𝑫𝒀𝑵𝑨𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑺 ⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈 - 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐕𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE TWO WOMEN GREW HEAVY AND, FOR A MOMENT, Mikazuki considered turning around and walking away. It would be easy enough to do, with her grandmother still kneeling on the floor in a poodle of her own blood. All she needed to do was let go, turn on her heels and abandon the chapel, escaping into the cold night air where she could pretend none of this had happened – that she hadn't just crossed this line.

But there was no line to cross anymore, because Mikazuki obliterated it the moment she made the choice to punish Himari for the sins of her father. She should leave but, for some unexplainable reason, she couldn't. Instead, Mikazuki stood there, rooted to the spot and unable to move.

It wasn't guilt what kept her from moving. It wasn't remorse or fear either. Mikazuki knew what would await her once she crossed the line. And yet, here she was, wholly unprepared for the feeling that spread through her soul before settling at the pit of her stomach. She could feel the bile rising up, the taste of vomit invading her mouth.

I made it all the way here. The sorceress reminded herself, swallowing the bitter taste and wiping the sweat of her forehead along with the rest of Himari's dried blood. I can't crack now. I can't turn back. The thought lingered at the forefront of her mind, a sense of peace invading her as the words continued to echo like a broken record. Mikazuki's thoughts continued to spiral but before the chaos unravelled completely, Himari cursed loudly, her voice ripping the sorceress away from her inner turmoil. The Kinzoku heiress looked down again, her golden gaze sweeping over Himari's bent over silhouette.

"You're a little shit." Himari spat, her voice trembling from the searing pain still pulsating behind her missing eye. "You're a cunt and I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

Mikazuki schooled her expression, eyes turning cold as Himari's words sunk in. The sorceress wasn't surprised by this outburst, after all, her grandmother had always been prone to hysterics. Getting angry over a couple of hollow words said in haste was beneath her, which is why Mikazuki filed away the feeling, burying it under a curtain of indifference while she kept her gaze locked on the woman.

Somehow, this reaction only managed to anger Himari further. The older Kinzoku let out a wailing scream, the echo if it dying against the marble walls before she crawled on all fours, grabbing the skirt of Mikazuki's dress and pulling at the fabric, her nails tearing through the dark tulle of the gown.

"I should have torn you apart, I should have taken your little rotten black heart and smashed it to dust." Himari continued to spew, hands tearing through the fabric until part of the dress was completely ripped away. "The Magistrate wanted to kill you, you know?" She let out a bitter laugh, the broken cackle catching Mikazuki off-guard. "But you hadn't awakened your powers yet, so they stalled." She spat on the ground, a mixture of blood and saliva hitting the clean marble. "Bunch of idiots, they should have torn your heart out the moment you were out of your mother's ugly cunt. Like they did to Kogane."

Himari was nothing but a mumbling mess, no longer making any sense as the words fell from her lips. Those words were cruel, turning to poison with each passing breath, the desperation so thick in the air Mikazuki could nearly taste it. But there was also truth in her statement, the kind the Kinzoku heir could appreciate but not quite comprehend.

"Your ancestors will never forgive this! You will burn in the pits of hell for all eternity!" Himari called, the veins in her face bulging with budding gold. "The gold you despise so much will melt your insides and you'll be Cursed"

Cursed. To sorcerers, to a society of shamans and those who wielded the power of cursed energy, being cursed was a fate worse than death. Death was easy, death was final. But, being cursed? It was a sentence, the kind of sentence that could ruin an entire bloodline, the kind of sentence that made you beg for the sweet release of death.

Being cursed outlasted mortality, it outlasted hell and any of its circles. If there was a hell, then being Cursed was its ninth circle. Any proper sorcerer – anyone loyal to The Magistrate – would have paled at the accusation. Words like this held power. And yet, Mikazuki didn't even blink.

Cursed. Himari said it so fucking easily, the anger laced with her words turning to ash in her mouth as the sorceress tugged on her dress, Himari's grip faltering while she fell back on her ass. Any proper sorcerer would have begged for forgiveness but, unfortunately for Himari, Mikazuki was no longer considered proper in any sense of the word. To her, being cursed was just another flavour of hell, one she was more than prepared to welcome.

The grey-haired sorceress sighed, tugging on her dress and watching once again as Himari tumbled and fell back into the pool of blood like the pathetic little piece of shit she was. The woman looked terrible now, any shred of dignity she had left evaporated the moment she was willing to crawl, her old greying hair covering half of her face while the other half was covered in golden blood, her empty eye socket glaring.

Himari looked up one last time, anger gone from her expression as a single tear ran down her cheek, gold mixing with salt-water. If there was any humanity left in that woman, Mikazuki might have confused the tear for a sign of remorse. Of course, Mikazuki knew better. She would not be swayed by hollow tears or empty apologies, the only road forward lead directly to hell, and the sorceress was ready to walk through it.

There was no regret in Himari, just the terrible anger that came with powerlessness – a feeling a woman like her had never come close to but was now drowning in. Mikazuki knew that look, she knew it so well her bones hurt, the gold in her blood awakening at the sight. But the sorceress refused to yield. Mikazuki placed her palm on her chest, feigning a shocked expression as she levelled Himari with a hard stare.

"I will be cursed?" She asked, her voice pitch high before her face fell once again "Well... we wouldn't want that, would we?" She tilted her head to the side, eyes feeling with glee. "But, seeing as you're the one currently at death's door, I'd like to ask you for a favour."

Mikazuki leaned in, her lips close to Himari's ear. The Kinzoku heiress inhaled deeply, the smell of blood drowning her senses for a second before she finally spoke.

"Once you're all the way down in hell... keep my throne warm for me, would you?"