A/N: 11.4k words.
Ao3 and Wattpad get faster updates and better formatting, btw. :)
OOO*
Gilded ivory flanked him at all sides in the square room that he was present inside, which spread outwards to cover a large volume of the general area. They were on the sculptures, the walls, and even the fabric draped over and left hanging upon whatever tethered themselves in the air, so that they would not bristle in the wind and fly off to another world. Unfortunately for him, he never had such an anchor or support to hold him back to the reality that he was familiar with.
There were many bodies moving around, with so much unrest that he would believe the people were 9-to-5 on the crowded streets of Shibuya's forking roads which diverged into intersections and wide sections. But that wasn't the case at all, as these people most likely held more power than he could ever hope to in the political scene when it came to Terra—because he had to be real with himself—politics would never be his thing.
Megumi glanced to the side to see Arturia glancing across the scene... actually, was she? It didn't seem to be the case as she looked to be more interested in something else. A door, one that was closed and held what looked to be a world of secrets behind it, and the strange presence that the Jujutsu Sorcerer felt behind it had also diverted his attention to focus solely on that mysterious place.
Locked away.
Hidden.
But that wasn't accurate, not at all. Why would there be a room which held these "vague" secrets if it were in such a large social gathering like this in Leithanien? Especially since there were many powerful people walking around like it was a Tuesday. It just didn't seem plausible, and he would like to think it was his imaginative mind which had conjured up such an ineloquent gossip-like tale.
"Interested?" Arturia said from beside him, her voice traveling into his ear like a music note on a sheet of paper, "it's your first time frequenting a place such as this, after all. I wouldn't blame you." She spoke as if she were to somebody... familiar with, which had unnerved he black-haired man ever since he had returned back to Leithanien. "So there's no need to be on your tippy-toes all the time."
"Interest... I don't think I find this place interesting at all," Megumi blandly replied while turning toward her, his soggy eyes and the crimson dim hidden underneath becoming the most accentuated aspects, "you and Kurfurst Hochberg were the ones to drag me here. I have no say in it."
"Oh, but you do. You always do."
"Not in a situation like this," Megumi bluntly replied, "if somebody in a powerful position asks you nicely to visit a place of influential gatherings... then it'd be a disaster to refuse something like that, wouldn't it?" He stared down at his attire. He wore the same Higashinese clothes as he always had, which had also been making the aristocracy lingering around take a few glances at him, turn away, and whisper.
Perhaps there were rumors, perhaps there were gossips, but what the contents of such frivolous messages were something that didn't bother him. He had gone through worse, he had been labeled worse, and he already knew that there were worse things that could come his way. A few notes on his apparently luxurious but unfitting attire never mattered in the first place.
He didn't want to wear the black formal suit that would be a thousand times more fitting in an environment such as this. It reminded him too much of her.
"If you don't like a place such as this then could I suggest another?" Arturia asked while Megumi continued walking—the Sankta following along with his steps with discreet grace. "It's up to your will whether you desire to take it to heart or not, after all, I'm not demanding anything implicitly."
"A suggestion? Go ahead." he let out a sigh, "out with it."
"Laterano."
"...Is that where you came from?" The black-haired man raised an eyebrow after.
"Yes, it holds a special place in my heart," Arturia said.
"What's it like, then?"
"In terms of culture and rolling fields of grass? Hardly inferior to Leithanien, perhaps I possess some bias for the land. Ah... but then again, a lackluster society it is. Only a promised paradise such as that would only grant it toward a select few."
"What's so wrong with that?" For some unexplained reason, Megumi suddenly shot that question toward Arturia with a slightly miffed breath.
"Oh? Whatever do you mean?" Arturia saw it, the spark of controversy in his eyes and the change in the octaves of his voice.
"A paradise given only to a select few, as you say it." Megumi turned toward her, "why don't you answer first? What's so wrong with that?"
"A paradise with closed gates... Can it truly be called a paradise? Shouldn't it be opened for everybody to enjoy, for all souls to be quelled inside its confined lands?"
"Really?" His voice became more sarcastic, "so you wouldn't mind if a mass-murderer was allowed into a paradise? It needs its gates, why else do you think society functions?"
"Society is inherently flawed," Arturia continued to keep up her wispy voice, "don't you think so?"
"That's right, but it's the only thing we have," Megumi said, "a paradise would still be a society—unless you're making a thought experiment about some perfect utopian society that holds zero flaws. That I say, would never be achievable."
"Well, that's an unprogressive way of thinking of things."
"For me, yes. I'd rather leave the job of being a visionary to other people. It could never be me." How ironic it was for him to say that, when the only envisioned future for himself was only his strength, a selfish and self-indulgent prospect.
"If that is so, then I'd best believe that's your view on things?" Arturia inquired.
"Probably," Megumi gave a half-assed answer, "a paradise should be gate-kept. That's it."
"Isn't that way of thinking cruel?"
"Is it cruel?" He took a moment to pause and mull it over. The question of whether cruelty was, by definition, evil or not didn't matter to him, "yes. It's cruel. Subjectively, and objectively—most likely." By a logical view it is objectively cruel, but even logic was bound to be standing upon a structure made of subjectivity.
"...Then you're okay with that?" Arturia tilted her head.
"Yes," not a moment of hesitation was given from Megumi, "bad people—no matter what—I wouldn't want them going to a paradise. It doesn't sit well with me, it just doesn't." A sense of realization had overcome him since that day, and he had never fully grasped the feeling of what it truly was.
Now he did.
"Even if they're willing to change?"
"If they're willing to change, then they'd best get to it. If they don't, a paradise is never deservant of them."
"But what if paradise changes them?"
"That's just an assumption," Megumi frowned.
"Do you wish to punish them, then?"
"Do I...?" Megumi asked rhetorically, "yes." Before a non-hesitant response was given. "It's selfish, and it's disgusting." It aggrieved him every time he called back to the amount of bad people that were present in the world, and the hatred that stemmed deep inside of his heart continued to grow from the budding seed that it previously was—to a large festering tree with roots digging down ever further. "But you can't change my view on this. You were never successful in that in the first place, except when you convinced me they were gone."
"So..." Arturia's voice drew out as she met his eyes once more. Those orbs which once were clouded to the point where the spirals couldn't be seen were... bright and unlucid, to the point where she had to wonder what had granted him such a twisted view. "Is this the conclusion you've come to?"
"No doubt about it," he reached a chair and pulled it back, before sitting on it, "if it makes me happy. Then I have no qualms with it," Megumi rested his chin on a closed fist, staring boredly across the scene.
"I understand," Arturia let out a sigh, a complex look crossing her features, "how ironic..."
"What are you talking about this time?"
"You're already aware of my capabilities, so there's no need for me to elaborate much further when in regards to them, correct?" She turned off elsewhere, namely the stage where the Empresses' Voices stood by the side as the Reichsorchesters played their instruments, manipulating the very fabric of "sound" itself. Cora Lowenstein was amongst them, as she was the conduct master.
"...I'm aware." He didn't deny it.
"Then you'd know that I'm already aware of what it's like inside you."
...Weird way of putting it, "of course, you've paid a visit inside without my consent after all." But he really wasn't helping either. At that point, he couldn't care anymore because of the far greater problems afflicting him.
