"Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, bearer of the Right of Greed. A position not merely given, mind you, but earned through purity, through principle, and through perfection of self."
Regulus chuckled softly, his head tilting at a jaunty, unsettling angle.
"Ah, but I imagine that doesn't mean much to someone like you. You reek of chaos... power without purpose. You're the type who wakes up and decides the world is his playground just because he can flex a muscle, am I right? Tch. How utterly boorish."
Gojo didn't speak. His gaze hardened.
"See, what people never understand—what they're too stupid to grasp—is that I am a just man. I live with clarity. I do not like to fight, I do not steal, I do not compromise, I do not submit. I simply take what is rightfully mine. That's not greed. That's order. That's love. That's what it means to be free."
He spread his arms slightly, chest lifting as if expecting the blood-soaked trees to burst into applause.
"And really... what is a sin, if not the world's rejection of a man who refuses to be bound by its hypocrisy? If I want a thing, and I possess the virtue to keep it, by what right does the world call it a crime?"
The air around them was still—unnaturally so. Not even the smell of the corpses Gojo had just made seemed to drift toward Regulus. It was as if the wind itself didn't want to infringe on his "rights."
Gojo lowered his head slightly. His mouth curved upward into a humorless, razor-sharp smirk.
"...Huh. You really talk a lot. Like, a lot lot."
Regulus blinked, his brows furrowing in genuine, offended shock.
"Excuse me..?"
Gojo raised his eyes—those cerulean pupils shimmering with a terrifying light beneath his snowy lashes.
"I said you talk too much, dude. Seriously. Is there a tax on silence in this world? Because you act like you're trying to avoid a massive bill."
Regulus tilted his head, that smug smile wavering for the first time, a tint of jagged annoyance bleeding into his tone.
"You think I'm being excessive? Hmph. Typical! The moment someone speaks with reason... TRUE reason... people call it rambling! But let me ask you—what's worse? Speaking at length with clarity, or acting like a mindless beast, swinging your limbs around without a single philosophical foundation to stand on?"
Gojo said nothing. He simply stood there, one hand slowly sliding out of his pocket, his thumb flicking against his index finger.
Regulus stepped closer, encroaching on Gojo's personal space with the confidence of a ghost.
"Silence? A wise decision! Better to be quiet and considered thoughtful than speak and remove all doubt, isn't that how the saying goes? Though, in your case, I suspect the silence is just a mask for the fact that there's absolutely nothing going on behind those eyes. But then again, I suppose I am speaking quite a bit. It's just that when you've attained true understanding—when you've tasted the absolute—your words tend to... linger. They have weight. They have right."
Gojo's voice came at last. Quiet. Bone-dry.
"You really love the sound of your own voice, don't you? I mean, I've met some narcissists in my time—I'm one of 'em, honestly—but you? You're on a whole different level. It's starting to get on my nerves, and you've only been 'enlightening' me for, what, three minutes? Damn, dude. Take a breath. Or don't. Actually, don't."
A slight tic crossed Regulus's cheek. It was brief, but it was there. The smile returned, tighter this time.
"Words are the measure of will. The manifestation of one's ideals. Unlike people who skulk around using brute force like common thugs! I define myself through thought. Through virtue. That is why I alone am righteous."
He clenched his fist behind his back, his voice tightening with a restrained, neurotic fervor.
"Others simply act—selfishly, recklessly. You look like one of those. Strong, perhaps, but foolish. Dangerous. Unruly. I despise that. Men like you trample values, impose will without consent. You walk into this forest, you kill these people, and you think you're a hero? That, my friend, is the true sin. You've infringed upon their right to be killed by me."
Gojo stepped forward. Just once.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't fast. But suddenly, Regulus wasn't smiling quite as widely. The space between them felt like it was being sucked into a vacuum.
Gojo exhaled lightly, almost amused.
"I've heard a lot of egomaniacs ramble before," he said, his fingers flicking the air idly as if shooing away a fly. "But this? You talk like a guy who accidentally ate a whole dictionary and is now suffering from the world's worst case of verbal diarrhea. It's impressive, in a 'wow-I-want-to-hit-you' kind of way."
He tilted his head, his gaze boring into Regulus.
