Chapter 227: Choso: Get Off My Otouto!
From a human standpoint, elders naturally tend to harbor a protective and caring psychology toward their juniors.
This is by no means a piece of modern pop-science; rather, it is an instinct etched into the genetic code through millions of years of human survival to ensure the better propagation of the bloodline. One must realize that no single life in this world can exist forever; even the history of humanity as a whole, spanning a mere million years, is but a drop in the ocean compared to many other things.
Only by binding the entire human race together through various forms of emotion can they continuously move forward through all kinds of desperate situations and extend the "life" of humanity as a collective.
Those who betray these emotions are called anti-human for a reason.
Such a statement might sound cold, but it is the most raw truth.
Of course, most people don't consider things to such a degree. They simply take it as a given: since they are the elder, they should undeniably sacrifice something for their younger juniors.
This is especially true for the [Cursed Womb: Death Paintings] as a whole. As hybrids of humans and cursed spirits, they have no family members to rely on except for their own brothers.
Their father was a "curse" that came from nowhere and whose true form remains unknown, and their mother passed away amidst long-term torment at the very moment she gave birth to them.
Back when they were at most fetuses, they had no idea where their mother's lineage came from. Moreover, even if they did know, their original bloodline had long since been polluted during countless inhumane experiments; it was impossible for them to be recognized by any original clan.
Because of their unique birth and bloodline, they can exist independently of both the human and cursed spirit groups, forming a new group of just nine individuals. And because the nine of them are the condensation of an entire bloodline, their cohesion is, in every sense, incomparable... after all, the whole world is practically their enemy, and the only thing they can rely on is each other.
Within this collective, the nine fetuses happen to have a sequential order, a division of seniority.
Just like now, Kechizu can be as carefree as a child without having to consider too many problems... this is because he is the youngest among the current three brothers. In contrast, Eso is clearly much more mature.
He considers his younger brother's feelings, even sacrificing his own freedom and everything else to strive for a living space for his brother, simply because he consistently believes this is what he ought to do as an older brother.
But in fact, from another perspective, besides his duties as an older brother, he also holds the status of a younger brother.
Eso is only the second of the [Cursed Womb: Death Paintings]; the true first is the strongest among them and the one whose appearance most closely resembles a human—their eldest brother, Choso.
As the sole eldest brother, he has no older relatives to rely on, yet he has eight younger brothers to look after. During the 150-plus years he was sealed as a cursed object, he never stopped thinking—constantly pondering how to lead his brothers out of suffering so they could live the normal lives they deserved.
However, no matter how much he thought, it was hard for it to have much meaning.
While their consciousness was within the cursed objects, they had no contact with external information or knowledge, let alone understanding how the outside world had changed. It was only after a successful incarnation through Kenjaku's hands that the memories within the vessel's mind became his primary source for modern intelligence.
Quite clearly, in the impression of an ordinary person, human society would absolutely never tolerate several hybrids who looked like monsters. Since humanity had developed to an unimaginable degree, there was no place for them in the entire world.
Thus, under Kenjaku's threats and persuasion, Choso finally agreed to the proposal: to help the cursed spirits defeat the sorcerers, so that the brothers could continue to live peacefully as cursed spirits.
Compared to humans, the side of the cursed spirits—who were monsters themselves—was clearly more likely to accept them.
What Choso completely failed to expect was that his brothers would encounter the students of Jujutsu High, and even Emiya Shirou—the man whom even Special Grade cursed spirits could do nothing against—during their very first mission to recover a Sukuna finger.
His brothers were captured by Jujutsu High and disappeared without a trace.
The only silver lining was that, as blood relatives, they could sense each other's status, which allowed him to feel that his two younger brothers were still very much alive.
Had he not been stopped by Kenjaku, Choso, overcome by worry, might have charged into the Tokyo Jujutsu High headquarters alone—a ridiculous act akin to a mantis trying to stop a carriage.
To convince himself to suppress his anxiety until the time of this final battle, Choso didn't even know how many nights of insomnia he had endured, or how much blood he had exhausted under self-"suppression."
Fortunately, that fellow Kenjaku didn't lie to him—waiting here, he truly did see his brother, and the other party didn't seem to have suffered any harm!
His heart, which had been silent for so long, had only just begun to lift slightly when Choso raised his head and saw Itadori Yuji sprawled entirely over his younger brother's back.
With a posture that invited such great misunderstanding... how was Choso supposed to react?
From Choso's perspective, the people who had snatched his brothers away were these sorcerers from Jujutsu High. And when they reappeared before him, the scene presented was a sorcerer riding on his brother's back—it would have been abnormal for him not to think of something bad.
The moment he saw this, countless scenarios of his poor younger brother Kechizu being frantically tortured flashed through Choso's mind, leading to a conclusion that Kechizu must have reached a humiliating cooperation with the sorcerers—perhaps even one bound by an unchangeable [Binding Vow].
In Choso's eyes, the image of a jujutsu sorcerer wasn't much better than that of a curse user; the two merely differed in their views on non-sorcerers, and the former's overall combat power had simply surpassed the latter's through historical development. Furthermore, when dealing with those they viewed as cursed spirits... there was no telling what cruel methods they might use!
For instance, back then, Principal Gakuganji of the Kyoto school had tried to use a cursed spirit completely controlled by charms to kill Itadori Yuji, hadn't he? Though he didn't succeed in the end.
In fact, such behavior of controlling cursed spirits is very common among the major jujutsu clans. They don't even view non-sorcerers—who are virtually identical in flesh—as their own kind, so how could they give cursed spirits even a shred of respect?
So, seeing this scene, Choso had already hallucinated the kind of torture his poor otouto had endured at Jujutsu High... he looked so much thinner than before, weak and pitiful.
Unforgivable. A guy who dares to insult his brother like this... absolutely unforgivable!
"How dare you... Itadori Yuji, I am definitely going to kill you!!!"
Itadori and Kechizu had no time to explain, for Choso had already raised his hands, clasping them together and channeling his technique to aim at Itadori's position.
"[Convergence]—[Piercing Blood]!"
The sharp blood spike reached Itadori's face before he could even react, forcing him to instinctively raise his arm in an attempt to block.
SQUELCH!
Without the nearly indestructible Emiya-special shield-axe for defense, even though Itadori's body was terrifyingly solid compared to an average person's, his arm was nearly pierced through the moment it touched the attack. It was only because Itadori moved fast enough that a hole wasn't opened in his head as well.
Even so, blood wouldn't stop flowing from Itadori's arm. Seeing this, Choso did not rush to continue his attack.
"Get off my otouto right now
My blood is tainted with lethal poison. Even a sorcerer will instantly be in unbearable agony if they touch even a fraction of it... Wait?"
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