The world could scarcely believe what they were seeing.
Just minutes after Kurotsuki Tenkai's arrival in Kyoto, thousands of curses were erased—snuffed out like candle flames before a storm. News anchors stumbled over their words, their voices shaking with disbelief. Social media burned alive:
"HE DID THAT IN MINUTES?!""That's not a man—that's a calamity in human form.""Kurotsuki Tenkai… the living zero."
Inside the Kurotsuki household, Masaru and Akane watched the glowing screen in silent awe, their fingers interlaced, trembling. Alice's parents sat beside them, speechless.
"That's… our Tenkai?" Akane whispered, voice breaking."He's fighting for all of us," Masaru murmured, though his voice betrayed the weight of his fear."He looks so calm," Alice said quietly, her hands clasped to her chest. "Too calm."
The screen panned to Kyoto, where the ruined cityscape had gone eerily still. Only five distortions of reality—five Special Grade curses—remained. They circled Tenkai like wolves in the dark, unseen but felt by every trembling soldier and every viewer around the globe.
Kyoto — Ruined Sector 9
Tenkai stood on the cracked asphalt of an abandoned intersection, surrounded by broken glass and the distant hum of burning power lines.
Five shadows danced around him, their cursed energy so thick it warped the air. Their bodies—monstrous and ever-shifting—were barely visible, flickering like flames in the dark.
The world watched through flickering aerial drones, the feed occasionally glitching under the sheer cursed energy distortion.
"He's surrounded," a reporter whispered into his mic, voice low as if afraid to interrupt the moment. "Five confirmed Special Grade curses. Alone."
In the global chat feed, comments flooded in like a tidal wave:
"This is suicide!""No human can take five of them!""Wait—look at his posture. He's not moving… why isn't he moving?!"
Within the chaos, Tenkai's thoughts were calm, clinical.
They're not attacking at once. Coordinated behavior… unusual for Special Grades. No—this isn't an ambush. They're delaying me.
His AI companion, Aion, responded within his mind.
"Correct. Estimated engagement delay pattern indicates distraction protocol. Probability of diversion: 92%. Nearby Division Two members are within collateral range."
Tenkai's eyes narrowed. "Then get them out."
"Confirmed. Evacuation order initiated."
Moments later, every soldier in Division Two heard his voice echo through their comms—steady and commanding:
"All units, fall back immediately. Do not engage. I repeat—do not engage. I'll take it from here."
One commander hesitated.
"Sir, we can't leave you al—""That's an order."
The tone in Tenkai's voice made the world itself seem to pause.
As the last soldier retreated, the curses moved.
A blast of black sludge and razor-sharp wings tore through the air toward him. Tenkai didn't move.
The attack dissolved the moment it reached him, turning into faint glyphs that spiraled around his body like drifting fireflies. The faint distortion of heat waves shimmered around him—継続零護・定理境界 (Keizoku Reigo — Teiri Kyōkai)—his Eternal Defensive Boundary.
The cameras caught it just enough for the world to see the impossible.
"It—bent?""The attack just… curved away!""What kind of shield is that?!"
One curse lunged from above, a mountain-sized creature dripping venom. The shockwave from its movement shattered buildings kilometers away. Tenkai looked up, eyes steady. The creature struck—its claws stopping a mere meter from his face before splitting apart like glass and disintegrating.
Silence.
The entire world froze in awe.
"He didn't even move…""Is that… magic? Technology?!""No… that's him. That's his power."
Inside the Kurotsuki home, Alice exhaled slowly, realizing the others were shaking.
"That's his Heavenly Equation Defense," she explained quietly. "You can't hit him… because everything that tries just gets rewritten by physics itself."
Akane covered her mouth, tears pooling in her eyes. "He… became something beyond human."
On the battlefield, Tenkai's expression remained unreadable. The curses circled again, faster this time—blurred streaks of light and shadow. He could hear the air tearing apart around him, the world screaming in resistance as five divine-level entities attacked at once.
Their combined cursed energy blanketed Kyoto in black mist.
Drones lost signal one by one. The broadcast went static for several seconds.
When the feed returned, viewers saw a wasteland of twisted metal and fire… and one man, standing untouched amidst it all.
Tenkai hadn't moved an inch.
"Is… is he even real?" one soldier whispered through his comms."He's rewriting the rules of the world just by existing."
In the newsroom, anchors struggled to narrate the event.
"We are receiving confirmation that… none of the Special Grade attacks are making contact. His field—his energy—is neutralizing everything."
The analyst beside her adjusted his earpiece.
"We've just received a name from internal Jujutsu sources. The technique is called Theorem Boundary… effectively perfect invulnerability."
Around the world, reactions poured in:
"Humanity has a god-tier defense system!""I'm convinced he's not human.""Someone please make an anime about this RIGHT NOW!""#TenkaiSolo trending globally!"
Even U.S. military analysts on live TV were speechless.
"If that man can neutralize nuclear-level energy… what's stopping him from rewriting the balance of power itself?"
Meanwhile, in Kyoto, Tenkai analyzed the motion pattern of the curses through Aion's overlays.
"Their behavior doesn't align with autonomous aggression. They're… buying time."
"Confirmed," Aion replied. "Cross-analysis indicates correlation with external cursed manipulation signatures. Likely culprit: Suguru Geto."
Tenkai's eyes sharpened. "Geto…"
Across Japan, another broadcast flickered to life—Shinjuku, where Gojo Satoru moved like a storm.
The camera couldn't keep up. It only caught flashes—one frame showing Gojo midair, another showing twenty curses collapsing at once. Reporters shouted over each other, trying to narrate.
"Gojo Satoru—Division 0—has entered full engagement mode!""He's eliminating curses faster than sensors can count!"
Gojo's laughter echoed faintly through his earpiece as he communicated with Tenkai.
"Looks like your side's having a party too, huh?""They're stalling me," Tenkai replied flatly."Yeah, same here. A distraction this big can only mean one thing…"
Both came to the same realization simultaneously.
"Yuta," Tenkai said."Rika," Gojo finished.
The air grew colder. Gojo clenched his fists, his usual cheer gone.
"He's after Yuta's curse spirit."
Through the comms, Gojo's voice hardened.
"Inumaki, Panda—get to Jujutsu High. Now."
"On it!" Panda replied, his tone unusually serious."Don't let anything happen to that kid," Gojo warned, his energy flaring. "If Geto gets his hands on Rika… this war will turn into an extinction event."
The broadcast cut between Kyoto and Shinjuku—two gods holding back the end of the world while the rest of humanity watched in paralyzed awe.
And in the heart of it all, Tenkai lifted his gaze toward the horizon, where faint tremors of cursed energy rippled through the air.
Meanwhile, in Shinjuku, Gojo Satoru floated above a crater, his hair whipping in the wind, eyes narrowed in rare seriousness.
"You're not getting him, Geto," he murmured.
The cursed air trembled with laughter—disembodied, distant, and familiar.
Geto's voice (echoing): "Let's see if you can stop what's already begun, Satoru."
Gojo's smile vanished completely.
"So it's finally starting…"
He looked toward the horizon, where the faint glow of Tenkai's obliteration field still shimmered.
"Guess the real fight starts now."
[To Be Continued…]