The Best is HERE

(She should have long chestnut brown hair that she keeps in a pony tail with three ribbons. The top on should be the kind miko wear. And she does have the Six Eye with Purple colored eyes. While she wears floral kimonos. Her street close are punk) 

Cut to six months later . 

Sathalia, Anwa , and Perciguro have infiltrated a school to help Pandover rescue two curse user siblings. They’re heads also have bounties on them and Pandover fears why .

Their stopped in the hall by a Man with a mask, Dr.Bayer, who asks if they go here. To which Sathalia replies they transfer in next week.

The man lets them be but watches them. Sathalia informs them he’s a curse user and they should prepare to fight. 

Pandover confirms this and that he’s a 1st grade sorcerer to say the least and the fact he hasn’t taken the siblings yet is confusing to him. 

After they all attempt to blend into the crowd, Perciguro spies the curse user attempting to take the two siblings, Bianca/ Noritoshi and Choso/Nico. (Its dumb but he should look like Takeru, i remember the original design used back in the day and i feel like that what he should look like. Smiles and sun shine and brown hair olive tan skin so it'll be felt when he loses them) He shoots a needle that grazes Perciguro but infects him with numbing poison. Revealing his shikigami. 

He drags the three young sorcerers to a sea cliff where his allies in Q, are to rendezvous with him. 

Using resonance Perciguro conveys to Pandover that he’s in danger, to which the other three appear. Sathalia comes flying in and uses Kamutoke , which she’d reclaimed in the last six months, to strike at Dr. Bayer’s Shikigami.  His shikigami persists though and she attempts to use Red, before Anwa dissuades her, saying she might hit the kids. 

Arrows fly out and reveal the Hunters of the Full Moon. A group of female sorceress’ under the command of the Frozen Star, Himi Shiori. 

Percy summons his Divine Dog , O’Leary. And she and Sathalia lunge at Bayer who counters with more needles . The Hunters counter with arrows and Sathalia counters with Blue, redirecting the needles. Anwa charges and using her Simple Domain cuts Bayer and his Shikigami down . Releasing the kids but gets pulled down by him instead as the Q helicopter comes and takes them away . Perciguro dissolves O’Leary to summon Nue to chase after them . 

Ice covers everything quickly as Himi appears . She intends to crush the copter with IceFall , but Sathalia tells her that their friend is on board to which Himi says she cares very little. 

‘ I don’t intend to destroy it , we need them alive to question them.’

 But her move is nullified  at the last minute to everyone’s surprise as the helicopter escapes . 

Himi says she will chase after them and alerts the hunters to make camp while they await her brother to take them to campus . 

Zoë Nightshade, lieutenant of the Hunters, is put in charge . 

Zoë and Sathalia are well acquainted and she admits she is surprised to find her alive. 

Sathalia reveals to Perciguro, treated by one of the hunter’s, that Zoë is a Special Grade sorceress, who inherited the Curse born from Human fear of Humans, she is never to be touched. 

Apollo/kashimo arrives after she leaves. He rides around in a Cursed Palanquin and carries them to camp . Flirting with Sathalia and Zoë alike . 

They arrive at campus and Chijaku and Dodo forbid them from going to rescue Anwa. Himi will take care of it and they should relax and prepare for winter. 

Biantoshi and Chico are sent to the window cabin for a time and try to acclimate to the new change. capture the flag is played and Zoë ends up touching an escape rabbit. Shikigami are direct extensions of a sorcerers cursed energy and therefore there soul so Zoë has some effect on them, causing her and Perciguro to meet in their souls for a moment. 

(Perciguro’s innate domain appears as a starless night in a forest . The floor covered in shadows that move like water) 

‘Found you’ 

Zoë almost touches Perciguro directly  but Sathalia blasted her with Kamutoke. Something she admits she’s wanted to do for years. 

They lose the game. 

Perciguro goes to the Star corridor hoping to have an audience with Tengen but she rejects him before he can even get past the doors. 

Perciguro calls home , and Tyki answers. He’s staying with Soji over the winter as Tyki’s strange Heavenly restriction worries the higher up’s and the Zen’in clan has personally demanded his removal. He prefers the Jackson’s apartment anyway. 

Tyki tells him that Soji is out shopping for groceries. They have a short conversation that makes Perciguro feel better .

A few days pass that leaves Perciguro feeling restless again. He learns that Chijaku summoned Zoë and has tasked her with rescuing Anwa and Himi. They have been captured by Q and the rescue is of the utmost important. 

Perciguro intends to go no matter what. To which Zoë agrees. She tasks Sathalia, Pandover, and the newly christened huntress, Biathoshi,  as well to come with her. 

Sathalia doesn’t like it but if it means rescuing Anwa she’ll follow Zoë’s lead.

They take a car out of town and Make their way to the west coast where intel tells them the Star Religious Group has gathered for a convention .

The ride goes pretty smoothly but after they make it into Nevada/Osaka they’re cornered by the Zen’in clan’s Hei. Who demand that Perciguro comes with them. He refuses initially but they offer to execute his mother and father and the ‘abomination mistake you call Tyki’. As angry as he is Sathalia tells him not to underestimate the Hei unit or their cruelty . Even if they’re lying they’ll drag him out of here bloody. He relents . Telling the others to find Anwa no matter what and that he’ll meet up with them later .

