𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄 [JJK x OC]

14: Unable To Change Anything...

A/N took way too long for this, my bad. Please do enjoy.

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Over a thousand years ago, the Heian Era

Yellowed grass rustled beneath my feet; its crisp sounds crunched with every step I took forward. I exhaled a heavy breath as I neared the temple I had been searching for, a shrine ostentatious in its presentation, with a wooden beam gilded with gold and jewels —a mockery of the once-sacred structure. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead as the intense heat radiating from the temple finally hit me, and the sound of clanging metal being forged into something rang out rhythmically. As I drew closer, I adjusted my Yukata, loosening it in an attempt to alleviate some of the overwhelming heat to no effect.

Nevertheless, I persevered. I'd traveled all this way incognito; I hadn't intended to leave without achieving my goal. Plies of bones littered the exterior, coming from an assortment of creatures, human and animal, as well as those that had been cursed and were slowly evaporating into a haze of purple mist. Steadying myself, I entered the mouth of the solitary temple, marveling once more at the haunting Persian of its construction.

While the exterior of the temple was gaudy in its excess, the interior was a hellish sight. Wild, untamed flames bellowed forth from a mighty, undying forge, bodies decorated the walls, sorcery and curse alike frozen solid in ice that somehow withstood the overbearing heat, each waiting to be processed into materials.

At the center of it all was a woman who stood multiple heads taller than I. Her hair, a faded pink bordering on white, flowed with every strike of her hammer as she worked on forging a hunk of iron into a bland, prepared red to become a cursed tool. I watched her for a while, the woman lost in her world as she worked the forge. Because of the heat, she had abandoned her formal clothing, preferring a binding wrap around her chest and a pair of loose pants that were far too large for her despite her already impressive stature. She must have taken them from him.

I called out to her, saying her name repeatedly, but each time, my voice was drowned out by the clattering of metal. She's always like this and then dares to call me aloof. With a heavy sigh, I walked into the heart of this temple. But as I neared the lower steps, my eyebrows raised as I looked at the temple floor. It was flooded enough that the woman was wading through a knee-high sea of purplish blood. It was then that I could hear it, among the sound of the forge, a slight drip, drip. I extended my hand above the sea of blood only to catch a drop from the ceiling. I looked upwards, not even noticing that the sounds of smithing had finally stopped, and came face to face with multiple cursed beings bound by chains, being bled dry yet not allowed to die.

"It's a bath." She called out, drawing my gaze back to the middle of the room. "Making cursed tools would be quite useless without one."

"A bath is typically made with the insects from a Koduku ritual. This..." I groaned, gesturing at the room's barbaric beauty. "It's far from typical."

A boisterous laughter filled the air as the woman finally turned to face me, "Curses are far more abundant than centipedes these days. Haven't you heard? Some upstart warlords launched a campaign against Ryomen Sukuna. The bones that littered this territory are the consequence of that."

"Is that so? I hadn't heard." I hummed back.

The woman shrugged in response, "His clan was of little renown, far below your notice at least, and the whole affair barely lasted a few minutes. The only remarkable thing about it was that man's techniques were certainly... peculiar. It's a shame he was so inept, or he may have been able to land a few blows."