Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[Cover Art done by: Sunnyside_Down]

Jujutsu Kaisen 0.5: Gojo’s Weird New Student(s)

[Episode 1 – Who’s That Weird Cursed Kid?]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By Creepy Nuts]

[Date: May 8^th, 2018, Early Summer, 7:30 AM, Tuesday]

The sound of tires screeching to a halt echoed throughout the sleepy town of Gravesfield Connecticut’s eastern border on an early summer morning. The car to which the sound had been made was a pitch-black Honda Civic, specifically its 1998 model. Each window had been tinted except the windshield, and while otherwise it would’ve been illegal to do so, for the people inside the car it wasn’t an issue.

A man in his early 40s sat in the driver's seat, hands firmly clenched onto the steering wheel not out of fear but rather out of professionalism. Messy black hair covered his head along with a pair of thick-framed lightly tinted glasses. His expression was stern, and his chocolate brown eyes narrowed in a business-like manner.

The man was dressed in a two-piece suit, a black tie, and a white shirt underneath adorned with a pair of black tie-up runners, much like what one would see a member of the Secret Service wearing when escorting The President. The only difference was that he didn’t have an earpiece in his left ear, nor did he have any weapons on him.

The man was clearly an American, as was obvious seeing as they were in America and that he wore a badge on his left lapel of the American flag. And yet, despite that, when he opened his mouth, English did not come. but rather, fluently spoken Japanese. “Sir, we’ve reached the destination. I don’t think I should have to repeat myself on what it is you’re supposed to be doing here.”

In the back of the car, a man with white spiked hair wearing a blindfold, a dark blue zip-up jacket adorned with a high and wide collar, matching pants and black dress boots sat leaning into the seat with his hands behind his head, a neutral expression on his face. “I appreciate you speaking in my native tongue, Charles, but I can speak fluent English too, ya know?”

The man, Charles, cleared his throat as a bead of sweat trailed down his cheek. “Apologies, Gojo. I meant no disrespect by it.”

Gojo chuckled, sitting up and placing a hand on Charles’ shoulder, smiling. “C’mon, Charles. Lighten up a little. Thanks for the ride,” Gojo said, before letting go and stepping out of the car through the rear side passenger door. As soon as he exited the car, it drove off into the town, leaving Gojo by his lonesome. When the car left his sight, he frowned.

When was the last time he had been in America? Three, maybe four years ago? It was long before he had met any of his Students, save for his first, and around about the time Megumi had turned 10 years old. Strange as that thought had been, Satoru Gojo had to admit that he did not miss America even one bit. The air was far less healthy, and just being around this place, even if it was more rural than normal, made him want to gag.

Again, not because he disliked America or its people, but the air and its quality. Sure, Japan wasn’t known for its air being all that clean either, but it was leagues better than here. Even a rural town such as Gravesfield which wasn’t near any major factories had the same problem. Though thankfully it was nothing like China, so at least there it had a pass.

And while that was all well and good, he wasn’t here for a Vacation, unlike last time, much to his chagrin. He was here for a reason. An albeit good but annoying reason. Because within this sleepy town, The Elders had said that there lurked an immense amount of Cursed Energy. It wasn’t uncommon for such a thing to be the case, but even still for the amount that there was to be here was alarming, hence they sent him.

For the uninitiated, Cursed Energy is the amalgamation of every and all negative emotion, mashed together to create a power source that fuels the existence of Cursed Spirits, which were beings made entirely out of the Cursed Energy produced by Humans, and were a massive threat to humanity as a whole.

And seeing as most, if not everyone, have negative emotions, a majority of the population on Earth has Cursed Energy. The more Cursed Energy a person has, the more negative they are as a person. Past a certain point, those who have a decent amount of Cursed Energy can see Cursed Spirits. If they have even more than that, they have the potential to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer. 

Satoru Gojo was a Jujutsu Sorcerer. As a matter of fact, he was the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in this current Era. And that wasn’t hyperbole, either. Everyone in Jujutsu society recognized him as such, even The Elders—the old fossils in charge of Jujutsu society.

And it was because of that title that he was sent out here, to investigate the source of the massive amount of Cursed Energy and do one of two things. One: Eliminate the source and return home to report on his success. Or, Two: Should the source of the overwhelming amount of Cursed Energy be a person, to bring them to Tokyo Jujutsu High School and teach them the ways of being a Jujutsu Sorcerer, whoever they may be.

And while that was great, Gojo couldn’t begin to understand why it was him of all people who they wanted to go do this job. Were they expecting this to be a dangerous Curse? Because if they had been, then this town would’ve already been laid to waste. Aside from the sole source of Cursed Energy lurking within the town, everyone else had next to none—not even enough to see a Cursed Spirit.

In other words, had it not been for The Elders having been alerted to its presence, then Gravesfield would’ve been completely destroyed by now. So, Gojo assumed with certainty that there was no such a Curse here. However, it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter. Even if he despised The Elders, whatever they said, went, and it wasn’t as if they were asking him to kill a child. And so, Gojo did the only thing that he could do, and begin to ask around.

Beginning his walk around the town, it didn’t take Gojo long to notice that this place, despite its residents having a distinct lack of Cursed Energy, was crawling with Cursed Spirits. He could see them climbing on roofs, hanging off of trees, and even buzzing about in the air. And yet, all of them were superbly weak. Almost to an insulting degree.

While that was enough to confuse him, what confused him even more was that these Cursed Spirits weren’t attacking anyone. They were simply minding their own business, existing as normal animals would. It was completely out of their natural behaviour, and a part of Gojo wondered why that had been.

Cursed Spirits were inherently hostile, so it confused him why they weren’t causing chaos, but then again, considering all of these Cursed Spirits weren’t even strong enough to put onto the grading system, he had to assume that had been the reason why. And while there were a few outliers that didn’t hurt people, they were just that, outliers. So few and far between that acknowledging them was a bad idea.

A part of Gojo really wanted to go buck wild, his hand twitching and his Cursed Energy fluctuating, as if to tell himself that it was alright to just go on an exorcising spree. But, in the same vain, he was here on a mission. He didn’t want to cause panic in the otherwise calm town. The last thing he needed was to be chased away because he couldn’t control himself.

It was safe to say that, as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, Gojo hated Cursed Spirits. They caused an untold amount of damage to humanity every day, and every day people like him risk their lives to protect their innocence without so much as a thank you. But, who said that being a Sorcerer was a job paid in fame? It was paid in cash and lots of it.

Most Sorcerers who exorcised Cursed Spirits did so for the money it entailed, as the job was an extremely dangerous one. Those that could do the job, did so. You’d think that with everyone having Cursed Energy those numbers would be in the tens of thousands, but the truth of the matter was that not even a single percent of Earth’s Population had what it took to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

Only 0.00001% of the population had what it took to be a Jujutsu Sorcerer. That was just barely 800 people in the whole world who could do the job that Gojo did. To put that into perspective, that was a speck of dust in an ocean level of unseeable. It was why barely anyone knew about Cursed Spirits. It took a special kind of person to see them and took an even more special kind of person who was both talented and crazy enough to take up the mantle of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

With a sigh, Gojo scanned his immediate area and found a group of teenagers talking to themselves in a circle near an ice cream shop. It wasn’t ideal, but he’d have to make do with what he could. Most of the adults he had passed were on missions of their own, not willing to stop and talk to him. And while it would probably make him look weird—weirder than he already did what with him wearing a blindfold in public—it wasn’t as if he was going to be in this town for very long.

From what he understood, it was summer break for the Americans, meaning that those who went to school didn’t have to go again until either late August or early September, which was around the time school started up again for them. “No wonder they’re so dumb…” Gojo remarked internally, approaching the group of teens, who noticed him approaching immediately. They all went silent, watching him like a hawk. He didn’t blame them. If a blindfolded man starts approaching you as if he can actually see you, you’d watch them like a hawk too, wouldn’t you?

Luckily for him, they didn’t start trying to move away, though a few did get uncomfortable. Once he made it over to them, he cleared his throat and spoke. “Hey, I don’t mean to bug you guys. I’m sure you’re busy with your own thing, but I’m new to this town, and out of curiosity, do you think you guys can tell me if there’s been anything… strange going around here lately?”

That seemed to get those who had tensed up at his approach to calm down, which was good. Of course, there was more than just the blindfold that made his appearance uneasy. He was wearing dark-coloured clothing in the middle of the summer heat, and he was six feet tall. A tall, pale, blindfold-wearing man approaching a group of young kids who looked just about high school age was the type of thing you’d see in those really bad horror movies. Coincidentally, those had been his favourite kind of movies.

“Oh, seriously? That’s it? Damn, okay. Well, if you’re looking for strange and weird, try going to the Noceda Household just by the woods over there,” one of the girls, an African American girl with poofy black curly hair said, pointing down the street. Gojo could make out a wooded area in the far distance, and with narrowed eyes, he could feel the presence of the Cursed Energy lurking closest over there.

“If I may, why?” Gojo questioned, as the girl scoffed.

“You really must be new here, then,” she said, giggling to herself before continuing. “The kid that lives there, Luz, is a complete and total nutcase. Like, just before school broke out for the summer, get this, she thought it was a good idea to bring live snakes to a science class. Even better, she keeps claiming to see things that aren’t there! She’s either a Schizo or she doesn’t know how to separate reality from fiction.”

That had piqued Gojo’s interest. “Can see things that “don’t exist”, huh? Well then, I think I know where that Cursed Energy is coming from. But, just to be sure, I should still approach with caution,” Gojo thought, humming. “I see… anything else I should know?”

The girl sighed, shaking her head. “That said… She means well. I’ve talked to her a few times, but no one wants to be her friend because she’s weird. You know how it is, better to be seen with the jerk than the nutcase, yeah?”

“You’re giving her too much credit,” another one of the girls, a ginger with pastier skin than even Gojo’s, spoke up. “She’s a complete loony-bin. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she decides that enough’s enough and does something stupid. I heard her Mom’s the same way, too. Bunch of border-hopping disease-riddled fucks should’ve just—”

“Shut yer mouth ya dumbass,” another one of the girls, this time one who, while still white, wasn’t nearly as white as the ginger, said while smacking her up the back of the head. She turned to Gojo and frowned. “Sorry, but you get the point. She’s weird, and if you’re looking for weird, that’s where you should go.”

And with that, the group of girls walked off, with Gojo being able to hear the ginger kid curse out the one who slapped her. Gojo frowned, watching as the group walked away. That was another reason why he didn’t like America, the absolute amount of racists. Japan had a xenophobia problem, but it never got as bad as it did here. Though, he guessed that an argument could be made in the reverse, not that he cared.

Still, now he had a direction on where he was to go. Toward the forest. And while he could’ve figured that out on his own, having a better idea as to where the Cursed Energy could be made things a hell of a lot easier. Even with his Six Eyes trait, it wasn’t as if he could see everything. Well, he could, but that didn’t mean he knew where everything was. And besides, his Six Eyes only made it so that he could see in a 360-degree radius around him for as far as a regular person could see. He wasn’t omnipotent, though he could count a few times where that would’ve been helpful.

And so, Gojo went in the direction where those kids had pointed him in. As he walked, he took in the scenery, or as much of it as he could without losing focus. Family-owned businesses lined the streets, mixed in with popular brands like Mcdonald's, Burger King, and even Papa John's. He caught sight of a school, but he also caught sight of something else that made him stop and pause for a brief second.

In the center of the town stood a large bronze statue. It was of two men, both looking to be around the same age as one another. One had a ponytail and the other had messy hair. They wore what appeared to be Victorian-Era clothing, and on the statue, there was a label that was engraved into it. Founders Of Gravesfield, Connecticut: Philip & Caleb Wittebane, 1613 – 1618. They looked older than seven years old, so that must’ve meant that it was when they had founded the town, to when they had died and or disappeared.

The name Wittebane, though. He hadn’t heard of that name being used since he saw it briefly mentioned in a textbook describing the Heien Era world of Jujutsu Sorcery. They were one of the major families who helped in the sealing of Sukuna Ryomen 1,000 Years ago, having disappeared 400 years ago, presumably having gone extinct. To find that the final two of their descendants, neither of which had Cursed Energy when their birth had been recorded, had founded a town in America went to show just how far-reaching their bloodline had been.

From what he remembered, The Wittebane family was a Germanic family, born and raised in what was now Worstach Germany. Gojo wasn’t surprised that the Wittebane’s had travelled this far out, but that still didn’t answer the question of how they were completely wiped out. Maybe it was the same as what had nearly happened to the Zen’in Clan over 100 years ago. It was possible, though Gojo doubted it.

“Still, The Elders will probably want to know of this. Maybe some of their Blood got mixed up within the populous? It’s definitely a possibility. They were high ranking in Jujutsu society, having one of the more sought-after Techniques...” Gojo thought, sighing to himself. “I shouldn’t be wasting time. Gotta get to that Cursed Energy signature…”

Gojo left the statue and continued his walk throughout the sleepy town of Gravesfield. There wasn’t much else to comment on regarding the town. It was your average small town, with a small population and a community where everyone knew everyone. If it wasn’t for it being in America with its dirty, polluted air, he would’ve considered moving to this place when he retired—if he didn’t die before then, of course.

It didn’t take him long to get to where the Cursed Energy signature had been, and, just like he had thought to be the case, none other than the girl that he had heard about was the source. Luz Noceda. An average-looking kid in a small town, and ripe with Cursed Energy. As a matter of fact, she had a fountain of the stuff that seemed near-unending.

“Kind of reminds me of Yuta, actually…” he shivered at the thought. The last thing he wanted to deal with was another Yuta Okkotsu. The kid was a good person, but the last thing he wanted was a repeat of what happened with him being around. A Cursed Spirit attached to someone was a fate that no one wanted. Especially a very powerful one like Rika had been.

All of that aside, Luz looked like what a normal teenage girl would appear to be. Short, scrawny, and entirely unimpressive. Ear-length purplish-brown hair sat atop her head with golden-brown eyes. Her skin was a light shade of brown, bordering on tan. She had a pair of ebony black, circle-shaped earrings, and she was dressed in a half-lavender-blue and half-white hooded shirt. Along with that, she had a pair of high-waisted grayish-turquoise jean shorts over a set of dark navy-gray capri leggings, as well as a pair of white loafer sneakers.

Gojo found her appearance completely unassuming, and he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. What was obvious, was that the kid was clueless about her Cursed Energy. If she hadn’t been clueless, she would’ve used it to spot him. That was both good and bad. Good, because that meant that she was a newbie and could be trained in the way of Jujutsu Sorcery from the ground up, and bad because if she ever ran into a Curse that was above a Grade 4, she would end up dead; even then that was being too generous.

For whatever reason, the Cursed Spirits here were docile. But if she had ventured anywhere else, she would wind up killed by one that wasn’t so docile. A fate that most potential Sorcerers tend to meet without intervention. It was a depressing reality, so the kid was lucky that she lived in this strange, backwater town.

“Well, I suppose I should go introduce myself to her,” Gojo thought, but just before he could, Luz stood up, and exclaimed something that he couldn’t quite make out, and that was when he saw it. A small Owl-looking thing, holding a sac filled with trinkets and doodads. However, what was most noticeable was a book. A book that Gojo was pretty clearly able to make out as reading as The Good Witch Azura, and from how Luz was reacting, it was clear that had meant a lot to her. So for the owl thing to run off with it meant that there was going to be trouble.

Which was exactly what the owl thing was doing.

But, that wasn’t what Gojo was concerned about. No. He was concerned about the fact that the creature that he was looking at had been emanating an energy very similar to Cursed Energy, but wholly different at the same time. It had put him on edge, and before he had the chance to tell the girl to wait, she was already chasing after it.

“Does she not have a single shred of self-preservation?” Gojo thought, making up his mind on a dime to chase after the girl and the strange owl that showed up out of nowhere. At first, he thought it was one of those docile Cursed Spirits, but the different energy it was emitting proved him wrong. Meaning that, to Gojo, it was an unknown variable, and that was something he just couldn’t have.

Gojo was not one for control over a situation. He was more of the type of person to play things fast and loose—see where things end up going and find what would be most enjoyable. But, when kids came into the question, it was an entirely different answer altogether. He much rather valued the safety of a child more than his amusement.

While most Jujutsu Sorcerers were, for lack of a better word, morally absent, Gojo was one of the very rare few who had a somewhat normal moral compass. Sure, he was fine with murder because what Sorcerer wasn’t, but if a child got hurt, and it was on purpose and the person at fault was a Sorcerer themselves… Gojo could never, nor would he ever forgive them.

Corny as it was, the saying: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility rang true as far as Gojo was concerned. It was a quote from Spiderman, and it was one of the only things in Western media that he resonated with. Of course, most Jujutsu Sorcerers cared less about that kind of thing, and sometimes even Gojo believed that, but nine times out of ten, he believed in that statement.

As he followed after the girl, Gojo had been more than a little surprised that both the owl and Luz were extremely fast. He assumed it had to do with the fact that Luz really wanted her book back. As for the owl, despite its waddling, it too was fast. For what reason, Gojo had no idea. “This feels like a trap…” Gojo thought, eyes narrowed.

He tried to feel out for any more Cursed Energy in the area, but he could feel none aside from the stuff that was pouring off of Luz. He couldn’t get a read on the energy that the owl was giving off, and it was unnerving him. Just what was that owl? Why did it steal Luz’s book? Why was it so damned fast?! All of those questions, and there were no answers. It was starting to annoy Gojo, and annoying him was not exactly a good thing.

Finally, after a few minutes of chasing after Luz and the strange owl, Gojo saw what appeared to be a hut in the distance. It was an old wooden shack that looked as if it hadn’t seen a carpenter in little over thirty years. Boarded up windows, a door that was seemingly rusted open, and a hole in the roof. Clearly, this place was abandoned. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The question was, why had the owl lured them here?

Against his better judgement, he continued to follow after Luz, who was stupid enough to follow the owl into the cabin, calling out to the thing, telling it to “wait” and “come back here” or “give me my book back!” Gojo would’ve found it amusing if it weren’t for the fact that it was leading her into the most obvious trap imaginable.

Unfortunately for Gojo, he felt as if he had no choice but to follow in after her so that she didn’t get hurt. After all, for all he knew this thing was a strange, possibly dangerous Cursed Spirit that didn’t feed off of Cursed Energy but rather something else. Nanami would most certainly never let him live this down. He knew that for a fact.

Entering into the cabin after Luz, Gojo stopped dead in his tracks when the door slammed shut on its own, a blinding golden light shining from the doorway. “Damnit! I was right!” Gojo thought as he spun on his heels to stare at the door. It no longer appeared to be a regular door, but rather a door with an eye in the center of it. A pane glass eye, and an unmoving one at that. Then, suddenly, the door folded into a suitcase and fell onto the floor, with a key attached to it.

Then came the surrounding area. It had changed entirely. It was no longer a cabin, but rather a tent of some kind. The walls were purple, and there was a large quantity of random junk like a fridge, a box of random knickknacks, and bags of garbage. If this was a Domain, which he highly doubted to be the case due to the abnormal appearance and lack of Cursed Energy, then it was a strange one.

Turning around, Gojo saw Luz, who stood there staring out at the vast array of garbage with wide eyes and confusion adorning her expression. “Whoa…” She muttered, before shaking her head. “Right, book! Gotta get my—” That was when Gojo intervened, putting a hand on her shoulder, catching the teen off guard and for her to nearly shout, which had only been stopped when Gojo turned her around and covered her mouth with his other hand.

“Quiet kid,” Gojo said, voice hushed to that of a whisper, and letting go of her mouth. She was about to say something, only for Gojo to get down to her level and grab onto her other shoulder, staring directly into her eyes through his blindfold, which seemed to make her stop talking if only because she got a little uneasy. Honestly, Gojo didn’t care. If it worked, then it worked. “I’ll explain later, but right now, we could be in some serious danger. Listen to me if you want to stay alive, okay?” Gojo said, his tone not leaving any room for argument.

A conflicted look appeared in her eyes, though it didn’t seem to matter, as she nodded. “Great, now get behind me,” Gojo instructed, as Luz did just that. Slowly, Gojo approached the curtains, feeling out for any kind of Cursed Energy. His eyes narrowed. There was Cursed Energy, and it wasn’t Luz’s. Though, it felt… different.

The Cursed Energy that was coming from just behind the thin veil of curtain wasn’t what he was used to. It didn’t belong to a person, but rather to a Technique, and not the person’s Technique either, but someone else's who had been far removed from the process. It felt more like a Cursed Spirit had been implanted into the person rather than it belonging to the person behind the curtain. Almost like a bastardized version of Getou’s Cursed Technique, but non-consentual on both ends.

“Strange… so maybe this wasn’t a trap after all…” Gojo thought, humming to himself. Disappointing. He had gotten his blood pumping for nothing. However, that still didn’t explain the differences in the air. This clearly wasn’t Gravesfield, nor was it Japan. It was someplace else. The air felt clean. Too clean. Wherever they were it sure as hell wasn’t anywhere on Earth. Even the cleanest smelling air on Earth still had some ounce of pollution in it.

Not to mention, that energy that the owl had on it? It was everywhere now, and it was bothering him immensely, namely because he had no idea what the hell it had been. Was it an offshoot of Cursed Energy? Was it something else entirely? Was it pure, raw, Positive Energy? Furrowing his eyebrows, he decided that it would’ve been a better use of his time to check what was beyond the veil.

There were two ways he could go about this. Aggressive, or passive. He wasn’t Getou, nor would he ever be him—especially after what he did a year ago—so he chose the latter. Approaching the veil, he carefully drew back the curtain to see what was on the other side. Instead of being greeted with a monstrosity like he had expected, he was greeted with what appeared to be an old woman.

Long greying hair was the first thing he saw, along with a do-rag over her head and covering her ears. She had ivory-pale skin, and she was dressed in a two-tone sleeveless dress with a ripped hem, accompanied by gray tights. She also wore a pair of orange spherical earrings, and a golden ring on her left index finger, completing the look with maroon high-heeled boots.

“Finally, took ya long enough,” the old lady bemoaned, as the small owl hopped up onto the desk with the bag in its beak. “Well, let’s see whatcha got for me this time,” she continued as the owl hooted (was that the right word?) in acknowledgement. The old lady began to sift through the bag and pull out several different types of objects. A phone, a tablet, a few odd trinkets and eventually what appeared to be a literal bar of gold, all of which she called different words for “garbage.” 

The only thing of value she seemed to care about was the odd trinkets, like the pop-out glasses and novelty toys. Eventually, she got to Luz’s book, which she groaned at, finally turning around to face the owl, allowing Gojo to catch a glimpse of her face. She had yellow eyes, and a golden fang in her mouth that looked to be false. She also had an oval jewel on the sternum of her dress that shimmered a bright amber-golden hue.

“Really Owlbert? This? I thought I told you to stop grabbing these things. Whatever… I guess I can just burn it,” the old lady said to the owl, Owlbert, apparently, who hooted back in response. Sighing, the old lady made a strange finger gesture as a red fingernail-sized ring appeared above her pointer finger. A burst of flames sprouted, and it was then that Luz gasped, and Gojo took that as a sign that he ought to do something.

Stepping out from the veil, spooking the old lady, Gojo swooped in and snagged the book from her grasp. “Stealing a child’s book and then proceeding to burn it without reading it? Whoa, you sure are heartless, old hag,” Gojo commented, dangling the book in front of her before tossing it over to Luz, who caught it with the expertise of a clumsy cartoon character.

“Who’re you two, and how’d you get into my store?” The old lady demanded eyes narrowed as Gojo shrugged. Luz, however, didn’t know what tact was and instead spoke up.

“I’m really sorry about that, but your owl pet, thing, whatever stole my book. I just wanted to get it back! I didn’t mean anything by it, I promise!” Luz said as Gojo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was going to be fun, now wasn’t it? A blabbermouth kid who didn’t know how to not talk. Honestly? It reminded him of what he was like when he was young—insufferable. Not that he had changed much from back then, but still.

“She’s not wrong,” Gojo spoke up, crossing his arms. “As for myself, well… I’d hoped to talk to the kid in private about that, but she had decided to run ahead and go do something stupid that could have potentially gotten herself killed.” As Gojo said that, he noticed that Luz winced at his words. He sort of felt bad, but seriously, had the kid not been lucky that this old lady was nice, that could’ve very well been the case.

“That being said,” Gojo continued, uncrossing his arms and letting them hang by his sides, “neither of us wants to be here, so we were wondering if you could use that strange door of yours to take us back. I have important things I need to do, and I’m sure that kid has things she needs to do, too. I’m sure you understand, yeah?” Gojo said as the old lady groaned, a gleam of disbelief in her eyes.

“So, not only do you wander through someone else's door, but you also break into another person’s shop and then ask if you’re free to leave after being caught. What do you think I am, a saint? Forget it. You want to leave? You gotta earn that right. That, and… well, the door works just fine, but there’s something about you” the old lady jabbed her thumb at Gojo, eyes narrowed “that I don’t like. So as far as I’m concerned, I want to keep my eyes on you. Deal?”

Yeah, he should’ve seen that coming. Let it be known that playing nice with others ended up with the same result of getting burned. Not that Gojo minded. He wasn’t in a rush to get back home. The less he had to deal with The Elders, the better. His only issue was leaving Megumi by himself, but then again he trusted that Nanami would step up if he was gone for too long.

In all reality, Gojo wasn’t too pressed about his situation. It was Luz’s he had been concerned about. Oh, sure, he planned to, without all the flowery language, abduct Luz to take her to Tokyo Jujutsu High, but if being stuck wherever here was meant that he got to mentor her far away from The Elders and their influence… “I see this as an absolute win!” “Deal, old lady!” Gojo said, outstretching a hand in greeting. “Names Gojo Satoru, and you are?”

“Eda Clawthorne, but don’t go telling anyone that,” Eda said, accepting the handshake before looking over at Luz. “And whose the pipsqueak?”

“Oh!” Luz spoke up, standing up with a goofy smile on her face. “Luz Noceda! Nice to meet you!” To that, Eda smirked, before clearing her throat, letting go of Gojo’s hand and turning her attention back to the counter.

“Whelp, let’s get this over with. Don’t just stand there, promote stuff, get people's attention and all that jazz,” Eda said before grabbing onto Owlbert like he was a toy and placing him on a wooden stick that Gojo was just noticing. Confused, Gojo watched as she twisted Owlbert around 360 degrees, as he turned into a wooden statue version of himself. He’d assume it was a Cursed Technique, but the lack of Cursed Energy made that impossible.

“A question for a later time, then,” Gojo thought, before shifting through the bag in front of him. He plucked out a pair of rubber chickens, tilting his head. How was he supposed to promote these things? He looked over to what Luz was doing, and that was sitting patiently next to what seemed to be a dysfunctional old-fashioned TV, messing around with the dials.

For a moment, he was confused as to what she was doing, and that was when he caught on. “Loud noise. Brings people’s attention and makes them look over to what’s making it. I see! Well, she’s at least pretty smart when it comes to making a distraction. Initiative as well. Good traits for someone in my trade. Let’s see where this goes.”

It wasn’t long before Luz was able to get the TV working, and as soon as it did it played a very convenient noise. A loud, booming one that made heads turn. That was when he was able to get a look at all the manner of creatures in this strange new place. Just as he had to do back in the town he had just been in, he had to repress his urge to start blasting at these guys and for the same reasons.

They looked way too much like Cursed Spirits. Sure, they weren’t the same, and maybe it was a little rude of him to assume, but could you blame him? Seriously, there was a dude with three eyes and claws for hands with the body of a gorilla! If that didn’t scream Curse then he didn’t know what did.

“Darn kid, you’re pretty smart,” Eda commented, before looking over to Gojo. “Why didn’t you think of that? You’re a human too, aren’t ya?” She asked to which Gojo frowned.

“Yeah, but not all humans catch onto small stuff like that,” Gojo said as Eda shrugged, taking paper bills and coins as if they were nothing whilst handing out products hand over fist. Gojo did a large part in handing out the merchandise and handed the money to Eda, which she seemed to appreciate. It was the very least he could do.

“OI! What is with the racket?!” A loud, booming voice echoed out in the street, as Eda frowned. Gojo didn’t know why, but he got a bad feeling about whatever was about to happen. Luz also seemed to feel the same way with how her shoulders rose to the base of her neck. Underneath his blindfold, Gojo narrowed his eyes, finding the source of the voice.

It was a large man covered in white and black garb. It looked like something a member of a cult would wear, with a mask that completely obscured the face. The clothing was that of a white cloak with a hood kept in place by a golden triangle pin, along with a black body suit with a lighter black shirt, and brown pointed-toe boots, accompanied by what appeared to be a sword at his hip. Seering blue eyes glared daggers at Eda, the colour of which made Gojo frown.

Was this some kind of cult town he wandered into? Or, perhaps, this guy was supposed to be a guard. The large, rotund individual seemed to look the part. Despite his size, Gojo could already tell he would be a hassle for others, him excluded, of course.

“You again!” The large man snarled, glaring at Eda. “What have I said?! I swear to Titan you’re just about as good at listening as a rampaging Slitherbeast! Take your human garbage, and sell it somewhere else!” The large man spat, his eyes narrowing further. “Come to think of it… you’re starting to look familiar…”

Eda tensed, but not out of worry. It was more as if she was about ready to book it. “Oh?” Gojo thought, his frown disappearing as a smirk slowly took up his visage. The large man fiddled around for his belt, before pulling out a sheet of rolled-up paper. Unfurling it, his eyes widened. “A-HAH! Now I know why! You’re Eda Clawthorne! Wanted for crimes against The Emperor as well as practicing illegal Wild Magic!”

Drawing his blade from his hip, he chuckled. “Now I can finally get that promotion to Guard Captain! And you two!” The man snarled, getting into a defensive stance. “You two are under arrest for fraternizing with a criminal!”

Luz panicked, leaping behind Eda as Gojo scoffed, taking a step forward in front of the two. “Is that so, Mr. Plump n’ round? Well, we’ll see about that,” Gojo said, as Eda reached for her staff. Tapping it on the ground, she did one of two things. One, she ripped off her do-rag, revealing the rest of her head. As Gojo wasn’t expecting, she had pointed ears like that of an elf. The second thing was just how fast she had wrapped up shop—literally. All it took was one tap of the staff and it was all bundled up on the edge of her staff.

“Magic, huh? Neat…” Gojo thought, before raising his index finger. “Well, we’d love to stick and chat, but we have places to be, people to meet, and a home to get back to. So… Sayonara~!” As Gojo said that, a small ball of red energy began to converge at the tip of his finger, shocking just about everyone including Eda.

With the flick of a wrist, Gojo unleashed Reversal: Red toward the large Guard, hitting him directly in the stomach and sending him flying through several stands. With their opening, Gojo motioned for them to follow. “C’mon, guys! We got some time before he gets up!” He called out, earning a smirk from Eda. Grabbing onto Luz, Eda followed after Gojo, with Eda being surprisingly fast enough to catch up to him.

“Gotta admit, Blindfold, I’m starting to like you,” Eda commented as Gojo laughed, smiling.

“Awe~, you flatter me,” Gojo said as the group of three dodged, ducked and weaved around people of all shapes and sizes as the sound of footsteps followed them close behind, vague mentions of “get them” and “for the Emperor” echoed behind them. Gojo had to admit it was just like those movies he watched when he was younger. 

“They’re still tailing us!” Luz called out as Gojo frowned. He had an idea, but it would only work if Eda trusted him. It was a long shot, he knew, but it would get them out of immediate danger. He glanced over at Eda, who was looking behind them with a frown on her face.

“Kids right, we gotta lose them somehow…” Eda muttered looking at her staff. The flash of an idea appeared in her eyes, but before she could suggest it, Gojo spoke up.

“I got an idea, but you have to trust me. Once we get to an alleyway out of sight, I’ll tell you,” Gojo said as Eda shrugged.

“Alright, Human. But you gotta explain what you did earlier because that looked like Magic,” Gojo said as Luz spoke up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Yeah! How’d you do that!”

“Well, that’s both good and bad,” Gojo thought with a lopsided smile on his face. On the one hand, Luz being curious about what it was that he did was great! It meant that teaching her would be easier than most others. But, it was also bad because she was too eager. Don’t get him wrong, being eager to learn was great, but too much of it and obsession started to form. Becoming obsessed with Cursed Energy is what could turn your average Sorcerer into a Cursed Spirit—see Ryomen Sukuna as a great example of that. “Whatever, we’ll get there when we get there.”

Breaking left, the others followed after Gojo into an alleyway. He waited with bated breath as the guards charged past, allowing them to breathe. He hadn’t expected that to work, but it did, and he was grateful for it. “Alright,” Gojo said, looking over to Eda and Luz, “Where do you live, Old lady.”

“Why would I tell you that?” Eda asked, hands on her hips as Gojo sighed.

“You want to escape before they notice we’ve lost them?” Gojo questioned as Eda frowned, crossing her arms.

“As if I couldn’t just fly there and leave you two behind. I don’t have to let you use the Portal Door, now do I?” Eda said as Gojo frowned. The instant he did that, Eda faltered. Why? Because it was clear that Gojo was not fucking around. His Cursed Energy spiked, and when it did, it seemed to affect Eda. “What the hell…”

“You either let us use that door, or I kill you and take it from you. And trust me, lady, I could do so very easily,” Gojo threatened. Again, he didn’t need to get home immediately, but he wasn’t about to let this old fart think she had anything up on them. He had been cheated out of a lot of things in his life, and he’d be damned if he’d allow that to happen again.

“You think your threats scare me?” Eda remarked, though with noticeably less confidence than she would normally have. From what he knew of her, despite only meeting her briefly, she was a very boastful individual. Confidence was kind of her thing. However, she didn’t have the power to match it. Or, if she did, it was being suppressed. Most likely by that Cursed Energy within her body.

In fact, he was fairly certain that she could pick up on his Cursed Energy, though clearly, it did more than just notify her how strong he was. It also did something else. What that something else was, Gojo didn’t know. What he did know was that what Eda had said was a bluff. That being said, he wasn’t taking any chances.

Narrowing his eyes underneath his blindfold, he smirked. “Who said anything about threats, Old lady?” Gojo said as Eda tensed. Before things could get any more messy, Luz stepped in between them.

“Hey! Can we not?! We’re kinda being chased right now, so maybe, just maybe, bicker about this later?” Luz said as Gojo and Eda looked down at her. She nervously chuckled, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Look, I know you don’t trust us, Eda, but you know better than I do what’ll happen if those guys catch us. I don’t know much about Gojo over here, but he’s helped us this far, so maybe antagonizing him isn’t exactly a good thing, yeah?”

Luz then turned to Gojo. “And you… maybe don’t threaten people, okay? I don’t know who you are or what you do aside from that cool red ball thingy—which I really want to know how you did that—but I’m sure Eda was just saying that to get on your nerves. So, can we please not fight? Pretty please?” Luz said, throwing in the whole puppy dog eyes trick. Usually, that didn’t work with Gojo, but he knew she was right.

Maybe Getou had rubbed off on him a little before he died…. He had noticed he had become a little more uptight than normal. But then again, being a Jujutsu Sorcerer got to even the best of people, and he was no exception it seemed. Sighing, Gojo relented, letting his Cursed Energy relax, which made Eda relax.

“Yeah, fair enough,” Gojo said, scratching at his chin.

“Whatever,” Eda remarked, glaring at Gojo. “But if this backfires, It’s on you, Blindfold,” Eda said, crossing her arms. “West from here, I live in a house deep in the woods. It’s about a mile away from town. There, you got all you need?”

Gojo smirked, before suddenly grabbing both Eda and Luz, shocking them. “More than enough! Hang on tight!” As he said that, he used his Limitless technique, paired with his Six Eyes to teleport to the exact location that Eda had mentioned. Usually, he would have needed a Cursed Energy signature to teleport somewhere, but because he was teleporting to a remote location, he didn’t need one. And sure enough, just as Eda had said she would if her coordinates had been correct, they appeared not even five feet away from a strange-looking house.  

The house in question was a white brick cottage-sized home with a blue sloping roof. There was a stained glass window above the door that made it almost look as if the house had a large, orange, demonic-looking eye and was actively watching them. Just behind the house was a crumbling stone tower with orange moss growing on it. Whether it was attached to the house or whether it was separate was for a later time.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Luz said, breaking away from Gojo as Eda did the same, dusting herself off before turning around and looking back at her house.

“Huh, well, let it be known that was actually pretty cool,” Eda said, turning to look at Gojo. “Sorry about earlier. I’m not a very trusting person, especially with private information like, you know, my house’s location?”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. I was bluffing anyway,” Gojo said, waving her off. It was a half-truth. If he really had to, he would have, if for no other reason than to make sure that he didn’t have anyone tailing after him while he remained here. She seemed to buy it, so that’s all that mattered. “Now, we have another problem.” As Gojo said that, Eda seemed to deflate.

“And what would that be?” Eda asked as Gojo wrapped an arm around Luz, shocking the teen.

“We still need to go home!” Gojo said as Luz jumped away.

“No!” Luz exclaimed, making Gojo turn his head in her direction. She shrunk, chuckling nervously to herself as she spoke. “Ah, well, I mean… I kinda don’t want to…. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s probably a good idea, but…” Luz’s expression turned to one of upset, her eyes downcast as Gojo frowned. He didn’t know this kid, so for all he knew her home life could suck royally. He first saw her sitting next to a trash can, for Kami’s sake, so there was probably a reason why she was so hesitant.

She looked over to Eda, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “I was kind of hoping if I could learn that Magic stuff you were doing! And if not, then… maybe you can teach me what you were doing earlier, Gojo!” Luz said, turning to Gojo as he jabbed a thumb over to Eda.

“How about this, try and learn from the old lady first, then come to me. If I do teach you, it’s going to be challenging. That magic stuff seems easier than what I do anyway,” Gojo said, smirking. “It also gives me a chance to fully scope this place out without you breathing down my neck asking questions, because you totally seem like the type to do that,” he thought, as Eda guffawed.

“Now hold your horses, I—” Eda was about to continue, but Gojo stared at her with a tilted head and a faux smile, which gave off a rather creepy aura that unnerved even Luz.

“Don’t tell me you’re about to break this poor kid’s heart, are you? That would really make you a heartless old hag, you know?” Gojo remarked as Eda sighed, shoulders slumping as she looked over to Luz, whose eyes were sparkling with anticipation. Ruffling Luz’s hair, Eda smirked.

“Alright, fine. I’ll see what I can do,” Eda said, before lifting her hand and looking at the two of them. “But, if you want a place to stay, I’ll let you two stay with me. That doesn’t mean you’ll be doing it for free. After all, you already know my reputation precedes me. That, and I could use the extra pair of hands around the shop when need be. If you’re willing to work for me, I’ll provide shelter and food.”

Gojo didn’t even hesitate. Some manual labour for a roof and food? That was easy as pie! So, with a thumbs up and a smile, Gojo accepted. Luz did very much the same, which earned the pair a chuckle from Eda. “Well then, that didn’t take too much convincing, but—”

“Eda! You’re home!” A very young-sounding voice echoed from the door as a small bipedal dog-like thing walked out of the house. It was about the same size as Gojo’s boot and had a canine skull for a face, along with a pair of horns atop its head, though Its right horn was missing. It had glowing yellow eyes with black sclera, and equally black fur with small but sharp-looking claws. It was strange, and much like most of the non-humanoid-looking creatures, it looked like a Curse. But that didn’t matter to Gojo. Not this time.

Why? Because it was cute! It reminded Gojo of Megumi’s Demon Dogs, and those were the two bestest boys in the whole wide world. Not to mention it was quite literally a bipedal dog thing! And it talked! How amazing was that?!

It looked over to Gojo and Luz, before crossing its arms and huffing. “And who are these peasants?” The creature said as Eda scoffed.

“These guys are Gojo Satoru and Luz Noceda. They’re going to be living here for a little while. You good with that, Pipsqueak?” Eda said as the creature stomped its right foot on the ground and straightened out its arms, holding its head up high like a child having a temper tantrum.

“I am not a pipsqueak! I am King! King Of Demons! How many times do I have to say that!” King complained as Eda smirked, crouching to his level and patting him on the head, which only served to annoy him further.

“I’m just messing with you, King. Seriously though, you don’t mind them being here, do you?” Eda asked as King shrugged, giving Gojo and Luz a once over before running over to Luz, looking up at her, and nodding. He ran up to Gojo, crossed his arms, then shrugged, before walking back over to Eda, sticking a claw up in what Gojo assumed was a thumbs up.

“It’s cool. They seem like worthy servants,” King said as Gojo held back the urge to laugh. King sure was an interesting person. Yet again, he reminded him of a younger version of himself. What was it with people reminding him of himself lately? That was starting to become a trend he was noticing, and it was kind of funny, all things considered.

“HOOT HOOT WHO’S THERE?! IS SOMEONE NEW HERE!?” A very loud, very high-pitched voice caused Gojo to flinch. It was ear-grating, and it was very sudden. Luz seemed to feel the same way with how she quite literally fell backwards after trying to rebalance herself. It was then when a giant long outstretched owl face came rushing out from the front door at full speed, and it was only because Gojo side-stepped the face that it didn’t splatter against his Infinity.

“What is that?!” Luz exclaimed as it came back around and floated above her.

“That is Hooty, and Hooty is me! Nice to meet you, Luz! Same with you Gojo! I overheard Eda say your names!” Hooty said, looking between both Luz and Gojo. Luz seemed seconds away from bursting a gasket, and Gojo couldn’t find it any more hilarious, openly laughing at the scene before him like a madman, much to Luz’s chagrin.  

“Okay, Owl Boy, calm yourself,” Eda said, looking at Hooty with a lopsided smirk. “Let’s get inside. I’m sure everyone wants to rest after today. It’s been a pretty hectic morning so far,” Eda said, standing up and patting Hooty on his tube-like body. He slithered his way back into the house, followed by everyone else.

In the back of Gojo’s mind, he knew that things were going to be far more interesting than he had initially thought they’d be. Sure, he had his worries, but he knew full well that everything would be fine. After all, he was The Strongest. And while things certainly weren’t normal, what was so fun about normal anyway?

He looked at Luz and frowned. Her life would change drastically here. He knew that both because it would be mostly his fault, and also because this world was far different from Earth, wherever here was anyway. Even still, he was slightly worried for the girl. She most likely had a family that cared about her, so for her to suddenly disappear would probably cause panic in her circle of individuals she knew.

Whatever the case was, Gojo didn’t really care all that much. It wasn’t as if that wouldn’t have happened either way. Be it because of him or because of this, her family was most likely never going to see her again. That was just how being a Jujutsu Sorcerer worked. Once you became one, unless one’s family was in the know, then they were excluded. It was like a cult in that way, though, unlike a cult, this was for the family’s safety.

Regardless, as far as Gojo was concerned, this was a breath of fresh air. A new dimension free from The Elders and their annoying requests and orders? No responsibility aside from looking over Luz and possibly training her in the ways of Jujutsu Sorcery? What was there to dislike? All Gojo wanted to know was where was this place ten years ago?!

Smirking, Gojo entered the home of Eda Clawthorne with only one thought on his mind. “This is just the beginning of something very interesting. Very interesting indeed.”

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 2: Cursed With Cursed Energy]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born, By – Creepy Nuts]

The sound of dirt crunching underfoot was drowned out by the constant chattering of the civilian populous that lived within this new Realm—the Demon Realm, from what Eda had told him what the name of this dimension had been—as Gojo explored the neighbouring town that Eda had lived near. If he was remembering correctly, which he always did, the town was called Bonesborough.

His initial opinion of the place was that it had been… interesting. Especially considering the short amount of time he and his would-be pupil had been in this place. To be exact, it had been two days since he and Luz came to the Demon Realm, and if he had been asked what the best way to describe it had been, he’d respond with it being… exotic, and that was being generous.

His reasoning for such a statement was mostly due to the populous of Bonesborough. Specifically, it’s more… unique appearing individuals. And while he was both ashamed and annoyed to admit it, he wasn’t taking the change very well.  

In the two days that Gojo had found himself in this realm, he had to stop himself at least ten times from killing innocent civilians whom he had assumed to be Cursed Spirits. He was trying to stop himself more and more often, and it was working, but there would come a day when it wouldn’t. He had too much experience with Cursed Spirits and their appearances being engrained into his mind to not know that one day he’d accidentally slip up and kill someone completely unprovoked.

Although, while that was a bad thing, it at least allowed him to know the difference between what was considered sentient here and what wasn’t. Even after Eda had told him, it had been extremely confusing to follow—even with his sharp brain, it was difficult for him to figure out what exactly the difference had been. But now, he was starting to get it.

For starters, the sentient life here was far more varied than it was on Earth, though that had been obvious. Eda chalked it up to everything that humanity had believed to be a myth was the reality here. Meaning that yes, Vampires were a real thing, and yes, Gojo had the pleasure of meeting one yesterday whilst taking a midnight stroll. Though unlike in fiction, Vampires here weren’t evil, they were just guys who liked to party at clubs—and that was just one of the many examples this dimension had to offer.

That was something that Gojo was trying to get used to. All of the creatures that lived here. First, and second most common to Witches, were the Demons—aka the ones that looked to be most similar to Cursed Spirits. It was because of their unique appearances that he had gotten them confused for the very things he hunted and exorcised on the daily. Most of that had to do with the wide spectrum of Demons that existed, which had been due to the sub-categories that they were placed into by the local Police precinct.

There were Bat Demons, Mole Demons, Mouse Demons and Cat Demons. There were Gorilla Demons, Mixed Demons, and everything else in between—and all of them were bipedal, which had been the major thing that had confused Gojo because there was a difference, which he had found most perplexing.

All of those Demons, all of them, were the “sentient” ones, at least according to human and or witch standards. They were the ones who talked, walked, and acted like “normal” people, and because of that, they were allowed to live in the towns, though under the strict watch of the local police, which had been made up of Coven Guards.  

Then there were Beast Demons, which were considered the wildlife of The Demon Realm, aka the “non-sentient ones.” He hadn’t seen much in terms of what existed out in the wild, but from what he heard, the wildlife was primarily hostile, though only when provoked. So, in other words, basically just his home dimension with stranger more diverse forms of wildlife.

Then came Witches, which had been this place's counterpart to humans. Aside from appearances, most Witches looked exactly like Humans, but unlike Humans, they had pointed elf ears. It was enough to trigger the uncanny valley for Gojo, and it rubbed him the wrong way. Then again, he was in a new dimension, so it was to be expected.

Everything else fell into a sub-category of either a Demon, a Witch, or sometimes even a Half-Witch. Half-Witches though were rare, and were looked down upon. Kind of like how mixed-Japanese people were often seen as lesser in Japan, a sentiment he wished would have gone away by now, but then again, maybe he was asking for too much.

That was something worth looking into. What exactly was a Half-Witch? He was fairly certain he knew, for example, a Demon and a Witch get married and have a child, but what exactly made them so insulting to the public? Japan had a reason to be fearful of foreigners. The less that World War 2 was talked about, the better. But witches being fearful of half-witches? Was it just regular racism or was there something more to it?

Again, not that he was okay with that. At the very least he was indifferent about it, but still. Even if there was a reason Gojo wouldn’t have cared all too much. Besides, it wasn’t his problem, now was it?

That aside, he was still unnerved by how some of the people looked. It just didn’t feel right to him. But, that didn’t mean he was going to start killing people or setting up some elaborate hundred-of-years long plan to eradicate this place all because it made him feel strange. Only a complete and utter madman would do that. Why waste time doing that when you could just, you know, live a normal life? 

All of that was to say that, while he was a little off put by the locals, that didn’t mean they thought the same of him. If there was a universal constant, then Gojo would somehow be able to catch the attention of every hormonal teenager, woman, and sometimes even men would have to be it. No less than thirty times had he been approached by several people asking for a selfie on those strange phone things that looked almost like an iPhone but didn’t, or asked out, or whatever else.

He only ever denied the more upfront advances from the adults and completely threw aside the prospect of dating a teenager—he wasn’t that desperate to result to committing a crime. Selfies he was okay with, because he liked doing that kind of thing, but the other stuff? Absolutely not.

“Though, Mei Mei probably wouldn’t care…. That freak…” Gojo thought, sighing. What Mei Mei did to her little brother made him want to vomit. The only reason why Mei Mei wasn’t already dead at his hands was because what she does empowers Ui Ui’s Cursed Technique and increases his Cursed Energy, making him a far more powerful support than he otherwise would’ve been. It also doesn’t help that his Binding Vow with his sister is what makes it better.

Not to mention, Mei Mei herself was an extremely powerful fighter. Gojo might not like what those two do—as a matter of fact, he found it repulsive as it was a mixture of all three of the worst things that one could do to a child, i.e. Grooming, Pedophilia, and Incest—but there wasn’t much Gojo could do that wouldn’t violate the already thin layer of peace that was between Kyoto and Tokyo’s Jujutsu Schools.

While sure, Gojo could do something similar to what Mei Mei was doing, minus the illegal parts of it—so basically everything—to benefit himself to make him stronger than he already was, Gojo saw no reason to do so. As for his reasons…. 

Well, he wasn’t a taken man. He was single and had been for his whole life—which shocked a lot of people to find out that had been the case. It wasn’t because he was uninterested in having a sex life. He had a sex life. He was just never one for committal relationships. Not because he was a douchebag, but because he didn’t want one. Well, no, he wanted one. But it was more like he couldn’t.

It was hard to explain to people who didn’t understand. When you are the strongest, having someone you are in romantic love with can often lead to enemies using them to get to you. No matter how much he yearned for it, no matter how much he wanted to be with someone—No matter how much he wanted to see the day when he could finally tell Shoko that he was in love with her—he couldn’t for the sake of protecting everyone.

When he retired? Maybe. For now, though? No. He had responsibilities of his own to worry about. He had Megumi and now potentially Luz to worry about. He had his job. He had so many other things in the world that he needed to do before things got too out of hand to even think about having a romantic relationship right now.

Regardless of that, that wasn’t the point. The point was that he somehow always was able to get the ladies, and sometimes even men, to ask him for things that he simply didn’t have the time nor the energy for. And honestly? It was exhausting.

Every time he took a walk back home—and now even here—he was hit with cat-call after cat-call after cat-call. It was annoying, but he never made it seem like it bothered him. He even sometimes played into it when it was someone his age or a little older. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that at times he was a manwhore, and he didn’t mind having the occasional fling, but he never let it get serious.

Where it got annoying was when there were consequences for his actions. It wasn’t a fact, but it was a hunch. He had a feeling that, out there, somewhere, he had a child that he had unknowingly created. He had flings with multiple women and men in the past, none of which he remembered because his brain was too preoccupied with his job and making sure the public was safe.

After all, if Yuta existed and was somehow tangentially related to him through some obscure means, then it was probably reasonable to assume that due to his debauchery, he most likely had a little demon spawn wandering about somewhere out in the world.

For a brief second, he considered if Luz might have been the result of a fling—after all, he had been in America before—though he quickly dismissed it. After all, if that had been the case, then she would most likely have presented something from his Clan since his family's genes were the most dominant. So, no, that most likely wasn’t the case. Even if it would’ve been absolutely hilarious that he would wind up teaching another descendant of The Gojo Clan.  

All of that aside, there was a real moral question in his actions, and he had already known the answer. Was it wrong to do what he did, i.e. having random flings with random people? Yeah, it was. But it wasn’t his fault for being a handsome stud. If women or men wanted a piece of him, he’d oblige so long as they were his age, a year younger, or a few years older.

Besides, it wasn’t a secret to his friends that he and Getou dated briefly. Very briefly. There wasn’t much of a spark between them, despite how well they got along. He was glad he was able to maintain that friendship after the fact, even if it fell apart after The Incident and the Parade of 1000 Curses.    

Tangent aside, there was a reason for his being here, and that was that he had been sent to get some groceries from the market for Eda, something revolving around a condition—most likely something that had to do with the Cursed Energy in her system—and to pick up some food if the food market wasn’t closed this afternoon.

A day ago, he would’ve been concerned about picking what to eat considering he was rather untrusting of the food, but because it was today, he didn’t have a problem. After all, he had already tested a lot of the food in this place during his first day here, and he found out that, while a lot of it looked unedible, it was perfectly fine. Some stuff, however, couldn’t be consumed by Humans. He didn’t have to find out the hard way, because the person he was shopping from at the time was able to guide him on what was and what wasn’t edible. For that, he was eternally grateful for them.

However, that wasn’t the only reason why he was out and about. He was here for his own reasons, aside from giving Luz some time to practice with those Glyph things that Eda was trying to teach her how to use, even though they wouldn’t work no matter how many times Eda tried to put a spin on how they worked—which was connected to a theory of his, though that was another time.

No. His reason for coming to Bonesborough actually had something to do with what Eda had said earlier. The things that humans believed to be myths came from The Demon Realm. That part had gotten him curious. He had already met a Vampire, and if Vampires existed here, then that meant that they originated from here. And if they originated from here, what else did?

In other words, he was out researching to see if Cursed Spirits originated from The Demon Realm, and he was fairly certain that he had already found his answer, with that answer being a big, fat, juicy, no. Why? Because if that was the case, he would’ve sensed one by now.

Jujutsu Sorcerers such as himself, or any Jujutsu Sorcerer for that matter, had the innate ability to sense Cursed Spirits and Cursed Energy. Cursed Spirits were different from Cursed Energy. Where Cursed Energy made the hairs on the back of his neck go up, Cursed Spirits on the other hand made his skin crawl. And not once since he had shown up here had his skin broken out into goosebumps.

In other words, Cursed Spirits were not showing up… yet. Why yet? Well, that was simple, because there was Cursed Energy here. The other energy that he was picking up on? That was Magic, but there was something else there, too. If he focused hard enough, he could sense it. Every being in The Demon Realm had Cursed Energy. Not a lot of it, but it was there. And it was growing.

Gojo was of the opinion that it was because of his and Luz’s appearance in The Demon Realm that had been causing it. Because when he first showed up here, such a thing wasn’t happening. But today? Today was different. Notably, however, there already existed other people in this realm, like Eda, who had Cursed Energy already.

For example, yesterday, when he was taking a walk to explore Bonesborough, he came across a handful of Witches and Demons Luz’s age, and noticed that Cursed Energy was in them, and a lot of it, too. Well, enough to see a Cursed Spirit, but that was beside the point. For a race of people who supposedly knew nothing about Cursed Energy, as Eda had shown when he pulled out Reversal: Red yesterday hadn’t been able to deduce that it was Cursed Energy, it was rather confusing and concerning that they were unaware of The Cursed Energy inside of them.

And it wasn’t like Eda’s, either. It was more like Luz’s. In other words, it was Cursed Energy that was derived from negativity rather than being forced upon a person like in Eda’s case. That put a fatal hole in his theory that Cursed Energy was brought here by him and Luz. Maybe it had already been here, but never enough to where it meant anything, but now that Luz and himself had shown up it was getting worse?

If that was the case, then that definitely complicated things. It meant that he needed to begin his training with Luz faster than he had initially wanted to. He wanted for her to exhaust every option she had available to her when it came to magic so that he could test if his other theory was true, but if the chances of Cursed Spirits were going to show up soon due to Cursed Energy making a more impactful appearance, then that meant he had no choice in the matter.

“Not that I mind training Luz. It’ll be fun, that much is for certain,” Gojo thought, a small smile spreading across his visage. “Even if she doesn’t awaken to a Cursed Technique, with the amount of Cursed Energy that she has, she’ll be a powerhouse. Maybe not on the same level as Yuta or myself, but maybe somewhere along the same lines as Nanami or maybe even Todo Aoi.”

That was another thing that was bugging him. Luz Noceda was just a random girl who lived in a random town filled with nobodies. For her to awaken a bunch of Cursed Energy almost instantaneously was worrisome. It was almost too convenient, and on top of that, it also made Gojo’s head spin.

As far as he was aware, considering he was crossing out his other theory as to why she had some much Cursed Energy, she didn’t come from a notable Jujutsu Family who had a history of vast amounts of Cursed Energy. From what he was able to gather using his phone—because he still somehow had an internet connection here, with the only thing he was unable to do being that he couldn’t call or text anyone—the Noceda family had no ties to Jujutsu at all.

It was strange. Very, very strange. He was missing something, surely. Maybe the answer would reveal itself when Luz awakens to her Cursed Technique. That was assuming that she had one, of course, but that was beside the point. Luz was still a confusing mess for him, but he’d be able to figure it out. He always did. It was only a matter of time before he did.

That being said, aside from the locals, Bonesborough was quite the town. Or would it be better to call it a city? He honestly didn’t know, but to him, it felt like a mix of both. There weren’t any highrises or anything like that—he doubted that they could build one of those here anyway—but there was quite the population.

During his walk to the market, he was able to spot a pub called Grimgrubs Pub—in fact, that was where he had met the Vampire last night. Swell guy, but a little on the rapey side with how he spoke about the women at the pub. Made Gojo want to punch his teeth out, but he refrained from causing a scene. The drinks there were… interesting. Apple Blood was just a sweeter apple cider, and Bonesbroth was just a better-tasting beer. Muddledwarp was Vodka, which was the most surprising thing he had to drink there.

Needless to say, he got a little tipsy when he left the pub. Not to a noticeable amount, and Reverse Cursed Technique got him back into tip-top shape once he had been done with that place. He also heard rumours of a night market, which would be something he’d have to look into later.

There was a library, which he had already checked out the morning prior. He found a history book, and after scanning through it briefly, he was able to find out that this place was even more bizarre than he had once thought. Apparently, The Demon Realm, specifically where he was at, The Boiling Isles, sat atop the corpse of a once massive beast known as The Titan.

And while that was weird, it wasn’t the weirdest part. The weirdest part had to do with the culture. A noteworthy thing about the culture here in The Boiling Isles was that it was very similar to humanity, often paralleling it to a haunting degree. Case in point, Penstagram.

It was literally Instagram, just slightly different and with a few things labelled differently. Such as Likes being dubbed Hearts, Reposts being dubbed Endorsements, and so on and so forth. He had even made an account for himself under the username XxBlindfolded_BeautyxX.

Much like Instagram, it didn’t take him very long to gather a following after he had taken a picture of himself after having just come out of a shower in purified acid water with his hair down, blindfold off, and a towel just barely covering his waist with a caption that read “I am a mess”.

Yes, he was what most people dubbed a Thirst Trapper, but with a body like his, who wouldn’t be? The best part? The same tactics that worked back home worked here, as he had far too many followers for a starter account. Already 7K followers in less than a day. What could he say? He was just that popular! That being said, with popularity came problems.

Case in point…

“You! Turn around right now!” A shrill voice echoed behind Gojo. Looking over his shoulder, he was greeted with at least twelve of those white-cloak guys. What did Eda call them again? Coven Guards? Whatever the case was, there were twelve of them, and they were all holding swords. They were also far thinner than the one that he had swatted away with Reversal: Red.

“What if I don’t want to? What’re you going to do then?” Gojo remarked, sarcasm dripping from his tone as the one who stood in front of all of the Coven Guards, which Gojo assumed was the leader of the posse that was before him, growled.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around right this instant! We need to identify you immediately. Someone who looks a lot like you is wanted for fraternizing with the known criminal Eda Clawthorne. Make this easy, and turn around!” The shrill voice that came out of the man’s face made Gojo’s head hurt. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Hooty, but with Hooty it was funny. With this guy, it wasn’t.

Dismissively waving his hand, Gojo looked away, “Maybe you’ll find them if you stop messing around then. Some guards you guys are, harassing random people on the street,” Gojo remarked, earning a few head turns from those who were scattered about going about their daily commute. One cyclops-looking Demon snickered, which seriously annoyed the guy with the shrill voice.

“For the love of Titan! Just turn around already!” The Coven Guard said, taking out his sword and pointing it in the direction of Gojo. For his part, Gojo was trying to repress a chuckle. He found this whole scenario hilarious. Not because of his squeaky voice, or because of the fact that Gojo knew that it would take more than twelve cloaked guards to do anything to him, much less their whole army. But because of just how easy it was to anger this guy.

Nevertheless…

“Are you sure you want to start pointing a sword at me?” Gojo said, his voice losing all of the joyous undertones that it usually carried, swapped out for something far more serious and insidious. His Cursed Energy flowed throughout his body, crackling and snapping all over the place as it flared, reaching its crescendo as he slowly turned his head to glance over his shoulder, not that he needed to, but it was for the dramatic effect of it all.

The Coven Guard in charge of the group of twelve involuntarily took a step back, his hands shaking as was apparent by how his sword was slightly twitching up and down. He slowly lowered it, as Gojo fully turned around, facing the group of twelve. A few of the passersby took steps back, with even a few of them hiding behind others.

Cursed Energy was negativity incarnate. That was why whenever Gojo unleashed his Cursed Energy, the witches and demons that were nearby got antsy. It was because they were able to pick up on it more than humans could, as they were magically sensitive beings. To them, a foreign form of magic had just invaded their senses, and it didn’t do good things to them either.

“I’ve never been a fan of forceful people, so let’s cut straight to the chase. Do I look like the man who’s wanted?” Gojo questioned as the man choked on his own words. He looked like he was about ready to pee himself, what with how his whole body seemed to shake in fear. Gojo took a step forward, as the Coven Guard stood his ground.

“Y-You’re… U-Under arrest for—”

The Coven Guard wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence as Gojo outstretched his right index finger. A blue swirling vortex of energy began to converge to the center on his pointer fingers fingertip, as Cursed Energy flowed around him like a raging inferno. It converged toward the ever-growing blue ball of energy, emanating a faint blue light similar to that of Gojo’s eyes.

The Coven Guard fell to his rear, scuttling back like a panicked prey animal. “W-What t-t-the Titan I-Is that!?” The Coven Guard shrieked, his chest rising up and down. It felt like nothing he had ever seen before! And the magic that the criminal was outputting… it wasn’t anything he was familiar with, even with Wild Magic!

It didn’t feel like Magic…

It felt wrong.

The group of Coven Guards looked as if they were about to charge forward, but Gojo wouldn’t give them the chance. Much like he did with Reversal: Red, with a flick of his wrist, he shot forward his Lapse: Blue toward the group of soldiers. But, unlike what happened with Reversal: Red, Lapse: Blue had a different effect.

Reversal: Red was meant to repel objects and people. It was meant to push them away, to clear distance for Gojo to make room for himself to try something out. Lapse: Blue was the complete opposite. It was meant to draw his opponents closer together, like a magnet. And as the blue orb flew toward his opponents, they were all drawn toward the blue orb, hitting into one another as they tried to get away, to no success.

And once they were all drawn together…. They all popped like balloons. A shower of red, crimson blood burst everywhere in the streets, luckily not hitting anyone or any important buildings, but it did paint that particular part of the road in red. Not even a shred of their clothes remained due to the intense gravitational pull that was caused by Lapse: Blue. Granted, he didn’t have to make them implode, but he really didn’t care for these Coven Guard people.

Screams echoed throughout the streets as people watched it all happen. Gojo was the least bit affected by what he had witnessed, as to him, it was just like exorcising a Curse. Yes, they were people, but those people were trying to capture him for talking to someone. It was kind of stupid if you asked him. However, it seemed as if not many other people seemed to care aside from a few of the children who had seen what had happened.

Maybe that said something about the society these people lived in, where death was common and often visible. He did come across a gladiatorial arena, so perhaps that was the case. There were probably going to be repercussions for his actions at a later date, but as far as things went now, he didn’t care. Not to mention, who exactly was going to get in his way?

It wasn’t as if anyone here had a weapon that could disable Cursed Techniques. And if there was one, he would need to find it and destroy it before anyone got any ideas. The last time he fought someone like that, it was a pain in the ass. Even now, there were days he couldn’t get that smug grin out of his mind….

“Now, where was I? Oh yeah. I believe Eda said the place was called Mr. Potions, or something like that….”

Unbeknownst to Gojo, however, in the shadows lurked a woman with ivory-pale skin and emerald green eyes. Her hair was long and a dark shade of blue that flowed down to just past her waist, and she was dressed in a similar uniform to that of The Coven Guards, minus the hideous mask.

Rather than pants like the rest of those in The Emperor’s Coven, she wore a dress that covered up to her ankles. On the sternum of her dress was a blue diamond-shaped gem that matched the lighter colour of her hair, and she also had black lipstick. In her right hand was a staff with a raven ornament on it, which she was holding onto for dear life.

What she had just witnessed… that was not normal. The feeling she had gotten from that magic had made her want to vomit. It was sickly, diseased, and it made her stomach churn just thinking about it. And the man behind that magic, the one who had been dubbed “Blindfold” by the Wanted Poster. He was powerful.

No. Scratch that. He wasn’t just powerful. He was immensely powerful. At least, that was what she felt when that wretched form of Magic touched her senses. It was Cursed, completely and utterly. Dare she say it was a bastardization of what Magic should’ve been? What made it even more insulting was that it was a human who had done it.

Not a witch.

Not a demon.

A Titan forsaken Human.

“The Emperor… he must know,” Lilith Clawthorne noted mentally, letting out a calming breath, slipping away into the shadows to go report what it was she had just bore witness to.

[XXXX]

“This is stupid!” Luz shouted, frustration boiling over as she slapped down a piece of paper that she had been holding onto. On the piece of paper was a symbol—a Glyph was what it was called according to Eda. Said Glyph appeared to be a large triangle within a circle. At the top of the triangle was another, smaller circle with another smaller triangle on top. Down the middle was a line that went from the bottom of the small circle to the bottom of the larger circle that encircled it. Finally, to complete the glyph, there were two small diagonal lines going through the main line.

The glyph in question was a Light Glyph, used by those who don’t know how to do finger seals to produce magic. Because Luz was human, supposedly, she could use these Glyphs as well. The only problem with that was, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how often she practiced with the same advice Eda had given her, nothing happened. Literally! Nothing happened!

And it wasn’t just because she couldn’t do it. Even Eda was shocked because Light Glyphs were supposedly the easiest to use! They required very little willpower—which was real by the way, who would’ve thunk it—and even an infant could use it.

Yet Luz… couldn’t. It was annoying, it was frustrating, and after two days of trying and failing to get the thing to do something, anything, Luz had finally reached the end of her patience. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes as she stared at the crumpled-up Glyph. Why wasn’t it working? What was she doing wrong?

She had done what Eda had done, and she had even copied the same phrase Eda was saying to see if that did anything—apparently, it was only just there for added flair, but you never know until you tried it—but NOTHING. There was nothing. No spark, no animation, no nothing. It simply lay in the palm of her hand like a regular old piece of paper.

Luz sat on the living room floor, and behind her sat Eda, who was stretched out on the couch, which was a dark violet in colour and had room for three people, all three seats of which were taken up by Eda, who had been watching Luz with concern in her eyes. She was dressed in a purplish-white nightgown, which was typically the same outfit she wore when she knew she wasn’t going to be doing anything that day. At least, that was what Eda had told Luz.

Of course, there was more in the living room than just a couch. There was a circular blue rug that Luz was kneeling on, a coffee table which had been a few feet in front of Luz, and a chair off to the right of the couch which completed the look of the place. There was a massive closed window behind the couch that let in natural light, and there was a chandelier above their heads. 

“What am I doing wrong?” Luz murmured, staring at the piece of paper as Eda scratched the top of her head. What was she doing wrong? Well, for starters, nothing. She was doing everything correctly. That was the bizarre part. The Glyph should have worked. Maybe it was just a faulty one. That happened sometimes. Whenever Eda needed to purchase a Glyph or make one herself, sometimes she forgot to add magic to it.

Oh, sure, they could work off of willpower alone, but it was hardly ever something done unless things were desperate, and the result would usually be weaker than what it would had the Glyph been powered by Magical Essence and willpower. And nine times out of ten those that were forged with willpower only worked with Witches because their very minds had magic coursing through them, so for a Human it wouldn’t work.

It was very confusing at times, but those who knew the ins and outs of Glyphs understood that. Hell, Eda typically disliked Glyph’s, because it was magic in a tamed state that couldn’t be freely manipulated. But for Luz, that was her only choice. Not to mention the fact that eventually, she herself would have to rely on Glyphs if her Curse kept sapping away her magic.

Hopefully, though, that wouldn’t be for a long time now. Even still, one had to be extra careful, and who was Eda if not careful—yes, she knew she was reckless at times, but due to her life as a fugitive, she had to learn to be careful over the years.

“Hold on, squirt. Maybe that Glyph’s defective. Happens sometimes, gimme a sec,” Eda said, getting up from the couch. She could see there was a brief hint of hope in Luz’s eyes, which was good. Walking over to the bookshelf off to the right of the couch, where she kept all of her guilty pleasure reads. It was chock-full of messy romantic dramas, as well as a few regular adventure books—things she never openly admitted to liking because she was supposed to be the cool, sassy old woman who didn’t like anything remotely stereotypical.

But, amidst all of that stuff, there was one thing on that shelf that was important. Something that she had saved for when her Curse sapped away all of her magic—which she could feel it actively doing, and it hurt. Titan did it hurt—and that was a single binder taller, larger, and thicker than any of the other books on the shelf. Pulling out the binder, she opened it, and when she did she smirked. Her Glyph Binder.

It had contained several pre-drawn Glyphs that she had been stocking up on in case her magic got ripped away forever by the damnable Curse that was forced upon her by some random. She still wanted to find the bastard who cursed her and beat them up for that. What had she ever done to deserve it? Clearly, it was something big if it was worth forcing The Owl Beast upon her.

Whatever the case was, while it was a looming issue that she knew was going to screw her over one way or another, for the time being, it didn’t matter. What mattered now was making sure that these Glyphs weren’t faulty, because the one that she had given to Luz had been from her own special, personal collection.

Opening the book, Eda plucked out another Light Glyph, but before she handed it to Luz, she checked to see if Magic had been poured into it. Exactly like she had suspected, there was Magic. “So then why was there none in Luz’s?” Eda thought, frowning. Regardless, she closed the Glyph Book, before putting it back and walking back to Luz. “Alright, kiddo. Take this one. Same thing as before, you’ll get it this time. I’m sure of it,” Eda said, a small smirk making its way to her face as Luz took the Glyph.

When Luz touched the Glyph, Eda watched as some kind of light blue energy that manifested on Luz’s hand touched the Glyph, and much to her shock, the blue energy destroyed the magic that was in the Glyph. “What the hell?” Eda thought, as she looked at Luz, who seemingly either didn’t see it or was too focused on the Glyph to have noticed that it was there. It happened in a blink, so it was expected to happen, but still.