He wakes up bleary though he also can’t remember going to sleep . He’s in a traditional estate . A woman presents him with a freshly tailored sea blue kimono and tabi. She takes him to have an audience with the Head of the Zen’in, Nobusiden . The same man he saw two years ago at the Gojo vault . Who called his mother ‘that woman’ 

‘So… are you my real father?’ 

Nobusiden laughs . 

He attacks Perciguro and as he tries to fight back he finds he can’t use his CT. 

He avoids Nobusiden’s sword and runs across half the estate , before he falls into the underground . He feels as though he’s broken his leg at least and tries to get up . 

“At night , the spirits down there will try to kill you. Prove your place here!’ 

A few days earlier .

Tyki tells Soji about Percy’s call after she gets back from the grocery , and she’s disappointed she missed it but promises to call back when she gets the chance . 

Three days later . 

Soji receives a call from Chijaku telling her to come to campus quickly. Perciguro has been captured . 

She takes Tyki and they race to Camp jujutsu. 

Soji and Chijaku are acquainted . He’s been providing her with information on how to protect her son from curses since he saw his first one at 6 years old. Provided her with charms and talisman and has been of great help to her but she is outraged to find her son captured. 

‘Who are these Zen’ins?! What are they doing to him ? What’s his connection to them?? Is this to do with my deadbeat ex ?? Was he a sorcerer too?’

Fearing he can not answer her questions properly he takes her to his office and hands her a small clay brick. 

‘ it’s a binding vow. I cannot crack it. Only you can. This will answer everything.’ 

She breaks it and instantly feels nauseous and unbalanced . Cursed energy surges out of her and she falls into one of the chairs by Chijaku’s desk. 

‘It’s good to see you again - Zen’in Deisuke.’

Backstory flashback. Some 20 years ago (17 really):

Chijaku, in a different body, is in the exact same office with a disheveled man in the seat across from his desk. 

The man tells him a story : 

My father had three daughters. One right after the other . Hiori. Kimiko. Megumi. After that he finally had a son. After his father had given so many sons, reducing his branch to one heir was a blessing . Then - his son died . Not immediately, but eventually . At the ripe age of 4 he died of influenza . He mourned him the only way he could , selfishly. As his place in the clan was upset by him not having an heir . That’s where I come in. My brother and I were born only about 10 months apart. He’d gotten my mother pregnant very quickly . At that age you must know, girls don’t tend to appear very differently from boys . More often than not it’s just how you dress them. How you cut their hair . I was only a bit taller but my cursed technique had emerged and he’d gotten the idea of how to secure his place in the clan again . 

He raised me as a boy , killed Megumi and revived Deisuke . It was simple . Very few people had been present for his death and a miraculous recovery added with a tragic accidental death of a daughter a few days later. My brothers body was burned and his ashes were placed in a small grave with a marker that had the name my mother had given me on it, then he gave me a new one . 

It worked for a while. It was a short lived solution of course. How couldn’t it ? Eventually I was going to change . Eventually I was going to get older and the signs of my sex would emerge . He was desperate.  He only needed it to work for a time . Until my mother could offer him another son.

She didn’t . 

I played the role of Deisuke. I trained day in and day out . I had inherited my grandfather's technique . Not The family technique but an inherited one nonetheless, and I was good.  I beat everyone of my cousins fairly and well. My looks made me likable. And they loved him for that . He was elected head of the clan after his uncle ‘died’. Six years I played Deisuke without incident. It got harder . So did he . 

When I began to exhibit the signs of puberty for a girl as my sisters had, he put me on hormones blockers and Testosterone . It helped some .

I didn’t get much taller than either of my sisters but I did get wider. Muscular.  my breasts never developed properly . He didn’t bother with binding tho . He had a doctor remove the excess fat quickly  enough. My chest grew larger with muscles and not milk sacks . I had my first period. Late . But I had it . He had one of my ovaries removed . 

Hair started growing from my face . I’d shave it to appear clean, but he loved that I had grown it at all . His plan was working . 

He didn’t imagine though that I would end up straight. Or perhaps homosexual . In his mind I guess it would be . I wonder if even now he sees me that way truly . Or if I am only Deisuke now. 

I was usually careful. Very careful. But one of the servant boys , a field hand who worked in one of our gardens … he caught my eye and … foolishly I let him catch sight of something else . He was foolish to tell anyone . But he told my father. Begging forgiveness. 

… I think I could have stomached it if my father had Only killed him. But he didn’t . He killed him and his family , half the field workers . Anyone he suspected might have discovered his dirty little secret. 

I will play Deisuke no longer . 

‘And that’s final?’ Chijaku asks. ‘What of your sisters?’ 

‘I tried to make them come.  But they refused. I think they fear him too much. I don't blame them. I can’t say … this will go with out consequence. But I refuse to live as such even a day more!’

‘Very well. This contract is written as such. We will bind you and all your cursed energy . You will be as capable as anyone else . You will not see cursed energy from this point on. No spirits, no techniques . Nothing. Your memory of your life as Deisuke will become only Megumi. Your whole life will simply be as a non sorcerer girl who has been disowned by her family and is choosing to go out and make her way in the world. I will provide you with 35 000 in currency to start anew. You will think this was an inheritance from the grandfather who loved you.’

