Holding the Ongekibou Rekka firmly in both hands, Tsutsumi kept the pressure on without letting up, driving Sukuna back through sheer force and rhythm. Each swing flowed into the next, not rushed, not reckless, but controlled in a way that made it hard to find an opening. The weapon itself wasn't just heavy, it carried a weight that translated directly into impact, and every time it connected, the shock traveled through Sukuna's guard and into his body, forcing him to adjust rather than counter cleanly.
Sukuna met him head-on, blocking with his arms, redirecting where he could, stepping in when needed to avoid being overwhelmed entirely. Even without using Cleave or Dismantle, his close combat remained sharp, his reactions precise, but Tsutsumi's tempo kept pushing him just slightly off balance. It wasn't domination, but it was enough to keep Sukuna on the defensive.
Gojo stayed within range, but not within reach.
Infinity continued to hold, the invisible distance between him and everything else remaining absolute. Tsutsumi's swings passed close, close enough that the air shifted around Gojo's body, but never enough to make contact. Even when the angle looked perfect, even when the timing lined up, the strike simply stopped short.
By now, Tsutsumi understood it clearly.
Infinity didn't make Gojo invincible in every sense, it prevented anything from directly reaching him, anything that relied on crossing that space to make contact. But it didn't stop effects that didn't depend on distance in the same way, things that altered the state of the world rather than traveling through it.
That distinction mattered.
Tsutsumi shifted his footing slightly, then brought the Ongekibou Rekka down with a heavier swing than before. Sukuna raised his guard, bracing for impact, but the force behind it still broke through his stance enough to send him flying backward. His body tore through what remained of several buildings, crashing through layers of concrete and steel before finally disappearing from immediate view.
Tsutsumi let the weapon lower slightly. Then he turned.
Gojo was already in motion, his hands raised as five compressed spheres of blue formed in front of him, each one distorting the space around it as it stabilized. They weren't rushed, they were precise, built with intent before being released.
They launched forward.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Frame Loop!"
The moment the technique activated, Gojo's motion locked into itself. His body completed the action of launching the five Blues, only to reset instantly back to the point just before release. Then it happened again. And again. The same sequence repeated perfectly, no variation, no delay, like a continuous loop that refused to progress.
The five Blues never fully separated from that moment. They existed, but never advanced.
Tsutsumi watched it for half a second, then tilted his head slightly to the side.
An invisible slash passed through the space where his neck had been, clean and precise, cutting through the air without resistance.
From the distance, Sukuna stepped back into view.
His stance had changed. There was no wasted movement now, no testing, no holding back. His hands were positioned like he was drawing a bow, and between them, flames gathered, condensing into a single point. The heat radiating from it distorted the space around him, the intensity building rapidly as he focused everything into that one attack.
"FOR THE FIRST TIME… I'M NOT HOLDING BACK!"
The declaration wasn't exaggerated, it was direct, carried with full intent as he released the arrow.
The Divine Flame surged forward, cutting through the battlefield in a straight line, its heat and force overwhelming everything in its path. It didn't slow, didn't disperse, it simply advanced, aimed at both Tsutsumi and the looped figure of Gojo.
Tsutsumi didn't step back, as he pulled out a card.
Final Kamen Ride: Saber! Xross Saber!
The collision happened instantly.
A massive pillar of flame erupted upward, swallowing everything around it. The ground split under the force, structures collapsed as the shockwave expanded, and the surrounding city was consumed by the blast. Fire spread outward in all directions, lingering just long enough to leave visible destruction before beginning to fade.
For a few seconds, nothing else could be seen. Then the flames started to clear.
What remained was a ruined landscape, the aftermath of an attack that had erased everything in its range.
And at the center of it...
Tsutsumi hovered slightly above the ground, completely untouched.
His form had changed, not drastically in shape, but in presence. A neon blue glow surrounded him, faint stars scattered across his body like a contained galaxy. Three pointed horns extended upward from his head, and the air around him felt heavier, like it carried something beyond what had been there before.
Sukuna stared at him from a distance, his expression no longer just focused, but clearly affected by what he was seeing.
Tsutsumi lowered his gaze to his hand.
"Wrong card…" he said quietly.
He had intended something else, Burning Agito, something fitting for the situation, something that would let him meet the attack directly and evolve through it. But the result in front of him made it obvious that what he had used instead was on a completely different level.
He glanced back up, then around at the destroyed city.
"Well… this took out the fun of everything."
There was no exaggeration in the statement, just a simple acknowledgment.
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
The world rewound.
Destruction reversed itself as if time itself had been pulled backward. Broken buildings reassembled, debris lifted and returned to place, scorched ground restored to its original state. The flames vanished, the damage erased completely, leaving no trace of what had just happened.
Everything returned to how it was before the battle, and both Sukuna and Gojo disappeared.
Tsutsumi looked down at his hand again.
A book had appeared there.
The cover read Jujutsu Kaisen.
He opened it without hesitation, flipping through several pages before stopping on one. Without pause, he tore it out. The book slipped from his hand and faded away before it could fall, disappearing as if it had never existed.
The single page remained, glowing as it compressed and reshaped itself into a card.
Form Ride: Itadori Yuji…
The light faded as Tsutsumi's form returned to normal. The glow disappeared, the horns vanished, and the weight that had filled the space lifted just slightly. He ran his hand through his hair, exhaling as he looked up at the sky.
The shift in power had changed something.
Not in the outcome, but in the feeling.
What had been engaging moments ago now felt distant, like the result had already been decided before it even began.
"I really should put this card away," he said under his breath.
An Aurora Curtain opened in front of him, its surface shimmering faintly as it separated him from everything behind it.
He stepped forward without hesitation.
