Chapter 90: The Twelve Heavenly Stems - [White Mask]
The massive black snakes lunged at Kaito. He tapped his foot, his center of gravity reversing, and leaped backward in mid-air, dragging Geto Suguru with him.
Fwish!
A foul-smelling breath washed over the space, but Kaito was already at a safe distance. He held Geto with one hand clamped on his neck and the other braced against his lower back.
"Reverse Cursed Technique isn't omnipotent. If you don't call off these Cursed Spirits, I'm going to kill you right now and flee."
Compared to the horde of curses, dealing with Geto himself was much simpler. Seeing the curses continue to focus their attacks on him, and noticing that no system notification for a kill had appeared, Kaito knew that this version of Geto had already mastered Reverse Cursed Technique. He was incredibly difficult to kill.
But Kaito still held him hostage. He knew that if he let Geto act freely and unleash his thousands of Cursed Spirits, even with a trump card like the [Strike of Inari], he would be overwhelmed.
Reverse Cursed Technique was, without a doubt, the strongest universal ability in this world, granting sorcerers an incredible healing factor that was almost a weak form of immortality. Of course, it also had a weakness. The essence of the technique was the multiplication of negative cursed energy against itself to create positive energy, which resulted in a healing, "holy light" type of effect that was also anathema to Cursed Spirits. Using it continuously would degrade the efficiency of one's main cursed technique. But in a short battle, if one's cursed energy node wasn't destroyed, they were functionally immortal.
In his battle with Ryomen Sukuna, Gojo Satoru's body had been subjected to a constant barrage of slashes, but he had managed to stay alive by combining the precise operation of his Limitless with his heaven-defying Reverse Cursed Technique. But a sorcerer's cursed energy node was located in their lower dantian. It was the crossroads for all cursed energy.
Geto tried to struggle, but the man behind him was just like the "Heavenly Pact Tyrant," Toji Fushiguro, whom he and Gojo had faced in the past. His physical abilities completely transcended human limits. Even a Jujutsu master like himself, an expert in close combat, was completely immobilized. Kaito had already activated the [Transparent World]. While he couldn't see the flow of cursed energy, he could see Geto's every physical movement before it began. He could perfectly predict and counter every attempt to struggle.
Kaito certainly had the ability to kill Geto right now. He just needed to use a [Rakshasa's Palm] to shatter his lower dantian, shutting down his Reverse Cursed Technique, and he could permanently end the Special Grade sorcerer. But his eyes were on the courtyard, which was now swarming with curses.
"Tch. Looking at you, I thought you were a madman just like Satoru," Geto choked out, his neck still in Kaito's iron grip. "What's wrong? You still have your sanity after all?" Even with the threat of death, he was still taunting him.
Kaito could sense it. Geto truly wasn't afraid to die. In fact… he had a self-destructive streak.
Crack… crack…
With a sickening sound of grinding vertebrae, Geto, a cruel smile on his face, forcibly twisted his own neck around 180 degrees to look directly at Kaito. He was completely unconcerned with the fatal injury.
"You're right to hesitate," he grinned. "Kill me, and the several thousand Cursed Spirits I command will go berserk and level all of Kyoto." He was mocking Kaito, taunting him for being afraid to die.
But Kaito just sneered. He grabbed Geto's head with his left hand.
Crack. Crack.
With another horrifying crunch of bone, he twisted Geto's head all the way back around to the front. During the process, Geto's body went limp. Before his Reverse Cursed Technique could heal the complete severing of his spinal column, his body was paralyzed.
Kaito dropped him to the ground. "Only fools who have no power but are still clinging to their obsessions would actively seek death."
Thud.
Geto collapsed. His Reverse Cursed Technique quickly began to heal his injuries. Kaito knew that even though Geto had been held hostage, he had never once ordered his curses to stand down. But at the same time, neither Tamamo-no-Mae nor the snake curses had attacked the helpless Tsuchimikado Ochiai. This meant Geto, for all his insane posturing, was far more rational than he appeared.
Geto stood up, patting the dust from his robes, completely unbothered by his own humiliation or Kaito's mockery.
It was Tsuchimikado Ochiai who finally spoke, having watched the conflict. He no longer tried to dissemble. "Gentlemen… the Tokyo disaster is, indeed, the sin of the Tsuchimikado clan. But now, our bloodline has withered. Even if we wanted to exorcise the disaster, it is no longer possible." He had admitted that the catastrophe came from their clan's terrifying Onmyōdō ritual: the [Taizan Fukun Ritual].
"Long ago, after that war, my ancestor, who was in Tokyo, attempted to use the [Taizan Fukun Ritual] to reverse the nation's defeat and change our destiny. He failed. The result was the Great Spiritual Disaster of Tokyo, which caused countless deaths. The Onmyōji factions were dealt a devastating blow, and my ancestor, Yakou, perished in the attempt."