"Endless shadows, a simple way of describing it." Arturia could remember it, as she reached her hand out. The entire world of that blanketed abyss held in a single orb, "that was when you were so lost in your justice and most hesitant."
"And now?" Megumi inquired.
"It's the brightest I've ever seen—a complete contradiction."
"Bright?" Now even he was confused.
"Yes, bright." The Sankta confirmed, "so bright that I feel as if my skin would singe if it stood for even a second underneath its curtains."
"That seems inaccurate."
"But it isn't."
"...Then what's so significant about it, then?" He didn't feel any different, so his confusion continued to be expressed by his tired look.
"You've become more selfish."
"Of course?"
"You've become self-indulgent."
"Uh-huh."
"And you've most of all—become what you truly wish to be, without a single dash of hesitance."
"Is that bad?"
"I can't say for sure," Arturia shrugged her shoulder, "I cannot tell if you've truly become a better person or not. Even if your world displays itself as so—then I do not know how to interpret it."
"Whatever."
"So nonchalant aren't you?"
"There's nothing else for me to comment about your words," Megumi could see the lights flicker across and toward the stage as the room had been enshrouded in darkness, except for that singular place where the beams had focused, "why should I care about them?"
"A deeper insight with yourself would be beneficial."
"I already know that."
"...Then?" Now it was Arturia's turn to be confused.
"I'm happy."
"Strange."
"It's not a lie," Megumi crossed his legs as he kept his focus on the stage, "I'm just following things as how I want them to be, uninfluenced by others. Isn't that what you wanted—for me to be my "truest" self?"
"..."
Megumi didn't receive a response. That was strange.
He looked upwards. Arturia was holding a rather emotionless look on her face as she tilted her head.
The black-haired man didn't understand what was going on in those rusted cogs in her brain, but he didn't delve much into it. All he did was receive her stare by sending his own uncaring own. If she wanted to analyze him like a specimen under a microscope, then he didn't really care much. The Sankta would find nothing, because she already knew enough.
"Truly," a small chuckle left Arturia's lips, but it was filled with no humor, "what a complicated matter to grasp."
There was nothing that needed to be said from him. Megumi just turned away and enjoyed the show that was happening in front of him. The majestic display and symphony of music notes materializing themselves into the visible world as if they were walking on the tether of art itself was admirable. However, it still wasn't comparable to the Guldenesgesatz which he saw not too long ago.
It was too bad he couldn't understand why his Dharmachakra began to turn in response toward the occurrence of the event, because urgent matters came to him in the form of Brandt Reiner contacting him about the activities of the Witch King's Remnants in close proximity. So without a moment's hesitation, he had decided to leave the event and focus on matters which were of far greater importance.
His thoughts were cut when the music had stopped. The lights which were focused on the stage wisped away as if they were grasped by a hand and darted elsewhere—toward the door which he remembered gazing on before. Silence reigned as the most powerful in the room at this very moment, as people of all different levels of political power kept their mouths shut in silence and introspection.
Megumi couldn't understand why.
But the moment the door opened and all chandelier lights which had been turned off flashed back to life, did he understand why.
The Twin Empresses.
They walked through the doors as they snapped open with peerless grace, one which he could only compare to the Six Eyes' double worlds. As serene and incomprehensible as they were, that was all that he could understand from their figure which emanated a noble power, one that would be able to crush tyranny itself. Wasn't that how their tale went? Demolishing the vile might of the Witch King in Leithanien's most dire time of need?
The two's sights landed on him before Megumi realized something was amiss.
Everybody either bowed, kneeled, or paid their respects in some way; and that even included Arturia.
Only he stood out as the only one who was sitting casually in a chair without showing even a modicum of the manners that would be expected for the Kaiserins of Leithanien.
...The small wink from Arturia as she remained bowing was enough for Megumi to almost crash out.
OOO*
Megumi trekked through the snow of the tundra close to Reunion's settlement, and noticed how much it had lowered compared to before. What would usually dig up above his heel—maybe at times to his lower knee—was now hardly passing the soles of his foot. He wondered what could have caused such an occurrence, but shook his head in order to dispel that thought.
Reunion... was more lively than usual. He stared at the many people moving around with greater passion, ranging from the normal folks, to the Yeti Squadron, and then toward the newly formed Phantom Crossbowmen of Faust. He didn't know much of the Phidia, but the boy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders—along with that Mephisto kid.
From the corner of his eye, he could see FrostNova and Talulah conversing. The contents of whatever they discussed escaped him, and the black-haired man wasn't going to eavesdrop on it, because it would be disrespectful if he had done so—
"Planning to eavesdrop on a conversation?"
—Oh, right, "no. I'm not abrasive enough to do that," Megumi replied while turning toward the voice, "Laurentina."
"Goodness, what a gentleman you are," Laurentina rolled her eyes as she stood beside him, her stealth having completely escaped his senses which couldn't sense well in a Cursed Energy lacking environment, "other men would probably want to eavesdrop in order to hear what those two ladies fancy. If you understand what I mean~?"
"I don't," Megumi rolled his eyes. While turning away, he could feel the white-haired woman approach him from behind and place her hands on his shoulders, ones which were wearing the white cloak FrostNova had given him "...what is it now?"
"Come on, you've gotta stop acting sooo~ cool, and show some more emotion." Laurentina faux whined while abruptly turning him around, which had shocked the black-haired man with how easily she had done it, "heh, see? Any other expression is more adorable than that deadpan of yours, Princess." She moved to her tippy-toes and pinched Megumi's cheeks.
"Eugh..." He winced while raising his hands to lightly grab the Aegir's wrists in order to pry them off, but it proved ineffective, "s-stawp thawt." His voice became altered from the shark lady's influence.
"If you tell me who's the most beautiful lady you know, then maybe I would~?" Laurentina cooed while smiling like a fox.
"Ugh..." Megumi let out another groan, "mah sister." He replied without a moment's hitch, making the other woman's mood drop.
"...That's not the answer I wanted," she pouted, while pulling harder. "But—if you believe so, then you wouldn't mind if I pinch them a little bit more, hm?" The Abyssal Hunter giggled while watching his face contort to her hand's whims.
There was a moment where he had considered balling his fists together and chanting out for a certain Divine General to help him in his endeavors, but he pulled the feeling back. The intrusive thoughts wouldn't win, not now, and not today.
While he was being pestered by a coy shark, the small disturbance caused by their activities seemed to alert everybody else and turn their attention to him, much to Fushiguro Megumi's chagrin. He was at least thankful that they were used to his and Laurentina's antics that only a small chuckle would be given.
In the moments when Reunion had forgotten about his Divine General was when it was most comfortable for him. Ruling with fear was never his forte, unless it was directed toward enemies in a fight between life and death.
The approaching footsteps of FrostNova and Talulah were heard when they arrived at the scene, holding various looks of amusement.
"Having fun, you two?" FrostNova asked.
"Oh, little bunny," Laurentina grinned while peering from Megumi's side, "we're having looots~ of fun!"
"D-dawn't believe her," Megumi continued to wince as he grappled with the woman's unflinching hands. "Don't believe this damned gorilla woman!" His voice finally came through as he was able to speak properly, earning a smack downside the head because of his words.
