Chapter 201
When Kazuma Hatori was awakened, his sense of smell was the first thing to be restored.
He was clearly deep inside a stalactite grotto, yet he could smell a strong, sweet-smelling odor of rust, which meandered quietly across the ground, gleaming coldly under the pale moonlight.
This was not a voluntary awakening, but rather a dull, persistent pain that gripped his throat, forcibly pulling him out of his slumber.
The slow process of assimilation was also interrupted.
However, Kazuma Hatori has now gained enough power to sense that something big has happened within the barrier in Kyoto.
To be precise, he realized something.
He was purging the director's department with a ruthless approach, the same kind of approach he had once sworn to take but never actually carried out.
Over a thousand years of knowledge churned and churned in his mind, so much so that Kazuma Hagoromo was momentarily stunned by the scene before he finally remembered.
He did indeed perish together with Lu Suo once during his first playthrough.
Is this what happened after that point in time?
Following the method Tengen used to construct his external form using barrier techniques, Hatori Kazuma, still curled up on Mount Hida, closed his eyes—and when he opened them again, the perspective had shifted to Kyoto.
He created a temporary body for himself, which only resembled the original in appearance, but inside was nothing more than a ball of flame that provided energy.
But for now, that's enough.
“…”
Gojo Satoru paused in his steps amidst the pool of blood, his eyes, as blue as a clear sky, trembled slightly in disbelief as he slowly focused on the [Head of the Kamo Clan] who had appeared out of nowhere in front of him.
He didn't reach out, and Kazuma Hatake didn't move either, only returning a gentle, worried gaze with his dark eyes.
"...Is that you?"
Originally expressionless, Gojo Satoru finally spoke when both his [Six Eyes] and his soul confirmed that the other person was indeed the [Head of the Kamo Clan] who should have died.
He spoke these words softly and quietly, as if afraid that if he raised his voice any louder, the illusory figure before him would vanish, turning into willow catkins blown by the wind and disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Even if Gojo Satoru knew that this should be fake.
When he arrived at the scene after his business trip, he saw the bodies of his former colleagues, his lover, and his students.
They were all carefully collected and laid neatly in the cold and cruel morgue under the supervision of the assistants, like silent questions that heavily struck his heart.
When the enemy is lurking inside, gentle methods will not lead to successful reform.
And he also had to bear the consequences.
Therefore, he no longer showed any mercy and instead used such ruthless violence to kill all the accomplices who had planned the series of events.
But Gojo Satoru knew that what he was doing was merely a belated attempt to mend his ways after learning a lesson; the dead could not be brought back to life.
That's how it should have been.
So, who exactly is the [Head of the Kamo Family] standing before him...?
A long-lost sense of familiarity suddenly welled up in Gojo Satoru's heart—it was a sense of closeness that was far more familiar than when he first met him, as if they had been separated for a very, very long time, and he had been waiting alone for a very, very long time.
"It is I, Wu."
Kazuma Hatori suppressed the bitterness rising in his heart, reached out his hands to Satoru Gojo, and hugged him tightly with firm and strong hands.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I'm so sorry."
He buried his face in Gojo Satoru's neck, his voice low and muffled, almost choked with sobs.
Instead, Gojo Satoru finally showed a slight smile and wrapped his arms around the body—it was still so warm, just like the feeling when he was a child.
“No,” he said, “you’re not late, Ichijin.”
"You kept your promise."
Wu remembered.
Even though he was the one who was late, he was comforting him.
Kazuma Hatake maintained the embrace, keeping his eyes tightly closed to prevent himself from shedding tears in a pathetic state; while Satoru Gojo indulged him without restraint, just as Kazuma would use feathers to comfort him when he was young, he was now gently patting Kazuma's back to ease his sadness.
When Kazuma Hatake finally calmed down and raised his head a little shyly, Gojo Satoru smiled and tilted his head slightly at him, deliberately making a cute face.
"Now, are you going to tell me what exactly happened?"
Thus, Gojo Satoru heard a rather bizarre, yet undeniably long and convoluted story from Hatori Kazuma.
"The first time you came to Heisei 30, the second time to Heisei 17, and the third time to Heisei 1. Your true technique is [Ten Directions Maha], and you consumed a large number of cursed items to increase your cursed power, shortening the time to completely assimilate Tengen... I see, I think I know what you want to do."
Gojo Satoru pondered for a long time, stroking his chin, then looked up and asked Hagoromo Kazuma, "Has assimilation ended?"
“Not yet,” Kazuma Hato shook his head. “It may take at least ten more years to achieve my goal.”
Gojo Satoru thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "What Kazuma needs may be more than just time."
"I...don't want to go."
Kazuma Hatake already understood what he was about to say, but he denied it a step in advance—even though his words were filled with obvious hesitation and reluctance.
"One cannot be willful; one must be true to oneself."
Gojo Satoru smiled, deliberately brushing back the few strands of hair stained with blood with his fingers before affectionately rubbing his clean face against Satoru's.
“According to your description, that was me too, just temporarily losing my memory,” he said. “I don’t mind waiting a little longer.”
Kazuma Hatori was silent for a moment, "But..."
"Don't worry, just keep going according to your plan."
Gojo Satoru winked playfully at him with one eye—at that moment, he seemed to have returned to his more lively self.
