▬▬ uncharted world: brilliantine illusions

TING!

You had arrived at floor five alone.

Based on the urban legend, a woman should appear here. One mustn't talk to her, or else, she would take you to the otherworld.

Heh.

That was what you were aiming for.

Eyes in front, a woman did appear. You hit the first-floor button, it would either take you to the tenth floor, the other world, or whatever the hell floor it was—you would just make sure that you could exit once it was over.

This bullshit was dumb, to begin with. Who would start this occultic ritual, in the first place? Now it stirred into something frightening.

And the woman beside you with ghostly features was smiling and looking so welcoming. And for an apparition, she was pretty and quite young.

"A beautiful day, isn't it?" The voice had a normal pitch, something that was appropriate to how a human female sounded in real life. It was sweet, modest, and polished.

You scowled at her, unafraid of the curse she was capable of.

"No, it's not," you answered very provokingly. "Show me where Nanami is, and only by then it will be a very beautiful day."

Turning, the woman's face was no longer that of a pretty, now contorted in a face of pure evil, rejoicing at the fatality of breaking the rule. She stepped near you, her neck elongated enough to stick close to your face.

The doors slammed shut, and even without pressing any buttons, the elevator rapidly ascended.

"Beautiful?" The smile on her face crept up literally to the level of her eyes.

You were eyeing her equally, scoffing at her unwise action—as if she was seeing into your soul.

"Beautiful? Day?" Her voice was grotesque, somewhat also static. It went from sweet to graveling and almost demonic.

The whole area of the lift felt like it was frozen, turning the oxygen here thinner.

Sighing, you weaved the cursed spirit away from your face. It must be a sense of superiority when you weren't feeling any urge or threat. Although Nanami wasn't with you now, you were confident that he was doing fine. Hopefully, so.

You pressed a button on the console, in an expectation it would stop to a certain floor, but it didn't respond. The buttons were dead. Faster and faster the elevator rose until loud creaks and squeaks of the cables came to a complete stop. The floor indicated in a bright red "10". The doors opened and . . . It looked normal. You took the exit, observing more of the physical surroundings. It was eerie at the same time. The corridor seemed sort of endless—doors lined on the left and the curtain glass wall on the right.

At this moment, the cursed energy gathered enormously near your presence. Her voice echoed. A woman with black hair covering her face, ghastly pale skin, and a bloodied white dress.

"Beautiful, beautiful!" the cursed spirit chanted. "You are trapped here now, never leaving this place again!"

"Ah," you let out a flat, sarcastic, one-syllabled utterance, "just get lost."

Her movements were impulsive, promptly realizing that she was coming for you.

Ever since you started your sorcery work, you decided to use cursed tools: Kalis daggers. You liked carrying weapons that were something light, that could be swung the fastest and preserved your stamina, a one-handed weapon was perfect for you. And since one dagger ha$ a short blade, it had the lowest damage and shortest reach, thus it was the best use when dual-wielded and amplified with cursed energy.

One strike wouldn't be enough for sure, and so you made combination movements. Daggers were specifically made for stabbing the opponents, but you could also use enhanced strength to slice her through.

You could label this "woman in the elevator" cursed spirit such as a Grade 2. Now you started to think of the victims she had while gaining her power.

Quite a few, I could bet.

With your final blow, you aimed for the chest while your other hand was responsible for your defense. Gripping the hilt of your Kalis dagger tight, you garnered your strength vertically to cut her up to her head.

Once damaging her vital spots, she started to crumble with monstrous, undeviating cries, and then she got disintegrated into the unidentifiable unit of matter.

"Bazic," you huffed, flipping your hair.

Now, now, the cursed spirit was dead, everything should be back to normal. But it didn't. Nanami hadn't returned. Checking your phone, it that there was no signal here. You sighed, not able to contact your partner for this mission.

"I wonder if a Curtain is raised in this area?" you asked, while your thoughts started to overlap.

Whose Curtain? Did Nanami put one before he disappeared? If he did, then he's just around the area.

Staring out of gigantic glass windows, it was still in the broad daylight. You were inspecting as well if there was a barrier in the area, but there was no Curtain. And you weren't sure of yourself if you were sober now or shadowy figures were playing and moving in front of your eyes. You stepped forwards to get a closer look. All your could see were the diversity of the buildings, the horizon, and the blinding noon sun.