"And I still don't know what you want. You didn't come here just to give me a lecture on your 'virtue,' did you?"
Regulus's pupils sharpened into pinpricks. He let out a slow, tight breath that didn't even disturb the dust on his collar.
"What I want is justice," he said, his tone dropping into a hiss. "To preserve what is rightfully mine. She is mine. Her love, her gaze, her attention! All of it was taken from me. That boy you and that little demon protect——"
He pointed a pale, trembling finger toward the dark treeline where Rem had fled.
"——he is a thief. A parasite. He's touched things that don't belong to him. And I am the hand of rightful retribution, as it should be."
Gojo's smirk faded. One silver brow rose.
"You're talking about Subaru...?"
"I'm talking," Regulus said, his voice growing harsher, cracking with the strain of his own ego, "about a world that allows parasites like him to squirm into hearts that do not belong to them! I'm talking about the lawlessness of emotion! Where anyone can claim another's soul without contract, without permission, without the divine right of possession!"
He straightened his back, his voice rising into a shriek of righteous fury.
"I am not cruel! I am not the villain! I am the only man who knows what it means to truly love—to own something so completely it can never leave you! That is not greed! That is devotion in its purest, most sacred, most unchanging form!"
Gojo's hand flexed, balling into a fist. A breeze passed, ruffling Gojo's hair, but Regulus remained a statue, unmoving and unmoved.
Gojo blinked, his brow furrowing in genuine curiosity.
There's literally nothing when I look at him. Noo mana, no physical momentum. It feels no different than when I look at empty space... according to the Six Eyes, this guy doesn't even exist.
Regulus now stood within arm's reach, his golden eyes wide and unblinking.
"You joke. But I find your lack of gravity deeply offensive," Regulus said, the venom behind his words finally stripped of its civility. "You see, violence is barbarism. It is a tool for those with no capacity for argument. A man who swings his fists is one who's already lost the debate."
Gojo's smile came back—but this time, there was no warmth in it. Only the cold promise of an ending.
"Well, good news then."
His gaze sharpened—the glow in his Six Eyes pulsed.
"I didn't come here to debate."
Gojo didn't hesitate.
No retreat, no warning—only raw, immediate offense. His fist tore through the air with a ferocity unlike anything he'd unleashed before.
It wasn't just a punch; it was a spatial collapse. Blue-tinted sparks danced around his knuckles as he compressed the distance to zero.
BOOM——!
The region convulsed. A violent ripple exploded outward, the ground shattering beneath their feet as if a tectonic plate had snapped.
The shockwave arrived a half-second after the impact, a thunderclap that flattened the surrounding forest. Trees didn't just fall; they were pulverized into sawdust.
And Regulus? He was launched like a white missile, carving a jagged trench across the dirt path, skidding with unnatural smoothness through the destruction.
Gojo narrowed his eyes, glancing down at his fist. A cold chill settled in his marrow.
That felt wrong. Too light… Like I hit… nothing?
Regulus slammed through a thick tree trunk, the wood exploding in a burst of splinters before he finally came to a stop. He stood upright, adjusting his cuff with surgical precision.
"You dare...?"
His voice was calm, which made it all the more terrifying.
"Even after I've treated you with such niceties? You attempt to physically alter my state? To force your will upon my very person? Do you have any idea how greedy that is? To assume your fist has more right to be in my space than I do?"
He took a single step. The world roared.
Gojo's Six Eyes screamed. He didn't see an attack. He didn't see mana. But every fiber of his being pulled at him to move—now. He kicked off the ground, twisting mid-air just as the space he occupied disappeared.
WOOOOOM—
A colossal void of force roared past. It wasn't a projectile; it was a deletion. A perfect, soundless sphere several meters wide was simply erased from the earth.
Gojo landed in a crouch, sliding backward. A single drop of sweat rolled down his cheek.
He stared at the blank crater.
I would've died.
"Ah."
Regulus said, watching a lone leaf drift in front of him. He flicked it with a finger.
SWOOSH——
The leaf howled like a railgun slug. Gojo twisted—but he was a fraction of a second too slow. A thin line split across his cheek. Blood welled up instantly.
I've… never actually been hurt before. But this is different…
"You're quiet now. That's good,"
Regulus said, his golden eyes glowing with a serene, terrifying light.
