Notes: Starting a new life.

Chapter 5

Present Day

Kugisaki Nobara was beyond confused. She had been working late into the night since she couldn't sleep when she heard a loud crash from across the street. Bringing her hammer and nails with her, she had gone out to investigate. It wasn't common for very dangerous monsters or demons to enter cities, but weaker ones could be known to cause some small alarm before a mage took care of them.

Instead, she had found two guys around her age, both clearly mages, engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the street outside having jumped down there from the now-splintered and ripped shoji on the upper floor of the antiques shop across the street. One of them was supplementing his combat with shikigami as well. Then she had picked up the necklace, apparently blacked out, and now that she had regained consciousness, the property damage was even worse.

The dark-haired guy was staring down the pink-haired guy holding the necklace and beginning a summoning chant of some sort when a tall, white-haired man appeared behind him, asking about the situation. The man wore the outfit of a fighter - flat black shoes, tan loose-fitting pants tied at the waist with a black strip of cloth, and a white haori loosely tied at his waist, a bit of a tight-fitting black shirt peeking out from beneath it. By far the weirdest part of his outfit was the dark blindfold which hid his eyes.

"Um, what's the problem?" the guy holding the necklace asked. He proceeded to pocket said necklace somewhere inside his kimono.

"He has the necklace, sensei," the shikigami user said, pointing at the other guy.

The white-haired man shoved his hands into his haori's sleeves and strolled toward the necklace holder. "What's your name, kid?"

The guy with the necklace looked nervous, but answered all the same. "Itadori. Itadori Yuji."

"And you're not affected by the necklace?" he asked.

"Affected?" Itadori scratched his head in puzzlement. "I felt a little weird when I picked it up. Is that what you mean?"

"He means to ask why you aren't being possessed by the necklace, like she was." The shikigami user spoke up, pointing at Nobara.

"Me? Possessed?" That would explain the blackout. And the mass destruction. Nobara's face twisted in surprise and horror as she took a second look at the destruction in the area. "You're not saying I caused all this?!"

"You did," he replied blandly.

"You threw me through that door!" the other exclaimed, gesturing at the mess of the antiques shop.

The white-haired man laughed. "You three sure caused a stir. We should head somewhere more private to figure this out. Come along."

Sure enough, there were lights turning on down the street - shop owners who lived above their stores were coming down to check things out.

The blindfolded man put one hand on Itadori's shoulder and steered him over to where Nobara stood, placing his other hand lightly on her shoulder. The shikigami user trailed behind him with a sigh and touched the man's left arm. In the blink of an eye, the four of them were no longer in the middle of the street but in a clearing in a forest.

"Woah, what just happened?" Itadori asked in awe.

The blindfolded man clapped his hands and proceeded to not answer his question at all. "First, we should do introductions. Of course, I already got your name Itadori. I am Fushiguro Megumi here's teacher," he said, putting an arm around the shikigami user, who continued scowling. Honestly, would his face get stuck that way? "You can call me sensei too if you want. What's your name, young lady?"

"Kugisaki Nobara," she replied, noting that he hadn't actually given any name for himself. "Where did you take us anyway? My parents probably heard all that commotion and will worry about me."

"Oh, just outside the city," the man replied. "Megumi didn't show up for our meeting on time so I decided to see what was taking him so long. And… well, it didn't take someone with my abilities to spot the commotion immediately," he said, tapping his blindfold.

Nobara now understood at least some of the situation, though what he meant about his abilities when he appeared to be a highly-functioning blind man confused her perhaps even more than the initial situation.

Itadori was pulling the necklace out of his pocket then, and saying "So all this fuss is over this thing?"

"Yes," Fushiguro said bluntly. "That's a cursed object. I'm not sure why it has no effect on you. You saw what it did to Kugisaki earlier."

"You mean when she threw me through a door? Yeah, I caught that."

Itadori didn't appear to mean anything malicious by the statement thankfully, but Nobara couldn't help but have a sharp retort. "That wouldn't have happened if you two hadn't busted through that shoji window and begun a fight club outside my shop!"