“Is that why Luz couldn’t use the Glyph? Because she unknowingly destroyed the magic in the Glyph?” Eda thought as Luz glared at the Glyph, frustration evident in her eyes.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Luz exclaimed, throwing the Glyph onto the floor, standing up and staring at it. “Why can’t I do something even a baby can do?! It’s not fair!” Luz said as King, who had been snuggled on top of one of the backrests on the couch stood up, looking over to Luz.

“Well, maybe you’re not doing it right?” King said though it was more of a question than a statement. “Maybe try harder?” King suggested innocently, as Luz groaned. Before she could say anything, Hooty appeared out of one of the hidden holes in the wall, this one having been covered by a clock, poking his face out with an inquisitive expression.

“HOOT HOOT HAVE YOU TRIED TO HOLD YOUR BREATH WHILE DOING IT?” Hooty questioned as Luz, getting increasingly more and more annoyed, shook her head, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she closed them. It finally reached its breaking point when she stared back at the Glyph, her face going red in embarrassment, before she finally, seemingly, gave up.  

“Just leave me alone!” Luz said, pushing Eda aside as she ran away before Eda could say something. The sound of Luz running up the stairs to her room reverberated throughout the house, as Eda’s shoulders slouched, a frown taking up her visage. That wasn’t what she wanted to have happened. Not even remotely.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the blue energy that she had generated felt exactly like what Blindfold had been giving off when he got angry. Was it the same stuff? She did feel her skin break out into goosebumps briefly when Luz grabbed the Glyph and that energy stuff sapped away the magic out of it.

It was then that the front door opened, and Eda turned on her heel to see who it was. Not that she needed to see who it had been, because it was quite obvious who it had been. After all, Blindfold had been the only other person who knew where she lived. He stood in the doorway carrying two bags filled to the brim with bottles of the elixir that she needed to keep her Curse at bay.

“Two bags filled with top-of-the-line whatever the heck this does Elixer!” Gojo announced as Eda stared at him with a slightly agape jaw.

“I asked for two potions, not two bags. Besides, how much did that cost?” Eda questioned, not panicking just yet as Gojo fished out his phone. He swiped up a few times on his screen, before smirking.

“Well, I converted some of my money from my world into Snails—weird name, by the way—so it didn’t come out of your pocket. Uh, I believe the cost was somewhere around… uh… 10,000 snails for two bags worth? Which I believe, if my math is correct, 30 potions? Should last you the month, yeah?” Gojo said as Eda stood there slack-jawed.

10,000 Snails was more than half of what she made in a month selling human junk at the market. And Blindfold was just… slinging that around as if it was nothing?! She blinked, staring at him as he placed the two bags filled with potion on the coffee table. She could tell based on how his forehead shifted that he was raising an eyebrow at her before speaking.

“You look shocked about something. What’s up?” Gojo questioned as Eda waved it off.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m just… shocked you were able to buy that much. How much money do you have, anyway?” Eda asked, curiosity coating her words as Gojo smirked.

“What’s the highest number you can count to?” Gojo asked as Eda paled.

“There’s no way you have more than 1,000,000 Snails…” Eda said as Gojo laughed, which only made Eda realize that Gojo Satoru was rich. He had to be, otherwise he wouldn’t have just casually dropped 10,000 Snails like it was nothing. Just how deep were Gojo’s pockets? How was he able to make that much money? When was he able to make that much money?

“Now, that aside,” Gojo began as he crossed his arms, plopping down on the couch, leaning back as he put his left leg overtop his right, “I was able to disprove my theory, but in its stead something more… worrying took its place,” Gojo said as Eda raised an eyebrow. That didn’t sound good, especially coming from someone who oozed confidence like Gojo.

“Whaddya mean?” Eda asked as Gojo hummed quizzically in response.

“I’m not going to say anything yet. I’d rather confirm my suspicions first before I say something that could turn out to be completely wrong. For all I know I’m pulling at straws. But for the time being, I’m going to keep my eyes and ears peeled for something that seems off—even for this strange place,” Gojo said, his words carrying an ominous tone to them.

It wasn’t often that Eda was put off by a statement. But that? That right there did not sound good to her. There was something that Gojo was worried about, and from the very little that she knew about Gojo if he was worried about something, that meant that it was going to be very bad.

Sure, she had never seen him worried before, but just from knowing the bare minimum about the guy, and the fact that he was able to send a Coven Guard flying with that red ball of energy he created, she was willing to bet that whatever got him worried probably wasn’t good for their health. Gojo’s mouth twitched into a neutral expression from the frown that it had been before, as he sat hunched forward, resting his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped together.

“So, where’s Luz?” Gojo asked, changing topics as Eda blinked. Oh, right. Luz. She had been so floored at the amount of money that Gojo supposedly had and the fact that he was worried about something that she had nearly forgotten about what had, quite literally, just happened. Maybe she was getting old if that was starting to happen.

“She’s up in the guest room converted into her bedroom. She… learned the hard way that she couldn’t use the Glyphs, which makes no sense. Even babies can use them!” Eda said, putting her hands into her pockets as she frowned. “But… I think I know why. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with that blue stuff that came out of her hand when she touched the Glyph. It sapped away all of its magic in an instant. I tried saying something to her but, instead, she ran off after these two,” Eda said, jabbing her thumb at Hooty and King over to her left, who deflated upon being pointed out, “said the wrong things at the wrong time.”

Gojo sat upright, before standing up, putting one hand in his pants pocket, a small smile on his face. “I’ll go cheer her up~!” He said with his usual jovial tone of voice, which made Eda curious. Though, not curious enough to follow him up the stairs. Honestly, whatever it was that he was going to do, Eda didn’t care. At the very least she knew he wasn’t going to hurt her. Besides, he seemed trustworthy enough. All she cared about was knowing that Luz might be happy by the end of it.

On the second floor where Gojo had been, which consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom, and what looked to be a closet in the distance, he stood at the entrance to Luz’s room, which used to be a guest room. Arms crossed, Gojo spoke. “Luz. It’s Satoru. Is everything alright? I heard what happened downstairs. Mind if I come in?”

“Go away!” Luz’s voice echoed from the door, but it wasn’t a scream, nor was it a shout. It was a very messy, very upset-sounding voice. She sounded like she had been crying for what must’ve been minutes. He frowned, forehead scrunching up as he huffed. Gojo wasn’t great with kids, but he did know basic respect. So, instead of just barging in like he knew most people did, Gojo instead sat outside the door, back to the door itself as he curled his legs up to his chest.

“Listen, kiddo. I know you’re upset. You can’t use those Glyphs that Eda was trying to teach you about, yeah?” Gojo asked though he got no response. Not that he needed one. He already knew the answer. He had seen the crumpled-up piece of paper on the floor in the living room, so he was fairly safe to assume that had been the case. “I’ll take your silence as a yes,” Gojo said, still getting nothing in response.

He sighed, leaning his head against the door, he continued, “You remember what I said I would do if you couldn’t use the Glyphs? That I would try and teach you what I know?” Gojo said, as finally, he got a response.

“What’s the point if I can’t even do something that a literal baby can do?” Luz’s voice, quiet and soft, spoke through the door. That must’ve meant she was sitting there. Gojo smirked, shaking his head. He could be sarcastic, but that wouldn’t be appropriate. After all, he had raised Megumi since he was a teenager. He knew how to parent. He wasn’t stupid. When a kid is emotional, you have to take it slow.

Despite Luz’s age presumably being 14, maybe 15—he never bothered to ask—she wasn’t all that mature. Then again, Megumi was forced to grow up quicker than most other kids his age due to his awakening to his Cursed Technique and Cursed Energy when he was five years old. Luz had no such problem, so she got to be a kid, something not even Gojo was afforded when he was growing up.

His parents always forced him to train his Limitless, always forced him to do tests outside of his age range, and always made him do what they wanted him to do. He wasn’t given any freedom growing up until he ran off to Jujutsu High in Tokyo. Despite not having what some would consider an ideal childhood, he knew how to talk to kids because he was taught to do so by his parents.

Why? Because they had fully expected him to produce an heir by now. “Heh, sucks to be them. That won’t be happening for a long time. Not intentionally, at least,” Gojo thought before pushing the thought aside as he frowned. “Now what kind of attitude is that? From what I gathered, you were pretty eager to learn. What changed that?"

"I can’t do a basic thing that a baby can do, Gojo! A baby! If I can’t do that, then how can I do something that’s harder?!” Luz said, frustration clear in her voice on the other side of the door. Gojo chuckled to himself, something that Luz heard. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Well,” Gojo began as he stood up, facing the door as he continued, “What if I told you that the reason I was in Gravesfield in the first place lines up with the reason why you can’t use those Glyphs?” Gojo said as the door opened, and what he saw was pretty much what he had expected. Luz looked like a mess, with tear streaks running down her cheeks with her eyes slightly red and puffy, showing that she had been crying for a while now, only just stopping after he showed up.

“What do you mean?” Luz asked, her voice slightly shaky, as Gojo let himself in, gesturing for her to follow. Luz’s room was basic, not having much in it other than a bed, a dresser, and a closet. There was a purple rug sticking out from underneath the bed, but aside from that there were no decorations, and the curtains were a staunch white. It looked more like an uncustomized dorm room than anything else.

Gojo plopped down on Luz’s mattress, bouncing on it a few times before nodding his head. “Pretty soft. Lucky. I have to sleep on the couch,” Gojo said as Luz frowned. He snickered, before putting his hands to his sides and looking at her. “So, I think I should explain what I am, first. As you know, I can do things that normal people can’t. That’s because of what I do for a living. I’m what’s called a Jujutsu Sorcerer. And no, it’s not people doing Brazilian Jujitsu. They are two different things entirely.”

The joke got Luz to laugh a little, which was his intention. Good. That was a good start. “What we do, is we hunt these things called Cursed Spirits. Things that are invisible to the naked eye, and cause chaos all around the world. You’ve heard of spontaneous combustion, yeah?”

“Yeah, where people suddenly, you know, poof into flames. But that’s just a lie, right? People don’t just randomly do that, right?” Luz said, a hint of panic in her voice as Gojo’s expression turned neutral.

“They can, if a Cursed Spirit is to blame. Essentially, supernatural things like ghosts and all of that fun stuff? That’s the result of Cursed Spirits. So, if you think you’re being visited by your dearly departed, nine times out of ten, it’s actually a Cursed Spirit that’s there to rip out your organs and strew them across the walls—which, yes, is something I’ve seen before,” Gojo said as Luz cringed, recoiling.

“I did not need that visual, thanks!” Luz said, sticking out her tongue as if she had tasted something revolting. A fair reaction, all things considered. And while he meant it as a joke, that was something that he had seen before. After all, how could he forget such a sight, especially considering what it had been linked to?  

“Not important Gojo, focus on the pep talk,” Gojo thought as he continued. “Well, it’s true. Now, from what I heard about those around town, they were saying that you keep talking about how you can see things that “don’t exist.” I take it to mean you see things that others don’t. Like weird-looking animals, or things that go beyond that description, right?” Gojo asked as Luz’s eyes widened.

“Yeah! They’re all over Gravesfield, and no one even notices! It’s like no one else… can… see them…” It was then that the pieces were slowly pulling themselves together, and Gojo could see the gears turning in Luz’s head. All he needed to do was give her one last push.

“I saw them, too, Luz. Those were Cursed Spirits. Specifically, they’re known as Flyheads. They’re docile, but Cursed Spirits nonetheless. Which brings me to my next point,” Gojo said as he flared his Cursed Energy, though this time he made it visible. When Luz saw it, her eyes widened even further.

“You’re on fire!” Luz called out, to which Gojo smirked, raising his hands placatingly.

“Calm down! I’m perfectly fine. This isn’t fire, Luz. This is my Cursed Energy. It’s what allows me to use my special powers. And, it’s what allows you to see those Cursed Spirits back in Gravesfield,” Gojo explained, and when he did, the shine that he had seen in Luz’s eyes from when they first met reappeared.

“This brings me back to why I was in Gravesfield. See, my… superiors said that they had detected a large amount of Cursed Energy there, and sent me to investigate. That Cursed Energy, Luz, was yours. Meaning that you, Luz, are like me. And you know what that means?”

“I… I’m a… Jujutsu Sorcerer?” Luz asked, slowly pronouncing “Jujutsu” like a kid just learning a new word. Gojo smirked, crossing his arms.

“Not yet, kiddo. Right now, you just have a bunch of Cursed Energy. Unrefined, and floating around you. I bet you can’t even feel my Cursed Energy right now, can you?” Gojo asked as Luz shook her head in the negative. “That’s what I thought. Which means we have a lot of work to do. But! That’s fine by me because we have all the time in the world to teach you the basics! So, what do you say, Luz? Wanna become a Jujutsu Sorcerer? I won’t lie, it’ll be difficult, but—”

“Are you kidding!” Luz said, excitement written all over her face as she smiled like a kid on Christmas Day getting what they had been asking for all year round. “This is a dream come true! I’ve always wanted to do cool stuff like in my favourite shows, and to find out that I can is the one thing I’ve always wanted!” Luz’s expression slipped from excitement to sadness, her eyes shifting to look down at the floor.

“My mom… she always said that I needed to grow up. But, I don’t want to grow up. Well, that’s not true, I do, but I want to grow up my own way. I don’t want to be forced into a box, and that would’ve happened if I hadn’t caught Owlbert trying to steal my book or met you and Eda,” Luz said, before her expression switched again from sadness to joy.

“I first thought that those Glyphs would’ve been what allowed me to visualize my dream, but when those didn’t work… Well, you already saw that. But! If I can really do what you can do, or some version of it, I’m gonna do it!” Luz said as Gojo smiled.

“This kid sure is gutsy,” and while he was smiling on the outside, on the inside, he wasn’t. He was frowning. Not because of her answer, but because of something else. Something that had worried him the moment he had met Luz, and it all had to do with her aforementioned gutsy and excitable personality.

It wasn’t that he had a problem with it or anything like that—he’d be a hypocrite if he had been—but rather what that could possibly mean for her in the future. “That said, she’s under the belief that she’ll be some kind of superhero. I don’t want to shatter that perception, but still. That mindset is what gets people killed. I’ll do what I can, but if she doesn’t wake up soon, I’ll have to tell her the brutality of what being a Jujutsu Sorcerer really can be like.”

He really didn’t want to do that, nor did he want her to experience that brutality. Maybe it was that protective urge in him that made him want to wrap her up in bubble wrap and tinfoil and never let her leave this house, but Gojo knew damn well that she needed to be trained, or else she would suffer for it. And if there was one thing that he knew all too well, it was that experiencing something and being told something were two entirely separate beasts.

And while yes, he wanted to make sure that Luz was safe and protected—that much was obvious—he was obligated to do this. But, by doing what he was going to do now, by taking her under his wing he would be exposing her to a world of horrors. A world of monsters. A world of uncaring enemies whose only sensation is to kill or cause mayhem and destruction. To a world of prejudice and hatred.

It was something he hated—he hated the fact that Luz would be exposed to that type of thing. But, unfortunately for Luz, she had no choice. After all, she was cursed with having Cursed Energy. And so, because of that, Gojo would do everything in his power to make sure that not only would Luz be as safe as possible, but, be trained properly so that she would be able to not only defend herself but those that she cared for.

After all, that was in his job description as a teacher and as The Strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer.   

“Alright, kid. Then starting bright and early tomorrow, we’re gonna start on helping you control that Cursed Energy of yours. So get some rest, because you’re going to need it,” Gojo said as Luz mock saluted, a bright and cheery smile on her face.

“Yes, sir!”

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 3: Control That Curse, Luz!]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By: Creepy Nuts]

Basements were always one of the worst places to be. It wasn’t just a horror media trope to say that basements were terrifying, what with the unfinished walls, the dank smell, and the rancid-looking supports to keep whatever sat on top of the basement from collapsing inward. The basement to “The Owl House” as Eda had affectionately called her home, was no exception to the rule either.

The walls looked heavily unfinished, so much so that there were roots visible in some places, and the wooden supports looked like they were soggy and rotted through. It was a miracle that the building was even standing. If Gojo had to guess how it was still standing, he chalked it up to either the will of some outer God or some form of Magic. Or Hooty, that was also a viable option.

That aside, the only thing that saved the basement from getting a three out of three ranking for disgustingly terrifying was the fact that the smell wasn’t putrid. It was actually quite pleasant. Though that probably had to do with the sheer number of flowers dotted about the place that gave off a nice smelling aroma.

That wasn’t even factoring in the sheer size of the basement. Gojo hadn’t properly mapped it out yet, namely because of the amount of clutter that was in the way, but it was pretty huge all things considered. It was probably one of the only things preventing any sort of nasty smells from spreading out like a plague and fermenting.

And while the size and the smell helped things a little bit, it was still dark and spooky, due to the lack of windows. It had betrayed the fact that above ground it was daylight; the only light source available was a spare standing lamp he had found in a pile of “trash” that Eda had thrown in a pile in the storage shed next to the house.

Speaking of the time of day, right now, it was extremely early in the morning, and if his phone was correct, it was currently 6:00 am, sharp. Most of the time, Gojo was never up this early. It was normal for him to sleep in, but due to current circumstances, he simply didn’t bother with sleep. That, and he could tell with the shuffling about, everyone else had probably just woken up.

As for what it was he had been doing all night, he had devoted his time and energy to setting up the basement for Luz’s training. The reason it had taken so long to set up wasn’t because it had been particularly hard to do. Rather, the reason why it had taken so long was that he had needed to find everything that he needed for Luz’s training—which hadn’t been much, but due to the clutter, it had taken a lot longer than it should have.

It had become clear to Gojo during his search for what he needed that Eda had not been a very tidy individual. Especially regarding the junk she scattered about in the basement and the storage shed. Despite the mess in both the storage shed and the basement, he had been able to find what it was he needed, alongside borrowing something from the living room, that being the chair.

As for the other stuff, he had snagged a sturdy plastic box that would act as a TV stand and the TV that had been on display at Eda’s shop, both of which he had taken from Eda’s storage shed. Alongside that, there was the aforementioned large standing lamp and a few other electronical knick-knacks. After he had gathered everything, he brought them all down to the basement, which had been the easy part.  

Then came the hard part: making room for everything.

This had been the part that had taken him the longest, and that was prepping the basement. Finding the stuff, while it had taken him a while, was the easy part. Sure, it had taken him from 9:30, which had been when everyone else had gone to bed, sans Luz who had gone to bed at 7:30 on his orders, to 11:30 to find everything. But it took him from 11:30 to 5:30  to finish cleaning everything and making sure everything was put away in such a way that it would be easier to find.   

The most impressive part about the whole thing was that he had done all of it without waking anyone up. However, there was one particularly close moment where he had thought he might have when he was trying to fit the chair down the doorway to the basement.

As one would imagine, The door to the basement wasn’t exactly wide. But, with some elbow grease and several prayers to whatever divine being that was out there, Gojo was able to fit the chair through the door without making any noise.

Then came the final part, which he was most worried about, that being burning movies onto a DVD he had found in a case amongst the trash. With the DVD, he had been able to find a DVD player and a laptop with a disc drive, the latter being what he used to burn the DVD with the movies.  

His main concern was whether or not he was going to be able to connect to the internet and do what needed to be done. But, thankfully, he had been able to. After all, Penstagram wasn’t operated by Magic, as he had seen powerlines running through what he could see off in the distance as an actual neighbourhood when he had been in town getting those potions for Eda.

And so, for the last hour that everyone had been asleep, and thanks to a little help with the Reverse Cursed Technique which allowed him to keep himself from getting tired, Gojo burnt movies onto the DVD.

But they weren’t just any kind of movies. They were movies that were meant to elicit a wide variety of emotions, mostly negative, which would go perfectly for the training he had in store for Luz. He was also able to find a stuffed toy, and imbued it with a lot of Cursed Energy, so much so that it was nearly unstable—a Cursed Corpse, as they were dubbed. He also had a few back-ups just in case that one blew up, which again, was for Luz’s training.

By the time he had everything set up, which had been just about five to ten minutes ago, Hooty had discovered what he had been up to and per Gojo’s request woke everyone else up, much to their immense annoyance. But, that was fine. Eda had said she wanted to be up when Luz began her training as she wanted to know what it was Gojo was going to teach her, and Luz already knew she was going to be woken up early.

Seeing as he had been already prepared for Luz’s training, Gojo felt that it was time for her training to begin. Hence why he asked Hooty to wake everyone else up. Of course, he wasn’t going to be the kind of teacher who made it so they were to do stuff before fully waking up. He was nicer than that. And so after letting her have breakfast, he had instructed everyone to follow him down to the basement, which led to now.

“So… you want me to watch movies?” Luz questioned, sitting on the chair with the aforementioned stuffed animal in her hands—a black bear, to be exact. Her expression was that of confusion as she stared at the blank TV screen. “What’s that gotta do with my training? I thought we were gonna do something, I don’t know, cooler than… whatever this is.”

“Oh trust me, we’ll get there eventually,” Gojo asserted, placing a hand on Luz’s shoulder. “But for you to do anything, you have to learn two… no, actually three, very simple things. One, be able to draw upon the massive amount of Energy that you have, two, be able to control it, and three, be able to keep your emotions in check. Otherwise, even if you’ve fully mastered one and two if you can’t keep a hold of your emotions, you won’t be able to do squat.” 

Gojo took a step back whilst letting go of Luz’s shoulder, and gestured to the scene before them, a wide smile on his face. “So, therefore, you get to watch a marathon of back-to-back B-grade movies! All of which just so happen to be my favourites~!”

Luz sat there, even more confused than she had been before, head tilted to the side with a raised eyebrow. “Uh…. How’s that supposed to train my energy?”

“Why, I’m glad you asked!” Gojo said, clearing his throat before placing his hands behind his back. “You see, Luz, you and I are pretty similar. I’m willing to bet you have a hard time focusing on things, correct?” He asked as Luz nodded.

“Yeah… it’s why I never did well in school,” Luz muttered as Gojo smirked.

“Well, that’s gotta change. If you want to use that Cursed Energy of yours, you’re gonna have to know how to control it. And to control it, you need to be completely focused on its flow and its output, otherwise, it’s like grasping at floating balloons—impossible!” Gojo said as Eda, who had been standing near the back of the basement, narrowed her eyes.

“Cursed Energy? As in Curses?” Eda questioned, as Gojo turned around to face her.

“Well, yeah, what else would it be?” Gojo asked as Eda frowned.

“You’re teaching her how to use Curses? You do know what that could do to a person, right?” Eda said, a slight edge to her voice, arms crossed with an unimpressed look on her face. Gojo frowned for a second, before something clicked in his head, as he made an “O” face, clapping his hands together before smiling.

“I think you and I have different definitions of Cursed Energy then, ma’am, so allow me to explain real quick,” Gojo said as he turned to the left, gaining both Eda’s and Luz’s attention, where a table sat with two empty potion bottles.

He had set this up as well, just in case a miscommunication between himself and the resident Witch had occurred. He had originally planned to show Luz this after she had gotten a solid grasp on Cursed Energy, but he wanted to stomp this out sooner rather than later.

He had gotten the table from the storage shed, and the bottles from the garbage can outside the front door of the house. This particular setup was something that he had used in the past, swapping out the potion bottles with soda cans. It was actually how he had taught his first student how to use Cursed Energy prior to awakening his Cursed Technique. “I want you guys to take a good look at these potion bottles over here.”

As he said that, Gojo extended his left hand, it glowing with blue energy. As he did that, he flung the raw, unfiltered Cursed Energy forward with a simple flick of his wrist. When he did so, the potion bottle shattered, glass shards littering the table and the ground surrounding it. “That is Cursed Energy,” Gojo began before he turned to the other bottle.

For a split second, a blue aura surrounded the bottle, before it disappeared, as the glass bottle completely disintegrated as if it never existed in the first place, leaving glass dust in the air before it blew in the cold drafty winds of the basement.

Luz stared with amazement in her eyes, as Eda flinched slightly but was otherwise seemingly impressed. Gojo assumed that it was because of the negativity that the energy gave off which had caused Eda to flinch, which made sense. Cursed Energy was highly potent, and as he had witnessed now multiple times, Witches were sensitive to Cursed Energy, much like they were with their Magic.

Slight tangent aside, what was done was done, so there was nothing that could be said. “And that was a Cursed Technique. Now that we have those things out of the way, the explanation of what they are is quite simple.”

“Uh…. But, what’s the difference? It looked like the same thing to me….” Luz said, confusion colouring her words as Gojo snapped his fingers before sticking both of his thumbs up, looking in her direction.

“I was just about to get to that,” Gojo said as he dropped his hands to his sides, “Think of Cursed Energy like electricity, or, I guess water works too, but electricity is simpler. If Cursed Energy is like electricity, then a Cursed Technique is like an electrical appliance. Say, a vacuum, or a toaster. Electricity on its own is hard to use, so humans harness it through outlets and said appliances to achieve varying results,” Gojo began as Eda and Luz listened intently.

Luz’s reasoning for listening was obvious—she was learning how to use Cursed Energy. Eda, on the other hand, was curious because Gojo had said that what she believed to be what he was talking about, was different from what he was actually talking about. So far, he had been right. This was nothing like what she had assumed it to be. In reality, it just sounded like Magic to her. There was probably a reason why they called it Cursed Energy, but for the moment she was clueless as to why that was.

Maybe it had to do with how toxic it felt to be around. Whenever Gojo flared his “Cursed Energy” around Eda, it made her skin crawl and the hairs on the back of her neck spring to life as if she had been recently shocked with a lightning spell. It overall made her feel like she needed to take a dip in a bath full of cleansed acid water.

“Now, back to the remains of the bottles, the one on the left, the one that has shards remaining, was where I simply used my Cursed Energy. I didn’t refine it, nor did I use it with my Cursed Technique. I simply let it go, and it shattered the bottle. Results may differ depending on who uses it, as it all depends on how strong the user of the Cursed Energy is, but for me, shattering this bottle was like a piece of cake,” Gojo explained, before turning to the empty spot on the table. “Over here, with the bottle that got popped like a balloon, I channelled my Cursed Energy into a Cursed Technique, specifically my Lapse: Blue technique, to destroy the glass bottle using Jujutsu.”

“Wait! So does that mean I’m gonna learn a Cursed Technique then!?” Luz exclaimed, excitement in her eyes as Gojo frowned.

“Nope. You can’t use Cursed Techniques,” as soon as Gojo said that, Luz instantly deflated, but that didn’t stop him from continuing. “Aside from Shikigami’s and your simple barriers, Cursed Techniques are etched into your soul from the day you were born. So the power of a Jujutsu Sorcerer is about 80% innate talent….” As Gojo said that, his eyes narrowed under his blindfold.

He was searching for what could appear to be a Cursed Technique locked within Luz’s Cursed Energy, which had been how most of those within the Clans were able to tell if their offspring would ever amount to anything, although with them, it was a little tricky, and often resulted in false positives. But, Gojo was different.

Being as advanced in Jujutsu as he was, and because he was blessed with the Six Eyes, he could peer into the Cursed Energy of those around him and see if they had a Cursed Technique or not, something that he had used time and time again against Curse Users to judge them on their threat level. He had initially assumed that because Luz was from some no-name family, that had no connection to Jujutsu society, she wouldn’t have a Cursed Technique.

But… “What’s this?” Gojo thought, his eyes widening. Buried deep, deep within her Cursed Energy in what appeared to be some kind of metaphorical black box with several locks on it, was something that gave off the same energy as that of a Cursed Technique. It was buried fairly deep within her Cursed Energy, and it looked something like a bank vault box, though with four locks—one of which had already been gone—but it was there and it was powerful.

If he had to compare its sensation to anything similar, he’d have to say that its sensation was similar to that of Nanami’s Cursed Technique. Not that it would be remotely the same, mind you, but it gave off the same feeling. The same amount of power behind it. The same amount of danger that it would represent to whoever would be stupid enough to become her foe.  

Needless to say, Gojo had been intrigued. He couldn’t get an exact read on it, but it was different from the rest of her Cursed Energy. It was still hers, but it also wasn’t. It was both natural, and it also wasn’t. Almost as if her Cursed Technique had been planted within her. While that was suspicious, it wasn’t anything that he needed to be worried about. All that mattered was that Luz had a Cursed Technique and that his initial assumption was wrong. “So she does possess an innate technique, then. That changes everything,” Gojo said, a smile taking up his visage.

Honestly, he was relieved. Not that he wouldn’t have trained her otherwise, but it did make this a lot more exciting than it would have otherwise been. It meant that Luz was just that much more special. “Scratch that, Luz. You can use a Cursed Technique.”

Immediately, Luz went from depressed to excited again, her eyes widening as they sparkled with joy. “Really! I can! That’s awesome!!” Luz said, jumping up from her seat, and doing a little dance as Gojo chuckled to himself. She abruptly stopped, as if she realized something important, turning to look at Gojo with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. “So, uh, how though?” Luz asked as Gojo gestured for her to sit back down, which she did.

Gojo walked next to the couch, picking up the DVD player's remote as Luz turned to face the TV. As she did so, Gojo handed her the plushy that she had inadvertently dropped when she had jumped up from the chair moments ago. Looking at it, Luz raised an eyebrow, before shrugging and taking the stuffed toy. When she touched it, Gojo faced the TV, and traced his finger over the power switch on the remote—he had connected the TV to the DVD player, which meant that it could be turned on remotely from the DVD player instead of having to fiddle with the TV to get it to work.  

“Well, if you want to learn how to use your Cursed Technique, you’re going to have to wait until you can control that Cursed Energy of yours first, Luz. Not to mention, you still need to know the basics if you ever hope to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Remember, there’s no need to rush ahead to get stronger,” Gojo began, as Luz sighed. He glanced over at her, before looking back at the TV, a knowing look in his eyes underneath his blindfold. “Besides, skipping over the fundamentals will come back to bite you later. So, let’s take things slow for now, okay? Go one step at a time. Believe me, I’ve been in your shoes before. I was a kid too, ya know?”

As he said that, he turned on the TV. When it turned on, it revealed a blue screen with the text “insert DISC” in the center. Walking up to the DVD player, Gojo grabbed the DVD that he had burned well over one hundred movies onto, before turning to face Luz. “Now, I want you to take a deep breath. When you do, you should feel a spike of energy jolt through your body. As soon as you feel it, concentrate on that feeling, and then guide that feeling into your hands. I’ll warn you, don’t stop focusing and concentrating on your hands once you do that.”

As Gojo was explaining what it was he wanted Luz to do, Luz was doing exactly that. She had taken in a deep breath, and she had felt exactly what Gojo had been talking about. She had felt that spark of energy. She’d liken it to that of being shocked by static electricity. It felt strange, weird, and unnatural. But at the same time, it didn’t. It was strange, bizarre even, that she had felt that it was both natural and unnatural.

Luz knew exactly what it had been. It had been her Cursed Energy. That was still a surreal thing to think about. Her Cursed Energy. Her magical essence. She was a bonafide superhuman! It was truly like something out of a comic or a manga! She had gone her whole life up until this point not knowing she had this!

Did her mother know about this? Had she known about her having Cursed Energy? If she did, then why didn’t she allow her to embrace it like Gojo had been? That was assuming that she did know, of course. She highly doubted her mother had known, especially considering the way how she reacted when she had first told her that she had been seeing Cursed Spirits, not knowing what they had been at the time.

When she first told her mom that she had been seeing those “strange, unnatural-looking animals”, her mother had played it off as her “wacky imagination” and practically blew it off. Not in a mean way, but in that same “being polite to an imaginative child” kind of way. Now that she knew that what she had been seeing was, in fact, real, and not something she had made up because she “couldn’t separate fantasy from reality” she felt a small amount of irritation at her mother's past comments.

But, that was all in the past. And, besides, it was because of those comments that It was safe to assume that her mother had no idea about her having Cursed Energy. But she knew that when she got back home, she’d have to tell her. Who wouldn’t want to tell their mother that they had superpowers? It was fantastic!

That aside, she had done what Gojo had asked her to do. She had focused on the sensation that her Cursed Energy had caused, and with a little bit of focus, she directed the energy to the palms of her hands which had been holding onto the stuffed bear. When she did, she felt her Cursed Energy travel into the stuffed bear, and when that happened, it had come into contact with more Cursed Energy.

It wasn’t hers. It felt… different. If she were to compare it to an analogy she knew, it would be like comparing kittens to tigers. Her Cursed Energy was soft, calm, and pleasant while this Cursed Energy was sharp, angry, and very much unpleasant to feel. It nearly made her lose focus until Gojo had warned her to not do so.

“Uh… what happens if I don’t keep focus?” Luz asked, and for that split second, she had lost focus. When she did, the top half of the stuffed bear blew up. Fabric and stuffing went flying, littering the floor with the stuff as Luz gasped, recoiling back as the remains of the lower half of the stuffed bear sat in her lap, but, due to gravity, it didn’t stay like that for long. It flopped over, its stuffing spilling out just beneath her feet.

“That’s what’ll happen!” Gojo exclaimed. As he said that, Luz blinked, reeling from what had just happened before slowly looking over to Gojo. “The training you’ll be conducting is multifaceted. Not only will you be learning how to imbue something with Cursed Energy, but you’ll also be learning how to control and regulate Cursed Energy, and keep tabs on your emotions, which directly influence how your Cursed Energy fluctuates!” As Gojo said that, he gestured to an entire pile of stuffed animals, all of which Luz realized were filled to the brim with Cursed Energy.

“Every time you fail to keep one of these stuffed animals from going ka-boom, I’ll replace it, and we’ll restart the exercise until you can keep it up without any problems. You seem like the type of person who’ll catch on rather quickly, so this should take, at the bare minimum, a full day of constant training. Even if it’s just one hand on the object so you can eat and drink, you’ll be sitting there, the whole day, without so much as moving from that spot on the couch until you either pass or fail. So, if you need to go to the bathroom, now’s your chance to do so. Okay?” Gojo explained as Luz nodded, leaping up from the couch and running up the stairs.

When Luz was gone, the door to the basement closing and everything, Eda stared at Gojo, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. “You’re really making her work for this Cursed Energy stuff. Also seems like you’ve done this before. What gives?” Eda asked as Gojo pointed to himself, a sense of pride oozing off him.

“I’m a teacher, certified and everything,” Gojo said, before dropping his arm to his side, giving a half-assed shrug in the process. “Kind of my job to push kids to their limits. Why? You don’t like that or something?” He asked as Eda sighed, looking over to the large pile of plushies, then to the TV and chair, then back to Gojo.

“It ain’t got nothing to do with my dislike of you, I’m only iffy on you because I know you’re hiding something, but it’s the fact that I don’t like the concept of teaching magic. It’s just too forceful. Magic should be experienced, not taught. That’s why I dislike Hexside and the Covens. It’s all a buncha malarky,” Eda said as Gojo frowned.

He could understand her viewpoint. The world of Jujutsu Sorcery was also restrictive at times, with their biases toward certain Techniques and their disregard toward others. However, there was a fundamental difference between Jujutsu and Magic. “The problem with “experiencing” Cursed Energy, is that if a mentor isn’t found for the person who realizes they have Cursed Energy in time… they typically get killed by a Cursed Spirit.”

Eda’s attention regained, she looked over to Gojo with a frown. “Whaddya mean by that?”

“I mean exactly what I said,” Gojo began, huffing. “Cursed Spirits are attracted to Cursed Energy, like a moth to a flame. Usually, it’s not a problem, because most people who have Cursed Energy are trained professionals, or if they aren’t, they’re surrounded by trained professionals, so they don’t have to worry about potentially being caught off guard.

“But, say for example, if someone has Cursed Energy, and enough of it to where they can see Cursed Spirits and potentially even use it, chances are they don’t know about it. Not unless they’re, as I said, surrounded by professionals, i.e. their origin is from one of the three big Jujutsu families, The Zen’in Clan, The Gojo Clan, or The Kamo Clan.

“But, if they're unlucky, and don’t happen to be a part of those three families, their fates are more dubious than most. If they’re really unlucky, and no one catches onto the fact that they have Cursed Energy, then chances are if they tell anyone about it, they get labelled as weird, or strange, or are left out on the curb.

“They become dredges of society due to them “not being in tune with reality” or labelled all of those aforementioned labels. Young kids get it lucky because it can be brushed away as imagination and the like. But teens and adults? Not so much.

“They get called mentally ill, and mental illness is viewed as a taboo in most places, meaning that they’re all swept under the rug, and wind up in places where we can never find or reach them without jumping through a bunch of legal hoops, like insane asylums or mental hospitals, all without explanation as to why they’re like that, or why they can see things others cannot.  

“And by the time they realize what’s going on, by the time they realize that those things they’re seeing are real…” Gojo snapped his fingers, which made Eda flinch, understanding the implications before Gojo continued, proving her realization true, “Poof. Dead. They unknowingly attracted a hostile Cursed Spirit due to their overwhelming negativity, and they’ve just become that Cursed Spirit’s snack.”

Gojo looked down at the floor, his left foot tapping against the wooden floorboards with a frown on his face. He almost looked conflicted, as if something didn’t add up to him. Before she could ask him about why his expression was the way it was, he spoke.

“That’s what should’ve happened to Luz. But the Cursed Spirits in Gravesfield, where she’s from, were docile, mostly because they were far too weak to do any meaningful harm, and they’re usually dubbed “Fly heads” because they’re basically the equivalent to a housefly. But if Luz had gone anywhere else in the world, she would’ve met an untimely demise. With the amount of Cursed Energy she gave off, it would’ve attracted a really powerful Cursed Spirit, and she would’ve died a meaningless, unexplainable death.”

He looked back over to Eda, a frown still on his face, but with nothing behind it. Just a simple frown to accentuate the seriousness of the situation. “That, I believe, is the difference between Magic, and Cursed Energy. Having Cursed Energy is just that. A Curse. But we don’t let it get the best of us. We use that Curse we were born with to help those who can’t help themselves. We risk our lives day after day, doing a thankless job that no one even realizes we’re doing, ensuring that humanity survives.

“I’ve lost many a friend to this job. Lost people whom I considered my closest allies. Who I considered to be worth protecting. All because they either weren’t strong enough, or because they didn’t have Cursed Energy, and were killed by someone or something. Or, if they had Cursed Energy, no one could teach it to them in time before they met their end.” Gojo paused, glancing at the floor, eyebrows furling as he spoke.

“Whether Luz realizes it or not, she’s going to be entering a world of nothing but death and despair. There will be no fun, happy times. There will be no roaring adventures. Just death, despair, and work. She will be tested, and tested, and her joy sapped from her. She will come across foes who kill people for the sake of killing people. She’ll have to kill people to save people. She won’t have a choice unless she wants to die. And the worst part about all of it? She doesn’t have a choice in the matter,” Gojo said, voice solemn as Eda looked at him, confusion in her eyes.

“Doesn’t have a choice?” Eda asked incredulously, causing Gojo to sigh for what felt like the umpteenth time today, looking down toward the ground again.

“The people who run Jujutsu Society…. The Elders. They run things. Even I, the Strongest in the Jujutsu Society, have to bow down to them. They can’t hurt me, but they can hurt my friends. My students. They try to control me through that, and I allow it because they haven’t asked me to do anything I’m morally against. But they sent me to Gravesfield with a mission, I didn’t just go there for fun. They wanted me to investigate the source of the Cursed Energy they located, and do one of two things. Bring it back to Tokyo Jujutsu High… or exterminate it.”

A shocked expression adorned Eda’s face, the weight of his words fully sinking in the moment they were said. She understood without elaboration what it was he meant, and it was both horrifying and appalling. She narrowed her eyes at Gojo, glaring at him. “And would you have? Would you have killed her?”

“No,” Gojo replied, flatly. “But that wouldn’t stop them. If I refused, they would’ve sent someone who would have been more than willing to. So if Luz didn’t accept my offer… then essentially, she would’ve been killed regardless of what I did or said. The Elders’ word is absolute, much like how this Emperor guy is to your world. People have tried to go against them, and all it’s done is result in a lot of casualties without much progress.” As Gojo said that, his frown turned into a smile, as he looked back over to Eda.

“But, there’s been a rising sentiment in Jujutsu Society that the old fossils that have been running this whole thing have to go. That they’re starting to push the limits of what’s acceptable. I hope that Luz will grow up in a future where those old fossils are gone, and everyone can do what they want. To be free like we had been 1,000 years ago,” Gojo said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall next to the box of plushies.

“But, for her to be ready to live in that kind of world, I’ve gotta work her to the bone. And also, this stays between me and you, okay? I don’t want Luz to know any of this. The only thing she knows is that I came to Gravesfield looking for her. Everything else, she doesn’t know. I want her to still believe that she has time to be a child. Reality is a harsh thing, so I want her to still live in blissful ignorance until she can’t anymore.”

For a moment, Eda thought that Gojo was scum. After hearing all of what he had said, after hearing what she heard regarding this apparent “Jujutsu Society” and those that run the place, and what they had assigned Gojo or potentially others to do, she feared that the man standing before her was just like those Coven heads and their stupid tracks, who worked with Belos to force the people of her home into neat little squares so they could be regulated.

But after hearing what Gojo had said, fully. After fully listening to what he had said, what he planned to do, and what he hoped for the world, Eda slowly began to realize that Gojo and her were a lot alike. Both of them were considered the strongest in their respective field, and both had aspirations to change the future for the better.

Sure, the way that Gojo was going about it was different from what she would’ve done. But faced with the circumstances he had, what with his superiors breathing down his neck whereas she was completely free and on the run as a fugitive, she realized that Gojo wasn’t scum. He didn’t have the luxury to do whatever he wanted. He was doing the best he could with what he had.

And that, more than anything, was important. “Alright, I’ll keep this between us,” Eda said, and just as she did, the door to the basement opened, as Luz came running down the stairs, a smile on her face with excitement dancing in her eyes.

“Alright! I’m ready to go!” Luz said as Gojo smirked, gesturing for her to sit down, before reaching for a plushy. Luz sat down, as Gojo placed the plushy on her lap, before walking over to the DVD Player, inserting the DVD, and standing nearby as Luz focused.

Eda couldn’t help but smile as the TV burst to life. “Yeah… maybe this will turn out right after all. I had my doubts, but Gojo seems to know what he’s doing. I can trust him with the kid,” Eda thought, before turning to head up the stairs. She still had her own stuff she needed to do. She couldn’t hang out with them all day.

And so, with that in mind, she went to the first floor of the house, exiting the basement and went to the couch, gliding past the bookshelf and taking a book off of it. It was a lazy day today, she decided. And because it was a lazy day, she figured she’d pass the time by reading. After all, what better way to start the day than by finishing a book that she hadn’t been able to finish due to everything that had been going on around her?

And so, she cracked open the book she had taken from the shelf, and relaxed, because today, like most days for Eda Clawthorne when she wasn’t manning her shop, was a lazy day.

[XXXX]

Dominating. That was the best way to describe the throne room that belonged to The Emperor of The Boiling Isles. It was a large, wide room dimly lit by chandeliers that hung high above the ceiling. The floor was made of brick tiles, layered carefully next to one another to not cause tripping. The room was heavily guarded by Coven Guards, all of whom stood firmly in place with their swords touching the ground, surrounding the throne room.

Extravagant banners hung about the throne room, showing the symbol of the Emperor's Coven. The symbol was that of a sword plunged into nothing but solid air, as if trying to kill it, with a shield in front of it, two hands firmly gripping the hilt of the blade. A sign to show that those who were inducted into the Emperor's Coven stood firm in their beliefs that serving and protecting The Emperor was their sole, proprietary mission. Behind the sword were two sets of wings, spread out like that of an eagle, shielding the sky, and only showing the peaking light of the sun. 

There was an emerald green carpet that led up to a set of low-to-the-ground stairs, where at the top of the stairs was a platform, and on that platform was a fifteen-foot tall throne. Behind the throne, blocked off by large railings, were two massive torches, each blazing with white-hot flames, further illuminating the room or at the very least the area around the throne.

Above the throne, there sat a green, sickly-looking heart. With each passing second, the heartbeat sounded off, echoing throughout the throne room. Its sickly appearance reminded everyone of the fact that they were all living on the corpse of a once great beast. As to why the heart kept beating, nobody had the answer.

Standing next to the throne was a figure completely shrouded in white cloth, not even so much as a hint of who they were underneath was revealed—not even their face, which was covered by a golden mask in the visage of an owl, hiding their identity. The only people who knew of the figure's identity were that of the Coven Heads, and The Emperor himself.

And then, sitting on the throne, was the man himself. One would assume that an Emperor would sit proudly on their throne. Like that of a regal ruler divinely staking claim to the land that which they rule. But that was not the sight that Lilith Clawthorne saw as she stood before The Emperor. What she saw, was a man who appeared to be in great suffering and agony.

Hunched over, right hand resting on their golden, great-horned mask that pointed upward toward the sky, with hollowed-out eyes that occasionally glowed blue when he was furious—a sight no one wanted to see because that was typically followed up by either an intense chewing out or their immediate execution—was The Emperor of The Boiling Isles, Emperor Belos. He wore a large white and brown cape with a golden trim that covered his whole body. Underneath the cape, he wore a baggy gray tunic and black pants tucked into a pair of golden gloves and brown boots.

The Emperor breathed heavily, gasping for air as he did. Lilith couldn’t help but cringe at the sight. The public knew nothing of his supposed condition. Recently, or for as far as Lilith had known the man, he had fallen ill with some sort of incurable disease. The only reason he was alive was due to his absorbing of essence from that of dead Palismans.

The public believed Emperor Belos to be all-powerful. The saddening truth was that he was a frail, dying old man that could barely keep himself together without a constant string of Palismans. The only reason he hadn’t abdicated the throne to a heir, was because there was no such heir. There was no one he had produced a child with, and no one who was both responsible enough or willing to take the throne from The Emperor.

Lilith knew, deep down, that he didn’t belong on that throne. Not because he wasn’t fit, but because he was dying. It was inevitable. He knew it, The Golden Guard knew it—the person who stood next to the throne—and most of The Emperor Coven knew it. Yet, despite that, Emperor Belos never once showed any form of weakness in his duties. It was both bold and stupid. Bold in which he would dedicate his fleeting moments to The Boiling Isles, and stupid in which he should take the last remaining months of his life with ease.

“Lilith…” The Emperor’s voice was both commanding, yet drained. It was firm, yet shaky. It was powerful, yet weak. The duality of his appearance was on full display, right for Lilith to see. A part of Lilith knew that she should have waited for The Emperor to prepare himself for their meeting, but the news that which she had to share was far too important to wait. Even The Golden Guard agreed, much to The Emperor’s distaste. “To what do I… owe the pleasure….”

His hand scraped against the right resting arm of the throne, which had been a sign to the nearest Coven Guard to fetch a dead Palisman for him to consume the energy of. Lilith calmed herself and steadied her heart. Despite his sickly appearance, his presence was like that of a deity. The power he exuded was unlike any she had felt before, save for one, and it was beyond horrifying.

Standing in the presence of The Emperor was like standing in front of the Titan. That was the best way that she could describe it. There was no other way for her to describe it. And it was because of that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop her heart from rapidly beating, hammering against her chest as fear slowly began to set in.

Yet, regardless of that, she had to persevere. Just like The Emperor did every day, she had to push back that growing sense of dread. Otherwise, how would she deliver the news she had? Getting down to one knee, Lilith bowed her head toward The Emperor, while at the same time, the Coven Guard from the right-hand side of the throne returned with a dead Palisman.

She watched as The Emperor snatched the corpse, and slowly but painfully sat up, his head resting against the back of the throne, shoulders relaxed as his chest heaved up and down as if something from the inside of his body was purposefully pushing against his lungs to keep them moving; all so that he could breathe.

He dragged his right pointer finger across the dead Palisman’s neck, a green energy glowing from within. He raised it from his lap, and hovered it over the face of his mask, tilting his head upward to face it, before cracking it open like an egg. A viscous green liquid poured out from the two halves of the corpse, trailing down and onto his mask, before being sucked up by the eyeholes like that of a sinkhole.

Lilith couldn’t help but wince. She could’ve sworn she heard a scream come from the general vicinity of The Emperor. Was it the essence of the Palisman? Or was it The Emperor silently screaming from the pain of pouring what had to be liquid magic into his eyes? Lilith couldn’t tell, but all that she knew was that it did not look pleasant.

The Emperor sighed out of relief, before promptly staring Lilith down, his normal regalness returned to him. No longer was he hunched over in chronic pain, but rather, sitting like how one would expect a proud ruler would. “Well? What have you to report?” His voice echoed, deep and menacing, no longer containing the pain and agony that it had before when he had greeted her.

“My lord…. As you know, we had been sent out after reports indicated that recently, a lone Coven Guard had witnessed Eda Clawthorne, better known as The Owl Lady, along with two people who are believed to be her allies and cohorts, at the town market,” Lilith began as The Emperor hummed to himself, cupping the chin of his mask and stroking it as if it were a beard.

“Yes, I remember. And the results?” The Emperor questioned, as Lilith bowed her head again, this time in shame.

“A failure. We did not even get to reach The Owl Lady. Instead, we had run into one of the cohorts, who we attempted to capture. We had expected it to be easy, as the person had their guard down, and their back turned. However, we ran into an issue,” Lilith continued as The Emperor stared at her, and while he said nothing, she could sense that he wasn’t pleased with the results. “The issue, your Majesty, was that this individual, who was dubbed on the wanted poster as “Blindfold”, was far more powerful than we had expected him to be.”

“Explain,” The Emperor demanded, his voice harsh, leaving no room for argument as Lilith gulped audibly. Yet again, that dread from before came snaking up from her stomach like a pack of hungry wraiths. She had to calm herself, or else she would falter. She couldn’t lose her cool in front of The Emperor. It would be an embarrassment to both herself and her fallen comrades.

“This “Blindfold” individual. He… radiated a kind of magic that was… completely alien to me. It felt as if the concept of evil radiated off of him. As if all the world’s negative emotions sat there, with and around him, for him to control. And he… he used that magic to create a ball of blue light. The ball of blue light… acted like some sort of suction device. It attracted all of the Coven Guards that you had entrusted with me, and… when it did… they…” Lilith had to stop herself from throwing up.

What she had seen… it had ingrained itself into her memory. Even if she had stepped out from the shadows to help her comrades, there would’ve been nothing that she could have done to save them. “Blindfold” had done the one thing that she had never thought possible, and that was to make her genuinely afraid of someone other than The Emperor.  

Swallowing down the bile that had attempted to surface itself in her mouth, Lilith continued, shuttering as she talked, “They popped like balloons, my liege. It was… a complete mess. And I… I was a coward, sir. I fled the scene. I should have stayed and fought, but I was afraid. And because of that, I failed you, again. I will take any punishment you’d wish to have me serve. I am at your mercy…” Lilith said as she bowed her head.

Belos stared at Lilith. Underneath the mask, he was cold-faced, with not a single shred of sympathy on his features. And yet he was also thinking. Rapidly. What to say? What to do? If what she said had been indeed true, then this threw a wrench into his plans. At first, he wished to lambast Lilith, but now, after fully hearing her out, it was clear that this was something that had not only caught her off guard but something she had been wholly unprepared for.

He had personally seen the wanted poster that had been made for Blindfold. A man with white hair, pale skin, and a blindfold over his eyes with a black highraised collar. It was just a mugshot, so he couldn’t get a gauge as to how his body appeared, not that he needed to, but he had a strong feeling as to who that was, or at the very least, from what family he belonged to.

There was only one family that required the use of an eye cover with that pale of skin, and that white of hair. He could think of no other family but that one. He might not have lived in the human realm for well over 400 years at this point, but he knew well enough that his father's sacrifice to save them from the impending doom that had been brought upon their family was not one out of vain.

He held a very particular hatred for Witches, and that was true. Philip Wittebane hated them more than anything in the world, second to one other thing. Jujutsu Sorcerers. He remembered the night that their estate was broken into by assassins from the Zen’in Clan 400 years ago, and he remembered how their father did everything that he could to whisk himself and his brother away from their home, and to somewhere else in Europe.

He was only four years old at the time, but he remembered in great detail everything of what he saw. Of what his father taught him from that age, one of those things was the names of the other three major families: The Zen’in Clan, The Kamo Clan, and most important right now, The Gojo Clan. When he had fled with his brother, he was able to catch a brief glimpse of someone who held a similar appearance to that of the man on the wanted poster, but female and without a blindfold or any eye covering, and starch white hair, though he never got to see her eyes.

He never knew what became of his father, or his mother for that matter. But what he did know was that, if they had survived, they had been imprisoned for life. For what crime they committed, Philip hadn’t the foggiest of an idea. But that appearance on that wanted poster…. It had filled him with just as much dread, as well as anger, as he had when he first laid eyes upon a Witch.

The fact that a member of the Gojo Clan had appeared within the boiling isles both frightened and angered him. He was so close to realizing his goals. The last thing he needed was for someone from the Gojo Clan to be in the Boiling Isles. From what he had remembered, they were considered the strongest family in the Jujutsu World.

He needed to remain calm. Perhaps this was a fluke, and it was some other random individual who just so happened to look like someone from the Gojo Clan. After all, 400 years have passed. There was a chance, even if it was small, that the Gojo clan had gone extinct. Until he learned otherwise, he would remain neutral on the matter.

He wouldn’t let this small inconvenience get in the way of his plan for The Day Of Unity.

“Raise your head, Lilith,” Philip began, returning to his Belos persona as Lilith did just that. “You are not to blame for your failure this time around. You encountered a foe far greater than you had expected, and for that, you will get leniency from me this time. Should you fail again, the results will be different. Now tell me, were you able to get this “Blindfold” individual’s name?”  

“No, your Majesty, I was not,” Lilith said as Philip’s frown increased underneath his mask. Annoying as that was, again, he could not fault her for something that was out of her control. Placing his right hand on the right side of his mask, resting his arm against the armrest, he waved his other hand toward the door in a shooing motion.

“Very well, then you may take your leave, Lilith. You have served me well today, despite your failure. You’re free to take the rest of the day off should you wish. Unless something important comes up, you are dismissed from your duties today,” Philip said as Lilith stood up, bowing once again, before hurrying out of the throne room.  When she was gone, Philip scowled under his mask, before looking over to The Golden Guard, his “nephew”, Hunter. “Fetch me Wrath, will you? I wish to speak to him.”

Silently, Hunter left the throne room to go get Warden Wrath. It didn’t take him very long to return, approximately ten minutes, and upon doing so, Philip was greeted by the man he was looking for. Wrath was a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, off-purplish-skinned bipedal Demon. He was dressed in a dark gray cowl with a small gold fasten over a beaked face mask, which had button-like lenses.

He wore a white sleeveless tunic with brass buttons, underneath which Philip could catch the sight of sleeves belonging to a brown shirt, and as for legwear, Wrath wore a pair of dark purple pants. Around his waist, he wore a brown leather belt, fastened by a brass buckle, along with a pair of dark purple shoes. Finally, on his left lapel, there was a triangular brass badge that showed his status as the Warden to the Conformitorum.

The Conformitorum was, for all intents and purposes, an insane asylum for those who did not meet society's standards. Those who were locked away there were done so under the pretense that they would be rehabilitated and medicated to cease their… bizarre proclivities. However, Philip understood that, according to a few rumours, it was being used for something else now.

If Philip had actually cared about the citizens of The Boiling Isles, then perhaps he would have looked into the matter and seen to it that Warden Wrath was properly punished. But, considering he wanted nothing more than to wipe out Magickind altogether, he saw no reason to do so. Besides, why feign care for a bunch of sinful creatures, when one could be upfront about their opinions? At least, in that regard, anyway.

So far as he knew, no one had caught onto his plan to wipe out every living magical being on this wretched island. And, if someone had, then they were keeping silent about it because they did not believe it. After all, why believe in something so heinous when it must’ve been a trick of the eye? And, if anyone did find out, and wanted to question him about it, he could always label them as a slanderous traitor and have them executed.

He was The Emperor, after all. Not that he would have to worry about such a thing. Everyone within his Emperor Coven was loyal to him. Not only were they loyal to him, they were dogmatically loyal to him. They would risk their own lives to ensure his safety, even if it meant they would die so he could be spared.

Philip looked down at Warden Wrath and cleared his throat. “Warden Wrath. I’m glad you came. There is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed,” Philip began, as Warden Wrath bowed.  

“My liege! For what do you need me? I am at your beck and call,” Wrath said, his voice raspy and harsh as he took a knee, placing his right hand over his badge with a bowed head. Philip couldn’t help but smile at the demon's words of loyalty. While he was a tad on the rude side, he was a staunch warrior and defender of his views, hence his position as Warden of The Conformitorum.

Hunter returned to his place next to the throne, as Philip stood up, gesturing for Wrath to stand as well. Upon doing so, Philip spoke. “Wrath. I request that you personally search for the man who we know only as Blindfold. Take as many Coven Guards as you deem necessary, and hunt him down. Leave no stone unturned, leave no building unsearched, and leave no one without questioning them be they man, woman, or child. He has killed twelve Coven Guards in less than a day, so as of right now, he is of high priority to be jailed. I care not how you approach this, it shall be done. Do you understand?”

Underneath his mask, Philip could tell that Wrath was snarling. After all, how else would one react to the death of so many comrades? Even if Philip found them all to be repugnant sacks of flesh, he could not lie and say that he was not, at the very least, disappointed that so many of his soldiers died, especially to a singular person in one fell swoop.

“It shall be done, my liege. Anyone who harms those who serve you shall be punished by your command…” Wrath snarled before bowing his head and leaving. Belos sat back on his throne, resting the back of his head against his throne, as he let out a sigh. He could already feel a migraine coming on. Looking over to Hunter, he exhaled.

“Fetch me some coffee, if you please. Black coffee, to be exact,” Philip said as Hunter, once again, wordlessly left to go do his bidding.

[XXXX]

Twenty-four hours. From 6:30 am yesterday, to 6:30 am today, Gojo sat by the entranceway of the basement stairs, sitting and watching Luz hone her Cursed Energy’s control, imbuing her Cursed Energy, and controlling her emotions so that nothing wrong happened, and for something to blow up or go awry. He was thankful for his mastery of the Reversed Cursed Technique, otherwise, he would’ve fallen asleep by now.

Every six hours, he had been refreshing his body with the use of the Reversed Cursed Technique, and in doing so, he had witnessed his new student’s training. And, if he were to give his opinion? She was a potential prodigy in the making. Why? Because aside from her first mistake yesterday morning, and the second mistake a little bit after the fact, it appeared that the term “the third time is the charm” seemed to stick with Luz, because after that? She had made no mistakes.

He had even tried disrupting her concentration by asking questions about her, who she was, when was her birthday, what were her hobbies, and if she had a favourite show. And, without missing a beat, she answered all of them without losing concentration or focus on the task he had assigned to her.

In descending order, she was what some would call a weirdo, but at heart was just a nerd who loved all things fiction. Her birthday was August 15^th, 2004, which was coming around in about a month from now. Her hobbies were making AMVs, watching Anime, and reading fanfiction as well as recording videos of herself as a sort of video diary. And her favourite show was the animated rendition of The Good Witch Azura.

Of course, he had asked these questions spaced out throughout the training session, and not once did she slip up or cause the plushy to explode. That was what had impressed him the most when it came to what he was having her do. Most students who were tasked to do this, with the exceptions being Kinji Hakari, Aoi Todou, and Toge Inumaki, had to do this practice more than a dozen times before they perfected it.

The only other outlier was Yuta who never had to do the exercise due to his induction being around the same time as the time when the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons had taken place. When it happened, all Special Grade, Special Grade 1, and Grade 1 sorcerers were called to take action against the terrorist attack.

Was Luz truly of the same calibre as those guys? Toge Inumaki was the only one who barely could be considered what Gojo would declare a prodigy, and that was because Inumaki, while good at handling his Cursed Energy, had an overall difficult Cursed Technique that required him to be extra careful, so he had no choice but to be careful when he was handling himself and his Cursed Energy.

Time would tell, but if Luz turned out like those four, and was yet another student of Satoru Gojo, maybe, just maybe, he could forgive himself for what happened to his first-ever student. The one he was assigned with weeks after having fully adopted Megumi.

He could never fully get that scene out of his head. What had happened to that poor boy… was something that Gojo could never fully forgive himself for. Even if he had only just turned 20 that day, that was no excuse. He shouldn’t have let that happen, and yet, it was because of his carelessness that it did. No matter what anyone said to him, saying that it wasn’t his fault, were lying to him. It was his fault. It was because he hadn’t been paying attention.

It would be a mistake he would never make ever again. 

“Alright,” Gojo began, as he stood up from his chair. He walked over to Luz, who was fully relaxed in the chair by now, one hand on the stuffed bear and another buried in a bowl of popcorn. “I think it’s safe to say that you passed, Luz?”

“Really?!” Luz said, jolting up from the chair, and throwing away the plushy. Gojo was about to say something, but much to his shock, the plushy didn’t explode. It simply landed on the ground behind the chair, its back to the ground and its stomach pointed up to the ceiling of the basement. Gojo blinked underneath his blindfold, walking over to the plushy and picking it up.

He felt out for the Cursed Energy in the plushy and lo-and-behold it was still there, chaotic and festering, with Luz’s Cursed Energy thrown into the mix. Yet, for some reason, it wasn’t blowing up. Had her Cursed Energy acted as a counter-balance? Or, rather, was it because of something else? Whatever the case was, the plushy wasn’t exploding, so that was all that mattered.

“Colour me shocked. I thought when you threw the plushy it would blow up. Guess I misjudged you thoroughly, Luz,” Gojo said, smirking as he looked back at his student to see that she had bags under her eyes, yet was still wide awake.

“So, does that mean tomorrow we can actually do some cool stuff?” Luz asked as Gojo turned around to put the plushy away, smiling as he did so.

“Yes, that’s exactly what that means, Luz. Now—” Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the sound of something thumping. Quickly turning back around, he peered over the chair and saw that Luz had almost immediately fallen asleep, snoring and all of that jazz. Gojo couldn’t help but silently chuckle at what he had seen.

The poor kid deserved it. Chances were that she was going to sleep in for the whole afternoon. She needed it, and besides, he didn’t mind taking another break to explore the Isles. After all, he had nothing else better to do aside from that and helping Eda around the house when he was asked.

Carefully, Gojo approached the sleeping child and picked her up whilst turning off Infinity. When he had picked her up, it almost looked like she had fallen asleep in his arms, with her head resting against his left shoulder, and her legs hanging off of his right arm, dangling toward the ground below as they gently swayed back and forth unconsciously. Honestly, it reminded Gojo of when he would sometimes find Megumi sleeping on the couch, having fallen asleep watching TV when he was younger, and how he’d have to carry him to bed.

Even though Luz was twice child Megumi’s age, he didn’t mind doing this. She was small enough so that it wasn’t cumbersome, clocking in at around five feet one inch. Not tall, but not too short. Just about the right height for someone her age, which was 14 years old if he had done the math right. He could’ve sworn she was younger than that, but then again, appearances could be deceiving.

Walking up the stairs from the basement, then immediately up the stairs to the second floor, Gojo took Luz to her room. The door was left open, which made things easier for him, and when he entered the room, he found King lying on Luz’s bed, curled up in a ball like a cat. Gojo would’ve taken a picture if his arms weren’t full.

Carefully placing Luz down, Gojo flipped up the blankets and put the covers over her. He ruffled her hair before he turned to leave. Just before he did, he heard a groan. He didn’t have to turn around to know it was King, who hopped off Luz’s bed, stretching before looking up at Gojo.

“Oh, hello! Who’re you again?” King asked as Gojo smirked. 

“Gojo, little buddy. King, King of Demons, right?” Gojo asked as he started walking out of Luz’s room, King following suit as Gojo closed the door.

“Yes, I am King, King of Demons! I’m glad someone finally remembered,” King said, his hands(?) on his hips with a triumphant head tilt as Gojo suppressed a chuckle. The pair walked downstairs as Gojo entered the living room, sitting down on the couch, reclining on the sofa as he let out a tired sigh. Even though he was using Reversed Cursed Technique to keep himself awake, that didn’t mean it was healthy for him to do.

Sure, he didn’t have to worry about his body’s physical health both external and internal, but mentally it wasn’t good for him to be staying awake for this many days in a row. He had only slept on the first day he arrived in The Boiling Isles, and after that, he had simply been using Reversed Cursed Technique to keep himself awake.

“So!” King’s voice broke through his thoughts as Gojo looked down at him, raising an eyebrow. “How’d you, a human, get here anyway?”

“Well, Luz was chasing after Owlbert because he stole her book, and I was chasing after the two of them to make sure that Luz wasn’t about to put herself at needless risk and to make sure Owlbert wasn’t some sort of malevolent force trying to lure away to kill and eat her. This was, of course, before I knew that Owlbert was… what was it called again? A Palisman?” Gojo said as King hopped up onto the couch, sitting down next to Gojo as he nodded.

“Yup, that’s what Owlie is,” King said, as Gojo hummed. He guessed that “Owlie” was King’s nickname for the small owl. That must’ve meant that King liked him. The more he knew, he guessed. Then again, King couldn’t have been any older than eight years old, nine at max. Especially with how he acted.

King yawned, despite his mouth not opening, which implied that King spoke telepathically. That was kind of creepy, because he had Infinity up at the moment, seeing as he was no longer holding Luz.

Then again, if King was directly communicating with his mind, then he supposed that made sense. It wasn’t like the sound had to travel any sort of distance if it just instantly appeared in his mind. Either that, or he was talking normally and just didn’t have to open his mouth, which he found less believable than him simply speaking with his mind.

“You know…” Gojo began, as he glanced over at King. “You kind of remind me of someone I know. His name is Panda. I think you guys could be close friends if you were to meet,” Gojo said as King tilted his head.

“Really?” King asked as Gojo stuck his left thumb up.

“Yup! Maybe, when Eda lets us use that portal door or whatever it's called, I can introduce you to Panda?” Gojo said as King nodded rapidly. He seemed to like that idea, as was obvious by how his tail was wagging like an excited dog. It was kind of weird, how he acted like a cat but also acted like a dog. Just what was King? He couldn’t have been both, could he?

Then again, he had seen a literal three-eyed teenager yesterday when he was looking for Mr. Elixers while he was out in town, so that wasn’t exactly a stretch to believe that King could potentially be a mix between cat and dog, and simply had a skull for a face. That didn’t explain the horns or the glowing yellow and purple eyes, though.

Gojo sighed, closing his eyes. Whatever King was, Gojo didn’t exactly care. He wasn’t a Cursed Spirit, so that was all that mattered to him. For now, he just needed to relax, and maybe get some shuteye, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Besides, he needed it. And so, relaxing his muscles and letting his guard down, Gojo promptly fell asleep.

But, as Gojo fell asleep, something happened. Something he probably could have prevented. If he had been awake for even a few moments longer, he would have been able to sense a development. Perhaps, if Gojo Satoru had remained awake for even another minute or two, he would have been able to sense the disturbance in the air and a change in the winds.

Because deep in the forest, just a few minutes away from town, lying sprawled out on the orange-grassy floor was the body of a teenage witch. The body was female, with brown hair that had four wefted bangs, which had been held together in a messy bun with an orange spiked hair tie. She had pale skin, and green eyes, though they had long since lost their light, and her skin had become far paler due to her blood no longer running through her veins.

Her stomach had been torn open, a large hole present where it shouldn’t have been, with her entrails laid out all over the place as a puddle of crimson blood surrounded her. She had been dressed in her Hexside School of Magic and Demonics uniform sporting orange sleeves and leggings, having been prepared to take another day by the horns and brave it out. But, unfortunately for her, that would no longer happen.

Her mouth had been open as if to show that she had been screaming. If she had, no one had heard her. Whoever she was, it no longer mattered. She was dead, and that was all there was to it. And the person, or rather, the thing that had killed her, loomed over her corpse. It looked like a green fish that had suddenly grown arms and legs, with cat whiskers and four slanted, red eyes. Its claws were webbed and it had a large fin trailing its back, and it stood on all fours.

Its mouth was dripping with blood, and its eyes glowed. It was just about as large as a bear, and its teeth were just as sharp as that of a tiger. But then, if it was that big, how did such a creature sneak up on the teenage witch to attack and kill her in such a brutal way? Especially one who had been training in Beast Keeping Magic?

Simple… she couldn’t see it.

The Cursed Spirit leaned back on its hind legs and looked up to the clear morning sky, and roared as if to say “hello” to the new world it had found itself in. And where there was one Cursed Spirit, there was bound to be more.

The Cursed Spirit looked down at the corpse of the witch teenager that it had attacked and killed, before burying its maw back into her stomach, tearing out more flesh. Not to eat, of course. Cursed Spirits had no need to do that. It was to make the scene more grizzly so that those who found it would be more fearful, and produce more Cursed Energy.

And so, that was exactly what it did, all the while it fed off of the Cursed Energy in its surroundings.

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物/Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 4: Lapse, Reverse, Refine]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By: Creepy Nuts]

For a place as weird as The Boiling Isles, with Witches and Demons and all manner of supernatural folk being real and living here, Luz had to admit that the forest was the most normal place in it by far. Sure, there were strange creatures that looked like something ripped right out of a fantasy book that lived within the woods, but aside from that, and aside from the grass and the leaves being orange, it reminded Luz of home.

Home…. A part of her missed home, but a part of her didn’t miss home at the same time. Home was where all of her no-good rotten bullies were. Home was where everyone saw her as nothing more than a freak and a weirdo, save for her mother. Home was the place where she had to constantly deal with the strange looks and off comments.

Home was where everyone teased her about seeing things that “weren’t there”, even though they were there, which she now knew for a fact thanks to what Gojo was teaching her. And home was where she would’ve gone to that number-crunching camp her mom was so hellbent that she went to.

She knew her mother meant well when it came to sending her to Reality Check Summer Camp. But, at the same time, that wasn’t what she wanted. Luz knew her Mom better than that. Luz knew that her Mom, despite being a little rough around the edges from time to time, meant the best when it came to her decisions. She knew her Mom meant no ill-will to her when she had elected to send her to that place.

But, Luz would’ve liked to have had at least a little bit of input on that. It had been sprung on her on the last day of school when she had already made plans over the summer. Sure, she might not have had a lot of friends—or any at all—but she was content with that. She was content with being lonely—no, she really wasn’t, she wanted friends and she wanted them badly, but no one wanted to understand her, or try to understand her—and that was fine!

But, then again, the saying “mother always knows best” was a thing. And maybe, she was right. Maybe she had been right to send her to Reality Check Summer Camp. If she hadn’t tried to do that, she would’ve never met Gojo or Eda, or had learnt about this new dimension that apparently had always existed! Nor would she have known that she had Cursed Energy thanks to meeting Gojo!