"It means you understand your place. But there's no need to despair. I am, after all, a merciful man. If you get on your knees and beg—really beg—I'll grant you a death without pain. I'll even allow you to apologize for the intrusion. Isn't that generous? Isn't that the height of selflessness?"
Gojo's chin lowered. His jaw clenched.
"Apologize? To a guy who can't stop talking about himself? I think I'd rather die."
"No? Well then. Don't forget I did offer."
Gojo moved instantly, vanishing and reappearing behind Regulus. He didn't use a technique; he used pure, unadulterated spite.
He grabbed the back of Regulus's head and slammed it into a massive tree.
SMASH——!!
The tree shattered. Before gravity could react, Gojo spun, burying his shin into Regulus's neck with enough force to level a skyscraper. The blow echoed like thunder, sending Regulus bulldozing through the forest.
Still... not a scratch.
Gojo appeared mid-air, locking his hand around Regulus's throat as they tumbled. But Regulus didn't budge. He felt like a mountain made of iron.
"Have you had your fun?"
Regulus asked. It wasn't mockery. It was pure, suffocating condescension.
Regulus pivoted—a slow, almost lazy twist of his body—and drove a punch into Gojo's gut.
It wasn't elegant, or even skillful. But it connected.
That was more than enough—
——Gojo flew.
His spine ripped against the ground, smashing through rock and brush for hundreds of meters before he hit the base of a mountain. The impact buried him in stone.
"G-Gghhaah..."
Gojo dragged himself out of the rubble, legs wobbling. His back was raw, torn open by the very earth he had been flung through.
I don't get it... Nothing I do works. But even the 'air' he moves hurts me!?
He looked up to see Regulus standing there. Immaculate. No dirt. No bruises. No tension. Just marble brought to life.
"You look surprised," Regulus said, walking forward. The air shivered around him. "Of course you are. You believed yourself a god among men. You thought being you made you the center of the world. But my 'Authority' is reality. I am the one true constant. The ever unchanging. The perfect."
Another step and swipe of an arm——
A row of trees to his left simply disintegrated as a byproduct of his presence.
"I exist in a world without compromise. The moment something affects me? It ceases to exist as a valid concept. I do not 'defend' myself, Satoru Gojo. I am simply not affected. Every technique you hurl at me? Irrelevant. Invalid. You aren't fighting a man. You are fighting a fact."
He smiled, a wide, gleaming expression of lunacy.
"So... when you punched me? You weren't 'too slow,' nor was I 'too strong.' Your attack was simply allowed, but ineffective. Therefore, do not delude yourself to be all-powerful... especially not before the actual All-Powerful."
Gojo stood his ground, blood dripping into his eye. He reached up, wiped the red away, and let out a short, breathy laugh that turned into a cough.
"…Don't really care, asshole~ Punching you is fun."
He stood upright, head tilted, voice unwavering.
"I won't be dying here, either."
Regulus exhaled slowly, exasperated——not injured, not even ruffled. Just... irritated.
Infinity means nothing to him. Limitless doesn't apply.
He's not ignoring my attacks... they're just not entering his reality.
As far as Satoru knew, there was nothing he could do to the man if his understanding of this 'Authority' was correct. But the brain of the strongest sorcerer didn't dwell on 'impossible.'
It looked for the loophole in the logic.
Reverse Cursed Technique… No... not just healing. It's creation. Positive energy born from clashing negatives. Pure power formed through contradiction…
He remembered Yaga's lectures—the ones he once dismissed with the flick of a finger and a cocky grin.
"Reverse energy is a contradiction, Satoru. You generate positive energy by multiplying two negative charges. It defies the natural flow. It's stupidly difficult. But that's exactly why it's the only thing that can rewrite a failing world."
A lightbulb clicked into place with the force of a supernova.
Gojo's eyes widened, his pupils dancing with a manic, celestial light. His grin exploded, splitting into wild, jagged laughter that echoed off the clouds.
"Kehehe... BAAHAHAHA!!"
Regulus frowned, his lip curling in a scoff of pure disdain.
"Oh? Is that what desperation looks like on you? Or is it delusion, perhaps? To laugh in the face of your own insignificance is a pitiable sight, even for a barbarian like yourself."
