Chapter 309: Chapter 309: The Road Ahead
Following the sense from his physical body, Suguru Geto and his companion quickly tracked Kenjaku's presence to the entrance of the Tomb of the Star Corridor.
In front of them was a dizzying sight—hundreds of overlapping doors. To protect Tengen, the doors constantly shifted positions. Even though Suguru had been here once before, he couldn't remember the exact location of the real entrance. He had to rely on the feeling from his body to check each door one by one.
Fushiguro Toji just stood off to the side, watching as Suguru frowned and paced between the doors, then finally let out a long sigh.
"Haah…"
He scratched his ear.
"We talked about a lot of stuff on the way here, but the bottom line is: we team up, beat the guy who stole your body, and take back the Prison Realm. That about right?"
"Exactly."
Suguru didn't turn around. He calmly responded to the black-haired man behind him.
"By the way, where's that guy?"
"That guy… oh, you mean Mr. Hayashizaki."
Suguru's gaze passed through the shifting doors.
"Back in Shinjuku, I sensed three strong presences fighting. Their strength was close to Gojo's, so I figured one of them had to be Mr. Hayashizaki."
"But who are the other two?" Suguru asked, still in his school uniform, looking puzzled.
"Haah…"
Fushiguro Toji let out a bored yawn.
"Maybe he's just fighting two people at once. Sounds like something he'd do, right?"
He tilted his head slightly, imagining a chibi version of Hayashizaki taking on two wolves at once.
That guy's strength really is off the charts.
*Click.*
Just as Fushiguro Toji was deep in thought, Geto Suguru opened the entrance to the Tombs of the Star. Looking at the darkness inside and the tangled trees growing on either side of the door, the black-haired man patted the cursed spirit wrapped around his neck.
"Ugh."
He pulled the Heaven-Piercing Spear, covered in spit, out of the cursed spirit's mouth, gave it a spin in his hand, and flung off the sticky fluid.
"Aren't you the sorcerer killer that Hayashizaki hired? Can you take this a bit more seriously?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Fushiguro Toji scratched his head, then forced a serious look on his face like he had no choice.
The sudden heavy gravity he took during the fight with Kenjaku hadn't hurt him at all—he was still full of energy.
Besides, this job was something Hayashizaki gave him. If he screwed it up, that guy might beat him up.
The black-haired man shrugged. He really didn't want to go through that again.
"Let's go."
They passed through the twisted dead forest, took an elevator down, and then walked through a long hallway. Following Geto Suguru's lead, they soon entered a pale, empty space.
Geto looked around. There were huge patches of nothingness—just endless white.
And not far ahead, a pitch-black figure stood silently.
"Took you long enough."
Geto stopped in the middle of the void. Fushiguro Toji, carrying the Heaven-Piercing Spear on his back, also came to a stop behind him.
"Some parasite just wouldn't die, like a cockroach. For the sake of my allies, I had to take care of it first."
"Heh, looks like having teammates really makes a difference."
Kenjaku smiled slightly, raising his hand like he didn't care about the mockery at all.
"Do you know that old story, Geto-kun? The one about the four demons who can be reborn inside their descendants?"
"What nonsense."
Kenjaku didn't get upset at the cold reply. He just kept smiling and raised two fingers.
"When people live too long, they get lonely. So I'm looking for people who think like me, Geto Suguru."
"
Fushiguro Toji elbowed Geto Suguru in the side. "Hey, what's he mumbling about over there?"
"Who knows."
Geto replied coldly.
"Man, you're boring. No wonder women probably don't like you."
"That has nothing to do with you. Focus on dealing with that guy."
Geto shot him a glare. Joking around at a time like this? If he wasn't the hitman Hayashizaki hired and hadn't shown such strong power earlier, Geto wouldn't even bother talking to him.
Besides, in this world, he and Fushiguro Toji were enemies. Even though this Toji had already been killed by Gojo.
"Where was I again?"
Kenjaku's voice echoed through the white void.
"Oh, right."
"I never told you guys this before, but it doesn't matter now, because—"
Kenjaku smiled. "Geto-kun, do you remember what Yuki Tsukumo once told you?"
"I'm going to start a game called the Culling Game. I'll have sorcerers fight each other non-stop. Then I'll bring it to an end and use that as a binding ritual to forcefully merge all humans in Japan with Tengen, the higher being."
"So this is what they call the most refined form of human cursed energy."
Geto Suguru stared straight at Kenjaku. "Is that so? Looks like things aren't going your way."
"Don't be in such a rush, I'm not done talking."
Kenjaku narrowed his eyes. "I just want to see that thing come to life with my own eyes. I want to witness a possibility."
"You and I… deep down, we're the same kind of person." In his half-closed eyes, the reflection of the man in the Jujutsu High uniform could be seen. "We were both born as nobodies. We both climbed higher than most people could ever imagine. We're both obsessed with studying cursed energy and techniques. And we both think about the future of the jujutsu world…"
"Since I took over your body, I naturally know all your memories too. In this world, you chose to kill all non-sorcerers, trying to create a world with only jujutsu users—to erase cursed spirits at the root."
"So, now that you've come back from the dead… what kind of choice will you make this time? Honestly, I'm really curious."
A small smirk crept onto Kenjaku's face.
"Boring."
That was all Geto Suguru said, his face blank.
He had thought about this question long before the two worlds merged. It used to torture him.
Even if it were the original Geto Suguru, the one who died, after that talk in the dungeon, he probably realized—at least a little—that his path had been the wrong one.
It wasn't regret or denial of that path. It was letting go.
The Geto standing here now held the memories of both worlds. He couldn't be compared to either of the originals.
What kind of life he would choose from now on—that was a decision for later. Right now, he had something else to do.
He had to kill the man who had stolen his body.
"Well, seems like you're not much of a talker," Kenjaku said with a shrug, clearly unfazed.
"Hey, hey, Geto."
While the two faced off, Fushiguro Toji lazily rested a strange-looking short blade on his shoulder and spoke:
"This guy… feels like he's just trying to stall for time."
"Just like those bad guys in the dramas Tsumiki likes to watch."
Fushiguro Toji started drawing circles in the air with his finger.
"Too bad, but you guessed wrong. I already did everything I needed to do before you showed up. All that's left is to activate the barrier."
Kenjaku didn't seem bothered as he spoke, and behind him a huge black ripple began to spread.
That giant cursed spirit, taken from an Asian god and carrying a technique that could block out all interference, slowly started to appear again.
Back when he was ambushed by Fushiguro Toji and forced to retreat, he had taken this mountain god spirit back. It hadn't been destroyed.
He was actually quite fond of this shikigami.
The man wearing five monk robes spread his arms and smiled.
"Come on, let's curse each other to death."
To a better tomorrow:
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