On the way back, Mahito happened to run into Hanami, who was bringing Jogo.Mahito looked at the battered Jogo, suppressing a laugh, and said, "Didn't I already tell you? If you challenged Gojo Satoru, you'd end up beaten until only your head remained."
Jogo glared at Mahito, who was trying to hold back his laughter, his single eye bloodshot with rage.But he didn't say anything. Instead, he quickly calmed himself and asked with a very strange expression,"Did you really see that information in that damned manga?"
"Of course. Are you willing to believe it now?" Mahito countered, fiddling with the 'thing' in his hand.
At that moment, Hanami also spoke up. "Since you know this information is real, your choice not to act with us means…"
Once the two cursed spirits believed in the authenticity of the information about the future, Mahito didn't hide anything and answered directly.
"Even if I had acted with you, perhaps we could have prevented Jogo from being injured to this extent. But doing so would have made Geto notice something unusual. He still has value for cooperation, and besides, there are some things I need to prepare."
Mahito still referred to Kenjaku as Geto, because to the cursed spirits, it didn't matter whether it was Geto Suguru or Kenjaku, and there was no need to explain the Kenjaku situation to them.
About half a minute later, Gojo Satoru, unable to glean any more information from Mahito's suicidal clone, finally chose to use Teleportation to head to the rendezvous point with Yaga Masamichi.
He was deeply concerned about the words spoken by Mahito's clone—that Geto Suguru was still alive.Gojo Satoru had personally killed and buried Geto Suguru back then, so he couldn't believe in such an absurd notion as the dead resurrecting.
But then again, where had that cursed spirit learned about Geto Suguru? Using such words to grab his attention and buy time for its comrades to escape, it clearly understood the relationship between him and Geto Suguru.
Thinking about this, Gojo Satoru grew increasingly curious about the person behind these cursed spirits. Who was commanding them, and what exactly was their goal?
Deep in thought, Gojo Satoru pushed the door open and entered the room.
Predictably, the only thing waiting for him was the face of Yaga Masamichi, who was already impatient and on the verge of exploding.
"What's the deal? You're too slow! And why are you the only one here?"
"I ran into a Special Grade Cursed Spirit on the way that could talk. I was trying to get some more information out of it, so I got delayed a bit," Gojo Satoru said, slowly preparing to sit down. Then he suddenly realized, "Wait, didn't Ijichi come? I told him not to wait for me and to come first."
Hearing that it concerned a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Yaga Masamichi's anger subsided somewhat."You're the first one here."
"…Damn it."
Saying this, Gojo Satoru immediately turned and rushed out the door.
Yaga Masamichi hadn't even processed the situation, left slightly stunned by Gojo Satoru entering, not sitting down, and immediately leaving.
"Wait a—"
Before Yaga could finish speaking, Gojo Satoru had completely vanished from his sight and perception.
A few minutes later, Gojo Satoru found the vehicle that Ijichi had parked in the middle of the road. He looked through the car window toward the driver's seat, only to see Ijichi Kiyotaka's clothes scattered across the seat, while their owner seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Gojo Satoru could feel the faint residue of Cursed Energy lingering in the car, identical to the cursed spirit that had mentioned Geto Suguru not being dead.
The perspective returned to the cursed spirits. Kenjaku had already returned ahead of Mahito and the others to Dagon's Innate Domain, hidden within an ordinary residential house.
Looking at Dagon leisurely floating on the surface of the seawater, Kenjaku couldn't help but exclaim,"What a peaceful Domain."
Not long after, Mahito, Hanami, and Jogo returned simultaneously.
Kenjaku looked at Jogo, who was only a head, and said,"As expected, you were saved. Since you didn't defeat Gojo Satoru, the Prison Realm should be reserved for sealing him."
"Tch."
Jogo didn't argue. Although he still desired the Prison Realm, after personally experiencing Gojo Satoru's terrifying strength, he could only reluctantly accept the situation.
Kenjaku continued,"Now that we understand Gojo Satoru's terrifying nature, it's only possible to seal him at the appropriate time and place, and only after guaranteeing our advantage. The operation will commence in Shibuya on October 31st. I will contact you later with the detailed plan. Is that acceptable, Mahito?"
Mahito replied calmly,"No objection. Let's do it in the most cunning way possible, like a curse… and like a human."
After receiving Mahito's reply, Kenjaku did not linger. Time was needed to prepare for the Shibuya Incident, the upcoming attack on the Goodwill Event, and the creation of the Curtains—used in both events—to prevent Gojo Satoru's entry.
After Kenjaku left Dagon's Innate Domain, Mahito took Ijichi Kiyotaka out of his pocket and used Idle Transfiguration to confirm that he could indeed be identified as a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Then, Mahito took out the lighter he had grabbed from the car and used it to set Ijichi Kiyotaka—already warped beyond human recognition—on fire.
From the cavity that could barely be called a mouth, Ijichi Kiyotaka's wails of inhuman pain and torment could be heard.
Unfortunately, the four present were all cursed spirits and felt no sympathy whatsoever.
Under their gaze, the human known as Ijichi Kiyotaka was finally burned to a crisp and died.
Midway, Jogo became irritated by the wailing and even prepared to end his suffering quickly with a blast of fire, but Mahito stopped him.
Jogo, who was only a head, couldn't understand why Mahito went to such lengths to kill a Jujutsu Sorcerer this way. Was all this effort just to satisfy his desire to watch the miserable torment?
Dagon and Hanami were equally confused. Dagon, however, felt it was a waste; rather than torturing him to death, eating him would have increased their cursed energy. Killing him this way felt somewhat regrettable.
Mahito naturally saw the confusion on everyone's faces. Only after confirming that Ijichi Kiyotaka died from non-Cursed Energy flames did he begin to explain the reasoning:
"Whether it's cooperating with Geto or Jogo's miserable defeat by Gojo Satoru, the essence of the problem is our lack of strength as cursed spirits. Moving forward, our focus shouldn't be on cooperation with Geto, but rather on significantly boosting the strength of the cursed spirits."
They all understood that the root of the problem was insufficient strength.
"But what does that have to do with you burning a Jujutsu Sorcerer to death? Is this another piece of information from that manga?" Jogo pressed.
Mahito replied with a smile,"Yes, indeed. If a Jujutsu Sorcerer dies from conditions other than Cursed Energy, they will transform into a cursed spirit after death."