Chapter 44: Training (2)
'Toji... the disgrace of the Zen'in clan, the sorcerer killer and the man who showed me how powerful a Heavenly Pact user can become. He was the one who gave me the idea to take a Heavenly Pact. The overwhelming skill, agility and strength he displayed that day when he attacked the Star Platinum vessel. It was something that I would of never imagined possible without cursed energy. He showed me the epitome of what a Heavenly Pact can truly become.
Pacts were at the end of the day exchanges, agreements from different people and yet a Heavenly Pact did not need the agreement from the other party. It was a power granted to someone the moment they were born with no way to get rid of them.
Except now that is, with my cursed technique I can steal Heavenly Pacts from others. Though it is much more preferable to have them give it to me. But none of my Heavenly Pacts come close to Toji's.
They all are much weaker and limiting, they are more for support use. An addition to my repertoire but not a main strength of mine. Which is why when I heard of Maki, I was elated. I thought that if I could get that pact then I could step into the realm of the strongest.
And yet when I saw the pact... I felt that I didn't want to take it away. Or more like I stopped trying, pacts were tied to ones soul and since she was a twin than taking it away would be far more difficult since I had to figure out a way to take it out from Mai and Maki's soul.
But I also thought that I wanted to keep my cursed technique and cursed energy. I was prepared to throw it away and yet when I was finally at the fated day... I stepped back.
The real reason though, the reason why I decided to leave it be.
Was so that I could witness the very birth of Toji's successor.
So show me Maki, prove to me that my decision wasn't wrong. That you are worth teaching.'
"You can do it, Maki!" For the first time, Arai heard Mai's voice since taking her in. She had never even uttered a single word when in his presence and Maki who heard her sister's encouragement found herself more invested than before.
Maki with her weapon in hand slashed down at Arai, with her superior strength she managed to push him down as his footing was slipping. With the newfound opportunity, Maki swung the back of the stick and hit the bottom of Arai's jaw.
"Hah! That all you got old man!" The confident smile of hers hadn't changed throughout the ordeal as she rushed at him again not letting him recover.
'And maybe fix that attitude.' Arai rubbed his jaw in pain. Her strike would of dislocated a man's jaw despite her not having enough space to properly swing it. 'But that is nowhere near 'his' skill. Show me Maki, show me that you can replicate the skills that he had shown me. Something that only your Heavenly Pact can do.'
"Don't wander in your dreams when fighting me!" They clashed once again diagonally and Arai was being pushed back. 'I feel like my muscles are going to get ripped apart! She really is strong for a 9 year old but-.'
Her wooden staff was about to hit his side but he managed to bring his knee up blocking the blow. With the height difference, he used his superior weight to push down her stick to the ground and used his elbow to hit her in the face while following up with another hit on her with his wooden stick. Blood spilled from her nose and mouth as she stumbled back.
Maki touched her nose in shock and saw the blood on her hands. She wiped the blood off her nose and snickered. "What a shitty ass dad, not even going easy on their daughter."
"Sorry but I don't go easy on anyone, even kids." Arai retorted, he was not going easy on her. A sorcerer could die at any moment, judging an opponent's strength by their appearance would be a fatal mistake even for the most powerful of sorcerers.
Maki who realized this pondered over what she should do. It wasn't easy beating Arai, Arai without cursed energy wasn't anything special but the skills and experience he had gained over the years made him be able to keep up with Maki.
'I guess I shouldn't have looked down on a first-grade. Let's keep going, right now in stamina, strength and agility I have the upper-hand. If I just keep putting up pressure I'm sure I'm going to win.' Maki had superhuman strength even as a child, the fact that Arai who had none of that without using cursed energy and was still able to fight her was amazing to her.
'Every time I clash with her, I feel like a tractor is trying to rip off the muscles in my arm. I think I have a grasp of what she can do. Its time to finish things up.' Arai prepared to move but stopped as a noise rang throughout the yard.
*Ring, ring!*
The sound of a phone call was heard by Arai making him stop just as he was about to engage. With a heavy sigh, he dropped the weapon he was holding and walked towards his bag he had left next to Mai.
"Hey come back here! We're not done yet!"
"Yes, we are. It's over, we'll take about this later."
Maki yelled at him, the battle had been interrupted due to the call making her frustrated. Maki wanted to prove to Arai that she was worth teaching, no she wanted to make him want to teach her. To become a sorcerer, a powerful one and yet now just because of a phone call her battle was interrupted. Him denying her request made her brim with anger.
"Masuru, why are you calling?"
"Well I need to tell you the time and place you need to be for the auction."
"You can just text me the info. Whatever just tell me since you already called." Arai sighed, he was tired of dealing with underworld affairs and wanted no longer any part with it. Frankly most people wouldn't be able to do that. Leaving the underworld like that was difficult but with his authority and reputation, it was fairly a simple task. If he wanted to leave then he'd do just that, most people would even be happy as there was one less obstacle to them.
Arai's danger sense warned him right before he caught an attack aiming at his head. His eyes glared down at the assailant. "I said to wait." His voice annoyed as he looked at Maki having an angry face.
"When you are in a fight, there's no break."
Maki was the impatient child between the twins. Her desire was to show up to the one who looked down on her abusing her sister and her. A constant loop of pain everyday. Now, Maki was someone who hated her family name and everything that represented it. But most of all, she hated those who looked down on her.
"You used cursed energy to block, didn't you." Maki's voice sounded as though she would at a movie theatre jump out of the chair in excitement.
"Yeah, so you win."
"Not yet!"
Maki didn't stop as she broke out of Arai's grip and swung her weapon whilst Arai diverted all of her attacks elsewhere with one hand.
"When is it going to be?"
"8pm in 2 days at the building Oiwa. The building is big so you can't miss it. Go to the underground section with the ticket I sent you in mail and you'll be able to enter. It's a place where the powerful gather so there's definitely going to be some conflict. I'm still surprise you're going. Don't you hate these kind of things."
"I'll be there." Arai closed the call not wanting to answer. A certain midget wasn't letting him rest.
"Don't ignore me, Arai." Her voice now ice cold and low as she lost the smile on her face. Now she was truly pissed at how Arai ignored her even having a normal conversation disregarding her existence like it was a pebble in the passing wind.
Arai knocked the wooden stick out of Maki's hand and proceeded to grab her head.
"Let go!" She screamed out as she struggled to break out of his grip. Arai's eyes glowed green before dimming down once again. He let a sigh and chopped the back of her neck knocking her out. He looked to the side to see Mai up on her feet with her eyes wide opened and her hands clenched. He felt the hate in those eyes yet also the passive nature behind it. That single moment was enough for Arai to understand her.
She was like him before, a girl full of fuel to keep on going forward yet is too scared to actually take a step. Needing someone to give them a helping hand just to cross the street.
His teeth clicked, rubbing his blue hair in frustration.
Arai was left with just one question.
"Just how the hell did Gojo raise a kid?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone