The broken city still reeked of ozone and burnt stone.
The horizon beyond the rooftops had been scarred with a black cavity where half of North Tokyo no longer existed, erased by Kaguya's Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball.
Sunlight spilled over the wound of a skyline, light hitting cracked glass and shattered towers like diamonds scattered across a black cloth.
Out of the dust… three figures drifted together — Kaguya, Gojo, and Radahn.
Behind them, from the sky above, a glowing barrier rippled open and lowered carefully.
Inside that spherical cocoon descended the tiny frame of Rin, her feline companion perched on her shoulder. Radahn's protective barrier dissipated as soon as her feet touched cracked ground.
Rin's bright eyes were already sparkling. She ran forward, throwing her arms up toward both Gojo and Kaguya, practically bouncing on her toes.
"That was sooo awesome!! Mr. Gojo, Miss Kaguya — you were, like, bam boom boom, shwoosh! Eighty punch vacuum thingy!! And then that giant scary ball you dropped and Sukuna just went poof!"
Her pantomime was frantic, fists pumping, making "brrr!" explosion sounds with her lips.
Even Radahn, whose face rarely betrayed emotion beyond grim knowingness, allowed the faintest curl of a smile under his messy hair.
Kaguya's pale lips arched into something rarer still — the faintest laugh, soft and almost ghostly. Gojo's grin, of course, was wide as the child's enthusiasm.
But then… his eyes flicked right.
A violent thunderclap tore open the air, and a bolt of lightning slammed down onto a neighbouring tower.
From it emerged a figure with disheveled hair, lightning dancing across tattoos burned over skin. His voice carried raw, crackling arrogance.
"WOMAN! FIGHT ME!"
It was Hajime Kashimo, the sorcerer feared as the God of Lightning from 400 years ago.
Gojo's head tilted, lips tightening — halfway between sigh and annoyance. "…Really?"
And then he was just… gone.
Not even Kaguya clearly saw it.
Only a ripple of warped air.
By the time Kashimo blinked, he felt presence at his back, and a single line.
"Gomen~"
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Kashimo's thoughts froze.
'Nani?! He's behind me?!!Even me… the fastest sorcerer of my age… I can't follow—'
The world detonated around him.
The red orb expanded without mercy, swallowing him. Bones, skin, cursed energy — all disassembled into scattered particles.
Kashimo never screamed.
He ceased.
Gojo exhaled, floating lightly back down toward the others. He twirled a finger smugly like a cowboy holstering a pistol.
Rin clapped wildly, stars in her eyes.
"A-a-a-awesome!! You didn't even let him say anything!"
Gojo gave a smug salute.
"I don't like interruptions~."
Radahn's heavy footfalls brought him beside Gojo. The giant's eyes glowed faintly, but not in hostility — they were curious.
Gojo tilted his chin.
"What's with that look? You got questions rolling inside that mountain of yours?"
Radahn's voice came low, like tectonic plates shifting. "Boy… tell me about this world."
Gojo blinked once, then smirked — not smug this time, but knowingly.
"I figured you'd say something like that before long. And — yes, I already know you're not from here. My eyes can see nearly anything, after all."
"You guys don't resonate with the world ,as if -"
"We don't exist here-" - Kaguya completed.
Gojo nodded.
"Now for the world…" Gojo's hand waved vaguely at the cracked skyline, "it's one messy, fun-loving, terribly exhausting mess. Sorcerers, curses, broken people… even some real gems like me."
Radahn's stare didn't waver.
The giant extended one enormous, gauntleted palm forward. "Hold my hand."
Gojo arched a brow, crooked grin creeping upward.
"Oi oi~ Uncle… isn't this moving a bit fast? Hentai~"
Radahn didn't blink.
Gojo sighed, then set his palm lightly in the colossal grip.
Both men closed their eyes.
The Six Eyes dimmed for Gojo.
For Radahn, however, light opened.
Memories flooded him — raw.
A tapestry of cursed techniques, broken domains, people scarred, binding vows made for desperate leverage. Sukuna's Heian reign of terror.
Kenjaku's centuries of manipulation.
Thousands of lives ground for the gears of "entertainment." The frailty of humanity offset with flashes of wild, self-destructive brilliance.
When his eyes opened again, Radahn's face was grimmer than before.
His thought came heavy, bitter:
'Again… a world without gods. Sacrificed themselves only to feed a system. To give birth to these supernatural power system. Nothing for salvation. All for meaningless struggle… for spectacle.'
'Soon , I'll come for those above'
Gojo's grin softened — he caught it. He leaned in, teasing, hiding the real edge in his voice.
"Oi~ Ecchi-Uncle, you didn't see something perverted, did you~?" He waggled his eyebrows.
