Chapter 69 (Patreon)

Shinjuku.

Satoru Gojo caught Miguel by the shoulder just as the spears of light appeared overhead.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Miguel gripped the Black Rope, his expression stiff.

“Geto lost. If I don’t leave now, I won’t get another chance.”

Gojo stared at him through the shadow of his blindfold.

“You really think you can run from me?”

Miguel let out a tired sigh.

“Look, we don’t have some deep grudge, do we? Let’s both take a step back here. Who knows? Maybe we’ll end up working together someday.”

Gojo looked him over.

Miguel was strong. Even without the Black Rope, he was no ordinary jujutsu sorcerer.

“Yeah. I guess that’s possible.”

Miguel immediately relaxed.

“Great. Then I’ll just be on my way. No need to see me off—”

“I wasn’t finished.”

Miguel froze.

Gojo smiled lightly.

“You can leave. But only if you survive my next attack.”

Miguel’s face darkened.

Although, honestly, it was already dark to begin with.

“…You’re kidding.”

A bad feeling crawled up his spine.

“He’s not seriously about to use his trump card, is he?”

Gojo lowered his blindfold.

Then he formed a hand seal.

His ring finger and pinky curled into his palm. His index finger folded against the back of his middle finger, while his thumb bent slightly.

The Taishakuten seal.

A mudra linked to the Twelve Heavenly Generals.

“Domain Expansion.”

Miguel’s pupils shrank.

“Unlimited Void.”

The next instant, Miguel was dragged into the inner world of the Limitless.

The Black Rope in his hand began burning away at a visible speed.

“You’ve got to be joking!”

If not for the Black Rope protecting him, his brain would have been destroyed on the spot.

A moment later—

Miguel collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily.

The Black Rope in his hand had completely vanished.

Gojo looked down at Miguel, who had somehow endured his Domain.

“Alright. You passed.”

Miguel’s brain had still been struck by a storm of information. Even now, his consciousness felt unstable.

At the very end, he had been exposed to Unlimited Void for only 0.02 seconds.

But that alone had almost finished him.

Miguel slowly recovered and swallowed hard as he looked at Gojo.

Gojo spoke casually.

“If you want to run, run now. I’m letting you go, but that doesn’t mean everyone else will.”

Miguel said nothing.

He simply nodded once, then immediately disappeared into the distance.

——————

In the ruins…

Suguru Geto knelt on the ground, staring up at the star-filled sky.

“Perfect…”

His voice was quiet, almost intoxicated.

“Absolutely perfect. That is not power meant to change the world. That is power capable of destroying it.”

Step.

Ragnar Kagenou stopped in front of him.

“No.”

Geto slowly lowered his gaze.

Ragnar looked down at him and spoke calmly.

“That power exists to protect the world.”

Geto stared at him in silence for a moment.

“Protect?”

Then his lips twisted.

“When did you become a saint, Ragnar? A few years away, and now you want to protect a world crawling with monkeys?”

Ragnar’s expression did not change.

“Saint?”

He gave a faint laugh.

“You misunderstand, Geto. I’m not protecting their world.”

His gaze lowered slightly.

“I’m protecting my own backyard.”

Geto’s eyes widened faintly.

“Backyard…”

Then he laughed weakly.

“Ragnar… you might be even more arrogant than I am.”

Ragnar covered his face with one hand and laughed.

“How can someone stand above others without arrogance?”

——————

Suguru Geto leaned against the broken ruins.

“It seems this is where my path ends.”

His voice was calm.

“Kill me.”

He lowered his head, waiting for death.

For a moment, there was only silence.

Then Ragnar spoke.

“Why?”

Geto opened his eyes slightly.

“Why?”

“You really think you can die and be done with it after everything you caused?”

Geto’s expression remained firm.

“I was not wrong.”

“You lost. That means you were wrong.”

Geto was about to answer, but the words stopped in his throat.

After a long pause, he said quietly,

“…I have nothing left to say.”

Ragnar looked at him.

“Putting aside the word ‘monkeys,’ what do you actually think of ordinary people?”

Geto’s answer came without hesitation.

“Nothing. Old humanity should not stand in the way of the birth of new humanity. Jujutsu sorcerers are the next step.”

His eyes were cold.

“Survival of the fittest. That is all.”

