Notes: Let's go gambling!

This was a fun one to write.

Chapter 9

Present Day

Tap tap tap. Tap tap. Tap tap-

"You can stop that, Todo! It won't make me get ready any faster!" came the irritated voice of Kamo Noritoshi from within his rooms.

Todo Aoi ceased tapping his foot and shifted his weight back and forth. He was raring to go to Castle Suga and pay back the Gojo Clan mages for the stunt they had pulled last year. He had been back to the castle multiple times since then, but only for classes, not for a competitive event. That large event was only held annually due to the amount of work it took to set up.

The shoji door slid open and Noritoshi emerged, pack in hand. Todo hoisted his own up and the two headed to the front entrance of the Kamo estate. Their clan head was there to see them off. "Do us proud," Yuki said with a wink at the two of them.

"Of course!" Todo boomed in reply.

Noritoshi merely nodded.

The two eighteen-year-olds were joined on their journey by the other Kamo adoptees near their own age - eighteen-year-old Nishimiya Momo, seventeen-year-olds Miwa Kasumi and Muta Kokichi as well as sixteen-year-old Nitta Arata. Only Miwa seemed to be in a good mood, the others rather sullen as they began their trek to Castle Suga. Todo continually cracked his knuckles, a sure sign he was raring for a rematch with his self-proclaimed rivals.

xXxXx

One Year Ago

xXxXx

"Call," Todo stated confidently, looking at his hand. It was his best yet, known as a full house if he remembered the instructions properly.

Yuta looked at his own hand once more before sighing. "Fold."

"Fold." Maki was scowling.

"Salmon." Toge placed his cards down, clearly not thinking he could win the hand.

Kamo called, but Miwa and Muta folded. Mai and Kirara called as well. Panda, Nitta, and Nishimiya were watching from the sidelines, the former not able to hold cards well and the latter two not wanting to lose their money.

"Raise," came the confident voice of Hakari Kinji from where he lounged on the floor with the rest of them.

Most of the remaining players folded, unwilling to up their bets, save Todo.

The two flipped their cards. Todo's full house had three queens and two aces. Hakari's had three kings and two sevens.

"Aha! I win!" Todo reached toward the middle.

"A King's Full always beats a Queen's full, regardless of the pair," Hakari drawled, knocking Todo's hand away to scoop the bets toward his already significant pile.

Todo scowled. "Are you sure you aren't just making these rules up as we play?"

Hakari straightened. "Of course not. I'm playing it the same way those traders from Gaul played on my last mission."

"Kin wouldn't lie," Kirara insisted from beside him. "Not about gambling."

Hakari had been teaching the group a new game he had learned from some foreign traders which used weird cards, but from what Yuta could tell, he hadn't mixed up any rules or contradicted any past statements about the way the game was played. He had played fair and square.

"Lady Luck is on my side, that's all." Hakari collected everyone's cards and started shuffling them to deal again.

"Give me those." Todo snatched the cards from him and shuffled himself, dealing them the same way the older mage had. Hakari didn't complain about it. Yuta suspected this was because hardly anyone at the castle would gamble with him due to his uncanny luck. Certainly he himself usually declined, but since there was a group of them he had agreed for once.

"I'll have to drop out," Mai said, slouching. "I need the rest of my money to get home."

"I'm running low as well," Muta told them.

"Same here," Miwa admitted.

One by one, they all dropped out until only Hakari, Kirara, and Yuta were left for the Gojo Clan with Kamo and Todo for the Kamo Clan.

"That's no fun," Hakari said, looking around the room with his unusually colored magenta eyes. "But I guess it can't be helped. How about a different bet?"

Yuta swallowed the nervousness growing inside him. He didn't like the look in his senior's eyes.

Todo stopped shuffling and lay the cards on the floor, obviously not too interested in another hand himself. "What kind of bet? The kind where we annihilate you in the contest tomorrow?"

