The two had run into each other plenty of times—every meeting, really—but they'd barely exchanged words. The last time they actually spoke was back in the Aragami's Village.
The middle-aged man smiled amiably at Sōjun Minamoto and said,
"I'm in charge of the Forbidden Vault handover. Shall we head there now?"
"Or...?"
His tone was unusually polite.
Sōjun glanced at the man's forehead—clean, unblemished—then smiled as well.
"Let's go."
The Forbidden Vault was located in the deepest part of Jujutsu High, within the Tombs of the Star where Tengen resided.
Thousands of doors surrounded the outer layer, but in reality, only one led to the inner sanctum. The catch was, the door's position changed daily. There was no discernible pattern, making it nearly impossible to predict.
Sōjun Minamoto could break through the Barrier, but not quietly—it would definitely alert Tengen, and then the higher-ups.
Despite their alliance, he and Tengen had only worked together once. Since then, Tengen had remained sealed within the Tombs of the Star, disconnected from the outside world.
With no ongoing need to collaborate, their only interactions now were the occasional exchange on Barrier techniques. Sōjun hadn't seen Tengen in person for a long time.
Sure, Tengen wouldn't—and couldn't—refuse the vault handover. But who said it had to be done face to face? Tengen was being cautious. He was wary of anyone who could pose a threat.
After Sōjun responded, the two set off together for the Tombs of the Star.
"This exchange went smoothly again. Another win—and you played a big part in that," the middle-aged man said, trying to make small talk.
Sōjun smiled indifferently and didn't reply.
"Think Tengen-sama will show up?" he asked again.
"Doubt it."
"Yeah, same here. No one's seen Tengen since the Barrier handover." He half-covered his mouth with a hand, then glanced at Sōjun with a smile. "Not that I'm saying it's your fault, of course."
Sōjun gave him a calm look, and the man met it with the same smile.
The man kept chatting on and off during the walk. Sōjun replied occasionally, sometimes not. The man didn't seem to mind, just kept going.
It was a far cry from how he acted the last time they met.
They arrived at the elevator tunnel entrance. The guards didn't stop them, so they took the elevator down, walked through the passage, and reached the main gate of the Tombs of the Star.
The door was shut tight.
Sōjun stepped forward and knocked twice.
The sensation that struck him was like brushing against an upside-down world—dense, immovable... Tengen's layers of protection were nothing short of airtight.
He glanced around. To his eyes, the traces of curses were clearly visible. The Barrier here had been completely overhauled—it would take a decent amount of time to crack.
Just then, a voice echoed in his mind. It was Tengen's, instructing him to extend his hand.
Sōjun did.
A cube-shaped object, about the size of a Rubik's Cube, materialized in his palm.
It was the other half of the Forbidden Vault's key—essentially the anchor embedded within the Barrier itself.
Before he could say anything, Tengen's voice vanished—almost as if afraid of something.
Sōjun looked at the middle-aged man, who happened to be watching him too—not the object in his hand, but Sōjun himself.
"You noticed, didn't you?"
He curled his lips into a grin.
"You've figured out who I am, haven't you?"
Sōjun Minamoto didn't respond right away. He glanced at the man's forehead—still smooth and unblemished. So, where was the suture line?
He had sensed something off about him from the moment he entered Jujutsu High and stepped into the Barrier. His body and soul didn't match. The aura was strange.
To Sōjun's senses, that kind of anomaly was stark—and yet over time, it had begun to settle, blending in.
The first time they met in Aragami Village, he had seen clearly that the man's outer and inner cores were misaligned.
Sōjun stayed alert, but didn't bother to keep tabs on him constantly. As long as he didn't interfere, Sōjun didn't care what he was after.
But just now, Tengen's reaction said it all. It wasn't really about guarding against Sōjun—it was against this man. And that fear was even more pronounced than toward Sōjun. A trace of wariness, almost bordering on dread.
That's when Sōjun understood his true identity.
Only a handful of individuals from an era close to Tengen's could provoke that kind of instinctive fear in someone who had lived for over a thousand years.
But according to what he remembered, that man's technique always left a stitch across the forehead. Even mastering the Reverse Cursed Technique couldn't remove it—it was a Binding Vow.
Could it have been undone?
Or was it broken?
What would the cost be?
Sōjun pulled his thoughts together.
"You're the one... the one active during the early Meiji era,"
He grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"The one they called the most wicked sorcerer in history, the disgrace of the Big Three Clans—"
"Noritoshi Kamo?"
"..."
The middle-aged man stared at him for a moment, then chuckled.
"If you say so, then sure."
"But I'm not here to argue names. I'm here to propose a collaboration."
The deep underground space remained silent, the gates of the Tombs of the Star Palace completely still. The only link to the outside world lay through the divine tree. The path wound upward along its trunk, through the surface, and its canopy stretched even higher, piercing the sky.
"What kind of collaboration?" Sōjun asked with genuine curiosity.
He didn't really dislike this guy.
This was someone who had lived for so long that life had lost its meaning—no purpose, no direction, only curiosity left.
Anything that piqued even a sliver of his interest, he'd chase without hesitation, eager to see if it was truly as fascinating as it seemed.
You couldn't measure him by normal logic.
Sōjun, having lived twice, didn't value life the way most people did. He'd already experienced it once, so he didn't cling to it. As long as it was exciting, that was enough.
In a way, they were the same—both just chasing a thrill.
But he was still different. Sōjun still had much to experience. He intended to keep his passion for life alive until he truly lost direction.
That's part of why he named his technique Unlimited—to serve as a reminder:
Nothing has a fixed limit. There are only bottlenecks. Think, persist, push through. Once you do, the view beyond is yours to see.
So, they were alike, but only just.
"I don't see much of a foundation for collaboration," Sōjun said, shrugging casually.
"Someone like you, already at the pinnacle... doesn't the Jujutsu world feel dull to you?"
"Pinnacle? Heh." Sōjun chuckled. "I can still die, you know."
Invincible—in a world like this?
Sure, he was powerful, but not even close to feeling satisfied. If anything, he felt it still wasn't enough.
Some people awakened and became monsters in mere days.
Some had techniques that could nullify every other technique—no explanation, no fairness.
If they ganged up on him while he was unprepared, even he might not survive.
The Jujutsu world was too small. Standing at the top of it just made it feel even more narrow.
Besides... there was still something above. He wanted to break out of this world and see what it really was.
"Death? For people like us, it's the last thing to fear, isn't it?"
"When we haven't seen something, we want to see it with our own eyes. When we think something might be interesting, we want to find out if it really is. Isn't that the meaning of being alive?"
The man's voice grew more intense, more manic.
"What we're about to create... is something unprecedented—a curse born from all of humanity's collective malice."
"Aren't you curious what that might look like?"
His heavy breathing echoed through the empty chamber. He was clearly hyping himself up.
"Just humanity?" Sōjun asked in return.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He stopped short.
"I asked, is it just humanity?"
Sōjun looked up at the divine tree. His gaze followed the trunk, then the branches, up and up into the canopy, piercing the heavens—as if he could see something unspeakable beyond.
"Since the birth of humanity—no, since the birth of sentient beings—negative emotions have flowed and gathered into curses. Isn't that an even broader source?"
"..."
The man froze.
Then, after a long pause, he suddenly burst into joy, practically dancing in place.
"Yes... yes...!"
"Partnering with you really is the most interesting choice."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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