Chapter 4: Academy Attack
-Jujutsu Private School of America, Naval Base Campus, Florida-
"I appreciate you agreeing to meet me on such short notice before our students meet up for the exchange event, Principal Thrawn." Elsa said as she entered the halls of the Naval fashioned sister school of JPAA, whose curriculum was usually more logistics and technical in terms of education.
The principal was a man in his sixties with caucasian skin, gray hair and sharp green eyes. He was wearing a modified American Admiral uniform for attire.
This man is Joseph Ironwood.
"Your email said it was urgent, so I quickly made arrangements." The man nodded. "Six Special Grades? That seems unheard of." He noted.
"That's what the reports I got recently are saying. I knew you needed to know since it was a cause for concern." Elsa nodded. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't encountered one for myself." She mused.
"Encountering six high level Curses is alarming, you're right." The former Admiral nodded.
"Which is why I believe that it's paramount that we increase security during the exchange event. There's more out there, and they seem to be after the ring." The ice woman stated.
"Agreed. We can't afford to let those Curses get the ring." Joseph nodded in agreement.
The ring the two were referring to was one called the Ring of Nazgül, a Cursed artifact that promised immeasurable power to any who wore it on their fingers. Legends said that Lucifer had forged it, but a Sorcerer stole it from him—leaving him greatly diminished—and the Jujutsu Sorcerers of North America kept it from him in the following centuries.
"Then I'll be sure to leave you to it." Elsa nodded.
"I'll see you at the exchange event." Ironwood nodded as the two parted ways.
(Timeskip)
Fast forward a few days later and Joshua and his classmates were now disembarking from a bus after a flight from JPAA to Florida.
"Back in the hottest state in the country after a few years… Never thought I'd be back in this place." The Resonance Sorcerer mused as he looked around.
When he found out he was gonna be heading to Florida, he decided to dress for the climate. He was wearing a simple short sleeved dark green shirt, matching shorts and his usual shoes.
"You know the place?" Morgan asked as she walked next to him.
"Spent most of my life here. Always wear short sleeved and legged clothes if you don't wanna have your sweat ruin what you're wearing." Joshua advised in reply.
"TMI, Man." Ace muttered as they entered the naval academy grounds.
JPSA wasn't that different from its Army counterpart, but instead of having parking lots for armored vehicles and tanks, they had docks for all kinds of battleships and even a couple submarines.
"Yeah, what he—WHOA!" Calvin nodded before a hand suddenly pulled him into an alleyway.
"What the–?!" Havi gasped as he rushed after him, Joshua and Morgan got on his heels.
"… He's gone!" Josh exclaimed as they looked around the corner.
"Oh no…" Meghan sighed, face palming.
(Elsewhere)
Calvin grunted as he was slammed into a wall by his girlfriend, who immediately proceeded to French kiss him.
"I missed you~!" Lily moaned as she embraced her boyfriend, her legs locking around his waist as she kissed, nipped and nibbled on him in joy, happy to see him.
The bespectacled boy purred as he regained his faculties and immediately rolled them onto the ground, pinning her hands while she still had her legs around his waist.
"Seems the boot's on the other foot, my little Irish Clover~." The boy purred back, kissing her on the nose.
"Touché, but I'm certainly not complaining." The redhead purred back. "What about you? Upset I got you for a second there?" She questioned teasingly.
"Not particularly, I like it when you play rough." He smiled, kissing her neck, letting her hands free as she hugged him close.
"Mmmm! Me too! Gimme more~!" She sighed in bliss.
(Elsewhere)
Back with the others, they had arrived close to the school and were just coming up to the front.
"Well, the ocean breeze is as nice as I remember." Joshua remarked.
"How often were you near the ocean?" Meghan questioned.
"Not often, only two or three times." The tall boy shrugged in reply. "All the same, it's not something you just forget." He added.
"Guess this is sure to be a positive experience, then, at least." Nico hummed as they neared the main school entrance, which is where they soon saw Calvin stumble his way to, slightly loopy and his face covered in lipstick.
"Let me guess: Your girlfriend?" Morgan deadpanned.
"She is… Insatiable." The boy sighed longingly. "God, I love that woman…" He breathed.
