32 Chapter 31: Devil Monarch and Outer Gods
[Third Person's Point of View]
The magic show concluded and August looked towards the other occupant of the room to witness a stunned Satoru staring at him.
"See? I told you. It's Elemental Affinity," August said with a grin.
"Ahahahaha..." Satoru was speechless for a few moments before he burst into laughter.
"That is no ordinary Elemental Affinity, but full-blown Elemental Manipulation!" Satoru exclaimed between laughs.
'Tch. I was hoping to downplay it a bit more.' He was aware that trying to conceal the full extent of his abilities was a foolish notion, as he would inevitably reveal them when using them in front of others.
In order to avoid certain death, August decided not to reveal his true technique and instead simply explained that he had control over elements.
The fear of the unknown was deeply ingrained in human nature. His Innate Demonic Technique, Eikyū Mugen Sōzō, embodied this concept perfectly; an innate ability with limitless possibilities and extinction-level threat assessment.
'The whole world would be after me if my true technique got out before I could sufficiently strengthen myself'
As Satoru's laughter died down, his glowing aquamarine eyes focused intently on August. "Show me again," he said seriously.
Nodding, August conjured up similar spells while Gojo's Six Eyes analyzed and fed back information to his brain.
'His activation speed is insanely fast, and the materialization of spells is instant...and his energy efficiency is almost on par with mine!'
"That's enough." August dissipated his spells and looked at Satoru who looked back at him with a satisfied expression.
"I got how it works. I'll make a plan on how to improve your usage of your technique", he paused, looking at him curiously "Tell me, how were you able to manifest those spells?"
August thought for a moment and replied, "I simply willed them."
Satoru nodded and stood up from his chair, "Fair enough. Follow me"
"And, how about this? If you qualify as Special Grade on your sorcerer evaluation test next month, I'll offer you a teaching position."
"That's not bad..." August thought to himself, realizing the offer was worth considering. "But I'm still new at this. Are you sure I can teach anything?"
"Every Special-Grade has their own unique skills. I have no doubt you'll do just fine," The silver-haired man reassured him.
Quietly, August followed the white-haired sorcerer as they made their way through the narrow corridor of the fairly small wooden house and emerged onto the large central lawn of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.
"Where are we anyways?" He knew that they were at Jujutsu High School but the map icon in the top right corner of his vision couldn't properly pinpoint their locations due to what he presumed was Tengen's barrier.
His [Maps] spell allowed him to intercept satellite signals and display them as a minimap in his peripheral vision like it was part of a video game.
"One of only two jujutsu schools in Japan dedicated to training the next generation of jujutsu sorcerers; Tōkyō Toritsu Jujutsu Kōtō Senmon Gakkō, hidden deep within Mount Ōyama."
"Oyama? But that's in Kanagawa. You said Tokyo Jujutsu High right? Oi! Don't ignore me!"
Satoru promptly ignored his question and continued walking ahead, with August following at a hurried pace behind him.
"Where do you live?"
"Valley Court, Aoyama."
"Let's take a train back. You'll learn the routes that way."
"Hmm"
*
[Chiito, gifted, ara waza, wanted Kinki, kinjite, akiraka mouten]
The loud, pumping music blared from the speakers, and the fast-paced beat pulsed through the secondary bedroom in August's apartment that had transformed into a high-tech personal gym since he first came to Tokyo.
[Hansoku, ijigen, kono yononaka no monde wa naidesu, Muri gee, sore kiitenai tte]
Gravity chains wrapped around his waist and legs as they tried to pull him downwards, but August fought against the unforgiving force of gravity as he finished his 1000th pull-up.
[Ay, raibaru kuchi wo soroete; Wow, raibaru kuchi wo soroete]
The spell automatically ended as he plopped down on the comfortable couch next to his gym equipment, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Even though he was only using the Gravity Spell as a training tool, it had enough power to render a high-ranking devil completely helpless.
[Bagu de, magure, mitomenee zettee, Maji de? Kore wo ma...zenbu namami de?]
"After all these years, this song still packs a punch"
He bobbed his head to the infectious rhythm, lightly tapping his hands on the armrest. It was November 15th, 2016 - two days since he had talked with Satoru - and eight years before this very song would be officially released.
His magic's versatility allowed him to play out unreleased movies and songs from his memory with ease.
[It's namami, it's namami, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah]
When Satoru decided to accompany him on the trip back to his apartment two days ago, he impulsively decided to assess August's fundamental abilities.
"Your energy control is influenced by your Innate Technique. Show me how good you are without it" He said while handing him a cursed-looking teddy bear plushie.
It went without saying that his energy control was just as impeccable when he wasn't using any techniques; a fact he had come to realize was a natural side effect.
Having expected him to pull off something like that already, Satoru was not surprised. He reached into his storage space and handed him a few books, going over their underlying principles as he did so.
While he was familiar with the majority of them, there were a few crucial ones that added to his understanding. However, he still didn't obtain what he desired: a clear comparison between Magical Energy and Cursed Energy.
He subtly inquired Satoru about it, but the man was evasive and didn't reveal anything. However, he did reveal that once August officially ascended to Special Grade, all the information he desired would be easily accessible to him.
After Gojo finished explaining a few more things, he excused himself with the reminder that he had an important ICM meeting to attend. But before leaving, he assured him that he would return in two days to assess his progress.
