Gojo stands at the edge of the barrier.
The world has changed. Raizan is gone. Sukuna reigns. The balance has shifted. The air tastes different—thicker, darker, quieter. But something feels… off.
He senses it.
A fracture in Sukuna's cursed energy. A flicker of instability. A bond.
Gojo smiles.
"So, the King bleeds after all."
He gathers the remaining sorcerers—few in number, but loyal. Yuta, Maki, and a reluctant Megumi, still haunted by Sukuna's possession. They stand in silence as Gojo outlines his plan.
Not an attack.
A gambit.
"We don't fight him head-on," Gojo says. "We force him to choose."
"Choose what?" Yuta asks.
"Between power and purpose."
Gojo's eyes gleam beneath his blindfold. The light is sharp. Calculated.
"We use the girl."
The cursed girl—now bound to Sukuna by blood—is the key. Her growth is rapid. Her cursed energy, once fragile, now pulses with potential. She moves with confidence. She speaks with clarity. But more than that, she represents something Sukuna never expected:
Attachment.
Gojo sends a message.
Not through violence.
Through memory.
He creates a projection—an echo of Rinzen, Sukuna's old rival. Crafted from cursed energy and memory, it appears within Sukuna's Domain, speaking words only Sukuna would understand.
"You spared her. You bonded. You changed."
Sukuna roars.
The Domain trembles.
He tries to destroy the illusion, but it persists. Not because it's strong, but because it's true. The walls crack. The mist thickens. The throne groans beneath him.
Gojo watches from afar.
"If he breaks the bond," he says, "he returns to what he was."
"And if he doesn't?" Maki asks.
Gojo's smile fades.
"Then he becomes something new. Something we may not be ready for."
The gambit is set.
Sukuna must choose.
The girl trains harder, sensing the tension. She doesn't know Gojo's plan, but she feels the shift. The air around her hums with expectation. Her dreams grow vivid. Her cursed energy sharpens.
She reaches out to Sukuna—not with fear, but with trust.
"I'm not your weakness," she says. "I'm your proof."
Sukuna stares at her.
And for the first time, he doesn't know what to say.