"Boohoo," Laurentina huffed, "sea urchin."
Talulah let out a small laugh as she watched the scene with FrostNova, "come on, break it up you two." She acted as the mediator, placing her hands in-between them to separate the aforementioned two.
"Sometimes I wonder if Reunion has gotten livelier with you two or not," FrostNova crossed her arms with an amused remark.
"I doubt it," Megumi said while massaging his cheek.
"Definitely," Laurentina crossed her arms delicately while leaning to the side.
Their gaze eventually turned back to each other with a newfound opposition to one another.
"Sheesh, calm it down," FrostNova shook her head, "I haven't seen you two clashing against each other this much."
"Blame this stupid shark," Megumi's eye twitched while pointing toward Laurentina, "crazy woman can't even keep her hands to herself."
"Oh? Maybe if you'd stop being such a herbivore, then maybe you wouldn't find yourself pushed around so much," Laurentina fired back.
"H-herbivore...?" The black-haired man almost found himself agape at the language used by the woman.
"Am I wrong?" She cupped her hands toward her ear and leaned forward, all the while she "cutely" smiled. "Come on~? I don't hear any refute, Princess. You were so plain and submissive back then, but then you suddenly grow a pair and start arguing with me?"
The two continued to bicker as Talulah leaned toward FrostNova with a whisper, "I don't believe Laurentina is wrong at all..." She was taking a side, but honestly, with what she knew of Fushiguro Megumi, the black-haired man could barely take any hints when it came to "that" kind of subject. Nor when it came to potential signs a woman would give him, which mainly came from "that" side of Reunion.
"...I don't believe we should gossip about this," FrostNova's lips thinned as she closed her eyes, "we definitely shouldn't gossip about this." It was not as if she agreed with the Aegir's assessment of the black-haired man, not at all.
"Say that to your Yeti Squadron," the Draco poked fun at her, "they're always with the latest news."
"Don't remind me," the Cautus woman could also feel her eye twitch from the comment.
"Worry not, I won't," Talulah broke off and turned back toward Megumi and Laurentina, "say—you two—would you like to attend our celebration?"
The two people who had been called out paused their small argument and turned toward the dragon lady.
"A celebration?" Megumi raised an eyebrow, "what for?"
"We've successfully repelled a large bulk of the Ursus Patrol Squadrons. It should be good enough to boost morale, no?" She replied.
"Well... you can't argue with that," Laurentina shrugged in agreement, "I wouldn't mind. But our antisocial Princess here might not be so acclimated as to participate," but not before throwing some shade toward a certain black-haired man.
"...Oh, come on," Megumi hadn't been this pestered ever since Kugisaki Nobara and Itadori Yuji, "you know what? Fine, I'll come there too."
"Oh my~" Laurentina placed a hand over her mouth, "so you're finally stepping away from holing up yourself in your room? Goodness, and I was starting to believe I would have to coerce you out of bed EVERY morning."
"T-tch..." The Jujutsu Sorcerer had to way to refute that.
Talulah turned back to FrostNova, "see?"
"..." FrostNova kept silent.
There was no doubt about it.
Fushiguro Megumi was definitely a herbivore.
OOO*
Reverse Cursed Technique was able to produce Positive Energy which negated the Cursed Energy in an object, or from a phenomenon produced by a Cursed Technique. The utilization of such an application in order to disrupt attacks by other Jujutsu Sorcerers is not seen as an effective measure, because the amount of Positive Energy that required such a feat was abysmally high.
For a Shikigami whose entire existence was solely based on Reverse Cursed Technique? It would be child's play for it to put the application into use. The only problem it would face if a technique's Output were far too high, and such wasn't the case for what Fushiguro Megumi was utilizing it for.
The Binding Vow to make it no longer affect Cursed Energy in exchange for it working against Arts was interchanged back to affecting Cursed Energy, in order to negate the Cursed Energy in the radiation around him in order to dispel their phenomenon. With Algonquin's Output being staggeringly high because of its existence as an Essenced Totality, and another Binding Vow to make it so that his Positive Energy lost its healing capabilities in order to make it furthermore disrupt Cursed Energy to a higher degree—Megumi would not risk the radiation damaging his cells.
Because the isotopes he created of deuterium and tritium were made of Cursed Energy, along with the flames needed to heat them up, then the energy released would also be Cursed Energy in nature. The same applied to radiation.
The Outputted Positive Energy was in a spherical shape which covered a huge distance around himself, which served as both a boon and a flaw for what he was doing right now. It meant that his enemies could also walk inside the large barrier-like sphere that was formed, and be unaffected by the ionizing radiation.
'Terrans... they're more powerful than a normal human being by default, does that apply to their genetic make-up too? I don't know how radiation fully interacts with Originium either,'Megumi stood still in a combat-ready position with his arms, mimicking Ryomen Sukuna's martial arts pose—as it was the most effective one that he knew.'I can just leave and disable Algonquin's Reverse Cursed Technique, and then be done with it...'
His eyes narrowed amongst the dissipated fog.
They were a good distance away because the Jujutsu Sorcerer had taken a mighty leap in order not to be immobilized by the ice created by FrostNova, but he could still see the towering figures of Reunion from where he was at. Namely, Patriot—the greatest threat that he would most likely have to face out of them all.
Talulah had grown stronger since they last met, to the point where Megumi was confident he would have lost in a battle of attrition if he hadn't thrown out World Burning Flames. The damage sustained during their bout also left him at a lower Output than usual, and that wasn't even counting the burn-out from utilizing his Domain Expansion in the way that he did with Binding Vows.
Reverse Cursed Technique couldn't heal the damage he sustained either, causing him further complications in regards to engaging in a fight with the rest of Reunion right now.
"...Megumi," a cold but hesitant FrostNova spoke up while she carried Talulah in a crouched position. Normally, with how cold her body was, this would be the last thing she would consider. But seeing the burns the Draco sustained and the fact that her body condition had miraculously improved somehow; there was no hesitation with letting the Draco go in contact with her body.
"FrostNova," Megumi replied with a bland voice as he gauged the amount of people behind them. There were a few, but they were farther back more in fear and hesitation than anything else, "and Patriot."
"The winds of change... have blown your way. I take it... that it wasn't pleasant," Patriot said while stepping forward, each stomp leaving a large reverberation across the desolated lands.
"The same could be said for you guys too," Megumi kept his expression neutral while wiping the corner of his lips. "But at this point, should I even be surprised?" He kept gauging the potency of Reunion, keeping in mind which were the most dangerous and which ones were the least.
Perhaps he could slaughter the Yeti Squadron to deal a mental blow to FrostNova, or maybe he could slaughter the better armed members to deal a blow to morale, and even dealing with the weak ones in order to have the rest scramble away could work.
There was also the choice to go after Faust and Mephisto—the two weakest that he remembered from back then. They were still young after all, and from their Arts growth, they looked to be pitifully weak from what he could gauge.
"Your health has deteriorated, Patriot," Megumi turned his gaze back at the Wendigo.
"And your eyes... have become more... decadent." Patriot replied, "is this... your chosen place...?"