Deisuke scoffs.

‘As I have spoken it, so shall it be . Write your name in blood on this contract and the binding vow will begin in one hour. are you sure this is what you wish to do?’  

‘Absolutely.’

‘Very well. May we never speak again.’

Chijaku, In the present day , tells her the irony of her seeking him out a mere decade later . Asking for ways to protect her son from curses. 

Soji tells Chijaku that she knows what she must do now. Chijaku offers to go with her. She accepts and they leave for Zen’in manor. 

The girls head back out but Pandover is concerned for Perciguro , who was only just taken. Sathalia urges him , telling him Perciguro will be fine, but she knows she’s lying. 

They make it to the Star Religious Groups‘ convention center and blend in with the crowd . But between the three girls and their cursed energy it’s obvious that they can’t get past the gates undetected. They encounter Masakado, one of the three great Onriyo. He releases his cursed technique : hundreds of butterflies are released and they swarm the kids. Zoë and Sathalia are able enough to maneuver him but Biathoshi needs to be protected by Pandover . The two girls think to release their domains but as Sathalia can’t be selective with their targets , especially in such a closed space and Zoe's technique doesnt work well against shikigami, they individually decide not to. 

Zoë calls for them to retreat. But finds that Masakado has marked them all with a butterfly tag. A team of faceless Shikigami follows them regardless of where they run. 

1842 , in the high mark of Edo:

‘And you will give this to me?’ 

‘Yes. I think it’s better in your hands than mine.’ 

A girl holds up the Sky Cleaving Spear,Hiten, to the light of the sun as she and a man sit under a full blooming cherry tree. The capital in the distance.

‘I apologize again. I only just killed that curse and now you must bear his burden. Or the burden of him. ‘

‘It’s alright Itadori-sama. I will keep this treasure safe for the rest of my days.’

‘Please do. It was a gift from my grandfather. Call for me whenever you need me, and I will come to your aid as quickly as possible.’

‘Where will you go now? Will I see you again?’

‘Of course, O-Zo I will come back in a month's time to help you further with the curse and we will speak and eat good food and go to a festival!’

He smiles , pink hair mixing in with the cherry blossoms making him appear gentle in spite of the large scars across his face. 

Perciguro wakes .

Zoë uses her technique to heal the others . They’ve lost the shikigami so far but as soon as they catch up to them they’ll have to fight again. An event that happens very quickly. 

The four of them a separated . But that’s actually to their advantage . Sathalia can freely use Red without fear of blowing one of the others up . Zoë cornered one of them and hits it with a Black Flash. She groans and curses at the waste of the black flash on a shikigami. 

One chases Pandover down relentlessly but he summons his Sister core : Tyrannosaurus. Since she can be a bit indiscriminate, its best to use this form when alone . 

It’s Bianthoshi that they need to find . 

She’s too new to jujutsu to fight a curse like these.

It’s cornered her almost in the woods and slices her straight across the hands. As she’s bleeding she swipes her hands and cuts the shikigami back with web of blood razor wire sharp. The others arrive : 

‘…Blood Manipulation !?’ They all think in a three split cut screen.

‘Bian… who exactly are your parents?’ Either Zoë or Sathalia should ask. Most likely Zoë though. 

Perciguro is still in the Zen’in Disciplinary Pit. The curses are swarming around him but have yet to attack due to Hiten’s cursed energy, which still emanates from his shadow . But it’s beginning to wane and as his leg , more likely fractured than broken, has yet to be treated, the curses are getting restless , and soon they’ll pounce .

He’s tried to summon all of his shikigami, including the ones he hasn’t tamed . Even -

The pit rumbles. 

It rumbles again and the curses trapped inside retreat further into the back as a wave of CE runs over all of them. It’s so massive Perci thinks soon that he’ll be dead. 

The door to the pit is kicked open. And his mother is next to him before he can even process it . 

He is so shocked to see her that he doesn’t even register that she’s the source of that massive cursed energy signature .

‘Are you hurt?’ She says as she checks over him . 

‘My leg-‘

‘Chijaku! He needs healing in his leg ! I’m sorry sweets I … I never learned RCTs.’

‘Mom what are you -‘

Chijaku and Tyki rush down the stairs and Chijaku begins to tend to Perciguro. 

‘The leg hasbeen untreated too long . There is sign of infection. I can treat it, but it will take a bit more time.’

‘Tyki.’

‘Hai?’

‘Watch over Perc and Chijaku . There are a few too many curses in here still and once I leave the stronger ones might become bold. ‘

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Look for a Kōkuri in the house . Perciguro’s been bound.’

Her face gets grimmer as she walks off. 

‘Mom! Where are you going?’

‘To have a little talk with your grandfather.’

On the way she’ll meet up with some of her cousins and she’ll fight them and win. She’ll see one of her sisters and she’ll beg for forgiveness. She didn’t know Megumi was still alive and she never wanted to do it . Soji asks what she means as she embraces Kimiko. 

‘You don’t know?’

‘How could she!? After how she shamed us !’ Nobusiden arrives. 

‘What does she mean? What did you do?’

He explains to her his mistake . He assumed that as she was his only true success that maybe she could produce more success. Unfortunately her blood could only produced a creature with such low cursed energy it could barely even see curses. And that was when it still had two good eyes.’