"The kind where Okkotsu and I defeat you all single handedly tomorrow," Hakari stated.

Yuta wished he could phase through the floor to the level below them to escape Todo's wrath. The Kamo mage's anger was so great his aura whipped around the room and could probably be felt by a quarter of the castle's inhabitants.

Todo's eyebrow twitched. "The two of you think you could defeat more monsters than the six of us?" he asked for clarification. Nitta wouldn't be participating after all.

The glint was back in the gambler's eyes and Yuta feared his response. "The two of us could beat all six of you and then beat all the monsters."

Todo's rage lashed around the room again before he reigned it back in. "There's no way I should agree to such a lopsided event," he said coolly, picking the cards back up. "I want there to actually be a contest here. Just because Okkotsu is S-rank doesn't mean you'll automatically win."

He dealt the shuffled cards just to himself and Hakari. They analyzed their cards, discarded, and drew to get their hands back up to five apiece. The rest of the room waited with bated breath. Unspoken was the knowledge that whoever won this game determined the rules of the competition tomorrow. Finally they lay their cards, Todo first.

"Read it and weep," he smirked. He had four of a kind nines.

Hakari's poker face remained unbroken as he lay his own hand down. "Royal Flush," he declared. He had the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of spades.

"That's bullshit!" Todo threw the remnants of the deck across the room and was well on his way to stomping a hole through the floor.

Kamo was the only one brave enough from his delegation to approach him. "Now now Todo. He'll eat his words when we defeat him tomorrow," he tried to calm the man. It only partially worked, and Todo stormed out the door followed by the rest of the Kamo mages and Zen'in Mai.

Yuta felt like he could finally relax and sighed, leaning back on the cushions. "Did you really have to do that Hakari?"

His senior grinned. "No, but it was great fun wouldn't you say?"

Yuta disagreed but didn't tell him that.

"What's up with you cutting us all out?" Maki demanded, turning on Hakari.

"Yeah, now none of us get to participate tomorrow," complained Panda.

"Salmon roe, tuna, mayo." Even Toge was pissed.

Yuta decided to leave as the argument escalated, with only Kirara standing with Hakari. He rubbed his face as he walked down the halls until he reached his rooms, slid open the shoji door, and tried to get ready for bed. Lying on his futon however, he found sleep elusive.

That morning, he awoke to a tapping outside his room. Rubbing sleep from his eyes - he must have nodded off at some point but was unsure exactly when - he went to the door in his yukata and answered. "What?"

Hakari stood before him. "The others are going to go along with our bet."

Yuta's eyes cleared quickly upon hearing that. He had honestly thought the others would be able to argue their way into the competition, slightly mitigating Todo's anger when he saw them all participating. "Seriously? So what, you want me to fight off all the mages while you go around defeating the monsters? Because that would be tough even for me with Todo's magic in play. Kamo and Muta in particular are no slouches."

"Oh hardly," the gambler replied amiably, slinging an arm around Yuta's shoulders as he entered the room. "We'll go with my plan instead."

That afternoon, all the combatants met and stood across from each other in the forest beyond Castle Suga. Todo looked irate as only Yuta and Hakari stepped forward out of their group.

"What's this?" Gojo asked from where he and Mei Mei stood. The silver-haired mage-for-hire was going to be using her magic to project the contest for some of the castle inhabitants who wished to watch the proceedings. "A match of two versus six?" He looked over to where Maki and the others stood. They nodded, showing they agreed with the numbers.

Gojo shrugged. Yuta wasn't surprised. He would let them do as they wished for the most part, though no doubt a talking-to would be coming if he and Hakari failed. After his senior had shared his plan, Yuta found that he actually thought they had a shot. Their biggest disadvantage, the fact that they had just two locations they could be at any one time instead of the other team's six, would have to be mitigated first.

