Cultists ravaged the evacuated village.
But thanks to intel—and the fact that Subaru could see the Unseen Hands—none of the "Fingers" presented a real threat.
Not with Wilhelm slicing through flesh and false divinity like a storm.
Not with Ferris weaving between the injured, healing as fast as the blades tore.
And not with Subaru, weaving through chaos, cursed energy shrouding his arm.
His fist cracked against a cultist's ribs, the force launching them like a ragdoll.
"Whoo... definitely not Betelgeuse," Subaru muttered, lowering his stance.
BOOM—!
A deep explosion ripped through the far end of the village.
Purple, disfigured hands erupted into the sky—dozens of them.
"That way!" Subaru barked, sprinting ahead, Wilhelm close behind.
Sliding into the open—
"My brain... TREMBLES! TREMBLES, TREMBLEEES! ..You—"
The cultist twitched unnaturally, that crooked posture unmistakable.
Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti. Again.
Even in another body, the madness was identical. The broken laughter. The frantic gestures.
"You thought crushing my head would end me?! FOOLISHNESS! Sloth! Yes...! that was SLOTHFUL, so very... very... VERYVERYVERY SLOTHFUL!"
He bit his own finger, blood spilling.
"Hmph. That's enough noise from you, Archbishop!"
Wilhelm dashed forward, sword flashing like steel wind.
SWOOSH—!!
Dozens of Unseen Hands surged forth.
"Wilhelm!" Subaru shouted.
SWISH—!
But Wilhelm was faster.
His blade hummed through the air, slicing one. Then two. Then three.
Vertical. Diagonal. Horizontal. Each swing destroyed another hand.
"No... nononononono—HOW?!"
Petelgeuse reeled in shock, screaming as a massive purple hand formed from his body and swung downward.
Wilhelm lunged—shifting midair—body slipping through the small cracks between the fingers that fell.
Another strike came from Wilhelm's flank.
CRUSH—!!
A shattering punch from Subaru broke the next arm like glass.
Wilhelm landed, his stance perfect, his blade humming.
SLASH—!!
The cut was deep. Clean. Deadly.
Blood sprayed, and Petelgeuse collapsed forward, choking on his own devotion.
Subaru ran to Wilhelm, panting. "How did you see them?"
"I watched the dust," Wilhelm said, wiping his sword clean. "It revealed their path to me."
"Badass…" Subaru muttered, shaking his head.
"But what about his resurrection thing? Every time we kill him, another cultist becomes him. Does he need a fresh body every time?"
Wilhelm wasn't listening. His gaze turned—
"Subaru. MOVE!"
CRASH—!!
A swarm of purple hands smashed the earth beside them as the pair jumped to evade.
And from the smoke—another Betelgeuse. Another "Finger."
"You... YOUYOUYOU—!"
The new vessel stumbled forward.
"Where is GREED?! He was always punctual! So diligent in his love—and yet he keeps me—WAITING?!"
Subaru tensed, standing beside Wilhelm once again.
"So what... we clear out every Finger and eventually you stay dead?"
———————————————————
MEANWHILE...
Gojo's bloodied, shirtless form was flung skyward like a cursed comet—
BOOM—!
He slammed into the ravine wall, bones groaning under the impact.
Mid-spiral, his heel caught a ledge—a shriek of dust as he landed.
He flicked a hand—
Blue.
The cursed technique howled into being, its gravitational pull yanking his body sideways just as a blade of stillness tore up the ledge he'd just occupied, slicing the air into silence.
Gojo twisted midair, feet surfing falling debris.
His eyes locked downward.
Regulus.
Standing untouched, unmoved. The still center of a collapsing world.
The ravine groaned like a dying beast.
Shattered stone floated, suspended like dead stars. Smoke curled from splintered walls. Falling rock painted the outline of gods at war.
Gojo was heaving, breath ragged, blood spilling freely from wounds his cursed energy could barely keep up with.
Regulus?
Pristine. Untouched, excluding the subtle bruise on his cheek.
But his calm had cracked—just slightly. A twitch at the corner of his eye.
"Still dodging. Still dancing... how pathetic."
His voice thundered across the broken chasm.
Gojo didn't answer.
Couldn't.
His right arm was ruined—cursed energy working overtime to re-stitch nerve, tendon, and shattered bone. Every second a miracle. Every second a warning.
He watched. Waited.
Then—
BOOM—!!
Regulus vanished.
Impact.
A swing, and stillness erupted mid-motion—cutting clean through the cliff behind Gojo like a divine execution.
Gojo twisted—
Too late.
His left arm was gone. Ripped clean off.
Then came the shockwave—
Ribs shattered, lungs filled with blood.
He tumbled across jagged debris, coughing crimson into the dirt.