There were certainly shadows swirling around, but they disappeared once you tried focusing on them.

You arched your right eyebrow. It must be an image, considering how many drugs you had taken last night.

You began wandering on the corridor, threading the back and forth while thinking. If the cursed spirit is dead, then Nanami should return. It concluded you that the very reason he hadn't brought back, there was this very main enemy.

You exhaled, muttering troublesome shortly.

Nanami was taken away even if he hadn't completed the rules, thus the use of this certain ability had a profound mastery using it.

It now made you gambled if you would ride the lift again, expecting it would transport you where Nanami was.

In just a few seconds, you found yourself inside, the elevator quit working. Many times did you press the numbers, but it didn't respond and doors weren't closing.

You frowned, very ugly. "What the fuck is this freak show? Damn y'all."

And you took the stairs down from the tenth floor to the fifth floor. You noticed the stairs getting longer and longer. You doubted your eyes; maybe the psychoactive medicines were still lingering on your head. After walking down at least fifty-ish-something flights of steps, you opened the fire exit door, it felt very frustrating and puzzling that you were back on the . . . tenth floor?

The fucking tenth floor?

You shook your head, disregarding the speculative hallucinatory conceptions.

Returning to the stairs, you marched down annoyed. You were taking twice faster the stairs than usual. Even worse, in your peripheral view, the shadows were dancing on the walls. Numerous of them. You weren't seeing them clearly; it was more like out of the corner of your eyes. Behind you, you could hear light footsteps. As much as possible, you were ignoring them; you had no time for weaklings. But surely, enemies were appearing now, the perpetrator must have started its moves.

After a few seconds of pacing down, you burst the door open! But you were about to faint when it was the floor ten again . . ! You wanted to burst your eyes out of your sockets and scream.

You were back on the same floor, together with the cursed spirits loitering along. These spirits had something in store for you, for sure.

In my moment of your bewilderment, you heard a huge BANG!, which snapped you back to your consciousness. You turned around, then you saw the elevator doors shut close.

Roaming your visions around, the shadows took a certain form—just like the woman in the elevator.

Your lips tugged down, sighing. "So there are many of you, huh?" You then wielded your cursed weapons. As a precaution, you formed a hand seal and chanted the spell in making a Curtain, "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."

Your Veil could reach a two-kilometer radius—just like your deal with Gojo.

The lights began flickering and the shadows were whispering horrendous sounds around you.

Can be helped, I need'a fight.

You made a fighting stance that was conventional to your choice of weapons. You stood upon that middle, hallowed hallway. The curses were surrounding you, prepared to attack and devour you. Thus you fought for your survival in your own way. Time ticked by like an impulse, only focusing on your enemies, for the allotted moment when combat commenced. As you were combatting alone in this sea of jurei, it made you realize how shitty humans were; they already knew the harms of crossing the line of the supernatural, but how pitiful they were for they were like moths attracted to the flames. No one should play this out of fun; it would be the end of them. "Otherworld" wasn't something to be fucked around with like a hobby or a spooky thing to try on a dare. Now the trouble was left to you, cleaning up the bullshit they made. Well, it was kind of fair, because those humans had dug their own grave. Large cursed spirits wouldn't manifest like these if they hadn't fed on the negative energy those humans omitted.

After slicing and breaking through, eventually, these Women-in-the-Elevator got eradicated.

"This is tiring, y'all bitches . . !" You just wanted to go back to your dorm and laze all day. But you didn't want to go back to that dorm, that was why you took this mission because Gojo promised that he would lend you a free unit and car. "But of course, it wouldn't be easy." The Curtain must dissolve right after you finished the Grade 2 curses, and it hadn't.

You drew your attention again outside, because there was really something when you looked at it.

You were hearing a voice next. It wasn't just any voice. You recognized it.

It was Nanami's voice.

You cautiously followed the voice; it might be a curse imitating him. You went back to the elevator, and the voice became louder and clearer.

Pressing a button of the elevator again, it surprisingly opened again.

You then gasped in excitement at what you saw.

"Nanami!" You screamed.

