"That was truly something else," Yuki Tsukumo murmured, her gaze lingering on Souma Gojo with a mix of awe and disbelief.
Beside her, Suguru Geto, Yuta Okkotsu, and Toji Fushiguro remained rooted to the spot. Whether it was Kenjaku's impossible feat of maintaining dual domains or Souma's terrifyingly precise control over the architecture of his own space, the events of the last few minutes had completely upended their understanding of jujutsu.
Even Yuki, who had held the title of Special Grade longer than anyone present, found her vast library of occult knowledge insufficient to explain what she had just witnessed.
The silence was abruptly shattered as Satoru Gojo lunged forward, wrapping himself around Souma's leg like an over-excited toddler. "Brother! Teach me! You have to teach me!"
Souma's face darkened as he looked down at his twin. "Let go of me."
"No! Not until you tell me how you turned a whole domain into a glass marble. How did you even calculate the structural integrity for that?"
"Suguru, get over here and pull him off."
Geto sighed, a wry smile touching his lips. "Actually, Souma... I'd quite like to learn that as well."
"Unbelievable. Yuta!"
"On it, Sensei!" Yuta Okkotsu hurried forward, physically prying Satoru away from Souma's leg with the polite efficiency of a seasoned nurse handling a difficult patient.
Toji stepped forward, standing over the seated Satoru and extending a calloused hand.
Satoru blinked up at him, tilting his head in confusion. "What?"
"The Inverted Spear of Heaven," Toji grunted, his voice like gravel. "Give it back now that you're done playing with it."
Satoru's eyes widened in faux innocence. "Inverted what? Never heard of it."
Toji's eye twitched. "Don't play stupid with me, brat. I paid good money for that tool."
Satoru immediately flopped onto the ground, splaying his limbs out and rolling back and forth like a stubborn child. "I don't know where it is, I don't know anything, la la la..."
Toji ground his teeth, forced a terrifyingly thin smile, and whispered, "Fine. You're still holding a grudge because I stabbed you with it years ago, aren't you? If it makes you feel better, I'll let you stab me back."
Satoru did a perfect kipping up, springing to his feet with the spear already in hand. He made a sudden, theatrical thrust toward Toji's backside.
Toji didn't even flinch. In one fluid motion, he executed an empty-handed blade snatch, twisting the weapon out of Satoru's grip and reclaiming it. "Where exactly were you planning to stick that, you idiot?"
"Ehehe..." Satoru let out a mischievous cackle, turning his head and whistling as he drifted away from the annoyed Sorcerer Killer.
Toji let out a long breath, peeling a blackened, burnt strip of paper off the spear's blade. It was a Soul-Searing Talisman, a single-use cursed item designed to inflict direct damage on the soul. It was the secret ingredient that had allowed the spear to wound Jogo so severely that even Mahito's Idle Transfiguration couldn't repair it.
It was a shame the trap hadn't killed Mahito, but erasing Hanami was a significant victory in its own right.
Yuki Tsukumo cracked her neck, the tension of the battle finally beginning to fade. "Alright, Souma. What's the play? Do we actually wait ten days for this showdown in Shinjuku?"
Souma shrugged, his expression unreadable. "Of course. We need time to recover, and so do they."
"Are you serious?" Yuki asked, skeptical. "You're going to play by Kenjaku's rules? You know they're going to cheat."
Souma chuckled, a dry, knowing sound. "Of course they'll cheat. But that doesn't mean we can't cheat better."
He walked over to the crater and began picking up the shattered remnants of the Prison Realm, carefully fitting the obsidian cubes back together.
"What are you doing?" Geto asked. "You aren't planning to use that on Kenjaku, are you? He created the thing; he undoubtedly knows every backdoor and counter-seal."
"I know," Souma said, turning the reconstructed cube over in his hands. "I just find the mechanics fascinating. Right, Satoru?"
Satoru nodded, his playful demeanor shifting into something more analytical. "The internal space is unique. It ignores standard physics. The area is finite yet boundless, and the flow of time is completely decoupled from reality."
He frowned, a rare look of deep focus crossing his face. "In the half-day I was sealed, I experienced nearly two weeks of time. I think I've found a certain... inspiration."
Souma looked at his brother and knew exactly what was happening. Just like in the original timeline, Satoru's time in the cube had sparked a new level of enlightenment regarding the manipulation of space and domains. It seemed their enemies were their best teachers: first Toji, and now Kenjaku.
Souma's expression suddenly turned grave. "I need everyone here to cooperate with me on something. It's vital."
"As of this moment, only those in this circle know the truth. The official story is this: Souma Gojo was critically wounded in the battle against Sukuna and is currently on the brink of death."
"And Satoru Gojo remains sealed within the Prison Realm, his whereabouts unknown."
"Understood?"
"Wait, what?!" Yuki and Yuta stared at him, completely baffled.
Toji let out a short, cynical laugh. "You really are a piece of work, aren't you?"
Geto rolled his eyes, though a smirk was beginning to form. "Souma, who are you planning to bury this time?"
"I'm not burying anyone," Souma countered. "Those old fossils in the higher-ups have been hiding in their holes for years. I'm just giving them a little encouragement to show their true colors."
Yuki's eyes lit up as she realized the implications. The corruption of the three great families and the jujutsu headquarters was a cancer they had all lived with. But because the "Strongest Pair" were the young lords of the Gojo clan, the elders had been too terrified to make a move. As long as they did nothing, they committed no overt crimes, and Souma had no excuse to purge them without causing a civil war.
But if the twins were "banned" from the server, so to speak, the elders wouldn't be able to resist the urge to seize power.
"You're going to bait the entire leadership into one giant trap," Yuki said, her grin widening. "I'm in."
Toji shrugged. "I couldn't care less as long as the Zenin elders end up in the ground."
Yuta looked hesitant. "Sensei, is this really the right way to handle things?"
Souma looked at him with mock sternness. "Yuta, if you don't help, I'm going to tell Rika that you've been flirting with other girls at school."
"Wait! No! I'll do whatever you want!"
Yuki shook her head. "Poor, innocent Yuta. Another one bites the dust."
Geto crossed his arms, his expression stoic and righteous. "Souma, I have a serious objection to this plan."
Souma paused. "Oh?"
"How could you even think of doing this without including me?" Geto asked, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Do you need help? My spirits are excellent for surveillance."
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