It was nearly impossible to manipulate Satoru through conventional methods, so he was determined to make a strong impression on his potential future ally.
Speaking of progress, he checked his status panel to see where his progression stood.
[Status]
[Name- August Blackwood (Augustus Ashford)]
[Title- Low-Class Devil, The Chosen One, The Tarot Killer, The Heart Hunter]
[Race- Greater Devil]
[Pathway- The Abyss]
[Tarot-The Devil]
[Sequence-7, Serial Killer]
[Progress-22%]
[Abilities- (Strong Body-High) (Keen Instincts-High) (Weapon Mastery-Extreme) (Killng Mastery-Extreme) (Crime Knowledge-Extreme) (Demonic Rituals-Medium) (Evil Desire-Extreme)*
Racial Abilities- (Demonic Power - B+)
Innate Demonic Technique- Eternal Limitless Imagination { Eikyū Mugen Sōzō (永久無限創造)}
*Reduce due to influence of #$&*%@#]
Along with a whole can of moral quandary, Sequence-7 bought a plethora of upgrades with it.
Compared to all the previous upgrades, his physical body, already enhanced to a level of artistic perfection, underwent minimal visual changes.
But that was only for the visual side of it. The actual muscles constituting his physique got more compressed and dense, finally tipping his strength to the ultimate class.
While he was self-aware that he had technically entered the ultimate class in strength alone, and the current him could fold Lennox in half in an instant, he wouldn't stand a chance against formidable physical opponents like Sairaorg and Sun Wukong in a purely physical confrontation.
Not that he would lose easily either. His Keen Instincts had been enhanced to a high level, elevating his hand-to-hand combat abilities to an unparalleled state. With this heightened perception, he could now sense even inorganic matter, giving him a unique understanding of the world around him. The slightest shifts in temperature and air density were enough for him to read his opponents like an open book, making it nearly impossible for anyone to catch him off guard with a surprise attack.
The only remaining strategies that could potentially work against him were if his opponent could expand their domain in 0.1 seconds, or have instantaneous short-distance teleportation.
But other than that, his instincts coupled with his newly enhanced body made him a war god on par with Toji.
Sadly he didn't have Heavenly restriction or any physical enhancement-based innate technique, so he had to suppress his physique a lot, lest people start to point fingers.
But he could always enhance his strength using magic. There were a lot of elemental spells for that, so he was confident he wouldn't miss the strength to destroy countries anytime soon.
On the other hand, his killing mastery, which was stuck at high grade for a long time, finally took pity on him and upgraded to extreme grade.
Now, every time he activated this skill, he could detect the Death-Lines on both living and non-living objects. He lightly traced it on the wooden table next to his bed with a metal knife and it split open. Further experimentation showed that while the skill was not yet strong enough to induce artificial weakness in its targets, it had the capability to greatly enhance pre-existing weaknesses.
To most supernaturals, a shallow cut across the chest would be considered a light injury. But if that same cut was traced with Killing Mastery, it would absolutely become a lethal wound.
Lastly, there was the newly acquired skill - Demonic Rituals. He had yet to test it out, and most likely never would.
Why?
Anyone who read Lord of The Mysteries would never touch that skill even with a 10-foot pole.
The description of the skill read: this skill summons projections of devils from within the Abyss.
How nice!
Except for the fact that Abyss didn't exist in this universe.
In the book; The Abyss is a place said to be separated from the corporeal world. In mysticism, it is considered to be the most corrupted and most chaotic place, even corrupting True Gods, and it is supposed to be where Devils lived.
The system would never give him a skill that didn't work, or else it wouldn't have gone through the trouble of creating his innate technique.
This indicated that the projections of devils must have originated from somewhere, and the only logical source was the Abyss described in the book.
On its own, this wouldn't be such a significant issue. Except Abyss was the Divine Kingdom of the oldest living True God; Devil Monarch Farbauti, Sequence-0 of The Abyss Pathway, also known as Dark Side of the Universe.
As soon as he brings forth a Devil, bridging the gap between this world and the Abyss, Farbauti would be made aware of his presence as a Beyonder of the Abyss pathway.
He was uncertain of how his system worked or where its power came from. As a result, he understood the importance of not attracting attention from the 'Dark Side of the Universe' at such an early stage.
On top of all that, the icing on the cake was the fact that Farbauti had succumbed to the corrupting influence of an Outer Deity: Mother Tree of Desire, the original representative of Above the Sequence - Father of Devils. After losing 'her' pathway and sefirot, 'she' had been searching for a way to reclaim them.
And ironically his Ascendance System aimed to deify him as the new Father of Devils. He was confident that the outer god would stop at nothing to find him if she became aware of his existence and he wasn't certain that the system could protect him for long.
By the time he was done changing after his exercise and was sipping juice on the couch, a silver-haired man suddenly teleported in front of him.
"Yo"
Satoru waved his hand cheerfully while August kept sipping on his glass of juice without a word.
The silence stretched on for a while before he finally responded "Use the door like a normal person."
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Author-san here!!!
The mysticism thickens eh? Ah don't worry, I'll write the chapters in a way that explains the LoTM parts.
And, the goal for this chapter will be 230 Powerstones.
But, if you can't wait to read the next chapter, and two weeks' worth ahead, go visit my Patreon account.
[Link: Patreon.com/Midwintersnow] ['P' lowercase ofc]
See Ya :)
