A/N: 13k words
Uh... Suggestion statement once more, the better formatting is on Ao3 or Wattpad. :)
OOO*
A vicious kick was all that was needed to send the entire door blasting into wooden debris and staves. There was a white-haired man who was sitting casually in a luxurious gray suit, with his legs crossed and his fingers interlocked. Just barely did his eyes open with a stern glare, as the sharp debris directed off course from his body and gorged into the wall with their chipped teeth—while also shattering the windows and embedding themselves into the more durable structures.
Of all the shining brown wood and coaches of about the same color laid at the center, and accompanied with the light of two lamps on opposite ends of the rooms; only two figures made themselves the most overbearing inside of the room.
The Head of the Zen'in Clan.
The Don of the Saluzzo Famiglia.
Born of an accursed society which would never accept him, the black-haired man stood at the opposite end of the room as the rancid scent of blood could be smelled. The bodyguards flanking the white-haired man as pristine as Leithanien's ivory towers and Siracusa's marble-forged manors were all dead. Each and every single piece of the slaughtering slaves had served their purpose.
Strotting into the room with his Japanese sandals stomping on the blood-stained carpet, Fushiguro Megumi gave Alberto Saluzzo a wide grin, one filled with such confidence that one would think of him as insane. For a Jujutsu Sorcerer such as himself, such a descriptor was completely apt for him.
"You're Lappland's father? Wow—aren't you two polar opposites?" He asked sarcastically while dusting off his shoulders. All four of his eyes narrowed as he walked forward and kicked himself onto the couch opposite of the other man, and settled himself into a comfortable position with his legs crossed. "In fact, I'd say you're less intimidating than that little cub."
"And you are quite brave today." Alberto turned upwards and opened his eyes with an unamused expression. "I applaud you for your actions today, especially when the courtrooms are waiting just at your doorstep by the ebb of tomorrow's dawn."
"A courtroom, so scary~!" Megumi chuckled while raising his hands in the air in a faux "ya' got me" expression. "Come on, you'd ought to come up with a better threat than that, when you're about a meter away from ending up as the same as your grunts." He scoffed while pointing his thumb toward the corpses laid to rest on the floor, spilling their ichor across tainted fur.
"Of course, there's no reasoning with your ilk," Alberto said while sighing. "Always so headstrong in doing as they please, without any single respect for the authority."
"Funny how you're pointing out authority," the black-haired man replied while rolling all four of his eyes. "A bunch of freaks like you putting fear into the masses and calling it authority, should I be laughing?"
"I doubt you will be laughing much any time soon."
"Pfft~ okay, okay," Megumi chuckled while waving his hand. "If we follow things your way, Mr. Saluzzo, then if I kill everybody in Siracusa, then I should hypothetically have authority over the entire country, right? Come on, isn't that just a genius move?" He swayed his fingers to himself with a "come get me" motion.
"I can see how you've met my daughter." The white-haired man pressed his index finger and middle finger against his forehead irritably. "A bunch of troublemakers you two are.
"She was a feisty one," Megumi off-handedly remarked. "Ah, that probably came out wrong, didn't it?" He did not give a rat's ass at the moment.
Alberto shook his head. "Whatever you two do, I couldn't care less for. If you've come here for a direct confrontation against me, then you should know the consequences for such an action, correct?"
A perk of his brow was given, as the Jujutsu Sorcerer placed his palm against the armrest of his couch. "Hoo~? I'm looking forward to it." A cold and calculated tap was given on the object he was enthroned upon, while his crossed foot lightly waggled in the air. "Then you'd better put some money where your mouth is."
"You'll be gaining nothing out of this, and neither am I. so I have a proposition for you, Fushiguro Megumi." The Lupo man rolled his eyes while detaching his fingers from pressing against his forehead. "Leave this unsightly game of yours, it's sullying Siracusa."
"The fact that you have everything to lose from this..." Megumi snapped his fingers and pointed to the side as a matter-of-fact while speaking. "Is what makes me gain something out of this, you sick bastard."
"...A wild animal, you are." Alberto Saluzzo heaved a sigh as he stood up, the coat draped over his shoulders swaying from his action. "And as any wild animal, you should be caged."
An amused huff left Fushiguro Megumi's lips while he remained seated. Of course, the challenger had now turned into the Don of Famiglia Saluzzo, and the black-haired man was all the more ecstatic to accept it.
OOO*
Morals stunt growth. Morals stunt science. Morals stunt profit. Morals stunt economy. Morals stunt just about anything which holds potential, and that much was already a conclusion he had come to ages ago. The only one who had been able to break out of the mold as somebody he could never reach again, and the crushing realization was less of a problem than he could have ever imagined.
Perhaps it was because he had already become too sick with letting it affect him. So when he stood at the largest intersection of his life that he had ever had the displeasure of standing in between, the black-haired man could only see one path for himself. Complete and utter selfishness.
"Wouldn't you agree?" The four-eyed man sighed while pressing his thumb against his temple. "You've been following me for quite some time, and you're nobody ordinary either. Looks like I've got another weight pressing down on my back, huh? Jeez, what an annoyance." Fushiguro Megumi's marked face turned around with a low dim inside of his orbs.
A hissing sound was heard as the shadows gathered around like a pulsing heart, forming two other crimson lights inside of the black mist. "You..." A low growl like that of a wolf was heard, primal and threatening in all of its fervor. "You've interfering with the Game, butcher."
"A Game...?" He repeated the word while gauging the appearance of the monstrous mass which had appeared in front of him. "Game... Game... You really think all of this is a Game, huh? Haha~! Isn't that hilarious?!" The black-haired man palmed his face, as a small hint of realization came over him. "Oh, oh, let me guess, you're the big planner for this entire thing, huh?" His bloodied smile leaked through as his eyes widened further against the fully-formed mist.
"A Game such as this is not for you to interfere in, outlier."
"Do you have any say in that?"
"Plenty," the being replied with viciousness. "An outsider steps into a wilderness which does not belong to him, splaying the entire land as their own territory and barring the rules—has no place in such an environment."
"So? What're you gonna do about it?" Megumi gave a shit-eating smile. Jeez, he's been giving far too many in one single day after landing that Black Flash. "I've been through the wringer with all of those buffoons jumping at me recently, what difference does it make if I go against another one?"
"Grrk." A distorted growl was heard from the unformed miasma, before it came to the shape of a blackened wolf dressed in the motes of Ebony's unstableness. "Have you even a clue of what you're stepping into, fool?"
"Wanna see if I do?" The black-haired man grabbed at the shoulders of his black haori, before throwing it off and letting it flow into his Endless Well of Shadows. "Then this is how we're gonna do this, for somebody like you, you should understand, right?"
The being scoffed, "Then show me, you—"
"WITH THIS SACRED TREASURE...!"
OOO*
He was taking everything far too lightly in his own opinion, but that was just how it was. It was liberating in some aspects, and that single feeling was enough to make him smile wide toward the sky and declare himself as a chosen one to succeed in the title of the Strongest, to leave all worldly ailments behind as he shed his skin and was reborn anew. A metamorphosis of the soul and mind, to foresee the greater future of himself and finally reach it as the previous two Strongest had done before.
There had never been a single Jujutsu Sorcerer aside from those two who had become a true monster, not even Okkotsu Yuta. Despite the vast growth, endless potential, and god-like talent the "Next Gojo Satoru" possessed, his mentality could never match the King of Curses in how depraved it could become. That was the last vestige that needed to be erased in order to truly become as they were.
So... could he do it? Could Fushiguro Megumi, do as nobody had done and reach the top just as Gojo Satoru and Ryomen Sukuna had done? The thought brushed by his lips, seducing him with its possibilities and giving the greatest kiss he'd ever received in his life—because he never had the pleasure of receiving one in the first place.
...Wasn't that quite sad?
