At once, a black canvas stretched out from behind my body.
Before Mei could even react, it had already enwrapped her and shut close.
She tried to make some sort of action… anything…
But it was pointless.
Her movements quickly slowed to a halt, her eyes widening in shock.
Countless purple and white lines stretched towards her, the world forming as it did so.
Then, they all disappeared.
Replaced by a black hole, whose beauty was immeasurable.
Besides it seemed to be like outer space, with countless galaxies spanning in the distance.
And then white paint splashed onto the wondrous canvas, marring this wonderful painting. Yet it seemed to fit right in despite this disturbance.
"Unlimited Void."
I whispered gently.
I knew that Mei would have no problems hearing me even from here.
"Normally, this attack would indiscriminately harm all those who aren't in contact with me."
I slowly walked over to Mei's prone figure.
"However, I've made some adjustments to it."
"I've tweaked things a bit to do just enough to keep you stunned, but not enough to damage your brain or your soul."
"It would be a bit troublesome using it otherwise. I don't want to lobotomise you after all."
No reply.
I didn't expect one anyways.
The all encompassing effect of Unlimited Void was something even a Herrscher like Mei would find it hard to overcome.
By this time, I had arrived in front of her.
"You should be feeling it now, right?"
"The effects of my ability."
"An almost infinite amount of information rushing into your brain."
I put a hand on her shoulder.
"Normally, I'd gloat and explain it in much more detail but…"
"This is my first time so…"
A wild grin stretched on my face as I cocked my fist back.
"I'm going to need to be a bit hasty with this!"
I slammed my fist in her direction.
And for a moment, I swore I saw her flinch slightly.
That didn't hinder me however as I continued.
Crack.
My fist collided with her wing…
Fractures appeared on them as they…
Shatter.
As if on cue, the world around us returned to normal.
Pieces of Mei's violet energy wings were like glass, as their fragments fell into the air, slowly dissipating.
Similarly, the canvas of my domain was broken as well, in a manner not so much different from Mei's wings.
The Herrscher of Thunder went limp immediately, causing me to hold onto her for safety.
"Careful there. That was quite a mindblowing experience huh?"
"... I want to stab you again…"
"Oh. You recovered pretty quickly. I thought that you would go rest for a bit after I broke those wings. They looked like they held most of your energy."
She didn't reply.
Instead, her eyes were slightly unfocused as she leaned her head on my chest.
It seems that she didn't get out of it so scotfree after all.
Good thing I went really really conservative with my output then.
I patted her arm.
"Oi… Mei…"
"..."
"Mei~"
"..."
"Oh Queen of Thund-"
"What is it?" She bit out in annoyance. "If you're going to gloat then zip it."
"Nah. I just wanted to ask you to hold tight."
She raised her head up to look at me in confusion.
I gave a toothy grin in response.
"I'm outta energy too."
I'm just going to say that I wish I had a camera right now.
Her expression was priceless.
Unfortunately, my body went limp as well as Limitless sputtered out of existence beneath me.
And immediately we were sent spiralling down from the troposphere.
The winds messed up our hair as they were chaotically dancing in the wind. Mei's body was below mine when we fell so I was facing her from above while she was facing me from below.
Not at all bothered by this, I couldn't help but crack another joke.
"I think Skyfall would be pretty fitting for our situation right now, no?"
"We're going to die and you're thinking about another woman?" the other Mei's exasperation showed through her speech.
"Let the sky fall~"
"Oh my gosh…"
She sighed.
"I suppose… that if we are about to die… When it crumbles?"
"That's the spirit, Mei!!"
"Ah, I do have something to ask you though. It's been on my mind for a while."
She looked at me right in the eyes.
"Why do you call me that? You clearly know that I'm the Herrscher. The real Mei is still trapped inside somewhere."
"That's simple." I gave her a closed eyed smile. "Aren't you Mei as well?"
"W-what? You can't be serious! What do you mean by that?"
I sighed. "All that physics knowledge in your head and you can't even understand a bit of English?"
"We are speaking Japanese."
"Anyways." I moved away from that joke. "I said that because… even though you say all those things about her…"
"In the end…"
"She's you, and you're her."
"You were born to protect her, weren't you?"
"When she was weak, you'd be her strength."
"When she'd cry and shut down, you'd fight for her."
"So…"
"You're the manifestation of Mei's strength, aren't you?"
Her eyes were wide open in shock. She tried to do something to answer, anything really.
But all that could come out of her mouth was a simple, "You knew?"
"Of course. You didn't really hide it that well." I stuck out my tongue.
"Tch. Can't you be even the least bit serious?" She snorted.
"Sorry. It's a bit of a habit." I laughed. My eyes softened as I looked at her. Then, before I could even control myself, I put a hand on her cheek, causing her to yelp in surprise.
"Y-you! What do you think you're-"
"It must have been hard for you huh?"
"..."
Silence.
She didn't say anything, but the emotions on her face told me all I needed to know.
Any remnants of the visage she had as someone strong and unbreaking, could not help but shatter at this moment.
Her breathing spiked and her eyes reddened as a tiny tear slid down her cheek.
"Hey, don't cry!" I said in slight panic. "Shouldn't this be a happy thing?"
She didn't answer that question.
Instead, a smile faced me.
Not an arrogant one, nor a teasing one.
It was genuine.
From the bottom of her heart.
"Thank you, Gojo."
It was as if she was releasing all of her emotions with those words at the moment.
And I could understand it.
Imagine for all of those years, there were people around you, but you were still alone.
Your father treats you like a danger.
Your friends don't acknowledge you.
And even your own other self is somewhat afraid of you.
That…
That would be quite sad right?
So I hugged her.
"I'm sorry. For all of this, Mei."
"I know."
Her hands gripped my back.
"Dying now… wouldn't be so bad…"
"Huh? Who said we were dying now?"
"What?"
"We won't be dying anytime soon haha!" I laughed. I pointed at the distance. "Look there!"
The both of us looked in the direction to see Bronya coming over quickly. Project Bunny 19C had some sort of thing on it that looked like it would try to break our fall.
"We… are going to survive?"
"Of course! I've taken all things into account before this battle started ahahha!!"
She looked at my face innocently, as the gears turned in her head. In the end, she sighed as she looked away.
"I get it. You win."
?
"Sorry, I might not have heard you properly. Can you say that again?"
A smile made its way onto her slightly teary face before a small laugh broke out.
"I said you win, you idiot."
"I'll admit it. You're really strong. And I like that about you…"
It was her turn to put a hand on my face.
"Gojo Satoru."
Mei Chapter Pt 1.
End.