"Think about it, who brought you here in the first place?"
Kazuma Hatake: "..."
Kazuma Hatori slowly opened his eyes.
And that game called "Spell Simulator" hasn't been released yet.
"Let's continue, Kazuma."
Gojo Satoru ended the hug on his own initiative, smiling and waving goodbye gently, "We will meet again at the end of this cycle."
"—You must recognize me by then."
"Um."
—Like an old film reel, the entire scene freezes and rewinds, just as time is rapidly reversing as people's memories are sealed away, under the influence of the [Ichishin Dharmadhatu] superimposed with the [Ten Directions Maha], which is infused with a massive amount of mantra power by Hagoromo Kazuma.
Heisei 30... Heisei 29... Heisei 28... Heisei 24... Heisei 20... Heisei 18...
Heisei 15.
At this point in time, Kazuma Hatori will once again use white flames to construct a juvenile clone, but instead of equipping it with the [Crimson Blood Manipulation Technique], he will imprint the original technique, [Ten Directions Maha].
The knowledge that Tianyuan has acquired over the past thousand years is indeed vast. Apart from his unparalleled barrier techniques, he even has a solution to the mystery of Fushiguro Miki's coma, which had previously left Wu and his group helpless.
It turned out that a cursed object was sealed inside his body, and he fell into a coma because he could not withstand the power of the curse.
At this moment, before he could use the solution, Yuqu Kazuma found one of the followers of the Panxing Cult through the barrier, confused his memories, stuffed his own childhood form into the Panxing Cult, and deliberately exposed it to Lu Suo's eyes, becoming the "Holy Son of the Panxing Cult".
Two years later, the consciousness of Kazuma Hato, in his second life, will awaken in this body and walk the path in his memories without missing a single detail.
Meanwhile, far away in Mount Hida, after expending great effort to reverse time, Kazuma Hatori had no choice but to continue his deep sleep.
However, this time he had already completed most of the assimilation process and was in much better condition than before. He even had the energy to create another shell for the high school's Hongxing Palace that resembled the shape of Tianyuan before falling into a deep sleep again.
This "Lord Tengen" does not need Riko Tengen, who is a [Star Essence Body], to come and assimilate with him, but he needs to do something else.
[Spreading Nostradamus's Great Prophecies].
The stronger the negative emotions people have towards him, the stronger his power becomes—this rule applies to both vengeful spirits and imaginary spirits, as long as they still fall under the category of curses.
In order to defeat Ryoumen Sukuna and for that moment to come again, Kazuma Hato needs immense power, the stronger the better.
Even in the incident where the escorting of the Starmash was attacked by Fukushige, Kazuma Hatori, who should have been killed in the school square, was kept alive by "Tengen" and survived until the mission was completed.
Just as he was about to kill Fukuro Jinji in a fit of rage, he witnessed Gojo Satoru's complete awakening of the idea that "I am the only one who matters in the world."
He is Gojo Satoru, who falls down and gets back up again, never fearing the most desperate situations.
Tianyuan paused, and quietly withdrew his outstretched hand in the shadows where no one noticed.
He knew clearly that this was the true meaning of the Five Insights.
He never needed to doubt the other person's determination, perseverance, and courage.
Even when facing the most powerful enemy, even without companions to fight alongside him, he would resolutely go alone.
He will endure until that moment.
—A special-grade cursed spirit belonging to Gojo Satoru, who will cross time and space for him, going to that moment in his strongest form.
When the phoenix cry rang out again in Shinjuku, the eyes of the creature on Mount Hida opened fiercely like flames and streaks of light. It flapped its long, fiery wings, which were strong enough to blot out the sun, and fell like a meteorite. Yet it landed so gently, so softly, beside Gojo Satoru, spreading its warm and fluffy wings to cover him.
Reversal spell activated.
The raging flames ignited by Yuuto Ichishin's resolute suicide in the second playthrough would not harm Gojo Satoru in the slightest.
The fallen body had turned into flames and returned to the body of Yuqu Special Grade Cursed Ghost, Kazuma.
The penetrating wound in his chest gradually healed. Gojo Satoru, who had completely recovered from the brink of death, had a slight twitch in his eyes, but was covered by Hatori Kazuma, who had returned to human form, blocking his vision.
"Shh...it's alright, Wu just needs a good night's sleep," he said.
"Leave everything to me."
After the raging flames that burned over a long period of time finally began to die down, the two-faced Sukuna, who had revealed its true form with four eyes and four arms, used [Mixu Gelong] to fight back throughout and did not suffer much damage.
"You...you're something else."
But he still wore a subtle expression as he looked intently at Yuzuri Kazuma.
He might have only found Kazuma Hatori slightly difficult to deal with at that moment, but then, Gojo Satoru, who should have died, pulled away the hand that Kazuma Hatori had been covering his eyes and stood in front of him perfectly fine again.
"It's not enough to just hand it over to you; I want to fight alongside you."
Even after narrowly escaping death, Gojo Satoru still laughed heartily and resolutely, resuming his battle stance against Ryoumen Sukuna.
He had already gathered information about the spells possessed by the two Sukuna during the long battle just now, and was confident that he would not lose a second time.
Besides, Yizhen is also there.
"I'll leave you with the same words again: Ryoumen Sukuna—you're the real challenger."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
