Outside Jujutsu High, Masaki Zenin and the others blocked the path of the group.
Naobito Zenin stepped forward.
"Oh dear, what a disgrace to the family. Let me, as the head of the household, take care of these people."
He turned to look at Masamichi Yaga.
Yaga nodded.
"Tch, just cheap tricks," Mai Zenin muttered under her breath.
According to the plan, those below Special Grade would deal with Sōjun Minamoto's followers. The rest of the Special Grades, along with Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro, would head into Jujutsu High.
Riko Amanai stepped forward, blocking their path...
"I'll take care of Riko Amanai," said Yuki Tsukumo, taking a step up.
The others circled around them and successfully entered the school.
The White Bone Tree had vanished, but the group continued to the same spot—and there they finally saw Sōjun Minamoto.
Now in human form, he bore none of his usual strange features. He looked completely ordinary, even smiling as he greeted them.
"You've arrived."
The group stared at the man, one hand gripping the giant, the other raised in a casual wave.
At this point, there was nothing left to say—they were ready to act according to plan...
"Long time no see."
A voice echoed from behind, followed by a burst of loud laughter.
"Hahaha—!"
"How interesting. Really, too interesting."
Itadori stepped out from the crowd, his gaze shifting between Sōjun Minamoto and the giant.
He tore open his shirt. Black markings spread across his face and up his torso, and a pair of eyes appeared beneath his eyelids...
It was Sukuna.
Not only that—flesh wriggled at the center of his forehead, giving way to a long, horizontal third eye.
The single eye locked onto the giant, burning with intensity.
Sukuna suddenly froze.
"Time's almost up," he muttered.
"Kenjaku!" he called out sharply.
"For me, it's more than enough!"
The third eye reluctantly shifted back to Sōjun Minamoto, then reignited with fierce excitement.
Sukuna took a step forward with ease, a sinister grin spreading across his face as he charged straight toward Sōjun Minamoto...
Behind him, Satoru Gojo lowered his blindfold and glanced at the Angel.
Sukuna, who should have been destroyed, still remained. Because of the Binding Vow, he and Kenjaku had become mutually dependent.
But he'd lost the upper hand.
"Enchain" was the keyword of the vow between him and Itadori. Once spoken, Itadori would have to surrender control of his body for one minute. During that time, Sukuna was forbidden from killing anyone—if he did, he'd face punishment.
Not that it mattered anymore. Sukuna was already frustrated with the current state of his soul. Still, as Kenjaku said, something interesting had indeed appeared.
In that one minute, he had two choices—one: bypass Gojo and take over Fushiguro Megumi's body using his soul state; or...
"Dismantle."
He chose the latter.
An invisible slash cut toward Sōjun Minamoto's right wrist—the one gripping the chain.
The wrist snapped clean off.
But Sōjun Minamoto only looked at him with a pleasant smile, as if he'd just freed up a hand.
Kenjaku's grin faded slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the severed hand.
It hung midair, unmoving, fingers still tightly clenched. Veins bulged along its surface, slowly pulling the giant down from the sky.
Sōjun Minamoto's severed hand had already regenerated.
Though he was just a drop of blood, after fusing with the White Bone Tree, his power was not to be underestimated.
There was still time—plenty of time to play with these people.
He strolled toward Sukuna as if on a leisurely walk.
Suddenly, cracks appeared across his arms, legs, head, and torso. His body split into countless pieces.
Each piece that touched the ground became a miniature version of Sōjun Minamoto, continuing forward. They merged as they walked, overlapping until they formed a larger version of Sōjun Minamoto once more.
Constantly shifting between one and many, he eventually arrived before Sukuna.
Sōjun Minamoto's feet sank slightly into the ground—just as a burst of flames surged up toward him...
A gravity technique combined with the Divine Flame—"Hearth."
Amid the fire, he raised both arms, clenched his fists, and slowly pulled back to charge up power. The space around him distorted.
