𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑾⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈 - 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍

THE DARKNESS AROUND HER RUMBLED LIKE A BEAST AWAKENING FROM ITS SLUMBER. Mikazuki felt the echo of it thundering through her bones, the ferocity of the sound reverberating all the way through her body and sizzling in her golden blood. The sorceress gripped her katana tighter, turning to meet the endless shadows of The Beldam and slicing through the eternal fog with one swift move.

The cut was precise, the blade of her nodachi coated in Cursed Energy as it sliced cleanly through the shadows. The magic in her blood thrummer loudly, the edges of Mikazuki's grey curls levitating in the air around her like a deadly halo of raw power. The darkness didn't recoil, parting around her while the smoke swirled at her feet.

The factory shifted in and out of reality, The Beldam's power draining out with each cut she threw its way. The amalgamation of bodies disappeared; the concrete floor of the abandoned factory being replaced by an endless carpet of pitch black. The light that had previously filtered in through the hole in the ceiling dimmed, the entire domain shifting in less than a second. The world around Mikazuki shivered, a mess of blending walls and changing realities shifting around her like a giant machine. The sorceress held her ground, holding on to her own Cursed Energy while the world around her tilted into complete darkness.

The Kinzoku's grip on her nodachi tightener and, while the darkness slowly enclosed her, she looked around, a hint of desperation coating her features as she scanned the empty blackness for an escape. The factory was gone, as were the bodies of her victim. There was no light, just an endless void of blackness which stretched a hundred miles in every direction.

This was The Beldam's true domain, she could feel it in her bones, the empty void sapping all of her energy away. The factory had been a detour, a simple mirage to elicit an emotional response. This, on the other hand, was the Curse's true nature. Mikazuki whirled around, smoke parting around her as she frantically looked around. She could no longer feel the creature, the endless vastness of its domain large enough to muddle her Eternity and confuse the tendrils of her Everlasting gold.

Still, the sorceress didn't give up. Instead, Mikazuki steeled herself, griping Goldslayer more tightly before she cut through the darkness one more time. The gold poured out from her arms, floating around her in a gilded formless blob while she fought the shadows that gathered around her like hungry vultures.

The fight was... endless. The darkness didn't seem to have an ending or a beginning, it simply existed, looming around Mikazuki as it slowly seeped the energy out of her. The sorceress could feel it creeping through the blurred edges of her vision. The darkness encircled her, the shadowy tendrils of the creature surrounding her completely and dimming the slight glow of her gold.

The earth under the Kinzoku shifted one more time, shadows trimming away until all the blackness receded. Mikazuki stood idly, watching as the image in front of her morphed into the most terrible shapes. The darkness turned, whirled and coiled, the vast emptiness of it all slowly growing into a familiar yet haunted sight. Her heart stuttered, the reality of the scene in front of her hitting like a ton of bricks. The woman heaved, bile rising in her throat as she watched herself climb the steps to the abandoned lighting factory.

For a moment, Mikazuki didn't even recognize herself. It was hard to – partly because this was over ten years ago, but also because of how much she'd changed, both mentally and physically. This person she watched climb up the concrete steps felt like a ghost, a memory of another life. It was almost surreal, watching herself on that day, about to enter a nightmare that would change her life forever.

But, there was nothing for her to do other than watch. Today, she was a witness. Nothing more and nothing less. So Mikazuki held on to that vision, she held on like it was a nail on fire, ignoring the burning in her hands, ignoring the way her flesh – her entire self – melted to pieces. She was the one who had done this, after all. Everything that was about to happen was her fault.

Mikazuki's lips thinned, and with her heart in her throat and her soul in shambles, she watched.

She used to look a lot like Kei, before her hair turned grey and her skin pale from the lack of a functioning heart. She used to hate it; looking herself in the mirror and seeing him. Now, she'd give anything to see him, even if it was through a simple reflection in the mirror. Her eighteen year old self paused in front of the large metallic double doors, probably scanning the building for the special-grade she'd been commissioned to hunt. The girl waited. One beat. Two beats. Three beats. When nothing happened, the young Mikazuki smiled – all confident and motivated – before swinging the door open and disappearing into the darkness.

It didn't take much longer before the screams started. After that, there was only silence.

The image in front of Mikazuki shifted again, this time to a different place in a different year. The warehouse came into view, the rusted walls and acrid smell flooding her sensed before she watched herself one more. This time; her younger self – nineteen, now – was crawling on the ground, her left leg mangled after narrowly escaping the grasp of a special-grade.

She was crying, big round tears rolling down her cheeks while blood pooled between her legs. Twin pregnancies rarely carried to term, but she'd done such a good job to make sure the twins had a little more time... watching it all go away made her feel sick, almost as sick as she felt watching herself shakily holding the gun and loading the bullets one by one.

Her hands were shaking so much some of them spilled, the ammo clattering to the floor, but it didn't matter anymore. She raised her gun, pointing it at the shadowy figure in front of her and, when the silence lingered for a second too long, she pulled the trigger. The shot rang in the silence while the now deceased man thudded to the floor, his phone breaking to pieces the moment it smashed against the concrete. He'd done his part, and now she'd done hers.

The shadows swirled one more time, the truth of that night fading into oblivion as another image took its place. This time it was dark, so dark it nearly rivalled the endless blackness of The Beldam. The young Mikazuki – still wounded and no longer pregnant – stood in front of a creature. The Curse didn't speak, simply extending its bony hand with an open palm.

Mikazuki watched herself take a deep breath and, before she could think on it any further, she watched her nineteen-year-old self plunge her hand into her chest, ripping her own heart in one cold swift move. Her ribcage cracked, but the pain was nothing compared with the certainty written in her fiery gaze. The young ex-shaman smiled, slowly plopping her beating heart into the creature's hand before she watched it swallow it down in one go. It was easier this way. Safer, even.

No heart? No regrets. She used to believe firmly in that, but now... now she had doubts. So many doubts she couldn't even voice all of them, not when the choices she'd made couldn't be unmade. Not when she'd already committed herself to this endless road of suffering and vengeance. Mikazuki was so caught up in her own thoughts, her own personal nightmare, that she didn't notice the shadows closing in until it was too late, and they were up to her neck, swallowing her whole.

That's when the real nightmare began.