Illyana's eyes hardened again, her brief confusion replaced by cold suspicion. She stepped back, crunching the red stone under her feet, and leveled her heavy sword at Satoru's chest.
"Tch," she harrumphed, and began to mutter. "How does he know I know Magic Man? I only ever met him once… years ago." She narrowed her eyes at Satoru. "The bastard Belasco is getting tricky with his illusions. Is he getting desperate? Ha!"
Satoru raised an eyebrow.
'Years ago?' He had literally handed her that blanket a few hours ago. Despite that though, hearing her words made Satoru think. 'First, let's calm the young lady down.'
"Uh, I'm actually real, so you can—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Illyana lunged with a speed that didn't belong to a kid. The massive sword whistled through the air in a brutal overhead strike.
Satoru didn't move his feet. He stood his ground, letting the passive barrier of his Infinity handle the incoming strike. He expected the blade to slow to an absolute crawl before it could even touch his hair, just as everything else did.
But, as he watched on with his eyes. The blade didn't slow down. It sliced through the infinite space between them as if the barrier weren't even there.
"Uh-oh," Satoru muttered, a single bead of sweat rolling down his temple. 'That thing... it… cuts through energy?'
At the very last millisecond, he didn't rely on his defense. He used Blue to create a sudden pull, blasting the ground beneath Illyana's feet to throw off her aim while he instantly teleported several yards away with a clap.
"Whoa, slow down there, Illyana!" Satoru said, waving his hands frantically and comically in front of him. "You almost cut through me! That's a dangerous toy you've got there!"
Despite the joke, his gaze behind the blindfold was fixated on the broadsword with newfound caution.
If that blade could bypass his Infinity, his ultimate defense is officially going offline.
"Shut up!" Illyana hissed.
She stomped her foot against the red ground, launching herself forward in a dash to deliver horizontal follow-up.
Satoru saw the horizontal swing coming and didn't dare test his Infinity a second time. He ducked low, feeling the tip of the black blade whistle inches above his head.
"Seriously, do you treat all your guests like this?" Satoru said, sliding across the red shale like he was on ice. "I'm the one who gave your mom that blanket! Does the name 'Magic Man' ring a bell, or did the demons eat your manners too?"
He leaped forward, aiming a chop at her wrist to numb the nerves and force her to drop the sword. But Illyana was faster; she twisted her torso mid-air, using the momentum of her missed swing to bring the hilt of the sword crashing toward Satoru's ribs.
"Fuck your blanket and fuck your 'magic man'!" she screamed, her eyes glowing with a flickering light.
Over the ridge, Rintrah's large, green head popped up. He watched the exchange with his jaw hanging open, his hooves clattering nervously against the loose rocks.
"Master Gojo! Please!" Rintrah bellowed, his deep voice echoing through the barren place. "We need to leave! I have a really bad feeling about this dimension!"
Satoru parried the hilt strike with the back of his forearm, the impact rattling his bones. "I'm working on it, Rintrah! But the kid is a bit prickly!"
He spun away, creating distance once more. He wasn't trying to hurt her, but Illyana was fighting like a cornered animal. Every time he tried to close the gap, that black blade forced him to move. It was exhilarating and annoying all at once.
"Belasco took everything!" Illyana yelled in paranoia, her voice cracking. She swung the sword again, a vertical cleave that split the red stone where Satoru had stood a millisecond prior. "Ororo… Cat… You're just another trick to break me!"
"Belasco? Who the hell is Belasco?" Satoru asked, tilting his head. 'Is that the name of this dimension's ruler? Shit! I should've never skipped the names of the dimensional lords when reading those darn scrolls.'
Who can blame him though? Satoru back then didn't bother because he thought of it as a hassle initially.
He watched her chest heave, her athletic frame clearly exhausted despite her ferocity. He tried again. "Illyana! You gave me a crumbled piece of chocolate bar back on the lifeboat, remember? Does an illusion know about that?"
Illyana froze. The tip of her broadsword trembled, hovering inches from the ground. Her eyes darted to the tattered, grime-stained fabric wrapped around her. She remembered… that. It happened a few hours before she was kidnapped.
"Are you really..?" she whispered, her brow furrowed in deep confusion. "...not an illusion?"
Satoru saw this, he smirked and was about to say something.
"Master Gojo!" Rintrah yelled again, his voice urgent. "Move!"
Satoru's eyes flickered.
He didn't look back. He formed a mudra with one hand, teleporting himself beside Illyana and grabbed her by the waist, then vanished in a blur, reappearing atop the ridge next to Rintrah just as massive obsidian spikes erupted from the ground where they had been standing, forming a chasm.
From the shadows of the twisted towers in the distance, a low, maniacal laughter echoed.