"My place?" Megumi lowered his hand, "sure. I don't mind it at all." He gave the most confident grin he could, "you always told me to find one—and I've already decided what I want to do." Swiping his hand in the air to get the blood off of it and get his veins flowing once more, the Jujutsu Sorcerer was ready for another bout. "Ifthisis what Reunion wishes to do..." his gaze scanned the ruins of Chernobog, the blast had taken Talulah to the outskirts of where the shockwave should have passed, "then I wouldn't mind standing in your way either."
"Megumi," FrostNova spoke once more. She could see it as clear as day, that the young man in front of her had become somebody completely different from what she had seen back then,
both biologically and psychologically.
"Now I'm confused," the black-haired man turned to the white-haired Cautus, "what could have ever happened that Reunion could becomethislow?" His four eyes narrowed in distilled anger, his mask of "confidence" just barely containing it.
She was just about to refute him, "but the Infected's plight...!" but found the words dying in her throat, which prompted Patriot to answer for her.
"I cannot deny... that Reunion has gone... astray."
"How utterly unfortunate."
"Are you disappointed...?" Patriot's figure stood firm and tall, and not a single brush of the wind could ever seem to sway him.
"I honestly can't say I am," Megumi admitted with a despondent voice, "Terra has always been a disappointing place. Something like this...?" He scoffed, "I should have expected it."
"Then that means... as our paths cross... as they are, we are bound to... fight." A declaration was heaved from the Wendigo's chest, the deepest condolence he could give to the black-haired man. "No longer as allies... but enemies of... opposing sides. How truly... unfortunate."
FrostNova silently balled her hands into a tighter fist. Blue frost bled from it as black crystals started to form in its vicinity.
Megumi felt lethargic. For a moment, the clarity in his eyes ceased to be at that moment, a sense of malignance overtaking him. He followed his views as if it were a religious practice, and just as any religious practice it would be for a follower—it granted him happiness, "even if time has changed, then only one thing remains the same, huh?"
"Will that be... your verdict?" Patriot's left arm raised upwards his shield, while his right still held in an iron-grip his halberd.
"The Infected."
Patriot and FrostNova listened to his words.
"Talulah was right," Megumi let out a sigh, "they're really no different from people." His eyes slightly peeked open, ignoring everything else other than the Draco lying unconscious in FrostNova's hands.
"...Then I believe we both know how this will end," FrostNova bit the inside of her cheek. "Ha~is this how everything amounts to?" Her low voice crawled to a whisper as she prepared herself and set Talulah's body safely behind herself.
The black-haired man paused for a moment as his gaze lingered on Talulah for a second more. He turned back toward Patriot and FrostNova as his right fist clenched and was brought back in a ready position, which had brought a defensive reaction out of the other two. They were primed for combat, to push against the enemy who stood in front of them.
There was not a single word left to be given as Megumi ran over the scenario over and over again in his mind. What could he do? Should he do it? And what was the best path he could take?
Just like the many routes that can be taken in Jujutsu Sorcery—there were also many which have to be taken in all different ways of life. For just a moment, the one where he would unexpectedly take was something that he would have never thought to take. Not in his current state of mind would he do such a thing...
"You know what?" Megumi's voice bled out as he straightened his posture.
"...?"
The confusion of both FrostNova and Patriot were palpable.
"Forget it," the black-haired man let out a scowl, "do you know where you're standing at right now?"
"What...? What are you talking about now?" FrostNova almost felt like holding her breath.
"You're close to the edge of the radiation zone of the pure fusion blast—meaning that the exposure to the ionizing radiation is the least dangerous it can be," he declared, "unless you want irreparable damage to your DNA and genes, then I'd recommendleavingright now. All that awaits you here is a slow and agonizing death, something which I assume to be the case for Talulah from this point onward."
"Radiation?" FrostNova's Cautus ears twitched. The term was unfamiliar with her, but she assumed it to be a scientific one.
"What I'm trying to say," Megumi flicked his wrist as he leaned his neck backwards to stretch it, "you're all most likely to die later on down the line if I release this green barrier. Don't you understand?" It was both a threat and a suggestion.
"...So then that... is the purpose... I see," Patriot spoke up as he raised his halberd in the air, an indicator for all of Reunion's forces in the back to move away—much to their confusion. "Then I believe... the next time we cross... paths, it will be unpleasant."
The black-haired man kept his position iron-cladded, "there's no need to sugarcoat it Patriot. You were never one to do that in the first place," he thinned his lips, "we're enemies now." His eyes darted toward Talulah one last time with a complex look crossing his features, before he shut his eyes and let out the air trapped inside of his chest. "Sorry—haha... I thought I would have been more angry..." Megumi's two orbs opened with newfound clarity, addressing the two in front of him for the last time "...but really, what is there to be regretful about?"
The sound of wind came over.
Above the horizon were the looming dark clouds which carried death and disease with them, a calamity which cared not for the cries of the innocent people or the misgivings of the sinners. Wherever it went and whatever it consumed, would suffer the same fate as any would be under its cruel grasp.
Briefly, small shards started to ripple across the air and tear it with its unstoppable fervor. Farther back, the sounds of rumbling and crashing meteors against the city of Chernobog could be heard, along with the sizzling marks of a nuclear blast having ravaged the center. There was only one clear word to describe it: Catastrophe.
FrostNova wanted to say something as the orange lights billowed in and covered the environment once more. Everything was painted in the hue which infected the judgement of everybody present, just as the screams of human voices could be heard echoing forth once more.
Instead of the innocents however, it was the blood-stained folks of Reunion.
With only a single movement, Fushiguro Megumi backed away and disappeared amongst the surrounding air, as if he was never there in the first place.
Beneath those four eyes of his—there was no longer the self-assuredness and malevolence she saw last time; but one fraught with hesitance.
She was ushered back by Patriot as the green-ish white hue of the nearly imperceptible barrier faded, staring stupefied at the events that had just unfolded.
Despite the cover of smoke obscuring her sight, she could see one thing off in the distance from where the black-haired man had left.
A white cloak with furred-accents flying in the wind, she remembered it clearly.
It was burning.
OOO*
W was shocked when staring at the black-haired man from the distance she was at. Although the outfit and appearance was different, it was clear enough to her that he was that man who had made her carbine functional along with improving her weapons for a price. Now—he was somebody who could apparently fire off an explosion that makes an Originium dirty bomb look like a joke and grow another pair of eyes?
'What the hell...?'The Sarkaz knew her limits. If he could contend with Talulah and leave the She-Dragon in such a state after their bout without looking too troubled himself, then that was enough for her to knownotto engage him in direct combat.'Patriot wasn't doing anything to engage on first contact either. Seriously? How small did this world become now?'She was becoming more exasperated by the second.
Alright, good to know, some random bloke off in a bar meant for mercenaries was somebody who could bomb an entire city in a grand spectacle—shooting out enough smoke to form a delicate mushroom on the plate that was Chernobog.
'A Catastrophe's rolling in too.'The Sarkaz placed a hand over her eyes as she narrowed them off toward the distance,'meh. Won't be too difficult finding cover for that... though, I gotta make sure that black-haired guy doesn't spot me, he'd probably kill me at first sight if he saw I was part of the Reunion carnival.'W whistled out as she kept her senses keen.
'Rhodes Island is still off in the distance and running with their tail between their legs... should I chase after them?'She leapt off the destroyed building as the forces of Reunion were running past the structure where she was at, and then dusted off her skirt.'Too far for my liking, though. Especially in conditions such as this.'
