Notes: A thief, a mage, and a carpenter walked into a bar.

Chapter 3

Present Day

Okkotsu Yuta stood atop a stony outcrop near Mount Kaiji, one hand resting on the pommel of his katana, though he sensed no danger in his immediate vicinity. The small, unnamed village at the foot of the volcano had been completely swept away by a recent eruption, and the lava had yet to entirely cool. By reinforcing his body with mana, Yuta was able to survive in the heat and still-falling ash.

The biggest issue here was that Mount Kaiji had been a dormant volcano up until a few nights ago. The village at the base had contained only farmers, drawn to the area by the fertile soil around the volcano. There were no mages around whatsoever to explain the sudden start of the volcano. Besides, it would likely have taken a mage of incredible strength to set off such an event given the dormant state of Mount Kaiji. Yuta could count on one hand the number of mages he knew with that kind of power.

Bolstering his body's strength further with mana, Yuta swiftly descended the outcrop he was on, then headed upward again toward the volcano's peak. Peering down through the rising ash, he saw the lava quickly cooling inside the mount. Closing his eyes, he concentrated hard, feeling the flow of mana in the air, the presence of life, searching for any traces of magic nearby. After a long minute he opened his eyes again, shaking his head. This had been a fool's errand; even if magic had been used to start up the volcano, he wouldn't be able to sense it through the chaos of heat and ash still swirling everywhere. The heat shimmered in a similar way to magic residuals.

Climbing down the mountain a different way, Yuta followed the oozing path of lava toward the unfortunate farming village in the valley. He doubted there were any survivors, but perhaps there would be further clues about the disaster there.

Fires still burned on some of the sturdier homes which were made of logs instead of sticks and thatch. Superheated lava oozed and cooled, hardening into solid stone. Yuta unsheathed his sword, imbuing it with mana before swinging it at a hardened lava rock covering the door to one of the smaller buildings which had minimal damage. The burned and charred remains he was expecting were absent. Systematically, he searched the other huts and larger buildings. Not only were there no survivors, but there were no bodies either.

Yuta sighed. It looked like the villagers had gotten out in time, sudden as the eruption had been. That was fortunate. He should go catch up with the others at their location now. "Rika," the young man said, "Lend me your powers." He twisted the ring he wore on the smallest finger of his left hand, syncing his own innate magic with the additional power the girl who had loved him in childhood had inexplicably left behind with him at her passing.

The spirit of a girl, only around eleven years old, hovered behind him and put one hand on each of his shoulders. Her only reply was "Yuta."

The mage made the appropriate hand seals to use the copied magic and promptly vanished, reappearing many kilometers away on the outskirts of another small village. Three horses with bridles tied loosely to tree branches cropped grass nearby, only startled for the initial instant when Yuta suddenly appeared. Zen'in Maki and Inumaki Toge must still be in the village then, not that Yuta thought they would leave without him, but they could have gone somewhere else nearby while he had warped elsewhere. He could only use the magic, copied from a Gojo Clan mage, to warp places he had already been, hence the need for horses to get out to this village initially.

Heading toward the quiet village, not a single fire coming from a cottage, Yuta concentrated yet again to feel any mana residue in the air. This time, he had success. The mana felt disturbed, as though some unnatural event had taken place. Usually, Yuta connected this sensation either to areas where magic had been used continually over a long period of time or where a great power had surged in a single occasion.

He was very nearly startled when Maki appeared before him, concentrated as he was on the feel of the disturbed mana. With her lack of any mana at all, she was one of the few people who could successfully sneak up on him. "Yuta, it's not good. Most of the villagers are missing, and the ones that are left are dead."

"Salmon," Toge said, also joining the two in the street.

Yuta frowned. "Let me see."

Sure enough, just as Toge had said, the few villagers who remained were dead and grotesquely misfigured at that. Some had malformed heads which looked like they had been stretched or compressed under enormous pressure, while others had malformed limbs or even entire bodies. Yuta had seen a lot, but never something like this.

"We should bring one back to examine," Maki stated. "That idiot or another mage at the castle might be able to find something we missed in the residuals which caused this."

"Tuna mayo," agreed Toge.

"The horses won't like getting warped back, but I'd hate to drag a slowly rotting corpse all the way back to the castle," Yuta said. He filled the others in on his own findings at the volcano as the three made a makeshift stretcher out of one of the futons in the nearby cottage. Maki, the physically strongest of the three, dragged it back to where their horses waited.