The excitement on your face was quick to fade when you realized something.

"Yeah, like hell."

Nanami didn't even look at you. How much more hearing you? He looked flat in your perspective as if he had gone 2D or he was inside a mirror. And how he appeared to be, it seemed like he was fighting something out there.

"Where's this place?" You heard him ask while his blunt cursed tool was drawn. "More importantly, where did Murphy-san get transported?"

AWWWWW!!!! He's looking for me! He's worried about me!

You felt your heart throwing flower petals all over.

Yet you went to a facepalm that instant when a certain word of him ran a bell on your head. ". . . where did Murphy-san get transported?"

Like what you were seeing before your sight, Nanami was projected on a flat, reflective surface—he had no depth and mass.

You only had one thing on your mind:

"Is he on a parallel world?" you muttered. "Nah, that's way too exaggerating."

"That's right!"

You went into a defensive mode after hearing and sensing a presence behind you. The drugs you consumed must be your setback for now, because after you turned around, no one was there.

"Hah. . . Whoever the fuck are you, I suggest you stop your silly games." Your statement came out as a warning, eyes emitting like those rabid predators. "My patience is thin, and I won't think twice about blowing this building into smithereens with you on it."

Of course, you were bluffing. You were limiting your cursed technique usage; you were staying lowkey for the jujutsu higher-ups to notice.

"Scary, scary~!" The unknown voice appeared again. It was a man's voice—unfamiliar and playful.

On your left, the mirror-like bronze stainless steel interiors of the lift started to ripple as if something would emerge out of it. And alas! A head popped out from it, smiling so mischievously.

You glared at him, staying reserved still. He was capable of speech, but he had no distinctions like the typical cursed spirits. Cursed user, huh?, you said in the mind.

"You're responsible for this ruckus?" you spoke to him. "What's your goal?"

"Oh, nothing, really~" he chuckled with a vile smirk. "Just for fun!"

"Heh, for fun?" You deadpanned, your eyeballs boringly looking up. "You're so boring, ne? Only losers will think as you do."

The cursed user shot you a piercing look. "Say what?" he said threateningly. "Only losers?"

"I said what I said." Venomous expressions veiled your gazes as it was your turn to smile mischievously. "Is this for revenge? Why? Were you abused? Bullied? Maltreated? Trapping people with your technique as your coping mechanism? Pfft—! Pathetic."

Humans were always this predictable. SMH, really.

"Shut up!" Now he began attacking you.

Ten to fifteen fair-sized portals appeared around your whole form. You didn't know what was the purpose of them until concentrated cursed energy started coming out of them, targeting you in what way possible.

In your defense, you promptly destroyed the openings your hands could reach, then jumped outside of the elevator.

"You sorcerers know nothing! And I will never forgive you for trying to take my fun away from me!"

You were trying to make distance from him, but it seemed like he was formidable as well at a long-distance offense.

The user created human-shaped curses popping out of the floor of the room. These figures held various weapons, like swords and spears.

Hmm, not bad. You complimented inside your head. He was well-versed when it comes to executing his cursed technique, and he offered more than you could expect.

In addition, whenever you countered his concentrated cursed energy, his knowledge and skill needed to perform his technique liberally manifested a gateway, absorbing your attacks and sending them to a place you didn't where it would lead.

You busied yourself defending and fighting back. And when you closed the gap between you two, he would just shift himself to another direction away from you. You were getting more annoyed as time went by. You wanted to understand more of his cursed technique, so you needed to buy some time, though you already had the gist of it.

"Dimensional user, are you?" you uttered while defeating humanoid curses. "Mimicry Dimension?"

"Close!" he jeered, "But I will never tell you!"

Of fucking course, who would want to show their aces?

Well, all you could do was defeat him and force him to spill everything out of his mouth.

RECALLING A CERTAIN POINT OF NANAMI'S LIFE, of getting lost in a mall after closing time in his childhood, it was like the exact same thing now. To think that transporting could literally make him feel the déjà vu.

Conscious of what images of cursed spirits would appear, he paced brazenly into the darkened hotel lobby. Nanami warily surveyed the hotel's interior in a typical man's eye view. He couldn't help but notice how eerie the purple and red glow of the lighting inside was.