Her glaring contest with Itadori was stopped by Fushiguro's sensei laughing yet again. The two turned toward him. "It seems I sent you on an entertaining mission, Megumi! I wish I could have seen it myself though. I'll have to tell Yuta and the others about how beat up you got!"

Fushiguro continued scowling, as he had been since the group had been magically transported to the clearing. He held out a hand in a gesture for Itadori to hand over the necklace to him. Itadori obliged by reaching out to drop it in his outstretched hand. The second Fushiguro made contact with it, he moved to attack Itadori.

Fushiguro's sensei intervened, snatching the necklace from him, which snapped him back to normal. The necklace lay hovering slightly above his palm. "Forgetting already?" he asked his student. "It's best if we don't go experimenting with this right now. While Itadori here is immune, I doubt you are."

He turned to Itadori and Kugisaki. "You two have some promise as mages. Have you had formal training?"

Nobara answered first. "My parents sent me to a school in the city for a while. I mainly use my magic for carpentry, but I made up a few attack moves on my own just in case. I'm not very good at barrier magic though."

"Hmm," the man put a hand under his chin in thought. "I can work with that. And you?"

Itadori pointed at himself. "I didn't know I was a mage?" He made it sound like a question.

Fushiguro snorted. "You have superhuman abilities and connected the dots?"

Itadori shrugged. "I didn't think it was a big deal."

Fushiguro slapped a palm to his forehead.

"If you really went toe to toe with Megumi with no training, you might have some serious potential," the blindfolded man said. "How would you like to get some formal training? I'll need you to come with me anyway at least for a bit to study your immunity to that cursed object. I can speak to your parents if you need their permission."

"I'm on my own," Itadori said. "So... I'm guessing I don't have much of a choice in this?"

"Nope!" the man replied happily.

"What about me?" Nobara asked. "I just kinda became a possessed spectator."

"That's up to you. I assume you want to go back to your carpentry? That's not really my area of expertise. When I teach mages at Castle Suga, it's generally combat-based."

"Well actually… I've always wanted to develop my magic further. I'm not ungrateful for my trade, but fighting monsters like my teacher did sounded way more exciting!" Nobara looked at the man hopefully. If he really taught at the castle, that would mean he must be a truly skilled mage. And maybe she could go there and learn more about being a mage than fixing magic artifacts.

He grinned back. "It can be exciting, but also dangerous."

"I don't care," Nobara replied. It would be good to broaden her skills and branch out. Her father's words that they would be parting soon rang through her mind. "I do need to go let my parents know though. Or they would be really worried about me just disappearing like this."

"Of course, of course. I can take you back there right now. We can leave these two to sort out their issues." With that, he once again rested a hand lightly on her shoulder and the two warped back to town, down a nearby street one down from her father's shop.

Taking a deep breath, she headed to the now-lit street. Several people were out with lanterns, analyzing the damage. Among them was her father and even her mother, both of them looking worried. Damn. They had already noticed her absence.

"Father!" she called, rushing toward them. "I'm fine. I just got caught up in the commotion from earlier."

"Nobara, I was worried when you weren't in your bedroom or the shop," he said, embracing her.

"Sorry about that," she said, extracting herself from his arms. The whole story began to tumble out of her mouth. "I ended up getting possessed by this necklace thing which was apparently a cursed object. And then I got in a fight with some guys who were there to retrieve it. It still seems surreal."

Suddenly her father paled, looking behind her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the ground as he knelt. Looking up, Nobara saw the man who had warped her first away from this street and then back.

"Your Majesty," her father said. "I was unaware you were going to be visiting our humble city."

The man whom her father had called Your Majesty and Fushiguro called sensei made a gesture to rise. "There's no need to bow like that. This isn't a planned visit. Actually, the cause of this disturbance is why I'm here."

He explained in general terms about the cursed object his student had been looking for, and how Nobara had become embroiled in the whole mess.

Nobara, meanwhile, was shocked. To think she had spoken so informally earlier to the mage-king. Why hadn't she figured out who he was earlier? Then again, she could likely use this to her advantage.

"Father, can I please go with the king? He said I can go train at Castle Suga! And there's a bunch of other mages there too, I could really learn a lot. Maybe use my magic for more than just fixing things. I could protect people!"