But, all of that aside, Luz had been in the forest for a reason. It wasn’t just to go on a nature walk, sadly. Rather, it was for her training. Luz had wanted it to be yesterday, but that hadn’t happened. It had surprised her yesterday that Gojo called off training that day, and that it was going to be a break day. But, with hindsight now 20/20, she knew that it probably would’ve been for the best.

That being said, it had upset her because she had been excited to learn more about Cursed Energy and what she could do with it. But, then again, they had stayed up all night the day prior, and Gojo had looked absolutely exhausted. So, she didn’t push her luck.

But, that still didn’t mean she was just going to sit there and… do nothing. That just wasn’t her style. After all, she had to put her attention somewhere. She wasn’t the type of person who could sit around and do nothing for hours on end. Sure, she could’ve helped Eda or maybe asked King if he wanted to do something. But, she had been so focused on this new thing that she learned, and what she could do with it, that she couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Eda seemingly understood that and didn’t bother Luz at all about it. And so, because of that, she decided to put herself to work to try and do the one thing that Gojo suggested her to do. It had to do with their, albeit brief, conversation yesterday about their training.

“Why not! I want to train today! C’mon Gojo, please!”

“No, Luz. Besides, you need to rest. You stayed up all night, and all day yesterday. Not to mention I’m tired, too. Can’t keep this up forever, you know. Everyone needs to take a break now and again.”

“Fine…. But, I want to do something. There has to be something that I can do today…”

“Look…. If you want to train something about your Cursed Energy today, then might I suggest trying to train your senses? Believe it or not, sensing what your opponent can do and how much Cursed Energy they have is one of the key components to Jujutsu Combat.”

“You mean I’ll have to fight people?”

“Well, of course! What? Did you think you wouldn’t have to fight? Don’t be silly. Being a Jujutsu Sorcerer isn’t just being aware of your powers. You have to hone them, and the best way to do that is by combat. And sometimes, that combat is with other people. So, by being able to sense what they can do, you’ll have an immediate advantage against them. Even if you can’t immediately understand what you’re sensing, knowing that your opponent might have a Cursed Technique is better than running in blind. So, if you want to do anything today that’s toward your training as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, train yourself how to sense Cursed Energy. It’ll make life a lot easier in the long run.”

And so, that was exactly what she did. She spent the entire day yesterday learning how to sense Cursed Energy. If she were to describe how it was done, it would be like trying to listen to someone whispering, except instead of with your ears, it was with your body. All she had to do was focus really hard, and boom! From that moment on, she had been able to sense Cursed Energy.

Well, it wasn’t an instant process. It was more like it took her a handful of hours of concentrating on her Cursed Energy, and trying to force it out of her body in a non-imbuing way as she had with her hands and the stuffed bear, but eventually, she had been able to do it! And, if she had to describe it, it felt like a constant, quiet hum in the back of her head.

At first, she thought that it would be annoying to constantly hear that humming noise in the back of her head. And for a while, say for the first hour, it was. When she had figured out how to sense Cursed Energy, she could never turn it off. It was like she had permanently unlocked a part of her brain that had been locked, and now it was irritating her.

But, after that first hour, the noise kind of became… comforting. She didn’t know how to describe it. It was like being constantly informed that, at least for the moment, she was safe. She was secure. She didn’t have to worry about anything. She could relax, let her guard down, and have a good day. Almost like she was being told directly by the world around her that she was all right. That she was safe.

And honestly? She liked it. She liked it a lot.

Not that she ever had a reason to be fearful of the world around her. But, it was just another layer of safety on top of another. It felt… reassuring. Her choice to train under Gojo was a good idea instead of giving up entirely.

She’d admit to only herself, but when she found out that she couldn’t use Glyphs, she had actually considered asking Eda to use The Portal Door. She had been refraining from it up until that point—well, until she talked to Gojo and realized that she had Cursed Energy—but that day she had been considering going back home. Especially seeing as she couldn’t do the one thing that would’ve made her useful or helpful.

She was thankful for Gojo teaching her even this much. It gave her an excuse not to go home yet. It gave her the excuse to stay here, in this world, at least until Summer Break was over so she could completely skip out on that god-awful Summer Camp.

When her mother had told her about the camp and that she was going to it, she decided to do some research on the place. 1-star review after 1-star review from people who said that the camp was akin to a boot camp and acts of abuse be it physical, verbal, or emotional, made her positively despise the idea of going there. Especially considering that Googling the camp brought up safety lawsuits about the place from last year, and how a kid died from the negligence of the staff.

It was safe to say that she was really glad that she was here and not there. If her mother had known about any of that, she probably wouldn’t have even bothered with the place. But, then again, for as much as she loved her mother she was extremely gullible to what the teachers at her school spoke about, and that wasn’t even talking about the other parents in the neighbourhood.

Again, she couldn’t truly blame her mother for wanting her to go to that camp. But, that was behind her now. It didn’t matter, not anymore anyway.   

All of that aside, when she had finished learning how to sense Cursed Energy, immediately afterward, she got an idea. If she could sense Cursed Energy now, why not try and see where she was in comparison to her teacher? Surely, she wasn’t too far off in being near his level, right?

That, and she was curious. She wanted to know just how strong Gojo was. Eda could tell that he was strong, because every time he used his Cursed Energy, she flinched. Eda was fairly strong as far as Luz was aware, so it made sense, right?   

So, that was exactly what she did. When he was sleeping peacefully on the couch yesterday, she sensed Gojo’s Cursed Energy. And when she did, Luz immediately understood the gap that was between her and him. It wasn’t a puddle to a pond or a pond to a lake or a lake to an ocean. It was the size of the Grand Canyon to the space station up in orbit around Earth.

Gojo was far stronger than she could ever hope to become. In some respects, she was disappointed by that. She had read tons of comics, and manga, and watched about a dozen different shows and anime, and in all of them, the pupil became stronger than the teacher. But, she guessed, for her, that wouldn’t be the case.  

When she realized just how large the gap had been, Gojo told her that it was alright to realize that, compared to him, she was weak. Because everyone was weaker than him. It wasn’t just a few select people. It was everyone. He was the pinnacle of Jujutsu, as he had been born and bred to be.

She had to admit when Gojo had said that to her, she thought that was more than a little dystopian. He was born and bred to be the strongest? That sounded like eugenics. Nobody gave her credit for paying attention in classes, but she did. What Gojo described sounded like that. She just hoped that she wouldn’t be judged by those who would be her peers if she ever went back home.

“Alright, Luz!” Gojo’s voice cut through her thoughts, as she looked over at him. They were somewhere deep in the forest, around about an hour-long walk away from Eda’s house, surrounded by tall trees. They had found themselves in a clearing, so there wasn’t much in the way of things around them, aside from the trees of course. “Today, we’re going over the three different ways to use Cursed Energy. Of course, you already know how to imbue Cursed Energy, but now, we’re getting into the slightly advanced forms of it. So pay attention, okay?”

“Alright,” Luz said, nodding. She was ready to learn. She had been ready to learn since yesterday, and she was also extremely excited. She didn’t know what it was about how Gojo taught things. Maybe because it was hands-on, or maybe it was because of his personality, or maybe even both. But unlike most of the teachers in her life, Gojo made things fun.

Maybe her other school teachers could take notes on how to teach a class like Gojo could. Maybe that way she’d be able to pay attention instead of staring off into the distance thinking about literally anything else.

“Now, there are three main ways on how to use Cursed Energy. Technically, this all applies to Cursed Techniques, but the basic knowledge is still something worth knowing.” As Gojo said that, Luz spoke up, a curious look in her eyes.

“So, I know what ya said yesterday, but, I’m curious…. Do you actually think that I can use a Cursed Technique?” Luz asked, excitement in her words as she practically vibrated in anticipation. Gojo looked at her, seemingly lost in thought, before he started stroking his chin.

It was true that she had a Cursed Technique, but it was buried so far deep inside of her Cursed Energy, locked away in that imaginary box, that he had a hard time believing that she would be using it anytime soon. More often than not, those with Cursed Techniques have access to them after coming to terms with their Cursed Energy. Luz had already reached that point, but, upon peering into her Cursed Energy, the box still had the other three locks on them.

Yet again, it showed to Gojo that Luz was special. Only this time, it was in a bad way. Not only that, but it made Gojo wonder why her Cursed Technique had been, essentially, sealed. Who sealed it? How was it sealed? When was it sealed? And why now were the locks only just starting to come off? What were the criteria for the locks to come off?

So many questions, with very few answers. It was both interesting and frustrating. Never in his life had he been met with a question he couldn’t answer, and it was starting to get to him. But, even though he couldn’t properly answer the question, he did the best he could.

“Well… I’ll be honest, Luz. While you have it in you, the chances of you using it in the near future are slim to none,” Gojo said as Luz tilted her head in confusion, prompting Gojo to explain further. “Typically, when a Cursed Technique manifests into reality, there are two ways for it to happen. The first is pretty basic, i.e. when the Jujutsu Sorcerer-to-be comes to terms with their Cursed Energy. Or, the second way, and the more dangerous of the two, when that person is in a high-stress situation,” Gojo said, continuing once Luz straightened her posture.  

“You see, it’s more typical for the former to be the case. But, if the former doesn’t happen, the latter happens instead. Oh, and by the way, what I mean by high-stress situations, I mean when a person is amidst a life-or-death experience. As a matter of fact, it was how I was able to learn the Reverse Cursed Technique—when I was on the verge of death.”

Luz blinked, straightening her head as she registered the words that came out of Gojo’s mouth. Gojo? Near-death experience? How? Just what kind of monster did he have to face to have ended up in that kind of situation? And that wasn’t even mentioning what it was he had said. Cursed Technique’s manifest amidst a life-or-death experience? Was he just saying that, or did he mean it?

She had to assume that he meant it. And because of that, a wave of fear washed over her. Would doing this lead to her death? Would training in Cursed Energy lead to her eventual death? She didn’t want to die—she was fairly certain everyone had that same mentality—but she really didn’t want to die.

“No…. Gojo will protect me. I shouldn’t have to fear death,” Luz thought, calming herself as Gojo stared at her blankly. His expression hadn’t changed even remotely, not until she breathed out, a small smile on his face.

“It seems you came across a realization, Luz. What’s your take on it?” Gojo asked as Luz steeled herself.

“I’ve already come this far, right? So… I shouldn’t have to fear that happening to me,” Luz responded as Gojo’s small smile turned into a proud grin.

“That’s the right answer. Now, let’s get into the lesson, shall we?” Gojo said as he stuck up his right pointer finger. “Let’s start with the simplest explanation here,” Gojo began as a blue orb of light began to converge on his fingertip. Luz watched in awe as it came into being, and when it did, Gojo kept it there. It didn’t move, or anything like that. It simply stayed on the tip of his finger like a beacon of light.

“This, Luz, is my Cursed Technique. Or, at least, a facet of it. Limitless. Specifically, this is my Lapse: Blue. A pure example of my Technique, forcing Infinity into reality and bending it to make a miniature black hole that sucks up anything around it. Granted, I have intense control over Lapse: Blue. So, that’s why right now, nothing’s happening,” Gojo explained as Luz listened with full focus, staring at the blue orb of light.

“Now, the reason why it’s called “Lapse” or, what it can be translated into, forward rotation, is because rather than just pouring my Cursed Energy into my fists, I am refining it and pouring it into my technique. Of course, you’re going to need a technique before you can use “Lapse”, but the sooner you’re aware of it, the better,” Gojo continued as Luz stared blankly.

“So, wait… I can’t use what you’re telling me,” Luz said, raising an eyebrow, and tilting her head again, albeit this time only slightly. “I mean, I get why you’re telling me, but what’s the point? Why not just get to the stuff I can use?” Luz asked as Gojo sighed, dispelling his technique.

“I’m telling you so that you can use that knowledge for later. Sooner or later, that Technique of yours that’s buried within you will come out, so having this knowledge on hand will help you in the long run. That, and there will be times when I won’t be there to protect or guide you, so you’ll have to remember this knowledge for when you’re completely on your own. It’s important that I tell you this now. If I don’t then what kind of teacher would I be?” Gojo said as Luz slumped. He patted her on the head with his left hand, ruffling her hair again, embarrassing her.

“Can you not do that…” Luz murmured as Gojo snickered, pulling his hand away before stuffing it into his pocket.

“Well, you get the point. Now, onto something, or at the very least the concept of it, that you’ll be able to do,” Gojo said, taking a step back as he raised his right hand and right index finger. Instead of blue energy, red energy began to converge at the tip of his finger, as Luz looked up at it. It hurt to look at due to how bright it was, but she still stared regardless.

“This is my Reversal: Red. Don’t pay attention to the fact that it’s a red ball, but the word “reversal”. Instead of using “Lapse” or forward rotation, I’m using “Reversal” or backward rotation, twisting my Cursed Energy into Positive Energy by constantly twisting it backward over and over again until it becomes Positive Energy.”

As Gojo said that, he dismissed the red ball, and Luz rubbed at her eyes, squinting as she did so. “That was very bright…” Luz complained, before looking back up at Gojo. “So… it’s just Reversed Cursed Energy, yeah? That sounds simple enough.”

“Far from it,” Gojo retorted, crossing his arms. “Reversing Cursed Energy is extremely difficult to do. I’m considered a prodigy in Jujutsu Sorcery, and even I had a hard time trying to figure out The Reversed Cursed Technique. As a matter of fact, as I said before, It took me nearly dying to finally figure it out. It’s actually what ended up saving me.”

As Gojo said that, just as she was about to ask what he meant, he raised his hand to his hair and pulled it back. What Luz saw made her eyes widen. There was a scar, albeit hardly visible, right in the center of his forehead. She involuntarily gasped, covering her mouth when she did as Gojo sighed. “Back when I was in high school… I was attacked by a madman. I’ll save the details, but that madman stabbed me with a sword that could nullify Cursed Techniques, rendering me just the same as everyone else. If it hadn’t been for my split-second realization, when he stabbed me through the head and nearly destroyed my brain, I would’ve died.”

Gojo dropped his arms to his side, letting his hair fall with it. Luz lowered her hands from her mouth as they hung uselessly by her sides as he continued. “Thankfully, both that man and the weapon he used are gone, but that’s beside the point. My point is that the Reverse Cursed Technique is a powerful tool any Sorcerer worth their salt knows how to use. Out of all of the current Jujutsu Sorcerers, only eight, myself included, know how to use it. Some can only use it on themselves, whereas a very special few can use it on others. I’m one of the people who can only use it on myself.”

Gojo approached Luz, who was deep in thought. Being a Jujutsu Sorcerer sounded terrifying. If people like Gojo could wind up almost killed, someone who was so powerful, then what did that say about her? She was nothing compared to him, and even he could be taken down. Sure, the way to do so was destroyed, but the mere idea that Gojo had come close to death terrified her.

She hadn’t noticed it, but her face had drained of all colour, and her eyes shrunk down to nothing but the size of pinpricks. Fear had washed over her, as countless scenarios rushed through her mind, all of them being various ways of her meeting her end.

It was only when felt a hand placed on her shoulder that she snapped out of her trance, and was met with Gojo’s blindfold, yet despite that she could feel his eyes on her, and if she had to guess, a look of sincerity were behind them. “Luz. One of these days, I’ll teach you the Reversed Cursed Technique. I don’t want you to be put into a similar situation as myself back when I was closer to your age. I’d do it now, but, we have other things to do,” Gojo said, taking his hand off of her shoulder and standing up.

“You’ve only been training with me for a day, and yet, you’ve already shown yourself capable of imbuing objects with Cursed Energy, and in turn, your hands. Not to mention you can control both your emotions and your Cursed Energy flawlessly, and, you can even sense Cursed Energy around you. Which means, I can take you out into the field for some training. Proper training.”

“Proper training?” Luz questioned as Gojo smirked. He grabbed her by the back of her hood, causing her to yelp as they suddenly teleported elsewhere. When they arrived at the location, Luz had been confused. They were still in the forest, but as Luz was able to see, they were closer to Bonesborough, being able to see the town just a few feet away through some foliage. “But why?” And as she thought that, that was when she saw it, her eyes widening in both shock and horror.

The reason why they had teleported to this specific location was because of what had been in front of them. It was a creature, similar to the ones that she had seen back in Gravesfield. The reason she knew this was because it, much like the creatures back in Gravesfield, had Cursed Energy radiating around it. In Gravesfield they were docile, and hardly ever did anything aside from laze about. They were peaceful, and she knew that.

But this? This was different. It was an entirely different type of beast, simply because the Cursed Energy it radiated was a far more dangerous feeling than what she assumed the other Cursed Spirits would’ve felt like back in Gravesfield. Not to mention, its appearance was far different, matching the energy it gave off. For starters, it was taller and larger, easily matching her in size if not a tad bit smaller. The ones back in Gravesfield were far smaller, easily being about the same size as maybe her hand or a finger. And while they were still icky feeling, they were a lot calmer. But this one? Not this one.

It felt like a true monster, with it standing on four legs with what appeared to be webbed hands. It had the appearance of a fish mixed with a cat. The fish part of it had to do with the shape of its head and body and the way its four eyes looked with the same film over it a fish would have, said eyes glowing red with nothing but pure hatred rolling off of it. There was also a massive fin running down the base of its neck down to the long, thin tail that showed that it was also part cat; further shown with the slit irises and whiskers.

Its mouth was stained with blood, meaning that it had already killed someone. That made Luz’s stomach churn. This thing… it had already killed someone, and judging by Gojo’s expression he didn’t look too happy about it. Its teeth were long and sharp, glistening in the sunlight as its long purple tongue licked its lips, cleaning the blood off of its mouth.

“This is a Cursed Spirit. Unlike the ones in your hometown, Luz. This one can be graded. It’s still super weak, sitting at the bottom end of Grade 4, but even a Grade 4 can be dangerous to inexperienced sorcerers like yourself,” Gojo began as he let go of her hood, her feet making contact with the ground as she audibly gulped. “Now, I want you to pay attention to what it’s doing.”

Luz looked from Gojo to the Curse. She tried to figure out what it was doing, and by the time she caught on, her eyes went from wide to narrow. The Curse was eyeing a girl probably about her age. She had dark green hair and was dressed in a black cowl with a yellow button keeping it together, a dark gray dress, and purple sleeves and leggings with black shoes. Her hair was tied back into a wide bun, and she wore glasses. She was a little on the bigger side, but aside from her pointed ears, she looked human.

That was something that Luz couldn’t understand. Aside from having Magic, what was it that made Humans and Witches different? Was it because they had pointy ears? If that was the case, then weren’t they just Humans with pointy ears?  

“You’re getting sidetracked, me. Stay focused!” Luz thought, clapping her hands against the sides of her face before answering. “It’s looking at that Witch, right?” Luz said as Gojo nodded.

“Correct. That’s because it thinks that the young Witch over there is easy prey. The witch probably can’t see the Curse, and therefore, if the Curse catches her, she’s as good as dead. And, considering it had blood on its mouth, that means its already killed someone. Meaning that it has a taste for flesh, and most likely wants more,” as Gojo said that, he glanced down at Luz, a small smirk making itself present. “Now, guess what you’re going to do?” Gojo said as Luz finally clued in on what Gojo was implying.

“Oh no…! Don’t tell me that he’s gonna make me fight that thing! I can’t even punch air without falling over!!” Luz thought, shakily looking over to Gojo. “Y-You want me to… fight that thing?” Luz said, her voice slightly panicked as Gojo patted her on the back, pushing her forward slightly. “U-Uh…!”

“You gotta learn somehow, and this’ll be your gateway. I won’t train you any further until you can exorcise this Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Goodluck~!” And just like that, Gojo teleported elsewhere, leaving Luz all by herself. Panic took over, as Luz swallowed audibly again, shakily exhaling as she tried to keep herself from freaking out. The keyword being: tried.

Her body shook like a leaf as she stared the Curse down. It was huge, about up to her chest in height, and it looked terrifying. And she had to fight it. Gojo said it was weak, but to someone like Gojo, everything had to have been weak. “What am I gonna do?!” Luz thought, eyes darting from place to place, looking at a tree, then a bush, then a rock, then back to the Curse.

She had no weapons—not that she knew how to use any—and all she had in terms of herself were her skinny frail nerd arms. She had a very basic understanding of Cursed Energy, with no Cursed Technique either. She knew nothing about fighting aside from what she saw on TV, and to make matters worse she hated confrontation. What was Gojo expecting her to do!?

“This is insane! Absolutely, utterly, completely and totally insane!!” Luz panicked, taking a step back. When she did, she stepped on a twig, making it snap as the sound echoed throughout the woods. Luz paled. “Please, please, please, please don’t hear that!” Luz thought, staring at the Curse with fear drenching her very soul. Unfortunately for Luz, luck seemed to not be on her side that day.

Why?

Because it moved.

Not toward the girl in the town, but rather, it straightened out, as if trying to gauge where the sound of a snapping twig came from. Luz covered her mouth to stop herself from shrieking, but it was already too late. The Curse began to turn around, slowly, like that of a big cat in the wild after realizing it had been disturbed, its red eyes looking at her as Luz straightened herself out. She could hear it snarl, its mouth dripping with drool as Luz took another step back.

“Crap! Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!!” Luz thought, sweat beading down the side of her face as the Curse took a step forward, her doing the reverse. That was when Luz noticed that the girl was looking in their direction, eyes widened. For a second, Luz thought that she was staring at her, but on a second glance, it wasn’t her that the girl was staring at, it was the Curse. “Wait… can she—”

Before Luz could finish that thought, the Curse lunged at her, mouth agape and a bizarre snarling sound mixed with a gargle came out of its mouth. Luz screamed, turned around, and ran for her life, taking long strides as she dodged past bushes and hopped over small rocks, grass crunching underfoot as the Curse kept up with every step of the way, galloping behind her as it kicked up dirt with each movement.

“Damn you, Gojo! Why’d you have to leave me with this thing!!!” Luz screamed internally as she ran, her breathing heavy. She wasn’t built for this kind of thing, and he expected her to not only fight this thing but win!? Was he insane!? Was her teacher actually insane!?

Luz glanced over her shoulder to look at the Curse, and instead of having lost it, it had been the complete opposite. The Curse was gaining momentum as it trailed her, making her eyes shrink in fear. “CRAP!!!” It was at that point that the Curse had caught up to her, raising its right arm up, and swatting her in the right side of the head. As soon as it made contact, Luz felt as if her whole world had been turned upside down.

Her feet were kicked up off the ground, and her whole body was sent flying, the wind blowing through her hair as she slammed into the closest tree a few feet away, hitting it with the same force as a piece of wet paper would to a wall. A wave of pain surged through Luz’s body as the impact forced out all the air in her lungs.

Her back hurt, her head hurt, and her whole world spun around her as she raggedly tried to catch her breath. Her chest hurt from breathing as hard as she had been, made ten times worse by the fact that she had just been slammed up against a tree after having been thrown like a ragdoll. Shakily, she looked up at the Curse, who slowly began to stalk toward her.

She had to get up. She had to, otherwise she would die. She knew she would die if she didn’t get up, even though she desperately wanted to stay there and wallow in the pain she had been feeling. And so, despite her body screaming at her to stay right where she was, she slowly began to stand up. It hurt to move so much as a muscle, but if she didn’t, she would end up like whatever that thing had killed previously.

This was what she signed up for when she agreed to train under Gojo. This was what Gojo expected of her. This was what she had to do. She had no choice in the matter. Even if what Gojo did was cruel, having left her with this thing, she wouldn’t hold it against him. How else was she supposed to get stronger? He was right, even if she didn’t like it.

All of her life, her mother had coddled her and protected her. That was what mothers were supposed to do, but Gojo wasn’t her mother. Gojo was her teacher, and because he was her teacher, he didn’t have to coddle her or hold her hand. If she wanted to amount to anything, she had to train. She had to fight. She would’ve expected the same out of Eda if she had actually been able to use the Glyphs.

She felt something run down the side of her face. Reaching up to touch her forehead with her right hand, she felt something wet, and when Luz pulled her hand away to look at what it was, she felt sick. Blood. It was blood, specifically, her blood. She was bleeding, because the Curse had hit her. Her breath shook for a split second, before she steeled herself, looking back up at the Curse.

“I won’t train you any further until you can exorcise this Grade 4 Cursed Spirit.” Those words echoed in the back of Luz’s head as she stared down the Curse. It had a perverse, deadly smile on its face as its eyes narrowed at her. She wasn’t going to lie to herself. She was terrified. Her body was screaming at her to run away. To turn her back and run. But she wasn’t going to listen. She couldn’t listen.

She knew in the back of her mind that if she ran, she was as good as dead, and then when she died, it would continue to hunt after other people and kill them. It was either she killed it, or it killed her. It wasn’t a human, or a witch, or a demon, so she wouldn’t feel bad for killing it. All she had to do was actually do it. Even if it had caused her to bleed, and even if it had hit her like a car would after speeding down a street, she had to kill it.

It was her against this thing. Right here, right now, she had a choice to make. Lay down and die, or fight this thing and either kill it or die trying. And while that thought was both morbid and horrifying, because she really didn’t want to die, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.

Of course, there was the option of waiting for Gojo to save her, but a part of her believed that wouldn’t happen. Besides, this was a lesson. He was the teacher, and she was the student. She would fail if Gojo had to step in, and then he would stop teaching her. And she couldn’t let that happen. So instead of shaking like a leaf and being afraid, she had to suck it up and do what Azura would do.

She was going to exorcise this Curse.

Letting out a shaky breath, she stared down the Curse Spirit head-on, lowering her hand to her side and narrowing her eyes as she did so. “I know that I should run…” Luz muttered as the Curse took a step forward. As it did, Luz clenched her right hand into a fist as Cursed Energy flowed throughout her body. A dark blue and black energy coated her hand, roaring like a blistering flame despite it not being such.

The Cursed Spirit paused in its movements, narrowing its eyes at her as she glared at the Curse. “But… I have to prove to Gojo…” Luz continued, as her other hand she had turned into a fist began to do the same thing as her right. Her heartbeat picked up the pace, as adrenaline pumped through her body. She could feel both the adrenaline and The Cursed Energy surge throughout her body, as a small, confident smirk took up her visage. She brought her hands up to just below her chin, getting into a fighting stance that she had seen in movies countless times before. “…That I’m worth something!”

Unbeknownst to her, the girl whom she had diverted the Curse’s attention away from had followed her to the same location she was at. The girl, Willow Park, was both amazed by what she was seeing and also a tad bit scared. Not even a few moments ago, she had been minding her own business, lamenting the fact that she had been completely humiliated in her Abominations Class earlier today, and had gone out for a walk to clear her thoughts. During her walk, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

She had thought it was nothing but a figment of her imagination, but upon a second glance, she realized that it wasn’t just something her mind had made up. It had been a real, tangible thing. She had come face to face with a strange bipedal fish creature with cat whiskers. She wanted to call it a Beast Demon, but it looked too bizarre for even that.

Willow had to admit, she had been scared out of her mind by the thing. But then, something else had caught its attention, and that something else had been another person. A strange-looking person. She had no idea what she was, but she looked like a witch, minus the pointed ears. Willow was half-convinced that the person before her was a human, but after witnessing what she was doing now, she didn’t quite know.

Humans were said to not have magic, yet this one clearly did, even if it was without the magic circles needed to perform such a feat. Even Willow, someone who could barely even use Abomination Magic, knew that. Yet, this… thing—no, thing was too rude—this person didn’t need to. And to make matters even stranger, the strange witch-human person was going toe-to-toe with the same creature that had been looking at her like she was food not even a few moments ago.

The human-witch person had blood trailing down the side of her face, trailing down her right eye, and she had seemed completely unbothered by it. The creature, meanwhile, didn’t seem to care either way. It still stared at her, and it was still moments away from attacking. Willow could tell based on how the creature’s shoulders were raised, and how its teeth were gnashed together like a starving Werewolf.

“If only I could actually do something…” Willow thought, watching with bated breath what was about to happen. Her hands shook in fear, terrified for both the girl and also for herself. If the girl had died, then it would no doubt notice her afterward. “I don’t know who you are… but I’m rooting for you!”

Luz stared the Curse down, as it did to her. For the next few seconds, it was a stare-down. Both Luz and the Curse were sizing each other up, waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, either out of annoyance or hunger, the Curse charged at Luz and raised its right hand to swat at her again. In a swift movement, Luz did the only thing that she could do and that was dodge to the left, turning her whole body as the Curse’s claw-like hand slammed into the ground.

Using the opportunity she was given, Luz reared back her arm, raising her shoulder as she did so, her fingers digging into the palm of her hand as the Curse watched her. In the split second it took to blink, Luz threw the heavily choreographed punch, but the Curse wasn’t prepared for it. Her fist slammed into the creature, Cursed Energy meeting Cursed Energy.

When two sources of Cursed Energy met, it was a battle between whose Cursed Energy was stronger to overpower the other and to wear it down. This was a fundamental rule in Jujutsu Combat. Of course, it wouldn’t destroy the Cursed Energy of the opponent, but it would allow for damage to leak through. Like a forcefield taking too much damage, it would drop its guard for a second, and that would allow for the pain to seep through, dealing damage.

The Cursed Energy of the Curse and the Cursed Energy of Luz were totally different from each other. Luz had far more Cursed Energy than the Curse, and because of that, it lost in the battle of Energy. Luz’s fist, despite her wimpy nerd arms, indented the Curse's face, as Luz fully extended her arm, digging her fist deeper into its face as the Curse was sent flying backward.

It tumbled, rolling over itself before it was able to catch itself, its claws digging into the floor as it ground to a halt. Dark purple blood trailed down its face, as two of its eyes were closed shut, bleeding the same foul liquid as well. Luz didn’t give it a chance to get its bearings. She watched far too many action shows to know what would happen if it had been able to. So, despite having a bad feeling about rushing in, Luz did just that.

Kicking off the ground, Luz pushed forward, charging the Curse. Her Cursed Energy flared, as the Curse opened its mouth. She watched as water seemingly brought into existence by Cursed Energy began to form at the base of its throat, as it charged up some kind of beam-like attack. In a split-second decision, Luz did a rather ballsy move, got low to the ground, and slid on her knees after having built up enough momentum.

Despite her frail arms, Luz had incredible legs. Why? Because of cheerleader practice. That was what she wanted to be before she had been ousted by a majority of the kids her age for being a weirdo. She had practiced for a full year to build up her leg's endurance and had made them less skinny and more as if they were a part of a body rather than being uselessly tagged on.

Not to mention, due to how demanding cheerleading was, she had to be extremely flexible to meet even the most lenient of coaches. Her mother had paid hand over fist for the most talented coaches to help Luz get good at being a Cheerleader, only for it to all flop when the teachers and her peers found her boundless energy to be “too much”, effectively quashing the one thing she wanted to do.

Luz had been far too demotivated to try again, especially with all the names she had been called, and the bullying she had to endure because of it. Despite that, though, she stayed optimistic. She never gave up because she found it fun. She had fun practicing, so she still kept at it, even if it was just for fun. Hence why even now she still had what it took to perform a daring move like the one she was doing now.    

So, when she slid, it not only didn’t hurt, but it made her heart beat faster, causing more adrenaline to build up, and for her to get excited. At the same time, just as she began to slide, the Curse fired its water laser, if only briefly. The beam of water cut through the air, shaving a few strands of hair off of Luz’s bangs, and blasting through the tree where she had been not but a few seconds ago, leaving a clean circular hole through it.  

Once the beam finished and died out, Luz jumped up, springing up into the air like a jack-in-a-box. The Curse looked up at her as she floated for a split second, her hooded shirt hiking up with the airflow a tiny amount as she raised her leg past her stomach and just to below her shoulder. Cursed Energy flowed to the base of her foot, coating it from the tip of her boot to the end of her ankle. She glared down at the Curse, before shouting “Hi-ya!”

Her foot came crashing down against The Curse’s head like a falling boulder from a high-up cliff, the heel of her boot digging into the top of its head as Cursed Energy burst around its cranium, slamming it into the ground. She bounced off of it, doing a little front flip in the air like she would have if she had still been in cheerleading, before landing semi-gracefully behind it, taking a second to orientate herself.

“Whoa!” Luz breathed out, turning around to look at the Curse as it slowly got up, wobbling a little bit to the left as if it had been dizzy. “That wasn’t enough to take it out?!” Luz exclaimed in thought, breathing heavily. “Focus, Luz. It’s nearly beaten! Finish it!” She thought, breathing out again before charging the Curse again. Cursed Energy once more flowed to the ends of her fist, just as the Cursed Spirit turned around to face Luz, purple blood coating the left side of its face and trailing down the center.

Rearing back her right arm yet again, this time quicker than the last time, Luz slammed her fist into the nose of the Curse. Cursed Energy surged through it, and upon doing so, its face caved inward. But, it didn’t stop there. The Cursed Spirit staggered back, following the punch’s trajectory as its skin rippled like water. Purple blood splashed out from its mouth like a raging tidal wave, as it screeched in the same roar and gargle noise it had before, its skin folding into itself before it practically blew up like an overstuffed water balloon.

Purple blood coated the floor and surrounding trees. It coated up to Luz’s elbow and splashed all over her shirt, and even a little on her face as black, whispy smoke arose from where the Cursed Spirit had once been.

From behind the shrub she had hidden behind, Willow had watched the whole fight play out, her mouth slightly agape at what she had seen. That human-witch person beat that thing up, and did so in such a way where it looked easy! A part of her wanted to talk to her, but another part wanted to stay parked right where she was.

Yet, despite having made it look easy, the girl looked burnt out, only further compounded when someone teleported out of nowhere, as the girl collapsed into him, the man catching her with a half-hearted hug. He was dressed in a black jacket of sorts with a highrise collar, with matching black pants and boots. He also wore a blindfold over his eyes, and he had white spiky hair and pale skin. Notably, he didn’t have the same pointy ears as all Witches did.

Was he the same thing as the girl? Now she was truly starting to wonder if humans had magic or not. These two people matched the supposed appearance of humans, and they both had some form of magic. Not to mention they both gave off a very… gross feeling. It only happened when the girl flared that blue energy around her hands, but the man had it constantly.

Was that their magic? Why did it feel gross? Willow had no idea why, but it felt weird, unclean, and toxic. Was it Wild Magic? Was that why The Owl Lady was a fugitive? Because her magic was unclean and toxic? But, if it was toxic and unclean, then why could humans—who were supposedly magicless beings mind you—have the ability to use it?

“What is going on here?” Willow thought as the man began to speak. “You did amazingly, Luz,” the man said, sincerity in his voice as the girl, Luz, groaned.

“It’s so gross….” Luz muttered. She was probably talking about the purple blood on her hand and clothes. The man chuckled at that, letting Luz go, pushing her back slightly to look at her. He wiped some of the purple blood off of her face, smirking.

“I’m proud of you, kiddo. Against all odds, you beat the Curse. You still have a long way to go, but now I can see that you have potential. You’re not just some kid who has a bunch of Cursed Energy. You truly have what it takes to be a Jujutsu Sorcerer. I can now officially declare you as my Student. Welcome aboard, Luz!” As soon as Gojo said that, Luz smiled, before immediately passing out, with Gojo catching her in the process.

“Poor kid. She’s definitely tired after that. I should take her back,” Gojo thought. Just as he was about to teleport away, Gojo caught notice of someone hiding behind the bush next to them. He didn’t move or make it apparent that he knew the person was there, but he knew. They didn’t seem hostile more than they were curious. Not to mention it was also the kid that the Cursed Spirit was preying on.

The question was… “Were they able to see the Cursed Spirit? If so, was that why they had followed Luz into the forest?” Gojo thought, curiosity wracking his brain as he tried to think of a reason for them to have followed Luz. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

He paid it no mind and teleported back to Eda’s residence with Luz in his arms just like when he had carried her from yesterday morning. He had teleported directly into the living room, in front of Eda, who bolted up from the couch upon seeing the blood trailing down Luz’s face.

“Shit! The kid!” Eda exclaimed, concern and fear in her voice as Gojo looked at her with the same nonchalance he gave in any situation that wasn’t one of immediate consequence. After all, it was just a light flesh wound. There was no need to worry about it. Then again, Eda didn’t know that, but still.  

“She’s fine. Well, kind of. Tired, and with a minor head injury that’ll recover in no time, but fine,” Gojo said as Eda narrowed her eyes at him. He could tell that she was angry at him, and he had a feeling what it was exactly that she was mad at him for, but there wasn’t much he could’ve done about it. “Look, Eda—"

“You said that you were training her. What did you do, beat her up?!” Eda all but shouted at Gojo as he scoffed.

“Please. If I had beaten her up it would be a lot worse. If you must know, I had her battle against a Cursed Spirit. A weak Cursed Spirit, but a Cursed Spirit nonetheless,” Gojo replied as Eda’s pupils seemed to sharpen, like a cat when angry. Gojo sighed, “She needed the in-field experience, and also so I could properly gauge her abilities and whether or not I should sink my time into actually training her other than teaching her the basics,” Gojo continued as the look in Eda’s eyes never changed.

“She could’ve died!” She shouted, disbelief in her tone of voice, “What in the Titan were you thinking?!” Eda demanded as Gojo laid Luz down on the couch, placing a hand on her forehead before pulling back, wiping the blood off on his left pant leg. The wound was shallow, but even shallow head injuries could bleed a lot.

Not a fatal amount mind you. Maybe enough to cause a very slight headache, but nowhere near an amount worth panicking over. As a matter of fact, it looked worse than it actually was, which probably didn’t help things. He looked back at Eda, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“What was I thinking? Well, a lot of things. You’re going to have to be specific,” Gojo remarked as Eda huffed.

“Don’t get snarky with me! What you did, it could’ve—”

“I know what it could’ve done, and I would’ve leapt in to save her if it got too dangerous for her. You weren’t there, but if you were, you would’ve seen how well she had been handling it. I’m actually quite impressed with her skills. The fact you’re doubting her is what’s upsetting me,” Gojo said, staring down at her through his blindfold.

“You threw her at a dangerous curse, and you expect me to not get angry at you!?” Eda shouted, before chuckling mirthlessly, shaking her head with disbelief. “I mean, I thought you were responsible, but this is insane! I don’t care what you think of her skills, she could’ve died, does that not mean anything to you?!”  

That… that hit a nerve. Gojo went from calm, to pissed. He didn’t show it, though. Eda probably meant nothing by it, but regardless of what she meant, Gojo didn’t care. His posture went from relaxed, to pointed and angered, and as he spoke, his voice gained a certain edge to it that indicated his anger.

“For starters, Eda, that was completely uncalled for. Secondly, whether you like it or not, she’s my student, not yours. I have the say in what she does and what she doesn’t do regarding her training. That means she’s going to be doing more of these in the future. She’s not being sent to a school to learn how to use everyday magic, she’s being taught how to exorcise Cursed Spirits with her Cursed Energy. She’s being taught how to fight and defend others at the cost of her life. She is, essentially, a soldier in active combat training.”

As Gojo spoke, he watched as Eda got progressively more and more angry at the words that came out of his mouth. He sighed, calming himself down as he did so, whilst pinching the bridge of his nose through his blindfold. “Look, lady, let me level with you. If Luz had learned how to use those Glyphs, assuming she could, what exactly were you planning to do? Just let her waste time not knowing how to use them and have her figure it out on her own? Or were you going to teach her?”

“Magic is supposed to be experienced, not taught,” Eda ground out. “And this and that are not the same thing! If I had known you were going to turn her into a child soldier then I would’ve never let you near her after we first met!” Eda spat as Gojo crossed his arms.

This was starting to get ridiculous. It was clear to Gojo that she wasn’t listening, and if she was, it was going through one ear and out the other. Utahime was much the same way, and so was Shoko to some extent. Hell, even Suguru back when he was still alive after the incident had been the very same. It was why they had stopped being friends, among a myriad of other things.

The point was, was that Eda wasn’t willing to listen to him. She was in what Gojo liked to call “helicopter parent” mode. This was exactly why Jujutsu Tech schools practically abducted children. It was so to avoid this. To make things easier and for training to be smooth. It was a district policy that they would essentially fake the death of the students so that, to the world, they were seen as dead so that the parents didn’t come looking for them.

It was scummy, but it was what had to be done unless the people in question were in the know of Jujutsu Sorcery. Gojo wasn’t a fan of it, but he saw the upsides to the practice. At the very least the children were aware of what was happening.

“Still, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. People who don’t know what they’re talking about are always the worst,” Gojo thought as he glared at Eda from underneath his blindfold.

“Alright, if that’s going to be how it is, then let me tell you what it was that I just heard right now, and then we’ll see how utterly stupid you just sounded to me,” Gojo said as Eda went to talk, only to stop when Gojo flared his Cursed Energy, making Eda instantly back off. Was it shitty for him to do? Yes, but as of right now, he didn’t care. He wanted to make sure that Eda listened to him, and if it meant upsetting her senses to make her stay quiet, then so be it.

“This kid, who has Cursed Energy the likes of which most people, including myself, in my profession, would dream to have, knows nothing about how to use it. Because she knows nothing about it, she’s essentially a sitting duck. Cursed Energy attracts Cursed Spirits as I’ve said before, and the more Cursed Energy a person has, the more powerful Cursed Spirits get attracted to her. That means that she’s essentially a walking danger magnet. I don’t think I should have to explain to you why that’s a bad thing, but considering your attitude and your lack of wanting to listen to reason, I’m going to have to,” Gojo said as Eda glared up at him.

Once again, Eda went to say something but stopped for the same reason. “Because Luz is a danger magnet, and because Cursed Spirits see her as a beacon to feast on, she’s constantly in danger 24/7. The only reason why she wasn’t in constant danger before, was because Gravesfield is some sort of anomaly that I’ve yet to fully figure out. Therefore, she’s had no reason to learn how to fight or use her Cursed Energy, which presents a problem,” Gojo said, uncrossing his arms as he placed one hand on his left hip and the other in his right pocket.

“Cursed Spirits are naturally hostile, as I’ve said before. Because they’re hostile to anything that breathes, they do not care who or what it is they are attacking. They attack for the sake of attacking, and they kill for the sake of killing. You cannot reason with them, you cannot talk them down. If they want to kill you, they will do so or die trying. Now, take Luz, who not only did not know how to fight, but before she had even met me, she had no idea what Cursed Energy or Cursed Spirits were, which presents a massive problem. If she had gone anywhere, she would’ve died. And not just die, she would’ve been mutilated by whatever came her way once she left that town.”

Gojo waited for Eda to attempt to say something, but she didn’t. She just stood there and stared at Gojo, as if waiting for him to continue. Oh, sure, she still had that furious look on her face, so it was clear that she was still mad, but at least she was listening. Seeing as she wasn’t going to try and interrupt him again, he continued.  

“Now, take into account that we, and by we I mean myself and Luz, are in an entirely new dimension with beasts that we have no idea are friendly or hostile, with Cursed Spirits starting to show up. You mean to tell me that I’m somehow in the wrong for having her learn how to fight against the very things that she will soon have to hunt?” Gojo said as Eda went to speak, something Gojo had been waiting for, only for him to immediately interrupt her.

“And let’s say she decided to turn down my offer if we hadn’t been interrupted by that stupid wooden owl toy of yours, need I remind you that if I had told my superiors that she had declined, which even if I lied to them they would find out, they would’ve sent an assassin out to kill her and most likely her family and I would not be able to do anything about it. So there’s no point in bringing up the fact that she could’ve said no, because, if you’d recall, she doesn’t have a damn choice.”

Those words rang out in Eda’s head like an unwelcome slap to the face, as her expression went from angry, to furious with the glare in her eyes intensifying. “She does. You bastards just won’t give her one,” Eda spat as Gojo chuckled, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. She was really starting to dislike Gojo now. He just seemed so… full of himself. Like he could do no wrong, and frankly, it irritated her to no end.

The worst part about Gojo was that she couldn’t get a read on him. At first, she pegged him as if he was like those Coven head assholes, trying to fit people in neat little boxes. He proved her wrong and that had actually made her start to warm up to him. But now? Now she was back at square one. She was back to not knowing what he was.

But, what Eda had figured out was that he was worse than those Coven Heads. He was the type of person to be heartless and ruthless with their students. And because of that, Eda now had a genuine reason to hate him. And yet, she couldn’t. Because what he was saying, even if it didn’t resonate with her, made sense.

And no more did that come through than with what he had said next.

“Oh yeah? Really. She has a choice. Well then, what choice does she have? Run like a fugitive for the rest of her life? Speaking from personal experience, are we?” Gojo said as Eda’s glare never wavered. “Well, news flash, Old Hag, but being hunted by top-of-the-line Sorcerers who can sense where you are 24/7 without so much as having to try and being hunted by those pathetic, weak, canon fodder soldiers are two entirely separate things. So, no, in all reality, she doesn’t have a choice. She has the illusion of choice, but not an actual choice. Now, are you going to continue to stand there and act like an idiot, or are you going to shut up, and maybe heal her? Because from what I know of magic, there’s healing magic, is there not?”

Eda scowled, and while she wanted to continue this conversation—argument—she knew that it would go nowhere. Despite herself, a part of her knew that Gojo was right. A part of her understood that he was right, but her pride wouldn’t let her acknowledge it. Her pride as a witch wouldn’t let her admit that he was right, and because of that, she refused to even so much as believe that he could be right.

“This is not over, Satoru Gojo,” Eda spat before walking over to Luz. She created blue rings of light with her index fingers, a healing aura coming out of them as the wound on Luz’s head healed almost instantly. Gojo had to admit, it was kind of pretty cool to see happen in real-time. “Get me a cloth so I can wipe the blood off of her face.” And that was exactly what Gojo did, noticing that at the stairwell, King was watching the two of them.

He paid the dog thing no mind and teleported to and from the bathroom with a wet cloth in hand. Eda snatched it from him and began to wipe down Luz’s face. The two stayed silent, with Gojo being the most annoyed out of the two.

If she truly had the best intentions for Luz, she would’ve known that this was important. She couldn’t coddle Luz forever. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Luz needed to learn how to fight if she wished to survive. She was lucky to be in Gravesfield when she was, but, as he had stated several times over, if she had gone anywhere else, she would’ve died.

Maybe Eda was right to be afraid. Luz was just a kid after all. And maybe if Luz wasn’t cursed with Cursed Energy, then maybe he could understand taking it slow. Maybe he could understand not putting her through the ropes. But, unfortunately, that wasn’t the timeline that they lived in. They lived in a timeline where Luz had Cursed Energy.

Gojo couldn’t hold back. Gojo had to treat her as he would treat all of his students. Sure, there were times when he could be childish and goofy—as a matter of fact that was almost all the time—but Gojo was in teacher mode. He was in serious mode. He wasn’t in “Goofy Satoru” Mode like he usually was.

He was in a foreign land, far away from home, with no real means to communicate with the outside world and to make matters worse two months from now was supposed to be a new semester for Jujutsu High. He was supposed to be with Megumi right about now. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time than now.

Gojo looked over to Eda and frowned. He could sense how the healing magic worked. It was stitching back together the wounded skin, meaning it wouldn’t leave a scar. That was good because scars could be ugly from time to time. Not even the Reversed Cursed Technique could prevent scars from showing up. It was impressive to say the very least.    

Once it was all said and done, Eda stood up from kneeling in front of Luz, placing the damp and now blood-soaked cloth on the table. Eda looked over to Gojo, glare still present as Gojo tilted his head forward, furrowing his eyebrows. “You know I’m right. Whether you want to admit it or not, you know I’m not wrong. So just admit it. You can pretend to be angry at me all you want, but it doesn’t change anything.”

“She’s a kid,” Eda hissed as Gojo scoffed.

“So was I when I had my whole life turned upside down. I lost almost everyone I ever cared about because of what happened when I was a kid. But you don’t see me crying about it, now do you?” Gojo retorted as Eda flinched, both in a way of going “what the fuck” and also as a way of showing her discomfort. “What you have to realize, Eda, is that this world is not, nor has it ever been, safe. Regardless of what mindset you have, regardless of how you want to be, the world will beat you down. After all, you of all people should know this.”

“I—”

“Just want to protect her, yeah?” Gojo interrupted as Eda sighed, shoulders slumping. “You’re a very easy person to read, Eda. Very transparent. And you know what? Good on you. Believe me, if I had the choice to hide Luz away in a neat little box where she couldn’t be hurt, I’d gladly do so. But, unfortunately, I can’t do that. The world is tragic, it’s dark, and it’s unforgiving. And to people like myself and now Luz? It’s even worse. Her getting a little scratch on her head is nothing to what could’ve happened as you were so keen to mention over and over again.”

Eda pursed her lips, finally letting everything that Gojo had said register. He was right. She might not have liked it, just as Gojo said she wouldn’t, but he was right. They lived in two very separate worlds. What she might think was appropriate in one situation, was wholly the opposite in the situation Luz was in.

There was no real overlap in the two worlds that Eda and Gojo lived in, aside from the basics of morality. It was infuriating, so much so that Eda couldn’t comprehend how Gojo put up with it all. Did he even put up with it? She already garnered that he wasn’t too happy with how the society he lived in functioned. He had even said as much, but he still hadn’t done anything about it.

Was it because he had been biding his time? That made sense. These so-called Elders sounded like no joke. No wonder why Gojo was so uptight. There was a reason why he hadn’t made a move yet. Probably because he couldn’t.

A sigh escaped Eda’s lips, as she shook her head, a genuine look of regret seeping its way into her face as she spoke. “Look, Gojo, I’m—"  

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m not looking for an apology,” Gojo said, straightening his head as he sat next to Luz’s sleeping form. He placed a hand on her ankle, his expression morphing into a slight frown, seemingly deep in thought. It was hard to garner what it was that he was thinking with that infuriating blindfold over his eyes, but considering his expression, it wasn’t hard to believe that he had been genuinely worried about Luz. That alone was enough to prove to Eda that he really did care about her.

And she had said that he didn’t care.

“Titan, I’m such an asshole…” Eda thought. That was low, even for her. She should’ve known better, and yet she still spat that out with no care in the world. And the fact that Gojo didn’t immediately snap at her afterward showed that he had more restraint than she did. Sure, he used that Cursed Energy of his to shut her up, which was dirty of him, but if she were in his situation she would’ve done the same thing.

Yet again, they were the same yet different at the same time. Gojo flashed her a smile, gesturing to Luz as he did so. “How about you get her something to eat for when she gets up, yeah? I’d do it myself, but I’ve burnt water before, so I don’t want to ruin your cutlery and stuff like that. The last time I did that my old roommate tore me a new earhole for her to screech into. So, I’ll sit by her and make sure that she’s okay when she wakes up. Deal?”

Back then, Mei Mei was still normal and had no… disgusting proclivities. It was the first and last time he cooked around her, and since then they were on iffy terms, even worse so after he found out how it was she acted around Ui Ui.  

Eda nodded, not saying anything. When she left the room, Gojo sighed. Today was already hectic enough as it was, but even so, things would only get worse. He knew it would. Such was the way of life, and the sooner that realization was made, the better.

[XXXX]

When Luz came to, she no longer had a headache. Her body also didn’t hurt anymore. She felt good as new, which was weird considering what had happened. Groggily, she sat up, cupping her forehead in the process.

Opening her eyes with a squint, she was greeted by Gojo sitting next to her, seemingly patiently waiting for her to wake up, and upon giving her immediate surroundings a quick glance, she was able to discern that they were back at Eda’s home.

Just how long had she been out for? An hour? Two hours? A whole day? Her eyes darted to the window. It was still daylight out, so that was good. Maybe she had only been out for a few hours?

“Luz!” King’s voice cut through her thoughts as the small dog creature hopped up on top of her stomach, causing her to wince slightly. He stared down at her, worried eyes staring into her. “I was worried about you! Well, no, I wasn’t, because I knew you’d be fine. I mean, I—”

“King, can you get off me, please?” Luz asked as King blinked, before doing just that, bouncing off of her and onto the couch cushion next to Gojo, who smirked at his antics. Luz sat up, her hand dropping to her side as she looked at Gojo. “So, uh… how long was I out?”

“An hour, if that,” Gojo replied cooly as King huffed.

“You two made Eda mad. That’s not cool. You especially,” King said, half-glaring at Gojo who shrugged. What had happened when she was out? Did Gojo and Eda argue over her?

“It’s fine. We resolved it so there’s no need to bring it up, O’ mighty King,” Gojo said as King relaxed, but still showed annoyance if only because he knew that Gojo was just mocking him. Gojo then turned his attention to Luz, his smirk still present. “Gotta say kid, you impressed me. Where’d you learn to move like that?”

“Uh… Cheerleader practice?” Luz admitted as Gojo nodded, a neutral expression taking up his visage.

“That’s good. Being fast and flexible often leads to avoiding serious injuries. We just need to make those arms of yours stronger and up your dodging and things’ll be a-okay! Oh, and maybe up your endurance so that if you do get hit, then it won’t hurt you nearly as bad as it normally would,” Gojo listed off as Luz stared and listened with rapt attention. He clapped, snapping her out of her semi-trance. “But, that can be saved for later. You need to eat since we skipped out on breakfast.”

That’s when Luz noticed the bowl of soup on the table. It looked a little… off. The meat looked pink, and the broth looked like toilet water. “Don’t worry, I’ve had it before. It’s pretty good. The pink meat is on purpose because that’s what it looks like cooked. When it's raw, it's purple. Slitherbeast meat, if I recall. And the broth is Bat Bone Broth. It’s like regular beef broth but with an extra kick. Eda made it a few minutes ago before heading to get clean upstairs.”

Luz inched closer to the soup, took the spoon next to it, and decided to try it. Much to her shock, it was actually really good. It had a little spicy kick to it, if not it being a little muted. The meat was on the chewy side like overcooked steak, but it was still really good. Her Mom constantly made spicy food, and spicy food was one of her favourite kinds of food. Especially pollo guisado. That was one of her favourite things her mom made.

For a split second, she thought about home, but immediately shut it out. She didn’t need to think about home right now. And so, after a few minutes, she finished the soup that Eda had made for her, sighing after the fact. “That was actually really good…” Luz commented as Gojo smirked.

“I’ll let her know you said that,” Gojo said as the sound of someone walking down the stairs sounded out.

“No need. I heard her,” Eda called out. When she came down, she was dressed in the same red two-toned dress as she had been when they first met. Notably, however, the gem on the sternum of the dress was slightly darker than before. “You’re welcome, squirt. Now, was there something you wanted to ask me, Blindfold?”

“Yes, actually. I was waiting for Luz to wake up before I did, though,” Gojo said as he stood up from the couch. “Out of curiosity, but I remember passing by a school on my walks through town. What do you think the chances of Luz potentially enrolling at that place are? If for nothing else but to make some acquaintances while we’re here?”

Luz sunk into the couch at the prospect of “school.” Luz already had a negative opinion of school considering her previous experiences. “Although, this is a new world, so maybe things could be different?” Luz thought, sitting up as she did so.

Eda’s nose shrivelled in disgust upon mentioning “school,” a frown worming its way on her face. “You’re talking about Hexside, yeah? What would be the point? She can’t use magic,” she said as Gojo shrugged.

“Aside from her potentially making friends? Well… I believe we saved a student from that school from being mauled to death by a Curse. I’m sure that she’d like to meet Luz, and also, I’d like to meet the people who teach the new generation of Witches. I’m a teacher after all, and I’ve noticed that some of the Witches here are starting to develop Cursed Energy that seemingly overlaps with their Magic. From what you’ve described of how Magic works here, that should be impossible. And since no one knows how to use Cursed Energy, having someone who knows how and someone who can set an example of such a thing…” Gojo said as Eda picked up on the implications.

If Cursed Energy was indeed becoming a thing in The Boiling Isles, The Emperor would more than likely want to stomp it out. But, if Gojo presented it in such a way that it could be controlled and tempered so that it wouldn’t be outlawed… “You know… Maybe that would be a good idea. All you’d have to do is talk the Principal into it. It’s harder than it sounds, but I don’t know why the kiddo would be there.”

“Well, she’s a kid, Eda. Think about it. I’m sure Luz would want to explore the town instead of just being cooped up in here all the time, right? Not to mention that if she makes friends, she’ll be less in your hair and bugging you about stupid things, like those bile sac questions she keeps asking. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but I’m sure she’d learn about that stuff at the school. And, again, friends, new people, new location, the question answers itself,” Gojo said as Luz nodded.

“Yeah. No offence, Eda, but I do kinda want to meet new people…” Luz said sheepishly as Eda shrugged.

“I’ll see what I can do. I haven’t talked to the guy who runs the place in a long time, and the last time we spoke, we weren’t exactly on the best of terms. But, I think your best chance will be tomorrow,” Eda said as she crossed her arms, piquing Gojo’s interest.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Because the Covention is happening tomorrow. A place where young witches get to see what Coven they could be sorted into given their interests and classes taken in certain tracks. It’s a practice I wholly despise. But, if you’re so gung-ho on this thing, then I’ll talk to Bump and see if he’ll be willing to meet you. If nothing else, it’ll be to sate whatever curiosity he has, because I’m sure he’s noticed the changes too,” Eda said as Gojo smirked, wrapping an arm around Luz’s shoulders and pulling her into his side.

“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do!” Gojo said, much to Eda’s chagrin. She sighed but didn’t argue with Gojo. It would’ve been a losing battle, anyway. Besides, if it meant that she could get him out of her hair for a few hours a day, then she’d take it. Because while Gojo was cool and all, he seriously tested her patience.

And that was when a devilish grin took up her visage. “Oh, actually, this works just fine. This’ll be my get back at Bump and that stupid school! Ha!” And just like that, she was now fully onboard with the idea. Sure, she worried about the prejudice that could be inflicted upon Luz for being a human, but if Gojo could torment that school, then she’d look past it for now.

Besides? What’s the worst that could happen?

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物/Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 5: A Proposal And Agreement]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By: Creepy Nuts]

Eda had to admit that maybe arranging that meeting with Principal Hieronymus Bump of Hexside High School of Magic and Demonics, and Satoru Gojo, might have been a bad idea. Having slept on it after arranging the meeting between the two, several problems with having Luz attend Hexside came to mind, the least of which was her inability to use magic.

Oh, sure, that was definitely a factor, but not nearly as big of a factor as it should have been, taking into consideration everything else. Though, as was obvious, neither Gojo nor Luz seemed to be able to identify what those problems would be, seeing as neither of them realized it just yet.

It was frustrating, but there wasn’t much Eda could do except spell it out to them. Something that she refused to do, mostly because she wanted to believe that Gojo wasn’t stupid enough to walk into a bad situation unprepared. But, considering just the kind of person Gojo was, Eda figured that it wouldn’t have mattered either way.

Chances were that Gojo knew, but either simply didn’t care, or if he did, he didn’t care enough to where it would be a problem. Which, considering what he had been able to do, Eda could see why he thought so highly of himself. Simply put, if you can beat anyone just by pointing a finger at them, any perceived danger of a situation is either irrelevant or immensely overhyped.

For the longest time, while she refused to admit it due to her pride, she was terrified of being caught by The Emperor’s Coven. Not because she was afraid of them, but because she was afraid of speaking to her sister again after so many years. Especially after the incident regarding their parents. That was a night that was burned into her memory so clearly that every time she closed her eyes not drunk off of her rear, she could see it.

She could see the malformation that she had turned into that night slashing its large, draconic-like claws across her father's chest. She could see the crimson liquid splash against the wall. She could see the horrified and betrayed look on her mother’s and sister’s faces, and she could hear the pained, agonized cursings of her father calling her a damnable monster.

That night, she had fled, never to see them again in person.

She could only imagine what her sister would want to say to her after not seeing her in person for so many years. The amount of contempt, hatred, and rage that had most likely piled up over the years, it was probably overwhelming. She could almost imagine their interaction as plain as day, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

The hostile look and the sneer, the narrowed eyes and the seething rage underneath them, and whatever harsh words she had for her. All of it was justified. Her sister always held grudges and after she had attacked their father…. If her sister didn’t want to kill her with her own two hands after such an incident, she would be shocked.

Because in all honesty? She would probably let her.  

So, despite their disagreements on several issues, she was glad that Gojo was here. With her magical power waning thanks to her curse, having someone who could take on the legions that The Emperor commanded took a lot off of her shoulders. Not that Eda couldn’t do it herself, but she wanted to hold onto as much of her remaining magic as demonically possible, just in case they one day did find her place of residence when Gojo wasn’t around.

Looking back on that, it was probably really, really bad that she was shifting her focus to being dependent on Gojo’s temporary power—especially considering that she knew he and Luz were going to ask to leave any day now, and were only sticking around because they found this place interesting—but if she could rest on her laurels for just a little while longer, and accumulate enough power to permanently find a way to stay in hiding without threat of detection, she would use that and abuse that for as long as she possibly could.

She might have been the strongest witch in all of the isles at one point, but those glory days were over a long time ago. And loathe as she was to admit it, it was the truth. Hence the paranoia and the collecting of Glyphs. Hence the mistrust she had with Hexside due to it being directly funded by the Emperor, among other things. Hence why she was so nervous to allow Luz to attend Hexside.

Eda watched both Gojo and Luz have breakfast; Gojo was having a cup of coffee the same as Eda had, while Luz was having Dragon Eggs with a slab of Jerkon Bacon. The two had been talking about something called “Cosmic Frontier” or something along those lines. It must’ve been a human show and a popular one given how the two acted like giddy children when discussing it.

That aside, something was bugging Eda, and it had nothing to do with Hexside—though that was still on her mind. Rather, what had been bugging her had to do with the argument that Gojo and her had. It revealed a few things to her about Gojo, things that she assumed that he was very tight-lipped about.

For starters, there was no longer a way to ignore it: Satoru Gojo was strong, which was obvious but that was beside the point—that Cursed Energy of his had been the major giveaway when it came to that. He was someone that, should they come to blows for whatever reason, she had no hope of defeating, let alone even scratching. Every time he unleashed his Cursed Energy, her curse—the Owl Beast—seemed to react negatively to it.

It made every bone in her body tremble, and every muscle in her body react in fear. It was like her curse was actively trying to run away from him. That alone made Eda nervous. If her Curse, something that even The Emperor’s Coven feared, was afraid of Gojo, then what did that mean for everyone else? If Gojo turned out to be a bad person, then what would anyone be able to do?

At first, she thought about what he had said before. When he had said that he could be killed. If that was the case, then maybe there was that small amount of hope that if he was evil, and had nothing but the worst intentions for Luz, then maybe he could be defeated—not that she believed that, of course, but still.

However, that had been before he had clarified that the man who had been able to nullify whatever it was that was making him as strong as he had been was dead, and the weapon that allowed him to do such a thing was destroyed, by his own hands no less. Meaning any and all hope of getting a countermeasure for Satoru Gojo was dashed before it could even be thought of.

The only reason why she was thinking about the what-ifs was because Eda was a very paranoid woman, which was once again obvious due to her habit of stockpiling even the most mundane of items. Considering what it was that she had been labelled, and considering what she had done, and also considering the fact that the person who was currently leading the Emperor’s Coven—aside from The Emperor himself—was someone who had a very viable reason for hating her guts, you would be paranoid too if you were in her situation.

Not to mention that, from what she had been able to garner from her interactions with Gojo, she was able to piece together that he wasn’t exactly the most stable of people. To her, Satoru Gojo was a ticking time bomb. He just gave off that kind of energy. He was the kind of person who, at any moment, could snap and become a walking weapon of mass destruction.

She hadn’t seen him in combat aside from that one time when they were being chased, but if he was able to wave away a Coven Guard, that showed to her that he was something else entirely. And that person was living under her roof, with King, Hooty, herself, and Luz.

And while Luz seemed to trust him, as did King and Hooty, albeit only because he hadn’t shown himself to be dangerous, Eda wasn’t a trusting person. And while it wasn’t because she had been betrayed before, at least not in a super meaningful way, with an entire nation out for her head being a trusting person didn’t allow for survival.

That said, so long as Gojo didn’t try anything funny, she was perfectly fine with him being under her roof. Besides, Luz liked him, and Luz seemed to be a good judge of character. Kids typically were, no matter the age.

Speaking of Luz…. “Hey, Gojo. Can I talk to you for a moment?” Eda asked as she felt Gojo’s eyes on her. It was hard to tell if he was looking at her due to his blindfold, but after a while, she was able to feel the difference. What she meant by that was whenever Gojo looked at you, a sense of anticipation came over that person. It was like as if the whole world was watching you, and as such, Eda knew when Gojo was looking at her because of the overwhelming pressure that came over her in that moment.

“Yeah, sure. What is it?” Gojo questioned as he put down his cup of coffee, walking over to her as Eda stood up, gesturing for him to follow. They walked into the living room, away from where Luz could hear, as Gojo stood next to Eda, who herself was standing around the corner. “Does this have to do with yesterday?”

“No,” Eda replied bluntly, earning a sigh of relief from Gojo. “This has to do with the idea of Luz going to Hexside.” Eda continued as Gojo raised an eyebrow.

“What’s the matter? You said it was a good idea,” Gojo said as Eda frowned, scratching the top of her head as she glanced in the opposite direction of where Gojo was. She had a feeling he would say something like that. “Oh well, here goes nothing….”

“Yeah, I did. But after thinking about it some more, I realized that there could be a few… problems,” Eda began as Gojo crossed his arms, signalling for her to continue. “It has nothing to do with her capabilities. While I haven’t seen much for myself, I can trust your judgment. I’m sure that she’ll be alright in terms of what she can do, but there’s something else that’s bugging me….”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gojo said, a confident smile on his face. “Besides, if Hexside is anything like Jujutsu Tech, then Luz should be fine.”

“But that’s the thing,” Eda rebutted, a slight edge to her voice, “Whatever you think Hexside is, it probably isn’t!” As Eda said that, Gojo tilted his head, feigning ignorance as Eda groaned. “Look, Gojo, I’m telling you that Hexside isn’t what you’re thinking it is. Not to mention, I hate to say it, but Luz’ll be the odd one out there! I mean, look at her!”

“What’s wrong with her?” Gojo said, a serious tone forming in his words as Eda raised her hands placatingly.

“No, it’s not like that! I mean, seriously, what’s the major difference you’ve seen here with those who look like Humans?” Eda questioned as Gojo stroked his chin, only for him to have a split-second realization.

"Oh! I see what you’re getting at here,” Gojo said, pointing to his ears. “It’s because she doesn’t look like a Witch. So, racism, that’s what you’re afraid of?” He continued with an almost nonchalant tone bleeding into his words as he waved off her concerns with practiced ease. “She’ll be fine, especially if it’s just that,” Gojo added, shrugging his shoulders as he placed his hands in his pockets.

“Besides, I’ve already set up the meeting with Principal Bump. I’m not going to cancel just because of that. And that’s, what? In a few hours from now?” As Gojo said that, Luz walked into the room, Eda looking over Gojo’s shoulder to peer into the kitchen to make sure Luz had put her dishes away. Sure enough, her plate was on the counter, so that’s all that mattered.

Aside from that, when Eda glanced in Luz’s direction, Eda saw that she looked excited, an ear-to-ear smile plastered on her face as she practically bounced with each step she took. It was charming to see a kid that excited, even if it was about school. But, then again when wasn’t she excited? Even after yesterday when she was hurt, she was still excited to continue training with Gojo.

Eda couldn’t understand Luz, despite their similar weird tendencies. Maybe it was because of the fantastical nature of what it was she was doing that she didn’t see the danger that was in front of her. Gojo had said that he wanted her to remain blissfully ignorant until she couldn’t be any longer. Her only question to that was why?

Whatever his reasoning had been, there was nothing that could be done about it. Clearly, Gojo was deadset on making sure that Luz remained unaware of the dangers, despite encountering them head-on. Or, maybe Luz knew? If she knew, then why would she recklessly endanger herself like that, just for the pursuit of some kind of power? Did she not have a sense of self-preservation or something?

“I can’t get a read on her…” Eda thought, a neutral expression on her face as Luz spoke.

“Do you think I’ll actually be able to make friends, Gojo?” Luz asked as the man in question ruffled the kid's hair, much to her annoyance, a smile taking up his visage as he did so.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to be friends with you, Luz, is stupid. Besides, you’re the best kind of person to be friends with. Honest, open, and caring. Those are the words I’d describe you with,” Gojo replied as Eda chuckled to herself.

The more she thought about it, the more she had come to realize that their dynamic was less like student and teacher and more like brother and sister. The way they talked to each other, the way Luz acted when Gojo annoyed her, followed by the eagerness the two shared when it came to Luz’s training; it was all so surreal. Maybe that was the point, and if it was, if it weren’t for the glaring differences of them physically, it would make sense.

If only she had a similar relationship with her sister…. “No. That won’t happen. Not since she joined the Emperor’s Coven. The moment she did that, any chance I had to rekindle that relationship died…”

“Can you stop that!” Luz complained as Gojo retracted his hand from her head, Luz puffing out her cheeks, her face turning red in the process. “It’s super annoying…”

“That’s the whole point,” Gojo quipped, Luz sticking out her tongue at him before pouting, earning her a scoff. After a few moments of grumbling to herself with her arms crossed, Luz went back to having that excited smile on her face, bristling with energy like she usually did. “Well, seeing as we have some time to kill, we can always get in some extra training. Go wait for me in the basement, okay?”

“Alright!” As Luz said that, she practically ran to the basement like a Worm Demon sniffing out Apple Blood. Eda then looked to Gojo who looked at her with a frown on his face, arms crossed and body language almost demanding in a sense—kind of like how a bodyguard would stand. That kind of demanding.

“What?”

“I can tell you want to say something, and that something has to do with Luz. Now that she’s not here, out with it,” Gojo said as Eda sighed.

“Look, it’s nothing bad. I’m just worried,” Eda said as Gojo nodded, uncrossing his arms. “Look, It’s just that… I don’t want her to be disappointed. She reminds me of me when I was younger. I had to learn things the hard way, and I don’t want that to be the same for her. It sucks, and it got me in a lot of trouble….”

“I can tell,” Gojo began, “but some people have to learn that way. And Luz is much the same. She has to learn the hard way because otherwise, she won’t learn at all. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare her to face that reality. Hence the training, hence what I did yesterday. Hence bringing her with me to this meeting with the Principal. You can’t coop her up here and pretend like she’ll benefit from it.”

There was a hint of sympathy in his voice, and Eda could tell that he meant every ounce of it. But it was hard to believe him, especially after yesterday. Was she a little bit protective of children? Well yeah, who wouldn’t be? It was hard to see children in situations they shouldn’t be in. But something told her that Gojo had seen that type of thing before.

