July 7th 2018 Tuesday
Two weeks have passed since the whole first year class of Jujutsu Tech has been formed. Things have been quite peaceful. Surprisingly for those two weeks, classes were taught by these people called Windows (people who can see curses but aren't sorcerers). Melinoe could understand math pretty well, and thanks to an incantation long ago Melinoe is able to understand any foreign language including english. She was alright in history but once they started talking about science Melinoe was completely stumped, a majority of topics brought up in the subject are completely alien to her and definitely after her time.
But such classes the goddess could care less about exceeding at, what really had her focus was the curse class taught by Gojo. The strongest sorcerer taught various things about curses including the history, how they work, how sorcerers work, the curse grading system, and various other topics relating to the occupation of being a Jujutsu Sorcerer, even though half the time he's ranting about how old fashioned Jujutsu Society is or stories about himself and other students.
During that time when the first years aren't in classes or practicing with each other the sorcerers often are doing their own things and almost always Melinoe is spending time with one of them. With Itadori Melinoe spends her time learning about modern entertainment with Itadori showing her his favorite TV shows, comics, and movies with her favorites being stuff fantasy related. With Nobara the orange haired teen often takes her out to the city, the two usually go out to try the various foods of Tokyo and to go shopping for clothing. Nobara always payed for Melinoe's expenses despite the goddess always refusing but Nobara constantly insisted and against her better judgment she allowed Nobara to pay, she always found it strange how Nobara always treated her kindly compared to Itadori and Megumi but she never decided to question it. Compared to the other two Melinoe spent time with Megumi the least because he often refused her and Itadori's attempts to spend time with him, but occasionally the goddess was able to get him to budge when she asked him about wanting to read together which surprisingly was a favorite pastime of his. But Melinoe must admit she mostly enjoys hanging out with him for Gamma, his toad Shikigami.
Now was the start of a new day as the sun was rising and Melinoe was outside running around the campus as a way to keep herself ready for the chance to get any missions, things have certainly been easier since being sent forward in time. Not having to fight and die every night was making the goddess a little bit rusty and in order to be as sharp as she could be she needed to keep training her body. She has received some complaints about her feet burning the ground whenever she went on a run but the markings usually disappear after a while.
On this run the goddess came across everyone's favorite blue eyed sorcerer in a blindfold Satoru Gojo and the witch decided to go up to converse with her teacher. Calling out to him Melinoe yelled out "Sensei Gojo!" The white haired sorcerer turned to face Melinoe as she ran up to him and gave him her usual salute "Salutations Gojo."
Gojo immated her salute and replied "What's up Mel?"
"Nothing of interest to report Gojo, I was merely on a run."
"Nice to hear, well don't let me stop you Mel. Come on, let's run together." Gojo said, gesturing to her to come with. The goddess nodded and began to run with her teacher. The two had some idle conversation and the two eventually went to the topic of what was the purpose of him having a bag over his shoulder.
"Forgive me for prying Sensei but what are you bringing that bag for?"
"I'm gonna be going away on business today, it was a sudden call and the old geezers keep nagging me to go handle it. So expect me to be gone for a couple of days."
"But if you are gone then who will be the one teaching the curse classes?" Melinoe asked as her expression displayed slight worry.
"Classes are canceled obviously till I get back, consider it a half day."
"That seems pretty irresponsible."
"That's the benefit of having the coolest teacher in Jujutsu society." Gojo said with a smug smirk as Melinoe could only think that Hecate would hate this man. The Headmistress since the start of Melinoe's training never let Melinoe have a night off and even when she was required elsewhere, Hecate would often have Schelemeus or Odysseus oversee her training. And occasionally once in a blue moon Nemesis to oversee her training, such nights Melinoe would never forget the pain.
"If you say so sensei."
"In the meantime get ready to be on call in case we have a curse problem, usually it would be up to me or the second and third years but the third years are suspended and the second years are still busy so be prepared for anything Mel."
"I promise not to let you down, Sensei Gojo."
The two suddenly stopped at the entrance of Jujutsu Tech as Gojo's usual smile turned into a serious expression as Melinoe grew worried at his sudden turn in demeanor "Is something wrong Sensei Gojo?"
"Keep this on the down low Mel, this business trip is a load of bullshit. The higher ups are planning something having me go out on short notice along with delaying the second years return home. Expect the absolute worst in my absence and protect my students at all cost, got it?" Gojo said to Melinoe as the goddess felt intimidated by the strongest sorcerer only being able to let out a nod in response.