Shaking his head, the black-haired man let out a grunt as his body continued to ache. He was in some outskirts of Leithanien after a run-in with an Emperor's Blade, one which had been far more experienced than all of the ones back in the Northern Tundras of Ursus could ever be. There was a large gap with their strength and overall tactical procedures, something that made him even more focused on where his standing in this world was.
Yet the battle had also given him growth. That was the only constant despite all of the suffering and hesitance he had felt when proceeding with his actions, growth. It was the only thing that mattered at that point, as he forged who he truly wanted to be with each brick, hand by hand, finger by finger. Completion, and thus the capability to do whatever he wanted, and as he pleased. To truly follow what he personally believed in.
His steps came to a stop as the sleeves of his black haori wisped in the wind from his abrupt action. The blood leaking from his forehead had long since coagulated. There was a village close by, one which was Leithanian due to where his geographical location was. Having to deal with constant troubles was already catching up to him, but he was glad that the country was a place where his standing was rather positive. He had been suggested to become an Empresses' Voice after all.
He obviously denied it, which had some of the nobles staring at him as if he were an alien, but Megumi was just glad that nothing negative came out of it. The black Empress was rather miffed by how fast he shot down their proposal, but the white Empress was rather humored in his disregard to it. He forgot their names.
The rest of his memories toward the small Leithanian village became a blur as he blinked once, and found himself closer to the area than he could have imagined. It took a small moment of regathering his gray matter for his mental processes, but he was able to put the whole confusion behind him.
There was somebody in front of him, standing—or rather—sitting at the outskirts of the village. The verdant grass and shrubbery blew as Megumi came to the sight of a peculiar scene. A woman on a wheelchair, with a blue bird on the bridge of her index finger, staring blankly at the small animal staring back up at her. She was dressed in garbs of the purest unpigmented white, along with a cascade of blonde locks travelling down to a hefty length, like a golden waterfall.
If by some sixth sense, she seemed to have noticed him. A small motion of her head pulling ever slightly back was enough of an indicator that she must have noticed a small discrepancy in the air, that being the black-haired man who had stopped just before her in his steps. Not a single change in her expression aside from the most minute shift of her head was given, leaving the both of them in a strange stasis.
The blonde-haired woman tilted her head as the blue bird on her index finger also looked up toward the black-haired man. He possessed four crimson eyes which spiralled downwards into his endless orbs, along with the black streaks marring his face and arms. Dried ichor of his own painted the canvas that was himself, clinging to both his skin and his clothes.
There was nothing said as two soulless eyes looked at each other, unable to make a coherent thought of what they could be. One could analyze the soul of inanimate objects and his own like glancing at a towering mountain off in the distance, and one could see all parts of the body as if it were a sight to be bestowed before her eyes. By all means, they should have been able to peer through each other as casually as one would glance to the back of their hand.
But they didn't.
For once, that confused them.
For Fushiguro Megumi, he wasn't the greatest when it came to sensing other people's souls, but he held enough competency in such a regard that he should have been able to see at least something. However, whether it was because of some factor or the fact that this woman's soul in front of him was in some way fractured or altered in a way to fit something else inside—to merge? Or was he mistaking things?
For Liz, also known as Nightingale, she could sense many problems which came with the black-haired man's body. There was the impossibility of two hearts and four lungs inside of his body, and with a race that shouldn't be able to accommodate such things. He wasn't a Sarkaz, or any Aegir which she had laid her eyes upon, and something completely alien to whatever she had seen. Perhaps he was something unknown even to the world of Terra; she was willing to believe such things, because she was indeed lacking much exposure to the smaller sides of the world.
Something was leaking from his body like gates being opened, ancient and evil in its nature from all 84,000 pores of his body.
Something was empty like a deep and lightless void lacking what should be the completing touch of her body.
Suddenly, two hands came together. It belonged to the Jujutsu Sorcerer, which had formed the hand seal for Totalities, the same one Ryomen Sukuna had used to form Agito. For every single merged Shikigami formed with more than two Shikigamis, this specialized seal was required for forming them.
Round Deer
Divine Dogs
Tiger Funeral
Nue
Great Serpent
Toad
Rabbit Escape
Piercing Ox
Max Elephant
The base was chosen, and all other additions were added upon. This was to form a Totality not for destruction or slaughtering, but one for the greatest amount of healing that he could dish out from a single being. With Round Deer as the base, he could create a mythological creature from a Chinese fairy tale that he remembered stumbling upon in a translated forum of Japan, which was rather obscure due to the nature of the text's origin.
Round Deer: Totality - Nine-C—
But just as he was about to summon the Totality which involved every single one of his Shikigamis in its fusion, something had interrupted him. The handle of a sheathed blade had intercepted in front of him, making Megumi blink in surprise and back away, breaking the hand seal which he was making to see who it was. His danger senses were on high alert as a result, especially since the new person was undeniably—
"Please, leave."
—Strong.
She wore a black cloak over her body, with white horns sticking out of her equally black hood. A complete antithesis to the white draped woman he saw before, but one thing remained as a constant between the two of them. Those near emotionless and dead eyes seemed to convey a hardly perceptible message underneath them, but at this moment—Fushiguro Megumi could only see one single memo.
Across the arm raised and holding the neck of the sword underneath its crossguard was a soft hand, but it possessed a great enough sleight to slice his head off at any moment if he wasn't ready for it. The weapon was in between him and the person he had attempted to heal with a newly developed Totality, but it seemed the message given off was wrong with his actions.
So, he backed away.
OOO*
The topic of Shikigamis was an interesting one.
There were Simple Shikigamis which could be created by any Jujutsu Sorcerer, even if they possessed no Cursed Technique. Then, there were Shikigamis which could possess the Cursed Technique of the user, some examples included Garuda, the one which belonged to a Special Grade Sorcerer. A Cursed Spirit's husk turning into a Shikigami was also something which could happen, as seen by Okkotsu Yuta's Rika.
Cursed Techniques by and large were all up to the user's interpretation, and change because of that. Sukuna's Ten Shadows were inherently different from his, and so was Yuji's Shrine to Sukuna's own. Which was how his overclocked Shikigamis summoned by apoptosis possessed such drastic changes in appearance, to the point where they looked mythological in the Shinto sense.
That now brought up the question, where did the Ten Shadows' Shikigamis come from? Obviously, they came with the technique, but they needed to be tamed first before they could be put into the user's hands. There was also the fact that they used shadows as a medium to be summoned, which suggested that the very first iteration of the Ten Shadows only involved shadows or the like.
He closed his eyes, and brought himself back to a conversation he had once had with his teacher.
"So... Gojo-sensei, I don't understand my own Cursed Technique's origins." Megumi scratched his hair while staring at the Ten Shadows manual. "Where did it come from? I know it came from Takiyasha Hime as the first recorded Ten Shadows user in the Zen'in Clan scrolls, but I don't know anything else about it."
"Why are you asking me this, eh?" Gojo turned toward the black-haired man with an absurd look crossing his features. "Do you think I'm knowledgeable about the Ten Shadow's origins or something...?"
"Tch..." He couldn't believe his own teacher, especially with that stupid look he was giving him.
"...Because you're absolutely right!" The white-haired man's confusion and bafflement at his student's question immediately took a one-eighty. "I know everything there is to that little technique of yours, ya' know? While you were just a teensy little child playing around with your Divine Dogs, I researched some of its origins!" Just like what he had done for Okkotsu Yuta.
"..." Megumi didn't know what to say to this bastard of a man.
"Alright, alright, calm down with that look of yours," Gojo said. "Do you know how your Shikigamis came to be? Well, you already know how Yuta-chan has Rika as a Shikigami after the Cursed Spirit had been left as a husk, right?"
"Yes..."
"So, it could mean many things. One, the Shikigamis of the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique came from Cursed Spirit husks which had been put inside the technique and turned into Shikigamis just like how it had been done with Rika, and the inheritors who later were also born with the Ten Shadows inherited the rest of the Shikigamis."
"But... won't there be many flaws to that theory?"