SWOOSH—!!
Regulus was on him again.
Gojo ducked low, stillness shaving the air just above his head—an absence so sharp it burned.
He countered.
A jab. A feint. Then a blistering roundhouse, fast enough to collapse the stone beneath them.
The kick landed.
Black Flash—!
Space cracked. Light imploded.
And Regulus didn't even blink.
"You're wasting your effort," Regulus said coldly.
"Touch me, and you prove only your own ignorance. You cannot comprehend what I am."
Gojo's bruised face twisted into a grin—blood sliding from the corner of his lips.
"Mmmm? Well, I still find it funny watching those pathetic swings of yours, so I don't really caaaare.."
Regulus snarled in outrage.
———————————————————
"GGRHHKK!!"
Subaru choked, collapsing to his knees, fingers clawing deep trenches into the frozen ground as his lungs seized and his skull pulsed with unnatural pressure.
Something was inside.
Betelgeuse. Writhing, manic, desperate.
Twisting through his synapses like a virus with too many limbs.
But—
Subaru gritted his teeth.
It was just a phrase, just words.
But with the Witch's miasma suffusing his very being, those words had become a weapon—one Subaru could wield in the darkest of moments.
Each time he uttered them, he felt an unnatural coldness ripple through him. Not on his skin, but deeper—gnawing at his heart, scraping the edge of his soul.
In another world… in another loop… that same cold had taken Emilia's life.
And yet—
"I… I can return by de—GRRHK!!"
His body locked up, pain screaming through his nerves as if the phrase had triggered something primordial. Something watching.
A few moments passed.
The weight in his skull lightened. The crawling in his spine eased.
Silence.
And thankfully, once more… he was alone in his head, no insane Sin Archbishop making crazy comments from within his mind.
He exhaled sharply and slowly pushed himself to his feet, legs unsteady but solid enough.
"Whoo…"
Wilhelm approached, sword still in hand, though the blade was chipped and flecked with blood. His eyes narrowed.
"Are you alright, Subaru?"
Subaru gave a half-shrug, brushing dirt off his jacket.
"Yeah… Betelgeuse tried pulling some possession trick again. I don't know what happened exactly, but… he's gone. For good this time."
He looked out over the remains of the battlefield.
The village was barely that anymore—more a graveyard of splinters and scorched earth. Wooden homes lay flattened, reduced to heaps of broken timber and ash.
But among the wreckage stood survivors. And when Subaru spoke again—
"Still… we did it. We beat a Sin Archbishop."
—it was like a fuse was lit.
The realization hit the soldiers all at once. Those who were still conscious, those not already being patched up by Felix's healing magic, began raising their weapons in triumph. Ragged cheers rose into the smoky sky, shaky but genuine.
A rare sound after a war won.
SWOOSH—!
A sudden gust sliced through the noise.
Subaru's head snapped toward the sound. His eyes widened.
"Gojo-sen—sei...?"
There he stood—barely.
Gojo's frame was painted in dried and wet blood, from forehead to waist. Cuts lined his body like a cracked porcelain statue, bruises and lacerations still leaking crimson. His stance wavered.
But his voice remained.
"We won't be seeing Regulus for a while…"
That was all he managed before his legs gave out and he slumped into a sitting position, breath heavy, shoulders trembling.
"If that fight lasted any longer… I would've died."
There was no sarcasm. No smirk.
Just honesty. A rare kind from Satoru Gojo.
Subaru let out a long breath, heart still hammering. Relief hit him in waves. Just the sight of Gojo alive was a miracle.
Felix bolted over, dropping to his knees beside the sorcerer with feline urgency.
"Nyaaa—! You look like you got dragged through a mountain, Gojo! Sit still, I'm healing you right now."
Gojo didn't resist.
"Well.. I actually did but-"
He paused, simply glancing at the blood dripping off his fingers, voice distant.
"I think I lost at least like twenty five limbs in that fight. Pretty sure he literally launched me to a different nation aswell."
Subaru blinked. "You're serious?"
"I joke a lot," Gojo said flatly, "But not about that. Another five minutes and I wouldn't have made it. That guy was... something else."
He leaned back, letting his head rest against a half-buried cart. He looked exhausted—not physically, but deep in his soul.
Subaru knelt beside him, watching the soldiers still celebrating in the background.
"…But it's over now, right?"
Gojo didn't answer immediately. Just stared up at the smoky sky.
Then—
"…Yeah."
Subaru smiled, eyes soft.
"Yeah… it's…"
"…Snowing..? Why is it snowing…?" Gojo's voice was low, brows furrowed in confusion.
It didn't make sense, there was no reason for it to be snowing right now.
No reason...
No.. reason..?