Gojo regained his smile and patted Melinoe on the shoulder "Alright great running into you Mel! I'm off, don't expect any souvenirs!"
"Moonlight guide you Sensei Gojo." Melinoe gave him one last salute before Gojo left Jujutsu Tech.
Melinoe had a bad feeling in her stomach, Gojo has never been serious with her since the day they first met. And if the strongest was telling her to expect the worst, Melinoe will absolutely take his words to heart and be as cautious as she could possibly be today. She only hopes that her fellow sorcerers will be alright at the end of the day…
…
The clock hit 5pm when Melinoe, Megumi, Nobara, and Itadori arrived at the scene of a detention facility being driven by a man named Ichiji. There was nothing but pure evil being exerted from the building even Melinoe with her little expertise in curses could feel that. To have a bad feeling about this couldn't be more of an understatement, all she could think about was Satoru Gojo's words.
The four stood around waiting for Ichiji to talk to the cops before going to the students to give them the briefing. The man looked at the facility and said "Yup definitely a cursed womb, a window confirmed that 3 hours ago. Once 90% of the facility was evacuated the center was to be sealed off, everyone within a 500 meter radius has been evacuated. Five detainees are currently trapped inside along with the cursed womb, if the curse womb is the type to metamorphose, we can predict that it will most likely become a Special Grade Curse."
The pit in Melinoe's stomach became that equivalent to a canyon, she's worried about her own safety yes but her friends on the other hand she holds even more worry for because at least she can come back from death, for her friends not so much. Itadori spoke up raising a hand to ask a question "Hey so I don't really understand what this special grade means, what is it?" Melinoe remembers how Itadori is not the brightest person out there.
"Okay let me explain it in idiot terms. Grade 4 is light work with a wooden bat, grade 3 a normal handgun should do, grade 2 you're cutting it close with a shotgun, grade 1 even a tank may be insufficient, then there's special grade where carpet bombing with cluster bombs might work."Ichiji explained to Itadori as now he seemed to understand the seriousness of this situation. Melinoe didn't understand what most of those things even meant but she payed attention so she was fine.
"That is bad!"
Megumi explained to Itadori "Normally a sorcerer of the same grade would come and handle this and in this case that would be Gojo."
"That makes sense, so where is he?" Itadori began looking around for signs of Gojo.
"Gone for the current moment, he left for business earlier this morning." Melinoe told Itadori.
Ichiji pushed up his glasses and continued talking "In this business we're often short handed, you'll often take on jobs that are beyond your expertise. But today's job is urgent and very abnormal, and if you are to encounter a special grade RUN OR YOU WILL DIE." Itadori and Nobara both felt the pressure of the situation as Megumi and Melinoe kept a straight face but anyone could tell they both are feeling the same anxiety that Nobara and Itadori are feeling.
"Don't disregard your fear, and don't forget your job isn't to dispel curses though it is encouraged. Confirm the location of any survivors and evacuate them."
It was then where a woman came up to the police tape closing off the area yelling at the sorcerers "Excuse me sir! Please tell me where is my son! I need to know if my son Tadashi is alright!"
The police merely told her to stay back as Itadori looked at the worried woman with worried eyes as Ichiji stepped in front of him and whispered "She came by to visit her son." He then shouted at her "It's likely that poison has spread through the facility so please leave, we cannot disclose any more information at this point!"
The woman could only break down getting on her knees and covering her face with her hands. Itadori now suddenly gained a new drive and cracked his knuckles "Kugisaki, Fushiguro, Melinoe… let's save them okay?"
"Of course." Melinoe responds.
Nobara nodded.
Megumi was silent.
The 4 went inside the facility along with Ichiji who followed behind him as he wasn't going to be fighting alongside them "I'll set up the veil now, emerge from darkness blacker still purify that which is impure."
The cloudy gray sky above them turned to that of night, surprising both Itadori and Melinoe. Itadori looked in awe as the day turned to night and to Melinoe the night sky felt off as a night sky without the moon felt artificial, what was a night sky without Selene after all. "Woah it's turning to night!"
"There's a residential area close by so we use veils to conceal ourselves from the public." Megumi explained to Itadori.
"Idiot." Nobara mumbled.
