Chapter 100
"What exactly do you want to ask?"
When he first uttered the first half of the sentence, Zenji Naoya spoke with great authority, displaying his usual condescending tone.
But when he looked up and met the dark, lifeless black eyes of Kazuma Hagoromo, the tone of his second half of the sentence immediately changed, abruptly shifting to one of resignation and compromise.
No matter how much Zenji Naoya cursed in his heart, it couldn't change the fact that he had a deep-seated fear of Hatori Kazuma.
This fear is completely different from seeing Zenji.
At least when he saw the Zen temple, he wouldn't have the instinctive urge to think, "If I don't run away, I'll die."
He not only wanted to run, but he also wanted to run away using [projection spells]. Every cell in his body was filled with fear of this black-haired boy.
Gojo Satoru was somewhat surprised by the incredibly obedient Zenin Naoya—he actually listened to Ichijin and changed his posture to formal sitting.
"Have you met Ichima before?"
When Gojo Satoru spoke, he first asked the question he most wanted answered.
He was so curious he was dying to know!
Zenji Naoya, kneeling on the grass, took a deep breath, shook his head, and didn't even dare to glance in the direction of Hatori Kazuma.
"I've never seen it before."
"real?"
“Really, I only heard his name today.” Zenji Naoya said dejectedly, “I don’t even know his last name.”
I was terrified to death by this black-haired boy who only ever called me "Yizhen" and I didn't even know his surname... How humiliating!
Upon hearing this answer, Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow, not particularly surprised.
"Okay, then why are you so afraid of him?"
Gojo Satoru raised his hand and placed it on Hatori Kazuma's shoulder, even tilting his head to rub against it. His soft, white hair swept across Hatori Kazuma's cheek, as if a beautiful and delicate feather fan had brushed against his face, a gesture that was incredibly intimate.
The latter showed no sign of resistance, which made Zenji Naoya's eyes twitch slightly.
What exactly is the relationship between these two people?
Could this be a prank that Gojo Satoru specifically hired to mess with him?
Zenji Naoya thought about it again and realized it was impossible. The elders were just as terrified as if they had wet themselves – although he wanted to use some elegant words to describe these elders, the reality was just so laughable.
If he weren't one of those being laughed at, he would have viewed the scene with more schadenfreude, rather than like this...
"I don't know either, maybe this guy has some strange magic."
Zenji Naoya wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn't dare, so he could only continue to answer honestly.
"Shouldn't you ask him to know better?"
These words sounded sarcastic, and Kazuma Hatori issued a cold warning.
"Show some respect to Wu Fang."
[Karma] Keep it tucked behind your waist now, or he might pull it out and unleash a [Black Flash - Enhanced Staff Strike] on this Zenji Naoya. The power of that is far beyond what a fist can achieve.
Zenji Naoya: "…………"
Suppressing the overwhelming negative emotions churning within him, Zenji Naoya repeated the sentence again in honorific form.
The ingrained fear in his body urged him that, at times, one must learn to yield...
Gojo Satoru couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Gojo was so easily frightened by a black Shiba Inu. This guy, who was known as the "genius" and "designated heir to the family head" of the Zen family and was always gossiping and speaking harshly about others, was actually scared by a black Shiba Inu like this.
"My eyesight is very good, you know that."
—He pointed to his azure eyes, which were not hidden by sunglasses, and said earnestly to Zenji Naoya.
"I can tell at a glance whether a spell has been activated or not."
On this point, Zenin Naoya could not refute it.
Not to mention that spells continuously consume spell power during activation, some guaranteed-hit spells and even domains will even emit spell power [aura] from the spellcaster when activated.
The former might only be discernible to those with six eyes, but the latter can be clearly distinguished by any sorcerer who can sense magical power.
Combining the two, Gojo Satoru can be certain that Hagoromo Kazuma has not activated any technique at this moment.
"How would I know?"
—After that fright, Zenji Naoya even dared to use polite language when he was giving up on himself.
"Who knows what he did to us."
“Sigh,” Gojo Satoru said regretfully, “we only managed to kidnap one idiot.”
I still don't know why; curiosity is killing the cat.
Kazuma Hatori silently apologized to Satoru Gojo in his heart. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it, but rather that he couldn't bring himself to say anything about the game's settings.
Zenin Naoya, who was called an idiot: "…………"
If it weren't for this black-haired boy being here, he would have... he wouldn't have been able to beat Gojo Satoru either.
The [Projection Spell], which requires striking the enemy with the palm to be effective, cannot break through the [Unlimited] defense at all.
hateful!
"Since you have no other questions, can you let me go?"
Zenji Naoya was still struggling to maintain his kneeling position, feeling that his legs had gone numb.
"What an undeserved disaster..."
I'm absolutely not coming to this sister school exchange meeting tomorrow!
As an elite sorcerer from one of the three founding families, he had no need to attend a high school—only eccentric individuals like Gojo Satoru would go to a sorcery school full of mediocre students.
