Boom!
Fushiguro Toji crushed the last Rainbow Dragon beneath his boot, watching its form shimmer into dust.
Then he looked up at the clear sky, where Gojo Satoru and the others were joking and bickering as if nothing serious was happening.
Anger flared in Toji's chest.
Even though Toji normally stayed calm and rational, he carried the pride of a powerful warrior. Facing Jujutsu Sorcerers — especially because of his background with the Zen'in Family — he had a deep‑seated drive to prove his strength. He wanted to be stronger than all sorcerers, to show that someone without cursed energy could stand at the top.
Yet Gojo Satoru and the others seemed to shrug him off.
This infuriated him.
"Don't get too cocky, you three brats!" Toji growled, launching himself upward with speed he had never before achieved.
But against the three sorcerers who had fully awakened their abilities, that power was barely enough to get attention.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
A glowing red sphere erupted, a repulsive force of energy pushing the surrounding space outward. Yet Toji's Inverted Spear of Heaven barely managed to counter it before the technique dissipated.
Even if a cursed tool can forcibly neutralize techniques, stronger attacks take longer to cancel — and Red's force is greater than Blue's by nature.
Boom!
Toji slammed into the ground, carving out a crater.
He staggered up, blood on his lips, and looked toward the approaching sorcerers — Gojo Satoru in front, with the composed Shion and Geto Suguru behind him.
"Three monsters," Toji muttered.
"Still want to keep fighting?" Satoru asked calmly.
Toji gripped the heavenly rope, causing the Inverted Spear of Heaven to spin at the end of it, a wild, careless grin spreading across his scarred face. He knew he had no real chance of victory. The smartest option would have been to retreat.
But his pride would not let him run.
"If I flee now, the monkey really will be beneath them forever!"
"Come on!"
A faint smile touched Gojo Shion's lips.
"I admire you. I'll respond with this."
He lifted his hands, one channeling Blue and the other Red, and he merged them into a swirling purple sphere of energy.
This was Hollow Technique: Purple, a secret extension of the Limitless technique that collides the repulsive and attractive forces to create imaginary mass and obliterate anything it touches.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue, Cursed Technique Reversal: Red, Hollow Technique: Purple!"
Shion spoke softly as the purple sphere flickered into existence, then fired from his fingers.
Satoru watched with fascination and a hint of excitement, "As expected, brother mastered this too!"
Geto Suguru observed the sphere with serious eyes. "This aura… the fusion of Lapse and Reversal power?"
Toji faced Purple head‑on, pupils dilated in shock. Though only about the size of a basketball, the orb radiated a force like staring at the sun itself.
Every instinct in his body begged him to flee, but he refused.
Was it resentment toward the Zen'in Family? Or the stubborn drive to surpass all sorcerers?
None of that mattered now.
He just wanted to face this moment — to see this greatest strike from the strongest sorcerer with his own eyes.
Boom!
The ground quaked for miles. Everything in Purple's path disappeared, the sphere extending like a void and carving a path through the battlefield.
Outside the blast, Toji remained standing — but his left torso was obliterated, a massive bloody cavity where flesh and bone used to be.
Clink, clink…
The heavenly rope and the Inverted Spear of Heaven clattered to the ground.
Toji smiled weakly through pain. "What a powerful strike. I'm completely beaten…"
He exhaled, a gentle breeze rustling his hair.
His life force drained rapidly, the end approaching with every heartbeat.
As he braced for death, an image flickered into his mind: Fushiguro Megumi, his son.
"Strange," Toji murmured, "I never cared much for him… but he's the first thing on my mind now."
Shion, Satoru, Suguru approached quietly.
Toji spoke with effort, "In two or three years, my child will be with the Zen'in Family. Do what you want with him…"
Then his eyes closed, as if he accepted the darkness.
But then, warmth spread through his wounds. Flesh and blood knit rapidly back together. Toji's eyes snapped open, bewildered.
Gojo Shion knelt beside him, hand on his chest, performing Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Why? Why are you helping me?" Toji asked, stunned. They were enemies.
Shion exhaled softly, "Let's say… it's for your son's sake."
Megumi — whose name means "Heaven's Blessing," though blessing often eluded him in life — had lost his mother at birth, and later faced unbearable trials in childhood, shaping him into a tragic figure of fate.
Shion continued, "You thought of your child as death approached. That means you have something worth protecting. Now go show him what it means to stand strong."
Toji stared up at him, confused and conflicted.
Shion's voice softened, "And if you really can't hold yourself back… go and fight the Zen'in Family."
Toji could only remain silent as the meaning of those words settled in his mind.
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