Her mother, who had been silent the whole time, looked troubled. But her father didn't. "Nobara, if this is really the path you want to take, then I will not stand in your way."

From the way her mother pressed her lips together after that comment, Nobara figured this was going to start an argument between the two of them the moment the king was out of earshot. But her mother maintained too much propriety to argue with her husband in front of someone so important.

She smiled and hugged her father again before running inside to grab a few things before she left. His premonition about them not working together for much longer had come true but not in the bad way she had anticipated, she thought idly as she turned her back on her parents to leave with the mage-king.

xXxXx

"Why were you after the necklace anyway?" Fushiguro asked as soon as his sensei left with Kugisaki. "You already know why I was after it."

Yuji blinked. He had honestly expected there to be just a tense silence between them, not conversation. "I was hired to retrieve it."

This appeared to pique Fushiguro's interest further. "By whom?"

Yuji debated if he should go into detail about his work in the Thieves Guild. Doubtless Lord Star would be angry enough when he returned from being studied by Fushiguro's sensei at the castle. Hopefully it would only take a few days to satisfy his curiosity that there was nothing spectacular whatsoever about Yuji. "Some rich guy wanted it. And he didn't want it to get traced back to him. So he hired me to steal it for him."

Close enough to the truth.

Fushiguro looked thoughtful. "That makes sense. It was a powerful cursed object. It's entirely possible a rogue mage put it out there to lure out compatriots or just cause some chaos in the city. Or it could be a coincidence."

"About that," Yuji began. "How was your sensei able to tell I'm a mage? I mean, you said I'm stronger and faster than a normal human, but maybe I just have good genetics. I've never developed any sort of special magic."

"Innate magic," Fushiguro replied. "The magic you are born with is usually referred to as innate magic. And usually you have an intuitive sense of it and how to use it. Training with basic spells can help you have more control over your innate magic too. And to answer your question, I can tell by your aura. It's purple, which is odd. Most mages have a light to medium shade of blue for their aura. That guy must have noticed it immediately."

Yuji assumed 'that guy' was Fushiguro's sensei. Though he wasn't sure why he was referred to in such a way by his student. "Um, any idea how long this testing will take? I sort of have to report back about the necklace to the client at some point."

Fushiguro let out a sigh. "Honestly, I'm not sure. That guy is always busy with one thing or another. It depends on if he's able to prioritize it right away or not."

Silence fell. Yuji worried about Lord Star more than the client, even though at this point he was certain he'd never be allowed to bring the necklace back with him. What kind of consequences would he face if he returned after being missing for a whole week? Or even longer? Then again, couldn't he avoid those consequences if he just stayed away forever? The town guards who were in with the Thieves Guild could hardly stop him from leaving if he was warped past them.

Yes, perhaps this incident with the necklace would end up being his salvation. He could start a new life at Castle Suga as a mage while he was waiting to be studied. And then after that he could either stay or make his way as a lone mage. If he was good enough, one of the clans would probably adopt him in. He would never have to steal for a living again.

The silence between the two continued until the return of Kugisaki and Fushiguro's sensei. Yuji noted that the former was looking to be slightly in shock and wondered what had happened while the two were away.

"Onward and upward," the blindfolded man said. He reached out to touch Yuji's shoulder and Fushiguro's as well. Kugisaki had an arm in the crook of his elbow.

The next thing Yuji saw was the most magnificent castle he had ever laid eyes on. It put the magistrate's castle in Ikawa to shame. Even the minimal light of the stars on this night of the new moon made the white wood of the tiered building glow dimly in the dark. Lights shone in a few rooms, though most of the shoji windows were dark.

His feet seemed to automatically follow the others through the front doors and down several long hallways which all looked the same to him. Kugisaki was led off down a different branch by one of the few female servants awake at this hour. It must have been near midnight. Yuji was given a room next to Fushiguro's, which seemed to irritate the mage. Then again, most things seemed to irritate him. Since it wasn't like he could just leave the castle and report back to the guild (he wasn't even sure how to get out of the place due to the confusing hallways), Yuji decided to get some sleep and see what the morrow would bring.

xXxXx

The morrow turned out to bring a panda bear standing at his door. Yuji blinked in confusion.