Ragnar looked at him for a moment.

“People who only look forward eventually stop seeing what’s beneath their feet.”

Then he raised one hand.

A ripple of golden light opened beside him.

From the Gate of Babylon, Ragnar drew out a strange dagger.

Rule Breaker.

Geto slowly closed his eyes.

“So you’ve decided.”

“More or less.”

Ragnar stepped closer.

“Maybe you should try living like an ordinary person for a while.”

Then he stabbed Rule Breaker into Suguru Geto’s body.

——————

【Exorcised five Special Grade imaginary Cursed Spirits. Cursed Energy increased by 5000 points.】

Cursed Energy: 240 / 9540

——————

Some time later…

“Wow.”

Satoru Gojo walked through the wreckage and looked around.

“Was this place hit by terrorists?”

He said it casually, but the damage around them was anything but casual.

Ragnar glanced at him.

“Geto was still Geto. Cursed Spirit Manipulation is dangerous in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Gojo looked at the ruined grounds of Jujutsu High.

“But Jujutsu High is going to take forever to rebuild.”

He was right.

Almost every building above ground had been destroyed.

Calling it a ruin was not an exaggeration.

“Cough, cough…”

Rika Orimoto covered her mouth as she walked over through the dust.

“Ragnar-nii, you were too reckless.”

The moment she said that, Gojo’s gaze turned toward Ragnar.

Ragnar coughed lightly.

“…Anyway.”

Gojo’s expression quieted.

“Geto. What happened to him?”

Ragnar answered calmly.

“He’s dead.”

Gojo fell silent.

For a brief moment, the air around him changed.

Then he said softly,

“I see.”

He looked toward the ruins.

“Considering what he did, that ending was inevitable.”

His voice lowered.

“But still…”

Ragnar looked at him.

“But?”

Gojo exhaled.

“I wasn’t the one who ended it.”

Ragnar watched him for a moment.

“You don’t hate me?”

Gojo turned slightly.

“I killed Geto myself. I didn’t even leave his body behind.”

Gojo was silent for a few seconds.

Then he smiled faintly.

“No. I don’t.”

His voice was lighter than his expression.

“Maybe death was the only relief left for him.”

Gojo raised his face toward the night sky.

“Rather than being chained to the earth after death… maybe the open sky suits him better.”

Rika looked like she wanted to say something.

But after thinking for a moment, she closed her mouth.

Then she muttered quietly,

“Adults really are terrible at being honest.”

Gojo blinked.

“Huh?”

He pointed at himself.

“Was that about me?”

But Rika’s eyes were not on Gojo.

They were on Ragnar.

——————

During Jujutsu High’s post-disaster reconstruction…

Masamichi Yaga stared at Ragnar Kagenou with deep resentment.

He did not look away.

Not even once.

Ragnar finally sighed.

“Principal Yaga.”

Yaga kept staring.

“Why have you been looking at me like that this whole time?”

Yaga’s expression twitched.

“I told you to hold back.”

His voice grew heavier with every word.

“Look around you. Jujutsu High is gone.”

Ragnar answered calmly.

“That was Geto’s fault.”

Yaga’s brow twitched.

“Don’t give me that.”

His voice rose.

“There were dozens of your techniques flying over Jujutsu High, and at the end, a giant golden spear came down from the sky. And you want me to believe Geto did all of this?”

Ragnar looked around once.

Then back at Yaga.

“Is there a problem?”

Yaga’s face tightened.

For a moment, he looked like he might actually summon a cursed corpse just to hit him.

Ragnar silently endured the old man’s resentful stare.

Then, after deciding that this atmosphere might genuinely give birth to a cursed spirit, he raised one hand.

Clatter.

A small mountain of gold appeared in front of Yaga.

“How about this?”

Yaga picked up one gold piece and bit it.

A second later, his expression turned solemn.

“Special Grade Sorcerer Ragnar Kagenou. Regarding this incident, I still believe—”

Clatter.

More gold fell.

Yaga coughed.

“I mean… next time, be more careful.”

Clatter, clatter.

Even more gold appeared.

Yaga stared at the growing pile.

Then he slammed his hand down.

“Damn it. How many more Jujutsu Highs do you plan to destroy?”

He pointed at the gold.

“I’ll build them for you.”