Location: The Sea Cathedral – Core of the Mizu no Reikai (Spirit Sea)
The ocean had stopped breathing.
Gojo stood in silence, body battered, blood mixing with the warm, glowing water that no longer rippled — as if even the realm itself feared the silence before a god's wrath.
Before him stood a monster that was once Minaga Hanegawa — now fused with Hizu, the Water God of Ancient Depths. His body was a towering blend of man and leviathan, veins pulsing with spirit ichor. His back bore coral tendrils that shimmered like jellyfish tentacles, and his third eye — black and royal blue — glared with omnipotent loathing.
Mizuki floated behind him, crucified in a translucent shell of water, unconscious, her ceremonial silk robes torn and clinging to her like a soaked second skin. Her lips trembled. Her soul flickered like a dying lantern.
"Still you rise," Minaga said, voice like a tide dragging souls. "Mortal. Filthy. Lustful."
Gojo's breath came hard. His chest rose and fell. Each inhale dragged pain across his ribs.
"I've crawled through worse than you," he growled. "You're not a god. You're just a man too cowardly to die alone."
Minaga raised his arms.
The sky of the sea turned black.
"TIDE OF JUDGMENT."
A colossal tidal vortex erupted around him, swirling upward like a serpent of water and memories — each droplet containing visions: Gojo's past failures, fears, heartbreaks. Mizuki smiling as she turned to ash. Hikami's tears. Hiyori's scream. Suma, naked and broken.
Gojo clenched his jaw.
The blade in his hand — Benikazuchi — pulsed once. Then again. Then—
It shattered.
The fragments floated in midair… and began to glow red.
Gojo's eyes widened.
He reached.
Lightning surged from the shards — wrapping around his arm, his chest, his heart. A dragon's roar echoed through the realm as the fragments formed a new weapon:
BENIKAZUCHI – SHINKAI NO KIBA.
"Crimson Storm: Deepfang."
The katana had become a fang-shaped odachi, twice its former size, jagged and crackling. Its hilt burned in his hand. His aura flared—thunderous gold and crimson lightning spiraling around his body.
His eyes now held two pupils each — his spiritual vision awakened to god level.
Minaga paused. "Impossible… that blade… that is the storm of Takamagahara!"
Gojo smiled. "This blade doesn't just slay gods."
He vanished.
"It humiliates them."
—
CLANG!
He reappeared behind Minaga, carving across his back — holy lightning splitting through divine skin.
Minaga roared, whirlpools rising. He countered with tendrils of ocean — but Gojo cut through them like tofu, spinning midair and driving his foot into Minaga's ribs, sending the god spiraling.
"RAIKEN KYOKUSEI—"
"Thunder Fist: Polaris Breaker!"
The sky ripped open as Gojo surged again, unleashing a barrage of slashes that defied time. The very sea bent with each cut. Reality screamed.
Minaga tried to reform, body made of water — but Gojo was too fast. Too furious. Too aroused by justice.
"RAIKEN SENGETSU!!!"
"Flash Fang of the Crimson Moon!"
SLASH.
Minaga's third eye cracked.
"NOOOOOO!!"
He grabbed Mizuki's floating prison.
"You want her so bad?" he hissed, twisted and leaking divine blood. "Then take her soul with you—!"
He thrust her toward the vortex.
Gojo's face twisted.
Time slowed.
He dashed — every muscle tearing — and caught her midair, cradling her to his chest. Her robes slipped, revealing nearly everything — but Gojo didn't look. His eyes only held fury.
He looked back.
The vortex surged toward them like a cosmic tsunami.
"Benikazuchi…"
The blade whispered back: "Slice fate."
He raised it.
And screamed:
"KAMI WO KIRU—!!!"
"I SLAY THE GOD—!!!"
"RAIGEKI NO SAISHU GEKI: TENRAI SHINZAN!!!"
"FINAL THUNDERSTRIKE: HEAVEN'S SACRED BLADE!!"
A pillar of red lightning descended from the heavens.
The odachi glowed white-hot.
Gojo struck.
The blade cut the wave.
Cut the vortex.
Cut the sea.
Cut Minaga—
Straight through the heart.
—
Silence.
The Sea Cathedral trembled.
Minaga stared down at the glowing slash across his chest.
He laughed weakly. "You… really did it."
He dissolved.
Like a god returning to myth.
—
Moments Later
The sea began to dissolve into particles. The Spirit Realm was collapsing.
Hikami, Suma, and Hiyori reached Gojo, who stood with Mizuki sleeping in his arms.
Suma's kimono had been shredded by the battle, barely hanging on. Hikami's tank top had burned away, revealing nothing but her holy seal bra (magical and lacy). Hiyori's soaked uniform clung to every curve.
"You bastard," Hikami muttered, blushing. "You made us worry."
Gojo smirked. "Nice to see you all survived."
Suma clung to him. "You better kiss Mizuki now or I'll scream!"
Mizuki stirred in his arms.
She opened her eyes, barely awake.
"…Gojo…?"
He looked down at her, eyes soft.
"You're safe."
She smiled faintly, reached up—
And kissed him.
The Spirit Realm shattered into light.
—
But far away… in the depths of the broken sea…
A dark pulse echoed.
From the remnants of Minaga's body… the core of Hizu still pulsed.
A voice… deeper than oceans.
"You've taken my eye, boy. Now I'll take your world."
A massive serpent shape stirred beneath the surface.
The true Leviathan was waking.
---
TO BE CONTINUED…