Kenjaku narrowed his eyes and asked, "How was it, Mahito? Did you get what you wanted?"
Mahito let out a satisfied sigh.
"The harvest… was even greater than I imagined."
"Oh?"
Kenjaku was about to ask further.
"Success!! I succeeded!!"
Suddenly, Hijiri Shunta let out a loud roar.
He stood up and casually swung his arm.
Immense Cursed Energy wrapped around his fist, seemingly whipping up a storm as he moved.
The roar itself carried a curse within it.
To the eyes of a Jujutsu Sorcerer, a storm of Cursed Energy that nearly reached the sky was forming around Hijiri Shunta as its center.
"This, this isn't just double, it's not just double!"
Hijiri Shunta was so excited that he was practically incoherent.
He moved his body freely, as if he were becoming acquainted with himself for the first time.
"I'm too strong, I'm so strong, I've already become the strongest, ahhh! I'm ten times stronger than before! Ten times!"
He raised both hands, his face twisted with excitement.
At this moment, this eerie man actually carried a trace of imposing dominance.
He roared at the sky.
"From now on, I shall be invincible in this world!"
Uraume had no choice but to swallow their questions and instead congratulated him.
"Congratulations, Hijiri-san."
"Ah, it's Geto Suguru. Why are you still here?"
Hijiri Shunta glanced at Kenjaku and spoke casually.
Kenjaku froze for a moment.
Mahito could barely suppress his laughter.
Just a moment ago, Hijiri Shunta had been calling him "Lord Geto Suguru," but after gaining an enormous amount of Cursed Energy, he didn't even bother using "Lord."
Kenjaku shrugged.
"It can't be helped. I still have to send Hijiri-san back in a bit.
By the way, since Hijiri-san has gained such great power, why not find someone to test it on?"
Hijiri Shunta asked with great interest,
"A test of my blade? Mm-hmm, very well, I'm interested.
Where do you plan to send me?"
"How about Tokyo, where Gojo Satoru is?
Or simply have you attack Jujutsu High?"
Kenjaku asked.
Hijiri Shunta's jubilant expression instantly stiffened.
After a while, he forced another smile.
"Lord Geto Suguru, you really know how to joke."
Well, now he was back to calling him Lord Geto Suguru.
It seemed he had not been completely blinded by the sudden surge of massive Cursed Energy.
He could still recognize that even if he were ten times stronger than before, he would still be the type to be instantly killed by Gojo Satoru.
Although it had already been said many times, Hijiri Shunta, this Curse User, really knew how to read the situation.
Kenjaku was still smiling, his face full of amusement.
He said, "I'm not joking—Hijiri Shunta-sama?"
He deliberately dragged out the last word.
Hijiri Shunta's face went from jubilant, to domineering, to arrogant, to self-aware, to utterly confused, and finally to terrified—
all in less than five seconds and through just a few lines of dialogue.
Now, Hijiri Shunta had a tearful expression.
"Lord Geto Suguru… please, please be sure to show some mercy."
Kenjaku narrowed his eyes as he watched Hijiri Shunta walk dejectedly into the spatial portal.
Kenjaku had not lied to him.
He had indeed set the portal's destination to Tokyo so that Hijiri Shunta could attack Jujutsu High.
Of course, Hijiri Shunta had always been a coward.
Kenjaku only required him to launch a sneak attack if possible.
Even if he merely caused a bit of chaos and drew some attention, that would already count as a successful mission.
But now it was different.
Kenjaku decided to put some pressure on him and give him a more important task.
He must be very happy himself, right?
After all, hadn't he just said he was invincible?
Since he was invincible, then let him clash with the truly invincible Gojo Satoru.
Kenjaku was looking forward to the collision between the two.
"Hmm, am I late? It's a pity I didn't get to see Mahito's Idle Transfiguration."
Suddenly, a voice sounded.
Above the shoreline, a Cursed Spirit appeared.
An old man's voice, an old floral kimono, and a head like an erupting volcano—
Jogo was slowly walking over from the shore.