It made her wonder…. “Hey, Blindfold. You said you’ve had students before. What ended up happening to them?” Eda asked as Gojo stiffened slightly, before relaxing, chuckling to himself.

“Well, right now, three of them are still in training, and the fourth one is off being trained by someone else who knows more about what he needs to learn than I do. The fifth is technically my son if we’re talking adoption, despite it not being on paper… They’re all alive and well, as far as I know,” As Gojo said that, there was a hint of regret in his tone of voice. Even if it wasn’t her place to, she wanted to know why. And so, she did just that.

“Something tells me that’s not all of them,” Eda said as Gojo immediately sagged like a floppy noodle. His shoulders slumped and his whole body language seemed to go from being confident to the complete opposite. Not in a comical way, either. He looked genuinely distraught, but despite that, his voice never wavered.

“Yeah. That isn’t it. Tell me, do you know the saying: “You just don’t forget your first”, Eda?” Gojo asked as Eda raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I do…. Let me guess, something happened to your first student?” She asked, to which Gojo nodded. Once again, he looked forlorn and upset. Because of that, Eda felt bad. “Look, if you don’t—”

“No. It’s my greatest failure, and… You probably want to know anyway. It’s better if I get this over and done with,” Gojo said as he leaned against the wall, glancing up at the ceiling. King came around the corner, to which Eda felt the urge to shoo him off, namely because he didn’t need to hear what Gojo was about to say. Before she could, Gojo began.

“His name was Juichiro Hando. The Elders dumped him on me because it was my first year after having graduated and having become a teacher, so they wanted to keep me busy. After all, I’m the strongest, and they wanted to keep a close eye on me. What better way to do that than to give me a student?” Gojo said, a mirthless chuckle rising from his lips as he did so.

“Hando had a rather simple Cursed Technique, one that allowed him to control and generate water with his Cursed Energy. It was one that The Elders hated due to it belonging to a foreign woman who had no major connection to the Three Big Families. One that, if he had been able to grow up, would’ve made his bloodline capable of reaching that level of status. Something that The Elders refused to allow,” As Gojo said that, Eda felt a burning hatred in her blood.

The more Gojo talked about these “Elders”, the more she was convinced they had to be the human version of Belos. Because only someone as evil as him would do something like that. It also made no sense! Why wouldn’t they want to have another powerful form of magic to help them in their fight against something that supposedly threatened all of Humanity? It sounded counterproductive.

She wanted to ask, but she knew that the moment she did she’d get a headache. She knew Humans to be petty. She had been to the human realm countless times before to know that. But even so, it was still stupid just how petty they could get, even if it meant that they would self-sabotage themselves, and all for what? To maintain some kind of status quo? A status quo that was actively harming them?

It was frustrating. Both because she had experience with a broken system like that, and frustrating to know that the humans were making the exact same mistakes she was currently living through. But, unfortunately, it didn’t stop there, as Gojo continued.     

“It was because of their bias to his Cursed Technique and to the fact that he was of foreign blood that they were planning on letting him die alone—something I’m sure would’ve happened to Luz if they had known it was a person and not something completely up in the air that they had detected. However, because I was inexperienced at the time, they decided that it would’ve been better to hand him off to me. Because that way, he’d die quicker,” Gojo continued, his right hand clenching into a fist.

“Except, they didn’t expect me to be competent in taking care of kids. I even nurtured his Technique to the point of putting him on par with a Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer at the age of 12. To some, that might sound incredibly quick without knowing his age, but he was inducted into the society at nine and was subsequently given to me then.

“But even then, to have that kind of power and the ability to get it to that far at such a young age? It was damn near matching my skill level, just with a different technique. And that potential? They refused to acknowledge it. He was forced into being labelled a Grade 3 Sorcerer, one of the lowest grades imaginable for a Sorcerer excluding Grade 4, and no higher.

“However, because he was a kid, and seeing as kids are always ambitious and want to impress their parental figures—which is what I had essentially become—he wanted to ascend the ranks. So when I was on a vacation, they gave him a chance to seek an audience with them,” as he spoke, Eda noticed how his fist became tighter, and how the knuckles on his fingers whitened.

The way his blindfold wrinkled and how his frown turned into an almost full-on sneer showed that he was glaring. Not to mention the way his forearms shook, and the way she could tell he was trying to suppress himself made it apparent he was angry, although Eda could’ve already guessed that. And she couldn’t fault him, especially considering that she was also getting angry too, though was far better at keeping it hidden.  

“All he wanted to do was to ascend the ranks, and they took advantage of that. They sent him on a suicide mission without my knowledge, and by the time I came back after hearing what happened, I was too late. His body burned into my mind when I saw it. I can’t even describe it without getting sick—and I’ve seen a lot of disturbing deaths…. But that one?”

Gojo shuddered slightly, genuine discomfort washing over him as Eda felt her stomach churn. “I’m… sorry you had to go through that,” Eda said, sympathy in her words as Gojo shook his head. He sighed, calming himself as he stood up straight. Eda glanced over where King was, and the way he stood there with wide eyes made it clear that he was more than a little spooked.

“Crap, was he there the whole time?” Gojo asked as Eda nodded.

“Yeah, I was gonna say something before you started, but it was already too late, and I didn’t want to be rude,” Eda said as King came down the stairs and looked up at Gojo. There was a heap load of worry in his eyes, and the way his little body trembled in what Gojo assumed was fear made him feel particularly bad for having said all of that.

Granted, he didn’t know he was there, and hindsight was 20/20, but the last thing he had wanted to do was scare the child dog thing. Especially considering how pathetic he looked right about now.

“Luz won’t have to go through that, will she?” King asked as Gojo frowned. He didn’t know, and that was the scary part. Would they treat her the same way that they did Juichiro? He was Japanese but still foreign to the clans, but Luz was worse in that regard. She was an American who was far and away the most separated from the three big families.

The only reason the Elders tolerated Yuta was because he was a distant relative of Gojo, but Luz? She had no connections as far as he was aware, and that made things even worse. However, there was a massive difference between him back then, and him now. And The Elders knew what that difference was.

“If they laid so much as a finger on a single strand of her hair…” Gojo began, his sneer turned frown turning into a full-on scowl, the air around Gojo shifting from sombre to one of bloodlust and rage at the mere thought of something bad happening to Luz. “I would personally see to it their bloodlines would be cleansed from Earth. I already lost one of my students to them because of their beliefs. I refuse to lose another one, especially one with as much potential as her.”

As that thought ended, a stray thought entered his mind. “What about Megumi? It's already been a week since I left… The Elders already showed annoyance at my taking Megumi under my wing…. I swear if they gave him to The Zen’in Clan in my absence…” Gojo thought, dismissing the thought entirely. “No. The Elders are gutsy, but they aren’t stupid. They already know that provoking me is a bad idea. Even if I’m gone, trying to make a move against me was dumb of them. I already showed them what I’d do to them if they pulled what happened to Juichiro to me again. I doubt they need another reminder.”

When he had created the Great Fuji Cavern using nothing but a Boosted Hollow Purple after enchanting it, despite their bellyaching at his actions, it wasn’t as if they could do anything about it. So even if they did try to do anything to Megumi, or even Luz, they’d have hell to pay for it.

Clapping his hands together, startling King, Gojo smirked. “Well, enough depressing stuff! I got to get down there and train the kid. We still have three hours until the meeting, and I’m going to make the most of it!” As Gojo said that, he teleported into the basement, which had been where Luz was. She had been patiently sitting on the second-to-last step, kicking her legs in the air, humming a tune as she waited.

When Gojo suddenly appeared, she was briefly startled, jumping backward and nearly tripping over her feet, catching herself with the railing as Gojo laughed. “You should’ve seen the look on your face!” He remarked, earning a frown from Luz.

“Did you have to do that?” Luz remarked, walking down the stairs as she did so. Gojo shrugged as if to say that he didn’t care, which didn’t make Luz’s mood any better. She’d let it go for now, but she would definitely get him back for that!

“Well, yes and no. See, the moment I scared you, you lost control over your Cursed Energy. But I bet you didn’t feel that, did you?” Gojo said as Luz blinked, and it was only then that she realized that he was correct. Before being scared, her Cursed Energy was calm, and now it was erratic, something she quickly fixed, but still. The point had been proven, and it had been one of those things that she knew was objectively correct, but still didn’t like.

“See, now do you get why I scared you?” Gojo added, a smirk present on his face. “Anyways, get ready to go. I took you to the basement as a formality, but we’re going to be shifting scenery quickly. We’re going to be working on your combat training some more, except this time, your opponent is going to be different.”

As Gojo said that, he grabbed Luz by the back of the hood and teleported them. No longer were they in the basement, but rather, they were back in the woods. What was with Gojo and taking them to a forest? Maybe it was because it was the best place to train. Or maybe there was some reason behind it. Either way, it was kind of bland.

Then again, they had only been there once. So maybe it was just happenstance. Gojo let go of her hood as she placed her feet on the floor as gently as she could, leaves crunching underfoot as she looked around her surroundings. Much like last time, they appeared to be in a clearing of sorts. Unlike last time, there was nothing around them. Nothing but forest for as far as the eye could see.

“So… what now?” Luz asked as Gojo smiled. It wasn’t a happy kind of smile, but rather the kind of smile one would see moments before the person who was smiling would play a prank. And, as far as Luz was concerned, that was not going to be a good thing.

“You get to fight me. You have to try and land a single hit on me, and during that, you’ll also have to dodge my attacks. I won’t hit too hard, but I won’t exactly be gentle either,” Gojo said as Luz blinked, as a brief stint of confusion washed over her. It was only when Gojo reared back his right arm that she realized he was serious, and as soon as he extended his arm, Luz had no choice but to dodge.

She twisted her upper body to the left, avoiding the fist as it just barely grazed her cheek. Tripping over herself, Luz tried to run backward but failed, as Gojo followed her movements. When she fell, he went to kick her, only for her to get up just in time, jumping up as Gojo’s foot stomped into the ground right where her chest would’ve been. The ground cracked under his strike, Luz’s eyes narrowing.

“Okay, this wasn’t what I was expecting to happen, but I guess this works…” Luz thought, panic washing over her. Fighting Gojo was something she didn’t have on her bingo card, but it wasn’t the end of the world. All she had to do was get one solid strike on him and it was over. She let her Cursed Energy travel to her fists, the blue light covering them as Gojo smirked.

“Good! You’re adapting to the situation, that’s great!” As Gojo said that, he lunged forward faster than her eyes could perceive, and even faster than he had appeared, his leg was already extended, his boot firmly planted on her belly as the lightning-fast kick connected. A pained look momentarily took up Luz’s visage as she was sent skidding backward. It wasn’t all that far, and it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it most likely should have. Then again, Gojo said he was going to be holding back.

“Dead. In a real fight, you would’ve died right there. Keep your guard up, Luz,” Gojo said as Luz narrowed her eyes, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of her face. Bringing her fists up to below her chin, she got in a fighting stance, her dominant hand in front of her with her non-dominant hand closer to her face. Her body was turned so that her dominant hand was more prominent and vice-versa for her non-dominant hand, with the same holding true for her legs.

“Just like when she was fighting that Cursed Spirit, she’s using that same fighting stance...” Gojo thought, frowning. “She’s relying on what she’s seen in movies. That much is obvious. Seems as If I’m going to have to teach her some real fighting moves. However, that stance isn’t all that bad. Her legs need to be a little wider, but aside from that, it looks good,” Gojo thought, narrowing his eyes under his blindfold. “Well, let’s see how well she can hold it up while I’m getting into her personal space.”

With that, Gojo dashed forward, getting up in Luz’s bubble and closing the distance between himself and Luz, shock taking over her visage at his sheer speed. He went in with a lightning-quick left-handed jab, something she was just barely able to avoid. He went for a gut check with his right fist, something that she was able to block but not without her block being disrupted.

Capitalizing on that, Gojo went for a spinning helicopter kick, which landed on her shoulder, sending her flying to the right, with her only being able to stop it mere centimetres away from the tree she would’ve made direct contact with. Before what he was doing now, he had been using the same strength as a Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Now, he had upped his strength and speed to match that of a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit. He wanted to see how she would adapt.

Luz, from what he could tell, was the type of person to take things slowly. That wouldn’t do in a real fight. He wanted her to learn that now before it got her killed. Hence why he was ramping up the stakes. He wasn’t going to kill her or try to, but he wouldn’t refrain from breaking any of her bones if it meant teaching her a lesson.

“Still, I need to watch my strength…” Gojo thought, walking toward Luz as he rolled his right shoulder, cracking his neck in the process. Luz slowly stood up, pain evident in her body language. Maybe he hit her too hard, but that didn’t matter. If it became a problem, he’d have Eda heal her when they got back.

“Dead, once again,” Gojo commented, as Luz held onto her shoulder, gritting her teeth as she did so. “You have good form, but horrible reaction speed. Right now, I’m going at you with the same strength and speed as a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit. You can hardly keep up without faltering. Right now, we’re trying to make sure that you can go toe-to-toe with a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, that way when you encounter Grade 4’s you’ll be able to take them out easily and be able to match a Grade 3. I won’t stop attacking you until you land a hit, so don’t get comfortable.”  

Luz gulped audibly, getting back into a fighting stance. And as soon as she did, he closed the distance between them. Except, this time, right before he went to hit her with a right hook, she sent out a left jab with Cursed Energy attached to it. A part of him wanted to activate Infinity the moment it came close to his actual body, but he decided against it, letting the jab hit.

When it did, he felt her Cursed Energy penetrate his own, staggering him slightly. “She’s got impressive strength when it's backed by her Cursed Energy. But….” As he thought that, she tried to follow it up with another jab from her right, only for Gojo to slap it away, leaving her open. Before he was able to capitalize on it, she kicked him with a Cursed Energy-infused spartan kick. He blinked, the kick hitting him square above the waist, which had been able to make him nearly fall over had it not been for him following the flow of the attack.

“Well, I’ll be!” Gojo thought as Luz closed the distance between himself and her, rearing her arm back for a proper punch, with the same speed he had done with her before. Except, unlike her, he was able to react to it. He put out a block, guiding her fist away from his chest, before completely turning her around, and burying his foot into her back, sending her to the ground, and grabbing her dominant arm and pulling it back as she landed belly first on the ground. He put a tiny amount of pressure on her back as he held her there.

“Ow…” Luz groaned as Gojo smirked.

“You did well, Luz. You landed not one, but two hits on me. You even caught me off guard! You still need some work, but we have plenty of time to do that,” Gojo said as he helped Luz up. She dusted herself off, rolling her shoulder in the process.

“Did you need to pin me to the ground…” Luz asked as Gojo shrugged.

“Probably not, but it got you to stop, didn’t it?” Gojo replied as Luz frowned, crossing her arms and looking away from him. It honestly reminded him of when Shoko and him were kids and when they would spar all the time. Those were the good old days. Back when there weren’t nearly as many problems to deal with as there are now.

Gojo sighed internally. None of that mattered now. Dwelling on the past was only ever a bad thing. “Plus, you adapted pretty well! Hurray!” Gojo did a mock cheer, earning an even deeper frown from Luz. “Oh, c’mon, you gotta admit that was—”

“Cheesy, very cheesy,” Luz replied, cracking up a bit, which Gojo smirked at. Never let it be said that Gojo Satoru wasn’t a funny man. He was quite funny, even funnier than most when he wanted to be. He simply hadn’t had the time to be his usual self. Truth be told he had been on guard the moment he arrived in this strange new place, and not a moment since.

But, he was slowly starting to feel more and more comfortable with being here. He shouldn’t be, but he did. He couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but nevertheless, it was progress. He had already been there for a week, and so much as happened. From Luz taking up the challenge of learning how to use her Cursed Energy, to them being labelled as criminals, to Luz taking down her first Cursed Spirit—so many things in such a short amount of time, and yet despite that, it wasn’t even all that tiring.

Just like Juichiro, Luz had an insane amount of potential and the progress she was making was insane. However, unlike Juichiro, there were no pesky Elders to get in the way of her growth. Not that they would, mind you, as they had already tried and failed to do that with Yuta when he arrived. Besides, they weren’t even here right now, so that only made things easier.

“Alright, let’s do it again. We have plenty of time to spare, still nearly three hours. Hope you’re not tired~!” Gojo said as Luz blinked, as it finally clicked for her that the next three hours of her life were going to be a living hell.

And they were. By the time it was all said and done, Luz was covered in bruises and every part of her body ached. And yet, despite that, Gojo had a few solid bruises on his face too. He hadn’t used Infinity to block anything, and while he was considerably less damaged, and with a single pass of the Reversed Cursed Technique it was all gone, the fact of the matter was that Luz had been able to make him hurt.

Granted, it wasn’t anything major, and it was without his biggest asset being active, and he hadn’t used Blue or Red, nor had he covered his body with Cursed Energy to absorb the blows. In reality, it wasn’t that much of a feat to beat up Gojo when he wasn’t taking anything seriously, but the point still stood. The fact that he had been hurt by those attacks had proved to him that Luz was strong.  

Luz sat underneath a tree, tired and bruised and in pain. Gojo didn’t go too hard on her, just as he had promised he would. He kept the same pace as he had when she “beat” him the first time, only ramping it up to about Semi-Grade 2 levels of strength near the end. Luz was able to partially keep up with him when he was pushing himself a little bit, but she was still getting tripped up by basic things.

But, as for her growth? She was able to throw a proper punch now without missing her target. She was able to channel her Cursed Energy no matter the circumstance and she didn’t have to focus all that much anymore—it simply came to her naturally. She was able to guard and counterattack fairly well, and by far the best development out of the whole ordeal was that she was starting to learn how to cover her body in Cursed Energy to absorb the damage from Cursed Energy-related attacks.

It was clear that, near the end, when she tried doing it she had done so on reflex, meaning she hadn’t realized that she did it, but the fact of the matter was that she had done it. And because she had, Gojo now had a new way of training Luz.

He was also able to see just how flexible and fast Luz had been. It was clear she was no slouch. She was bending, dodging, and weaving like crazy. She had even been able to pull off a full duck a single second away from getting punched, and following it up with a backflip-style kick. It had hit him square in the chin, and it had left him staggered for a solid few seconds. If he ever got to meet her cheerleader teacher, he’d have to thank them in person, because they clearly knew what they were doing.

“Alright, Luz,” Gojo began as she groaned, looking up at him with a disinterested look in her eyes. She was tired beyond belief, and it showed. The way her shoulders slumped, the way her breathing had become heavy, and the way sweat poured down her forehead all indicated to Gojo that she was beyond tired and had ventured into the realm of exhaustion.

“Please… tell me… we’re done?” Luz asked through her breathing, as Gojo nodded. She sighed, relaxation kicking in as she practically deflated.

“We have fifteen minutes before the meeting. Do you want to get something to drink back at Eda’s?” Gojo asked, even though it wasn’t needed. He already knew her answer would be yes, as was obvious by her frantic nodding. Gojo helped her up, taking her by the hand and pulling her to her feet. She nearly collapsed into Gojo, but she kept herself standing, wiping her forehead of sweat with her left arm, keeping her balance with her right.

After she got her balance, Gojo teleported them to the kitchen in Eda’s house, where Eda was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. When she saw Luz, she raised an eyebrow. Gojo was glad she didn’t blow up like last time, though the lack of blood probably had something to do with that. “I take it you’re done training? She looks like she got trampled by several Jumboflies,” Eda remarked as Gojo felt a shiver run down his spine. Whatever a Jumbofly was, he didn’t want to know. And, if he were to guess, it wasn’t what he was thinking about, i.e. a massive housefly.

“Nope! I was just teaching her how to fight!” Gojo said as Eda raised an eyebrow.

“So… you let her fight a Curse… and only after that you teach her how to fight? Sounds kind of backwards, don’t you think?” Eda said, a slight edge to her voice as if to say “Are you stupid” to which Gojo would probably promptly reply with no, because he was so obviously the smartest in the world, even if he did have his dumb moments, this definitely being one of them.  

“Hindsight is 20/20,” Gojo replied, to which he turned to get Luz something to drink as she sat next to an air vent blowing out cool air, practically melting into it as she did. Pulling out a jug full of Apple Blood—non-alcoholic—he poured Luz a glass before passing it to her. The second Luz took the glass, it was empty with her having chugged the whole thing down in a single breath. With a sigh, Luz put the glass up on the counter above her head, making sure it didn’t fall over, and when that was done she stood up, almost as if that was all she needed for another round of training.

“Okay! All ready to go!” Luz said, a smile on her face as Eda chuckled. Gojo found it admirable that she had a boundless amount of enthusiasm, even after having been practically dragged through the mud. Once again, he was reminded of one of his students from last year, specifically Yuta before everything went down. Before The Night Parade of 100 Demons….

“Well, we still have ten minutes. Eda, do you think healing magic would be able to heal bruises or sprained muscles?” Gojo asked as Eda shook her head.

“If you’re precise with it, yeah. But I’m not. You know the saying: Jack of all trades, master of none. I can use all forms of magic well, but I can’t do focused stuff. I mean, I used to be able to, but that was before my current situation,” Eda said as Gojo raised an eyebrow. He always did wonder what that was. He knew it had something to do with a curse, that much was obvious, but what the specifics were he didn’t know.

Whatever it was, it had been weakening her, and by how she said it it had been like that for years. What Gojo was currently looking at was a far cry from what she had used to be. It was a cruel fate, but there was probably a reason behind it. One simply didn’t curse another just for the sake of it. Not that he believed it was deserved, but still, there had to have been a reason for Eda being cursed.

On the other hand, the information she gave was useful. He’d have to ask her more about the limits of healing magic. What a basic healer could do and what they couldn’t. Eda most likely fell into that category, and from what he could tell minor flesh wounds were things that could be healed by basic healers.

“Good to know,” Gojo said, looking over to Luz and then to his phone to check the time. There were still nine minutes left, and so with that in mind. “Luz, go take a shower. You reek and I can smell you from here. Don’t want this Bump guy to think you’re a slob, right? And Eda, I’m sure you can clean her clothes with magic, can’t you? It’s the only stuff she has in her size.”

“Yup. I can just use water magic mixed with healing magic to get rid of the dirt and grime. I do it when I’m feeling particularly lazy and I don’t want to do a load of laundry. It doesn’t make it smell fresh and clean but it does make it look clean,” Eda said as Gojo nodded.

“Uh, small problem, how am I going to give you my clothes if I’m in the shower?” Luz asked as Eda raised an eyebrow.

“I grab them? Either that or I can have Hooty pop in from the sink and snag them. Either way, it works,” Eda replied as Luz blinked, feeling stupid at the obvious answer to the very easy-to-solve problem. She was uncomfortable with both, but if it was the only way then it was the only way.

“Fine. You can grab them. No offence to Hooty but, I’m assuming Hooty’s a guy, yeah?” Luz asked as Eda shrugged.

“Dunno. I never bothered to ask.” As Eda said that, a very distant “Hooty is a guy” echoed out from the furthest living room wall of the house and answered Luz’s question, to which Eda did a “there you go” gesture with her arms. Without delay, Luz ran up the stairs to the second floor, Eda following suit. Gojo stayed on the first floor, his mind drawing back to his thoughts. Specifically, his thoughts about Luz and how similar she was to Yuta.

For starters, as he had noted before, just like Yuta Okkotsu, she had boundless Cursed Energy, though a little less than Yuta. Unlike Yuta, her Cursed Energy came from herself rather than from a Cursed Spirit that was attached to her. Granted, it wasn’t like Yuta didn’t have Cursed Energy of his own. It was still his, but it was thanks to Rika that he had so much of it. Luz was different.

Luz, despite her cheery and overzealous attitude, clearly harboured a lot of negativity. There was something that she was hiding. Whatever it was, though, Gojo wasn’t going to poke and prod, even though he really wanted to know. It was in his nature to be naturally curious about that kind of stuff, especially when it revolved around people he knew and or cared about. He blamed his early maturing and his not being able to be a kid for the stupid inane stuff he did.

For example, the day before yesterday, where he sat upside down for no reason for half the day. Or, the time when he tried to get Eda to play “eye-spy” despite her saying multiple times that she had no interest—of note, King, Hooty, and Luz did, and they had a blast. Or when he decided to lay across the roof and stare up at the stars with Luz.

Luz had told him that she’d used to do that during the winter since it never really snowed where she lived, and the skies were usually clear. The stars were leagues different from Earth, and they had their own constellations and everything. It was strange. The Boiling Isles were both very different and very similar to Earth. It almost made him wonder if it really was a different dimension they were in or if they had simply warped from one planet in the Milky Way Galaxy to a different planet in a different Galaxy.

“So…” King spoke up, sitting on the same chair Eda had been a few moments ago. “How can you use magic? I thought humans couldn’t?”

“It’s not magic,” Gojo replied as King tilted his head.

“It feels like Magic to me,” King retorted. “Eda says it feels gross, but to me, it’s just normal magic. Same as when Eda uses hers. Does that make me special?”

Gojo chuckled, “Maybe. Or maybe you just can’t pick up on the differences between Magic and what I use,” Gojo supplied as King shrugged, leaning into the chair, tilting it slightly.

“Doesn’t make a difference to me, The King of Demons! So, ha!” King said as Gojo smirked. If he wasn’t so obviously a kid, Gojo probably would’ve made a joke that he really shouldn’t have. Either way, King seemed to have an overinflated sense of self. Maybe it was because he didn’t know any other person of his species.

From what Eda had said, King wasn’t anything that she’d ever seen before on The Boiling Isles. In a bestiary of wildlife near Bonesborough, there wasn’t a single thing that matched King’s appearance, nor any type of Demon. King was, for all intents and purposes, most likely a part of an extinct species, and the last of his kind. Meaning that when he died, his species would be fully wiped out.

Of course, Eda wasn’t heartless enough to tell him that, nor was Gojo. Whatever it was he thought himself to be, Gojo wouldn’t try to squash it, unless it would wind up getting him hurt. Aside from that, Gojo would leave it be. A faint sigh left Gojo as he glanced out the window and into the forest. He could feel more Cursed Spirits come into existence. Some pathetic, others weak, and a very very small amount of them being decently strong but nowhere near the level where he would have to worry about Luz and what it would mean for her.

They were all spread out across the Isles, too. It wasn’t just located in Bonesborough or the area around Bonesborough. He had the chance to look at a map, and he knew all of the major locations. Glandus, the Castle, and other places such as a remote village on the foot of the Titan’s corpse that didn’t have an official name and a rumoured population of 20, mostly populated by Demons with a single Witch family that lived in a manor, though not much was known about them.

“If nothing else, it’s good training fodder for Luz to use,” Gojo thought as the aforementioned teenager came running down the stairs, dressed in a cleaner version of what she had been wearing before. Her hair was still wet, but it wasn’t going to pose a problem, not unless the winds started to pick up. The last thing he wanted was for her to get sick. “Alright! I’m ready to go!” Luz said as Gojo glanced at the clock. They had about a minute or so left to spare, which was good.

“Alright then,” Gojo said as Eda finished coming down the stairs. “Be back in a bit,” Gojo said, before teleporting both himself and Luz to the location where the meeting was to be had, which had been near a remote area during the convention. When he showed up, he found himself standing outside of a building that reminded him of a regular convention center. Then again, he guessed it made sense all things considered.

Not but a few feet in front of him stood a rather elderly-looking man. His face was wrinkled, with light-beige skin. Atop his head seemed to be a red-skinned creature that covered the top half of his face and his hair, said creature appeared to look like a stereotypical demon from the Christian Bible with pointed horns and a spike-like tail. The man’s eyes, be they the eyes of the creature or his actual eyes Gojo hadn’t even the foggiest of an idea, were teal with yellow sclera.

He was dressed in a traditional academic long black gown adorned with a golden yoke, and a black cape, and the sleeves of the gown and the hem of the cape were lined with golden silk. There was a blue stole draped over his shoulders, and on his feet were a pair of black pointed shoes that reminded Gojo of what an elf would wear.

His hands were bony, and they had long overgrown black fingernails. It was a strange appearance all things considered, but aside from that he looked like what an old man would appear to be. Though, once again, Gojo had to hold himself back from blowing off the top of the old man’s head upon seeing that strange creature seemingly eating half of his head.

“In all of my years of life, never once have I seen anyone simply… appear before me. Even with illusion magic, it takes a moment for the spell’s effects to end, but with you, it was as if the world corrected a mistake and blinked you into existence. Fascinating…. Very fascinating indeed, Mr. Gojo,” the old man said as he stroked his bare chin.

“I take it you’re Hieronymus Bump, yeah?” Gojo asked as Bump nodded, dropping his hand to his side.

“That would be correct, Mr. Gojo. It is a pleasure to meet you,” Bump said before looking over to Luz, a quizzical look on his face. “And I take it that this young lady over here is Luz Noceda? She’s the child you spoke about over the scroll, correct?”

“That would be me!” Luz introduced, outstretching her hand for greeting. Bump, amused, took her hand and shook it. Retracting their hands, Bump looked back over to Gojo, his expression neutral.

“I must say, if I hadn’t gotten a look at you myself, I would’ve never guessed that either of you were Human. Oh, and another thing. I would allow you two to peek around the Covention, but because it is restricted to Hexside Students only, I cannot let you in. I hope you take no offence to that,” Bump said as Gojo shrugged.

“Nah, I get it. Rules are rules. Right, Luz?” Gojo asked as Luz pouted.

“Awe… I wanted to meet some people my age,” Luz said, crossing her arms as Bump chuckled in that same way a wise man would.

“I am sure you will soon, Young Luz,” Bump said as he cleared his throat, the slightly cheerful expression on his face slipping back to what it was prior. “I also have to say that you’re rather gutsy meeting with me, despite knowing that The Emperor’s Coven is looking for you two. It is known that you were spotted with Eda Clawthorne. Not that I would report either of you, but still. You had no reason to trust that I wouldn’t simply report you and lay a trap for your capture. It takes great courage for such a thing,” Bump noted as Gojo shrugged.

“Even if you did, It wouldn’t have amounted to anything, honestly.” As he said that, Bump chuckled to himself before his expression dropped and turned sour.

“That being said, allow me to be honest with the two of you, I do not believe that it would be wise to enroll young Luz into Hexside. As far as I am concerned, it would be a waste of time for both sides,” Bump said, and as he said that, Luz seemed to look offended. Before Luz could say anything, Bump raised his hand, silencing her as Gojo frowned. “And no, it has nothing to do with her being a human. It’s quite obvious that the two of you possess some kind of special talent, something that, if I recall correctly, you called Cursed Energy, correct?”

“That would be correct,” Gojo replied as Bump hummed.

“Yes, thank you. Now, that being said, I’m assuming you’ve only just started your training, Luz?” Bump asked as Luz glanced to the ground muttering a quiet “yeah” which earned her a nod from Bump. “I see. Then that only further galvanizes my stance. You see, most people who attend Hexside, aside from the young children in the Junior Track, have been practicing magic their entire lives. As such, they are judged for that level of training. From what Gojo has told me, due to your Cursed Energy, you cannot use Glyphs, so our scoring system wouldn't apply to you. Furthermore, your peers have more experience than you do, and fighting one another is far more common than you’d think. Disputes usually end in Witches Duels, which for someone as inexperienced as you could lead to grievous harm being done unto you.”

The more Bump spoke, the more disillusioned Luz seemed to become, practically shrinking into herself at the crushing realization that, for as much as Gojo wished to refute Bump’s points, he was right. Luz had only been training with her Cursed Energy for a week, whereas her supposed peers had years of practice on their belts.

In other words, it would not be wise for Luz to go to Hexside. Both for her safety and for her dignity. And yet, Gojo had a feeling that he could turn this around. After all, if what Eda had said was true, and that she had witnessed Luz’s Cursed Energy seemingly destroy the magic in the Glyphs that she came into contact with….

“You raise good points, Principal, but I believe in my student. I believe that she can compete with the rest of the witches at Hexside. I can prove it, too, if you give me the chance to do so,” Gojo said as Bump chuckled without opening his mouth, a small, hardly noticeable smile taking up his visage as he did.

“I quite like that attitude of yours, Mr. Gojo. Allow me to be upfront and honest with you. Normally, I would’ve outright denied your request, seeing as just how much of an advantage any one of the students would have toward young Luz over here in the age bracket she would be put with. However, I am a curious man. Some might say that one day it could be my undoing, but I digress. I want to see just how this Cursed Energy stuff works. As a matter of fact, should Luz be able to prove herself, I’ll even offer you a position as a member of staff at the school. How does that sound? I’ll pay you quite handsomely, if money is even an issue,” Bump offered, as Gojo flashed a toothy grin.

That was just the kind of offer he was hoping to get. He’d admit to himself and himself alone that he had been slightly worried that Bump would outright refuse his offer. But, he had his curiosity peaked. While he hadn’t banked on that being the deciding factor, he’d take what he could get. He didn’t care about getting the job, but it definitely added incentive.

“That’s what I’m talking about. So, gramps, what’re you thinking?” Gojo asked as Bump hummed in thought for a moment before a spark of an idea came to his mind as was indicated by the small smirk spreading across his lips.

“Well, as I said, it’s common for disputes to be solved with Witches duels. So, how about this? If Luz can beat one of the top first-year students at Hexside, I’ll allow her to come to the school. But, should she fail, I will prohibit her from even stepping foot on campus. What do you say to that?” Bump asked as now it was Gojo’s turn to think about the offer.

“Luz fighting a top student… A first year, mind you, but still a top student. That could range from anywhere from a Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer, to a Semi-Grade 1 if the ranking system were to carry over…” As Gojo thought the idea out, he looked to Bump, who patiently awaited his answer, a certain fire in his eyes that could not be ignored. Beneath that grandfatherly appearance was a man with a burning passion for knowledge, but also an insatiable love for competition.

Gojo would admit that he had underestimated the old man. Something he should’ve known not to do given Gakuganji and the fact he was still considered a Grade 1 Sorcerer and used to be a Special Grade when he was younger and had better mobility skills.

He was going to accept the offer… However, he needed to know one more thing before he did. “This request might seem strange, but it’ll help me decide should you answer it. If you were to rank this specific student who you wish Luz to fight in terms of a grade, with Grade 4 being the worst, Special being the best, with Semi-Grade 2 and 1 being halfway points between Grades 3 and 2, and 2 and 1, where would you place this student?”

It took a moment for Bump to process the information he was given, and after another few moments of thinking, he responded. “If I were to grade them based on that criteria, while adding my own expectations because, I’ll be honest, I don’t fully understand what this grading metric would represent, I would comfortably put this particular student in Semi-Grade 1. I hope that was the answer you were looking for.”

The information that was given to him made Gojo draw back into his thoughts. He wasn’t entirely against the idea of Luz fighting someone at that level. Luz was already on the same level as a Grade 3 Sorcerer, if not Semi-Grade 2 with a little bit more training. However, she would most likely plateau there until she either achieved Black Flash or even that Cursed Technique buried deep within her.

However, in regards to her Cursed Technique, that third lock was still on the metaphorical Black Box, with the other two also remaining, so it would have probably taken a miracle for the latter to happen. Besides, due to how well she had been controlling her Cursed Energy after their sparring lesson, she was far closer to being able to at the very least discover Black Flash.

All of that to say, despite the power gap, Gojo was willing to let her fight this mystery student. After all, you didn’t get anywhere in life without taking a few risks. And considering just how fast she had been progressing, that power gap could probably be shortened by the time this supposed fight would be taking place.     

He looked over at Luz, then frowned. She looked desperate to prove herself, and as such, her Cursed Energy flowed erratically. Despite her control over her Cursed Energy, and despite her control of her emotions, she hadn’t mastered her emotions quite yet. And as such, it was causing her to lose control. It seemed they needed to work more on that. And it was because of that he was starting to have reservations.

“On second thought, this might be too risky. I was overconfident in thinking that Luz would be able to fully control her Cursed Energy in overly emotional situations. That could wind up getting her seriously hurt or worse. Then again, I’ll most likely never get this chance again…. I’d offer myself, but that would be way too overkill. And, I tend to get carried away in fights, not to mention I would be fighting a child…. Yeah, no. That’s not a good idea either.”

“Having second thoughts, Mr. Gojo?” Bump questioned with a hint of disappointment in his voice and an underlying, hidden tone of mockingness, which had been the final deciding factor in Gojo’s decision. If there was one thing that Gojo couldn’t stand, it was being taunted by old people. It hurt his pride far more than anything else that he experienced, the obvious notwithstanding.

“Far from it, Principal. We’ll take you up on your offer,” Gojo stated as Luz smiled, nodding excitedly as she did. Bump’s smirk turned into a toothy grin of his own, earning them a nod of confirmation from the man. He outstretched his hand, it glowing a bright blue.

“Then if you accept the terms and conditions, take my hand, and we’ll seal the deal,” Bump said as Gojo stared at it for a second. Despite his better judgement, he accepted the offer, taking the hand. A blue ring formed between both, the ring glowing a bright yellow after the fact. “There. The Everlasting Oath has been pledged. Tomorrow, at 3:30 Pm when school goes out, head to the Bonesborough Arena. I’ll have it scheduled for Luz’s fight with the aforementioned student. Don’t be late.”

Gojo hummed, letting go of Bump’s hand, and crossing his arms in the process. “What’s an Everlasting Oath?”

“Oh, it’s nothing to be worried about. Not this one anyway. All it does is compel the people involved to keep up their end of the bargain. Some use it for gambling, others use it to remind themselves of deals they made. There’s nothing sinister unless the pact maker entails it so,” Bump clarified as Gojo internally sighed in relief, his arms dropping to his sides. Seriously, sometimes his impulsiveness was bad, and that was a good example of it.

In all honesty, an Everlasting Oath sounded a lot like a tamer version of a Binding Vow. In concept, they were the same thing. In practice, it was entirely different. Binding Vows’ had much harsher punishments to them, though that was due to the fact that they were vows and not oaths. Oaths could be broken, and there would be hardly any consequences. A vow was something someone made when they were dead serious about their promise, and it was usually linked to the Gods; at least, in concept anyway.

“Alright. Then it’s settled. We’ll meet at the Arena tomorrow. That gives us a day to prepare,” Gojo said as Luz spoke up.

“Hey, uh, quick question, but what’s that thing on your head?” Luz asked as Bump blinked, before chuckling to himself. He tapped the creature on the head, and upon doing so, it tugged itself off of his head, revealing a pair of golden-brown eyes—at least, Gojo assumed, as one of them had been sewn shut—and long black locks of hair that stretched down to his waist. A scar went from the top of his scalp, cutting through his hair and leaving a bald spot, before stopping just above his eye.

Then came the red-skinned creature that was now perched on his right shoulder. It was small, just about the size of Gojo’s forearm. It sat like a cat, despite it not being such, being some kind of devil. It had pointed devil horns, and it confirmed to Gojo that the eyes he had been looking at belonged to the creature and not Bump himself, although they probably acted as eyes for Bump, now that he thought about it. 

“This is Frewin. He’s what’s known as a Palisman. Each Palisman boosts a witch's magic, acts as a flying device, and is an all-around loyal and steadfast companion. Frewin here is special, as he has a special ability that allows him to act as my eyes. My vision is fading in my left eye, and my right eye is sewn shut due to a nasty accident. He and I have been companions since I left Hexside and became its Principal. Though, that story is for when you are a part of the school's registry, assuming you succeed, of course.”

Luz frowned, deflating at the fact she didn’t get to know the whole story, but quickly got out of her funk when Gojo snagged her by the hood again—something that was starting to get annoying. Like, seriously, why the back of her hood? Why not her arm or wrist or hell, even her collar? What if the hood slipped and her shirt came off?! She wasn’t wearing anything underneath the damn thing because she didn’t need to!

“Well, it’s been nice chatting, Gramps. See you tomorrow,” and with that, Gojo disappeared, leaving Bump by himself. He had to admit, that Gojo was far more interesting than he had initially given him credit for. For starters, his presence had been intimidating. The fact that his blindfold didn’t seem to act as a blinding agent like he had assumed it had, what with his Wanted Poster having been the only thing he could base him on, proved to Bump that Gojo was special.

And the Girl, Luz. She too gave off a presence, but it was different. Less intimidating and more inviting, like she was actively looking for people to talk to and befriend. Two very polar opposite people, and yet they seemed to have a very stable teacher-student dynamic. However, he had to assume that he was only getting a surface-level insight into who they were as people.

Humans were very different from Witches, but in a lot of respects, they also weren’t. And, if the humans were evolving to have their own form of Magic—this Cursed Energy stuff—then it would be truer than ever to say that the gap between humans and witches was closing tighter and tighter with each passing generation.

Although that being said, he wasn’t about to just simply allow a human entry into Hexside without gauging their skill. His curiosity might be towering, but his adherence to the rules was unwavering. Hence the Witches Duel he had set up for Luz. At first, he hadn’t a single idea as to who to pit her against. But, after a moment of thought, he had chosen exactly who it needed to be.

After all, she was looking to prove herself. Why not allow her that chance?

Entering the Covention Center, Bump was greeted with rows and rows of stands depicting several Covens, all of which were surrounded by droves and droves of students. He had expected that, obviously, but the turnout this year was far more than it had been any other year. It was a good change of pace, especially considering last year’s lacklustre turnout.  

On the right side of the building, there was the Beast-Keeping Coven symbolized by a hatching egg, there was the Healing Coven symbolized by a blue bandaged hand, there was the Oracle Coven symbolized by a watchful velvet eye, and there was the Construction Coven symbolized by a cracked rock-like fist. Finally, at the very end, there was the Bard Coven symbolized by a red Lyre.

On the left side of the building, there was the Illusion Coven, which was symbolized by a hand mirror and a false mirror behind that one, the Plant Coven which was symbolized by a closed chomper flower, the Potion Coven which was symbolized by an exploding yellow potion, the Emperor's Coven—which had been stationed near the front of the Covention as it always had been—symbolized by a winged sword and shield encrusted in a golden triangle. And finally, the one he had been looking for, The Abomination Coven, which had been symbolized by the face of a standard Abomination, that being of a magenta sludge monster with glowing green eyes and a goofy half-melted smile.

Standing at the booth, with quite a distance separating herself from everyone else at the booth, was the person that Bump was looking for. Her most outward feature was her two-toned, chin-length hair styled in a high-up ponytail, with it primarily being aquamarine-green, with brown roots just barely sticking out. She was thin, and while she had her back turned to Bump, he could never quite forget her piercing yellow eyes as they shone with the same competitiveness that he had in his youth.

Much like everyone else, she was dressed in the school uniform, which was a dark gray cowl, gray tunic, dark gray boots and magenta sleeves and leggings signifying that she was in the abomination track. A silver belt kept her tunic from falling apart, and another noticeable part of her outfit was the fact that she wore small, hardly noticeable black-triangle earrings along with pink-painted fingernails.

Clearing his throat, he caught her attention, the teen turning to face him. For a brief second, she looked annoyed, but when she realized who it was that was trying to get her attention, her expression switched from annoyed to shocked. “Oh! Principal Bump, uh, what is it?” Amity Blight asked, as Bump faintly smiled.

“Amity. May I have a word with you in private, please?” Bump requested, as Amity wordlessly followed him to the rear end of the Covention building and into a staff-only room. It had a table, two chairs, and some cabinets, but that was about it. Upon entering the closed-off staff room, Bump turned to face Amity, clearing his throat again. He had been talking far too much today. He still had a presentation to do, too….

“Is something the matter, Principal? I’m not in trouble, am I?” Amity asked, a slight hint of worry in her voice at the prospect of being in trouble, to which Bump brushed off.

“Nonsense. It has nothing to do with you being in trouble. I am, however, asking you to do me a favour,” Bump said as Amity raised an eyebrow, a signal for him to continue. “You see, I am gauging a potential new student to enter Hexside.”

“What?” Amity blurted out as Bump sighed.

“I know, it sounds ridiculous considering how late into the first semester it is, but there is a lot more at stake here than normal. That being said, I am not about to break the rules to let a new student in. They agreed to do a Witches duel with one of the top first years in Hexside, and you just so happen to be one of those,” Bump continued as Amity’s eyes widened.

“You want me to fight someone to gauge their talent?” Amity asked as Bump nodded.

“Correct. You see, I know you have a lot to prove. I know how controlling your mother can be, she used to be a shareholder in Hexside, and she was very demanding. I can only imagine how she treats you given your… interest in Abomination magic rather than Oracle like herself. This works as a win-win for both of us. You prove to your mother that your work in Abomination Magic is worth more than just a passing fade, and I get to see this person’s skill with their… rather interesting form of magic.”

“Interesting form of magic?” Amity questioned as Bump, once again, waved her off.

“That’s for me to figure out and for you to find out. However, let me warn you, despite appearances, if the report is to be true and that the creature that killed Viney was indeed destroyed by this person, then no matter what, do not let your guard down. Even if their appearance is that of a human,” Bump stated as a serious expression etched itself on Amity’s face.

No words were exchanged, just a simple nod, and afterward, Amity exited the staff room, leaving Bump to his lonesome once more. A sigh escaped his lips. Tomorrow would be interesting, and highly enlightening.

“Now, I just have to prepare that speech for the Emperor’s Coven….”

Just outside the Covention Center, Lilith stood in the alleyway next to the Covention Center. She had listened in on both conversations eavesdropping by and amplifying the sound that she could hear using Sound Magic, and what she had learned was very enlightening.

Even though those two were criminals, Principal Bump would forgo standard procedure to cure his voracious appetite for knowledge. It would be noble, if not for it being highly stupid. However, she couldn’t completely fault the man, due in part that, because of his hubris, he unintentionally opened an avenue for them to be captured. And it was all thanks to them setting up a Witches Duel.

Her idea was now foolproof. Especially considering that he had chosen Amity Blight to be his champion! It was as if the Titan itself was blessing her with untold luck! Truth be told, Lilith had eyes on Amity since she took up an interest in Abomination Magic, and now because Bump chose her to be the person to “test the merit” of the human girl, he had inadvertently given her all the necessary checks to go forward with her plan.

All Lilith had to do was balance the scales in Amity’s favour. Sure, she was a prodigy with Abomination Magic, and that alone would allow her to beat the human girl, but Lilith wanted to make sure it would be an absolute one-sided beatdown the likes of which would be known worldwide. That way, it would prove that defying The Emperor was nothing short of career suicide.    

While what she had planned was cruel, and it would most likely ruin Amity’s reputation and turn it into someone who used a cheat against a human, if it could get her in a position to capture Satoru Gojo and Luz Noceda—their names she had been able to overhear due to amplifying her hearing range—then she would be golden. Not to mention, she could make up for the blunder she made in her first attempt to capture Satoru Gojo.

She would not, nor could she not, fail The Emperor again. Failure was not an option. She would capture Satoru Gojo and Luz Noceda tomorrow. Come hell or high water, she would not allow Luz to win her fight with Amity, and when Gojo falls into despair when his student fails to beat Amity, then and only then will she jump in and take the glory for the pair's capture.

Tomorrow was going to be an excellent day.

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物/Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 6: Sorcerer Vs Witch – Part 1]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By: Creepy Nuts]

Gojo’s fist slammed into Luz’s stomach, Cursed Energy flaring around her body like a shield as the fist made contact. The force of the punch typically would’ve caused Luz to go flying, but this time due to imbuing her whole body with Cursed Energy, absorbing the force of the blow and reducing the amount of damage she would’ve otherwise taken, she only staggered slightly. Going back a few inches, Luz reoriented herself, closed the distance between herself and Gojo, and wound up for an uppercut.

Gojo, in response, put up a block, squaring his arms as Luz delivered the punch, Cursed Energy meeting Cursed Energy. Despite having the amount advantage, Gojo’s was far more refined and as such, he won the struggle, allowing for him to make an opening for himself by splitting his arms apart, deflecting the attack, leaving an opening for himself as he followed it up with a roundhouse kick to her chest.

Luz tried, and failed, to keep the constant flow of Cursed Energy around her body, faltering due to the sudden panic coursing through her. The kick landed dead on, sending her crashing into the wall of the basement inside Eda’s home, having previously cleared it out before beginning their training session.

The basement was surprisingly large, having more than enough space to have close-quarters indoor training sessions. It was about the same size as the living room that it was underneath, meaning it was a 12x16 room, which was the same size as, well, a large living room. Except, unlike a living room, there was a bunch of empty space, making it feel larger than it really was.

Gojo’s reason for training Luz in the basement was rather simple: While it was normal for Cursed Spirits to show up outdoors, it wasn’t a common enough occurrence for their training to remain outdoors. Cursed Spirits hung around enclosed spaces more often than not due to negativity sticking to surfaces. It was an advanced technique to use Cursed Energy to sniff out negative spaces, and it would be something that Gojo could teach her later because right now, he was more focused on teaching her how to fight.

Small tangent aside, Cursed Spirits more often than not appeared in buildings due to the phenomenon of buildings absorbing Cursed Energy over time. It was why Luz needed to get comfortable with the idea of fighting in tight spaces. And he was demonstrating such a thing, by once again fighting her one on one, granted by suppressing his strength and speed so that he didn’t completely eclipse her in power. 

Luz groaned, standing up as she dusted herself off. Gojo had to admit that she was learning how to take those types of hits far better than she used to. Before, it used to completely wind her and he’d have to give her a break to catch her breath. But now? Sure, she was clearly in pain but she was far better at shrugging it off from before. It had only been a week and two days since they first met, and the change had already been drastic.

Gojo knew from the day that he looked at her and felt her Cursed Energy that Luz was special. Back then, he had his doubts. After all, he needed to keep an even head and not get too excited. Cursed Energy wasn’t the end all be all, that would just be ridiculous—especially considering The Ghost Of The Zen’in.

All of that was to say, that Luz had met his expectations, and was now starting to blow past them. He surmised that if he gave her another week with this level of training, she might be able to surpass Megumi in terms of hand-to-hand combat. Of course, then there was the mysterious Black Box and the locks he was still trying to figure out, but that could come at a later time.

“Her potential is something else—far different than what I had expected. She’s strong, too. That punch would’ve hurt if it landed. Granted, I’m still going at her with the same strength and speed as a Grade 3 Curse or Curse User, but that doesn’t undercut her progress,” As Gojo thought that, Luz charged at him with a rushed jab, something he easily moved out of the way from, practically dancing away from it as he spun on his heel, avoiding another rushed right hook. “Still, she needs to work on her overall form. She’s great at starting a fight, but the longer it goes on, the more desperate she becomes.”

Luz threw another punch at Gojo, only for him to effortlessly deflect it with a slap before grabbing her wrist with his free hand, and judo-throwing her to the pavement, her Cursed Energy flaring as she used it to protect herself. “She’s getting faster at doing that. Good. It means our hours of training are starting to pay off!”

In response to his throw, Luz kicked upward, knocking Gojo back about two or three feet as she landed on the ground. She was starting to run out of stamina, her breathing hastening slightly as she tried to catch her breath. It was true that Luz was never the type to use hand-to-hand combat. If she were ever to have woken up in a fantasy realm, she always envisioned herself to be a witch or a wizard.

Oftentimes, reality and what she wanted never came true. So while she was a little discontent to be stuck to using her fists rather than blasting fire from her fingertips or shooting cool light lasers, she wasn’t going to complain about her current abilities. Cursed Energy was still super cool, and the ways that it could be used were far more interesting than just “punch stuff real hard”.

Her heart pounded against her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins as a small smirk came to her lips. She could practically taste the sweat starting to build up on her upper lip, and for whatever reason it got her blood pumping more than watching her favourite fights in the animated version of The Good Witch Azura.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was the one actually fighting, or the fact that she was moving about in ways that she didn’t typically move. Her mom always said she inherited her boundless energy from her father, hence why she was so easy to get riled up.

Granted, her mother had clarified that it was something that her father had before he had “the accident” at his job that her mother couldn’t stop bringing up when mentioning him. Luz barely knew her father, only hearing stories from her mom since he died when she was only four years old and only having vague memories of them spending time together, but apparently, he had been a news reporter.

She forgot most of the details, but when he came back home from his overseas work in Japan he was a changed man. He was still super nerdy, but his passion for cooking and his overall enjoyment of what he used to like like Star Trek had all but completely vanished. He had become far more reserved, and was always in his office—said office they had converted into a games room—studying away at “a massive project he had been assigned to complete” by his bosses.

That aside, he still found time to be with them, but when it all came down to it, her mother said that her father was two different people entirely. Before Luz had been even conceived, he was an outgoing, charming, charismatic man. Then, when the accident happened, after which was when Luz had been “made” so to speak, her father was still charming and charismatic, but no longer outgoing like he used to be, most likely due to the trauma that he faced in the wake of the accident. He was still a massive nerd though, which had been his appeal to her mother, so that was all that truly mattered.

Then came his death, which was the one thing that Luz had forgotten practically all the details about. All she remembered was that he had gotten into a nasty accident again, and this time, he didn’t survive. But, before he died, he left Luz with a book, said book being the first installment of The Good Witch Azura.

It was never clear to Luz what had happened, other than that he left the house to go get something for “the massive project”, but at some point along the way to getting what he was looking for, he had died of a chronic heart condition that he had hid from Luz, but that her Mom knew all about; the heart attack occurring when he was driving on the highway. Luz was never told the condition of his body, only that the funeral had to be a closed casket, as she had not been there for the funeral, having been instead at a family member's house.

All of that aside, the point was that her mother attributed her boundless energy and excitement to her father prior to the accident. And it was thanks to that energy that she, once again, was not at all against being forced to go hand-to-hand with her Cursed Energy. Even if it wasn’t something that she particularly envisioned herself doing, she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Meanwhile, on the top of the staircase, Eda, and King stood while Hooty floated next to them, watching the training that was taking place. King stared, watching as Luz lunged forward at Gojo, only to get tripped up, resulting in her nearly falling flat on her face. But, instead of that happening, she did a front flip going with the flow of her forced movement.

“Whoa…” King muttered as Eda smirked, silently chuckling to herself at King being awestruck with what Luz was doing. “Luz is so cool….”

“Yup,” Eda replied nonchalantly, arms crossed. She had to admit, despite how hard she was on Gojo regarding how he was training Luz, she had understood now that at this point it wasn’t worth arguing about. For as much as she was protective over the kid seeing as she was just that, a kid, she wasn’t Luz's mother.

Perhaps it was that protective instinct she had for when she used to look after Lilith growing up—despite having been the younger sister of the two, but she digressed. Actually, on second thought, it wasn’t a “perhaps”, it was just the facts. But, Luz wasn’t someone who needed to be protected. Sure, she was a kid, but she was a kid in the same way a Witch was a kid. They needed to be trained in order to harness the power that they had.

And, for as much as Eda disliked how Luz was being taught, Gojo knew what he was doing. Sure, for a little while she didn’t exactly trust Gojo’s judgement when he came home with a bloodied and beaten Luz not but a few days ago, and was now immediately thrusting her into danger with another battle but this time with a Blight for Titan’s sake, but at this point she was far beyond the point of trying to reign them in.

If Gojo wanted to keep endangering Luz, claiming it was going to help her, she wasn’t going to argue with the walking Magic Bomb. That was just asking to get hurt. And while she disagreed with what they were doing now, that being getting physical and hurting one another, she was being forced to understand that Humans weren’t squishy little bugs that needed to be protected.

But could one blame Eda for thinking that way? There were things here that could snap a human in half with ease without some form of magic being used to protect oneself. Sure, Luz had her own special Cursed Energy or whatever it was called, but it wasn’t going to be enough if she ran into something like an angered Tyrannakong—an oversized Monkey with the head of a lizard and a pair of batwings—even though they lived near the shoreline at the feet of the Titan Corpse, but that was just semantics.

“HOOT HOOT WHY IS EDA ANNOYED?” Hooty asked, his loud shrill voice ear grating to Eda, causing her to wince. Hooty tilted his head nearly 180 degrees, confusion marring his face as Eda waved him away, making him frown. “COME ON, WHAT’S THE MATTER? I JUST WANT TO HELP,” as Hooty said that, Eda walked away, not saying anything, earning a pout from Hooty. He looked to King, who merely glanced at him. “WHY DOES EDA NOT LIKE ME?”

“Your voice, your personality, the way you act. All of that. It’s annoying. That’s why we don’t like you, Hooty,” King said before following Eda, leaving Hooty all by himself. Huffing, he looked over to Luz and Gojo, both of whom were winding down their training, making small talk about something he couldn’t hear from where he was.

“ALL HOOTY WANTS TO DO IS TO HELP…” Hooty thought before an idea popped up in his head. A small, mischievous smile took up his beaked face, his eyes practically sparkling. “WAIT! HOOTY HAS AN IDEA!”       

While that was happening, Gojo sighed, looking over to Luz as he spoke. “Alright,” Gojo began as he relaxed his stance, “we’ll stop this for now. We want to conserve as much energy as possible for your big fight today,” Gojo continued as Luz relaxed putting down her guard as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead and face. “You did well to incorporate imbuing your whole body with Cursed Energy. But, can you tell me what the difference is?”

“Oh! Well, yeah. Uh… you said that “Cursed Energy comes from the stomach, and so when we use Cursed Energy, uh… Blah, blah, blah boring, boring boring, transferring Cursed Energy to fists is a specific need, whereas transferring to the whole body is like throwing an insulated blanket overtop of something rather than just directing the energy normally,” right?” As Luz said that, Gojo couldn’t help but laugh.

Where most people would be frustrated that Luz seemingly didn’t pay attention, cutting out the part that it was important to think of Cursed Energy like a rechargeable battery rather than a set amount, Gojo would beg to differ. Yes, she cut it out of her retelling of the explanation, but it was clear that she had kept it in mind. Otherwise, why would she substitute it for “blah, or boring” rather than saying “I forgot”?

That was why Luz, to him, was an interesting person. For people without patience, she was most likely an annoyance. But, when working in the business he did, being patient was all part of the process. Of course, there comes a time when patience could be a death sentence, but still, those times never really came when Gojo was there.

“HELLO!” Hooty called out from the top of the stairs, his body slithering like a snake down to greet the two. Gojo turned to face him, raising an eyebrow as he did whereas Luz seemed a little annoyed at Hooty’s sudden appearance. He could understand why Luz might have felt annoyed, but there wasn’t any harm in him coming to say hi. It was a little weird that Luz would find his presence annoying, considering they were so much alike. “HOOTY WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU TWO WERE DOING?”

“We were just about to take a break from training,” Luz responded bluntly as Hooty blinked.

“OH…” Hooty said, his expression going from cheery to dejected, at least, until he returned to appearing happy, his eyes reflecting an idea that Gojo had caught onto well in advance. “MAYBE HOOTY CAN HELP WITH TRAINING?” He asked as Luz groaned. The last thing Luz wanted was to be in a room with Hooty for an extended amount of time.

Don’t get her wrong, she didn’t dislike Hooty. As a matter of fact, she quite liked him. He was a chill guy, and he and her had a lot in common, but his voice was ear-grating, and he was constantly nagging and bugging people to do stuff with him. It was annoying, and it often got on her nerves, even if she didn’t show it.

She felt bad for thinking like that—really, she did, especially because she knew what it was like to be bullied and to be treated like the odd one out. But even for her, there was a limit to what she could and couldn’t take. She was already tired as is, and she was looking forward to taking that break from training.

Gojo, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity. From what he had seen of Hooty, what with him zipping around the property at night to make sure there were no intruders or any would-be Demon hunters, Gojo was able to surmise that Hooty was a rather fast fellow. And considering Hooty was fast, but not so fast that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with him after a small amount of time, Gojo knew exactly what it was he was going to do.

He was going to make Hooty’s wish come true. If Hooty wanted to help, then so be it. Even if it did annoy Luz. Not that he particularly cared if Luz was annoyed, as it also gave him some time to do something else between now and the scheduled fight between Luz and whoever the top student at Hexside was going to be.  

“After all, speed is something that Luz needs to work on. She can take a hit and dish one out, and her speed is already something that is impressive. But, it could use some work. She can barely keep up with me holding back, so that needs to change, and Hooty here might be a prime example of being able to increase her speed without her getting hurt too badly,” Gojo thought as he smiled. “That, and Hooty is a sad, sad individual. So cheering him up wouldn’t hurt.”

“Actually, maybe that’s not a bad idea,” Gojo said as Luz slowly turned to face Gojo, her left eye twitching as she raised her hands in that comical “why” sort of way that one would often see in TV shows. Ignoring it, Gojo continued. “Tell me, Hooty. How good are you at taking a hit?”

“HOOT HOOT HOW GOOD AM I?! WELL, I CAN TAKE A LOT OF HITS WITHOUT IT HURTING!” Hooty boasted, Gojo stroking his chin in thought. In other words, Hooty couldn’t take a single hit without it hurting, and he was merely jesting to seem useful. Or, perhaps he wasn’t boasting. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. He mostly just wanted Hooty for his speed.

“That’s great, Hooty! Tell you what, you're in luck! I think you can help Luz here with her training. All you have to do is constantly keep dodging Luz’s attacks with Cursed Energy, but if she hits you once, she wins. If you can keep dodging for….” Gojo began as he looked at his phone. The battle was in an hour, which gave Luz plenty of time to practice her speed training, that being said she would need a sufficient break, so taking that into account…. “…For about half an hour, then you win. Deal?”

“DEAL!” Hooty said as Gojo smirked, looking over to Luz, who looked utterly betrayed.

“You said we were done!” Luz complained as Gojo leaned over to whisper in her right ear.

“C’mon, Luz, he just wants to help. Besides, give the guy a break, everyone else aside from me and you treats him poorly. Humour him at least once,” Gojo said as Luz sighed, before smiling. He was right, and besides, it would be a bit hypocritical of her to just wave away someone who, like her, was weird and being basically shunned for it. The last thing she wanted was to be a hypocrite.

“Alright. This won’t be so bad.” Right as Luz said that, Hooty began to zip around the basement faster than her eyes could track, her vision being filled with nothing but a fast-moving brown line that was either getting faster or slower—that was how fast Hooty was moving. As she stared at what was before her, she was beginning to regret her decision, and before she could back out, Gojo was already gone. “Well crap… I spoke too soon….”

As for where Gojo went, it was back in town. He was greeted by loud noises of people chattering, all kinds of denizens of The Boiling Isles roaming around the town going from point A to point B. Unlike the last few times he came here, he no longer had the urge to start attacking people at random due to his experiences with Cursed Spirits. Although he was still distrustful of the more absurd-looking ones, which now that he thought about it probably made him some kind of racist.

All of that to say, aside from the ones that looked vaguely human or humanoid without any alarming features, he no longer felt as if he was constantly on edge, worrying whether or not a Cursed Spirit was lurking amongst them. He could now properly tell the difference between Magic and Cursed Energy. And, he had been right in his initial assumption.

Magic was positive energy, so it had a different sensation to it. Cursed Energy was negative energy, making it familiar. In a way, Magic was almost like a raw version of Reverse Cursed Technique, but without it being linked to Cursed Energy. It also had different properties, because Reverse Cursed Technique was still Cursed Energy, but in reverse, whereas magic was its own separate thing.  

All of that to say, that even though he could fish out a Cursed Spirit that still didn’t stop him from being more than a little distrustful. “But if I’m to live here for any longer, I’m going to have to learn to get used to it….” Gojo thought as a sudden idea came to his head. “Although, what’s stopping us from just going home now? I mean, I know Luz doesn’t want to, but I really need to get back. The next semester is going to start soon, and Principal Yaga isn’t going to be happy if I don’t show up soon…”

He dismissed the thought as he began to walk around town. Next week, he was going to need to have a serious talk with Luz about returning to the human realm. Unless something drastic happened, or if some crazy development occurred, it was something they needed to seriously consider going forward.

After all, he couldn’t just shunt off his responsibilities. He had Megumi to look after, and he had another class he needed to prepare for. Not to mention Maki had asked him for assistance with hand-to-hand combat because Panda and Inumaki were busy off hunting a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in Iwaki last he checked.

And while he was enjoying his time here, he was needed elsewhere. And whether Luz liked it or not, getting home was going to be their top priority coming up. And on that note…. “I’m gonna have to teach Luz how to speak, read, and write in Japanese soon, seeing as I am moving her to Tokyo Jujutsu High when we get back….” Gojo thought, before clearing his thoughts. That would be for later. Of course, he wasn’t a monster. He would let Luz have her final goodbyes with her mother and any family she had outside of that, but afterward, she would be cut off. For their own safety, of course.  

All of that aside, seeing as he had some time to kill, he could at least experiment with his theory. That being that Cursed Energy either disrupts or destroys magic. After all, when positive energy meets negative energy, they cancel each other out if they are of equal standing. But, if there is even a fraction of more over the other, then the one with more beats out the other. It’s the same when negative meets negative and positive meets positive.

And if that were all, then he could write it off as being correct. But, Eda was a shining example of something that both disproved and proved his theory. She was Cursed, that much was obvious. She had Cursed Energy and said Cursed Energy was slowly but surely eating away at her magic, and she could not control it no matter how hard she tried to do so in the process. What confused Gojo was why it hadn’t already finished destroying her magic.

That was where the potions came in. Somehow, despite not adding to her Magical Essence produced by the organ next to her heart called a “Bile Sac”—which yes, sounded every bit as disgusting as it was—yet it still was able to subdue her Curse. Not get rid of it or weaken it, but subdue it.

Did that mean that, with enough Magic, someone could destroy someone’s Cursed Energy? Or, perhaps, he was just overthinking it? If that had been the case Eda would’ve been curse free. So that clearly wasn’t it.

But, then came the problem that, If Magic was pure raw positive energy, and Cursed Energy was pure raw negative energy, according to the laws of physics and science, it should behave how all energies work. Then again, if Reversed Cursed Technique existed the way that it did, being positive Cursed Energy, then did that mean that it wouldn’t work like that?

“So many questions, so few answers. But, unlike before, I might actually be able to put my theory to the test,” Gojo thought, a small smirk taking up his visage. Due to being The Strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, he never really had a reason to test out whatever theories he came up with because he would typically already know the answer. But, given that he was in a new realm, there were so many questions that he could ask and not immediately know the answer to.

This was both a fun experience for him and a learning one. While he had only a half an hour to venture into the town until he had to go back to Luz to see if she was able to complete the exercise he had given her and Hooty, he would use that time wisely.

As he walked around Bonesborough, unlike last time, no one was waving at him or saying hi. This time, they were all patiently watching him, looking as if they wanted him to leave or disappear. He couldn’t blame them. The last time he was here he had turned Coven Guards into Coven Stains, so it was clear that he wasn’t wanted.

Hell, it had even reflected on his Penstagram account, which he had been actively updating with more pics of himself. He had lost over 1,000 followers on the day of the incident, but because of his constant posting and because his account was a thirst trap account, he had gained another 10,000 followers, leaving him at 16,000 followers. He found it quite ironic that he was able to double his follower count in a little over a week.

Although, now he wondered just how many people lived in The Boiling Isles. The Titan’s corpse was, from what he was able to estimate, around about the size if not a little bit larger than North America. So, if he considered that, and if he took into consideration the two major cities and the several dozen outposts that had hardly any residents, but still had residents, and if he assumed that each outpost had roughly 50 people living there, added the population of Bonesborough—it was 30,000 people—and Glandus’s population—it was around 50,000 people—the population of The Boiling Isles was, at a bare minimum, 84,200 people.

In other words, Gojo had roughly 19% of the population following him on Pentsagram, again assuming that his math was right and he wasn’t just making it up. For all he knew there were other cities that he hadn’t seen on the mass teleportation sprees he had done over the last week. And, that was also not accounting for the births and deaths, though due to the small estimated population, he didn’t know what their death or birth rates were.

All in all, he did not envy population trackers and what they did for a living. It sounded like hell, and even with a big brain such as his, he seriously believed he would go insane after doing that for prolonged periods of time.

“Thankfully, I’m a Jujutsu Sorcerer and not a population tracker. I’m on vacation, I have spare time, so I’m gonna go use it. And hey! I’m not being harassed by those Coven—”

“You!” A loud, harsh voice interrupted Gojo’s thoughts as he physically deflated with an annoyed gleam in his eyes behind his mask. He didn’t have to look behind him, again because of his Six Eyes, because he could already see what it was that was behind him. It was, yet again, a bunch of Coven Guards, much to his chagrin. However, this time the person heading them looked a hell of a lot more intimidating than just some mook—well, intimidating to others, not him of course.  

The person in question was a tall, purple-skinned man, meaning he was some form of bipedal Demon. He was large and muscular, something that was fairly apparent from just looking at him. He wore a beaked mask with button-like lenses, a dark gray cowl that had had a small golden fasten over the beaked mask, and he was wearing a white sleeveless tunic kept together by brass buttons.

Around his waist, he wore a brown leather belt with a brass buckle, and he had on a pair of black trousers with dark purple shoes that he had tucked his pants into. On his left lapel, he wore a small triangular brass badge, meaning he was in an important position. What that position was, Gojo had no clue, nor did he care.

“Aside from the déjà vu I’m feeling right about now, this guy is clearly the boss of the people who I killed a few days back,” Gojo thought as he sighed. Just when he thought he could do something productive, too. He guessed he had opened his metaphorical mouth too soon to start assuming things. “What do you guys want now? Can’t you see that it’s pointless to confront me? I’m sure your Emperor would understand if you told them you didn’t want to die.”

“You spineless brat!” The large man roared, “You already escaped your punishment once because you got lucky. This time, however, you won’t! MEN! CAPTURE SATORU GOJO!” With the bellowing command, the large man pointed in his direction, and a whole fleet of men ran toward him. Gojo counted, at the bare minimum, 30 people. He frowned, staring them down with nothing but annoyance written all over his face.

The large man laughed, as each one of the guardsmen seemed to be preparing some kind of capture spell. Each of them, much like Eda had done when she went to burn Luz’s book when they had first met, had drawn a circle with their fingers, meaning it was some kind of pre-requisite for all spells instead of just the one. The circle in question was a dark yellow. He didn’t know what the circles meant, but if he had to guess, it correlated with the kind of magic they were using.

Magical nets shot out from the circles, as Gojo stood perfectly still. He waited for the nets to reach him, and when they did, they harmlessly bounced off of the air around him, sliding down the ground before fizzling out. The man stopped laughing almost abruptly as Gojo smirked. “What’s the matter? Weren’t you going to capture me?”

“AGAIN!” The man roared, as they tried the same thing again, only this time, they conjoined their efforts to create one large net. It easily dwarfed Gojo in size, and it was sparking with magical energy. He guessed that they were trying to disrupt whatever “spell” they believed was surrounding him by overloading his senses. Not that they could mind you, but still.

