As the splintered remains of the door clattered to the floor, Gojo's blue eyes took in the scene with casual disinterest.
The inn was a wreck, tables overturned and crates smashed. On one side stood a woman in a revealing black outfit, a bloodthirsty smile gracing her lips.
On the other, a boy with dark hair was slumped against a girl with silver hair, his clothes stained with blood and his breathing ragged.
The three conscious figures, Emilia, Subaru, and the woman, Elsa, all turned their heads in unison. Their eyes widened at the sight of the impossibly tall man with stark white hair, casually holding the familiar blond girl like a sack of potatoes.
"So," Gojo began, his voice echoing slightly in the tense room, a playful lilt belying the seriousness of the situation. "Whose kids are you causing trouble here, huh?"
Elsa let out a chilling, musical laugh. "Hahaha! Not only running away at first, but then coming back like a good little pet, and bringing your owner with a fresh meal for me? It seems I was wrong about you. You're not just some petty slum rat… you're a good pet, too."
Gojo strolled further into the inn, his boots crunching on debris as he set Felt down. "Felt! What are you doing?! I told you to run away!" Subaru yelled, his voice strained with pain and panic. "Why did you come back? And who is this guy?! Don't you know how dangerous this woman is?!"
"What are you saying?!" Felt shot back, her voice filled with furious indignation. "He's here to help us! I was screaming for help, and he offered! That's why I brought him here!" She paused, glancing at the man who had carried her. "Or, he brought me here. Whatever! He's here to help!"
"Well, it is a little mean ignoring me when I'm standing right here, talking amongst yourselves," Gojo chimed in, cutting through their argument with a lazy grin. He gestured towards Subaru and Emilia. "I presume you're her friends." He then turned his gaze to Felt, his grin widening. "And hey, kid, let's be clear… you weren't asking for help." He chuckled. "You were crying for it."
In that split second of distraction, Elsa saw her chance. A blur of black, she lunged, her curved blade aimed directly at Emilia's stomach.
Gojo's eyes, however, missed nothing.
Before anyone could even blink, a strange, unseen force yanked the silver-haired girl sideways, pulling her directly to Gojo's side as if attached to an invisible string.
"Ah-hmm! What is happening?!" Emilia gasped, stumbling slightly as she found herself suddenly next to the stranger.
"Now that's just rude, hmmm… goth lady," Gojo said, his tone one of mild disappointment. "I was talking here."
Elsa's smile didn't falter. It only widened, revealing a predatory hunger. "I would very much like to see your bowels."
Gojo tilted his head, feigning confusion. "My what?"
She didn't bother to answer. She was already moving, a shadow sprinting across the ruined floor, her blade a silver arc aimed squarely at his stomach.
"Look out! She's going to slice your stomach open!" Subaru screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
Elsa's attack was a hair's breadth from its target.
And then, the impossible happened. Her blade, a weapon that had effortlessly cut through flesh and stone, simply… stopped.
It hung suspended in the air, inches from Gojo's uniform, unable to move a millimeter further.
A small, bored sigh escaped Gojo's lips, followed by a condescending grin. He flicked his fingers, and the same invisible force that had saved Emilia now slammed into Elsa, sending her flying across the room to crash into a pile of wooden crates with a sickening crunch.
Elsa coughed, a trickle of blood dripping from her lips, but her sadistic smile remained. "What happened? I hit you… didn't I?"
"You didn't," Gojo stated simply. He gently pushed Felt towards her friends. "Go take care of your friend. I'll deal with her."
"Ahahaha! How amazing! A new toy, coming to play all by itself," Elsa purred, rising from the wreckage as if she hadn't just been thrown across the room. "Doesn't matter. If I missed the last time, I won't miss this time."
She lunged again. And again. And again. She was a whirlwind of deadly motion, her blades striking from every conceivable angle.
Yet each time, the result was the same. She felt the impact, a strange, yielding resistance, but when she looked, Gojo stood perfectly unharmed, not even flinching. It was maddening, like trying to stab a ghost.
After the seventh failed attempt, Elsa finally skidded to a halt, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The smile was gone from her face, replaced by a mask of pure, frustrated confusion.
"What is going on?" she demanded, her voice losing its seductive edge. "Why aren't you getting injured?! I'm hitting you every single time!"
Her senses, honed by countless battles, told her the blade was making contact. It was striking something.
But the man before her remained untouched. It was unknowingly frustrating; an unsolvable, infuriating puzzle.
Gojo chuckled, stretching his arms above his head as if bored. "It's pretty simple. You just missed every time, so it didn't injure me at all."
Elsa didn't understand. She felt it. She sensed it. And this man was standing there, telling her to her face that she was missing?
Her strategy altered in an instant. The smile returned, more predatory than before. She abandoned her attack on Gojo and instead launched herself towards Emilia and the injured Subaru.
Before her blade could even get close, Gojo was simply… there. He appeared between her and her targets without a sound, a white-haired wall disrupting her attack.
She twisted in mid-air, landing gracefully on the wall and using it to spring towards Felt by the ruined doorway.
And yet again, Gojo was already there, standing in front of the girl, his hands tucked casually in his pockets.
"Teleportation?! Really?!" Subaru shouted, a look of disbelief and envy on his face. "That's the cheat skill I should have gotten when I came here!"
"Not quite teleportation," Gojo said without looking back, his eyes fixed on Elsa. "But something like that." He addressed the assassin directly.
"So, goth girl, wanna surrender now? Tell me why you're trying to kill these kids and maybe I'll let you walk away."
"No," Elsa hissed.
The next instant, Gojo was directly in front of her, their faces inches apart. Elsa's animalistic instincts screamed at her to retreat, but as she tried to leap back, an invisible pressure pulled her forward, locking her in place.
Gojo's hand shot out, grabbing her wrist in an unbreakable grip. His other fist blurred, burying itself in her gut with a sickening thud.
Blood spewed from her mouth, arcing through the air only to stop dead, suspended inches from Gojo's face by his invisible shield.
He followed up with two more lightning-fast punches to her torso before delivering a devastating kick straight to her smiling, bloody face.
The force of the impact sent Elsa flying backward like a ragdoll. She crashed clean through the wooden wall of the inn and disappeared into the evening gloom outside.
Silence fell over the room, broken only by Subaru's ragged breathing. He and Felt stared at the hole in the wall, their mouths hanging wide open in utter shock.
They had just watched this strange man dismantle the Bowel Hunter as if she were a misbehaving child.
"H-How… how did you do that?" Subaru stammered.
Felt nodded vigorously, her eyes wide with awe. "Yeah! What kind of divine blessing do you have?!"
….
A/N: So, How was it? I decided to keep subaru bcz as someone said in the previous chapter, without subaru a rezero fic isn't that great. Subaru misunderstanding on gojo will go a long way. So enjoy it.