Criminal?

A black surrounding seemed to stretch on endlessly for interminable distances. Pure and utter loss of all senses except thought accompanied his consciousness, as he strayed in the ever living nighttime of the pitch black dark.

The darkness seemed moldable, moving... organic; alive, even. It stirred and dropped, twisting and turning into hundreds, nay, thousands of shapes simultaneously. It was a triangle, then a circle, then a tesseract, then a octagon, every changing was the thing.

'Surreal' would be the thought that Shuichi would use to most accurately describe the feeling he held at the moment. His senses and primal instincts did not immediately strike him with a sense of danger or imminent doom. Instead, it was a strange feeling, almost... blissful?

Everything just felt right. Like he was supposed to remain here and be here from the start.

"Feels like coming home after being stranded in an unknown place all your life..." Shuichi 'spoke', although no words came out.

He tried to feel his body, yet he could not theorize how he could even do that. It felt as if all of his senses, the bodily perceptive abilities that were too grounded in the physical world were failing him at the moment.

'Where am I?' He asked himself, yet it was a question that he knew all too well. 'My innate domain.'

There was no point at which he questioned himself. His common sense and the very core of his being; just as yours tells you you are alive, told him that he was within his innate domain.

Shuichi stopped for a moment, envisioning his domain, trying to look deeper within himself to get a better sense of the innate domain.

HE waited and tried, for who knew how long, he couldn't tell. There was one thing he knew, he had lost to Gojo Satoru, and within that fight, his body had underwent a drastic change; one that he didn't fully intend to go through.

Being able to black flash at that time was also a result of his adaptability, not a result of luck or skill. It was simply his cursed technique actualizing his desire to win, stimulated by the overwhelming pressure of the wonder child of the Gojo clan.

And it was through that fight that he had been able to make his way 'here' and take a look at his innate domain. Somehow, Hard to Kill had deemed it necessary for him to actualize his domain.

"Actualizing your innate domain symbolizes the deep understanding a sorcerer has of himself, along with the feeling of trust and confidence they hold in their abilities." Shuichi said to himself, and yet again, no words came out of his 'mouth'.

"It is the most crucial step for a sorcerer to take when they want to proceed to the next stage."

Innate domain was the basis of the technique of Domain Expansion, the pinnacle of Jujutsu and a crucial step to take to master things like domain amplification. But more than that, it symbolized what you were in the truest sense.

To understand the very core of your being, the soul and be able to manipulate it as so; that is the essence of True Jujutsu.

Time passed. Though it was not that Shuichi could tell in this strange domain of his.

And almost abruptly, a change seemed to occur in the entirety of the innate domain.

The darkness seemed to come alive, separating into three different regions. A bright flash of blue, reminiscent of the ethereal glow of cursed energy flames accompanied the change, making the entire domain glow in a deep blue tinge.

Shuichi's eyes met light, making him squint at the immensity of it. Above him was a deep blue sky with a soft purple tinge. Various stars riddled the sky and a single massive moon, that shone with light equivalent to that of the sun shone down upon him.

He softly landed onto the ground that had now formed in the innate domain.

Looking around, he was immediately mesmerized. The ground was a mixture of soil and water. In the distant horizon of the almost endless view, he could see nothing but the calm surface of water. Below his feet was also water, one that ran so deep that he couldn't see the bottom, but strangely enough, he didn't sink down through it.

Around him, were three distinctive things in a triangular formation. One of them was a glowing, pulsating, raging mass of cursed energy, greedily moving around as if it wanted to rampage through the entire space.

"Cursed Heart..." He spoke softly.

Shuichi realized that this was the representation of his cursed technique, Cursed Heart, which had not yet been completely integrated into the innate domain. And the reason for it?

He looked towards the second thing. It was a small squirrel that rested on the ground. Wait, was it? Wasn't it an Eagle? Or is it an ant? A whale? A cheetah? An Alaskan Malamute? A plant? A tree? A flower? A Human? A curse?

It was an every changing aggregate of power, something that symbolized his ability of adapting to differ phenomenon.

"Hard to Kill..." Another representation of his cursed technique, hard to Kill. Something which had also failed to completely integrate into the domain due to a clash between the techniques. Mainly because he had not completely mastered his techniques.

He looked towards the third and final thing, a small smile forming on his face as he looked at the small patch of ground containing small pieces of metal, some weapons that stuck out from the ground, also jutting out from the ground were some large crosses that could be put in a graveyard and some wooden sticks.

Some place above them was a small stream of cursed energy, flowing in many different patterns and shapes, making for a spectacle. It was like the flow of water through a pressurized stream. The final representation of his techniques.

"And finally... Hundred Armament Refining."

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Shuichi opened his eyes, roused from his sleep after actualizing his innate domain. Well... partially anyways.

Gazing at his surroundings to get a better sense of where he was, he immediately understood his situation.

His entire body was enveloped in chains, which were all reinforced with talismans with ancient Kanji writings. The room he was in was relatively small, being only worth a few office cubicles. The walls of the entire room were completely covered in talismans, so much so that he couldn't even tell the door from the walls.

