After finishing the explanation—
Akoto gave them no time to process it.
He simply activated it.
The veil around his body grew denser.
Deeper.
As if space itself had been compressed around him.
『Force of Gravity — Attraction!』
The air collapsed.
The four heirs felt their bodies violently dragged forward.
It wasn't wind.
It wasn't telekinesis.
It was the gravitational axis itself being redefined, with Akoto as the center.
Shin lost his balance in the middle of preparing another Piercing Blood.
Noa tried to accelerate out of range—
But speed meant nothing when space itself was being curved.
Jugo activated his Distortion—
And realized, too late, that his technique was being overwritten.
Kanaede, in the sky, was dragged downward as if invisible chains had wrapped around her wings.
All converging.
All inevitably pulled—
Toward him.
Akoto's smile widened.
『Electromagnetic Force — Magnetized Discharge!』
Purple lightning erupted from his body.
They weren't simple electrical bolts.
They branched like living neural networks, connecting to the four targets simultaneously.
The current tore through muscle.
Interfered with nerve impulses.
Disrupted the flow of their cursed energy.
The scent of ozone spread throughout the arena.
The fine control of their techniques began to falter.
And then—
When they were too close—
When the gravitational field had already drawn them to the precise point—
Akoto slightly opened his hand.
『Force of Gravity — Repulsion!』
The world exploded outward.
The invisible wave of gravitational compression inverted instantly. The four were launched in opposite directions like cannon-fired projectiles.
The ground cracked in perfect circular patterns around Akoto.
The arena walls trembled.
The sky above rippled.
Purple lightning danced between Akoto's fingers.
The air around him began to vibrate.
Steam rose from the fractured ground.
Small explosions popped around him like fireworks too restrained to fully erupt.
By directly manipulating the Electromagnetic Force, Akoto forced the surrounding field to reorganize the motion of particles. Atoms collided in unnatural patterns, their vibrations increasing exponentially, driving the ambient temperature to absurd levels.
When those collisions surpassed a certain threshold—
Microscopic explosions were released.
Is Pure energy.
A faint radiation spread through the air, invisible, yet perceptible in the shiver crawling across the spectators' skin.
"Time to end this."
Akoto raised his hand.
The four heirs, still recovering from the previous repulsion, were lifted from the ground.
They floated like marionettes suspended by invisible strings.
"It even lo-looks like…" Kanaede muttered, her body trembling from the constant electrocution.
Even so, she raised her trumpet.
『Extinction Technique — Jacob's Ladder!』
The circle opened in the sky once more.
The light descended.
But this time—
"O purifying light…" Akoto's voice echoed throughout the entire arena. It was cold. Sovereign. "You dare touch your God? What a joke."
The luminous pillar began to deform before it even reached his body.
The Gravity around him intensified brutally.
Electromagnetism interfered with the very propagation of the energy.
The light was compressed.
And then folded in on itself.
Until—
It extinguished.
The circle in the sky shattered into fragments of scattered radiance.
Kanaede's eyes widened.
"Your technique will never touch me again, Angel." Akoto raised his arm toward the sky. "Let there be…"
Above the arena, space began to compress.
A sphere of light was born.
Small at first.
Then larger.
And larger.
Until it reached the size of the arena itself.
It wasn't fire.
It wasn't lightning.
It was energy compressed to the absolute extreme.
『Strong Force —』
The pressure forced the ground to sink.
The stands trembled.
Even Tengen's barrier began to vibrate.
Akoto opened his hand.
"Light."
Absolute silence for a fraction of a second.
『Big Bang.』
Boom!
The sphere collapsed.
And exploded.
But not like a normal explosion—expanding in every direction.
A white wave consumed the arena.
The sound lagged behind the sheer magnitude of the impact. The ground was obliterated.
The air was blasted outward in a devastating wall.
The outer barrier groaned under the pressure.
And at the center of the expansion—
Akoto remained.
Completely motionless.
The radiance slowly faded, but the world did not immediately return to normal.
The air was still heavy. Not heavy like after an ordinary explosion, but dense with something invisible—something that did not belong to that era. Residual fragments of energy vibrated through the atmosphere. Small thermal distortions rippled like mirages. There were traces of radiation, unstable particles generated by the manipulation of the Strong Force—natural consequences of interfering with the nucleus of matter.
Akoto stood at the center of the destroyed arena.
He breathed normally.
He did not seem aware of what was spreading around him.
And in truth—
He wasn't.
The correction began without his notice.
The Weak Force went into action.
