"I did!" Satoru raised his hand and jumped up, grinning.

Was this a stupid idea?

Yeah, it was most definitely a very stupid idea, but how would life get interesting otherwise if Satoru didn't turn his brain off every once in a while and triggered a new apocalyptic event for his own amusement at the expense of others?

The two avian heads snapped towards him and, for the first time in his entire existence, Gojo Satoru felt genuinely afraid for his life. Even then, his grin couldn't get any wider, because the fear – the rapid beating of his heart, the shaking of his hands, and the uncertainty of whether or not he'd live to see the next ten minutes – was so intoxicating. It was, frankly, the most excited he'd ever been. The creature before him might as well have been a god for all the Cursed Energy it wielded – and it was only a tiny portion of the actual entity, because the ritual circle had a limit to how much Cursed Energy it could actually contain and that limit was being stretched. The two-headed avian was raw-dogging his ritual circle without trying.

Damn.

Would a direct-hit from Hollow Technique: Purple even faze something of this magnitude? It probably would, since that particular move ignored pesky things like durability and toughness, but this creature definitely would survive it. How would he kill something of this magnitude? A Maximum Purple, using up every bit of Cursed Energy he had in his entire body, would probably injure it enough that someone else could kill it with enough effort. Probably.

The Daemon's baleful eyes burned brighter – blue and pink and all manner of colors ablaze. Still, despite the immensity of its presence, the ocean of power that swirled just beyond the ritual circle, Satoru could not help but note the strange feeling that the entity before him was... having fun? "You live only because you amuse me, Sorcerer. The changes you've wrought upon the Ritual that I myself designed and created are... intriguing. We created it to be inviolable, like all our creations; not even the Red Cyclops could've altered it so easily. What do you want from us?"

Satoru walked up to the entity, his grin never faltering as he did. He stopped about three feet from it, close enough that the sheer pressure from its Cursed Energy was threatening to overwhelm him; it was akin to standing before a rushing torrent of raging waters with nothing to hold onto and no Infinity to protect him. It was exhilarating. Satoru held out his right hand for a handshake, a gesture he only ever offered to people – or entities – that were powerful enough for him to consider an equal. "I was thinking we should introduce ourselves first; ya know, manners maketh man and all that. My name's Gojo Satoru. And you are?"

The two heads both gave him incredulous looks, which was a hard feat considering they did not exactly possess human features. Cursed Energy was a funny thing, like that. After a moment, the two heads turned to each other and shrugged. They then turned to Satoru and extended a single, massive hand towards him. "I am – we are – Kairos Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch."

The Daemon was powerful enough to ignore the chains that bound it to the circle as its hand quite literally extended out of it. Still, Satoru grinned as he grabbed the gigantic feathery hand as best as he could and then shook it. Kairos chuckled heartily. The amusement in its reverberating voice was real. "No one – no one – has ever had the courage and the confidence to shake our – my – hand in greeting. You stand before me – us - at a distance no other as reached and survived. You do not cease to amuse, sorcerer."

Satoru let go and so did Kairos, who pulled back its arm. Its chuckling faded. "For amusing me, I will give you a chance to explain yourself, sorcerer."

Satoru raised a brow, noting how each head seemed to have its own personality, before shrugging. Satoru then pointed at the pile of ashes that used to be the sorcerer girl. "Well, that... ugh... former woman over there had a plan to use this portal to take us to the enemy ship for a spicy heist to take it from the inside. I had other plans, since that one was unlikely to work. I also studied the ritual array and found it... well.. .unsuited to my needs, so I altered it. I'm not taking these people to the enemy ship to be slaughtered; I'm going to take them to another world."

Kairos looked down and studied the ritual circles for a moment, before chuckling. "Ah, I see; so, that was your intent. I believe, however, that this ritual array is still dependent on me to choose the destination, before it permanently locks in and draws power from me. Amusing and... ingenious. That you managed to alter it at all is... interesting, sorcerer."

Satoru nodded. His original plan had been to beat up the Daemon and force it to agree to a destination of his choosing, but that... wasn't going to work now. There's no way he was going to punch that two-headed thing unless it was specifically to test his luck and he'd already died once. He wasn't keen on experiencing death a second time. So, he was just going to ask nicely. "So, could you, pretty please with cherry on top, open up a portal to a world where these people can be safe?"

"You're serious... ha... hahahahahaha! Ah, today is a day of many firsts, because no one has ever thought to ask me – us - nicely for anything before." Kairos laughed this time. It didn't chuckle. It just laughed. "I can see why you're eager to leave. The Wolves of Fenris are closing in you and your little band of insects. Without my aid, they'd all be slaughtered to the last."

"Very well, Gojo Satoru," Kairos finally said. "I will offer my aid – for a price. These people will be taken somewhere safe, a place where they shall want for nothing. But you... you're not going with them. I may have a use for someone of your skill and talent. What say you, sorcerer. Do you accept? I offer this only once."

