Bab 8: Those are the facts of this world!
"I happen to have a thing for girls with glasses. It is nice to meet you, I'm Noah Pendragon."
Normally, one would expect the first meeting to be more… reserved. Something more natural and more refined, especially when the person they are meeting is a noble, the descendant of legendary King Arthur.
He should have been more refined, conservative, and reserved—he was the complete opposite of what one would call refined noble.
His way of speaking, walking, his attitude, and even his personality, all of this contradict the very existence of nobles. To Tsubaki, he felt… free.
He lived his life the way he wanted, despite being weak. He decided what would be right for him and what would be wrong, despite having no control over the decision of the strong.
He had fought with Kiba, with her, and with almost all devils in the school yet he never showed even a slightly disheartening expression to his defeat. Every time he was defeated, all she could see in his eyes was nothing but confidence and excitement.
At some point, she even started to question whether all the defeats were just him playing a clown.
"You see, humans are weird creatures. If you go to someone and ask "What is the purpose of your life?" the answer would mostly fall along the lines of becoming rich, protecting my family and providing them happiness, becoming a teacher, becoming a pirate, and then there would be some oddballs who will say sometime like "I don't have any purpose, I'm living for the sake of living" or "this world is too boring for my taste, it can't handle my purpose".
They are always seeking something. They know if they stopped, the grim reality would eat their consciousness away, like a slow crawling bug, so they HAVE to set a goal for themselves, challenge themselves, they just don't want to feel that hollow space in their hearts—afraid, they are all afraid."
With a lollipop in his mouth, he smiled and continued while gazing at the sky.
"Passion, Tsubaki, passion—if you don't have it, your life is nothing but a barely holding flame on a candle. It will burn for the sake of burning, boring, utterly boring. No purpose, no passion, no goal, you wake up every day, freshen up yourself while listening to the same old news of some psychopath killing someone who lives some allies away from you and feels nothing because the one killed is neither you nor someone you know, go to school, come back and sleep. It's like you are villager A in some novel or something."
"You know…" Softly turning his head to look at the students below, he softly smiled. "I've experienced being a villager. It is fun at the start, but you soon realize that it is utterly boring. With time, your passion in life will start to dwindle. Suicidal thoughts will become natural, and the only way to shut them would be suicide. Because no one in this world can help you but yourself.
If you don't want to drink water, no one is going to give it to you anyway. It all depends on your decision."
"That is why I've decided, in this life, I'll die grand. I'll reach a point where my sole presence would be enough to bend the very seams of reality, people would have to look up to see my soles (because they would be beneath me), they will revere me, worship me. And when I die, they all will cry at the loss of legend."
"You are talking as if you have died once… Are you sure you're not schizophrenic?"
"Hahaha! Nice joke."
"It wasn't a joke."
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I want to die with people around me this time who would cry for me." He looked behind at her with a wide smile, his eyes shining with splendor. "That's why I've decided to have Harem!"
"Huh?"
"Don't worry. I did say I have a thing for girls with glasses."
"... Can I punch you?"
"It will cost you… I don't let people punch me for free."
Should she call him stupid? All that build-up lead to something as stupid as a harem. She didn't know. After all…
"I am that flame of the candle which is burning for the sake of burning."
"Hm?" Noah tilted his head a little, staring at her as she raised her sword at him.
"But you know Noah, even the flame at the candle has a purpose, and that is to burn brighter so the person using it doesn't lose their way. I'm the flame that burns for the sake of Sona's purpose since she is the flame that burned when I was lost." She smirked, demonic power rising from her body. "Since she showed me the light, it is time that I become her light."
"Is that so?" A smirked form on Noah's face, his blood boiling with excitement. "See? When a person has passion, they burn the brightest."
Raising her sword at shoulder level, she burst into a sprint.
Her sword raised into the sky, she brought it back with a force enough to split a boulder into two easily.
"I like it when people burn with passion, but a candle's flame can never overcome the sun."
Her smirk didn't leave her lips as she felt the handle of Noah's sword striking her nape. Her vision blurring and her mind slowly entered into the world of darkness.
"I know that… That's the reason I fell for you."
Silence engulfed the training hall, three bodies randomly lying on the ground with only Noah standing alone in the center, staring at them.
"That means I have to keep burning like the sun… What a drag. I have never been the one to hold responsibilities."
He threw the sword in the air, it spun, before landing back in his hand.
"Man… It feels great to live in the present."
|—August 2006, At Tokyo Jujutsu High, Japan—|
"Where is Shoko?" Standing on the podium, Masamichi Yaga looked at his two students—Gojo Satoru and Suguru Geto—and asked.
