Chapter 11: Binding vow

"¡I actually did it!" Itadori sat down after the battle. "It was a bit tricky, but thanks to the hint you gave me, I was able to defeat it much faster," he thought before continuing on his way.

"Great, he managed to defeat it... Though I noticed a slight fluctuation in energy, I suppose that was Kaede talking to him," thought the white-haired observer, watching Itadori's fight.

"Yuji... he's crazy, it seems," Gojo said. "As grotesque as curses can be, if they try to kill him, he handles them without a shred of doubt. Unlike you, he hasn't been exposed to curses; he was just a regular high school kid until recently. Even with talent, there are sorcerers who can't overcome their fear of them... You've seen them, haven't you, Megumi?" he addressed the black-haired boy. "Today I want to see if Nobara has that same madness."

We see Nobara walking towards a room filled with mannequins, focusing on one in particular.

"Hey, the curse in there," she spoke, but no one replied.

"The mannequin in the middle... Are you planning to hide inside?" she said, pulling some nails from her bag with her left hand and holding a hammer in the other. "If you don't come out, I'll exorcise you right where you are."

"But Kugisaki has experience," Fushiguro said to Gojo. "Doesn't she already have that madness?"

"Curses are born from human minds. Their number and size increase proportionally with the population, right?" Gojo responded to his student. "From the countryside to Tokyo, the level of curses is very different..."

Nobara struck with her hammer, launching two nails charged with cursed energy that hit the mannequin's head directly, revealing four eyes looking straight at her.

"You'd better remove the nails because they're infused with my energy..."

Suddenly, the cursed energy started overflowing, causing the mannequin's head to explode.

"It's done... Eh?"

Nobara heard a faint thump. Turning her head towards some boxes, she saw a scared child among them.

"A kid? Maybe he snuck in to play and got trapped by the curse."

"Hey, it's all right now. Come here," she tried to reassure the child.

He only started shaking his head in denial, leaving Nobara momentarily shocked.

"I guess the belief that kids distrust beautiful people is true. I'll call Itadori."

"Wait!" the boy shouted. "Don't leave me here!"

Suddenly, a curse emerged from behind the boy, grabbing him by the head.

Nobara quickly readied her hammer, about to pull out two nails, but the curse slightly pierced the boy's neck, making her stop abruptly.

"It took him hostage? This curse... has intelligence!"

"Although I said 'level', it's not just about the amount of magical power, it's also their cunning. Sometimes intelligent curses put us in cruel situations," Gojo continued explaining. "Situations where one life is pitted against another."

"Hey kid, I don't want to alarm you again, but you'd better hurry to the third floor. Your friend has a little problem..." We return to Itadori, where Kaede manifested to warn him again. "Seriously, I'm being overly generous. This is going to cost you."

"What? Where is she? What's happening?" Itadori started running to the third floor at full speed while asking Kaede for information.

"Eh? You want more? Isn't it enough to know she's in danger?"

"Please, tell me what's happening," Itadori pleaded.

"Mm, NO!" Kaede replied with complete mockery. "You're taking advantage of my generosity. Next time you want a favor from me, give me something in return." And with that, he disappeared again.

"Damn it!"

And with that, Itadori started running through the floor without knowing what he was going to find.

"Damn, damn, damn. Even though this type of curse is practically nothing. A grade 4, or maybe the lowest grade 3, and it's aware of its weakness. That's why it's using this strategy."

"Kekeke," the curse grinned maliciously at Nobara.

"Calm down! If I die, that kid will too. But if that kid dies, I won't. Think about it rationally! Should I try to save myself? Right?!" Nobara thought quickly, gritting her teeth.

Suddenly, Nobara's hammer and bag of nails dropped to the ground.

"I'm unarmed, let the kid go," Nobara said, raising her hands.

"I'm an idiot... It won't let him go... I wanted to see Saori one last time..." Nobara thought with regret.

Out of nowhere, a fist destroyed the wall behind the curse, surprising both it and Nobara.

"Uh? Didn't I hit it?" said a voice behind the wall, finishing destroying it, revealing Itadori, preparing his knife to exorcise the curse.

The curse moved the child in front of Itadori, making him change the course of the weapon and cut its arm, causing the child to fall to the ground.

Quickly, Itadori caught him and slid away from the curse.

"Are you okay?" the redhead asked the boy.

"Mm," he only nodded in affirmation.

"Kikiki," the curse, taking advantage of the slight distraction, tried to escape through the wall, heading outside.

"Ah! It's escaping!"

"I won't allow it!" Nobara shouted, pulling a voodoo doll from her jacket. "Itadori, pass me that arm!"

The curse, managing to get outside, jumped into the air.

"Oh!" This was seen by Megumi and Gojo.

"I'll exorcise it," Megumi said, preparing to intervene.

"Wait a moment."

Inside the building, Itadori threw the arm toward Nobara, who placed it on top of the voodoo doll, aiming a nail at it.

"Voodoo Doll Ritual," said Nobara, making the nail vibrate.

"Voodoo doll? Is she a witch?" both Itadori and the boy wondered.

"Resonance," Nobara finished, driving the nail charged with energy into the doll, causing the curse's heart to explode with four giant nails.

"..."

Megumi remained still in a hand sign position.

"... Yeah, she really is crazy," Gojo said, observing the scene. "But this isn't over yet."

