Chapter 30: The Mysterious Stranger
Within Suguru Geto's memories, every single recollection regarding this leader turned out to be completely blurred.
It looked exactly as though someone had intentionally placed a heavy mosaic filter over them.
Suguru Geto knew this person existed, but who they were, what their name was, or what they looked like—Suguru Geto couldn't remember a single detail.
In reality, this mysterious leader of the Star Religious Group didn't actually cover his face. Every time Suguru Geto looked at him, he would recognize the man instantly, but the moment they parted ways, any memory regarding the man's identity would instantly become a blur.
Without a doubt, this was a highly specialized technique.
Suguru Geto had tried to break this technique before, but it proved to be incredibly, brutally difficult. After spending an immense amount of effort and resources with absolutely zero results, Suguru Geto had no choice but to admit that he was completely outmatched by the leader.
He couldn't even break a single minor technique belonging to his opponent, so how could he possibly fight him?
The two sides simply weren't existing on the same level of reality.
That was the primary reason Suguru Geto had given up on challenging the man, choosing to submit because the leader was just too overwhelmingly strong.
Interesting. Truly, incredibly interesting.
Yumesaki admitted that he was genuinely surprised by this mysterious leader of the Star Religious Group, and a certain level of genuine curiosity began to well up inside him. After all, it was only human to want to know.
Why was the leader of the Star Religious Group keeping himself so shrouded in mystery? Who exactly was he? What did he look like?
These questions felt like tiny insects crawling around inside Yumesaki's stomach, leaving him intensely curious.
No, he absolutely had to see this leader with his own two eyes.
Yumesaki searched for the location of the Star Religious Group's leader within Suguru Geto's memories, but he came up completely empty-handed. He flipped through the memory reels over and over again, yet he still couldn't find a single specific location for where the leader resided.
The leader of the Star Religious Group kept absolutely no contact information.
Whenever there was a matter to attend to, it was always the leader who actively initiated contact with Suguru Geto.
Then, what did Suguru Geto do if he had urgent business and needed to get in touch with the leader?
It was quite simple; the opponent would just manifest on his own.
That's right—every single time Suguru Geto had a matter to discuss and wished to find the man, that very opponent would appear before him at the exact right moment.
This gave Suguru Geto the terrifying illusion that the leader was completely omniscient.
It felt as though absolutely nothing he did could ever escape the leader's watchful eyes.
Seeing up to this point, Yumesaki raised his eyebrows.
If this leader of the Star Religious Group was truly that miraculous, then did the opponent already know about Yumesaki defeating Suguru Geto and sifting through his memories?
If that was the case, would the leader of the Star Religious Group show up right in front of Yumesaki?
Yumesaki glanced around his surroundings. The inside of the temple was profoundly quiet. Aside from himself, Medea, Nero, and the currently mind-controlled Suguru Geto, there was no one else present.
"Master, are you looking for the leader of the Star Religious Group?"
Medea noticed Yumesaki suddenly looking left and right, and she let out a faint smile. Since she had also been observing Suguru Geto's memories, seeing Yumesaki's subtle movements allowed her to instantly guess what he was thinking.
Yumesaki nodded in affirmation. "Every time Suguru Geto looks for him, he always appears at the perfect moment. I suspect he's keeping tabs on Suguru Geto through some sort of method."
"So he should already be aware that we've taken Suguru Geto down. I wanted to see if he would show himself."
Nero scanned the area, her voice clear and melodious. "Umu. I do not sense any lingering gazes around us."
Medea chimed in, "I don't sense the feeling of being watched either. Do you think he's too afraid to show up, or does he truly not know what happened here?"
Yumesaki shook his head and replied, "I'm not entirely sure either. But I get the feeling it's not that he's scared, nor that he's ignorant. Rather, he probably just feels there's no need to meet us."
"No need?" Medea repeated the words, her expression shifting slightly as if a realization hit her. She then said softly, "Perhaps that truly is the case. Then what do you plan to do, Master?"
"Do nothing."
Yumesaki shrugged, speaking quite honestly. "This guy is hiding incredibly deep, and I have no way of finding him right now anyway. So there's no point in forcing it. Besides, our side isn't the one losing anything right now. We'll just wait for him to make his move."
"As long as this person acts, he will inevitably expose a flaw. When that happens, we can simply trace the clues back to find him."
Nero nodded in agreement, finding this approach perfectly reasonable. Soldiers to block the advance, water to dam the flow.
If the opponent made a move, it was only a matter of time before they caught his mistake.
If the opponent chose not to act, then they would simply go about their business as planned. After all, their entire purpose for coming to this world was specifically to eat, drink, and have a good time.
"Then how do you intend to handle Suguru Geto?" Medea inquired.
Yumesaki thought it over for a brief moment before speaking. "Kill him."
In the past, Suguru Geto had sent Jogo and Mahito to steal the pages from his small notebook, having absolutely zero intention of letting them live.
Since things had started out that way, Yumesaki wasn't about to let Suguru Geto off the hook either.
This was what you called returning the favor.
You already planned to send people to murder me, so if I were to let you go free now, how would I be any different from a fool? While he didn't consider himself a villain, he certainly wasn't an overly merciful saint either.
Even Confucius once said, if you repay evil with kindness, then with what will you repay kindness?
Killing Suguru Geto was the most logical choice.
However, right before putting an end to Suguru Geto, Yumesaki utilized his Copy-Copy Fruit to copy Suguru Geto's technique.
It wasn't Cursed Spirit Manipulation he took, but rather Death Absorption. This technique was quite excellent; if utilized properly, it could prove to be incredibly useful down the line.
