#zenin au-naoya meets canon cast

[yuesya]

“… The hell is this?”

Zenin Naoya looks out into the ruins of an empty city that seems like something straight out of one of Mai-chan’s favorite post-apocalypse films, and frowns hard.

KrrrgkHSSS-!

“Quiet,” he snaps, and stomps down, twisting his heel.

Beneath his feet, the tricky cursed spirit responsible for teleporting him to god-knows-where groans pitifully one last time, and then falls silent. Naoya would like nothing better than to put it out of its misery immediately, but given that he currently has no idea where he is and the cursed spirit is the one responsible for bringing him here… well, if need be, he’ll need to force it to bring him back, somehow.

Naoya sighs, and returns his attention to his surroundings again.

… He’s still in Japan, that’s for certain. A lot of buildings look halfway-to-completely destroyed, but there are still street signs written in Japanese that Naoya can make out.

But it’s quite strange. Because such devastating destruction on this scale is something that people would notice, and Naoya has not heard anything about any cities being leveled by cursed spirits or curse users recently.

The last one who’d attempted to do such a thing had been swiftly torn to pieces by Shiki-sama. Their decapitated head –which remained alive and animated, somehow– currently still hangs over the Disciplinary Pit. There was a marked decrease in the number of people who dared to test Shiki-sama’s patience following her new addition to the Pit.

Naoya has never been cast into the Pit before, and he has no desire to change things on that front. Not just because the new addition to it is creepy, but also because if Naoya was cast into the Pit, then it would mean that Shiki-sama was disappointed in him. Couldn’t have that happening now, could he?

… Shiki-sama wouldn’t throw him into the Pit if he was late coming back from a mission, right?

Naoya pauses, and scowls. This was–

…!

The young man whirls around.

There’s –there’s some strange cursed energy that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, apropos of nothing. Thick and roiling, all bloodthirst and malice, overwhelming and cloying in such a… in such an unrefined way. Naoya remembers Shiki-sama releasing her cursed energy, less a distinct weight pressing down upon an individual and more just the simple surety of you are going to die, and although this cursed energy that Naoya is sensing is… considerable… it still does not hold a candle to his clan head.

But it is definitely unnatural, and not the sort of thing that your average sorcerer can deal with. Most people are weaklings, and as such must look to those who are strong to protect them. People who are powerful, unstoppable forces of nature –like Shiki-sama. Toji-kun.

(And one day, Naoya will also be amongst them. He knows he will be. It’s why Shiki-sama chose him as her heir, isn’t it?)

Naoya locks the cursed spirit beneath his feet in a trap-barrier, then bolts for the source of the unsettling cursed energy. Special Grade, definitely. Was it responsible for the destruction that Naoya saw in his current surroundings?

Naoya rounds the corner and–

“Hah?”

… What the fuck?

Fushiguro Megumi is the source of this vile cursed energy? And he’s… fighting Maki-chan? Wait, why does Maki-chan have burn scares all over her body? And who’s the pink-haired boy jumping into the fray, too?

The sight is so surreal that Naoya finds himself staring at the sight for a moment, dumbfounded.

But the details click together swiftly enough; that’s not Megumi-kun’s energy that Naoya is sensing, and Megumi-kun isn’t fighting using any of the techniques that Toji-kun had taught him. Megumi-kun also has a wide, deranged grin splitting his face –which is not an expression that Naoya thinks Megumi-kun would ever be caught with.

That’s not Megumi-kun.

… There’s something possessing Megumi-kun?

Holy shit. There’s still someone this suicidal out there? Didn’t they realize that Toji-kun would absolutely murder them for this?

Cursed energy swells, and rises. A different cursed energy signature –one that does not belong to the combatants, or to Naoya. One that causes the surrounding temperature to drop drastically, and between one moment and the next, there is a gargantuan, towering wave of ice that sweeps out–

–primarily targeted at Maki-chan–

And Naoya moves.