47 Brutality and Change

"So you're claiming that despite everything, including the recent and proven murder of Minori that you are innocent? The gall you have, to come and stand before us right now while in exile is unbelievable!" An Elder yelled, his hand waving behind the thin paper wall that separated him from Atlas.

In the middle of the room, surrounded by paper and wood walls that hid the identities of the Higher-Ups Atlas chuckled as he ran his hand back through his hair. He hadn't been in a good mood ever since Kenjaku's escape.

His patience was running out.

Now he was dealing with scared Elders that clung to traditional values that have done nothing but harm and hinder some with potential.

Atlas was growing tired of this.

Standing back at the entrance Geto and Gojo could see this, tensing as Atlas tried to stay calm.

Starting to speak Atlas asked, "Why did you exile me and not order for my execution then? We have already seen that together Gojo and Geto could probably beat me. Then again, they helped me catch Kenjaku-"

"You cannot prove Joben was controlled!" One of the other Elders yelled, clearly fuming, despite the screen Atlas could still see him shaking in rage.

Laughing Atlas turned to the figure and mocked them, "For wise men your composure is terrible. Interrupting me while I attempt to show you evidence simply because you liked the man that buttered you up and kissed your ass-"

Once more interrupting trying to drown out Atlas' voice by yelling, his aged vocal cords shaking with the effort. "Do not insult us you!-" Sick of being interrupted all sound in the room stopped.

The silence was numbing, such a complete absence that it was impossible to tell if it was real or if your mind was breaking.

With glowing purple irises and waves of power washing out of him. A supernova of cursed energy, barely contained raged within the centre of the room sending shivers down the spines of everyone present.

As Atlas spoke, his voice permeated the air as if his word was law and even creation itself was honoring him. "I have had enough of this rambling and denial. I shall speak my part and you shall remain silent. I have tried to be graceful with you senile fools who cling to what you have left with dying hands careless of how it affects what you are responsible for protecting."

"You have done nothing but neglect the society that you are supposed to guide and nurture, to bring the best out of. Ayumu could see this, and I believe that he is the only reason things are not a lot worse than they currently are." Atlas bit, his voice containing no emotion, his face unreadable. But his cursed energy spoke volumes for his feelings.

Wrath. The will to stop at nothing to bring ruin to what he hates.

"It only takes a single generation to ruin the wealth of an old family. You are that generation. And I will not let you leave me and my generation with nothing but ash." Atlas declares.

"You didn't order my execution because you know that there is no world in which you kill me. But you ordered for my exile which means you were confident enough at least handling me. But now you aren't? Now you let me walk in here and cower in fear doing nothing but throwing insults and demanding I leave. What changed? Because the only thing I can think of is that now Joben is dead." Atlas says, staring at the screens one by one.

"You knew that he wasn't just a harmless advisor or at least some of you did. And he broke my father so trust me, I will stop at nothing to figure out who was so neglectful a man that cruel could walk around with a smile." Atlas says as he walked over to the screen of the man that was interrupting him over and over.

Snapping his fingers the screen shattered like glass, breaking apart as it revealed the shivering old man it was hiding.

"Not so dignified now are you?" Atlas said as he crouched down in front of him, getting on eye level. Tilting his head to the side as he thought, as if he was running over options. "Since you have already made it impossible for us to talk this out, I guess I will settle on the hard way."

Putting his hand to the man's chest the air was suddenly filled with the sound of shattering, reality itself breaking and rending around the old man. There were no screams, no sound as to the pain he was in apart from the crinkling and ringing of glass chiming in harsh piercing notes.

But the way he writhed on the ground was enough for them to know. It was excruciating. The Elders only saw shadows through their own screens, but that, the silence and shadows. Made it far more terrifying.

It only lasted a moment, maybe not even a full second before Atlas stood up and dragged the shaking old man to the center of the room where he once stood.

"You are an Elder of the Zenin, you discriminate and ostracize those that do not have cursed energy, thinking that they are below you," Atlas said, motioning to the old man who was looking at his hands in shock, desperation setting in on his worn face. "I have taken his cursed energy. He is now nothing but a. Normal. Jujutsuless. Human."

Each word shocked the other Elders watching.

"Now, do you still accept him as an Elder? He cannot use Jujutsu anymore. That is for all of you to decide." Atlas said before looking down at the man who was silently sobbing on the floor.

Atlas could see the look that Geto had to the side, the look of shock and horror at what was being done. He never had seen anything like this, this was cruel. He knew that these were bad people but was this really necessary? They were just scared.

Speaking up seeing his friend's shocked expression Gojo said, "Trust what he is doing. Sometimes to fix a wound you have to cut out the infection. We don't have the time to simply treat it with normal medicine. Kenjaku is too dangerous." His own eyes fixated on the Elder.

