章 29: 29. Star Plasma Vessel (1/5)
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At Jujutsu High
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Gojo and Geto were training in hand-to-hand combat with Veilhem. Even though they were going all out for him in a 2vs1 match, Veilhem prevailed.
Veilhem controlled the flow of the battle despite the handicap he placed on himself by giving up the initiative of attacking first. Of course, Gojo was told to turn off Infinity so he could punch him a few times but the problem lay in Geto.
While Gojo's punches and kicks were strong on their own, Veilhem could evade most of them or simply deflect them. Geto, on the other hand, supported Gojo with the diversity of his cursed spirits and used the opening to sneak in a few blows himself.
Gojo dashed toward him and sent a roundhouse kick but before he could land it, Veilhem had closed the distance and grabbed his thigh to dissipate the force behind the kick and yanked it hard, pulling Gojo toward him and sending out his other elbow.
The counter blow hit but unfortunately not in Gojo's face but instead a Cursed with the appearance of a jellyfish. Its soft body allowed it to withstand the monstrous power of Veilhem's blow but it still got knocked back, crashing into a tree near there.
"What a monster." Geto muttered annoyingly.
Upon realizing that his blow had failed, Veilhem continued to attack, snagging Gojo's leg and swinging him in Geto's direction.
To lessen the force, Gojo applied Blue to his body, but it was still a little excessive. Dust rose from their place as they collided with one another.
"Damn, get off me you heavy pig." Geto complained as Gojo slowly stood up.
"Who did you call heavy?" After Gojo shoved Geto's face out, it swiftly escalated and turned into an intense altercation between the two.
Veilhem just stood there, waiting for the two to attack him again, without pursuing the tempo he had gained through the brief interaction. He beat them up with just his bare hands all this time, without even needing to use his weapon.
"He is strong tho." Gojo dusted off his clothes as he stood up.
"Yeah, he is." Geto's eyes turned serious as he cranked his neck and got up too.
As the two circled Veilhem to find the opening, Makima approached them and signaled to end the spar. Knowing there was another mission whenever Makima showed up, Gojo booed her when she interrupted the fight.
Veilhem too nodded at Makima and said "I will go back first."
He waved them off before leaving the training ground.
"I have received a special request directly from Tengen-sama, please pay attention." As she said, Makima began to relay the information related to the special mission.
"Wait, wait, the same as in Tengen, who put up the barrier across Japan?" Gojo asked, slightly raising his eyebrows as he heard her information.
Smiling politely, Makima nodded at his question and continued. "Your target is the girl named Riko Amanai. Your mission is to protect her at all costs and escort her to the Tombs of the Star Corridor."
"Hmm? That girl is 'that' important that Tengen-sama directly requests this?" Geto, who was just as confused as Gojo, voiced out a mutter.
"For more specific information, please meet up with Tengen-sama. This information is classified as a top secret that even I can't access. That should show you how crucial and urgent matters are, Gojo-kun?" As she spoke, Makima handed Geto the file she had composed.
"Barhg, with the two of us here, what's the worry?" Gojo made an exasperated face and went on with his usual aloof expression. He dangled his arm over Geto's shoulder and poked his nose with his pinky finger.
"I agree that you're strong by yourself, Gojo-kun. But I have to remind you that protecting someone is different from fighting with someone. Even if you aren't harmed, you couldn't be so sure of your target." Makima carefully reminded him of this, but her real motive was different. She slightly glanced at Geto, who was still reading the files, then quickly turned back to face Gojo.
"After all, you can't afford to protect everyone with just your strength alone." The corner of her lips tugged into a mysterious smile.
"Alright, I get it. I will keep that in mind to be more careful." Gojo lazily scratched his head, not minding her warning.
However, to Geto, it carried a different meaning. His eyes trembled slightly as he remembered the scene of the boy he had rescued but couldn't save him. His guilty heart throbbed at her words. He looked at her in disbelief but the latter seemed innocent, as she had carelessly mentioned that.
Makima put on an apologetic look and expressed her condolences. Albeit, somehow to him, she seemed to be sneering. Geto wondered if he had become a little paranoid these days.
They heard the door slide open abruptly, and Yaga stood with a stoic expression. He merely gave Makima a nod, indicating that he would handle things from here. Despite her initial reluctance, she finally agreed with Yaga to keep her disguise a secret. It wouldn't be beneficial for her to do so this early into the game.
After Makima left the training ground, Yaga pulled out the laptop and put a finger on his lips. Watching their perplexed expression, he began to speak.
"As Makima had said, your mission is to escort the Star Plasma Vessel. However, at the end of the mission…" Yaga took the action of putting the thumb on his neck and yanking it sideways.
"You both have to eradicate her at the end of the mission." Yaga spoke solemnly.
Gojo raised an eyebrow as he wondered if Yaga had become senile over the years. "Old man, did you knock your head somewhere?" As he said, Geto made a ridiculous action of pointing his finger to his temple, teasing the Principal.
A tick appeared on Yaga's forehead but he pressed down his anger and began to explain the situation to the students. "To explain it, Tengen-sama's technique allowed her to be practically immortal. But there is a downside to that. Over time, she had evolved toward the Cursed Spirit rather than humans. She needed the Vessel to reset her technique."
"But why is there a need to reset her ability?" Gojo raised his hand energetically and asked him.