Masamichi Yaga was a tall man with a shaved head with two lines that went around his head, a mustache goatee combination. He wore a zipped-up long-sleeved black jacket, black pants, and black shoes.
Being a teacher in Tokyo Jujutsu High, he was looking after his only three students—Gojo Satoru, Suguru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri.
One might ask, what is with this amount of students? Then one needs to know that becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer itself was not hard, but having to commit your life as a Jujutsu Sorcerer was.
There weren't many who were willing to do so, evident by the number of students in his class.
That's why Yaga cared deeply for the student he had under him. It wouldn't be a lie to say that he treated them like his children.
"I don't know… maybe a beauty parlor or something?" Answered the white-haired youth lazily lying on his desk.
'Aren't you supposed to be classmates?' Yaga internally thought, staring at Gojo before saying.
"It is good then. The mission I'm supposed to give you doesn't need her anyway." He said. "The Star Plasma Vessel is born and Tengen-sama's time is coming close, so it is time for him to merge with a new vessel to remain human."
"Merge? I didn't know Tengen-sama also had a part-time job as a parasite."
"Tengen-sama's curse technique is immortality, but it doesn't make him unageing. His body, like normal humans, still ages. After every five hundred years, the curse technique forces its user to change bodies or they will no longer remain human and evolve into something else—a higher-being."
Ignoring Gojo, he continued with his explanation.
"Tengen-sama doesn't know what will happen once he ascends or the fact if he will be able to maintain his humanity. We don't know, so we will consider the worst."
"Him becoming humanity's enemy huh…" Geto said, to which Yaga nodded.
"That is why, after every five hundred years, Tengen-sama has to merge with a Star Plasma Vessel. Your mission is to escort the girl, the Star Plasma Vessel of this era, to Tengen-sama so he doesn't ascend to a higher state and become humanity's enemy. Tengan-sama's barriers are important—no, vital to Jujutsu World. That is why this mission is given to the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerers."
"You'll make me blush." Gojo narcissistically added, making Yaga sigh.
"Gojo, be serious. It is an important mission." Geto softly reprimanded his best friend, wondering what goes into that mind of his.
"I am serious, Geto. It is just escorting a single girl, I can do it with my eyes closed."
Sigh
"Anyway, as I was saying, due to the importance of this mission, this mission is assigned to the strongest. Aside from you two, another person will be joining this mission."
"Oh~." Gojo stared at Yaga with interest. "There is another person who can be considered the strongest on par with us? First time hearing it."
"I didn't know about it either so don't ask me. This person is specifically sent by Tengen-sama."
"Ehhh… So we have to do this mission with some old bones? Do we really have to?"
"Gojo… the person Tengen-sama has sent is only 17 years old." Yaga said, much to the surprise of both Geto and Gojo.
"Seriously?! Why didn't we hear of such a person before? Was he living under a rock or something? Secret force? Special agent? What is his name?" Gojo excitedly asked, after all, you don't find a sorcerer who can match with them on equal grounds.
They are known as the strongest for a reason.
"Noah Pendragon… That is all I know about him so far."
|—Kuoh Town, Japan—|
The wind softly blew past the black-haired youth. He was sitting on a water tank of his school, staring at the town—he could see almost all of it from that angle.
His face held a slightly bored and annoyed expression as he stared at the screen that said None in front of him while grumbling from time to time with each bite of rice ball in his mouth.
"None… None… None… It has been almost a month… Why isn't there any mission yet?" He grumbled again with another bite of his rice ball. "Is the world so peaceful? Should I become Madara Uchiha to have the quest rolling again?"
As he spout one nonsense after another, a ding sound was heard. It made Noah's body jerk up, making him stand up as he stared at the screen excitedly.
[Tengen of Jujutsu World has posted a Quest]
[Mission: Escort the Star Plasma Vessel safely]
[Information: Five hundred years have passed, and Tengen is about to ascend to a higher realm. He needs to merge with the Star Plasma Vessel of this era to make sure he remains human.]
[Objective 1: Escort the Star Plasma Vessel to Tengen's place]
[Objective 2: ???]
[Objective 3: Defeat Toji Fushiguro]
[Reward Objective 1: 10 SP]
[Reward Objective 2: 30 SP, Skill Creation Ticket]
[Reward Objective 3: 20 SP, Inverted Spear of Heaven]
"Another world mission?" Noah smirked, excitement bubbling into his body. "Now we're talking!"
Even though the world of Jujutsu Kaisen was fucked up, filled with one OP being after another, Noah still felt excited to go there. After all, at least, he wasn't the enemy of Gojo Satoru.
"Maki Zenin, here I come!" Alright… He might have some… ulterior objectives here…
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone