"Blood! More blood! Obey me for eternity and sacrifice your blood to appease me!" A small cat-like thing was holding a bird, with a skeletal-like hand formed by solidified blood at the tip of its paw, and was screaming at it.
"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp chirp chirp!" The head of the bird darted from side to side as it searched for a way out.
The cat-thing growled. "Then suffer for your insolence!"
The red hand melted and a viscous crimson goop swallowed the bird for a moment, before the dried husk of a corpse fell into the forest ground.
"More! I need more! This pitiful morsel hasn't satisfied me!"
Denji watched from a few feet back as Power ran through the forest capturing small critters and demanding they serve her before she killed them for apparently refusing. 'What was Power? When she hatched, she had called herself the Blood Demon. Not the Blood Devil. What was a Demon? And what was Demon Flesh?'
Shortly after she was born and appointed him as her servant, she ran off in search of more servants.
Today was different since Denji had accepted that he lived here and that his future would be here, so now he was a bit more skeptical of things he didn't understand. So as he walked through the bushes and trees alongside the road, he allowed his mind to wonder about the small cat-like monster.
Yesterday, during the battle Denji had spied on, the man had shouted something about his 'Inugami' having feasted on the 'Cursed Flesh of the Gun—' before he was cut off. Himeno had said something about Demon Flesh residuals. And Akane had said something about it being suicidal to use it.
Denji had gotten the Blood Horn as a reward for keeping the Resentful Parasite, so he hadn't thought about where it originated from in this world. Power, he had named her so because he couldn't comprehend this thing as anyone else. And he thought of her as his little sister, because that was the role she was supposed to have in the grand scheme.
The Resentful Parasite was his half sibling by their mother, though she was also formed in the same womb as him, she was laid inside his heart when he was a fetus. When he had removed the State of being Cursed by Leveling Up, she had reverted to being an unhatched egg.
The Cursed Spirit - Resentful Parasite, the Cursed Object - Demon Flesh: Blood Horn, his Sub-Cursed Core - Twisted Soul, and the remains of his body and his expended CE converged into a Cursed Womb - Blood Parasite. It was initially conceived in the same womb as him, created within his body, then it formed a Womb around itself with Demon Flesh, his Cursed Core, and his blood, organs, muscles and bones.
The Blood Horn was probably the flesh of a Blood Demon, whatever that meant in the world. He didn't know what a Cursed Core was, having dismissed it as nothing but a figment born from his own dream, but now he knew he wasn't dreaming.
This world was reality. A world that had elements from the fictional stories of Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, but it was undeniably reality. The basic concepts were probably the same, however some stuff had definitely been altered.
Cursed Core, Coils and Circuits. Those things weren't a concept in either JJK or CSM. 'It's generating my Cursed Energy. The word Core implies that it's central to existence, so with the word Cursed before it, it becomes something that's necessary for CE to exist. My Circuits and Coils simply allow me to use CE.'
Denji could feel his mind tiring as he tried to unravel the mystery behind the unknown aspects he was dealing with. He wanted to know what Power was. If he closed his eyes, he could sense the location of the Cursed Core he had given to her. Her Cursed Energy had only felt slightly different than his own.
He could feel her Cursed Energy infused blood. He knew when she increased the speed at which she moved blood through her body, giving her strength and speed. He knew what constructs she made from her blood, and he knew the blood pumping through her body was constantly condensed.
It gave him vivid memories of the Blood Manipulation of the Kamo Clan, though she had yet to fire off her blood or make it levitate midair.
Denji wasn't sure what he would do about her. If the Kamo Clan found out that she was using Blood Manipulation, they would probably hunt her down. But it wasn't like her Technique was obvious, if she wasn't constantly making claws and hands of blood.
It was still early in the morning, not even noon yet, so he hadn't been walking for long. He was probably nowhere near civilization, so he wasn't too worried about Power being spotted, and she never ran too far away.