The panda blinked back and raised a paw. "Yo. Itadori Yuji?"

Yuji pointed at himself. "Yes?"

"Masamichi sent me. I'll be showing you around the place and introducing you to some other mages."

Yuji had no clue who Masamichi was, but clearly he had some amount of authority here. "Ok," he said. Then he thought of a question to ask that hopefully wouldn't be as rude as 'how are you able to talk'. "What's your name?"

"Panda." The bear then started leading the way down the hall. Yuji felt like that name was a bit too on the nose. As they passed Fushiguro's room, he noted that the door was open and the other mage was nowhere around.

"Where's Fushiguro?" Yuji asked as they turned a corner.

"He went home this morning. He doesn't usually stay over at the castle. I think Yuta went with him."

Yuji now had another name to add to his list of people he didn't know but seemed important. The duo walked in companionable silence for a bit until they got to the exterior grounds of the castle, still within the outer wall but no longer inside the main building itself.

"This is the main training ground. Yaga Masamichi is in charge of most of the training," Panda explained as they walked past a large man who seemed to be instructing a number of mages who were several years younger than Yuji. "He used to work at the Gojo estate but moved here at Satoru's request when he became king. Now he helps teach mages from all the clans who are willing to send them here."

On the far end of the main training ground stood some mages closer to his own age: a tall young woman holding a spear, a young man who wore a mask over his lower face, and one familiar figure. "Kugisaki!" Yuji exclaimed. "Good to see you again!"

Kugisaki gave him a blank look that said I hardly know you, why are you acting so friendly?

Yuji ran a hand through his hair nervously and was about to speak again when Panda started introductions. "Itadori, this is Maki," pointing to the woman with the spear. He gave no family name for her, which struck Yuji as at least slightly odd. "Inumaki Toge," he gestured to the man with the mask, "and it sounds like you already know Kugisaki. Everyone, this is Itadori Yuji, immune to the cursed artifact Megumi was in charge of retrieving. Turns out he ended up picking it up and it didn't affect him at all."

Kugisaki raised an eyebrow. "So that's why the king is so interested in you. Any leads on the object's origin?"

"The king?" Yuji asked, puzzled, ignoring her question. He didn't recall meeting the guy.

"Satoru brought you here yesterday," Panda explained. "He's the mage-king."

"Though you'd never guess it by how he acts," Maki commented snidely.

"Mustard leaf," the masked man, Inumaki, said.

Panda gestured to him. "Inumaki's innate magic is word magic, so he's careful about what he says and only speaks in rice ball ingredients. You'll get the hang of understanding him soon, I'm sure."

Yuji was absolutely not sure but tried not to let it show on his face. He was still reeling from the revelation about having met the king last night, though his words and actions then had made the man seem extremely laid back and relaxed. He also noticed Panda calling him by his first name as well as Maki's derogatory comment. It seemed the king was a very informal person who didn't care much about being recognized when out in public, otherwise he would have announced himself last night instead of avoiding saying his name in such a roundabout manner.

Growing up in Ikawa, Yuji had never known much about the mage-king except his name: Gojo Satoru. Of course he wouldn't have been able to recognize him on sight.

A large hand grasped Yuji's shoulder and turned him around. It was Yaga, the teacher Panda had pointed out earlier. "So you're Itadori," he said, frowning at Yuji. "I see why Satoru was insistent you come back. I've never seen an aura like yours. It's almost between human and devil."

"Um, I'm guessing that's a bad thing?" Yuji asked.

"That remains to be seen. What kind of training have you had so far? Your mana control seems very irregular."

"That's probably because I never had any training," Yuji explained. "I didn't even know I was a mage."

"That's hard to believe," Yaga said, stroking his bearded chin. "Any mage could have seen your aura and taken you to be tested for a ranking. Though it could be that your family interfered. Tell me, what do your parents do for a living?"

Yuji shrugged. "I never knew them. I lived with my grandfather selling food in the market as a vendor for as long as I can remember. After he passed I lived alone and worked as a freelancer doing odd jobs. I didn't ever have any contact with mages that I can remember."