Eleven-year-old Gojo Yume, a cousin of the king, stepped forward and activated her magic, first to warp the Kamo and Zen'in mages to their starting place, then popping back to transfer the castle mages to their own starting point.

Hakari stood with his hands hanging by his sides, dark haori tied loosely so that his bare chest was partially exposed. Yuta wore white as usual, a haori with a shirt underneath. His tan pants and black shoes were of similar design to Hakari's. The copy mage rested one hand on his katana, the other hanging at his side.

A loud sound filled the forest, coming from the direction of the castle. It was the sound of a magic artifact being sounded, signaling the beginning of the competition. Todo must have immediately unleashed his mana, for the two mages could sense it clearly all the way across the forest.

Yuta drew in a breath and relinquished his tight hold on control. An even more overwhelmingly oppressive force could be felt. Hakari slightly released his own hold, so that Todo would know they were both together. The two began running toward the power which was streaking toward them at incredible speed, all three of them defeating any monsters in their way with casual flicks of power, though few were foolish enough to venture near their overwhelming presences.

Todo flew toward Hakari, fist raised to pummel him. Instead of raising his own fists to block, Hakari touched his right thumb and index together while holding his left hand flat underneath it. "Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble."

The fast-activating domain sealed the two off before Yuta could blink. Before Muta Kokichi - or at least the puppet he was wielding from wherever his real body resided - could attempt to shatter the outside of the domain and break in, the barrier vanished. Hakari had changed its external coordinates.

Swearing, Muta charged up and went on the offensive. He was confident because of the uncannily accurate arrows flying in, Yuta noted. He blocked the arrows by reinforcing himself with mana and almost casually dodged the blast from Muta. He charged in to deal his own disabling blows with the blunt side of his katana, reinforced by his massive quantity of mana.

Without Todo to bolster their offensive capabilities and mobility, the ensuing fight was easier than he had anticipated. Then he turned to deal with the monsters.

xXxXx

"It was a good plan," Yuta could now admit as he wrapped up the story requested by Kugisaki. "Trapping Todo where he couldn't switch around with his teammates and shifting the domain somewhere else so they couldn't break him out. Honestly, the most surprising part of the story is that they all agreed to sit out," he said, sweeping up Maki, Toge, and Panda with a gesture.

Maki raised one eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? I'm still living off that money."

"Bonito flakes," Toge said.

Panda scratched behind one ear and grinned.

Yuta looked around, aghast. "He paid you all off?!"

"Money talks," Maki replied. She reached over to pat Yuta on the shoulder roughly. "You're too kind for your own good. I bet you could have wrung a lot out of him for your cooperation. Kirara's the only one of us he didn't have to pay off."

For the rest of the evening, Yuta let the others handle the rest of the planning. This year he would be watching with Gojo and others from the castle instead of down there fighting. He was by no means a materialist, but he still felt put-off about the sum which apparently could have been his last year if he had just thought to ask.

"Oh!" Maki exclaimed. "There's one other thing we didn't tell you about. The winner of the event gets to choose something fun to do the next week. Last year, Hakari chose ballroom dancing."

"Ballroom… dancing?" Itadori asked. The words no doubt sounded foreign to him.

"Hakari spends a lot of time chatting and gambling with foreigners in taverns when he's traveling for missions." Panda took it upon himself to explain. "Apparently in some of the countries he associated with, the nobility dress up in their finest, have a nice dinner, and then dance to music as couples."

Yuta tried to turn so his burning face couldn't be seen, but fortunately Itadori and Kugisaki kept the others occupied by peppering them with questions about ballroom dancing and what all it entailed. He had reclined at the high table as musicians played, one leg unable to keep still. He glanced at Maki continuously, but she was conversing with Kirara. He had really wanted to ask her to dance but been unable to bring himself to.

Fortunately, she apparently wanted to dance a bit too as the night continued, and demanded he be her partner, half dragging him to the dance floor. They joined Kamo who was dancing with Nishimiya, Miwa and Muta (though the former kept glancing up at the high table toward the king), as well as Hakari and the numerous female castle inhabitants he invited to whirl around the dance floor with him.

