A clap of hands preceded the disaster. The impact turned the air into fire and leveled buildings to the ground, the blast of the explosion so clangorous that haunted the survivors long after its detonation with a severe tinnitus ringing in their ears, and the glow illuminated the night sky of the concealed district into daytime, even if it was for just a second. Then the ashes rose and expanded, and soon enough the streets were flooded by a grayish cloud that reduced the visibility down to a palm distance. The clutter of wings ventured blindly amid the artificial mist, eyes darting desperately for incoming obstacles while, clutched between the arms, a small child held on against gravity. Gabriele didn't know what had happened prior to the impact, he remembered fingers wrapping around his midriff and being tossed into the air, then the blastwave pushed him further ahead, destabilizing the flow of essence in the wings just before the pall of ashes obscured his sight.
He couldn't help but curse mentally as he checked on Hoshi, her grip almost tearing the shirt as her hair repeatedly whipped around with the current. The kid didn't dare to face away from his chest, to imagine how scared she must be to soar the skies, to be one drop away from death.
He proceeded to gain altitude, careful to maneuver between the narrow spaces amid the complexes’ failing structures, up above until they were finally above the cloud or any remaining building in the area. The defecting exorcist took advantage of the moment to orient himself, from there he could see the bright insignia of the 109 was far to the west, the Hikarie was closer up north while what remained of the Shibuya Stream was in the opposite direction, and right below his feet was the expressway. By following route 3, they should arrive at the tollgate where Dr.Shoko is stationed in no time. He checked again on the child, finding her dark teary eyes halfway, staring up at him not in fear, but in wonder. Her gaze shifted from her fingers to the ground and back at him, Gabriele assumed she wanted to talk to him and started to look for somewhere to land safely.
In a short moment, he noticed an empty roof, gradually the winged exorcist descended onto it until his feet touched solid ground. Hoshi hopped off his arms, relief appeared naturally on her expression. Gabriele kneeled and tapped twice on her shoulder to get her attention: “Is it something in the matter?” he said in a quick succession of signs. She didn't reply, instead, she stuck her fingers toward his wings. Promptly he caught her just as she almost brushed against the fiery feathers.
He let go of her hand, “You should be more careful of what you put your hands on.” the exorcist reprimanded as gently as he could.
Hoshi looked at him with an inquisitive gaze, before her fingers started forming her perplexity into a word that left Gabriele confused in turn. Tenshi, the equivalent of an angel in Japanese Buddhism.
“No, no. I'm not that.” He told her, promising explanations in calmer moments as he, again, rebutted the urgency of leaving the place at once. “Come. We’re almost there.” the young man opened his arms wide, soon welcoming the warmth of the child close to him as she belted herself around his neck. A strong flap of his wings and they were in mid-air, this time Hoshi seemed less frightened of traversing the winds. Gabriele was vigilant as he flew over the route following the trail of discarded cars, however, the flying paladin found it odd that he couldn't see the black borders of the curtain anywhere near where he thought they would. For that reason, he decided to glide lower and lower, but the more they drew closer to the curtain’s end, the more his apprehension got intense. Something was wrong, the ominous thought kept telling him over and over.
There was a pillar of smoke not too far ahead, the young man caught sight of a long line of cars occupying both lanes that led up to a crash right to its front. Landing a few meters away, the two walked in the middle of the road looking through the clear windows of each car, devoid of any passengers as if everyone had just got up and left them there. As he got closer to the line’s head, the vehicles were crushed into one another, the signs of the skidding wheels marking the tar beneath, a last attempt to save before the abrupt halt.
Once arrived at the front, Gabriele had to shield Hoshi’s eyes from the gruesome spectacle, the auto was compressed to half its original length, dark fluids mixed in with the familiar scarlet tint of blood as well as a minced arm sticking out from the wreckage. Yet, somehow, that wasn't what made Gabriele freeze in place as he gazed onwards. Nothing, seemingly the car crashed into nothing.
‘It can't be…’ He then extended a hand, which immediately lighted up once put against the gelid but sturdy sensation, and no matter how much he pushed, like two magnetic north poles, it kept repelling him, trapping him within its boundaries. ‘Is this… the curtain?’ The revelation broke him. He had some suspects earlier when the two special grades were fighting, now he was certain of it. Since he lost Lucia’s reserves of cursed energy he had essentially become blind to it, he couldn't understand the in and out of this condition of his at the moment, something that added up on top of the many implications he had yet to investigate about.
The problem now was that there wasn't any tollgate in sight, or any presence of sorcerers was capted in the proximity for that matter. Did he misunderstand Kusakabe, perhaps? Besides, everything happened so quickly before the meteorite hit the ground that Gabriele had a hard time recollecting. Then a glimpse of a memory crossed his mind. Inumaki… rendezvous… Maybe if he followed the route in the opposite direction, they might locate Inumaki and get to the rendezvous point. He adjusted Hoshi’s weight on his hip as he scrolled his wings, when he met her eyes, adorning a thin smile Gabriele assured her that as long as he was around, he'd raise hell before something was gonna happen to her.
