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The sky above Shibuya was ablaze.
Fiery tongues streaked across the night like scorching vines, relentlessly craving the blood of the heavens. Inexorably shooting higher and higher into the sky.
The clouds a blazing inferno of red and orange.
The glow of the flames bathed the world in a flickering play of light, spanning over the skyscrapers and blurring the lines between day and night. The lines between life and death.
Since long, the gentle cushions of white and grey had split beneath his celestial power. Since long, they had been drenched in their own scarlet blood.
Without hope.
The shimmer of the autumn evening, once reflected in the glassy mirrors of the city and casting it in golden light, had now given way to a sombre grey that swallowed everything. The ash of long-forgotten gods smothered the dying fire. A fire that was meant to free them, and yet, nothing remained but death.
The air seemed to vibrate. A deafening rumble and creaking echoed through the district as massive buildings slowly collapsed inward. The groaning of breaking metal and shattering glass formed an invisible orchestra amidst the roaring flames.
Shadows danced nervously across the ground as the night shone under the blood-red moon and the stars looked down upon them indifferently.
Satoru’s breath was calm, too calm for what lay before him. The ground was littered with debris, the air thick with ash, the buildings mere ruins. The wind carried the scent of burnt flesh. And Satoru gazed down upon the landscape from high above, expressionless. This was the true power of divinity that weighed upon him.
Shibuya was a vast, endless expanse of devastation. The streets, once bustling veins of life, were now mere battlefields. Soaked in the blood of the innocent.
Gojo Satoru, the god over the ruins of this world.
The chaos above the flames.
His form was pure light and shadow. His presence, overwhelming and crushing. His eyes glowed like burning embers, red as the moon under which he had been reborn. His skin, untouched by the spilled blood. Motionless, he passed judgment on humanity, fulfilling the purpose for which he had been born. The energy pulsed like thunder beneath his fingers.
Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am The Honoured One.
"Gojo-sensei."
It was barely more than a desperate whisper, a vanishing breath beneath the roar of collapsing buildings. Beneath the intoxicating drip of the blood in which he stood. Each drop a testament to war, a memory of what once was and had now been lost.
It carried a familiar sound, one he should have recognized. The sound of his fall, his end. His enemy. Yet deep within, a bitter warmth spread through him. His eyes saw everything, understood everything, and he would not have needed to turn around. And yet, he did.
A boy.
Nothing more. A single boy stood before him. His hair a soft pink, like fragile sakura blossoms, his gaze filled with disappointment and unyielding audacity. Fearlessly, he stood before Satoru, daring to step into the presence of a god.
A curse.
Yuji stared at his sensei, at what he had become, and whose eyes were cold and unfeeling, as if they had already seen the inevitable fate. Without a trace of humanity. A tear rolled down his cheek as nothing but cruel silence hung between them.
Gojo-sensei, Yuji wanted to say, but that was no longer right. Not anymore. His sensei had long since ceased to be. Before him stood only a pale shadow of his memory. A legacy of fear that made men freeze at the mere whisper of his name. An empty shell.
A distorted image.
Grimly, Yuji pressed his lips together and averted his gaze in pain from this monster that was the last memory of his teacher. Half of his soul, untouched by warmth, grace and care. This was not the embodiment of strength because he was Gojo Satoru. No. This was Gojo Satoru because he was strong.
"Do you remember?" Yuji asked quietly.
The fire consumed their screams. The smoke hid the horrors of their suffering.
"Do you remember how we watched movies together? How we competed to see who could eat the most sweets?"
He looked into Gojo's eyes, broken under the hatred for his power. Lifeless under the envy and despair others had felt in his presence.
"Do you remember how you saved my life again and again, taking the entire world as your enemy just to protect me from death?"
Satoru knew the human boy before him would die. That it wasn’t about victory or defeat, not about the fate of the world. But something deeper, something he didn’t understand, couldn’t understand. A broken, twisted laugh echoed across the rooftop where they stood. The heat from the sea of flames beneath their feet made the ground creak, burning them.
"Do you remember how we all abandoned you?" the boy whispered and Satoru's heart seemed to grow heavier, even though he didn’t understand his words.
I alone am the Invincible, the Unreachable…
"They say curses are born from the negative energy of humans, but you are not like him," Yuji wiped his face with his sleeve, gasping for air, "I always thought the others felt nervous because of your kindness, that they feared you for your compassion."
A tortured sob escaped him and his body trembled as he tried to hold back his tears.
"I thought they were frustrated and angry because you were childish and silly and kind. That they felt guilt and sorrow because you always had the strength to be there for them, while they couldn’t be there for you," Yuji spoke desperately, his voice filled with reproach.
"When you were the only one who supported me, I felt panic and helplessness. I was scared and overwhelmed when we went to the amusement park with Megumi and Nobara. I felt lonely in the face of the family you showed me!" Yuji screamed at him, collapsing to his knees and burying his face in his hands, sobbing.