Todo sat pouting at the high table, refusing to dance with 'anyone who isn't Lady Takada', a woman he had met on some mission recently and was aggressively courting. Mai demanded Nitta to dance with her, though the younger man had clear nerves about it even though she was the one who had asked for the dance from him. They only lasted one song before he excused himself, face pale. The king even took the queen out to dance later on for a few songs.

As his recollections concluded, so did the conversation in the room. Itadori rose with a yawn, and Fushiguro had to guide him and Kugisaki back through the confusing hallways to their own rooms.

Next week, a note from Gojo-sensei arrived, requesting he attend a clan meeting on his behalf. Yuta sighed. There was only one reason his sensei would request this of him and he dreaded it already. After breakfast, he said his goodbyes and excused himself to Yaga-sensei for the day before warping over to the Gojo compound.

xXxXx

"A mission on my own?" Yuji asked, pointing at himself.

Gojo-sensei had appeared suddenly toward the end of his history class and jolted the half-awake student to his feet. All the other mages were out on their own missions - Okkotsu on clan business, Maki, Inumaki, and Panda on some magical crime spree occurring at the next city over, and Fushiguro and Kugisaki on a mission without him. Yuji had been a bit hurt they had been dispatched without him, but it appeared now that his sensei had had his reasons for not sending all three of them together.

"Not exactly." Gojo slid open the door to his office - now with about half the papers that it had been covered in last time. The reason for the increased neatness appeared to be the blond man with spectacles sitting in Gojo's spot. "I'd like to introduce you to Nanami Kento, an A-rank mage. He usually spends all his time with my family instead of me." Was the king pouting as he said that last line? Yuji thought he appeared to be.

"Nice to meet you, Lord Nanami," Yuji said with a formal bow.

"There's no need to call me Lord," the blond mage told him.

Yuji was puzzled. "Kento then?"

The man glanced at him as if to say 'are you serious?' "That's too informal."

"Nanami-sensei?"

"I'm not a teacher, so please don't call me that either."

"Nanamin?"

The man sighed and didn't respond. Apparently he had given up on Yuji finding a proper way to address him already.

Gojo grinned, obviously appreciating the nickname though Nanami clearly did not. "You two are hitting it off already! Great! Anyway, thanks for helping with my paperwork while you were waiting, Nanami!"

Nanami gave a long-suffering sigh and stood up behind the desk. "Itadori. Our idiot king wants you to assist me on a mission to your hometown of Ikawa. Since you're familiar with the area and might know some of the people and locations, he thinks you could be a real asset. We'll head there as soon as you are ready."

"I'm ready now, Nanamin!" Yuji exclaimed.

The mage eyed him up and down. "I don't see any luggage with you."

"Oh." Yuji hadn't realized it would be an overnight trip. He was used to either short horseback rides or being warped around by Gojo. "Be right back!" He zoomed away. Since he hadn't stopped back home to get clothes - not that his were very good in the first place - he was wearing hand-me-downs from some of the older mages who had outgrown them. They had just been lying around the castle collecting dust anyway according to Panda.

An hour later, he finally returned. Nanami had sat back down and was doing more paperwork. Gojo was nowhere to be seen. "Ah, you've finally returned. Get lost along the way?"

Yuji scratched the back of his head. "Uh, actually I did."

Nanami grunted and put aside the paper he had been scribbling on. "Alright. Let's head to Ikawa."

It took a few days, but at last they reached Ikawa. Yuji, having not gone to school often (really he hadn't at all since his grandfather had passed, and even when he was still alive, work was prioritized), was unfamiliar with geography in general and hadn't known how close or far from the capital he had lived up until now. As the two mages passed through the gates of the city, Yuji glanced to the side at the two guards. Neither gave him any acknowledgement, but they still might know him on sight and report back to Guildmaster Star. His appearance was rather singular due to his unusual hair color.

