The air aboard the ship was thick with expectation. The kneeling Asuryani remained bowed, their postures rigid, reverent, waiting for Satoru's response. Lelith Hesperax stood poised like a blade, her crimson hair cascading down her back, her lips curled into a knowing smile. Her Wytches lingered behind her, their silence almost predatory, but even they kept their distance from the figure at the center of the room.
Satoru shifted, sliding his hands into his pockets. His expression was calm, but his eyes gleamed, flicking from one kneeling figure to the next before settling on the Asuryani with the elaborate headdress. This one hadn't spoken yet but seemed to hold some authority, if the size of their ridiculous headgear was anything to go by.
"Well?" Satoru said, raising an eyebrow. "What's next? Or are we just standing here admiring my infinite drip?"
The Asuryani leader hesitated, then rose to their feet with a fluid motion, their hands clasped tightly in front of them. Their pale features were unreadable, but their voice was soft and deliberate. "Farseer Caoimhe has issued a directive, Lord Britheim. She has foreseen your next course of action."
Satoru's grin widened. "Oh? Let me guess. More chaos, more destruction, more planets and armies for me to fuck over?"
The leader inclined their head. "You are to journey to Shibuya, the homeworld of the Primarch Ryomen Sukuna."
At that, Satoru's grin faded, replaced by a flicker of curiosity. His posture shifted, just slightly, enough for Lelith to take notice. Her smile deepened, her arms crossing as she leaned back, content to watch the exchange.
"Shibuya," Satoru repeated, the name rolling off his tongue. "The place full of Jujutsu Sorcerers, right? Kairos mentioned it once. Didn't seem like a vacation spot. Ten thousand years... no one's had the damn balls to invade it for the last ten thousand years and I'm supposed to tap dance in there?"
The Asuryani nodded. "It is as you say, my lord. Shibuya is a fortress world, inhabited almost entirely by Sorcerers – entire cities of them. It is the domain of Sukuna himself, though his current whereabouts remain unknown."
Satoru leaned back, rocking on his heels. "And you want me to do what? Start another incident?"
As far as he was aware and, admittedly, he wasn't aware of much, Shibuya was... quite the distance away from the world he just torched.
The Asuryani hesitated again. This time, their voice dropped lower, as though speaking the words aloud might summon something terrible. "The Farseer has foreseen that Shibuya holds an artifact stolen by Sukuna from the Necron dynasties. It is a device of immense power, one that could be used to counter the waking C'tan."
"Ah," Satoru said, nodding slowly. "So, it's a treasure hunt. You want me to waltz into Sukuna's backyard, waltz into his palace or some shit, and bring back your shiny thing."
He chuckled, glancing at Lelith, who raised an eyebrow, her expression unreadable but clearly entertained. "You people really don't do anything the easy way, do you?"
The Asuryani didn't respond, their silence heavy. Satoru's grin returned, sharp and mischievous. Oh yeah, this would be a very good chance to fuck over Sukuna, even if only indirectly- actually, that bastard probably wouldn't even care if Satoru blew up his whole planet.
"All right," he said, clapping his hands together. "Sounds fun. But here's the thing – I'm going alone."
The room seemed to freeze. Lelith's smile faltered for the briefest moment, her Wytches exchanging confused glances. The Asuryani leader straightened, their hands twitching as though they wanted to protest but didn't dare.
"My lord," they began, their tone careful. "Shibuya is a perilous world. Even for one of your power, to face an entire planet of Sorcerers-"
"Relax," Satoru interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. Oh, he heard the stories. Shibuya was considered, even by the Forces of Chaos, to be as close to unassailable as a planet could be, second only to Earth. "I'm not planning to fight anyone - at least, not the whole planet. Not this time. I'll sneak in, grab the artifact, and sneak out. Easy."
Lelith tilted her head, watching him closely. "Stealth, Lord Britheim? Truly?"
"Stealth," Satoru confirmed, his grin widening. "I can be sneaky when I want to. You'll see. No one will see me. I'm a ninja. Actually, you can ask Caoimhe about this really funny incident when we first met..."
The Asuryani leader's lips parted as if to argue, but Lelith cut them off with a soft laugh, stepping forward.
"Let him go," she said, her tone laced with amusement. "If the Britheim desires to amuse himself, who are we to deny him?"
Satoru flashed her a wink. "Exactly. Listen to the scary goth lady."
The Asuryani hesitated, then bowed deeply. "As you wish, my lord. We will prepare the necessary coordinates for your descent."
"Good," Satoru said, turning toward the viewport. His gaze drifted to the planet below, its surface a chaotic mess of fire and smoke. He tilted his head, watching the destruction for a moment longer before stepping away, his hands sliding back into his pockets. And then, he turned to Lelith, who looked absolutely horny, almost drooling at the sight of him.
After a moment, he shrugged. Might as well. "Wanna go somewhere private?"
Lelith grinned. "Oh, my Lord Britheim... be careful what you wish for."
Satoru grinned back. "Oh? Is that a threat?"
Lelith stepped forward. And, in that moment, Satoru dropped Infinity, allowing her right into his space. Lelith licked her lips. "No, it was just a warning. Those who've earned my... intimacy... well... let's just say it hasn't ended well for them."
Satoru lifted off her feet and held her in a bridal fashion. "Hallelujah!"
The week of travel passed in a haze, days blending into one another aboard the silent, gleaming vessel. It cut through the void of space with the grace of a predator, its engines a low hum barely audible within its sleek chambers. Satoru stood alone in one of these rooms now, the faint shimmer of his Infinity creating a subtle distortion around him, like the air itself was bending to his presence.
