The beginning of the End I

"Promise me, you'll win this and bring her back."

Aki held onto his arm, as asked in tears, as Satoru sighed and nodded.

*

*

Three days later...

Within a small tent, a handsome white haired figure sat on a small rocking chair, and smilingly drank from a can of cola. His dark shades did nothing to obscure his gaze from the magazine in hand, which he joyfully read through, page to page.

In about a day after the little impasse, he had made a full recovery from his gruesome battle with the Darkness devil and was getting ready to end this war once and for all.

After about five minutes, he sighed and closed the magazine, before looking towards the entrance of his tent, and right on cue, a figure came trotting in without permission.

"Oi, old man, do you always barge into people's personal spaces without asking or...knocking?"

He asked in annoyance towards the middle aged man in a brown trench coat, with a menacing scar, and most importantly of all, a deadpan expression.

"I thought you'd be out training, like the rest of us....

Then again, I shouldn't compare you to the rest of us.."

Kishibe sighed and took out a cigarette and lighter and began smoking, before he took a seat.

"Tsk. The gall of this old man..First you enter without knocking, and you take seat without permission and start smoking. What if I was wanking when you entered?"

With a flabbergasted expression, Satoru expressed his discontent which seemed quite trivial at this point, but then again, he was Gojo Satoru, the pettiest of them all.

"When are we to expect the final battle to occur?"

Kishibe took out a small alcoholic drink from an inner pocket in his trench coat and took a swig before asking.

"I wonder if you have an inventory in that trench coat or something."

Satoru turned downcast for a moment after realising his sense of humour wasn't really cheering the old man up.

"Fine, fine. Since you want bad news, you'll get it. The binding vow I instituted that is currently guarding us will dissolve tomorrow, meaning we have less than 24 hours to the final fight."

He shrugged and gave the old man exactly what he wanted to hear.

"I see."

Kishibe puffed out a small cloud of smoke and nodded solemnly.

"And what are our chances of winning this tomorrow?

I mean...how confident are you to win against them?"

He asked with a serious expression. At this point, even Kishibe had to admire Satoru's disposition. Anyone else or even Kishibe himself in that position would've probably lost their minds by now, from the pressure alone.

Their lives literally depended on him - no, the fate of the entire human race depended on him at this moment.

The moment he fell in battle would be the moment mankind is eradicated from history.

Seeing him laugh and smile despite all this burden, Kishibe couldn't help but place him on a higher pedestal than he already did.

"Mmmm, let's see. 100 percent confident.."

Satoru affirmed with a chuckle, but seeing the seriousness on Kishibe's face he decided to go into a little bit of detail.

"With the other horsemen and Primordial Hell Devil, the win rate is 2000%, however adding Lilith to the mix decreases my chances to 100 percent."

He explained in his terms, and even Kishibe couldn't help but scrunch up his face in ignorance, as if Satoru was speaking an ancient language.

"Here, let me put in terms you'd understand right. Lilith seems to have control over space which might be superior to or equal to mine, and in both cases, if my chances include the possibility of not dying, then even I don't know what would happen.

However if my death is included in the scenario, then I believe I have a 100 percent chance of winning against her..."

He sighed, and in that moment, even Kishibe could detect a hint of sorrow and unwillingness in his eyes.

"So there's no other way to win this battle without dying.."

Kishibe puffed out another cloud of smoke and spoke, while Satoru smiled.

"But! This battle could go either way. I'm sure if you guys channel the power of friendship and love towards me, I can get some sort of power up and win this...without dying of course..

Have you ever laughed before?!"

Satoru couldn't help but rub his temples in exhaustion, trying to make the old man laugh, while Kishibe deadpanned at his statement.

"Either way, I don't plan on losing so.."

Satoru shrugged and finished the bottle of coke, tossed the can outside and picked up the magazine and continued looking through.

Sighing, Kishibe stood up nodded and turned around.

"We'll be meeting in the evening to discuss our plans and strategies. We would expect you.."

He left as silently as he had arrived, while Satoru shook his head, sighed and put the magazine away.

He had drastically improved throughout the course of the battle, however, while he knew nothing about Lilith's abilities despite the fact that she seemed to be able to reverse his cursed techniques mysteriously, deep down he knew the battle was going to be the hardest he ever fought in his life.

