Subaru sat perfectly upright, his fingers steepled in front of his face.
He leaned forward just enough to command the space, his gaze heavy and fixed.
There was a new fire in his eyes as he faced the woman before him.
Across from him, Crusch Karsten sat like a commander, flanked by Wilhelm and a curiously stood Felix.
"I propose an alliance between the Emilia, Satoru and Crusch camps..."
Subaru said, his voice dropping into a calm, authoritative register.
"Equal terms. Mutual benefit."
Crusch's brows knit together, her eyes narrowing as she searched for the catch.
"...What?"
"I don't expect a seat at the table for free..."
Subaru continued, unfazed.
"I've brought the missing piece of your puzzle: the exact time and location of the White Whale."
The atmosphere in the room didn't just change; it curdled.
Wilhelm's entire demeanor shifted. His jaw tensed, and his gloved fists clenched until the leather groaned under the strain.
A cold, jagged bloodlust began to radiate from the old man's shoulders like a physical weight.
"...The White Whale."
"Scary bloodlust, old man~"
Satoru Gojo was suddenly there. He hadn't walked in; he was simply present, his hands resting casually on the back of Subaru's chair. His sunglasses caught the light, and that familiar smirk was plastered across his face.
"GAHK—! Can you stop doing that?!" Subaru jolted, nearly falling out of his seat. "My heart is actually going to stop!"
Gojo tilted his head, his white hair catching the sun.
"Doing what?" He smirked wider. "You're imagining things, Subaru. I've been here for, like, five minutes."
Crusch cleared her throat, her sharp gaze cutting through the banter to redirect the flow.
"Your point being, Natsuki Subaru? We've already been planning the White Whale's subjugation. In fact... we've been coordinating with Gojo-san already."
Subaru's head snapped toward his teacher.
"Eh?! Since when—?!"
Gojo waved a hand dismissively. "Hey, you were busy being a bit of a loser at the Crusch Estate, alright? Don't give me that look——I'm not the type to betray my only student."
His tone lost its levity for a heartbeat as he turned to Crusch.
"Yeah. We've been talking for some time, Subaru, remember what I said at the Royal Selection?"
"That you were gonna take it down solo?" Subaru muttered.
Gojo nodded, shrugging.
"Well, yeah, until I realized how much this camp was itching for a fight. I'm the strongest, sure, but I'm not such a clout-chaser that I'd ignore an old man's burning desire for revenge just to play the solo hero. That would be in poor taste, wouldn't it?"
"You sure it's not because you just want to watch the fireworks?" Subaru whispered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
Gojo chuckled, then looked at Crusch with a more focused intensity.
"We've got the firepower and the prep——but no confirmed window. Not even I can sniff out exactly when that oversized sushi roll decides to breach."
Subaru raised a hand, reclaiming the spotlight.
"And that's the most important part... this alliance is crucial. I provide the 'when,' you provide the 'how,' and we stay united until the White Whale is dead."
He paused, locking eyes with Crusch.
"I know I'm asking for a lot. But I don't make claims I can't back up."
Crusch didn't blink. Her analytical gaze shifted from Subaru to Gojo, then back again.
"My concern isn't dishonesty... my concern is whether your information is actually... accurate."
Subaru smiled thinly. He reached into his tracksuit pocket and placed his flip-phone onto the table.
Crusch and Felix leaned in, puzzled by the strange, silver object.
"It's a metia of sorts... and it will tell me the exact moment and coordinate the whale will appear."
Gojo's brow twitched. He leaned over Subaru's shoulder, peering at the supposed 'metia' with a knowing glint in his eyes.
So, he's masking the source. Using 'the truth' of the phone to hide the 'why.' Clever. Since he believes the phone will tell him, Crusch's lie detector won't trip. I guess I'll play along for now...
Crusch picked up the phone cautiously.
"...I find that difficult to believe. Buut, you are not lying."