“This is also why being out here is amusing. Watching people try to figure out what can stop me with the powers they have available to them, only to realize it’s pointless,” and as that thought came to a close, the massive net washed over Gojo… only for it slump around him, but not come anywhere nears to touching him. And when it tried to seemingly constrict around him like a snake, it ended up breaking itself attempting to do so.

The Coven Guards stood and stared at him as if they were witnessing an impossibility—a complete anomaly that none of them could understand. It got to the point that even the man in charge simply stood and stared, all of his bravado drained in an instant.

“The amount of déjà vu I’m feeling right about now is almost laughable if it wasn’t completely insulting,” Gojo said, a slightly joyful tick in his voice as he took a few steps forward. It seemingly snapped the Covens Guard out of whatever stupefied trance they had all been put into, as the large man growled like a feral animal.

“They’re all about as weak as a 4^th Grade Curse, some peaking at the mid-point of 4^th grade while others sit at the lowest rung. Although, that guy, the boss, he’s somewhere around Grade 3 if not a little bit higher than that,” Gojo thought as the man ordered them to charge. If nets didn’t work, then throwing oneself at the enemy surely had to. He was honestly surprised that they hadn’t caught on to what was happening, but then again, in a world of Magic, they were most likely assuming it was some kind of wind spell or something stupid like that.

In response to what his foes were doing, he raised his right hand before balling it into a fist, doing so in such a way that it was toward him as if he was going to jump up and punch a question mark block from Super Mario. As he did this, he watched as the Coven Guards tried to close in on him, slowly closing the distance between himself and them.

As they drew closer, he extended his pointer finger upward, and as red energy began to converge on his fingertip his Cursed Energy began to flow around him. He used Lapse: Blue the last time these clowns tried to capture him, and he saw doing the same thing twice to be boring, so he decided to use his other power—the objectively better one aside from his ultimate technique sans his Domain Expansion.

The moment he began to converge Reversed Cursed Technique to his fingertip, some of the Coven Guards got the right idea and turned to run back to their boss, much to his annoyance as they were actively disobeying orders. Those who didn’t and stayed true to listening to him, however, weren’t going to like their prize for remaining loyal. And besides, even those that did run away weren’t going to escape what he was about to do, although they would take significantly less damage.

If Lapse: Blue was like a black hole, sucking things into itself before imploding them—assuming Gojo wanted that to happen of course—then Reversal: Red was like repulsor. Except, unlike a regular repulsor which would push some people back this was leagues stronger and far more violent. This type of repulsor was a deadlier kind, as in if someone got too close it would do more than just push back those around him.

When the Reversed Cursed Energy finished converging to his fingertip, Gojo smirked, as soon as he finished gaining the power he needed to release it in the way he wanted to, a blinding red light quickly overtook the area, dirt kicking up around Gojo in large plumes, the ground cracking and shifting, shaking nearby buildings ever so slightly as the pure raw power of Reversal: Red was put on full display—or, at least half of it, anyway.

When he had used it to knock away the first ever Coven Guard he had run into, he had put hardly any Reversed Cursed Energy into it. After all, it had been only meant for a distraction and to clear themselves enough distance so that they could escape reliably. But this time was different. This time, he wasn’t around anyone he particularly cared about, and any civilians were far enough away to where he didn’t need to worry about getting too caught up in the crossfire.

A part of him felt bad for wasting all of this power on a bunch of measly goons. But, he was proving a point. The point that, no matter what anyone knew him as, be it Satoru Gojo, Criminal, or Blindfold, he was unambiguously the strongest person there ever was to live in their current era.  

Letting Reversal: Red go off, a thunderous wave of energy lashed out in all directions, causing those who were mere inches away from his Infinity to be completely wiped off the face of the earth, being turned into mere atoms by the pressure and force of the explosion. Those that were behind them were practically blown apart limb from limb, blood staining the ground before being blown away with their appendages. Anyone else who had been caught up in the blast was knocked back and made to eat dirt.

Surprisingly enough, their boss, on the other hand, was able to stay his ground if only because he had dug his hands and feet into the ground to do so, and he was far enough away to where the damage he would take was minuscule. His cowl was ripped off, and his mask was destroyed, revealing his ugly face underneath. Large spider-like jaws, beady black eyes, and drool staining his mouth from pure rage at what he was witnessing.

Lilith had failed to mention just how powerful this man really was! She had been vague about it, saying that he was merely strong. She forgot to mention that he was capable of doing something like this! His magical senses were being actively overloaded by negativity, and it was disgusting. It was abnormal. It was non-conforming, and Warden Wrath utterly loathed it!

All the while he was standing there, hands and feet dug into the ground, pushing back against the pressure, minor cuts developed in his face and shoulders and in his tunic. It made him furious in a way that simply could not describe. This human was far more trouble than he was worth, and had he not been furious, he would’ve fallen back.

But for the sake of his comrades, he would not allow this monster to remain on the streets. The threat he posed was more than anything they had ever faced since the Dreadwardian Era, where crime ran amok, and pillaging was commonplace before their Emperor came to power.

And as the Warden of The Conformitorum, it was his duty to put this man away for good.   

As for Gojo, he simply couldn’t get over the large man’s face. It was… weird. And reminded him far too much of a Spider Cursed Spirit he had dealt with over 3 years ago. “Whoa, he is ugly…!” Gojo thought as the power of Reversal: Red faded out, the ominous red light disappearing as the large man stood up, snarling at him.

“Are you done? I have things I want to do,” Gojo taunted as the man roared, charging toward Gojo like a rabid animal. For a brief second, he thought about maybe using his Domain Expansion. After all, he wanted to get this over and done with. However, at the same time, Gojo wasn’t about to use his trump card on someone not worthy of seeing it. That, and he had a far better idea—he was going to humiliate this person.  

The large man reared his fist back after getting within a few feet of Gojo, preparing to punch him in the face. Yet, despite the obvious attack, Gojo was completely unphased standing stock still as if nothing was going to happen. Those who were watching stared in both a sense of gratitude that someone who was on a wanted poster was going to be arrested and awe that it was happening before their very eyes.

It was confusing. They were rooting for this loser, despite seeing what he had been capable of, and all for what? Did they really think he was some dangerous criminal? Sure, he had a lot of power but he hadn’t hurt anyone who had been innocent.

Had he really become a hated criminal by the populous? All because he talked to one woman? Or was there something else that he was missing? Maybe they were spreading some sort of misinformation about him. Or maybe these guys liked the Coven Guards. Either way, it didn’t matter to Gojo, because in the long run, he wasn’t going to be here for much longer—so he had hoped anyway.

Still, it was funny just how quickly the population could change their mind about a person at the drop of a dime. “The propaganda machine must be working overtime, huh?” Gojo thought as the man’s fist came inches away from his face, just about ready to smash his face in…. before it stopped dead in its tracks. Not because the man stopped it mid-swing, but because it, quite literally, stopped mid-air, despite the man’s effort to push it closer.

“Can you move your fist? It’s blocking my view,” Gojo said, frowning as the man began to snarl. 

“Fine, have it your way,” Gojo said as he leaned a little into the fist, skin tearing off of the man’s knuckles, finally getting the man to leap back and away from Gojo, blood trickling down from his fist to the ground, staining the area crimson.

As for how Gojo had been able to make his Infinity do that, the answer was simple: He had used Domain Amplication to cover his Infinity ever-so-slightly with his Domain to give it a sharper edge, then immediately deactivated it when his opponent leapt away. It was an Anti-Domain Technique, essentially protecting oneself from an enemy Domain by coating yourself in your own. It could also be used as a shield, as any physical contact that was made would be met like a finger to a blade.

“What… was that?” The man spat, glaring at Gojo who smirked.

“What? Never heard of Domain Amplication? That was what shaved your knuckles, spider monkey. I mean, seriously, anyone who knows anything about anything should know about Domain Amplication. Actually, maybe not, given the fact that you don’t even know what a Domain is, or what I can even do,” Gojo said, his eyes narrowed underneath his blindfold. He could feel another presence nearby, and it wasn’t any of the civilians.

Glancing briefly over to an alleyway, Gojo frowned. “It’s the same presence from last time. From when those Coven Guards attacked me before. Whoever that person is over there is most likely responsible for the constant attacks on me when I come out here,” Gojo thought before bringing his attention back to the man before him.

“Domain’s? Domain Amplication? What kind of Magic is that!? I have never heard of such a thing. And if I’ve never heard of it, that means it goes against the laws and regulations. That makes it Wild Magic. That makes it non-conforming to The Emperor’s Ideals! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO STAND!” The large man then charged again and was met with the same result when he attempted to gut-check Gojo, minus the knuckle scrapping because he didn’t activate Domain Amplication.

This time, however, when he leapt backward, he extended his arm like a rubber band, whipping it toward Gojo. Gojo found the party trick neat but didn’t comment on it, because it again did not hit him. It didn’t even blow his hair with the wind it generated. Gojo simply stood there and allowed the man to embarrass himself, retracting his whip-like arm as Gojo yawned.

“You got anything else you can do? This is getting boring,” Gojo replied as the man glared daggers at him. Gojo could tell he was starting to get to the man. It was obvious based on how his body language was like that of an angered bear. Gojo found it absolutely hilarious but kept it to himself.  

“Why… Can’t… I… Hit you!” The man roared as Gojo sighed.

“Well, if you come over here, I’ll show you,” Gojo said, raising his hand and waving it, a smile on his face. “C’mon, I promise I won’t hurt you!” As Gojo said that, the man narrowed his eyes.

In truth, Warden Wrath didn’t trust the blindfolded bastard known as Satoru Gojo, as Lilith had so kindly given him the name of. The bastard was just that, a bastard. He spat upon the very thing that The Emperor stood for and killed countless of those who served their glorious leader in The Emperor’s Coven.

So when he happened upon Gojo Satoru in the public square, most likely planning to do something nefarious as all people who were associated with Eda Clawthorne tended to do—ignoring the fact that he had a raging crush for the woman—he saw a chance to put him behind bars and personally torture him for years to come.

And yet, with such practiced and lazy ease, he used some form of foreign magic and wiped out his squad, leaving those who were alive in throbbing pain or dispatched and crippled. All by lifting his finger and pouring magic into a tiny little red ball. So much power, in such a tiny little orb, all the while he didn’t look so much as bothered with Wrath attacking him. Not that any of his attacks hit.

Now, he was giving Wrath a chance to figure out his tricks. It was incredibly cocky, and it pissed Wrath off. But despite that, he would take Gojo at his word. Besides, if he learned how he was doing whatever he was doing, he could probably find a way around it.

And so, walking up to Gojo, Wrath closed the distance between the two and reached out with his hand to grab Gojo’s… only for it to stop mere inches away. His beady yellow eyes widened, as Gojo smirked. “I can’t touch him! It… it stops just before I can reach him!”

“Now do you get it, spider-monkey? This is my Cursed Technique. It’s not magic. It’s not whatever you just called it, Wild Magic or whatever. It’s something else entirely beyond your scope. This is Limitless. Specifically, this is Infinity. It protects me from any and all physical or magical contact. Nothing can bypass it. But it’s not as if you’re being stopped from moving,” as Gojo began to explain, he felt his Cursed Energy flair, increasing in amount and density.

The global Binding Vow of sharing one’s technique to increase power output was now being unleashed. It seemed to have carried over to this new realm, allowing Gojo to knock another question off his list of need-to-know things.

“You see, the closer you get to me, the slower you go. So, what now?” Gojo asked, pushing his hand forward and intertwining his fingers with Warden Wrath’s. “We could just shake hands like this, you know. After all, I can touch you, but you can’t touch me.”

“You bastard…!” Warden Wrath swore, clenching his teeth together. He tried to grab Gojo, but he literally couldn’t. His fingers, despite having moved in closer, wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t touch Gojo’s skin, no matter how hard he tried. That, and when Gojo grabbed his hand, his fingers were digging into his flesh. Not drawing blood, but it wasn’t a friendly grip.

“C’mon, spider-monkey~! Just a friendly handshake, sweep things under the rug, just this once?” Gojo asked, his voice carrying a taunting edge to it, only further pissing Warden Wrath off, a visible vein making itself known on his forehead.

“I… Refuse! You piece of trash human!” Warden Wrath spat, earning a few gasps in the crowd of people who had gathered to watch. Whispers and murmurs echoed around the, most questioning his actually being human. Not that Gojo cared, of course.

“Suit yourself~!” And just like that, Gojo drove his palm into Wrath’s gut, and upon doing so he hit him so hard he could feel bones break underneath his clothing and skin, as he forced compressed air through his body, not once even using Cursed Energy. The force of the blow sent Wrath reeling in the air, but because Gojo didn’t let go of his hand, he didn’t go flying.

Crimson blood spewed out of his mouth, pain washing over him as he felt his insides burn. “What…!?” But it didn’t stop there, as Gojo bent Wrath’s wrist, breaking it in the process as he slammed the man into the ground, leaving a sizeable crack in the earth below, finally letting go as he stomped down on Wrath’s chest.

“Y-You…. This won’t be the end…! The Emperor will have your head! By the Titan, I promise you this!” Warden Wrath spat as Gojo smirked, pressing his foot down harder on his chest, forcing him to cough up and splutter, crimson liquid dripping from the sides of his mouth.

“Then tell your Emperor that Satoru Gojo is waiting for him with open arms~!” As he said that, Gojo kicked Wrath toward the alleyway, right where the mysterious watcher was staring, a sudden movement lurking behind the darkness to catch Wrath as Gojo huffed with an impressed gleam in his eyes behind his blindfold. “You know, maybe come out and fight for yourself instead of sending your lackies after me, whoever you are!” Gojo called out, as a pair of emerald green eyes narrowed back at him with barely contained fury and embarrassment.

Suddenly, a golden flurry of fire roared up around the pair of eyes and Wrath, and just like that, the pair were gone, the golden fire going away. Gojo blinked underneath his blindfold, confusion drawing up his visage before he shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t care. He did plan to fire off a Reversal: Red in their direction, but if they were going to make themselves disappear then he didn’t see the need.

Gojo sighed, picking out his phone. There were still twenty minutes until he had to return to the house. He still hadn’t proven his theory, because that big overgrown spider-monkey-faced Demon didn’t use any magic. Still, he guessed that the magic net that came into contact with his Infinity still worked to prove his theory right.

“Nah. I need more proof. That Witches Duel Luz is going to have will be what I need to finally come to my conclusion. There are still 50 minutes left till we have to be at the Arena, so we still have some time before that. Meaning I can mess around town for 20 minutes,” Gojo smirked. He had plenty of Snails to go buy some drinks at the local bar, assuming he had been barred from going there due to his rapidly growing infamy.

Buying out everyone's tab and putting an unlimited tab until he was caught by those stupid Coven Guards was a smart idea, and it might even get him some popularity back in the public eye. Besides, he had the money to do it, so why not?

And so, with his mind made up, Gojo went off to the bar to cause a little bit of mischief.

[XXXX]

Philip’s eyes narrowed, anger bristling underneath his skin as his blood boiled. His anger, this time, was directed toward Warden Wrath and Lilith, for very obvious reasons. Philip, understandably, hated failure. It was one of the many things, aside from Witches, Demons and Jujutsu Sorcerers, that he couldn’t stand. He refused to put up with it. It was why he constantly killed so many of his Golden Guards, simply because they would fail him so often. The only outlier so far had been Hunter, which was a good thing.

Philip sat on his throne, crystalline blue eyes glaring hatefully down at the pair who had failed him, the Teleportation Glyph burning away as the two stared at him, realization in their eyes at what had occurred.

He had brought them here for the sole purpose of ragging on them. He had used a Vision spell—that is a combination of 3 light glyphs, a single fire glyph, and a single ice glyph—to create an invisible one-sided mirror that allowed him to view the battle that Warden Wrath had gotten into. Lilith was sent there to act as a backup should Warden Wrath fail.

However, as he had expected, the person who they were fighting happened to be a Gojo. A Gojo who seemingly had both of that accursed family’s innate Techniques—The dreaded Six Eyes and Limitless—or at least, he was assuming that was the case. So while yes, he would rag on the pair before him, he would not do anything to them, because there was nothing they could’ve done.

That said, however, it did not mean he wouldn’t act as if he wasn’t going to punish them. He needed to make sure they stayed in line and understood that he was not going to take failure lightly, even if it was something he had foresaw happening. 

“My L—”

“Silence.” As those words left Philip’s mouth, Lilith, who had been the one to speak, gulped in fear, sweat dripping down her face like a frightened child after a particularly horrifying thing had scared them. “I believe I told the two of you to capture Blindfold, did I not? I gave you ample men to do so. And yet, I do not see him here. I will give you a minute to explain yourselves. If you cannot give me a sufficient reason, then I will send the both of you to the dungeon, where you will wait to be executed at my mercy. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, my Lord. You see, we made a valiant attempt at capturing Blindfold, also known as Satoru Gojo. We had him outnumbered, overpowered, and in theory, we should’ve been able to capture him,” Warden Wrath began as Philip leaned back in his throne, prompting Wrath to continue. “Under standard capture protocol, we announced our capture, said as to why, and began the process. He stood there, and we assumed that it would work the way it always does…. Until our capture spells had zero effect on him.”

“So he dispelled the capture spells, is what you’re telling me?” Philip spat, irritation in his words as Warden Wrath shook his head rapidly in denial.

“N-No! That is not what happened, my liege. The capture spells, quite simply, had no effect,” Lilith spoke up. “They landed on him, and they simply… fell off. On a closer inspection, they never so much as even reached him. It was like a barrier was constantly around him. Wrath ordered the troops to attack, as was standard protocol, and… just like last time he blew them all up but this time he used a red orb rather than a blue one. And when Wrath tried to fight him….”

“I was utterly humiliated,” Wrath continued, snarling as he spoke. “I couldn’t touch him. No matter how hard I pushed, I was always met with failure. He could grab me, but I couldn’t grab him. If it had not been for you teleporting us back to the palace, I’m afraid we would have died…”

As soon as Wrath finished, Philip sighed, facepalming his mask in the process. He should’ve seen this coming. He really should have. A Gojo with Limitless and potentially the Six Eyes appearing in The Boiling Isles was a worst-case scenario, aside from his meeting with Luzura, a girl he knew was supposed to show up at some point to affirm his existence the way it did here going array and no longer happening, which would create a paradox and be bad for both sides of the spectrum.

“Very well. You shall be spared. However, Warden,” Philip began, as Wrath perked up a this title being spoken. “You are on thin ice. Unlike Lilith, you are disposable. Remember that well. Fail me again, and I will strip you of your rank and have you imprisoned. Are we in understanding?” Philip said as Wrath bowed his head.

“Yes, my liege.”

“Very well, then you are dismissed,” Philip said, waving Wrath away as he left the throne room, leaving Lilith alone once again. Philip turned to face Lilith, a frown taking up his visage underneath his mask. “Now. Lilith, I believe my direct orders to you were to step in should Wrath be overtaken by this Satoru Gojo individual. Why didn’t you?”

“Pardon my tone, sire, but I was about to do that before you called us back to the throne room,” Lilith responded as Philip sighed. Philip had to admit, she was right. He knew she was right, and vice versa. However, if there was one thing that Philip hated, it was being wrong.

Being wrong was something that he hated, namely because if he was of the mindset that if he was wrong about one thing, then everything else he did was also wrong. And that couldn’t be true, because he was divined by God to do what he was doing. Ergo, if he was wrong, then God was wrong, and God could not be wrong because God is perfection manifest.

And if God was perfection manifest, then his choices and decisions were also perfection manifest. So if, for whatever inane reason, he was supposedly wrong, he would refute that entirely and utterly. “You dare question my actions, Coven Leader Clawthorne?”

Lilith faltered, stuttering over her words before sighing, and bowing her head. “No, sire. I recant my prior statement.” With that, Philip reclined on his throne, a smirk taking up his visage under his mask in the process. “Ah, but the other mission you sent me on,” Lilith began, gaining Philip’s interest. “I was able to get some information regarding Blindfold. He has a student. One named Luz Noceda.”

“Luz Noceda?” Philip thought before his eyes widened underneath his mask. “Luz…. Luzura…! She must be the one, then? Good. That means the time loop will be stable, and my existence is assured. But then, how does Lilith fall into this? Why does Lilith appear differently, too? Maybe the time pool makes her appear younger…. Yes, that must be it.”

“M’lord?” Lilith’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, as Philip hummed.

“I see…. Luz Noceda, huh? What more do you know about this Luz individual?” Philip questioned as Lilith frowned, her eyebrows furrowing in thought.

“Aside from her name, aside from the fact that she is aligned with Satoru Gojo and is currently being taught by him, and aside from the fact that she has a Witches Duel scheduled with a top student at Hexside to admit her entry into the school before next semester, I do not know much else, M’lord,” Lilith replied as Philip drew himself back into his thoughts.

“So, Luz Noceda will be attempting to go Hexside, then. I see no reason to step in. I’ll allow her to live her life unimpeded then. Even if she is working with that damnable Gojo and by extension that thorn in my side Edalyn, assuming my assumptions are correct, and that Gojo is teaching Luz, then he will no doubt follow her to Hexside. If they are distracted there, then that leaves me free to continue my plan without having to worry about them intervening. Which means, if I want them to leave me and my plans alone….”

“Lilith, tell the police precinct in Bonesborough to abandon the hunt on Luz Noceda and Satoru Gojo, otherwise known as Unknown Human and Blindfold,” Philip ordered as Lilith blinked, a confused gleam in her eyes.

“I mean no offence when asking this, but why?” Lilith asked as Philip chuckled to himself.

“Why, because if this Luz Noceda is going to Hexside, then Satoru Gojo will follow. Two nuisances that will be swept under the rug and will be out of our hair. If Hexside deems them worthy to at least attempt joining the school, then the Police must have overreacted and made a foolish assumption that, merely because they were interacting with a criminal, they are aligned with her. So, until evidence is provided that they are working with The Owl Lady, remove their posters and call it a false alarm. It is not as if in the past that we have been wrong about criminals not really being criminals,” Philip answered, an annoyed tick forming in his mind.

Of course, he wasn’t actually wrong here, he just needed to feed Lilith an excuse for her to buy to take down the Wanted posters for both Gojo and Luz. Despite that, his sense of pride had taken a blow. Even falsely admitting wrongdoing was something that irked him. It made his blood boil, and when that happened….

Philip collapsed on his throne, his heart beating a mile a minute. He felt his skin begin to boil, and for pain to roll over him like a tsunami. He watched as Lilith was escorted out of the throne room, and Philips's breathing began to accelerate. Without command, one of the Coven Scouts fetched him a Palisman.

The pain was unlike anything that Philip had ever felt in his 400 years of life. Whenever the Glyphs he had engraved into his skin began to burn, his frail, pathetic body would begin to decay rapidly. He knew what his fate was. He knew that if he died, something awful would occur to his soul. It was a looming threat in the back of his mind when he miraculously killed his brother by dunking his head in the boiling acid water of this realm.

Something, deep inside of him, knew that his fate was an unjust one. But, he would only allow himself to die once he wiped this acrid realm away. He would destroy every living being that God demanded him to rid of. The Witches, the Demons, The Beasts, and especially that damnable star child he had looked at in the bowels of his castle.

All of them. All of them will die.

He would kill them all and be rewarded with his heavenly prize. He would finally die, and he would join his brethren in Heaven while everyone else would burn eternal. For it was God's will, and he would not allow a false God like those of the Gojo Clan revered themselves to get in his way. 

“Satoru… Gojo…! I will not allow you, nor anyone, to get in my way…! So stay away…. Leave me to my plans and enjoy the brief freedom I’ve allowed you and your vile brat of a student to have…. Because it is only temporary!”

[XXXX]

Gojo groaned, clutching the side of his head as the Reversed Cursed Technique worked its magic, ridding him of the splitting headache he got from consuming far too much of this dimension equavilant to sake. It was both good and bad at the same time. Good for the taste, bad for the splitting headache. There was a reason why he never went out drinking, and that was because of the effects that drinking had on him.

He might have been blessed with The Six Eyes and Limitless along with near-perfect mastery over Reversed Cursed Technique and near-boundless amounts of Cursed Energy. But he had been appropriately cursed with having horrible headaches anytime he consumed alcohol. Maybe it was because the universe knew that a drunk Gojo was a scary Gojo.

As a matter of fact, the last time he allowed himself to get drunk was when he graduated Tokyo Jujutsu High School, and subsequently nearly burnt down the onsight temple because, and he distinctly remembered Getou quoting drunk him: “It’s just a giant Curse that was shaped like a temple so there was no loss.” On that day, he was nearly put to execution for defiling the place, but it was quickly rescinded when they realized who it was they were trying to execute.

The moral of the story was that allowing Satoru Gojo to be drunk was akin to giving a toddler too much sugar and letting them run rampant. And, as a consequence of drinking as much as he had, he had somehow been cursed to have consistent headaches if he drank over an ounce of booze. He thought that he was safe from it here, but, evidently, that wasn’t the case.

“Seems it also carries over to other dimensions, too…. You’re way too good at this stuff Utahime….” Gojo thought as he teleported into the basement of Eda’s home, seemingly getting there at the same time Eda had. The aforementioned witch was staring incredulously with wide eyes and a slack jaw as Hooty lay slumped against a cracked wall, with Luz breathing heavily staring down the large worm owl-faced creature, wiping her forehead of what appeared to be sweat.

“So, uh… what happened?” Gojo asked as Eda jumped, seemingly just noticing that he had shown up, before blinking and clearing her throat.

“Dunno! I just heard a loud crashing sound down here and came to check it out. I knew you had Hooty doin’ something with Luz and all but I never thought it was gonna be this!” Eda exclaimed, looking back at the slack form of Hooty, who seemed to be grumbling something under his breath. When Gojo looked at Luz, he noticed that her Cursed Energy had been erratic, but also controlled at the same time. It was something that he had seen before.

“Is it possible…? Did she do it?” Gojo thought, frowning. “No. Don’t assume yet. If she has, then I’ll know when the duel takes place. And seeing as she isn’t acting like she did something special, she might have just come close but didn’t actually pull it off.” As he thought that, he walked down the stairs, approached Luz from behind, and patted her on the shoulder, catching her attention.

Turning around, Luz looked up at Gojo, a smile on her face. “I did it!” Luz exclaimed, “It took me a minute to figure it out, but I was able to hit him! He was going suuuper fast, but all I had to do was wait till he slowed down—kinda, not really, it was like a split second thing but, ah whatever—and then when I did I hit him, he—”

“Whoa Luz, slow down,” Gojo said, chuckling as he spoke. She had been really excited, and rightfully so. He had seen just how fast Hooty had been, especially considering he protected the house at night when everyone was supposedly asleep, snaking through the trees unseen and making sure no hostile animals came by to try and do something funny.  

While he wasn’t as fast as himself, or anyone really of notable renown, he was still a really fast creature. Something that he should take pride in knowing. Either way, the point was that Luz was able to beat him. And now, if he were to put her on the grading scale for Sorcerers, he’d put her comfortably around upper Grade 3 to maybe Semi-Grade 2 if she was able to do it.

“She really will be a prodigy if she can do that. I know my instincts are right, they always are. She has the potential to be like Yuta minus his Cursed Technique, all she needs to do is do that and I can officially declare her as such,” Gojo thought as Eda walked down to check on Hooty. She walked over to him, and with the help of what appeared to be some kind of plant-based magic, she was able to pull Hooty out of the small indent in the wall, his body slumping over her shoulder like a saggy noodle.

“Sorry, Hooty!” Luz called out as he groaned, though he did have a small smile on his face, so that was good. Gojo was just glad that he was able to include the guy. He knew what it was like to be left out of things due to his quote-on-quote “annoying tendencies” so he really sympathized with the Demon there.

Luz turned back to Gojo, seemingly not tired from her training. Though, if he had to guess that was most likely because she was running on adrenaline. “Alright, Luz, let’s get you something to drink and eat before your big fight. Are you sure you’re prepared?”

“Yes!” Luz replied instantly, flexing her right arm, and grabbing her forearm with her left hand like one of those old-timey women's rights posters. Gojo found it charming, cracking a grin before gesturing Luz to follow him up the stairs, watching as Eda stuffed Hooty back into a hole in the house for him to rest, seemingly frustrated with all of the mumbling she was doing. About what, Gojo didn’t know as he didn’t bother to tune in.

The break wasn’t all that eventful. Luz drank some purified water, and Eda had to step in to make sure Gojo didn’t burn the Slitherbeast egg he had been trying to—and failing to—cook. During the break, Luz took the time in between eating to measure the output of Cursed Energy she was pumping into her fists.

The battle was supposed to be a friendly fight between two people. There was no exorcizing or anything like that involved, and so she was trying to make sure that her Cursed Energy and the amount of it she put into her fists and strikes represented that—it was what she did with Hooty. It was like putting a dampener on an electrical line, after all, Gojo did say Cursed Energy was like electricity so the metaphor worked.

However, there was another thing that she had noticed while she was monitoring the Cursed Energy output, and it had to do with her body. Luz knew it was going to happen due to the kind of training that she was undergoing with Gojo, but she had felt her arms starting to become more like her legs.

Due to the gymnastics training she had done to become a cheerleader, her legs had built up a small amount of muscle to withstand constant landings and constant motion. And while it wasn’t a lot of muscle, it was still there, though it was more than what a normal active person had. Gymnastics and Cheerleading was a specialized sport so it made sense.  

And now, as she had noticed, it was starting to happen with her arms. She could feel it in how she moved her arms that they no longer felt like limp wet noodles. Her flabby loose skin around her arms had begun to become more rigid and sturdy. She could clench her fist and see her skin constrict around the muscle underneath, and see the form of it rather than it simply looking the same. It wasn’t much of a change yet, but it was still there.

She had also noticed just how energized she was now. When she started her training with Gojo a week ago, she was giving out in less than an hour, only continuing because he had been pushing her. But now? She could keep going for hours and only start to feel tired after the two to three-hour mark. Her reaction time was also getting quicker, too.

Before, she could barely catch a softball. Now, she could catch a fist and deflect another one before it even came close to hitting her face or any part of her body for that matter. And while it was slow, she was beginning to learn how to fight. She could also take hits without doubling over in pain anymore—at least, normal hits anyway. Like a regular punch or a regular kick and so on. Of course, that mostly had to do with coating her body in Cursed Energy, but also just in general.

It was nice. It was nice to know that she wasn’t a frail nerd anymore like those kids used to call her. She was still “weird”, and that would never change—not that she wanted it to—but now she had the means to stand up for herself properly. No one would mess with her again! Not that she would hurt anyone. She wasn’t that kind of person. Nor would she go around trying to get revenge for something someone said to her—Luz could be petty, but not that petty.

“So, Luz, you ready?” Gojo asked, earning a nod from Luz.

“Hey, Blindfold,” Eda spoke up, catching his attention. “I wanna see this. It isn’t every day a human fights a witch. That, and I want to be there in case something bad happens to Luz. You cool with that?” As Eda asked that, and just before Gojo could respond, King practically climbed up onto Eda’s shoulder, staring at Gojo with eyes that appeared to sparkle like an excited puppy when the word “treat” was mentioned, made all the more comparable due to his tail wagging.

“I wanna go, too! I wanna see Luz kick some butt!” King said, excitement dripping from his tone as Gojo found himself snickering silently to himself. He always loved how King reacted sometimes. He really was like a little kid trapped in a bipedal dog's body.

“Alright, if that’s what you want, then it's fine by me. But first, let me take Luz to the actual arena then I’ll teleport back, grab you guys, and we can watch from the front row seats. Be right back!” Gojo said, before grabbing Luz and teleporting her to the entrance of the Bonesborough Arena.

It was large, matching the size and grandiose vibe that the Roman Colosseum gave off. Unlike the Roman Colosseum, it wasn’t partially destroyed due to time and the elements. It was built out of some kind of black stone, with a grey stone base and a carved-out entrance. Large torches ablaze with flame were dotted around the building in a pattern, where a torch would be placed next to a window-shaped hole, a spot would be skipped, and then another torch would be placed afterward.

Overtop of the arena was what appeared to be a glass dome, which made sense so that nothing could go outside of the arena and cause collateral damage. It was a logical choice, though it did make the arena look a little on the ugly side in that regard. Not that anything could be done about it. It was a safety measure, after all, and safety was a top priority.  

Waiting at the entrance, just like he had said he would, was Principal Bump, with what appeared to be a floating timepiece. The moment Luz and Gojo arrived and made contact with the ground, the final grain of sand landed atop the pile of sand underneath it, and with it, Bump smiled with the same kind of energy a grandfather would.

“Just in time. Perfect. Your opponent is already waiting for you in the preparation room, Luz. Allow me to escort you,” Principal Bump said gesturing her to follow as Luz did just that. Before they entered, however, Gojo cleared his throat.

“Be right back, Gramps. Just gotta fetch a few people and I’ll return, ‘kay!” Gojo said as Bump nodded. Luz watched as Gojo disappeared, before being ushered through the entrance. She was led down a flight of stairs by Bump, who hummed the whole way through. Luz felt giddy, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Who was she going to fight? She had done some research on who the top students at Hexside were in the first year through Eda’s scroll phone thing, but never really memorized the names, only appearances. Whoever they were, though, she wouldn’t mind either way. Nor would she hold back all too much. Gojo said it best himself. She wasn’t there to make friends. She was there to win. And while the whole no-killing rule was in effect—not that she would kill anyone, that was just wrong on so many levels—that didn’t mean she was going to soften her blows.

Luz only had one goal in mind. To win, and to enter Hexside. That was it. That was all she was going in there for. Nothing more, nothing less. After reaching the bottom of the stairs, and after walking down one last hallway, Bump stopped just before a wooden door. He turned to face Luz and opened it. “Best of wishes, Young Luz. You will need it.”

“Thanks!” Luz replied cheerfully, stepping into the room as Bump closed the door behind her. When she entered the room, her eyes darted around the room, searching for her opponent. The room was your standard locker room, with two branching paths on the left and right with signs about them marked for “away” on the left and “home” on the right.

Two rows of lockers lined the center preparation room, along what appeared to be several test dummies off to the right near the “home” exit. And there, Luz saw her opponent, as well as someone else who was standing next to them, arm on their shoulder and whispering something to them.

Firstly, her opponent. Luz’s opponent was a girl about her age, with ear-length, two-toned green and brown hair done up in a ponytail in such a way that her hair was pulled out of her face. The way her hair was coloured, though, was that it was mostly green save for the exposed roots of her hair at the front and the sides. She had slightly pale skin and bright golden eyes, and she was dressed in what Luz knew to be the Hexside uniform, seeing as it was the same uniform as that one girl whom she had saved earlier in the week from that Cursed Spirit—unknowingly on the girl’s part, of course, but she digressed.

Then came the other person—an older woman in comparison. She had long dark blue hair and vibrant and striking green eyes with bags underneath them. She was clearly an adult, making her either a relative or a mentor, and she was dressed in a two-tone grey and black dress with a pale blue gem at the sternum, along with a white cloak that reminded Luz of the Coven Guards.

The older woman noticed her and smirked. “Speak of the titan, and they shall arrive. It seems, Amity, your opponent is here,” the woman noted as Amity turned to face Luz, her expression neutral. Her gaze, on the other hand, was anything but. It was calculating, as if she was trying to look for a weakness like some kind of robot programmed to do so.

“I’ll leave you two to it then. There’s still a few minutes before the fight. A friendly back and forth couldn’t hurt things, now could it?” The woman said, before turning to leave. But, not before saying something that both sounded ominous but also reassuring aimed at Amity. “Don’t forget, myself, your mother, father, and siblings will be watching. Do not disappoint us.”

It sounded like a veiled threat, but Amity didn’t seem too perturbed by it. Or, if she did, she didn’t show it. And with that, the woman left. Amity approached Luz, looking her over before reaching her hand out toward Luz in a friendly gesture. “Amity Blight. I take it you’re Luz Noceda?”

Luz eagerly accepted the hand, the pair shaking them before letting go, Luz’s hand going to her left pocket whereas Amity simply let hers drop to the side. “Yup! I was told you’re a top student at Hexside. Must be stressful, hehe,” Luz remarked as Amity chuckled in the same way a rich person would, all polite and elegant and such.

“In some ways, yes. Not that you’ll ever need to worry about that,” Amity remarked, before the friendliness dropped, giving way to a serious expression, narrowed eyes and a sharp frown. “Allow me to be blunt, human. You will not win. I don’t even know why you’re bothering to waste my time, or anyone else for that matter. Principal Bump is, quite frankly, a fool for even bothering with you. But, since he asked nicely, I’ll oblige him. Do not expect me to take it easy.”

Luz both felt angered at the remark that Amity made about herself and Bump, but also felt a sense of competition after hearing all of that. It drew a smirk to her face, something that Amity clearly wasn’t expecting given the sudden shift in her expression, having it go from annoyed to confused.

“Think whatever you want to, Amity. But I’ll prove to both you and Bump that you’re dead wrong about me. I might not have the same amount of training under my belt as you or the others, but I don’t think that matters. I’ll still give it my all, regardless of what you say,” Luz replied as Amity, frankly, didn’t know what to think.

She didn’t know whether to be annoyed that the human before her shrugged off her insult, or to be impressed at her resolve. It was both parts interesting and a welcome change compared to her past opponents who were cowards, and both parts infuriating and outrageous, because at least with her other opponents they were either witches or demons. But this? This was a human!

Of course, she couldn’t forget what her mentor, Lilith Clawthorne had told her. Even though her opponent was a human, she couldn’t let her guard down. It was weird because Lilith seemed genuine about that. It didn’t help that she claimed that her opponent was going to be “unlike other humans”, whatever that meant.

Humans were weak, scrawny, and overall inferior in comparison to witches and demons. It was a widely accepted fact. So for Lilith to be genuinely weary of a human, specifically the one she was fighting due to her connection with some other human named “Satoru Gojo” or whatever, essentially made it impossible for her not to initially take her opponent seriously.

But, after seeing her opponent, she couldn’t help but throw all of that away. Just as she thought, Luz Noceda was scrawny, weak, and inferior. She possessed no magic, and she possessed no Glyphs. How was she any different from a regular human?

A smug, confident smirk found its way onto Amity’s face, scoffing as she turned to face the “home” exit of the preparations room. “Say whatever you want, Human. You’ll still lose, and that’s all there is to it. Good luck. You’ll desperately need it.” And with that, Amity walked away, as Luz stared at her from behind, eyes narrowed.

She had a few choice words to say to Amity, but, that could wait till after the fight. Without wasting any time, Luz jogged over to the “away” exit of the preparation room, finding herself walking down a long, winding hallway that felt like it had gone on for ages. By the time she made it to where she needed to be, and when she stepped out into the actual arena itself, she found herself in what appeared to be a pit of sorts, surrounded by walls up to the same height as a regular-sized house.

And then came the actual size of the arena. It was large, to say the very least. The ground was heavily compacted sand, and it spanned for at least a mile. Why it needed to be as large as it was, Luz didn’t know nor did she care. On the opposite end of the arena, stood Amity, arms crossed with a confident look in her eyes.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who had the smarts to throw the whole thing away welcome to a special Witches Duel!” A youthful-sounding announcer called out to the crowd, which Luz was only just noticing. The stadium was packed with students and citizens, cheers for Amity to win echoing throughout the whole thing. Luz felt both unwelcome and also slightly demotivated. But, that was quickly dashed away when she was able to spot Gojo, Eda, and King in the nosebleeds, looking down at her, with Gojo flashing her a thumbs up.

“Today, in a turn of events never seen before, this duel will be between a human and a witch! Can you believe it?! I mean, we already know the outcome, but still, it’ll be entertaining! So, let’s give our obvious winner a warm welcome, give it up for Amity Blight, the top first-year student at Hexside in the Abomination Track!” The announcer called out, as Amity did a little bow, the cheers washing over the arena as Luz sucked in a deep breath, and exhaled.

“Keep calm, Luz. Don’t let their pointless jabs get to you, just focus….” Luz thought as the announcer continued. “And…! Well, there’s no real fanfare needed. The obvious loser, everyone, the human known as Luz Noceda.” Much to her and the announcer's expectations, there were no cheers, except from Gojo.

“C’MON, KIDDO! YOU GOT THIS!”

Luz felt a tinge of embarrassment, even though she shouldn’t have. Eda didn’t say anything, though that had most likely been because she wanted to remain hidden enough so that no one noticed she was there, ergo she didn’t care about her silence. As for King, she could see his tail wagging back and forth as he sat atop Eda’s head, and that meant a lot to Luz. Once again, she felt motivated to win, if only to impress Gojo, Eda, and King.

The announcer cleared his throat, “Seems like someone thinks the human will win, but who cares? Rules are simple. No killing and the winner is decided by knock-out or forfeit. With that said, let the fight begin!”

A loud buzzer sound echoed throughout the stadium, signalling for the fight to begin. Luz immediately got into a fighting stance, before she began to close the distance between herself and Amity. Amity, for her part, stared mildly confused at the fact that Luz was actually taking the fight seriously. It was almost insulting, personally anyway, that she would even bother trying to take this seriously.

“Is she serious? She’s really going to fight me? What a joke, she should’ve just given up. Whatever…” Ignoring the human, and ignoring what she saw as a blatant insult, the tip of Amity’s pointer finger glowed purple, as she knelt down and drew a large circle in the sand. It glowed purple, much like her pointer finger, and when it did, she took a step back and called out “Abomination, Rise!”

The ground rumbled, almost as if an earthquake was about to happen, as a bright purple light erupted from the ground like a fountain, briefly blinding everyone, sans Gojo, in the stadium. The light died down, as a massive arm thrust out from the hole, pulling itself out as a leg followed suit, hoisting the rest of the summon out from the hole.

And what came out, was nothing short of both horrifying yet also mesmerizing.

The creature that came out of the ground was massive. It was various shades of purple, with dark green, almost emerald-coloured eyes, having a body made entirely out of sludge. Its sheer size, being almost the same size as the walls of the pit themselves, which were roughly 18 to 25 feet tall, made Luz stop in her tracks, skidding to a halt as she stared up at the monstrous thing.

It loomed over her, its eyes glowing like a true Demon as it cast a shadow that spanned the rest of the arena floor. It dripped the purple sludge from its surface, leaving small stains on the sand floor, almost like it was drooling. It made the creature look like a carnivorous beast, staring down something it viewed as a quick snack.  

“Holy crap!” She thought, steeling herself as the massive abomination roared. It shook the ground with the sheer volume, but not enough to sway Luz off her feet. Luz could barely analyze the thing before Amity gave the massive abomination a single command. Although, Luz had noticed that she seemed briefly shaken by how large it turned out to be, but much like herself she steeled her emotions and spoke.

“Abomination! Take out the human!”

And with that, the Abomination roared once more, charging at Luz with the speed of a freight train and the power of one too, shaking the ground as it stomped toward her. Luz had no choice but to run away, narrowly avoiding a car-sized fist that landed just a few inches away from her, kicking up dust as it made contact with the ground.

As she ran, she drew herself into her thoughts. “How the hell am I supposed to beat that thing?!” Luz thought, narrowing her eyes in thought as panic took over. For a brief second, she thought about targeting just Amity, but she quickly discarded the idea. Why? Well, for starters, it would simply protect her from anything that Luz threw at her with its sheer size alone.

However, because of its sheer size, it was taking a while for it to pull itself up from punching the ground. And by the time it had reached halfway, Luz was already a fair enough distance away from the monster. If she had remembered correctly, in science class, their teacher talked about how the bigger something was, the more weight it had. And the more weight something had, the more effort it took to do even the simplest of tasks. It was why being overweight was a bad thing, seeing as it made the general quality of life worse by comparison to someone who wasn’t.  

And Luz was going to use that to her advantage. She was smaller and leaner, and she could easily run circles around the thing before it could even get a chance to get back up again. And, if what she wanted to do was going to work, she needed to keep herself regulated and to make sure she didn’t tire herself out before then.

It would be risky, but taking risks was what she had to do. And if she wanted to win, she was going to have to take the biggest risk in her life thus far. But first, she had to ensure that it was going to be slower than her. “Okay, let’s do this!” Luz thought as she felt her Cursed Energy flow into her fists, the blue and black energy taking shape and morphing over her fists, all the while commentator rambled about how large the Abomination had been, saying something that it was a potential record-setter or something along those lines, not that Luz was paying attention.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Eda frowned, watching as Luz ran away from the massive abomination. The moment that thing showed up, Eda knew exactly how the fight was going to go. “The Blight’s gonna win,” Eda stated, earning Gojo’s attention.

“Why’s that?” He asked as Eda gave him the look before sighing.

“’Cause of the big stupid thing. Also, Amity’s a Blight. They’re renowned for their mastery of Abomination Magic, second only to Darius, the Abomination Coven Head. Not to mention, Bump has a special kind of bias toward Abomination magic since he’s a part of the coven. I shoulda seen thing comin’ a mile away,” Eda spat as Gojo sported a contemplative frown.

So, essentially, the principal had stacked the deck against his student in favour for his quote-on-quote “favourite team” to win. He had to admit, the fact that Bump had been able to pull the wool over Gojo’s eyes was impressive. Not many people can claim that they had been able to do that, so Principal Bump was now on the list of at least five people to have done the impossible.

Not to mention, from an outsider's perspective, had he not known a single thing about Luz or her capabilities from front to back, he’d probably have agreed with Eda. Not to mention the obvious bias the audience seemed to have against humans. Not that he blamed them, as humans didn’t typically have supernatural abilities like witches did. Ergo, logic dictates that Luz had to lose.

However, he knew more about her than anyone else. He knew, fundamentally, that Luz would win. After all, Luz had more energy than Amity. Just by simply looking at the two with his Six Eyes, the yellow energy wafting off of Amity—her magic essence—paled in comparison to Luz’s. Amity had a small pillar of energy, whereas Luz had a veritable skyscraper. And while yes, a lot of that magic had gone into creating the Abomination before them, which was probably why she had less magic than Luz’s Cursed Energy, the point still stood.

And that wasn’t to mention just how much of a horrible strategic blunder Amity had made. “She’s throwing all of her power into a single summon. She’s going for spectacle rather than practicality. If she had been smart, she would’ve made five individual smaller Abominations. Luz can handle a one-on-one fairly well, but she’s weaker against groups because she’s never fought a group before. Either Amity’s stupid or she’s simply blinded by her ego and basic understanding of humans to think strategically.”  

As soon as that thought ended, another random thought popped up in his head as he cupped his chin. “The Blights are renowned for their mastery of Abomination Magic, huh? A form of Magic that specializes in summoning creatures? It’s obviously a coincidence, but they remind me of the Zen’in,” Gojo thought, as a slow realization started to come to him, whilst the starting of a smirk made itself known.

“And if they’re anything like the Zeni’in, then they probably got a troubled background, too, meaning Amity must have a confidence issue in regards to her capabilities, hence the massive Abomination rather than a group. And, just like the Zen’in, they’re probably very demeaning to those who they view as beneath them, which often leads to a misjudgment of their opponents, much like this one right here.” As soon as the thought completed itself, Gojo’s half-smirk turned into a full one, leaning back in his seat.

“It’s ironic, really, just how similar witches are to humans. They even fail to see their own hubris like us. And as in the tale of Icarus, Amity is going to have to learn the hard way that being prideful in one's abilities is a one-way ticket to falling back down to earth,” Gojo thought, chuckling to himself, catching Eda’s attention.

“What’s with the smirk? And what’s so funny, anyway? Did you figure something out?” Eda asked eyebrow raised as Gojo crossed his arms, his smirk turning into a confident grin.  

“Because now I know Luz will win. If what I believe is true, then little Amity over here just made a massive blunder,” Gojo replied, earning a confused look from Eda. However, rather than question Gojo, she decided to believe in his judgement, and therefore, believe in Luz. Gojo hadn’t been wrong so far, and if that were to remain true as it had before, she saw no reason to stop believing in Gojo’s word.

Whatever observation that Gojo had made allowed him to believe in Luz. And while she didn’t see it, she’d much rather believe in the underdog rather than the one who had all the cards in her hands. If Luz could somehow win this, then she chose to believe in Luz.  

Back down in the arena, Luz had come within a few inches of the Abomination’s right leg. It swiped at her with its massive hand, generating a slight gust of wind in the process, only for Luz to backflip away from the strike, landing a bit further away, before lunging forward again toward the leg. She caught a glimpse of Amity as she lunged forward, who seemed frustrated. If Luz had to guess, it was because the fight wasn’t already over.

Returning her attention back to what she was doing, Luz reared her right first back, Cursed Energy flowing through her body like an electrical current, Luz’s fist made contact with the Abomination’s right leg. Cursed Energy met Magic, the two energies mingling before bursting as it seemingly caused the part of the leg that Luz punched to boil and sloth off to the ground.

Amity stared, eyes wide at what she witnessed, her jaw slightly slacked. No one else noticed, but Amity did. She saw what happened, as the Abomination grumbled in what seemed like pain. “Did her punch…. Cause the abomination matter to fall off and die?” Amity thought, shaking her head in disbelief. It wasn’t as if it mattered. It was a far too insignificant amount to care about, but the fact remained that she saw that, and had felt the magic in that moment seemingly vanish.

“It worked! Now I just have to—” Before Luz could finish that thought, the massive Abomination punched in between its legs, reaching from behind and hitting Luz dead on but not before Luz could cover her body in Cursed Energy, absorbing most of the force of the attack that would have otherwise pulverized her.

Upon the fist making contact with her, Luz was sent flying through the arena, pain washing over her body as she shouted in pain, hitting the ground and tumbling to the edge of the arena, a small cloud of dust kicking up in the process.

Amity stared, a triumphant smirk taking up her visage. “I told you, human! You won’t win!” Amity called out, smugness oozing off her as she stared at the dust cloud. “There’s no way that she’ll get up from that. I’ll admit that my summon is a bit larger than I intended, but I can still control it, and it’s stronger than anything I’ve ever summoned before! If this doesn’t get me into the Abominations Coven at an early age, then I don’t know what will! Lilith will have to recommend me to Darius, and I can finally prove to my mother that I’m not a failure like my siblings!”

It was plain to see for anyone with common sense. After a hit like that, no one, not even a witch learning barrier magic would be able to defend against something like that. That was why Amity believed she had won. That was why Amity knew she had won. And she was getting ready to dispel the Abomination, too, showing that she had won just like she was supposed to.

That was, until, the announcer spoke.

“Did you see THAT, folks?! Seems like the human’s down for the count—wait what?” Before the announcer could finish, he interrupted himself as Amity stared with disbelief. Why? Well, to put it simply, what she was seeing before her should have been impossible.

For as the dust cloud cleared, a silhouette could be made. One that Amity was able to make out with full clarity, and it made Amity furious. Because right there, in place of where she should have been on the floor and unconscious, stood her human opponent.

A proud aura bloomed around Luz, who, despite having blood trailing down the left side of her forehead, neck, and into her strange hooded shirt thing, as well as down her nose, and from the right corner of her mouth from what Amity assumed was from bloodied gums, she stood tall with a confident toothy smirk on her face whilst retaining her stance from the beginning of the fight.

Amity couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The human, Luz Noceda, was still standing. Not only that, but she looked more than ready to continue. A mix of fury and annoyance flared in Amity’s chest. This was not supposed to be how this fight played out! It was supposed to end there! That much force would knock someone out at best, and outright kill them at worst. And that was applying that kind of force to a witch, not a human!

A roar of surprised applause echoed throughout the arena. When the fight began, a lot of the audience members did not believe that the fight would be anywhere near entertaining, despite the announcer's best efforts. After all, it was a human and a witch fighting. The outcome should have been obvious.

And yet, despite that, the human was standing her ground. And not only was she standing her ground, she was making a valiant effort. In the world of witches and demons, it was prudent that one proved oneself to show their worth and potential. And it was clear to anyone without a clouded sense of judgement that this human, despite the extreme disadvantage that she had, had more than proved to them that she could truly fight a witch with the same determination as a witch.

And no one else in the crowd, except for maybe Gojo, was prouder than one Willow Park. Why? Because the human that was down there, Luz Noceda, had been the one who had saved her life from that strange monster in the woods. And now, even though she hadn’t known it, she was fighting someone who used to be her friend turned bully.

It was obvious that it had been a coincidence, there was no denying that, but it was both funny and refreshing to see Amity be the one on the backfoot rather than someone else, or even herself.

“That’s a human?!” The person next to Willow, a classmate and friend of hers, Augustus Porter, exclaimed with excitement. He was a prodigy in illusion magic, seeing as at his young age he was already on par with most people Willow’s age, that being 14. Augustus was 2 years younger than her, so that was saying something.

Augustus had dark skin, mud brown to be exact, with chocolate brown eyes and black hair. He was dressed like Willow in the Hexside school uniform, though unlike Willow he had blue sleeves on to represent the fact that he was in the illusion track.

“Willow, you saw that, right!?” Augustus said, an excited gleam in his eyes as he repressed a squeal of joy. “The others in the H.A.S. are going to absolutely flip out when they hear this! A human being able to survive a punch from an oversized Abomination!”

Willow couldn’t help but giggle to herself at his antics. She knew that he’d want to see this, seeing as he was utterly obsessed with finding out more about humans. She knew of this duel because Amity wouldn’t stop talking about it at school. She constantly kept bragging about how it would be yet another easy win for her. But now, it was clear, that had been a lie.

“Let’s see how you like it, Amity. How it feels to be humiliated by someone, and maybe then you’ll know why I avoid you like the plague… and maybe then you’ll apologize to me for constantly underestimating me, that even people who seem weak can actually be strong,” Willow thought. While she wanted to be friends with Amity again, she needed her to apologize first. Otherwise, she would refuse any sort of attempts to be friends again.

Meanwhile, back in the stadium, Amity was fuming—and rightfully so! This little twerp… this human had the utter gall the try and get into Hexside, with no magic of her own, accepted a Witches duel to prove her worth, and then insulted Amity by raising her fists?!

It would be one thing if the human was using Glyphs. But instead, she was running in with her fists and nothing else! It was an insult, and one that she had once brushed off. But now, it was starting to get annoying! And while yes, she wasn’t ignoring the fact that her punch was somehow able to kill off a portion of abomination matter in her summon, it was only a negligible amount—so inferior that Amity didn’t really care all too much—and so it didn’t matter.

And what was worse was that this human was humiliating her. She glanced up at the stands, and she spotted her mother, and her mother saw her, a scathing look in her eyes, almost as if to tell her that she was incredibly disappointed that she hadn’t dispatched this lesser being before her yet.

Never once in her life had something made Amity this angry before. She had never been met with this kind of pushback before, because she was a Titans damned Blight. She was practically royalty! And this human was making her look like a joke in front of her mother, father, siblings, and Lilith Clawthorne! And worst of all, she was making her look like a fool to her friends, her classmates, her peers!

It was an insult of the highest degree, and she would not stand for it! “Are you kidding me!?” Amity thought, a snarl coming to her lips as she clenched her right hand into a fist. “NO! I will NOT allow this pathetic waste of space to beat me!” Amity thought as she shouted at the abomination, words dripping in hate and rage, “Abomination! End it! I don’t care how you do it, just do it!”  

As those words echoed throughout the stadium, followed by the loud uproarious cheers from the other audience members, in the nosebleeds, Eda looked on with worry, whereas Gojo did not feel bothered in the slightest. “That’s a lot of blood….” King remarked as Gojo shrugged.

“She’ll be fine, I’ve seen more from less,” Gojo replied, earning a glance from Eda. She didn’t know whether to chew him out or ignore him. Either way, that same protective urge from before when she saw Luz covered in blood washed over her again. She wanted to leap into the arena to protect Luz, but she was reminded of what Gojo had said the last time Luz was covered in blood and injured.

And so, reluctantly, she calmed herself, closed her eyes, and attentively watched the fight, knowing full well that Luz could not be coddled, even if it went against everything that Eda stood for. “C’mon, kiddo… you got this! I believe in you, show that snooty Blight who’s the boss!” Eda thought, a small smile taking up her visage as King cheered for Luz in her stead.

Back in the Arena, Luz charged forward, heedless of the pain that she was feeling, adrenaline pumping through her veins as her Cursed Energy swelled. As she ran, she could feel the wind blow through her hair and brush past her skin.

It was a hard feeling to describe, the feeling swelling in her chest. Was it fatigue? No, because she was feeling better than ever before! Was it fear? No, because even though she had barely been able to cover herself in her Cursed Energy to survive that blow, she felt utterly fearless. Was it doubt? Absolutely not! Especially after noticing that her Cursed Energy had actually damaged the creature, as she watched it adjust itself to make up for the small fist-sized hole in its leg.

When the battle first began, she didn’t believe that she could beat Amity, doubly so after she had summoned the monster before her. But after seeing what she had done to it, and after surviving that attack, Luz felt more confident than ever!

That was what she was feeling. Confidence! And it was in that confidence that the smirk that she had on her face transformed into an unabashed, confident, and prideful toothy smile, as she pushed herself to run faster, leaning forward in the direction of where she was running strutting out her arms behind her to give herself a form of balance, mimicking the kind of run that one would see in Naruto.

The Abomination upon seeing Luz head in its direction attempted to punch her again, its fist coming down faster than the last time, only for it to miss as Luz dived forward and rolled underneath the massive fist, narrowly avoiding it as she sprung forward with the impact of the fist, flailing in the air for a split second before landing perfectly on her feet, skidding to a halt before turning sharply to face where its fist had landed.

The Abomination's fist was lodged into the ground, its body bent over with its arms as it tried to pull itself up, which had been the opening that Luz was looking for. “Now!” She thought, before running toward the lodged fist. Her Cursed Energy coursed throughout her body mixed with her adrenaline, her heart pumping as she practically leapt with each step she took.

When she reached the fist, the Abomination was just starting to stand up, and with all of her might, Luz jumped up into the air, clearing several feet in one go, earning shocked oohs and awes from the audience. “Did you all see that?! The human—No, Luz just leapt in the air as if guided by some sort of spell! How in the Titan did she do that!?” The announcer exclaimed as Amity was thinking the same thing.

“HOW?! HOW CAN SHE KEEP DOING THIS?!” Amity screamed in her head, her eyes borderline manic as she followed where Luz was going to land, that being the Abomination’s fist. What was she planning to do? There was no way she was thinking about punching it in the face, did she? Did she really think that would do anything? “That’s it! That’s how I’ll defeat her! I have it swat her out of the air like the little insect she is!” Amity thought, a devilish smirk taking up her visage, eyes narrowed as she waited for the perfect opening.

Just as her thought ended, Luz landed atop the Abomination’s fist, and without missing a beat, she jumped again, aiming toward the Abomination’s face. She didn’t know why she was going toward its face, but she knew that hitting it there would at least disorientate it long enough for her to charge Amity and knock her out.

At least, that was the plan.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down. As Luz recoiled her arm, her Cursed Energy started to act funny. And she wasn’t the only one to notice it, even if she didn’t pay it any mind. When he felt the difference in how Luz’s Cursed Energy was acting, Gojo abruptly stood up, Eda doing the same, thinking something was wrong. But, when she saw the wide seemingly excited expression he was making, she had been thoroughly confused.

This was what Gojo had been waiting for. Ever since Luz had defeated that Cursed Spirit back in the woods, he had waited for her to do this. It would be the final thing that he judged her on to fully determine her potential. And now, it was happening. The very thing he had been waiting for her to achieve, because it was what made the difference between an average Jujutsu Sorcerer, and one that had potential unlike any other.  

“Do it, Luz! Land it!” Gojo thought as Amity shouted a command at the Abomination.

“Swat her away, Abomination!” She practically screamed, a sense of dread building up in her chest as Luz threw her punch just an arm's length away from the Abomination’s face at the same time it began to raise its arm. However, by then, it was too late. It was far too late for the Abomination to defend itself, as Luz had already put Amity in a metaphorical checkmate.

Just as Gojo had hoped would happen, something weird happened with Luz’s Cursed Energy. Rather than the Cursed Energy on her fist being the same blue and black Energy she was familiar with, it began to converge and spark like rampant electricity, resembling lightning as it gained a red colour with a black outline.

It sparked and zapped every which way, as Luz felt the raw power coming from her fists. Unbeknownst to her, she had successfully done something very few Jujutsu Sorcerers were able to do, as it was so rare, it had only been recorded to have happened 10,000 times over the last 100 years.

It was said, that if certain conditions were met, a Sorcerer could double the output of their attacks using Cursed Energy if they focused and concentrated on their Cursed Energy with a clear mind, the only thoughts with them being between themselves, their Cursed Energy, and the opponent that they were fighting with nothing else in between. But, the chances of it happening were 1 in 1,000,000, and it needed to happen within a fraction of a second of a hit landing.

And, it just so happened, that Luz met those conditions.

The punch landed, and when it did, the space around Luz’s hand seemed to bend, leaving a small indent in the air and in the Abomination’s gooey skin. In the small space between Luz’s fist and her target, her attack ruptured the sound barrier, and violated the laws of space, allowing Luz to deliver a blow two and a half times stronger than a regular Cursed Energy imbued punch.

In the blink of an eye, one moment, the top half of the Abomination was there, its head, torso, and arms intact. In the next, it was gone, popped like an overstuffed water balloon, as a thunderous bang echoed from the source of the impact, the Abomination matter splattering all over the walls of the pit, the magic inside those globs having been completely erased—as if it hadn’t been there in the first place.  

Silence overtook the stadium as Lilith stared with disbelief, Amity’s mother felt a sense of shame, Willow and Augustus looked shocked, and the rest of Amity’s family stared with the same disbelief that Lilith had, while the rest of the stadium roared in excitement as they witnessed something that they had once thought impossible.

Meanwhile Gojo, on the other side of the stadium cackled like a madman. His reasoning? Simple. His prodigious pupil had successfully, within less than a month of training, achieved the coveted Black Flash, fully cementing in her mind that Luz was, without a shadow of a doubt, a prodigy!

Luz landed on the ground with the gracefulness of a cat, Cursed Energy absorbing the impact. She stared down Amity with a smirk on her face, while Amity couldn’t help but stare back utterly slack-jawed whilst the massive abomination’s legs fell to the ground with a booming thug, a massive dust cloud kicking up behind Luz, blowing her hair and hood forward slightly.

“How…. Just, how…? How did she do that? She’s just a human…! She’s… she’s just a human…” And it was in that train of thought the words of her mentor echoed in the back of her mind.

“Whatever you do, Amity. Do not let the fact that your opponent is a human clout your judgment. If you do that, you’re guaranteed to lose to them. Their teacher is strong, dare I say stronger than me. A strong teacher always produces an equally as strong student. So use that wit I know you for and cunning that is fluent in your family to defeat them. Brute force will not be the thing that beats your enemy.”

It was only now, after the human—no. After Luz had blown up the upper half of her tallest Abomination it finally clicked with Amity that what Lilith had said was the truth. She had let her pride and hubris get the better of her, and it was currently costing her.

Amity had been so used to viewing those around her as insignificant thanks to her mother's constant prattling that she was a Blight, and therefore was strong, that she had completely discounted her enemy. She had made a fool of herself in front of everyone and had completely embarrassed herself. She was expecting Luz to mock her, expecting her to make her appear to be a laughing stock. After all, she had the right to do so.

But, that’s not what happened.

Rather than mocking Amity, or anything like the young witch had expected, Luz said something else that both confused her. But, in saying what she was about to say, a small shred of respect placed itself within Amity’s heart for the human known as Luz Noceda.

“This isn’t over, you know that?” Luz said, making Amity blink.

“What are you talking about?! You just destroyed my Abomination!” Amity spat, as Luz smirked.

“I’m fighting you, Amity. Not a puppet or a summon or anyone else but you,” Luz replied, raising her fists again, her Cursed Energy flaring yet again, returning to its usual hue of blue with a black outline. “We’re not done yet, I wanna see you in action! If you’re the strongest Abomination Track Witch in the first year, then I want to see what that means! Give me everything you got!”

Amity didn’t know why. But something struck a chord with her in what Luz had said. Maybe it was because she was desperate to prove her worth to her mother, or maybe it was because she wanted to defeat Luz now more than ever, but for entirely different reasons, Amity felt her blood pump and her heartbeat.

“Alright then…” Amity muttered, a fierce gleam in her eyes as she stared down Luz. She dismissed the rest of the Abomination she had made, the matter disappearing as she drew several circles before her, three to be exact. As a result, three regular-sized Abominations came out, standing in front of Amity like a wall. “Then let’s finish this!”   

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 7: Sorcerer Vs Witch – Part 2]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – By: Creepy Nuts]

Tension built in the air, as both parties stared each other down. Both Amity and Luz waited with bated breath for the other to act, much like something one would see out of a Wild West duel. The sun was two hours away from setting, and as such, rays of light leaked in from the dome windows above, the beams of light landing on both Amity and Luz in such a fashion that they looked like spotlights, dimly lighting the arena surrounding them, only kept fully lit thanks to the torches that had turned on via a magic command.

The stakes of the battle were hefty, as were the stakes of most duels. And while their lives weren’t on the line, debatably, it might have been better if they had been, all things considered.

On the one hand, Amity wanted to win to prove herself to Lilith and her family. To prove to them that she was not a failure and that she could be worth something. To prove that she wasn’t just gifted because of her family name, but because she had genuine merit to her abilities as a witch. To finally leave the shadow of her mother and become something more.

On the other hand, Luz wanted to win because she wanted to get into Hexside and prove once and for all that just because she was a human it didn’t mean that she was weak, or inferior to a witch. With her abilities and skill alone, she could outmatch even the strongest of witches, even if said witch she was fighting was only a first year.

Both were fighting to prove themselves, both knew the stakes if the other lost. Both did not want to be the loser of this, as if they were, then it would mean that they failed to prove themselves. And in a society that only cared about one's merit, that was basically being handed a death sentence.

Finally, after a minute of standing still, staring one another down, Amity was the one to initiate the second round of combat, pointing at Luz, eyes narrowed as she shouted out her command. “Abominations! Take down Luz Noceda!” And just like that, the three Abominations roared into action, their war cries echoing throughout the arena as they charged toward Luz. In response, Luz charged as well, closing the distance between herself and the Abominations.

Upon meeting them halfway, her first instinct was to throw a punch with her left hand at the first Abomination she saw, as the abomination she was targeting was monitoring her right hand, proving to Luz that these things weren’t just puppets, but actual sentient creatures with minds and strategies of their own.

She already had Cursed Energy coating her fists so she didn’t need to channel anything. She had already prepared herself for the “second round” so to speak, knowing full well that Amity was a one-trick pony, and knowing that she would use the Abominations to fight for her. It was a tad disappointing, but she wasn’t going to call her out for it. If Amity wished to remain hidden behind her summons, then who was she to stop her? All that meant to Luz was that Amity truly didn’t know how to fight. Meaning that, as soon as these Abominations were dealt with, she would have no problem winning the fight.

Then again, she was assuming, and that wasn’t exactly a good thing. As her mother always said: Assuming things of others would only lead to misconceptions and misconceptions often led to even worse things that one assumed of the other, blowing a once simple situation into an even worse one. In other words, while she was confident that she could win this, she needed to keep her guard up, and not treat this like a game as she currently was. 

Upon coming within swinging distance of the first Abomination of the group of three, she threw a quick left jab in its face, the force of the impact causing small ripples to generate from the center of impact. Without any resistance, the abomination fell to the ground, and as it did, it howled in agonizing pain as her Cursed Energy quickly caused the head of the creature to effectively melt and as soon as that was done, the rest of it dissolved away, as it’s central processing point was destroyed, leaving it unable to function—kind of like a robot in a weird, organic sense.

For a split second, Luz felt bad considering these things were almost like any other person, but she quickly refocused on the battle at hand. These things were not human, witches, nor were they demons. If anything, they were more like Cursed Spirits. And with her slaying the creature, she earned an annoyed glare from Amity, who stared at her with a mix of confusion and curiosity, as well as a healthy dose of anger.

“She did it again!” Amity thought, frustration washing over her thoughts as her mind raced, trying to figure out what it was that Luz had been doing. It went beyond anything that Amity knew, and it was honestly starting to anger her just as much as it had made her curious.

“What is it that’s allowing her to do that? Does she have some sort of Glyph on her that disables magic or something?” Amity wondered, knowing full well that there was no such Glyph, as that would be counterproductive. And so, in a last-ditch effort to try and figure out what it was that Luz was doing, she opened up her senses to try and sniff out what it was that she was using. And it was only when she did that that she felt it.

What she felt was something akin to blasphemy, and it immediately made her flinch in both apprehension and disgust. All around Luz was what could only be described as the opposite of magic. It was some sort of Curse, and she was actively using it to fight! Any witch who was worth their salt knew that Curse Magic was able to disrupt other magic, but that only worked when a witch was cursed, and a witch could only be cursed if they themselves already had magic for that curse to feed off of.

Not to mention that using Curse Magic was not only outlawed, it was outright stupid. Using Curse Magic actively killed one’s own bile sac with each use of it, and there was very little that could be done with Curse Magic. That was why the only people who used it were jailers, who didn’t need their magic for very long, as they could be cycled out, and jailers were a part of The Emperor’s Coven, so they were able to avoid all magic laws.

Amity almost felt offended that her opponent would even dare to use an outlawed form of magic until she remembered something crucial about her opponent that opened up a topic of discussion that changed the tone of her observation from anger and curiosity to confusion and curiosity.

How did Luz, a human, end up being not only Cursed, and that Curse sticking, but also given the ability to use Curse Magic without a bile sac? That was a key thing that was needed to use any kind of magic. Unless there was something about humans she didn’t know, which to be fair was probably the case because she never really cared all too much about humans up until this instant, she was stumped. Maybe humanity thought they had found a way to use magic, but instead, they all wound up cursed.

Whatever the case was, Amity didn’t know what to think, only that now she realized that having Abominations do the dirty work would not be nearly as effective as doing the work herself. But, there was a major problem with that, and it all had to do with her bile sac. “I’m running low on my essence. My bile sac is going to have to replenish soon, dumping all of that energy into that Abomination was a mistake,” Amity thought as she watched Luz duck and dodge under all of the sloppy punches and kicks that her Abominations were throwing at her.

It was honestly funny to Luz how these things were seen as any kind of threat. Even in her injured state, she could run circles around these things. One right hook and all she had to do was duck under it because the other one was going to throw a left jab to make up for the other missing. Then, when they tried to sweep her from under her feet, she’d hop upward, do a flip, and land a short distance away.

Luz narrowed her eyes at the two Abominations. It was only now that she could get a good look at them. They were incredibly bulky, and they looked perpetually upset. They also stank really badly, which only further added insult to injury. Just what was an Abomination? Maybe after the fight she could ask either Bump or Amity.