Sitting calmly, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

He needed more than advanced space time manipulation to defeat her, so he began delving into his memories, salvaging what was left from his previous world and began combing through, trying to get ways and means to try to boost his space time manipulation to the next level.

Lilith was extremely strong, approximately scaled from planetary level to multiplanetary or even Galaxy level.

And in order to take her down, he would've to scale even beyond that. This was his promise to himself, as well as to his lover and the multitude of humans out there. Nothing, nothing was going to stop him from winning this fight, not even death.

*

*

*

Three hours later, a small group gathered within a small tent and sat around in a circular arrangement, discussing their plans for the upcoming battle.

Naturally, the group consisted of Aki, Himeno, Kishibe, Yoshida, Power and Denji.

" Satoru only needs to take care of this Lilith. Our forces can handle the weaker devils and we can take on the horsemen and that Primordial."

Aki spoke, the left arm of his robe dangling about, indicating his still missing limb.

Meanwhile, Yoshida and Kishibe who were actually on the battlefield shook their heads.

"Our forces won't stand a chance, Aki. The Hell Primordial has the ability to continuously birth devils. Hence until it's totally destroyed we won't get rid of the devil army.."

Yoshida spoke, and everyone's expression turned dark for a moment.

"Fine, then I'll take on the Hell Primordial. Even at the cost of my life.."

He spoke, and while Kishibe and the others were at least comforted that someone like Aki was willing to give his life, they knew the truth all too well.

"Give it up, Aki. You won't stand a chance. That Primordial is on a whole different level compared to the Gun devil. Heck, it can even go toe to toe with Satoru himself. I'm sorry, I trust your abilities, but at this point, Satoru is the only one who can deal with this mess.."

Himeno voiced out her thoughts, and the room descended into silence.

No one bothered to offer a rebuttal because they knew she was right.

"Hahaha. It's so lively in here.."

Suddenly a chuckle rang out and Satoru appeared in their midst dressed in pajamas and holding onto a big fluffy teddy bear while yawning, as if he had just woken up from bed.

Seeing his handsome face and the confident smile, their hearts relaxed a little. How nice it was to have someone carry your biggest burden.

"I guess no one is going to call out the fact that he wore literal pajamas to a council meeting...

No? Anyone? Then it's cool.."

Yoshida felt the need to call out the bullshit, but of course no one was going to join him.

"I heard you're going to discuss the plans for tomorrow's battle, so let's hear it."

He casually picked out a chair and sat by Denji who had been silent all this while.

"Oi, what's up with the dark circles under your eyes, you look terrible.."

Noticing Denji's haggard face, he smacked the back of his head and berated him, bringing a smile to the youth's face.

"Anyway, Satoru, Aki here was suggesting that we hold off the Primordial and the two horsemen so you deal with Lilith as quickly as possible..."

Kishibe quickly shifted to the topic while Satoru yawned.

"My battle with Lilith is probably going to be a long all out battle...so that won't be necessary."

He refuted while shaking his head.

"Though it'd be nice if you guys can take on Fami and Death."

He rested his head on the soft and comfortable body of the teddy in his hands.

"Hmm, I guess if that's the only way.."

Kishibe and Yoshida nodded, while Power and Himeno smiled.

"You'll need to regenerate that arm of yours Aki. You and Denji would play a central role in order to defeat those two. Can't have you at half strength in an all out battle.."

Satoru spoke, seemingly exhausted, pointing the cute arm of the teddy towards Aki.

"And what about the Hell Primordial? Who's gonna handle that creature?!"

Power asked, resting her cheek on her fist.

"Why me of course. I'll need a little warm up before I take on the literal Queen of Devils."

Satoru let out a small smile and rested his head back onto his teddy.

"So basically that's it. Aki, Power, Angel and I would take on Death, while Denji, you, Himeno and Yoshida would take on Fami.

The rest of our forces would handle the weaker devils and the Powerhouses will settle their differences themselves.."

Kishibe spoke, directing the last part of his statement towards Satoru.

"The Powerhouses will settle their differences themselves? What in the actual fuck? Was that an attempt at humor, Kishibe?"

Satoru rolled his eyes and disappeared from the tent, leaving the others by themselves.