But it’s there for us
"Is this alright? Shouldn't Geto-san be helping Gojo-san?"
While running through some form of a tunnel, passing through one barrier after another, Riko questioned.
Her voice held the worry evident to the listener.
"He… The assassin was able to… kill Noah-san… What if Gojo—"
"Riko…" Not looking back, Geto kept on walking forward. "Calm down. First, Noah's death is not your fault. All of us knew the existence of Toji and were prepared for it. We are sorcerers, death is part of our job. So stop blaming yourself."
A sorcerer always dies with regret — that is what Geto has been hearing from his teacher since he started teaching them.
Did Noah regret something?
Geto didn't know.
But he knew one thing, Noah wouldn't want them to blame themselves for his death.
"Gojo is strong… No, he is the strongest." Geto said with conviction.
Was it to calm down the ragging heartbeat of Riko or to make himself believe that, Geto didn't know.
"He is the strongest because he is unbeatable. I believe in him, and you should do the same too."
Despite the voice of denial coming into her mind, Riko remained silent.
Feeling the conviction and trust in Geto's voice, she would be an idiot if she didn't understand—Geto had absolute trust in Gojo.
To Geto, Gojo can be defeated but can't be killed.
That's why he believed that even if Gojo is defeated by Toji, he wouldn't die.
'As for Noah…'
Geto had this weird feeling within his chest that all of this was planned by Noah, this feeling had been etched to his mind since Toji stabbed Noah.
He felt something was amiss but he couldn't put his finger on it.
After a long run, they reached the end of the tunnel and stopped.
"Is this…" Riko stared at the huge tree in front of her, circled by buildings in amazement.
"Yes…" Geto answered. "We're just outside of where Master Tengen resides. This is the country's base for primary barriers—The main hall of Tombs of the Star!"
"Go down the stairs and pass the gate." He pointed his finger and said. "Then head towards the base of that huge tree. It's protected by a different barrier than the one around Jujutsu High—only those invited may enter."
"You'll be protected by Master Tengen until the merging starts…"
A silence envelops their surroundings with both of them staring at the huge and thick base of the tree.
"... Or you can turn back… and return home with Kuroi."
"Huh?" Riko looked towards Geto with astonishment, not believing what he just said.
Seeing her perplexed expression, Geto smiled before explaining.
"When we were assigned this mission by our teacher, he referred to the merger as an "erasure". It's as if he looked at it as something wrong. For a guy that smart, he likes to beat around the bush.
Satoru and I both decided before we met (while Noah also came to the same decision as us), if the kid who is Star Plasma Vessel should refuse the merger…"
He stared at Riko before a smirk took over his face.
"... We are the strongest. No matter what you choose, we promise to protect your future."
{Stop acting cool and come help me already goddammit!}
Geto's brow raised, a smirk took over his face.
{Hold on, I'm making an important emotional decision.}
{Great! Out of all the things, you learned this laid back attitude from Gojo and me?}
"I…" He turned his head away towards Riko, ignoring the grumbling of Noah within his head. "... Ever since I was born, I've been told that I'm special and different. Being special was normal for me.
I've stayed away from dangerous things and survived until now. My parents… died in a car crash. I don't remember it. I'm not sad or lonely anymore. That's why… with the merger, I thought I'd be okay… leaving everyone…"
With each passing second, the words seemed to choke themselves within her throat, making it hard for her to complete her sentence.
"No matter how painful it became, I believed that… someday… the sadness and loneliness would disappear. But… but now…"
Crystal clear tears dropped from her eyes, trailing themselves along her face.
Her eyes tightly shut, her body quivering, and her fist tightly held together.
She shouted.
All her emotions and feelings that she has been holding back, she let all of them flow like a river.
"I want to be… with everyone more! I want to go to more places and see more things with everyone… more!"
"Is that so…" Geto's smile widened. "Let's go home then."
"Yes!"
+++
'This motherfucker banged man!'
Noah shouted internally, dodging the dagger thrown at him held by a chain in Toji's hand.
His body was riddled with wounds, both deep and shallow, but they should be enough to put down anyone normal.
Estimated, a person should have lost their blood to the critical level with the number of wounds he had.
But Noah gritted his teeth and kept on burning the wounds to stop the bleeding, making his body look charred from all over.
'Was Misato not enough now he is going after Riko too? This bastard!'