Subaru tilted his head.
"Sure you want to trust me so easily?"
Gojo leaned down, grinning next to Subaru's ear.
"That'd be thanks to a handy little cheat code. Crusch here is a human lie detector. She sees the 'wind' around people's words."
Subaru blinked.
"Right... you did say something about that back during the Royal Selection..."
Crusch's eyes narrowed at Gojo.
"And how exactly do you know the nature of my Protection? I have never disclosed its specifics to you."
Gojo winked, sliding a finger down the edge of his glasses to reveal a sliver of brilliant, crystalline blue.
"Same reason I called you and Reinhard the best lie detectors in the room back at the Selection... I've got reaaaaally good eyes. I see everything, Crusch-san. The wind, the mana... even the stuff you try to hide."
Subaru let out a long, theatrical sigh and waved Gojo off.
"Alright, alright! Enough with the flexing, Sensei! You're ruining the 'cool negotiator' vibe I had going!"
Subaru stood up, extending a hand across the table.
"So? Do we have a deal?"
Crusch didn't move for a long second. Then, a genuine, subtle smile touched her lips.
"I'm impressed. Not just by your information, but by the fact that you deduced we were already hunting the whale."
"That part is... actually a little freaky..."
Gojo muttered, sounding legitimately impressed.
Crusch rose, meeting Subaru's hand with a firm, resolute grip.
"I have questions——many of them. But... I choose to trust the weight in your eyes. They speak of a resolve that has already paid a heavy price."
Gojo clapped his hands together and grinned.
"Woo! Consider this alliance... allianced! I'll bring the snacks, you guys bring the army!"
Subaru deadpanned.
"Please stop talking dude."
———————————————
Gojo lay sprawled across the rooftop of the Karsten mansion, the wind tugging at the silver-white strands of his hair.
With his fingers interlocked behind his head, he stared lazily into the blue abyss of the sky—sunlight filtering through high, thin clouds, warm and utterly indifferent to the chaos brewing below.
The air was quiet. Deceptively so.
The White Whale...
His sunglasses glinted, but the eyes hidden beneath them were miles away, scanning data that didn't exist in any book.
Outside of that red-haired weirdo—Reinhard—who frankly bends the very concept of power just by breathing... I've got no yardstick for "strong" in this world....
His fingers tapped a rhythmic beat against his skull.
Will it make me break a sweat? Will it actually make me think? Will it be fun?
He frowned, a rare flicker of self-reproach crossing his face.
Should I even consider it fun? After what it did to Wilhelm's wife? After what it's done to this world?
The thought lingered. Gojo wasn't oblivious. He'd seen the iron in Wilhelm's gaze—a man who had spent decades sharpening his soul into a single, vengeful point.
To Wilhelm, this wasn't a 'boss battle.' It was a funeral that was forty years overdue.
"I'll fight it... because it's a stain on the world."
His lopsided grin returned, sharper this time.
"But if it tries anything fancy... I'm going to enjoy deconstructing it."
The rooftop creaked. A specific, frantic weight.
"Yo," Gojo said lazily, not moving an inch. "You're gonna get wrinkles before you hit twenty looking all nervous, y'know."
Subaru halted a few feet away, arms crossed tightly over his tracksuit.
"Kind of hard to walk light when we're heading into a death match with a flying apocalypse, Gojo-sensei."
Gojo cracked open one eye, tilting his head just enough to glimpse the boy. Subaru looked incredibly tired, the mental kind.
He sat down beside Gojo, pulling his knees to his chest.
For a long minute, neither spoke. The sky stretched above them, vast and untouched by the blood that was about to be spilled.
"Do you ever get scared?" Subaru broke the silence, his voice small.
Gojo didn't answer immediately. He stared back up at the sun, letting the question hang in the air like a soap bubble.
"Hmm..." he hummed. "In all honesty? Not really."
Subaru blinked, looking over.
