𝐑𝐄𝐗 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐎 | 𝐠𝐨𝐣𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮

Chapter Nineteen

The old, mossy stones made no noise as Akatsuki stepped on them. The hike upwards the mountain was eerily quiet, he was slowly getting used to a certain man's endless chatter about the most useless things that the silence unnerved Akatsuki. He didn't dare to turn around after he walked off from Gojo. He decided to be determined to reach the top of the mountain where the abandoned shrine was located, if Sugimoto's datas were accurate, then the abandoned shrine must be standing right at the center of where the readings came from.

From this distance, he could see the mossy and torn torii gates standing before the shrine. To make the day worse, it began to rain heavily. The soft dirt overgrown with grass began to turn into mud that squelched underneath Akatsuki's footsteps. The rain soaked his every being, to his white long sleeved polo, his sleek dark slacks and his equally dark hair. He paid no mind to the rain as he pushed through towards the shrine.

The shrine itself was torn and dilapidated. If any curse or beings would make those tremblings underground, then it most certainly is massive in size. He went under the roof to save himself from the trouble of the rain. The door to the shrine was sealed shut with human made talismans with old Shimenawas wrongly used to tie the lock to the doors shut.

Part of him regrets arguing with Gojo. He shouldn't have provoked such a thing when they're in the middle of a missions. Perhaps it also caused a terrible ache in his chest after he walked away. Gojo, despite his childish and immature personality, was still a good person at heart, he has to understand that. He admits that overtime, he began to see the man's greatest qualities within himself.

Despite Gojo's annoying antics, he thinks that perhaps it is all just a type of coping mechanism for the man. Maybe that's why whenever Gojo chooses him as the victim of his silly teasing, his chest would feel weak. Thinking about it now, he wants to turn around and apologize to Gojo, but he also thinks about how wrong it was to insult a man's life work dedicated to his deceased loved one. So he continued on towards the inside of the shrine after he snapped off the bindings.

The inside of the shrine was dank and empty. He thought at first that the atmosphere would be suffocating after being sealed shut for years, but he sensed the humming of wind coming from the middle of the room. He stalked closer towards the source of the wind, the planks creaked underneath his weight.

If he couldn't see in the dark, he would have most likely fell right into the hole that was nestled in the middle of the room. As he gazed downwards, his scarlet eyes glowed as he began to see just how deep it goes. He planned to jump, of course, but he couldn't help but look back, as if waiting for a certain someone to burst through those busted doors. Nothing came, and so, Akatsuki stepped forward and let himself fall down the deep and dark hole, unknowing of whatever's down there.

***

After falling for what felt like minutes, Akatsuki finally met the ground. The ground trembled underneath him after it felt the impact of his fall. What was in front of him so suddenly is a dark and dank cavern, normally, nobody would be able to see what was in the cavern, but with Akatsuki's red, glowing eyes, he can see everything.

The high ceilings were dripping with water, the ground was wet, and the right side of the wall seemingly has a statue of a woman that was integrated within the wall. Akatsuki walked closer to the statue to investigate. The statue of the woman was halfway in the wall, it had no distinct clothes carved, no facial structures, all it had were what looked like tentacles sprouting out from its head and lower torso. Nestled right in the middle of the statue's chest was Sukuna's finger, hanging still from the hole inside the statue.

Akatsuki grabbed a hold of the finger then tugged it off, he observed the statue for any reactions then returned his attention towards the finger once again.