Soji’s blood runs cold .

‘Tyki. He’s … but .. how? I … I didn’t…’ she looks down at her sister , bowing down out of fear and remorse . She clutches her stomach. ‘My ovary. You kept it .’

He scoffs. ‘As much good as it did me .’

‘How many?’

‘Don’t flatter yourself. One failure was more than enough .’

‘And you made Kimiko carry him. Who did you make the father?’

Shinjobu’

‘That pest !’

He scoffs again.

‘I thought I could just come here and kick your ass and take my son home. ‘ she releases her cursed energy . ‘But now I’m going to kill you and take my sons with me .’

He feels her CE is different , far larger than it was 16 years ago . 

He summons the Kukuru Unit . 

‘Kill her!’

‘Just try it !’

Biantoshi was telling the others the story of how she and her brother ended up at Westwild Academy. 

She and her brother lived in an estate with her mother and father in Hiro Angeles. Her mother was a daughter to some wealthy family but since she was a girl she wasn’t put into the line of succession and was overlooked for being fat. She was pretty much sold to her father for dowry but as she was so low on the food chain her father didn’t mind. They were in love. Her mothers name was Kamo Haneko. Her fathers name was Kurodes. 

Much to their surprise . They had expected a Kamo clan connection but never imagined that the Cockroach curse Sorcerer would have a child. 

Since she and her brother didn’t seem to have use of techniques or CE , her parents chose to keep them at a distance. Their father, extremely wary due to his particularly powerful curse felt awkward around them ( if you read One Piece, it would kinda be how Kyros was with Rebecca, this casual reverence like he was too filthy to touch them) 

Her mother died a few years ago and that further estranged them from their father. Who sent them to boarding school halfway across the country. 

‘But I don’t get it . If the both of you couldn’t even see curses what happened ?’

‘You both almost died .’ Zoë deduces.

‘… yes! It was a few months ago! We were headed back to our house for the summer and there was a car crash. It was really bad. Chico had a half a piece of car framing stuck through his stomach and I had nearly asphyxiated on engine fumes before the paramedics had gotten to us.’ 

How she didn’t suffer lasting brain damage no one could explain. 

Sathalia says her technique is blood related and must have provided oxygen to her brain by filtering it off the carbon .

No one brings up the prophecy as she certainly doesn’t know it , and as she’s too young there’s a decent chance she isn’t the prophecized child in the first place. Unless Sathalia and Perciguro die .

It bodes ill.

Soji is fighting her family . She is beating the Shit out of her family, is more accurate. 

‘Forgive me . I’m a bit rusty.’ 

‘Take care to watch her hands ! We know your technique!’ Punches him in the face.

‘You Fools!’ Nobusiden yells. ‘She has Yet to release her technique!’

Much to their surprise.

‘As I said, I’m rusty.” She does that hopping from one foot to the other thing to get her blood racing and focuses on her target.

Then she releases her cursed technique.

1.2. 3. 

7 .8. 12.

13. 19. 22. 

24. 

They’re all on the ground.

‘My cursed technique allows me to break up one second into 24 predetermined frames. Once I determine that frame , I can place myself into any of those frames . It’s similar to teleportation by not properly as I must follow the rules of dynamic motion or else I’ll be caught. Usually any one I touch with my palm can be frozen into one cell frame of motion for up to one second if they do not abide by that same rule of 1/24 set motion. While this is usually impossible it can be maneuvered by simply standing still. Due to a binding vow I made when I was 16, anytime I touch someone I can place them into a frame cell . But only up to 24 times in one day.’

She had yet to use her first trap of the day. She punches and kicks her way through the remaining Kukuru. And then places her attention solely on her father. They fight . He pulls out his Katana . 

Fight fight fight. 

Fight fight fight. 

She’s got him on the ropes .

‘He taught me to fight. He taught me that it doesn’t matter how many times you hit someone. How fast you strike. If your fist is weak, your hit means nothing. It’s not about speed . It’s about weight. 

You must have both Soji!’ 

‘In the years since losing myself . In these hours since regaining my past. I have learned there are more things you can touch than a person.’

She gets up close into her fathers space. She pulls her open hand back and freezes frames of air in front of her (like curse naoya did), clenches her fist and strikes one into one into one .

‘Force. Mass. Speed. These are all required to make a proper punch . You have all of them!’

BLACK FLASH.

He coughs up blood and flies through the wall. 

‘Megumi!’ She’s got her foot over his neck when she hears her sister scream. ‘Please don’t.’

‘If it was just you Kimiko. I could abide by it because you asked . But it’s not just you. It’s me . My entire life, stolen from me for 19 years . My body.  my … our son's eye. His childhood. Years scrounging through the gutter because of His cruelty. He tried to kill My son. He tried to kill people I didn’t even know I loved until they came crashing into my life. Tell me . Did he ever change his will ?’

Kimiko’s eyes burst open even as she bows . Soji can’t see it but we the audience can.

‘I can’t inherit the clan if he still lives.’ she touches him with her palm.

‘Are you sure?’ 

‘Yeah. He wouldn’t lie. Not about that. But … I had his blood ran for dna. He matches the both of us. He’s my son . Your brother.’ 

‘Wait. So does this mean that dad …’

‘Yes sweets , your father is still your father.’