His guildmaster was a mage, but it would be best not to mention anything about being a thief when he was in the epicenter of the law - the king's castle. He was rather proud of his lie about doing odd jobs. It wasn't like it didn't hold fragments of the truth. Yaga had given something for Yuji to think about though. Was Lord Star's interest in him partially due to his potential as a mage? No, it couldn't be. Otherwise, wouldn't he have said something and given Yuji proper training?

"Follow me, Itadori. It seems we will have to start from scratch with the basics. Kugisaki, you will be working on close combat with Panda. You have the basics of mana control down but need to work on your physical strength and speed if you plan to use your magic for combat." Yaga led the way and Itadori followed behind as he led toward a small building off to the side of the yard, near the walls that surrounded Castle Suga.

Inside, there were rows upon rows of wooden crates stacked high. Along the walls were mounted assorted weaponry, some with what looked like seals affixed to them. In a few cases, the entire sword or knife would be covered in white tags with kanji on them. They must be really dangerous, he thought to himself. The row Yaga led him to, though, contained just some plain wooden crates. Opening a smaller one, he removed what looked like a stuffed animal. Upon closer examination, it was a stuffed bear which appeared to be sleeping, breaths moving its chest up and down.

"My innate magic," he explained, "allows me to make stuffed animals like this. Think of it like a magical creature, it is a living being. Panda is my finest work. This one here is Tsukamoto." He patted the bear's head. It continued to sleep soundly.

Yaga handed Tsukamoto to Yuji. He held it in both hands, the bear's sleeping face pointed toward his own. He could feel the movement of the animal's chest as it rose and fell. Up, down. Up, down. U-

The bear's eyes popped open and it walloped Yuji in the face with one arm. Shocked, the young man held it as far as possible away from himself. The bear continued pinwheeling its arms, trying to hit Yuji again.

"He'll be like that until you emit a constant flow of mana through him. What differentiates a mage from a non-mage is their ability to control the flow of their mana. As a general rule, everyone is born with some minimal amounts of mana, but most people will never be able to control theirs. It sits dormant in their system, unable to circulate or leave their body. Someone like you, who is an untrained mage, still unconsciously moves their mana through their body but inconsistently. That's how a mage like Megumi or Satoru can pick you out in a crowd of non-mages."

Yuji's eyes were wide, but he held off the angry bear doll/magical creature with his immense physical strength. "How do I get him to stop?"

Yaga took the bear from his hands with one hand to the doll's head. It instantly resumed snoozing. "Calm. That is the first step. Picture the mana flowing, and then surrender to the imagined flow of mana through you. The key is to visualize a steady, even stream. Imagining the flow of a river might be helpful. Don't try to grasp and control it, or it will slip through your fingers like the water of a real river would. Surrender."

"Surrender, got it," Yuji said, thinking calm thoughts. His grandfather's smile after a good day at the market. Relaxing in his room with Junpei after successfully scamming Kotaro and Hiera yet again.

The bear stopped struggling.

"I got it!" Yuji shouted excitedly.

The bear promptly walloped him in the face yet again.

"You had it there for a bit," Yaga said with a slight smile. "But you lost focus. For now, I'll have you hold onto that bear for the next few days until it no longer smacks you in the face when you lose concentration. Don't worry," he continued when he saw Yuji's disheartened expression, "Keeping up a constant circulation of mana throughout your body without being set off by different emotions will get easier each day until it's second nature."
"I sure hope so," Yuji replied as the bear went back to sleep.

He walked with deliberate slowness back to the training yard, where Kugisaki was being whirled about in a circle before being flung by Panda. Maki and Inumaki were watching from the sidelines with obvious amusement. He wished he could do some hand to hand. He'd actually be good at that. But obviously Fushiguro's report of him had gotten around, so he was forced to focus on other things.

BAM!

River, river, river.

The bear resumed snoring. Maki was chuckling and it seemed like Inumaki was as well. It was hard to tell for certain with his mask.

"Yo!"

Yuji started and the bear whacked him again before he got his concentration back. It was the man from yesterday; the mage-king, Gojo Satoru. He had appeared from out of nowhere.

