New Life.

In a space between time, a chaotic void filled with nothingness, a figure cloaked in black clothing sat there cross legged, staring into the void.

His red pupils flickered into different spots unceasingly, with his expression changing ever so slightly as he glanced at them.

His unnervingly dark long hair seemed to be floating in a non existent wind, while the void around him rippled with various mysterious forces.

"I've planted an avatar in countless lower worlds, but only a few of them have gained the strength to ascend to higher ones on their own. Hm, I won't interfere in this process. I just need to continue doing what I've been doing all this time."

When he spoke, his voice caused the void to shake, causing various cracks to appear within the space.

His eyes flickered once again as he focused on a particular place within the void.

SNAP!

With a snap of his fingers, the man disappeared from the void and appeared over the space of a large blue planet.

He floated in space for a moment as he scanned the entire planet, looking over it carefully.

"Interesting. This place is an alternate version of the planet known as Earth but the power that shrouds this one is completely different. The people here seem to call it cursed energy. Hm. It's one of the better lower worlds out there."

He looked at it for a few more moments before a small smile appeared on his face.

"This will be a good training ground for my newest avatar. Who will I pick this time?"

The being reached hand into the surrounding space, causing a small ripple to appear.

A look of deliberation appeared on his face as his hand moved up and down a few times.

"Hmm..."

This process took a little while but before long, his arm emerged from the ripple with a baby boy wrapped in a strange space bubble.

The boy seemed to be asleep as he floated in the arms of the being.

"Hm, not bad. From the future he would have if i didn't intervene, his personality is similar to mine. His looks are decent too. All he needs..."

The being raised his other hand and a small purple orb appeared within his palms.

"...is a piece of my soul to completely make him an avatar. Oh? This piece is a bit special too. It contains a piece of that demon within. I wonder how it would interact with him..."

The purple orb floated into the boy's body and flawlessly mended with his own soul. The process was so seamless that the boy didn't even wake up from his unconcious state.

"Good. Now I just need to find a suitable human to raise him."

The being started scanning the Earth once again, his eyes looking for a place for his avatar to be properly nurtured. Even though he had hundreds of avatars, he took care of every one of them as if they were his children.

It was a strange relationship between them, especially considering that none of them were even aware that they were an avatar of a higher being.

A few moments later, a slight smile appeared on his face as he seemed to have found the perfect person.

"Well, I can't make it too easy can I?"

SNAP!

With another snap of his fingers, the scenery changed and the being appeared in what seemed to be a large mansion.

The place was eerily quiet as he floated in front of the doors to the place.

"Hm, your original mother named you Seishiro Nagi? I'll let you keep it in this world."

As he said those words, the name Seishiro Nagi became engraved on the edges of the white cloth wrapped the little boy.

The bubble around the boy popped as the being held him and looked at him with a smile on his face.

He was extremely happy about his new avatar this time around.

"Make me proud."

He then personally laid the baby down on the ground and stood up, taking one last look at him.

SNAP!

In the next moment, he disappeared.

It was just then that the front door to the mansion opened and a seemingly harmless old lady appeared.

She wore a blue kimono haori and her light colored hair was tied into a maru-mage bun with an accessory in it.

Her eyes that seemed shut slightly opened as she spotted the baby on the ground.

"Oh? This baby wasn't here when I entered. A young mother must have just placed him here hoping that the people in this mansion would give him a better life. Hehe..."

Her old, crooked brown teeth made an appearance as a sinister grin stretched itself across her face.

She picked him up from the steps and rubbed his head as various thoughts ran through her mind on what to do with him.

That's when she spotted the words engraved on the cloth around him.

"Nagi Seishiro hm...no, just Nagi. That would make it easier for my old brain to remember. I would use you as an experiment for a technique I was working on but...you're a little adorable. I'll keep you for a little while."

Now, she had made up her mind.

"Looks like I found myself a new grandson, hehe. Make sure you call me Granny, Nagi."

Just like that, Nagi's new life with his new grandmother began.

Years passed as she traveled around Japan with him, introducing him to her other "grandsons", who had either died or disappeared soon after.

Only one of them traveled consistently with the duo, an older grandson named Shu. He was, blonde, unusually quiet and obeyed Granny's words with complete obedience.

It was almost as if he was a robot.

Granny would often send him off on tasks by himself and he wouldn't return for months at a time.

From the moment Nagi opened his eyes, all he saw was death. Granny wasn't your typical elder.

She was a hired assassin that had special powers, which she later explained to Nagi as being a 'Cursed Technique.'

But she didn't kill wantonly, even as young as he currently was, Nagi could see this. She killed about two people a month in completely seperate prefectures with extreme care in making sure that it looked like an accident.

She didn't seem like the type to care about murdering people but it was as if she was trying to hide her actions from someone.

She would occasionally mention the name 'Satoru Gojo' when she did and a look of fear would appear in her eyes.

Nagi wondered who this person was that could shock Granny to such a degree.

Currently, Nagi was about five years old.

He was in Shibuya sitting in a restaurant with Granny who had come here for some breakfast.

The years had not been too rough on him. Other than some theory on what cursed energy was and some slight physical training on it's applications, Nagi didn't do much when he was with Granny.

He had short white hair and gray eyes with large irises, which had become one of his defining features.

Since he didn't have much to take up his time, Nagi used that time to observe everyone around him. Especially Granny.

Even though he was young, he could see something that was different between other people would treat their children and how Granny treated him.

He could feel the warmth that other parents had for their children. The way they always hugged them or kept them close...with Granny, this was different.

If she wasn't teaching him about curses or how to kill, Granny generally had no interaction with him.

She was cold. But, strangely enough, while Nagi sometimes wanted to experience the love the other children received, he didn't feel bad about it being this way instead.

As he looked at her glancing through the menu, a few thoughts ran through his mind.

'I think...if other people knew what Granny was doing, they wouldn't like it. But I like Granny just the way she is, she's just different from everyone else.'

These thoughts were the result of the simple and naive conclusions someone his age would come to, but they were honest.

As he was looking out the window, a searing headache suddenly assailed him as he grasped his skull to somehow mitigate the pain.

Without even glancing at him, Granny said, "What's wrong, child? You're making a ruckus."

With clenched teeth, Nagi responded, "My...head hurts!"

Granny continued calmly flipping through the pages of the menu as she responded, "Headache? Which part of your head hurts the most?"

Nagi pointed to a certain part of his head as the woman slightly raised her eyes to look at him. When she saw where he was pointing to, her eyes immediately went down back to the menu.

"Oh. It's just your cursed technique being awakened. Shut up and stop embarrassing yourself and your grandmother. Bear the pain."

With gritted teeth and the urge to not be a failure, Nagi put his head on the desk and bore the pain until it stopped. The time it took felt like an eternity.

The relief he felt when the headache subsided couldn't be described. It was euphoric.

"My little grandson finally has his own cursed technique. What is it?"

Green cursed energy surged around Nagi as he looked at his Granny.

A passing feeling of familiarity assailed her as she unconciously looked up at Nagi as he responded, "The word 'Crisis' appeared in my mind."

The way Nagi looked at her reminded her of a child that had looked at her that way a long time ago.

A small vein bulged out on her head as she spoke with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Tch. Good boy. It looks like I'm going to have you working a little harder from now on."