"You'll be getting plenty of her." Havi chuckled in slight amusement. "We're gonna be here for a while." He added.
"Well, it's about time you got here!" A voice called, causing the group to look and see a boy heading their way.
He looked a tad younger than them, was dressed in the Navy inspired sailor first year uniform, and looked like a slightly taller version of Calvin, but without glasses, shorter hair, and had a more angular face.
He also had hand wrappings on and bandage tape on the bridge of his slightly crooked nose.
"Oi, wise ass, we just got here!" Calvin barked before sighing. "Everyone, it is my esteemed displeasure to introduce you to my kid brother, Lafayette "Fate" Kestis." He sighed, gesturing to the boy.
"This is him?" Joshua asked with a raised eyebrow. He had heard a bit from Calvin, and not a whole lot of it was good.
"And what's that supposed mean? You calling me a problem?" Fate questioned, arms folded.
"Pretty sure that's the obvious part." His older brother retorted.
"I'll punch your lights out!" Fate threatened.
"You make that threat daily?" Joshua deadpanned.
"You have no idea…" Calvin sighed. "Anyway, we gonna do this thing? Or are we just gonna stand here talking?" He questioned.
"Fine. Let's go." Fate grunted as the group headed for the dorms.
(Later)
It wasn't long after that and the students were now in the dorm common room where Lily was with four other students, one first year and three second years, specifically.
The first year was a boy who looked like he was of Irish American descent, also dressed in a similar navy uniform, and was checking a silver shamrock embossed pocket watch that was chained to his pocket.
The boy had red hair, green eyes, freckles and fair skin with a build that implied a fit individual who likely did a lot of acrobatics and parkour.
The three second years, meanwhile, were as follows:
A boy with blonde hair, caramel skin and silver eyes who had his collar zipped up over his mouth, as well as a speaker hanging from his belt.
A girl with violet hair, Chinese-Caucasian fair skin, blue eyes, glasses and who seemed as athletic as Ace, but for some reason none of the others could sense any cursed energy from her.
And the third was apparently a large Grizzly Bear.
"Hm? Oh, hey Fate." The girl hummed before noticing Fate and welcomed him casually. "Are those other guys from the academy?" She asked.
"Yeah, my brother and his homies." The boxer nodded.
"Hey Nico." The Bear called with a wave of its hand-like paw.
"Hey, Teddy." The Warframe-looking corpse waved back.
"Pepperoni." The blonde boy nodded.
"Sup, Cam?" Ace smirked.
Joshua had to restrain himself from commenting on the bear's name. Somehow, he just knew that wasn't the weirdest thing ever.
"What?" Morgan questioned as the first years seemed very confused.
"Oh, Cam is a Cursed Speech user and is only able to talk in pizza toppings." Fate explained. "Funny enough, he also likes pizza." He added with a shrug.
"Same." Joshua chimed in casually.
"Word." Calvin and Fate nodded.
"And what's your story?" Havi asked, approaching Teddy and the Irish boy.
"Oh, I'm actually a rare case of an animal being able to use Cursed Energy and Cursed Technique." The bear replied. "Theodore Roosevelt Grizzly, at your service. But please, call me Teddy." He told the Viking teen.
"Clover O'Reily." The redhead said, introducing himself.
"So what's your technique?" Josh asked, leaning against a wall as his hand flicked and twitched rapidly, causing a vase in the corner to dismantle itself.
"Strand." Clover replied, clasping his hands together and pulling them apart, revealing green threads of energy between them.
"Heh. I'm not the only Destiny 2 Cursed Technique user then." The taller teen chuckled as he held up a hand, channeling Resonance energy above his palm.
"Nice." Clover nodded with a smirk as the two shared a bro fist.
"So what exactly is the deal with this whole exchange event, anyway?" Morgan asked as she sat down on a couch behind her, legs crossed as she leaned back, hoping to catch Josh's gaze as her chest bounced.
Judging by the way his eyes flicked to her rack briefly, it worked.
"It's mainly meant to show each school's abilities among its Sorcerers." Teddy explained. "It also shows that the Jujutsu Sorcerers are still fighting hard." He added.
