Chapter 166: Kenjaku's Thousand Year Conspiracy
The setting sun dyed the back mountain of Jujutsu High a deep, tragic crimson.
Yami's words lingered like radiation after a nuclear blast. The first violent shock had passed, but the damage kept spreading through Suguru Geto's mind.
Killed by Satoru Gojo.
His body stolen by a thousand year old monster.
Tengen assimilated.
The Culling Game begun.
Geto clutched his head with both hands, fingers sinking into his long black hair as if he wanted to tear those thoughts out by force.
It was too much.
Far too much for a seventeen year old boy to process.
He had once thought that if he hardened his heart and shouldered the sin of killing all non sorcerers, he could build a paradise without tragedy for his companions.
It had been the only lifeline he had managed to find through years of oppression, filth, and nausea.
But now, Yami had crushed that lifeline into dust before his eyes with the coldest possible truth.
If he truly walked that path, he would not create a paradise.
He would become the trigger for the destruction of the entire world.
He would not end tragedy.
He would become the perfect vessel for a monster named Kenjaku.
How pathetic.
How laughable.
"What exactly…"
Geto's hands fell weakly.
His body slumped onto the grass like all the strength had been drained from him.
"...am I?"
The fanatic light that had burned in his eyes when he thought he had found his greater good was gone.
Only emptiness remained.
And doubt.
He stared at his hands.
Hands stained with the remains of Cursed Spirits.
Hands that had once sworn to protect the weak.
Hands that had nearly chosen to slaughter them.
Now, he did not even know whether he should clench them or let them fall open.
On the mountain road nearby, the roar of Yuki Tsukumo's motorcycle had already faded into the wind.
That Special Grade Sorcerer, who had traveled the world searching for a true cure to the root of curses, left with a grave expression after hearing Yami reveal that terrifying thousand year conspiracy.
She needed to verify it.
Because if even half of what Yami said was true, then the entire Jujutsu World had been kept in the dark.
Every sorcerer, every family, every higher up, even Tengen, had been treated like pieces in a game by the thousand year old Kenjaku.
Only Yami and Geto remained on the training ground.
Yami did not try to comfort him with grand principles.
He knew some wounds had to be licked alone.
Some confusion had to be cut apart by one's own hand.
For three full days after that, Suguru Geto locked himself in his dormitory.
He did not step outside his room once.
He took no missions.
Attended no classes.
Ate nothing.
He sat in the dark like a statue, his mind replaying the same images again and again.
The ugly faces of the Star Religious Group.
Riko Amanai lying in blood in a future that should have happened.
Yami's curse like prophecy.
What should I do?
Late at night on the third day, heavy rain fell without warning.
Wind drove the downpour against the window, beating against the glass with a frantic rhythm that made the room feel even colder.
Geto sat in the darkness, almost swallowed by silence.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Steady.
Rhythmic.
Geto's body trembled slightly.
His bloodshot, sunken eyes slowly turned toward the door.
He did not answer.
Click.
The person outside seemed to have expected that.
With a sharp metallic sound, the locked door was broken open by overwhelming force.
The door swung inward.
Dim hallway light spilled into the room, casting a long shadow across the floor.
Yami walked in wearing a thin black shirt, carrying two cans of chilled cola still beaded with condensation.
His expression was calm.
He did not even look at the mess scattered across the room.
He walked straight to Geto's bedside and set one can heavily on the nightstand.
"What?"
Yami's voice was not loud.
But in the room filled with the sound of rain, it was unusually clear.
"Planning to starve yourself to death in this pigsty?"
Geto slowly raised his head.
Yami's face looked stern under the dim light.
"If that's your plan, you might as well go straight to the higher ups and let those rotten oranges finish you off. Saves Kenjaku the trouble of digging up your grave later."
Geto's chapped lips moved slightly.
He seemed to want to retort.
In the end, only a dry, bitter laugh escaped him.
"Yami…"
He reached out with a trembling hand and picked up the cold cola.
The chill seeped into his palm, finally bringing a trace of clarity back to his muddled mind.
"You still have such a sharp tongue."
He pulled the tab.
Hiss.
Carbonation rushed out.
Geto tilted his head back and drank in large gulps.
The cold liquid slid down his throat, sharp and refreshing, washing away much of the suffocating heaviness that had been pressing against his chest for three days.
"Cough, cough…"
He lowered the can and exhaled slowly.
His eyes were still sunken.
His face was still pale.
But the dead, broken silence in his gaze had disappeared.
What replaced it was a clarity born from walking through despair.
"You're right, Yami."
Geto lowered his head and watched the dark bubbles swirl inside the can.
His voice gradually steadied.
"Running away doesn't solve anything."
"Continuing to swallow Cursed Spirit Orbs like a machine, protecting people without ever thinking about why…"
His fingers tightened around the can.
"And thinking about slaughtering all ordinary people because I couldn't bear the filth anymore…"
His voice sank.
"They're both just ways of running from this rotten world."
Geto suddenly raised his head.
In his narrow eyes, the pride and brilliance of a Special Grade Sorcerer reignited.
"I won't be used by the higher ups as a tool to clean their sewers anymore."
His voice was firm.
"And I absolutely won't let that thousand year old monster take my body."
Geto looked at Yami.
This time, the smile at the corner of his mouth carried true relief.
"I want to see it for myself."
His eyes were clear.
"That third path you talked about."
"The one that breaks the monopoly and returns the power of choice to life itself."
Looking into Geto's eyes, which had finally broken free from the chains of fate, Yami knew.
The Suguru Geto who would have walked the path of the worst Curse User in the original timeline had ceased to exist.
Standing here now was someone more mature.
More dangerous.
And far more resolute.
A true Special Grade Sorcerer.
Yami raised his cola and lightly tapped it against Geto's can.
"Welcome back, Suguru."
Clang.
The crisp sound rang through the silent room.
Suguru Geto's heart demon had finally been shattered.
But the corrupt Jujutsu World clearly had no intention of giving them time to breathe.
At the moment their cans touched, the gears of fate began grinding in the shadows once again.
And this time, that sound carried a chill deep enough to reach the bone.
....
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