"——Seriously? Not even a little?"
Gojo chuckled dryly.
"Back home, from the moment I was born, I was... untouchable. I never bled. I never bruised. I was a prodigy born a head and shoulders above the rest of the world. It sounds great on paper, but it means I never actually had to try for anything."
"Sounds like a reaaal tragedy." Subaru said with a splash of sarcasm.
"I know, right!~ Truly the saddest story ever told!"
Gojo chirped, before his tone leveled out.
"But it makes me wonder what it's like to be normal. To have a fight that demands everything you have——and then a little more... just to survive."
Subaru's eyes narrowed. A flash of a memory—one he shouldn't have, yet couldn't forget—hit him. He saw Gojo shoved aside, a spray of red, half a torso missing. He saw the arm torn away in the snow. Both times, the "Strongest" had bled because he was protecting him.
Subaru scowled, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white.
Regulus Corneas...
A gust of wind swept across the roof, whipping Gojo's coat and Subaru's hair.
"A lot of people died to that whale." Subaru said.
Gojo sat up finally, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked at Subaru——not as a teacher to a student, but as an actual equal.
"Then let's make sure it breathes its last today. Together, right?"
Subaru looked up, meeting that piercing blue gaze.
"Yeah. Together."
Gojo's grin widened into its usual, high-energy mask.
"Alright then! After this whale is sushi, I say we take a week off. Hot springs! A vacation! Maybe a date——wait, no, that's weird... definitely not a date."
Subaru made a face of pure disgust.
"What is actually wrong with you?"
"Too much~" Gojo said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "And absolutely nothing at the same time!"
They both laughed. The tension didn't vanish, but it shifted. It became a weight they were carrying together.
"Oh, crap! I totally forgot why I came up here!" Subaru jumped to his feet. "Crusch is about to start her big speech! The army's waiting!"
Gojo rolled onto his feet with effortless grace.
"Ah, sounds lame. Speeches are just a lot of words for 'don't die,' aren't they?"
"Just move it, Sensei!"
———————————————
Dozens of soldiers thundered across the open plain, their ground dragons churning up massive clouds of golden dust.
Metal clanked with a rhythmic, warlike intensity, armor glinting under the midday sun.
The formation moved as a single, surging wave of steel driving toward the horizon.
Among them, Satoru Gojo sat upright on his mount, looking entirely out of place.
His posture was deceptively relaxed, hands resting loosely on the reins. It was a surreal sight—magic, muscle, and medieval warfare.
It felt like someone had ripped a page out of a high-fantasy epic and dropped him right into the center of it all.
A familiar duo drew up beside him, the thunder of their mount's claws announcing their arrival.
Subaru, perched atop a sleek, jet-black ground dragon that moved with a predatory, unnatural ease, flashed a smirk. Rem sat behind him, her arms wrapped securely around his waist, her expression a serene contrast to the high-speed advance.
Gojo narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses, giving the black dragon a long, appraising look.
"How the hell did you, of all people, end up with the coolest ground dragon of the lot?"
Gojo asked.
"That thing looks like it eats nightmares for breakfast."
Subaru's grin turned insufferably smug.
"One could call it fate. Or chemistry. Maybe even love at first sight. Patrasche and I? We just speak the same language."
"Yeah, or it's dumb luck. You probably tripped onto its tail and it imprinted on you out of pity..."
Gojo replied flatly. To prove a point, he suddenly stood up on his dragon's saddle, balancing perfectly as the beast sprinted. He folded his arms, posing like he was on the cover of a fashion magazine.
"Betcha can't do this, though. Zero cursed energy required."
"OH, IS THAT A CHALLENGE?!"
Gojo swore he saw Subaru's mount, Patrasche, visibly roll her eyes as the boy began to rise—shakily—onto the saddle.
"See? Easy. I'm a natural at——"
SWOOSH——!
Gravity reclaimed its prize. Subaru's foot slipped, and he went tumbling backward into the dust.
