"Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, bearer of the Right of Greed. A position not merely given, mind you, but earned, through purity, through principle, and through perfection of self."
He chuckled softly, head tilting.
"Ah, but I imagine that doesn't mean much to someone like you. You reek of chaos... power without purpose. Just doing what you like, am I right? Tch.."
Gojo didn't speak. His gaze hardened.
Regulus stepped forward again, voice rising ever so slightly.
"See, what people never understand—what they're too stupid to grasp—is that I am a just man. I live with clarity. I do not like to fight, I do not steal, I do not compromise, I do not submit. I simply take what is rightfully mine. That's not greed. That's order. That's love. That's what it means to be free."
He spread his arms slightly, chest lifting, as if expecting applause.
"And really... what is a sin, if not the world's rejection of a man who refuses to be bound by its.. hypocrisy?"
The air around them was still, far too still.
Gojo lowered his head slightly. His mouth curved upward into a humorless smirk.
"...Huh. You really talk a lot."
Regulus blinked, his brows furrowing.
"Excuse me..?"
Gojo raised his eyes again — blue pupils shimmering beneath his snowy lashes.
"I said you talk too much, dude."
The space between them hung like glass, fragile and full of tension.
Regulus tilted his head, that smug smile unwavering, yet a tint of annoyance was hidden in his tone. "You think I'm being excessive? Hmph. That's typical! The moment someone speaks with reason... TRUE reason.. people call it rambling! But let me ask you- what's worse? Speaking at length with clarity, or speaking and acting without thinking at all?"
Gojo said nothing.
He simply stood, one hand slowly sliding out of his pocket in preparation.
Regulus stepped closer.
"Silence? A wise decision indeed! Better to be quiet and considered thoughtful than speak and remove all doubt, isn't that how the saying goes? But then again, I suppose I am speaking quite a bit. It's just that when you've attained true understanding, when you've tasted the absolute.. your words tend to... linger."
Gojo's voice came at last. Quiet. Dry.
"You really love the sound of your own voice don't you? I mean.. it's starting to get on my nerves already and you've only been speaking for a few minutes.. damn dude."
A slight tic crossed Regulus's cheek. Brief- but the smile returned quickly.
"Words are the measure of will.. The manifestation of one's ideals. Unlike people who skulk around using brute force like common thugs...! I define myself through thought. Through virtue. That is why I alone am righteous."
He clenched his fist behind his back, voice tightening with restrained fervor.
"Others simply act, selfishly, recklessly.. you look like one of those. Strong, perhaps, but foolish. Dangerous. Unruly. I despise that. Men like you trample values, impose will without consent. That, my friend, is the true sin."
Gojo stepped forward. Just once.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't fast.
But suddenly, Regulus wasn't smiling quite as widely.
Gojo exhaled lightly, almost amused.
"I've heard a lot of egomaniacs ramble before," he said, fingers flicking the air idly. "But this? You talk like a guy who like.. ate a whole dictionary or something stupid like tha!"
He tilted his head.
"And I still don't know what you want coming here.. to me."
Regulus's pupils sharpened. He let out a slow, tight breath.
"What I want is justice," he said, tone pitched low. "To preserve what is rightfully mine. She is mine. Her love, her gaze, her attention! All of it was taken from me.. That boy you and that little demon protect—"
He pointed vaguely toward the trees. "—he is a thief. And I am the hand of rightful retribution as it should be."
Gojo's smirk faded, a brow raising.
"You're talking about Subaru...?"
"I'm talking," Regulus said, voice growing harsher, "about a world that allows parasites like him to squirm into hearts that do not belong to them. I'm talking about the lawlessness of emotion! Where anyone can claim another's soul without contract, without permission, without the divine right of possession."
He straightened, tone rising, righteous fury blooming under his tongue.
"I am not cruel. I am not the villain. I am the only man who knows what it means to truly love... to own something so completely it can never leave you. That is not greed. That is devotion in its purest, most sacred form!"
Gojo's hand flexed, balling into a fist.
A breeze passed.
He didn't speak immediately.
Regulus stepped forward again.
Gojo blinked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
There's literally nothing when I look at him. It feels no different than when I look at empty space, as if he doesn't even exist.
Regulus now stood within arm's reach.
