Kenjaku had seen a great many things in his over a thousand-year-long life.
He has seen the birth and death of generations of sorcerers and their families—hell, he's even lived through some of those generations.
Like that time he became the patriarch of the Zen'in clan and then took over his son's body. 'Ahh, that was so funny—but people started to think the stitching was a family tradition of theirs, so I had to go into hiding for a while after…'
He had been personally responsible for the birth and death of dynasties and empires, explored the world beyond sorcery, and tasted nearly every dish that had ever been conceived.
That was to say that Kenjaku was not easily surprised. In fact, it had been a couple of centuries since the last time he was, but now…
His fingers scooped up some sand-like pulverized concrete that was surging with cursed energy, and still vibrating even though its power source had long since stopped flooding it with cursed energy. 'Fascinating…'
Newgate Shinji had been systematically breaking every single plan and rule of Jujutsu.
The boy was entirely new to sorcery, awakening his technique on October 31st and making unparalleled progress in the art of Jujutsu, and had no connection to any sorcery family, even indirectly.
He wasn't some bastard's son's son. No, he came from nothing.
That wouldn't be the most suprising—after all, the first sorcerer ever wasn't a part of a sorcerer family. But it was everything else about him that was increadible. First he had a technique—which was rare as it stood—then he had a ridiculous quantity of cursed energy—perhaps the second or third highest throughout all of Kenjaku's extraordinary long life—and finally his raw talent.
He was sure he might surpass even Satoru Gojo in that regard.
He watched the boy go from losing to Jogo in a completely one-sided fight, to beating Yuta Okkotsu, Takako Uro, and Ishigori Ryu in the span of less than three weeks. 'Truly extraordinary… Perhaps I have put too little faith in Jujutsu to create something interesting for me…' Kenjaku wondered as he started to pool the vibrating sand into one big pile.
His eyes moved to the huge parts of the city still tilted at a 45-degree angle from one of Newgate's more recent fights. '...But it's too late now; my plans will come to fruition, and the merger will start anew.'
Kenjaku reached into his monk robes and pulled something out that he was never expecting to be able to use.
A cracked skull unlike anything this world had ever seen before. It was narrow and certainly reptilian in nature, the bone a dull, weathered ivory, discolored by time with dark, tea-colored stains along the recessed crevices where thick muscle used to anchor. Up close, the long, sloping snout dominates my view—the nasal cavity is a wide, cavernous dark void, flanked by heavy, reinforced bone ridges built to take massive impact.
Looking into the empty eye sockets, he can see they are huge and deep-set, with thick, prominent brow arches projecting outward like jagged shelves. The upper jaw is lined with row after row of jagged, backward-curving teeth, each one about the size of his middle finger and worn down with subtle pit marks from crushing bone. Just behind the crown of the cranium, the bony cores of its backward-sweeping horns emerge. They are heavily pitted and scarred with deep spiral grooves where those golden chains and rings once hooked into its flesh, leaving permanent indents in the skeletal structure. Even stripped of its hide and muscle, the skull radiates an undeniable, oppressive density, its lower jaw slightly agape as if frozen mid-snarl.
The skull was, however, not what it seemed, and was not a remnant left by some long-dead creature. No… No, this was an egg—a cursed womb that exuded nothing but pure negative energy. Kenjaku had been trying for nearly three centuries to trigger this womb to start giving birth to a curse, but for three centuries all had been in vain.
Until that very fateful night, the night of the Shibuya massacre. Perhaps because of the massive death of that night—perhaps out of reaction to such an increase in the quantity of cursed energy in the world—perhaps for some other reason he did not know entirely.
The womb became active.
Even now he could feel countless curses eyeing him—no, the womb he was holding—too scared to approach because of him standing right there. But it was hungry… so hungry for cursed energy that it was like a black hole, and the more it fed, the greater the pull on other curses, and the more cursed energy it exuded.
And as he buried the skull in sand, he felt himself smile as it sucked the energy straight out of the ground, all residual traces of Newgate's energy being pulled into it—and as it got a taste for his cursed energy, it started to hunger for it—pulling residuals from the surroundings into it as its sphere of influence expanded.
And as it expanded, it hungered for more, and its sphere expanded. '...Show me more of this new era, Newgate… Show me more new things—as many as you can before this world comes to an end.' He stood from the skull and jumped back, hundreds and thousands of curses jumping straight onto the cursed womb as they could no longer hold back their desire.
They jumped together into a massive mob of cursed flesh and purple blood as they started to feast upon one another atop the womb. They tore into one another, uncaring as others tore into them and caring only about their hunger and need to fight, destroy, and consume. 'Show me how beautiful this world can be… show me the true limits of jujutsu.'
The dog pile started to rise higher and higher, towering over three and four-story buildings as they continued to pile, the bottom overflowing as some fell down the side of the massive slope.
And a feeling of dread and death washed over the entirety of Sendai. 'So please—survive, because even I don't know what that's capable of.'
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"Are we there yet?" An annoyed female voice inquired.