"It's also a chance for us to bump ourselves up a Grade." The violet haired girl nodded. "Take me, for example. I'm trying to get the higher ups to recognize my skills and get me from Grade 3 to Grade 2." She added.
"Oh boy, not now, Revy…" Teddy sighed.
"Mushrooms." Cam nodded.
"So it all boils down to how much of a show we put on, basically?" Joshua surmised, getting some nods in return. "Okay, I can work with that." He nodded.
"Sounds good to me." Calvin shrugged.
"Alright." Havi mused.
(Elsewhere)
"Well good news is, the ring's still here." One of the teachers of JPSA, a man by the name of Cayde—Ace's father in fact—said as he checked over the containment unit of the Special Grade object in question.
"Let's make sure it stays here." Elsa nodded.
"Hopefully the event will keep Curses from getting any ideas." John commented.
The ring in question was one that bore a striking resemblance to the Ring of Namira from Skyrim, even having the appearance of bone, but unlike the Daedric artifact, this ring also had black metal laced throughout it that was quite literally seething with Cursed energy, and runes that seemed like a combination of Black Speech from Lord of the Rings, Hive Runes from Destiny and straight up satanic symbols as well.
This was a very unholy object, to be sure.
"All the same, we'll have to put a lot into security since this is important." Joseph stated as Cayde put the container back in place. "If this ring gets taken by the Curses, we're screwed." He added.
"If I remember correctly, the Ring was created from both the armor and bones of Lucifer's predecessor, right?" Elsa questioned.
"Morgoth, the Elder King and previous ruler of Curses here in America, yeah." John nodded. "A true monolith of the Jujutsu world if ever there was one. He was so powerful in his prime that even the very thought of him made even Curses like Ryomen Sukuna shiver. If the Japanese records are to be believed." He stated.
"Which makes Lucifer even worse when you consider that he usurped Morgoth by beating him in battle, killing him, devouring him and then forging the Ring of Nazgûl from his bones, armor and quenching it in his blood." Cayde nodded. "Morgoth may have been a monolith, but Lucifer's a damn inferno." He added.
"And Curse Kings like Sukuna are wary of him." Elsa nodded. "It really puts into perspective just how different the power scale between the Americas and Japan is. Lucifer rules over two continents, which grants him more negativity to draw power from." She added.
"Makes me wonder if we'd be able to stop him, since he's probably weaker right now." Cayde mused.
"Unlikely. His lieutenants made all of us need to use Domain Expansions to win, so he's likely even worse." John pointed out.
"So definitely avoid taking such action." The blue haired woman nodded.
"Still, we need to be careful with what we do for the upcoming exchange event. Curses aren't always loud; they can be very stealthy, and we know it." Joseph stated.
"Right." The Spartan-2 inspired sorcerer nodded.
(Later)
It was later on and the students were now gathered in the swamp just outside the school grounds where the event was supposed to take place.
"A swamp, huh? This'll be good." Joshua chuckled with a smirk.
"You are going to exploit your tolerance for Florida's very existence, aren't you?" Morgan deadpanned.
"Oh yeah." Her boyfriend grinned as he pecked her on the lips.
"Okay, focus, love birds." Meghan told them.
"Alright, alright." The Resonance user placated. "So, what's the gist of this whole thing?" He questioned.
"These exchange events typically involve a hunt for a higher grade curse that's in a predetermined location in the event area." Meghan explained.
"Typically it also involves the presence of weaker curses in order to allow the teams a chance to earn points before the final clash." Nico nodded.
"Whoever excises the higher grade curse or excises the most smaller curses wins." Teddy nodded.
"So basically a free-for-all grab on the Curses. I'll eat them alive." Calvin chuckled as he popped his neck.
"This is going to be chaotic, I can see it right now." Havi nodded.
"Agreed." Morgan sighed as she got ready to take to the air.
"I'll let you know when I've outdone all of you." Joshua chuckled in a challenging manner, which made his girlfriend smack his shoulder with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't get cocky." Clover warned as the students got into position.
"See you later~." Lily smiled, blowing a kiss at Calvin who immediately turned the other way, trying to hide his blushing face.
After a few moments, a loud bang was heard that prompted everyone to head into the swamp.