Megumi formed his hands together as an entity came from his shadow "Demon dogs."
A wolf with white fur appeared from his shadow and howled as it impressed Itadori being able to see how Megumi's power worked without being in a life threatening fight, for the current moment that is. "If the curse gets close it will let us know." Megumi explained as Itadori was busy petting the divine dog and calling it a good boy to give it some encouragement. Megumi opened the door to the facility as the three prepared themselves for the worst to come and Melinoe summoned to her hands the twin sister blades Lim and Oros as she started to sweat with her breathing starting to hasten. The four ran inside and Megumi quickly told them to stop as the four looked up to their bewilderment at a multitude of tall buildings and pipes as the area seemed to be larger on the inside compared to the outside.
"What's going on here… i thought this was only a 2 story dorm building." Itadori said freaked out by the scenery.
"Maybe it's a condo c-chill out." Nobara said just as freaked out as Itadori was and tried to convince herself it wasn't the work of a curse.
Megumi knew all too well what was going on here, it was an innate domain caused by the curse's cursed energy. But he has never seen one that was this large before and was now starting to feel the same worry as the Itadori and Nobara.
Melinoe looked back to the exit and to her horror the exit was gone in place of a mass of pipes. "Blasted…"
"What's up Mel- OH NO THE EXIT!" Nobara pointed to the now gone exit door as the boys looked back as well.
"Where'd it go?!"
"We just came through that door!"
"What do we do? What do we do? It's a very big problem!" Itadori and Nobara began to chant walking around in a circle flailing their hands. Something that would have been very humorous to Melinoe if they weren't in grave danger, really the two might have already gone mad. "Please you two take this seriously…"
"We'll be fine, the dog remembers the scent of the exit." Megumi told them with his usual serious tone of voice. What a relief the sorcerers and the goddess felt as their expressions turned to one of joy as they began praising the dog with Itadori and Melinoe petting it and cuddling the dog.
"That's a good one headed dog, you'll get all the pets." Melinoe said in a cutesy voice.
"Good boy good boy! Who's a good dog!" Itadori praised rubbing his head against the dog's fluff.
"Good dog! Now you can have all the beef jerky you want!" Nobara likewise praised the dog and celebrated that they could come out of this alive.
Megumi on the other hand was not amused by this and even the one he expected to take this mission the most seriously, Melinoe, was busy messing around with the two other sorcerers and yelled at them "Stop playing around!"
"You're really reliable Fushiguro! Thanks to you we can rescue some people and rescue ourselves. You are the best!" Itadori smiled at Megumi and gave him a thumbs up.
"I must agree with Itadori, you've guaranteed a chance at our survival. Thank you Megumi." Melinoe likewise smiled at Megumi. But Megumi said nothing in response and the group moved on into the depths of the facility.
…
Death. That was what the four sorcerers were greeted to, three bodies out of the five they were supposed to find were found. Two were turned into balls of flesh with their body parts only barely identifiable, it made the third corpse seem fortunate that the most that happened to him was that he was severed in half with only the top of his body still remaining. It disgusted all of them including Melinoe, death was a force she was very familiar with but even then no one deserved a death like this. Itadori went to check the name tag of the severed body and to his horror the name tag read Tadashi Okazaki.
Itadori was silent for a moment as he could feel his eyes well up seeing the body and being reminded of the woman outside, Melinoe wanted to speak to try to calm Itadori but the words seemed to be stuck in her throat as she couldn't find the right words. Itadori broke his silence and said to the group "We're bringing this body back, that woman outside this is her son…"
Nobara could only let out a "What…?"
"His face isn't that messed up… she's not gonna have closure unless she sees her son…"
Megumi put his foot down on the idea and pulled Itadori's hood "We have to confirm that the other two are dead or alive, leave the body."
"But everywhere we go the path changes, how are we gonna come back here?"
"I never said anything about coming back, did I? I said leave him!" Megumi shouted "He's not worth saving even if he was alive, why would I save his dead body?"
Itadori in response grabbed Megumi's uniform collar and the first time in the time she had known the vessel Itadori looked mad "What are you talking about?"
"Itadori! Megumi! Drop this at once!" Melinoe stepped between the two trying to push them a part.
"This is a juvenile detention center, as sorcerers we get various we have access to information before we infiltrate a location. I read up about this man and he hit a little girl walking home from school without a license. And this was his second offense." That explanation shook both the vessel and goddess.
