The Church in Meteor City

A [watermark-only paragraph omitted]

Meteor City had never been described in much detail, even in the original Hunter manga.

Even as someone who had read parts of the manga, Su Wu only knew that Meteor City was divided into thirteen districts and governed by the Elder Council.

The farther in you went, the stronger the residents and the better their quality of life. The Phantom Troupe lived in one of those districts.

Which district, exactly? Unknown.

Who made up the Elder Council? Unknown.

In short, he knew nothing.

Still, as Su Wu made his way along, he noticed plenty of details.

For example, Inverted Cross Symbols were everywhere. Nearly every house had the same symbol carved into its doors, windows, and walls.

He remembered seeing similar marks on the Phantom Troupe members, too.

Chrollo had a particularly large number of Inverted Crosses—on his forehead, his earrings, even the back of his coat.

Of course, as he walked, the Six Eyes passively analyzed the people, buildings, and everything else in its field of view. His nose had bled more than once. He didn't even want to think about how much blood he'd lost; it felt like more than when he'd been freezing cold.

He was afraid that Meteor City's environment and residents wouldn't be what killed him. Instead, he might bleed to death from the strain of the Six Eyes.

Su Wu covered his nose with one hand as he thought.

Though the surroundings were filthy and chaotic, there seemed to be some kind of order beneath it all.

Aside from the mountains of garbage and the foul air, Meteor City also had forests.

And... children who were young, but not at all innocent or carefree.

The white-haired boy wore bloodstained clothes and walked along the less-than-clean street like a tourist.

At one point, he saw a group of people lining up in an orderly fashion and heading in the same direction.

None of them wore protective gear. They were dressed in nothing more than simple, tattered clothes.

That made sense. Protective gear was only necessary near the garbage heaps. Most of the time, it wasn't needed.

With nothing better to do, Su Wu joined the line and followed along.

Before long, a church came into view.

It was a small building, not some grand, towering structure.

A few figures dressed in black stood at the entrance, handing out something.

When it was Su Wu's turn, one of them shoved a bag into his hands, then gave him a black Inverted Cross.

"Remember your past, but never speak of it. No longer yearn for God's grace, and no longer expect God to save you."

"Even the most sacred places are nothing but nests of crime behind the scenes."

"Only strength, resilience, and an unyielding spirit can save you."

"Meteor City rejects no one. Everyone has the right to kill—or be killed—at will."

"Welcome to Meteor City."

After speaking to Su Wu, the man turned to the next person. This time, he said nothing, merely handing over a package in silence.

Su Wu watched, glanced at the package in his hands, then quietly walked away.

Meteor City wasn't quite what he'd imagined.

He'd pictured a place full of danger, where the residents were inhuman, lawless beasts.

But the Meteor City he was seeing now was somehow... normal.

There was even a church! And the church actually handed out supplies to Meteor City's residents!

The black Inverted Cross was always a symbol of rebellion, which fit with the blasphemous words the man had just spoken.

Judging by what he'd seen...

The Church represented by the Inverted Cross must have enormous influence in Meteor City. Its followers were everywhere.

After all, its symbol could be seen all over the place.

The package contained a few bags of bread, a bottle of milk, and two bottles of water. If he rationed them, he could probably make them last a week.

Did the Church hand out supplies once a week?

He got his answer from one of Meteor City's residents—in exchange for a bag of bread.

"The Church hands out supplies once every half month. The rest of the time, you have to find your own food."

"You can become a scavenger, or a vulture. Or you can work for the Church and handle garbage. If you're strong enough, you can join the Church or become one of the Upper District big shots' underlings."

The child, born in Meteor City, first hid the bread in his clothes. Only then did he put on the smile of someone who'd found a big mark—or a generous benefactor—and explain things to Su Wu.

"Scavengers and vultures?" Su Wu asked, puzzled.

"Scavengers are the ones who look through the garbage for useful things and sell them to people who need them. As for vultures..."

"Unlike scavengers, they'd rather go straight after people." The child's eyes filled with disgust as he said this.

It seemed that even in Meteor City, vultures weren't welcome.

Then the people he'd run into at the beginning must have been those so-called vultures. He'd been prey to them because they were short on food.

Su Wu thought this to himself, his expression nonchalant, with a hint of scorn.

As one of his old friends would have put it—he looked like he was asking for a beating.

[A watermark-only paragraph omitted]

"What district is this?" he continued.