He had watched it happen and with the blessing of the Six Eyes, he was able to see cursed energy. He had seen as Atlas had forced the cursed energy of the older man into another plane. He still had it, it was just impossible for him to access it.

Speaking again Atlas said to the crippled Elder, "I can give you back your energy if you tell me exactly who Joben was and everything you know about him. Or, as a stubborn fool, you can stay like this." Atlas said, before adding with a piercing glare. "Of course, you could also run off and join Kenjaku, if he ever does defeat me and take my body then he could give you your energy back."

Seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces Atlas just stood there, his attention solely on the man clearly making a decision. He knew that this man hated him, if he was able to somehow find Kenjaku then he could track the old man to him because of his cursed energy that was now in another plane.

"I- I'll tell you what I know. I will, I promise, I'll tell you everything." The old man barely whispered.

"I was prepared to start taking the energy of other elders. I'm glad that I don't have to." Atlas said although he didn't believe for a moment that the old man really was going to actually tell him the whole truth. As soon as Kenjaku was found or started acting again he would do whatever he could to side with him and be a double agent.

That wasn't a terrible thing however, as long as this man could somehow come in contact with Kenjaku again he would have his use.

"Start talking then," Atlas commanded.

---

Cursing Kenjaku crawled his way into the old worn down building, climbing between a gap in the bricks and rushing down the stairs into a small basement, the air so cold his worn breath fogged in the air. He was weak and hurt, he hadn't been like this for hundreds of years.

The backlash of the body he was piloting dying had been brutal. He had tried to stay as far away as he could but there was a range to remotely using a technique like his.

That damned Atlas, he knew more than he was letting on, how else would he have been able to plan something like that? It wasn't even a good plan, it was just… forcing his hand.

But how did he know so much?

He never expected that letting his backup plan grow would go so wrong and so quickly. He still had some measures in place in case he needed to use them but each encounter with Atlas was burning through them and with each spike in his growth it made even more useless.

He had barely been even able to do anything and that was only because Gojo broke a hole in the cage

. If he hadn't he wouldn't have even got information out of this. Even though what he got was pitifully little...

Atlas wasn't scared of him anymore... 'if you show man that god can bleed he will cease to be all-powerful.' He had achieved his main goal. Atlas had made him lose. And with it, he had taken away the most useful body he had in a while and showed that he could never trust someone being dead again. He had planted doubts and taken resources.

Atlas had won this fight.

He was running out of options.

He needed to get someone that was strong, and fast.

Pushing the plastic lid of the giant cold box he looked at the corpse inside, it was old and smelling foul but he would be able to heal it quickly once he was in it. Any body was better than none, he just wished that this one was more useful.

---

Thinking over what he was told Atlas tilted his head to the side thinking to himself. So Joben had promised that he would be able to deal with Atlas and either force him to accept his exile or maybe even kill him. Apart from that they didn't know much about him.

He was simply an advisor and had pushed for certain things that didn't seem to have much impact in Atlas' eyes. But most of them were keeping conservative traditional values. He had sway in the treatment of Toji when he was younger. He had turned people against Ayumu.

He had made sure that Geto was put in Toyko instead of Kyoto.

It was countless small things that he had pushed and affected to better suit the outcomes he wanted.

Looking at the Elders Atlas knew that killing them would just bring him more pain than it was worth. If he did so without incredibly just reason then he would risk facing the displeasure and possible action of almost all of the Jujutsu Society.

"You will be spared because of the information you chose to reveal. Now, who else knew about Joben yet trusted him?" Atlas asked.

Shakily the Elder pointed at two panels.

The forced silence meant that the words of the Elders, despite how much they tried to voice about how they didn't know what was going on, were never heard.

It didn't take long for Atlas to figure out that the Elder was telling the truth, these two. One being the Kamo Clan Head and other other being just an Elder were indeed people who helped and provided resources and support for Kenjaku.

With a quick ruling, the Higher-Ups and the Clan-Heads soon came to a decision. Those that sided with Kenjaku would be executed.

However, the Kamo-Clan head was forgiven on terms of manipulation and forced action and the crippled Elder was pardoned because of his 'willingness' to provide information.

Returning the man's cursed energy Atlas had made his threat clear.

I will take what is of most value to you if you do harm to this Society or work with Kenjaku. So pick a side, me, or him.

With the execution of only one Elder going ahead, he was dragged promptly by another Sorcerer to the Isolation Chamber.