"You joke. But I find that deeply offensive," he said, the venom behind his words cloaked in civility. "You see, violence is barbarism. It is a tool for those with no capacity for argument. A man who swings his fists is one who's already lost the debate."
Gojo's smile came back.
"Well, good news then."
His gaze sharpened — the glow in his Six Eyes pulsed.
"I didn't come here to debate."
Gojo didn't hesitate.
No retreat, no warning.. only raw, immediate offense.
His fist tore through the air with a ferocity unlike anything he'd unleashed before. A swift flash accompanied the motion, his knuckles colliding with Regulus's cheek at bone-breaking velocity, the sound of the impact came a half-second after the shockwave.
BOOM—
The region convulsed.
A violent ripple exploded outward from the point of contact, the ground shattering beneath their feet. Chunks of earth tore loose, flung skyward in a storm of rock and debris. The nearest trees didn't sway... they snapped at the trunks like brittle twigs, crashing down in a cascade of splintered wood and rustling leaves.
And Regulus?
He was launched like a missile. His body carved a trench across the dirt path, skidding with unnatural smoothness through destruction, his white coat fluttering in the wind like paper on fire.
Gojo narrowed his eyes, glancing down at his fist in confusion.
That felt wrong. Too light... Like I hit.. nothing..?
Regulus slammed through a thick tree trunk, the wood exploded outward in splinters before he finally came to a stop.
His legs extended downward, driving into the ground like spears, carving twin furrows in the earth right up to his ankles.
Then.. disturbingly composed- he stood upright.
His expression was twisted with disgust, golden eyes narrow with contempt. He adjusted his cuff with surgical precision.
"You dare...? Even after I've treat you with such niceties?"
His voice wasn't loud — but it carried.
And with a single step of his foot forward, the world roared.
Gojo's instincts screamed.
He didn't see an attack. Didn't hear anything. But every fiber of his being pulled at him to move — now.
Dodge.
But dodge what exactly..?
He didn't know, but still, his instincts never lie.. he kicked off the ground in a blur, twisting mid-air into a diagonal arc just as the world behind him collapsed.
WOOOOOM—
A colossal void of force — invisible, but absolute — roared past.
A column of wind and pressure devoured the space where he had just stood.
Not destroyed — erased. The trees, rocks, even the dirt beneath — simply gone. Wiped from existence in a perfect, soundless sphere several meters wide.
Silence.
Then the remaining pressure rushed outward — the aftershock enough to throw branches from trees like they were glass shards.
Gojo landed in a crouch, sliding backward, breath tight.
A single drop of sweat rolled down his cheek.
He stared at the blank crater. His brain registered what had just happened with clinical clarity.
I would've died.
Just like that. No drama. No drawn-out struggle. Just... gone.
His gaze rose, locking onto Regulus — who hadn't moved an inch from where he stood.
Nothing.
Not a scratch.
Not even his clothes were wrinkled.
Gojo's eyes narrowed. His fists trembled, just slightly.
This guy is too strong. I can't win. Not like this. But... do I even have a choice?
Satoru exhaled sharply, rising from his crouch with a new weight behind his eyes. The usual smug confidence had faded, replaced with cold calculation — and something else.
Determination.
Regulus stood idly, a smirk pulling at his lips. A lone leaf drifted in front of him amidst the chaos. He watched it fall with a kind of delicate fascination.
SWOOSH—
He flicked it. That was all.
The leaf howled through the air like a bullet.
Gojo's eyes snapped wide. He barely twisted in time — but it was too late.
A thin line split across his cheek. Blood welled up instantly, sliding down the side of his face. The cut was narrow, but it was real.
He touched it, fingers trembling against his skin. For a moment, he just stared.
I've… never actually been hurt before. Not like this... it's strange.
"Ah," Regulus said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You're quiet now. That's good. It means you understand your place. But there's no need to despair... I am, after all, a merciful man."
He spread his arms wide, posture perfectly regal, almost serene.
"If you get on your knees and beg—really beg—I'll grant you a death without pain. Isn't that generous?"
Gojo didn't speak. His chin lowered slightly. His jaw clenched.
This fucking guy.
I've never wanted to beat someone so badly.
Then, a flick of Regulus's wrist.
"No..? Well then. Don't forget I did offer."