Yuta and Toge untied the beasts, and then the sword-wielder stepped back to get a view of all those he needed to warp. The copied magic required visual acknowledgements of the warp targets. Rika once again manifested and Yuta, Toge, Maki (corpse in tow), as well as three startled horses stood in front of the mage-king's castle in the blink of an eye. The magic, when used on so many targets and across such a distance, nearly depleted his significant mana reserves. He held the sync with Rika a few moments longer to replenish his stores again before releasing it. He was nearing his limit for the day by now, having used a lot of magic protecting himself from the heat at the volcano earlier as well as warping around.

Stablehands immediately rushed out to calm the rearing horses, leading them toward their stalls. Just past the stables and other exterior buildings loomed Castle Suga on the hill. The large stones creating its foundation supported the white wood tiers which stacked high above it, gray slanted roofs making each layer stand out. It was a truly grand construction which had been standing for eight-hundred years, built at the command of the first mage-king. The trio headed toward the tall, dark wood double doors which marked the entrance to the castle. The guards posted there gave the three a nod as they passed by, being quite familiar with them.

The castle was always a bustling place, but Yuta could navigate his way to the throne room with his eyes closed at this point. Toge had been around the castle for several years, and knew it nearly as well as Yuta, who had spent most of his past six years there instead of at the Gojo Clan main estate. Maki had only been around for about two years and followed her friends closely, past those who rushed by them in the long hallways, ensconced in their own duties and chores.

The throne room was empty - not much of a surprise as His Majesty was usually out and about. The trio headed down a side corridor toward the royal offices, but those were also empty. Yuta really hoped they both weren't gone on other work.

"Kelp," commented Inumaki after their lack of success so far.

"Good idea," Yuta replied. "You can go check the training grounds. We can report to Yaga-sensei if we can't find anyone else. In the meantime, Maki and I will make a stop by the infirmary. We need to stop dragging this body around."

Though they had wrapped the body, it was still clear they were dragging a corpse around and were starting to attract stares from those who were not entirely wrapped up in their own work.

The infirmary, like the throne room, was empty. Yuta sighed as Maki hoisted the corpse up onto an empty bed, and began scrawling a note on a scrap of paper to place on the body. He then wrote a second note for Gojo-sensei on another scrap and headed out to the training yard with Maki.

Toge had already found Yaga-sensei by the time the two reached the yard. Panda was there as well, sparring with a mage Yuta recognized only vaguely. He was consistently losing every match to the bear as well.

"Okkotsu, it's good to see you back," Yaga greeted the copy mage. "Inumaki filled me in on your findings. It sounds like a tough case if you couldn't crack it with the residuals left at the village."

Yuta grimaced. "I'd never seen anything like it, Yaga-sensei. The residuals felt wrong somehow, as though the magic used hadn't affected the villagers' bodies directly. It was like something else caused the deformities we saw there. Hopefully Gojo-sensei can spot it."

"Well, I haven't seen him all day. He left sometime last night and hasn't been back. But I can fill him in on the situation when he returns." Yaga took the note Yuta proffered. "I should also mention that the young Kamo and Zen'in mages are scheduled to arrive next month. We just got word back from their clans today. I'm sure they'll want to do some training and studying with you and the others."

"Hmm, thanks for the heads up," was Yuta's tired reply. The copy mage yawned, attempting to hide it from Yaga with one hand. His continual use of magic over the course of the day had drawn a lot out of him. While training and lessons from his distant cousin had helped with his mana efficiency, it was still by far his weakest point. He relied very heavily on syncing with Rika to restore his reserves - an asset other mages with far less mana than himself didn't have to fall back on.

"I was hoping you would help run an event similar to the one we held last year," Yaga continued. "Over the next few days, I want you to warp Maki, Inumaki, and Panda out to the northern forests to collect some low level monsters to bring back here. It'll be good practice for your mana efficiency, and we'll need some creatures to fight in the contest anyway."

The copy mage could already feel his exhaustion compounding. But draining and refilling his mana store daily did seem to be helping with his efficacy. A bit. Slowly. Having a larger reserve of mana than any mage he knew meant he hadn't focused on using that mana efficiently for most of his life, and being able to replenish that store as long as he hadn't used up his fifteen minutes of sync time a day wasn't helping him prioritize that aspect of his training. "Yeah, I can get to work on that."

