Aftermath

What is a curse?

A seemingly simple question which had no answer. The pure definition of what a 'curse' might entail eludes even the greatest of thinkers, the greatest of philosophers and minds of the jujutsu world and humanity as a whole. A "Curse"...

Threads of reddish black projections saturated the air. A transcendental sensation of unease suffused out into the very ground itself upon which it tread.

It was not something that could be described to be living. Yet, describing it as simply a non-living object or something inherently 'dead' seemed to be nothing short of an insult to the holy grandeur of the thing.

Takashi stepped back, his eyes widened to the extreme as he blankly stared on into the abyssal darkness, inside which he had just seen... the answer.

Darkness seemed to stretch on endlessly in front of him, the inner workings of which were unknown to anyone but it's sole occupant. That. Takashi's figure trembled and staggered as his legs gave out due to a sheer feeling of wonder, awe and a blasphemous fear.

The shadows stretched, and rippled and turned. They curled in on themselves in between the trees of the forest in such a way that it seemed like the workings of God. The word 'breathtaking' did not do justice to describe the sheer magnitude of his emotions.

Deep in the shadows crept a great being... The darkness itself came alive and curled into a cocoon... no, it was better to describe it as a womb... And inside the womb was a growing fetus. Something strange, something powerful, something so incomparably primal and ancient stirred inside of the womb... Takashi could feel it within his very bones.

What else could it be besides his God?

The womb moved with a powerful step, it's underside having hundreds grotesquely gigantic lumps of fleshy tendrils that came together to form 4 comically gory and eldritch feet. The wet slapping of meat came as they impacted the ground to move.

Everytime it took a step, the grass below and some distance around it seemed to wither; as if all life had been sucked clean from it.

Hundreds of extremely thin lines, tendrils, tentacles extended out from the womb itself, grappling at something from within the darkness, using it to provide support to the overall structure. A disgusting pulse, like the beating of a live heart came from the inside of the womb. There nothing could be seen inside it. The womb itself was a pitch black object, something that was impossible to see through no matter however much light could theoretically be shined upon it. It was simply built in a way that sucked in any and all light there could be.

A child of Darkness... Nay, the body of a God. Or better yet, a curse.

"M-m-my god!" Takashi yelled in fervor, prostrating himself before the behemoth like monstrosity. It's immensity dwarfed Takashi by a large margin, and it's grandeur was visible to him clearly.

This is an act of God! There's no other explanation! Takashi thought to himself, his psyche steeling itself for whatever was to come.

The womb stopped for a moment. The foot failed to land because of that single moment of hesitation, almost making it fall to the ground. At the womb stabilized itself, a guttural sound, akin to the bleating sound of a goat rang out in the dense forest.

Beeeeeeerrrrggggggggh!!

The sound chilled Takashi's bones, as his body was paralyzed from terror. Raw, heart gripping terror overtook him.

This... this was a curse...

Beeeeeeeeeerrrrggghh!

And the sound of a bleating goat was all he heard as darkness overtook him.

~~~

Shuichi laid quietly in his bedroom, gazing at the empty ceiling of his house. His gaze was unfocused, almost monotonous. Yet, as still as the outside appeared, the inside was as tumultuous as the unforgiving ocean. His cursed heart beat with a vigor that far surpassed any other situation.

His cursed energy flogged around his body, manifesting into vibrations like the ripples across the still surface of a lake. His eyes seemed to look deeper within himself, looking at a hazy figure that overlapped with his physical body. The hazy figure was somewhat white in color, saturated by a collective blur of countless colors, merged into a single chimera like mixture.

Since he had unlocked Spiritual protection at the stairs of the jujutsu high campus, he had never actually turned it off. Leading to an explosion of proficiency.

[Spiritual Protection(977)]

And it was not only the spiritual protection which had been upgraded with the short but eventful trip to the Jujutsu Highschool. His CQC, which had grown by leaps and bounds by engaging in combat with such a great combatant like Gojo Satoru, had reached a total prowess of 2000, by which, it had stopped increasing.

[CQC(2000) -- (Max)]

That's right, CQC which was in the normal tree was now maxed out in proficiency. And by now, the skill could actually be moved over to the ability tree through the usage of 20 skill points.

It could be said that he had benefitted a lot from the fight with Gojo and his meeting with Ieiri.

I should get some more of these skills... perhaps falling blossom emotion would help. Shuichi mused, suddenly remembering the anti domain technique of the Zenin clan.

The Zenin clan had many of such manuals that taught the usage of such a technique. Sadly, Shuichi's predecessor did not have access to them because of his lackluster control of cursed energy and negligible cursed energy reserves.

Perhaps I should make a trip to the zenin compound... If the news of my fight with Gojo gets to Naobito, I don't doubt I'll be called to the Zenin clan without any effort on my part. Shuichi thought with a smile. He couldn't help but make up various scenarios in his mind where he would beat up the old foggies of the clan black and blue.

He never did like people that act all high and mighty just because they are supposedly 'better' than you.

The human mind is very adaptable, and can achieve almost anything with enough effort. But maybe that's just his previous viewpoints shining through.

In this new world, your destiny was set in stone at the moment you were born. It did not matter the amount of effort you put in. If you did not have the predestined 'golden spoon' then you were bound to be left in the dust. By that logic, the Zenin clan and those in power had the right to act like they did.

Shuichi continued to look at his status for a moment before closing it up.

"I'll just make some tools in the workshop in the meantime." He said, getting up to head to work.