Gojo moved instantly, evading the approaching, unstoppable torrent that eviscerated what resided before he VANISHED-
SWISH-!
He vanished, reappearing behind Regulus with his palm outstretched — closing around the Archbishop's face in a blink.
There was no sound.
And then—
SMASH—!!
Regulus's skull cratered through the side of a massive tree, wood splintering in a violent burst. The tree never had the chance to fall. Before gravity could even react—
"Don't you-"
He twisted on one foot like a dancer, rotating a full circle before burying his shin into Regulus's neck. The blow echoed like thunder, sending the Archbishop's body flying — bulldozing through the forest, tearing down trees like brittle matchsticks.
"-Get it yet?!"
Still… not a scratch...?
Gojo didn't stop.
Instead, he blinked, disappearing and reappearing midair just before Regulus stopped tumbling.
SWISH-!
Gojo's hand locked around the back of his neck.
But Regulus didn't budge this time around. Not even slightly.
"Have you had your fun?"
It wasn't mockery. It wasn't even anger.
It was… condescension...
Then he pivoted.
A slow, almost lazy twist of his body — and he drove a punch into Gojo's gut.
It wasn't elegant. It wasn't fast.
But it connected.
And Gojo..
He flew...
His spine ripped against the ground, smashing through trees, rock, brush — everything. Hundreds of meters blurred past in a chaos of splinters and dirt before—
CRACK—!!
He hit a mountain.
His body buried into the base of it, tearing into stone and soil until he disappeared inside the rock. Chunks of debris caved in over him, a tomb of pulverized earth with Satoru Gojo in the center.
For a long second, there was silence.
Then—
"G-Gghhaah..."
Gojo groaned. One foot kicked forward, and the crater erupted as the debris above was obliterated in a single motion. He dragged himself out, legs wobbling, blood dripping down his brow.
His entire back was raw — burned, torn open, splintered by embedded wood.
I don't get it...
Nothing I do works. But everything he does hurts a LOT. Even the fucking environment damaged me when I got flung by him, how does that even make sense?
Blood ran into his eye. He blinked it away, only to see Regulus again — whole. Untouched.
Majestic.
For all of Gojo's power, his elegance, his untouchable reputation — he had always been the one who felt like a god.
But now?
Regulus stood like marble brought to life. No dirt. No bruises. No tension in his posture.
Just perfection.
The Sin Archbishop of Greed.
And for the second time in his life...
Gojo Satoru was no longer the strongest in the room.
Gojo stared, breath ragged.
Each pulse of pain in his ribs, the sting on his cheek, the blood sliding into his eye — it was all real. For the first time in his life, pain felt like a revelation.
Regulus didn't move.
He simply stood with one hand behind his back, the other lazily brushing nonexistent dust from his cuff. His golden eyes glowed, almost serene, as though he stood in a church, not a battlefield.
Then, he began to speak.
"You look surprised."
Gojo didn't answer. He just squared his stance again, bruised but ready.
Regulus smiled wider. "Of course you are. It's natural. You believed yourself invincible, a god among men."
He took a single step forward. The air shivered.
How does he even know all this about me?
"But now... you've seen something that contradicts that false illusion of yours, haven't you?"
Gojo's hand twitched, clamping into fists.
"I'm sure you've figured it out by now, haven't you?" Regulus gestured toward the faint gash across Gojo's cheek. "That tiny little cut. So small, but so very loud, yes..? Do you know why it exists?"
Gojo's lips were a thin line in waiting silence.
Regulus's voice dropped — not in volume, but in tone. It grew colder, heavier. Holier.
"My 'Authority'. My reality."
He spread his arms wide, as if preaching to a crowd.
"I am the one true constant. The ever unchanging. The uncontaminated. The perfect. What you see before you is not power. It is not strength. It is purity. An absolute state of self."
Another step. The air warped again, eviscerating an entire row of trees to his left as a mere means of flexing his power.
"I exist in a world without compromise. Without interference. Without distortion. The moment something affects me? It ceases to exist as a valid concept. I do not 'defend' myself. I am simply not affected."
His smile darkened.
"Everything you've done? Every blow, every technique, every reality-warping principle you've hurled at me?" He shook his head.
"Irrelevant. Invalid. Merely allowed to land, yet also denied."