Soul Manifestation was not merely a means of generating infinite energy. It was a direct extension of Akoto's essential structure. His soul—whose form resembled a "hole" in the fabric of space—was connected to the universe at an absurdly deep level. That connection was not metaphorical.
In this world, the soul is not something isolated from the cosmos. It is linked to the universal flow of energy. Cursed energy, in turn, is like a karmic residue of humanity—it does not disappear, it merely transforms and circulates.
Because Akoto's soul was connected to that flow far more deeply than any other individual of that era—and possibly many eras to come—it had access to layers of information that simply did not exist within human knowledge.
There was no nuclear science in that time.
No concept of ionizing radiation.
Not even vocabulary to explain what was happening.
But the soul did not require language.
It was something whose data was directly linked to the universe itself.
Fundamental information about particle interaction, nuclear instability, radioactive decay, and subatomic forces was absorbed as though they were ancient, forgotten memories. That data was then converted into comprehensible patterns and transmitted to the physical brain through cursed energy.
That was how Akoto came to understand the Four Fundamental Forces.
Even so, the human brain has biological limits. Even Akoto's brain could be overloaded if it received too much information at once. The soul, therefore, filtered.
It delivered to his consciousness only what was necessary for immediate use.
The rest, it managed on its own.
The radiation generated by the manipulation of the Strong Force—and also by the side effects of extreme electromagnetism—was one of those variables not fully transplanted into his conscious mind.
They were too dangerous and could overload his physical body at that moment.
So the soul acted independently.
Using the Weak Force, it initiated a meticulous process of dismantling the radioactive residue. Unstable atomic nuclei were driven into accelerated decay. Excited isotopes were fragmented through fission, reaching down to subatomic levels.
Unstable particles were induced to lose energy safely. Reaction chains were interrupted before they could expand. Even the byproducts generated by the use of the Weak Force itself were analyzed and neutralized in a continuous cycle of correction.
All of this happened in silence.
Without Akoto being fully aware of the process.
Gradually, the air returned to normal. The residual vibration vanished. The invisible threat was eliminated before anyone present could even comprehend the danger that had existed.
Akoto exhaled softly.
Behind him, footsteps echoed over the rubble.
"Tell me…"
He didn't turn around.
Sato stood only a few meters away, arm extended, red energy concentrated at the tip of his fingers. His face was twisted by frustration and hatred.
"What can someone like YOU even do now?" The question carried a sharp edge of curiosity.
Akoto remained motionless.
"Huh…" Sato grunted, irritated at being ignored once again.
But Akoto's silence wasn't arrogance.
It was simple indifference.
After feeling his own soul operate on a level that transcended human knowledge, any hostile intent behind him felt… distant. Small. Like the faint echo of something that no longer held relevance.
Sato clenched his teeth so hard his jaw trembled.
Indifference hurt more than any blow.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
He screamed, his voice tearing through the air.
Red energy exploded at the tip of his index finger, compressed to its limit.
"RED!"
The Reversal technique of the Limitless formed before him, distorting space with absolute repulsive force.
In his mind, a single thought burned:
'Don't look down on me! I AM NOT WEAK!'
Zoom!
Before the shot could even stabilize—
Something invisible struck him.
A wave of gravity bending space.
It was as if reality itself had decided to displace him.
The structure of Red collapsed instantly, the repulsive force nullified before it could fully manifest. Sato's body was hurled backward like a leaf in the wind, tearing across the arena and crashing violently against Tengen's barrier.
The barrier vibrated—but did not yield.
The silence that followed was heavy.
Akoto spoke without even looking back.
"You are impulsive."
The statement was simple. Without cruelty. Without provocation.
"But I congratulate you for also having attained the Reversed Cursed Technique."
He took a slow step, finally beginning to turn.
"It is a great achievement. Something worthy of recognition."
Now he faced him.
Not as before.
Not from above.
But directly.
"Among everyone here, your talent is the greatest. And your determination… is greater still."
Akoto's eyes held no contempt.
They carried something far harder to endure.
Recognition.
"Strand proud." A brief pause. "You are strong."
Those words pierced Sato more deeply than any attack.
The heir of the Gojo Clan—raised in absolute pride, trained under the belief of supremacy—felt his eyes burn.
Tears fell.
From something he could not name.
"What… is this…?" Sato murmured, confused by the tightness in his chest.
Akoto watched him for a moment and answered honestly.
"I have no idea."
Then he turned.
And began walking out of the ruined arena.
Without looking back.
The Imperial Jujutsu Heirs Combat, held on March 25, 805, came to an end.
With the unilateral victory of Akoto Kisaragi, of Tengen's Temple.