"You've actually seen this ship, right?" Satoru asked, raising a brow as he sat on a nearby chair on the other side of the room, as far away from the father and daughter duo as he could get. It was a good thing they noticed his discomfort and seated themselves equally farther, as well, to everyone's advantage. They seemed oddly used to such treatment, Satoru noted. He wondered, then, if it was due to their unique interaction with Cursed Energy. Everyone, not just sorcerers, possessed Cursed Energy – every living thing did, in fact. So, to be in the presence of something, or someone, who seemed to emit a zone of sterility, canceling out Cursed Energy, would've been extremely uncomfortable; others might've found it horrifying, even. Satoru found it incredibly dull – literally. These two were literally draining the colors around them. Holy shit. "Like, not just rumors and stuff, but you've actually seen it for yourself?"
The father nodded, the rifle still firmly on his lap. His daughter was... drawing something on the wall, stick figures or some such. Satoru hated the fact that just looking at them was making him irrationally angry. Sure, they were draining the ambient Curse Energies and- wait... they were draining the ambient Curse Energies. Hmmm... wasn't that just a tiny bit interesting? Six-Eyes narrowed just as the father began speaking. "Yes, I've seen it."
"There's a hangar, just outside the Hive City," The father said, but Satoru could not quite find it in himself to pay attention.
His Six-Eyes followed the ebb and flow of the man and his daughter's negative Cursed Energy, learning and understanding. It was a strange thing, Satoru noted, since Reverse Cursed Energy was essentially the result of multiplying two negative sources, which meant that Cursed Energy was, by its very nature, negative. But what these two possessed was Cursed Energy of an entirely different conceptual nature and the only word he could use to describe it was negative or blank energy, like a vacuum. That would mean, then, that the normal state of Cursed Energy was closer to the figure of zero or true neutral. While the Cursed Energy of the father and daughter was closer to the real conceptual negative, that being an ever-deepening void where values go to die and disappear.
Negative, neutral, and positive...
Huh... that didn't make sense and more or less went against everything he knew, but that was the best way he could put it. Could he replicate it? The concept of negative Cursed Energy seemed simple enough. It was just a matter of adjusting the output to match the, frankly, depressing aura the father and child were emitting.
Breathing in, Satoru reached inwards and tweaked his Cursed Energy. It shouldn't be difficult. It didn't even seem particularly complicated, just something that no one had ever done before, because no one had ever thought it was even remotely possible. But, he could do it. He was Gojo Satoru, after all.
Yeah... no trouble at all.
"We could-" The father's words were cut short as a wave of blankness enveloped the entire room, draining every single color within. The daughter screamed and clutched her ears. It lasted for just a moment, before Satoru lurched forward, fell to his knees, and promptly puked out everything that had been in his stomach, filling his mouth and tongue with extreme bitterness. But that, however, was nothing compared to the absolute darkness and emptiness he'd felt when he shifted the nature of his Cursed Energy to true negative.
It was... horrifying.
"Oh my shit, is that how you guys feel all the time?" Satoru wiped the bile from his mouth as he forced himself up. Holy shit, that made him feel like absolute crap. "Honest question, but how'd you keep yourselves from committing self-die?"
The father raised a brow, but his eyes were... contemplative. There was a flicker of ear in them, Satoru noted – fear and confusion. "Suicide, you mean?"
"Duh." Shit, his head was pulsating with wave after wave of headaches that he could not, for some fucking reason, get rid of using Reverse Cursed Energy. He clutched at his head.
"We simply live with it." The father shrugged. "You... you turned yourself into something like me and my daughter, but... different... the void was deeper with you – endless. How did you do such a thing?"
Immediately, Satoru noted the fact that the oppressively dreadful aura of the father and daughter was just... gone. Or, rather, he no longer felt its effects. He knew they still emitted that negative Cursed Energy, but it wasn't affecting him anymore – for some reason. That would require further study and experimentation, Satoru figured. But, despite its effects, he had to admit now that his first attempt at fully shifting his Cursed Energy was a resounding success. Despite the overwhelming nausea that threatened to split his brain apart, Satoru could only grin. In time, he was going to fully master and control that new energy. He couldn't even begin to imagine just what sort of techniques he could unleash with it. "I just tuned my Cursed Energy to match yours. It really wasn't hard, once I figured out what it was and how it worked. It was just a matter of getting it right."
The father nodded, before shaking his head. Beside him, his daughter had somewhat calmed down by simply falling into a blissful sleep, snuggling into a bunch of thick coats. "Whatever the case. There is a ship just outside the city. I know it's there. I've seen it. And I know, for a fact, that it's space-worthy."