Zenji Naoya inwardly despised the Gojo family's "six-eyed" man, but dared not show it. His legs were so numb that his expression turned into a grimace.
After thinking for a moment, Gojo Satoru realized there was nothing more to say to him, so he waved for the guy to leave.
He wasn't actually close to Zenin Naoya, so he was just brought over for a chat.
Just as Zenji Naoya breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave—
"Wait a moment."
Another, even more terrifying demon spoke, startling Zenji Naoya so much that his legs went weak and he knelt back down.
“…W-what happened?”
He asked nervously, instinctively.
“I remember that sorcerers have a kind of mandatory contract called [binding].
Recalling what this guy had done last week, Kazuma Hatori spoke in a calm but authoritative tone.
"Agree to make a [binding] with me, and I'll let you go."
Last week I heard him saying bad things about Satoru. What if Zenji Naoya holds a grudge against Satoru this week and tries to sabotage him behind his back?
With the beautiful young Wu around, he couldn't easily use [that person] to intimidate Zenji Naoya—but it was still quite simple to get the other party to establish [bindings].
However, Kazuma Hatake guessed that Naoya Zenin was unaware of [that person's] affairs.
In other words, the [mastermind] probably hasn't completely infiltrated the Zenin family yet; otherwise, the spellbook containing the incantation that appeared when Fushiguro Miki was asleep wouldn't have been left behind.
Hmm, speaking of that curse mark...
Hato Kazuma hadn't originally planned for Zenin Naoya to do anything, but now he suddenly had an idea.
"[Restraint]? Huh? How could I possibly create something like that so casually..."
Zenjiro Naoya instinctively wanted to refuse—these lineage sorcerers, who received elite education from the three main families, were quite cautious about [bindings], and were taught from a young age never to impulsively establish any [bindings] unless absolutely necessary.
Especially when it comes to the "bonds" formed with others, if someone schemes against you and lets the other party exploit loopholes in the text, you can easily suffer heavy losses.
So much so that Zenji Naoya showed a strong aversion to the word "binding".
Kazuma Hatori didn't say anything, but slowly and methodically pulled out the [Kyousou] from his waist and held it in his palm.
Zenji Naoya: "..."
He could tell from his senses alone that the short stick was a high-level cursed artifact, and the curse wrapped around it was no ordinary item.
Seriously? They're resorting to violence to threaten people?!
Despite having absolutely no idea of the other party's strength, Zenin Naoya reflexively shuddered and his tone immediately softened.
"We can discuss this first..."
He wasn't afraid of this black-haired boy of unknown origin; it was just that the boy had a [Six-Eyed] standing next to him who was already making a spell gesture towards him!
"Well, I have two conditions for you. First, you are not allowed to take any actions that [have any subjective intention to harm Gojo Satoru].
"And secondly, I need you to find an ancient book that records the principles of activating and deactivating this spell mark, and it would be best to find out who invented it. Both the Zenin family and the Kamo family should go and look for it."
Kazuma Hatori spoke up.
He wanted to see if the ancient books containing the cursed runes had been destroyed by the [mastermind] ten years before the timeline of the first playthrough.
After all, so many old men from Kamo said they remembered him in the first playthrough, which at least means that he once existed.
Perhaps the [mastermind] discovered that Satoru was investigating this curse mark and urgently ordered it to be destroyed.
In his opinion, that old man, Kamo Chokichi, is highly suspicious.
Previously, it was impossible to look for the Zenin family or the Kamo family, but Zenin Naoya is a good candidate at this moment - he is a core member of the Zenin family, has a high level of access to resources, and is well-liked by those old men.
As for the design of the curse mark... Kazuma Hatake thought for a moment, then gripped [Karma Twins] with both hands and drew out one of the short swords.
Then, he pressed the pad of his index finger on the sharp blade and lightly drew a very deep wound.
Gojo Satoru and Zenin Naoya's eyes widened instantly.
But Kazuma Hatori showed no sign of pain, as if this minor injury was no different from eating or drinking.
He used the blood gushing from his fingertips as ink, then grabbed the white sleeve of Zenin Naoya as paper and copied the pattern from memory.
"This is what the curse mark looks like."
Zenji Naoya was completely stunned by Hato Kazuma's actions, letting the bloodstains on his clothes be drawn on him.
Although he had a lot of experience in exorcising cursed spirits, he had never seen anyone who would make self-harm so commonplace that they wouldn't even flinch!
This really made Zenji Naoya shrink back, a little scared.
He cuts off his own finger as casually as eating, so cutting off his head would be just as easy...
After a moment, Zenji Naoya spoke somewhat absentmindedly, asking Hagoromo Kazuma, which could be considered as him acknowledging that he would establish a [binding].
"...What will I get in return?"
"If you can have it, I'll spare your life."
Kazuma Hagoromo replied calmly. Wasn't using his own life as the price enough to balance the two ends of the [binding]?
Zenji Naoya was immediately choked with anger: "..."
Is there any reason left in this demon's mind?!
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