𝑴𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 (𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒖 𝑮𝒐𝒋𝒐 𝒙 𝑶𝑪)

2.6 Infinity and the Curse

Silence hung heavily in the Council chamber. The air was cold, filled with a quiet tension. Members of the Zenin clan and the most influential exorcists were gathered in this austere room, their imposing figures cloaked in shifting shadows. At the head of the room, Naobito Zenin stood, arms crossed, scrutinizing the young woman kneeling at the center. Around him, murmurs rose among the Council members, quietly debating what should be done with Sen.

Sen's once long hair had been cut into a blunt, uneven bob, falling haphazardly around her pale face. Dried blood streaked her temple, a reminder of the blows she'd endured when she was forcibly taken. Red marks lingered on her wrists where the chains had bound her. She was motionless, nearly stoic, despite the pain radiating from her wounds. Her eyes, however, betrayed nothing—empty and cold, as if nothing around her mattered.

"Look at her," one of the old exorcists murmured, his disdainful gaze fixed on Sen. "This creature... an abomination that should have been eliminated long ago."

"And yet, here she is," Naoya Zenin responded, a sly smile curling his lips as he leaned down toward her, his eyes gleaming with undisguised cruelty. "Gojo's precious little pet... If only he knew how pathetic she really is."

Naoya crouched closer, his sharp eyes scanning every detail of her scarred face. He feigned touching her chin, but his hand stopped just short, as if torn between mocking her and breaking her. A soft, mocking laugh escaped his lips.

"Tell me, Sen, how does it feel now? You know he's abandoned you, don't you? Gojo Satoru left you here, in our hands, because, deep down... you're nothing. Just a broken toy he tossed aside after he was done with you."

He paused, waiting for a reaction, but Sen remained stone-faced, her gaze fixed on the void. Not a single muscle in her face twitched under Naoya's venomous words. Her total lack of response irritated him, but at the same time, a strange flicker danced in his eyes. Fascination, perhaps.

"Why don't you say something? Mute and useless... What purpose do you serve, really?" His voice lowered, almost becoming a whisper, intimate, cruel. "I wonder what he saw in you. Why keep you around? Maybe he saw something in you that we have yet to discover..."

He circled her slowly, his fingers nearly grazing the uneven strands of her newly shorn hair. "You're not even human, are you? A monster, a creature born from an ancient curse... And you think Gojo wants you for anything other than his amusement?"

Still, Sen didn't respond, but something changed in her gaze. A deeper coldness, sharper, flashed in her dark eyes. Slowly, she lifted her head, locking her icy stare with Naoya's. Then, to everyone's shock, a low, detached voice finally broke the silence.

"I am the product of your fear... a weapon forged by the last wielder of the Six Eyes, six hundred years ago." Her voice, though soft, pierced the room like a shard of glass, each word striking with the force of a deadly blow.

The murmurs died instantly. Every member of the Council froze, their eyes fixed on her. Naoya, momentarily caught off guard, took a step back, the fascination in his eyes briefly giving way to disbelief.

"My existence serves only one purpose..." Sen continued, slowly rising to her feet. The chains that had once held her seemed suddenly too weak to contain the energy now emanating from her. "I was born to protect the head of the Gojo clan... No matter who he is, no matter where he is." She lifted her hand, concentrating her cursed energy in a graceful, fluid motion.

The exorcists and Zenins felt the air around her grow dense, cold, oppressive. The torches flickered, as if the room itself could feel the fear she was radiating.