Perciguro groans. ‘Gained a brother and kept a father. Sigh.’

He’s in the infirmary of the Zen’in estate his leg is fine but a scar will stay there for some time. His mom had found the Kōkun charm that Nobusiden had used to confiscate Perciguro’s technique and had broken it. 

Two days have passed and Soji has officially inherited the title of 27th Head of the Clan. There’s been much objection but no one can beat her to remove her, especially after Chijaku summoned a handful of sorcerers loyal to him to assist in keeping Soji and her sons safe. She intends to abdicate and present her sister Hiori, who also possesses a Technique, though it is undertrained and not very strong. They discuss the irony of Perciguro having inherited the Clans prized and most hated technique, and how he would have certainly cemented her place as clan head and been awarded the title of heir himself had Soji not left. Soji intends to stay a few more days before she can go. She must get the clan in order before she hands it over to her sister. Perciguro asks if she has to give up the title . Soji is a bit shocked .

‘Mom. We’ve … I love you you know that ‘

‘I do.’

‘But … it’s been hard mom. We .. we lived in crap Sendai apartment after crap Brooklyn apartment after the next . Curses you couldn’t see but knew were there ruining our things and costing you security deposits and you had to work So hard for us to have just enough. I’m not saying… ok no this place is great . It’s beautiful and there’s so much room and space and fresh air. And you’d be good for the clan, especially since it’s been so terrible to you.’

Her sisters come in and agree. 

‘You were always the strongest of us, even before you were made to play our brother. If you hand me the keys to this dynasty I will be overthrown quickly . You can maintain your station.’

‘You proved your quality after what you did to father ‘ she didn’t kill him. ‘I could not kill him. Hiori could not kill him. You could have and choose not too . The Zen’in head and heir must remain you and your son.’

Soji sighs and agrees for the time being . Whining that it will be so much work to tailor the clan to be modern and suitable for her sons and sisters to live happily . Tyki comes in behind his aunts and hugs Soji and Perciguro. He remarks though that he must return to help find Anwa. Soji agrees and takes him to the cursed vault as there is something she must give each of her sons. 

The girls are back on the trail of Anwa and Himi. Several days have passed and they’ve killed so many shikigami it’s beginning to wear on them. 

Eventually after another attack Perciguro crashes into them flying on Nue and uses the Inverted Spear of Heaven to kill the shikigami. He stabs one more as Zoë grabs it. 

‘Mui Tenpen’. 

This causes spiritual resonance that sends the nullifying power of ISH to the curse caster ,And disrupt the curse on them .  Freeing the four of them. Perciguro has Hiten out and asks him where he got that weapon.

He remembers his dream from when he was in the pit and he hands it over to her. She holds it and places her forehead to it . it’s an old friend .

As they’re camping out Zoë tells him the story of the weapon and how she came by it and how she gave it to Chijaku some 50 or 60 years ago . Which surprises Perciguro as he thought it was only a dream and that she can’t be that old. 

‘Only Tengen’s technique is ‘immortality’ but she is not the only one who has lived into the future. My technique allows me to touch the soul . Including mine. As a subconscious effect I am constantly reshaping the cells of my body and as such I have aged very little since the Edo period’ 

She explains that she was given the weapon by a friend . A tragic hero , who killed the last owner . She had been born shortly after that man had slain the four calamities of Edo. The curse born from the fear of the Forest , Hanabotoba, the curse born from fear of the sea , Kappamaru. The curse born from the hatred of volcanic catastrophes , Fujinshi. And the fear born from the hatred people share for each other . Noboni. 

Some curses don’t die just because you excoriate them. The thing that makes them, that hate, if it still exist then it’ll come back . But if that hate is positioned onto someone … they end up holding the burden of that curse. Such is her case . Her father was well hated during this time and the war so recently they saw her , an only daughter,  as ill omen for another succession war. 

Sathalia asks Perciguro where he found the ISoH of all Cursed tools . It had been purchased by the Zen’in a handful of weeks ago. They had kept it in their vault since then. This is not what his mother had wanted to give him, but he feared he might need it. 

He asks if they’d ever heard of Zen’in Deisuke. 

‘Of course .’ To Perciguro’s surprise. ‘Don’t forget Jackson, we might be about the same age now , but I was born some years before you and I was raised as heir to the Gojo clan. Zen’in Deisuke was always being talked about . This big mystery and a warning to young wealthy sorcerers everywhere. Don’t tell me he’s returned??’

‘Yeah. Turns out he’s my mom.’

‘…..?!’

As they try and make their way to the next convention center for the Star Religious Group, they get side tracked by a sorceress, who reveals that she’s Tsukodites (tsukomo/aphrodites) and that she’s been watching over them . And that she hopes her cursed tool helped them on their quest through the desert . To which they tell her they never used the baseball that was given to them. Much to her Rage. 

But she calms and tells them that they have a new lead . They’d be better off headed to Lake Gosho / Hoover dam. There’s a compound there that they’ve been observing that’s been collecting curses and training curse users .  She would go herself but she and the other Void Generals have too much cursed energy and the curtain around the compound is very sturdy and only people who are not the established 8 Void Generals can go in. 

Tsukodites tells them then that a powerful curse welder must exist in that barrier if they fear only the Void Generals . 