"Most likely." Gojo shrugged. "That's just the best theory I could conjure up. Cursed Techniques change as it is inherited by more people down the line. There's a reason why your Shikigamis are much different than some of the past users of the Ten Shadows."
"That's true." Megumi closed his eyes, and imagined the different iterations of the Ten Shadows from both Takiyasha Hime and its other users. "My Divine Dogs are more like wolves, while some in the past were a Shiba, and a bulldog."
"Bingo." Gojo snapped his fingers. "So, by genetics and interpretation, the Ten Shadows do change despite being potential husks of Cursed Spirits turned into Shikigami. Of course, creating Shikigamis out of Cursed Spirit husks is a very difficult process to do, but you can always brute force it with enough Cursed Energy and talent like Yuta-chan. There is also the fact that Rika was quite attached to him, adding some more synergy to their bond. Ah... young love..."
He ignored the last comment of his teacher's words.
"But anyways—! Cursed Spirits can be incorporated into a Cursed Technique as Shikigamis, and there was a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer called Tsukumo Yuki who has a Shikigami which can use her own Cursed Technique. I doubt you'd need to create a Shikigami, Megumi-chan, because your Shikigamis already have their own special attributes to them. Especially Mahoraga."
"Then, could that mean Mahoraga had also come from a Cursed Spirit husk which had been turned into a Shikigami?"
"Maybe, but I'm not so sure." Gojo placed an index finger against his chin. "You do know the Twelve Heavenly Generals, right?"
"Of course."
"Mahoraga is one of them, along with Kubira, Basara, Mekira, Anchira, Anira, Sanchira, Indara, Haira, Shindara, Shotora, and Bikara. Really, they're all a mouthful to remember, but you can leave it to your awesome teacher to do it for you, don't you agree?" He gave a thumbs up with a happy-go-lucky smile.
"No."
"Aw," Gojo said while deflating. "Screw you too, Megumi-chan." He huffed out after with his arms crossed.
"Get on with it." Megumi deadpanned.
"Aaaanyways~!" Gojo continued on, "Mahoraga belongs to one of the Twelve Heavenly Generals, so either it was already a part of the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique and the past users gathered as much Shikigami as they could to combat the now-named Divine General, then that could be a plausible theory for how the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique became a thing today. Though, this theory doesn't hold much plausibility, in my opinion. Even if Yuta-chan and Yuki-san have Shikigamis connected to their Cursed Techniques."
"Going by that suggestion, then does that also provide a reason for why I have to tame every single Shikigami?"
"Probably."
"Then, about Mahoraga..."
"Mahoraga could also suggest a more deep-rooted origin for the Ten Shadows, because you've got the "God of Shikigami" itself in your Cursed Technique, one which came from one of the Twelve Heavenly Generals—which furthermore suggests that there could be the other Heavenly Generals out there too. Let me tell you, Cursed Spirits are all connected to mythology in some way, such as how there can be Asian Divine Curses such as the Ganesha Cursed Spirit which had slipped outta my grasp and went off to who knows where. And Ganesha's a whole God in Hindu mythology!"
"You're running your mouth again."
"For a good reason!" Gojo stated in a matter of fact tone. "Don't you get it?! Don't you think there's more to the Ten Shadows than your small little entourage of animals? Hey, hey! Did you ALSO know that the Twelve Heavenly Generals are related to the Zodiacs? Who just happens to ALSO be representative of animals, just like the Ten Shadows—!"
"Okay, that's enough for today, Gojo-sensei..."
"Hear me out!" Gojo's voice turned comically serious as he stood up, and placed a hand in front of Megumi's face. "I've got it all figured out! But man... I can't believe I've done this much research for your Cursed Technique rather than my own and you're here denying my help..." He faux sniffed after, as if he were on the verge of crying. He was not.
"...Go knock yourself out." He glared.
"Oooh, okay! What I've been TRYING to say is..." The Strongest Sorcerer drew out for dramatic effect. "Your Shikigamis must be intrinsically linked to the other Heavenly Generals, how does that sound? Mahoraga must have come from somewhere, and your "Ten" Shadows Cursed Technique isn't actually limited to ten Shikigami."
"Not limited to ten? There's two Divine Dogs and the rest of the nine, which equals in total to eleven..."
"But then there's Gashadokuro, the recorded Shikigami of Chimera Shadow Garden in both the Heian Era with the first ever user of the Ten Shadows, and the one which had quarreled with a past Limitless and Six Eyes user."
"Twelve..."
"Twelve indeed, don't you understand now my pitiful student?" Gojo stuck his nose high up in pride.
"I still don't get it."
"...This guy," the white-haired man said exasperatedly, before slamming his fist down on Megumi's head.
"Agh!" He repulsed from the blow, having his neck being pushed downwards.
"Potential! Don't you get it?! Interpret your Shikigamis as something on the level of Mahoraga, and maybe then you'll be able to tame that Divine General, huh? You've already got the perfect basis!"
"It's not that simple!" Megumi grabbed Gojo's arm with an annoyed expression and threw it off his head with a twitching eye. "I can't just change the shape and iteration of my Shikigami so willy-nilly! If I could, I would have done so ages ago!"
"...Oh, right." Gojo's voice lowered as he scratched the back of his head.
"Do YOU get it now?"
"Yeah, that you're not as much of a genius as me?" He cockily pointed to himself with his thumb. "I'm just saaaying~ if it were ME, I woulda already tamed Mahoraga and gotten all the Shikigamis under my reign. I'd probably also have a ten times cooler interpretation over the Disney animals you have."
"..."
"Ah, stop taking it so seriously. I'm just trying to get you to grow, you're slower than a sloth at the rate you're going with." Gojo heaved a long sigh afterwards. "I guess changing your Cursed Technique's interpretation on the fly is impossible. You've already read the manual for the Ten Shadows, and you've already seen how your Shikigamis look like for the past years now, it's impossible to change its interpretation from now on unless somebody quite literally alters your memory or erases them so you can view how the Ten Shadows could actually be."
"Erase my memories...? So I can get a new interpretation?" He scrunched his brows.
"Uh-huh. That, or you'd need to become a completely different person." The other man nodded. "Imagine if I gave you information on all the Twelve Heavenly Generals and its connection to your Cursed Technique before you knew you could manifest the Ten Shadows. Your Shikigamis would be pretty cracked, huh?"
"What if they aren't actually connected to the Twelve Heavenly Generals, and only Mahoraga is?"
A silence came over as Gojo Satoru stood there with a pause. Not a single sound was uttered, and only the faint sounds of the ceiling lights powered by the flow of electricity could be heard. The world had practically frozen over for the two, as Fushiguro Megumi waited for a response from his teacher.
"...Huh, really? You might be right about that. But that's the problem with you, you think the Ten Shadow's rules are set in stone with the Shikigamis like—Divine Dogs, Great Serpent, Toad... and all the like that you have right now. Think more broadly, will you? There's a whole lot more to the technique than just your Shikigamis, like the shadow application stuff, and the Totality function you have. Hell, you haven't even discovered your Maximum Technique."
His deadpanned deepened. "Neither have you."
"Fair," Gojo replied. "I won't deny that. But seriously, get a head on, you've been utilizing the Ten Shadows in such an uninspired way that it isn't doing much for your growth or your potential. You know why I researched your Cursed Technique so well? I've done the same with Limitless, and that's because I imagined and interpreted your Cursed Technique as my own, which allowed me to further think of the potential strength and potential origins it possesses. Or could possess. I'm doing A LOT of the heavy lifting for you."
"All of that may be accomplished by you Gojo-sensei, but not me."
"Oi, oi, oi, this guy...!" Gojo for once actually seemed somewhat annoyed. "Think higher of yourself, become more selfish, there's a lot of potential in you, like I've preached a million times. I feel like I'm becoming a pastor at this point~!"
He ignored him. "I could enhance my Shikigamis with my Cursed Energy, but there's a fall off to the amount of enhancements they get from it." Megumi crossed his arms and then sighed. "If I grow strong enough, they'll eventually fall behind even me. My Shikigamis were once stronger than me when I was a child, but then I've started to grow to the point where even my own strength is starting to surpass Divine Dogs."