Subaru's mind flashed back to the last time it snowed—the reason why it had been.
A colossal behemoth towering over his half-frozen body.
The Beast of the End.
In accordance with our contract… I will now destroy the world.
A world without Lia is not a world I wish to live in.
A cold sweat broke out on Subaru's forehead. Panic tightened his chest.
"No… no, nono…"
Gojo caught the change instantly; his tone sharpened, darkening.
"What…?"
"This… this means that… Emilia's…"
Gojo cut in, springing to his feet as soon as he had been healed a sufficient amount.
"Well, all we gotta do is find her, right?"
His head snapped toward Ferris.
"Where were they headed? You know?"
"I believe they were moving toward the capital… so my best guess would be nyear Flugel's Tree."
Gojo smirked, extending a hand toward Subaru.
"Good."
A heavy silence stretched between them.
"Well…? Let's get going, dude."
"R-right…"
Subaru took Gojo's hand—but the cold nagging at his thoughts wouldn't let go.
Doesn't the snow already mean… Emilia is—
Suddenly, reality pulsed.
Two figures vanished from thin air.
The next moment—
The towering Flugel's Tree came into view, or atleast the base of it, mist covered any higher than that.
Except everything was frozen. A gale of snow whipped down like winter had come early, relentless and merciless.
Bodies lay half-buried beneath the snow.
Cultists. Children.
Petra's eyes stared glassy and frozen.
Then, through the swirling mist, two golden eyes gleamed—fixed on them, unblinking.
"…Subaru… Gojo…"
A colossal paw tore through the fog.
The towering behemoth emerged—
The Beast of the End.
"P-Puck…?" Subaru's breath caught in the biting cold.
"Ah… you can recognize me?" The voice was cold, unyielding. "No matter. In accordance with my contract… I will end this world."
Gojo's eyes narrowed sharply.
"What…?"
"A world without Emilia… is not one worth living. Do not take it personally. I harbor no ill will toward those Emilia cherishes…"
"Uh, destroying the world sounds pretty damn personal to me!" Gojo yelled, stepping forward.
Subaru opened his mouth, but Puck cut him off, voice darker than before.
"Emilia died protecting the children… but even that was not enough. Even with me… they were too numerous."
Gojo let out a breath and ruffled his hair.
"Bouncing from one final boss to the next, huh? But… Subaru, this is kinda bad. I pretty much completely burnt out my cursed techniques fighting Regulus…"
He chuckled bitterly, raising a hand.
Ice began to form slowly over his skin.
"You should probably get outta here," Gojo said, eyes narrowing. "Not sure how this guy stacks up against Regulus, but he's giving off some seriously dangerous vibes."
His focus snapped back to Puck.
CRACK—CRUNCH—CRACK!
With every heavy step the behemoth took, jagged ice spiraled up around its legs, threatening to trap Gojo in a frozen prison. Flesh peeled away where the cold bit deepest, raw and burning, but Gojo refused to stop.
Subaru couldn't say the same. The ice spread rapidly over him, cruel fingers creeping up his limbs, locking him in place. His breath hitched as frost crept over his skin, numbing every nerve. Helpless, he watched Gojo advance alone.
Gojo's fist drew back, energy screaming through his veins—
IMPACT-!
One of Puck's massive fangs shattered and tore free, the beast's head snapping violently aside.
Then came the crystals—towering shards piercing the air, some as large as houses, others smaller but no less deadly.
Gojo landed hard against the ice with a grimace, fingers barely able to curl into fists.
"You gotta be kidding me..." he muttered, exhaling a slow, tense breath.
Nervousness settled over him like a shadow, but he steadied his stance, legs wide and ready. His face was a mask of icy concentration, pain and determination etched deep into every line.
Fallen Blossoming Emotion!
A technique designed to counter domain expansions by enveloping the user in a protective shroud of cursed energy, striking back the moment contact is made.
Gojo wasn't sure if it would work on pure magic, but he had to try.
With a deep breath, he surged forward. Ice glittered like glass shards, slicing the frozen ground and crashing against his barrier with relentless force.
SWOOSH—
He weaved through the jagged shards, countless pieces slicing shallow wounds into his barrier, but none breaking through fully.
THUD—CRASH!
He leapt onto a towering, jagged mound of ice, the bone-chilling cold biting through his bare foot. Without hesitation, he sprinted along the crest of the icy spire, closing in on the colossal Beast of the End with a fist pulled back to his hip.
"Satoru Gojo... you truly are something impressive..." Puck's voice rumbled through the frozen air.
Then the clash.
Collision was made between fighters.
The Honored One and the Beast of The End at the eye of the storm.
Then..
CRACK-!
———————————————————
———————————————————
———————————————————