"Now that," Satoru muttered, setting a stunned Illyana down and narrowing his hidden gaze toward the towers. "I'm assuming is the bastard you were talking about."
The laughter didn't just travel through the air; it felt like it was crawling underneath their skin.
"Master, look!" Rintrah pointed with a trembling hand toward the towers.
Shadows began to lengthen unnaturally, stretching toward them across the jagged plateau.
From the darkness of the chasm Satoru had just escaped, a figure began to rise. He was tall, regal, and terrifying, adorned with curved horns and skin the color of dried blood. He wore high-collared robes that seemed to be woven from frozen smoke.
"Belasco..." Illyana hissed, her voice a mix of primal fear and pure, unadulterated loathing. She instinctively tightened her grip on the Soulsword.
The demon lord didn't look at her. His glowing yellow eyes were fixed entirely on Satoru.
"An uninvited guest," Belasco purred, his voice like silk over gravel. "I felt a puncture in my realm, and yet, what stepped through is something quite... delicious."
Satoru let out a long, exaggerated sigh and shoved his hands back into his pockets. "You're gross, dude. My students usually just call me handsome, but I guess every dimension has its own lingo."
"Master, we really should open a portal now!" Rintrah whispered frantically, fumbling with his Sling Ring.
"Stay your hand, beast of R'Vaal," Belasco flicked a finger, and a wave of crimson energy slammed into the space around. The air hummed that made the Sling Ring's sparks die out before they could even form.
"No one leaves Limbo without my seal. Especially not a soul that shines as brightly and as strangely as yours, white haired sorcerer."
This made Satoru frown. He slowly lifted his arm and lowered the blindfold that was covering his eyes.
He could see the way Belasco's magic was tied into the very fabric of this dimension. They can't escape now with the use of the Sling Ring, if he fight him…
"You talk a lot for a guy who lives in a dump," Satoru quipped. He stepped in front of Illyana and Rintrah. "Look, I'm having a really long day. I just want to take the kid and my green intern here back to our place and you can go about your own. You want to make this difficult, or are you going to let us through?"
Belasco laughed again, a sound that sent another tremor through the ridge. "The girl is mine. As for you and the R'Vaalian… I think I'll be keeping both of you in here."
"Haaa…" Satoru exhaled a long and tired breath that condensed in the biting air. "You just have to make me use it, huh?"
Belasco tilted his head, his yellow eyes glittering with amusement. He stood perfectly still, watching Satoru with detached curiosity. "And what exactly is 'it', sorcerer? You are in my house. Show me your parlor trick."
'Damn, I really hate it whenever someone looks at me that way,' Satoru thought, annoyed.
He turned his head slightly, glancing back at Illyana and Rintrah. He wanted to just blink them out of there, but Belasco had the local space in a chokehold. Teleporting them was out — for now.
"Run," Satoru commanded.
Both of them froze, mouths hanging open as they prepared to argue. Rintrah gripped his Sling Ring while Illyana tightened her hold on the Soulsword.
"Move!" Satoru's voice dropped into a register that brook no argument.
Illyana was the first to move, her survival instincts overriding her pride. She grabbed a handful of Rintrah's green fur and yanked. The minotaur stumbled after her with a yelp, and the two of them scrambled over the ridge and into the rocky terrain.
Satoru turned his full attention back to the Demon Lord. He stepped off the ridge, his boots crunching on the red shale as he walked slowly down the slope toward the center of the hollow.
"A heroic sacrifice?" Belasco sneered, his fingers tracing a sigil in the air that hummed with dark energy. "You think a bit of distance will save them? In Limbo, I am absolute."
'Limbo? This is the Limbo Dimension? How ironic,' Satoru stopped ten paces away. "Sacrifice? Please. I just don't want them to bother me while I beat your ass up in your dimension."
"Your arrogance is fascinating," Belasco purred, his power beginning to flare, turning the shadows around him into physical blades. "But here, you are nothing."
"Nothing, huh?" Satoru's smirk began to feel chillingly cold. "Funny you should use that word. I happen to know something about that."
He raised both hands and formed the Shunya Mudra.
The air… the space that Belasco has essentially sealed — it ceased to exist. Then, a void of darkness and infinite light, all-consuming, all-encompassing, pulsed out of Satoru.
"Unlimited Void: Nihility! (Muryōkūsho: Kyomu)."
...
[Author's Notes]: Still owe you guys one bonus chap.
Daily chapter drop (One each): Monday → Sunday.
Powerstone Goal (When including the DCD and this goal is met, there'll be two chapters released when Sunday arrives): 1,000 Powerstones
Advanced chapters & show of support: Patreon.com/Shiriai