Or he would have, if Rem hadn't casually reached out, snagging the back of his tracksuit mid-air. She hoisted him back into the seat with the effortless strength of an Oni, barely breaking her stride.
"BAHAHAHAHA!" Gojo cackled like a mad-man.
"Subaru-kun... you shouldn't fall for such obvious baits..." she said softly, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips.
"Right? Especially when he's built like a wet noodle!" Gojo added, grinning like a wolf from his standing position.
Subaru pouted, adjusting his jacket.
"You two are a nightmare together. I'm surrounded by bullies."
The humor evaporated as quickly as it had arrived.
Rem leaned forward, her tone shifting, her eyes sharpening as they scanned the treeline in the distance.
"Satoru-sama... Subaru believes that once the Whale is dealt with, the Witch's Cult will immediately target Arlam village and the mansion."
Gojo blinked, the playfulness wiped clean from his face. He hopped back down into a seated position, his gaze locking onto Subaru.
"…And you forgot to mention that little detail during the war meeting?"
Subaru looked down, his grip on the reins tightening until his knuckles turned white. The light in his eyes dimmed, replaced by a haunting shadow of guilt.
"It's because of Emilia... and the choice I made. If we don't move fast enough, the mansion becomes a grave."
The air grew heavier, the sound of the marching army suddenly feeling like a ticking clock.
"…Right. Fanatics. Witch-obsessed lunatics who don't know when to quit."
Gojo's voice was quieter now, a dangerous edge vibrating in his throat.
"Annoying. Right now, we've got a mountain-sized fish to turn into sashimi. But after that?"
He adjusted his glasses, a spark of blue visible for a split second.
"They'll regret the decision to cross us."
——————————————
The colossal tree loomed overhead, its titanic branches piercing the clouds as if trying to strangle the heavens.
Satoru Gojo stood at its base, neck craned, his sunglasses reflecting the silver glow of the moon.
He let out a low, appreciative whistle.
"Now that is one hell of a tree..."
He wasn't easily impressed. Back on Earth, he'd seen the architectural wonders of the modern world, but this?
A natural-formed skyscraper that dwarfed mountains and redefined the horizon?
Even he had to admit that awe was the only appropriate response.
His eyes drifted downward. The soldiers of the Crusch camp were arrayed in disciplined lines, silent and steady atop their restless ground dragons. The air was thick, brimming with the static electricity of impending slaughter.
Gojo was the only one on foot, hands deep in his pockets, leaning against the ancient bark as if he were waiting for a bus.
Then——
A sharp, digital ringtone sliced through the silence. Subaru's phone. The signal.
Crusch's eyes sharpened into flint.
"Men, on guard!"
A ripple of unrest spread through the ranks. Nervous eyes scanned the velvet sky.
"I—I don't see it!" One soldier called out.
Gojo tilted his head, a slight, predatory grin curling at his lips.
"There it is…"
High above, framed perfectly against the full moon, a massive silhouette drifted silently. Then——ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
A bellow unlike anything natural tore through the night. It was the sound of a god's throat being shredded. The White Whale had arrived.
SWOOOOSH—
It plummeted like a fallen fortress, the wind screaming in its wake. Gojo chuckled.
"Fast for a literal flying fish. This might actually be fun!
"Let 'em have it!!"
Subaru roared, rising in his saddle as Patrasche rushed at full speed.
Beside him, Rem's hands shimmered with mana——spears of jagged ice launched skyward, burying themselves into the whale's underbelly.
It howled, more outraged than injured.
Crusch Karsten stayed back, her gaze sharp.
"Fire it at once!"
From the rear of the formation, a hidden monolithic cannon unveiled itself.
BOOM——!!
A beam of blinding light tore across the sky, turning night into a false, brilliant day.
Gojo's jaw slackened.
"…What the hell was that?"
"The Night Banisher." Crusch replied coolly.