After asking around a bit, the two were able to find out that unusual deaths had been occurring lately. The bodies of most of them were already buried, and the ones that were not were in the families' homes for funerals - likely with closed caskets due to the disfigurement causing the death.

"We aren't gonna crash some funerals, are we?" Yuji asked worriedly.

"No. We're going to dig up some graves."

Somehow, that did not make Yuji feel any better.

After waiting until dark, the two crept into the graveyard and found the freshest graves. To Yuji's surprise, he recognized two of the names: Kotaro and Hiera - Junpei's bullies. Their corpses were gruesome sights. According to Nanami, they looked similar to the one Okkotsu had brought back, which Gojo had examined. Therefore, the murderer they were after was the same one who had been in a totally different part of the country less than a month ago.

Yuji and Nanami covered the graves back up, managing not to be seen by anyone - who in their right mind would visit a graveyard at midnight anyway. "Nanamin. Two of those guys are guys I knew."

Nanami put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Oh no, I didn't get along with them so I can't say I'm overly distraught or anything," Yuji was quick to correct the man. "They were closer to enemies really. But seeing them reminded me of my friend. I should check in on him - those two were his bullies."

Nanami looked thoughtful. "You think your friend could do something like this?"

"He isn't a mage," Yuji replied. "And even if he was, I'm not sure he would have it in him. The two of us used to prank those guys, but only to get back at them for the bullying, it was never to maim or kill them."

"Well, it sounds like that's one of the only leads we have. Shall we get an inn?"

"I'm going to go back home for the night," Yuji said. "My place is pretty small, so unless you really don't want to pay for an inn I'd recommend getting your own place."

"We can meet back up in the market square by the main fountain," Nanami suggested. "I'll get an inn. It's a paid mission." He jangled his full coin bag.

As he slid his door open, Yuji glanced across the street. Junpei's home was dark. Of course. It was early in the morning; the sun was yet hours from rising. There would be no reason for him or his mother to be awake at this hour.

Yuji's room was just as he had left it - slightly messy but not to the extent of being gross. Putting away the socks lying on the floor, he swapped to a yukata for sleep and lay down in his own bed for the first time in nearly a month.

He woke up with a crick in his neck. Apparently less than a month was enough time to get used to the higher quality futon in his room at the palace. It put his own raggedy one at home to shame. Massaging his neck with one hand, he dug around to see if he had any food available. He had some stale bread and water. It would have to do.

Sliding his door closed behind him, he headed across the street to Junpei's and knocked. His mother answered.

"Oh, Yuji! It's been a while, Junpei was looking for you earlier."

"Sorry about that. Something came up urgently and I had to leave the city." It was at least part of the truth. "Can you tell Junpei I'm back and want to meet up with him soon? Our usual spot."

"Of course Yuji! I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it. I might not see him for a while though. He must have made some new friends while you were gone - he isn't home much anymore."

Now Yuji was troubled. "He isn't… missing though, is he?"

"Goodness no. Did you hear about his classmates and worry about him? Such a tragedy, those kids were so young."

In Yuji's opinion, it was a bad thing but not a tragedy. Those two had been good for nothings, sure, but that didn't mean they had deserved their gruesome deaths.

After bidding farewell to Junpei's mother, he headed to the rendezvous point to find Nanami. He was already there, half sitting against the fountain's base. When Yuji arrived, he was leaning slightly to one side.

"Nanamin, what happened?" Yuji asked. Something had clearly happened to him.

"I didn't get an inn," the blond mage replied. "I found some residuals of mana leading toward the sewer system under the city and followed them. The thing we're up against, I found it. It's a devil of some kind that's transfiguring humans with his magic. The magic causes most of his subjects to die, so he wanted to try it on a mage. We fought, and I managed to get away by collapsing part of the sewer system on him. The good news is I survived. The bad news is he likely did too. Also, I think he's in league with the devil who attacked Gojo. This devil even mentioned the king by name."