Either way, it didn’t matter. What mattered was how she was going to separate them. Of course, she could keep dodging them all day, but they were keeping the pressure on her, and if they did that she wouldn’t be able to land another hit. And seeing as they were both coming toward her again, she needed to think quickly. She could always just rush in and take one down, then do the same with the other.

That was probably her best bet. They were still slow, but not nearly as slow as the big one she took down moments ago. That was still something that had baffled her. She didn’t know what it was that she did, whatever it was it let her destroy the massive Abomination. She doubted she needed to do that again, or if she could even recreate it because her Cursed Energy felt the same as it had before she had done whatever it was that she had done.

Whatever it had been, Gojo would definitely know so she could ask him then. But for now, she put that thought on the back burner and refocused on the task at hand: Defeating Amity Blight.

With a plan in mind, Luz ran forward, directly toward the Abomination on the left. The Abomination on the right took advantage of her running toward the left one, pulling its right arm back and when Luz got close to its partner, it swung its fist forward, forcing Luz to pivot and put up a block, covering her body in Cursed Energy. She was able to absorb most of the damage, causing her to slide back ever-so-slightly, and for its partner to roundhouse kick her in the back of the head.

Pain ruptured all throughout her body, but before she was able to process what had happened, the Abomination on the right punched her square in the chest making her stagger backward. More pain filtered through her, but, yet again, before she was able to fully process it, the other Abomination punched her in the stomach, spinning her with the momentum of the blow. She was thankful that she had coated herself in Cursed Energy, which was also slowly chipping away at the abominations, meaning that she wasn’t getting hurt nearly as bad as it looked.

Luz tried to do something to break out of the loop, but the abomination to her left grabbed her arm and bent it at an awkward angle, but importantly not breaking it but still causing it to hurt, which caused her to stifle a shout of pain, before shoving her back toward its partner, which was when she realized what it was that they were doing.

“Shoot!” Luz thought as the Abomination on the right gut checked her, and as she was forced backward, the Abomination on the left backhanded her face, spinning her back to its partner, facing away from it. “They’re blocking me in!” Just as that thought ended, she was kicked in the center of her back, which pushed her forward. However, instead of what should have happened next, wherein she got decked in the face by its partner, Luz ducked, allowing for her to get out whatever tag-team attack they were doing and for one Abomination to punch the other.

Taking advantage of their momentary confusion, Luz grabbed the Abomination on the left’s face with her right hand, charging it full of Cursed Energy before slamming it into the ground. Cursed Energy rushed through its body as it dissolved into a useless pile of muck on the floor. Immediately afterward, Luz then spun around and, while the other Abomination was disoriented, she charged at it.

The Abomination stood there, shaking off the last punch it had received to the face, only for it to look at Luz, who had jumped up two feet in the air. As she landed, she charged Cursed Energy into her foot before slamming down on its head, dissolving its head with Cursed Energy and thereby resulting in the rest of it turning into nothing but a pile of goo.

Cheers roared out from the audience, save for Amity’s family and Lilith, as the announcer laughed uproariously. “Can I believe my eyes? I didn’t think I’d ever see the day when a witch was getting beaten by a human! To everyone watching at home on their Penstagram app, where we are having this battle be played live, Luz the human and Amity Blight have been going at this now for ten minutes straight, and neither of them seems ready to give up, despite the formers injuries! I guess it’s true when they say Humans really are insane!”

And that couldn’t have been more true in the eyes of Gojo. His student had been able to do something that even he had a hard time doing. Despite being the Strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, he had only ever been able to land a grand total of 6 Black Flashes in his lifetime thus far, and that was spread out through his entire life, with his first Black Flash having landed when he was 20 years old. His Six Eyes were part of the problem, seeing as he could see the space and manipulate it to constantly land Black Flashes, it actually put him at an insane disadvantage. Because he could see the space around him, but because his Infinity automatically bended the space in front of him to avoid him, hitting a Black Flash was nearly impossible for him. So when he did land a Black Flash, which was rare due to him not being able to get into The Zone thanks to him being the Strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in the world, it was no wonder why he had only ever landed about 6 Black Flashes in his whole life. 

So, for Luz to have landed her first Black Flash at 14 years old showed that she truly had promise. Hell, even Yuta didn’t land his first Black Flash until he was 16 when the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons happened in Shinjuku. Still, that was young to have one's first Black Flash, and it only further cemented to Gojo just how similar Luz and Yuta were. 

“Gojo! What the Titan was that?!” Eda exclaimed, dragging him out of his thoughts as he smiled.

“That, Eda, was a Black Flash. Essentially, what that is, is a supercharged version of a regular Curse Energy imbued punch that only happens once a few conditions are met. For starters, the person performing a Black Flash must be in “The Zone” only concentrating on themselves, their Cursed Energy, and their opponent.

“After that, they then have to imbue all of their Cursed Energy into their fist one-millionth of a second before they land their attack, and once they do that, due to the extreme speed that they are throwing their fist at, space itself will bend and the sound barrier will shatter, allowing them to deliver an attack that outputs damage to the power of 2.5 times anything that they’ve ever dished out in the past!” Gojo explained, his smile widening slightly.

To Eda, that sounded like utter nonsense. Bending space? Shattering the sound barrier? That was something that some witches could only dream of doing, and Luz just did it without so much as breaking a sweat! Granted, the conditions needed to do such a feat sounded utterly absurd, but honestly, that didn’t matter. It had happened, and she along with everyone else in the stadium witnessed it.

Never once in the history of witches duels had such a massive Abomination been summoned, and so easily defeated. As a matter of fact, that was a record-setting Abomination size. The largest Abomination to have been summoned before that one had capped at nine feet tall, and it had been summoned and made by Darius, the current Coven Head of the Abomination Coven.

According to all known masters in Abomination magic, Darius included, nine feet tall was the maximum height of an Abomination. It was logistically impossible to summon that large of an Abomination without the help of another person. And last Eda checked Amity had been the only one in that arena. 

“Something’s not adding up here…” Eda thought, frowning. Foul play was involved, that much Eda knew. And of course, she’d know. She was the master of foul play—how else did she get away from the Coven Guards all these years? By playing by the books? No. She cheated, and she was insanely good at it, much to the chagrin of all Hexes Hold’em players Titan-wide. And this? This stunk of cheating. And from what she could tell, Amity didn’t seem to know.

For a moment, Eda opened up her senses to try and fish out for any excess magic being in use down in the arena. However, she quickly shut it off when her senses were overloaded by Luz’s Cursed Energy. She physically recoiled in her seat, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face. It had caught Gojo’s attention, prompting him to speak.

“You good over there?” Gojo asked as Eda sighed, leaning forward as her expression became resolute.

“I don’t have any proof, but I think someone in the crowd is cheating on Amity’s behalf…” Eda said. As she said that, Gojo blinked underneath his blindfold, humming in disapproval. He looked back down at the arena, using his Six Eyes to view the auras of both Luz’s Cursed Energy and Amity’s Magic. And when he did, he was able to see both. But, on top of that, he was able to see another stream of magic coming off of Amity.

“Oh? What’s this?” Gojo thought as he focused on the lone stream of magic, and where it was heading to. Unlike the rest of the magic on Amity, this small amount left a paper trail of sorts, and it was drifting over to a crowded section of the stands, where a group of people who looked similar to Amity, minus a man with chocolate brown hair, sat. And in and amongst that group, Gojo spotted a familiar pair of emerald green eyes.

The eyes belonged to a pale-skinned woman, with dark blue hair, dressed in a black dress and a white cloak held together by a triangle pin. Gojo chuckled, crossing his arms, earning Eda’s attention. “What is it? Did you figure something out?”

“Look over there, with all of the clones of Amity,” Gojo remarked as he jabbed his right thumb in the direction of where the Blight Family sat. Eda’s line of eyesight followed where he was pointing, and what she had seen was more than a little shocking. It was Lilith, and she was sitting next to the Blights as if she were some sort of family friend.

And if Gojo had weeded her out, then that could only mean…. “Lilith is boosting Amity’s strength, attempting to tilt the odds in her favour…!” Eda hissed, an annoyed look dancing in her eyes as Gojo raised an eyebrow.

“You know her?” He questioned, causing Eda to snap out of her realization with a set of rapid-fire blinks. It was only then that she realized she had thought that out loud. A hint of embarrassment rolled over her features, eyes widening and brimming with shock and the aforementioned embarrassment before her expression soured.

“Yes. She’s my sister, and she’s a piece of work. That’s all there is to it, don’t go digging any deeper than that, got it?” Eda spat as Gojo shrugged. Who was he to dig into another person’s personal life? Oh, who was he kidding, he was totally going to do that later. Of course, when he had the time, that was. That was drama with a capital D right there, and he needed some of that ASAP.

“But, enough of that,” Eda began as she quickly switched topics, “we should let the announcers know that Amity’s cheating. If we do—”

“Nah,” Gojo interrupted, catching Eda off guard as she stared at him, dumbfounded.

“What do you mean “Nah”!? That would be an instant win for Luz!” Eda exclaimed, in response Gojo uncrossed his arms, glancing over to Eda.

“No, that wouldn’t. While technically, it would, she was told to “best a top first-year Hexside student.” If said student was found to be cheating, it would mean that the fight was unfair, and therefore Luz would have to redo it if it were found out mid-battle. Bump strikes me as the kind of person to do that. After all, he already stacked the deck in Amity’s favour, so who’s to say he wouldn’t make use of this out that we’d be inadvertently giving him?” Gojo explained as Eda huffed.

She wasn’t very happy with Gojo’s conclusion, but he was right. Bump was that type of person. He had always been a sore loser, and while he did play by the rules and was a staunch defender of them, he was also a very biased individual. Most people were, there was no shame in it. Sighing, Eda went back to watching the battle, and just as she did, she caught a glimpse of Amity barely dodging out of the way as Luz swung a right hook imbued with Cursed Energy aimed directly for her face.

After her Abominations had been bested, Amity had been left with barely any magic at her disposal, and not only that, the amount of magic she had used in a single sitting had taken a toll on her body. She was essentially running on fumes, adrenaline, and hopes and dreams. Normally, when an Abomination was defeated, the summoner would be able to reconstitute it, or get rid of it and re-absorb the magic that had been used to create it.

But, because Luz was actively destroying the magic in the Abominations Amity was unable to reclaim it, and as such, Luz had unwittingly put her at an extreme disadvantage, leaving her no choice but to get up close and personal.

Dodging a left jab by backstepping, Amity drew a small purple circle in front of her pointer finger, as Abomination matter slithered its way up her arm and formed into a small circular shield just in time for her to block the next punch that Luz threw at her. The punch had yet again destroyed the Abomination matter as expected, causing the mass to fall to the ground uselessly, and for Amity to have no choice but to dodge to the right as another left hook came at her.

Amity only had a few more uses of magic left before she had to quit, or else she would suffer the consequences of overuse. While it was extremely rare, a witch could end up overworking their Bile Sac. It mostly happened when a witch was young and inexperienced, and it was the cause of a lot of premature crippling injuries, to sometimes in the worst cases, death if not treated right away.

Overworking one's Bile Sac was akin to puncturing a lung in terms of severity. It was a vital organ, and any damage to it could cause severe problems. And because it was essentially attached to the heart, overworking it would cause damage to the heart as well. Not major damage, but enough that it required immediate medical attention.

And Luz had pushed Amity close to that point, the organ next to her heart feeling as if it were on fire. It caused sweat to build up on Amity’s forehead, and for her heart to pound against her chest. Luz’s determined expression didn’t help things either, what with her eyebrows knit together in a half-glare, accentuated by the blood coming down from her forehead, and her lips formed into a half frown.

Bringing up her arms together, Amity took the next punch directly, and when it landed, it instantly broke her guard. She had been taken aback by the sheer strength of Luz’s punch, and in that brief moment of being dazed, Amity took a right hook to the face. It hurt, and a lot, having caused her to spew saliva and for her to stagger in the direction she had been hit.

It felt as if she was spinning, and as that happened, a sudden thought came to her mind.

“I’m going to lose.” There were no two ways about it. That was just the facts. She was going to lose to a human. But, rather than feel angry or upset about it, she felt oddly calm. It was clear to Amity that this human was not like the others. This human, in some ironic sense, was special. Had it been any other human, Amity would have been utterly furious.

But against Luz? Not so much.

“If I had to lose to a human… I wouldn’t have picked a better opponent to lose to.” And it was at that moment that internally, Amity had given up. She had accepted her loss at the hands of Luz. Now all that had to happen was for her to finish it.

And that was exactly what happened next.

As Luz prepared to finish the fight, she stomped forward, getting a fixed footing in front of Amity, who was still recovering from being punched in the face, Cursed Energy shot through Luz’s body as it all culminated at the end of her fist. With a shout, Luz twisted her body to the right whilst she reared back her right arm, and threw the punch in a corkscrew motion, hitting her target in the gut.

The force of the impact caused Amity to spew up more saliva, practically making her eyes bulge out of their sockets as pain rocketed through her system. It was like she had been hit full force by a charging Slitherbeast in silver-plated armour.

A crunching sound, most likely the sound of her lower ribs being cracked, echoed in the surrounding area, as she was launched from where she was standing into the wall of the “home” side of the arena, crashing next to the entrance as the wall cracked under the force and speed of the blow, and for Amity to slump down it, unconscious.

“ITS AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE! YOU’RE WATCHING HISTORY IN THE MAKING, FOLKS! LUZ NOCEDA, A HUMAN, TRIUMPHED OVER AMITY BLIGHT OF HEXSIDE! I DON’T THINK I NEED TO SPELL THIS OUT TO ANYONE, BUT LUZ NOCEDA IS THE VICTOR BY KNOCKOUT!”

The stadium went wild to say the very least as cheers of excitement flooded the arena. Luz stood, basking in the glory as she breathed heavily. Exhaustion slowly crept over her form, but she didn’t fall from being tired. She refused to. After all, someone who won was meant to stand proud, and so that was what she did.

A smile took up her visage. She won, and she did so with a disadvantage in both experience and a lack of magic. Even if her Cursed Energy gave her the ability to kill off the abomination matter that Amity had been using to fight, she had the range disadvantage. Yet despite that, she still won.

She looked up at Gojo, who was looking down at her with the largest shit-eating grin on his face that she had ever seen. Pride oozed from him, that much she could tell. He was happy, and that was all that mattered. The truth of the matter was that she had two goals that she wanted to achieve in this battle. To win, and to impress her teacher.

And if that smile didn’t tell her that she had completed that secondary goal, she didn’t know what did. She glanced over at Eda, who also had a smile on her face. King was cheering with the rest of the ground, standing atop Eda’s head like the cat-dog-fox creature he was.

“If only mi madre were here to see me…” Luz thought, looking down at the ground. Droplets of blood began to fall from her forehead, staining the sandy ground. This was the second time that her forehead was bleeding, but now she could actually taste the blood in her mouth from where her gums were torn. It tasted like what she imagined copper to taste like—irony, like the tip of an eraser on a pencil.

She was glad it wasn’t anything too bad. A busted gum was bad, but nothing that Eda’s healing magic couldn’t fix. Either that, or she could get patched up here.

Meanwhile, back in the stands, astonishment coated Lilith’s expression. How was this possible?! She had watched the fight from start to finish and not once did it seem that this human, Luz, should have been able to win. In all respects, it was an easy win, even with her mentor being Satoru Gojo.

She had clearly underestimated the human. A mistake she had made not once, but twice. Once with Satoru Gojo before she understood just what she was up against. And now, yet again, with his pupil. And it was funny because she had been the one to warn Amity about her apparent threat. The irony was palpable.

“You said that my daughter would win…” The seething voice of the woman sitting next to Lilith spoke up, earning her attention. She appeared to be what Lilith imagined an older Amity to appear as. Pale of skin, aquamarine hair, but with pale blue eyes rather than Amity’s vibrant golden yellow. She had crow's feet around her eyes, most likely due to either age or the stress of running the financial side of Blight Industries.

She was dressed in a violet blouse with a white waistcoat that had a distinct pattern of triple interlocking orbs. Accompanying that was a pair of navy form-fitting pants and gray-heeled boots, along with a pair of golden orb earrings. She had a curvaceous body that, in Lilith’s opinion, was wasted on the person next to her due to her… personality not matching it. Not to mention she was wearing a hideous shade of lipstick—purple—and her jewelry was nothing but flashy, and hardly matched the outfit, that being a light purple orbed wristband and a dark purple jewel necklace.

Lilith was never a fan of fashion, as she had seen it as a waste of time, but such an assault on the eyes needed to be pointed out. And neither was she a fan of the woman who had worn such an ugly outfit, which also mirrored her ugly personality.

Odalia Blight, mother of Amity, Emira, and Edric Blight and Co-Founder of Blight Industries alongside her husband, Alador Blight. She was a master at controlling businesses, manipulating stock markets thanks to her unique ability in Oracle Magic to predict the future, and, to an extent, puppeteering her children into neat little boxes from which she could plan out their lives where she would benefit the most from it.

Lilith found it a mixture of both appealing and disturbing. Appealing in the sense that she was extremely good at it, almost making it appear flawless, and disturbing because… well, she was controlling the lives of her children.

That aside, Lilith had no business in what Odalia was doing. Besides, Odalia had paid her a decent amount of money to arrange this fight to go in their favour—100,000 Snails for the Power Glyph, and another 30,000 Snails per Amity’s training sessions. And yet, despite that, Amity lost.

“Yes, that much is apparent,” Lilith remarked, glancing over at Odalia. “Although, I will say, it is unprecedented. This should not have happened, and I apologize for it.”

“So much for her being a prodigy,” Edric remarked, brushing a hand through his dark green hair, a cocky grin taking up his visage. He was dressed in a purple vest with dark purple sleeves held together by a black belt, a pair of cyan pants, and black boots with purple rims. There was a hint of mischief lurking beneath his golden yellow eyes, and he sported a small birthmark underneath his left one. It was common for his eyes to have that particular gleam in them, given his track record as Hexside’s resident prankster. His comment didn’t go unpunished, however, as he got a slap up the back of the head courtesy of Emira.

“Watch your tongue you heathen. This was clearly rigged in the human’s favour, our sister should have wiped the floor with her! She was clearly cheating, right Mother?” Emira asked, a sneer plastered on her face. She, much like her twin brother, had dark green hair and golden yellow eyes. She too was dressed in a violet vest with dark purple sleeves. However, rather than wear a pair of pants, she was dressed in a pair of shorts with purple cuffs. Her shoes were a pair of topless flats, along with plain black anklets.

Odalia frowned, eyebrows knit with fury dancing in her pale blue eyes. “Yes, that is the obvious conclusion. I’ll alert the—”

“I wouldn’t, If I were you,” Lilith interrupted, gaining a fiery, piercing glare from Odalia. “Unless, of course, you wish to be discovered for the Power Glyph,” She continued, the glare dying completely as Odalia huffed.

“That doesn’t change the fact that the human clearly cheated. This was rigged! My daughter would never lose to a pitiful human!” Odalia spat, fury lacing her words as Lilith sighed.

“And typically, I would agree with you. However, recently, I’ve begun to doubt that humans are completely magicless. You saw just as much as I have that the human we watched didn’t use any Glyphs. And I could detect no forms of cheating when I focused on her. Not to mention my own in-field observations, I cannot say in good conscious that this Luz Noceda individual cheated,” Lilith replied as the man who sat next to Emira raised an eyebrow.

Unlike the other Blights, the man in question had dark brown hair, messy and unkempt, but like the children, he too sported golden yellow eyes. Rather than what he typically wore in his workshop, he was currently wearing a black undershirt and grey sweatpants, which exposed his hairy arms. He had a thin mustache upon his upper lip and the startings of a goatee on his chin.

“Huh?” Alador said, prompting Lilith to continue.

“For starters, if you hadn’t noticed, she gives off an aura of someone who's been cursed. If you had opened your senses during the fight, you would’ve felt it. It was rather disturbing, but it explains the destruction of the magic in the abomination matter that Amity was using, meaning she couldn’t reuse it to keep the fight going. As for what happened regarding the larger abomination that she created with the help of the Power Glyph, I do not know. If I were to guess, she used more of whatever Curse she seemed to be wielding to destroy it.”

“But how can Humans be cursed if they don’t have magic!?” Edric complained, slumping in his seat. “It doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense!”

“I agree, but that is simply how it played out. There’s no point in getting upset over a spilt potion, so to speak,” Lilith stated, standing up from her seat while at the same time, a few Healing Coven Witches had been deployed to the arena to gather the two injured combatants. “If you excuse me, I have evidence to destroy,” Lilith said as she turned to walk away, but not before looking over her shoulder at Odalia. “Oh, and if you do not wish to be arrested for coercing a Coven Leader of committing a crime via bribery, Mrs. Blight, I suggest you deliver that one million Snails to me by the end of the week.”

That last comment seemed to make Odalia furious, given how her face went beat red in rage. Unfortunately for the older woman, it was to no avail, as Lilith walked away, content in knowing that she had made the day of a horrible individual worse than it was already. Besides, Lilith got what she wanted out of this encounter. She got the information she wanted, and she also now had a definitive explanation as to why they couldn’t capture Satoru Gojo, aside from his explanation of his “Cursed Technique” or whatever it was he called it.

Whatever this Curse stuff was that Luz was employing in her battle could destroy magic. But, notably, it didn’t destroy the source of magic. Only when it was applied to a spell did this Curse stuff destroy it, meaning it wasn’t exactly an imminent threat to Magickind. And while the call to arrest Luz and Gojo had been taken down, it was still good to know, and it would be passed on to The Emperor via a message.

As Lilith exited the stands and made her way to the exit, out of the corner of her eye she noticed a crimson-cloaked figure standing by the exit, body completely obscured by the clothing with no revealing features, save for one thing, that having been the shimmer of a golden tooth. It caused Lilith’s internal alarm bells to rise, as a smirk took up the figure's visage.

“Helping your student to cheat? Gotta say that’s a new low. Thought you were better than that. So much for you being the law-abiding goodie-two-shoes you said you’d be, huh sis?” The cloaked figure said, but just as Lilith was about to say something, reaching out to the figure to try and stop them from going anywhere, it disappeared entirely, fading into a blue light as Lilith groaned.

“An illusion… Which means that Edayln’s here somewhere!” A part of Lilith was desperate to see her sister, both because of the resolve she had to uphold her job and arrest her, and to see her for the sole reason that she was her sister. But, despite her trying to fish out for the source of the illusion magic, Lilith came up empty-handed.

Briefly, frustration washed over her, only for it to wash away as she steeled herself. She should’ve known that Edalyn was going to show up. Especially considering that watching fights in the Colosseum was one of her favourite pastimes when they were younger.

It had been well over twenty years since they had met on amicable terms. Truthfully, it was Lilith’s fault for that, but regardless of the past, Lilith would do anything to see her sister again. Even if it meant it was with her being behind a cell door with Magical Restraints.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stands inside the main building, walking down a long hallway next to Eda, Gojo was deep in thought. For starters, his pupil won. That was the second most prominent thing going on in his mind. She had beaten Amity Blight, and by virtue of that, it meant that Luz would be permitted into Hexside and that now he had a job to make passive income—not that he needed it due to his already ludicrous amounts of wealth but oh well.

However, there was another thing that had been on his mind. He already knew what it was he was going to teach at the school, especially considering the amount of Cursed Spirits that had begun to pop up around The Boiling Isles and the sheer danger they represented. Rather, this was representative of his current and only Student. His pupil.

He didn’t know when it had happened, but when he peered into her Cursed Energy, the second lock on the metaphorical black box had been removed, with only two more locks remaining. Was it The Black Flash that had done it, or was it the act of beating Amity? “Whatever it was that caused it, it hardly matters. The box is now halfway to being open.”

A part of him was both nervous and excited to see what kind of Cursed Technique Luz would have. She was a complete wildcard. A Cursed Technique, especially one that was tied to a no-name family, represented a person in mind, body, and soul. It was a reflection of their being, often twisted in a negative sense.

For example, if someone was a pyromaniac or had a fiery personality or in some way worshipped fire, then their Cursed Technique—if they had one—would be some form of flame technique. What it would take the form of was up in the air, but it would be directly related to fire in some way, shape, or form.

Luz, as a person, was what appeared to be a carefree individual, who had boundless creativity and energy. She was happy-go-lucky and she was proud of it. An opportunist and an overall enjoyer of all things bizarre—some would even describe her as such. That alone provided a framework for what her Cursed Technique could end up becoming.

However, then came the power that the box radiated. It was the kind of power one should be wary of. The kind of power that, if fallen into the wrong hands, could end up being disastrous. That was the vibe that Gojo got from Luz’s Cursed Technique, or what it felt like anyway. And the more the box opened and the more the locks came off, the more became clearer.

The last time he viewed it, he compared it to Nanami’s in terms of power. Now, however, it was completely unknown. It gave off a different feel than last time, almost as if it hadn’t known what it was supposed to be at the time. Either that or it was so all over the place that Gojo couldn’t get a proper read on it.

“Yo, Blindfold, I’m talking to you!” Eda’s voice cut through his thoughts as she stared at him, eyebrow raised. Gojo looked at her through his blindfold, his expression neutral. “You look deep in thought over there. You good?” She asked as Gojo sighed, smirking.

“Just thinking. It’s nothing important. Not yet, anyway,” he replied before looking down the hallway and then over his shoulder. He had just come down a flight of stairs, and now he was on the lower floor. In front of him was the medical room, which meant that they were heading to where Luz and Amity had been. Perfect. “C’mon, I’m sure Bump is waiting for us in the medical room with Luz and Amity.”

“I can’t be here, remember? Take me back first,” Eda said, as, without saying anything, Gojo teleported Eda and King back to The Owl House, before promptly teleporting back to the Colessum, specifically in the infirmary. When he showed up, he was greeted with an argument.

“I’m telling you, I did not know about the Power Glyph, Principal, honestly!” Amity’s voice reverberated throughout the medical room as Principal Bump stared down Amity with a mix of disappointment and frustration in his eyes. Meanwhile, Luz was merely sitting back in one of the beds with bandages wrapped around her forehead, her left leg pressed up against her body with it being held in place by her arm with her other leg stretched out. She was silently watching the back and forth, a tired look on her face.

It was clear to Gojo that she was drained from the battle, which made sense, considering it was the first real battle that she’d ever been in, and also because of how close the match was. While to an outsider looking in, it looked like Amity was getting completely dogwalked, from Gojo’s point of view, the fight was more even than what it appeared.

For starters, Amity, while having made a stupid move in regards to summoning that massive abomination at the start of the battle, was able to make it work due to it having landed that attack. That put a time limit on Luz, because the moment the adrenaline ran out, she would be flat on her ass without any time to spare. Then, came the part with the multiple Abominations, which had genuinely caused Luz some problems for a hot minute.

Unfortunately for Amity, the moment Luz dispatched those Abominations, the fight was basically over, as at that point, Amity had been exhausted, whereas Luz was still being pumped full of adrenaline. That being said, the moment that adrenaline died was the moment Luz had essentially shut down, only standing to not look as if she had fainted and to save face and not look weak in the eyes of the crowd.

“Note to self, work on endurance for the next training session,” Gojo thought as he shot Luz a thumbs up. Wearily, she threw one back at him, before she seemingly went back to whatever train of thought she had been in before.

“I would like to believe you, Ms. Blight. Truly, I do. But even so, how am I to know that to be the case? I doubt Lilith would place one on you without your notice. Either way, I have no choice but to punish you for this behaviour. And here I thought you were a model student,” Principal Bump replied with sincerity as Gojo approached the two witches, the older of the two only noticing when he had been right next to him.

“Oh! Gojo, I was wondering where you were. I would like to apologize—”

“No need, Principal,” Gojo interrupted, confusing Bump as Gojo turned to face Amity. She looked genuinely upset and seemingly embarrassed. He understood what it was like to have one's pride shattered because of a petty accusation of something one did not do. Granted, the most he got accused of was stealing drinks from others or forgetting to brew coffee by Megumi. But still, it wasn’t like he wasn’t new to things like that.

“So, Amity Blight, right? You fought my student. Pretty good job, all things considered,” Gojo said as Amity blinked, confusion taking up her visage.

“But, I cheated. It doesn’t matter if what I did wasn’t in my capabilities,” Amity muttered, downcast as she glanced at her hands, her fingers curling into her palms into a not-so-quite fist. “I made a mockery of myself…”

“Was it intentional?”

“No!” Amity immediately responded. Bump went to say something, only for Gojo to raise a hand, stopping him. Gojo got down to a single knee, before placing a hand on Amity’s shoulder. Once again, confusion took up her visage at the unfamiliar action as he spoke.

“Then that’s all that matters. You still gave it your all, regardless of what it was you did or didn’t do. No one should be punished for something that wasn’t even their fault. It’s kinda of like being accused of throwing a pie in someone’s face when in reality they slipped and fell in a conveniently placed pie. It’s not your fault, right? So therefore you shouldn’t be punished,” Gojo said, a small chuckle escaping Amity as Gojo took a step back, letting go of her shoulder.

He looked back to Bump, arms crossed as he looked up at Gojo, his expression unreadable as Gojo spoke. “So, Principal, we can sweep this under the rug, right? There’s no reason for unjustly punishing someone for something they didn’t do, right?”

“I suppose,” Bump said, stroking his chin as he bristled. “We still need to know who did it, though. Who could’ve placed the Glyph on the back of her neck without her noticing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gojo said his tone deadpan as Bump frowned, but instead of Bump speaking up it was Amity.

“Lilith would never,” She said, her tone harsh and resolute. “She’s the head of The Emperor’s Coven. What would she have to gain for cheating in a battle that wasn’t even hers? That, and it’s a total betrayal of trust! She’s my teacher! She said that I was special! For her to cheat on my behalf would mean she didn’t have faith in me, and if she didn’t have faith in me, that would mean that I wasn’t special… and if I’m not special….”

The way how Amity ended that sentence caused Gojo to cringe internally, while externally he kept a rather relaxed appearance. Pressure was on that kid's shoulders, that much he could tell, and it wasn’t fair. He knew what that was like, considering he was both the inheritor of The Six Eyes and his Family’s Cursed Technique. He knew what it was like to be treated less like a child and more like an adult, which was the same feeling that Amity was giving off.

Truly, the Blights seemed like The Zen’in of The Boiling Isles, and that alone made him frown. The Zen’in, as he had previously noted, were nothing but egotistical, loud-mouthed, snooty, annoying, and downright misogynistic pigs who viewed Cursed Energy and Cursed Technique’s like they were something to be coveted.

Obviously, Gojo fundamentally disagreed with every single one of their stances. Maki Zen’in, a woman with no Cursed Technique, was probably the strongest one of Zen’in Blood he had ever had the pleasure to meet, aside from Megumi, and those of The Zen’in Clan viewed her as nothing but contemptible trash and actively fought against her ability to climb the ranks in Jujutsu Society because they viewed her as worthless garbage.

It pissed Gojo off. Tampering with a student’s success because of some bogus belief made him angry. But, because The Zen’in Clan had their rights, he couldn’t do anything about it but complain as The Head Of The Gojo Clan, what with him being the strongest.   

Gojo looked over to Amity, a hint of pity in his eyes underneath his blindfold. He could see the hurt in her face, and he could see just how much this was affecting her. Unfortunately, there was no hiding from the truth. “That might be your opinion. Unfortunately, Amity, you can’t deny the truth. The only other people who could’ve done it are either your family, or my student, and my student destroys magic in everything she touches, Glyph’s included. And your family wasn’t near you in the locker room. So, that can only leave one other person.”

A heavy silence hung over the room, the implication clear. There was only one person who could’ve cheated, and it was glaringly obvious. The look of hurt on Amity’s face was indescribable. It was clear to Gojo that she must’ve looked up to Lilith for a long time. So for her idol-turned-mentor to have cheated on her behalf, it must’ve been a wake-up call that was not only unwanted but sorely needed.

“Well, if that is the truth, then I suppose I owe an apology,” Bump said, clearing his throat. “I shouldn’t have accused you of something so baselessly, and for that I am sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Amity said, dejected as her shoulders sagged. If there was one thing that Gojo hated seeing, it was kids who were upset or anything negative regarding children. They should be allowed to be happy, to live with carefree abandonment and to see their idols as just that, idols. To know that not only someone you looked up to for years wasn’t all that they were cracked up to be, but actively did something that could have hurt your reputation is beyond upsetting.

“Well, clearly this Lilith person isn’t a good person, right?” Luz spoke suddenly, catching all of them off guard. She had an innocent look on her face, unaware of what it was she seemingly implying. And it was that accusation that caused Amity to go from upset to furious in a matter of seconds.

“Take that back!” Amity snapped, as Luz recoiled, raising her hands defensively.

“Whoa! Chill out!” Luz said, chuckling nervously to herself as Amity narrowed her eyes. It was clear that was a sore spot, but still… “There’s no need to get that angry! All I’m saying is that she basically used you, right? That’s not something a good person would do, would they?” Luz explained as Amity went to say something, but stopped, closing her mouth as a realization dawned on her. Luz was right. Amity always found it strange that Lilith decided to train her out of everyone else in the school.

Why her? Why not someone in a higher grade? She was just a first-year student, nowhere near close to graduating. Not to mention that Lilith wasn’t exactly the greatest at Abomination magic. It was a widely accepted truth when it came to the Coven Head of the Emperor Coven. What other explanation could it be? Was it because she so blindly looked up to her that she chose her to become a laughingstock?

“I guess the saying “never meet your heroes” is true, even to someone as great as Lilith…” Amity thought as Luz spoke up again.

“I could be, like, totally wrong though, so who knows?” Luz continued as Amity’s expression once again became downcast. Bump, on the other hand, had a tight-lipped expression, the wrinkles on his forehead furrowing ever-so-slightly.

“No…. While I will admit it is a little unusual for Lilith to do something like this, it is not the first time that she has done something drastic to prove a point,” Bump said as Gojo tilted his head.

“Oh? Some juicy drama, huh?” Gojo asked as Bump frowned.

“Do try to take this semi-seriously, Mr. Gojo,” Bump said before clearing his throat. “You see, ten years ago, a massive heist regarding a bunch of recently graduated witches and demons who had planned the whole incident out took place, and it made for quite the spectacle. It made widespread news, and three of them were from the Illusion track, and two of them were in the Abomination track. So, of course, the plan was to disguise what it was they were stealing as some fast food. Unfortunately, they ran into Lilith.”

The way Bump spoke put Amity on edge, which implied that Lilith must have been something more than some sideways idol. Gojo had an idea of what to expect, crossing his arms. This kind of story ends with only a bad ending, and because of that, he wasn’t too shocked about what it was that Bump said next. “She killed them. There was no hesitation, and the news went wild after what it was that she did. She had cast a petrification spell and condemned them all to death. And because petrification turns someone into stone, and it cannot be undone…. Well, I don’t think I should have to spell it out.” 

“That’s awful!” Luz called out as Bump sighed, nodding in agreement, his eyes reflecting grief.

“They were some of the best students in Hexside, to boot. I taught two of them, the ones who used Abomination magic. Lilith lost a lot of support that day, but the Emperor was one of the only people, aside from the Emperor Coven members, who applauded her actions. And because The Emperor is, well, the Emperor, no one wanted to have the “wrong opinion.” Public perception of her changed on a dime, as anyone who had a descending opinion was locked up. I only avoided it because I run this school and ever since then myself and Lilith have never seen eye-to-eye again.”

After his explanation, Gojo felt more than a little troubled. Typically, graduates from school were adults, and they were free to make their own choices. If said choices wind up in them being killed then he wasn’t exactly one to care about what they did. But, in a world where the laws were a little different, graduating could be at a younger age.

And so, to sate his curiosity, he asked a very important question. “What age do Witches typically graduate?” Gojo asked, his voice switching up from his usual cheery tone to something else. Bump raised an eyebrow underneath Frewin’s mouth mask.

“Why?”

“Because depending on your answer depends on what it is I do next,” Gojo said, and the implications were obvious. More than that, the amount of surface-level anger that flowed off of the man caused Luz to shudder in both fear and also concern. For as long as she had known Gojo, that being almost two weeks, he had never been anywhere near this close to being angry.

Oh, sure there were moments when he was annoyed. But angry? Personally, Luz had never seen it. And if this was just surface-level anger, then she dreaded to know what happened when he got properly furious. Even worse was that this was without his Cursed Energy flaring. She knew that witches were sensitive to the stuff, so she could only imagine he was reigning it in so as to not hurt the two witches in the room.

Either out of a means to calm down, or out of reflex, Bump cleared his throat yet again before he spoke. “It depends on when they have either reached what s-some might call a masters degree, o-or… when they reach the age of 17. That would be considered graduation. I—”

“I see. Then I know what I am going to do the next time I run into her,” Gojo said before sighing, not leaving any room for interpretation, as his overall response was… anti-climatic. Luz was expecting some kind of crazy reaction the likes of which eclipsed anything she had seen before. But instead, his anger kind of just fizzled out. Or, maybe he was the type of person to have a silent kind of anger. And those were usually the worst.

“And what does that mean?” Bump asked as Gojo smirked, flashing his teeth in the process.

“None of your concern, gramps. Now, about that Job you spoke about? When should I begin?” Gojo asked, changing the subject abruptly as Bump sighed. It was clear that Gojo was refusing to elaborate, and Bump could sense that it would become a pattern in the near future. Then again, everyone else at the school was so boringly conformist that maybe adding a little bit of flair to the school with Gojo would allow for some real change to happen.

“Tomorrow. And on that note, what colour would you like your specific track to be, and what do you want the name of it to be?” Bump asked as Gojo hummed, cupping his chin in thought. At first, he considered a red and blue split, but a better idea replaced it instead. After all, his favourite colour was purple. So, with that in mind.

“Dark purple. I know you guys already got a light purple coloured track, but what about dark purple?” Gojo asked as Bump sighed.

“That would then make there be three different shades of purple…. Very well if that is what you wish. And the name?” Bump questioned as Gojo smirked. He had been workshopping names since the beginning of the day. Let it be known that Gojo was a very confident person, especially thanks to his ego—though that was moreso because of his sheer power that had made it inflated as much as it had been.

As Bump stared at him, a minor headache already coming because he knew it was going to be something stupid, as Bump had already been able to deduce that Gojo was more than a handful, Gojo responded with “The Cursed Track. I mean, I am teaching about Cursed Energy, so why not make it at least a little bit literal, right?”

Bump frowned with both expectedness and disappointment, Luz groaned at the horrendously bad pun, and Amity felt secondhand embarrassment for Luz. Meanwhile, Gojo didn’t give a care in the world. He was more than happy with what he picked, opinions be damned. “Very well. I will have it all set up for you by tomorrow. Arrive an hour earlier than the students, which would be 7:30. The other staff would most likely meet you two. You two are free to leave, but Amity, I want you to stay so that the medical team can make sure you’re properly healed. Your parents would kill me otherwise.”

And with that, everyone sans Amity departed with Luz disappearing in a literal flash with Gojo, and Bump exiting the room at the same pace that an elderly man would. It left Amity all by herself. But rather than reflect on the failure of a battle that she had against Luz, Amity decided that it was far more important for her to get some rest. After all, what was there to reflect upon?

She was still tired from battling till exhaustion, and so, until she was needed for something, she laid down on the slightly uncomfortable medical bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, whilst the silence overtook the recovery quadrant of the Bonesborough Arena, a lone shadowy figure stood next to the window, just obfuscated enough so that it could not be seen. A lone red eye peered out from underneath a matte black cloak, as a smile with cracked lips made itself apparent. The rest of its form was hidden underneath the cloak, aside from the lower half of its face.

Hallowed cheeks representative of someone who was starved of nutrition were some of its most prominent facial features, and yet despite this, it never gave off a frail kind of energy. Rather, it gave off a rather distinct, profound sort of energy.

There was a saying that existed amongst those who believed in evolution. That life, no matter how, always finds a way. Food always finds its way onto a dinner plate, be it alive or deceased. Nature always retakes what has been stolen from it. And a child, no matter how twisted, always comes back to its parents.

“I see….” The figure said in an almost childlike youthful tone. “So that’s where you have hidden yourself…. I knew I was born from something, even if for the longest time I could not pinpoint it. And even if I only caught a glimpse of you for but a brief moment, I know, deep in my darkened existence, that it was you. You were the one who created me.” The figure let out a mirthless, yet also slightly psychotic chuckle, reminiscent of an insane person. “So, it would only be fit to call you what you humans would call one’s own creator. I am so glad I finally got to see you… mother.”

The figure began to walk away from the window of the Arena, still covered in its cloak. A smile so wide it caused the sides of its mouth to crack like porcelain, thick black stitches keeping the hinges of its jaw together. This body was still working out its kinks, after all. A doll, not its real form. A form that would have gotten it detected by that white-haired man the moment it showed up.

That was why it could not show its face, nor could it come here in its true form. That would simply spell its death. Besides, now was not the time for them to meet. It felt far too soon. It would wait, patiently, for the right moment. It had to because otherwise, it would not be the perfect reveal!

While it was more than a little annoyed it had to wait, it was patient enough. But soon, in the near future, it proposed, that it would meet its mother face to face, and when that happened….

It would show her pain, unlike anything she had ever experienced ever before. After all, pain was the utmost and truest form of love. 

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 8: The Troubling Tale Of Skara The Nobody]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born, by: Creepy Nuts]

The sun sat high in the sky, ominously hovering within its epicentre as most celestial bodies did. Yellow clouds gathered around the once typically reddish-orange skies of The Boiling Isles, indicating to its inhabitants that it would rain soon, causing a brief tinge of panic in those who needed to get some shopping done, and likewise to those who had planned to open their shops late into the evening.

Though considering it was the rainy season in The Boiling Isles, no one was surprised. Granted, it was a tad on the annoying side, especially because it got in the way of so many plans. Sure, folks could use magic to protect themselves, but it would just get in the way, and only a few select people had access to Oracle magic due to the sigils on their wrists indicating which track they were locked into.

At the same time, school had just gone out for the day, with children and staff alike walking to and from the building, excitement filling the air. Why? Because a fight that would be marked in the history books of The Boiling Isles had just finished, and its effects would ripple across the whole of The Titan’s Corpse for years to come.

Luz The Human, someone of no renown or idea of the world she was brought into, fought against Amity Blight, a top first-year student at Hexside. It was a battle against a nobody with no claim to fame and someone with a respected reputation. The winner should have been obvious to anyone who watched it unfold.

But, in a world where anything was possible, including the impossible, the opposite occurred. The human had beaten Amity with some strange form of Magic. Humans weren’t supposed to have magic, yet this one did. Granted, it was a kind of magic that was forbidden, but it was magic nonetheless.

It opened discussions on forums, wondering if the human had cheated or not, or if Amity simply wasn’t all that she was cracked up to be, especially if a human could beat her. Whatever the case was, it had caused a stir in the community. And yet, despite that, and despite that minor distraction, others were busy doing more important stuff.

Case in point….

“You got our money yet, Emerald?” A tall, orkish, rocky-skinned, monstrous-looking male teenager, flanked by two other witches, both of which had different shades of brown skin, one lighter than the other, stared down a young dark-brown-skinned witch teenager, who had been unceremoniously shoved to the ground, a few scrapes and bruises on her face from a prior encounter.

She had gray eyes, and pinkish-gray dyed hair on the top of her hair, with the rest being a deep mauve, and it was held in a large ponytail in a red hair hand. She was dressed in the Hexside school uniform, as were the others surrounding her, and they were all adorned with red sleeves and leggings, meaning that they were all part of the bard track.

Skara Emerald scowled at the group of three, eyes narrowed in such a way that it expressed deep, volatile hatred. And yet, she could do nothing about these brutes because she was far too weak to do so. Not to be taken as she, as a member of the opposite sex, couldn’t do anything about this because she was a woman, but because she, quite literally, was far too weak to do anything about it.

It had been like that since her birth. Since the day she was born, she was destined to be seen as a wallflower, unable to do even the most basic of spells. She struggled to do pretty much anything magic-wise and to make matters worse, she had picked one of the most magic-intensive tracks to be in. The Bard Track.

It wasn’t a stretch to say that Skara was a black sheep in the Bard Track. She could hardly use the magical instruments, not because she couldn’t play any of them well—as a matter of fact, she was extremely good at playing with instruments. Rather, it was the “putting one's magic into it” that tripped her up.

She could never put the right amount of magic in the instrument that she was using, and as such, she was seen as a failure by a large majority of people in her class, the teacher included. But because she couldn’t switch up tracks till the end of next year unless Principal Bump said otherwise, which he tended not to do, by the way, she was stuck in the Bard Track for the foreseeable future.

And to make matters worse, her parents were starting to lose faith in her. Not because they hated her, far from it, but because she was born with a defective bile sac. At least, that was what the doctors had said. She could hardly produce enough essence so her bile sac didn’t die, and it was a sign of impure blood. Meaning that, at some point in her family’s history, a human had tainted their bloodline, and now she was feeling its effects.  

Of course, no one outside of her family and the doctors knew, and as far as she was concerned, that was all of the people who needed to know—excluding the Emperor, because he knew everything. She could barely skate by on the best of days, and she’d get extremely exhausted from even the simplest of actions magic-wise.

It was embarrassing, and it was degrading. So that was why, for the last little while, she was paying another, far older student in the Bard Track, someone who had already got their Coven Sigil, to power a hidden Power Glyph underneath her hair. And for the last few months, she had been able to pay them off.

The Power Glyph had been a Titansend. She could actually perform decently well in the classes, and not drag her friends down. And while it was only in class that it was active, that was the only place it needed to be in. It wasn’t like Boscha, Amelia, Bo, and Amity needed to know she was, essentially, cheating in class. And it wasn’t like they didn’t know of her condition, either.

As a matter of fact, aside from Boscha, the others didn’t really seem to care all too much about it. And if they did, they never voiced it. Because none of them either noticed or cared, she was perfectly content to continue the cheating. 

That was, until, yesterday, when she ran out of money and wouldn’t be getting any more till next month. And the student in question, Hark, was furious. She didn’t know why, because she had always been honest and upfront with him. He never had a problem with her being late on a payment every now and again, so this was completely out of the ordinary.

No matter how much she had tried to calm Hark down, he refused to listen to reason. Hence why she was being cornered at the alley next to the library by him and his two lackies. They had already roughed her up at school, but thankfully Boscha had come in to save her.

Not that it was out of the kindness of her heart, mind you. As a matter of fact, it was a total accident. She just so happened to be nearby when they tried this the first time. And she did, in fact, save her, from something that would’ve scarred her for the rest of her life in a way that only someone like Hark could do.

Not that Boscha seemed to care, though she did look furious when she had seen the attempt. There were just some things you didn’t do, and Hark had crossed a line—almost. He had almost crossed a line, which was probably why Boscha didn’t rip his face off or something like that. However, she was quickly reminded after the fact that while she and Boscha were “friends” they weren’t truly friends.

She had distinctly remembered the words that Boscha had said to her, and they stung just as badly as being stung by a Hawkant. As a matter of fact, the whole scenario was something that she could never forget. What those three did to her in that room… it was unbelievable how they were going to get away with it.

She could still feel their hands. Their sweaty, large hands…. Never let it be said that teenagers aren’t cruel bastards, regardless of what their parents taught them. Especially if they thought that it would teach other people a lesson.

The worst part about that whole ordeal was that they knew she wouldn’t say anything. And had it not been for Boscha stepping in when she had, throwing a makeshift bomb potion at them to scare them off, Skara feared that they were going to do something unspeakable to her. 

Frankly, she was surprised that Boscha didn’t outright kill them. They had already torn a part of her uniform off at the time….

But, what it was that Skara said afterward… It made Skara feel as if Boscha only did it because what would have happened would have been “inconvenient” or something like that to her.

“I always have to save you from your own stupid decisions. For Titan’s sake, Skar. This is the last time I do this. If you can’t get any better at defending yourself, then there’s no point in being around you if you keep dragging yourself into these shitty situations.”

Those words hurt way more than they had any right to. Not that it mattered because it wasn’t like it had completely deterred Hark and his piece-of-shit friends.  

Now, those same students were staring her down in an alleyway. Those same students, who were probably here to finish what they started, had tracked her down and had beaten her and pushed her against a wall, preventing her from leaving. Despair built itself up in her stomach, as she tried to stand up, only to be pushed down again with a hard shove to the shoulder.

“You ain’t going anywhere, Emerald. Where. Is. My. Money. I’ll only ask one more time, or else,” Hark spat, causing Skara to flinch, disgust marring her expression. She knew that he meant it, too, considering how far he had gotten before Boscha had shown up.

It was horrible. She had tried, desperately she had tried to not have a breakdown right then and there. Doubly so in front of Boscha. She had been so close to having had one of the worst things that one could possibly do to someone be done to her. And now, she was about to go through the same thing again.

She could feel a warmness on her shoulder, and a small stinging sensation, which was probably thanks in part to a small cut imposed on her by Hark, which became more apparent due to a small, dark red stain that began to form on the shoulder of the cloak and trail down her bright red sleeve. It might have not made sense how she got cut from being shoved, but looking at Hark for even a second would explain it pretty plainly.

See, Hark had stone skin, hence the prior mention of “stone-like skin”, so it made sense for her to get a small cut on her shoulder, which was where he had shoved her because all of the rocks he called “skin” were jagged and could tear through flesh fairly easily.

It also didn’t help that Hark was twice her height, twice her weight, and three years older than her, which made this whole situation even grosser than it already was. What was worse was that he was trying to get into The Emperors Coven, and had signed up for the upcoming tournament to be given a chance to be scouted by The Emperor himself.

Although, it was funny because his chances of being added to their ranks were slim due to what he was. He wasn’t a witch or a demon. He was an artificial creation, and that already made him ill-fit to be a part of The Emperor's Coven.

While artificial creations were often physically stronger than witches and demons because they were typically created using both kinds of magic, they were extremely volatile. And because they were volatile, they were often seen as dangerous.

Not to mention that The Emperor’s Coven barely stood Demon’s being among their ranks, which made things even worse for Hark, because he existed in his own special kind of category—monsters. Both because he was a massive asshole and was known at Hexside to be a piece of shit, but because he didn’t fall into the category of a demon or witch.

Monsters were typically things like vampires, ghouls, and ghosts respectively. Golems fit in there too, but they were extremely rare, as to make one took a lot of one’s magic. They also reflected their creators, and if this was someone’s creation, she struggled to imagine them as good people.

She glared up at Hark, her hatred for him doubling as tears threatened to burst from her eyes. At that moment, she didn’t know what it was that came over her, but she spat on him, directly on his face, right between his eyes. And the action of her spitting on him pissed him off as if he had been stabbed in the back by a close friend. But it was worth it, considering that ugly look on his face was always something to laugh at in her head. 

Well, it was worth it for all of five seconds, as after he wiped the spit off of his forehead, he grabbed her by the throat, and squeezed. Skara choked out a gasp, as Hark slammed her up against the wall, the rest of the air in her lungs being forced out in an instant. Hark growled, his stoney lips pulled back to reveal orange-ish yellow fangs—limestone if she had remembered her rocks correctly.

“Who do you think you are?” He growled, before throwing against the other wall adjacent to the Library. An abandoned building that used to be a restaurant. Skara couldn’t remember what it used to be for, but it had been shut down after the body of an old man was found torn apart. The Coven Guards were still looking for leads on that….

Hark loomed over Skara, his shadow completely blocking out her view of the sky, the only thing that she could see was the blistering hatred that lurked behind his eyes. “I’ll ask you one. More. Time. Where the fuck is my money?” His voice was eerily calm. Not the happy kind of calm that one would expect, but the kind of calm that one would equate to a person on the verge of losing their mind.

A part of her brain told her that all she had done was make things worse. And, in some respects, yes, she probably did. But, then again, she was known as “the stubborn one” in her friend group. Maybe it was her wishful thinking that pissing him off enough would cause him to drop the whole thing. Actually, scratch that…. That was exactly what that was.

And so, seeing no choice but to answer him honestly, Skara slowly sat up, using the wall as a way to prop herself up and wiping the small trail of blood that had been going down her nose after having been thrown into the pavement, she spoke.   

“I told you… I don’t have your money. I won’t till next month…” Skara muttered weakly, as a scowl took up Hark’s visage. His amber eyes narrowed in anger, his teeth bared as he grabbed her by the collar, lifting her in such a way that it left her unable to defend herself.  Not that she was going to. She was too weak to do anything. She hurt all over from the prior beating.

Boscha wasn’t here to save her either. She was already most likely home, sitting by the fireplace in her mansion with her parents, going over what it was that she did with her friends and the like. Meanwhile, poor little ol’ Skara was about to be hurt by these brutes in some of the worst ways imaginable, without any sort of hesitation.

Burning anger boiled in her blood, the likes of which that, if she were able to execute said rage, she would’ve probably burned half the town down with her anger alone. Hyperbole aside, she harboured nothing but rage and anger in her heart for the people before her, and all of those who would enable such a thing.

“I hate you, all of you… and one day, I don’t know when or how, I’ll kill you!”  Skara thought, her anger flaring as Hark chuckled in the same, slimey way he always did. She closed her eyes, fearing the worst. Maybe it would be quick? That was the best thing that she could hope for, excluding someone intervening, that was. There was nothing she could do, anyway.

It wasn’t uncommon for stuff like this to happen. Maybe it was a little different considering she was, well, a child, but it was common all the same. After all, the Coven Guard was corrupt. Pay them enough Snails and they’d look the other way no matter what the crime was. The only times that didn’t happen were with new recruits, who didn’t know when to shut up when money was involved, or when it was Lilith who was the one taking the case, which was rare, so that basically never happened.

It didn’t help that Hark’s father was of an elite sort, meaning that he could get away with whatever he wanted. All he would have to do is pay the head at the precinct, and whatever charges that she could muster to put on Hark after the whole thing was said and done would be swept under the rug, completely forgotten about.

Rape of a minor? What rape? What minor? There was no rape. There was no minor. It was just a friendly business exchange between two people that went bad, and both parties walked away, splitting the deal and forgetting about the whole ordeal that happened. Harassment? What harassment? They were just having an exchange like to, reasonable Witches! Assault!? Heavens, are you certain that was what you saw? Do you mean the fist bump that the two exchanged?

It was sick. It was disgusting, but it happened all the time.  

A snarl reverberated throughout the alleyway, echoing out from Hark like the beast he was. His hand clenched into a fist, and before she could blink, his fist collided with the side of her head, knocking her to the floor. Blood trickled from the side of her face as a small gash made itself known on the underside of her right ear, along with a myriad of other tiny scrapes and cuts.

“I help you out. I give you a boost in magic with those stupid power glyphs, promising to pay me every day I do it, and now you’re telling me… that I have to wait?!” Hark snapped, picking her up and slamming her against the wall for the umpteenth time in the last hour. Pain flared through her body as she gasped, the air in her lungs being forced out once again. What was worse was that where he had slammed her was with his hand over her neck, meaning that all of that force had been applied there, making it harder for her to breathe.

Meanwhile, the two witches, Hark’s lackies, stood with their arms crossed, smirks on their faces as if they were watching a spectacle. They were just waiting for Hark to give the word. She knew that. She knew how these things played out. She had read far too many of her mother's books to know just how these scenarios played out.

She forced the idea out of her mind. No. There was still the chance that maybe, just maybe Hark would give up. He was getting all worked up, that was all this was. He was putting on a show of bravado! Yeah, that was all it was. She was just making up a bad scenario that wasn’t going to happen! Hark would never do this.

Right?

Right?!

No sane, well-to-do person would just… rape someone, yeah? Especially a kid. That was just gross! What was there to even do with someone like her? She had nothing appealing at all, whatsoever! And besides, that look in his eyes…. It was just anger. There was nothing else in his eyes. Nothing at all. Even if it did look a little… strange.  

“I told you the last time you did this that would not accept another delay. I warned you to have my money by the end of the day, and you didn’t! That three-eyed freak just so happened to be in the way of your punishment, but now she isn’t. We didn’t get to finish back then, but now? Now’s a different story.”

The way that he lowered down to her ear, and the way he licked his disgusting, stoney lips, made the hairs on the back of Skara’s neck stand up on end like a cat. The way her stomach rolled at the sound caused her to hold back the barf that had been welling up in her stomach. And even worse was what he had said next.

She would never, ever, forget those vile, disgusting, absolutely revolting words that left his ugly, revolting face.  

“I’ve always wondered what a witch looked like completely bare. What their skin felt like. What their insides felt like and what sounds they made. I’ve seen, heard and felt a demon before, but not a Witch. I came close one time, but they got away. But you? Well, I guess your lucky contestant number 2.” Hark pulled away, returning to looming over her as he snapped his fingers as if to summon the two lackies next to him.

“Todd, Harold, hold ‘er down,” Hark snarled, throwing her to the ground as panic filled Skara’s eyes. She tried to scramble away, pushing herself away with whatever energy she had left after being tossed around like a ragdoll.

This was like a nightmare given form. This was the worst possible outcome. Hell, she would’ve preferred her death to what was about to come next. But, unfortunately for her, she was far too slow to get away, and even if she had been able to get up, realistically, she probably wouldn’t have gone too far.

Todd and Harold, the names of Hark’s friends, hoisted her up by the arms, dragging her to her feet. She did the last thing that she could do, as she tried to scream out for help. She thought that, maybe, just maybe Hark hadn’t paid off the Coven Guards literally across the street. But, if they had heard her screams, they either didn’t care or weren’t paying attention to their surroundings.

And if they did… then it was too late.

Despair washed over Skara, as Hark growled, jabbing her in the neck as she coughed, sputtered, and wheezed for breath. Hark only smiled, flashing his disgusting teeth in the process. “I hate screamers. They piss me off, so just for that,” Hark spat as he punched her in the stomach hard enough to cause her to cough even more, as suddenly, she felt drained. It was as if all of her energy sapped away from her very being.

And It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what it was that caused it. And it made the situation so, so much worse. And, as if to taunt her, Hark chuckled, his smile changing to a sneer as he spoke. “I needed some energy, sorry, woke up too early and stayed up too late preparing your power glyph, Skara,” Hark said as Skara’s eyes could hardly stay open.

The problem with Hark was that, while he had an artificial Bile Sac, he was also a golem, and they, much like other supernatural creatures that existed outside of the norm, had a special ability. A golem’s power was that they could drain someone’s energy once he hit one of their chakra points. Vampires had their blood stuff, ghouls and ghosts had their possessions, and golems had energy-sapping abilities.

Usually, it would be from their parents, as golems weren’t allowed to do it to other people aside from their creators, but then again, if he had paid off Precinct 128 like she had been assuming due to the Coven Guards off in the distance ignoring her screams for help, then it was possible for him to get away with this sort of thing.

“But hey, it also makes you an easier target, right? You won’t struggle as much, and hey, maybe you’ll learn to give me my money on time, yeah?” Once again, panic surged through her body, but there was nothing that she could do. She could hear Todd and Harold snicker to themselves, but without her ability to move nor her ability to scream for help because her throat got punched, what was she going to do?

All she could do, right now, was take it.

At least, that was what she thought, anyway. She had resigned herself to a fate worse than death. But that all changed with one, small, slight intrusion, that would, unbeknownst to Skara, change her life, for better or for worse.

“Awe, now isn’t this cute?” A voice echoed out from the entrance to the alleyway next to the library, but no one, other than Skara, reacted to it as if only Skara could hear it, which was confusing, because the voice’s presence was hard to ignore, especially considering how gross it made Skara feel.

If she were to compare the presence to anything, it would be like being dunked in a vat of sludge wrenched up from the deepest, darkest bog. Slimy, toxic, and stomach-wrenching. And yet, it was like she was the only one who could feel it. But if that was where the strangeness ended, then she would’ve been content to leave it at that. But, that wasn’t the end of it. There was more, and it only caused more questions than answers.

The person whom the voice belonged to was tall, easily standing about six feet tall if she were to guess. He had sickly pale skin, with sunken cheeks—a sign that he was either poor and malnourished or starving himself. He looked extremely thin and sickly, with pale yellow hair, crimson red eyes, and round ears not unlike those of that strange blindfolded individual that she had seen around town.

The man was extremely thin, to the point where she could see the ribs popping out through his skin. His arms looked as thin as sticks—actually, no, they were a little thicker, but they were still extremely thin. The same went for his legs, though they looked a little larger than his arms.

As for what he was wearing, he was adorned in a black cloak with the hood down, underneath which she could see a black sideways skirt of sorts that exposed his left leg while completely obscuring his right. And one other thing about him, something that she had only just noticed, but there was a large burn-like scar in the shape of a handprint over his forehead.

The man approached Hark, who wasn’t paying attention. He was focused on staring her down, rubbing his hands together like a housefly ready to dig into a meal, a revolting thought, but it was what she envisioned anyway. She could tell he was looking her up and down, almost as if he was trying to find the right place to begin what it was he was thinking of doing to her—something she didn’t even want to think about.

The man stood next to Hark, rubbing his chin almost in thought. If Hark noticed him, he paid him no mind. Skara’s eyes darted over to the man, something that Hark noticed. He looked to where she was staring but shrugged as if there was nothing there. “What the hell?” Skara thought.

“What? Did you think someone had come to save you? That’s funny. You did this to yourself, you have no one else to blame but yourself for this. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah…” as Hark said that, he reached out for her and grabbed the collar of her uniform. He looked about ready to yank it off, and as she tried to muster the strength to scream, the man grabbed his wrist, and that was when Hark seemed to notice his presence, or at least, that was what it seemed like.

“The fuck was—”

Before Hark could finish, he was thrown to the ground by the seemingly invisible man, except Skara, which caused Todd and Harold to drop her to the floor rather abruptly. However, rather than Todd and Harold attacking the invisible man, they ran to Hark’s side to help him up, further confusing Skara as the man continued. “You know, it’s rude to lay your hands on a woman, right? Or, something like that. Whatever, not that I care, I’m just bored. And you just so happened to be in the area,” the man said as placed a hand on the center of Hark’s chest.

And as soon as he did that, chaos broke out.

The man pulled away his hands, as strings came out of his fingers. They were dark purple, and they looked like nothing that Skara had ever seen before. What was even weirder was that the man didn’t need to create magic circles to make them. He just… made them. As if it was second nature. “Besides, it gives me a chance to try this.”

As those words exited the stranger's mouth, he began to move his fingers in such a way that it looked as if he was puppeteering something. A dark purple energy flowed from his fingertips to the strings, and finally, into Hark. He screamed in agony—something he more than deserved—as the man seemingly forced him to stand.

“Ah~! I love your screams. Keep going, c’mon, I know you have more in you~!” The man practically moaned, as if he was getting sexual gratification from it. Drool began to form around Hark’s mouth, his eyes turning bloodshot as he kept screaming in pain, his hands reaching for his face as he began to furiously scratch and pull away at it. His skin cracked like fine china, and all Todd, Harold, and Skara could do was watch as a sickly green liquid began to leak from the cracks.

If Skara were to guess, that was the false blood used to keep him alive, and it was coming out of his face and skin in droves. The man wriggled his fingers in such a way that caused Hark to begin to run into the wall of the library, slamming his face against it repeatedly. Todd and Harold grabbed onto Hark, trying to get him to stop, but it was to no avail, as the man laughed.

It wasn’t the kind of laughter that was pleasant to listen to, either. It was disgusting, filled with nothing but malice and hatred. It was the kind of laughter only an insane person would allow to fall out of their face. Someone so completely lost in their actions that all that mattered to them was what would make them laugh next. 

Suddenly, the man’s gaze turned to Skara, a small, disturbed smile worming its way to his face. “You like what you see, kiddo?” All Skara could do was stare, horror in her eyes as the man frowned, a disappointed look on his face as he sighed. “What a tough crowd, er, not crowd, ‘cause you’re the only one who can see me. What’s the word for a solo audience? Bah, whatever, you’re no fun,” and as soon as he said that, the purple and black energy surged its way into Hark, his body glowing with a purplish-black hue before he blew up into small rocky and fleshy bits scattering across the alleyway, painting it a sickly green.

Skara felt like she wanted to puke, bile building up in her stomach and expediently making its way through her body. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on one’s opinion or stance on the matter, she held it back, swallowing it with immense displeasure. The other two, Todd and Harold, did not vomit, but they did stare in abject horror, the blood of their friends staining their uniforms and skin. As for the man, he seemed displeased.

“So that’s what happens, huh? I’m still new to this whole thing,” The man said, looking down at his hands, scratching the back of his neck underneath the cloak as he chuckled. “Who knew killing would be so much fun~!”

“This guy’s sick! He’s completely insane!” Skara thought, scuttling backwards away from the man. While he was her saviour, she was far too disturbed to think of him as anything but a monster. Not to mention, he was really starting to confuse Skara. For starters, why could she only see him? Why didn’t he need to create the magic circles to use his strange string and energy spells?

What was he?

The man looked at Todd and Harold, walking up to them, and placing a hand on both of their shoulders. Skara didn’t want to see what happened next, mainly because she couldn’t handle seeing another death this up close and personal, and in such a violent display. Yes, they deserved it, especially considering what they were going to do to her, but a death this violent was not what she had in mind.

She heard a sickening pop reverberating throughout the air, and when next she opened her eyes, nothing but two pairs of legs slumped on the floor remained of Todd and Harold, and even worse still, the man had all but disappeared. Skara felt her heart beat against her chest in a brazen panic. She looked over her shoulder, just to see if he was there, but he wasn’t, nor was he to her left or right.

He was just… gone. Like he never existed.

Her breathing went from slow to fast as panic took her over. So many questions, with few answers flooded her mind faster than she could process them. Why did he kill Hark, Todd and Harold? Why did he spare her? Why did he save her? What was his reasoning, if any at all? He did say that he was bored, and by the sounds of things he had never used his magic before. So what was the deal with him?

And why, by the Titan, was she the only one who could see him? That was what bugged her the most. It obviously wasn’t some sort of illusion that her brain came up with to protect herself from reality. Hark, Todd, and Harold were dead. Their corpses and the smell of death assured her of that. Whatever it was that had happened, it left a permanent mark on her psyche.

Yet, despite that, she was scared. She was terrified of what that invisible man had done. If anything, she was intrigued. She wanted to know more—she needed to know more. And so, be it out of stupidity or curiosity, Skara scrambled to her feet, and fled the scene of the crime as fast as she could, chasing after where she thought the man had disappeared too.

All she had to do was follow the rancid feeling that he gave off, right? Yet, despite that, she couldn’t feel anything. No matter what direction in Bonesborough she ran to, scanning the crowds of people as she went, she could not find him. And by the time she had made it to the edge of the town, the air surrounding her became humid and wet. It was going to rain soon, and if she didn’t get to some form of shelter before the rain began, she was as good as dead.

And so, without anything to show for herself in regard to the mystery man, Skara turned and began to run back home, with the only thoughts on her mind being of just who, or what that man was.

[XXXX]

Bump sat in his office, checking over the list regarding the new schedule he was creating for Satoru Gojo’s new Curse Track, a novel idea by every measure, and extremely interesting in practice. Especially when it came to Gojo himself, and the lessons he provided as examples for what to expect the class to look like.

Apparently, he had stayed up all night preparing them the day prior. That was something he was rather intrigued by, considering Gojo would have had no idea if Luz would have won or not. It showed that he truly believed in his student. Something that he had felt was lacking when it came to the other members of staff.

Of course, it came as no surprise to Bump when Gojo had hand-delivered the lesson plan to him by teleporting to his office and placing them on his desk mere minutes before he went home for the evening. That was a good thing, seeing as he was already given a good impression of Gojo’s work ethic, and was quite pleased with it.

The lessons themselves were also something he was quite pleased with. Most of them were in field lessons, with some study sessions regarding the ins and outs of the magic that Gojo was offering to teach. He had to admit, it was extremely, extremely interesting. Why? Because this was the only Track, aside from Beast Keeping, that did this sort of thing.

And frankly? It was a breath of fresh air. The freedom such a course allowed was beyond anything that Bump had seen—again, aside from The Beast Keeping Track. And the best part? There were no tests he had to write up for Gojo because all of the tests that Gojo had in mind were physical exams.

Another thing that made him oh-so-pleased about Gojo’s new class was that he would not have to mandate the policies of magic on The Curse Track. Why? Because, technically, it wasn’t magic. The policies of magic were far too constricting, and if there was one thing that Bump actually agreed with Eda on, it was that the current rules restricted magic far too much. So for a class to not have to abide by those laws due to its strange properties… well, it was certainly a breath of fresh air. And to make things even better, it was an entirely hands-off thing, meaning he didn’t have to be involved even in the slightest—barring illegal activities, of course.

He didn’t know if he had died and gone to the skies above, but if this was what sweet release felt like, then he was all for it. The less work his old, brittle bones had to do, the better in his opinion. Especially when it came to someone as lively as Satoru Gojo being at the helm.  

Moving swiftly on, Bump’s office was small, around about the same size as your average bedroom, a 10x13 room with a wooden desk, red-carpeted flooring with tiles underneath, three bookshelves filled to their absolute limits with books regarding all of the knowledge he had collected over the years, and a chair that sat perfectly behind his wooden desk, made of the comfiest cushions around and the softest leather imaginable. And finally, last but not least, a large eye-shaped window sat behind him, allowing Bump to look out at the surrounding city of Bonesborough.

It was a quaint, cozy little room that afforded him peace of mind. When he wasn’t busy assuring parents that their kids were learning what was needed and that they weren’t in danger—especially regarding the students that Snapdragon taught… especially her… he could relax knowing that everything was under control and that nothing bad was going to happen.

At least, that was what it should have been. Ever since the death of Viney Grasswood, The Emperor’s Coven had been watching the school like a hawk. It wasn’t fair if you asked him. Her death wasn’t even on school property. But, he guessed it was because she was found dead in the school’s uniform that caused such a visceral reaction. But either way, her death was something that had not been expected.  

Sure, Viney was a troublemaker and an upstart, but he would have never wished that kind of fate on her. Even if she did cause plenty of problems and wreak havoc constantly. The fact of the matter was that her death had remained a mystery for when it had happened. However, as of late, he wondered if perhaps this had something to do with what students had been claiming to be able to see.

And what was that? Monsters, to put it simply. And they were seemingly invisible to the naked eye to boot. He couldn’t see them, so he found it hard to believe that they existed. But if it was what explained Viney’s death, then he was willing to believe anything at this point.

At first, he had thought that it was a wildlife attack. Perhaps she had wandered too close to a nest of ravenous Mothbears. But, after Eberwolf looked over her corpse and used his Beast-Keeping Magic to analyze what would’ve done this, he came back with a very interesting result.