"I understand you want to save everyone and want everyone to be led to a proper death but who says that one of the people you save won't end up killing someone else in the future?!" The goddess could only question herself about what they should do, the right thing to do was to bring the body with them. But did scum like this really deserve a proper burial? More so do those who commit such atrocities in the future deserve to be saved?
"Then why… DID YOU SAVE ME?!" Itadori yelled at Megumi who only responded with a scowl.
"Knock it off! This isn't the time and place for-" Just as Nobara was yelling at the boys she began to sink inside of the floor with Melinoe being the only one able to react in time and dashed to grab her hand before she fully sunk into the floor. But right as she was about to do so her body stopped moving as she felt her entire body become frozen with fear with her red and green pupils becoming the size of pin needles.
"Melinoe what's wrong?! Where's Kugisaki?!" Him and Itadori looked around the room for any signs of a curse. Megumi's divine dog should have sensed it and he quickly got the answer of why he wasn't notified when he saw the head of his white divine dog severed and caved into a wall. "Itadori! Melinoe! We have to run, we'll find Kugisaki after we get away!"
Any attempts to run were soon halted as between the two appeared a curse of white skin and blue veins where four eyes stared at the three. The presence alone made any attempts of sudden movement cease due to being racked with fear, there was no doubt in all of their minds that this was indeed a special grade curse. "Why can't I move?!" Melinoe thought to herself. She faced trials harder than this and she never froze before but why, why now of all times does her body refuse to move a muscle!? Why was she even here, even now she's too weak to do anything just like against Chronos, she can't do anything…
Melinoe heard a swift slash as she assumed it was Itadori cutting the curse with Slaughter Demon. But Melinoe was in for a rude awakening when landing beside her foot landed the severed hand of Itadori and what was left of a shattered Slaughter Demon. It was then that the three sorcerers finally gathered enough will to move as Melinoe stuttered "I-Itadori… your hand…"
"I'll be fine! I can't run away not now…" Itadori used his mouth to tie his belt to his hand in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Hey Sukuna, if I die here you die too so you gotta help out!"
An eye appeared from one of the slits under his normal left eye along with a mouth that spoke in that same corrupted voice "Not true! Even if you die here there are still 18 other fragments of me still out there, besides I'm in no control of this body so it's up to you to switch. But once you do I'll kill Fushiguro here before he even has the chance to run, and then Kugisaki… She's a lively one I'll have some fun with her! Oh and the goddess, I want to tear her limb from limb after what Hecate did!"
The mention of her mentor floored Melinoe, Melinoe wanted to ask questions such as how does he know hecate, and where she could possibly be. But her thoughts were interrupted when she was forced to dash out of the way of a blast coming from the special grade curse. "Fushiguro, Melinoe! Get Kugisaki and get out of here, I'll keep it distracted until you three get out of here. It doesn't matter how you do it but give me a signal once you are out of here."
"Are you mad Itadori?! You are not fit to fight this curse, please don't waste your life here!"
"Take a close look at the curse." Melinoe and Megumi both watched as the curse laughed maniacally as it seemed to be having the time of its life. "It's toying with us, so wasting time shouldn't be too hard."
"Itadori please…" Melinoe could feel her eyes began to well up.
"Trust me, I'll be okay." Itadori looked at Melinoe with his smile that could light up a room. Melinoe wanted to say no, she wanted to fight in his stead, if she died what consequences would that even bring? She needed to say no, but…
"...I trust you. Megumi let's go." Melinoe and Megumi both ran for their lives and jumped down a hole as the last thing Melinoe heard from Itadori was the sounds of him fighting the curse.
Megumi summoned Nue to slow his descent as Melinoe reached the bottom first as she didn't feel any pain from falling all the way down the hole. The two ran like the wind as Megumi formed his hand together to spawn the second divine dog to sniff out Nobara's scent. The dog barked at it's master and Megumi told Melinoe "It says Kugisaki is past this wall, go save her and I'll meet you at the door!"
"On it." Melinoe turned to her right and phased right through a wall with her dash and appeared in a pitch dark room littered with broken masks and decomposing curses, a gold mine of cursed essences but that was not Melinoe's priority. Nobara was being held by a curse just moments away from being consumed as her right eye had a bruise and was being kept closed. "I remember your face, I swear I'll curse you!"
