Jellal raised his arms. Behind him, seven golden spheres flared into being, linked together in a constellation resembling the Big Dipper.
"Feel the judgment of the Seven Stars—!"
"Grand Chariot!"
With a cry, seven radiant beams of light rained down from the heavens, slamming toward Kaien's position like divine punishment.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!!
The blasts ripped through the top floors of the Tower of Heaven, vaporizing stone and steel like paper.
"Kaien!!"
Erza cried out in panic.
"HAHAHAHA!! What an idiot!! That spell carries enough destructive power to rival a meteor! He's been blown to dust—completely annihilated!!"
Jellal burst into triumphant laughter.
But—
"Oi, oi, oi… don't just declare someone dead without asking them first."
A calm voice emerged from within the smoke and rubble.
The dust cleared.
Kaien stood completely unharmed, clad once again in his Satoru Gojo form.
"Kaien!" Erza gasped, relief washing over her. She should've known—he always acted wild, but every move he made was calculated. Still, he gave her heart attacks.
Jellal's eyes bulged.
"No… that's impossible! That was Grand Chariot! There's no way you're standing there without a scratch!!"
"Oh, I agree. It was strong.
Too bad you never actually hit me."
"Bullshit! I saw the beams land on you!"
Jellal clenched his teeth. He'd seen it—he was sure of it.
"What you touched… was the space between us. What lies between you and me—" Kaien raised his right hand with a grin, "—is Infinity."
Jellal squinted. "What?"
Kaien tilted his head playfully.
"Come on. Stretch out your hand. I'll teach you."
Curious—and still not sensing any killing intent—Jellal cautiously floated down and reached toward Kaien's hand.
But just before his fingers touched skin…
They stopped.
Frozen in place.
Jellal's hand hovered an inch away from Kaien's—completely paralyzed.
'What…? Why… can't I move?'
"You see," Kaien said casually, "you're not exactly stopped… it's just that the closer you get to me, the slower you move. Want me to grab your hand instead?"
"Don't!" Jellal shouted, flinching.
"Aww, don't be shy. You're gonna make me blush."
Kaien interlaced their fingers with a smirk.
"See? Look how close we've gotten~"
And then—
BAM!
His other hand drove a powerful punch straight into Jellal's gut.
"Gah—!!"
Jellal's body folded like a shrimp.
Before he could react, Kaien unleashed a flurry of punches, each one enhanced with cursed energy, each one a brutal hammerblow to his body.
"Y-You bastard…!" Jellal growled. "Meteor!!"
He burst free in a flash of golden light, retreating upward as Kaien released his grip.
"Six-Pointed Stars!"
Jellal fired six speeding bursts of stellar energy, each one capable of devastating a fortress.
Kaien didn't move. He held up two fingers.
Swoosh—!
The blasts froze mid-air.
Then—
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—!!
Each one was flung backward violently, missing Kaien entirely and smashing into the tower's central mana crystal—the one designed to absorb Etherion.
BOOOOM!!
The massive crystal cracked, snapped in two, and fell toward Kaien.
"Kaien! Look out!" Erza shouted.
Kaien raised a hand.
The falling crystal stopped mid-air.
He calmly turned his palm toward Jellal.
And then threw the massive crystal at him.
"Meteor!!"
Jellal barely dodged in time.
CRASH!!
The first crystal shattered another on its way down. Both plummeted from the tower.
"You bastard!!" Jellal snarled, red with fury. "That's eight years of work!!"
Kaien scratched his cheek innocently.
"Ah—sorry. I didn't expect you to dodge."
"Nine Heavens' Stars!!"
Jellal roared, summoning a barrage of radiant blasts even more powerful than before.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!
A sea of explosions lit up the battlefield.
Kaien burst from the smoke—scuffed, breathing harder.
'These are draining too much cursed energy… I'm not Gojo. I can't spam it forever.'
Then—
Jellal raised both arms, energy swirling above him.
A pitch-black sphere formed—dense, ominous, like a miniature black hole. Nearby debris was pulled in and crushed instantly.
"A gravitational reversal of light?!" Erza's eyes widened.
"Kaien, don't touch it! That spell devours anything it hits!"
Kaien gave her a thumbs-up.
"Relax. I might be arrogant, but I'm not an idiot.
Besides… I've got something just as insane."
He brought his hands together. A glowing blue sphere began to form between them.
"Cursed Technique Lapse - Maximum Cursed Energy Output: Blue!!"
The blue sphere expanded rapidly in his palms, a pseudo-black hole in its own right, born of compressed attraction.
Two supermassive orbs—one black, one blue—raced toward each other.
The earth beneath them disappeared.
Then—
They collided.
Screaming void against crushing pull.
Heavenly Body magic versus Cursed Energy.
They didn't cancel.
They fused.
Black and blue spiraled into one.
A marble-sized sphere remained—tiny, dense, terrifying.
Kaien's eyes widened.
"Shit."
He dashed to Erza, scooped her up, and teleported away.
Jellal, sensing the danger, blasted himself away at full speed.
"HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM—"
The marble pulsed once.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
A soundless eruption.
A flash. A tremor.
And when it ended—half the Tower of Heaven was gone.