"Well, I dunno how to deal with that. Find it out yourself, maybe use a Binding Vow or something."
"Of course." Megumi rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the information you've given me."
"Oh...? Aha~! Are you finally seeing how much of a great teacher I am?"
"Not at all," Megumi denied dully.
"Blegh!" Gojo fell back on his chair with an exasperated expression.
OOO*
It was then the memory ended there, making the black-haired man stare blankly off into space. There was still more he wanted to delve into, but Megumi had felt a presence beside him. It prompted a turn to see who exactly it was, and he came to the conclusion that they were nobody dangerous. In fact, they were the farthest thing from such a description.
Fresh blood was on his hand as he stared at the camp in front of him, which was established by bandits who were attempting to raid the small village just behind him. Wherever their compassess brought them—which weren't functioning in the first place no thanks to Originium—had merely led to their deaths. A judge, jury, and executioner were all separated in the process of law, but Fushiguro Megumi had decided in this world where lawlessness ran rampant just outside the walled fortresses of society, he would need to be all three of them.
It wasn't a bad feeling at all.
He placed the back of his hand over his mouth as he narrowed his eyes. His Reverse Cursed Technique and Cursed Energy Reserves were still taking a hit from his battle with the Emperor's Blade, and there was also the fact that he had the displeasure of being hit with whatever that disgusting energy they used was. It didn't help that attempting to seal it like how it was sealed inside their armors while using Barrier Techniques and the Dharmachakra had taken nearly an entire day to do so.
To first calm it, then to create the needed barriers, then to seal it inside the barriers, and then to make sure it was stable enough to stay inside the barriers. There was also the looming threat of a potential second hand draped in corruption ready to arrive on his position and initiate a second battle while he was already drained. Totalities, whether they were Essenced or not, including Mahoraga, were all draining to maintain.
Especially with the Binding Vow training weights which reduced his Reserves and Output he had been utilizing constantly.
A golden light then brought him out of his ruminations as he turned to the side to see who it was.
"Shining...?" He raised an eyebrow when he saw the woman who was literally glowing. There was a faint light coming from her sheathed blade which served as an Arts Unit, which was applying some sort of Healing Arts onto his body.
"Fushiguro Megumi," she said rather curtly. Her eyes trailed toward what was once a bandit camp, or a mercenary camp, which had been completely decimated into a site only seen in ruins of the long since defunct Gaul. "Your actions made it quite difficult to pull one's attention from." Shining's approach soon came to a stop.
"..." Megumi didn't respond and glanced off to the side with a neutral expression. All he did was wipe the blood at the corner of his lips—as getting used to utilizing four arms at once was much more difficult than he thought. Especially when it came to de-summoning and resummoning them at certain intervals.
"Mmph, as unrestrained as you may be," Shining said, giving a backhanded compliment, "your actions were rather helpful."
"I don't need to hear that. I just did what I wanted to do."
"Along with aiding Liz."
"...?" Megumi raised an eyebrow while glancing at her. Hopefully he didn't look too miserable with the amount of blood on him.
"She told me," Shining stated.
"Of course..." the black-haired man grumbled.
"I'll keep it a secret." The Sarkaz placed an index finger where her nose was. "You have my graces."
Thankfully, he could breathe a sigh of relief. "It's no problem, then..." Megumi said. Oripathy was a far more infallible disease in terms of death rate than he could have imagined.
Nothing else was said between the two as they fixed their gazes toward where the decimated camp was. Two black cloaks were billowed in the wind as a result, with the scent of blood invading the air, and leaving a metallic taste to linger on one's taste buds. A horrendous scene, there was nothing else that needed to be said about it.
"Do you enjoy this?" Shining spoke up, killing the silence.
"Enjoy what?" Megumi asked. There were many things which he hesitated to do, and letting go of his morality to kill people was always one of them.
"Butchering all of these people."
"They deserve it." It was only when he entered this world did he truly realize that he wasn't letting go of his morality by senselessly killing people who he thought were bad. His second ever method of gaining money in this world was from contract killing, after all. Yet, he felt nothing from that.
"It isn't about whether they deserve it or not." She shook her head. "Did you enjoy it?" she repeated.
"...That's a good question." Megumi closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I do. I loved it." Watching their scummy faces twist from jeering and confident expressions which shouldn't fit the dredges who didn't even belong to any society, to ones of shocked and begging expressions was gratifying. The world didn't need them. "I had a friend who could forgive just about anybody. He was lovely," he continued with a fond smile. "I'm not him, and I can't follow him either. So I'll just do what I'm best at."
"Mmh." Shining gave a solemn nod. "Then I hope you continue well in life with your twisted heart."
The Jujutsu Sorcerer let out a huff of amusement, which turned into a chuckle. It died out just as quick as it came to life, as he turned toward the Sarkaz with a wide smile, highlighted by the light of the moon shining down on him. "Well, I don't work for free." The world owed him a debt after all.
A debt of his pleasure.
For the faintest of moments, Shining could see the wind blow and pull down his hair. Very small traces of dust blew in the air, some parts obscuring his features as she saw something completely different from the worldly image displayed from earlier. She let out a hum of acknowledgement while nodding.
"I'm sure you'll receive your payment—someday."
OOO*
Margaret Nearl planted her war axe on the ground with both of her hands on where the weapon's pommel should be. She let out a breath of relief and let the sensation of her burning muscles start to settle in, as the adrenaline coursing through her veins had already worn off. A rather routine session of training was always necessary to keep the body at its top shape, and she was no exception to it.
The active technology of the private training room soon settled down as the digital holograms came with it. A somewhat monochromatic hue leaning on the gray side of things entered her vision. The room was created from some of the strongest alloy that was on Terra—although not the most durable, it was still up there. Considering the amount of destruction that would come from mishaps of Arts, human ingenuity regarding such things had spiked as time had passed.
Still, it didn't prevent some of the more "monstrous" Operators in Rhodes Island from demolishing the entire place with absurd ease.
"Hah~" Nearl loosened the plates on her shoulders to let them fall. Her steps moved to a portion of the room which held a water bottle, where she took the item with a single snatch and undid the cap. "Reunion, Chernobog, radiation, and an approach to Lungmen." The news had been given to every Operator who was present on the landship.
With the objective of Reunion becoming a radical one, and the movement having been delegated as a terrorist organization by the rest of Terra—which she wasn't too inclined to disbelieve—it meant that they would have another target to go after. Chernobog had fallen, to the point where the Pegasus was astounded at how such an occurrence could have come to pass.
"The Ursus military is not one to back down like this," Nearl mumbled out after chugging an entire bottle's worth of water.'Or am I making too many assumptions?'She shook her head after to clear her thoughts. Then, the woman came back to the purpose of why she was attending the training room in the first place and spending more time than usual.
Reunion.
Despite her confusion on how irresponsive the military of Ursus was to them, the fact still remained that they held powerful members in their ranks. Her group had a run-in with one of their commanders, Mephisto, and another commander, Faust. Although the former held baleful Arts, he was rather quick to lose his composure even when the tide of battles shifted lightly against him. The latter however, had completely caught her off guard with the third arrow—nearly providing an opening for a clean strike on her.
That wasn't even mentioning the Tyrant of Reunion, who could throw fireballs with casual ease that would collapse entire buildings and flood city blocks—Talulah. Although Rhodes Island had only caught a single glimpse of the Draco, the inferno barrage unleashed upon the group was enough for them to have enough of an impression on the leader. Powerful, to the point where they would have been slaughtered in a direct confrontation.
That wasn't even mentioning the other commanders and troops which were a part of Reunion that could come to assist Talulah. Overall, the extraction mission could have turned into a disaster... in fact, itwasa disaster with how many risks they had to undertake in the process of rescuing the Doctor, no offense to him obviously.
"Then there was that man..."