That was a lot to think over. After slowly walking/limping their way to Yuji and Junpei's usual hangout tavern, Nanami told him the rest of the information he had gathered during his fight and conversation with the patchwork devil. His magic worked on souls, and was difficult to protect against. Nanami doubted many mages below A-rank could survive a single attack from him, but he needed to directly touch the target with a hand for the magic to take effect. Unfortunately, both of them were close-range fighters with no great long-range attacks.

Nanami theorized that the devil was a young one, growing quickly and greedily wracking up a body count. The devil Gojo fought could use domain expansion. If this newer devil survived and continued to grow, it would not take it long to reach that point as well. If that scenario occurred, the body count would rise exponentially. Therefore, it was crucial that he and Yuji destroyed it on this mission.

Glancing out of some of the shoji which were open to allow in fresh air and customers, Yuji saw a strange sight. Nanami noticed it too. "A barrier," the blond mage stated, confirming Yuji's suspicions. He dropped some coppers on the table to cover their drinks and the two headed over to see what the commotion was. Most people in the city were non-mages, so they could not perceive the barrier, though depending on what type it was, it could prevent them from entering or leaving the area.

Yuji quickly left Nanami behind. His superhuman speed as well as the injuries the older mage had sustained earlier exacerbated their speed difference. The blond encouraged him to check the place out and report back to him. The barrier was around a school building. All the students - some around Yuji's own age but most of them younger - were passed out on the floor or slumped over writing desks. Fortunately, none of them were deceased as far as he could tell just from a first glance at the situation.

Passing through hallways, he eventually reached a large room. A student maybe a year or two older than Yuji was screaming, held in the air by some sort of jellyfish-like creature. Beside the creature was Yoshino Junpei.

"Junpei!" Yuji's shout cut through the air.

His friend turned, the jellyfish releasing the other student who lay on the floor sobbing. Painful-looking welts were forming on his skin where the creature had been touching him. "Yuji. Where were you? You left me."

The accusation stung. But it also hit home. Yuji had been happy to leave his life in the Thieves Guild behind. While at Castle Suga, he'd felt protected from the guildmaster's threats by the mage-king, whose power he had seen displayed first hand. He'd also made many new friends, fellow mages who had accepted him as one of their own almost immediately. But somewhere along the line he had forgotten about his one friend from back home, or at the very least, shoved those memories to the back of his mind. "Junpei, I-" he hardly knew where to start. Silence fell for a few seconds.

"You have no excuses, huh?" his friend said.

"No. I'm sorry. Truly."

"I see." Junpei turned back to the guy on the ground in front of him, jellyfish reaching toward him again.

"Stop!" Yuji shouted, running forward.

"Why?" Junpei asked. "He's only getting what he deserves. It's kill or be killed. Show your strength or be trampled on with the rest of the weak."

Yuji stared. Something had happened to his friend in the weeks he had been at the castle, that was certain. "Look, I know you had some issues with your classmates, but-"

"Some issues?" The guy on the ground lay forgotten - Junpei and the jellyfish were now fully focused on Yuji.

"But did they really deserve to die?" he asked. "I'm talking about Kotaro and Hiera. Sure they were jerks, but the death penalty?"

Junpei's eyes narrowed and his expression hardened. And that answered Yuji's real question. His (former) friend knew something about the devil Nanami had fought who was on a killing spree.

The pink-haired mage's reflexes caused him to instinctively dodge the first whip of the jellyfish's tentacles. The creature pressed the attack, pushing him from the large room into the hall toward a staircase. It seemed he would have to punch Junpei back into friendship.

Only, his attack was blunted by the softness of the jellyfish's body.