______
The muscles of his face contracted suddenly as a quiet sneeze flew out of his lips. Inumaki hated the cold and saw the coming of winter with mild annoyance, and surely this chilly draft wasn't helping in the slightest. He was outside on an avenue near the Dogenzaka district, he had gotten rid of any monsters nearby and gathered the survivors inside a clothing outlet, waiting for the curtain to be raised. The cursed speech sorcerer had everything under control until the glow radiated through the sky followed by an ear-rapturing boom. Like a star had fallen out and burnt the city as the Apocalypse unfolded, more explosions followed suit, each resonated louder than the one it preceded. The situation was gradually blowing out of proportion, to the point he was considering moving down the crowd to the lower floors.
Turning his megaphone off, he was about to step inside the shop when something other than his thoughts intruded his mind for a split second. His immediate response was to look above him, amid the dark palls of burning buildings of the devastated skyline, a dreadful perception of darkness willowing across the air, like an ill omen ready to sink its claws into the unfortunates. So oppressive that brewed a new sense of danger on those who felt it.
“Inum…” This time his head snapped left and right in recognition. The message was weak, almost unintelligible but it was unmistakable in its familiarity.
There he was, soaring high as a bright comet through the sky, a miraculous sight that seemed out of place in this hellhole for those who didn't know better. His thumb flicked the switch on the megaphone, he brought it in front of his mouth and yelled: “Kelp! Tuna Tuna!” Inumaki waved his hand showily, hoping that he could see him from that far. On the other side, Gabriele frowned visibly as pearls of sweat formed on his forehead. Perhaps due to a lack of cursed energy, the paladin couldn’t reach him properly from this distance, the warning of impending doom pending over their heads like the edge of a guillotine. He could still hear it, the jolly behind the diabolical laughs of the king who finally found a suitable opponent for his taste as he laid utter destruction, invisible blades that cut entire edifices with a sway of his fingers but that creature… Whatever fiend had crawled its way out of the eternal punishment, the essence reacted violently since the moment it manifested. It was strong, that was what he could tell without the visual input, but not as strong as him. And yet, despite everything he threw at it, the essence never stopped burning. Did something like it even exist? Something unkillable? An immovable object for an unstoppable force, a perfect gift for someone who strived on his capabilities to unleash chaos and wanted to push them to their limits.
Suddenly, something pierced through the complex he was just flying by, leaving a crater-like hole four stories in diameter. Gabriele veered to his left to avoid any incoming debris, Hoshi started screaming and crying her lungs out as he had some difficulty with the turbulent currents. His eyes grew wider in an expression of distress, taking in the mayhem in pure disbelief. He couldn't take them away from the devastation, and that proved to be a tremendous misstep on his part.
For in that exact moment, a shadow appeared behind his back, looming over the unaware angel with the creepy smile of a famished predator. Like the prideful sun who reigned uncontested in the sky, saw the Icarus before him like a taunt to his supremacy, a blasphemy. But unlike the unforgiving star that melted the feathers of wax of the Greek hero, causing him to plunge to his death in the Aegean sea, Sukuna did not want to eliminate what could be an interesting adversary right away. However, for that to happen, he'd have to earn it first.
With a flick of his wrist, two of the three right wings got clipped by dismantle, slashing Gabriele’s back in the process. The Italian lost control of the essence’s flow, the hot white pain spread across his skin like claws ran deep and sluggish, consequently, he nosedived uncontrollably at an alarming pace.
By the time he resumed control, it was already too late.
He hit the concrete wall hard with the right shoulder, a couple of flaps to slow himself down just enough to then twist his body face up in a last-gasp effort right as he crashed against a car’s rooftop.
Everything was blurry from that point onwards, his mind was vacillating in and out of consciousness in a state of complete impotence. He remembered the alarm of the car ringing constantly in its obnoxious loop, the sharp feeling of the shards of glass embedded in his back, and cold hands delicately touching his face. Gabriele would then shake himself up not too long after, being dragged across the street by someone not particularly gifted in the strength department.
“So damn heavy! Why don't you… take him instead?!” the guy said between pants.
“Nonsense! I told you exactly 38 times that you should put more work on your muscles for this exact reason!” a deep voice scolded him back.
“Does it look like the time to hold a grudge? We are in danger!” The guy kept moaning plenty of the struggle, not realizing the exorcist he was hauling around had woken up. Without warning Gabriele pounced on his feet and put the dumbstruck assailant's face against the asphalt, immobilizing him in a shoulder lock.
“Ow, ow! I yield!” He grimaced. The paladin took a good look at the guy, young, around his age, with straight blond hair, his uniform consisted of a black tailcoat and trousers, complete with white gloves in an attire not very keen to warfare.
“Would you get off me already?! We’re trying to help.” The blondie protested.
“Everything’s alright, Gabriele.” The other man spoke with a timbre that instantly echoed memories in the teen’s brain. A voice that belonged to no other than the top knot gorilla himself. “Because I'm here.”