"KOWABUNGA!" Josh, Cal and Havi yelled as they charged head first into the swamp—not giving a single fuck about what was waiting for them.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back at the Academy, the teachers were making their way to the observation room so they could watch their students.
But as they did so, they failed to notice the seven winged Sephiroth-like figure landing inside the base grounds.
"Well, time to cause some chaos as I search for the Ring." Satan chuckled as he began looking for his prey.
Then he used his Cursed Technique, Scorched, to cause the sun to become unbearably hot, quite literally causing the very asphalt to melt while things just got unbearable.
"Think I'll turn up the heat in here." The special grade chuckled as he started looking for the ring.
(Elsewhere)
Back with Joshua, Calvin, Havi and Morgan, they all felt the heat increase and the former of the four narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.
"This heat isn't normal." He told the others as he wiped a small amount of sweat off his forehead.
"You're tellin' me! I'm sweating like a pig over here!" Calvin groaned, pulling on his collar—right as a grade 4 curse popped out—just a small Jaqerjaq, a Rabbit looking Curse.
"Oh great, company…" Morgan groaned as she made a feather glaive. Deciding to just get it over with and beat the heat, she blasted it with focused Cursed Energy from said glaive.
"Something tells me that there's a Curse here causing this…" Havi mused.
"What kind of Curse could generate heat like this?" Joshua wondered as the group walked.
As he said this they soon came upon where the rest of the students from JPSA were likely to be, and say that they'd already taken down a few curses themselves.
But that wasn't the most pressing part…
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile back at the school about five minutes before this, Satan made his way to the containment room where the ring was being held—and found that it was behind both a traditional biometric lock and veil.
"Away goes the lock…" He hummed as the lock melted away. "But the veil is another thing altogether." He added with a frown. "Unrelenting Sun." He intoned as he conjured a small star, crimson as hatred—before shattering the veil, allowing him to walk towards the ring—and took it.
Nary a soul was aware of his presence, nor that the ring was missing… For now.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile back in the present, Joshua and the others came up on where their sister school companions were—and they all immediately started reacting in alarm when they saw that their comrades were currently getting jumped by not just a bunch of lower grade curses…
But also a human-like figure who looked like he was cosplaying Sephiroth with black hair and a red and black suit… with seven wings.
"Oh fuck me, that's a Special Grade!" Havi groaned as the heat affected him and the others.
"I'm pretty sure that there aren't supposed to be any, are there?" Joshua asked, trying to ignore how sweaty he felt.
The special grade didn't seem to notice them as he was preoccupied with fighting Teddy, Fate and Clover at the present moment.
Teddy started out with a bear paw strike, only for the curse to duck it, knock the paw aside and then deliver a strong body check to the Grizzly's gut, sending him flying—before he weaved his neck to dodge a Strand rope dart from Clover, grabbed it, let Clover reel him in—before he punched him into the ground.
"Pathetic." He scoffed before backhanding Lily into a tree when she tried to attack from the air.
However, with his attention being split, this allowed Fate to come in and sucker punch him with a Balrog worthy right punch—and then proceeded to unleash a series of combos straight out of Killer Instinct like he was TJ Combo, cursed energy flying off his fists with every hit.
"How does it feel to get pummeled by a human, asshole?!" Fate barked as he let his fists fly.
"Unrelenting Sun." The Curse said as a sun formed in his palm, before he bitch slapped Fate with it, causing an explosion.
"Okay, we need to do something, fast!" Morgan hissed as she glared at the Cursed Spirit.
"Already ahead of you." Calvin snarled as he started walking towards the Curse, who was deflecting bullets from Revy and punching her lights out.
"Don't Move!" Cam exclaimed, freezing the curse in place, and allowing Calvin to step up.
'What?!' The Special Grade Curse thought in surprise.
"Cursed Technique…" Calvin intoned as a circle of cursed energy surrounded the entire area around him and the others. "Simple Domain: Prehistoric Arena." He continued as the environment started changing from a burning unbearable sunny swamp, to a blizzard hit Glacial Peak Ice Age in a matter of seconds—complete with Pleistocene animals in the distance.
The cold was felt by everyone, and it was very welcoming in comparison to the heat they had to put up with.
"Oh fuck yes, thank you!" Morgan moaned in relief as she felt the cold hit her skin.