His mind was running a bit differently, it wasn't trying to deny everything happening or just accept it without a thought either. He was limiting the amount of Negative Emotions being funneled into his Core to only his crippling fears and needless worries.
If he wanted to survive here, he couldn't act without thinking, without rationalizing everything, taht sort of behavior would lead to him taking risks he could've avoided. He still wasn't sure about every detail that this world operated on, but it seemed undeniable that the visage of human civilization hadn't changed.
Ignoring the supernatural aspects, this world was exactly the same as his Earth, so forget about uncertain plans and powers, Denji was just a kid. He couldn't survive on his own, he needed to give himself over to the government and see where that leads.
His footsteps through the forest ground weren't the most steady, he hadn't leveled up last night so his exhaustion from spiriting around the woods was still present. Sleeping had probably helped, but not enough for him to really notice. He could deal with the mental aspects, but the physical effects couldn't be dealt with as easily.
It wasn't like he was completely absorbed by his thoughts and worries, he was keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings. Being sneaked attacked and nearly killed last night hadn't been pleasant, and maybe it wasn't good for his mental health to be paranoid, but better that than being dead.
After walking along a bend in the forest, caused by a road having been paved around the curve of a steep hill, something caught his attention. It was a small black car, the one he had seen last night, that had veered off the road and crashed into a thick tree just a bit ahead of him.
A moment of hesitation froze his nerves. People, he would have to talk to people. He didn't know what he would say, how he would act, and when he looked towards Denji's memories for guidance, his eyes shifted away. Nothing good would come from talking, it would be better to pretend he didn't see this and walk away.
He shook off that feeling, he had slept peacefully because of the woman's barrier, which was something else he needed to think about. Making sure she was alive and safe was the least he could do to pay her back.
After taking a moment, he retrieved his Cursed Tool: Demonic Whistle, and used CE to infuse his breath as he blew into it. A second of apparent silence passed before branches shook and leaves rustled as a small cat-like creature had come running in response to his call.
"Yes yes! Power has arrived!" Atop a branch, she stuttered over until she was gazing down at him. The call of the whistle had been the first sound she had heard right before she hatched, and apparently she found the cry enjoyable.
Denji still wasn't sure of the standings between them. So he didn't want to propose some Binding Vows until he knew she would accept, since that would reveal his hand, but regardless she had called him her servant for whatever that was worth.
"O' Power, my senses aren't as great as yours, so I can't even tell if there is freshly spilled blood within that chariot." It was a bit awkward to talk to her, though he didn't mind. He probably didn't even need to speak like this, he wasn't sure why she spoke oddly, but regardless it wasn't doing any harm.
"Ha! Ha!" Her fluffy intestine neck and chest pulsed as she laughed. "Pathetic! As my servant you should be more proficient in this matter, the scent of spilled blood has already gone stale!"
Denji felt my stomach churn a bit. 'Unfortunately, I don't have the greatest memory of offhand topics, though the information would probably be more helpful in the world of JJK so I should look into it when I have the time and resources. The information I'm referring to is the brain-gut connection, and something about a secondary brain.'
The immediate deflection of the topic and his aversion to face reality didn't really help or even accomplish anything, the crashed car was still there. Sure he knew that stale blood didn't automatically mean that someone was dead, but the state of the vehicle hadn't helped to convince him otherwise.
Power had run off, leaving him alone to face reality. He didn't know why this was such a big deal, well no he was aware that he wasn't channeling all his anxiety to his Cursed Core, but he didn't know why he still felt so hesitant to investigate.
The possible danger didn't feel high, and he had already seen the dead body of Denji's father and the killing of a Curse User, and yet he couldn't find the part of himself that could shove away those truths. 'Is it because she was a woman? Are my mother issues really that deeply ingrained in me?'
He had slept last night because of a random woman's barrier, and he had felt grateful to her because of that, but he felt it would be reaching to connect that woman to his mother. Sure, he would admit that maybe some parallels could be drawn to the barrier as a metaphorical womb that he left as a new person, but that would be reducing a womb to a mere pit stop.