The weapons hanging off her clacked together as she placed her hands on her hip,'gee, what a shitshow today was.'A breath of exasperation left her as she rolled her eyes,'gotta round up those mercenaries and get the hell to cover now.'
OOO*
Mephisto never knew him, not in the slightest. Whenever he sat at the campfire at the center of their settlement, there would always be stares sent his way, as he practically sat in the spotlight itself. There was always a lingering sense of detachment that tore him away from Reunion's normality, and that hadn't even been touching on the fact that hewasn't an Infected. He was tolerable amongst the members at worst, so hardly any conflict ever came to pass regarding that.
What conflicts did however, was the fact that he was amonster. There was no doubt about it, the lingering aura around him, the fact that he declared his Arts as "Cursed," and even the hints toward him slaughtering his own clan in cold blood; they had all combined together to formulate the undeniable evidence that all of Reunion—including himself—could see.
Wherever his eyes turned or whenever his posture shifted, there was always a burning sense of dread that came with it. Everything had only become more intense amongst everybody as he had evidently laid two Emperor's Blades to rest, a feat that could only be accomplished by their undisputed strongest member, Patriot.
But... that was what Reunion knew of him. What about himself? It wasn't much different, really. As much as he would hate to admit it, but the little boyfearedthe black-haired man who wore a robe draped upon his shoulders by Death. The way that it followed his every move as if it were his servant continued to haunt Mephisto in his dreams, and his eyes, it was always those horrendous eyes which lacked any life; which furthermore grated at his mind at every waking moment he was in contact with them.
Faust had always shielded him from that monstrosity.
He didn't know why, but Mephisto was confident that nobody saw the black-haired man as he did. It was as if there was an invisible veil placed over Fushiguro Megumi that hid his true nature from everybody else. The white-haired boy knew better, it was just that the top echelons of Reunion hadn't been bothered by his presence as much as he did.
"Mephisto."
Still, the crawling maggots that seemed to be spilling out from thosedamnedeyes continued to burn itself in his mind, and the four-eyed apparition which would always paint itself when he stood in the shadows...
"You're clutching your head again."
...A demon. He was a demon, and there was no doubt about it! Who could command two towering beings which dwarfed skyscrapers, and another one which bore the sadistry of a being bathed in nothing but blood?! Fushiguro Megumi—the name of that demon—could! Who else could?!
"There's a Catastrophe arriving, Mephisto..." Faust's voice continued to call out toward the white-haired boy. He was hesitant to reach his hand out and shake the other, because he was sure it would cause him to snap and enter a further state of panic.
The Phantom Crossbowmen stood beside him with bated breaths as they witnessed the scene. They wouldn't move without the command of Faust.
Mephisto gripped his cane tighter as a mark of both fear and rage came over his face. "He'll come back, won't he?"
"We don't know." Faust shook his head.
"Talulah... did he kill Talulah...?!" The white-haired Liberi let his cane go for a moment as she grasped his life-long friend's shoulders, "that explosion, it's bigger than any I've seen! Is she still alive, i-is she...?!" A future without their leader wasn't one he could ever imagine, such a notion struck his heart like a hammer upon a thin string.
"...I don't know," the other boy looked downwards, his hand limply holding his crossbow. "I don't think anybody knows yet—except for the ones who stepped close to the battlefield where it happened."
The Phantom Crossbowmen nervously fiddled with their devices and tools, with the roar of the Catastrophe starting to reach its peak. Radio frequencies still didn't work, especially with the high density of Originium now present in the air with a Catastrophe's arrival.
"A-ah..." Mephisto's eyes widened as his pupils shook. The terror which had murdered two Emperor's Blades was now focusing his sights upon them, wasn't he?
"You can use your Arts to treat her if she's suffered too much damage..." Faust barely found the courage to give the suggestion toward him "...but we know what will happen with her Oripathy levels." The unbroken confidence that had come from the boy who had experienced hell in the frostbitten tundras was longer present in his eyes.
"I-I'll do it!" He desperately demanded, "I'll cure any problem that the bastard caused! She can't die!" He wouldn't allow her life to be taken by an Imaginary Demon's hands.
"...Then we have to survive the Catastrophe first," Faust said, just as the booming sound of Originite bashed into a skyscraper in close proximity. "So hurry up!" His composure was lost at that moment as he grabbed Mephisto and signalled for the Phantom Crossbowmen to follow.
The looming clouds came closer, as thunderstruck in-between the crevices of the blackened clouds. A hail of ire chased after the fleeting ants down below, indiscriminate in whatever it had consumed in its chewing mouth.
Mephisto watched the clouds start to roll in on their position with dead eyes. The figure of the black-haired man flashed again in his head—somebody who had accomplished such unbelievable feats he had heard back then—that the Liberi boy could only imagine an unholy apparition deep beneath his accursed skin.
He needed to be stronger, he needed to be smarter, in order to combat the disease which would tear apart Reunion at a faster degree than Oripathy's destined fatality would!
'F-Fushiguro Megumi...! This isn't over!'The fear present beneath started to dissipate ever so slightly, as sworn vengeance against his greatest enemy had unfolded.'Even if nobody else finds a way, I'll kill you!'
OOO*
A Reunion member grabbed their throat as blood started to rise from it, their choked gasps escaping as they fell to the ground and squirmed about. Their bodies continued to roll amongst all the others who were facing the same fate—a golden-streaking blade to their throats and a crackle of gamma rays which continued to tear at them. A weapon which cleaved through ignorance, crafted with the condescending might of crushing evil itself.
More and more soon-to-be-made corpses were at the ready. Whether it was having parts of their bodies pulverized as a long fabric loosely flowed in the air with each movement of the weapon, or the multiple arms which would sprout from the shadow of the approaching figure that would lash out with other weapons; the same results were given.
"S-shit—!"
"Run away! He's the o-one who—!"
"Where are those arms coming from—?!"
"M-my arm! H-help me, please—!"
"I-I'm sorry, hey, hey! I didn't mean to—!"
Two hands, and many others which would sprout themselves into existence as small localized shadow puddles formed at Megumi's shoulders and areas close to it would appear. Juuchi Yosamu, Ame-no-Sakahoko, Ame-no-Habakiri, and everything else; they would be held at the hands of his Essenced Totalities stored in his shadows as he utilized his main weapon.
"R-run to the Catastrophe, he won't—!"
A Reunion member instantly had their head cleaved off with a swing of the Trishula-fashioned weapon, the sharpness of its three golden prongs holding no single rival in the world. Sparks of golden lightning would follow as corpses would be pulverized at the high concentrations of gamma rays infused into it, a weapon that took two whole years to fully complete.
"Did you know?" Megumi flourished the weapon with a swing as the red fabric just below the Trishula's three prongs in a circular motion, and the other arms peering out of the localized shadow puddles across his body moved in tandem before they dematerialized, "I found out that the Emperor's Blades held a strange object inside of their armor."
His enemies paid his words zero heed as they were overtaken with far too much fear. They ran toward the Catastrophe, a foolish endeavor if they wished to keep their lives intact, but all logic was thrown out of the window when it came to the being in front of them.