"Zzz~"
A Black Flash burst from the flames and slammed into Sukuna's abdomen.
The fist sank deep into soft flesh. Black lightning surged through Itadori's entire body, and two tangled, ghostly silhouettes flickered behind him—faint, unstable, like low batteries on the verge of going out.
"Plop~" Itadori fell to the ground.
Sōjun Minamoto looked up, reached out, grabbed two silhouettes, crushed them into a ball, and swallowed them whole.
"Come." He opened his arms toward the group and beckoned.
Without a word, everyone moved toward Satoru Gojo.
"Unlimited Void."
The Domain expanded, covering everyone as an overwhelming flood of information poured into their minds.
Everyone except Sōjun Minamoto remained unaffected—they had all made contact with Satoru Gojo.
A sorcerer is strongest when alone, unless...
Another Domain Expansion unfolded, embedding itself within the Unlimited Void. A mysterious field layered over Sōjun Minamoto. Then, multiple Domains activated in unison, locking together like interlocking rings.
Countless spectral shadows surged behind Sōjun Minamoto, shattering in waves. Two opposing forces—one pulling, one pushing—compressed his movement range to a single point. An invisible controlling force tried to pin him in place.
"Prison Realm, open."
Six masses of flesh and blood clamped down on Sōjun Minamoto. The six faces of the Prison Realm slowly closed in, compressing his body, making him smaller and smaller. Just as they were about to shut completely, a hand pressed against one of the sides.
The five fingers were crushed. The Prison Realm sealed shut. The Domains vanished all at once.
"Angel!"
From the back, Hana Kurusu stepped forward, chanting as the horn blew. A pillar of light descended from the sky, striking the Prison Realm. It melted the five fingers and gradually, though seemingly slowly, enveloped the entire object in light.
At the moment the light fully enclosed it, the crowd saw an arm burst through the sixth side—six eyes on it, all bleeding.
They surrounded the pillar, staring into it, even though they couldn't see what lay inside.
Time felt painfully slow. After what felt like ages, an arm slowly emerged from the light, reaching out in front of them.
Everyone stood frozen with mixed emotions.
Then, the pillar of light expanded again, trying to pull the arm back in.
They turned to the Angel.
He shook his head.
At the top of the pillar where it met the sky, a massive heavenly gate appeared. Eighteen steps led from the gate to the pillar. Countless shadowy angels descended into the light.
The glow became increasingly sacred. As it tried to reclaim the arm, the fingertips began to crumble into ash.
Moments later, the light within went completely still. But the pillar didn't disappear—it extended toward the other wrist.
That hand was still dragging the giant. As the light touched it, one of the giant's feet was pulled onto the stairs...
The heavenly gate slowly closed. The pillar of light receded.
The eighteen steps remained, but nine chains were nailed firmly into the ground.
The Black Sea had vanished. The giant seized all nine chains with one hand, looped them around his wrist, and yanked them backward, pulling them taut.
The earth and sky cracked and trembled. Tsunamis surged across the seas of the living world... It was an apocalyptic scene. Before such divine power, all they could do was retreat.
"Creak—crack—"
The heavenly gate opened again. The giant's foot slowly stepped forward. The ground and space split apart further, and even the sorcerers outside Jujutsu High began fleeing.
The fractures kept spreading...
Everyone now felt a genuine sense of doom. At this rate, it wouldn't take long for the entire island to collapse.
They struggled to keep their footing while watching closely.
The sky darkened further, until day and night flipped—
The stars had arrived.
A massive arm burst through the heavenly gate from within. The giant staggered backward, not advancing but retreating, completely stopping on the steps.
Another arm reached out, gripping both sides of the gate. Muscles swelled, the lines sharp like chiseled stone.
The gate warped under pressure, groaning with a tortured screech. The being behind the arms pushed to force its way through.
The giant moved to stop it—but half a shoulder had already emerged. With a loud bang, the gate was damaged even more, and a wide arm and head forced their way into view.
"Creak... creak... creak..." The door groaned.