In his initial intuitive thought, Nanami was aware that he was still in the physical world—only in a dimension out of contact with people.

Domain Expansion?

It could be, but the cursed user or spirit wasn't here, thus it was safe to conclude that this was just a mere trap to separate him from his partner for this mission—you.

Grotesque figures were gathered at the center of the lobby. Nanami hid behind a pillar, investigating each of their movements. It would be unwise to launch into the swarm of negative energies. And at the center part of the lobby, there was a bigger cursed spirit while the smaller ones were encircling the aforementioned one—it was like all the other spirits were worshipping it. And there were these curses as well that looked like guards.

He didn't think it was unusual to be a bit creeped out, but really . . . Hierarchy of cursed spirits in this dimension?

For the next few moments, he did anything he could think of to escape. The last memory he had before getting transferred here was in the elevator with you. Thinking that the conditions would reverse if he would go back in it, but the doors would open but they just wouldn't move.

This time, it was safer to look for a hideout, though in reality, there was no likely a hideout here.

When he noticed a spirit approaching him . . . Thank goodness that he was near the front desk of the building and hurriedly hid beneath the marble-made top.

He heard a small yelp once crouching down.

Nanami doubted his ears at first, when his eyes caught what was beside him . . .

It was a boy.

A five-year-old, probably.

"W-Why—" Nanami cut himself from a surprising utterance.

The boy felt relieved upon seeing another human as the sorcerer.

"Were you trapped in here as well?" asked Nanami.

The boy wiped the tears from his eyes, then he nodded with silent sobs.

Nanami patted his head to comfort him. "How long have you been here?"

"T-Three . . . Three days," he stuttered.

Nanami remained silent; he didn't want to give the kid an affirmation that they would be able to get out of here.

Before he knew it, a cursed spirit noticed their presence. With its feral nature, it attacked them.

The sorcerer felt it right away, even without seeing it. Nanami let his audible frustrations out by making stinging Tchhh sounds. Carrying the kid by his waist, he sprung to get away from it.

As he regained his stature, he put the kid down and shielded him, he grabbed the cursed tool from his holster strap.

The life of a young one was more important than his own.

Before this certain curse launched its next offense, Nanami had predicted it already. With the convenience of his Ratio Technique, he quickly slid forward and cut the left and right knees. The curse lost a vital point of its ability, and Nanami didn't wait for any second to end it. He gripped the hilt of his blunt sword firmly, allowing him to execute a stab onto the cursed's upper body and swung it diagonally.

The poor spirit cried relentlessly with incoherent words, only shutting up once erased from existence.

Nanami exhaled after. And knowing that this wouldn't be the end of it, he prepared himself for the following strike.

Once he turned behind, he saw scattered curses were hurrying from every direction of the floor area. A couple of veins of irritation engraved on his forehead as he loosened the knot of his necktie and gracefully wrapped it in his right hand.

The crowd of hideous spirits had increased, and there stood out black forms against the deep crimson of the sky. There were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on, for they were rushing, trampling each other to reach the sorcerer.

Nanami remained on his high guard, in an attempt to use his whole mind and body coordination to end them and protect the kid. He parried against them quickly, reflexively, almost like a whim. The 7:3 sorcerer cut through, from side to side, and moved back and forth, until they remained useless.

He was almost got hit by a curse on his blind spot, good thing his defensive reflexes were fast, and struck his elbow into the thing behind him.

Panting, Nanami went to the corner to survey the movement and habits of the jurei. For a moment that lobby seemed perfectly black. He had the entirety of the void in his eyes. Though he didn't expect to see a man emerge—possibly something a little, unlike normal men, but in all essentials, a man.

He knew he did. Looking, he presently saw something stirring within the shadow: greyish billowy movements, stood out amongst others, and then, two disks-like eyes got illuminated.

It had a human form, and Nanami witnessed how it raised its right arm, then something resembling a huge snake, about the thickness of a concrete column, coiled up out of the writhing curses, and wriggled in the air towards him. Nanami jumped sideways with the kid on his arm, as a sudden chill came over him.

The next thing the lone sorcerer heard was loud, laughing shrieks from a man—more like a cursed spirit—that was never new to him.

