Beginning Of The End.

In the lobby of a slightly damaged apartment building, several figures could be seen.

Most of them standing, a few of them pacing around.

One of them in particular, a teenage girl, stomped her foot in frustration as she finally stopped and crouched down, head on her knees.

*sob*

*sob*

"It's been eight hours now...and Geto-sama still hasn't returned...this was the meeting spot, he said that he would be waiting for us here...then there was that explosion...it's just..."

Another girl, seemingly a twin of the first one, came to her side and crouched down with her, holding her shoulders as her sister broke down in tears.

The atmosphere was somber, the air thick with sadness.

They were all sorcerers and they understood what Geto's absence meant.

He failed. The plan failed.

All that preparation, all that planning, for it all to go up in smoke.

And whose fault was it? No one knew.

Mostly everyone shed a tear. After all, it was hard not to. They had been with Geto for so long that to some, he was like a father, to the rest, their closest friend.

To lose someone like that so quickly and quietly was the worst kind of feeling. It felt as if he just disappeared from their lives without a word.

TING!

That's when something no short of a miracle happened.

A figure walked through the automatic doors with torn clothing, wielding a contrasting elegant fan in his hand.

"Geto-sama!!!"

The girl who was crying her eyes out instantly rushed towards him and hugged the man as tightly she could, crying in his chest.

"There, there. Did you miss me?"

They all surrounded him as he came back, filled with joy at his seemingly triumphant return.

That's when a voice came from behind them, reminding our gleefull sorcerers of the kind of world they live in.

"Who are you? I might not be the best at reading cursed energy, but I know my friend. What's even more suspicious is..."

Miguel got closer to Geto and dropped his glasses below his eyes as he took a closer look at him.

"That new scar across your forehead. Whoever you are, it feels like you're not even trying to hide that you took his body."

When the others heard his words, they started to realize that he was right. Something was off here.

"G-geto-sama...? It's not true right...?"

Nanako's voice was filled with hope and pleading as she looked up at Geto while hugging him.

"Your friends are quite perceptive."

Geto slightly pushed her away and leaned down into her ear, whispering, "Maybe you should listen to them."

A deranged smile appeared on his face as he stood up and faced the rest of the sorcerers, his gaze filled with tranquility.

Mimiko, Nanako's sister, rushed forward and pulled her back towards the rest of the group as she was completely frozen with shock.

This was too much of a blow to her.

Manami, the woman who was always with Geto and Jin, screamed in rage as her cursed energy flared up, her heart ready fof battle.

"Get out of his body! Everyone, get yourselves together! This thing is an enemy that needs to be destroyed, regardless of how he looks! Get ready!"

Manami stood at the front of the group, ready to fight. Toshihisa, Larue, Mimiko and Miguel all followed her will. After all, this was the greatest insult to them.

"Hmm. Do all of you really plan on fighting? You can still achieve the goals Geto wanted if you follow me instead. Even if you defeat me now, what are you going to do next? Without someone to stop Satoru Gojo, everything you do will be useless."

Despite their emotions taking control of them, the words 'Geto' put forth started to make sense. What was the point of this if they are going to just fail again when Gojo shows up?

"Ha! Do you all forget? We curse users have our own "Satoru Gojo". His name carries the same power for us. Jin Itadori, the man who has left Gojo on death's door twice now, is our leader."

Miguel had a smug look on his face as he brought Jin's name up, fully expecting the look of surprise that appeared on 'Geto's' face.

"Jin Itadori...is here? Can you ask him to come out?"

The ruthless smile the imposter wore when he came in faded away when he heard the name Jin Itadori. While this group may have had some history with Jin, that name meant something different to him.

Before Miguel could even call him out, Jin walked out of the room behind them shirtless, wearing some gray baggy sweatpants and martial art shoes.

The moment he laid eyes on 'Geto' and saw the stitches across his head, he immediately understood why this cursed energy felt familiar to him.

Jin walked past the group and stopped in front of 'Geto', looking him in the eye.

"You."

"Yes, I. We meet again."

"Heh, so you do remember me."

"Of course. Others won't know, but to us, the name 'Jin Itadori' has special meaning."

The atmosphere became quiet for a few seconds as Jin got the measure of the man in front of him.

To think he would meet the other body jumper so soon.

"Before we continue, we're all curious, were you the one that killed the real Suguru?"

By this time, everyone else had gotten out of their fighting stances as Jin had showed up. With him here, nothing was getting to them.

So, now they had all the time to listen closely to the conversation between the two.

