11 Trial by Ice

"that's the 20th person" Mai complained as she let out a sigh of frustration, she sat down near one of the park benches with Akito taking a seat right beside her.

"not surprised considering where a lot closer to the center of Kyoto..." Akito said, his hand overhead his eyes in hopes of at least minimizing the effect of the blistering sun. "and your friends still missing" Mai bluntly added.

Akito glanced over at her and unsurprisingly she was staring right back at him. Her green orbs locked with his sky blue ones as an awkward silence overtook them both.

"I suppose we should keep searching" Akito suggested in a blatantly obvious manner and it didn't take Mai to be a genius to realize this was his way of changing the subject. "yeah" Mai agreed.

"how about a drink first?" the black-haired boy proposed pointing over towards a nearby convenience store, Mai wasted no time rushing into the store not surprising the reincarnated Gojo boy. She always did seem like a bit of a slacker in the show.

Grabbing three cans of coke for the day Akito walked towards the checkout surprised to see Mai was still shopping for more things. He looked towards the store clerk, dark bags lined his eyes, his facial features pale but what particularly caught Akitos attention was the blue bird-like cursed spirit that was stationed upon the man's shoulder.

"doesn't look like things have been going too well for you" Akito stated much to the worker's surprise. "is it that obvious?" the worker questioned back awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"yeah," Akito bluntly admitted.

The black-haired boy pointed his index finger towards the cursed spirit his hands in the shape of a handgun, the store owner, of course, could only chuckle at Akito's actions playing it off as chuuni behavior. And with one concentrated blast of cursed energy, the bird disappeared.

"feel any better now?" Mai inquired catching the shop worker off guard.

He paused for a moment feeling his shoulders, then his back, then his legs. "I feel great...!" he noted as he stretched out his arms.

"great cause I need my stuff" Mai said with a calm smile as she dumped her food upon the conveyor.

000

We have to go.

We have to leave now!

The moment we exited the store I grabbed ahold of Mai's hand much to her surprise, full-on sprinting towards a nearby alleyway away from civilians.

"oi, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Mai yelled Bewildered at my sudden change in behavior. "I have the ability to detect cursed spirits before they even appear"

I looked back at Mai her face full of disbelief. "huhhh!? You seriously expect me to believe dumb shit like that!?" I used my cursed energy quickly falling upwards using gravity in a way that mimicked flight once we were out of the piercing gaze of regular humans.

"you don't have much of a choice in the matter," I said my senses locking on to what I had deemed a cursed spirit.

Its cursed energy surpassed mine and in all honesty, I'd like to avoid confrontation. The best course of action would be to regroup, leave the area and call a person of more experience preferably Gojo or a special class sorcerer.

If Todo were here then I'd have considered teaming up with him, but he isn't.

"damn it..." I bit down on my nails Mai was still clearly in disbelief at my words.

"Mai!" I yelled the girl clearly shocked at my words, I pulled her out of the way of the incoming ice shards that blew away part of the roof.

000

"what the hell!" she yelled at the sudden attack her eyes widening upon noticing where she had previously been standing. "thanks a lot Aki--" she was cut off by his eyes, his normally alluring blue eyes that often looked like a seascape one that reflected the celestial lighting of the night sky held currently held nothing but despair within them.

She looked over to what had caught his attention and her stomach turned.

Above them stood a woman.

White hair, pale blue skin, and while she was undeniably attractive, her cursed energy easily broke that image among both the young Gojo and Zenin.

"we're running" Akito murmured, Mai looked over at him her body trembled under the immense pressure. "this isn't a normal cursed spirit so I want you to stay close to me" she nodded.

She herself was having an internal struggle.

For instance, why the hell was the inexperienced first year taking the lead?

Akito grabbed the Zenin girl immediately releasing bursts of cursed energy as he used his gravitational abilities to at least widen the distance they already held. But that distance was quickly closed as the woman appeared in front of her hands holding vast amounts of cursed energy.

'I'm gonna die' Mai thought to herself internally.

"don't die on me Akito~" the cursed spirit suddenly said to him as though they were close acquaintances.

And in one swift movement, large amounts of ice particles were fired at the two.

000

Am I going to die?

I struggled to my feet and it was clear she outmatched me she was without a doubt as strong Jogo, not to add on the fact that she could speak.

Mai laid beside me struggling to stay conscious as the cursed spirit landed right before us. "mannn I expected more from you" she said in quite a teasing manner, my eyes darted from corner to corner in hopes of possibly finding an escape route.

"Domain expansion!" I calmly stayed as I gathered my cursed energy "you can't seriously have learned...!" Mai spoke though her voice didn't quite reach as it did before due to her weakened state. This was a risky move as being overwhelmed by another domain wasn't something I'd personally like to experience.

"void"

And as those words were uttered we were enshrouded by a completely black space far different from my previous domain expansion this time incorporating both gravity and infinity into it.

"Domain expansion: Ice Palace" the cursed spirit spoke up, and obvious response after all the only way to win against a domain was to place one of your own.