It had been a while since the other families had visited, though Gojo Clan mages were almost always around the castle. Yuta had little doubt Todo Aoi would challenge him to a fight. Especially after the debacle that had occurred during the contest last year.

When he glanced over at Maki, she had a frigid expression on her face. Right. If the Zen'in were coming, it was possible her sister might make an appearance. Though Mai resented Maki for leaving their lives of servitude behind and seeking something more, the clan head often forced her to go to these events as emissary for the Zen'in Clan since the others in the family were deemed 'too important' to go to them. Basically, it was clan politicking. The Zen'in thought to insult the Gojo and Kamo by sending who they perceived as their worst.

Maki had not stood for that life, despite being even more despised and lowly than her sister who at least had an innate magic within her and could see and use mana. Her own family barely considered her human. Yuta imagined it must have taken a lot of courage to leave everything she had known behind and throw herself on the mercy of the king as the Gojo and Zen'in Clans were not on good terms. Still, he couldn't imagine a world where Maki, strong as she was, had chosen to remain where she had been and take the continual abuse of her family.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to clean up, get some food and then sleep," he told Maki and Toge as Yaga wandered away to critique Panda's opponent.

"Bonito flakes," Toge said, holding up two fingers. He agreed with Yuta's plan.

Maki glanced over at the training yard. Panda was the only one present who could give her a decent fight, and his opponent was getting a lecture from Yaga. Now was the perfect time to swoop in. "I think I'm going to have a few matches with Panda before I head in. Don't bother waiting on me for dinner." No doubt her impending family reunion made her want to work out some of her anger. Or perhaps it was anxiety? Yuta wasn't certain.

He looked forward to seeing the other mages. Despite their difference and rivalries between their clans, most of the group were solid individuals. He smiled when he remembered the king saying the reason he opened the castle up and taught mages from all three clans as well as outsiders was to foster connections between those in the next generation. The leaders of the current generation were too stuck in their ways to change. But if the next generation of clan leaders had connections and even friendships with each other, it would be a solid step in the right direction, leading to a better future. Yuta wholeheartedly agreed with the strategy.

xXxXx

Yawning and stretching, Yuji got out of bed, straightened his cotton kimono and smoothing away the wrinkles as best he could. He really shouldn't have fallen asleep in it but hadn't been thinking, just focused on getting some shut-eye. He headed out the door, seeing that night was quickly falling upon Ikawa. The streets were much less crowded than they had been that morning.

He easily made his way back to an alley near Akito's Antiques and climbed up the side of a building to take to the roofs. People never did look up, except those in the Thieves Guild and probably the Guild of Assassins too. He shuddered slightly at the thought, never forgetting Lord Star's threat against him. He did wonder if the man would follow through on it though, since assassins were expensive. On one hand, he didn't doubt Lord Star could afford to off him on a whim, but on the other hand, why bother spending the money to do so in the first place?

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Yuji lay on the roof of a tanner's shop directly behind his target. Still slightly bleary-eyed from sleep, he struggled to focus on his target. It seemed like ages before the old woman from behind the counter finally tottered out the back alley entrance. He saw her go around to the front and gave himself another few minutes for her to vacate the area before he made his move.

Swiftly and silently he leaped to the ground, crouching low to absorb the impact of the two story drop. A normal human would have risked breaking a leg with a jump from that height, but it was as natural as breathing for Itadori Yuji.

Slowly opening the door, he stepped swiftly inside and closed it softly behind him. Leaving it ajar would just attract unwanted notice. He proceeded to creep up the back stairs, the automatic response to use stealth in what should be an empty store ingrained over the course of many missions completed for the Thieves Guild.

When he reached the second floor of the store, he skillfully picked his way through the clutter in absolute silence, not even creaking a floorboard, until he had a clear view of the cabinet containing the moonstone necklace he needed. Only the past two years of infiltration and robbery stopped him from gasping aloud when he saw two dark silhouettes - one human and one certainly not human - standing in front of the cabinet already.

xXxXx

"Mana detection, mana detection," muttered Fushiguro Megumi under his breath. There were sources of mana everywhere in the city though. All people contained some amount of it, though he knew Zen'in Maki was a notable exception to that rule. Mages were typically easy to sense as they had large quantities of mana swirling within and around them. More powerful mages could mask their presences by smoothing that mana to a polished shell around them but not hide it completely. Their tightly restricted auras could still be detected but were not as overwhelming to others as they would be if they released their control over their magic.