A sharp slicing sound cut through the air.
The moment Yumesaki finished copying the ability, Nero swung the Aestus Estus in her hands and cleanly severed Suguru Geto's head from his shoulders.
Yumesaki looked around the area, waiting for a brief moment. Aside from the gentle rustling of leaves blowing in the wind, nothing happened. This left him feeling rather disappointed.
Yumesaki had assumed that the moment Nero executed Suguru Geto, the mysterious leader of the Star Religious Group would come leaping out to put a stop to it.
Turns out he didn't.
Watching Suguru Geto's headless corpse collapse onto the ground with a heavy thud, Yumesaki let out a soft sigh. "Looks like you weren't nearly as important to him as you thought. Let's go."
Medea and Nero nodded, falling in line behind Yumesaki as they walked out past the Curtain.
The group quickly left the temple behind, departing without looking back even once.
Delicious Italian cuisine was still waiting for them, so there was absolutely no reason to waste any more time here.
Sometime after they left.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, a tall figure calmly walked into the temple grounds. He stood over Suguru Geto's separated head and body, staring down with a completely expressionless face. Reaching into the pocket of his robe, he pulled something out and tossed it carelessly onto the ground.
The object was a pale, fleshy white color, resembling a human brain. It looked thoroughly repulsive.
The brain began to writhe, crawling bit by bit toward Suguru Geto's severed head. It cut through Suguru Geto's skull, discarded the original brain matter inside, and then slid itself directly into the empty space.
If Yumesaki had been present, he would have instantly recognized this disgusting, mysterious brain as Kenjaku, the entity frequently referred to as "The Brain."
Once Kenjaku had successfully nestled himself inside Suguru Geto's skull, the previously deceased Suguru Geto suddenly snapped his eyes wide open. His eyeballs rolled around erratically a few times before locking onto the tall figure standing over him.
"Give me a hand."
The mysterious stranger gave a slow nod, picked up Suguru Geto's head, and placed it back onto the headless neck. He then began to carefully stitch the severed gap between the head and the throat back together, inch by inch.
After a few minutes passed, Suguru Geto's body began to move on its own, raising both hands to hold the seams on his skull shut. As he continued to thread the stitches, he spoke to the mysterious individual. "After all these years, you're finally willing to let me out?"
The mysterious stranger replied in a cold, flat tone, "My plans have been disrupted. I need your assistance to keep the grand design in motion."
Suguru Geto—or rather, Kenjaku—couldn't hold back a sudden burst of mockery, laughing out loud.
"Your plans got disrupted? Now that is truly hilarious. To think there is actually someone out there capable of halting your designs?"
The mysterious figure remained entirely expressionless. "I am neither omniscient nor omnipotent. This is hardly the first time my plans have faced a setback. Is there truly something amusing about that?"
Kenjaku finished securing the stitches around his skull, slowly pushing himself up from the ground to stretch his limbs out.
It had been hundreds of years. Ever since he fell into this person's hands centuries ago, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to move around as a normal human being.
"I can certainly help you, but you'll need to help me in return."
"Oh? So you're attempting to negotiate with me?"
The mysterious stranger's tone dipped with slight displeasure as he narrowed his eyes at Kenjaku. He utterly loathed it when people tried to bargain with him.
If this were the past, he would have delivered an incredibly brutal lesson to remind the entity exactly who held the reins.
But right now, he truly did require Kenjaku's unique expertise.
Kenjaku picked up on this immediately, which was precisely why he possessed the confidence to bargain. "This isn't a negotiation; it's a mutually beneficial cooperation. After all, our ultimate goals are aligned, aren't they?"
The mysterious figure fell silent. After a long moment, he gave a slow nod of approval.
"Very well."
Kenjaku's smile grew wider. "It seems the trouble you've run into this time around is anything but small."
If the one who disrupted the plan had been some ordinary nuisance, his opponent would have never accepted his terms so easily.
The mysterious stranger nodded. "Indeed. The individual who threw a wrench into my plans this time is incredibly troublesome. Now that you've occupied that corpse, you should be able to sense just how powerful the original owner of that body was."
Kenjaku closed his eyes, taking a moment to feel out the latent power within the vessel, before slowly nodding his head. "Incredible... Even across the last thousand years, this man easily ranks among the absolute peak of Jujutsu Sorcerers."
"And yet he was completely brought down in an instant," the mysterious stranger added.
A sudden realization struck Kenjaku. "No wonder. To think that in this current era, there still exists a powerhouse capable of rivaling Sukuna. Could it be the current wielder of the Six Eyes?"
In his vast library of memories, the only entities capable of defeating a sorcerer of this caliber in a single instant would be the King of Curses, Sukuna.
And the only one capable of standing toe-to-toe with the King of Curses would naturally be the blessed heir to the Six Eyes.
"It is not the Six Eyes. In fact, he is far more troublesome than the Six Eyes. Because the Six Eyes of this generation has already suffered a defeat at that very man's hands."
"Oh ho?"
Kenjaku's eyes lit up with intense fascination. "To think that even the legendary Six Eyes could be bested... I am growing increasingly curious as to who this individual truly is. For this modern era to birth such a monstrous expert is genuinely beyond belief."
"But surely, he still shouldn't be a match for you, correct? Why haven't you stepped in to handle him personally?" Kenjaku asked out of genuine curiosity.
Whether it was the King of Curses Sukuna, or the modern heir to the Six Eyes—even though they were undeniably legendary figures and absolute apex predators who could shake the very foundations of the world...
When compared to the entity standing right in front of him, those legends amounted to absolutely nothing.
For the man standing before him was the one true existence that reigned supreme beneath the heavens.
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