They head to the lake and enter unnoticed. Perciguro takes Kamutoke from Sathalia as it will be distinguishable and could get them caught. They don’t get caught but they don’t find Anwa or Himi. Neither of the divine dogs can smell them. They do discover that Q is working with an unknown sorcerer to create a puppet army to fight alongside curses, since the curses are so uncontrollable. 

Biantoshi finds a room with all the cameras in the compound. They look through all of them and find nothing. But do come across old footage of Anwa being taken away with a crate covered in talisman like the one Soji had been placed in the previous year. They assume Himi is inside as leaving her awake would likely be too risky, but both Sathalia and Zoë wonder why they would leave her alive at all. They find documents for all shipments and  based on the manifold for that date they were likely sent to San Fransokyo, where Q keeps a detention center for all their prisoners.

Eventually a recruit finds them ,they set off an alarm and the whole facility is locked down. 

All the curses are released . There’s no lockdown. 

‘This is a self destruct button!’ 

They fight through the curses they can but eventually the giant MechaTalo: Absolute raises up and starts blasting the whole place. As it has no soul , Zoë is helpless. And Pandover and Biantoshi arent much either . And Perciguro’s shikigami can’t compare.  Sathalia relents .

‘Everyone stay close . Zoë erect your barrier on 12 . Got it ?’

‘Yes.’

‘Nine Ropes’

1

‘Polarized Light’

3

‘Crow and Shomiyo Chant’

9

‘The gap between within and without’ 

12. Domain Expansion 

Hollow Technique: Purple. 

Using the inverse of standard domain expansion , Zoë coats her barrier with the same effect as domain amplification. In turn strengthening the outer shell to produce an actual shield. A feat only possible by her centuries of wielding cursed energy, 

Sathalia fires Purple. 

Explosion.

They walk out of the burning rubble of the compound and head towards San Fransokyo where the final compound. 

While they’re there they seek out Anwa’s father and mother. They’re really nice and shocked and horrified to find out their daughter has been taken. He agrees to let them use his car but requests that they bring his daughter back safely. They promise to.

They drive to the base at the side of a mountain, they find Anwa in a cell by herself but she tells them it’s a trap.

Dozens of Q cronies grab them and bring them before Bayer, Lunpei, and Taiza no Masakado.

Words are exchanged banter and threats. Lunpei again tries to convince Anwa and this time Sathalia to join their cause . Sathalia is disappointed in what he’s become. Disgusted. 

More threats and after outright denying to help him Masakado decides it time to stop caring bout fate. They know that there are three possible prophecy children here and they only need one. He summons his butterflies and floats them around Biantoshi’s neck. They all scream for him to wait or in protest.

Then the butterflies snap her head off. 

Anwa turns her head and Perciguro throws up. 

Lunpei begins to yell but everything else happens so fast they can barely hear it .

Zoë releases her domain again. Properly this time.

‘Hands to Mold God’s Flesh’ 

Zoë has had years- Decades - to perfect her domain. She can choose very accurately whoms soul she touches and how she can sculpt it. 

Masakado unleashes Hollow Wicker Basket while Lunpei uses Simple Domain. They’re quick enough but the flunkies aren’t.  They’re warped into chucks of human flesh. All of them dead . Sathalia uses Maximum: Blue. Pulls the two of them towards the cliff behind them and uses Kamutoke to blast them with lightning so fierce it burns the rest of them. 

While there’s no sign of them or their bodies Sathalia can’t sense their cursed energy. Perciguro mourns over Biantoshi’s body . They don’t know how best to keep it together so they can take it back to campus. Perciguro places her tenderly into his shadow. 

‘You know your shadow isn’t some completely separate space?  you must bare the weight of all you place in it.’

‘I do know that . I’m more than willing to bare this.’

After they unlock Himi she makes accommodations to have them all fly back to Camp.

She and her brother have a tearful reunion (mostly on his end that hers) .

Once they return to campus with Biantoshi’s body , Chijaku makes preparations for it with the schools physician. 

Perciguro meets up with Chico and tells him the that Biantoshi died in battle. 

He asks how .

‘Someone.. someone a curse user. .. killed her .

Who he ask

‘ Chico I don’t-‘

Who he’ll scream.

‘Tiara no Masakado. He’s an incarnated sorcerer from the Heian. He’s-‘

‘Why didn’t you kill him? Why did - why did you let him kill my sister?!’

‘Chico he didn’t let Biantoshi die we weren’t strong enough to -

‘ I don’t care!’ Blood starts pooling in his eyes ‘WHY DIDNT YOU KILL HIM!’

Perciguro and Anwa jump balcony as blood pools up around his feet. It’s jagged and bubbling. 

‘How can you..   you’re not even bleeding . How are you producing this much blood?’ Anwa will ask

‘You told me you’d protect her.’ 

‘I thought I could but’ flash of the murder in his mind. He cringes . ‘But ‘ flashes of the fight with his grandfather. With Lunpei. ‘I  wasn’t strong enough.’

‘I don’t care. I don’t Care!’ The pool of blood spike and needles. 

‘I’m sorry!’ 

‘I don’t want your sorry I abt my sister.’

He walks away into the forest with his blood disappearing behind him . 

 Epilogue:

Soji, Kimiko and Hiori placing flowers and incense at Deisuke corrected grave. 