"Yeah, I figured that part out..." Gojo muttered, stretching his shoulders until they popped. "Suppose this is where I clock in. Ciao~!"
Space rippled. Gojo vanished, reality folding around him before he vanished.
He reappeared mid-charge, hovering just ahead of Subaru and Rem's speeding dragon.
"S-Sensei?!"
Gojo waved casually.
"Yo. You weren't kidding about being a Witchbeast magnet, huh?"
The creature's jaws unhinged, ready to consume the entire vanguard. Gojo didn't flinch.
At the last possible moment, he vaulted——a single, fluid movement into the air.
His heel slammed onto the whale's skull. A shockwave exploded outward, snapping the air and shattering the earth beneath the beast's massive weight. The whale was driven into the dirt, carving a trench of broken stone for fifty meters.
Gojo landed lightly, dust swirling around his coat.
"Not bad, Crusch Karsten!"
A deep, invisible wind-gash had split the beast's flesh a moment later.
"That wind blade of hers packs a decent punch..."
But his smile sharpened as he looked at the beast. It was already rising.
"Still only took off about 1HP. Guess I'll have to try a bit harder."
Gojo reached up, pulled his sunglasses from his face, and slid them into his pocket with a soft click. Without their shade, the Six Eyes shimmered with a boundless, celestial glow.
He watched as Wilhelm Astrea landed before the behemoth, his blade drawn in a blur of steel.
"I have dreamed of nothing but this day... FOR THE PAST FOURTEEN YEARS——!!"
Wilhelm lunged. He was a ghost of war, flipping through the sky in a master's spiral.
The blade pierced the whale's cranium. Blood erupted like a geyser, staining Wilhelm's face crimson. He didn't relent; he sprinted across the beast's back as if it were solid ground, his blade tearing a seam through the white hide.
When he was flung off, he didn't panic. He trusted the white-haired boy beneath him him.
Gojo blurred through the air, grinning with the thrill of the hunt.
BOOM——!!
Gojo's strike landed like a lightning strike, but the whale was resilient. It shuddered, descending faster. Gojo hovered, feet planted on nothing, palm raised.
"Who said your turn was up? Go get 'em!"
A flick of his wrist
"——Blue!"
Gravity twisted. Wilhelm was caught in a spatial tether and flung upward——back into the air like a human bullet.
"Thank you… Satoru!"
The battle became a symphony of violence. Crusch's wind blades tore through the hide; a barrage of Al Goa fire magic from the mages boiled the whale's blood.
A massive explosion consumed the creature in a column of fire. But through the smoke, the whale emerged, eyes gleaming with primal rage.
Gojo sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Even tougher than it looks. All that... and we've maybe shaved off a quarter of its health."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Guess I'll wait a little longer before I really let loose. Oi——old man, batter up!"
Gojo leapt, soaring over Wilhelm in an arc with his arm reeled backwards.
"Aaaand——UP WE GO!"
With a snap of motion, Blue warped space, snatching Wilhelm and hurling him with explosive force toward the whale's head.
"——HYAAAHHH!!"
Wilhelm's sword plunged deep. He ripped the blade sideways, cleaving through the whale's massive golden eyelid.
A roar of agony exploded as the whale's eye was torn from its socket, plummeting to the earth and forming a crater. Wilhelm stood atop the fallen eye, drenched in gore, sword poised like judgment itself.
Even Subaru could only stare in awe. Gojo landed beside him with a smirk.
"Now that was badass. But I'm guessing that didn't even dent its appetite."
The air suddenly shifted. The whale unhinged its jaw and roared—a sound that shattered the atmosphere.
FWOOOOOOM—!!!
A tidal wave of Fog of Elimination burst from the whale's body, engulfing the field. Visibility dropped to zero.
"This stuff's thick... it's dulling even my senses..." Gojo muttered, his eyes scanning the white void. "Subaru? Wilhelm?"
