The world isn’t perfect
'He burned and closed the wound?'
Toji stared at the wound on Noah's chest, burned and charred closed.
'And that red aura… I can't let him touch me or it might end up burning me.'
The aura that was being released from Noah's body was enough to even burn the ground he was standing on, it showed how dangerous that would be for him.
Even with his inhumane physique, Toji didn't have full confidence that his skin would be able to tank that heat without burning.
A silence had sunk into them, the subtle sound of air burning was filling up the silence, and the soft sound of wind passing, pushing the gravel with it.
Noah stared at Toji, feeling the power within him increased by folds.
If before his physique wasn't strong enough to match Toji, Noah believed that currently he was on par with him.
'Ah… It has been a LONG time since I've used Mikoto's power of the King.'
Noah internally though, staring at his hand that released an intense red aura.
Even among the clan, he stood second only to Mikoto in terms of aura alone.
So it was not wrong to say that he was the second strongest after the King himself—well, that was if no one questioned his combat effectiveness.
If he released his aura completely, then for sure he could stand his ground even in the clan, but Noah hated the fact that the usage of power affected Mikoto.
It was no hidden truth that Mikoto was reaching his limit as the Red King, Noah didn't want to make his condition worse than it already was.
'As long as I can reach higher Tiers in YGGDRASIL Magecraft, I can heal him.' He internally thought, clenching his fist. 'That's why… I can't die here!'
*BOOM!*
"Wow~! A power boost."
Despite his laidback attitude, Toji's body tensed as the huge pillar of red aura was being released from within Noah's body, burning and pushing everything away from him.
<
Toji's eyes widened, feeling something completely unfamiliar rising within his body, making him question himself.
'Am I… afraid?'
How laughable! In his whole life, never has Toji felt fear.
It was a completely unknown term to him, yet, right now, what he was feeling was fear.
'Is this also part of his sorcery?'
He didn't know how Noah was able to do all of this, since, from the information he has gathered so far, Noah was like him—under a Heavenly Restriction that removed cursed energy from within his body.
And yet, he was able to use all forms of abilities that only a sorcerer should be able to perform.
It confused him.
For this very reason, he had targeted Noah first rather than Gojo—to remove this unknown threat, Toji made sure to kill him in one shot.
Yet…
'He is alive somehow… what a weird creature.'
Finally stabilizing the power, Noah looked straight at Toji, knowing full well that he was confused as to why he was still alive.
"Are you interested to know how I'm not dead?" Noah asked, making Toji raise a brow.
"What? Are you going to give a villain monologue now as to how you dodged death?" Toji snickered at the absurdness of the situation but didn't stop Noah. "Go on, I'm all ears."
"Well, that…" Noah's lips curled up into an uncontrollable smirk as if in mockness of the failed attempt of assassination by Toji. "... I don't wanna. Good luck trying to find it in the afterlife."
Toji's eyes widened by a small margin, a wild smirk forming on his face.
"I'll kill you."
+++
Phase Door — initially, it was a spell that would allow a person to pass through concrete structures by making their body intangible.
But Noah wondered, what if he can perform it without making his body intangible except for some parts?
Will it work?
For example, can he only make his hand intangible and not his whole body? Like a certain Uchiha?
He didn't know.
So he had to give it a try.
At first, he found out that it was impossible.
No matter what he tried, it would still end with the same result, him not being able to perform it the way he wanted—his body becoming intangible.
But will he give up easily?
Of course not!
So by using <
Though it took him some time, his hard work has finally decided to show some results.
Throughout the outing they had for Riko, Noah kept on performing this surgery over himself over and over until his mana ran out.
And so, on the last day, he was finally able to perform it the way he wanted—he was able to make his heart intangible!
With a threat like Toji looming over their heads, Noah didn't want to take any chances.
If Toji attacked me, how can I dodge it? — he asked this question himself over and over until he came up with an answer within the spell <
Decapitation takes more time and power, you need a bigger and more powerful slash to decapitate someone.
Compared to stabbing someone, it took a considerably longer time and power to do so.
Knowing this, Noah came to the conclusion that an assassin like Toji will go for a thrust to the heart.
So all he had to do was somehow make it look like he was stabbed while at the same time not getting stabbed.