"Hm, I was. But he was already at death's door by the time I got to him. Yuta Okkotsu had already defeated him and left him for dead."

Jin closed his eyes and sighed as he heard this news.

"So in the end, Suguru was still too weak." "How dare you say that about him?!"

Nanako shouted furiously at Jin when he said those words about Geto. She was already furious at the fact that this imposter killed him, but to think Jin would say their past leader was too weak made her snap.

Jin being Jin, completely ignored her as he resumed his previous conversation.

"Now that we got that out of the way, why did you come here?"

'Geto' seemed to be at ease now that he was talking to Jin.

"I needed subordinates that would help me with my plan and as it turns out, they were a plethora of curse users right here. It was perfect. But, I never expected that I would meet you here too. I thought Gojo Satoru would have defeated you."

Jin laughed as he responded, "I haven't truly defeated him yet. I could have even killed him in this battle, but not yet. He hasn't truly grown to his full potential. In terms of pure sorcery skill, he is still my better."

Just as Jin was about to continue, 'Geto' interrupted him and said, "But in terms of pure power, you are unmatched."

Jin was a bit puzzled at first. How did this guy know what he was about to say?

Then, it clicked. Of course he would know. He had Geto's memories.

'I've never seen a cursed technique like his. So versatile but yet so powerful. Is the ability to swap bodies part of the same cursed technique? I doubt it. Hm. Now he has the Inumaki's cursed speech. That's three cursed techniques if I count the body swapping ability as a different technique. Almost as much as me. But...if he awakens the technique that was etched in the original Jin Itadori's soul...'

'Geto' moved forward and laid his hand on Jin's shoulder, looking down at him as if he was the most precious diamond in the world.

"Jin, you only lack the skill because you lacked a good teacher. Fortunately, you just came across me. I will forge you into the weapon you seek to be."

Jin laughed. Why did this guy suddenly become so motivated? Surely he didn't come all this way just to be his teacher.

"Jin Itadori! You and Geto were-"

"Quiet."

CRUNCH!

An invisible force ruthlessly shut Nanako's mouth, causing blood to flow unceasingly from her gums.

Ignoring her again, Jin turned back to 'Geto' and said, "Come to the back, let's talk. You have peeked my interest."

Just as the two of them started walking to the back, everyone else, expect Miguel and Larue, blocked their path.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

The one who spoke up was Manami, the woman who spent years with both Jin and Geto.

"Manami...since it's you, I'll be frank. This 'monkey-extermination' plan was foolish from the beginning. I never planned to follow through with it. I have my own plans. But, if you want to continue that plan because of your own convictions, as a friend, I will help you."

He then looked at the rest of the group and continued, "The same goes out to the rest of you. Help me, and I will help you. Or, you can leave now and do what you want to do. The choice is yours. Just don't get in my way. Miguel...Larue, you two said you were leaving?"

Larue was a man of few words so he pushed Miguel to talk instead.

The latter sighed as he adjusted his glasses and said, "Yes. I plan to go back to my family for a bit. They'll be disappointed when they find out all of the black rope was used but I think when I tell them it was used against the second strongest sorcerer in the world, I think it will alleviate the pain. Besides, now that Geto is dead, my reason for being here is gone. Larue feels the same way. "

Jin smiled and gave Miguel a thumbs up.

"Heh. Then, be careful friend. Whenever you want to return, there will always be a place here for you. Larue, I haven't known you for a long time, but since Miguel seems to think highly of you, I'll tell you the same, take care."

Jin walked past the rest of the group with 'Geto' at his side, talking about past events with him.

"So...when did you gain cursed speech? From what I could tell, the last time Geto saw you, you were in the body of Toji Zenin."

"Well, you see..."

The two of them went to the back and spoke about many things in great detail, leaving the group out front to sort out where their loyalties would lie.

Unbeknownst to them though, this alliance between 'Geto' and Jin signaled the beginning of the end for sorcerers and curse users alike.

------------

"Arcaan is doing great! Haha! We should have freed him centuries ago!"

Cade and Roger looked at a screen depicting everything Arcaan/Jin was doing. He was progressing fast and according to their estimation, he should be back in the domain after a few more years in that world.

Cade was happy, but Roger was feeling uneasy. Something wasn't right.

As the first son of the Axis, Jin's soul and any soul he came in contact with became connected with the domain.

So, everyone he killed, whether directly or indirectly, should have come to this domain and would have spent their afterlife here, thereby empowering the domain itself.

But so far, not one soul came. The only reason for that to happen was if...someone, namely another first son of a different family, was interfering. And if that was the case, at their current level of power, they were doomed.