His instincts screamed.
A beam of condensed mist slammed into him. The ground beneath him evaporated, but Gojo stood unharmed. Infinity had triggered on instinct.
"Alright. That could've been bad... Not gonna keep it on the whole time. No fun bullying a whale."
He sensed Subaru's cursed energy and tore through the mist like a meteor. He materialized beside the black dragon.
"——Yo!"
"Argh! Gojo-sensei??! How do you always jumpscare me in a warzone?!" Subaru yelled.
The whale's tail slammed into the earth nearby. Gojo's brows furrowed.
"...It's adjusting. It's trying to predict me. Badass!"
The ground beneath Gojo exploded. He flipped, landing on a flying chunk of stone, balancing effortlessly.
"This mist is getting real old though..."
He weighed his options. Should he vaporize it? Should he let Wilhelm finish it?
Suddenly, a massive tail cut through the fog like a guillotine.
It slammed into Gojo mid-thought, sending him flying like a comet across the battlefield. He hit the trunk of Flugel's Tree with a deafening crash in the distance.
Gojo remained embedded in the trunk, half-buried in the wood. He coughed, a thin trail of blood dripping from his forehead.
"I've gotta stop letting my guard down..."
———————————————
CRACK—!!
The sky didn't just split; it shattered.
From the shifting curtain of the Fog of Elimination, a flash of white and blue—the whale's tail, a mountain-sized guillotine of muscle—smashed directly into Gojo's side. The impact sounded like two continents colliding.
"SENSEI—!!" Subaru's lungs felt like they had collapsed.
Gojo was launched like a stray bullet from a railgun. He was a blur of violet light rocketing through the mist, vanishing into the charcoal heavens above. And then—nothing. No sarcastic laugh. No cocky quip about his dry cleaning. Just the hollow, whistling wind.
He can't be dead. He's the "Strongest." He's the cheat code... he must be fine!
Subaru's fists clenched so hard his skin tore. Cursed energy—black, jagged, and fueled by desperation——flared around him. He didn't think. He didn't plan. He simply stood atop Patrasche's sprinting back, balanced by pure, unadulterated spite.
And then he jumped forth.
A purple comet of amateurish but lethal energy streaked through the air toward the whale's blood-colored eye.
BOOM—!!
His fist crashed forward with a sickening squelch, burying itself in the gelatinous orb.
Right beside him, Wilhelm Astrea burst from the mist like a vengeful specter, his blade driving deep into the surrounding socket. Their eyes met for a micro-second—a moment of mutual, frantic recognition.
Shock. Respect. And the shared knowledge that they were both insane.
The whale shrieked, a sound of maddened, primal agony. It ignored the Sword Demon completely, its jaw unhinging like a gate to hell as it lunged at Subaru with a murderous, singular hunger.
Subaru dove aside, feeling the heat of the beast's breath as it thundered past.
The earth erupted where he had been standing a heartbeat before.
From the clouds, Rem descended while her horn gleaming with a light that pushed back the dark. Her iron mace whistled through the air.
SLAM——!
The spiked weight embedded into the whale's back. Using the chain as a pivot, she swung herself forward, driving both feet directly into the eye Subaru had just pulverized.
The beast thrashed like a mountain trying to shake off ants.
Subaru gave her a thumbs-up mid-air as he plummeted back toward Patrasche. They regrouped for a heartbeat, the dragon's claws throwing sparks against the stone.
"Do I really smell that good?!" Subaru yelled over the roar.
Rem didn't miss a beat as she swung her flail.
"No, it's awful, Subaru-kun!"
"...Ouch. You didn't have to be that honest!"
High above, a silhouette stood atop the whale's spine. Wilhelm, drenched in gore, looked like a statue of war.
"You ignore me, monster?" He roared, his voice cracking with fourteen years of suppressed rage. "After all this time?!"