"Ah, good old Tsukamoto. He's trained many a novice, don't you worry," the king said as he fell into step with Yuji. "I thought I'd stop by and see how you and Nobara were doing. There's a request from one of the nearby towns that I want to take you two on to see where you're at."

"But I can't even circulate my mana properly yet, Your Majesty," Yuji replied.

The king waved a hand, making a face. "None of that formal nonsense now. I'll be one of your teachers, so call me Gojo-sensei!"

Yuji blinked. "Okay, Gojo-sensei."

"Anyway, for this first test you can use one of the magic tools in the storage since you can't control mana and don't appear to have any innate magic. If you had any, you would have been using it instinctively by your age. Don't worry," he added, seeing Yuji's frown, "There are more than a few mages with cases like yours. One of them is even an A-rank."

"For real? But about the objects, aren't the sealed ones dangerous?" Yuji asked. He was curious after all. And he was finding it surprisingly easy to talk to the king. Far easier than his volatile guildmaster.

"For real, for real. And some of the objects are cursed for sure," Gojo responded. "I'd recommend one of the unsealed ones for a beginner. Megumi's report made it sound like you're a close-combat type. How about trying a dagger or cleaver?"

"I haven't really used weapons before," Yuji mused aloud. "But yeah, I'll start with one of those."

The former thief turned back toward the storage building he had just come from, hearing Gojo shout some encouragement to Kugisaki before catching back up with him. Together the two picked out a weapon - a dagger-type which bore the name Slaughter Demon according to the mage-king. Giving it a few test swings, Yuji thought maybe this whole becoming a mage thing would actually end up working out. Then the bear, which had been napping on his shoulder the whole time, suddenly woke up and gave him a right hook to the ear.

"Owww!" Yuji complained while Gojo laughed. "Do I really have to take this thing on our mission? Couldn't it cause a deadly distraction and get me killed?"

Gojo waved away the question. "Oh no, this one is routine and shouldn't be too dangerous. Besides, I'll be there to intervene if anything goes horribly wrong. Now come on, let's go get Nobara and Megumi. Daylight is wasting."

xXxXx

Megumi had scarcely arrived back at Castle Suga when Yuta - who had taken him home early that morning to deliver Tsumiki's grocery list of items which he had been unable to drop off yesterday thanks to Gojo's meddling - warped off with Inumaki, Panda, Maki, and a bunch of empty crates with strong sealing tags on them. Only Kugisaki had been left behind. The young woman was sitting slumped against a bench at the training yard, her dark training clothes covered in dirt.

"Regretting your life choices already?" he asked, handing her a cup of water. She took it gratefully. She looked exhausted and it was scarcely noon.

"Hardly!" she replied with a more chipper voice than he had anticipated. She might have gone on, but Gojo and Itadori were approaching from across the training field, the former waving in their direction.

The Ten Shadows wielder scowled. "What now?"

"Quick mission, routine ghoul hunt," Gojo replied. "It'll be a test for Yuji and Nobara, but I think you should come along since you're going to be teammates."

"Teammates?" Itadori asked.

"With that guy?" Megumi asked as well, eyeing Itadori.

"You're all the same age. Yuta's group is already three, four sometimes when Panda tags along. And my older students aren't around much anymore. You all need someone to watch your back out on missions, so why not have the three of you team up?" Gojo said by way of explanation.

When he put it like that, it was hard for Megumi to argue.

The group headed toward the stables and were assigned horses. Megumi and Gojo already had favorites, but the hands matched Itadori with an even-tempered mare and Kugisaki with a more spirited stallion. Itadori had only ever seen horses in passing while living in Ikawa, never ridden one himself. Kugisaki was a little more well-traveled due to her work with her father.

The group stopped for lunch at a tavern along the way, and Gojo had paid for all of them. The shikigami user thought Itadori did pretty well for his first time on horseback. Gojo only reached over once to pull on the reins when Itadori couldn't get the horse to stop chewing on some roadside shrubs. Megumi suspected that he simply was wary of using his monstrous strength and hurting the animal.

It was mid-afternoon by the time the four of them reached the cemetery on the far side of the city around Castle Suga. There was a shrine by the entrance they went through as well as a faded barrier.

"Megumi, your job will be to strengthen the barrier," Gojo assigned. "Yuji and Nobara will flush out the ghouls and finish them off."

