Examination #23
Digital evidence B47D4 "Cloverfield"
03/11/2018
Good evening, this is Officer Ikeda of the Damage Control and Public Handling department, DCPH for short if you will, on behalf of the Jujutsu World and associates. What you're about to vision, or read once the tape is transcripted, is evidence B47D4, classified in our archives under the name "Cloverfield". The following contains raw images of the Shibuya incident, and it has been deemed "confidential" thus any form of public release is strictly prohibited. Everything you're about to witness should and shall not leave this room. Failure to do so will be met with adequate punishment, you have been warned.
Without further ado, let's start from the beginning. This footage has been found near Tower Records, in the north of Shibuya, and retrieved from the phone device of Shimizu Ryota, a 33-year-old IT technician who went missing on Halloween night. While the hopes of finding Shimizu-san alive or even his cadaver are close to zero, our task is to piece together the movements of Gabriele Lucia Esposito, deemed accomplice of the now exiled Gojou Satoru, wanted by the higher-ups on multiple charges, such as accessory to mass murder and espionage. He's currently on the run, his whereabouts unknown and it doesn't help that none of the students and some teachers are refusing to give any useful information that could help us in our investigation. With that said I'll leave you with the recording, please take note that the tape depicts graphic displays of violence, gore, and mutilations that sadly occurred during the night of October 31st. This is the worst the world of sorcery has to offer.
The recording starts, the camera of the phone captures a closed ambiance completely left in the dark. The light of the screen barely illuminates the contours of Shimizu Ryota's face. He's visibly trembling as made clear by the shaky recording, his Frankenstein makeup smeared along his forehead and cheekbones, his breathing irregular, all obvious signs that he underwent a panic attack. Shimizu repeatedly adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose, has yet to speak but tries to control himself by taking deep breaths. It goes on for a few seconds until he finally calms down enough to talk:
SHIMIZU: - I don't know what's happening (inhales sharply through his nostril) Something is roaming on the streets..... it's hunting people, that monster... it's like it came out of a horror movie...
The camera switches from front to back, his surroundings are more clear now, enough to understand he's behind a counter at a small market. He zooms on the display window, outside is a total desolation from what you can observe, in the background, you can hear the sound of car alarms howling in the streets. Out of nowhere, the glass shatters into thousands of pieces as something has been thrown through it with such force that knocks the shelves down in a domino effect. Shimizu ducks down instinctively the moment the window breaks, well hidden behind the counter. Moments of silence pass until a moan is heard, Shimizu slowly paces to the side of the counter to look. The camera pans to a young girl in her twenties, yet to be identified. She's bleeding profusely from the shards embedded in her skin, her left arm unnaturally bent the wrong way, she appears to have some problems breathing as she lies on the ground. Her eyes go wide as she stares slightly above the camera, evidence that the two exchanged glances, she mouths something incomprehensible, and her voice comes out too weak to be heard. She tries to drag herself towards him despite the pain, as she crawls you can see the shard deep in her stomach shining whenever the light hits it. Shimizu seems to hesitate as he extends his hand toward the girl, but all stops at the sound of glass getting crushed, followed by an animalistic grunt.
SHIMIZU: - Oh God...
Shimizu immediately retracts the hand, The young girl's petrified reaction can be glimpsed moments before the camera turns back to the fragmented window. The creature can't be seen in its entirety because of various things on the way, but judging by the height of the roof and the fact it had to lower its head, the creature is approximately three meters tall minimum. Of cyan complexity, its eyes appear to be minuscule compared to the protuberant jaws that could tear metal, the neck thick as armor just as its hyde. The beast's upper body is disproportionately large compared to its six tiny legs, the arms bulky, almost reaching the floor to the point it uses them to distribute its weight better. It strolls over the broken glass, cracks resounding at each step, the camera follows helplessly as it approaches the downed girl.
GIRL: - No... no... (turns toward Shimizu) help me... HELP ME, PLE-
The girl's voice killed before finishing as the monster tore her throat off with its jaws. Shimizu whimpers at the scene before him, the monster's face deep inside the carcass, her unblinking eyes staring in the man's direction as it feeds off her interiors. [Ikeda's note: according to recent studies conducted by Dr. Shoko Ieiri, it has been corroborated that the transfigured humans do not possess any semblance of a gastrointestinal tract. Theories have that their impulse to hunt and eat are leftover of the most feral part of our instinct and are guided solely by an insatiable appetite, which they're biologically unable to satisfy]
SHIMIZU: - This isn't real, is all a fucked up fever dream... (turns the other way) wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up-
A piece of pulp falls upon his lap, a bloody lump staining his clothes of scarlet. Soon after, a cascade of innards and flesh showers him from above, the man freezes in terror even forgetting to intake oxygen as if in apnea. The camera tilts upward to show the creature looking down on Shimizu, its mug completely drenched in blood.
MONSTER: - anybody... home...?