And behind him—
there were two new Cursed Spirits.
Mahito looked past Kenjaku with interest.
The first was a Cursed Spirit with a very strange aura.
Its entire body was pale, its bare upper torso covered in black patterns.
These patterns spread slowly across its muscles like living branches.
Two black lines extended down from its eye sockets, but instead of eyeballs, what grew there were branches—
branches like deer antlers.
Its left arm was wrapped in white cloth, leaving only its sturdy right arm exposed.
Its fingers were pitch black, like the claws of some beast.
As it walked barefoot toward them, even Mahito could barely sense its Cursed Energy.
Judging solely by its ability to conceal its presence, it was even better at it than the thousand-year-old Curse User Kenjaku.
"—"
It made a sound.
Although no one could understand the actual voice, the meaning naturally appeared in everyone's minds.
It was introducing itself.
Hanami.
A Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
An intelligent Cursed Spirit.
A curse born from humanity's hatred and fear of forests.
Mahito broke into a wide smile and opened his arms in welcome.
No—
"he" was not the correct way to refer to Hanami.
Although the overall appearance resembled a grotesque aberration, the motherly gentleness in her demeanor and her soft tone made "she" far more appropriate.
"Hanami, it's our first meeting.
Thank you for coming.
I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."
Mahito meant these words sincerely.
To him, Hanami was the most special Cursed Spirit in this world.
Although she was still classified as a spirit, she was closer to an elemental existence than to a typical Cursed Spirit.
She possessed almost none of the obvious malice found in other Cursed Spirits.
All Cursed Spirits have an instinct to kill.
Even Mahito, a visitor from outside this world, could not completely suppress his instinct to harm humans.
As for other Cursed Spirits, there was even less need to mention them.
Those low-level Cursed Spirits that relied purely on instinct, without any logical thinking, could never compare to intelligent Cursed Spirits like Mahito and Jogo.
But Hanami was different.
She did not even possess an innate desire to harm people.
Her every thought and action had only one goal—
to protect nature.
And the reason she killed was not because of instinct, but because of rational thought.
She believed that nature and humanity could not coexist.
Therefore, to protect all living things, humanity had to be eliminated.
This was simply too special—
so special that Mahito could not wait to study her properly.
Perhaps Hanami's existence could allow him to break through into an entirely new realm.
He had high expectations for that possibility.
To a certain extent, Hanami was an indispensable research subject for whether he could advance to the next level.
Naturally, he treated her with special regard.
Thump—
The Cursed Spirit beside Jogo suddenly jumped up as they approached Mahito and landed directly in his arms.
Mahito widened his eyes and looked at the little Cursed Spirit, whose mouth was mumbling something incomprehensible.
It was a strangely shaped Cursed Spirit that looked very weak.
Only the size of a child, it wore a white dango-like body, with a red octopus-like face and a pair of large, watery eyes.
Its mouth was constantly mumbling something, but if one listened carefully, it sounded more like soft chewing noises.
"Dagon, don't do such dangerous things, really."
Jogo complained.
He was a curse born from humanity's fear of the ocean.
Like Jogo, Hanami, and Mahito, because the ocean had always been deeply feared by humanity, he had received an excessive amount of Cursed Energy, resulting in an intelligent Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
Mahito was not as interested in him as he was in Hanami, but that did not mean Dagon had no research value.
On the contrary, Dagon was the only Special Grade Cursed Spirit capable of constantly maintaining a Cursed Womb state.
He would only mature when he himself wished to.
That was also his unique characteristic.
It was simply that, compared to Hanami, Dagon's uniqueness was less striking.
Mahito opened his arms and easily caught the little creature.
He looked at the tiny Cursed Spirit with interest.
It was hard to imagine that such a small and delicate being could eventually transform into the curse of the great sea.
He had not fully matured yet, and Jogo and Hanami were both carefully taking care of him.
Now, he was welcoming a new family member—
Mahito.
"You must be Dagon.
Jogo told me about you.
Please take care of me as well."
Mahito smiled brightly.