The Ten Shadows wielder got to work immediately, casting half his attention on the barrier and half on how his two future teammates would do. Gojo leaned casually on a particularly large gravestone nearby, watching over them all.

They will be an interesting duo to work with, Megumi thought as he watched Kugisaki pointing and yelling at Itadori. The young man seemed cowed by her temper and entered one of the gaping holes in the earth dug by the ghouls. The creatures usually came out at night to feast on any freshly buried corpses or the offerings left out by family crypts and the three shrines. So taking care of them in the daytime entailed entering their lairs to flush them to the surface. The bright sunlight would hurt their sensitive nocturnal eyes and make killing them easier.

Sure enough, as the ghouls began to emerge, howling their complaints at the light, some with wounds obviously caused by Slaughter Demon, Kugisaki took care of the rest with some well-placed nail strikes. It was a versatile type of magic, Megumi thought, and she could definitely develop it further. It served well in ranged combat for now until she could get her close combat skills improved.

As one of the ghouls ran for the far exit, Kugisaki pulled out a bundle of what looked like straw from a pack at her waist and drove a nail through it into the torn-off ear of the fleeing ghoul. The beast caught on what looked like blue fire and disintegrated as it vaporized.

"Very nicely done," Gojo said as the two approached him. "It's always handy to have magic that cleans up well." He angled his head toward the ashes of the final ghoul while saying so.

Kugisaki beamed.

"And what about the rest? Should we dump them back in their lair and close it up?" Itadori asked.

"Yup," their sensei confirmed, gesturing to some shovels leaning near the graveyard entrance they had taken. He continued to sit there and spectate while the two hauled corpses and shoveled dirt to close up the lair's entrance. Megumi pretended to continue working on the barrier, though in reality he had finished it right around the time the last ghoul was fleeing. "This is why I prefer fighting devils and demons. Sure they're tougher, but they're a whole lot less messy since their corpses disintegrate a few minutes after you kill them."

Devils and demons were beings from another plane of existence, so when they died, they vanished from the material plain. Scholars theorized that they might even begin their existences anew in that other dimension after being killed in this one, but it's not like anyone could know for sure. Only the highest-ranking demons and devils spoke human language, and most mages didn't bother trying to converse with them before a fight.

"All done!" Itadori returned to the group just as Megumi released his magic's hold on the barrier. He was a little surprised Gojo hadn't called him out on his fake work and made him haul corpses with the others - well Itadori. Nobara had called dibs on shoveling so he had been stuck with the messier work but hadn't seemed to mind it much.

In fact, Megumi thought his sensei seemed a bit distracted, his blindfolded gaze turned outward from the city toward the countryside. "Head back without me," Gojo said, voice deadly serious for once. "Megumi, take my horse. I'll find you all once I confirm the situation."

Itadori and Kugisaki seemed a little put down that he wouldn't be heading back with them, seeing as the three of them had chatted most of the ride out, but Megumi led the way back to their horses. That guy must have seen something if he was sending them away.

They weren't far from the castle, so he didn't know what it could be that was so threatening. Devils and demons knew better than to tangle with an epicenter of powerful mages. There hadn't been a major attack in hundreds of years as far as Megumi knew. Regardless, it was best to do what his sensei ordered. So the trio mounted their horses and rode with some hurry back toward Castle Suga.

xXxXx

The sliding door to the teahouse opened with a slight jingle from the bells tied to the top. A tall, well-built man entered with calm confidence. His hands were folded under his black robes, the outfit accented by a gold kasaya worn on top. His long black hair fell halfway down his back, the strands that would have framed his face pulled back in a knot on the back of his head to keep his purple eyes clear. Behind him trailed a nature devil and a fire devil, whose appearances would have caused immediate fright from the hostesses within had this establishment been a normal one.

"Table for three, please," he said, holding up three fingers and giving a charming smile.

All around them humans, devils, and other monsters sat. A rare place where the different species - human and non-human - could gather without reprimand. Though most of the monsters were incapable of human speech, they could point at what they wanted. The establishment did not discriminate. A normal human woman was their waitress, not blinking twice when confronted by the odd group. Their corner of the room was beginning to grow warm, though he noticed frost forming on the far side of the spacious room where an ice devil sat with several grizzled humans.