[video cuts]
Shimizu is running outside in the street, impossible to distinguish due to the recording, being very blurred by the constant motion of his arm, and the semi-opaque red layer covering half of the camera. The monster's heavy footing is just as loud as his panting, the ground seems to shake at each step it takes.
[video cuts]
The front camera shows Shimizu's face, sweat rolling down his forehead tainted by the makeup and blood, completely out of breath while hiding in a dark alley. From time to time he peeks over the corner with his phone, the monster roars with ferocity as it trashes whatever it happened to be on its way: cars, scooters, other survivors unfortunate enough to run into the beast.
SHIMIZU: - I'm documenting everything I can (pants) there's no signal here so I hope that someone (pants) finds this phone (pants) and lets the world see what's happening here in Shibuya...
Shimizu leans over as if something caught his attention. The camera switches from front to back again and pans to his left, over three individuals marching down the alleyway he was hiding in with swords in their hands, two of them wearing masks but all of them are dressed in exorcists' uniforms, at their feet the lifeless remains of smaller mutants. [ Ikeda's note: The DCPH has confirmed the identities of each individual, the two with the masks are the same Empyreans found dead on the roof of the Shibuya stream. The third is the fugitive Gabriele Lucia Esposito on what is his last known location.]
SHIMIZU: - Did they just kill them? Did they come to save us? (starts running) HELP ME!
______
"Help me!" the stranger dashed towards them, the group immediately shifted their focus from the corpses to watch the man bow down on the ground, begging to be saved: "A monster is going on a rampage in the streets, people are getting slaughtered out there! Please I beg you, kill that creature and free us from this nightmare!" Gabriele quizzically looked at him, he was covered in blood from head to toe, he must have witnessed some unspoken horrors for him to throw himself at someone without any hesitation.
"That's out of the question." Retorted Remus, shattering the stranger's hope, they pointed at the fresh carcasses with their sword to validate their point.
"Let's say we slaughter this beast you talk about, what makes you think there's not another one right behind the corner, ready to pounce on you? This district is full of these abominations, too many for the three of us to deal with." The Empyrean bluntly said. Gabriele could see the survivor visibly shaken by the response after basically being told to make peace with himself, "You're not here to save us?" He uttered weakly, as if not wanting to confront this ugly truth he firmly didn't wish to believe.
"Our objective does not require us to rescue civilians," Romulus concluded, their tone as cold as their mask.
"Rejoice in God's light, son, for your suffering will soon cease once you are called before the pearly gates." Both the Empyreans then turned their back on the stranger and resumed their way down the narrow alley. The Seraph, however, did not move away from the survivor, conflicted on whether to leave him behind without saying anything or at least comfort him. Eventually, he chose the former and turned to follow his seniors, his head hanging low because of the weight of the guilt he was feeling as he stepped away, but a hand quickly tugged the hem of his pants. Something inside was triggered the moment his head snapped, images of the transfigured shaman in the basement overlapped upon the stranger.
"Help me./Kill me."
Gabriele shook his head and yanked his leg out of the man's grasp, looking ahead of him to avoid locking eyes with him. "I've been able to tell when a person is good from how the light hits someone's face since I was a child," it was a theory so far-fetched to result without a shred of validity, that it's only thanks to a sheer amount of luck it has never betrayed Shimizu's expectations. The theory explains that if someone stands beneath a perpendicular light, like the artificial one illuminating the two of them at the moment, he could judge a person depending on which part of his face was illuminated first. "I saw you earlier, and now as you turned to look at me. Your eyes! The mirrors of the soul were the first to be touched by the light! You are a good person!" The stranger once again tugged his pants.
"Please don't leave us to die!" Shimizu's plea struck within Gabriele's soul, moral conflict clouding his judgment like fog. Despite everything, he decided to close the curtain shut over his heart.
"I'm sorry..." he then stepped away from the man, and this time he didn't look back, his gaze was locked on the Empyreans who were waiting for him ten meters ahead, no matter how much his soul was torn apart from the guilt, these were the costs of his duty, he had to follow them. A loud crash bellowed in the narrow space, Shimizu glanced over his shoulder, his eyes filled in horror as he turned completely, now facing the same bloodthirsty monster causing panic in the main street.
It closed the distance between them, with Shimizu trying to back off while still prone to the ground, but due to his shoes failing to get some grip on the asphalt, he didn't move far.
Now he was left to stare at the enormous creature towering over him, puffing its ferocity as it snapped the jaw a couple of times. "Anybody... home...?" It muttered right before lunging upon its next victim, amid the screams of the unfortunate man. Suddenly a flash of feathers came into his vision with a blow that resonated across the alley, impacting with such force to stun the transfigured human back a few paces. Tall stood the exorcist in front of him, his angelic wings spreading in all their majesty as fiercely as his turquoise eyes. "Run." He ordered, it took a bit for Shimizu to register but once he received the message, he sprang back to his feet and fled as fast as he could.