Tyki bowing with clapped hands to his uncle, Playful Cloud hung around his neck. 

The eight Void Generals meet up to discuss the loss of Nobusiden. 

Chico, on the streets of Tokyo or whatever, finds a cockroach and he can sense the curse in it. 

Perciguro summon his Divine Dog :Totality (since combined shadows can’t be destroyed like single ones he tends to merger divine dog when dealing with curse users) the man wrestles with DDT while anther grabs Periguro , who intends to counter before Tyki intercepts and punches the Cursed man in the stomach , with such strength that his form melts. Much to his shock the last body is knocked out by Anwa who has been watching him since the morning , made invisible by her cursed baseball cap. 

She takes Perciguro and despite protest Tyki, on the speed rail to the Camp to see that two Huge spirits are attacking . Something Percy knows should impossible. Tyki subdues one spirit while Perciguro uses Hiten to exorcise it while Clai takes care of the other one with a CE infused shotgun .

Perciguro is informed that someone has poisoned Master Tengen’sResting Tree at the center of the Tomb of the Star and as such her barriers all over are weakening . 

The higher ups have fired Chijaku as they believe he has a grudge on Tengen for her superior barrier skill and expect that he has nefarious motives . Tho the team is well aware that Lunpei likely cursed it . 

Dionysus/Todo, a grade 1 sorcerer and camp director, has assigned Tantalus/Kusakabe as activities director as punishment . 

He’s not too critical but he’s obviously very uninterested in this assignment .

He trains some of the campers and reinstates chariot races , where shikigami summoners can race their shikigamis in the outer tracks. Perciguro is excited as possible not sure if he should use both divine dogs, Totalitiy, or Nue. Tyson is very excited to race with them to which Anwa states she won’t be participating,  more concerned as to why Pandover hasnt arrived  2 weeks into summer. The chariot races are a success until a swarm of flu heads attracts a cursed womb . Aware of the danger a cursed womb can create Tantakabe and Dido exorcise it personally. 

Periguro has another dream in which Pandover is in a cave stewing for an unseen figure in the dark with a voice he can not stand and and sends an itch up his spine.

After telling Anwa about it she reveals that sorcerers who battle together can sometimes form links if their energy resonates properly and that They are probably experiencing each others memories . 

Recognizing that the weakening of tengens barrier has gotten bad enough, Anwa urges Tantakabe to allow someone to handle it. But as she is only a 3rd grade sorceress and Tyki is unregistered at 4th grade, Tantakabe assigns Clai, a 2nd grade sorceress, a mission to speak to Tengen to get some answers .

Clai reveals that Tengen has told her that the poison is a byproduct of a cursed technique and only three things can disable it. But the Inverted Spear of Heaven is unknown to her at the time and Anathena’s nullification works indiscriminately . The Black Rope is their only hope. 

She tells them Tengen says that a cache of it was reported in Kenya by a sorcerer named Kane Oduol. 

Clai is insistent on going in her own but Anwa insists that she and Perciguro must come with her. But refuses saying they will slow her down . 

Insistent that they must go as they can’t trust Clai to succeed on her own . Not while Lunpei is at large and will surely oppose her. 

A week or so after she’s left all contact with Clai has gone silent, much to camps worry . 

Anwa insists that they must be assigned to go after her which Dido refuses . Much to Anwa’s real frustration . 

On a clear night Periguro takes Blackjack and O’Leary for a walk along the waterways and meets up with a sorcerer . 

The sorcerer says he can help get Perciguro and his friends where they need to go if they move quickly. Perciguro agrees and sends Blackjack and O’Leary to fetch Anwa and Tyki. 

They arrive within minutes with weapons in hand. The sorcerer gives them three large hiking packs with a weeks provisions of food, four changes of clothes, and different cursed tools: a small wooden club, a compass without a needle, a red tin thermos with ‘just add to water’ on it, and a baseball. 

he teleports them all away to a cruise ship several miles out to see off the coast of Singapore. 

After spending a night on the cruise ship they discover it is the Oceana Breeze, a luxury cruise ship owned by the Star Religious Group. Anwa feels though she knows the name but can’t place it. Perciguro says he thinks he remembers hearing about them in a radio commercial. They spend 3 nights on the cruise enjoying the amenities before it becomes obvious that they’re someplace insidious. Anwa discovers a vault in the engine deck that contains a number of cursed spirits . They discover dozens of curse users .Anwa discovers she can’t use Simple Domain as they are outside of Japamerica… where Tengen’s barrier does not reach. Therefore she must relearn to structure her domain in the outer world. They are captured by Lunpei and Q!  He shows them petrified head Sugawara no Michizane after bringing them to the estate room. Once they find a suitable body to consume it so he may incarnate back into the world . The vessels for Emperor Sutoku and Taira no Masakado are already prepped and waking to awaken. He reveals that he now wields the Split Soul Katana. 

Anwa tells Perciguro he can Not fight Lunpei in a one on one fight with a sword . Especially that sword . 