"District 13, the outermost part of Meteor City. It has the most garbage and the least order." The child answered without hesitation.

"You're new here, right? If you're strong, you'd better get out of here soon. Otherwise..." The child looked at Su Wu.

"A lot of kids go missing around here every year," he warned.

The other boy was obviously an outsider. Apart from a little blood on his clothes, everything about him was clean and tidy. And... he was remarkably good-looking.

"How do I get out of Meteor City?" Su Wu asked.

"That's not something a nobody like me would know." The child shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

"But the people in the Upper District definitely know how to get out." He offered Su Wu one possible way.

"How do I get to the Upper District?"

"Just prove you're strong enough to live there. Fight your way up." The child pointed in a direction, his tone earnest.

"Got it." The white-haired, blue-eyed boy with dark markings nodded, as if he had complete confidence in himself.

He headed in the direction the child had indicated, his back radiating nonchalance and carelessness.

"How strong am I in the Hunter World?" Su Wu asked the system silently.

[No reference points have been found. Please make your own comparisons, host.] The system replied coldly.

"..." Su Wu started to say something, then stopped. In the end, he said nothing.

Forget it. The system had saved his life, after all. He could forgive it for that.

"Let's see what skills I can use right now—"

"Six Eyes, Dismantle, Cang..."

Dismantle and Cang could be used to attack, while the Six Eyes could analyze a fight.

He had three skills in total. Two of them, the Six Eyes and Cang, came from Gojo Satoru.

The Six Eyes were his eyes, a passive ability.

[Cang] was one of Gojo Satoru's common skills. Centered on the user, it used attraction to cause widespread destruction.

[Dismantle] was Ryomen Sukuna's skill, an invisible slash.

"My attack skills are enough for now, but... why didn't you give me Reverse Cursed Technique? That's what I need most!"

"How am I supposed to fight in a team battle without a healing skill?" Su Wu grumbled silently. The system didn't say a word.

[Reverse Cursed Technique] A healing ability from the Jujutsu world, equivalent to a skill that restores health.

[Limitless] was Gojo Satoru's Cursed Technique. When activated, no one could touch him. The closer they got, the slower they moved, until they were effectively motionless.

In a way, it was the use of attraction and repulsion. The skill [Cang] was created from the attraction aspect of the [Limitless] Cursed Technique.

"Forget it."

"I can't use Limitless or Reverse Cursed Technique, but I can use Cang... That makes no sense at all..."

A Curse User's skills were supposed to come from their own Cursed Technique. Normally, without a Cursed Technique, they couldn't use any skills. Yet for some reason, the system had made it so Su Wu couldn't use Limitless but could still use Cang...

But transmigration, reincarnation, and a system weren't exactly reasonable in the first place.

The existence of Gojo Satoru and Sukuna was just as unreasonable.

His very existence was full of things that made no sense.

"It seems like I could use Cang for high-speed movement, even teleportation... I could try it." Su Wu thought through how Cang worked.

Pick a target to move, determine the direction, compress space...

Like launching a cannonball: choose the direction, then fire...

In an instant, Su Wu vanished from where he stood.

The next moment, he reappeared as he slammed into a wall.

The wall collapsed on impact, burying him beneath the rubble.

"...I forgot. I need to use Cang when the way ahead is clear."

"Ow..."

He crawled out of the rubble, bleeding from a head wound and covered in small cuts. His clothes were stained with even more blood.

When he used Cang, hitting something was like a speeding cargo truck crashing into it.

The house had collapsed. By rights, the truck should have been smashed to pieces, too.

And Su Wu was the truck.

He hadn't used any defensive techniques. If he'd remembered to reinforce his body with Cursed Energy, he wouldn't have ended up in such a state.

Fortunately, his body was tough enough. Otherwise, he would have killed himself with that one move.

Even with his impressive physical strength, he was still a complete mess.

The noise of him knocking down a house drew nearby residents out of their homes. They watched the person responsible in silence.

"What are you looking at? Trash." The white-haired, blue-eyed boy shoved his hands into his pockets and swept his gaze over the silent, hostile crowd. Blood still dripped from his forehead, but he couldn't care less. His voice was full of provocation and contempt.

P.S. [Just to be clear, this isn't an invincible protagonist from the start, and it isn't a steamrolling story.]

This is my first novel. Please leave lots of comments—your enthusiasm keeps me writing. √