"Alright, I guess I could take you there. The Astartes aren't much of a problem." Satoru nodded. He'd gotten waaay sidetracked there. It was worth it, but that was probably incredibly disrespectful, considering they'd been talking beforehand. Still totally worth it, though. "Can you pilot it?"
The father nodded. "I can. But the ship lacks a Navigator. It can only perform short jumps through the Immaterium."
"I have no idea what that is, but okay." Satoru nodded. He still had two days and several hours before Kairos came knocking. He was reasonably certain that the ritual circle was still somewhat preserved. But, even without it, the symbol on his chest, Kairos' mark, seemed like it could be used as a means of communication between them. He wasn't a hundred percent sure about that, which was why Satoru even bothered to preserve the ritual circle. It was a fair bit of distance away, but getting back to it would be a breeze. Alternatively, he could gamble on the possibility that Kairos could, indeed, communicate with him through the mark, and simply go all in with this plan, escaping the planet before he had to deal with an entire army of the Corgis of Fenris.
They couldn't exactly kill him, but if Satoru couldn't exactly do anything if they decided it was a good idea to blow up the whole planet or something, just because he happened to be on it. And not even he could survive out in the vacuum of space. Infinity wasn't going to be of any help in such a situation. It was one of the reasons why he made that deal with Kairos to begin with, a means of escaping this world and finding some manner of refuge in whatever world the big blue bird was going to throw him into. Hence, taking a spaceship out to try and escape, before the Astartes got a little too annoyed with him, actually seemed like a very reasonable idea.
"Alright," Satoru said, smiling. He was feeling better now. The nausea had faded, though tiny pangs of pain lingered at the back of his head. But those were fading as well. That was good. It meant he'd only have to suffer a grand total of thirty or so seconds every single time he shifted his Cursed Energy into true negative. The best part was that Satoru was pretty sure he'd get used to it soon enough. "I'm in. Where is this hangar?"
The father nodded and stood up. He reached into his pocket and pulled up a folded piece of paper, which he then opened. Satoru walked towards him, no longer disturbed by their negative presences. The daughter remained quiet, at least, even if she was definitely mentally disturbed; though, given what he felt when he tuned his Cursed Energy to match theirs, it'd be stranger if she weren't. How could anyone live like that? It was like having zero happy hormones, perceiving all of existence as dull and gray and monotonous. Even worse was the overwhelming sense of wrongness that flooded his senses, as though he wasn't at all meant to exist and that his very being was an affront to nature itself. Satoru shuddered.
"Right there," The father pointed at a spot he'd marked with a red x mark, just outside the boundaries of the city itself, Satoru noted. The father then moved his pointer finger and pointed at a part of the map that'd been marked with a single blue dot. "And we're here."
The blue dot was about a hundred or so kilometers south of the red x. Interesting. Just knowing the basic distance would allow him to teleport there using Blue. Satoru nodded and leaned away. "How come you haven't tried getting to it?"
The father shook his head and folded the map, placing it back into his pocket. "We did. But there were too many of them. And, though we could make ourselves invisible if we wish, my daughter's control is tenuous at best. She is deathly afraid of the Astartes and any emotional spike breaks her invisibility. We've been making our way to it, however, but at a snail's pace."
"I see," Satoru said, before he grinned and gave the man a thumb's up. He'd save them. He had to. This guy was his ticket out of here and it wasn't as though Satoru detected even the slightest hint of deception. This father was desperate to escape the planet and save his daughter. "Don't you worry. I could get us there instantly. I could even do that right now, actually."
Despite his aura of wrongness, the spark of hope that flickered in the father's eyes was almost palpable, pushing against the weight of the void within him, his soul. It was... interesting, Satoru mused. Just what were these people? He'd already given up on the idea that they were anything like Toji. They were something else entirely, something arguably worse. But that was a good thing.
Because their very existence just propelled him even further up the proverbial totem pole.
They went out to the rooftop and walked to its very center. The daughter stayed quiet as the father held her hand and whispered promises to her. Satoru turned to them. "Both of you, stay as close to me as you possibly can. I am going to take the three of us right over the hangar – or, at least, where the map says it is. There is a caveat, however, and that is we'll be appearing right above it – as in, around a kilometer or so above it."
"What?" The father's eyes widened, but Satoru was already bringing his hands together.
Space folded and shrunk, and all three of them disappeared in the blink of an eye.
AN: Happy New Year! Advanced chapters are available on my (Pat)reon.