Child of Flames.
Tengen called me Child of Flames
Honestly, that is a badass title. I nodded, clearly enjoying the little aura I got
The moment Tengen finished speaking, she slowly looked over the rest of the group. Everyone was frozen in shock or awe, processing what she had just said. Only Yuki looked annoyed as she stared at Tengen with narrowed eyes.
"It's not our first time meeting, Yuki Tsukumo," said Tengen calmly.
Yuki immediately asked in a cold voice, her tone sharp.
"Why did you close the Tombs of the Star?"
Tengen replied calmly. "I was wary of you allying with Kenjaku. I can't read a person's mind after all."
Yuki frowned slightly. "Kenjaku? Who is that?"
Tengen answered without hesitation.
"He was once called Noritoshi Kamo. The sorcerer who is inhabiting Suguru Geto's body is called Kenjaku."
There was a small silence after that revelation. Yuta's eyes narrowed slightly as he processed the information.
Yuji suddenly asked,
"Why do you look like that, Tengen-sama?"
I almost laughed.
What kind of question was that?
I stared at the thumb-like humanoid figure in front of me. It was genuinely hard to suppress a laugh, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself. Unfortunately, it seemed Tengen noticed my barely contained chuckle.
Her eyes shifted toward me. She glared.
Oops.
For a brief moment, I thought she might call me out, but instead, Tengen decided to drop it.
Everyone else looked at Yuji with mild surprise, clearly not expecting him to ask something so blunt randomly.
Tengen then began explaining how she was immortal but not ageless, and how she required a body transplant every five hundred years in order to prevent herself from evolving further.
As she explained it, Megumi listened carefully while Yuta crossed his arms slightly, thinking. Choso remained silent beside Yuji, though his attention seemed fully locked on Tengen.
Yuki and Tengen then began discussing fate and the concept of destiny.
The conversation continued for a while.
Until suddenly, Yuta interrupted politely.
"Excuse me, Tengen-sama," Yuta said respectfully. "We came here to learn about Kenjaku's goal and how to open the Prison Realm. Could you tell us what you know?"
Before Tengen could respond with Of course, I suddenly spoke.
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
"Pardon me for interrupting you, Tengen-sama," I said carefully, stepping slightly forward. "But I need to tell you something important."
The whole group turned toward me in surprise.
Megumi frowned slightly, Yuta blinked in confusion, and even Yuki raised an eyebrow with curiosity. I was, after all, a girl who was riding along their bus
"But before I say anything," I continued, "I have to ask Yuji-san to leave."
Now everyone looked even more confused.
Yuji blinked.
"Huh?"
I turned and looked directly at him.
"I'm sorry, Yuji-kun. But whatever I'm about to say is extremely important… and I'm pretty sure Sukuna himself is listening to us."
The moment I finished speaking, a mouth suddenly opened on Yuji's cheek.
The mouth had a single eye above it.
Sukuna.
For a moment, the entire room froze.
Then Sukuna began to laugh.
His eye locked onto me.
"How did you know?" he asked slowly. "You are not as simple as you appear."
Yuji tried to slap the face away in frustration, but another mouth suddenly opened on his hand.
"I took a note of you," Sukuna said, his voice amused.
Then the mouth disappeared while he chuckled.
Great. Now I am officially in Sukuna's target list.
I turned back towards the group.
Everyone was staring at Yuji.
Tengen spoke calmly.
"Vessel of Sukuna… it is best if you leave."
Yuji didn't hesitate a second; he knew what Sukuna listening to our plans meant, so he left.
Now the whole squad was staring at me.
Time to bullshit my way out. Random bullshit go brrr.
I cleared my throat.
"Tengen-sama," I began slowly. "As you know, my cursed technique is Flame Manipulation. I can control flames… but that is not my only technique."
Yuta tilted his head slightly.
Megumi narrowed his eyes.
Choso remained quiet, but his attention was clearly focused.
"I have a second technique," I continued.
"It's called Divination."
Yup.
Bullshitting starts now.
I don't actually have a second technique.
But that doesn't mean I can't lie.
"The Divination cursed technique allows me to see glimpses of the future."
The group went silent.
"I know that you were about to ask Yuta-san for protection," I said while looking at Tengen. "Because you are afraid Kenjaku will attack you while we were busy with the culling games, and with Suguru Geto's cursed technique, he would be able to take control over you."