"O-One more thing sir." The Crippled Elder stuttered as he kept his eyes on the floor. "(Joben) Job- Kenjaku." Quickly fixing the use of the name as Atlas glared at him. "Pushed for the execution of Mizuki, the half-curse. It has not gone ahead because of recent events that started to take priority. While we are here shall a vote be cast to suspend her execution?"

It was almost amusing to see how quickly those that clung to power would switch views to please the figure with authority or strength.

"Of course, unless anyone has any complaints I shall go get her now," Atlas said, his voice as toneless as it had been this entire meeting. Looking around the room not a single voice was raised in defiance.

Nodding his head Atlas walked out the door followed by Geto and Gojo. Teleporting as soon as he was outside leaving the two boys to make their way back to Tokyo with a lot on their minds.

Seeing Atlas leave the Higher-Ups let out breaths they had been holding. The Zenin and Kamo Clan Heads exchanged a look of relief that they had at least been contacted beforehand. Although with how the meeting ended up it really didn't mean much, after all, if Atlas was planning on forcing them to agree with him then there was no reason he would have contacted them beforehand.

Left in the silent dark room the Elders simply dwelled on their loss. Did they really have any authority if during their authority the possible worse Curse-User to have ever existed set up their Society for his plans without any of them being the wiser?

Now someone willing to make a difference had come along with fire and wrath. To them, in their old eyes. Kenjake and Atlas were two extremes. Neither of them was good, after all, what were Kenjaku's plans? He had never ruled through fear despite the power he seemed to have, he had never once forced them to do anything simply guided things to go his way.

Atlas was the one that was preparing for a war that no one else even thought was going to happen.

---

Appearing in the isolation room with the sound of shattering glass. Multiple Talismans on the wall that were created to stop such methods of entering burned up through brute force as they were broken as Atlas appeared.

Looking up in Shock Mizuki said in sudden confusion, "A-Atlas? What are you doing here?" Her hands were bound by countless coils of thick rope that tethered her to the floor. Countless other Talisman and Kanji hung or drawn on the rope.

"Your execution has been cancelled, I put a stop to the old fools running the show." He said, his voice unamused as he waved his hand pulling her to another plan and then in front of him before bringing her back to this one teleporting her from her bindings.

Suddenly free she looked at her hands in shock, the marks of the rope against her wrists signs of how tight she had been bound. "When I thought about being tied up this isn't what I imagined." She said as she idly rubbed her wrists.

Looking at her with a raised eyebrow Atlas didn't say anything. Finally registering her own words apart from her ears going a little pink she pretended it never happened.

The situation did not let the mood dwell for too long though. "What did you do to them?" She asked, her voice curious yet somewhat meek.

"Nothing, one of them is being executed tomorrow morning for siding with a Curse User named Kenjaku." He started to explain as he opened the door. Bringing her up to speed on what was happening outside that was going to become public knowledge.

A Curse-User known as Kenjaku who had a technique that allowed him to pilot others' bodies was currently on the run. To be careful of everyone with a scar on their head. Also giving the rundown of the Sorcerers he was known to have taken over in the past, such as Noritoshi and Joben. How he was the one that created the cursed womb paintings and did vile human experimentation.

Moving on from what was going to be announced to everyone he continued. "So basically, he was trying to figure out how to merge humans and curses, with the knowledge we have at least it is the safest assumption with quite a lot of weight to support it."

Looking at her he saw that she knew what he was thinking. Her tense shoulders and hanging head, nervous fidgeting as she played with the hem of her shirt. "You have no reason to worry, I don't think that you are associated with him in any way you know. I too was an experiment of his, I wouldn't have saved you from execution if I believed that you were working with him." Atlas voiced in an attempt to calm her.

Seeing her relax a bit she quickly says, "I-I don't know why I am like I am but I promise I wasn't an experiment. I still have a Mum and Dad, and a younger brother. I lived my whole life with them, I can even take you to them." She quickly started to speak. Clearly not wanting to be related to the Curse-User in any way.

She was already ostracized enough…

"Don't worry, as I said, I don't think you have a relationship with him that you know about. He may however know about you and just to make sure I want you to come and meet a friend of mine. He will be able to make sure that everything is okay." Atlas explained, feeling like he was trying to pacify a little fox.

Nodding her head she said, "Alright, I have nothing to hide."

She was definitely the type of person that would act suspicious when something bad happened just because she was panicked about being falsely accused.

Opening a crack in space Atlas said, "Just through here then."

Taking a step through the crack after her Atlas arrived in the small recreation of his room. Seeing Frank still sleeping peacefully on the bed Atlas walked up and ran a hand through his hair. The seat Hoshi was normally in was empty, he could feel he was just out in the yard though.

"W-Where are we?" the voice of Mizuki suddenly spoke up, looking at Frank with a bit of concern. "Is he okay?" Her question came shortly after the other as her nerves started to get the better of her.