"Well, that's reinvigorating." Havi sighed as he relished in the cold, feeling himself get some energy again.
"What're you…?" The Curse snarled.
"Next: Fossilizer Armor - Grind Pantera!" The boy roared as he transformed right as Cam's Cursed Speech gave out—allowing his opponent to throw a punch—only for it to be caught by a clawed hand.
Satan looked at Calvin and saw that he was now clad in bone armor with the face of a Sabertooth, with feline legs and fossil-like bone armor, fur trim and long canines—his ears and eyes were now somewhat feline as well with yellow coloring.
Satan, however, was not so easily deterred.
"I will burn you to ashes for your meddling, human!" He snarled.
With a roar, Calvin responded by pimp slapping the Prince of Pride clear across the snow—before he lunged at him like a wild beast.
The Special Grade Curse tried to fight back, but he only had a few windows to retaliate and they were few. Calvin's ferocity in this state was unfamiliar enough for him to be forced on the defensive until he could get a read on it.
So he had to forego close combat and just use overwhelming force.
But as he tried to find an opening to do so—Calvin proceeded to slash him with an underhand claw, then an overhand, then a side slash, then another, followed by an all fours lunge—and then he kicked Satan clear into a glacier—and then landed on top of a Woolly Mammoth, who proceeded to bum rush him with a bellowing trumpet call.
"Un… Relenting… Sun! Satan growled before a massive crimson sun fried both the mammoth and Calvin—dispersing the simple domain as he crashed to the ground—before he called on more of his lesser infernal curses.
This was where Nico, Meghan and Ace stepped in while Havi tended to Calvin and Morgan to the others—trying to keep the Infernal Curses at bay.
"You wish to burn as well? I'm more than happy to oblige!" Satan exclaimed as he charged, and was met with Josh, who attempted to use another application of his Resonance Manipulation—that being the manifestation of crystallized absolute control…
Stasis.
"Freeze." He intoned before manifesting two sickles and threw them at the heat using Curse, actually managing to freeze him solid for a few moments with the first before the second one hit, forming a small blizzard tornado.
However, this move left him wide open for several infernal curses to jump him again, slamming him against a tree and beating him while he tried to knock them back with Resonance Luster and Resonance Deconstruction.
"Foolish human. You really thought a child like you could defeat me? Satan, Prince of Pride, and supreme commander of the Seven Sins? Don't make me laugh." Satan sneered as one infernal gashed Josh's leg. "You're not even a warm up." He scoffed as the beating continued.
However, as Satan rose his hand to finish him off with an Unrelenting Sun, Joshua suddenly unleashed a full Resonance deconstruction on the infernals, breaking them down within seconds and collapsed to his knees, his body looking beat to shit.
"Hmmm?" Satan hummed, taking note of this as he lowered his arm. "What're you doing now?" He questioned.
Joshua grit his teeth as he held his leg, a nasty gash on the back of his shin. He should've seen this coming, and now he was cornered by a group of low-level Cursed Spirits.
They weren't all that difficult to deal with on their own, but the swarm was overwhelming him faster than he could exorcise them.
And what was worse, was the Prince of Pride, Satan, just standing there—not even lifting a finger to fight.
Normally, this would have been enough to make anyone else just give up and let themselves die.
Problem was—Jujutsu Sorcerers were rarely that easy—especially the crazy ones.
And Joshua Landbrecht was one such crazy ass motherfucker.
With a snarl, he harshly swiped both hands to the side, cutting down the rest of the Cursed Spirits to get the others some breathing room. Then, gritting his teeth and bearing the pain, he stood up.
"ENOUGH!" He boomed, causing an echo that rippled through every direction. He growled again before taking a breath as he pushed his fingers against each other in a manner not unlike The Witness itself.
"What is he up to…?" Satan wondered, narrowing his eyes.
"Domain Expansion…" Joshua began, causing the Prince of Pride's eyes to widen in alarm. "... The Final Shape!" He intoned, his voice echoing as if it were many voices speaking as one—causing reality to go dark.
Then reality lit up again… Everything was still the same, but there was a massive difference.