Attracted by the movement, the monster tried to chase after the stranger. In response, Gabriele hopped toward the closest wall, with a foot firm against the solid brick to then jump back in the beast's direction and use the whole momentum to swing a powerful kick to its head. "A prey shouldn't get distracted this easily when in the presence of a predator." Gabriele taunted, not knowing if it could understand him or not. Nonetheless, the creature retorted by swinging its mighty arm, one wing stroke was just enough to avoid the attack completely. Landing on top of its skull, the exorcist leaped toward the main avenue so that the fight could be brought into a more ample space. The enraged monster spun, colliding against the walls, and soon charged at the flying teen who simply soared out of danger. He kept evading its rushed attacks with dexterity and quick thinking until he found an opening. A hook that the transfigured human threw so powerful and uncontrolled to lose its balance, leaving its flank wide open for Gabriele's flying knee to connect a bone-breaking blow. The beast gasped for air as it fell to its side, the exorcist, back with his feet on the ground, stood right next to its head, right first curled up in the sky ready to land the final strike. Once again, the mutated shaman popped out of his memory together with his last request:
"Kill me."
"Sure you pack a punch there... for an average person, by Jujutsu sorcerer's standards you pale in comparison to Megumi, let alone Itadori." Gojou told him.
~ about a month earlier ~
A tired Gabriele sat on the grass, two hours into his training with the white-haired sorcerer he wasn't exactly in the mood to be insulted by him. He simply clicked his tongue in response as he rolled his eyes. "Though to be fair, Fushiguro-kun can utilize his cursed energy to make up for their lack of strength. With you, I had to come up with a different lesson on the spot." The teacher sat beside him, oscillating back and forth exactly like a child would before settling down. "Your propensity towards divine essence is what's holding you back since its disruptive reaction to cursed energy can be a huge liability." He pointed to Gabriele's right arm, dressed in bandages.
It all happened on the fourth day of training, the foreigner flowed cursed energy borrowed by the Entity into his right arm for a simple jab like a sorcerer would do. The divine essence reacted badly, and the blood vessels in his limb burst open, only a timely treatment by Shoko saved him from losing his arm.
"The solution could be to empty your essence first, but that'd be a waste of potential, to be honest." Then Gojou snapped his fingers, his trademark smile adorning his stupid face, "But I'm the best teacher in the world! Of course, I have found a loophole that might work 100%!"
Cursed energy and divine essence react violently with each other, much like fire and fuel or gunpowder, but unlike those reactions, there's a slight delay, a small window of 0.4 seconds of which the two powers can coexist in perfect harmony before reaching the point of no return. Gabriele and the Entity trained hard to get the timing right until the process became as automatic as breathing. His fist came down like a meteorite upon the monster's head, cursed energy streamed seamlessly in the instant before hitting. The impact was terrific, the cranium cracked into dust under the weight of the attack as blood spurted out like a geyser. Now the difficult part, the cursed energy needed to be expelled before the essence burned it. Nevertheless, the timing was perfect as always.
A flash of ethereal flames dispersed into nothingness, burning the residual energy in a wink. Gabriele rose, his eyes locked on his prey and wings shining in pride. In the ghastly hellscape of the streets of Shibuya, the holiest of angels has finally welcomed the latent gift of the devils.
Today will be remembered as the day the first Nephalem was brought to light.
The exorcist left the scorching cadaver behind as he walked back into the alley, the Empyreans followed him with their gaze until the teenager was right next to them, with his wings coming apart little by little.
"You disobeyed me." Romulus said, impatient.
"The transfigured human would have attacked us after killing that civilian. I had simply acted before that became even a possibility..." Gabriele responded, composed like a soldier talking to his superior as per protocol. The templar observed the Seraphim with severe intensity but eventually decided to let this one slide.
"Do not waste anymore divine essence for futile motives, are we clear?"
"Understood."
The three then went their way in complete silence, with the two Empyreans walking a few paces ahead with Gabriele. Taking advantage of the distance, Romulus had something to refer to their comrade: "I thought you had him under your influence." They spoke low so that the younger exorcist couldn't hear them.
"It was my mistake, I let my guard down. It won't happen again, shall God strike me down if I will." Remus admitted. Seven minutes went by, navigating between the meanders of the mutant-infested district they finally reached their destination, the newly inaugurated Shibuya Stream. The group arrived before its sliding doors, their clothing stained head to toe by the blood of the numerous transfigured humans they had encountered on their path.
"What now?" Gabriele raised the question.
"The next part of the mission will take place on the roof of this building. Hope you're ready for what's to come, Seraph." Remus answered, the exorcist grimaced as a new wave of induced fear paralyzed his body but responded affirmatively anyhow. As they were to step inside, however, another teenager climbed up a building to announce his allies the awful news, loud enough to reach the ears of an incredulous Gabriele.
"NANAMIN! GOJOU HAS BEEN SEALED!"