Despite Reunion's existence itself putting their lives at jeopardy with how obsessed their aggression was to Rhodes Island, the appearance of a single factor was able to not only shift the tides, but turn it back by tenfold.
The memory came back to Nearl with a vengeance, and she felt as if her body was back at the scene.
The thrumming of footsteps had come to a complete halt as an accursed wave washed the Pegasus over, making her completely freeze dead in her tracks. If there was a thin layer of ice encompassing her legs, then the Pegasus was sure she could see it as clear as crystal. The same sentiment was shared for her comrades, as they too had to come to a complete stop.
"This... ugh! H-he's coming!" Amiya clutched her head as the Doctor and Dobermann quickly came to her side once their senses cleared. "Why is he so...!"
"Amiya! What's wrong?!" Dobermann placed a hand on the Cautus' back as she inquired.
"The hell was that?" Ace placed a hand on his forehead, wiping the sweat that had formed before turning to the two beside Amiya. "You all felt that too, huh? Especially Amiya..." He gauged their reactions, and then turned to Nearl.
She had recovered just as they had, but the sensation still lingered. "Amiya, what's wrong?" The blonde-haired woman shook herself out of the shock before arriving at Amiya's front.
"I-in front of us!" Amiya called out suddenly, and pointed just where she had mentioned.
The group immediately jolted around, as the presence they sensed before increased in intensity. A wave of darkness passed through them as a figure could be seen through the black miasma, along with the unnatural four eyes appearing through it. Compared to the vicious flames which had barreled toward them before, this one was an aching cold which left their bones chained over.
Weapons were immediately brandished, and pointed toward it.
Tensions grew, as the scene in front of them had dissipated, revealing...
"'How could somebody... possess such a vile disposition?" Nearl snapped out of her recollection as she placed a hand on her neck and stretched it. "It was difficult to put faith in whoever that enigma was," she mumbled.
Indeed, everything about him practically screamed an evil person, yet his actions and goals contradicted the instinctual feelings entirely. Whatever he was, the Pegasus still wondered how he even came to be, or what his true goals even were.
Still, none of her thoughts about the man were positive, and neither were they negative. At most, they were neutral, even if her skin pricked everytime she remembered what was essentially staring a monster in the eyes. If not a single word were spoken, the Pegasus was sure that the Rhodes Island team would have engaged him in a battle without further question.
It didn't help that it has been all confirmed that he was the one who had evaporated the center of Chernobog with an explosion she had never seen before. She didn't know what to say about it, other than what purpose it served. Perhaps a message, and perhaps he truly held such spite for Reunion that he had initiated such a city-rending Arts attack.
Her thoughts came back to his multiple eyes, and she tensed her muscles. Opening her eyes to dispel the image, Nearl decided not to let the matter bog her down any further. Thankfully, a needed distraction also detracted her from that train of thought, because somebody had initiated the call feature on her training room's private door.
"Oh?" She approached the door and pressed her hand on a button to initiate it on her side, wondering who it was on the other side. "This is Operator Nearl, to whom do I owe the pleasure of...?"
"Ms. Nearl."The voice of Amiya was heard through the speakers, much to the recognition of the Pegasus.
"Ah, it's you, Amiya. I'm listening."
"That's good to hear,"Amiya piped up,"we're approaching Lungmen soon, and Kal'tsit has decided to assign you a mission. I apologize if this assignment is at a bad time, but you can get the details in my office when you're free!"
"You needn't worry if this is an inconvenience for me or not, I'm happy to help," Nearl responded with a reassuring voice. "I'll get myself in order and then I'll arrive at your office as soon as possible."
"That's lovely to hear, I'm glad to have somebody as reliable as you."Amiya's grateful voice was heard once more."I'll see you when the time comes, then. Thank you, and have a good day!"
"It's no problem." The transceiver call ended there, as Nearl released her hand from the button. After that, a hint of curiosity came over her. What could it be that Doctor Kal'tsit would personally assign it to her? Well, she would most likely find out soon.
Maybe after a brief stop to Shining and Nightingale.
When she took a step to gather whatever she had left remaining in the training rooms, Nearl paused in her steps as she took in a deep breath. For some reason, the wind blowing against her body viciously at Mach speeds had become prevalent, as if she was standing before the gigantic mushroom cloud off in the distance before. A weapon made to destroy worlds, that was what it had looked like.
Shaking her head while rubbing her eyes with her thumb and index finger, the Pegasus recovered from the brief lapse into her mind.
"Utterly vile..." she mumbled
She moved on with the rest of her day.
OOO*
The borders of Lungmen had been flooded by refugees. Scraggly hair, ripped outfits, and overall Infected growths appearing on their skin were placed in front for all to see, behind the walls which had not welcomed them. Their actions caused loud clamors against the fences, incentivizing the L.G.D. guards stationed at their post to further increase their vigilance. They were aware enough that the repercussions if something were to happen would be a severe one.
So, not even a second was wasted on the officers who stood like a second iron wall for the gates and walls of Lungmen. If the coursing wind of the tallest mountains were to blow their direction, they would remain standing. They did not enter the L.G.D. because they had half-assed their training, of course not. People such as them had been carefully chosen by the highest Senior Superintendent herself, so any margin of error would be accounted for—
—Was that a white rabbit?!
An L.G.D. officer glanced from behind his helmet as his eyes moved from underneath it. Despite the frigid wind which had scratched at his body in order to keep it under its oppressive reign, a sense of heat welled up within the body when he had seen the little critter be able to squeeze through the fences despite the small size of the opening. He kept a note to himself, that rabbits were practically liquid with how stretchy their bodies were.
The other officer standing beside him took a glance at where his friend was gazing at, and had immediately been derailed from whatever post he had been stationed to. Only one thing appeared in this one's mind;'What the hell is a rabbit doing here?'It was a question which had let multiple possibilities form themselves in his mind.
While their attention was briefly distracted from the strange occurrence of a possible pet or shop animal having somehow reached the borders of Lungmen, the shadows travelled straight from behind them—barely detectable by even superhuman eyes. Even under the illumination of the intense lights up above which had left the refugees clawing at the gates temporarily blinded when exposed to it, the phenomenon was thus rendered unseen.
Underneath the blackened waters which did not splash was a different world entirely. There was no weight inside, and neither was there any air for anything which had been placed inside, leaving it a monochromatic world which only a brave soul would dare to traverse. However, bravery was not always born with, and it could be earnt. Case in point, the hidden people residing in the other world who had grown used to it through means of conditioning.
At some other place in time, Fushiguro Megumi stood in front of the U.S.S.G. as he held an inquisitive posture, his eyes trailing the traces of the sun's rays as he remained deep in thought. While he continued with his soundless charade, the other students were glancing at a notable yet strange change in their weapons. The ones which had been scavenged from the remains of Chernobog were of rather good quality, but they were nothing that could be considered pristine; just enough to get the job done.
Now? It was like something had been added to them, more than just a fresh new dress of paint or the like. It was an energy which had continued to scrape at their senses, and practically scream that something was amiss with the new objects they had been granted. Although they had some microscopic measures of understanding in regards to what had happened to them with the suggestion a Jujutsu Sorcerer had given before, it was like staring at a mysterious box.
Natalya was the first to point her weapon at an assuming boulder. The mechanics inside of the hefty object clicked together as the strength needed to handle it was immense, and for a child of Ursus descent, it only posed as a minor inconvenience. The other students turned to stare at her, as a brief hold of breath was made in anticipation of what would happen when the weapon was activated. The user of the siege weapon was no exception.
It was only in a moment of brevity that a flash and an explosion rang out from the "muzzle" of the siege weapon, firing off the harpoon with blistering speeds superheating the air around it. For once, the white-haired Ursus student was recoiled back from the force of the weapon because of how sudden it was, leaving her wholly unprepared for the vicious stream of heat which travelled out of it.