"Jogo, would you mind letting up on the heat a bit?" the man asked with a smile, fanning himself with a menu.

The fire devil scowled but relented, though he seemed reluctant. The magma bubbling from his volcanic-shaped head retreated slightly.

The man continued. "So from what I've heard, your boss seeks a return to the golden age of magic?"

The nature devil, who had what appeared to be tree roots growing from its eyes, said something nonsensical.

"Close, but those are my wishes." Jogo replied to the man, not the nature devil. "The goal of our leader actually goes one step beyond that. He wants non-humans to take the place of humans. For eight hundred years we have been ostracized to the outskirts of this kingdom. Humans squat on all the good land while we reside in swamps, deserts, mountains, and ruins. We devils climb our way up from the Nine Hells to the Material Plane only to be sent straight back by the mages of today.

"The world was a more chaotic place eight hundred years ago. If we can unseal Sukuna, he will be able to topple this new order, and we will be free to wage wars and claim territory once again," Jogo summarized. "Why did you ask to meet with us, Geto Suguru? Your name is not one regarded kindly in our realm. How many of my brethren have you enslaved rather than destroyed, so they can return to the Abyss or the Nine Hells?"

Ryomen Sukuna had become known as a god to the monsters and demons of eight hundred years ago. An amazing feat for a human mage, in Geto's opinion, but one that had apparently carried on down the generations of non-humans to this current one. He supposed being enough of a threat for the squabbling factions of mages in those days to band together - under the lead of a foreign mage no less - and stop killing each other over land and power for a bit in order to defeat him was what led to his ascent to godhood amongst monsters and humans alike. His unnaturally long life likely played a part as well.

"If you truly know me as you think you do, would I not slay you here and raise you for my own purposes?" Geto asked. "Tell me, how long has it been since one of your brethren fell to me?"

Jogo was silent for a bit before replying. "Nearly a decade. Did you have a change of heart or something?"

Geto shrugged, a slight smile twisting his lips up at the corners. "I'd call it a change of mind. I seek only the most ancient, rare, and powerful now. Anything else would be a waste of my skills. To address both your own wishes and your leader's, there are two things of importance to accomplish." He leaned forward and held up one finger. "First, the mage-king, Gojo Satoru, must be put out of the way. You won't be able to accomplish anything if he is around. Second," here he held up a second finger, "you will have to get past Tengen's barrier. Granted, she should be on her last legs, but if the clans start to realize what is going on and focus on that place, you run the risk of not making it through their ranks even with Gojo Satoru out of commission."

"You seem very particular about Gojo Satoru. You're dancing around how to deal with him. Did you find a way for us to kill him?"

"Oh no." Geto waved a hand. "Killing him is likely impossible for you. Even if you all went against him at once, in the best-case scenario you all might be able to run away. In the worst-case scenario, you would all die. Instead of trying to kill him, you should focus on sealing him."

"How in the Nine Hells are we supposed to do that?" Jogo asked, tone flecked with irritation that he wasn't getting to the point immediately.

"By using a powerful magic artifact. Have you heard of the Prison Realm?"

Jogo's heat level began to rise again, this time due to excitement. "The Prison Realm? You really have that mythical object? It isn't just a legend?"

"I assure you, it really does exist. And I happen to have it, though not on my person at the moment," Geto said. He began fanning himself in earnest with one of the table menus to cool himself.

"How about this: give me the Prison Realm to add to my collection, and in exchange, I will kill Gojo Satoru!" The fire devil rose to leave, just as the tea arrived. "Come, Hanami."

"If you fight him you will die," Geto called after the fire and nature devils. He sighed and began to sip on his tea, alone at his table now. "He didn't even stick around to discuss the second part of our plan. Oh well. At the very least this will be entertaining."

He just hoped Jogo didn't go and die on him. That would be terribly inconvenient given the current climate of things. The game pieces were all assembling on the board with little to no direction from him at this point, as though the world itself wanted his plans to come to fruition. Once he finished his tea, he would follow the heat wave just to see what would happen.