Everything was completely calcified. Reality was warped, everything was cut into neat segments, and there were stone hands sprouting from the ground that reached for an orange sky.
Satan looked around in shock and horror, Joshua's domain kicking his fight or flight instinct into overdrive. Then he saw that his minions were quickly calcified in mere seconds before they were cut into several pieces each, but the pieces just floated near their points of origin.
The other Sorcerers, meanwhile, were stunned to silence at Joshua's unexpected display. They hadn't expected him to pull this out at a time like this, but… There was something else.
In spite of the static the boy's domain brought… They couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else to it. It was like the static was a prelude for something.
Still, Morgan was very impressed with what her boyfriend had just pulled. She would be sure to reward him later.
Satan was about to try and expand his own domain as a counter, but before he could, he found himself being calcified as well.
"Welcome to my domain. My concept of an ideal world—an ideal universe, even—made manifest." The boy said, approaching the now calcified prince. "What do you think? The picture of perfect serenity and salvation, wouldn't you agree?" He questioned, his mouth perking up into a smirk.
"Y-Y-You're a monster! A twisted monster…!" Satan gasped in horror from inside his prison.
"Pot, meet kettle." The boy smirked as he tapped his opponent on the forehead. "I'm going to let you off the hook with just this—so tell your master—there's a new power in play." He said as the calcified curse broke apart into several pieces and was forced to disappear in order to retreat as the domain closed.
Before Joshua could turn away, however, he noticed the Ring of Nazgul on the ground, though he didn't know what it was yet.
Deciding to try and pick it up, he bent down to do so—but stopped when the teachers suddenly pulled up.
"Don't touch that!" Elsa yelled at her student, but it was too late.
The second Joshua touched it, he grabbed his head as the corrupting influence of the dark relic started whispering in his mind, tempting him with power beyond his wildest dreams. It promised him dominion over the whole world.
It showed him visions of everything bowing to him.
It showed him mastering all things on Earth…
But the teen still knew better.
"ENOUGH!" He roared, his voice echoing again like a chorus of will before he tossed the ring at the faculty's feet.
There was a minute of silence as everyone watched Joshua regain his composure again.
"Sorry." He told them, his hands shaking.
John only nodded, showing he didn't need to apologize, before he went to retrieve the ring…
But then the same figure that Satan and the other Sins know as Lucifer appeared right in front of him and caused him to step back.
"Thank you for retrieving what is rightfully mine." The amber king of curses said as he picked up the ring, his very aura causing everyone around him to freeze out of sheer terror. "Now, I shall grant you a swift death." He added as he slipped the ring onto his finger, causing cursed energy to surge around him—blasting everyone back as his tailored suit burned away and was replaced with armor that looked similar to that of Sauron or other dark lords.
As everyone tried to recover enough to counterattack, Lucifer simply raised a hand—and snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Instantly a massive wave of Hellfire cursed energy decimated the entire swamp, making the explosion that leveled Hiroshima look like a Roman candle in comparison.
"Ah… It feels so good to have the ring again after so long." Lucifer sighed in satisfaction as he looked at his handiwork. "Now… What to do from here?" He hummed as he walked away, cape blowing in the wind as he disappeared into the fire.
(Later)
About ten minutes after Lucifer left, a dome of energy pulsed outward, snuffing out a large amount of flames. It was revealed that Joshua had erected a Resonance Barrier to protect everyone on top of Else making an ice dome and John bringing out a force field bubble.
"Fuck, that was too close…" Joshua sighed as he fell to one knee, feeling taxed from defending against the blaze.
"So… That was Lucifer." Calvin nodded, still trying to process what just happened. "Fuuuuuuuuck." He groaned, collapsing onto his back.
"I think we need to step our game up." Morgan remarked as she helped her lover to his feet.
"Tell me about it." Havi nodded as he popped his neck.
Things just went from 'oh shit' bad to 'we're not cooked, we're airfried' worse in the amount of thirty seconds…
(Timeskip)
Fast forward about a week after that train wreck…
"So, do we still want to cancel the international exchange events?" Elsa questioned as she, John, Ironwood, Cayde, and another JPAA teacher, Fey, were having a meeting.
"No. We need to branch out and ask for some help from the other nations' Sorcerers, if any are strong enough to put up a fight against Lucifer." Joseph stated in reply.