"It was chaotic," he swung lazily horizontally, sending off a large wave of golden lightning which tore the bodies in half, "and incomprehensible. Like seeing a square circle, imagining a new color, and being both there and not at the same time. A paradox," the black-haired man switched fluidly with the Trishula and struck in a vertical arc, sending off multiple thunderbolts in front of him.
Bodies broke and were pulverized under its wake. More screams were heard, coming together to form a musical piece that spoke one single message. The message was already clear enough, as spilt blood did not even have the chance to coagulate, as the heat of the terrestrial gamma ray flashes resting beneath the thunder of the Trishula evaporated them on contact.
"What could I do against it other than desperately throw everything I could to combat it?" Megumi continued on with recounting the events, when an Emperor's Blade was sent his way—and truly pushed him to the limit which he hadn't seen since battling Laurentina. It wasn't like those back in the tundras, they were experienced, so much so that he had to summon upon his unmitigated Domain Expansion with its Sure-Hit effect intact.
The enemies were too far away for his partially summoned arms of the Essenced Totalities—Algonquin and Shuten-Dōji—to strike at them comfortably from. So all he did was raise his Trishula weapon upwards, calling upon a marching band of lightning in order to strike at them. It was in such intense amounts that the horizon covered by the light of the Catastrophe became lit up in an aureate color, before dying down.
The piece of cloth flowing from the base neck of the weapon continued to billow in the wind, its grand length granting it a near beautiful splendor. Was this how Ryomen Sukuna felt when fending off an army of Jujutsu Sorcerers, with naught but his body and weapons in hand?
"Adaptation. That was what," Megumi lowered his weapon as he held it, the Magnum Opus of all Cursed Tools—he would declare, "I didn't think I could create anything on the level of Ame-no-Sakahoko, it was created by a god after all. But... I guess with what this world holds, a great many opportunities have been given to me." He needed to broaden his horizons to a greater degree, he needed to imagine a version of himself which had freely surpassed all limits.
With a hyperbolic hundred turns of his Dharmachakra and excess use of Barrier Techniques to replicate the rituals which held the corruptive influence of that... otherworldly force, it had granted him the weapon held in his hands right now.
"It wouldn't be too arrogant to call myself the greatest Cursed Tool creator, would it?" He continued to speak to the air while turning his gaze upwards. "A weapon only one step below a Divine Cursed Tool, even if it has many rooms for improvements." Megumi's gaze turned upwards as he was greeted with nothing. "Oh... who am I kidding? I'm talking to nobody." A self-deprecating chuckle of loneliness overcame him.
The black-haired man sighed as he palmed his forehead, a greater deal of frustration overcoming him, "what's wrong with you, Talulah?" A growl escaped his lips as he one-handed the Trishula he created—one which had been reforged from his broken Vajra when he had his spout with Laurentina.
Ame-no-Nuboko, the Jeweled Spear of Heaven was considered a Vajra in some mythological texts, and it was also the twin of Ame-no-Sakahoko. There was nothing that he could create without spending another two years that could even be comparable to the new weapon named after the aforementioned Ame-no-Nuboko.
It was infused with the best Totality he could create, because the previously infused Shadow Extension of Chimera Beast Agito had been pulverized with the damage Daiitoku had sustained. That added on with the Binding Vow condition where he could highly concentrate terrestrial gamma rays which were present in specialized thunder—he had created a weapon which surpassed any other—aside from Ame-no-Sakahoko.
He still needed to see the upper-limits of the repaired Inverted Spear of Heaven
Even though it was considered a Vajra, he still decided to fashion it in the shape of a Trishula. It didn't matter anyways that it was now a polearm, since he could use the arms of his partially summoned humanoid Totalities in order to wield a great deal of other weapons. With his current arsenal, he had four total free arms to summon out of a small shadow puddle—six if a certain Divine General counted.
He could do this without calling their names, as they were stored in his shadows rather than being de-summoned.
It had led to a mastered fighting-style incorporating them—one which capitalized on the genes granted by Taira-no-Masakado—in order to perfect his "martial arts."
"Two souls...?" Megumi kept his thoughts concentrated on a certain Draco as the meteors from the sky continued to rain down. "Was I just seeing things?" Ganesha's removal of obstacles was applied to the Catastrophe, so anything sent from it would just barely divert off-course enough to the point where they would not damage him in the slightest.
"If I was just seeing things, then why did she look so... afraid? Sorrowful?" The Jujutsu Sorcerer wished he possessed the Six Eyes and he angrily pointed Ame-no-Nuboko toward a falling mass that came from the Catastrophe. The lightning produced from the Trishula-esque weapon pulverized it, proving its might in comparison to the now defunct Daiitoku.
He was right there, just ready to lay waste to her life without any hesitation, to follow the view which he had so painstakingly commandeered onto his life. Yet that very same view had demanded he not kill her, because there were far too many factors which came in regards towhyshe had done what she did.
"My Reserves..." Megumi muttered under his breath as he stared upwards at the Catastrophe, "they're fine so far. I can't use another World Burning Flames because of the Binding Vows on my Shadow Extension, and I can't heal any injuries either." He reassessed his situation as he continued to move across the ravaged land of Chernobog.
His gaze briefly turned back in order to gauge the destruction of his Incinerator's version of World Cutting Slash. Although it lacked the capability of bypassing any and all defense as the amped-up Dismantle, it compensated with the sheer destructive capability that it could create in a large range.
"If I fought Patriot and FrostNova back then... I might have suffered too much damage," unless he screamed for Mahoraga and called out for all of his Essenced Totalities, then he doubted he could have handled the bulk of Reunion's forces present.
He coughed into his fist right after as he dispelled the Divine Cursed Tool that he was holding. For a moment, he considered summoning Garuda and just leaving the confines of Chernobog, but he still had unfinished business present in this place. He needed to see if Azazel Clinic had evacuated in time, and understand what had happened with Talulah. Although, the latter could wait for some other time.
OOO*
The VTOL rattled in the catastrophe, making the air vehicle slightly tilt off course as it continued to drive away from Chernobog. It was somewhat of a hasty idea given toward the pilot, but the Rhodes Island group cared for nothing other than making it out of the city as soon as possible. With the amount of chaos present inside such a confined city, any measure to make it outside was appealing enough for them.
"Miss Nearl!" Amiya called out toward the blonde-haired Pegasus, "can you hold onto the Doctor for me?" She was having a hard time carrying the man with a larger frame than herself, so she had no choice but to ask the woman for help.
"Yes, of course!" Nearl replied while the VTOL rattled from the Catastrophe's might, "come here Doctor, and hold on tight!" She reached her hand out to receive him, and held the Doctor in a vice grip as the ship continued to quake.
"Is this... a Catastrophe?" The Doctor muttered from underneath his mask as he felt the way the natural disaster was attempting to throw them around the interior of the ship.
"Hey, keep yourselves steady!" Ace called out toward them, "we just got out of a blast zone of some city-leveling bomb, now we're practically flying through a Catastrophe! This day's getting shittier by the minute, huh?!"
"That much is already a given," Dobermann held onto her own support inside the ship as she attempted to stay as calm as possible, "at least we aren't dead—yet!"
