Sacred Treasure

I peer into the gate as an insurmountable fog envelops me whole. A plethora of images bloom within my mind as memories and visions, so far unknown arise in my psyche uncontrollably.

I see a vast sea extending out into the horizons on all sides, and I see the mountains and the fields of grass that sway in the wind. I see a large valley that stretches out for miles and I see a lonesome village that stands amid a sea of wheat and rice.

I see the eddies of wind and the dust devils that form across the roads and I see the clouds that take on a thousand shapes across the sky. I see the infinite horizons in the distance and I see the smallest of dirt particles that litter the streets.

I walk on four legs across the municipal square as I am followed by a laughing child. I laugh loudly as I totter about and chase after a dog. I play the biwa as I sit in front of a rich customer who drinks sake out of a gourd. I type away on my computer because of the extra work I was provided. I am approached by a shy boy with a love letter who stammers over his words. I fly through the air with my wings spread about. I cry for the death of my grandfather while my father supports me by the shoulders.

I crawl over the ground as I try to escape a frog. I climb the trees with my long fingers, reaching for a fruit that looks delicious. I buy a new dress I had been eying for a month and I can't wait to try it out. I run along the road, trying to escape my pursuers. I scream in rage as I chase after the man who had slept with my wife with a Katana in hand.

I boast about my powers and appearance as I help the people with the collateral damage. I smile compassionately as I look at the narcissistic Englishman. I overlook the destroyed compound, contemplating my retirement and I sit in the underground chamber, my eyes clouded over with fog.

Without any control over it, my mind quickly spread out, enveloping hundreds of millions of viewpoints, each coming on with an influx of information, knowledge and memories that lay previously unknown.

The smallest of insects to the largest of animals to the millions of inhabitants all across Hokkaido, all of them was I.

Then, my gaze travelled to a compound deep in the mountains, overlooking a gigantic valley. Within the valley lied a small pool that shone violently with colours of all kinds, and even with those that couldn't be imagined.

"I" travelled down into the lake, appearing further and further inside where even light dared not reach and where no living things existed.

Eventually, "I" saw a gigantic expanse of malevolence and violence like none other. "I" wasn't sure what it was in essence, but a more vile being had never went unhung. It was a gigantic expanse of white, protruding from various places into thin spurs that could easily pierce through the skin.

It was a sea of Bones! All encompassing and endless, appearing so vast that even the sky appeared like a tiny speak in it's wake!

Slowly, a hand crawled out of it and began to reach for "me."

Suddenly, wave of clarity washed over Shuichi., waning as it did so. Just as he was about to lose himself again, it came again.

Then, his mind regained it's individuality, turning sane.

It was his cursed technique, Hard to Kill at work!

Shuichi suddenly felt something rupture inside his brain and he rapidly pulled back his vision, pulling further and further from the Gate, tearing himself off of every single one of 'him' that had become at this moment.

Then, he pulled himself back and opened his eyes.

Huff! Huff! Huff!

He breathed heavily, sweating pouring profusely from his forehead as a large streak of red extended from his nose to his legs, as well as from his ears to the ground.

He felt a deep sense of headache, as if something had been drilled into his head and twisted!

Ouch! Shuichi yelled in his heart and hurriedly used Reverse cursed technique to fix his brain.

Immediately, the unbearable pain that almost made him pass out subsided.

He huffed for some more time, calming down his breathing. Then, he looked down towards the ground where a small pool of crimson lied at his feet.

Damn... He felt as if he had just touched death's door and returned in the span of a few moments. He had never expected the after effects of the sacred treasure would be so extreme, even with so many counter measures in place.

He looked around himself, no longer feeling the air that he had turned into cursed tools. Evidently, the power of the sacred treasure had smashed right through the protection, obliterating the curse he had imbued in it.

Then, he looked towards his necklace and the Shogun's funeral Bell. The bell, ever since he had been stumbled awake was ringing incessantly, its side holding a massive crack. As for his necklace, it was fuming with a thick white smoke, evidently overheating due to an influx of information.

... I never knew that the necklace could overheat. Theoretically speaking, it shouldn't even be possible for it to overheat... Shuichi shook his head and put the bell into his inventory, deciding to repair it on a later date.

