not bother with banter, which was honestly such a shame, because he'd only spoken to one of them, thus far, and it wasn't much of a conversation. Oh well, if there was nothing else for it, then it was time for the good part. Satoru assumed a fighting stance, grinning.

And then, without warning, the skies rumbled, and a flash of blinding white light exploded. Ten lightning bolts came screeching down from the skies, electrifying the air around them. For a moment, a surge of heat burned across the wind, raging as hot as the surface of a star. The surface of the rooftop sizzled and smoked, bits of metal and glass melting into molten goop. Satoru's eyes briefly widened as the lightning bolts entered the zone of Infinity and dissipated a moment later. Holy shit.

Lightning traveled at the speed of light, which meant no one could've dodged that if they tried. If Sukuna had been in his place, then the King of Curses would've already been fried to a damn crisp, unless that bastard somehow figured out some bullshit technique to move faster than light. Without Infinity, then he would've just died again. "Sheesh."

Without another word, Satoru surged forward. He aimed for the nearest of them, a giant who carried an axe on one hand and a glowing pistol in the other. The Astartes erected a barrier, but Satoru easily broke through, shattering the barrier with a simple application of Red. A simple punch, enhanced by Red, to the midsection of the armor, sent the Astartes flying off the rooftop. He probably wouldn't die from the fall, but the impact likely wouldn't be particularly pleasant, either. Just as he turned to face the others, a pair of spectral wolves appeared – giant wolves, each one easily the size of a minivan, with teeth as big as daggers. Smiling, Satoru sent the spirit beasts hurling down the side of the building with a rapid and extremely intense output shift of Infinity.

And then, a white cloud of freezing winds enveloped him, freezing just about everything with moisture outside the zone of Infinity. The hurricane-force winds were accompanied by a shower of ice shards, each one traveling at the speed of a bullet, and there was enough of them to shred a human being down to the bone. Still, as dangerous as the Cursed Technique was, it simply couldn't get past Infinity. Smiling, Satoru surged towards the nearest of them, once more, ripping through a barrier he didn't even know was there. He sent a kick to the Astartes' midsection, but it seemed as though the augmented sorcerer had expected such an attack and was able to just barely move out of the way.

"Good one." Satoru's smile widened as he sent a blast of Red through his pointer finger and sent the Astartes hurling down the building as well. He didn't want to kill them if at all possible. If anything, Satoru wanted to learn more about them.

He turned around just in time to see a cackling axe stop a foot or so away from his face, a powerful attack brought low by Infinity. Hmm... it seemed like they didn't possess anything that could breach Infinity. Though, it was entirely possible that they thought it was just another barrier that'd shatter after absorbing enough damage, which was the most likely case, since it was unlikely that they've even heard of Limitless. That was a bit disappointing, but seeing their Cursed Techniques certainly was interesting. Those wolf shinigamis seemed like they'd be an absolute menace against... literally anyone else. A single bite could probably tear a man in two – sorcerer or otherwise. "You guys aren't going to try anything new?"

Nah, that didn't seem like the case. Oh well, it was time to end this little game, anyway. It was... interesting to know the capabilities of their sorcerers, at least. Honestly, all four of these guys would've made it far in Jujutsu Society if they were a part of it. But that was neither here nor there. And the fight, if it could even be called that, was becoming boring. With a flicker of Red, Satoru sent the nearby Astartes skidding back, just that tiny bit of exertion nearly sent the superhuman soldier over the edge, only kept from falling when his ally pulled him back up.

Ah, he'd forgotten that part about them. Aside from their augmentations, their uncanny teamwork was what made them such a headache to deal with. But, that wasn't his problem anymore. Grinning, Satoru waved at them. The two of them stepped forward at the same time, but a simple application of Blue sent the both of them falling face-first to the ground. It was a miracle they didn't simply fall through the concrete, considering their weight. Watching them brute force their way to a kneeling position was almost endearing, especially since they were breaking their own bones to do so. Credit was given, where it was due; these guys were fucking nuts.

"Thank you for your efforts, gentlemen." Satoru said as he walked towards them and grinned. "But I believe this is goodbye!"

He then unleashed an omni-directional blast of Red and sent the remaining two Astartes plunging down the building. The others were definitely alive, however, and he wouldn't be surprised if they just make their way here again or, more likely, just collapse the building entirely. Grinning, Satoru once more turned his Six-Eyes to the distance, towards another tall tower, before shrinking the distance with Blue. He then took a single step forward and reappeared on another rooftop, nearly thirty kilometers away. Breathing in as he collapsed the compressed space, Satoru broke through the door that was already open and walked right in.

"Please!" He turned to the side, Six-Eyes drifting to the shadows, where a middle-aged man and his young daughter hid, the both of them clutching what seemed to be rifles. The father looked frantic and desperate, but in his eyes was conviction; he'd die before he let anything happen to his daughter and that, if nothing else, was commendable. That wasn't what caught his attention, however. No, what drew Satoru's attention was the fact that neither of them had any Cursed Energy whatsoever. That was why he hadn't been able to detect them when he arrived. Weird. Were they under a Heavenly Restriction, like Toji? The father took aim with the rifle. "Don't come any closer!"

It was a strange thing, Satoru noted, watching them – two, human-shaped, soulless abysses. Their very presence seemed to cancel out Cursed Energy. No, they weren't like Toji at all. That absolute menace had zero Cursed Energy, but it was as these two had negative Cursed Energy – not Reversed, but negative. They were... blanks, essentially. And that meant Cursed Techniques and even Domain Expansions wouldn't work on them.

How incredibly interesting. Geto would just love these two. They were the perfect anti-sorcerers if they ever trained their abilities.

"I'm not going to hurt either of you," Satoru said, sighing. Being in their presence wouldn't be good for him, he surmised. Already, he felt the growing pangs of a terrible headache, surfacing. "I'm not with the Imperium, okay?"

They didn't believe him, of course, and that was understandable.

"How are you two still alive?" Satoru asked. "The whole city's dead."

Two rifles were aimed at him. One of them wavered. The daughter, tears in her eyes, spoke before her father did. "No... no one can see us if we don't want them to."

She cried. And, soon enough, the father lowered his rifle. The man looked absolutely dreadful, exhausted, with dark bags underneath his eyes. His daughter didn't look much different – pale and ragged, bloodshot eyes. Neither of them had much sleep, Satoru figured.

"That's how we managed to avoid the Astartes." He finished. Ah, that made... no sense, but this was the first time Satoru had ever seen such individuals; so, it was entirely possible that having Negative Cursed Energy would have this sort of effect.

"And now you're stuck here, just waiting to die of starvation?" He asked. They wouldn't have been able to escape with the others, unfortunately. Their presence would've destabilized the portal array and rendered it inert.

The father shook his head, a ghost of a smile playing on his parched lips. "There is a way out of the city, perhaps even a way out of the planet."

Satoru raised a brow. That certainly sounded interesting. If nothing else, this seemed like the beginning of a quest that would kill his time until Kairos contacted him again. "Oh? Tell me more."


AN: Have fun with this one. Advanced chapters are on my (Pat)reon.