“Toudou…” Gabriele said as he let go of Aoi’s comrade, ignoring his protests entirely. In the blink of an eye, his mind was flooded with instances of the moments before passing out completely, his eyes moving desperately in search of a missing toddler as it made him incredibly tense up. Toudou picked up quickly on the exorcist’s distress, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him Gabriele but the child herself beat him to it as she wrapped her arms around his leg. Immediately the expression on the teen's face changed drastically from anguish to alleviation as he welcomed the little girl in a warm hug, the Kyoto heavyweight later explained to him how she led them to where he was with the few ways she could use to express her worries.
“To be completely honest, I didn't think she was deaf at first.” the elegant man said, Gabriele squinted his eyes, noting some striking resemblance in his visage that he couldn't recall about.
“Do we know each other?”
“I highly doubt it. I'm Arata Nitta, by the way, you must have met my sister Akari.”
“Oh, ding-ding girl?"
“Ding-ding what now?’
“Have you run into Inumaki when you came here? I'm sure he was around here.” Gabriele turned to Toudou, ignoring Arata’s protests once again. The third year’s eyes got darker at the mention, the former exorcist caught on the man’s visage an air that rarely he saw in him. “You don't know, do you?” He told him. Gabriele despised being left in the dark, not having all the information at his disposal from the get-go was something that always ground his gears, because, in one way or the other, it usually brought to awful situations.
The sound of rubble collapsing to the ground lured the gaze of both of them toward the east, if Toudou knew what sight would have met his eyes, the same couldn't be said for the Italian who felt his blood freeze in his veins. Before him stretched out a space of nothingness, where before there were buildings, roads, bridges, signs, and light, now there was a vast expanse of dry dirt, leveled, similar to a death valley, because that's what it was, a death valley. He immediately thought about Toge or the civilians at the rendezvous decimated, he could barely stomach the thought.
“Hard to imagine there was even a city here.” The berserker commented, “It affected the area both inside and outside the curtain. It's a miracle it's standing up nonetheless.” The man fell quiet as his ally was lost in thought, unmoving as he stared at the void.
“Was it brother?” he referred to Yuuji, Gabriele was afraid to respond so he said nothing.
“Did we fail, Toudou?”
“We did what we could, the enemy had a better strategy and it came to fruition. But it's not over yet, our objective is to retrieve Satoru Gojo from the Shibuya station and bring down the curtain.” He turned to look at the exorcist as he picked up the child, counting the numerous wounds he had accumulated and the fact that the kid kept following him like a duckling, he couldn't allow himself to bring him along.
“I'm afraid we part ways here,” he said, “if you stay on this route, Dr.Ieiri should be down the road.”
Gabriele initially wanted to rebut, though, at the end of the day, he knew Hoshi wouldn't leave his side and he couldn't leave her alone without having bad feelings regarding her wellbeing. Eventually, he had to give in: “There’s still a problem though, neither I nor Asashiro can't pass through the veil.” he said, however, Toudou had an idea. They walked near the boundary, he made Gabriele stand near the invisible wall with Hoshi in his arms, while Nitta was a few meters outside of it. Needless to say, the angel was quite skeptical about this having a positive outcome, Toudou told him to trust his 530-thousand IQ brain.
“Seems like destiny doesn't want us to join arms.” The Kyoto student joked around, stealing a small chuckle from the exorcist.
“I'll come as soon as I can.” Aoi laughed out loud.
“I'm counting on it.”
Clap.
______
Smoked exhaled easily out of Shoko’s lips, grown accustomed to its burning sensation and taste. Sure it was boring out here, far away from the battleground surrounded by injured sorcerers and cursed corpses, protecting her and the tollgate like dragons protecting a castle in those Western folklore fairy tales. She grew accustomed to this too, always put to the sidelines, too precious to risk, the price too high to afford the only person capable of using RCT on others still stationed here in Japan to walk freely as she pleases, alas not without sticking the literal pinnacles of Jujutsu sorcery by her side, despite how obnoxious they are when they get at it. The doctor let out a giggle, caught herself again speaking in present terms, as if that era wasn't buried, rotting inside a coffin by decades.
Maybe it was for the best, getting her hands dirty in any other manner that wasn't digging through cadavers or stitching allies back to shape wasn't her cup of tea. She couldn't cheat her way out of a fistfight. Honor to her, for she at least knew where her limits were, having too much confidence will only result in much more enjoyment for your opposers the day of your downfall.
Oh, Gojou, did it have to end this way? She did remember what you dreamt of, to thrive a generation worth of changing the world of sorcery forever, but for the life of her, she would have never imagined that he'd get sealed, like the idiot he was. She had only her imagination to help her pitch up the scene in her head, him arriving in grand style, boasting about his inheritance, they can’t touch him, he can touch them hard, but right when she had to visualize him getting sealed off, that's when her imagination failed. Shoko was incredulous, he was too big of a person, their unwavering bastion, and yet he failed, like the rest of us mortals. She took one last drag of her cigarette before crushing the butt against the metallic rail, behind her a set of footsteps climbed up the iron staircase, she didn't have to wonder much about who they might be.
“Took you long enough. You were about to lose the show.” she said with her trademark deadpan tone as she turned, greeting the entirety of Kyoto Jujutsu high spearheaded by her senior and teacher Utahime.
“We’re ready to head over, please tell us the situation.”