After knocking a lamp over (somehow) and casts a shadow on the ceiling , Perciguro summons Max Elephant , which he had mastered over the summer, and has it crash into the estate room floor. He summons Nie and then Escape Rabbit , even tho it taxes him greatly. Tyki carries them out as he jumps from the window onto the lido deck. Max Elephant and escape Rabbit are dismissed but Nue flies out to give them cover as curse users attack them. They steal a motor boat from the activities deck that Anwa had stashed their things in in case of an escape and they dive onto the open sea. Anwa opens the thermos in her pack and drops the content into the sea where it turns into a giant sea shikigami (dagon’s big horseshoe crab one ) swallows them and helps them escape underwater. After a day or so inside it , eating the provisions as given in the pack, they survive . They come out in the port city Mogadishu, Somalia.  

Anwa realizes that the cursed tools in their packs are gifts from the Eight Void Generals.

They manage to communicate with a port authority to acquire a ride thru the desert into Kenya where they can track Clai down .

 Eventually She finds them Dehydrated and sunburnt. Clai tells them she’s made a dozen explorations into the desert and hasn’t found the black rope. 

Tyki pulls out the compass and finds it has a needle now . Always pointing in the same direction.  

Perciguro asks is she had tried looking for Pandover , who Perciguro has had dreams about, still trapped underground in a tall cave with a giant creature Perciguro can’t see. 

She says no much to his frustration . Anwa deciders the compass is attuned to a curse energy signature and that they should follow it . 

After a bother nights rest one final dream , they trek into the desert one final time. 

A giant sandstorm curse attacks them and Perciguro uses Hiten to melt it into glass and kill it . 

They meet another sorcerer in a desert caravan. She’s Bantu, almost a hundred years old but still looks youthful . She Shoko/Circe .She warns them that danger is all they will find if they adventure any further , but they Must .

Shorce gives Anwa a plump little gourd vial filled with her essence . Pure Positive energy . It will heal any wound , for one person , Once. She gives them fresh clear water and points them back in the direction of Akuro-o Phemus. Her cursed tool turns perci into a pig and they try to capture the girls to keep them to stay but Anwa uses the wooden club that blooms into a bouquet of flowers and unleashes a meadow that takes Shorce’s warrior’s will to fight away.  They escape into the desert and head towards the cave where gowther and the black rope are being held . 

Akuto-o Phemus lives in a giant deep well with hundreds of cave systems leading to it . At the center is a giant tree wrapped around it is a Massive Black Rope . Like 40 feet. 

Clai and Anwa discuss who could have made something like this, as Black Rope is extremely difficult to make and no Cursed spirit Could as it’s anathema to them . 

A goat jumps down from one of the caves, and transforms into Pandover who used his goat core to trick the giant into believing he was a natural spirit . 

He tells the girls they can break Perciguro curse with the black rope and must do it quickly before 

Akuto-o Phemus returns. But it’s too late as he arrives. Clai starts shooting ot while Pandover tries to distract it . Anwa gives Tyki her sword so he can cut some of the Black Rope for Perciguro as it’s too high for her. After some work he gets to it and cuts the rope and ties it over Perciguro. It smoke and sizzles and dissolves as he returns to normal . He pulls out Hiten and helps clai as best he can . It’s not enough . So as he’s falling ( he gets lifted in the air at some point , idk) she makes the handsigns ( à la Naruto) and falls into his shadow . As it expands he summoned Combo Beast : Chimera Simurgh! 

(DDT’s body with Nue’s wings on its back, 9 feet long and seven feet tall.)

Fight fight fight.  Chimera Simurgh bites and shoots out its tongue revealing it also has Great Serpent Orochi as a second head inside of it (kinda like Alien) but that’s not enough. Akuto-o Phemus tosses Chimera Simurgh into the cavern wall and its splatters releasing Perciguro. They all try to strategize but finally Tyki has stolen enough of the rope to tie around Tengen’s tree . And as five 14 year olds have no hope of defeating a 1000 year old curse that even a team of 1st Grades sorcery would need and hour to beat … the run . Escaping out of the top of the cavern. As Akuto-o screams and groans . 

They make their way to Mombasa. Where Clai gets on a fight back to the port so she can return to camp as quickly as possible with the black rope. Only enough money for one ticket . 

Lunpei eventually recaptures them and brings them aboard his ship and Anwa tricks him into revealing that his curse technique was the one used to poison Tengen’s tree . 

A chirp reveals that Anwa smuggled a black crow chick from Mar Mar (Mei Mei /Argus ) head of campus security, and has broadcast lunpei’s confession to the whole camp. 

Enraged Lunpei and Perciguro fight with their cursed weapons. Lunpei, the more seasoned fighter, over powers him and injures him almost lethally until Zeto comes flying in on a cursed spirit and releases a spew of low level cursed spirits from a black box that overrun the ship. Zeto gives them the Pelican curse and it gathers them into its mouth and they fly off. 

Lunpei threatens to cut Zeto down , finally .

To which Zeto threatens to release his CT until Emporer Sutoku comes in. 

The gang makes it back to the campus by plane and train and automobile . And discover that the black rope has already begun to exorcise the poison . Hours later as Perciguro is tending his wounds , literally , an alert goes out from Tengen but her tree. 

Many kids begin to arrive and Perci , Hiten in hand , finds Anwa clutching a girl in full floral kimono’s body , white positive energy covering her as her wounds mend. The gourd from Shorce, open and empty on one side . A grey cube on the other. Anwa looks at him crying as he realizes that this is Gojo Sathalia.