Kaito listened to the old man's history, wondering if this was a true divergence in the timeline, or if he was hiding something. But if the Tsuchimikado clan had truly been wiped out, it meant this timeline's Tsuchimikado Yakou hadn't used the ritual for his own reincarnation. As the most trusted Onmyōji of the Imperial military, the one who had created the "Imperial Style Onmyōdō" by combining all of Japan's religious arts... using the ritual to try and reverse the fate of the nation was indeed a plausible scenario.
Geto leaned against a pillar, also listening. He, too, wanted to know what power had been capable of killing his invincible best friend.
"Half a year ago," the old man continued, "a special person appeared. He also carried that emblem of contribution and earned our trust. I do not know who gave him the ritual. Perhaps no one did. After all, the [Taizan Fukun Ritual] is a massive ceremony that no single Onmyōji could ever perform alone. But in the end, he learned of the [Imperial Style - Taizan Fukun Ritual], the modified version my ancestor Yakou created. And then… you've all seen the result." The old man sat on the ground, utterly defeated.
"Imperial Style… Taizan Fukun Ritual…" Geto repeated the name, his mind reeling.
Kaito saw the distraction. In his opinion, Geto was not a qualified leader, nor even a competent villain. When he was good, he was too idealistic. And even after falling, he retained too many reservations. He was the type who couldn't even be thoroughly evil.
"So," Kaito said, "that man used the [Imperial Style - Taizan Fukun Ritual], sacrificed 33,000 lives, and wished for Gojo Satoru to be cursed to death?"
Kaito felt it wasn't that simple. The ritual wasn't something that could be used at will. Only the absolute greatest Onmyōji, like Abe no Seimei and Tsuchimikado Yakou, had ever successfully performed it, and only with immense preparation. Yakou himself, the strongest Onmyōji of his era, had died from using it.
Kaito suddenly froze. He looked at the old man and saw him shift his gaze. His heart rate was a fraction higher than before. He's lying. Or at least, he's hiding something.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Kaito's footsteps made Tsuchimikado Ochiai's heart beat even faster. Geto, meanwhile, simply watched with detached interest, making no move to stop Kaito.
"Head of the Tsuchimikado clan. If I remember correctly, when Tsuchimikado Yakou used that ritual, he also caused a Great Spiritual Disaster in Tokyo. I'm just thinking... is it really a coincidence that both disasters erupted in the exact same place?"
As he spoke, Kaito laid his hand on the old man's shoulder. His breathing changed, and a golden ripple of Hamon flowed into the priest's body, who instantly felt his aged body relax.
"Neither I, nor the cult leader behind me, are what you would call 'good people,'" Kaito said softly. "Can you tell us the real secret of the Imperial Style - Taizan Fukun Ritual?"
Dead Silent Capital - Tokyo.
The bearded man in the jacket, Kai, stepped out of the car. [Old Ghost] flicked his sword, shaking off the foul-smelling blood of a Cursed Spirit. They had finally arrived at the epicenter. Not far away, a massive black dome was pulsing, as if a new life was gestating within it.
[Bat] didn't dare fly. The cursed energy here was so dense that they had to replace their anti-curse talismans every five minutes.
"Boss, is Gojo Satoru's body and spirit in there? Theoretically, if we just destroy the body or the spirit, the [King of Cursed Spirits] won't be born, right?"
[Kai] took a final drag of his cigarette and dropped it. "It's not that simple."
"This place… a ritual was performed here decades ago. The ritual failed, but the information of the ritual remained imprinted on the land. That guy, [White Mask], probably stole the destiny of [Tsuchimikado Yakou], and by borrowing his identity and fate, he was able to re-cast the [Taizan Fukun Ritual] here, completing it and unleashing the spiritual disaster that swallowed Tokyo."
"But Gojo's death is strange. Until we know if his fate was also stolen, we can't be sure that the [King of Cursed Spirits] being born... is actually him."
[Old Ghost], the man in the Hannya mask, spoke, his usual mocking tone gone. "Gojo's [Limitless] and [Six Eyes], plus his mastery of Reverse Cursed Technique... theoretically, his combat ability should be at the very top of the [Strong]-tier. Besides petitioning the god of Taizan Fukun to curse him to death, could [White Mask] even have had another way?"
[Kai] shook his head. "Who knows. [White Mask] is one of that [Peerless] one's followers. I only fought him once in a team battle; I have no idea what abilities he's added since then. A [Heavenly Stem] Special Reincarnator, and a follower of a [Peerless]… a guy like that... tsk, what a pain."
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