My cursed energy struggled to push hers back and in all honesty, she was putting little to no effort into this fight.

"Mai, give me the cursed weapon you had packed" I quietly asked and the moment I caught glimpse of the sword I threw it at the cursed spirit to which she easily dodged though it was to be expected.

Mai didn't bother arguing with me instead opting to watch as to how the fight would play out.

"gravitational field" I stated calmly, my use of cursed energy was minimal at best, after all, I was trying my best to keep my domain from being completely wiped. the cursed spirit winced slightly, their eyes meeting mine as the effect of my ability began to set in.

Gravity was heavier for them after all.

I covered myself in cursed energy and lightening the weight upon my body, in a burst of speed I charged the cursed spirit who in turn mirrored my movements, charging towards me in quite a similar fashion.

I threw my hand at her increasing the gravity upon my fists as I did so, the cursed spirit narrowly dodged it with my hand just inches away from making contact with the center of her face.

Quickly using the momentum I already had I spun my body around attempting what should've been a kick to the shin only to receive a leg full of ice shards.

I let out a grunt of pain as my balance was quickly lost. The cursed spirit smiled clearly satisfied with the results of the fight. "gravitational pull!" I said suddenly, the cursed spirit put her guard up expecting an attack only to receive nothing. "what are you doing?" it questioned.

"you're telling me you don't see the sword that's Impaling you right now?" I said smugly struggling back to my feet. She took notice of her sudden loss of blood the smile on her face widening upon noticing it.

"now then, how about you die" I closed my hand into a fist, the sword that was stationed within her chest began to break away under the immense gravitational pressure the cursed spirit should've been feeling.

Gravitational globe, it was what I'd been working on, an evolved version of 'black hole' that tore any and everything apart.

"whiteout" she finally spoke out holding her hand out in my direction, my domain completely disappeared as hers took its place.

A sword made of her raw cursed energy formed within her hands as she sliced through every bit of attack I had.

Pain that I had never felt before resonated throughout my body, I often wanted Side characters to win, sorta like when Jiraiya or Caesar from Jojo died, you wanted them to overcome the enemy despite their injuries.

But this wasn't a show, this was life, I'd just been Stabbed and was more than likely going to die.

I collapsed to the floor grabbing my stomach as the blood continued to flow out, my vision began to blur and my breathing turned heavy.

"your friend's death was for nothing I guess"

My body froze and my head slowly turned to meet her, as she stood there with the same casual 'bored' smile she had on previously.

"Haruki correct? I captured him and took him in for interrogation..." the cursed spirits breathing became heavy as she licked her lips in satisfaction.

"ahh~ you should've seen him... Quite the brave boy, he wouldn't tell me where you were at all" she said audaciously rubbing two of her fingers upon her tongue her body twitched as though she was struggling to keep herself from bursting out into a fit of laughter.

I couldn't conjure any words, to think off in such a situation.

Haruki had died.

Because of me.

"He defied my orders despite all the pain I put him through, ahhh~ I still remember his screams and how good it felt to break those determined eyes of his," she said softly the laughter she had previously been holding back started to come through.

All because of me.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

I hadn't known Haruki for all that long but he was a stand-up guy and he did everything to protect me. Despite all the trouble, I'd cost them.

I struggled to my feet ignoring the ever-increasing blood loss as I did so.

The frigid cold ice Palace soon began to disperse and the cursed spirit took notice of it her eyes met mine and a hint of fear could be seen within them.

But her hands stopped moving before she could do whatever she had planned.

"domain expansion: infinite void" the ice Palace broke apart revealing nothing but a dark space and what looked a lot like a white hole?

Slightly different from Gojo's I see.

An influx of things flowed into my mind, the hum of the wind, the chirping of birds, running water, the birth of new life.

I groaned slightly at this quickly taking notice of the cursed spirit before me.

"you..." I murmured trudging towards the cursed spirit completely ignoring my abdominal pain, I amputated off its arms a cluster of cursed energy and purple like fluid bursting out as I did so, then I moved onto its legs yet the Curse didn't react.

In fact, it was happy.

"stop" Mai's voice called out to me. "taking your anger out on it, won't bring Haruki back" Mai stated with a strange calmness never seen in the show.

"but it's not fair" my voice cracked and I couldn't hold back the tears that came with it, and for the first time since coming to this world.

No, for the first time in 25 years adding my past life. I cried.

Mai pulled me into a hug wrapping her arms around me. So many things were racing through my mind.

Haruki suffering and me not being there to help him. But most importantly how the hell was I supposed to break this news to any of the others?

I calmed my breathing the blood that flowed down my face seemed to catch Mais attention as she tried to wipe it away, I smiled at her weakly and she looked away in a fluster.

"I suppose we should exorcise you, my domain won't last another minute" I stated calmly.

This was how Gojo had done it... Right?

"cursed technique amplification: blue, cursed technique reversal: red" my eyes closed as I concentrated my cursed energy.

"hollow purple," I said suddenly a burst of cursed energy headed straight towards the ice-cursed spirit completely eviscerating it right as my domain fell.

"Can we keep this between the two of us?"