"I renounce foresight and certainty. I will never know what strikes me next. In exchange, my body shall move before thought. and my cursed energy shall roar beyond its limits."
I evoke my first Blinding Vow since I came to this world. I didn't know how I couldn't predict this. I would have run away if not for the fact that Maki is injured. Maybe it was arrogance that led to this outcome.
Maybe I thought everything was under control. Oh, how wrong I was! I forget the first thing about the world Gega created; it's a despair-inducing world.
"Mai, keep Maki safe." I could only say that much as I looked at the Grade 1 curse that stood against me.
---
A few moments earlier
The graveyard shouldn't have felt crowded.
Yet every step between the leaning headstones carried weight—like unseen eyes were stacked on our backs. The air was damp, old, and saturated with lingering resentment that never quite dispersed. Even the grass looked tired, bent in directions it shouldn't have been.
From the reports I'd skimmed in Naobito's office, this place was supposed to be safe. Low-level curses. Residual junk. The kind of environment senior sorcerers dumped rookies into so they could pad experience without risking lives.
A bot lobby.
That assumption shattered the moment it appeared.
White skin—too white, like bone polished raw. No face. No eyes. No nose. Just a stretched, vertical mouth packed with yellowed teeth, splitting its head from chin to forehead. Wrinkles radiated outward like stress cracks in porcelain.
It didn't crawl out of the ground.
It was simply there.
Maki was in front.
The curse lunged.
There was no warning—just sudden movement and killing intent compressed into a single direction. Its arm elongated unnaturally, joints bending wrong as it slashed toward her chest.
"MAKI—!"
The world fractured.
I immidely Projection Sorcery activated.
I burned through them all in an instant.
My body followed a pre-written sequence, sliding across wet grass, feet never slipping, breath held mid-inhale. I collided with Maki, twisting us sideways as the curse's strike tore through the air where her heart had been.
Pain flared along my ribs, but I didn't stop.
I shoved her backward—hard—right into Mai's arms.
"BACK! "I shouted. "NOW!"
Mai stumbled but caught her. Her eyes were wide, pupils shaking, but she didn't freeze. That alone told me how far she'd come.
I turned.
The curse had already reoriented.
Too fast for something listed as "low-level."
It lunged again.
I forced another sequence—shorter this time.
Frame. Frame. Frame.
I slipped behind it, momentum carrying me forward, and drove my heel into its spine with everything I had.
The impact rang through my leg like kicking concrete.
The curse staggered but didn't fall.
"Shit."
I drew my sword mid-motion, cursed energy humming faintly along the blade, and slashed across its torso. The cut landed but I felt resistance, felt the blade bite—
—and then the flesh rippled.
But the wound closed immediately, with a sensory scene.
The curse twisted unnaturally, its jaw opening wider as it snapped backward toward me. I barely ducked in time, teeth clamping shut inches from my neck. I saw my life flashing before my eyes. My bladder almost became weak.
I rolled away, breathing raggedly.
This wasn't right.
God, I want to wake up from this nightmare.
I activated projection sorcery again—forced speed compensating for lack of strength. I danced around it, striking from blind angles, cutting, kicking, slashing, and testing.
Nothing stuck.
Every hit slowed it for a fraction of a second at best before it adapted and countered. Its movements grew sharper, more efficient, like it was learning me.
My chest burned.
My right thigh screamed every time I pushed off.
The sequences in my head started slipping—frames overlapping, timing going sloppy. Projection Sorcery punished mistakes brutally. One wrong assumption and—
My foot landed half a beat late.
Fuck!
My body froze mid-step.
"Naoya!" Mai screamed.
The curse didn't hesitate to exploit the weakness.
It slammed into me, hurling me across the graveyard like a rag doll. My back smashed into a stone marker, the impact driving air from my lungs in a choking gasp.
Pain exploded everywhere at once.
I slid to the ground, my vision blurring, like the static in old televisions. But mine was red due to blood.
Move.
MOVE. DAMN IT. STOP BEING A PUSSY.
I tried to stand but failed nevertheless.
The curse turned toward Mai.
"No—!"
Mai raised her gun, hands shaking but determined.
I saw the future clearly in that instant.
If she fired, the curse would shift targets.
If it targeted her, I couldn't reach her in time. And they both would die.
"DON'T!" I shouted, coughing blood. "MAI—STOP!"
She hesitated. Just for a second.
That second saved her life.
The curse lunged toward me instead—perhaps sensing weakness or perhaps prioritizing the one who'd hurt it most. Its arm speared forward, aimed straight at my chest.
I had nothing left.
My legs wouldn't answer.
Projection sorcery wouldn't activate—my mind is too slow, my body too damaged.
A stupid death.
In a graveyard. Quite the irony. I walked straight into my grave, it seems.
If I died and they survived, then they would live a life worse than hell in the Zenin clan, and if I survived and they died, then there won't be recovery for me, who killed two innocent children.
So with no other choice—
I invoke binding vows.
God, please help me make a good one. At least give some luck to this one. I know that I complained a lot at people even though I know nothing about JJK, but did it warrant me having such terrible faith? So please give some luck to this side also. My previous life was punishment enough, right? At least In this, Please let me achieve My 'cool-single-uncle' dream.
~~
Bonus Ch for 100 power stone, while haven't reach the milestone exactly but I know you guys will reach there, what 9 power stone anyway?
I like the idea of people who reading my novel leaving their make on my book so Give me lot of comments and Power stones. Give me inspection. Give me reviews.
POWER STONE, GIVE IT ME.
100 POWER STONE FOR BONUS CHAPTER
Posted some extra 30 chapter in patron, if you are interested check it out, link is the synopsis.