"No."
"...Are we there yet?" A bored masculine voice drawled.
"Obviously not, you moron—I just asked that idiot." The female voice from before clapped back. "...How much longer will—"
"If you are about to ask me how far away we are or if we are there yet—do not ask, or I will show you exactly what armament can do." I cut her off in a low voice as me, Uro, and Ryu all drove down the nearly empty highway.
Ryu was lying down in the back of the small four-seater car, feet pressed against the driver's side window as he puzzled over a scrambled Rubik's Cube he held above his face.
Uro, on the other hand, was in the passenger seat, feet up on the dash and relaxed into the seat that was pushed all the way back, while I was driving, my left hand on the wheel and my right hand lying across the center console.
We were driving down the highway towards Tokyo Colony No. 2, the only cars on the highway being the occasional abandoned or flipped car that I had to swerve around. Worse was that, because of the Culling games, the radio stations were all fucked—and there was no service anymore, so we were completely without music or entertainment.
For a four and a half hour car ride.
Or it would have been had I not taken a wrong turn and had to sneakily get back onto the right highway without letting Uro or Ryu know I had made a mistake.
You know, only a three-hour detour.
…Okay, so maybe it's been a very long time since I've used a map and I'm not the best at navigating, but…
I have no excuse.
I wanted to have Ryu drive separately so I could talk to Uro in private about… well, a lot of things, but Ryu—ever the cockblock—had no clue how to drive, and I was not about to spend the time explaining how to drive to a 400-year-old man who slept through more generations than I can name.
"I'm bored." Uro cut through the silence. "Why couldn't I just fly there again?" She asked as she crossed her arms under her chest.
"Because Ryu can't fly, and I'm not carrying him the whole way—" I turned my head to look at her as my right arm inched a little closer to her. "Are you going to?" I asked back with a raised brow. Uro simply scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Mhmm, what I thought."
Uro was clearly peeved with that last comment. "So why can't we fly and he meet us there?"
"Because I don't know where to go… and I can't drive." Ryu chimed in from the back as he made another move on the cube that brought him further from solving it. "Trust me, if I could, I would leave the two of you love birds—" Uro choked on air. "—to journey alone, but I can't really get there on my own."
"We—we are not—I don't—" Uro started before composing herself and whipping around in her seat with a furious blush. "I will rend your head from your body if you make such a statement again!"
I watched Ryu through the rear-view mirror as he shot Uro a look from the back seat and flicked his eyebrows up before gesturing to me with a nod of his head. "Ryu." I cut in coolly, signaling him to stop teasing Uro. He simply looked at me through the rear-view mirror as Uro huffed and turned back around. Ryu flicked his eyebrows up again and nodded his head towards Uro while mouthing the words 'Tell her.'
'This mother fu—Is he playing cupid back there?! Then learn to drive, you moron, I was going to until you—' I ranted to myself before cutting myself off as I felt something on the very edge of my perception, and I sat ramrod straight.
My head snapped to the right where I felt it—the same direction of the colony we had just left. "Uro take Ryu and keep following this highway for as long as you can." My voice rang out without the slightest bit of amusement or candor as I stomped on the accelerator.
"Wha—" Uro started, but I was not in the mood to answer any questions.
My right hand grasped her hand as I locked eyes with her. "Please, Uro," I asked gently while staring into her.
She held my gaze for a second before she looked forward, red dusting her cheeks. "...Fine."
I smiled. "Thank you." I finished as I opened the driver's side door and stepped out of the car, letting myself roll along the road without injury as the car continued forward.
I rolled into a kneeling position as I saw Uro fly out of the car and Ryu blast himself through the roof of the car, as Uro gripped his wrist in the air and pulled him along as she flew. I set my gaze in the direction of the pulse I felt and clenched my jaw.
I could feel it even more now, so much so that it felt like I was seeing a huge malignant purple wave of evil on the horizon. '...I guess they can't feel that—or see it even… probably a result of my technique… But I need to see what that thing is.' My leg vibrated with a high-pitched ringing, and I kicked off the road, part of the highway imploding from the force as the world around me vanished and I blurred through the air.
A ring of air formed around me as I flew, and I aerostepped multiple times to keep flying faster and faster still towards that presence. 'I could bring them along, but… I want to fight again—I want to see what I can do with this new technique of mine.' My right arm coated itself black as I covered hundreds of hundreds of meters with each passing second.
But my eyes found something in the distance, something strange even for this nonsensical world we lived in. My eyes honed in on the distance as I channeled cursed energy to my eyes, and my vision grew sharper.
And there in the distance, a huge wave of dead trees was… getting closer?
'No, that's not it… The trees are just dying in a wave that's getting closer! Is this some technique—but what—'
There, in the center of the wave of dying trees, my gaze caught a blurring figure. Large black reptilian wings adorned its back and—
It vanished.
SHHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A piercing, animalistic roar boomed out as a huge, scaly hand gripped my face and I was jerked backwards in a crushing grip.
Whatever was holding me snatched its arm back, and rocketed it down towards the ground.