"I agree. We'll need as many allies as possible." Fey nodded.
"Any ideas on where to go first?" Elsa questioned.
"My money's on Japan." Cayde chimed in.
"And I already know how we can get Lucifer on their radar." John added.
"Who?" Elsa questioned.
"Satoro Gojo." The ex-military Sorcerer replied. "I hear that he's keeping a student hidden and could use some help getting him ready for getting back into the fray." He explained. "And in that vein, I had the idea of sending Joshua to Japan to do just that." He added.
"You think he could use that trip to broaden his horizons?" Joseph questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"I do. His Domain Expansion, while impressive, is still incomplete." John nodded. "Hopefully this will help him walk along the path to finishing it." He added.
After the ordeal with Lucifer taking the Ring of Nazgul, the faculty of all involved parties took time to go over the performance of the students. Joshua's Domain expansion was, unsurprisingly, the main topic. They had questioned the other students about it and they had one common theme in their reactions.
They felt like something was missing from Joshua's Domain, but had no idea what. This led to the faculty presuming that not even Joshua knew, which made sense, given how recently he unlocked it.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back in Joshua's room, the boy was in the process of trying to take a shower in order to just… decompress after the shit show that was this entire situation—but he wasn't alone while he did it.
Morgan was with him, hugging him from behind with her arms around his neck.
"You've been tense all week." The Fallen Angel girl remarked, kissing his neck. "Not that I blame you." She admitted.
"Kinda hard to be at ease knowing the American King of Curses has a potent Cursed Artifact." Joshua told his girlfriend with a sigh as the water cascaded over them.
Morgan frowned as she hugged her boyfriend, her face filling with a desire to do something to help him feel better beyond just the shower.
"… Would it make you feel any better if I let you have your way with me until your anxiety disappears?" The Fallen Angel girl asked.
"I love you, Morgan, but I'm not the type to just screw my anxiety away." Her boyfriend told her as he turned and kissed her. "Thanks for trying, though." He added with a smile. "Just… Stay with me. I need company." He requested.
"Come here." Morgan smiled as she cupped his cheek and locked one leg around his waist—and kissed him again.
(Later)
After the couple finished their shower and dried off, they were in Joshua's room, just laying in bed next to each other and enjoying one another's company while white noise played.
And in a different part of the JPAA school grounds, the JPSA students were visiting with their sister school friends again, also trying to get their minds off of things.
For example, in the privacy of his room, Calvin was currently on his bed and making out with his girlfriend Lily.
"We are definitely taking advantage of every chance we get, aren't we?" Lily asked as the two pulled apart for air.
"I mean, we might as well." The boy nodded. "So, what would you like this time?" He asked her.
"Surprise me." The Succubus girl giggled in reply.
"Then prepare to be folded in half." Her boyfriend pulled as he did just that as their clothes started flying everywhere.
Yeah, if the teachers were able to learn about this, chances are they wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it…
ThermalsniperN7: … Well, shit just got out of hand in the worst way possible, didn't it?
Dragon Emperor0: … Sukuna isn't the only big dawg in town now. And what's worse? These two diabolical sons o' bitches are old Shonen style rivals! God only knows how the hell shit's likely to go wrong once they start throwing hands again!
ThermalsniperN7: Oh jeez, that's gonna fuck up a ton of stuff… There'll be a lot of bodies by the time that's over. Anyway, Joshua has his Domain Expansion now, but it ain't complete like some others. That'll need a bit more development before it can be considered a proper Domain… Plus, it'll show he ain't a copy of The Witness.
Dragon Emperor0: Still. A Special Grade curse called him a monster. Something tells me that if he faces the Disaster curses, they'll all start shitting their pants. Looking at you, Mahito, ya musty, dusty, disgusting, diabolical patchwork motherfucker.
ThermalsniperN7: That ain't just an example; we have some interesting plans for when Joshua heads to Japan eventually. The meeting between him and Yuji will be interesting… If Sukuna doesn't opt to be an asshole, that is. Also, in regards to the Ring of Nazgul, y'all might wanna pay attention to that thing. Its origins are twisted as fuck. Anyway, see you guys next time.