On the ceiling, some ropes were hanging, which too had talismans on them.

Shuichi examined his body, noticing that most of the wounds he had received from the fight with Gojo Satoru were healed. Most of, as in he could still feel some pain when he tried to shift a bit. His cursed heart was now working at efficiency never seen before, pumping magnitudes more cursed energy through his body.

The chains and the talismans on them seemed to be preventing him from gathering any cursed energy. Seeing that, he increased the output of cursed energy through his body, leading to an exponential increase in stength.

Vrgggggg~

A straining sound occurred in the room as he tried to pull away the chains from the ground; which was somehow proving more of a challenge than expected.

'The restrictive power of these chains is far higher than I thought of.' Shuichi mused.

'Status' He called out to the system.

{[Status]} [Skill Tree(!)] [Inventory]

[Name: Zenin Shuichi

Level: 17

Class: Jujutsu Sorcerer

Cursed Technique: Cursed Heart; Hard to Kill; Hundred Armament Refining

Innate Skills: Cursed Technique Creation; Corrupted Mind

Skill Points: 120]

Looking at his Status screen, Shuichi turned towards the Skill Tree option, which had an exclamation mark over it.

Using another mental command, the Skill Tree opened up, revealing the true extent of his growth that could not be seen expressed merely through his level.

Seeing the combat branch of his skill Tree, Shuichi could not help the smile that broke out on his face.

Why? You might ask.

Well...

[Cursed Energy Control(2400)]

[Cursed Energy Reinforcement (1970)]

[Black Flash(24)]

[Spiritual Protection(0)]

'Black flash has been unlocked...' Shuichi thought with a smile adorning his face.

Black Flash, the heavenly phenomenon that blesses a person and leads them to an enlightenment about cursed energy, it was akin to a rebirth.

Though at the moment, Shuichi could hardly tell a difference since manipulating cursed energy in his own body had always been easier for him. The real difference would be seen when he actually tried making constructs and reinforcement properly.

Cursed Energy Control which was at about 1800 prior to the fight had now reached 2400! Along with Cursed Energy Reinforcement which was at 1400 before, now reaching 1970!

It was testament to the incredible power black flash held! Not only was it a devastatingly powerful attack, it was also a booster that elevated the potential of a being all the way to 120%! (Give or Take...)

Looking at the skill tree that now had black flash unlocked, Shuichi could not help but feel excited and relieved. He had taken another step to become stronger...

His eyes turned to the final thing that was in the skill column, Spiritual Protection. It was something that he was no longer worried about now. Having established his innate domain just now, he was in the knowhow of how to influence his soul with cursed energy...

Partially anyways, he did not know the exact procedure but that would come to him naturally when he actually got the innate domain completely actualized.

Just while he was in his musings, the sound of a door opening reached his ears.

He lifted his head, directly in front of him, through the indistinguishable cover of the talismans, the shape of a door became visible and opened wide. Behind it, was a mean looking man with sharp eyes and a large forehead.

He wore a fully zipped up black jacket and a straight black pant, with matching shoes. Looking at his attire, Shuichi immediately understood that this person was a sorcerer.

Yet the most eye catching thing about this middle aged man was the small soft toy that he was carrying in his arms, it was the shape of a Grizzly bear with punching gloves for hands.

Seeing such a mean looking person carrying a soft toy was a sight to behold. But Shuichi knew this was not just some ordinary doll, it was a cursed doll.

Sensing the aggregates of cursed energy within it, Shuichi was certain it was a fairly powerful one as well. Well... powerful as in comparable to a 3rd grade, as in it could beat the shit out of a group of normal people. Which, for a cursed doll of such a small size was commendable.

The man walked into the room, dragging a chair behind him. As he placed the chair some distance in front of him, he went back and closed the door before sitting down.

"Shuichi Zenin? Correct?" He spoke in a deep tone.

Shuichi, however, didn't answer the question; instead he retaliated with his own.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"This is the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College. You have been detained here over the order of the higher ups. My name is Yaga Masamichi and there are some questions that I would like to ask you..."

'Ah, so he is Yaga. The curse doll creator guy of Tokyo Jujutsu High.' Shuichi mused. Not having recognized Yaga due to never meeting him before.

"Why am I being detained here? I've done nothing that would call for such actions."

"It is not something you have done, though the things that you have done are the reasons for such a high security around you." He replied looking at the large number of Talismans in the room. "The Jujutsu world is undergoing a change, one that will change the entire world as a whole, and the Higher ups are scrambling about, trying to find the cause. You in particular have turned out to be a suspect."

"Suspect?"

Hearing his question, Yaga Masamichi adorned a grim expression.

"Zenin Shuichi, you have been considered as a criminal for spreading around talismans that aggregate cursed energy and lead to stronger and more numerous curses. Not only that, you have been considered as a high priority target due to attacking, and actually being able to harm Gojo Satoru, a special grade sorcerer.

"That puts your threat level on one of the highest scales. As such, as per Gojo's report of your fight, the higher ups have judged it fit for you to be permanently detained here!"

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A/N: No random quote today~

Throw some stones~ at 500 there will be a bonus chapter~