"No, he isn't okay. He was hurt by Kenjaku to punish me for getting in his way. Or something like that." Atlas said, his voice dropping as his tone disappeared, although the flicking of his cursed energy showed the anger he felt being reminded of the situation. Before she could apologize he calmed himself and spoke up before she could.

"We are in a reflection of… the world I guess. As I can put it for you. This is simply a copy that only I and the people that I let in can access as far as I am aware." Atlas explained, pulling the blankets up and around Frank as he used his technique to adjust the temperature of the room to be perfect.

"Don't let him scare you." A voice sounded from behind her, causing her to jump as she turned around.

Seeing Hoshi she looked back and forth between him and Atlas in confusion. They sounded the same, Hoshi sounded more tired and his voice was quieter and gentler though.

While he was shorter than Atlas and didn't have the same defined muscle and confident air, his shoulders more slouched and his eyes hanging heavy bags, it was clear that they were both the same person. Hoshi was certainly the more approachable of the two though.

Unlike the last time Atlas had seen him his hair had been cut to just above his shoulders, put up in a low ponytail on the back of his head. His skin had more colour and while his body still showed clear signs of his imprisonment his bones were not quite as noticeable as before.

As he had been recovering mentally, his spiritual body had been changing too.

While Atlas showed intimidation and confidence in his strength Hoshi showed a gentle calmness and gratefulness for the world around him. Hoshi was a soft warmth while Atlas was… an intense heat.

"He doesn't mean any harm, I can promise you that. He simply doesn't know how to direct his anger into effective channels. He prefers to fight than talk." Hoshi says as he smiles over at Atlas, getting a raised eyebrow from him in return.

"I didn't mean to scare you either, sorry. I'm Hoshi, the original inhabitant of this body." He revealed after he shook her hand, shaking before speaking, shaking his hand gently she worried she might hurt him with how thin he looked. Motioning for her to take a seat he asked, "tea?" before she could introduce herself.

As she was about to speak up and introduce herself as well Atlas interrupted her saying. "Don't be so open about that, it's something that is best kept between us," Atlas said with a sigh.

"Come help me get some tea," Hoshi said, walking out of the room as he waited for Atlas to follow. Seeing Atlas look at Frank once more not wanting to leave him with someone that could possibly be associated with Kenjaku.

"It will be fine. Come on." Hoshi said. Nodding his head Atlas followed Hoshi to the staff kitchen, it wasn't like she could do anything. He had even more power here than he did on the original plane. This was almost like an innate domain to him.

"Her soul is that of a cursed spirit, like a cursed spirit inhabiting a human body. I don't think there is anything else like it. Her mind and her body seem to be her own though. I can at least tell that she doesn't have any negative intentions." Hoshi says, his voice a bit confused, there was a reason that he had waited until he shook her hand to say anything. He wasn't a fool.

Not mentioning anything about Frank despite how similar it was to his current condition. Unlike Frank though the cursed object had already taken over the soul. It had just failed to also take over the mind and body for whatever reason.

Pausing for a moment as Atlas was gathing cups he looked at Hoshi who was starting to boil a kettle, waving his hand and boiling it immediately, simply finding a plane that had an already boiled kettle and copying it to theirs.

"So you're saying her soul is a cursed spirit but her body and mind are human?" Atlas basically repeats as he wraps his head around it. That was what Itadori was like right? At least from what he could assume, it never really was explained in detail. He didn't think that he had Sukuna's soul replace his though, just also inhabit his body.

"Yes, It's like the soul is sleeping, her mind and body being awake and therefore in control. I can do my best to keep the soul asleep but she might need to come here once a week for me to make sure that the soul isn't going to wake up." Hoshi explains.

"Kenjaku clearly has done this, it's like what he did with the cursed wombs and then tried to do with us. It just also failed because the soul didn't take control of the body. Of course, I could make it happen, or anyone that can affect the soul in a way. It must be why he wanted me to be under his control, he needs to be able to affect souls." Hoshi summarizes.

Nodding his head Atlas agrees as they make their way back to the room.

He already knew most of this, because of his knowledge. Getting to the room he saw Mizuki sitting down waiting for them to come back. Staring at her for a moment as Hoshi went and served tea keeping her attention he wondered, 'Just how many failed experiments are there? And why are they coming up…' Surely the butterfly effect he made hadn't affected the past.

It was either him or something else.

For the briefest moment, he saw something, a folding figure in the distance of the plane. Its form is endless and nothing at the same time.

He had seen it in his dreams. He had seen it when he died.

=======

Long chapter this time! Let me know what you all think.

Thanks to everyone that is reading and providing support!