The “magic” that had surrounded Viney’s corpse had a vile, disgusting feeling to it. That lined up with the kind of “magic” that Gojo and Luz used. Considering that these monsters were invisible, and considering Luz and Gojo both had these powers, he was beginning to wonder if they were connected.

Match this with Gojo’s sudden interest in Hexside, and The Emperor dropping the charges on the pair for being in cahoots with Edalyn Clawthorne, and something fishy began to brew. Something that Bump was not a fan of.

To make matters even worse than they already were, about two weeks from now, The Grom Festival was supposed to happen. And with the added negativity and paranoia surrounding the school, all it would do would be to make Grometheus the Fear Bringer more bloodthirsty and ravenous than it typically was. Frankly, Bump didn’t know what to do in the situation he was in. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

But maybe, just maybe, with Gojo and Luz around, things would change for the better. There was no way this could blow up in his face. Right?

Right?

Brushing that aside for the moment, Bump looked over to the clock on the wall. It was 6:55 am, meaning that Gojo and Luz were supposed to arrive in the next five minutes. He had it on good authority that they would, especially considering how hard it was that they worked to join Hexside. And speaking of that, Bump was still skeptical of Luz’s capabilities.

Oh, don’t get him wrong, he knew now that Luz was not a slouch. He had watched the whole fight in the bleachers from start to finish. The power she put on display, matched with her confidence and technique, proved to Bump that she was more than on par with the other witches in her year in terms of skill. It was the flexibility of Luz’s power that was causing him to have doubts.

From what it was that he had been able to see, all Luz could do was punch stuff hard, and encase her body in that foul energy to negate the pain and physical damage that would have otherwise caused her a great deal of suffering. Outside of that, there was no real use for her Cursed Energy. She couldn’t blast out beams of the stuff from a staff, nor could she summon anything with it. It was simply an energy she could use to punch things hard and defend herself against strong foes.

In that regard, she was extremely lacklustre, and it was boring. If that was all Cursed Energy had to offer, then he would have been extremely dodgy about keeping up his end of the deal. Had it not been under an Everlasting Oath, he would have outright gone back on his word. But, then came Satoru Gojo, which was the person he was more interested in.

Unlike Luz, he had heard from others what it was he could do. He could create balls of energy using his Cursed Energy, and depending on which one he used, be it blue or red, he could attract and repel things. Not to mention, he supposedly had a shield around him that was, quite literally, impenetrable. Nothing could bypass it unless Gojo himself willed it.

So, out of curiosity for Gojo and no one else, he decided to allow Luz to tag along. Not that he really had a choice in the matter, but that was beside the point. The point was that, compared to Gojo, Luz was boring. A boring little human with boring powers and nothing more than that.

Bump glanced yet again at the clock, the time being 7:00 am. A frown took up Bump’s visage. At least, it had for a second, as not even a second later after the clock turned to 7:00 am, Gojo and Luz appeared before his very eyes, with Luz being lifted by the back of her hooded shirt. It caused Bump’s frown to change into that of a slightly upturned smirk, relaxing into his chair.

“Sorry I’m a little late, I had to let this squirt finish getting dressed,” Gojo said as Bump waved the concern away. Luz dropped to her feet, dusting herself off, before standing tall, putting both of her fists against her hips with a large, beaming smile.

“Sup, Princy-B!” Luz said as Bump raised an eyebrow.

“Princy-B…?”

“Yeah, ya know, ‘cause you’re a principal, and your name starts with B? Principal’s a long word so, Princy-B!” Luz explained, the smile on her face growing wider as Gojo smirked, clapping her shoulder like a proud dad would. It was then that Bump put two and two together, and suppressed the urge to groan loudly.

“Anyways…!” Gojo began, taking his hand off Luz’s shoulder, “Why’d you want us to come in early, Gramps?” Gojo asked as Bump cleared his throat, clasping his hands together as he rested his elbows on his desk.

“I want to learn more about what it is you plan to base your track around. That, and I would like to introduce you to the rest of the staff,” Bump said as Gojo nodded.

“Uh… and what about me?” Luz asked as Bump briefly glanced at her, his expression unreadable.

“I wanted you here early with Gojo so you could attend class right away once this is all said and done. I also need to give you your uniform.”

“Oooh! Okay!”

“Now then,” Bump continued, gesturing to Gojo, “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others to show up?” Just as he said that the door swung open as a small, barely four-foot-tall hairy creature walked into the room. You would have to forgive someone for thinking them a child due to their height, but they gave off an air of professionalism that only an adult could radiate, and as such, Gojo dismissed them being a child.

Their body was covered in two different shades of orange fur, their body being coloured a lighter shade, whereas the large wild mane was a darker orange, which was also tied up in a big, fluffy ponytail held up by a yellow frayed band.

The child-like beast person wore a sage-green sleeveless shirt, along with a dull brown loincloth which seemed to appear like that of a paw with light gray claws, covering up to their knees. Along with that, they wore a pair of dark brown boots and a pair of yellow spiked arm bracers.

Their eyes, which had yellow sclera with magenta irisis, looked up at Gojo, then looked over to Luz, as a wide smile took up their visage. The small beast creature leapt up and landed atop Luz’s head, perching like a cat as Luz tried desperately not to freak out. Bump smirked, chuckling to himself as Gojo raised an eyebrow underneath his blindfold.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to show up, Eberwolf,” Bump said as the small child-like beast person grinned.

“Grrrr!” Eberwolf replied, confusing Gojo as Bump nodded, humming in interest.

“I see. You were interested in the human?”

“Raaa!” Eberwolf responded, poking at Luz’s forehead with a small, almost child-like smile on their face. They crawled to look at Luz, eye-to-eye with Eberwolf hanging upside down, still clinging to the top of Luz’s head.

“Uh… hello?” Luz said, an air of caution in her voice as she stared Eberwolf in the eyes. Eberwolf hopped off of Luz’s head, landing on their feet, before nodding.

“Is he a teacher at this school?” Gojo asked as Bump shook his head.

“No. Eberwolf is a Coven Head. But, he does like to stop by and see the new students. It's kind of his thing. Darius is never fond of that sort of thing. He kind of acts like Eberwolf’s guardian, but Eberwolf disregards that nine-times-out-of-ten,” Bump said as Eberwolf snickered in the same kind of a mischievous child would.

“It seems I am the first one here,” a smooth, sophisticated, almost British-sounding voice spoke out from the doorway, not that Gojo needed to turn around to see who it was. In the doorway stood a sky-blue-skinned creature with two pointed horns, slicked-back brown hair, and the muzzle of a dog. He was dressed in a blue cloak, with a golden chained necklace around the collar of his cloak, and attached to it was a Golden pendant with four red gem-like triangles.

His pale green eyes lingered on Eberwolf, a slight downturned frown taking up his visage. “May I ask why a Coven Head is here, Principal?” The man asked, his voice tinged with annoyance. Eberwolf didn’t take too kindly with his tone, sticking out his tongue at the man, whose frown deepened.

“Eberwolf wanted to meet the new student, Bartholomew. You know how he operates,” Bump said as Bartholomew sighed, pinching in between his eyes. Eberwolf, as if to spite him, jumped atop Bartholomew, causing him to panic if only briefly, and for Eberwolf to bound off of him like some kind of springboard, causing him to nearly fall to the floor, only stopped by Gojo grabbing him by the back of his hood and helping him up.

Bartholomew looked up at Gojo and smiled after getting to his feet. “Thank you, my good fellow. My apologies for whatever havoc that beast was up to. Though I do find myself fond of The Coven Heads, Eberwolf is more than a little of a handful,” Bartholomew said, outstretching his hand in greeting. “I am Bartholomew Gemstine, teacher of The Oracle Track. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Satoru Gojo.”

Deactivating his infinity, Gojo shook the man’s hand, smirking as he did. “A pleasure to meet you as well. Mind if I call you Bart? Your name is too long,” Gojo quipped as Bartholomew chuckled.

“I would not mind that, no,” Bart said as Luz stared at him with wide, amazed eyes. She hadn’t gotten a chance to meet any other real species in The Boiling Isles, what with her constant training. Sure, she had gone out of the house every now and again, but Eda made it very clear to her to not talk to anyone due to her status as a fugitive unless it was absolutely necessary.

Thankfully, as of late, she was no longer considered one but the point still stood. Because of that, she had been able to see a variety of different species and even got the chance to talk to some. Witches were the most prevalent. Then came Demons who were the second most populated group of people, and then there were monsters like Vampires, Wendigo and all of that fun creepy stuff.

She wondered what Bartholomew was. Was he a Demon or a monster? Luz really wanted to ask, but didn’t know if it would be rude to say it. So, for the sake of making sure she didn’t offend him, she decided to remain silent.

“Ah, Barty! As expected, you’re the first one here,” a feminine voice echoed in the hallway, Bartholomew sighed, slumping slightly as a small, periwinkle-skinned demon-like creature walked through the door. She had large round ears, three orchid-coloured eyes, and purple hair covered by a large shawl-beret, with a set of horns poking out from the front of the hat. A pointed tail swayed from side to side, and she was dressed in a gray dress with white slippers.

“Miss Jenkinmeyer, a pleasure to see you again,” Bump said as Jenkinmeyer smiled.

“Bumpers! Hello~! It’s so good to see you too!” Jenkinmeyer said, before looking over to Gojo and Luz. She clasped her hands together, her smile ever-present. “Ah, and I take it the tall one is the new member of staff and the little’un is a new student?”

“That’s correct!” Gojo said, smirking as he wrapped an arm around Luz, “And she’s my pupil. I’ve been training her before we joined up with the school,” Gojo continued as Jenkinmeyer nodded.

“Well, I’d say that training’s paid off,” Bartholomew said, arms crossed. “We all saw the battle between Blight and your student. Congratulations on the victory, Noceda. You deserved it.”

“Thanks!”

“Moving on,” Bump said, clearing his throat, and getting everyone’s attention. “Where are the others?”

“Oh! Barry, Snapdragon, and Hermonculus are running late. Silky is just wrapping up kindergarten as we speak, and… oh, I believe Kelsey is sick, so the Healing Coven Head is taking her place for the day and declined to meet Gojo. As for Mildred of the Bard Track, she had no interest in meeting Mr. Gojo,” Jenkinmeyer explained as Bump sighed.

“I never said it was a choice, but considering those two…. Fine, I’ll let it slide,” Bump said, before leaning back in his chair. “And let me guess, Barry and Hermonculus got into an argument again?” Bump asked as Bartholomew frowned.

“Most likely. Those two refuse to make amends after one of Hermonculus’s students gooped him with Abomination slime. You know how Barry is, Bump. Very unforgiving. Hence his placement as both a teacher of the Construction Track and the Detention Track,” Bartholomew answered as Gojo hummed.

A very interesting cast of characters, if he’d say so himself. It was always interesting to see what kinds of people he would have to work with. At least it was better than having to share classes with Kusakabe, the bland and boring swordsman. And the less he talked about Mei Mei teaching the third years, the better.

“So… do we begin, then?” Gojo asked as Bump shrugged.

“It’s their fault for being late, so I suppose—”

“Wait a moment!” A loud, obnoxious, nasally voice exclaimed, making Gojo wince in disgust as his Six-Eyes detected movement from behind him. The culprit behind the ear-grating voice was a small, puke-skinned man with horn-rimmed glasses, sickly purple eyes with off-white sclera, and greasy green hair dressed in an open-faced green sweater and a yellow shirt underneath, along with a pair of blue toddler-sized jeans and black shoes.

Next to that man was a large, gray-skinned, many-eyed muscular brute of a man with an extremely tall, almost pillar-like head with three pairs of glasses and three pairs of pointed ears. He was dressed in a light gray shirt with a dark brown vest, accompanied by a red tie. Black slacks and military-style boots sat comfortably on his feet, as he crossed his arms, all of his eyes narrowed at the small sickly-looking man.

In between the pair was an elderly woman with wrinkled, ivory skin and long green hair that resembled plant matter. Pale violet eyes glanced between the two whom she stood next to, and lips pursed in a look of annoyance, showing off her dark green lipstick. She was dressed in a purple dress held together by yellowish-green vines. Two thorny bracelets rested comfortably on her arms around her wrists, and atop her head was a red-and-yellow lily crown, alongside boots that were made of vines or were specifically made to look as if they were made of vines.

Last but not least, there was a spider-like Demon who stood in front of the group of three. She had four, cheery red eyes, and was dressed in a black dress of sorts with four sleeves for each of her four arms. She also wore long, equally black leggings with dark brown boots. “I would like to apologize on behalf of my co-workers for our lateness…” The spider-demon said as Bump hummed in acknowledgement.

“It’s alright, Silky. Hermonculus, Barry, you two need to work on this outrageous feud. And Snapdragon, why didn’t you split up the argument?” Bump grilled the group of three staff members as Hermonculus scoffed, and Barry glared at the former, whereas Snapdragon snickered to herself.

“It was quite the sight. I just had to watch it unfold. Next time, Principal, I will get these two whippersnappers under control, scouts promise,” Snapdragon said, placing a hand on the left side of her chest as Bump sighed. Snapdragon might have been a Covenhead, but there were times that she simply didn’t act like it. Though, despite her flaws, she was still a reliable teacher. Furthermore, Bump and she had been friends for quite some time. He knew Snapdragon meant no ill will. Just an old lady looking for some excitement in her otherwise boring life.

“Well now that everyone’s here, let’s get started, shall we?” Gojo said, leaning against the right wall of the office with Luz, who stood idly by this side. Everyone’s attention was on Gojo, who rolled his shoulders and neck, before facing them down properly. “As you know, I’m Satoru Gojo, a human Sorcerer—very, very different from a Witch.”

“How so?” Hermonculus asked, raising an eyebrow. “Forgive me for being skeptical and having doubts, but since the beginning of time, humans have been magicless creatures. That’s how it’s always been.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” Gojo replied, crossing his arms. “See, while the vast majority of humans do not have access to Cursed Energy, a very small amount do, around about 0.0001% of the population. And it’s that small amount that hunts Cursed Spirits, which have now found their way into your reality. How that happened, I don’t know. Though, considering they only started showing up when we did, I assume that it’s because of myself and Luz.”

“Are you saying because you came to The Boiling Isles, you’ve inadvertently unleashed hostile monsters on our people?” Snapdragon questioned as Gojo shrugged.

“Dunno. It’s just a theory. Although considering Edalyn Clawthorne has Cursed Energy of her own, even if twisted slightly, I’d harbour to say that this was always bound to happen, regardless of mine and Luz’s appearance,” Gojo answered, before uncrossing his arms and stuffing his hands in his pockets. “But that’s for later. The reason I’m here is to introduce myself to you all, and to inform you of my course here at this school.”

Barry grunted, nodding. “Very well, let’s hear it.”

“Great!” Gojo continued, clapping his hands together once, before his expression switched from what it was before, that being a confident smile, to a serious frown. “For starters, my course is an open course. Anyone of any track can opt to check it out, and if they wish to switch over to my track, they’re to be allowed to no matter what. The only exception is the Detention Track, as those are for students who are in trouble, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Barry stated, crossing his arms as he frowned. “But, from what I know, it’s forbidden to transfer tracks unless Principal Bump allows it. I take it that is already pre-sorted out?” Barry said as Bump hummed in acknowledgement.

“That is correct. I have already had everything sorted out.”

“That’s nonsense!” Hermonculus spat, glaring at Gojo. “I’m fine with my students transferring to other Coven Tracks, even if only begrudgingly, but one taught by a human?! What in the Titan do you have to offer that I can’t teach myself?! What can a pathetic human do that we Witch’s ca—”

Gojo took a single stride toward Hermonculus, shooking the man, before he lifted by Gojo at the scruff of his hair. Hermonculus sputtered, as Gojo glared at him through his blindfold, the other staff members recoiling as they took a few steps away from the pair. Luz faltered, feeling the abundant amount of Cursed Energy oozing off of her teacher, as the other staff members gained disgusted, almost affronted looks in their eyes.

It was almost as if Gojo was about to snap the man’s neck with the amount of fury washing off him. It was like a bull staring down a cornered matador, fresh out of spears, with no backup. The pathetic whimpering noise he gave off was like one of a scared child, and considering he was in the middle of having a temper tantrum… it was kind of fitting.

“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t “I’m sorry, O’ great and mighty Satoru Gojo, I will never say reprehensible garbage such as that ever again,” then you and that window over there are going to have a date with destiny, got it?” Gojo spat, glaring at Hermonculus with the rage of a thousand suns underneath his blindfold.

Hermonculus gulped audibly, staring back at Gojo with shrunken pupils reflecting fear. After a few seconds of soul-crushing silence, Hermonculus spoke. “I-I’m sorry, O’ great and mighty S-Satoru Gojo. I will never say reprehensible garbage such as that ever again…!”

After a few more seconds of silence, and as the rest of the staff members stared at Gojo with both apprehension, terror, and confusion, waiting with bated breath knowing full well that there was nothing that they could do to potentially save their friend and co-worker, Gojo smiled, carefully placing Hermonculus on the floor, patting him on the head like a child, before walking back over to his side of the room.

Stares of various ranges pointed all at Gojo. No one had a proper read on the man. Not even Bump. What had just happened had been so ridiculous, so stupid, so nonsensical, that the only one who found it funny was Luz, who was trying desperately to hold back a laugh.

Gojo, for his part, gave the rest of the staff members a half-hearted glance, his smile turning into a shit-eating grin before he spoke. “Good! Now then, if anyone else has a problem with what I said before, make it known now!”

Dead silence. Not a single person voiced any complaints. If they had any, they kept it to themselves out of fear of what Gojo would do or say to them. Even Snapdragon, who was usually the most outspoken one of the group. She’d even go as far as to say that not even Darius was that scary when angry. And that was Darius she was talking about. A man known for his foul temper.

“A-hem,” Bump cleared his throat, looking over at Gojo with a raised eyebrow. “Mr. Gojo… Perhaps keep the threatening of other staff members to a minimum, shall we? What Hermonculus said was wrong, but still, that does not mean that you can do that to another member of staff. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Gojo replied nonchalantly, as Hermonculus stared at Gojo, still shaking like a leaf, whimpering like a terrified baby. Gojo was quite proud of himself for that one. No one insulted him or his student, even if it was tangentially, and got away with it. Only Nanami could do that! And that was because Nanami was a good friend!

“Well then…” Silky muttered, rubbing the back of her head with one of her arms, laughing awkwardly to herself. “So, what exactly will you be teaching, Gojo?”

“Glad you asked!” Gojo said, before sticking up one of his fingers, as red energy converged to his fingertip. The other members of staff stared at the red ball, interest gleaming in their eyes as Gojo smirked. “You like it? This is a Cursed Technique. Right now, I’m channelling my Cursed Energy into it to create this. My class centers around those who can not only see Cursed Spirits but also have Cursed Energy to train with it and use it in tandem with their magic to help create a safety net for the community wherein Cursed Spirits cannot run rampant. It was my job back in The Human Realm, so it will be my job here.”

“So you protect the people of The Human realm using children?” Jenkinmeyer asked incredulously as Gojo chuckled to himself.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Gojo said, frowning. “There’s not much of a choice in the matter. The number of people who have Cursed Energy is limited, and even fewer can use Cursed Energy, and fewer still can use Cursed Techniques. Sure, there are other ways of using Cursed Energy for combat, but that’s for a different time. For right now, I’m only teaching the basics to see how far these kids can go. If I don’t think they’re qualified, they’ll be transferred back.”

Jenkinmeyer stared at Gojo for a moment, before sighing, closing her eyes and nodding. “Fine. But just so you know, if any of my students end up dead, I’ll come for you, Satoru Gojo.” The dead seriousness in her voice made Gojo acknowledge the threat. Not that he was concerned. No one would die under his watch. He would assure that.

“You don’t have to worry about that, I—” Gojo stopped mid-sentence as a disgusting feeling washed over him. The kind of feeling that he had only felt when something dangerous was nearby. Gojo wasted no time, rushing over to the window, looking out of it, and getting everyone’s attention, Luz included.

“Gojo, what’s—” Luz was about to finish her sentence before she became green in the face. That feeling… it was awful. It was nothing but pure hatred, and it was aimed at her and everyone in the building. She could feel it, and it took everything in her power to not vomit on the spot. Whatever was out there, and whatever had Gojo alert knew they were there, and they were sending a message.

A message that said they weren’t safe.

And just as quick as it appeared, the feeling disappeared. Gojo cursed under his breath, eyes narrowed underneath his blindfold. “How? How did something like this appear so quickly?” Gojo thought, frowning as he did. There was no feasible way for something of that calibre to make itself appear that quickly.

He first found it strange that Cursed Spirits were appearing so rapidly. It was concerning, and several victims had been made of them, spreading fear and despair wherever they went. Gojo believed he had been on top of it, having killed a couple of dozen in his pastime when he wasn’t training Luz or when she was asleep.

But none of them were nearly that strong. So for one of this calibre to show up so quickly. It made him wonder just how hateful this society was.

“Gojo! What was that about!?” Bump exclaimed, looking at the man with a paled expression. Everyone else was staring at him, no doubt having felt that as well. It was indiscriminate and filled with nothing but hate and disgust. How far that message had spread, he didn’t know. But it was clear that it affected at least everyone in this room.

“Something dangerous is nearby…” Gojo said, eyes narrowing. “The level of Cursed Spirits that have shown up recently have capped out at Grade 3. A simple blast of magic could take one of those out, providing that they could be seen, and so long as the caster is semi-competent. But that… that wasn’t any kind of Cursed Spirit that we all felt.”

“So.. what was it?” Hermonculus asked, his voice timid as Gojo turned to face them all. And what he said next contained no hint of joy, sarcasm, or of any other emotion other than pure, unadulterated seriousness and anger.  

“The kind of Cursed Spirit that would take a handful of people my calibre to deal with. The only reason I can take them down single-handedly is because of my Cursed Technique. Without it, it would take a small team to take one of this calibre down. What we just felt… was of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit. The strongest most deadly kind of Cursed Spirit to ever be created.”

“A Special Grade?” Luz asked, confusion and apprehension in her voice as Gojo nodded.

“Yes. These types of Cursed Spirits are sentient. They belong to their own special class of terrible. Whereas most Cursed Spirits act out of animalistic thought, upon reaching a certain threshold, they begin to form thoughts and emotions. It starts around Grade 2 and higher. And while that’s good and all, once a spirit hits Special Grade, they are no different from a witch or a human. The only difference is that a Special Grade Cursed Spirit is leagues stronger than your average witch or human.

“You could throw a whole army of witches at a Cursed Spirit of that calibre, and all that will happen is a blood bath. It would take, at least, twenty Grade 2 sorcerers to take one Special Grade down with pure strength alone. Six Grade 1 Sorcerers by their lonesome. And if it was a battle of the Special Grades, excluding myself? Two Special Grade Sorcerers,” Gojo said as Bump looked at him with wide eyes.

“Then… why don’t you deal with it now?” Bump asked as Gojo shook his head.

“Would if I knew where it was. It’s cloaking its signature right now. Even though I want to, I can’t. I need to either know where that location is or have a lock-on to teleport. If I have neither, then I can’t go there,” Gojo explained as Luz shivered, panicked thoughts racing through her mind as she tried to rationalize what Gojo was saying.

Never before in her life had she been this scared of something. If Gojo was this cautious about something, then what did that mean for her? For Eda, King, and Hooty? If that thing was out there, walking the streets, cloaking itself, what would happen if Eda were to randomly run into it? Or King? Hooty was safe at the house but those two?

“What do we do?” Jenkinmeyer asked, ripping Luz out of her thoughts as Gojo sighed, relaxing, if only slightly.

“We pray that it doesn’t come here. Because if it does? If I’m not here to stop it? It’ll be a massacre.” As Gojo said that, a heavy silence filled the room, and before anyone could do or say anything, the bell rang, indicating that classes were about to begin. “I guess it’s time to go. Thanks for the meeting,” and with that, Gojo walked over to Luz, placed a hand on her shoulder, and walked out the door, heading to where Bump had set up his classroom, that being on the first floor of the building toward the back.

One by one, the rest of the staff went back to their classrooms, leaving Bump all by himself. Only one thought was on his mind, and it weighed heavy on his consciousness.

For how much longer would Hexside be safe?

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[Episode 9: Breaking Into The Fold]

[Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born – by: Creepy Nuts]

When Principal Bump announced that a new track was going to be added to the list of available options for students to pick from earlier this morning over the announcements, Skara, like most others, didn't believe it. After all, what was the point of introducing a new track after all avenues of magic had been already explored and or outlawed for how dangerous they had been?

That alone gave Skara all the reason in the world to ignore it. Besides, the current Tracks were more than enough for people to pick from. There was no reason to explore a new one. At least, in her mind anyway.

And yet, she was still curious. As the saying goes, Curiosity killed the Ratbat and something and some such. So, during lunch, she wandered around the building to try and find it, and eventually, she came across the classroom in question.

The Track was called The Cursed Track, its logo being that of a blue flame with a black outline resting square around a fist. An odd design for sure, but even odder was that it turned out that it was being manned and run by the formerly wanted criminal Satoru Gojo, and one of the permanent full-time students was the human who beat Amity Blight, Luz Noceda.

That alone was something that brought immediate awe and spectacle to the track. That the human who beat Amity Blight was a student in that specific track. When Amity was beaten, her reputation took a serious blow. So much so that Boscha wanted nothing to do with her anymore. The only reason why Skara had hung around was because she wasn't an awful person.

Tangent aside, now that she was staring down the door to The Curse Track, a part of her felt a little anxious about it. Mostly because of how new it was. Furthermore, there was the fact that she should be going back to The Bard Track right about now.

Lunch was over and she had an important test coming up if she wanted to qualify for being selected into the Coven come next year. But, she knew, deep down, that without that piece of trash Hark, she wasn't going to ever make it anywhere in any other track. With this one, she had a chance! It was new, and it apparently dived head-first into other things. At least, according to the older students.

Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't end up looking like a complete failure in front of everyone.

"Who in the titan am I kidding? I'll just embarrass myself here, too…" Skara thought glumly, standing in front of the entrance of The Cursed Track's classroom. The door was closed, which made sense. It was a few minutes before the next classes would begin. There was always a five-minute buffer between lunch and class time. She was early, all things considered.

A pit of worry built up in Skara's chest as she breathed in and out, trying to push the feeling down.

She'd do fine.

It's not like Mr. Gojo would throw them into the thick of things right away, right? He seemed like a sane person, despite constantly wearing a blindfold and yet somehow still being able to see with perfect clarity. Then again, most of the teachers at Hexside were a few screws loose themselves. But, maybe Mr. Gojo would be saner.

Right?

"Skara?" A familiar voice broke her out of her thoughts as she looked over to the right. The person who called out her name was someone she hadn't seen in a while. Skara blinked, shaking her head in confusion as she swallowed the lump of building anxiety in her throat.

The person in question had a cream-coloured complexion, dressed in the school's uniform with a head of green hair done in a bob and pinkish-purple sleeves and leggings. She was a little on the larger side, and she had a pair of thin-framed black glasses.

Skara blinked, staring at the person in question. "Willow? What are you doing here?" Skara questioned as Willow sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"W-Well, I'm curious… and besides, I… kinda wanted to meet Mr. Gojo and the other human who beat Amity yesterday," Willow replied as Skara raised an eyebrow. She could sniff out a lie pretty easily. Hanging out with Boscha made that person able to do that fairly easily given how often that girl lied.

That being said, she wouldn't call Willow on it. Whatever her true reason was more than likely wasn't Skara's place to judge. After all, she was skipping out on Bard Track studies to check out this class.

"What about you, Skara? Why are you here?" Willow asked as Skara shrugged, turning back to face the door.

"Same reason as you. It's not every day a human beats a witch in a witch's duel," Skara answered, reaching out to touch the door. As her hand inched closer, Skara felt her heart beat against her chest. Overcome with many, many emotions all at once. What was going to lurk behind that door? Who was going to lurk behind that door? Was Mr. Gojo a nice person or was he cruel like Mr. Barry or as insufferable as Mr. Hermonculus?

"Ugh, you're taking too long," another familiar voice groaned, as Skara glanced over her shoulder to see Boscha. Much like the other two, Boscha was dressed in the school uniform, only she had on a set of yellow sleeves and leggings. Boscha had violet-red hair tied back in a bun with bangs that framed the sides of her face perfectly.

Boscha also had three, silver eyes that radiated annoyance. Had it not been for the fact that Boscha had one of the worst attitudes in the world, Skara more than likely would've developed a crush on the girl. But then again, it was often said that those with the prettiest faces had the most toxic of attitudes.

"B-Boscha?!" Willow exclaimed as Boscha shot her a snide glare.

"Oh? Half-a-witch Willow? What the hell are you doing here? What makes you think that someone like Mr. Gojo, a person who is clearly of high calibre, wants someone like you to be in his class?" Boscha jeered as Willow shrunk into herself. Just before Boscha could say anything more, Skara couldn't help but notice a fourth newcomer.

Only, unlike the three of them, they weren't students.

"My, my, you've got quite the mouth on you miss. Gotta say, not a good first impression!" The hauntingly cheerful voice of Satoru Gojo echoed in the hallway as each of Boscha's pupils shrank to the size of peas, before stuttering and turning around to face the six-foot-tall giant of a man behind her.

In one of Gojo's hands was a cup of coffee, and in the other was a book that read "Different Types Of Magic for Young Witches to Employe." It often flew over her head that Mr. Gojo was a human and not a Witch. The ears gave it away, but still.

"M-Mr. Gojo! I-I-I—"

"Oh well, not my problem," Mr. Gojo said, turning to face the door. He pushed the door open and smirked. As he walked in, everyone else followed after him. When they walked in, Gojo cleared his throat and then "LUZ~! NEW STUDENT'S ARRIVED~!"

As Gojo said that, before Skara or any of them could say anything a person-shaped blur fell from the ceiling and landed on one of the desks in a plume of dust. Gojo cackled as the person in question sat up on the desk they fell on, shaking their head as they looked in their direction. Just as suspected, it was the human from the battle with Amity, and she was dressed in the school's outfit, except with dark purple sleeves and leggings.

"Was she… in the ceiling?" Boscha muttered, recoiling as the human, Luz, looked over at the group of three. Her eyes were brimming with curiosity and innocence that Skara had only seen in young witches. It was clear from how she smiled that she wasn't all up there in the head, and considering she was in the ceiling not but a few seconds ago, that further confirmed that to Skara.

"Yeah, I was. I did it like this!" Luz said as, without warning, the room filled with the worst feeling sensation that everyone ever had the displeasure of feeling. Everyone except Skara.

It felt… pleasant. Like it was normal. She had felt it before, but unlike the stranger that showed up, where it felt like something awful when the same energy came out of Luz, it felt… right. It felt normal. It felt like magic. But it wasn't—obviously not, because that would imply that she was a witch, which Luz was not.

Maybe it was because she had been exposed to it before that it felt normal. No… that made no sense. Because if that was the case, Willow and Boscha would've felt the same way. Rather, their expressions were wrinkled in disgust, though Boscha's was more disturbed and disgusted whereas Willow's was more intrigued and disgusted.

Luz, who was now glowing in a light blue energy with a thick, black, negative outline, was crouched on the desk. Then, a split second later, Luz leapt upward and reached the ceiling, grabbing one of the flat panels in the ceiling and ducking inside of it after pushing it out of the way.

Skara, Willow, and Boscha stared with wide eyes at what they had just witnessed, Boscha more than anyone else. "That's a human?" Skara thought, jaw slightly dropped as she stared in abject disbelief. Obviously, this human was special, alongside Mr. Gojo, but still… the fact that a human had the potential to jump that high using a foreign form of magic was crazy.

Moments later, Luz jumped back down, landing on the tiled floor, smiling as Willow bit back the urge to giggle to herself over Luz's antics. Gojo clapped as Luz bowed, before turning to face everyone. "Hiya! I'm Luz, nice to meet ya!"

"Can we get this over and done with, this is already stupid," Boscha spat, walking over to a chair and slumping in her seat, elbows against the desk as she looked over at Gojo. For his part, Gojo frowned, and Luz deflated a little.

"You're a buzzkill, kid," Gojo said, waving his hand at her dismissively. "But, if you insist. Everyone! To your seats! Just remember, if you don't feel like sticking around, you can always leave. But, once this explanation is over, you're locked in. Everyone before you has walked, so I hope I can get to you guys so that way I don't lose my job on day one," Gojo said as everyone got their seats.

Luz sat closest to the front of the class, with Willow sitting next to her. Behind Luz was Skara, and at the very back at Boscha, who looked completely disinterested. Gojo had a feeling that the three-eyed girl was going to leave, given her attitude. Not to mention that she only had a faint amount of Cursed Energy, much like the majority of other humans back at home.

"It might be best to kick her out of the class right now. But then she'd complain to Gramps about it…" Gojo thought, before clearing his throat. If she didn't leave after today, he could probably get her some contacts imbued with Cursed Energy to give her the ability to see Cursed Spirits, and maybe a Cursed Tool while he was at it.

"Alright, class! Good afternoon, and all of that fun stuff. Names Gojo and I'll be your magnificent, wonderful, bestest, and only teacher of The Cursed Track! Any questions?" Gojo said, before jumping onto his desk and sitting on it with one leg crossed over the other. There was a bout of silence for a few seconds, the darker-skinned girl raised her hand. "Yes, you! Also, what's your name!"

"Skara Emerald, Mr. Gojo, and, Uh, what's this class going to be about?" Skara asked as Gojo smiled.

"Why, I'm glad you asked! First and foremost, I'm sure you've already heard of the tragedy, but a student by the name of Viney Grasswood was brutally mauled to death by what officials are calling a wild animal," Gojo began as the vaguely Korean-looking girl, who until he got a name for her he'd call her glasses, flinched, three-eyes looked away, and Skara slumped in her chair. Luz, on the other hand, glanced at the floor.

He knew Luz knew what he was talking about. They both assumed that the Curse that she had exorcised had been the one to have killed that student, but this all but confirmed it.

"What does that have to do with anything? Mr. Gojo?" Glasses asked, her voice timid as Gojo spoke.

"Well, glad you asked! If I told you I know what actually killed Viney, would you believe me?" Once again, a bout of silence, before Three-Eyes spoke up.

"Wasn't it a pissed-off Dragonmoth or something like that?" Three-Eyes dismissed her tone of voice haughty. She also looked a degree insulted by what Gojo had said, but then again, who wouldn't? He was assuming that Viney and Three-Eyes were friends, and or knew of each other and spoke occasionally.

He didn't know, nor did he want to. Besides, He had no real idea of what normal high school was like. Not that this was a normal high school, but it was the closest thing that he envisioned one to be like.

"Well, that's what the officials are saying. But I know otherwise," Gojo said as leapt off the table and wrote on the chalkboard behind him "Cursed Energy." He turned back around and faced the small class, his smirk ever present. "Before I went out for my lunch break, I got the chance to investigate Viney's body. As I had assumed, Viney was covered in a substance known as "Cursed Energy." It's invisible to the naked eye, and only those who can see and sense it can observe it directly."

"Cursed Energy?" Glasses muttered, blinking as she looked up at Gojo. "You mean Curse Magic?"

"Nuh-uh!" Gojo denied, still smirking. "Curse Magic, like Petrafiction and Dissolvement are generated using magic. Cursed Energy, on the other hand, is pure negative energy. Magic is positive energy, which is why beings made of it, such as yourselves, react poorly to it. Tell me, who was there to watch the fight between my student and Amity Blight?"

Everyone in the classroom, sans Luz who had kept her hand down and was currently reading a book, raised their hand. "Great! Now, really quickly, just for a second, I want you all to open your senses. You'll see why in a second."

And that's exactly what they did, and the second they had, they were bombarded by the most foul feeling energy in the whole world. Worse than corrupted magic. It made their skin crawl, and for Glasses, it nearly caused her to break out into tears. Gojo snapped his fingers, and the sensation disappeared alongside it.

"What the titan was that?!" Three-Eyes exclaimed as Gojo got back onto the table and pointed to the board.

"Cursed Energy. Pure negativity. That's what this class is about. What you just felt was pure, unfiltered, raw Cursed Energy going directly into your systems. You feel a bit queasy, don't you? Don't worry, every Witch and Demon who walked into this classroom with their senses already opened has. I—"

"Uh, Mr. Gojo? Was I supposed to feel gross?" Skara asked, causing Gojo to blink under his blindfold. He looked over at Skara, and used his Six Eyes to stare through her magic…. Only to find a boatload of Cursed Energy festering within her. Native Cursed Energy, to boot. It was the kind of Cursed Energy that someone with an innate talent for it would have.

"But how? Have humans been here before?" Gojo mused eyebrows furrowed under his blindfold. Skara fidgeted, uneasy as Boscha scoffed, standing up from her seat, earning Gojo's attention. "You leaving?"

"This is a bunch of hogwash. Nonsense, and a waste of time and tuition funding. I will complain to Principal Bump, and you will be fired," Three-eyes spat, before shoving open the door and storming out of the classroom. Glasses, Skara, and Luz stared at the door. Gojo shrugged, turning back to face the class.

"Good riddance, am I right? No one needs a Debbie downer."

"B-But, Mr. Gojo, her family is one of the most influential in the entire Boiling Isles! If she says you'll get fired, that means you'll—"

"Uh huh, yup, sure, I believe you. Um, small problem, I already wrote a contract with Gramps and it was signed and approved by The Empire of this place. I'm pretty sure I'm fine," Gojo interrupted, waving away Glasses' concerns, who stared at him, blinking in shock. "Now, to answer your question, Skara, you're not feeling disgusted or gross thanks to the sensation and feel of Cursed Energy implies that, at some point in your heritage, you're family came into contact with a Jujutsu Sorcerer and procreated. Oh, and a Sorcerer is a human who was taught at Jujutsu Tech, just to clarify. When that would've happened, I don't know, but it would more than likely be before I was born, otherwise, I would've known about it."

"Huh?!" Glasses exclaimed, looking over at Skara with wide eyes. "Wait a minute, you're a Half Witch?!"

"Willow, I—"

"No! You mean to tell me you've been calling me that awful nickname when you're literally the thing you're calling me?!" Glasses, or apparently "Willow" as Skara had called her, shouted with clear and recognizable anger in her tone as Gojo couldn't help but chuckle, which drew Willow's attention. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because petty high school drama is always the best," Gojo quipped as he stood up from the desk and rolled his shoulders, before clapping his hands together and grabbing the front of the desk with his hands, leaning back into it with a smug grin. "It's the kind of stuff that keeps the class alive instead of making you all look like robots scribbling on pieces of paper."

Gojo then looked over at Skara, gesturing to her. "So, how much of a human do you think you are? What percentage?" Gojo asked as Skara shrunk into herself, clearly embarrassed.

"I… don't know. But it was one of my great-grandparents on my mother's side…" As Skara said that, she glanced over at Willow, who was still very angry. "Look, Willow, I'm sorry, I—" Wordlessly, Willow sat down and ignored Skara, who flinched. It was clear that she was very offended, and Gojo couldn't claim to know the depths of what their squabble was.

Luz, for her part, had put her book down and was looking over at Skara and Willow, a curious gleam in her eyes. It was hard for her to not be curious. She spared both a glance, before looking back at Gojo, who shrugged.

"Uh, what's going on?" Luz asked as Gojo suddenly teleported behind both Willow and Skara and grabbed them both by their cowls, shocking them.

"They're beefing, and that's no good. We can't have that, now can we?" As Gojo said that, he lifted both of them out of their seats, which made them squirm in place.

"H-hey! Put us down!"

"Y-Yeah, what she said!"

"You know what I think, Luz?" Gojo said, turning to look at her, a large shit-eating grin on his face. "I think we should knock some sense into them. Show them that this little squabble doesn't matter, right?"

Luz cocked her head to the side, not picking up what Gojo was putting down, at least not until she looked at Willow and Skara. Frankly, Luz wasn't exactly all too thrilled about doing another battle. But, if it meant repairing a friendship…. A sly grin took up her visage as she stood up, Cursed Energy flashing over her fists.

"Sure, why not?" As Luz said that, the pair of Witches stared at Luz with wide eyes. Was she serious? The same girl who beat Amity Blight was willing to fight them? A witch who barely knew how to use Abomination Magic, and a defective witch who couldn't muster even a tiny amount of magic without help.

"They're joking. They gotta be, right?" Skara thought, as without warning they were no longer in the classroom, but rather, in a forest clearing. One second, Mr. Gojo was there, the next he wasn't, and then another second later, he returned with Luz.

"So, here's the deal," Mr. Gojo began, a wide smile on his face. "I want to see what the both of you can do. Don't restrict yourself to any form of Magic that you've been taught. Go wild! Be free! Because trust me, you'll need it." Then, without warning, he snapped his fingers and before Skara could do or say anything…

Luz was an inch away from her face with a fist reared back and ready to strike.

Skara leapt back, just barely avoiding the downward swing that Luz had thrown, her fist crashing into the ground at speeds that she didn't know a human could throw a punch. When her fist connected to the ground, it was hard enough to cause the grass to blow away and for the dirt and ground underneath to crack.

Luz looked up, a feral gleam in her eyes as she smiled. It looked downright psychotic, the kind of smile that one would see on a serial killer. Then, before Skara could even muster another thought, Luz was once again on her, mere inches away from her as a kick was aimed at her chest.

Before the kick landed, though, a giant vine sprouted from the ground, and wrapped around Luz's leg, before rising high up to just half the height of the nearby trees. Glancing over at Willow, Skara realized that she was using Plant Magic.

That must've meant she had been practicing it in secret, which considering how abysmal she was at Abomination Magic was great, because otherwise, that kick would've landed. Skara didn't want to know how strong that kick would've been, but she guessed it more than likely would've hurt.

"Nice thinking!" Gojo called out, prompting Willow to smile faintly. Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived, as Luz punched the plant with a blueish-black energy—the same energy she used in her fight with Amity and what Skara was assuming was Cursed Energy—causing the plant to instantly wither and die, resulting in her falling.

As she fell, she did a mid-air back flip and landed perfectly on her feet, and as she did, her legs spread out with the left leg in front of her, the right leg behind her, and her hand keeping her place just a few inches in front of her left leg.

Skara stood, terrified at what she had just seen. From her perspective, she wasn't looking at a person. She was looking at a predator. The smile on Luz's face was unnerving, as was her stance. She was what Skara would've believed a humanoid serpent would look like with legs with how she took to her stance.

For a split second, when she blinked, she could've sworn that a black shadow morphed over her body, for her eyes to go completely white, and for that haunting smile to turn into a predatory one. It was the kind of stare that a monster would give to prey that they cornered.

Maybe it was because of the negativity that was wafting off of her that was poisoning her systems that made her feel and see Luz that way, but it was terrifying. Her heart pounded against her chest as she panicked, sweat coming off of her body in the bucketloads.

Skara took a step back and tried to create a magic circle to do something, anything to stop Luz from attacking her. Maybe a simple sound wave that knocked her back? Or maybe even a flurry of sounds that caused confusion.

She settled on the former and began to create the magical circle. Of note, when it came to making Magical Circles, it wasn't a free act. It costs a small amount of Bile Sac fluid to create. If one were to run out and try and pour magic through the circle, it would result in great pain.

Bile Sac failure was something that, while it rarely happened, had disastrous consequences. It was even worse for those who had weak or shotty Bile Sacs. With those with a healthy Bile Sac, the worst that could happen would be for someone to be unable to use Magic for a little while and make the caster extremely sick. But, for someone with a weak Bile Sac…

Well, it was comparable to saying that being gored to death by a Slitherbeast was a more pleasant way to go than having someone with a weak Bile Sac have it fail. Because at least then, their brain would shut down and the only pain they'd be feeling would be mental, rather than physical.

That's why The Emperor removed "Forced Bile Sac Shut Down" as an execution option for criminals. It was too cruel, even for him, and The Emperor was creative when it came to executing criminals. So for him to outlaw something like that…. It went to show just how awful having a Bile Sac fail was.

So, when Skara began to create the magic circle when she saw it peeter out, and when she felt the horrid pain in her chest, she should've realized at that moment that she was going to experience the worst kind of pain a witch could feel, second to being brutalized by someone.

But, she didn't. It was only after the horrible chest pain began, that she realized she was practically puking up what could only be described as a waterfall of blood. Because, when a Bile Sac shutdown due to overuse, it negatively affects the heart. It overworks the heart, or, in the worst cases, actively begins to attack the heart.

And in Skara's case, it was the latter that was happening.

"Skara?!" Luz called out, getting out of her stance as she ran over to her. Skara couldn't talk, all she could do was cough up more blood as she convulsed. Gojo came down from where he had been standing, i.e. in the tree line observing the battle, and rushed over to her side.

Gojo had no idea what was going on. The only thing he knew was that something was wrong and that his student was injured. Horribly so. He looked over to Willow, who looked absolutely horrified. Maybe she knew what was happening? "What's going on? What's happening to her?" Gojo demanded, prompting Willow to speak.

"B-Bile Sac failure! She needs a doctor, now, or she'll die!"

Gojo didn't know what "Bile Sac Failure" was, but if he had to guess, it was tantamount to heart failure. He knew how close the Bile Sac was to the heart, i.e. being attached to it, thanks to Eda, so he had an idea that if one were to shut down, then so would the other. Or, the opposite organ, in this case, the Bile Sac, more than likely attacked the other, in which case was the heart.

Without thinking twice, Gojo scooped Skara up into his arms, and teleported her out of the area, leaving Luz and Willow by themselves. Luz looked over to Willow, who glanced at her.

So far, if Luz had to rank the day out of ten, today would get a solid and firm zero out of ten.

[XXXX]

When Gojo teleported into the school's infirmary with a shaking and barely conscious Skara in his arms, he was surrounded by doctors who took her from him and asked far too many questions that he had zero answers for. It frustrated him because he was usually the one with all of the answers. Yet now, in this situation, he had no answers.

"Never let the lack of answers frustrate you. Not everyone's perfect. Just go with the flow, and smile. Being positive in a negative world is the best advice I can give to you, Mr. The Strongest!"

That was what Haibara told him. While they weren't particularly close—that was with Nanami—he still took those words to heart.

When Haibara died….

God, he had never seen Nanami that upset and angry at the same time. He had a full mental breakdown. He should've picked up the signs at the time, but it had been clear that he and Nanami had been far more than friends. No one had that reaction to a friend dying. Not the way that Nanami broke down.

A part of him was starting to get really worried. He had been sitting here for the last three hours, and none of the doctors had come back. Then again, he was used to being in the room with Shoko during her surgeries on his students. He was able to see what happened. To know what went wrong.

But here? He didn't have that kind of authority. To these people, all Gojo had been was a human. A strange human, mind you, but a human nonetheless.

He was so used to being privileged to do, say, and go wherever he wanted, but here he didn't have that choice. He had to play by this society's rules. Granted, if he really wanted to, he could run around and do whatever he wanted with no consequences. He was The Strongest. He was only playing nice because he didn't want to be constantly hounded by the authorities.

Realistically speaking he blew up an orphanage and there would be nothing this world could do to him. Not with his Infinity, Six Eyes, and Limitless.

Then again, there was always the chance that one of the spells these Witches could cast might have the chance to ignore his Infinity. In Jujutsu Society, only The Inverted Spear Of Heaven could get through his Infinity. Nothing else could. Here, however? He didn't know.

For all he knew, some random spell that a witch could sling might be more than able to pierce is Infinity. He wouldn't typically be this cautious, but he had no idea what this society or people could do, and he wasn't going to risk it.

That was why he needed to leave this place, and fast.

For all of his shit-talk of The Elders and Jujutsu Society and how restrictive it was, at least there he knew everything. At least there he could roll with the punches. Here, it was all too random. Eda was right when she said that this place was dangerous.

The only thing stopping him from telling Eda that he was leaving was the appearance of that Special Grade Curse. No, scratch that. If it hadn't been for Cursed Spirits showing up here in general, he would've left after the first two days.

Yes, here, he could train Luz in any way he saw fit, with no external advice from anyone else. But he didn't have all the tools and the support of the other teachers to properly teach her. Gojo wasn't exactly the best teacher in the world. He much preferred to goof around than be serious all the time.

He hated acting like Nanami when he wasn't. It was draining both socially and physically. Not to mention that this place's candy was gross. There was far too little sugar or whatever this world's equivalent of sugar. It was like eating savoury candy, which was, as far as he was concerned, an actual crime.

Then there was also the fact that he knew the longer he was here, the quicker The Elders were going to try something sneaky. Maybe give Megumi back to the Zen'in Clan. After all, The Elders as a whole had owed the Zen'in a massive favour and that would be the favour to end all favours. He wouldn't put it past them.

For all he knew, they could think him dead.

And if they thought him dead…

"Satoru Gojo, was it?" A voice cut through his thoughts as Gojo looked up from the floor he had been staring at. The voice belonged to a Witch with long black hair, orange eyes, and yellowish-tan skin. He was dressed in a blue coat, and he spotted on his right hand just above his wrist a strange symbol. The same symbol for The Healing Track.

"Yeah, that's me. Is Skara doing alright?" Gojo asked as the Witch motioned him to follow. They walked down a hallway and turned to a door. The Witch opened it and inside, Skara was lying in a bed with a few empty potion bottles next to her and some kind of machinery attached to her. It was primitive, but it was better than nothing.

"She was lucky to get here when she had. Her Bile Sac was beginning to cannibalize her heart and tissue within it. Her previous medical record had mentioned that her Bile Sac was shrivelled at birth. This was going to happen eventually. We had to surgically remove it for her safety. If it stayed in her system for any longer, she would've died."

Gojo hummed in acknowledgement. With her primary source of magic gone, the only energy wafting off of her was her Cursed Energy. On further analysis of her energy amounts, based on raw energy alone, she was around the same strength as a Semi-Grade 2. With enough skill, she could cap around Grade 2 and with a technique cap at Semi-Grade 1.

It wasn't exactly a bad place to cap at. Still, regardless of her rank, now that all she had to work with was her Cursed Energy she would be able to progress a little faster than Willow.

"So, she can go back to attending my class tomorrow?" Gojo asked as The Witch scoffed.

"No. She should be removed from the school. It's already insulting that she's a Half-Witch, but without a bile sac, she would be better off petrified," The Witch spat as Gojo shot him a glance. Did he really just say that?

Oh… this would be good.

"Say, what's your name?" Gojo asked as The Witch hummed.

"Brim. Why?"

Without warning, Gojo punched Brim in his mouth faster than Brim could react to as he flew across the room. When Brim slammed into the wall, the air in his lungs forced out from the impact, he gasped for breath as Gojo stalked toward him with his hands in his pockets. "Y-You—"

"You can keep your mouth shut," Gojo began, a smile on his face that radiated the exact opposite of joy. "You can talk smack about anyone else. Other students and the like. Be as judgmental as you want with them. I truly don't care. But, if you speak badly about my students then that's when we have problems."

Brim slowly inched out of the crack in the wall he was placed in, and by then, Gojo was just a few inches away from him. Brim's upper lip was split, and his nose oozed blood alongside his lower lip swelling from the pain.

"Y-You brute! I—"

Gojo grabbed him by the collar, his smile still on his face as Brim shuttered. "If the next words out of your mouth aren't an apology, then you can expect to become a stain on the wall," as Gojo said, he decided to come up with a unique little fib. Just to scare the teeth out of Brim over here. Technically, if other Sorcerers came here that weren't him, it would be true. But still….

"Tell me, Brim, what do you think I do for a living?"

"I-I'm sorry…. I-I don't know?"

"We hunt creatures like you," Gojo hummed as Brim's eyes widened, as did Gojo's smile as he grabbed him by the neck, slowly squeezing as Brim began to squirm, gasping for air as he choked. "Makes a lot of money, too. I would what would happen if I brought your head back to my bosses? How much you wanna reckon you're worth? Five million? Ten million? Maybe even twenty million?"

Gojo threw Brim to the ground and pointed to the door, scowling. "On second thought, you're not worth my time. If you had any smarts left in that empty head of yours, you'd scram. Oh, and if you tell anyone? I might change my mind," Gojo spat as Brim scrambled to his feet and ran out of the door, screaming in sheer terror.

Gojo watched as his form faded away down the hallway. He hated people like Brim. Though, he'd admit that he was more than a little ignorant himself. He was a rich Japanese man who never really travelled out of the country unless it was to kill a curse or a curse user.

His last meeting with Miguel was a little… bad. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and he had apologized to the man, which Miguel didn't really care much for. At least he was trying, though. That was all that mattered. Miguel's friend had said as such. Larue, he believed his name was.

Regardless, he had learned from that and had become a better person. It was why he hated people like Brim because he knew they could become a better person. Seeing them call someone useless without knowing what talents they really have… it made the teacher in him froth at the mouth to berate ignorant people like him.

"He's right though…" Skara's hollow-sounding voice muttered as Gojo's shoulders sagged lightly. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Skara looked upset. She had tear stains going down her cheeks as if she had been slightly crying the whole exchange. "Without my Bile Sac… I'm useless…."

"No, you're not," Gojo stated matter-of-factly. "You're like Luz. You have Cursed Energy and a useable amount of it. I'll give you a brief rundown on how to use it. But first, I have to make sure Willow and Luz are alright. I left them alone in the woods to make sure you were okay." As Gojo said that, Skara looked up and stared at the back of his head.

She wanted to believe him. Really, she did. But, all of her life she was told that she was pathetic. That she had no talent for anything. Her parents had been the only ones who hadn't thought that way. But now? Not so much. They were slowly starting to doubt her too. Not like the other students, mind you. They were mostly looking out for her health.

They were right. She should've dropped out of Hexside. This would've never happened if she had. She sniffled, looking over to the clay jar that most likely contained her ruined Bile Sac. Gojo stood next to her, hand on her shoulder as she looked up at him. His expression was so hard to read with that blindfold on his face. She couldn't tell if he was sad or if he was just staring at her.

"Take the blindfold off… it's hard to tell what you look like…" Skara muttered as Gojo recoiled a little. He pursed his lips in thought, taking his hand off her shoulder, prompting her to look away. Did she offend him? She hoped not.

Oh Titan, what if she did offend him? "I-I'm sorry I—"

When she looked back over to Gojo, she had expected to see him annoyed or something along those lines. What she saw was him taking off his blindfold, and underneath it were, objectively speaking, some of the most beautiful eyes she had ever bore witness to.

The term "their eyes glowed like gems" was essentially all of what Mr. Gojo's eyes were. They were a crystalline blue, kind of like sapphires from the human world. They glowed as if all the light in the world was behind them, focused on a single point.

His eyes reflected many, many emotions. Concern, worry, anxiety, stress and many, many more. But the one that she honed onto the most was the pride that seemed to glimmer within. Pride for what or who, she didn't know.

What exactly was there to be proud of? Skara didn't know, and it was bothersome. Come to think of it, it was only now that she had been able to fully take in all of Mr. Gojo. His hair was no longer pushed up, but rather, it fell to cover his ears. His pale skin and blue eyes matched well.

It was no wonder that he had so many followers on Penstagram. She had seen a couple of his photos on there, and while she herself had no real interest in any kind of individual in that regard be they male or female, she had to admit that Mr. Gojo was extremely handsome.

"I don't do this often," Gojo said as he slipped the blindfold back over his eyes. "Taking off my blindfold, I mean. Even when I sleep I keep it on. It hurts to take my blindfold off, mostly because of Six Eyes works. But, you were in a downer mood, and I hate that for my students," Gojo said as he smirked. "Besides, you look happy now."

Was she smiling? She didn't know. It was hard to tell when you couldn't look at yourself in the mirror. Though, she wouldn't be surprised.

"Thank you… Mr. Gojo… I, uh—"

"None of that mister stuff, it makes me feel old. Just Gojo, please," Gojo said as he turned to face away from Skara. "Anyways, I'll be back. Sit tight." With that, Gojo disappeared, leaving Skara all by her lonesome.

What even was that? She didn't know, but as she stared at where Gojo had previously been, she couldn't help but smile. The corners of her mouth stretched up into a faint grin as she relaxed into her bed.

If she had dropped out of Hexside, there was a chance that she would've never met Gojo. She was glad she stayed. She looked down at herself and frowned. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and peering down it, she could see the massive scar going from the left side of the base of her neck to just below her sternum.

Healing Magic was insanely useful. She was glad that she didn't have to wait in a hospital for the surgery scar to heal. But now, as she sat alone, she couldn't help but think about what Gojo had said. That she was like Luz. That she had Cursed Energy.

She assumed the same thing about Willow. If Cursed Energy was as foul as it was supposed to be, given Boscha's and Willow's reactions, how could someone like Willow have Cursed Energy? She never really understood how positives and negatives interacted. She never really paid attention to standard lessons both mathematics and other inane things.

Gojo had explained that Cursed Energy was Negative Energy in its purest form. Or, something along those lines, and that the opposite was true when it pertained to magic, making it Positive Energy in its purest form. Two positives made a negative, and two negatives made a positive, a positive and a negative was also a negative, and if there was an equal amount of both, then they would cancel one another out.

So, how would Magic and Cursed Energy be able to work together?

Skara sighed. She didn't know what she was talking about. She didn't know enough about Cursed Energy to find ways for it to work.

Although, there was one more idea she had. Adding them together wouldn't work. But, what about combining the two? It sounded like the same thing, but it wasn't. Using both at the same time without pause could probably produce something.

But, what did she know?

Laying her head back into the pillow, she exhaled, staring up at the ceiling. Today started on a low note, then got worse, but now it was starting to look better for Skara.

Maybe, just maybe, things would be alright after all.

[XXXX]

When Gojo reappeared in the forest, he had expected Luz and Willow to be patiently waiting around for him. But, that wasn't what he had been greeted with. When he showed up, he was greeted by Luz batting away a large, near tree-thick vine from Willow.

Cursed Energy flared around Luz's fist as she made contact with the plant, the vine shrivelling up and falling to the wayside. That didn't stop Willow, though, as two more took its place to try and overwhelm Luz. To Willow's credit, it had tripped her up slightly, causing Luz to nearly trip up and fall, only to be saved by a well-timed backflip.

A vine rushed forward, aiming to slam into her stomach, only for Luz to hop onto the vine and run Willow down. Several more vines sprouted from the ground as Willow focused with all of her will as the green circles around her hands constantly ebbed and flowed with Magic.

Luz ducked and dodged under the vines swipes, and even slapped two or three of them out of the way, causing them to wither thanks to her Cursed Energy. Finally, once Luz made it to Willow, Luz kicked her in the face with a non-cursed energy-imbued crane kick, the vines fizzling out as Willow fell on her rear.

When she fell, Luz hopped to the ground, reaching out to help Willow up. Willow stared at her hand for a second, before taking it and smiling, the side of her face lightly scuffed.

They were sparring. Completely unprompted.

Good. That was good.

It brought him back to the days when he and Getou would spar. Not that the two before him shared a similar bond as they had. But, still, it brought back good memories of his former… partner turned corpse.

That was something he was worried about happening to Luz. For an event like Toji Fushiguro to happen to her. To have such a tragic and scarring event happen where it tore apart two usually great friends. It was his biggest fear with any of his students past or present.

But, in The Boiling Isles, that more than likely wouldn't happen. After all, there were no Heavenly Restrictions here, no assassins were made to kill Jujutsu Sorcerers, Cursed Energy was just starting to get a foothold, and more importantly, everyone here could use magic so there was no reason to have such people.

But, then again, he had seen signs of Humans being here before.

Skara was a perfect example of that. She was a Half-Witch—a witch with Human DNA. Considering she had oodles of Cursed Energy, or at least more than your average person, it was more than likely a Sorcerer that had come here. Implying that Jujutsu Society already knew about this place.

He pushed that thought aside. Now was not the time to think about that. If he did, then he would more than likely just make himself more annoyed than he already was. He didn't like the fact that he had to stay here, and he also really didn't like the fact that there was a chance that The Elders knew this would happen.

But, until he went back to his home, he wouldn't know. For now, he was going to focus on the positives. Case in point….

"Look at you two working hard! Ah, I'm so proud!" Gojo said, playing up his happiness to a comical degree just as he always did, throwing Willow off of her game, causing her to fall on her rear while Luz looked over to him. For a split second, she had a smile on her face, but it faded in return for a concerned frown.

"Is Skara okay?" Luz asked as Gojo sighed, dropping his proud expression as it changed to a serious one.

"She had to get her Bile Sac removed. I don't know why, though…" Gojo said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm ending class for the day. Tomorrow we'll try this again. I'll take you guys back to the classroom." As he said that, he grabbed both of them by their wrists and teleported them back. At the same time, the bell rang, indicating that it was the end of the day.

Gojo watched as Willow left the classroom, waving bye to them as Luz waved back. When she left the room, the door closing behind her, Gojo looked over to Luz. "We're going to go see Skara. We're going to train her control over Cursed Energy the same way I trained you. Except, you're going to be the one to do it."

"Huh?!" Luz said, confusion in her tone as Gojo smirked.

"Had a feeling you'd react like that. Think of it as training how to imbue objects with Cursed Energy into objects. It'll be quick and easy, I promise," Gojo assured as Luz slumped, grumbling something in Spanish under her breath. Gojo only knew how to understand English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. He never bothered with other languages.

Was it dumb? Probably. But he had no patience for learning more than four languages. He probably could—and with ease, too—but he was far too busy with other stuff. Namely hunting Curses and teaching a new generation of Jujutsu Sorcerers.

With that, Gojo grabbed Luz's wrist and teleported to the infirmary to meet back up with Skara. As he did, he only had one thought in his head. It was one he had been wondering since he realized he'd be stuck here for a little while, and it was a simple one.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing without me?"

[XXXX]

Rule number one when working in a morgue: never have a cheery attitude. After all, smiling while cutting open bodies made you look like a psychopath.

Rule number two when working in a morgue: be prepared to see a lot of young corpses. Children, especially in her profession, tended to die more often than not. Kids who had no idea what they were doing and messing around with powers that they couldn't explain died frequently in the circles she ran in.

When she first started as a mortician and doctor at Jujutsu Tech, that was something she had to get used to.

Especially so when Haibara had died…

The third and final rule when working in a morgue: be quick and efficient. That applied to all jobs, but this one especially. Bodies decayed quickly, and no matter how much embalming fluid or, in her case, Reverse Cursed Energy, one were to dump into a body, decay would begin regardless, giving you very little time to work with a subject.

If it wasn't for the fact that this job paid decently, she would've dropped it a long time ago. Or, if she had a choice in the matter. That was just semantics, though. Her point was that, as long as she followed those three rules, she could keep herself relatively sane. However, some people have told her she already lost it a long time ago. She would be inclined to agree.

Mostly.

Needless to say, Ieiri Shoko was constantly on the verge of scowling when she worked on a body. She was quick, efficient, and didn't enjoy her job at all. It paid decently well, but not enough to where she enjoyed her job. Then again, doing what she did was hard to enjoy when it was so drab all the time, and when she was locked into doing it for the rest of her miserable life.

Thankfully, today she had no corpses to work on. Just healing. It was a change of pace that was needed. The last corpse she worked on was… it was horrible. They were a transfer student from another school, and they ran afoul of some Grade 1 Curse that tore them apart from the inside.

Literally.

Shoko shouldn't have puked when she saw it. She had been so accustomed to death that it was routine for her to simply shrivel her nose at the prospect.

And she would have.

Had the student been older than 11.

But that was last week. The body was already in the chill section of the morgue. She didn't need to look at it anymore. All she had to do was focus on her current job, which was technically already over but still. Anything to distract her mind from the constant darkness that preluded her waking adult life.

Shoko was a tall woman, standing around 5'7, or just about 170 cm. She was dressed in a white lab coat overtop a blue turtle neck sweater and a pair of black leggings, completed with cream-coloured high-heeled shoes.

Right now, she was sitting on one of the recently cleaned workstations, a cigarette in hand as she took a drag out of it. Thick grey fumes trailed out of her mouth as she blew, glancing over to her right.

The morgue wasn't a large room. It was about the same size as an average dorm living room. There were no windows, just two metal doors like a prison cell. Four evenly placed work tables sat in the center of the room, with another room in the back that contained droves of bodies that had been ready to be shipped out to funeral services.

The entrance door had a set of stairs that stepped down into her workspace, and sitting on the stairs was the person whom she recently healed. Though he was sitting down right now, the person in question was relatively tall, about two inches taller than herself. He was slim, and had fair skin much like her own, with shining green eyes.

He was dressed in a dark blue jacket with matching pants, though they stopped just above his shins, which were covered by black socks with his feet covered by low-top brown shoes. His black hair spiked out in every which way, kind of like an urchin, and he wore a perpetually neutral expression on his face.

The boy was Megumi Fushiguro. While neither Gojo nor Megumi saw it as how she had, he was essentially the adopted son of Gojo. He had been looking after the boy after Toji, the man who had tried to kill him, asked him to do so. Or at least, that was what Gojo had said.

Megumi didn't know who his father was. As far as Megumi was concerned, his parents abandoned him and his sister. The only problem was that his mother and Toji were both already dead. No one had the heart to tell him that.

Someone had to. Eventually.

For now, though, he could stay ignorant of it.

"How you holdin' up, kid?" Shoko questioned as Megumi glanced at her.

"I'm fine. More importantly, has there been any word from Gojo?" Megumi asked as Shoko sighed, taking another drag from her cigarette, only half of it remaining as she tapped the ash to the floor.

"Nothing, kiddo. The Elders are starting to get annoyed. Their thinking of sending another agent there to investigate. My guess is probably Hakari or Yuta," Shoko replied as Megumi frowned. Ever since Gojo disappeared a week ago, everyone's been anxious.

Hell, it even drew Nanami out of retirement to help in the search for him.

For as obnoxious as Gojo was, if anything happened to him—which was basically impossible thanks to his Limitless and Infinity—everyone would go to the ends of the earth to make sure he was okay.

"Has he at least called?" Shoko asked as Megumi shook his head.

"No. It's been radio silence ever since he made it to America," Megumi replied as Shoko scowled. That wasn't like Gojo. He was a constant talker, no matter what.

Something happened. She didn't know what, but something was wrong here.

"Well, I'm going home," Megumi said as he stood up, and turned to exit the morgue. He looked over his shoulder, a glimmer of worry in his eyes. "I'll let you know if I hear anything from Gojo. Have a good day, Shoko-san."

As Megumi exited the room, the door closing behind him, Shoko cursed under her breath, taking the final drag out of her cigarette before taking it out, tossing it to the floor, and crushing it under her heel.

Shoko often asked herself why she had started smoking. She had always been the "clean" one out of her friend groups before Jujutsu Tech. Before any of this nightmare that she was wrapped up in. Now, here she was, in a morgue, holding a pack of Marlboro cigarettes in one hand and a lighter in the other.

She found it ironic, mostly. How a doctor and mortician smoked a pack a day. She should have had lung cancer by now, but thanks to Reverse Cursed Technique, she didn't have to worry about it. If she ever started to feel as if it was getting slightly more difficult to breathe, she'd simply use it and move on with her day.

A part of Shoko wanted to leave this mess behind. To use her power to heal more than just Jujutsu Sorcerers. She could cure Cancer for the time she was alive. Yet, those old farts in charge wouldn't let her so much as leave the school without someone else with her.

When she remarked the doors to this place were like a prison, she wasn't kidding. She lived on campus, ate on campus, and worked on campus. She wasn't allowed to leave unless she was either with someone else or was on a mission with someone else to act as support.

She hated this job.

She hated The Elders.

But more importantly, she hated that she was being kept in the dark about Gojo's situation. She and Megumi both were starting to get frustrated with this nonsense. At first, she had thought that Gojo was just ignoring his phone. But after a few days of no contact, Shoko began to realize that it was more than Gojo just being a jackass.

There was something more to this, and The Elders were being very hush-hush about the whole ordeal.

And when The Elders were being hush-hush about something, it usually meant that they were the ones behind it. After all, they've always wanted Gojo out of the way. Maybe, when Gojo had that blasted weapon used by the Ghost of the Zen'in destroyed, they had lied about the third piece of the weapon having been displaced and gave it to someone to kill him with it.

The Elders had done things like that in the past. Gojo's first student came to mind when underhandedness came into effect and the lengths that those old bastards were willing to go.

Shoko exhaled slowly, calming herself as she flooded her mind with happier thoughts. It wasn't often that She got worked up over something, but this was one of those things where she could allow herself to get as worked up as she was getting.

This was Gojo she was worried about. While realistically she didn't need to be, Gojo was her last remaining true, honest to god, real friend that she had left. Nanami was a co-worker and nothing more, which he had made expressly clear was the case since neither of them got along very well both during school and after it. Yaga was too busy to talk most of the time, and the less talked about Mei Mei, the better.

Utahime, though… if she could just get through that snooty behaviour, that was friend material right there. She knew that much. Even underneath all of that drama and nonsense, Shoko saw something in her. All she needed was just a little bit of a push.

That aside, with Gojo being gone, it was eating her up inside. There were so many things that she hadn't said to him past and present that were just now bubbling to the surface. For the longest time, even back when they were still in school, she had the biggest crush on him the likes of which eclipsed most crushes that she had in the past.

It was stupid. She knew it had been. She had lost a lot of sleep back then tossing and turning at night trying to push those feelings away. It had been more and more apparent that Getou and Gojo were a thing, so she had no real shot. If he was into men, then he was into men.

But then Getou left Jujutsu Tech after The Incident as it had been called. The two of them stopped talking, and eventually, Gojo moved on after a year of sulking. He wound up dating Utahime of all people, though it didn't last long. He went from one person to another, trying to fill the void of what was more than likely a broken relationship with Getou.

Shoko couldn't believe it all. Sure, she had her suspicions that Gojo was Bi-Sexual. After all, he had far too many posters in his room of scantily clad women back in the day. Gojo said it was just because he liked the female form, but that was a lie and they all knew it. But she had essentially been proven right.

He never approached her, though. Never asked her out. Never even so much as thought of her as an option. It hurt her more than anything. Maybe it was because he saw her as a forever friend but that didn't stop her from being hurt by it. Hell, for a brief period he had even dated Mei Mei before it was found out what she was doing to Ui Ui.

He dated every man and woman at Jujutsu Tech that was of his age, excluding her, and then after that he dropped the whole dating thing and did one-night stands with various women outside of campus. He never brought it to the school, but it explained why he was gone a lot when he wasn't on missions.

Gojo was a self-admitted manwhore. He went around fucking any grown adult with a pulse. But she knew why. No one understood why he did it. It was to fill the void of Getou Suguru. The man he loved and subsequently killed a decade later. It only stopped recently when Megumi complained about him being gone for long periods.