A cursed object though; Megumi knew what to look for. Something with malicious red mana instead of the usual hues of blue. Still, he felt like he was swimming through a sea of blue looking for the tiniest dot of a red island.

Street after street he walked, until he closed in on the market square. He had saved it for last so that he could pick up Tsumiki's shopping list items before leaving to meet with Gojo. As he picked out the items his sister had requested, he kept an eye out for any flash of red mana. There had been none in the housing or tavern districts, so this was his last bet unless it was in the magistrate's castle. He doubted he would be let in immediately, and trying to sneak past the guards would be a pain. So hopefully he would find the object here in the market district.

Finally, he saw it. A brief flash of red as he passed between a carpenter's shop and an antiques store. He took a sharp right to enter the antiques store. Sure enough, up on the second floor, safely tucked away behind a glass case were several objects, all glinting red. One of them was far stronger than the others, veritably pulsing with red mana. It was the strongest source of malice Megumi had ever been in contact with. Now I see why Gojo-sensei didn't want me to touch it. Who knows what would happen if I did? Perhaps I'd even go homicidal.

His eyes widened when he saw the exorbitant fee being charged for the item. No way could he afford this, even on the generous amount he was paid by his sensei. Well, it was too dangerous to leave lying around, even in a display case. It would be for the best if he liberated the item and had Gojo or another mage seal it away for all time. Who knew who would wind up coming into contact with it and what harm they could cause with it if he let it remain sitting there for sale.

Glancing around the moderately busy shop, Megumi determined he would have to come back later, after hours. Causing a scene was the last thing he wanted. He had sensed several mages in town, and two of them were currently across the street right now. Yes, returning back later was the best option.

He finished up Tsumiki's shopping and slipped the bags into his shadow for storage. It was one of his more handy abilities in his opinion. His friends at the castle had inspired the idea for that particular spell, though he had ultimately figured out how to use it himself. The items were few and light enough that they hardly hindered his movement.

By now, the sun had already set. He wound up and down some streets to pass time before ending up at the front door of the antiques shop. He sensed no one inside the building. Forming his fingers into the correct position, he summoned his black Divine Dog inside the building. Sinking almost all of his body into his own shadow, he slid under the door and into the shop, exiting the shadow on the floor to rise up and stand on the hardwood again.

Climbing the staircase for the second time that day, Megumi soon stood before the case containing the cursed necklace. Removing a dagger from his shadow storage, he removed the haori he wore over his kimono and wrapped it around his left hand while his right gripped the dagger, reversing it so the hilt was pointed at the case. Bringing it forward, he smashed open the display case. Glass tinkled as it shattered to further pieces when it hit the floor.

Megumi carefully reached in through the broken glass and lifted the necklace. As he prepared to set it on the floor so he could more carefully wrap it, Divine Dog growled and then yelped, flying to the side and crashing into a shelf full of old books which subsequently buried the shikigami. Megumi had just enough time to reinforce his right arm with mana and bring it up to block as a fist swung toward his face.

The impact of that fist was strong enough to cause him to hit himself in the face and lose his grip on the dagger in his right hand as well. Fortunately, he kept a firm grip on the necklace in his left hand. However, that meant he could not form any seals to call his other shikigami to his aid.

"Damn, you're tough," said his attacker. Now that Megumi's head was starting to clear from the initial blow, he could tell that his assailant was a mage as well, though his mana was darker and more chaotic than Megumi had sensed in almost anyone. He likely wasn't trained. Megumi reinforced his right arm some more and blocked the next punch. The blow didn't appear to have any mana behind it, so why was it so damn strong?

Megumi was pushed back another step. He needed to free his left hand to summon shikigami reinforcements but was loath to drop the necklace. A flying kick from his opponent made the decision for him. The necklace flew from his left hand, which was still wrapped in his haori and landed with a clink near the paper shoji which normally allowed in soft sunlight. His arm felt like it might be broken, but he could still move it, so it was likely just going to end up being a bad bruise.

"What in the Nine Hells is your problem?!" Megumi cried out as he continued to block strike after painful strike.

"Nothing personal," his attacker replied between punches. "But I need that necklace."

"I need it too," Megumi grit out, finally freeing his left hand from his haori and summoning Toad.

Frog shikigami covered him and his opponent, creating an opportunity to escape. He burst through the shoji window, making sure the necklace dropped with him but taking care not to touch it. His attacker followed.