~~~

As Shuichi had already predicted, the news of his eventful visit to Tokyo school of jujutsu and his fight with Gojo Satoru had indeed spread to the three great families and within the sorcerer community.

Needless to say, the reactions were ones of shock, amazement, bafflement and above all... fear.

People fear what they do not understand. Same goes for sorcerers too.

It was the first time someone had actually managed to touch Gojo Satoru. The Gojo Satoru. The sheer implications of the battle touched upon such terrifying possibilities in the sorcerer community, racking up such storms that could not be contained.

For the first time since the Heian era, even the common sorcerer seemed to hold power. The previously invincible and unbeatable combination of the Limitless technique coupled with the six eyes seemed to not be so difficult anymore. And how was it accomplished? Who was the one to accomplish it?

An exiled member of the Zenin clan, someone that had been ridiculed as a talentless bum had done so by the use of barrier techniques; an unprecedented move.

Conveniently, the common magician forgot that the one that did so was also a member of one of the three great sorcerer families; in their minds, it mattered to nothing.

However, it amounted to everything for the big three clans.

The Gojo clan elders went into a rage, wanting to punish Zenin Shuichi for daring to challenge their heritage, their wonder child with the six eyes and limitless like this, blatantly ignoring the fact that it had been Gojo Satoru who had challenged him.

Gojo Satoru also got consulted by the elders, but there was little they could do with him.

The Zenin clan also looked on at Shuichi, this time, fully wanting to know the exact situation and the process by which he gathered so much strength.

Once again, conveniently, the sorcerers had turned all of their attention onto the exiled Zenin, Zenin Shuichi.

The violent history between the two families did little to calm the underlying aggression between the two parties.

The third family, the Kamo clan watched on with interest, like a vulture in the sky, ready to swoop down and reap the benefits; if there would be any.

However, undoubtedly, the most affected by this was the Zenin clan.

~~~

"We must order him to explain himself! This cannot be overlooked!"

"That brat almost defeated a six eyes limitless user! Naobito, order him to come back this instant!"

A plethora of voices filled the main meeting hall of the Zenin family compound.

Inside the spacious hall lined with tatami mats, sat various elder figures. Almost all of them had hair that turned white, adopting a silver hue that appeared like the static screen of a television.

They sat in a circular formation by a similarly circular table, shouting and yelling in anger and loss of reason.

All of their shouts and banters included the same subject: Zenin Shuichi.

'Order him to come back' 'We must get Jim back' 'He defeated the Six Eyes Limitless user' were the common phrases thrown around the room.

At the seat of honor, surrounded by the old men and women, at the eye of the storm sat Zenin Naobito, the current head of the Zenin clan and the Special Grade 1 sorcerer of the Jujutsu Council.

His eyes were stern as he sat quietly amidst the ongoing shouts and rambles of the deranged elders.

As he sat lost in thought, he wondered: Is being idiotic a common quality of all old people, or is it a special quality of sorcerers; which are always a bit worse off in the sanity section?

As the rambles continued on, Naobito quickly began to grow annoyed. With a cold expression, he propped up his arm, signalling everyone to quiet down. Suddenly, as if a switch had been turned on, the room quieted down to a deadly silence.

Everyone looked at Naobito in silence. Their eyes did not hold any fear or apprehension but a want that the current clan head would have the brains to actually do something about the situation.

As the silence settled, Naobito took a deep breath and spoke, "Zenin Shuichi had always been talentless. He had below average cursed energy reserves, almost no martial affinity and no genius intellect.

"However, suddenly, we begin to hear strange events surrounding him. Suddenly, he can combat a grade 1 spirit, refine cursed tools with frightening ease, utilize all kinds of barriers and even combat Gojo Satoru."

He paused, his eyes travelling all around the room.

"Such a terrible disparity in power and skills, it is simply unheard of." He nodded to himself.

"As such" He paused again "we will invite Zenin Shuichi to the Zenin complex and make him rejoin the clan. From there on, all his secrets and skills will be ours." He said with a voice of steel.

~~~

A/N: I've been a little sick these days, hence, the delay in upload.

Anyway, the main arc of the first volume is coming up. If we're lucky and I'm motivated, the first volume will be completed within 2 months. Cheers~