But before Regulus could finish his condescending critique—
CRACK——!
Gojo's foot didn't just push off the ground; it splintered the very concept of friction. He launched forward at a speed that blurred the line between movement and teleportation.
Regulus didn't flinch, but his white brows furrowed.
"What are you, some kind of primate?! How many times must I carve the truth into that thick, greedy skull of yours?!"
He barked the words, extending an arm to erase the incoming threat——but Gojo didn't strike.
He flipped overhead instead—graceful, measured, a somersault propelled by pure, refined technique. He landed behind Regulus on the sheer vertical face of the mountain, his palm extended, his stance sharp enough to cut the air.
Regulus turned, a flicker of genuine uncertainty passing over his face.
Gojo stood there—completely healed. The blood had vanished, the skin was pristine, and his aura was no longer just blue.
It was glowing with a terrifying, revitalized heat.
"I've got a student waiting for me~" Gojo muttered, his lips curling into a predatory smirk. "And he's already going through enough stuff for one day. I don't think he needs your 'Greed' cluttering up the place."
Two fingers and a thumb formed a gesture like a cold, iron gun.
"Cursed Technique Reversal…."
A crimson spark ignited at his fingertip, humming with the sound of a universe being born.
"——Red."
The orb burst forward—not to penetrate, but to repel. It slammed into Regulus's chest like a localized Big Bang, launching his body skyward in a twisting, uncontrolled spiral.
Dirt and rock flayed beneath the Archbishop as he shot up the mountain side, tearing through millions of tons of ancient stone.
Regulus clicked his tongue in annoyance. The air around him froze—not with ice, but with a total suspension of momentum.
His body halted mid-air, his boot tapping lightly against the vertical cliff face near the peak.
TAP—— CRACK——!!
The mere pressure of his "still" landing caused the mountain to give up. A massive landslide followed, hundreds of boulders the size of houses tumbling down toward Gojo.
But Satoru didn't flinch. He inhaled, crouched, and lunged upward.
He danced.
He moved between the boulders like a ghost.
He weaved around the debris, launching himself off crumbling, falling surfaces as if the chaos were a pre-written choreography. He burst through the final cluster of falling rock—and there they were again, face-to-face, suspended five thousand feet above the forest floor.
Regulus floated effortlessly, literally standing on the empty air. He didn't fly; he simply ignored the 'right' of gravity to pull him down.
"You insufferable FOOL!"
Regulus snarled, thrusting a hand outward. He flicked his wrist as if throwing a handful of dust——but he was throwing the air itself.
FWOOOM——!
The attack was absolute. A section of Gojo's side was eradicated instantly——flesh, muscle, and his entire left arm were simply deleted into the void.
But Gojo didn't scream. He didn't even blink.
He grinned.
SWOOSH——
His remaining arm screamed through the air, faster than any strike he'd performed before.
His fist slammed into Regulus's jaw, rocking his skull backward and sending a spatial shockwave rippling through the peak.
"——BLACK FLASH!!"
The space itself rippled in jagged, black-and-red lightning from the cursed energy's perfect, one-in-a-million sync. Regulus's body didn't bruise, but his head snapped back, and his eyes widened in pure, unadulterated fury.
Gojo's wound sealed in an instant—fresh flesh knitting together, muscle manifesting and intertwining at a nauseatingly rapid pace. The arm regrew before the sparks of the Black Flash had even faded.
Regulus growled, lashing back with a savage, unrefined strike. He grabbed Gojo by the collar and spun, smashing him into the rock face with bone-crunching force.
THUD—!
Blood sprayed from Gojo's temple, painting the gray stone red. But the moment it happened, his head began to stitch shut. His mind, torn by the impact, was being held together by the sheer force of his Reverse Cursed Technique.
"———!!"
Gojo twisted his neck just in time—
WHIP——!!
A razor-thin beam of "still" air scythed through space, slicing clean through a chunk of Gojo's cheek and punching a tunnel through the entire mountain.
Gojo laughed, the gash closing even as he spoke, his teeth visible through the tattered flesh of his cheek for a split second before the skin overlapped and smoothed out.
SWISH——!