Gojo's eyes narrowed.
"So... when you punched me?" Regulus continued calmly. "You weren't 'too slow,' nor was I 'too strong.' Your attack was simply allowed, but in-affective. Therefore, do not delude yourself to be all-powerful.."
His smile remained, widening only further.
"..Especially not before the all-powerful."
Silence lingered.
"…Don't really care," Gojo said, cracking his neck with a loose grin. "Punching you is fun."
He stood upright, head tilted, voice unwavering.
"I won't be dying here, either."
Regulus exhaled slowly, exasperated — not injured, not even ruffled. Just... irritated.
Infinity means nothing to him. Limitless doesn't apply.
He's not ignoring my attacks... they're just not entering his reality.
As far as I know, there's nothing I can do to him if my understanding of his 'Authority' is correct.
Gojo's gaze darkened, thought racing.
One thing that can atleast help my odds at survival.. Reverse Cursed Technique… No... not just healing. It's creation. Positive energy born from clashing negatives. Pure power formed through contradiction…
He remembered Yaga's lectures — ones he once dismissed with the arrogance of a prodigy.
"Reverse energy is a contradiction. You generate positive energy by multiplying two negative charges. It might not make sense at first. And it's stupidly difficult. But that's exactly why it's powerful."
And suddenly...
A lightbulb clicked into place.
Gojo's eyes widened, then his grin exploded, splitting into wild laughter.
"Kehehe... BAAHAHAHA!!"
Regulus frowned, scoffing.
"Oh? Is that what desperation looks like on you?" he asked, voice dipped in venomous amusement. "Or is it delusion, perhaps?"
But before he could speak another word...
CRACK—
Gojo's foot splintered the ground, launching him forward at blinding speed.
Regulus didn't flinch, but his brows furrowed.
"What are you, some kind of primate? How many times must I carve the truth into that thick skull of yours?!"
He barked, extending an arm — but Gojo didn't strike.
He flipped overhead instead — graceful, measured — a somersault propelled by pure technique. He landed behind Regulus, palm extended, stance sharp.
Regulus turned, a flicker of uncertainty passing over his face.
Gojo stood there — completely healed. Blood dried, skin reformed, aura blazing.
"I've got a student waiting for me," he muttered, lips curling.
Two fingers and a thumb formed a gesture like a gun.
"Cursed Technique Reversal…."
A crimson spark ignited at his fingertip.
"Red."
The orb burst forward — not to injure, but to knock Regulus off-balance. It slammed into him like a battering ram, launching his body skyward in a twisting, uncontrolled spiral. Dirt and rock flayed beneath him as he shot up the mountain side — all the way near the peak, tearing through chunks of rock and stone.
Regulus clicked his tongue in annoyance. The air around him froze — not with ice or anything physical, but with sheer stillness — and his body halted midair, boot tapping lightly against the mountain's surface overhead.
TAP— CRACK—!!
The pressure of his landing ruptured the cliff face- a landslide followed.
Hundreds of boulders tumbled down like an avalanche, crashing toward Gojo's path.
But Gojo didn't flinch.
He inhaled, crouched, and lunged upward with perfect control.
He danced.
Between boulders. Around debris. Off crumbling, falling surfaces.
Every movement was fluid- a step, a weave, a launch. As if the chaos was choreographed.
He burst through the final cluster of falling rock — and there they were again, face-to-face, suspended above the mountain.
Regulus floated effortlessly — literally standing on air. He didn't fly. He simply ignored gravity.
Gojo levitated differently. His presence twisted the very space around him.. Limitless pulling at reality's threads to hold him aloft.
"You insufferable FOOL!" Regulus snarled, thrusting a hand outward- his wrist flicking to throw air.
The air warped — not visibly, not audibly — but fatally. An invisible force howled from his palm, unstoppable.
FWOOOM—
A section of Gojo's side was eradicated outright- flesh, muscle, one of his arms- ripped into the void.
But...
He didn't flinch.
He grinned.
SWOOSH—
His remaining arm screamed through the air, faster than any strike before — it slammed into Regulus's jaw, rocking his skull backward and sending shockwaves rippling through the mountaintop.
CRACKLE—
"-BLACK FLASH!!"
The space itself rippled from the cursed energy's perfect sync.