Tengen looked genuinely shocked. But I wasn't finished.
"There are limits to my technique," I continued. "I can't see everything. But I did see something very important."
"When Sukuna ripped Yuji's heart out."
The moment I mentioned that, Megumi's expression darkened immediately.
Choso's eyes filled with anger. Choso didn't know Sukuna did such a thing. But he sure were pissed.
"He killed Yuji-san," I continued calmly. "But Sukuna made a binding vow with Yuji. In exchange for five minutes of control over Yuji's body, Sukuna healed him and brought him back to life."
"Sukuna cannot harm anyone during those five minutes."
I stared directly at Tengen.
Her strange face became noticeably darker as realization began forming.
"Yes," I said quietly.
"In my divination, I saw Sukuna change hosts."
Then I raised my hand and pointed.
"At you."
Megumi froze.
"Sukuna chose you as his vessel."
Megumi looked stunned.
"After that," I continued, "He went through something called a Bath or a Pool. I don't know the full details. It just looked like a black pool."
The moment I mentioned the Bath, Tengen's face darkened even further. She knew what that was.
"We eventually managed to free Gojo-san," I continued. "However… he lost his battle against Sukuna."
The room went silent.
"Sukuna used your Ten Shadows Technique to kill Gojo."
Megumi's head lowered slightly.
Shame filled his face.
Honestly… He should feel ashamed. Potential Man gets a reality check, yup, I can get behind that. I nodded to myself
"There are more details," I said calmly, "but my technique doesn't show everything clearly."
I deliberately stopped myself from dumping all the information I knew.
"I used a binding vow when activating this technique," I added. "So I won't be able to use it again for some time."
Then I turned toward Maki.
"Maki-san… call your sister."
Maki looked confused.
"And do not return to the Zenin Clan."
"If you do, they will murder both you and your sister."
"Your father has already prepared a trap for you. He will use your mother to lure you back."
Maki froze.
Her fists clenched tightly.
Her nails dug into her palms so hard that blood began to drip.
Yuta also looked at me in shock, he was clearly ready to throw hands.
"I… the binding vow I made only showed me major events," I said carefully. "I gave up knowledge of smaller details, so I don't know everything."
Then I turned back to Tengen.
By now, everyone was staring at me in shock.
"You were about to recommend that we find the Angel to free Gojo-san," I said. "Because her cursed technique can extinguish other cursed techniques."
"The other two cursed tools capable of freeing him were already destroyed."
"This plan would have worked."
"Angel's vessel's name is Hana Kurusu."
And in my divination, we found her and freed Gojo-san.
I looked at Megumi again.
"Megumi-san, you saved a girl who was trapped by a cursed spirit for a year when you were both children, correct?"
Megumi thought for a moment before nodding slowly.
"Yes… I remember."
"She's been searching for you," I said. "She wants to repay the kindness you showed her."
For a brief moment, Megumi actually smiled.
Then his thoughts returned to his sister, and the smile faded.
Now he looked at me differently.
Like I was a treasure.
If what I said was true, then I might be the key to saving his sister.
In his heart, Megumi silently vowed to protect me.
"I will provide more information once my cursed technique recovers," I continued. "But for now, this is all I can say."
I intentionally limited the amount of information I gave them.
The whole group stood frozen while trying to process everything.
Tengen was the first to recover. She looked at me carefully.
"The things you said… are quite a lot."
"If everything you said is correct, then many of my plans will need to change."
Then she asked calmly,
"Do you have any information about Kenjaku?"
"All I can say," I replied slowly, "is that he did not remain idle for thousands of years."
"He has been improving constantly."
"So you should not trust any information you currently have about him. Most of it is probably misinformation he spread intentionally."
"He has three cursed techniques."
"The first allows him to transplant his brain into other bodies."
"The second is a gravity-based technique."
"And the third is the cursed technique originally possessed by Suguru Geto."
"He also has an open-barrier domain."
Now, everyone was looking at me strangely.
How did I know this much about him?
And honestly…
That was a very good question.
Ah, well, if they ask more, I will talk about some jujutsu bullshit to get away. At worse I will tell them that I did a binding vow and sacrificed my cursed technique if it really becomes hard to continue my lie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of chaptuh