If you're up against a shikigami user, try attacking the user. Yaga-sensei's words rang in his ears. If this jellyfish was a shikigami - it wasn't as fearsome as Fushiguro's assortment - then that should be his move.

Ducking the next attack, he charged at Junpei, only to get caught by one of the tentacles on the side of the creature not facing him. He wasn't sure if jellyfish had eyes or how they sensed things. The pain of the sting hurt, but not debilitatingly so. And the poison seemed to have little effect on him, unlike the guy from earlier.

The power behind his punch ripped the attacking tentacle from the shikigami and came smashing into Junpei's chest with tremendous strength. It was a double hit as well, physical blow hitting first and then a rush of magic lagging behind the initial impact. The young man was thrown back against the lower landing of the wooden stairs, breath leaving his lungs in a whoosh of air.

Yuji stood halfway between him and the window. Junpei looked up at him through hazy eyes. "No more," he said.

"No more?" Yuji asked, not approaching either to help him up or punch him again. "What happened to 'kill or be killed' and trampling on the weak?"

Junpei slumped further instead of trying to rise.

"I see. So that philosophy only works for you when you're the strong one, huh?" Yuji then thought he should ask about Junpei's sudden mage abilities, for if he focused, he could see a dim blue aura around his former friend.

Instead, he was slammed into the wall of shoji windows behind him. Part of the wooden shoji frame splintered above him as he wheezed, sitting on the floor. He recovered swiftly and looked around. His attacker was now standing beside Junpei near the stairs. It matched Nanami's description of the devil he had fought earlier.

"Junpei, run! I can hold him off!" Yuji scrambled to his feet, taking up a balanced fighting pose.

By now, Junpei was also beginning to stand. The devil was resting one hand on his shoulder, making Yuji uneasy. What was its plan? Was Junpei really in league with it? "Mahito isn't bad. He's my friend."

Well, that confirmed it. "He is bad though! He killed all those people here in Ikawa, and those innocent villagers too!"

Junpei looked confused. Apparently his friendship with Mahito didn't mean the devil had shared everything with him.

The devil smirked. "All those people you think are stupid… well guess what? You're just as stupid as they are. That's why you're gonna die."

To Yuji's horror, the words were directed not at him but at Junpei.

In an instant, his former friend turned as disfigured as the corpses he had seen but somehow remained alive. The thing that had formerly been Junpei rushed Yuji and knocked him back down to the ground, slamming deformed limbs and even his head into him. Yuji was so shocked and appalled it took him a few seconds to grab the arms and pin them so they could no longer reach him. Most horrifying of all was when the thing that had been Junpei spoke. "Yuji. Please. Kill. Me."

The tears started. Mahito's laughter fell to fuzz in the background of Yuji's hearing. The thing that was Junpei breathed its last and died, held by his former friend. A ringing began in the pink-haired mage's ears and he rose, gently setting the corpse on the ground.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" he roared, charging Mahito recklessly.

The devil took the punch to the face directly, not expecting such a fast attack. "Attack me as much as you want, you can't harm my soul any more than that 7:3 mage could!"

Yuji assumed he was referring to Nanami. A trickle of blood ran down the devil's nose. He wiped it away casually with the back of his hand, then stood still, examining it in shock. Yuji analyzed the situation. His opponent hadn't been harmed by Nanami's attacks, but had been by Yuji's. What could be the reason behind that?

The devil seemed to come back to his senses and went on the attack. His attacks were varied as he transformed from small to large, blunt to sharp, animal to human. Only Yuji's superhuman speed and strength were helping him dodge the attacks. He was failing to land more blows of his own though. Mahito was a slippery one.

When the devil spiked him through the arm, instead of trying to escape, Yuji pulled him closer and landed a punch. Unfortunately, Mahito also got a hand on him. "Idle Transfiguration," he said, grinning as though he had just won. Maybe he had, Yuji thought. Blood loss was beginning to haze his vision. He had numerous serious wounds already and had only landed two hits of his own.