His sword drove deep—but the whale banked hard, ascending with a violent surge that sent the old man tumbling toward the unforgiving earth.
Wilhelm hit the ground hard, skidding on one knee. He was stunned, his breath gone. The whale turned mid-air, its massive bulk descending like a falling star to crush him.
Subaru's heart hammered against his ribs.
He won't make it. He's going to die without seeing it end!
Subaru suddenly moved, on instinct——
Cursed energy exploded beneath his boots as he rocketed forward, his form shimmering with a deep, furious violet. His lips moved before his brain could veto the risk.
"I can return by—GHHK—!!"
The invisible Witch's Hand tightened on his heart, but the power erupted anyway.
The energy twisted——darker, sharper, breaking the limits of his physical frame.
FWOOSH—!!
He was on the other side of the battlefield in a blur. Wilhelm was in his arms, the old man blinking in sheer bewilderment.
"S-Subaru...!?"
Subaru set him down, his own hands trembling but raised in a guard.
"No time for the 'thank you' speech, old man! Hey, whale! You know how good I smell?! Come get a taste of the main course!"
The whale roared, the mist churning in its wake. Subaru laughed—a wild, defiant sound that was a perfect, jagged echo of his teacher.
"——Let's dance!"
He leapt, propelling himself through the air. Mimicking Gojo's somersault to a lesser degree, his hands pried into the whale's raw flesh like vices.
The beast shrieked in annoyance, tilting upward to fly higher, dragging Subaru into the stratosphere.
Then—something changed.
Subaru looked down. He saw two shapes below... hovering. Waiting. A sudden, blinding blast of blue erupted from the center of the mist. A singularity of cursed energy that pulled the fog into itself, tearing the vapor apart in an instant.
The fog vanished in an instant, revealing the moonlit plain in all its terrifying glory. Subaru's eyes widened. There was only one person in the world who could do that.
"——Gojo-sensei!"
High above, one hand extended, floated Satoru Gojo. His coat was tattered, and a thin trail of blood dripped over one eye, but he looked like a god who had just woken up from a nap.
His cocky, white-toothed grin cut through the darkness.
"Sorry I'm late," Gojo called out, his voice echoing perfectly across the clearing. "The view from up there was great, but I think I'm ready to finish my chores."
——————————————
"Sorry I'm late, Subaru..."
Though the roar of the wind and the distance between them made speech impossible, they didn't need words. The moment their eyes locked——a silent understanding passed between them.
Subaru simply nodded and smiled.
Slowly, agonizingly, Subaru stood upright atop the very edge of the whale's snout. He was a speck of dust on the nose of a titan, but he stood tall.
Gojo watched through the Six Eyes, his perception of the world slowing to a crawl.
That's my student, alright. Mad enough to be a sorcerer, I'd say it's about time to wrap this up.
Their gazes locked one last time across the battlefield——and Subaru jumped. He didn't fall; he launched himself backward into the abyss, arms swung wide as if embracing the sky.
The beast followed. It didn't care about the army or the Sword Demon anymore. It was drawn by that scent—the thick, miasmic stench of the Witch that clung to Subaru like a shroud. It lunged, a mountain of flesh falling through the air with murderous intent.
Subaru just grinned as he plummeted.
"...Let's see how much you like surprises."
High above, Gojo turned his gaze toward the towering summit of Flugel's Tree.
He vanished, reappearing at the very peak where the branches were as thick as buildings.
CRACK—!!
Gojo's fist shattered the base of the branch in a singular blue-infused punch. Then, with a sharp intake of breath and a smirk that promised total annihilation, he braced his feet against the wood.
Every ounce of cursed energy in his absurdly overpowered frame surged into his shoulders.
He didn't just drop it. He hurled it.
"Now... EAT THIS TREE, YOU STUPID FISH!"
The branch didn't fall; it ignited. It screamed through the air like a colossal javelin, a blur of splintering wood and displaced atmosphere.
