"Stop? Satoru, do you really think there's any way back after I've come this far?"
Geto Suguru spread his arms, his wide kesa robe billowing in the wind.
"This world is filled with disgusting monkeys. They produce ugly negative emotions and give birth to Cursed Spirits, yet they expect us Jujutsu Sorcerers to risk our lives and die for them. Why?"
His gaze grew increasingly fanatical, almost obsessive.
"I just want to create a world where only Jujutsu Sorcerers exist, a paradise where we don't have to watch our comrades die meaningless deaths. What's wrong with that?"
"But you killed ordinary people, even your own parents…" Gojo Satoru's fists clenched inside his pockets.
"Those were necessary sacrifices."
Geto Suguru's smile faded, his expression turning cold. "If you can't understand my cause, then there's nothing left to say."
He brought his hands together.
Boom!
A vast and chilling surge of Special Grade Cursed Energy erupted from his body.
Although the thousand Cursed Spirits he had used to stall for time were wiped out in an instant by Rin, as a Special Grade Sorcerer, Geto Suguru still had more than enough trump cards.
"Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit: Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate!"
Along with a terrifying wave of Cursed Energy, a massive female Cursed Spirit with multiple fox tails rose from the shadows behind him.
The pressure it radiated surpassed all the lesser spirits combined.
"Satoru. Today, either you die, or I do." Geto Suguru braced himself for a battle to the death.
Gojo Satoru fell silent.
He slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets as the Limitless surged to full power around him.
This was no longer just a clash of ideals, but a destined confrontation between two Special Grade Sorcerers who had once been best friends.
At the peak of this tension, where a life-and-death battle could erupt at any moment,
Rin let out a quiet sigh.
"How boring."
He took his hands out of his pockets, walked straight past Gojo Satoru, and headed toward Geto Suguru.
"Don't interfere, old man. This is between Suguru and me."
Gojo Satoru reached out to stop him, but his hand grasped nothing but empty air.
"I haven't aged. You are the old man now."
Rin's figure passed through his arm like a phantom. It was the intangibility of Kamui.
Gojo: "..."
Seeing Rin approach, Geto Suguru treated him as a major threat.
He immediately commanded Tamamo-no-Mae. Its massive fox tails, like pillars holding up the heavens, came crashing down toward Rin with a storm that tore through the air.
Rin did not even look up.
In his right eye, a crimson hexagram suddenly ignited.
Amaterasu.
Pitch-black flames erupted from nothingness, igniting across Tamamo-no-Mae's fox tails.
The black flames, said to burn everything in existence, spread across the Cursed Spirit's body in an instant.
"Aaaaah!"
That Imaginary Cursed Spirit, among the strongest even within the Special Grade, could not last three seconds against the unreasonable black hellfire before it was burned into nothingness.
Suguru's pupils shrank violently.
The moment the thought of retreat crossed his mind, Rin was already in front of him.
With a clean, decisive front kick, Rin drove his foot straight into Geto Suguru's abdomen.
Bang!
The sound of bones shattering rang out.
Geto was blasted dozens of meters away, crashing through a brick wall before being buried in the rubble.
"Pfft!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood, no longer even able to stand.
One move.
A Special Grade Cursed Spirit was instantly destroyed, and a Special Grade Curse User was crippled with a single kick.
This was the overwhelming gap between the Six Paths level and the power system of this world.
Rin walked over to the ruins and looked down at the dying Geto Suguru.
Gojo Satoru hurried over as well, his expression complicated as he looked at his severely injured former friend.
"Your cause? Your paradise?"
Rin crouched down, grabbed Geto Suguru by the hair, and yanked his bloodstained face upward, his tone filled with undisguised contempt.
"You can kill even your own parents, yet dress it up in such grand words. Your way of thinking is even more pathetic than that rat Muzan Kibutsuji."
Rin released his grip, letting Geto Suguru collapse back into the rubble.
He stood and looked toward Gojo Satoru nearby.
"I've crippled him for you. Whether you execute him on the spot according to the rules of your jujutsu world or spare him is your choice."
Rin brushed his hands together and turned away.
"But I'll give you a warning. If his body isn't handled properly after he's killed, something even more disgusting than him will crawl out and take it over. Think carefully about that."
Leaving those words behind, Rin walked into the night without looking back.
Tonight's warm-up was over.
As for the rest of the mess, he would leave it to that blindfolded white-haired man to deal with.
...
The cold wind sweeping through the streets of Shinjuku scattered the lingering remnants of Cursed Energy.
Rin's figure had already disappeared into the night, leaving behind only ruins and two former best friends standing on opposite sides.
Gojo Satoru stood there in silence, his azure eyes fixed on Geto Suguru, who lay among the rubble, coughing up blood.
The gojō-kesa that symbolized his position as the leader of the Star Religious Group had been completely soaked in red.
"Suguru."
Gojo crouched down, his voice devoid of emotion, yet carrying a deep sorrow.
"That man was right. Your 'great cause' was a dead end from the very beginning. Having come this far, neither of us can turn back."
Geto forced a faint smile, his gaze drifting up toward the pitch-black sky.
"Yeah… there's no turning back."
He slowly closed his eyes as fragments of the past decade surfaced in his mind.
From the days when they fought side by side at Jujutsu High, to the confusion after the Star Plasma Vessel incident, and then to the faces of the ignorant villagers in that remote village.
He was too tired.
"Satoru. In the end, I'm still dying by your hand… Well, it doesn't matter. At least it's better than dying at the hands of those monkeys."
Gojo Satoru remained silent for a long time.
He slowly raised his right hand, a lethal glow of Cursed Energy gathering at his fingertips.
"Goodbye… my one and only best friend."
A dull, muted sound followed.
Geto Suguru's breathing came to a complete stop.
Gojo Satoru stood up and looked down at the body at his feet. Rin's parting words suddenly echoed in his mind.
If you kill him now and don't burn his body to ashes, something even more disgusting than him will crawl out and take his place.
Burn him to ashes?
Gojo Satoru's fingers tightened slightly.
Logic told him that the unfathomable man would never speak without reason.
But as he looked at Suguru's familiar face, the one that had once laughed and joked with him in their youth, it felt as though an invisible hand was gripping his heart.
This was his only best friend.
How could he bring himself to personally reduce his remains to ashes, leaving nothing behind?
___
Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon.com/slept01