A womb was the core of constructing a new being, not just a place to sleep in. And his mind wasn't changed because of where he slept but rather as a natural conclusion of his prior thoughts. Though maybe he was the only person reaching and coming to these conclusions. A more simple part of himself just didn't want to see a dead body if he could help it.
Boiling down his thoughts did help a bit, even though he didn't want to see a corpse, being left in the dark wasn't much better so he continued walking towards the car. The road did have some skid marks left behind, hinting at the immediate swerving that led to the crash, though the absence of roadkill was noticeable.
'A hiker or a bicyclist would have probably called emergency services if they weren't jackasses, so the driver probably swerved to avoid an animal. However, it might not be that simple, this world does have some supernatural aspects, though I'm hesitant to blame everything on them without more information.'
Denji came upon the driver side of the car first, the front of the car was dented by the thick tree it crashed into, and the windows had probably broken on impact. He wasn't really a car guy, especially not for Japanese cars, so he could really offer any insights on that topic.
Through the broken windows, he could only see the corpse of the driver — the girl from last night. Her pale face was sliced up by glass shards, but he hadn't really seen enough of her to recognize her by her facial features anyways, all he knew was that their hair looked similar. He wasn't going to lie to himself though, all he could do was push on.
Denji sighed, only a miniscule amount of tension left his body, which was pointless because as his grip on his newly crafted Cursed Weapon loosened he immediately tightened it again. This was his protection, and a sign that he wouldn't constantly be fighting as he went forward.
That guy she had been with was missing and the passenger side door was open, after his eyes left the corpse of the random woman he noticed those facts.
'Should I investigate further? I know she's dead now, and I don't really care about that random guy. Well, on the other hand, she was what again? A part-time Exorcist? That claim itself doesn't hold much merit, however it was true that she put up some kind of barrier, so I should at least see if she has anything useful.'
Denji took out the gloves from his backpack and slid them in his hands, and he carefully reached through the broken windows to unlock the car doors. Unfortunately, he didn't find much, not even after investigating the truck and patting down the corpse. Everything was mostly mundane everyday items or camping equipment.
He only found two things of supernatural nature, first was a broken wooden warding charm that had probably fallen of the rearview mirror, and second was a deck of paper talisman with words written in calligraphy with a red stamp at the bottom.
"Ah, drats." Denji muttered, he couldn't read Japanese. He had understood his father's shouts and the language he had spoken didn't change in his memories, old nor new, so he probably wouldn't have any trouble with verbal language. But, even then Denji hadn't gone to school and his father didn't teach him anything.
The matter of whether he was thinking and speaking in English or Japanese definitely would need some consideration, however that matter was pretty much at the bottom of his priorities.
There were about twenty-seven talismans, through only three variations. And the division was a bit uneven, with two sets of ten and one set of seven. He could feel some sort of energy imbued in the talismans. And even though he didn't have any knowledge on what they truly were, he had seen enough anime to have an idea.
Denji picked a slip out and held it in his outstretched hand between his index finger and thumb, then he passed Cursed Energy through it… however nothing happened. He sighed again and then slid them in a pocket on his backpack before he decided to move on.
As he closed the car doors, he noticed a trail of blood leading into the woods. 'What would be the point? Is there a reason I should search for a random guy? I guess he could probably tell me exactly what happened here and how this woman died, though I don't really care that much.'
Even if he knew what caused her death, animal or Cursed Spirit, it wouldn't change anything. Even if something was responsible for this outcome, he didn't really feel the need to hunt it down. An unthinking participant didn't really illicit the feeling of vengeance in him.
Perhaps it was the one good thing to come from his therapy, his acceptance of nature and the natural laws of mortality. An animal or Cursed Spirit can't really make the conscious choice to murder someone, animals kill to eat and Cursed Spirit are born to kill.