Mimicking Regulus's own movement, Gojo seized the Archbishop's collar, twisted his body with the momentum of a falling star, and drove a punch down like a meteor. His eyes went dull—the state of total, unconscious focus.
"——BLACK FLASH!!"
The impact sounded like the world breaking in half. Regulus was rocketed downward, breaking through the cloud cover at Mach speeds. The green canopy of the forest reappeared below.
Gojo's chest heaved, but he wasn't done. He couldn't kill the man yet, but he could bury him.
"Blue… Maximum Output——!!"
A massive blue sphere bloomed in the sky—a gravitational void that screamed as it chased Regulus. It didn't need to land; that wasn't the goal.
Instead, the void's pull dragged thousands of tons of mountain—every piece of debris from their battle—downward in a concentrated avalanche.
The sky rained destruction, a pillar of stone and earth that blocked out the sun, all targeting a single point on the world's surface.
——Regulus.
The impact trembled the entire continent. A square mile of the forest was simply crushed under the weight of the mountain Gojo had brought down.
Gojo hovered above the dust cloud, his breath ragged, blood still dripping from half-healed wounds that sizzled with positive energy. He stared down at the tomb of rock.
"Stay down for a minute, bastard."
Gojo hissed, his eyes scanning the debris.
"I've got a student to check on."
Though his brows furrowed. There were dozens of presences somewhat near to Regulus just outside the reach of all the anarchy, his six-eyes informed him so.
There were atleast a hundred down there, all unfamiliar.
Cultists..? I don't sense Rem or Subaru… and I've gotta be quick with that monster soon to burst out of the little mountain I've made for him...
————————————————
Subaru's anguished screams tore through the cavern, echoing off the damp stone walls. He wrenched at his chains, the skin on his wrists stripping away to raw, red meat.
"I'LL KILL YOU... I— I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"
Petelgeuse's grin stretched so wide it seemed to split his face in two. He threw his arms out in a mock embrace.
"Ah! At last! Such passion! Such feeeeeeervor! Thank you, thank YOU!! Fellow devotee of LOVE! To feel such hatred is to acknowledge the depth of your heart! You are truly... BLESSED!"
The Archbishop turned his back on the boy, ignoring the carpet of his own slaughtered cultists that Rem had felled before her capture.
"Oh my... this place has truly become quite messy, hasn't it?! Alright, alright! Men, resume your duties and rendezvous with the other Fingers! We must prepare for the advent!"
Suddenly—
THUD—! CRASH——!
The ceiling didn't collapse; it vanished. A sphere of radiant blue light ate through the stone, swallowing rock and dirt until the cavern was bathed in the harsh light of the outside world.
"——You damn sicko."
The voice was like a glacier cracking. Before Petelgeuse could even turn his head, a fist buried itself in his face.
The force was astronomical.
The Archbishop was sent skipping across the floor like a stone over water, slamming into the far wall with an explosive thud that cratered the rock.
Gojo Satoru landed in the center of the room, his white hair messy and his clothes in tatters. He didn't look at the monster he'd just punched. He looked at Subaru.
With a flick of his wrist, the chains binding Subaru snapped like dry twigs. Subaru didn't even say thank you; he scrambled toward Rem's mangled form, his hands hovering over her, terrified that touching her would break what was left.
"Please... live..." her voice was a ghost of a whisper. "I— I love you... Subaru...."
"Rem! Rem, stay with me!" Subaru sobbed.
Then—the air shifted. It grew heavy, oily, and ancient.
From the shadows of the far wall, Petelgeuse reemerged. His face was a ruin—his nose was gone, one eye hung from its socket by a thread of muscle, and his jaw was hanging by a single hinge.
"How... HOWHOWHOWHOWHOW?!" he shrieked, clawing at his face until his nails drew fresh blood.
"MY BRAIN... IT TREMBLES! TO BE STRUCK BY SOMETHING I CANNOT SEE? BY A FORCE THAT DEFIES THE UNSEEN?! IT IS INCONCEIVABLE!"
"Tsck…"
But Petelgeuse wasn't the reason Gojo's skin was crawling.
