The white ceiling of the Jujutsu High infirmary was the first thing I saw. It was steady, sterile, and maddeningly silent. It wasn't spinning, and it wasn't wreathed in the violet flames of a dying star. For a long moment, the silence was so absolute I thought the [Event Horizon] had finally claimed my hearing along with my sanity.
Then, the world rushed back in. The smell of antiseptic, the hum of a distant air conditioner, and the sharp, bitter scent of Shoko's cigarette smoke from the hallway. I was alive. Against every logic of the Zenin clan and the laws of cursed energy, I was still here.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[REST PERIOD ACTIVE: HP & CE RECOVERY AT 200%]
[CURRENT SYNC RATE: 11.8% (COOLDOWN)]
[DURABILITY OF SOUL: FRAGILE]
I tried to sit up, but a white-hot spike of pain in my ribs pinned me back to the sheets. I gasped, my lungs feeling like they were filled with crushed glass. I looked down to see my chest wrapped in heavy, reinforced bandages. My hands—the ones that had channeled the void—were covered in a thick, cooling medicinal salve, wrapped in gauze that looked like a mummy's.
"Don't move, Alley-Cat. You'll pop the stitches, and Shoko will be grumpy for a week. You don't want to see her when she's grumpy."
I turned my head slowly. Nobara was sitting in a metal chair next to my bed. She looked far better than she had on that blood-stained mountain road. Her forehead was covered by a clean bandage, and she had swapped her shredded uniform for a fresh Tokyo High tracksuit. She was focused on peeling an apple with a small paring knife, the curls of red skin falling into a neat pile. Her movements were precise, but if I looked closely, I could see the slight, rhythmic tremor in her fingers.
"Nobara," I croaked. My voice sounded like it had been dragged over a mile of gravel. "You're... you're okay."
"Of course I'm okay," she snapped, though her eyes flickered toward me for a fraction of a second, carrying a softness she would never admit to. She tossed a slice of apple onto my lap. "I'm not the one who decided to play 'Lord of the Gravity' and buy a cursed cloak that weighs as much as a small apartment building. Do you have any idea how hard it was to drag you into Shoko's office?"
I looked at my character screen, the blue light reflecting in the dim room. The [Cloak of the Fallen King] icon was grayed out—it was a temporary manifestation, a one-time emergency purchase—but the [Gravity Anchor] remained as a permanent passive skill in my ledger.
"I had to," I whispered, the memory of the silver threads returning. "Ume... she was going to take your soul, Nobara. She called you 'common-born.' She was going to end you just to get to me."
Nobara stopped peeling. The knife stayed frozen against the white flesh of the apple. The room went silent, save for the ticking of the clock on the wall. She didn't look at me, but I watched as her ears turned a deep shade of pink.
"I know," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Gojo told me. He said you spent every 'point' you had in that weird head-system of yours just to make sure that Weaver didn't touch me. He said you anchored your soul to mine."
She finally looked up, her brown eyes fierce, searching mine for something I wasn't sure I was ready to show. "Why, Ren? You're the Vessel. You're the one the world is trying to kill. You could have bought a weapon to erase her. You could have bought a way to teleport back here safely. Why spend everything on a shield for me?"
"Tell her the truth, boy," Valthazar's voice was a faint, lazy drawl in the back of my mind, stripped of its usual malice for once. "Tell her you're obsessed. Tell her that even a King needs a reason to keep the world from burning."
'I just... I couldn't let her touch you,' I thought, my heart thumping against my bandaged ribs. 'That's it.'
Before I could find the words to say it out loud, a loud, digital ping echoed in my mind—a sound so sharp and intrusive it made me wince and clutch my head. It wasn't the usual system notification. This was something else. Something global.
The Great Betrayal
> [URGENT: SYSTEM-WIDE NOTIFICATION]
> [THE DARK MARKET HAS OPENED]
> [TARGET IDENTIFIED: REN, THE VOID-WALKER]
> [ISSUED BY: THE ZENIN ELDERS & THE HIGHER CIRCLE]
> [BOUNTY: 50,000,000 YEN / 10,000 OP / 1 GRADE 1 CURSED TOOL]
> [CURRENT STATUS: FUGITIVE]
>
My blood ran cold. The screen didn't just show the text; it flickered into a live, top-down map of the Jujutsu High campus. A red pulsing dot sat directly on the infirmary. My location was being broadcasted to every sorcerer, every curse user, and every "System Contractor" in the country.
"Ren? What is it? You look like you're seeing your own funeral," Nobara asked, standing up so quickly the chair screeched against the linoleum.
"The Zenin," I whispered, the violet light beginning to flicker at the edges of my vision despite my exhaustion. "They didn't just send Ume. They've put a price on my head. Nobara... anyone with a cursed technique... they can see me now. I'm a walking payday."
Suddenly, the heavy wooden door to the infirmary didn't just open—it slammed against the wall. Gojo Satoru walked in. He wasn't smiling. There was no mention of sweets, no jokes about my injuries. His blindfold was back on, but the air around him was so tense it felt like it would crack the windows.
"Pack your bags," Gojo said, his voice flat. "Or don't. Just get moving."
"Gojo-sensei, what's going on?" Nobara demanded, stepping between him and my bed.
"The Higher-ups just used the Nagano incident to declare Ren a 'threat to national security,'" Gojo said, looking at the tablet in his hand. "They've revoked my legal protection over him. As of five minutes ago, Ren is no longer a student. He's a Special Grade target. And the Zenin have leaked his location to every mercenary in Kyoto."
[NEW QUEST: THE LONG RUN]
* Objective: Escape the Jujutsu High campus.
* Warning: 3 'Contracted' sorcerers are already past the secondary gate.
* Reward: Survival & Unlock: [The Outlaw's Path].
Gojo looked at me, and for a split second, I saw a flash of blue through the gap in his blindfold. "I can't fight this one for you, Ren. If I interfere with the Higher-ups now, they'll use it as an excuse to purge the whole school. You have to get out. Now."
I looked at my gauzed hands. I was weak. I was broke. And the whole world was coming for me.
Nobara didn't hesitate. She grabbed her hammer and her bag, standing by my bed. "Well? What are you waiting for, Alley-Cat? I'm not letting you go off and get yourself killed alone. I still haven't had that expensive ramen."
"Nobara, you can't," I protested. "If you come with me, you're a fugitive too."
She smirked, that fierce, beautiful glint returning to her eyes. "I've always wanted to see the world. Being a fugitive sounds more interesting than sitting in a classroom listening to Yaga yell. Now move!"
I stood up, the [Gravity Anchor] keeping me upright as the room tilted.
"The hunt begins, Ren," Valthazar whispered, his voice full of dark anticipation. "Let's see how many of them we have to crush before they learn to fear the Void."