Radahn's face stayed blank as granite.
"…Enough with this." His head lowered slightly.
"You remember our promise, don't you?"
Gojo's grin twitched into something nervous.
"Eh? Wh-what promise? My memory gets fuzzy in big fights, you know? Maybe—uh, nope, nothing comes to mind!"
He tried to casually step away. A shadow loomed.
Radahn's hand seized his collar like a vice.
The ground folded.
Space cracked. Both figures vanished in a rippling distortion.
"Waaaah! Tasukete kudasai~!! Yamete~!!" Gojo's voice carried through the warped dimension, his tone mock-pleading like some tragic anime extra.
For five long minutes, the air stayed quiet.
Even Rin tilted her head in baffled worry.
Then the space re-opened.
Radahn stepped calmly out onto broken stone cracking his knuckles with a satisfied smile.
Behind him stumbled Gojo — face swollen, jaw bruised into a bulbous potato-shape, cheek purple as an eggplant.
His silver hair hung messy.
"UNFAIR!!" Gojo half-screamed, half-whined, voice muffled through swollen lips.
"I knew my attacks wouldn't work on you, and you — you're basically a master of space itself! Why do I even have Infinity if everyone bypasses it?!"
For the first time in countless centuries, Kaguya actually laughed — soft, musical, brief, like glass bells tapped together. Rin doubled over, pointing and wheezing.
"You look like a boiled potato!" the little girl shrieked between giggles.
Gojo pouted — or as close as one could with a balloon for a face.
"Tsk…"
Before more could be said, a pounding rhythm echoed across broken streets.
Footsteps.
From ruined blocks below came running figures.
Yuji in front, arms pumping, eyes lit with equal parts determination and disbelief.
Behind him came Yuta Okkotsu, Maki Zen'in, Panda, Kinji Hakari, and finally Mei Mei's cool stride.
They broke into the cleared space, breathless.
Yuji sprinted straight to Gojo — then stopped dead at sight of his teacher's face.
But Gojo with his Reversed cursed technique healed himself in an instant.
"Gojo-sensei… I…I swear, I saw your face. All swollen, like—" Yuji tilted, confused.
Gojo straightened instantly, wiping his cheek.
His face was perfectly healed — Infinity even smoothing his skin flawless.
His stone-faced delivery brooked no argument.
"…Must be your imagination."
Yuji blinked once — then laughed nervously, and lunged forward into a hug.
"Hmm.. Maybe? Anyways! Congrats, Sensei! We won!"
Gojo blinked… then hugged back, finally letting his smirk return. "Of course."
The others formed in, one by one. Panda nook-armed the both.
Even Hakari bumped shoulders with a grin.
The tension cracked into victory… if only briefly.
But Maki stayed a step apart.
Her eyes hadn't left Radahn.
At last she strode forward, stopping five paces from him. She bowed deep at the waist.
"You are a master of Taijutsu. Please… spar with me"
Radahn froze.
He turned his massive head slowly toward Gojo in question. The sorcerer immediately turned his head, very invested in looking the other way.
The giant sighed in battle-weariness, then rumbled: "Very well… child."
Maki's eyes blazed. "Arigatou."
She drew the Split-Soul Katana.
With one leap, she bounded into air, bringing the weapon down in a vertical strike charged with every ounce of her strength.
Her teeth clenched, soul focused.
It stopped.
Two feet above Radahn's shoulder.
One armoured finger pressed against the moving blade, unmoving.
The sword shook violently under her intent, but the giant didn't budge.
Maki landed lightly — eyes wide, sweat trickling.
Around them Yuta, Yuji, Panda, Hakari — even Mei Mei — froze.
"I used… everything," Maki whispered, stunned.
"And you stopped it… with a finger. I lost. As I thought… you- Please — teach me!"
Radahn looked down at her bowed head. His voice came measured, almost kind.
"Raise your head, child. You do not need such techniques."
She blinked. "But… why?"
Radahn's glowing eyes swivelled sideways — toward Gojo.
A strange silence passed between the two men.
Finally, Gojo dropped his smirk. His voice came different now — heavy.
"So. You're really going to do it? The thing you said back there."
Radahn nodded once, the weight of mountains in it. "Yes. For salvation. For the greater good."
Gojo's gaze flickered to Yuji, still grinning with joyful exhaustion.
To Yuta, lips pressed thin but hopeful. To Maki, kneeling earnest. Panda. Hakari. Mei Mei's watchful, veiled eyes.
His chest tightened faintly.
Yuji tilted his head, smile wavering at the tone shift between his elders.
"…W-what are you talking about, Sensei?"
The laughter around them ebbed into silence.