"...You have truly outraged me beyond all reason," a calm, measured voice drifted from the cave entrance. "You have trampled over my rights, and the mercy I respectfully offered—only to scorn it, attacking me like some mindless beast!"
Regulus Corneas stepped into the light. He looked as if he had just stepped out of a bath. Not a speck of dust from the mountain Gojo had dropped on him remained on his white coat.
Crap.
Gojo thought, his Six Eyes vibrating with warning.
He's faster than I expected for a guy who got buried beneath a mountain.
"Subaru... take her and get out of here. Now."
"Gojo-sensei, but—"
"Go you damn moron, you're just in my way!"
Gojo shoved him.
As Subaru turned to run, Regulus sighed.
"To leave while I am speaking? To turn your back on a man of my standing? That is a violation of my dignity that I simply cannot allow."
Regulus flicked his wrist. He didn't throw a punch; he just moved his hand through the air.
FWOOM——
Gojo threw himself in front of the trajectory. Infinity flickered—and failed. The invisible force tore through Gojo's side, eviscerating his shoulder, part of his torso, and half of his face in a spray of crimson.
"GOJO-SENSEI!!!" Subaru screamed, frozen in horror.
"GET OUT OF HERE—NOW, YOU IDIOT!"
Gojo roared through a half-shattered jaw, the Reverse Cursed Technique already sizzling as it struggled to stitch his vital organs back together.
As Subaru vanished into the forest with Rem, Petelgeuse began to howl.
"No... no no no—! That would be slothful! To let them escape?! SLOTHFUL!"
He unleashed scores of Unseen Hands, black limbs of shadow reaching for Subaru's retreating back.
Gojo raised his one good hand, his eyes burning with a terrifying, final light.
"I told you... I'm the one you're fighting. Blue."
A swirling vortex erupted in the center of the cave, pulling in the rocks, the cultists' bodies, and even the Unseen Hands themselves, crushing them into a singularity before they could reach the exit.
Petelgeuse fell to his knees, ripping at his hair.
"THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! How do you interfere with my gift from the Witch?! It is incomprehensible!"
Regulus scowled, stepping past the sobbing Archbishop.
"Of course—a mind as fractured as his wouldn't grasp something so simple. You aren't 'interfering,' are you? You're just... loud. A loud, dying man making a mess of my afternoon."
Gojo exhaled slowly, his vision blurring.
This is it. One shot. Everything I've got left.
He centered his core. He stopped trying to heal the hole in his side, redirecting every drop of cursed energy into the palm of his hand.
He merged the two infinities—the pulling and the pushing.
What am I doing…? I don't want to die, not at all——so why am I sticking around to protect Subaru…?
The Lapse and the Reversal.
"You fool."
Regulus said, stopping ten feet away.
"Feel free to obliterate that screaming fiend beside me, but I will remain untouched. It is my right. As it's been stated by the words of the gospel... you will die, and I will remain perfect."
Gojo didn't look at him. He looked at the space between them. His fingers formed a new, sacred sign.
"Imaginary Technique..."
The world went silent. A deep, swirling purple orb began to coalesce—dark energy that didn't just destroy matter, it deleted the very concept of it.
"——Hollow Purple."
The orb roared forward.
It split the cave in two, tearing through the floor, the walls, and the mountain itself.
Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti didn't even have time to scream; he was simply erased, his madness silenced in a flash of violet.
The dust settled. The cave was now a canyon, open to the sky.
Regulus Corneas stood in the center of the void. He was hovering on the empty air where the floor used to be, his hand resting calmly behind his back. His coat was still white. His hair was still perfect.
"A valiant effort," Regulus said, his voice dripping with pity. "But ultimately... a greedy one."
Gojo felt a sharp, burning sting in his chest. His eyes darkened.
"...Damn it..."
With a sickening, wet sound, Gojo's torso slid off his lower half. The "still" air Regulus had thrown earlier had finally completed its transit through his body.
Satoru Gojo collapsed into the dirt, his head tilted back toward the shattered sky.
How stupid… am I?
He took one last breath as he looked at the sun.
And just like that... the Strongest died.
But as the light left his eyes, the temperature didn't just drop—it vanished.
A cold that surpassed the reach of the seasons began to bleed from the forest, an icy, mourning rage that threatened to entomb the world in silver.