The Cursed swiftly regenerated its missing arms, anger blazing in its eyes as it prepared for the next assault. Despite its rage, it remained wary of Makima, who stood calmly on the sidelines.
When Gojo's Blue touched it, the attack vanished just like the first time. The blow from Geto did connect this time. This time, however, Geto's blow connected. His Cursed Spirits managed to strike the domain's owner, inflicting severe wounds.
They realized that the Curse could only nullify one attack per second. It had been bluffing the whole time—a cunning trick for a newborn spirit, but an effective one against novices.
Under the relentless assaults from the strongest sorcerers, the Cursed Spirit was annihilated, its body reduced to a mush of purple blood and viscera, splattering everywhere. Some of it flew towards Veilhem and Makima.
The sound of its blood and body parts falling down and hitting the ground created a sickening melody.
Veilhem shielded Makima and himself with his tattered cape, while Gojo's Limitless kept him clean. The only person covered in purple blood at this point was Geto, who was taken by surprise.
"You smell, dude!" Gojo exclaimed, pinching his nose in mock disgust.
"Hmm? Do you want to die?" Geto retorted, a tick mark appearing on his forehead. They soon fell into a heated argument.
Veilhem watched with amusement. He turned to Makima, who was momentarily lost in thought but quickly masked her emotions with a stoic smile as soon as he looked at her. Something was amiss, and he knew it.
Veilhem had lived with her long enough to notice that her interactions often seemed practiced, lacking genuine feeling. She didn't have any belongings for those she associated with.
If he had to describe it, she alienated herself among the rest. Makima blended in easily, but she was disconnected; however, she was awfully calm with it. She knew how to socialize with others and did it splendidly, but she couldn't bring herself to 'feel' it.
No matter how perfect her mask looked, at the end of the day, she still stood out. She was destined to stand alone since she was rejected and estranged by society.
'Poor kid' he thought to himself before patting her head and messing with her hair.
"Veilhem-san, I'd prefer if you stop messing with my hair." Makima said, combing it back into place.
"Over my dead body. Wait, I'm already dead. How can you be so cruel toward the dead?!" Veilhem shrugged his shoulders. Seemingly hurt by her cold response as he clutched his chest exasperatedly.
Makima couldn't help but smile. She was humored upon seeing his antics.
Seeing that her brief distraction was enough to lift her mood, a smile tugged on his face under his helmet. Indeed, humor is the last barricade against the insanity they encounter in this world. One would survive longer than the others if they could maintain that mindset.
Suddenly, something caught Veilhem's attention.
"Shouldn't the domain disappear already?" He called out to the two sorcerers, who were still bickering at each other.
At his question, the two sorcerers turned to see, and as he said, the domain was still active. The fourth pillar had a dimming light emitting out. A countdown was on display on the altar.
The fourth pillar lit up.
The fourth pillar was now lit, and alongside it was number four, formed with the same cerulean light the pillars emitted. Then it started the countdown.
The domain didn't need a fifth pillar, it was another trick as number 4 was widely known for indicating death in itself.
"Simple domain." Gojo chanted as a white area appeared and enveloped them.
Even if the domain went off, they would still be fine due to Gojo's simple domain. But… that was another story for the people trapped in this domain.
Three.
Even after the Curse died, the domain remained and they found themselves trapped within it. Gojo saw with his Six Eyes that the suspicious altar, not the Curse, was the source of this domain with its technique carved on it through scribbles.
However, due to the fact that Gojo was using his simple domain on them, he couldn't activate another Cursed Technique in the meantime.
Unable to activate another technique while maintaining his domain, he looked to Geto. Immediately, Geto knew what he needed to do.
Two.
Geto commanded a worm-like Cursed Spirit to attack the altar. His worm-like Cursed Spirit sprouted from the ground underneath the altar, ravaging everything in its way. Its craggy teeth were like a vortex gnawing at the stone altar, trying to destroy it. But even so, his efforts were futile against the Special-Grade creation.
It was as expected because this was the altar created by a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit; although it was newborn, it was still in its own league.
The damn technique that nullified one attack per second was still there, and he didn't have any more Cursed Spirit that could rival this one.
That left Veilhem and Makima. Veilhem, weaponless, turned to Makima with pleading eyes. She sighed, seeing his pitiful display. His ego as a man didn't allow him to do that.
Makima noticed this and reluctantly, she shook her head before letting out a sigh. No matter, this was an opportunity to test out the strength of her newly acquired ability, aka, Weapon Creation.