Nobara was about to be eaten by some sort of bug curse with 2 mushroom curses laughing at her demise. Just as Nobara was about to be consumed a flash of green zipped by her head and the hand holding her was severed, freeing the orange haired teen. Nobara fell and was swiftly caught by Melinoe as the hammer wielding sorcerer looked up at her savior and all her worries were washed away looking upon the goddess.
"Nobara can you still run?" Melinoe asked.
"Will you carry me if I say no?" Nobara spat out without even thinking.
A bright light appeared behind them as a giant snake came from said light and attacked the curses that were about to attack the two girls. Melinoe turned her head and saw Megumi as he shouted "Come on we're outta here!"
With Nobara in her arms Melinoe and Megumi ran out of the dark room and to the exit of the facility. Megumi offered to hold Nobara in Gamma but it was objected to by Nobara and to Melinoe Nobara wasn't all too heavy, at least compared to the Moonstone Axe. On their way out Melinoe was praying to every deity she knew that Itadori would survive, they hadn't known each other for long but he was one of the kindest souls she had met and the fates have been nothing but cruel to him. She just hopes today they will be merciful.
But at long last they reached a door and the 3 sorcerers have finally made it out of the hellhole with Ichiji waiting by the door, surprised by the exhausted Megumi and Melinoe along with the injured Nobara. Megumi then gave his dog the signal as the black furred shikigami howled loudly to signal to Itadori that they were safe and he was free to turn into Sukuna. The four of them could instantly feel a change in the air coming from the facility as it must have meant Itadori swapped, Melinoe only hopes he'll be okay fighting such a monstrosity.
Melinoe placed Nobara into Ichiji's car as she had her right eye bandaged "Safe travels Nobara…"
Megumi talked to Ichiji and told him "Tell them to expand the evacuation area to ten kilometers."
"What about you and Mel?"
"We're staying, if things go wrong it's my responsibility to finish him."
"Once I take Kugisaki to the hospital I'll come back."
"No. You won't be much help, just call to see if they can send a sorcerer grade one or higher." Megumi told Ichiji as the words stabbed through him like a knife as he drove off.
The two stayed silent for a moment as rain poured down from the sky as that was the only noise the two could hear. The silence was broken when the goddess spoke up and asked "Megumi, were you serious about finishing off Itadori?"
"It's either him or us Melinoe." Megumi replies.
"I don't think I have what it takes to kill him if it comes to it…"
"It's because Sukuna knows stuff about your teacher is it?"
"As much as I want answers to where she could possibly be, I don't wish to raise arms against Itadori. He doesn't deserve any of this, a kind soul like him shouldn't be a vessel for the strongest curse in history, nor should we be waiting here as he risks his life just to protect us. It's wrong…"
Megumi stayed silent, he didn't have any words for this. Melinoe is already very distressed and he wouldn't want to add anything on top of that. But thoughts about this conversation ended when the two both felt a shift in the air as the evil coming from the facility dissipated but the two still felt a great amount of evil coming from the building. The domain is gone, that means the curse must have been defeated, they might be able to go home safely after all! They just needed to wait for Itadori!
"He ain't coming back." That distorted voice, they both knew exactly who it was and it certainly wasn't Itadori despite how much he looked like him.
The two turned to face the King of Curses as both of them could feel their heartbeats in their ears from the fear of being in his mere presence. "Don't worry I'm in a good mood today, I just wanna have a friendly little chat. The kid had it coming for not making any kind of a deal, now it seems like he's having trouble switching back." The curse ripped Itadori's shirt off without any effort exposing his marked body to the rain. "It's probably not gonna be long till he gains the ability to turn back, but I know how to fix that little problem."
With one swift move Sukuna stabbed right through Itadori's chest as a spray of blood came from his chest getting a little bit on both of the sorcerers. Both of them were visibly shaken by the sudden suicidal 'fix' to his problem as he pulled out Itadori's heart that was still beating. "I'm taking the brat hostage, not like I'm gonna be needing one of these anyways." Sukuna stated as he tossed Itadori's heart onto the grass.
"Switching back now means death! Oh and before I forget…" Reaching into Itadori's pocket Sukuna takes out one of the cursed fingers and swallows it right in front of the two as they both deduce that's why the curse was so strong in the first place. "Now with that I'm as free as a bird, feel free to be afraid because you both are gonna die. Especially you goddess, I know you don't exactly stay dead so I'll make sure to take my time with you."