The torso and legs stepped through, followed by the hands. The owner of the hands finally emerged. His hunched form slowly straightened, revealing a towering figure now fully present in the world.
Sōjun Minamoto's true form had descended. With a wave of his hand, the nine chains ripped from the ground and flew back into his palm.
The collapse of heaven and earth halted. Sōjun Minamoto stepped down—the stairs shattered beneath his feet, and the giant tumbled toward the ground.
Sōjun Minamoto followed.
The massive impact split the land, shattered mountains, and sent seawater surging inland, rising to the giants' knees.
Within Sōjun Minamoto, countless voices began chanting, echoing like hymns in a grand hall, their sound spreading outward into a vast and mighty chorus.
They spoke of blessings, joy, praise...
The giant, in contrast, radiated nothing but negativity, oppression, and dread...
The nine chains extended, wrapping around the giant's neck, limbs, and torso, then piercing through his chest and abdomen repeatedly.
Sōjun Minamoto fastened the other ends to the starlight, connecting them to the star halo behind his head.
The giant's resistance grew fainter and fainter.
"A balancing mechanism?"
Sōjun Minamoto glanced around, then looked up to the sky. He removed the star halo and hurled it onto the giant's head—a gray beam of light pierced through him.
Faintly, a dark sea could be seen merging into a blue one.
Cracks in the earth and sky had already spread across half the world and continued to collapse, though more slowly now.
The star halo ascended, rising beyond the heavens. It began to expand, mending the rifts in space.
"Still not coming out? Guess I'll come in, then."
As he spoke, his body began to disintegrate. His flesh filled the gaps in the earth, bones replaced the shattered stone, blood turned into water, limbs restored the ruined mountains, and his organs became rivers...
He embedded himself into the world.
The new earth resonated with the starry halo, forming a new domain. After merging with the present world, it then separated from it.
Or rather, it pushed the present world deeper, making the otherworld its surface layer.
All that remained of the giant was a tiny mass of flesh—perhaps this was the true form of the balance mechanism.
That small fleshball was embedded at the peak of the tallest mountain, serving as the cornerstone between the inner and outer worlds. The skeleton tree grew atop it.
Curses returned to the Cursed. Humans to the Human world.
Countless spirits emerged. Curses and blessings found their balance once more.
"Balance again, huh."
It felt like the dragon slayer becoming the dragon. Sōjun Minamoto's consciousness brimmed with satisfaction. Deep inside, Riko carved out the new rules.
Curses could never truly vanish—unless humanity did. Sōjun Minamoto fully accepted this truth, and naturally, he had no intention of erasing mankind.
Humans in the Inner World spawned Curses. These passed through the fleshball into the Surface World. There, the existing creatures produced Blessing Power. When merged with Curses, this gave rise to Origin Force—an endless cycle that would only make him stronger.
But it no longer mattered.
Having divided everything, he drifted into slumber.
...
The concentration of Curses in the Inner World diminished, and Cursed Spirits became increasingly rare.
Damage caused by sorcerers also lessened—a small pistol could now take them down... Times had changed.
Jujutsu High was rebuilt from the ruins but became a true theological school.
The Jujutsu Headquarters had already collapsed at the dawn of this new era.
...
In the Surface World—
Under the bone-white tree, Riko Amanai cupped her face in her hands and stared at a flowerpot. Inside it was a seed of gray crystal.
She'd been tending it for a long time now.
Just like every other day, she carefully watered it with a small watering can, then moved the pot into the sunlight. She sat and stared at the soil, zoning out:
It still hadn't sprouted.
The sun was warm. His presence lingered in the light, in the sea, in the mountains, in the grass—but...
"What are you doing?"
In a haze, she heard that familiar voice again. She sighed quietly in her heart.
A familiar sensation touched her head, like someone patting her. The more real it felt, the deeper her regret grew.
She murmured, "Only virgins think girls like having their heads patted."
"You didn't seriously think I was the seed, did you?"
"...Huh?!"