Naoya exhaled slowly, turning away from me.
"Enough," he said, eyes settling on Nobara.
"If the Vessel is this disappointing… let's see how much fight the girl has left."
Nobara stepped forward.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Her fingers closed around a nail.
"Touch me," she said calmly, eyes burning.
"And I'll show you why people scream when they say my name."
Behind her, something inside my chest snapped.
The System screamed.
[CRITICAL WARNING — SYNC RATE UNSTABLE]
[10.0% → 11.7%]
Naoya frowned.
"…What?"
The floor beneath him collapsed inward.
And I smiled through the blood.
The world didn't move in frames anymore.
For Naoya Zenin, reality was twenty-four frames per second—precise, controlled, predictable.
For me, it was a single, unbroken line.
The moment the ground gave way, I was already there.
Space folded inward. Dust hung in the air as my hand closed around his throat before his cursed energy could even spike. The impact sent a shockwave through the cafe, shattering what little glass remained.
Naoya's eyes widened as his feet left the ground.
"You're fast," I said. My voice wasn't right—too deep, layered with something ancient.
"But gravity doesn't care how fast you are."
His fingers twitched, trying to activate Projection Sorcery.
They stopped an inch from my skin.
The invisible pressure around him thickened, crushing inward, pinning him in place.
"Everything falls," I continued quietly.
Behind me, Nobara shouted my name.
Not angry.
Afraid.
That sound should have pulled me back.
Instead, the pressure tightened.
Yes, Valthazar murmured, his presence perfectly aligned with my own.
This is how a King stands.
Naoya clawed at my wrist, his face darkening as the gravity field deepened. The lights burst one by one, plunging the cafe into flickering shadows.
Warnings flooded my vision.
[SYNC RATE: 15.5%]
[WARNING: PERMANENT SOUL ALTERATION DETECTED]
My chest burned. The power was intoxicating. For a moment, I forgot everything else—the date, the crepes, the fear in Nobara's voice.
I only felt the urge to end him.
My fingers tightened on instinct.
I could feel his pulse against my palm—fast, panicked, fragile. It shocked me how easy it would be to close my hand just a little more. One mistake. One moment of weakness. And it would be over.
A small, terrified part of me screamed to stop.
Another part—the part that felt ancient and heavy—told me this was mercy. That the world would be quieter without him. Safer.
I hated how convincing that voice sounded.
My arms trembled, not from strain, but from indecision.
"Ren! Stop it!" Nobara cried. "Look at yourself!"
I didn't answer.
Valthazar didn't either.
Break him, he urged softly. Then nothing will ever threaten her again.
I squeezed.
Naoya gagged, his hands trembling uselessly.
Then—
A hand rested on my shoulder.
Light as a feather.
Immovable as a mountain.
"That's quite enough of that, Ren-kun," a cheerful voice said.
"If you kill him, the Zenin elders will drown me in paperwork. And I really hate paperwork."
The gravity field vanished instantly.
Naoya collapsed to the floor, coughing violently as the crushing weight disappeared.
The violet aura around me flickered.
"Valthazar," Gojo Satoru said calmly, his blindfold turned directly toward me.
"You're overstaying your welcome. Give me my student back."
For a heartbeat, the demon resisted.
Then he laughed.
Another time, Valthazar whispered as he retreated. You felt it. You'll come back to me.
The pressure vanished.
My legs gave out.
I didn't hit the ground.
Arms caught me.
Not Gojo's.
I looked up through blurred vision and saw Nobara holding me. Her face was pale, streaked with soot and tears she hadn't noticed falling.
"You idiot," she whispered, her voice shaking.
"You're a total, absolute idiot."
I tried to smile.
"I… I saved the crepes," I muttered.
Her grip tightened as the world finally went dark.
[QUEST COMPLETED: THE ELITE'S CHALLENGE]
[REWARD: 500 OP]
[SKILL UNLOCKED: GRAVITY WELL]
[CURRENT BALANCE: 850 OP]
I woke up to warmth.
Not heat—just steady, grounding warmth.
The scent of broth filled my nose. Pork. Garlic. Something rich and comforting. My head throbbed when I opened my eyes, but the pain felt… distant. Manageable.
A ramen shop.
Nobara sat beside me, her shoulder pressed against mine. She hadn't moved away.
[SYNC RATE STABILIZED: 12.5%]
[NEW TITLE ACQUIRED: PROTECTOR OF THE SOUL]
Effect: +10% Resistance to Demonic Influence when protecting a Loved One.
"You're awake," she muttered without looking at me.
"Unfortunately," I said hoarsely.
She elbowed me. Hard.
"Idiot."
Across the table, Gojo slurped his noodles loudly.
"You know," he said casually, "nearly rewriting gravity inside a cafe is usually frowned upon."
"I stopped," I said.
"Yes," he replied cheerfully. "Because we stopped you."
Silence.
"The Zenin family won't let this go," Gojo continued. "But Naoya will think twice before touching either of you again."
Nobara glanced at me.
"Ren," she said quietly. "Back there… when you held my hand. Was that you?"
I met her eyes.
"The confidence was him," I said honestly. "But the words? Those were all me."
She stared for a second—then punched my shoulder.
"Good. Because if that was a demon's pickup line, I'd have killed you."
She turned back to her ramen, smiling.
Gojo leaned forward, blindfold slipping just enough to reveal one blue eye.
I stared down at the bowl in front of me. The steam rose slowly, carrying the smell of broth and fat and salt, but my appetite was gone.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking.
I wrapped them around the bowl anyway, letting the heat bite into my palms. It grounded me. Reminded me I was still here. Still human.
Across from me, Nobara was eating like nothing had happened—too fast, too loud. She hadn't looked at me properly since we sat down.
I wondered if she was afraid to.
"The King is awake, Ren," he said lightly.
"And everyone wants his head."
I looked at the System glowing faintly in my vision.
"Ready," I said.
I thought about how close I'd come.
How easy it would've been to let go.
The power was still there, quiet now, like a sleeping animal. I didn't know if I'd ever fully control it.
But I knew one thing.
I didn't want to lose myself again.
[END OF VOLUME 1: THE OBSESSION AWAKENS]