Mahito's expression of glee soon twisted to horror though, and the devil reeled away; a few thin lines oozing blood appeared across his chest. Yuji stumbled but remained standing as the spikes left his arm. The two stared across at each other, at a seeming impasse. The devil pressed a hand to his chest and the wounds began to close, albeit slowly. Another thing Yuji didn't understand had occurred.

At that point in time, Nanami stepped up beside Yuji. He had finally caught up. "Yuji, what's the situation? You were able to injure him?" By now, the last of the thin lines had faded away almost entirely. "I'm not able to affect him, but I can create openings for you. We'll push him to the limit and defeat him here and now."

"Got it." Yuji stood and wiped some blood from his face, ready to run in and attack.

It was an overwhelming assault of blows which showered down upon Mahito then. The devil still lashed out with attacks of his own, but the two mages dodged them all while landing their own blows. However, Mahito seemed elated rather than distressed. "I think I can finally do it now! Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection!"

Hands rose up and closed off the space around him and Nanami. Yuji had been strategically left out. He wasted no time in attempting to break through the barrier though. Domains were meant to keep people trapped - there was no point in trying to break into one unless you wanted to die. But whatever had happened when the devil had tried to transmogrify his soul earlier meant he didn't want the sure-hit effect of the domain to touch him, for fear of it happening again. So Yuji punched and kicked until one flying roundhouse kick finally sent him tumbling into the dark space.

Mahito tried to dismiss the domain but it was too late. Whatever was wrong with Yuji (his possible connection to Ryomen Sukuna, as Gojo guessed?) dealt even more damage to the devil's soul - his injuries causing the barrier to shatter. As Yuji and Nanami fell out of the domain, the devil made his escape through a sewer grate nearby.

Cursing, Yuji collapsed, his injuries finally catching up to him. He must have passed out at some point, because he woke up slung across the back of his horse, which was being led by the reins by Nanami on his own steed. His injuries had been wrapped up, and Nanami explained they had both needed to see a local healer for conventional treatment before they could even attempt the trip back to the castle.

Groggily, Yuji sat up as the horses stopped so he could take a proper seat in the saddle. He had never been happier to see the inside of an infirmary as he was when he finally reached the castle and the healer there, who introduced herself as Shoko, fixed him up.

"I'm amazed you survived such injuries without a healing spell of your own," she said while working. "These should have killed you before you made it back here."

Yet another mystery to be solved, Yuji thought as he lay back.

xXxXx

Footsteps echoed down the damp tunnels beneath Ikawa city. Mahito looked up, still battered from his difficult fight.

"You're looking rather worse for the wear, Mahito."

The devil grinned. "I learned some new things though. I can open a domain. But Geto, I also found my natural enemy."

"Is that so?" the purple-eyed mage asked.

"It was the younger mage - I think his name was Yuji. When I touched his soul to transmogrify it, it didn't work. It was like falling into a void at first, then landing on a pile of bones near an empty throne. There wasn't anything there, but when I snapped out of the vision I had slashes across my chest - actual damage to my soul." Mahito grit his teeth. "That kid doesn't even seem human. The next time I see him, I swear I'll kill him."

Geto was looking down at him sharply. "Very intriguing," he said softly, voice not matching his posture. "But I warn you not to tangle with that young man. I have plans for him."

Mahito squinted up at the mage. "You never said anything about this to me before."

"Itadori Yuji is a contingency," Geto said. "That is all you need to know. Get healed up. Our next step is to give the barriers a test run. Hanami intends to summon a demon to help in handling the main event, but I'll have you sneak in and get some things for me during the distraction."

As the mage turned his back on the devil, Mahito scowled. Geto was scheming something - something he wouldn't share even with him, the leader of the high ranking devils working with him. And that irritated Mahito. "Itadori Yuji… I don't care what Geto says. I'll end you myself." His laughs rang through the sewers.