But if he made his whole body intangible — taking the fact that he is able to perform the magic in time — Toji will be able to tell it right away.
Since he wouldn't feel the resistance that should be felt when stabbing someone, he had to reduce the usage of the spell to the point where he is stabbed but can save his vital organ—the heart.
That's why he practiced, practiced, and practiced till he was able to perform the spell on a single part of his body.
Another fact he came to know was that Sense Enemy indeed worked on how the energy worked within a person's body, so it didn't work on Toji in the least.
He made sure to remember that for future references, Sense Enemy was not absolute.
The moment Toji attacked him, with Noah living in a world without any time lag, he registered Toji's appearance the moment he appeared.
Knowing he can't dodge, he used Phase Door to make his heart intangible.
Which made Toji think he had stabbed Noah through the heart, but in reality, the sword indeed went through his body, but passed through the heart, leaving it unharmed.
He had to use <
His initial plan was to make Toji think he died, same with Gojo so not a single mishap happens and Toji realizes that he is alive.
He wanted Toji to fight with Gojo, and the moment he showed an opening, sneak attacked him.
But Kalluto's interference not only caught Gojo off-guard, but it also caught him off-guard.
The moment he realized Gojo was done for, he attacked Toji, but…
'This monster was able to break through his limit and advance a realm instead…'
He never felt his life-sucking so much…
'I need to think of another plan to kill him now… should I draw out the fight till Gojo revives or Geto comes back? Can I hold him till then?'
In the original, Gojo didn't revive for a long time.
Since Toji was able to deliver the body of Riko all the way back to Time Vessel Association, it was not wrong to think that Gojo was going to take his sweet time learning Reversed Cursed Technique while he gets his ass beaten by Toji.
Though the use of Aura has indeed made him as strong as Toji physically, the experience can't be filled with raw power alone—while even that raw power was on standstill with the opponent.
'Here he comes!'
He was brought out of his revere as Toji leaned down a little, the ground beneath him cracked, and with a loud blast, he vanished.
Noah's eyes widened as Toji appeared only some inches away from him, the dagger in his hand ready to pierce through his throat.
The time seemed to halt as Noah's hand moved, the sword in his hand blurred and appeared in the way of the dagger's trajectory.
The two — sword and the dagger — collide, producing sparks.
The accumulated strength in both strikes created a deafening blast, blasting everything around the duo away.
The dagger was parried upward, and to parry it in such a way, Noah had to slash vertically upward, making his front fully open to any attack.
Toji's other hand moved like a snake, grabbing Noah's shirt before he spun and threw him at his behind.
As if a bullet was released from a barrel, Noah was propelled straight into the air.
Bouncing on the ground dozens of times, Noah stabilized himself by inserting the sword into the ground.
By the time he looked up again, Toji was nowhere within his sight.
'Can't find him!'
Without wasting a second, the red aura from within his body intensified before creating a dome around him and blasting away in the form of a wave.
Everything around him was destroyed further, and from a boulder behind, Toji jumped out and landed on the ground, in a heartbeat, he again launched himself at the back of Noah.
The red aura around him vanished as Noah injected mana into the sword before slashing backward, a crescent arc of water was created in the air as it traveled towards Toji at an unprecedented rate.
Toji's eyes widened due to the sudden emergence of the water blade, but knowing he didn't have enough time, he jumped in the air, doing a front flip before landing on the ground.
"You got some good stuff there. Where did you get your hand on these cursed tools? Are all those weird abilities of yours due to cursed tools too?"
Toji thought it made sense.
Noah might have cursed tools that he has been using till now, creating all sorts of different phenomena.
Noah remained silent.
It was not that he didn't want to reply, but because he had put all his focus on the fight.
His mind was working overtime, his eyes were trying their best to collect as much visual information as they could—he could feel his heartbeat from his chest, making him wonder if it would blast out of his chest at the rate it was beating.
He felt as if he understood something, but it was so vague and foggy that he was having a hard time trying to get his hand over it.
'I'm almost there… Just a little push…'
"Not the one to hold small chats are we?" Toji didn't mind the silence as he smirked before taking his combat stance. "Let's continue then. I'm starting to remember how to do it."
Noah's body tensed.
He knew that the fight was going to be harder from here on.
He needed to give his all, or he might end up dying.