The world blurred as I cratered into the earth below, barely comprehending what had just happened. I shook my head in the large dent as pulse perception clamped around me with a thought, and I jumped away as the ground under me exploded, and the thing landed right where I used to stand.
Smoke plumed around its landing, obscuring its form—
SHRAAAAAAAAAH!
It roared, and the dust was scattered from it as I created a small barrier of vibrations over my ears. My gaze fell on the hulking figure below.
It was a formidable, draconic nightmare, crouching in the cracked crater. Its reddish-brown hide looked thick and leathery, wrapping over a heavily muscled, humanoid torso and bird-like, taloned feet that gripped the ground. Massive, bat-like wings rose behind it, their membranes spotted with dark patches and framed by long, clawed wing-fingers.
A dark, coarse mane traced down its spine, while a long, furred or scaled tail curled in a wide loop around the base of its perch. Despite its monstrous brutality, the creature wore ornate golden adornments—a gem-studded crown encircled the top of its head, and thin golden chains with dangling rings hooked around its curved horns, snaking down toward its long, downward-sloping snout. Its smaller front limbs held a tiny, dragon-like figurine, balanced carefully on five-fingered hands tipped with sharp claws.
'Wha—what the fuck is that, and why—why can't I feel its cursed energy?' I stared down at it, bewildered. 'This curse—just what the fuck is this thing?!'
It set its putrid yellow-ringed eyes on me and shrieked once more.
'All I feel… IS DEATH!'
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(30 minutes ago)
Kenjaku had swiftly made his escape after letting the other curses dogpile atop the cursed womb.
The curses were still ripping and tearing into each other, each feasting on the other curses on top and surrounding them.
But there was something wrong beyond even that.
A putrid odor started to emanate from the stack, the smell of bile, rotting flesh, and festering wounds radiating in all directions around it. The skin of the curses started to crack and rot as their muscles degraded into pus and purple blood. Their bones started to break down as they continued to tear further into them.
But eventually they all lost strength, and their movements slowed as they continued to degrade and rot, their hunger endless.
SHHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A purple and black pillar of miasma rose from the road to the sky as an evil aura spread throughout the city, and every part of the curses that were inside it eroded into nothing.
The draconic curse sat cocooned with its own wings, its wings moving and popping as they opened up and clicked into place. Its head moved jerkily up towards the sky, its jewelry clinking atop its head.
SHRAAAAAAAACK!
It roared again before it blurred from its position, and a boom sounded from where it was.
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A child stared up at her mother from the ground. "Mom, when can we leave here?" she asked with giant puppy dog eyes as she held her mother's hand.
Her mother smiled sadly as she gazed at her daughter. "This will all be over soon, baby, I swear… It's just not safe out there."
The room started to shake again as the small light hanging from the ceiling overhead shook, and some of the people in the shelter screamed. There had been so many earthquakes and tremors over the past few weeks that everyone in the shelter existed in constant fear of the roof caving in, like what happened in the next shelter over from them.
"Shhh, it's okay, baby, mommy's got you." The mother worriedly called back as she glanced around the room, but received no response.
A purple miasma started to fill the room, and the mother's eyes grew wide with fear. "Cover your mouth, honey… don't breathe in the smoke—" The mother called back to her child, only stopping as she moved to look at her child.
Instead, all that she found was that she was holding a severed arm of her child, black veins spreading up the appendage.
She screamed.
Or she would have.
But her legs gave out as her body became as weak as wet paper.
Pain unlike anything she had ever felt—even greater than child birth—coated her entire body, and blood took the place of the scream that was erupting from her throat.
SHRAAAAAAAAH!
A clawed hand gripped her head as she fell, its claws digging into her skin and carving a path that sprouted more black veins, and razor-sharp teeth tore into the only parts of her body not covered in veins or within the miasma.
It hungered.
It hungered for life.
And it would not stop, not until it had consumed all life.
Not until the sun rose in the west and set in the east.
Death would come for all.
Even those that breathed it life.
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A/N:
Author here and wow was that a dark chapter to write. But that's because until now things have kinda been sunshine and rainbows compaired to what they should be.
The curse is representative of one of 4 new curses I plan to introduce that will contradict Shinji's presence and will really push him.
'how the hell are curses relevant when he has RCT and has been able to output it for many chapters?'
That my friend is the beauty of JJK's power system; so long as the thematics make sense it can break certain rules by side-stepping them, so no they will not be a onetap for a smart Shinji; they will be legitimate threats.
'Where are the other 3?'
The world has a theme for the end of the world, and this is just the beginning, and it all starts with one, then another, then another, but tell me if curses are the opposite of men would the order not be inverted?
Now that probably sounds like a load of non-sense but it will all make sense in time.
No spoilers.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed let me know if there is anything I can improve on and what you think is going well.
Also the first 7 chapters of Angel are posted if you want to check that out.
Might also update jackpot but that will only happen when and if I feel like with no schedule so read at your own discretion.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed have a great night!