"I told you we had to stick together!" Nobara yelled at Itadori.

"What? I said that, you decided to split up!" Itadori retorted. "Besides, what was that-?"

Out of nowhere, something hit Itadori, sending him flying backward and crashing through several walls.

"Itadori!" Nobara shouted, bewildered. "What?"

The creature that did this was a curse approximately 6 feet 7 inches tall, with a slim build and grayish skin. Its hands were enormous, and it had two pincers emerging from its shoulder blades. Its face had a cadaverous appearance.

"It's... It's a grade 1... What is this... I need to call for Gojo-sensei's help," said Nobara, turning to flee and ask for reinforcements. She saw the curse about to attack the boy.

Quickly, she sent several nails into its arm, preventing it from turning its attention to her.

"Itadori!" Nobara called to her companion, getting no response from the rubble. She saw him lying unconscious.

"This can't be..."

Inside Yuji

"What? Where am I?" Itadori wondered, looking around the strange, blood-filled room with a large mound of bones in the middle.

"Is that?" At the top of the mound was the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, who was simply watching Itadori as if analyzing him.

"Oh! Do we have guests? How exciting!" Behind Sukuna emerged a black-haired man with eyes matching his hair and wearing light Japanese battle armor, like a ninja. This was Kaede.

"We apologize for the lack of hospitality, but there's not much we can offer... Unless you like blood," he said, offering a hollow skull filled with blood to a bewildered Itadori.

"Uh? Thanks... Wait, what's happening here?" Itadori quickly snapped out of his stupor and demanded explanations.

"What's happening? You got a good hit and were knocked out. Hehe, what an idiot," Kaede explained why he was there.

"I have to get out of here! Kugisaki is left alone with that monster!"

Suddenly, a large amount of cursed energy belonging to Sukuna went straight toward Itadori, but it was deflected by Kaede.

"You're talking too much. If you're going to stay here, shut up," Sukuna demanded of Itadori.

"Come on, buddy, don't be a grump to the kid," Kaede said, patting his friend's back.

"Get your hands off me."

Kaede quickly removed his hand just as a cut aimed directly at him was about to sever his arm.

"How boring. Come, Itadori, let's talk away from this old grump," he said, appearing behind Itadori and taking him away from Sukuna.

"What was that? We were here, and now..." said Itadori confusedly, not understanding what had just happened.

"Nothing important. Now let's talk business."

"What? Business?"

"Sure, after all, your little friend is about to die while we talk. Hehe," Kaede joked with Itadori. He knew Gojo's intentions very well.

"Then get me out of here," Itadori demanded of Kaede.

"Oh, come on, I've already explained how this works. You give something for something."

"What do you want?" Itadori finally asked to know his captor's demands.

"It's simple... I want freedom," he said with a somewhat twisted smile.

"You're crazy if you think I'll set you free."

"No, no, I don't want to be free until... someone defeats me. After I'm defeated, you'll regain your freedom. What do you say?" he offered Itadori. "But if you refuse, you won't wake up, and you'll only do so when you're healed. Hehe."

"If I agree to these terms, I want you to save Nobara and the boy," said Itadori, ensuring not to leave any loopholes.

"Sure, it'll be a binding vow," Kaede finished, raising his hand.

Itadori shook his hand with Kaede's, initiating the pact.

Outside

"Sensei, what does this mean?" Fushiguro shouted, angry with Gojo for the situation his new companions were in.

Gojo just stood up and with a hand sign raised a curtain around the area.

"For precautions," Gojo said.

"I'm going in," Fushiguro, preparing to help his companions, was stopped by Gojo.

"Don't worry, it's part of their test."

"Whose?"

"His," Gojo pointed to the building just as the curse was expelled from it, sending it flying several streets away.

"What?"

A little earlier, inside the building, we see Nobara trying to dodge the curse's attacks with little success.

"Damn it, I can't hold out much longer like this..."

She continued to dodge as much as she could until a fist struck her stomach, sending her crashing into the wall.

"Cough, cough... Damn," she said, coughing up blood from the impact.

"Why isn't Gojo-sensei coming? Doesn't he see what's happening? Damn blindfolded bastard!"

She cursed her sensei from the bottom of her heart for this stupid test.

"If I'm going to die like this, at least I'll make sure to cause you as much damage as possible," she said with a crazy expression on her face, resigned to her death.

The curse ran towards Nobara, drawing its fist back, while she prepared to give her best shot.

"DIE!"

"Black Flash."

But before she could launch her attack, a fist with red lightning connected with the curse's head, sending it flying out of the building.

Nobara saw Itadori's back with great relief.

"Itadori, thanks for the help..." Nobara got up from her position, about to pat him on the back. "You... you're not Itadori."

Suddenly, she noticed the enormous amount of cursed energy overflowing from Itadori, realizing it wasn't him.

"Hello again, girl. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that Itadori can't rescue you, but I will in his place," it was Kaede who had possessed Itadori's body through their binding vow.

"Talking mouth?" Suddenly, Nobara saw the marks on his face and his way of speaking and realized who it was.

"Haha, I have a name, you know?" Kaede said, annoyed by the nickname the girl gave him.

Turning towards the curse that was getting up on the other side of the street, he said:

"I am Kazehaya Kaede, the strongest sorcerer in the world."