Now Megumi could clearly see him in the flickering light of the torches on the street. A young man around his own age with a surprising shade of pink for hair stood in the stance of a street thug, prepared to throw another rush of punches at him. The jump from the second story of the antiques shop had not phased him at all. It hadn't phased Megumi either, but only because he reinforced his whole body to withstand the impact with the cobblestone below. The other mage didn't appear to be using any powers, but given that he had the mana presence of a mage, he couldn't be like Zen'in Maki, the only other person Megumi knew with that kind of raw strength.

Megumi was no slouch at close combat, but his opponent clearly favored it, so he used Nue to swoop him up and deposit him a bit further down the street, preparing both Divine Dogs to rush the man.

It was at that moment when the door across the street from the antiques shop opened and a cross-looking young woman with short reddish-brown hair emerged. Both mages paused as she began yelling about common decency, appropriate noise levels, and vandalism of buildings. Neither moved from their spots twenty meters or so away from each other, surprised by the interruption and unsure how to handle it.

The pink-haired young man recovered first and darted toward the splintered wood and ripped paper which had fallen with them from the window of the antiques shop. He skidded to a halt.

Megumi recovered soon after and rushed over as well, wondering what his opponent was looking at.

It turned out, nothing. The necklace was gone.

"Hey you! Lady, did you see where that necklace went?" the young man asked, stalking toward the young woman who had interrupted the fight.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to be intimidated. Megumi noted that she was also a mage and gripped a hammer in one hand. "Of course not," she scoffed. "Who could notice anything over the racket you two caused? I ought to report you to the authorities immediately!"

Focusing again to track the red mana, Megumi started when he realized it was coming from straight above him. "Nue!"

His shikigami struck at whatever was flying away with the necklace. The thing that fell from the sky hit the ground as a raven, but then immediately transformed into a vaguely humanoid creature with taloned fingers and toes, a segmented tail, bat-like wings and a spiny head. It was an imp. Megumi rarely saw any sorts of monsters in cities like this one, but sometimes small ones like this were known to cause trouble.

"Hey, this must be that necklace you're looking for," the woman commented, bending to pick up what the imp had dropped.

"Wait! Don't touch it, it's cursed!" cried Megumi.

But it was too late. The woman's eyes rolled back in her head and she ran at the nearest target, which happened to be the pink-haired guy.

Clearly not expecting an attack from her, he was taken by surprise and flew with surprising force into the antiques building's front door, wood crunching and paper tearing as he smashed through it and hit one of the shelves inside, knocking it down with a resounding crash. Shards of pottery and porcelain flew everywhere.

Nue flew down and scooped up Megumi just in time as the woman targeted him next, growling with frustration when he flew out of reach. She clutched the cursed necklace in her left hand while her right still held the hammer. Somehow, he needed to get that necklace out of her death-grip while avoiding taking a hit from that hammer and doing as little damage to her as possible.

Crunching sounds came from inside the antiques shop. The woman turned toward the noise and Megumi watched in surprise, Nue dropping him on a nearby roof, as the man from before emerged, looking a bit scraped up but with no serious harm done.

"Ouch, that kinda hurt. What's your problem?" he asked, wiping some blood from his mouth and spitting.

"It's the necklace," Megumi called out from his lookout.

The man grinned and slammed his fist into his other palm. "I see. Then I'll just have to separate the two."

The Ten Shadows wielder was seriously concerned the guy would break the woman's arm trying to get the necklace away, but instead he moved with surprising speed and agility, so fast Megumi's eyes could barely track him in fact. The man closed in on the woman, who was only able to take one half-swing of her hammer at his face before the necklace was ripped from her hands, and the man was standing all the way across the street from her.

"What the hells just happened?" the woman asked, looking around in shock. "The last thing I remember was picking up that necklace…" she trailed off, looking at her empty left hand and blinking furiously.

Megumi hopped down from the building he was atop, landing a good distance from the man and woman. "That necklace is a cursed object. As soon as you touched it, its evil will infected you and you attacked that guy and me. Now brace yourself, he's going to be a more dangerous opponent than you were."

The man stood, staring at the necklace. Surprisingly, he didn't make any move against them. At least, he hadn't yet. Still, Megumi prepared for the worst, making two fists facing each other. "With this treasure-"

A hand landing on his shoulder jolted him out of his stance, cutting off his chant at the very beginning. "What's the situation?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.

He felt an immense wave of relief. Gojo Satoru had arrived on the scene.

Notes: Castle Suga's exterior appearance is based on Himeji Castle in Japan.