To them, Satoru had been a symbol of hope and protection.
"Why does that go unnoticed?" he sobbed hoarsely.
Satoru’s gaze drifted over the city below, over the people, their screams a distant whisper. Jujutsu sorcerers who kept living, kept fighting, unaware that their future hung in this one moment.
Even gods could fall. And in the infinite void between heaven and earth, Satoru felt that sensation of falling begin to overtake him. He took a breath. But there was no more air. It felt like inhaling all the life that had slipped through his fingers. A final breath that filled not just his lungs, but his entire being.
"Because they’re not like you, Yuji," Satoru’s soft voice echoed, his gaze fixed on the destruction, as the building they stood on seemed to crumble beneath them.
"They didn’t feel for the same reasons."
Tears streamed down Yuji's face, his small body trembling as he looked at Satoru. He wanted to argue, to scream that it couldn’t be true. That there had to be hope and humanity they all shared. But in the blood moons, there was a silence that spoke of a truth that couldn’t be denied.
They feared not Satoru’s mask, but his soul that lay beneath it. They feared that this distorted reflection of himself was indeed a god, as he had led everyone to believe. That he had only pretended to be a human among them, when in truth it was the other way around.
Even when gods fall, they remain beasts at heart.
Merciless. Ruthless. Cruel.
But did it matter? Whether Satoru had pretended to be a god or a human… he always carried it within him. He had never truly been one or the other.
He alone, the Strongest under the Heavens.
What mattered was that he was different.
"But…" Yuji’s voice cracked.
His hands gripped his clothes tighter, afraid to let go. Just like Satoru was about to let go of everything. His red eyes fell upon Yuji and for a moment, time seemed to stand still.
The sound of crashing concrete, the thunderous roar of fire, all of it faded into the silence between them.
"You reminded me," Satoru said at last, "that even in the darkest moments, even when everything seems lost, there is always someone who carries the light. It wasn’t my humanity they feared. It was yours."
Yuji blinked, not understanding. The world around him seemed to be in ruins, while the first raindrops moistened the hot concrete. Satoru closed his eyes for a moment, as if deeply lost within himself, and a faint smile appeared on his lips, gentle and sad at the same time, like the last breath of a summer breeze over a long-faded field.
A tremor made the tower sway and Satoru exhaled, his gaze fixed on the sky.
"Sensei..." Yuji whispered, "what happens when we fall?"
Weariness.
Yuji didn’t feel fear, didn’t feel uncertainty. Only overwhelming… weariness. Deeper than the body, deeper than the flesh. It sat in his heart, in his soul, and distorted him. Satoru watched as hope faded from his hazel eyes. As their sparkle faded.
Fragile. Ephemeral.
Slowly, Satoru reached out his hand, which Yuji hesitantly took.
"You’re dying," Gojo answered expressionlessly.
The gods have never been able to save mankind.
A final tear wetted his cheek before the ground beneath them broke, and Yuji fell. The sky surrounding them began to spin, as though the world itself had lost its balance. His gaze fell one last time on Gojo, who hovered in the air, staring at him, and in that moment, amidst the fall, amidst the destruction, there was something eternal.
A promise.
The rift between him and the heaven grew wider. An infinite distance stretched between him and Gojo, making him appear untouchable. And with every passing second, he saw more of the Gojo Satoru the world knew.
"The end is not the end," Satoru’s voice whispered, carried through the storm of the collapsing world, "It’s only the beginning of a new path."
With those words, Yuji disappeared into the depths, accompanied by the silence of the universe.
The violent impact sent a shockwave through the space, sealing him into the darkness. The tremor echoed up to the sky.
Silence.
The stars that had once shone over Shibuya were now veiled by dark clouds. The thousand eyes that had been fixed upon them closed.
But Satoru watched.
The scent of blood and dust mingled in the air. Satoru’s body was heavy, pain coursing through it. All the time. But the worst part wasn’t the pain. It was the emptiness. The infinite emptiness he felt within as he watched his last light fade away. The insurmountable distance between him and the world, making him untouchable.
Even gods fall.
Weak.
Vulnerable.
Mortal.
The world stirred in silent chaos as Yuji opened his eyes. But they were not his eyes. Not anymore.
A deep, crackling blackness engulfed him, pulsing through his veins like toxic ink, consuming every fibre of his being. A distorted echo resonated within him, the painful uprising of a broken soul.
He tried to stand, but his body refused to obey. His vision blurred, but in the distance, somewhere beyond light and darkness, he saw something. A shadow approaching.
Gojo.
Yuji couldn’t respond. His mouth was dry, his thoughts disjointed. But in his heart, in the deepest depths of his soul, he felt it.
The emptiness.
The curse.