"Just like last time… only now our positions are reversed…" Megumi mumbled as he got in a fighting stance and Melinoe likewise summoned Lim and Oros to her hands. This was an unwinnable fight, even in a two on one the likelihood of victory was slim to none, but since when were the odds ever in Melinoe's favor? The only constant in this world was that fate wasn't fair to anyone, not even themselves.
"You don't know Itadori like we do, he'll switch back even if it kills him. He's just that type of guy."
"You give him too much credit, he's just a little tougher and more dense than a regular human. You should have seen him not too long ago losing his mind and rattling on about regrets. He doesn't have the guts to end his own life, I'm sure of it." The curse replied to Megumi.
"I don't want to hear another word out of you curse, Itadori will be coming back with us this I vow." Melinoe said as Sukuna chuckled at that.
"I love that kind of talk! Since we're outside, let's use all this open space!" With that the fight started as Megumi from his shadow summoned his bird Shikigami Nue and they both sprinted at the King of Curses. They both knew what they needed to do, Sukuna was able to regenerate Itadori's arm back and he still continued to live without the heart so by that reasoning the two needed to make Sukuna panic and think he can't beat them without Itadori's heart. Such a task was easier said than done but it was either that or Itadori dies, worst case scenario they all die.
Melinoe came from the left and Megumi along with Nue from the right as the sorcerers planned to attack him at the same time but Sukuna moved out of the way. When Megumi attacked he blocked, when Melinoe went to stab he moved out of the way, and when Nue swooped in he merely ducked. They weren't able to land a hit on Sukuna and every missed hit resulted in getting a counter attack from him, and what was infuriating about it is he seemed to be having fun the whole time. Melinoe charged up a teleport to hit Sukuna from the back as Megumi went for another assault from the front and right as they went in for their attack Sukuna merely caught Megumi's hand and the Sister Blades before sending Megumi crashing right into Melinoe. "Come on, put some curse behind your attacks!"
The two quickly got up and Megumi put his hands together to summon a Shikigami while Melinoe distracted him with a dagger that Sukuna effortlessly caught between his fingers as it disappeared right as Megumi summoned his snake Shikigami Orochi. Orochi burst from the ground and caught the curse in its jaws "Gang up on him now!"
Melinoe with another teleport and Nue with its electrified wings striked the curse at the same time and left a large cut to the throat. But the curse only smiled and with his strength burst from Orochi's jaws and grasped Melinoe from the mouth and in a mere instant returned to the ground grabbing Megumi's uniform from the back. Melinoe tried to pry his hand away but to no avail as he spoke to the two sorcerers "What did I say earlier? Let's use the open space!"
Sukuna tossed Melinoe and Megumi through a set of trees on the facility and sent them flying into the residential district. Not only was his Jujutsu far beyond both of them combined, but his strength was immense! Sukuna displayed his immense speed by showing up right next to the flying sorcerers before kicking the two through several buildings and the sorcerers let out groans of pain. Nue was able to catch the two sorcerers but the curse did not let up the assault and spiked the two into a large apartment complex and sent them through several floors.
Both of them laid in a pile of rubble as Sukuna landed right in front of them, Megumi knew that Nue was at his limit so called him back as the Shikigami sunk into his shadow. This situation was beyond bad, nothing they threw at Sukuna seemed to work, Orochi and demon dog white had been destroyed, and both of them were barely holding onto life. Sukuna landed in front of the two of them, Megumi wanted to stand but his body refused as he let out winces of pain, in his stead Melinoe stood up still holding Lim and Oros. "To think she spoke so highly of you and this is the fight I get, you don't even have cursed energy only the Sister Blades do."
"How do you Hecate? Where is she?" Melinoe demanded.
"Look at you, do you think you're in any position to ask anything of me? At this rate I'll never regenerate the brat's heart back." Sukuna taunted Melinoe who only got more frustrated. "You're a goddess, risking your life for a meaningless brat. To you princess he should just be another mortal who will live and die just like the rest."
"I suppose you're right… he is a mortal who will live and die, but he's much more than that. The fates have not been fair to him and likewise they haven't been fair to me, but he has the strength to move on and continue past the pain. I'm nowhere near as strong as the sorcerers in this day in age so allow me to at least use my strength to guide Itadori to a longer life and may it strike fear into you for his sake." Melinoe crossed her blades together and charged up one last Omega attack with the remaining magic she had left as Lim and Oros flared with cursed energy and magic.