Nothing could ever paint Nanami's indefinitely scrutable expression, keeping his eyes fixed upon the morphing special grade cursed spirit, from which now tentacles were now projecting, and began pushing Nanami's way back to the edge.

There was still a general movement in the multitude of curses. He found himself dejected along with these dark, crippling creatures. It wasn't that he was governed by terror, it was just that this unfortunate scenario kept repeating.

He heard inarticulate exclamations on all sides, two eyes were regarding Nanami steadfastly.

"Ya, long time no see–" said a giddy creature– "7:3 Sorcerer-san~!"

There was something rotten in this patch-worked, pale-skinned jurei, something in the satirical deliberation of his tedious behavior was unspeakably nasty. Even at the first encounter, the glimpse, Nanami was overcome with disgust and dread.

Mahito.

Nanami felt like he poisoned himself just the name crossing in his mind. He was the last curse he didn't want to meet, let alone fight again.

"It must be a destiny, right?" prompted Mahito, a diabolic smile was stretched on his mouth.

The sorcerer wasn't even want to respond, but it was essential to do so.

"I don't believe in such," Nanami sighed, adjusting his shades slightly. "All I know, it must be your plan to bring me to this place."

Struck a conversation. Gather information. Observe. Think of ways to reverse the situation. Then escape.

"Partly true!" Mahito didn't deny it. "I was actually after for the nee-san with you~, but I decided to lay off for now and let someone takes care of her on the otherside."

So, these unregistered cursed spirits do have an interest in her? Nanami said subconsciously. It was no wonder why; she always had that technique everyone wanted to possess.

And coming from the mouth of this patched-face, it was their plan to separate you from him. Though Nanami wasn't worried about you; he was more concerned about himself. He was once trapped in his Domain, and if Itadori didn't intervene, he must be dead. Yet now again, his whole existence was threatened by the same cursed spirit. Double the burden when he had a civilian to defend.

"Otherside?" Nanami cited, nonetheless, learning a little something out of that small clue.

"Yep, yep~!" Though the curse was jovial to reply.

Thinking the obvious, this place was the exact replica of the condominium itself, yet the residents were never humans. He was just relying on idle speculations, only heard it on sci-fi movies, but this place was the . . .

"Mirror Dimension."

"Precisely," Mahito's smile became a lot sly as he replied. "Mirror Dimension, the creation of the exact copy of the reality. It is ever-present but undetected, and the real world isn't affected by what happens here. What a convenient spatial technique, right? I can also practice here without any interruption!"

Nanami frowned even a lot darker. Knowing that Mahito was still a young cursed spirit, and this so-called dimension was unanimously in his favor. It really did make sense: for all the missing persons, and the various cursed spirits in here.

"Then, what do you want from the nee-san you meant?" The jaded man purposely didn't say your name; he would never spill any information about you.

"Oh, that nee-san, we want her on our side!" And Mahito didn't beat a bush, laying out their objectives unfiltered.

"I'm afraid that will be necessary; that woman has made a Binding Vow with us," Nanami said calmly with a straight face.

"Oh-ho-ho~, why though?" Mahito mused meaningfully. "Does she really has an invincible technique that y'all gatekeeping her?"

"No," the blonde retorted right away, "that woman can only do is a Reverse Cursed Technique."

"Hmm, really?" Malicious chuckles were exhaled from Mahito. "That makes sense, right? She was able to defy my Idle Transformation! But for a Reverse Cursed user, she has so much evil in her, yeah?"

If the infuriating orbs of Nanami could speak, he would tell the thing to fuck off. "What do you mean?"

Mahito's lips curled up, coaxing a bigger and more mocking smile. "Can't you see, 7:3-san, the true form of that nee-san? She'd kill without exception . . . No room for threats, never bargaining . . . Just like the devil himself!" He then laughed bestially. "Oh, of course, you won't understand! You're a good person after all!"

"You're wrong." Nanami objected, only if his words would serve as a bluff. "She's a sorcerer—that's for sure a fact—and whatever claims you'll admonish, nothing can change that she has saved and will always save humans."

The cursed spirit wavered, admitting that the sorcerer had a distinguished aspect on his negation. "Even so, her true nature will never change. No matter how you sorcerers hide it, I can smell so much bloodshed in her, so many sins . . . and none of them couldn't be redeemed."