Behind him, the bed was a tangle of sheets, its surface barely visible beneath the mess of crimson hair spilling across it. Lelith lay sprawled there, her usually poised and lethal form softened in the haze of sleep. One arm draped over the edge of the mattress, her fingers twitching faintly as she dreamed. Her lips, slightly parted, drew in soft breaths, accompanied by the quiet, rhythmic sound of her snoring. Her hair fanned out like a bloody halo, wild and unkempt, a stark contrast to the calculated precision she usually carried herself with.
Satoru glanced at her, his expression unreadable for a moment. Then, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips, whereupon the taste of her lingered. His fingers brushed over his jaw, still bearing the faintest trace of her touch. Lelith, for all her deadly grace, had been nothing short of relentless. He shook his head slightly, his gaze lingering on her face before drifting to the viewport dominating the wall.
Shibuya loomed below.
The planet was massive, its surface an intricate web of sprawling cities and jagged spires. The tallest of these towers pierced through the cloud cover, their blackened tips reflecting the faint light of distant stars. They stretched so high, they seemed to graze the edges of the world's lower atmosphere. The sky around the planet was an unnatural shade of violet, streaked with darker veins of cursed energy that coiled and danced like living things. Even from orbit, Satoru felt the oppressive weight of it.
But it wasn't the planet itself radiating that energy. No, the world itself was oddly still, almost sterile. The air around it lacked the usual ambient hum of cursed energy he'd grown accustomed to. Instead, what he felt came from the billions of people below – all of them Jujutsu Sorcerers. Their collective presence created a sea of cursed energy so dense, it felt like standing at the edge of an ocean, the waves threatening to drag him under.
His fingers brushed against the cold glass of the viewport as he stared down at the world. He couldn't help but think of Geto. His old friend would have loved this place. Satoru's grin flickered for a moment, softer now, tinged with something that could almost be called melancholy. Geto's voice echoed in his mind, full of conviction, the kind of voice that could sway even the most stubborn hearts.
"A world like this," Satoru murmured, "would've been his dream come true."
The thought lingered, hanging in the silence of the room, until a sudden snort broke the quiet. Lelith stirred, muttering something incomprehensible as she shifted on the bed, her movements lazy and unhurried. Her hand slid across the sheets, searching blindly before settling on the empty space where he'd been. A faint frown creased her brow.
Satoru chuckled softly, his eyes glinting with amusement as he turned back toward her. For all her fierceness, for all the chaos she embodied, there was something almost endearing about her like this – hair a mess, lips still faintly curved in a half-smile even as she slept. He shook his head, running a hand through his silver hair as he looked back at the planet.
Shibuya was a fortress, in every sense of the word. The sheer density of sorcerers below made the very idea of an invasion laughable. Even if someone managed to breach the planet's outer defenses, they'd be walking into a world where every step could be their last. The Jujutsu Sorcerers down there weren't just strong – they were predators, honed and lethal, with ten thousand years of tradition and skill to back them up. At least, that's what the big blue bird, Kairos, told him and, honestly, he was inclined to believe the Cursed Spirit.
And yet, Satoru felt no fear. If anything, he felt… curious. His grin widened as he imagined the challenges waiting for him below. A world full of sorcerers, each one trained to wield cursed energy with precision and creativity. How would they react to him? To his techniques, his power, his Infinity? Well, with any luck, he'd never find out, simply because his whole approach to this was the stealthy approach, which meant blowing up cities and annihilating entire armies was out of the question.
Blending in shouldn't be too hard. If nothing else, tuning Infinity to make himself invisible to most senses was a thing he could do if he could be bothered.
Satoru turned away from the viewport, his gaze flicking back to Lelith as she let out another soft snore, one arm now dangling completely off the bed. Satoru's grin deepened, his voice light and teasing.
"Guess I should let you sleep in." He said. "You really gave me a tough workout."
Satoru inhaled deeply, his breath steady, measured. The plan had already been decided, his point of entry chosen with care hours ago. The planet Shibuya – and seriously, what were the odds of that name cropping up in a galaxy like this? – loomed beneath him, vast and sprawling. It was a strange irony, the name sparking memories of a world long gone, of crowded streets, flashing neon lights, and an energy that buzzed in the air like static.
But Shibuya, the planet, was nothing like Shibuya, the district.
This world's central city was colossal, a sprawling urban maze that stretched far beyond the horizon. Even from orbit, the sheer scale of it was staggering. Its skyscrapers pierced the clouds, their jagged silhouettes casting long shadows across the planet's surface. A network of glowing veins crisscrossed the city, their luminescent trails visible even from space. Clusters of smaller cities and settlements radiated outward, connected to the central metropolis like limbs to a body.
Satoru tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he studied the city. It wasn't just large. It was alive. Pulsing with energy. From this distance, he could almost see it breathing, shifting under the weight of its inhabitants. Billions of people lived there, and not just any people. Jujutsu Sorcerers. Their cursed energy, coiled and dormant, radiated from the planet like a storm on the verge of breaking.
The density was overwhelming, but that was the point.
He flexed his fingers, the faint shimmer of his Infinity rippling around him. It would be easy to hide in a place like that. Too much noise. Too many lives, each one a beacon of cursed energy. His arrival would vanish into the background hum of the city. That was the plan. Slip in unnoticed, weave through the chaos, and recover the Necron artifact Sukuna had stolen.
Simple enough.
Yeah, who was he kidding, again?
AN: Chapter 63 is out on (Pat)reon!