If Awasaka Jiro could describe how he felt viewing the king of curses with one word it would be…
Disappointing.
Honestly, it was disappointing.
Awasaka Jiro didn't see the domineering aura of a powerhouse in the person before him.
An experienced veteran can judge the strength of an enemy just from their stance.
Awasaka Jiro was such a veteran.
He had faced and killed many Jujutsu Sorcerers, so he could judge strength by intuition.
But even standing before this legendary King of Curses, he didn't feel any overwhelming strength.
This was a young man with long white hair draped over his shoulders, messy as if never cared for.
His eyes were lazily squinted, looking like a college student who hadn't woken up yet.
That handsome face also carried a hint of impatience, like a poor soul who had to crawl out of bed in the middle of the night to study.
He was dressed like a college student going out, a white shirt and black trousers, with sneakers on his feet.
Awasaka Jiro carefully observed Mahito's eyes, and they were indeed heterochromatic as rumored, but nowadays colored contacts were common, so such eyes weren't a particularly special phenomenon.
Awasaka Jiro couldn't imagine he was that famous King of Curses.
Of course, if it were a lustful noblewoman, she might feel her heart flutter at that face.
But Awasaka Jiro felt nothing.
He only felt disappointment—
disappointment that this famous Lord of Curses before him was so unremarkable, lacking any "domineering aura" of a powerhouse.
So, Awasaka Jiro naturally asked,
"Are you Mahito?"
"Hmm? You know me?"
Mahito asked curiously.
"News about you is flying all over the Curse User circles. Though because of the Binding Vow it hasn't reached the Jujutsu Sorcerer groups yet, that's just a matter of time."
Awasaka Jiro said flatly,
"It's said you have the ability to make humans evolve, making ordinary people into Sorcerers, and if they are already Sorcerers, the evolution is even more powerful."
"I originally had expectations for you, but the moment I saw you, my expectations were completely dashed."
"You don't look powerful at all like the rumors say."
Faced with this thinly veiled mockery, Mahito didn't show any anger but responded calmly:
"I wasn't heading toward becoming the strongest in the first place."
He said,
"I am merely seeking the path of evolution, and on this path, some Curse Users came to beg me. As guinea pigs for the road ahead, I am willing to grant them some abilities. It's a mutual exchange."
"...You treat the people seeking evolution from you as guinea pigs?"
Awasaka Jiro's eyes widened suddenly.
Mahito stuck out his tongue like a child and apologized bluntly:
"Sorry, I meant... fellow travelers."
Awasaka Jiro was furious.
"A mere Cursed Spirit—!"
Mahito suddenly raised a finger and shook it dismissively.
"No, not a Cursed Spirit, but a Half-Cursed Spirit."
"Haven't you noticed?"
"The audience watching our fight, including those ordinary people... all of them can see me."
Awasaka Jiro was suddenly stunned.
He looked around the spectator stands without showing it.
Before this, he had heard that a Cursed Spirit was going to appear and fight him, and he had thought it was some kind of bad joke.
To be honest, the main consumer group of this underground arena was still ordinary people.
Although Curse Users looking to make extra money could also take the stage, the owner here ruled that difficult-to-understand Cursed Techniques couldn't be used.
After all, as an underground arena, no matter how special it was, if the main consumers weren't satisfied, it couldn't stay in business.
So, the basic rule was that the fight must be "understandable" and, more importantly, "visible" to the audience.
Cursed Spirits are literally products of Cursed Energy aggregation; they are curses, and ordinary people cannot see curses with the naked eye.
So, when Awasaka Jiro learned his opponent was a Cursed Spirit, he thought he was going to perform a solo dance in front of those ordinary spectators.
He was naturally dissatisfied, but two reasons made him take the stage.
First, of course, was the prize money.
As long as he won, he would get triple the prize money, and even if he lost, he could still make money normally.
He had no complaints about that.
Second, he heard the opponent's name was Mahito and wanted to meet him.
And now, at least he didn't have to worry about this being a match where he looked like a lunatic punching the air in the eyes of ordinary people—
because everyone could clearly see the Lord of Curses before them!
"What did you do?"
Awasaka Jiro didn't notice his own voice was trembling slightly.
Cursed Spirits can be seen as things formed by the accumulation and precipitation of Cursed Energy leaked by humans themselves.
Ordinary people without the talent of a Jujutsu Sorcerer cannot possibly see them.
Yet this invisible thing was manifesting as a visible existence.
Awasaka Jiro's common sense was being shattered!
Mahito suddenly opened his lazy eyes, his golden pupil and blue pupil simultaneously emitting a dazzling light.
He spread his hands outward, like a god embracing the world.
Even though he was just wearing a simple white shirt, at this moment Awasaka Jiro truly saw the birth of some kind of deity.
Until this moment, Awasaka Jiro finally felt Mahito's "domineering aura."
"I have become a complete version of myself," he said.
"Haven't you realized yet?"
"I have already descended here."
Descended here.
Only a god is worthy of "descending."
Awasaka Jiro finally knew why he couldn't feel any domineering aura when he first saw Mahito.
It was because they were on different dimensions.
It was like a human walking on an asphalt road; even if an ant kept shouting by the human's shoe, the human wouldn't give the ant a single glance.
An ant...
of course, doesn't count as an enemy.
Now Awasaka Jiro was the ant.
Mahito was the human.
Awasaka Jiro felt his body and mind trembling.
He almost wanted to run away the next instant, but he didn't.
He suddenly wanted to fight this being.
Fear and excitement, two completely different emotions, were entwined in his heart.
At this moment, he recalled the mission to assassinate Gojo Satoru that he had received years ago.
It had been too long since he had this feeling of crisis, as if he would die the next second.
He felt a sense of nostalgia mixed with a desire for destruction.
If it were Gojo Satoru, he would have run away by now, because Gojo Satoru was the kind of person where even if all intelligence was laid out before your eyes, you would still have no way to deal with him.
But Mahito, this King of Curses, was different.
His information was naturally circulating among the Curse User groups.
He possessed the ability to modify human souls.
This ability sounded terrifying at first, but in fact, he could only change them by touching them with both hands.
As long as one dodged his hands, there was a way to defeat him.
Besides, this was a fighting arena, not a life-and-death battle; he wouldn't go so far as to kill.
No, perhaps in his eyes, how not to kill me is what he's considering.
Because I am an ant.
Awasaka Jiro was so excited he could hardly breathe.
Mahito seemed to notice Awasaka Jiro's fanaticism.
He split his mouth open, the corners curving upward greatly like a crescent moon in the night, revealing horror and mystery.
He asked softly,
"Mr. Awasaka, do you want to try?"
Awasaka Jiro subconsciously asked back,
"Try what?"
"Challenging a god."
Mahito lowered his arms that were embracing the world and reached out with one hand, his fingers curling casually as if he were holding something.
He smiled and said,
"Since you're hesitating, let's make a bet—if you can injure me, I'll grant you a perfectly side-effect-free evolution."
"Even if you fail, I guarantee that as long as you have one breath left, I will grant you rebirth."
Now that things had reached this point, how could Awasaka Jiro possibly refuse?
How could there be any room left for refusal?
How could he bear this?
He couldn't bear it, not at all; no matter what, he couldn't hold back!
A massive frenzy instantly consumed Awasaka Jiro's brain, and his rationality completely collapsed in that moment.
Challenge a god?
No.
—I! WILL! SLAY! GOD!
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