Electricity coursed from the projectile and its string which had sprawled all across the unidirectional path it had been predetermined to follow. A harsh dissonance reverberated across as the aureate lightning gathered to a single point, creating a brief line of plasma as it turned the boulder it had been pointed at into a melting mess within a millisecond—before completely obliterating it in splashes of molten liquid.
"My g-goodness!" Natalya let out an eep as she recovered from the heavy recoil, along with the other U.S.S.G. students who had observed the scene. Once the white-haired girl recovered, she couldn't help but be baffled at the sheer destruction it had left in a single line—which spanned what she could assume to be a hundred meters from the harpoon alone.
"B-bwah?!" Sonya could feel the heat despite standing a decent distance from the person who had fired off the weapon. "It's all been melted...!" It was only within a blink of an eye, but the sheer destructive scale was in the form of everything in the direction of the mean being flash-melted. 'Did he decide to give Natalya a sci-fi laser cannon? What the hell is wrong with him?!'
"Oh... wow..." Lada didn't know whether she should be staring with glistening eyes or the same shocked fervor as everybody else, but it was definitely a dazzling display of firepower. A single thought came to her afterwards. 'Can he make something like that for me?' The idea of using a frying pan as if it were some magnifying to shoot out lasers was a tantalizing one.
Anna took off her monocle as if it were an item which had provided an illusory feature, one which was providing her with a ridiculous sight. She knew that the black-haired man had created the two weapons which could emit a dangerous amount of thunder, but she hadn't expected something like that from a recently created weapon. The potency of such results make her almost fearful to use her own Arts Unit book.
Rosalind placed a hand over her eyes in order to cast a shadow over it, due to the glare of the sun acting as a wreath which hovered over her sights. "Hot damn," she said, her voice completely escaping. The heated haze of the melted substances wafted in the air, and made her scrunch up her nose as a result.
Megumi soon spoke up, "do you like it?" It had caused everybody to turn to him with a shocked berth, especially Natalya and Sonya. "Or do you think it's too low quality?" He hadn't spent as much time as he did with his other Cursed Tools on the object, after all.
"T-too low quality? Are you insane?" Sonya breathed out. "Of course you are!" She pointed at him with a ridiculous expression. "How did you even create something like that?"
"I just did." He shrugged, not wanting to get into the specifics and semantics of how his Dharmachakra or Cursed Energy and Cursed Technique imbuement worked. "Sorry—it's like a genius attempting to explain a concept they grasped without any difficulty."
"Ghrk," Sonya growled. "Whatever..." She needed time to recover from what she had seen. "Geniuses..." The word was mumbled out, a faint frustration lacing it.
"This..." Natalya was the one to speak up this time. "I have no words to describe this. Such firepower might even be able to breach walls entirely," she mumbled the last part.
"Do you like it?" the black-haired man repeated again.
"Ah, I'm delighted with it!" The white-haired Ursus girl suddenly spoke up with unusual excitement toward the newly modified weapon. "Oh... er, I mean... it's a very pleasant tool to be granted. My many thanks." She turned away with an embarrassed look on her face due to the sudden outburst, clutching the weapon a little tighter.
"That's good to hear." Megumi nodded afterwards. "Anna, your Arts Unit can produce water and lightning, I believe the former fits you the most with your personality." The recipient of his words looked slightly taken aback, but she nodded afterwards. "Lada, your frying pan can fire off intense flames and your shield is heavily reinforced the more it takes hits—I guess you could say it adapts on its own." he lightly joked at the end. She didn't seem to get the message, but the excited smile she gave him was enough. "Sonya, your axe and tomahawks could probably chop down three trees at once with relative ease, along with the capability of extended reach. Beware, though, there's some fall off with the ranged slashes." The girl with a red streak in her hair slowly nodded while glancing down her weapon with a complicated look. "Rosalind, your crossbow should fire off superheated arrows, a little like Natalya's harpoon, but more controlled and on a smaller scale—along with the feature of multiplying your arrows per shot. Your axe has higher cutting potency and can produce flames, I feel like you'd like the latter feature." Rosalind gave him a thumbs up in response.
The black-haired man then took in a deep breath to let the U.S.S.G. register their new weapons, before he said his next piece, "so, I have a question. How long can each of you hold your breaths?"
Receiving that strange question, the girls stared at each other before turning toward him.
Back in the present day, and under the ocean of shadows, Fushiguro Megumi turned back toward the U.S.S.G. students. His hand was stretched out and Gummy was grabbing at it, along with the other ones behind him. His shadow traversal where he would sink under it rather than using it to cloak for other people was like putting yourself underwater. That was how he had almost defeated Reggie Star that one time, and the only downside was that it provided no oxygen for him either.
So, he and the students had undertaken a small breath holding course in order to train it, because they needed to utilize this singular method in order to sneak into Lungmen. His Endless Well of Shadows and traversal through it had no buoyancy for other people, but due to his innate connection to the Cursed Technique which belonged to him, he could fly through it easily. Now, all that needed to be done was get inside and find a place for the children to stay.
Truth be told, Megumi was feeling a creeping sensation in his chest just from being in the walls of the Nomadic City. The many problems he had caused, despite having already moved on from them, had been a lingering scar on his mind. It did nothing, but it certainly served just as much of a reminder as the scar Laurentina had left on his body.
Turning back to stare at the teenagers who were just behind him, he checked on their conditions for the faintest of moments. They looked to be holding up well. If they were low on oxygen and couldn't hold it any longer, they would have to touch the person in front of them, which would prompt the person who was just touched to reciprocate the action with the one in front of them. Rinse and repeat until it reached Fushiguro Megumi, wherein he would rise from the shadows at a hidden spot to let them recover.
Gummy was just behind him, who was at the forefront. An intense lantern was attached to his hip as the Ursus girl was quite afraid of the dark, and his Endless Well of Shadows would not be a comfortable environment for her. So he had decided to take that into account with a source of illumination which would drive away any fears with its presence.
"So... we just have to hold our breaths for a good while?" Sonya crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Seems simple enough. I took swimming lessons before."
"Oh! Oh!" Lada raised her hand. "I used to practice holding my breath... for no reason in particular. My record was five minutes before I had to breathe again! It was a real doozy."
"...Five minutes?" Megumi was slightly surprised at her statement, before turning to Sonya, Anna, Rosalind, and Natalya. "What about you guys?"
"Six," Sonya huffed out.
"Four," Anna said.
"Nine!" Rosalind placed her hands on her hips with a victorious expression.
"Six." Natalya was the last to respond, which further boosted Rosalind's happiness as the latter was the one who held the highest record amongst them.
"That's quite impressive." Megumi came to a mode of postulation as he attributed the entire thing to be an average Terran's physical capabilities being much higher than Earth's. 'A war between those two worlds would be devastating.' His gaze turned back to the captivating horizon as his thoughts strayed once more.
"Eh? Three to four is about the average for the lower end?" Lada tilted her head in unveiled confusion. "What's so impressive about that?" She would expect the black-haired man to have a higher record than them, considering he was an Aegir. He probably did.
"Nevermind, I guess it's just how people were back at home," Megumi said, and waved her off. "I can hold my breath for as long as I want," he concluded.
"Really?" Sonya raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, really." He turned toward her. "But that isn't what matters." The Jujutsu Sorcerer could only perform such a feat by cycling Positive Energy throughout his lungs in just enough amounts where it could provide red blood cells, glycogen, oxygen, and all the like. How else could skilled enough RCT users restore entire arms without complications? Because the Positive Energy could also replicate such important features in order to have it all function. "We'll need to sneak into Lungmen, because there's most likely many Chernobog refugees arriving at their gates too, leaving the entire place on lockdown. Don't worry about legitimacy, I can have you all as qualified as citizens in a day. From then on, whatever you decide to do with your life is on you."
The Ursus students paused as his words as they stared at each other. Mixed expressions were amongst them, and they couldn't think of a response at that moment. A few seconds passed, before the thundering sound of a hand clapping together could be heard, drawing all of their attention back to Fushiguro Megumi.
"Let's begin."