Satoru grinned. It was as good as he was ever gonna get, but one would never get anywhere without braving the unknown. So, against his better judgement, Satoru spoke, "Would you be amenable to making a binding vow? I'll go somewhere else, wherever you want me to be, and I'll do whatever, but these people have to be taken to place where no harm shall come to them – physical or otherwise."

"I – we – accept." Kairos drew into itself, forging the binding vow. At that, Satoru let out a brief sigh as he felt the weight of that particular responsibility finally lifting from his shoulders. Without another word, he channeled his Cursed Energy and performed a binding vow as well, ensuring he'd never turn against his word. "They shall be taken far from the touch of the Imperium, to a human world that will not sail the stars for another five hundred years."

Satoru turned to the survivors, all of whom still had their eyes closed, just as he told them to. He tasted blood in his mouth – his own blood, streaming from his Six-Eyes. "That'll work."

Kairos clapped its hands together and every single survivor began screaming as unseen forces pulled them right into the ritual array. Satoru's eyes widened as he glanced down and discovered that it had been altered once again, giving Kairos full control. How was this even possible? One by one, they disappeared in flashes of blue. The little girl went last, her eyes wide and frantic and searching for him, right before she disappeared as well. The Daemon chuckled. "Do not fret, sorcerer, for no one – not even the gods themselves – can break a Binding Vow. It is a universal law. I did as I vowed and took them far away, where they shall never be harmed."

Satoru nodded. "Alright, what do you want, in exchange?"

Kairos reached out to him, easily breaking the chains that held it down and kept it from precisely breaking out. Satoru did not move as the Daemon laid the edge of its talon on his chest. Though, he did wonder just how it bypassed Infinity that easily. And then, his eyes widened. No, it didn't bypass it; the Daemon wasn't touching his physical body, but his soul. And then, there was fire over his chest, burning right through his shirt. Satoru looked down. It was a mark of some kind; he didn't understand what it was, but this particular symbol was among the many symbols that was used for the ritual array.

It burned, actually. It was damn painful. But the pain could not compare to his curiosity; and it definitely couldn't hold a candle to the excitement that already burned within him, the sense of wonder and discovery. He was in a freaking space opera, after all.

"Three services," Kairos said. "I – we - shall call on you three times and you must perform whatever I ask of you, each time. That mark binds you to us – me. For your first act of service, I shall take you to the world of Moraad. There, a young sorcerer is about to be killed by Witch Hunters. This must not come to pass. You will save her."

"Eh, that sounds simple enough." Satoru shrugged.

"Good. I – we - shall return in three days." Kairos said. And Satoru's eyes widened. Ah, damn it. "Do make sure you survive, sorcerer. If you die, then your soul shall belong to me – us!"

Satory grinned. "Heh, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

And, just like that, Kairos disappeared in a haze and flash of blue flames, its titanic presence disappearing with it, leaving a sort of vacuum in its sudden absence. Satoru breathed in and fell to his knees, his Six-Eyes bleeding like crazy – tired and overused. His whole body trembled and trails of blood streamed from his nose and mouth. He was definitely not looking forward to meeting Kairos again. Sheesh. The fact that he walked out of that encounter at all was actually kind of miraculous, he'd admit. Still, Satoru grinned, gritting his teeth; and he wondered, for a moment, just how long it'd take him to reach a similar height of power.

A hundred years, maybe?

He'd have to figure out how to extend his lifespan, then, if he was going to do that. Heh, there were plenty of ways to do that, but – considering he was in a space opera – there was probably a method for one that did not involve the use of Cursed Energy. Hopefully, this futuristic humanity has found a means for prolonging life. There were already plenty of research programs for that, back on his earth, if Satoru recalled correctly, everything ranging from stem cells to nanomachines and miracle drugs.

He turned to the ritual array and frowned. He'd need to keep it safe; otherwise, Kairos would have no way to actually contact him again. Satoru wasn't certain if he could just remake it, considering he'd technically piggybacked off of the sorcerer-girl's earlier efforts, merely making changes where he saw fit. It was too risky. Better to just preserve this array than risk making another one. The corgis were closing in around him. He had to draw them away from this place.

Shit.

His Cursed Energy reserves had taken a massive hit from maintaining that damn ritual array. Satoru was gonna have to fight conservatively; at least, until he found some rest and recovered his Cursed Energy and healed his eyes. Gritting his teeth, Satoru tore a portion of his shirt and wrapped it over his Six-Eyes. He still saw right through the cloth, but it aided him in blocking out all the tiny little details and things he didn't care to know. The blindfold acted as a filter, in essence, keeping his vision in the spectrum of 'normal'.

Smiling to himself, Satoru ventured into the sewer depths. Stopping, Satoru turned and blasted apart the entrance to the chamber that held the ritual array. After which, he continued moving onward. The direction did not matter as much, Satoru figured. And then, almost immediately, he encountered an entire squad of the giants, all of whom now bore a sword and shield combo and all of whom now wore much thicker armor. Shit, as he was now, dealing with them was going to be a problem.

Still, that only made things more interesting and, more importantly, made things more exciting.

"Ah, hey guys!"