𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑾⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐗 - 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒

KINZOKU MIKAZUKI WAS STILL AS A ROCK, the flesh of her left leg torn over her old scars while the old, rusted teeth of the bear trap clung to her skin and dug into her bones. She could feel herself fading, the blood pooling on the ground making her faint. The world was spinning, and even though she was cuddled by the shade of the pine trees, Mikazuki felt hot to the touch, her skin on fire while beads of sweat ran down her brow. Everything burned inside of her; from the pain, from the anger, from the agony singing her skin and turning her thoughts into mush.

The sorceress laid low on the floor, one hand holding her tattered leg while the other offered support as she leaned all of her body weight on it. The pine needles stuck to her sweaty palms and the mud tickled her fingers, but Mikazuki held on to the feeling, hoping it would ground her enough to get through the pain.

The pain was... unbearable. It was sheer agony, searing hot torment that tore through her limp and climbed up her leg, warping around her muscle and mimicking the scar that was already there. The flesh was tender under her fingers, the gold colour of the blood soaking her fingers while she held on to the tattered remains of her limb.

A memory assaulted her instantly; from the time she first got the wound. Mikazuki didn't remember much from that day; her memory was fuzzy – either from the trauma or the blow she received on her head. Eiether way, everything about that day had been horrific.

The Kinzoku remember laying on the hard cold cement floor, in labour and in pain. One moment she was there, and the next, she was being dragged away by the ankle, the vicious claws of a Special Grade wrapped around her leg as it pulled her down. Mikazuki had fought, she'd screamed, she'd kicked – she did everything and anything she could think of to escape the beast and save her babies.

In the end, it wasn't luck that saved her, but a monster far worse than the one about to eat her. This had been her life for as long as she could remember; trading one monster for another. First it was her father, then her mother, then The Magistrate. Then there was now, when no monster would ever be worse than her; no creature more vengeful and no Curse more dangerous than she.

It was that same thought which gave her strength. Mikazuki smiled through gritted teeth, grinding them down as she focused her Cursed Energy on her hands. The sorceress shoved her hands into the trap, prying open its rusty jaws and swiftly pulling back her leg. The bear trap clamped shut as soon as her leg was gone, the sound snapping through the emptiness of the forest while Mikazuki stumbled back, falling on her ass as she steadied her breath. A laugh escaped her lips, both surprised and marvelled at the fact she'd managed to break free.

"Fuck." She let out, brushing the hair out of her face. "I just did that." She looked back down at her mangled left leg, a mess of torn fabric and slashed skin. "Fuck."

Mikazuki remained like that for a long time, holding her leg with her right hand while she slightly rocked back and forth. Everything was pain; every move, every thought...The adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins slowly dissipated, the painful truth of her situation trickling in along with the very real agony of the injury.

The sorceress let out a pained huff before balling her hands into tight fists. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands; the pain somewhat grounding when compared to the sheer torment in her left leg. The world became blurry; partly because of the unbearable pain and partly because of the tears gathered in her eyes.

"Okay." She mumbled to herself in a shaky voice. "Okay. I can do this." Mikazuki inhaled deeply, adjusting her expression before relaxing her fists. "Okay. Okay. All I need to do is... fight through the pain and get up."

Easier said than done. Still, with the pain igniting a fire under her skin, Mikazuki clenched her teeth and removed her hand from the wound. The blood began to gush out freely, the gold trailing down her pant leg in beautiful patterns until it pooled on the ground. Mikazuki grunted, tearing a piece of her jeans. The fabric ripped easily, the sound ominous in the otherwise quiet clearing.

The sorceress steadied her breath, placing the piece oof cloth around the injury and squeezing it as a hard as she could. The tourniquet held nicely, but even with the blood supply cut off, the pain didn't subside. Kinzoku ignored all of it, slowly rising from the ground. Her muscles were sore, stomach coiled tight, yet Mikazuki pushed through it until she was finally standing, her left leg completely immobilized. The sorceress looked down, adjusting the position of her leg before she began looking around.

The bear trap wasn't there by coincidence and although the forest was a big tourist spot, hunting within the premises was strictly forbidden in order to preserve wildlife. Mikazuki tilted her head to the side, surveying the trap with analytic eyes. It looked like nothing out of the ordinary, a simple yet old trap with a set of serrated jaws and a pressure-sensitive plate at the bottom.

The special-grade crouched down – as well as she could with a bum leg – and began inspecting the thing, picking up a slim piece of wood and jamming it between the closed clamp. The stick broke in two as soon as she tried it, yet something about the trap put her on edge.

Mikazuki looked around the clearing, that familiar pang of danger rippling through the waters of her Everlasting, an unsung warning for what was to come. The sorceress didn't wait for trouble to find her, instead, she followed her gut and turned her arms to the crack in her skin were facing upwards. Mikazuki didn't smile as the gold began pouring out of the scars, a beautiful curtain of floating liquid gold forming in the air before her Cursed Energy came to shape it.

The shapeless blob turned sharp, its rounded edges turning into a clean and long edge of perfect golden colour. Mikazuki held her hand out while the beautiful hilt of her weapon materialized into her palm, the familiar weight of Goldslayer changing her mood completely. Before: she'd been unsure and afraid. Now, though... Now, she felt invincible.

The nodachi hadn't changed since she last brandished it, the perfect purple hilt molding into her hand almost as if it was made for it. The blade was long and sharp, a beautiful design of a lightning strike branded across its length. The sorceress closed her hand around the blade, welcoming the ice cold feeling of it before drawing it out and burying the entirety of it into the ground.

A large pulse of Cursed Energy emanated from the weapon, cloud upon cloud of pure power filtering through the woods as it scanned for her prey. The tendrils of her Eternity paused, the echo of that brief ripple resounding inside of her mind like a chiming bell. Mikazuki smiled, licking her lips tentatively before pulling her sword from the ground.

"There you are." She flipped her hair back, pointing the blade of her nodachi towards the wilderness. "Let's get this shit on."