"Alright goddess, hit me as hard as you can. Get a good enough grade and I'll give the brat back his heart, fail and and I'll show you what happened to the witch. Give me everything you got, Melinoe!" He held out his arms ready to take her attack.
Everything happened so fast, Melinoe in an instant attacked him with everything she could muster. But what she was greeted to next was a swift moment from Sukuna's arm as blood flowed through her mouth as pupils became the size of pin needles. She looked down as blood flowed from her waist as everything went blurry and she fell back as her body was cut in half as she could only faintly hear the cry from Megumi. No returning to shadow now, just the cold embrace of death and the feeling that once again she was too weak to do anything.
…
"Melinoe!" Megumi could only shout as she was sliced in half as Sukuna only looked displeased by her efforts. "Failing grade goddess."
Megumi had just gained a second wind and he stood up as he was seeing pure red. All he did was watch as she died right in front of him but no more, he wasn't going to let anyone else die by this monster's hands if it's the last thing he'll do. Putting his arms together with his hands clenched he was reminded of the reason he's even here becoming a sorcerer, Tuskimi. She was the kindest person in the world and she got cursed, Itadori is gonna be executed just because he tried to save him and Melinoe, Melinoe had her whole family taken away from her and is now sliced in half because she wanted to save Itadori. None of them deserved any of this, if only good people would be treated more fairly. All he could do now is save people whether or not it's fair.
"With this treasure I summon…" The cursed energy flaring from Megumi dispersed as he widened his eyes as the marking from Sukuna began to fade away and his eyes began to close showing Itadori was back in control. Itadori could only frown at what he let happen after Sukuna was in control as he looked down at Melinoe's lifeless body. Megumi said to him "Itadori, it's not your fault… I should have-"
"It's okay Megumi, I did this. She risked her life because of my actions, I have to say sorry the next time I see her…" Itadori's body couldn't handle living without a heart much longer and blood began to shoot out of the gaping hole in his chest as he coughed up some as well. "As for you Fushiguro, Kugisaki, and Gojo sensei, I don't have to worry about you anymore… live a long life okay…?" Itadori's body gave out as he fell to the floor that was stained in his own blood leaving Megumi alone as the rain continued to pour down as all he could do was stare at his two dead friends. At least for a moment because all of a sudden Melinoe sunk into the blood that came out of her body and shocking Megumi as he tried to grab onto her as he only was able to touch blood, in a few moments she was gone along with the pool of blood she left behind.
…
Gojo sat in the morgue at Jujutsu tech looking at the now covered body of Itadori Yuji with a frown on his face. He knew something bad was going to happen when he left on a business trip but sending his students to fight a special grade? The jujutsu higher ups only seem to stoop lower and lower. "I told them that if they encountered a special grade that they needed to run and fighting was not an option!"
"It was intentional." Gojo responded.
"What do you mean?"
"The special grade, sending four first years to go find five people who might already be dead should have been out of the question. I was the one who had his execution suspended and I guess some higher ups didn't like that and used my absence along with the special grade to get rid of him. They are already on my ass about Mel so they killed two birds with one stone." Gojo's serious tone was making Ichiji's heart beat at a million miles per minute.
"Y-yeah but when the mission was planned no one knew it would become a special grade!"
"Trying to pin the blame is such a pain… maybe I should just go kill all those higher ups…" gojo said as he now had a scowl on his face.
The sound of a door opening was heard and the two sorcerers looked to find two women entering the room, the first one who spoke was the Jujutsu tech doctor Shoko Ierei and listening to Gojo made her say "You're being emotional for once! Must have really had a soft spot for him huh?"
The other woman had to duck under the doorframe to get inside the room, she had large muscles, piercing golden eyes, her long dark hair was tied in a bun, and wore silver armor adorned with red and accents. She wore a small shield on her left arm and on her back was a large sword almost as large as Shoko was. "Don't toy with him Shoko, not exactly the time and place."
Ichiji bowed to the two "Good to see you and !"
"How many times do I gotta tell you not be formal with me?" The larger woman told Ichiji which visibly made him shake and sweat.
"Y-yes Nemesis!"
"You know I'm always a guy who looks out for his students." Gojo replied to Shoko.