"Don't lose hope now," Nearl kept herself steady, no matter the situation. She wouldn't fear the hardships that came out of this, "Reunion is a non-factor considering that black-haired man had decided to stall them... as opposed as I was to it." Even then, the Pegasus did not doubt his capabilities one bit, considering just howterrifyinghe looked.
"That stranger...?" Amiya mumbled out while attempting to keep her mind as clear as possible, she couldn't lose her composure in the midst of a Catastrophe now, "d-do you think he was the one that...?"
Nearl blinked a few times, a sobering realization coming to her.'Of course, the presence to match a mighty foe, the strange summons he was able to bring up... would it be too far-fetched to say that the explosion was his doing?'She still remembered the grisly sights of those alien beasts, which looked as if they had come from an illustration book of fantasy monsters more than anything else.
"All signs point to it," the Doctor spoke up this time, his measured voice cutting through the environment like a precise scalpel, "he was the one who said he was going to hold Reunion back, and he was the only one to engage them directly. If we go with the direction that he went, then..."
"It was toward the Tyrant of Reunion," Dobermann completed for the group, before glancing down at a static screen on the VTOL, "w-wait... holyshit, what happened t-to Chernobog?!" Her composure snapped at that moment.
"Ms. Dobermann?" Amiya said to the Perro woman, "the ship's video functions aren't working because of the Catastrophe, what are you looking at...?"
"Is something wrong?" Nearl looked toward them along with the Doctor.
"No, take a closer look! It's coming back!" Dobermann barked towards them, "don't you see the damage?"
"The damage—" Amiya looked toward the screen despite the disruption, before she saw fully what had occurred "—I... the entire center is gone..."
"Vaporized completely," Nearl was left agape, "j-just how powerful was that...?" She had only seen the voracious mushroom cloud plume rise up toward the skies, but to see its full destruction from where she was at.
"What a monster," Ace's voice came through as he leaned in toward the screen, "he'sthe one who did that single-handedly? What would have happened if he hadn't forced us out?" The image was burned into his mind, a four-eyed monster with strange black markings across his face and arms.
"We would have died," the Doctor declared, "an explosion of that impact and yield would have reduced us to ash on ground zero."
"Doctor..." Amiya felt her rabbit ears fall downwards at the blunt statement, but she knew it was true, "so it was a good call to listen to his words?"
"What else could it have been?" The Doctor sighed.
"I have to agree on that. If we had decided to stay even a few meters closer toward the blast radius, then we would have been torn off our feet without any chance to defend against the ensuing shockwave," Nearl closed her eyes with a complicated look. "It's good to know that some knowledge has been kept despite your amnesia, Doctor."
The Doctor nodded.
"Nearl, didn't he also give you a weird look?" Ace replied from the side, the shaking of the ship having finally subsided to a greater extent, much to the relief of everybody present.
"Hm..." The Pegasus didn't know what to think of it.
"H-he is also aware of Specter," Amiya added in.
"Specter?" The Doctor didn't know who that was.
"Ah, right, you wouldn't know..." Amiya twiddled with her fingers, "but he knew her real name, Laurentina. He must be somebody familiar with her."
"Specter, huh?" Ace chimed in, "I heard she's in the medical ward with some psychological problems relating to her personality, but that's all I know."
"I've come to see her in passing," Nearl cupped her chin, "a three-parted dress with many accessories on it, am I correct?"
"Yes," Amiya nodded. She remembered seeing the white-haired Aegir in passing, who bore a great resemblance to Skadi in some aspects. Suffice to say, with her empathic abilities... It felt like the woman wasobsessedwith something that she couldn't quite tell.
"Then it would be best to inquire with Specter about this stranger—somebody who potentially knows him," the Pegasus regarded the entire group who nodded with her words. "Does anybody have a picture or recording done with their drones?"
"Don't even bother," Ace was the one to speak up, "I checked in with the others, their drones have completely malfunctioned. It was like the inner systems and circuitry were completely fried with the explosion."
"I could have sworn we kept them protected in such heat, though...?" Nearl raised an eyebrow as a hand was placed over her mouth, attempting to make reason over how something like that could have occurred.
"Electromagnetic waves."
Everybody became silent as they turned toward the voice which had spoken that. Lo' and behold, it was the Doctor who had met all of their gaze with a rather shrunken back disposition.
"Doctor?" Amiya tilted her head.
"Ah, um..." the Doctor didn't know how he knew such information, but he decided to just wing it from under the many gazes he was subjected under, "the explosion from the center wasn't any normal one, the thermal radiation produced from it er... clues us in that it was something which can produce..." He was starting to lose his train of thought—his amnesiac memories becoming more scrambled the more attempted to delve deep into it.
"I don't quite understand...? My apologies, Doctor," Nearl found herself just at a loss as he was, "I believe you would be quite knowledgeable on this matter, but your amnesia still hasn't been alleviated. "My condolences."
"...Ugh," the Doctor let out a frustrated breath. The amnesia was much more of a bother than he could have imagined. Of course, he didn't knowanything, and all they came from were brief flashes of memories or something that his brain attempted to recall. It didn't help that everybody seemed to know something about him that he didn't..."
"Doctor," Amiya grabbed his wrist and nudged it. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he shook his head to dispel her worries, "so we just have to ask this Specter person about this black-haired man who appeared?"
"Best we can do is describe his features," Dobermann crossed her arms and replied. "The VTOL has stopped shaking, it should be smooth sailing from here."
Ace nodded, "back on to what the Doctor said. Yes, we need to find out more of this stranger we had run into—potentially the one who bombed all of Chernobog."
"Are you sure we don't have any surviving footage from the drones?" Nearl asked once more.
"Of course, I already said their inner-circuitry is all but fried from those... electromagnetic waves or something that the Doctor pointed out. I'm more inclined to believe it to be a reason than anything else, because what else could have done it? It didn't feel like a large Originium dirty bomb either—because our Originium-detecting devices would have gone haywire." Ace took off his sunglasses and wiped them off with a sigh."
"...I see, what wretched luck we have." Nearl let out a sigh of her own.
A silence overtook the interior of the VTOL as nothing but the faint humming of its engines could be heard. It carried them across the wind after having been battered by a Catastrophe, but not even such a natural disaster could stop the vehicle from traversing the skies which it was meant to glide over. A single miracle was all that the entire group needed in order to survive, and a miracle presented in a display of pure destruction was what they were granted.
"H-hold on!"
A voice of one of the Operators handling a drone pulled in everybody's attention.
"One of the drones' recording footage is still working! It kept most of the data from a few hours ago, and that also means..."
The explosion.
The black-haired man.
They had it all.
OOO*
A figure pressed his back against a wall amongst the many ruins of Chernobog, as he let out tired pants. The Catastrophe continued to linger in the sky as it continued to spit down its solid black saliva onto the city, and continue to taint it. Not a single inch of land was spared from its undying wrath, an occurrence which had been common since the conception of Terra—from what he understood.
Fushiguro Megumi was starting to reach his limit.
Running all around the city and checking on the Azazel Clinic—which had been reduced to nothing but rubble—dealt both a physical and mental blow to him. It didn't help that he had to avoid any of the Reunion top brasses, lest the Jujutsu Sorcerer would have to go through with acertaindilemma in dealing with them. Every single new member that was brought into their ranks however...?