And just like that, he was gone, leaving the restored city and the two strongest sorcerers standing in silence where the battle had just taken place.
...
Reappearing in his own world, Tsutsumi stepped out from the fading Aurora Curtain and into the familiar grounds of U.A. without any sense of urgency. The transition from a battlefield that could barely hold together to a peaceful campus was immediate, almost jarring, but he didn't react to it. To him, it was just another shift, another stop along the way.
He walked toward the Class 1-A dorms at a relaxed pace, hands in his pockets, his expression neutral as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. The hallway was quiet when he entered, and when he pushed open the common room door, the emptiness confirmed what he already expected.
No one was there. The place was clean, calm, and still, a complete contrast to where he had just come from.
Tsutsumi pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was still during class hours.
"Right," he muttered to himself. Unlike him, the rest of his classmates actually had schedules to follow, lessons to attend, things they needed to learn step by step. That structure still applied to them.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and walked over to the couch, dropping into it without ceremony. Leaning back, he reached for the remote and turned on the TV, flipping through channels without much interest. News reports, variety shows, reruns, nothing held his attention for more than a second before he switched again.
Time passed like that, quietly and without interruption.
Eventually, the sound of the front door opening broke the silence, followed by voices and footsteps as Class 1-A returned from their lessons. Conversations overlapped as they entered, some tired, some energetic, all of them settling back into the dorm after a normal school day.
That was when they noticed him.
Tsutsumi was sprawled on the couch, one leg casually resting on the table, eyes half-lidded as he continued switching channels with the same bored expression. He didn't even look up as they walked in.
"Sub," he said flatly, pressing the button again.
Before anyone could respond, an explosion burst into the room.
A wave of fire and force shot straight toward him, fast and direct, cutting through the space between them in an instant. The attack was aggressive, loud, and completely unrestrained.
Tsutsumi's purple eyes shifted slightly toward it.
That was all the reaction he gave.
His coat detached from his body in an instant, breaking apart into a swarm of metallic fragments that surged forward. The clusters intercepted the explosion mid-path, absorbing and dispersing the force before it could reach him. Without stopping, the metal extended outward, wrapping around the two attackers and enclosing them completely.
In less than a second, Bakugo and Todoroki were sealed inside a floating sphere of compressed metal.
The ball hovered slightly above the ground, smooth and solid, with faint sounds of movement and angry shouting coming from inside.
"Good to see you too, Katsuki, Shoto," Tsutsumi said casually, finally glancing in their direction.
He flicked his fingers slightly, and the Metal Clusters separated, breaking apart and returning to his coat as if nothing had happened. The sphere dissolved instantly, freeing the two.
Bakugo stepped out first, clearly irritated, smoke still faintly rising from his palms. "Ryoko, you bastard, would you stop doing that?" he snapped. "Can't you use something else!?"
Todoroki followed, calmer as always, brushing off the remains of the interruption. "Don't bother," he said evenly. "If we can't break it, changing it wouldn't make much difference."
Tsutsumi didn't argue. He just switched the channel again.
Jiro walked over and dropped onto the couch beside him, glancing at the screen before looking at him instead. "You really need to stop this and take your studies seriously," she said, her tone more tired than annoyed.
Tsutsumi didn't look at her. "I see no point in continuing as a-"
His sentence didn't finish. The front door exploded inward.
A massive figure burst through it with full force, wood and fragments scattering as the frame gave way under the impact.
"I'M COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!"
All Might stood there in his muscular form, smiling broadly despite the completely unnecessary entrance.
Most of the class froze for a second.
"All Might!?" several voices said at once.
He stepped inside as if nothing was out of place, his presence immediately filling the room with energy. Without wasting time, he made his way directly toward Tsutsumi.
"Young Tsutsumi," he said, his voice loud and confident, yet carrying a clear sense of purpose.
Tsutsumi looked at him, unimpressed but not dismissive.
"I know this might be a bit late, but I believe this belongs to you, young hero," All Might continued, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card.
Tsutsumi's Temporary Hero License.
All Might held it out. Tsutsumi took it without hesitation. "Uh, thanks," he said simply.
Then, without even looking at it, he turned slightly and dropped it into Jiro's laps.
"Hold this for me."
Everyone: "..."
Not just from the students in the room, but from elsewhere as well.
Behind a monitored feed, Aizawa and Nezu watched the scene unfold, both of them quiet as they observed Tsutsumi's reaction. All Might himself paused, his smile faltering just slightly as he processed what had just happened.
"Uh… Young Tsutsumi," he began, his tone shifting, "shouldn't you be a bit more excited?"
What none of the students in the room fully understood was how much effort had gone into that single card.
After receiving warnings about that possible future, Nezu had acted immediately. He didn't hesitate, didn't wait for things to escalate further. He initiated legal action against the Hero Public Safety Commission, using the evidence Tsutsumi had gathered as leverage.
The Commission had tried to push back, but Nezu had anticipated that. Every move they made was countered, every attempt to stall or redirect shut down before it could take effect. Time wasn't something they could afford to waste, not with Tsutsumi moving unpredictably between worlds.
All Might had been sent in as well, not as a fighter, but as a symbol. As the Number One Hero and a teacher at U.A., his voice carried weight, and he used it. Public support shifted quickly, pressure mounted, and the Commission was forced into a position where they couldn't maintain control.
By the end of it, their influence had been reduced, their ability to act unchecked weakened, and most importantly, any attempt to use Tsutsumi as a tool had been cut off.
All of that had led to this moment. And Tsutsumi didn't care.
"I appreciate the effort and all, All Might," he said, his tone steady, not dismissive, just honest. "But I don't need a card to tell me what I can and can't do."