Below, Subaru continued to fall, laughing like a madman with the whale's maw mere meters from his boots.
The branch speared clean through the beast's flank. The brach didn't just strike; it impaled, the jagged tip bursting out the other side in an overwhelming spray of blood.
The White Whale's roar of agony was silenced as it was pinned to the physics of the world.
It spiraled uncontrollably, a fallen god dragged down by a branch, before crashing into the plains below.
BOOOOOOM—!!
The earth split. A mushroom cloud of dust and pulverized stone erupted skyward, the shockwave flattening the surrounding grass for miles. The titanic body carved a trench into the battlefield, finally coming to a dead, heavy halt.
Silence followed. A ringing, heavy silence.
Subaru was still falling, the ground rushing up to meet him at terminal velocity——
"—Wait wait wait!"
The air thickened. A pocket of Blue manifested beneath him, acting as a spatial cushion that decelerated his descent in a heartbeat. He hit the grass with a soft thud, his legs giving out immediately.
Rem reached him first, her blue maid uniform tattered, her eyes frantic with a mixture of terror and relief.
"Subaru-kun!! Are you hurt?! Can you hear me?!"
Subaru coughed, his lungs burning, his vision swimming. He looked up, managed a weak, shaky smile.
"... Never been better, Rem. Just... catching my breath."
A shadow fell over them.
Gojo stood there, his coat torn and his face smeared with a mix of blood and soot. He looked like he'd been through a thresher, yet he was casually polishing his sunglasses with a piece of his shirt.
"Yo~."
Subaru squinted at him, his voice a hoarse rasp.
"Cutting it a little... close, don't you think... Sensei?"
Gojo slid the glasses back onto the bridge of his nose before wiping a stray smudge of blood from his cheek.
Then, he flashed a grin so bright it felt like the sun was rising early.
"Close is stylish, Subaru. It keeps the audience on their toes."
He stepped forward, offering a hand to haul his student up.
"And besides... the hero's always fashionably late, right?"
——————————————
With a roar that echoed through the clearing, Wilhelm charged forward, muscles coiling like a spring. Every step carried the weight of his years, of his loss, of his unyielding resolve.
The whale twisted, trying to shake him off, but Wilhelm was faster. More determined.
He leapt—soaring with an almost desperate grace, blade gleaming in the sunlight overhead before he brought it directly down atop the whale, this time between ribs, where the skin was thinner, and far more vulnerable.
His sword sank deep, far deeper than any of his attacks prior, piercing muscle and flesh with a sickening squelch.
The whale screamed—a sound of pure, tortured rage and defeat.
Wilhelm twisted the blade, the metal biting into the giant beast further.
And then, with a roar, he pulled the sword free, shifting the metal into the air, hand only clutching tighter on the hilt.
A spray of red blood erupted, mingling with the dirt and dust beneath it's corpse.
With a guttural cry, Wilhelm drove the blade upwards, straight into the whale's gaping maw—right where its immense jaws could no longer close.
Steel shattered bone, metal screeched against flesh.
The whale's roar turned to a gurgle—its massive body convulsing violently, limbs thrashing wildly as the life bled from it.
Wilhelm slammed his boots against its trembling hide, pushing the sword even deeper, twisting with cruel precision—
Delivering not just a wound, but a sentence.
The death sentence, specifically.
Its movements slowed. Its breath hitched. Its colossal form shuddered—then, with a final, shattering bellow that split the skies, the whale fell still.
Wilhelm stood tall amidst the chaos, chest heaving, blade dripping and still embedded in the beast's still body.-
He looked up, and raised his sword to the sky, eyes shining with fierce triumph.
"Sleep well... Theresia."
He whispered, his eyes fluttering shut as a single tear cut a path through the gore on his cheek.
The weight of fourteen years of nightmare—the phantom pain of a lost love—finally lifted from his shoulders.
They had won.
——Though only half the battle.