Chapter 150: Coffin of the Iron Mountain
'No, this isn't the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Even though it looks very similar, this is absolutely not the Reverse Cursed Technique.'
Thinking this in his heart, Gojo Satoru's hands weren't idle either; he had already pulled up the blindfold on his face used to block the [Six Eyes]. After all, the blindfold itself existed to restrict his [Six Eyes] and prevent them from receiving too much information and burning out his brain—it wasn't a decorative accessory worn because something was wrong with his eyes.
Since that was the case...
Now that he no longer needed to restrict the power of the [Six Eyes], and instead needed them to run at full power to gather more information for him, Gojo Satoru naturally removed the obstruction. This allowed him to clearly see the flow of energy within Emiya Shirou's body.
'The so-called Reverse Cursed Technique involves taking Cursed Energy, which is inherently negative energy, and splitting it into two parts, then making those two parts multiply with each other so that 'negative times negative equals positive,' converting it into Reverse Cursed Energy with positive properties.
The difficulty here isn't anything else but how to control those two parts—which were originally separated from a single source of Cursed Energy—so that they actually multiply when brought together, rather than simply merging back into one.
Therefore, no matter which sorcerer is proficient in the Reverse Cursed Technique, and regardless of what method or trick they used to grasp it, they all need to perform this 'processing' of the technique within their bodies first when they use it.
But Emiya is different.'
Although he didn't feel it as viscerally as Jogo, Gojo Satoru, who had been watching Emiya Shirou with his [Six Eyes], quickly discovered the problem within.
'Emiya is directly skipping the processing stage and obtaining this positive cursed energy out of thin air?
Is it because of some special technique? Or is this another ability of a Shikigami Emiya copied with his technique from who-knows-where? Like the Zen'in family's Mahoraga?'
Making this judgment in his heart, Gojo Satoru's ears weren't idle either. After Emiya Shirou spoke those words, Gojo also wanted to hear if Jogo would simply expose Kenjaku's intelligence like that.
'So fast.'
He didn't get Jogo's confession; instead, he heard Emiya Shirou rapidly rattle off "3," "2," "1" immediately after finishing his sentence.
Seeing that Shirou didn't seem to intend to give Jogo a chance to speak at all, Gojo Satoru couldn't help but complain in his heart:
'Does this guy Emiya actually want to get intelligence or not? This is a rare... no, this is an intelligent Cursed Spirit the likes of which has never appeared before. No matter how you look at it, you can't just act so recklessly.
Even if you're going to kill him, you should slowly squeeze the value out of this spirit first. It would be better if we could get some intel only a spirit would know before finishing him off.'
Indeed, like Emiya Shirou, Gojo Satoru had no superfluous emotions toward Jogo—or rather, toward Cursed Spirits in general. This was even more true for him than for Shirou, who only knew from past-life memories that spirits and humans could never coexist peacefully.
Even with the example of Okkotsu Yuta and the Cursed Spirit Rika, Rika's love for Okkotsu was still a twisted kind of love. After all, one cannot expect a group of spirits whose minds are filled with negative emotions—and whose bodies are composed of them—to understand the true meaning of the word "peace."
It's just like how, as long as a country's war criminals and right-wing forces haven't been purged, they haven't actually considered peaceful coexistence. The so-called "anti-war" sentiment is often actually just "anti-defeat."
Gojo Satoru wanted to stop Emiya Shirou, hoping he wouldn't be so extreme. He simply wanted to bait out a bit more information for the sake of the big picture.
"Emiya, you...!"
But just as the frustrated Gojo Satoru was about to speak—intending to let a "professional" handle professional matters and take over the interrogation of Jogo—his movement to speak suddenly halted.
"Wait a minute, something's wrong.
Is Emiya an irrational person?'
No. Although he hadn't spent much time with Emiya Shirou, anyone who dared to negotiate terms, talk cooperation, and actually convince him... Gojo Satoru, no matter how confident he was, wouldn't consider Emiya Shirou to be irrational.
If that were true, then what would that make him—the one convinced by this irrational person?
And why was he pleading for this Cursed Spirit? Only because Jogo might know intelligence about Suguru Geto? But the problem was, Emiya Shirou clearly knew that intelligence as well.
One was intelligence provided by a Cursed Spirit, and the other was intelligence provided by a human. Under equal conditions, would Gojo Satoru choose to believe a spirit or a human? It was undoubtedly the latter. Because Gojo Satoru was also human.
Since that was the case, why was he hesitating on such a matter?
"It's a technique! An enemy's cursed technique attack!?
It's more dangerous than that volcano-head—not in terms of direct destructive power, but an attack through some mental realm that is quietly dissolving our hostility!" Gojo Satoru suddenly spoke out loudly.
He wasn't just stating his guess about the situation, but also warning Itadori Yuji and the others behind him. He could easily block Jogo's direct fire attacks for them, but this mental attack with an unknown source was much more difficult. He needed Itadori and the others to become alert themselves first.
In this light, Emiya Shirou's actions became much easier to explain.
If Jogo didn't come alone—if Jogo's companions wouldn't just let him be killed like this—then they would inevitably come here to provide aid. Emiya Shirou's deliberate act of trying to kill Jogo quickly was intended to lure out any enemy who might be nearby.
Once he figured this out, Gojo Satoru no longer focused on Emiya Shirou's killing intent toward Jogo. Instead, he aimed the observation power of the [Six Eyes] toward the surroundings, trying to find that potential enemy.
"Don't look down on me, you brats!"
However, Jogo, seeing that both Emiya Shirou and Gojo Satoru seemed to be ignoring him... although he was indeed frightened by Shirou's Ripple energy just now, shouldn't such an attack be fine as long as he wasn't touched?
"Domain Expansion!"
The furious Jogo no longer cared whether one of his companions, Hanami, was helping from behind the scenes in the previous clash. He directly released his Cursed Energy at full power, enveloping the entire space around him as he declared loudly:
"—[Coffin of the Iron Mountain]!!"
Read ahead (100 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting