BOOM—!!!
The heavy, oppressive sound of impact echoed through the empty underground palace, like a sledgehammer striking everyone's hearts.
Satoru Gojo's body lurched forward violently.
In his Eyes of the Blue Sky—once filled with madness and arrogance—a distinct clarity appeared for the first time.
Yoru's desperate brute force, combined with the heavy back of Shiranui, had caused a severe concussion.
Crack... Shatter!
At the same time, the remaining handle of the Inverted Spear of Heaven in Yoru's left hand finally reached its limit after forcibly breaking through Limitless and enduring the violent cursed energy backlash.
With a series of crisp snaps, the remains of the Special Grade Cursed Tool that once terrified countless sorcerers turned into a cloud of fine black powder.
It drifted away from Yoru's fingertips, completely vanishing from the world.
"You bastard..."
Gojo struggled to steady himself, his vision blurring with severe afterimages.
The intense vertigo surging from the depths of his brain caused his newly awakened, hyper-active Reverse Cursed Technique to stutter briefly.
But he wasn't fully awake yet.
That god-complex born from the sudden explosion of power was still frantically dominating his reason.
He snapped his head around, his face contorting with a mix of humiliation and rage as he raised his right hand to gather cursed energy again.
"It's not over! I'm—"
"BAM!"
Before Gojo could finish his sentence...
A blood-stained fist arrived with a sharp whistle, devoid of any elaborate breathing techniques.
Relying solely on raw, savage physical strength, it smashed directly into his flawless face!
The punch of friendship!
"Wake the hell up!!!"
Yoru's hoarse roar, filled with extreme anger, exploded in Gojo's ear.
The power behind the blow was so immense...
It sent Gojo spinning twice in the air before he crashed unceremoniously into the rubble!
"Look at Suguru!"
Yoru didn't stop. Dragging his battered body, he walked step by step toward Gojo.
He reached out with a blood-soaked hand, roughly grabbed Gojo's tattered collar, and hauled him up by force.
"Look at Riko!"
"Look at everything around you!"
A rare fire burned in the depths of Yoru's eyes.
It was anger at the disregard for life and grief for a friend who had lost his way.
"How much longer are you going to stay crazy?!"
"You think you're strong now? You think you're a god?!"
"If you can't even protect the people you want to protect, if you even forget who you are..."
Yoru stared fixedly into Gojo's widening eyes, enunciating every word.
"Then you're just a monster with power!"
"No different from that Toji Fushiguro you despise so much!"
Silence.
A long, heavy silence fell over the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
Yoru's roar echoed in Gojo's mind like a tolling bell.
The memories buried by frenzy and power, the bonds he had dismissed as burdens, flooded back like a bursting dam.
He saw Suguru Geto lying in a pool of blood, his life force uncertain.
He saw Riko Amanai huddled in a corner, her face covered in tears and terror.
He saw Yoru standing before him, dragging a mortally wounded body just to punch him back to sanity.
The madness in the Eyes of the Blue Sky receded like a tide, replaced by a complex and dazed clarity.
"I..."
Gojo opened his mouth, only to find his throat so parched he couldn't make a sound.
He slowly lowered his head, looking at his blood-stained hands.
This blood...
Some was Toji's, some was his own, but the vast majority belonged to Yoru.
"What... what have I done?"
Gojo's voice trembled slightly, filled with the dread of one waking from a nightmare.
He realized that if Yoru hadn't risked his life to break through Limitless, if that Hollow Purple had actually been fired...
Then he would be the only god left standing here, completely alone.
"Are you awake now?"
Seeing the light return to Gojo's eyes, Yoru's taut nerves finally snapped.
He released Gojo's collar, his body swaying uncontrollably before falling backward with utter exhaustion.
"Yoru!"
Gojo's reflexes were sharp; he caught Yoru's heavy body instantly.
Looking at Yoru's gruesome wounds and feeling a heartbeat that seemed ready to stop at any moment, a rare hint of red appeared around Gojo's eyes.
"I'm sorry..."
Gojo carefully laid Yoru on the ground, his voice low and filled with sincere apology.
"I... I really did get carried away back there."
He wiped the blood from his lip where Yoru had struck him, then looked at Yoru seriously.
"But... Yoru, you're really strong."
"Strong enough to be a monster."
Gojo suddenly smiled—a smile of pure, unburdened relief.
He slowly extended his blood-stained fist, holding it in front of Yoru.
"When everyone recovers..."
"When we're all back to our best..."
"We have to have a real fight!"
Looking at the sincerity in Gojo's eyes, a weak smile managed to spread across Yoru's pale, blood-flecked face.
With great effort, he raised his own blood-stained right hand and made a fist.
He firmly bumped his fist against Gojo's.
"Thud."
A very soft sound of impact.
Yet it seemed to cross the boundaries of time and space, forging a promise between the two strongest men.
"It's a deal."
Yoru's voice was weak to the point of fading, but it carried an unquestionable conviction.
Having finished, Yoru could no longer stay conscious. His eyes closed, and he fell into a deep coma.
"Yoru! Yoru!"
Riko rushed over, sobbing. Seeing the unconscious Yoru, her tears fell even harder.
"Don't cry, he's not dead."
Gojo gently patted Riko's hair, then turned to look at the heavily injured Suguru Geto nearby.
"Suguru."
Gojo's voice returned to its usual calm and confidence, but it held a subtle, newfound maturity.
"Let's... go home."
Suguru looked at his friend, who seemed to have undergone a profound transformation, and a tired smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah... let's go home."
Half an hour later.
The Jujutsu High rescue team finally reached the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
When Masamichi Yaga and Shoko Ieiri saw the underground palace, which had been almost completely leveled, they both inhaled sharply.
"What on earth... happened here?"
Yaga looked at the ruins everywhere, feeling his chronic headache flare up.
"Never mind that, hurry and save them!"
Shoko rushed toward the severely injured Suguru and Yoru.
Looking at Yoru's horrific, life-threatening wounds, Shoko's expression became extremely grave.
"Wounds of this severity... any normal person would have been dead long ago."
She quickly activated her Reverse Cursed Technique, and a soft white light warmly enveloped Yoru and Suguru.
"These damn brats... they never stop worrying me."
With Shoko's treatment, Yoru and Suguru's breathing gradually stabilized.
Meanwhile, Riko Amanai sat quietly to the side, watching the young men who had fought with everything they had to protect her.
Her eyes were filled with a complex mix of emotion, gratitude, and a deep sense of uncertainty.
She had survived.
But what would happen next?
The higher-ups would never allow a Star Plasma Vessel who no longer had value for assimilation—and who might even be a liability—to continue living.
"Don't worry."
Just as Riko was sinking into deep confusion, a gentle voice spoke in her ear.
She looked up and saw Yoru, pale after his treatment, having woken up at some point.
He looked at her and said calmly, "Your new life has only just begun."