Not that Megumi knew what it was he was doing, but that seemed to get him to stop. But now, he was gone again. This time, it was far more suspicious. This time, there was someone or something behind why he was gone.

And she wanted answers.

It was already bad enough that her heart and been stabbed, metaphorically, three times by the world around her. Having that Zen'in bastard almost killed Gojo and Getou had already hurt her heart. Getou's betrayal pierced it with a stake, and now Gojo's disappearance left a hole in it that couldn't be filled.

For as much as she found Gojo annoying, she loved that man, even if he didn't know it. Now, the man she loved was gone. Missing.

It hurt something fierce.

She needed answers, and no one had any. It almost drove her to tears, but she had to be strong. She cried plenty when Getou betrayed them and was subsequently killed. She resolved herself not to cry until Gojo came back or was found dead—not that Gojo could die.

He was Satoru Gojo.

He was The Honoured One.

Gojo would not die. Not until she could slap him in the face for being an idiot.

"Damn you, Satoru. Where the hell did you go?"

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song:  怪物 /Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[A Second Attempt]

[-Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born, By – Creepy Nuts]

The shine of the night sky reflected oddly into the infirmary room of Hexside. The stars twinkled differently, and the longer Gojo stared at them, the more he was reminded that this wasn’t home. It made him miss the night skies back on Earth. Back home. Where he belonged.

When he was younger, about 11 to 12 he’d say, he used to love staying up until the wee hours of the morning to go star gazing. It was the only fun thing he could do without his parents getting in between him and whatever activity he came up with.

The Gojo family practiced seclusion, meaning they forbade “normals” from going near or on their property. Because of that, Satoru never had any friends outside of those who would come to visit who were allowed, like other family members of the other big families or relatives. Aside from that, though, he never met anyone his age.

He was never allowed to leave the property without a chaperone, and when he was in public surrounded by other people, his parents refused to let him go near “the normals” as they put it, or do “normal activities” when he could be honing his Six Eyes or Limitless.

He resented his parents for that. They took the fun out of a lot of things, but more importantly, they took away his childhood. When they died when he was 16, he immediately enrolled in Tokyo Jujutsu High, and then the rest was history. That became his escape.

But, before that, he had his star gazing. It was his comfort back then. Now, though, it only held brief nostalgia. None of that comfort remained. It was just another thing on the very long list of stuff that Satoru Gojo could do.

A bud of annoyance began to sprout within the back of his mind. Maybe it was because he wanted to be home, and he knew exactly how to get home, and it frustrated him. It frustrated him deeply. With everything that was going on and with the fact that he detected a Special Grade Curse within this new realm, he couldn’t leave just yet.

Not to mention this place was perfect for teaching someone outside of the view of The Elders. It was a safe haven to practice Jujutsu. But, he wanted to leave. He wanted so badly to leave. But he didn’t, because Luz was having fun. His student was having the time of her life, and a part of him wanted to ensure that happiness remained.

Hell, he’d even go as far as to say he enjoyed the company of the Witches. Not because he liked them as people but because he found their magic to be interesting. If given the choice, he’d probably stick around just to see what else there was that this world could offer. It wasn’t very often that someone just… stumbled upon a new world. 

But then, reality kicked in, and the sad realization that he had no real choice but to return crept in. He had responsibilities to uphold, and as much as he wanted to keep training Luz here, there were fundamental things that this world didn’t have that Earth did.

For as much as he loathed The Elders, the best place to practice Jujutsu was at the schools. Surrounded by like-minded individuals who could use the same arts as you to teach you just as much as the other teachers taught you. But more than that, it was about the principle of things. He had duties back on Earth that he needed to attend to, and the longer he was here, the worse things would get.

When Gojo was born, simply because of his birth, Cursed Spirits got stronger in response to an Honoured One being born. Then they got more stronger when Yuta was born because of his Boundless Cursed Energy. He’d have to wager that because Luz was born, the same thing happened too.

The more Cursed Energy there was in the world, the stronger Cursed Spirits became. The more devastating they’d become, and the more they’d spread across the world. But just because that Cursed Energy disappears, that doesn’t mean the Cursed Spirits get weaker as a result. It just means the people who were there suddenly were no longer there to help the weaker Sorcerers deal with those Cursed Spirits.

Which then put him between a rock and a hard spot, because the same logic seemed to apply here. If he and Luz hadn’t shown up, then he doubted that Cursed Spirits would begin to show up at this fast of a rate. The same with people awakening their Cursed Energy in response to those Cursed Spirits.

It became increasingly clear that there was more to this than he originally thought—which given his previous knowledge he should’ve known, but had forgotten like the airhead he was. Unfortunately, though, he and Luz had to return to Earth. They, more specifically Gojo, had no choice. He had too many people he cared about back home that could be put into jeopardy by his not being there, and the last thing he wanted was for anything bad to happen to them. 

Yes, there was a Special Grade Curse within these lands—hell, given the amount of Cursed Energy that had started to blossom, there was a chance for multiple Special Grade Curses to have shown up by now. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, it was his and now Luz’s job to exorcise those Curses.

There was just one, small issue.

This was not Earth.

The reason why that mattered was because, in all reality, he had no obligation to help these people. Call it selfish or what have you, but he wasn’t exactly concerned about these people's lives. The only exception to that rule were his students, and anyone Luz saw fit to be a friend. For example, that Amity girl.

Everyone else, though? Well, if one of them died, he wouldn’t exactly shed a tear. Oh, sure, he’d feel a little bit of failure and maybe a tiny bit of self-consciousness, but it was nothing a few bowls of Ice Cream couldn’t fix. Not to mention the fact that, again, he only felt dedicated to his students. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Luz, though… She was far too empathetic for her own good.

That was one of the few things he was starting to get worried about. It became increasingly clear that, in many ways, she was like Yuta. Down to their eagerness to help the innocent, and down to their want to make the world a better place.

And that was the problem.

Sure, Jujutsu Sorcerers protected the world from Cursed Spirits. But it wasn’t because they wanted to. It was because they had to. He could only think of seven—no. five individuals he knew who would go out of their way to protect the innocent. Yuta Okkotsu, Masamichi Yaga, Toge Inumaki, Panda, and now Luz Noceda.

The other two, those being Yu Haibara and Suguru Getou were no longer in the world of the living. Though, even then, it hardly mattered. Because they were the best examples of why one shouldn’t try and be a hero.

After the Toji Incident, Getou became a cruel, heartless man forever traumatized by what had happened and the results therein. He died trying to kill humans without Cursed Energy en-masse, falling to the hands of Yuta and then subsequently dying to Gojo.

Then there was Haibara, who died for his want to protect others at the ripe age of 17. A death that could’ve been avoided if he had just looked out for himself instead of a random baby that was in the path of a Cursed Spirit.

Then there was everyone else. Those who others would consider, at least somewhat, to be truly neutral to the whole “protecting the innocent” thing. On that list was himself, a Jujutsu Sorcerer out of obligation due to him having the Six Eyes, Limitless, and Infinity. There was Shoko, who was a Sorcerer out of the want to cure certain diseases until she died, not because she wanted to fight or save the world.

Then there was Hakari, who was a Jujutsu Sorcerer so he could continue his gambling addiction; in fact, he couldn’t care less about the average civilian, but he would at the bare minimum try to make sure that no one else was around in case something crazy was about to go down. Finally, there was Maki Zen’in, who was a Jujutsu Sorcerer to prove her family wrong about her and her sister, Mai.  

Then there were the people who became Jujutsu Sorcerers for the sake of flexing their power. People like Todo who was only a Jujustu Sorcerer to pay back a debt and to get the record of most Cursed Spirits killed with raw Close-Quarters-Combat alone. Then there was Kokichi Muta, who was only a Sorcerer because he literally couldn’t do anything else thanks to his body literally falling apart.

Of course, there was Mei Mei, but the less he spoke about Mei Mei, the better. She was an admitted Money Whore. Not much else to explain there.

Finally, and probably the most disconcerting of the bunch, was every pure-blooded Kamo and pure-blooded Zen’in to have ever lived and breathed. All of them were scum, and all of them were power-hungry maniacs with their only goal being to dominate the Jujutsu World by rigging everything for their own benefit. Essentially, the Jujutsu Yakuza.

There were more people he could list off, but he didn’t want to be here forever. His point, though, was that the world of Jujutsu was not one for the faint of heart.

People like Yuta, Inumaki, Yaga, Panda, and Luz were easily preyed upon in the world of Jujutsu. They were easily corrupted. Turned into weapons of war to benefit The Elders. Regardless of their wants or desires, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. As long as Curses were around, Jujutsu Sorcerers were there to be rid of them. For better or worse.

A prime example of the evil in the Jujutsu world was the infamous Ryomen Sukuna. A human who, due to their pure, raw, unfiltered power and mastery of Jujutsu forsake his human flesh and transformed into a Curse with four arms, two sets of eyes, and two mouths with one on his face and another on his stomach. He was sealed away 1,000 years ago, during the tail-end of the Heian Era, but he ominously said that he’d return.

And that when he’d return…

It would be a massacre.

Gojo didn’t want to know what that meant. It was Sukuna’s last spoken words before he was sealed in 20 of his dead body’s fingers. So if it came from Sukuna, it was probably nothing good. The only good part about it was that there was no specific date for him to return, so they were still in the clear.

Not that he was afraid of losing to Sukuna, but rather he was afraid of what could happen to everyone else. They weren’t The Strongest. They were weak. Sukuna was the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in all of Jujutsu History. While Gojo was the strongest Modern Era Sorcerer, Sukuna was the strongest. Period.

While Gojo was sure he’d win in a fight, it was the others who he was worried about.

If Sukuna came back… It would be bad.

It could potentially be as he said: a massacre.

But, he doubted that Sukuna would come back. Then again, crazier has happened before, so he wasn’t going to bet all on red, so to speak. If Sukuna did come back, that just meant they’d have to be ready for when he did.

Anyway, the point he was trying to make, though, was that the world of Jujutsu was not a place for wannabe heroes. It was better suited for people who had no problem getting their hands dirty. It was better suited for people who wanted to grow in power and immerse themselves in it.

In other words, it wasn’t a world meant for naïve people like Yuta, Inumaki, Yaga, Panda, and Luz especially. He could already tell she was the plucky hero type. But that was a downside rather than an upside.  

Trying to be a hero was the best way to get yourself killed. Haibara learnt that lesson the hard way. Gojo and Getou almost learnt that lesson the hard way when Toji came around and killed Riku and almost killed Gojo.

As far as Gojo was concerned, he didn’t want Luz to suffer the same way he had. She was his student. She was his responsibility. That extended to the rest of his students, too. But primarily Luz, since she was human.

She was the only person in his temporary class that he particularly cared about. Yes, he cared about the others, but not to the same extent as he had cared about Luz.

And because he cared about Luz, sometimes that meant ignoring what she wanted for her own safety. For her own well-being.  

That was why Gojo had come to the very tough decision that, in two weeks, regardless of what was happening, even if he’d have to knock Luz out and or drag her kicking and screaming, they were going to leave the Boiling Isles, and would never return.

He had played with the idea that they could temporarily leave and return at a later date, but because of his prior duties, because Luz needed to interact with other humans her age, and because the duties of a Jujutsu Sorcerer would become ingrained in her as well, and that meant that she would have essentially no time to go back to The Boiling Isles.

Don’t get Gojo wrong. He wasn’t doing this to be cruel. He knew Luz was getting attached to this place, and he knew that she loved it here. She had practically imprinted on Eda and evidently showed a deep care for King.

But it was because of that, and because she cared for this place that they had to leave. The Boiling Isles wasn’t her home. It would never be her home. It could never be her home. Earth was her home, and back there was her people.

He didn’t want her to get too attached. They were never supposed to be here anyway. So that was why he was going to force her to leave. They had two weeks to deal with The Special Grade Curse, and then after that, they were going to leave. It was as simple as that.

Nothing would stop him from changing his mind. Not an apocalypse that would put the world in jeopardy. Not some evil genocidal plan. Not a God or God-like creature from the stars or some wacky nonsense.

Nothing.

It was cruel. It was objectively wrong. But Gojo never claimed to be a good person. He was extremely selfish, and while he could play the part of the hero for a short while, if it started to negatively affect him—again, excluding if it was to his students and their wellbeing—then he’d drop the act and either decimate everything in front of him or leave.

His only concession was if Luz wanted to bring anyone from the Boiling Isles to Earth, and specifically if they were his students. But after that, they’d have to abandon their home entirely. If they chose to stay, then they chose to stay. He would never be back for them, no matter how much Luz begged.

He was a teacher and Sorcerer first and foremost, and a hero second.

He hadn’t brought it up to Luz yet. Not while they were in Hexside. He knew Luz wasn’t going to take it well, and seeing her happy, all full of smiles at the time when he came to that decision… he didn’t want to rob that from her. She was far too happy teaching Skara the basics of Jujutsu. That smile… it was precious. It was to be protected.

Unfortunately, though, he had no choice but to rip it away at some point. To sour that smile. He didn’t want to, but he’d have to. He knew he’d have to. He knew he’d have to break her heart, but that was just how some things went.

Besides, he wasn’t going to be late for the new semester of Jujutsu High. He had already promised Principal Yaga that he’d teach the next year’s batch of kids, and he wasn’t going to let a couple of Special Grade Curses get in the way of that.

The only way he’d delay it any longer was if something physically got in his way. Of which he’d blow away with his Cursed Technique. Be it a curse, a person, or even the Emperor of this place. Come hell or high water he would return to Earth.

This brought Gojo to what he was doing right now, that being sitting next to Luz as Skara fell asleep, tired from the rigorous training that she had undergone to get the basics of Jujutsu down. For all of her faults, Luz was a good teacher, even if her methods were a little… bizarre.

Gojo had brought the stuffed toy from his own training of Luz and told Luz to teach Skara through that method. It didn’t work nearly as well as when Luz was taught by Gojo, but it worked in the end. Skara had the basics under control, and then some. She could imbue her fists just fine, and she could even imbue her body with ease.

It seemed that when someone had prior experience with using magic, they could pick up on the basics after a few of the rough lessons were pushed onto them. Not to mention when he looked inside her Cursed Energy, she had a Cursed Technique swirling within, and one not locked in a black box.

That made Gojo wonder just why it was that Luz had a black box.

There was a possibility that someone sealed her Technique, but who that someone was, he didn’t know. It clearly wasn’t an elder, otherwise they would’ve already known of Luz and wouldn’t have sent him to neutralize the source of the Cursed Energy on that day.

So that begged the question of who?

“I wanna go back to Eda’s place…” Luz muttered, pulling him out of his thoughts as he looked at her. She was tired, which was obvious, especially when she slumped against his arm, her eyes lazily staying open.

“Alright,” Gojo said, smirking as he gently grabbed her wrist and with a brief thought, teleported both of them back to the living room of The Owl House, right as Eda was putting away a book she was reading. She looked at them, her expression unreadable as she spoke.

“Where’ve you guys been?” Eda asked, her tone mixed with curiosity and annoyance as Luz muttered “school”, promptly stumbling her way up the stairs with the enthusiasm and energy of a turtle. “Jeez, whaddya do, make them get chased by a Bogbeast?”

“Actually, class had to end early thanks to a… predicament with one of my students,” Gojo said as Eda scoffed.

“Lemme guess, they didn’t agree with a human being there?”

“No. It was a medical emergency,” Gojo said, getting Eda’s full attention as she stared at him, an obvious sign for him to explain further. “Bile Sac Failure or whatever the doctor said. It was so bad to the point where they had to surgically remove it. Me and Luz stayed behind to see if she was alright, and when she complained about not being able to do magic and called herself a failure, Luz and I decided to give her the same lesson I gave Luz, and taught her how to use Cursed Energy—which, funnily enough, had caused this whole issue to begin with, or at least, I think so anyway,” Gojo explained as Eda stared at Gojo, eyes slightly widened.

It wasn’t often that surgeries like those happened. It was only during extreme medical situations that someone lost their Bile Sac, and Bile Sac failure was one of those times. Though it rarely happened in people so young.

It also didn’t escape her that Gojo had directly said that there was a chance that it was because of the Cursed Energy within this mystery kid that led to the Bile Sac failure. Which didn’t bode well for anyone in that building with Cursed Energy.

From the sounds of it, it sounded like Cursed Energy was some kind of magical cancer. At least, from what she was hearing about it. She wouldn’t know, because she had no real experience with it, other than her Curse. Gojo said it was made of Cursed Energy, so she guessed that was the case, too. Until further proven otherwise, of course.

But, regardless of that, this wasn’t about her. This was about the mystery kid.  

“Is she okay?” Eda asked, genuine concern in her voice as Gojo raised an eyebrow.

“As okay as she’ll be,” Gojo replied as he crossed his arms. “Oh, yeah, and before you ask, I’m gonna bring back all the stuff from the basement. Just give me a few minutes.”

“Good. I was just about to ask ya where it went. Nearly accused Hooty of eating it,” Eda grumbled, yawning. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

“Got it,” Gojo said, and just as Eda was about to walk up the stairs, Gojo looked over his shoulder and said something that caught Eda off guard. “Oh, and before I go, when were you gonna tell me you’ve got a Cursed Spirit in you.”

“Huh?” Eda balked, turning to look at Gojo. “What are you talking about?”

“Those potions you got me to buy you. You said it was to suppress a curse. When I first heard that, I thought you meant it was a curse originating from here. After actually searching through the Cursed Energy in you, I realized it was an actual Cursed Spirit. One that’s been trying to constantly take over your body,” Gojo said as Eda stared at him, wide-eyed.

How did he do that? Had he always been able to do that? Her jaw set, and her eyes narrowed. Not that Gojo was particularly put off by it. She always scowled, although there was more intent behind it. She was upset, clearly, but he didn’t know why.

“Ya know, snooping around another person’s problems ain’t a good thing. It can cause problems, Blindfold,” Eda said, her tone stand-offish as Gojo sighed.

“And normally, I’d agree,” Gojo answered honestly, before continuing, “but where I stop agreeing is where said curse could cause problems for everyone. It’s easily a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. If unleashed, it could cause great suffering and damage,” Gojo then shrugged, slumping against the wall with a lazy head bob. “Again, when were you going to bring it up?”

“Preferably never,” Eda replied, annoyance building in her voice as she half-sneered. “Stop poking.”

“Nah, I don’t think I will,” Gojo answered, before suddenly and without warning poking her just under her neck, making her stagger backward. King yelped and Eda nearly fell onto the couch. “For as much as you talk about me endangering Luz, just us being here is far more a danger to her than anything I’ve put her through. So not only are you a hypocrite, you’re a bad one at that.”

“I have it under control!”

“Do you? Because those potions have been less and less effective, haven’t they?” Gojo questioned as Eda paled.

“How’d you know that?”

“I have great hearing. I can hear just about everything that goes on in this house. Even Luz’s rant sessions to herself about something she can’t fully wrap her head around,” Gojo said as Eda cursed under her breath.

“So what? If something bad happens, I can—”

“You can what? Run away? Ignore your problems? Make them worse?” Gojo interrupted as Eda became red in the face with anger.

“Will you stop interrupting me!” Eda all but shouted, trying to grab Gojo, only for him to slap Eda’s hand away, before grabbing her wrist and yanking her back up to standing. Golden eyes glared into a black blindfold as Gojo’s expression remained neutral. “I’m handling this on my own. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not going to work!”

Gojo stayed silent, before letting her go, and turning his back to her. “I’m going to grab the stuff back at the school,” Gojo said, and just before he left, he ended the conversation with one last thing. Something Eda knew was coming but hadn’t expected so soon. “In two weeks, Luz and I are leaving The Boiling Isles. Permanently. I’ll be bringing the other students who stay in my class with me, as well.”

And then, Gojo was gone.

Eda stood there, both angry and confused, staring at where Gojo had previously stood. “Should I bite his ankles?” King said, annoyance in his voice as Eda glanced at him, shaking his head.

“Good luck getting past his barrier,” and with that remark, Eda went up the stairs, a headache setting in from her and Gojo’s argument. Honestly, just when she was starting to like the guy, again he pulled this nonsense.

It was like he was constantly trying to stay on her bad side, and she didn’t know why. It almost felt as if he was trying to push himself away from her. As if he was afraid of something.

And then it hit her.

“He doesn’t want to get attached,” Eda thought, sighing. It made sense. He wanted to leave with Luz back to the human realm. So he was trying to distance himself from every other living witch and demon around him. He was trying to make himself unlikeable.

But seeing as Gojo was just as headstrong as she was, she knew that getting through to him on that wouldn’t be her job. She’d mention it to Luz, and she could probably sort it out. After all, they seemed to have a closer bond.

Though, his comment about her Curse. The Owl Beast, and with it being a Cursed Spirit…. That made no sense. How could it be a Cursed Spirit if it originated from The Boiling Isles?

“Unless it didn’t…” Eda never stopped to consider that. Why would she? She never knew about Cursed Spirits until Gojo and Luz showed up. But if that was the case, and if it was something from the human realm, then maybe she could do something after all. Maybe, just maybe, she could talk to Gojo about trying to figure out how to tame The Owl Beast.

Just as Eda made it to the top of the stairs, she felt King tug at the end of her dress. “Yeah, what’s up King?”

“When can we get my Crown Of Power back? You said we would when Jerkhead and Luz showed up, but we never did,” King said as Eda flinched. She really did forget about that, didn’t she?

“My bad, King,” Eda replied, patting him on the head. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it back. When we have the time, too.”

“Okay…” King grumbled, shambling over to Luz’s room, most likely to curl up and sleep next to her again. He was getting attached to Luz, which was a bad thing. If Gojo and her were supposed to leave in two weeks, then the last thing that Eda wanted was for them to get too close.

For now, though, it would be fine. With another yawn, Eda shambled over to her bedroom, closed the door, and when she got into bed, she promptly fell asleep.

[XXXX]

“Welcome back everyone~!” Gojo announced in front of the class, which had now been officially locked in for the year by Principal Bump. Those being Luz Noceda, Willow Park, and Skara Emerald. A perfect three, which was typically the size of a regular class back at Tokyo Jujutsu High. The Bard Track teacher, Jussie, a Bat Demon, wasn’t exactly happy that Skara was moving tracks, but due to her inability to use Magic thanks to her lack of a Bile Sac, they understood.

As for Hermonculus. Well, he just nodded his head about Willow leaving the Abomination Track, sweating bullets all the while. Although, he had noticed that the Amity girl at the front of the class had been looking at him rather intently as he left the room. Not out of anger, but rather out of curiosity and from what he could gather, annoyance directed toward herself.

He wasn’t going to assume anything, but he wouldn’t be surprised if, by the end of the day, he had a fourth student. Which would… complicate things given his plans. But, that was for another time. Right now, he was more focused on getting through at least the first class before something stupid happened again.

Although, of note, Bump had said that because his class wasn’t considered “full”, if anyone else wanted to join his class, all he’d have to do was confirm it with Bump and it would be a done deal. Considering how open-ended his “Track” was, and considering that Cursed Energy technically wasn’t magic, it didn’t fall in the same line as the actual track rules.

The Emperor was okay with it, oddly enough. From what Bump said, he figured it again had to do with the fact that Cursed Energy wasn’t magic. Because Cursed Energy wasn’t magic, it fell out of the purview of Track regulations.

Eda was right about one thing, though, when it came to something regarding Hexside. He hated its forced limitations. The fact that no one could practice more than one form of Magic annoyed him. It would be like if any Cursed Technique could be learned, but because someone’s bloodline was say, for example, Zen’in, then you could use the Construction Technique or the Ten Shadows Technique.

But, that was a rant for another day. All that mattered right now was that Gojo thought it was stupid, and that it was one of the things he could agree with Eda on.  

“Now yesterday ended in, well, a pretty horrible way,” Gojo said, gesturing to Skara, who briefly shrunk into herself as concern flashed over Willow’s face. “But! It’s nothing to be ashamed of! No one can expect a medical accident. Especially one as bad as that one. Besides, it was bound to happen according to the medical staff. We’re lucky it happened on campus so that we could deal with it right away.”

“I don’t mean this in a bad way, but… How is Skara going to keep up now?” Willow asked as Gojo smirked.

“This is The Cursed Track. Skara over here has a decent amount of usable Cursed Energy and after a few hours of helping her put it to use last night, she’ll be able to use that over her previous use of magic,” Gojo explained as Willow looked back over to Skara, and within her eyes Gojo could spot a little bit of jealously. “No need to be jealous, Willow. You’ll be taught once we finally get yesterday's exercise completed.”

“Wha—”

“Huh—”

And before Skara and Willow could say anything, just like yesterday, they were taken to the middle of the forest in the same clearing as before. A second later, Gojo and Luz appeared before them, as Luz playfully cracked her knuckles. “Same rules as before! 3, 2, 1 go!”

Without warning, Luz lunged forward, Cursed Energy imbued into her fists as she targeted Willow, who in response drew a green circle in front of her and created a decently large vine-based barrier in front of her. Luz’s fist slammed into the barrier, killing the magic within the plants and causing them to wither and die.

A surprised yelp escaped Willow as she went to create another barrier, only for Luz to throw a punch aimed at her face. Before it could connect, Skara blocked the punch for Willow and grabbed Luz’s fist with her left hand, Cursed Energy thrumming through her body as the impact blew Skara’s arm around, spinning Skara around.

Instead of stumbling about trying to reorintate herself, she instead used the momentum given to her by the punch and ignoring the pain in her left shoulder, Skara flung an albeit right hook toward Luz’s face, Cursed Energy flowing through Skara’s arm. Right as the punch was going to land, though, the Cursed Energy in her arm vanished, filtering out into the air as Skara’s eyes widened.

“Crap!” She thought, as her fist slammed into Luz’s face, throwing her for a loop, but not exactly hurting her. Luz was about to say something, only for an explosion of pain to blast through her and send her flying, saliva spewing out of her mouth from the impact as it sent her flying into a nearby tree. It felt as if a second impact had occurred without Skara having to punch her, and unlike the punch that had no Cursed Energy, that one had been made of pure Cursed Energy.

Gojo, who had been standing in the treeline, had a small smirk on his face. “Divergent Fist huh? Obviously, it wasn’t intentional, but still. For someone who’s still learning the basics, Divergent Fist isn’t a bad thing to have.”

At the same time as Gojo thought that, Luz stood up, shaking her head at the dizziness she felt as she came to her feet. As she did, a large vine came rushing toward her, which Luz dodged out of the way by side-stepped to her left. But that was only the first half of the attack, as Skara flanked her left and prepared another Cursed Energy imbued punch, intending on it connecting all the way, only for Luz to send a Cursed Energy imbued crane kick to Skara’s jaw, knocking her to the ground and leaving her there.

The large vine from before circled around to try and grab Luz, only for Luz to jump in the air and run down the vine to get toward Willow, who instead of standing there dumbfounded, created several more vines using the same magic circle, all of which Luz slapped out of the way using her Cursed Energy, clearing herself a path.

Just as she got to the end of the path, Luz roundhouse kicked Willow in the side of the head with Cursed Energy, destroying the vine in the process as Willow fell to the ground in defeat. Skara, however, was still standing, staring at Luz with wide eyes. Luz, who was now staring at her, a smirk on her face, put both of her hands in her pockets and spoke. “You give up?”

With a defeated sigh, Skara slumped forward with her shoulder sagged. “Yeah…”

“Which means the exercise is over!” Gojo declared, teleporting back to the field as he helped Willow up.

“Sorry about that, it didn’t hurt too much, did it?” Luz asked, concern in her voice as Willow flashed a thumbs up, a weary smile on her face.

“I’ll manage,” Willow groaned out, rubbing the side of her head as Gojo patted her on the back. “But did you really have to kick that hard?”

“My bad…” Luz replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck with a hint of embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to kick that hard. She was so used to being physically weak. “This is probably going to be an issue, isn’t it?” Luz thought to herself before Gojo spoke.

“Well, you all did well. Oh, and Skara, nice Divergent Fist there!” Gojo pointed out as Skara blinked.

“Divergent huh?”

“Divergent Fist! It's where you delay your Cursed Energy’s transfer to the target by a second, giving them the impression that you whiffed the attack, and then suddenly, out of nowhere BOOM! A large explosion of Cursed Energy right at the contact point! It’s quite deceptive! Though be warned, it can become a habit, so try and limit its use,” Gojo explained as Skara’s eyes twinkled with amazement.

“Whoa….” Luz murmured, staring at Skara with a smile on her face. “That’s so cool! So, you mean, kind like this?” Luz said, turning to face a tree, and punched it. Her strength alone was enough to dent the bark, and then a second later, the Cursed Energy came flying out and blasted a hole through the tree.

“How’d you get it down the first time?!” Willow exclaimed, shock on her face as Luz chuckled nervously.

“Lucky shot?”

“I wouldn’t be alarmed,” Gojo said, shrugging his shoulders. “Luz’s had more practice than the both of you, and Skara only did it because she got lucky. But now that she’s aware of it, with enough practice, she could more than likely pull it off with ease,” Gojo said before turning to look at Willow. “You, however, we’ve got to find a way to awaken your Cursed Energy without it negatively affecting your magic.”

Willow nodded, as Gojo looked at the time on his phone. They had only just begun class at 8:00 am. It was 8:15 now. “Let’s head back to class for the time being. There’s something I want to teach you guys, or at least make you all aware of. It’s a fundamental ability all Sorcerers can learn to use. But it’s a little tricky to display.”

With nods from everyone, Gojo first teleported Skara and Willow back to class, then came back for Luz, when they returned, and once everyone was back in their seats, Gojo walked over to the chalkboard and wrote something down. In large bold letters, he wrote down “The Basics.” He turned to face the rest of the class and cleared his throat.

“Now, Skara and Luz already know the basics, but just so you understand, Willow, and I’ll break it down.” As Gojo said that, he flared his Cursed Energy around his right hand, causing Skara and Willow to flinch slightly. It was a better reaction than the first time he exposed his Cursed Energy to them. That meant they were getting used to it.

“Good,” Gojo thought, smirking. “As I said in the first class, Cursed Energy is Negative Energy incarnate. It’s the culmination of all things negative, mashed into one clear form that some small percentage of humans can wield to drive off Cursed Spirits, which—” Before Gojo could finish his explanation, there came a knock at the door.

A small, almost playful smirk took up his visage. He had a feeling as to who it was, but just to be sure… “Come on in~!” Gojo called out, as the door slid open. Standing at the door was a familiar head of green and brown hair and golden eyes. She wore a nervous expression on her face, staring into the classroom. She gave a small, polite wave, and before Gojo could say anything, Luz shot up from her desk with the biggest, widest smile on her face.

“Amity! Hi!”

Amity flinched again, though her expression wasn’t nervous anymore. Rather in its place, there was a smile. A faint smile, but a smile nonetheless. “Hi, Luz… It’s been a while…”

“Good morning, what brings you to my class, Amity?” Gojo asked as Amity straightened out a little and cleared her throat. She was trying to put on a brave face, but it was clear she was more than a little nervous.

“W-Well… Um, I was wondering if I could… sit in on this class. I didn’t show up yesterday because I was… kept home. But if you don’t mind—”

“I don’t mind at all! Come in, come in! Take a seat! I was just about to start the lesson so you should be fine!” Gojo interrupted, appearing behind her and scooting indoors, shocking Amity, if only slightly. A second or so later, Amity sat next to Luz, who was positively delighted for her to be there.

Although out of all the people to have reacted to Amity being here, he hadn’t expected Willow to react at all. But with the annoyance and slight anger strewn in her eyes, he half-figured that something was going on between the two. They were too young to be exes, so he guessed that it was a friendship gone wrong.

Which meant he was going to have to think of an activity to bridge the gap. Or, even better, figure out what they were beefing about and mend it. Especially considering it didn’t look as if Willow was fuming mad at Amity being here.

“Alright, now, as I was saying before Amity showed up! Cursed Energy! It’s negativity incarnate. Think of all the evil, nasty, vile things in the world and all of the foulness it produces. Humans, and this can extend to Witches as well, as negative creatures because all of us have a wide range of emotions or… something like that,” Gojo began as he drew a quick sketch of an electrical socket, and sparking electricity.

“The best way I can explain it is like this: Cursed Energy is like electricity. In its raw and purest form, it is extremely hard to control. It flows and jolts around all over the place, and for the longest time, no one knew how to use it. But then, just like how we came to master electricity, only centuries earlier, humanity found out that we as a collective could harness Cursed Energy by simply filtering it through ourselves, and through that, a small section of humanity grew to become Jujutsu Sorcerers!”

“So kind of like how you taught me how to use my Cursed Energy?” Luz asked as Gojo nodded.

“Correct! The same applies to how you taught Skara how to use hers!” 

“So, does that mean that anyone can use Cursed Energy?” Amity asked, tilting her head in confusion as Gojo half-shrugged.

“Well, it depends on if you have Cursed Energy to begin with. Well, usable Cursed Energy, anyway. Every Human technically has Cursed Energy, but 9.9 times out of 10, it’s not a usable amount. Just enough to say “Hey, you have it, congrats!” and then nothing. But the rare 0.1 out of that 9.9 can have oodles and oodles of Cursed Energy, at least compared to the rest of humanity! Again, the same applies to Witches.”

“For example, out of you three, it would seem that—whoa…” Gojo blinked under his blindfold and stared into each of the Witch’s Cursed Energy reserves, and what he saw made him genuinely surprised. The person with the most here was, interestingly enough, Amity. How he hadn’t noticed it back in the arena he didn’t know. Though if he had to guess, her Magic could’ve been overloading his vision, as it was in active use.

If he were to compare amount sizes to people he knew, Amity’s Cursed Energy amount would be somewhere around a mix between Todo and… Getou. Meaning that if she ever got to figure out her Cursed Energy, based on pure Cursed Energy alone, she’d easily be in the upper echelon of Grade 1 to just barely scraping into Special Grade One.

Although she didn’t seem to possess an innate talent, her use of Abomination Magic could easily help her create one, which most Humans couldn’t do, but due to her uniqueness, it could be done.

The next on the list was Skara for the same reasons he pointed out when she first showed up to class, and falling in line was Willow. There was no change in the order after that. “Well, uh. I gotta say I wasn’t expecting that. Out of everyone here, ignoring Luz, Amity has the most Cursed Energy out of you Witches.”

Willow slumped in her seat, looking to the side with a frown on her face. Gojo could tell that she was upset about his statement. But why? Though, calling back to what Bump had said about Amity being a top-tier first year, that probably had something to do with that.

“Uh, is that a good thing?” Skara questioned as Gojo turned to sit on his desk, crossing his legs as he placed his hands on his knees.

“Well, it’s a double-edged sword. While having more Cursed Energy helps with fighting Cursed Spirits, it can also attract more Cursed Spirits, and usually more dangerous ones. Hence it being a double-edged sword,” Gojo answered as he sat upright. A wide smirk took up his visage as he teleported behind the three witches, who just so happened to have been sitting in a triangle formation.

Without warning, he teleported each Witch to a section of the woods deeper than he had when he made Skara and Willow fight Luz. As he did so, he looked over to Luz and just as he was about to take Amity away, who was flailing in the air after having the back of her uniform top be grabbed by Gojo, he spoke. “Hold down the fort while I teach these three a valuable lesson. If you know, you know.”

It took Luz a moment to realize what it was that Gojo was going to do, and then it clicked as her eyes widened. “Wait, are you sure it’s a good idea?” Luz asked as Amity looked at Luz, slight panic in her eyes.

“What’s a good idea?”

“Oh, you’ll find out!” Gojo said, before shooting Luz a smirk and a thumbs up. “Don’t worry your little socks off, Lulu! It’ll be just fine!”  

“Lulu?!” Luz exclaimed as, just before she could tell Gojo to never call her that again, he was already gone with Amity. She slumped in her chair, frowning. While she had a feeling she didn’t need to worry about her classmates, with Gojo throwing them at a Cursed Spirit, there was a good chance one of them was going to be badly injured.

But, she had faith in them. After all, Gojo was around. If Gojo was around, then he wouldn’t let anything too bad happen to them before stepping in.

Back in the woods, Gojo reappeared with Amity, before disappearing again and then reappearing with a spear. Where he got the spear, Amity didn’t want to know nor did she particularly care. What she cared about was where they were, and considering they were surrounded by nothing but woods for as far as the eye could see, she wasn’t exactly all that hopeful that they were somewhere safe.

“Uh… why are we outside of the building?” Amity asked as Gojo smiled the same smile that he had been wearing for basically the entire class. The best Amity could describe it was a mischievous grin. One not too dissimilar to how Edric and Emira wore their smiles. Meaning nothing good could come from this.

“Well, this class is some parts indoors most parts outdoors! I teach through a very hands-on method. Teaching in the moment is the best way to teach as far as I’m concerned, but if you want to leave you can head back to your boring class of studying with books and rules. But, if you like having fun, then you can stay put with the rest of us!” Gojo said as Amity blinked, looking from him to Skara and… Willow.

Her breath caught in her throat as she thought it out.

She could do what her parents told her, and stick to the plan. Stick to her being the next face of Blight Industries and live a life of boredom and mundanity. The kind of life that would make her turn out like her father—as useful and as active as a lazy Wormdog.

Or… she could have fun.

For the first time in a long time, she felt as if she was actually learning something. Her mother had drilled the rules of Abomination Magic into her brain at a young age. Forced her to basically master it and become an expert so that she could either join the Emperor's Coven or become the face of Blight Industries.

That, and… For as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was jealous of Luz. Jealous of the power a mere human could have. She wouldn’t be lying if she hadn’t said she wanted some of that power for herself.

The way Luz utterly destroyed her abomination, even if it was made through cheating, had equally frustrated her and amazed her. She was convinced that not even Darius could’ve done that. Yet a human who knew not a single a thing of Witch costumes showed up, and said “screw you and screw your rules, I’m going to go to Hexside and that’s final” and destroyed a building-sized Abomination to do it.

It was extremely commendable, and… bold to say the very least. Looking back on it was… also, what was the word… powerful? No. Uh. Something else. Her mind was slipping, but she knew the word, it just wasn’t coming to her at the moment.  

That, and Luz seemed like a nice, down-to-Isles person. Despite her wackiness, of course.

And maybe her stomach tied into knots whenever she saw her, but in a good kind of way.

“Clocks ticking, greenie~!” Gojo teased as Amity was snapped out of her thoughts.

“U-Uh, I’ll stay!” Amity said as Gojo tossed her the spear, confusing her even more as Gojo then pointed her and the other witches in the direction of what could only be described as a monstrosity, and not unlike anything that she had the displeasure to have seen—and that was coming from someone native to the Boiling Isles, were a lot of grotesque things lived, except for the banished Giraffe’s.

What she saw was a bug-like creature with what appeared to be witch, or humanoid appendages in place of where its bug-arms would be. It had large, moth-like wings that easily went up to six feet in height. To top it all off, it had a bat-like head with insect eyes.

“Ew! What is that?!” Willow exclaimed as Gojo smirked.

“A Grade 3 Cursed Spirit! If any of you want to stay in my class, you gotta exorcise it. Oh, and Amity, that spear you got has Cursed Energy imbued into it. So it’ll work against the Cursed Spirit!” As Gojo said that, he snapped his fingers, and when he did the Cursed Spirit looked in their direction.

Amity flinched as Willow and Skara stood in front of her. The Cursed Spirit hissed, its wings fluttering as Gojo’s laugh echoed throughout the forest.

Amity already got the feeling that she wasn’t going to like Gojo much. With searing determination, Amity narrowed her eyes as she gripped the spear with both hands as she coated the spear in Abomination Matter.

“We can do this, right?” Amity asked as Willow shrugged.

“Maybe, but with you, we might win,” Willow said, her tone extremely sarcastic as Amity shrunk into herself.

“Wi—”

“No. Later. We’ll talk later,” Willow interrupted, before looking at Skara, who had a determined look in her eyes.

“Let’s get this thing guys!”

And with that, after a final hissing roar, the Curse Charged.

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物/Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

[A Cursed Clash! Witches Versus Curse!]

[-Opening Song: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born, By – Creepy Nuts-]

The cursed spirit before the group of witches scurried across the makeshift battlefield, its human-like appendages snapping twigs and dried leaves under its movements as Willow felt her heart pound against her chest, an overwhelming sensation of dread bubbling deep within as she tried to focus.

She wasn’t given a lot of time to react—a couple of seconds at most—and with that, she created a magic circle, imbued it with as much power as she could, mixed with her general feeling of panic, and unleashed a maelstrom of vines toward the cursed spirit. At the same time, Amity charged alongside the vines, using them as cover to get into the blind spot of the curse.

The final of the three, Skara, imbued her fists with Cursed Energy—something she was still trying to work out—and flanked The Curse on the opposite side that Amity had. Each of them was nervous, but as Gojo had said, they were going to exorcise the curse before them. They had to if they wished to stay in his class, after all.

Willow’s vines were the first to strike the monster, slamming into the beast's face with enough force to cause it to stagger, with more vines wrapping around its wings so it couldn’t fly away. Next, Amity thrust the end of her spear into the neck of the creature, making it shriek in pain and holding its head in place. Finally, Skara came in from the opposite side and slammed her fist into the side of the curse’s skull, spewing purple blood everywhere as the spear cut through the rest of the curse’s neck.

Unbeknownst to any of them, that was where the curse’s core had been. A core was the thing that kept a Curse alive. If it was destroyed, the curse would fade away and die. Gojo had neglected to mention anything about a core when referring to a curse. But that was typical of him to do.

Regardless, the curse shrieked, letting out a death wail so loud it caused Amity and Skara to flinch away in agony. Willow had to drop her magic circle as the conjured vines began to wither away. None of them knew why, but the reason was simple.

Cursed Energy cancelled out Magic, and when the curse let out that death wail, it was doing one of two things. The first was that, unknowingly, it had destroyed/or stopped what was killing it. The second thing… was that it alerted all the other curses in the area that there was prey.

Gojo immediately clued into what was happening the moment he felt a sudden influx of Cursed Energy racing toward the area where Amity, Skara, and Willow were, his eyes underneath his blindfold narrowing with a mix of annoyance and slight concern. Most of the curses were barely above a Grade 4, with a few notable ones being Grade 3 and a single Grade 2.

Locking onto their signatures, he noted that there were twenty of them at the bare minimum. Only three were Grade 3, with Grade 2 being the fastest and approaching the location at an alarming rate.

Curses didn’t work in groups, so this was probably just a mishmash of Curses who were converging on one area because they heard a loud noise—most curses were also very stupid, excluding Special Grade Curses.

If this was a regular situation, and were he back home, he wouldn’t intervene. But given that these were people who were just learning about Jujutsu Sorcerer and had no prior knowledge… “Things just don’t like working out for me, do they? If nothing else, I can get my steps in~!” Gojo joked, smirking as he leapt down from the tree branch, watching as The Grade 3 Cursed spirit he had sicked his students on turned to blackened dust.

“Good job, you three!” Gojo said, looking over to Willow first. “Those vines to stun it? Amazing! However, do keep in mind that there will be times when you’ll be put on missions by yourself, so your focus will be on trying to come up with ways to hurt a curse directly. Your magic will stun it, but it won’t hurt it. I’ll work with you to harness your Cursed Energy, but we’ll pause this discussion and save it for later.”

Willow blinked a few times, still trying to register that they had already defeated the curse and that Mr. Gojo was here. “Um… Mr. Gojo? Was it supposed to be that easy?” Willow asked as Mr. Gojo shifted a little, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“You did it as a team, as I expected you would. So, in hindsight, yes, it was supposed to be that easy. If you didn’t work as a team, it would’ve been much harder. You all did great. Now get back to class. The building is just south of these woods, I’ll be there shortly,” Mr. Gojo stated as Willow looked back to Skara and Amity.

Both of them looked at her with a confused expression. Neither of them knew what to do next, but if Mr. Gojo wanted them to go back to Hexside, then who were they to ignore him. Although, that didn’t stop the profound feeling of uneasiness that was bubbling just beneath the surface.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go,” Willow said, before walking past the other two, leaving Mr. Gojo to stand around. Amity and Skara shot each other a look, before following Willow. As they walked, that negative feeling began to double, and it felt as if something was actively suffocating them. A profound sensation of vile emotions all culminating in one spot.

“Ugh… is it just me, or is it getting harder to breathe?” Amity asked, tugging at the collar of her uniform, taking noticeably deeper breaths. She wasn’t the only one. So was Skara, and Willow had to full on stop and lean against a tree to catch her breath.

“Y-yeah, you’re not the only one… It feels like… like poison?” Willow murmured, as her eyes widened. “Our magic senses! Close them!” Willow shouted, and as soon as she did, she felt better almost instantly. Skara and Amity did too, and they bounced back just as quickly.

“That was… Was that because of Mr. Gojo?” Amity asked as Willow shook her head.

“No. It was… all around us. There’s more Curses coming. That thing, when it shrieked. It alerted more Curses! We need to get back to Hexside before we get attacked again!” Willow said, but just as she finished her sentence, a shadow loomed over her, causing her to crane her neck back to look at what was causing it.

What she saw made her want to scream.

The thing responsible for the shadow was huge, easily as tall as half a Great Tree. It looked like a massive, dark blue thing. Muscular, with pinprick eyes, and a large mouth that stretched from side to side. Its teeth were huge and sharp, and it seemed to have feathers around its neck. It made a low gurgling sound, before swinging its fist down to crush Willow.

“No!” Amity shouted, summoning several abominations to rush toward the Curse. A group of three abominations in total were all that she could manage as they rushed toward Amity. With barely a second to spare, the abominations intercepted the fist, one of them taking Willow back to Hexside, while the other two held the fist. It didn’t last long before they were crushed, turned into nothing but dead Abomination matter.

The Curse laughed, as if it was aware of what it had done, before in a blink of an eye appearing before Amity and grabbing her faster than she could react. Amity screamed as the curse cackled like a madman, applying more and more force, as if trying to crush her.

The only thing Amity could do was create more Abomination matter around her to try and pry herself free. But, because The Curse was living Cursed Energy, the only thing that happened was that the Abomination Matter fell to pieces before it could create anything.

“Crap! What the hell am I supposed to do?!” Amity thought, desperation in her eyes as she looked over to Skara. She was the weakest one here, but with Willow being taken to Hexside by the only living abomination, Skara was her only chance at survival. She had to risk it. There was nothing else that she could do.

“Skara…! Help!” Amity choked out, looking over her shoulder as Skara stared at the massive Curse. She was scared. She couldn’t do this! She just couldn’t! What was she supposed to do against that thing?! If Amity couldn’t hurt it or even stop it from doing what it wanted, what in the name of the Titan was she supposed to do?!

The Curse kept increasing its grip, to the point where Amity spat out blood. It was crushing her to death, and there was nothing that Skara could do. She was useless. She was standing around, watching her friend die.

“Skara… Honey. What do you want to be when you grow older?” The voice of her mother asked her. Why now? Why was she remembering this now?

“I want to help as many people as I can!” A younger Skara replied. That was right… she wanted to help people. But how was she supposed to help anyone… What was she supposed to do against something like this? She had no magic. All she had was barely usable Cursed Energy. She had nothing to her name…. She was useless. Completely, and utterly useless….

“Then, perhaps, when the time is right…. That filthy curse your grandfather parted onto our family will come in handy. Your magic… it’s weak. But that curse. It’s strong. No matter what, Skara. All you have to do is whistle. Whistle, and The Titan will answer you. Think about what you want to happen, whistle, and your will shall be made. That was how your grandfather explained it.” The voice of her mother said, and as soon as it did, Skara’s eyes widened.

She didn’t know if it would work, but she’d be damned if she didn’t try. Putting her pinky fingers into the corners of her mouth, she pulled deep from within herself, feeling her Cursed Energy thrum to life inside of her. It bloomed like a flame to grum oil, and without a second thought, she focused on the curse in front of her, narrowed her eyes, and pulled her thoughts onto one single thing.

She could see what vaguely looked like an orb. It’s core. That was the Curse’s core. It seemed to be giving the creature life. Her mind focused on it, and just as Amity gasped for breath, Skara made one desperate plea. An action, one of finality and death upon the curse.

She wanted the curse to…

“SPLATTER!” With a whistle, the thought was made into reality. The curse’s skin rippled, and then, without any fanfare, it imploded. Purple ichor sprayed everywhere, hitting the trees, the grass, the flowers and the bushes. Amity fell helplessly to the ground, gasping for air as blood trickled down the sides of her mouth, her eyes wide in shock as Skara ran to her side.

“Amity!” Skara cried out, helping her to her feet. She wrapped an arm around her shoulder, as Amity tried to stabilize herself. She glanced over at Skara, her eyes still wide in disbelief.

“What… was that?” Amity asked as Skara laughed anxiously.

“I… I don’t know. I just… Tried whatever came to mind. It was something my mother said I could do, but… only when the time was right. Figured now was that time,” Skara replied as Amity smiled, but now before coughing. Small droplets of blood trickled on the ground as a result. Skara’s expression became one of concern. “C’mon, let’s get you back to Hexside. You need to be healed.”

Amity didn’t say a word, only nodding as Skara helped her back to the school. They went was quickly as they could, and by the time they arrived, Willow was standing at the edge of the forest, shock taking her expression at the sight of Amity. “By the Titan! Are you alright?!”

“Nearly got squeezed to death, but otherwise, I’m fine,” Amity joked as the remaining Abomination took Amity from Skara. Amity looked over to Skara, a smile on her face—or as much as one as she could manage given her condition. “It’s because of Skara that I’m alive. I don’t know what she did. She whistled, and the curse just… died.”  

“We can figure out what that was later, Amity needs medical attention,” Skara said as Willow nodded. The Abomination grunted, taking Amity into the building. Willow and Skara stayed behind, looking out into the forest. Now all they were waiting for was Mr. Gojo. A part of Skara knew he’d be alright, but she was still concerned.

None of them had seen Mr. Gojo in action. They had no idea how strong he was. Although, they had heard reports of what he had done to The Emperors Coven when they came to blows. How he blew them all away with a flash of red light.

It made Skara question…. Just how strong was Satoru Gojo?

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Gojo was bored. Most of the Curses that had come toward him had died instantly. A few Blue’s here, a Red there, and that was it. He wasn’t even doing it because he needed to. He just wanted a reason to flex his power. He had been cooped up doing nothing but teaching. Not a single mission to relieve his stress.

That was probably one of the downsides of this place. No missions to go on meant no fun. But in times like these, it was kind of fun to just let loose. It wasn’t like anything here could actually harm him, now could it? So as he stood atop one of the Grade 3 Curses that had tried to attack him, he hummed, rubbing his chin in thought.

“After they train a little bit more, maybe I should send them out on missions. I doubt Luz isn’t bored out of her mind right now. Amity and Willow still need to harness their Cursed Energy before I do anything with them. I’m also pretty sure Skara just used a Cursed Technique given the surge of Cursed Energy back there…” Gojo mumbled to himself as he jumped down on the spot where the Curse’s core had been, killing it.

“Pretty sure it was also an innate Technique, not a locked one, either. I still gotta figure out what’s blocking Luz’s technique. If only Shoko was here, she’d probably be able to undo the locks by herself. She’s always been good at using Reversed Cursed Energy to heal and or fix things…” Gojo muttered, scratching the back of his neck as he glanced over to the south.

He didn’t sense any more curses coming his way, nor in the direction of the children. “Lame…” Gojo grunted, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he teleported to stand in front of the group of three, startling them. As soon as he saw them, he smiled, sticking a thumbs up. “Congrats, you guys! You’ve passed the exam! Hurray!”

“Are… all the exams going to be like this?” Amity asked. Gojo picked up on the concern in her voice, but promptly brushed it off with a flippant wave of his hand.

“Well, duh. My class isn’t gonna be like those boring, theoretical classes. Of course, you can still do whatever you want in the mean time. But ya gotta stick around for the basic lessons, which, are like, the first week or so. After the basics are taught, then we can put you guys to use!” Gojo said as Willow raised an eyebrow.

“Put us to use?”

“Well, duh!” Gojo said, bopping Willow on the nose, who yelped in shock at the sudden movement. “A Jujutsu Sorcerer’s main job is to protect the unknowing populous from curses! Once you guys know enough to do battle with them, I’ll be sending you on missions. From my experience, learning on the battle field helps more than just sitting at a desk and being forced through a curriculum.”

“B-But we could get seriously hurt, or worse!” Skara retorted as Gojo frowned.

“Yeah, that’s the risk. It’s a thankless job, but it’s needed,” Gojo replied as he turned his back to the group of three. Amity, Willow, and Skara looked at one another, concern drenching their features as Gojo continued forward. “Now, we gotta a lot of work ahead of us, so we let’s get back to class!”

The rest of the walk was silent. No one said a word to the other as the implication of what Gojo said left the group of witches stunned. He never mentioned that when it came to joining his class. That there was a good chance that they could potentially die.

Amity, though, knew why he would avoid saying something like that. Or, at least, she thought so anyway. Her assumption was that, due to how dangerous being a “Jujutsu Sorcerer” would be, he didn’t want people to walk away from his class knowing that there was a good chance that they could die if they continued walking down the path of being a part of his track.

Which, made her wonder, just what else was Mr. Gojo hiding from them? She knew he was a human, and as a far as she was concerned, barring Mr. Gojo and Luz, human’s were not trustworthy—Titan, she was still having a hard time rationalizing listening to anything the both of them had to say. It also didn’t help that she had… outside influences telling her to ignore them.

“I cannot believe that my daughter, who lost to a filthy human, is approaching me about wanting to join them. If I hear about this one more time, Amity, I will take you out of Hexside myself. Do you understand me?”

Amity shivered at the mere memory of what her mother had said. She clutched the necklace draped around her throat, and closed her eyes. She just hoped that her mother would understand why she was doing what she was doing. She wanted to be strong. So that one day, she could become a member of The Emperor’s Coven.

This… Cursed Energy stuff. Even if it was, by default, disgusting, was powerful. If two human’s—a species that was seen as weak in the eyes of a witch—could be as strong as they were with it then what would happen if a witch were able to use it? Just how strong would that person be?

Perhaps… They’d be The Strongest Witch?

Her mother… Odalia… she didn’t value strength as much as she valued money and obedience. But, no matter how much Amity tried to comply with her mother; no matter how hard she tried to prove to her mother that it was worth sending her to Hexside and not Glandus Academy where all the snooty rich people were…. Her mother only cared about results.

Amity knew that she was asking for too much, but maybe, just maybe, if she could show her mother that she was wrong, then maybe—

“Oi, Blight! Titan to Blight~!” Mr. Gojo’s voice snapped Amity out of her thoughts as she took a step back the moment she realized that Mr. Gojo was all up in her face.

“U-Um…! Mr. Gojo! I’m so sorry, I—”

“It’s okay, just checking to make sure everything was okay. I dismissed everyone back to the building, but you didn’t hear me. Clearly, something’s got you troubled,” Mr. Gojo said as Amity blinked, taken aback slightly. Amity immediately defaulted to her neutral scowl, looking away as she crossed her arms.

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

For a few moments, Mr. Gojo stared at her. As if he was judging her based on her response. Then, not but a second later, Mr. Gojo shrugged and turned around, beginning to walk away. Amity, once again confused, watched as Mr. Gojo began to walk inside the building as he spoke. “Whelp, if ya wanna talk about it another time, be my guest. Now c’mon, I’m sure you’ve got other things you wanna do, right? It’s almost lunch time, and you got other classes to attend, don’t ya?”

He… wasn’t going to push her on it? But why? Her other teachers did, but Mr. Gojo…. She was confused. Earlier in the week, he had a deadly seriousness to him. Now he was acting like a child. Or, more like a spoiled brat? No… He was acting…. Unserious.

Amity frowned, her arms still crossed. If there was one thing that was true about Mr. Gojo, it was that he was hard to read, and Amity didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Upon finally entering the building and re-entering the classroom, the group of four were met with something rather… interesting to say the very least. All of the desks had been moved to make a makeshift pyramid, and all the chairs slanted in such a way that they made a ramp up to the top desk.

The crazy part about all of it was that it seemed rather sturdy for something that should be flimsy. And while Amity would question who could’ve possibly done such a thing, the culprits were sitting atop the desk pyramid, not paying attention to anyone but themselves.

“So, human’s don’t have gills?” A dark-skinned, black-haired witch said, writing something down on a notepad with an intense amount of fervor. He was dressed in the Hexside uniform, along with blue sleeves and blue leggings, which signaled him as being a part of the illusion coven. “Fascinating…”

“Why would human’s have gills?” Luz asked, tilting her head, confusion tracing her tone as Gus glanced over at her with wide eyes.

“I heard from Matt that he had seen a human with gills before that secreted a red liquid similar to blood! He called it a filtration system!” Gus said as Luz flinched. Gus raised an eyebrow. “Was he wrong?”

“Pretty sure he witnessed someone die…”

“Oh…”

Luz had to admit that the witch next to her, Augustus Porter, or as she had given him the nickname of Gus, was a strange individual to say the least. Very energetic like herself, and super curious about humans.

As introductions went, Gus had been polite and… rather quick to the point about asking random questions. He also looked to be around two, maybe three years younger than her. That, and according to Gus, he had been a part of a group called the Human Appreciation Society, or the H.A.S. as he called it.

He was a nice guy, all things considered. “Oh, I am have another question, how do humans procre—”

“And that’s enough for now!” Luz interrupted, waving her hands around in an attempt to stop him from talking. Gus blinked, before frowning. It was at that point that she realized that Gojo and the rest of the class were back. Gojo was staring up at her, smiling as he waved to her. She waved back, before hopping down from the top desk and landing in front of them, barely keeping balance as she fumbled about for a second.

“Nice pyramid you got here, Luz,” Gojo said, ruffling her hair which prompted her to frown.

“Can you stop doing that! It’s annoying!” Luz exclaimed as Gojo laughed.

“That’s the point, silly!”

As that interaction occurred, Gus made his way down from the top of the desk pyramid, and over to Willow. His expression was one of slight concern at noticing the scratches and scuff marks on her face, along with the slight bruising. “Willow! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Mr. Gojo is… not exactly the most forgiving teacher….” Willow murmured as Gus glanced over at him, eyes slightly narrowed.

“Did you hurt Willow?!” Gus exclaimed, to which Gojo glanced over his shoulder, his expression neutral.

“Nah. Although, I guess I did send her with her teammates after that curse. But that’s just something she’s gotta get used to. I take it you’re her friend?” Gojo asked as Gus nodded. “Gotcha. Well, listen. So long as she’s going to be in my class, she’s gonna be put in precarious situations. Not that I want her to be, but that’s just the way of life as a Sorcerer. So, if you want to stay, then you’re gonna have to learn to accept that, got it?” Gojo said, as everyone stared at him.  

Obviously, he was leaving out some key details, but not everything needed to be known right this instant. There was also the matter of telling everyone what was going to happen in two weeks time. Those in Jujutsu Society weren’t strangers to kidnapping kids. Hell, technically, it wouldn’t be the first time he did it if you counted Megumi and Tsumiki.

Brushing that thought aside, he smiled, snapping his fingers. “Now, I believe it’s time for lunch break! Get going, and enjoy however much time ya got to yourselves.” As Gojo said that, the group of four witches left, leaving Gojo and Luz behind. Gojo glanced over at Luz, raising an eyebrow. “That means you too, squirt.”

“Are you sure?” Luz murmured, her expression suddenly downcast. “What if they don’t want to hang out with me?”

“Inject yourself. Besides, they’re your classmates, and this class ain’t that big. Go have fun. After all, one of the reasons you wanted to be here was to make friends, right?” Gojo said, patting her on the back, bringing a smile to Luz’s face. Without hesitation, Luz ran off to catch up with Amity and company, leaving Gojo behind.

Gojo looked over to the mountain of desks, he sighed. Not because he was exasturbated, but simply because he had been taken aback that Luz had been able to stack all of these desks so neatly in less than five minutes. Then again, he was never one to put things past kids, especially bored and hyperactive kids.

“You’ve got quite the class, Gojo,” the voice of Principal Bump echoed within the classroom, as Gojo smirked. “Although, I must say, you are aware that now that those students are in your track, they can only go to your class, right?”

Gojo’s smirk died before he could even say his usual retort. “Right, that was a thing wasn’t it…” “Would it be irresponsible of me if I said that I forgot?” To that Bump laughed in that same, elderly, “oh you youngsters” kind of way that really rubbed Satoru the wrong way.

“Not at all. After all, I wouldn’t expect you to be accustom with Witch and Demon Society after only being here for a little bit. You did have a whole day planned around your class, correct? You sent me the curriculum, after all,” Bump said as Satoru’s expression turned neutral. He knew that, obviously.

“Where I’m from, at Jujutsu Tech, we usually just let the students do whatever they want until we send them out on missions, provided afterward we teach them the basics. I suppose I can streamline teaching them that,” Gojo said as Bump nodded.

“That is very different from what Hexside typically allows, ignoring the Beast Keeping Track. I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Bump said before turning and walking down the hallway. As he left, Satoru turned his attention back to the board. He had a lot of thinking that he needed to do, specifically regarding the relation to Magic and Cursed Energy.

Magic was biological, Cursed Energy was not. But, Cursed Energy could be passed down from one lineage to another. So, technically, it was also biological, but not in the same way Magic was biological, as magic was found in Bile Fluid which was located in something called a Bile Sac.

At the end of the day, though, they were both forms of energy. One was positive, and the other was negative…

Positive…

Negative…

Positive Cursed Energy…

Regular Cursed Energy…

Gojo’s eyes widened. “There’s no way…” Gojo turned and exited the classroom, and saw Bump talking to another student. If his theory was correct…. “Oi! Gramps! C’mere!” Gojo shouted, catching Bump’s attention. The old man dismissed the student and approached Gojo, confusion written all over his face.

“Is something the matter?” Bump asked as Gojo smirked.

“I need to test something, but first, a question: What is Magic?” Gojo asked as Bump frowned.

“Literally or metaphorically?”

“Literally,” Gojo replied as Bump hummed.

“From our earliest scholars, Magic was originally created by The Titans. Beings who existed far before the time of witches and demons. Then, when witches started to show up, magic was inherent in them thanks to our bile sacs, which allow us to filter the energy that the titans gave off, therein giving us our powers to this day. Even when a titan dies, they leave behind a magic field that we witches can manipulate. At least, that was how we originally considered it. Why? Do you think you can offer up something different?” Bump said as Gojo’s smirk turned into a smile.

“Maybe. Hold that thought for a second,” Gojo said as he wrote down something on the chalkboard, those things being “Reversed Cursed Energy” which earned him a confused look from Bump. “Reversed Cursed Energy, or RCT, is Cursed Energy channeled in reverse. My two applications of my Limitless Technique, Lapse Blue and Reversal Red, for example, are a great demonstration of that. Lapse Blue is my basic technique whereas Reversal Red is using Reversed Cursed Energy.”

“Okay… but what does that have to do with me? You asked me to come here, I didn’t think you’d wish to speak to me about your “Technique” as you call it. I’m a busy man, Gojo, so I—”

“Just humor me, okay gramps?” Gojo said, his tone dismissive as Bump relented, a frown on his face. “As I was saying: I always wondered why Magic felt so familiar, but my Cursed Energy felt so foreign to you guys. It didn’t make any sense. At first, I kinda just assumed it was because you guys were sensitive to negativity. But then, I realized something. Open your magic senses for a second, and don’t turn them off, no matter how disturbed you might be.”

“Okay…” Bump muttered as he did what he was asked. Then, Gojo brought forth his Cursed Energy. Bump flinched, but powered through regardless. “I don’t see the purpose of this, Gojo…” As bump said that, Gojo smirked, then, snapped his fingers. As soon as he did, Bump’s magic senses were no longer being invaded by Cursed Energy. Rather, it began to feel like… “Magic?”

“Wrong. Reversed Curse Energy,” Gojo corrected as he dismissed his Cursed Energy, crossing his arms in the process. “To create Reversed Cursed Energy, I’m simply multiplying two negative sources of energy and smashing them together to create a positive. Magic is pure positive energy? Well, so is Reversed Curse Energy.  Perhaps there is more to this than I thought. Not that Magic is Reversed Cursed Energy, but that because it’s similar, perhaps a witch can twist their magic and make it negative.”

“Are you suggesting that there is a more direct link to Human magic and Witch magic?” Bump asked as Gojo nodded.

“Correct. But not for the same reasons. As you said, these Titans produce a natural magical field, even when they die. It doesn’t go away, either. So, my best guess is that, at some point, during the medieval ages of the Earth, or perhaps even before that, some of that slipped out and bled into our atmosphere, and because human’s are an inherently negative race, it corrupted that magic, thus creating Cursed Energy,” Gojo theorized as he tapped his chin.

“I’m not saying Magic is Cursed Energy, I’m saying Cursed Energy is an offshoot of Magic. It also explains why when myself and Luz appeared here, Curses followed suit, and did so almost immediately. This place is like a spawning ground for them. Not to mention, it’s a new source of negativity.”

Bump hummed, concern taking up his expression. “And if these Curses operate the way that you’ve been describing them…”

“There’s a very good chance that the Special Grade Curse that I detected not too long ago isn’t the only one. There could be multiple. If there is….” Gojo left his statement open ended, but the implication was clear. Bump shifted uncomfortably at the information, not that Gojo felt any differently. What was more worrying was that, somehow, they were evading his Six Eyes.

No curse, not even back home, had been able to evade his Six Eyes. Which led him to wonder….

“What the hell is going on….”

Meanwhile, out in one of the more densely packed forests, a pale, almost malnourished looking individual with pale yellow hair with arms and legs just as thick as, if not slightly thicker than sticks, sat upon a rock with one hand pressed against his left sunken cheek. He was dressed in a black cloak with a sideways fashioned skirt of sorts, almost like a kilt, with a plaid grey and silver pattern, his left leg exposed and his right leg covered by the kilt.

Atop his forehead, aside from his horns, he had a burn scar in the shape of a handprint that marred his sickly visage. He looked almost upset. Which was an apt way to describe his current mood. “Aw shucks. My favourite pet died~!” The man(?) said as he looked over his shoulder. “Amapytu! Come console me!”

“Be quiet, Ikimona,” a rough, but feminine voice rumbled like thundered from the tree line. “And for the last time. None of those Curses who you kept around were your pets. They were just a sentient as you are.”  

“Bah!” Ikimona threw his arms back as he fell off the rock semi-comedically, staring up at the sky as he crossed his arms. “Well, they sure didn’t act like it. Always moaning and groaning and sucking up to me. They knew I was superior! Hehe~! What do you think, Abaddon?”

“Hmph,” Abaddon grunted, who was leaning against one of the trees, although he was obscured in the shadows. “I care not for thy pathetic mind games, wretch. Be silent.”

“Gah! You both act like stubborn brats! We’re all the same age, ya know!” Ikimona complained as he stood up, brushing himself off as he smirked, looking over to the west. “But, at least we know where Mama’s gonna be. I can scope things out, but I’m gonna need an in to that building.”

“I don’t understand what your obsession with that Human is. You call her mother, but we were all created by the collective negativity of those on these isles. Why are you so focused on her?” Amapytu questioned from the darkness of the forest as Ikimona shrugged.

“Well, out of all the wretched beings that were here, she’s the one who I think is gonna be the hardest to corrupt. She’s a challenge. Not to mention that, had it not been for her, we would’ve never been here. Of course, that white-haired guy is also to blame, but I know it was her that made me. After all…” Ikimona began as his Cursed Energy began to flair around him, a dark purple aura gleaming off of his body as a devilish smile came to his face.

“As The Curse created out of the fear of Control, it’s fitting that she fled to this place to avoid being controlled by her mother and those around her, only to find her worst fears made manifest be the sole thing that is gonna hunt her down till either of us meet a dark fate~! It’s so exciting! I wonder just what kind of screams she’ll have as I tear her apart~! Or, better yet, I kill everyone around her, break her mind, spirit, and body, and then I can really begin the fun~!”

“Aye, that does sound fun. Forget not to include me within the festivities,” Abaddon grumbled, four dark purple eyes gleaming wistfully at Ikimona.

“If it means I get to use my Acid Rain on anyone in the area, then don’t forget me, either, Ikimona,” Amapytu said, as she stalked out of the forest, although keeping her body in the shade as a single piercing orange eye glared out into the great beyond. Ikimona’s crimson red eyes gleamed with excitement as thin, black strings protruded out of his finger tips and begun wriggling like worms.

“In a few days from now, these stupid witches will know what a real Curse is! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!” Ikimona laughed, as the laughs of the other two Cursed Spirits behind him echoed out. A deadly gleam took up Ikimona’s expression, a smirk wider than that of any smile humanly possible took up his visage as drool seeped down the sides of his cracked and marred lips. “Be afraid, mama…. Be very afraid.”

[-To Be Continued-]

[Ending Song: 怪物/Kaibatsu/Monster – By YOASOBI]

Chapter Text

Hello, everyone, Jazzhands here, and not with any good news. 

I first want to preface this with: I tried. I really, really tried. But, unfortunately, I just couldn't. 

Now, in plain English: This story is cancelled. Permanently.

As for why, it's pretty simple. While the concept is good, my execution was found lacking. For starters, let's start with the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Fundamentally, it is a darker world than The Owl House (wow, who woulda thought); and as a result I could not see myself trying to continue it the way I have. Especially given the amount of drastic changes that I made to it. 

Then, there's also the timeline. 

To be frank, it would be impossible for all that I wanted to happen have happen in the time frame that it would. It would overlap with certain things that, frankly, would be impossible to happen if they were done when I wanted them. Not to mention the contrivances, the heavy-handedness of Gojo's (admittedly) poorly written character. My bad attempt at linking Cursed Energy and Magic. My (at the time) poor understanding of how Cursed Energy worked. The utterly horrible pacing. Etc, etc, etc. 

That, and Jujutsu Kaisen's ending changed and contradicted a lot of what I wanted to have happen. I won't get into anything to avoid spoilers for those who are anime only's. Just understand that what happened in the ending changed everything. Also further understanding to a mechanic that I didn't fully understand and how it wouldn't work the way I wanted to use it later on. 

That being said, does that mean I won't try again with this kind of idea? Sure, maybe, who knows. Would it be with Gojo though? No. Because admittedly, Gojo takes the stakes out of everything, and the only way I can see him not intervening in some of the major events is if he died and or/he decided to be a useless bum (I understand you Gege, I understand you now). 

Either way, this is the end. Wish I could have finished it. 

Jazzhands, signing off. 

Read my other stuff.