"Two spirals can't play nice—one eats, the other just wipes you out."
—Some dusty old jujutsu scroll, probably hidden under a pile of curses
Subterranean Domain – Spiral Rift
The area is Hot, suffocating air—like someone cranked up the pressure just to spite you. The seals were already toast, hissing as the old script fell apart, and floating like ash in a furnace.
Akashi stepped in, eyes adjusting to the chaos. Reika was already waiting—bare feet, skin crawling with backward spirals leaking black fog. The whole room felt wrong, like a nightmare bled into reality.
They made eye contact. The world folded.
"Domain Expansion," Reika said, barely a whisper.
"Tongue of Inversion: Chamber of the Unspoken Word."
Bang. The domain slammed into place.
Walls bled scripture.
The ceiling? Silence, stitched together like a wound.
Floor—just mouths everywhere, all of them mumbling in reverse.
Akashi felt his cursed energy slow, thick, like trying to run underwater.
She's canceling out spoken techniques...
She's cutting off invocation itself.
His eyes narrowed, lips twitching.and then
"Too bad the Spiral listens to thoughts, too."
"Domain Expansion."
"Abyssal Severance: Palace of Endless Sin."
Clash of Domains
Everything ripped open.
Akashi's world crashed in—pitch-black sky, endless stairs crumbling under the weight, dragons made from pure language swirling overhead.
His spiral wrapped tight around him, like a snake with an attitude problem.
Reika laughed, all cracked and sad.
"So your guilt's a palace, huh?"
"Then became mine," she shot back.
Their domains smashed together—not canceling, not swallowing each other, just tangled up like rival scriptures fighting over the same page.
Reika moved first, hands flicking through upside-down signs.
"Anti-Script: Tongue Split Curse."
Akashi twisted, ducked under the arc, countered with a grin.
"Dragon Tongue – Second Form: Piercing Spiral Fang!"
His energy shot out, a spear right through her defenses.
Blood sprayed. She stayed standing.
"You haven't seen my Spiral yet," she spat.
Her brand flared—ugly, bright.
"Spiral Eleventh – Tongue of Erasure."
Akashi's own brand seared, answering her challenge.
Flashback: Yukari's Warning
"Ryuunosuke," Yukari scribbled in her journal once, "if you ever hear the Eleventh Spiral speak, don't answer. It doesn't grow. It eats."
Present: The Spiral Convergence
Reika lunged, grabbed Akashi's arm, cursed glyphs bleeding straight into his skin.
"Gimme your Spiral!" she shrieked. "Give it back! Give me the name!"
Akashi's vision went sideways. The Spiral's voices started to bend—his mom, Gojo, even Nobara—twisting, shattering.
Then—
A hand yanked him back. Not physically. Something deeper.
Nobara's voice, echoing from somewhere past the broken domain.
"Don't forget your name."
His cursed energy snapped back, wild and alive.
"Dragon Tongue – Third Form: Spiral Collapse Breaker!"
He roared, energy shredding her hold, breaking the inverted world apart.
Reika hit the ground, bleeding from everywhere, barely conscious.
"You... remembered..."
Akashi stood over her, chest heaving.
"Your Spiral's a fake."
"And I'm not letting it eat mine."
Domain Collapse – Aftermath
The chamber folded in on itself, Spiral Rift sealing up like an old wound.
Akashi limped out, Yuji and Megumi flanking him. Nobara waited, arms crossed, face stone-cold.
No smile. But she was there.
"You good?" she asked.
"Yeah," Akashi grunted. "She's not dead. Just... knocked out again."
Gojo hovered close, unreadable grin on his face.
"Nice job," he said, voice quiet. "You just made yourself real interesting to everything that hates the Spiral."