Unlike the Thousand Faced Tower that practices malevolence and a violent method of torture of all the different negative emotions, the Torii Gate offers it's own unique danger.

If Hard to Kill hadn't pulled me back at that critical moment, I would've definitely been assimilated into the collective consciousness of the entirety of Hokkaido, even into the various bugs and animals!

As expected... I really was courting death...

Shuichi shivered once again, perhaps remembering the feeling of slowly getting assimilated by the gate.

Unlike the tower, which would've trapped him inside it and kept him there for an eternity, the gate, although completely indifferent to his prying could easily destroy his psyche by pulling it across billions of other minds that inhabit Hokkaido.

Then, his thoughts wandered to the last vision he had seen, where he had saw through a gigantic sea of nothing but pure white, an ocean of Bones that shone with such malevolence and pure evil that he could not accurately define it my words. No language could express such extreme ideas of evil and all things spiteful that he had seen from a single glimpse at the sea of bones.

Then, Shuichi remembered one of the old stories.

A man walked into a sea of bones, shedding his mortal coils and skin along with it. His muscles withered off and intails flew out in a mix of red liquid as he took a dip into an ocean of evil. And then, he became Immortal.

Suddenly, Shuichi shivered.

Damn! In my time here, I've not only messed with one or two, but three sacred treasures!

He realized the severity of having seen the Demonic Bone Sea, one of the Three sacred Treasures of Hokkaido.

Then, he sighed and began to repair his Records of Tenjin.

Whatever, I'll think over all this tomorrow. I'll take a rest for today...

~~~

The night of the day was especially eventful. The Flame School held a great feast for the completion of the Great Harae.

Shuichi talked and celebrated with all the school inhabitants. The attack of the darkness curse was completely forgotten by everyone, with the only proof of it happening being the wide scale destruction of the city.

The next day, Shuichi fulfilled his reason for being in Hokkaido. He built a total of 13 cursed tools for the Flame School, with 2 being special grade tools.

After which, he began to work on his own.

His goal was very simple. He was going to make one singular artefact. Just one.

Shuichi smiled and stretched his fingers, overlooking the small bead that was on his table since yesterday.

The information flux yesterday had been one of tremendous risk, but it brought with it it's own benefits. The main benefits was the information on how sacred treasures are made. There was also the question of what a sacred treasure was, all of which he could now answer due to his necklace.

Shuichi chuckled.

Heh, even the Six Eyes might not be so broken in terms of information gathering. Although they can perceive information without trouble, collecting the information and compiling it for usage is beyond it and is left to the user's own brain.

Now that I think about it, if a six eyes user were to use Records of Tenjin, how much information would they be able to gather? Shuichi mused while smiling.

However, he realized that looking at sacred treasures might be more dangerous like that. The more one can observe is the more dangers one may encounter in case of sacred treasures. Such behemoths of power that were sacred treasures could easily spell doom for anyone that they perceived as a threat; and even besides that, they could easily shred through a person's psyche while being completely indifferent of their existence.

Sacred Treasures as they were, were aggregates. Not just of cursed energy, but of emotion and consciousness. Centuries of emotional fluctuations in an area, or small instances of really extensive emotional outbursts can cause changes in the ambient cursed energy. That itself can't cause the formation of aggregates. If anything, it accelerates the formation of cursed spirits.

However, when collective thought is associated with an object, place or concept in such an area, it can cause... a mutation of sorts.

That mutation culminates across the years into an object unlike anything that can be created through artificial means, similar to how shikigamis are formed but at a way larger scale... at least normally that is.

Exceptions were always there in the Jujutsu world, after all.

Shuichi shook of these thoughts and took out every single special grade cursed tool he owned, which at this point in time numbered 8.

Then, he separated the Shogun's funeral Bell and the Sudarshanchakra from the pile and kept the rest onto the table.

The task was simple. Sacrifice special grade tools to make a stronger tool, nay, not just a stronger tool.

I'll make a sacred treasure today... Shuichi smiled, his grin stretching out from ear to ear, making his face look like that of a demon's.

The sound of his rough laughter echoed in the room and out into the hallway.

Edward who was walking through the hallway looked towards Shuichi's room in puzzlement.

"Did he hurt his head?" He wondered.

~~~

A/N: Throw some stones.