"Regardless, you shouldn't torment Ichiji so much. It's hard for him to be stuck between us and the higher ups."
"I don't care about the man's hardships. So what's Nemesis doing here all the way from Kyoto?" Gojo asked as he looked at the large woman.
"Is it too much to believe that I can't come to help a friend mourn his loss?"
"Don't you hate me enough that you asked for a restraining order?"
"Obviously it's not you then." Nemesis replied to him before leaning against the wall.
"So this…" Shoko took the tarp covering Itadori's corpse "Is Sukuna's vessel… I can cut him up, yes?"
"Just make good use of him." Gojo told the doctor.
"Oh I will, who do you think I am?"
There was a silence in the room as Shoko was getting everything ready to dissect Itadori. But Gojo had some questions for Nemesis, she never comes to Jujutsu Tech in Tokyo willingly unless she needs something, never once has she appeared to help someone mourn that's for sure. "Nemesis, what are you really here for?"
"Nothing gets past you huh? When I heard about what happened yesterday and about Sukuna's vessel I thought it was just another case of Jujutsu corruption. It certainly is that's for sure, those higher ups deserve whatever's coming to them for making kids handle a special grade."
"They made that pretty clear with Yuji that they are just a bunch of scumbags of the Jujutsu world, selfish idiots, bloodline idiots, proud idiots, just plain idiots." Gojo replied to Nemesis
Nemesis chuckled "You got that right, but as much as they deserve to die they would only be replaced by someone who won't bother to make a change. Not like we'll be much better than scum for killing them anyways.
"That's why we teach them, to raise them to be strong and clever compatriots. Sometimes I even send some of mine to do my missions, it's tough love."
"Or just an excuse for you to slack off." Nemesis snickered.
"They're all talented, especially Okkotsu and Hakari. Maybe they'll be as good as me someday." Gojo said with a soft smile on his face.
"Hopefully not as insufferable, what was I talking about again? Oh right,there was a mention of a green haired girl with a green and red eye who wears a lot of silver. No official name but according to records she is commonly known as Melinoe. Where is she Gojo?"
Just as gojo was about to answer Shoko interrupted and said to the three "Hey you three, I'm about to start. Are you going to watch from there or what?" Shoko didn't get a reply as from her point of view she only received shocked expressions from the three sorcerers. She then turned around and to her surprise Itadori was sitting up with the hole in his chest completely gone as if nothing ever happened. "Whoa where are my clothes?!"
"Go-Go-Go-Gojo he's alive!" Ichiji stammered.
"He can do that…?" Nemesis looked towards Gojo for a response as he was giggling to himself to see his student alive and well.
"Aw, I'm a little bummed…" Shoko said disappointed.
"Um… this is kinda embarrassing but who are you?" Itadori asked the doctor.
"Yuji! Welcome back!" Gojo stood up to greet his student who was back from the dead.
"Yo thanks!" Itadori and Gojo gave each other a high five as Shoko gave him a shirt to wear in the meantime.
"Touching." Nemesis said, grabbing the attention of Itadori.
"Woah she's tall…"
"Thanks I get that a lot, but listen. Do you know a girl named Melinoe? Green hair, scrawny, a black and red eye, wears a bunch of silver, ghost arm where you can see the bone, feet that are on fire, ring any bells?" Nemesis asked as Itadori's face turned into a frown as he remembered what happened.
"Sukuna killed her… but how do you know her?" Itadori asked.
"Don't worry about it, she's where she belongs now but knowing her she won't be staying for very long…"
…
Melinoe opened her eyes as she was submerged in an ocean of blood as all she could see in the sea of red was a light in the distance. She held what breath she had and swam as fast as she could towards said light until she felt some stairs where she proceeded to climb until she reached the surface. Melinoe was on her hands and knees gasping for air as she was once drenched and began to disappear as she soon looked up. This air that filled her lungs smelled exactly like the underworld and she couldn't believe her eyes as across from the pool of blood she came out was the desk of someone she knew.
"There's… no way…"
…
Author's note
Woah momma this one took fucking forever bro, maybe if I wasn't such a slacker I would have finished this sooner.
This next part of the story I'm honestly a little scared to write, I have the idea in my head for what it will be like and who will show up but will I execute it well I don't really know.
Feel free to review, I like reading them. No Jujutstroll this time.