"As I said, the more she evolved toward the Cursed, the more her ego disappeared. When that happened, she feared that she would bore the hatred toward humanity."
"Ah, I see, so it's like Digimon. The current form is good, but the evolved form is bad." Gojo smacked his palm with his other hand as if he had been enlightened.
Bonk-
"Shut up with your Digimon references, don't you think it's weird?!" Yaga smacked Gojo's head with his fist in irritation. Gojo always had his way of joking around, even in this serious matter.
"Jezz, don't be such a hater." Gojo disdainfully looked at Yaga.
Ignoring this little shit protest, Yaga coughed a few times to get their attention back. "That is when the Star Plasma Vessel comes in. When she merged with the Vessel, her Cursed Technique reset."
"It had been 500 years since the last time Tengen-sama had merged with a Star Plama Vessel. So the mission this time will be put on the highest priority. Don't fail."
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Geto was thinking about the words Makima-sensei told them earlier and he just couldn't get his finger on what she was implying.
"After all, you can't afford to protect everyone with just your strength alone."
It was as if she was foreboding him something. At that moment, the image of the boy slipped through his mind, covered in blood and wounds. His face was smeared with tears and bruises as he continued begging for his life. Suddenly, he felt a headache and groaned in pain a little.
"You good buddy?" Gojo asked as he found his friend's state to be a bit abnormal.
Taking a deep breath to steady his mind, Geto gulped down hard as he gritted his teeth to endure that lively nightmare. He blinked, and everything went back to normal as if he had some kind of psychological disease. What was that just now?
"I'm lacking some sleep these days, don't worry about it." Discarding that wandering thought, Geto left the Jujutsu High with Gojo to the Tombs of the Star Corridors.
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Meanwhile, in the Zenin Clan
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"So that's why the Q group and the Star Religious Association have become so restless these days." Naturally, Makima, being herself, would be cautious enough to leave a creature nearby to hear what they were saying through their shared senses.
"Well, it doesn't matter all that much." Glancing back, she could see the knight standing just a few centimeters away from her.
In their room, Makima was lying on top of Veilhem, hugging him. Although he did not want to say it out loud because he found it awkward, but her body pressed against him in a very... sexual way. She clung to him like a Koala whenever they were by themselves these days, which was amusing at first but he soon found it a bit... of a bothersome.
Veilhem, on the other hand, had become a bum due to a lack of motivation in almost everything. It was only natural since the only thing that kept him pushing was to link the Fire but the world he currently stayed in was in peace.
Sure, some threats could topple the entire world, but as long as humanity still remained, it would prevail in the end.
Thus, he became a little dispassionate about the Jujutsu Society's affair. Albeit, he still did his job when he was called.
Looking at her upturned and captivating eyes, he felt a little uneasy. Had he not known Makima well enough, he would have fallen deeply in love with her. She wanted him to long for the illusive concept of "love," so she did this. Her actions lacked sincerity and were merely hollow and empty.
He hesitated because this approach was a little... unnerving for him, but she purposefully gave him a reason to live and work toward not going hollow. She did not even understand what it meant to be "loved" in the first place, so how could she have "loved" someone like him? Disregarding these unsettling thoughts in his mind, he followed her play for the moment.
"Can you get off me for a minute?" He let out a helpless sigh.
"No." At his question, Makima pouted and smirked, tilting her head innocently. She nestled against his collarbone. The delicate, smooth arms were drawing tighter around his waist. Makima had a smug expression on her face as she thoroughly enjoyed this intimate action. She merely replicated the scene she had seen in the movie, but it seemed it didn't bring out the expected result as Veilhem didn't react the way she wanted him to.
"...Forget it." There was nothing Veilhem could do to stop this Devil from bothering him occasionally with her antics. Feeling the silky hair slide through his fingers, he patted her red hair. They remained that way for some time.
"Do you love me?" Makima asked abruptly, in a voice that was just barely audible to him. However, there was a slight change in her normally composed and calm voice that he could sense.
He noticed that she was hiding her face in his chest rather than looking directly at him. She boldly asked him a question that made things a little awkward for them. Normally, anyone would comfort her by saying yes, but-
"No." He answered without any wavering. He felt her body flinch as soon as he said the word. Still, he had no regrets.
Instead of allowing the lies to mount until it was too late to turn back, he needed to face her with the harsh reality.
Veilhem decided to be safe even though he was still unsure if he deserved her so-called 'love'. He made the decision to push her away and enclose his long-deceased heart within a stone wall. For him, falling in love meant getting hurt again, and he had endured enough of that suffering over the years.
All he wanted was to pass away quietly this time.
But instead of what he had anticipated, Makima simply silently stared at him through her captivating eyes. Although her brows furrowed slightly, her eyes gleamed with a determined expression—a rare emotion in her typically icy stare.
Their lips met as she used her hand to draw him in closer. It swiftly intensified into a passionate kiss in which their tongues entwined before they parted, leaving a trail of saliva hanging behind.
Makima stopped him before he could speak by placing her finger on his lips and whispering a lovely tune into his ears. "I will definitely have you."
"I'd like to see you try." Veilhem gave her teasing chuckle in return.
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(A/N: Riko Amanai huh? Guess I have to do a chapter about Toji being a bum with Veilhem.
Ps: I'm re-entering the lazy phase)
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