Regulus's body didn't bruise — but his expression twitched in annoyance.
Gojo's wound sealed — fresh flesh regenerating in it's place, muscle manifesting, growing- intertwining at a rapid pace.
Regulus growled, lashing back. He grabbed Gojo by the collar and spun, smashing him into the rock face with bone-crunching force.
THUD—!
Blood sprayed from Gojo's temple against contact with the mountain, though as soon as it happened... his head swiftly began to heal, torn mind stitching shut once more as if working overtime.
"—!!"
Eyes wide, Gojo twisted his neck just in time—
WHIP—!!
A razor-thin beam of air scythed through space- slicing clean through a chunk of his face and the mountainside behind, punching a tunnel out the other side.
Gojo grinned madly, the gash visibly closing yet again, teeth behind his cheek still visible as tattered flesh overlapped.
SWISH—!
Mimicking Regulus's move, Gojo seized his collar, twisted, and drove a punch down like a meteor.
His eyes dulled — total focus in his gaze.
"-BLACK FLASH!!"
Regulus was rocketed downward, breaking cloud cover. The forest canopy reappeared below.
Gojo's chest heaved. He wasn't done just yet..
"Blue… Maximum Output—!!"
A massive sphere bloomed in the sky — a gravitational void that screamed across space after Regulus though soon purposefully dispersing.
It never needed to land though, that wasn't it's purpose.
Instead, it dragged thousands of chunks of mountain — all the debris from their battle — downward like an avalanche made from otherworldly force.
They fell, every rock targeting a single point on the worlds surface-
Regulus.
The sky rained destruction that blocked out the sun.
The impact trembled the entire area, a portion of the forest.
Gojo hovered above the chaos, breath ragged, blood still dripping from half-healed wounds.
He looked out, scanning.
His voice rasped.
"…Gotta be quick."
His eyes narrowed.
"Where's Subaru...?"
Though his brows furrowed. There were dozens of presences somewhat near to Regulus just outside the reach of all the anarchy, his six-eyes informed him so.
There were atleast a hundred down there, all unfamiliar.
Cultists..? I don't sense Rem or Subaru.. and I've gotta be quick with that monster soon to burst out of the little mountain I've made for him...
—————————————————
Rem's body hung limply, her eyes hidden beneath a curtain of pale bangs, utterly lifeless. Yet she floated — suspended by an unseen force that cruelly shattered and contorted her bones into grotesque, elongated angles.
Subaru's anguished screams echoed violently against the cold cave walls. His arms strained desperately against the chains binding him, skin tearing raw beneath the brutal friction.
Tears streamed freely from his bloodshot eyes.
"I'LL KILL YOU... I— I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"
Petelgeuse's grin stretched wider, arms outstretched in mock celebration.
"Ah! At last, you've chosen to truly speak! Such passion, such feeeeeeervor! Thank you, thank YOU-!! fellow devotee of LOVE!"
Subaru continued to wrench at the chains, a whirlwind of mindless rage, forgetting everything he had learned about cursed energy — all the hard-earned control.
The Archbishop of Sloth turned his back, still grinning madly despite the loss of his many comrades, felled by the now lifeless Rem.
"Oh my... This place has truly become quite messy, hasn't it?! Alright, alright!"
He clapped his hands sharply.
"Men, resume your duties and rendezvous with the other Fingers — yes!"
Suddenly...
THUD-! CRASH-!
The cave ceiling was torn apart by a strange, radiant blue force. Rocks didn't fall.. they were swallowed, absorbed — deleted.
A flood of light poured into the cavern where Petelgeuse and Subaru stood.
"You fucking sicko."
The voice rang out as a fist slammed into Petelgeuse's face with immense force, sending his body flying across the cave and slamming into a distant wall with an explosive thud.
His brows lifted in a chaotic mixture of surprise and rage as he staggered forward, reaching to pry the chains off Subaru, tossing them aside.
He stared in shock at Rem's mangled form in anger and digust — but somehow...
She lives..?
Subaru rushed over, cradling her fragile body, eyes wide with desperation. Her voice was quiet, dim.
"Please... live... I— I love you... Subaru...."
Then — the air shifted, growing heavier...
From the shadows, Petelgeuse reemerged — his face grotesquely crushed, one eye nearly hanging from its socket, nose shattered beyond recognition.