Sure he would definitely kill either one if he could prevent it, but hunting them down was a different matter. If he had to relate it to something else, it would be like blaming a vampire for sucking human blood instead of dying, and not blaming a human for killing and eating animals just for their taste.
Sometimes he felt like his therapists and psychologists had been lying to him, or that they had tricked him, and maybe the drugs they had gave him had made him susceptible to this train of thought, but regardless that didn't change his mind.
It had been because he accepted the unavoidable and natural fact of death, that he eventually got over his mother's passing. Or did he? Sometimes he wasn't sure, all he knew was that he didn't cry about it anymore. If he was truly over death in general, then why was he bothered by the death of Denji's father and the Curse User? Was it because they were murders committed by humans?
Unlike animals and machines, and also Cursed Spirits, humans understand what it means to kill and what it means to be alive. As evolved social animals, humans can look back and observe themselves, they can see that throughout history people needed people.
The reason they developed empathy was so they had to protect their tribes and clans. The more humans that remained alive, the better more humans could survive and procreate.
Denji wasn't sure why his mind wandered so far as he observed the blood trail, and then it clicked. He really didn't care about the life of a stranger. He couldn't be sure what it was, but regardless of if it was because of his trauma or treatment, he lacked the capacity to care for the life of a human if it wasn't in front of him.
Some people say that inaction can be comparable to allowing an action to occur, though this simply wasn't his problem and none of his business. Perhaps if a Quest popped up he would go, but even after a minute or so nothing appeared, so he turned away and kept walking.
He did feel a bit hollow, not because he abandoned a man to die if he was still alive, but because he only just realized how selfish he was and how that would affect him. His mother wouldn't be proud of him, most people would hate him if they knew of his thoughts, Hunters would especially be pissed off that he didn't really want to save/avenge people or whatnot.
Denji sighed again. 'Guess I'll hide this along with the fact that I'm from another world.'
The self-discovery of his morality had also made him wonder just how much of his behavior is strictly limited to acting like a regular person. He walked around the car and stopped next to the woman, he stared at her through the broken windows and pictured the man from last night beating her, which made him reflexively feel angry.
And even beneath that feeling he still felt some anger, so he was still against human-on-human violence.
He used a glove finger to wipe some dried blood off her face, disturbing the few insects crawling over her slowly rotting corpse. Although hesitant, he licked the blood off his finger, he gagged on reflex but his emotional state didn't change much. He felt more wary of someone witnessing what he was doing more than he regretted doing it.
Cannibalism, the consumption of one's own species, an aversion to it was probably hardcoded into people much like empathy was. If humans could eat other humans, then death would lose some significance as the corpse could be viewed as a resource.
Or such, he had spent more time outside of highschool then he did inside it, most of his knowledge is based on stuff he saw on documentaries and what other people told him. He wasn't much of a thinker before all this, which probably contributed to Denji being confused on what he should do next. Without a clear goal, he was just falling back on the government to handle him, but since he was a child he was averse to that.
Though on the topic of corpses being resources, Denji had used his spare arm to create a Cursed Weapon because it contained some Cursed Coils, and the corpse of an adult would probably have more parts. But just how much of a monster was he? Didn't he care, even the slightest bit about this woman, at least enough not to defile her corpse.
No, no he didn't.
Denji sent a pulse of Cursed Energy through her corpse, and was a bit disappointed to find her Cursed Core missing, though it wasn't surprising. He had assumed it to be related to the soul somehow, either as an anchor or otherwise. Though he was pleasantly surprised to find a unique and complex Cursed Coil pattern in her brain.
Innate Techniques were Cursed Techniques that are apparently carved into a person's brain, he didn't know much more than that, but the facts were simple enough. Denji was pretty ordinary so he didn't have his own, so acquiring a Cursed Item with one would probably be beneficial.
And this time he didn't have a stock of spare CE, so attempting to create something from just her body probably would have produced something subpar.