Of course Noah knew that was not the case, just that he needed something to relieve his frustration right now.
"What happened? You seemed to slow down a lot." Toji smirked, his tone relaxed. Indicating how easy he was taking this fight… or at least that is what he showed.
He was quite astonished to see Noah burning the wounds to stop the bleeding.
Not only did it make Toji excited, but it also made him realize that unless he killed Noah, he wouldn't let him pass from here.
'At this rate, I'll be too late… I need to speed it up.'
The only problem with that thought was that despite Noah having a less fighting experience than him, he filled it with his monstrous will.
It made Toji wonder just what was driving Noah to push himself this far.
Was this duty as a sorcerer?
He hardly thought so.
Noah was like him, a person without any cursed energy.
Toji knew, as the same person as Noah, he wouldn't be treated as an equal by the Jujutsu Society—nothing but a monkey without any cursed energy, like him.
"Say… Why are you trying so hard? Is protecting that girl so important to you?"
Noah remained silent for a second before a smirk took over his face.
"Not really. I'm the kind of guy who would drink cola and eat popcorn while the whole world is burning in hell."
"Then—"
"But you see… If the whole world is burned to hell, who is going to see my awesomeness? A king needs subjects, a country needs civilians, if I'm left alone in the world, who would praise me as the strongest?
That's why I've decided to save those beside me. To let them see me as I shine the brightest. I don't need to be a hero nor a villain, I just need to be me—everything else will work out one way or the other."
"Is that so…" Toji smirked. "It's good then. Let's end this."
He would not admit, he never will, but seeing Noah's smile, Toji felt his heart constricted—Is this jealousy? He couldn't help but question himself.
Being born in one of the Four Sorcerer Family, Zenin Clan, without any curse energy—Toji had faced rejection since his birth.
His parents, his siblings, his cousins, his clansmen—he was nothing more than a failure to them.
This early rejection gave birth to unprecedented hate towards the Jujutsu World in Toji's heart.
He spitted on them.
That's why he chose to become an assassin, to spit on the face of the Jujutsu World, make them cry in their own blood as he, the monkey without any cursed energy, killed them—the "chosen ones".
He married a woman outside of his family and took over her name, just his pitiful way to spit on his family's name.
But that was not enough to quell his hate for Jujutsu World.
He needed more, he needed to make them realize how he trample on them.
Noah's smirk was different from him.
It was the smile of someone who enjoyed his life without any regrets.
It was not the smile of someone like him, who has been rejected his whole life, who killed for the sake of spitting on those who rejected him.
It made him realize one thing—-he and Noah can never stand as equal.
That's why… In his next attack, he would kill him.
===
The initial plan was to use a Demonic Sword with a water element to cover the surroundings with water — to make sure Kalluto is not able to use his technique — before using either <
In his momentary muscle contraction he would use <
Either it was instinct or he saw through Noah, but he made sure to avoid all places with water around.
Knowing it was not going to work, he changed it to burn Toji to ashes then.
Just use Red Aura to its peak and burn the shit out of Toji, sadly, it again failed him since his attacks never really reached him to burn him.
And with Toji changing the weapons over and over, it just made the whole fight even more confusing.
It made him realize, he lacks experience too much, way too much in fact he thought of just committing suicide.
If he were to fight with a veteran like Toji, unless he had overwhelming power, Noah knew it would always be a close fight.
And now seeing Toji, whose aura had taken a completely different turn—it was filled with condensed bloodlust—Noah knew that next strike if he didn't dodge it, he would be done for.
'And the fact that <
Since Gojo's eyes picked the flow of cursed energy, Toji didn't use any cursed tool in his initial attack to kill Noah.
Whether it could be called dumb luck or not, Noah was really grateful for it.
Taking a deep breath, he adjusted his posture.
It was now or never!
Throughout his whole fight with Toji, Noah had come across many life and death situations where he thought he would die.
In each situation, he could feel himself getting close to understanding something, something related to the "World of Intent".
He was so close that he felt like he only needed to take a single step and he would enter another realm, yet that step felt like a distance between heaven and earth.
'This time for sure…'
If he didn't dodge this strike, he would die.
That's why… he put all his focus on Toji and his weapon.
He completely erased everything else from within his mind, only Toji was left.
'I will comprehend whatever this shit is!'