"How... HOWHOWHOWHOWHOW?! IT IS INCONCEIVABLE! MY BRAIN... MY BRAAAAAIN... IT TREMBLES SO VERYVERYVERYYYY MUCH... YOU... HOW ARE YOU UNAFFECTED?!"
He didn't speak further, merely locked eyes with Subaru, who readied to charge. Then, a voice....
"...You have truly outraged me beyond all reason. You have trampled over my rights, and the mercy I respectfully offered — only to scorn it, attacking me like some mindless beast!"
Regulus emerged from the darkness, his form still unchanged despite the mountain of rubble that had fallen atop him prior.
Fuck, he's gotten here even sooner than I'd imagined..
Gojo's eyes narrowed as he glanced back briefly.
"Subaru... you should get out of here."
"Gojo-sensei, but—"
His instincts screamed, and before Subaru could protest, Gojo shoved him aside just as the air stilled ominously.
An invisible force struck Gojo's body, tearing away part of his face and body to reveal battered tissue and blood beneath. This was mercy however — the rest was simply eradicated.
One arm and much of his side suffered far worse damage this time around, and was much slower to heal.
Subaru's eyes widened in horror.
"GOJO-SENSEI!!!"
"GET OUT OF HERE — NOW, YOU IDIOT!"
Teeth clenched, Subaru spun around and sprinted toward the cave's exit.
"No... no no no—! That can't happen! It mustn't... that would be slothful! Yes.. yes! So VEEEEEEERY slothful!!"
Satoru grimaced. He didn't fully understand the green one's ability yet, but the strange shifting wind around his own body — and the sight of Rem's broken body — told him all he needed to know on a surface level.
Gojo raised his battered hand, palm open.
"Blue."
A swirling vortex pulled in everything nearby — rocks, the bodies of fallen cultists, remnants of the carnage wrought by Rem.
And then — vanished.
Regulus remained stern, silent.
Satoru- he just grinned as Subaru disappeared from sight.
"Heh.."
"This... THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! How do you remain UNAFFECTED by the Unseen Hands... by Satella's gift?! It's inconceivable — incomprehensible!"
Petelgeuse screamed, his voice ragged, ripping and clawing at his own flesh as if trying to tear away the maddening truth.
Regulus scowled, a sharp sneer curling his lips.
"Of course — a mind as fractured as his wouldn't grasp something so simple..."
Gojo exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing with grim determination.
This is my last chance.
He reached deep within himself.. taking a deep breath.
By merging the opposing forces — Lapse Blue and Reversal Red — smashing their conflicting essences together, he would forge something new... a secret technique only a handful in the Gojo clan knew about.
A chilling coldness blossomed at a frightening rate, not from Gojo however- but he ignored it, he had no choice..
Regulus' gaze flickered from Gojo, then to Petelgeuse, annoyance etched in his features.
"You fool. Feel free to obliterate that fiend beside me, but I will remain untouched. As it's been stated by the words of the gospel..."
He stepped forward, voice low and unwavering.
"You will die."
Satoru raised his arm, index finger extending, mimicking the form of the red technique — but still subtly different, refined- hand gesture subtly different.
"Imaginary Technique..."
In an instant, the world was swallowed by a deep, swirling purple orb — dark energy coalescing and consuming all it touched. It erased everything, deleting matter as if it had never existed in the first place.
"Hollow Purple."
The cave shattered, split violently in two. A jagged fissure tore from floor to ceiling, tearing the ceiling apart and allowing light to seep in.
Yet, one thing remained.
Regulus Corneas...
He hovered silently, arm resting calmly behind his back, standing on empty air. Even the ground beneath him was swallowed by the purple void.
Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti...
Gone. Vanished utterly. No trace, no shadow, no whisper of his existence lingered.
But then, a sharp pain stabbed at Gojo's chest — sudden, burning. His eyes darkened, the weight of realization crashing down.
"...Damn it..."
His torso detached with a sickening sound, sliding off his lower half and collapsing onto the ground, head tilted back toward the shattered sky.
Taking it in, one last time.
And just like that..
Satoru Gojo died.
And what followed was a cold that engulfed the entire world...
And may have been the cause for the end if not for one knight who stands above all.