They were at a corner of the gates which were densely packed with shadows, where the gigantic lights of ceilings could not reach. Megumi had already pulled all of the U.S.S.G. students out of his shadows in order to let them have a small breather, while also motioning for them to keep quiet. Nobody had noticed them thanks to the usage of the Ten Shadows, allowing their presences to remain hidden.
Just as Megumi was waiting for the students to give him a sign that they were ready to go back into his shadows, the black-haired man's pupils constricted when he saw an all too familiar person stepping out of the gates' doors.
"Officer!"
One of the officers who was distracted by a white rabbit jolted while turning toward the woman who had spoken and gave her a salute, "M-Madame Ch'en!" His companion beside him snapped back into a position and prayed they hadn't been seen either.
"Can I get an explanation why you were staring off into space earlier?" Ch'en crossed her arms while narrowing her eyes with irritation. "We are having special guests who will be escorted toChief Weisoon, do you think this is a time to let your vigilance run amok?"
"N-no Madame!" The officer sweatdropped from under his uniform. "I'll keep my eyes focused on the gate, even until I pass out, Madame!" He gave a firm salute, as his adrenaline spiked up to unprecedented levels.
Megumi watched the scene with bated breaths, silently cursing in his mind thatshehad to present during such a time when he was sneaking in with the U.S.S.G. students. They didn't seem to be as disturbed as him, but they looked to be worried with the pause the black-haired man had taken with the arrival of the blue-haired woman.
"What's gotten you so distracted, anyways?" Ch'en inquired with her arms crossed. "Surely it must have been something interesting if it did."
"A-ah, no, it was just a white... huh? Where did it go?" He was about to look for the stagnant white rabbit which had been sniffing the ground, but it was completely gone. "I could have sworn it was..."
"Enough." The woman let out a sigh. "Just get back to your post, you'll be rotated in the next hour or so. Remember—we have special guests, don't put up a bad image for the L.G.D."
"Affirmative, Madame!" The officer replied without a single stutter in his voice. There was no need to think about the white rabbit earlier, because he was sure that his co-worker would not speak up for him, and that he would just be seen as a mad man.
Ch'en let out a sigh while moving past him. The clamors of the Chernobog refugees could still be heard, but she zoned them out. She needed to wait for the representatives of Rhodes Island to arrive and then escort them to where the Chief Executive of Lungmen was, as they were orders from Chief Wei himself.
'Hm? Did something...?'The Senior Superintendent of the L.G.D., and by extension its head, turned to a corner of the border. She could have sworn something had twitched or shifted inside, but when she narrowed her eyes and pulled out a flashlight onto it...'Nothing. I must be seeing things.'Shaking her head with a huff, she placed her flashlight back into its place and crossed her arms once more, waiting for the Rhodes Island guests.'Tch... that footage...'Her thoughts ended there
The one who was hidden in the shadows, Megumi, let out a breath of relief inside of his shadows while continuing to traverse it. Reverse Cursed Technique continued to provide his lungs with oxygen, so he decided to kick up his pace and make it out of the border as soon as possible, for both his sake; and for the U.S.S.G.'s sake.
OOO*
Lin checked her tablet. The recent messages flooding into her feed from both organizations, industries, and outside connections to Lungmen had been rising over the past two years, which was doing good for the economy of the city—but certainly not for her frustrations. Especially since there were so many other things which she wished to discover in regards to... a certain black-haired man who cratered an entire section of Lungmen, and now... Kawalerielki. The latter was much worse.
'Melted city plates in a large diameter digging into the earth, toppled skyscrapers, and it all has to be abandoned and scrapped to boot. What a mess.'
It was much worse than what had happened in Lungmen, with the only saving grace for Kawalerielki being that the section of the city was a population-less one in the process of being completed. Even if the losses made the entire K.G.C.C. erupt into cursing fits—she would know because she arrived just in time for a business trip to see it—it wasn't as bad as it could be. If it were in a densely populated area with civilians and an economic center, the losses would have been much more devastating.
'And then there's... Chernobog?'Lin placed a hand over her mouth as she narrowed her eyes in contemplation.'This is an interesting one. Rostov Industries has completely lost connection to Lungmen.'She remembered the company which had been a mining business reaching out toward the Lungmen Federation of Enterprises for a business dealing.'The process of acceptance was still in progress, but... all connection had been lost?'
She had only received the message a few days ago, and it was said that the lost messages and connections had occurred a few weeks ago. When an agent returned from Chernobog on the side of the L.G.D., the pink-haired woman had instantly sent a person to find out whatever information they had disclosed. It was much,muchworse than she could have imagined, with the information the traumatized man had given.
"R-Reunion took over Chernobog i-in one fell swoop, I've never seen a city's military be brought down so fast! S-sorry, let me take a breather... water? Oh, thank you... Okay, so, what happened near the end was a gigantic explosion at the epicenter of Chernobog, and I'm not even sure if it was on the side of Reunion or not. But hundreds of meters of land was destroyed in the shockwave which tore at the buildings like a razor! There were also fire tornadoes at the center, which had a flash of light for... god, what I believe to be a few dozen seconds. I-I could even see the bones in my hands when I closed my eyes!"
She remembered listening to the recording which had been recovered from the L.G.D. What was normally a stone-faced agent who would get the job done without fail—while also usually brushing off his accomplishments—looked visibly shaken when he had returned. He had spoken of this "Reunion," what was once an Infected Movement turned into a terrorist group, far less than the explosion which had ruptured the entire city.
The Zalak was also able to receive the footage from an insider in the L.G.D., and the results were devastating.
'An explosion of that size...'Lin scrolled back from her tablet to the footage. She had already replayed it a million times, but it was both fascinating and terrifying to see. A blinding flash of ivory light which plagued the vision entirely, and once it ended, there was only a gigantic mushroom cloud in front of the camera—rising up into the sky. There were also destroyed buildings, and then a shockwave which pushed the camera back and sent debris flying like a tornado.'Is this a weapon of mass destruction which had been developed by Chernobog? Was it used against Reunion, or was it stolen by them and then utilized to take over the city? The latter seems plausible... if the terrorist group, Reunion, was the one to produce it...'
A shiver went down her spine.
It didn't help that the agent had also recovered some plans from inside Reunion by going the extra mile during his stay in Chernobog. Their next objective was...Lungmen. No, not some other part of Ursus, but the closest foreign city to them,Lungmen. It provided her a reason to be involved in this matter and research it more. Certainly, it wasn't a welcome reason, but she had no other choice but to follow it.
'I need to contact Father, and gather the organizations under his control for a premature warning.'
Setting her tablet down, she had decided on her next course of action.
OOO*
"How are the repairs?" FrostNova asked one of the lead engineers they were able to scrounge up from Reunion's ranks who knew how to operate the Nomadic City systems and work on repairs.
"It took a lot of time, but we might be able to get everything up and running in about a day or so... we might also have to do some maintenance while the Nomadic City is moving. But, with what we have to work with, reaching Lungmen before having to undergo another process of repair and functional checks should be achievable. But that is as far as we can go." The lead engineer tossed his wrench upwards before grabbing it. "Is that all you need to hear?"
"That's what I wanted to hear, thank you. You may leave," FrostNova affirmed, which prompted the engineer to walk away and go back with his business. Afterwards, she let out a sigh and recounted the past few weeks of what had happened.
Talulah's internal Originium growth was combating the damaged cells by assimilating, which would have been a benefit if her whole body hadn't been affected by Oripathy. It was to the point where she had to put the woman into cryostasis by freezing her entire body into a block of ice and placing it in some safe place. Lies had to be fed to the Reunion Movement that their leader was simply recovering, and that she and Patriot had to take over reigns over the organization for the temporary time being.
"Lungmen..." Her mouth coldly repeated that single word. It was planned already that they were going to attack that city next, and convert the mistreated Infected in the slums to the side of Reunion, thus bolstering their forces. It was also a hefty city which had many supplies in case Chernobog ran out of any, providing for their constantly growing forces. "That is our next target."