Denji opened her door again, and undid her seatbelt before pulling the corpse out. He did wonder why the airbag didn't get deployed during the crash, as he closed the door, but only briefly as he dragged the corpse into the woods.
Because the blade of his new weapon was a few inches smaller, he had to make bigger cuts to remove the flesh that contained the Cursed Coils. Though the fact that his blade could cut through bone as If they were carrots was helpful, especially in cutting open her skull.
After getting out all the necessary material, he went back to the car to get some random items. If he knew what her Innate Technique was then he would probably pick a better item, but because he didn't know he just gathered some small things that could fit in his hand.
And in a repeat performance of a few hours ago, Denji revved his Core once more. "Cursed Energy Manipulation! Cursed Item Crafting!" Again his Cursed Energy output increased dramatically and his Coils pumped faster as his Circuits flickered with purpose.
He grabbed the part of her brain containing her Innate Technique and dragged her gore over the random items, again he wasn't sure what he was doing, but he was hoping for the best.
Denji racked his brain for a Vow, but this time he didn't want anything as drastic, so instead he changed the scope of the downsides. 'I swear on my life that if anyone asks me about how I got this item I'll tell them exactly what I did to make it.'
He would rather die than reveal what he did, though that was just an exaggeration, if his life was at risk he would try to survive no matter what. This Vow was less about gaining something and more about hoping a downside this steep would assist in creating something strong. The difference probably wasn't that big, but he wasn't sure that his low-level Cursed Item Crafting Technique was good enough without some assistance.
Denji felt dizzy as all his Cursed Energy was being drained out of his body.
[Cursed Item: Nexum Actus (Rank: 2 - Quality: 1): Crafted from the brain of a woman and a chain bracelet.
Technique: Remotely manipulate your Cursed Energy.
Binding Vow - Reveal:
1: Must reveal the truth when asked about its creation.
Punishment: Death.]
A silver chain bracelet glimmered among a pile of junk and gore, Denji carefully picked it up and placed it on his wrist. He felt a bit tired but also satisfied, he had entered an odd place emotionally and wasn't sure what he should do in the future.
Not just in the immediate future but also far out, he still wasn't sure about the dangers of this world, so any grand plans were probably pointless. And it wasn't like he could do much nor did he want to do anything in particular. He might be able to stop Rika from getting run over, but Yuta definitely needed her to reach his full potential.
Even then he wasn't sure where they were or the exact date her life ended.
No other possible character's life was at risk, except for Geto but Denji didn't care about stopping or saving him. Kenjaku might be a problem, but it would be better that Denji know whose body he was wearing. If fate played out the same, then he could warn Gojo in secret about it when the time came.
He wasn't sure about Chainsaw Man characters, the Gun Flesh thing implied a Gun Demon which might tie into Aki but things were so different it might not even matter. And the rest of the characters were only at risk after the main story started, obviously.
The smartest thing to do was to just go to Jujutsu High and hope for protection. And if he was rejected he could just go elsewhere after that, as long as he didn't give them a reason to execute him he should be fine. At the end of the day, his lack of concrete knowledge and possible misconceptions were one of the biggest dangers to his survival. A school would be great.
'I should probably start taming Power, I let her have enough fun for now, but if I don't set some ground rules she might kill someone and eventually get herself hunted and killed.'
Denji stood up after he felt energized enough, and froze as his ears picked up the rustling of leaves and the cracking of twigs. His eyes darted towards the sounds, and he saw a man break through the foliage.
AN: Hey quick question, to what limits are OCs fine with y'all?
Gege didn't really expand on the Council, so I made up my own plot for them, that's mostly just names and history though. As I was brainstorming, I also thought of a Yakuza faction and some fodder. Anyways, I want to do an arc about them so I know the limits of your tolerance for them. As in how many and how much story they get.
I know it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I don't want to solely remix the canon plot and tell the same story. I do plan on changing some stuff later, but even then the barebones would remain so I want to make a new skeleton.