He wouldn't hesitate to kill them. They didn't matter in the first place.
"How painfully selfish," Megumi rolled his eyes amusedly as he stood back up, and turned to make his journey across Chernobog once more.
Hellagur had already evacuated, that was what he wished to tell himself. Even if the desolate wastes of Azazel Clinic were presented in front of his eyes, the fact that the corpses of citizens that he didn't remember from the clinic and Reunion nobodies were the only things he spotted were nearby—proved that he and the children were just fine. So... there was no need to worry and needlessly stress himself over it.
While he was slowly making his way to find an exit from the city, Megumi was about to sink into the shadows to make the process much quicker...
...But was halted dead in his tracks when he came to the sight of a desolate building amongst everything else.
A school.
It read Peterheim.
He was drawn to it, for whatever reason.
...No, he knew the reason very well—it was because he sensedlifewithin it.
And an ungodly amount of negative emotions.
OOO*
A/N: Yes, Megumi can partially summon arms of his Totalities for a brief moment in order to utilize them as extra limbs. In short, his fighting-style has been perfected in a way that's somewhat unique to him.
Next Chapter: Children of Ursus (Along with some Rhodes Island and Lungmen scenes probably).
Also, here are some crack Omakes.
OOO*
Penance, also known as Lavinia, a judge of Siracusa, stared upwards at the door where Fushiguro Megumi should be walking through. The law of the country dictated that he was to attend the trial lest he wishes to be chased down by aforementioned law and imprisoned. If he were late for even a single second or millisecond, then that would be ammunition for the persecutor to use against him in order to unfairly convict him.
With how Siracusa's legal system worked, Lavinia became increasingly worried about his attendance. What made matters even more complicated was that his hired lawyer—a defense attorney—has not arrived either. Perhaps they were deliberating over their course of what to do? Or maybe they were planning to enter at the last second?
Overall, she was worried about the prospect of the trial, especially with what he had been convicted of.
At the moment of her anxiety starting to swell over, the large door furnished with elegant patterns where Fushiguro Megumi should have been entering came open. A breath of relief came out of her as she closed her eyes in accordance with the motion, "Fushiguro Megumi, you hereby attend this court meeting in order to prove or disprove your involvement with terrorist acts against the Dodici Famiglie of Siracusa. Against you will be a prosecutor, and with you should be a defense..." before opening them.
...It was then Lavinia was presented with an absolutely bizarre sight, making her stumble over her words "a-and t-the defense is...?!" She felt her mouth nearly dropping down as a wave of shock overcame her body.
Everybody's attention had already been glued at the two people who had entered, sharing the same sentiment as her.
Indeed...
What stood before them was not a simple lawyer acting in the defense of Fushiguro Megumi, but a bastion sent from the heavens themselves in order to ordain the right of innocence upon his great Sovereign.
Bearing a privilege which would even topple over any degree of power granted by the Mandate of Heaven, there stood the one who shall defend the Yakushi Nyorai with its life—no matter the cost!
EIGHT-HANDLED SWORD DIVERGENT SILA DIVINE GENERAL MAHORAGA
A cigar smoke was blown from the towering beast's mouth, as the wheel atop its head spun. It wore a black formal suit which accentuated its majestic build, all the while it continued to walk with a casual but domineering step throughout the courtroom. In front of it stood Fushiguro Megumi, an action which declared all that was needed to be known to those who bore witness to such a scene.
A sense of might washed over everybody, leaving them repulsing from the near-unstoppable eminence which came from the Divine General.
"This will be my defense attorney, Mahoraga," Megumi finally said when arriving at his spot, "and he will prove my innocence to every claim made against me."
KLNK!
The wheel had spun.
Lavinia wanted nothing more than to slam her forehead against her stand with such an absurd scene presented in front of her.
"Your honor, and all individuals present in this courtroom..."the mouth of the beast finally opened, and everybody froze in anticipation for what words would exit from this infallible being,"kindly shut the fuck up, you weren't even there."Its fist slammed on the desk in front of it as the Sword of Extermination burst forth from its wrist—from under the sleeves of its suit.
Lavinia and everybody else stared on with an even greater shock—one ladened with the most profound confusion known to mankind.
OOO*
Ch'en and Swire stared at each other with an exasperated look on their faces. For once in their life, they shared the same sentiment between each other, and that wasneversomething that would come to pass as a common occurrence.
What sight had them so utterly confounded—that they now impossibly shared the same view despite being such mortal enemies that the heavens would turn over before they were ever in agreement with one another?
Well of course, it only took the most bizarre sight for them to see and postulate for something such as that to occur.
"There's no way..." Ch'en didn't know whether to die of embarrassment at what she was seeing, or question her existence, "he's not actually...?"
"He's actually doing it, what the hell?!" Swire spoke up and interrupted the other woman, her tiger ears twitching with an uncontrolled fervor, "t-that's... it's spinning!"
KLNK!
There was a turn of the wheel at the countertop of McDonalds, and the fearful cashier looked upwards with the most profound and primal terror he would ever come to witness in his entire lifetime. Nay, for the next one hundred lifetimes!
"Mortal."A large boom was heard across the room as the towering figure of a celestial being standing upon the highest of epochs spoke,"I must inquire of this establishment's decision of choice in their professional's skills—for my grand Sovereign has faced an undeniable transgression present within this meager province's workings."It was filled with a foretelling ire, and as blunt as the hardest of metals.
Fushiguro Megumi stood beside the towering being with an uncaring expression, merely letting his most trusted Divine General handle the worldly matters which were simply below him.
"S-sir..." The cashier stumbled through his words as if he were walking through the swamps of Naraka itself, "i-if you may f-forgive our cooks for—for t-heir mistake" he attempted to speak as politely as possible, for he if he hadn't, he was sure that—
KLNK!
A fist slammed on the countertop at such blinding speeds that nobody could register who it was from. But there was no doubt in anybody's mind as to who would have done such as action, for
"MY Sovereign requested for the component of the advertised meal!"Mahoraga's gaping maw opened as the words left his divine thorax,"pickles! And yet you and your meager workings have done naught to fulfill this request! Answer to this transgression! Or need I summon my army of 7000 and declare war upon your pitiful domain?"For such a holy being, the unholiest of growls had come out of it.
The cashier looked as if he were about to faint.
Megumi simply stood to the side, while scrolling through his phone. It was a minor convenience, but he believed this was justifiable. After all, he had tamed the tenth Shikigami, so he might as well put the tenth Shikigami to use.
"Facts—speak your shit, Mahoraga," he whole-heartedly allowed such a thing to occur.
Off to the side, Ch'en had come to a realization ages ago that she could donothingabout the scene, "Swire..."
"Ugh! Don't ask me! This entire thing is cooked!" Swire waved her arms in the air, "what can we even do?! Have another crater put into Lungmen?"
"But..." Ch'en's shaky finger pointed toward the happenings in front of her, where the mightiest soldier of the Healing Buddha continued to admonish the cashier with its bespoken power, "i-it's causing a—"
"Public disturbance? Fuck me if we can anything about it!" Swire placed her hands on Ch'en and shook the dazed woman, "don't you get it?! This sick bastard Megumi is making Mahoraga adapt to every single inconvenience!"
...Ch'en had no words.