It was pointless talking to him, Nanami thought as he gripped his cursed tool tight. In this duel, he must be careful as he had a casualty on his side—the boy he had been guarding.

Mahito turned his arm into a cephalopod limb, so huge and long enough to break everything it touched. All Nanami could do was defend and run along with the kid. He couldn't leave the kid alone when there was no place of safety.

The Ratio Technique user all could do was to turn to see where the projection of the attacks was, for he could not avert his face from these things, running madly, and made distance, perhaps a hundred yards away. And when he noticed that the area was clear of cursed spirits, he dropped the kid down and faced his opponent.

Nanami makes a mad dash forward, all while Mahito pursued to meet him, they exchanged blows, slashing and fending, none of them wanted to yield. Mahito might use miniaturized ex-humans to keep the sorcerer even more distracted. But for a Grade 1 sorcerer, that would do nothing. Yet it left a distasteful requiem in his conscience. Double-killing the ones who were once humans.

If there was something he would be careful of, he shouldn't let the curse touch him. The first time Mahito touched Nanami he wasn't able to transfigure him because Nanami was unconsciously protecting his soul. And there would be no second time.

The enemy had read the sorcerer's mind well; Nanami could hold Mahito's attack, but knowing that each sorcerer's priority was the human lives, Mahito rushed to take advantage, shaping his free arm into a scythe to deliver a mighty cut towards the human boy. Nanami, surprised, leaped backward to rush toward the kid.

Yet Mahito was a cunning curse. Morphing another long and sharp blade with the curse's other arm, it came up in a lightning thrust straight to the sorcerer.

Nanami, completely unaware of the surrounding, a blade ripped through in the middle of his chest!

Stopping in his tracks, he felt like he lost something vital. The blade met the man's flesh, sinking deeper and deeper, enough to make the victim groan loudly. His skin was torn and the sound of his muscles and nerves being gouged was audible. Then, without warning, the modified blade was jerked out all the way out of his back. Guttural chokes were diverse with a tormented cry. The sorcerer went to her knees, convulsing and trembling, and thick blood flowing freely from the yawning hole in his chest.

What was even worst was when Nanami failed the kid in front of him.

And the torrent of the kid's life source gushed out, crimson liquid painting the floor pitifully.

It pained Nanami, dreading his uselessness, for the innocence of a non-sorcerer, much more of an innocent child, was rendered in Nanami's eyes. That innocence was something that Nanami didn't want to fail to recall because of what he had to go through in his life. Understanding that innocence truly was precious.

Yet this world of sorcery was nothing but a graveyard, where the hope of survival had no place. But that was what he signed ever since he came back. Forcing his way through the horrors of sorcery, all for the society, for the future generation of the youths, to be their cornerstone, he was willing to move towards his own death.

Work was shit—indeed it is—but it was the risk he was willing to carry the burden of discarding his selfless self in the shadows, but it would be hypocritical of him if he never wanted to be saved . . . Someone who would keep waiting and wishing to be touched by the light.

"Uwaah . . . That took me a while.
Gomen, gomen."

Nanami Kento might not have expected it, but there was a shifting of balance in the area . . . As if a mirror was shattered into a million pieces out of nowhere.

After the glimpse of despair, while having his own memento, an overwhelming, intense, and inhuman presence was arising into the spiraling dimension of curses. A kind of monstrosity paralyzed Nanami's actions even more.

Nanami Kento did not dare to look for it, but he felt a passionate longing to peer into it.

A vertical black figure made an appearance from not afar.

Said if time went on a slow-motion, there was an intermittent movement upon, the soles of the shoes were snapping sophisticatedly on the marble-finished floor. It was a movement that seemed to gather force as the stillness of the loss remained unbroken.

The absence of moral notions, the incessant remorselessness, the tumultuous subtle smile, the evident heaviness and painfulness of the presence, and the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes.

Above all, what was a lot terrifying yet imperturbable was the severed head the lady was carrying on her hand.

hello, sorry if it's late,
i had a terrible writer's
block. sorry also if the
plot is boring af ajsjsj
dw, we are getting there

✿ HANDTHE;REND ✿