She moved outside of the room, which was the Control Tower of Chernobog. She glanced out toward the city, and specifically the blast zone which had spanned hundreds of meters. There was nothing there except for battered buildings and a pile of black ash in front. Or rather, it looked like there was a pile of black ash, but she knew better that everything had been incinerated on an atomic level. Those amethyst flames which consumed everything... she had it melted into her mind.
"The scum who mistreat the Infected," FrostNova's voice continued to coldly leak out as she turned her gaze downwards. "And now, this..." whether there was an option or not, Talulah had taken the most radical approach. It dampened the feeling in her chest when she remembered everything that had happened, and the one who bore witness to the twisting change which had happened to Reunion.
She didn't have any justification for it.
Her hand reached into her cloak and pulled out a small picture. Her hand was slightly shaking along with her pupils as she saw what it was. It hurt everytime she did, and she knew exactly why. It was during a time of celebration where Reunion had decided to use a vintage camera in order to take a picture, where a certain black-haired man had been dragged by a happy white-haired woman in order to be a part of it.
He stood just beside Talulah and in front of Patriot who was the farthest back with an almost-scowl, while Laurentina—she wondered where the woman was now—was on her tippy-toes to hold a "V" shape with her index and middle finger behind his head, as if giving him rabbit ears behind it. She saw herself staring into the dead-on the camera with a small smile, also standing in front of her father.
A condensation breath left her mouth, as if she were still in the Northern Tundras. The picture had already started to freeze over as she placed it back into her cloak and glanced away. She had recently frozen the entire blast center with her frost in order to practice her Arts and see where her skill level lied. It was only safe to do so because the "radiation" levels from a crude device had been detected after a week.
"Thinking something over, rabbit?"
"W," FrostNova said while tearing her gaze away from the blast zone. "What do you want?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if we were still gonna set course to Lungmen, it looks like we still are, huh?"
"Did you listen to our conversation?" She referred to the engineer who had recently left.
"Eh, maybe." W gave a smile. "Why do you ask?"
"You could have made your presence known—if I hadn't known it was you listening in—I would have already frozen your body a hundred times over."
"Sheesh, calm down there Ice Queen... or Yeti Princess, I wouldn't want to make fun of you cuz Patriot's gonna get on my ass for that, but you're really making it difficult."
FrostNova gave her an annoyed look. "Why so?"
W fiddled with a remote in her hand, before replying, "because you can't seem to get over your boyfr—"
The ground froze within a flash, making the entire steel structure of the Control Tower possess a thick layer of frost over them. The Sarkaz which resembled a cockroach could barely react as she blinked in one moment, and the next her body felt like it was stuck in a huge block of ice.
"Woah there!" W jolted from the action, and the sound of ice breaking from underneath her feet could be heard as her feet had broken out of the thin sheen of azure which had kept it in place. "Calm down there!" She raised her arms and waved them in faux surrender. "Come on, I was just joking, honest!"
FrostNova glared at the other woman as the temperatures continued to drop. The way the Sarkaz attempted to keep her faint smile hidden with the way her lips were twitching irritated her, and furthermore made her not want to let the little bug go. "If you want my forgiveness, then the only way I'll allow you to leave the Control Tower is if you were to jump off."
"Hey, hey! Isn't that practically just telling me to kill myself?!" W gave an exasperated look at the white-haired Cautus. "Come on, we're buddies~! I was there when—"
"You have five seconds."
"Oh, whoops! Looks like I'm running short on time!" The Sarkaz immediately sprung up from her position and moved to the ledge of the Control Tower, while giving the Yeti Squadron leader the biggest smile she could muster. "See ya' next time! Forget what I said!"
"Three..." She had already counted the first two seconds in her mind, which prompted W to completely leap off the ledge when hearing her words.
A small chuckle could be heard echoing in the air as FrostNova watched the other woman completely disappear from sight, along with her traces of laughter.
FrostNova shook her head after.
She needed to focus on their arrival to Lungmen.
OOO*
DISMANTLE!
A crime boss screamed as a vast gash appeared on his chest, leaking crimson mist from it as his guts could be seen. The bodyguards surrounding him jolted from surprise, and reached for their weapons while moving in front of the floundering fish on the ground which had taken a near lethal blow.
"Wow, your fat skin is more durable than I thought!" Fushiguro Megumi smiled while one of his eyes were opened larger than the other one, a sick and twisted pleasure coming across his features as he watched his meal continue to scream in pain and panic. "You have useful things that I want, so I wasn't intending to kill you in the first place. Do me a favor, if youreallywant to live." The black-haired man dusted his hands while his black haori followed his movements, the bodyguards all pointing their weapons to him.
"Who the hell are you?!" One of the bodyguards screamed in panic while backing away with the rest of them, intent on bringing their boss to safety. "What the fuck do you want?!" They had never seen this black-haired Higashinese Aegir before, making them wonder if they were a part of Lungmen's hidden "shadows" which were rumored to be a force of the L.G.D. hellbent on scraping off the "tumors" far too attached to the city. Something which couldn't be done by the L.G.D.'s normal forces alone.
"Me?" Megumi waved his wrist in the air, as Cursed Energy coursed through it. "Do you think I owe you any answer?" He needed to get the crime boss to do his bidding for getting the U.S.S.G. girl's more "legitimate" ID compared to crappily forged ones, and he was sure that this fat lard in front of him could do so rather easily with his connections. "You're going to be followingmenow."
Another Dismantle was executed.
A head fell.
The bodyguards and the crime boss came into further panic as they couldn't even see or detect what had done such a thing. The spurring chaos had made a few of the ones with weapons fall into a frenzy and charge Megumi with their steel shines brandished for a strike, hellbent on killing the demon in front of them.
They all were pulverized into blood, making the rest surviving ones scream in terror and back against the wall behind them.
"Get my message now?" All four eyes were opened in glee.
OOO*
"Yup, Chernobog's fucked." Swire let out a cuss while her hands were going through everything that she knew. "Does Ch'en know about all this crap yet?"
"Most likely not, she's been too busy with other matters to focus on every single happenings and investigations in the L.G.D." Hoshiguma shook her head.
"Hah! Would you look at that?" The tiger lady shook her head amusedly, and pointed her nose up in arrogance. "Looks like I'm more aware of them than her, right? Should I ask her to hand the top position to me, then?"
"She'll reject you, for the thousandth time, I believe." The Oni gave her opinion.
"Tch," Swire groaned after. "Whatever, I'm paying more attention to the little things which are more important than she thinks. So that's a win in my book." She shifted her toned back to a serious one after. "Anyways... how should we divulge this information? It looks pretty serious..."
"A terrorist group with a weapon of mass destruction able to rupture an entire city, we've already seen the footage, Swire." Hoshiguma let out a sigh. "We also already know their next course is to Lungmen. We have to alert both Ch'en and the Chief Executive about this."
"They're in a meeting right now." The Feline pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do you think strutting into their office while it's happening right now is a good idea? In fact, it'll give us both a bad image."
"They'll understand," Hoshiguma replied. "If they see the footage we've received from our agents recently, then they would know it's a very serious matter. I'm sure the group meeting with the Chief Executive would understand too, because Ch'en said they were also here on the matters of Reunion too."
"Still..." The idea didn't sit well with Swire. "Ugh... you know what? Fine! We'll see how things develop from this, Ch'en's so gonna give us an earful, isn't she?" Swire let out a long-winded sigh while shaking her head.
"Like I said, they'll understand. A terrorist group which we've discovered to have a weapon of mass destruction. The situation is more serious than we both could have imagined."
"Hmph, alright." Swire took a deep breath to prepare herself. "I'll get us a car to where the Chief Executive is, Fumizuki will understand, right?"
"She would."
"Perfect!" The tiger lady was much more confident now. "Let's go then!"
OOO*
A/N: Canon divergence? Yes, canon divergence. It lets me write quicker, but I'll keep the important parts intact. :)