"Usage: Weapon Creation: Katana." Makima intoned. The katana manifested out of thin air as Veilhem caught it with one hand. Its length nearly reached 2 meters as the blade was sheathed in a black scabbard.
He gripped the nearly two-meter-long weapon, reacquainting himself with its sensation, considering that he had not used this kind of weapon in a very long time.
He wasn't used to dealing with this kind of stuff, so he let Makima and the other two deal with the thinking. He only needed to do one thing that he was best at.
To cut down whatever was in their way.
Veilhem got into his fighting stance as he lowered his center and glared at his target.
His sole focus was on cutting down their obstacle.
One.
The unsheathed technique relied on speed the most and he was damn sure he could do it with ease.
[Ash of War: Unsheathed]
He took the katana out of its sheath and proceeded to strike it with lightning-fast speed, creating a wide arc. The strength from that swing was enough to create an air blade that flew toward the altar in a blink of an eye.
The speed alone was beyond the vision of any ordinary human.
But that was not all of it. He followed up by aiming at the altar with his blade over his head.
[Ash of War: Darkdrift]
His unseen blade penetrated straight through the altar, for nothing can defend from Darkdrift. It was an ability to ignore the shield and armor for katana class.
The strike completely broke the altar into pieces and the barrier lifted off. They found themselves back in the destroyed theater room.
Veilhem quickly flicked the katana a few times and sheathed it back to the scabbard. Soon after, the katana disappeared into thin air as Makima dispelled it.
They surveyed the room to find that Geto's Curses that had been sent to attack the Special Grade Cursed Spirit were all here, and the dent on the wall was probably due to Gojo's Blue technique. Even Veilhem's blade was here. He walked closer, retrieved his own blade, and strapped it to his back.
"Now that the nuisance is out of the way, we can get to the business here!" Gojo said, eyes gleaming with excitement. He was thrilled about the battle between them. Even Geto had already gotten into his fighting stance.
"Who are you two? Answer me, are you two Curse Users?!" Geto demanded, his face showed nothing but seriousness. He had seen the speed and destructive power of the black knight firsthand, so he was wary of the possible outcome and always on guard with him.
However, the real problem was the girl who stood next to him. Moreover, he doubted that what they showed earlier was all of their strength.
"No, but we have no problems with this little quarrel and prefer to solve it verbally if we can." Veilhem replied as he leaned against the wall, seemingly not caring at all about the possible danger the two sorcerers posed.
If all things got out of hand, he could always pick up Makima and bail. His speed clearly outmatched that of these two sorcerers, even if they were the strongest in the modern era. Perhaps different worlds had different scales of power.
"But that doesn't mean we won't resort to a more violent way if the situation requires it." Makima added, her bored eyes fixated on Geto. He was a fine specimen if she could get her hand on him.
She found his sense of justice intriguing, including his upright mindset. Through the battle, she could deduce that he stood for the weak. Suddenly, a funny thought popped up in her head and she found herself wondering what would happen if it were shattered.
Will he stand back up, or will he drown in his ideology? The resilience of men was a topic she was curious about after reading Veilhem's memories.
Makima's mind was distracted by her own thoughts.
"Then let's throw hands!" Gojo couldn't contain his excitement any longer and rushed at Makima with an insane speed.
She couldn't react in time, but that wasn't needed if Veilhem was here.
He blocked Gojo's kick and countered it with a quick jab but he felt something amiss.
His fist couldn't reach Gojo's face.
Seeing this, Gojo smirked, while Veilhem's expression remained unreadable. They were locked on their staring contest.
"We need to detain you both as Curse Users according to the law of the Jujutsu world." Geto stopped his friend as he intervened and stared down at both Veilhem and Gojo.
"Please come quietly so this situation become more troublesome."
"Stop doing this pointless conversation, Geto. You are such a killjoy." Gojo booed and visibly disappointed, he was clearly dissatisfied with his classmate.
"Do you really think they would-"
Before Gojo could finish his sentence, a voice interrupted him.
"We will comply." Makima said after a moment's thought. Veilhem was also surprised by her but he decided to trust Makima and keep his mouth shut.
___________
(A/N: I can't... why do I think it's a good idea to create a domain? Past me, why?
Can anyone drop a review so that I can get a rating? Pweaseee? Pretty Pweaseee?
Anyway, a question, do you prefer me off for a while to stockpile like 10 chaps and upload it daily or 2-3 days per chap like this?)