Chapter 23
At first, no one realized what Kazuma Hatori had done.
After all, he didn't use any special skills, so he had the habit of saying his name first.
But the moment Kazuma Hatori activated the spell, not only did he form hand seals, but a flash of magical energy could also be felt on his body.
That is a curse power called [Xing], which is a sign that must be present before expanding a domain or activating a sure-hit spell.
Even though he himself was unaware of this setting, the high-ranking members of the sorcery world present were all sorcerers with sorcery power, and they could immediately sense that Kazuma Hatori must have activated a spell they had never seen before.
But everyone's eyes darted back and forth, and apart from the shoji door that had been shattered by a single shot and their colleagues who were still in shock and looked distressed, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.
There wasn't even a trace of a powerful offensive spell like Gojo Satoru's, which could easily destroy an entire hall.
If one had to rank them, the magical energy fluctuations released by the pistol in his hand at the moment of firing were even more threatening.
For a considerable period of time, the entire hall remained quiet, everyone waiting to see what Kazuma Hatori had done.
Gojo Satoru was also waiting, and he was more eager for the outcome than anyone else.
Compared to the higher-ups who could only roughly perceive things with their magical power, his [Six Eyes] saw much more clearly. Every wisp of flowing magical power was reflected in his extremely beautiful azure eyes, clearly showing that the old man, who was still in shock, had already mixed with Kazuma Hatori's magical power.
In other words, the effects of the procedure are already ongoing.
But why did the other party not react at all to the attack? They just sat there blankly, as if they could not recover from the gunshot earlier?
Gojo Satoru was so curious that he turned his head and whispered to Hagoromo Kazuma what kind of technique he had used.
Kazuma Hatake also opened the pop-up window and glanced at it, then quietly told him the result.
[Taboo] is a soft control skill with random effects. It is known that it will confuse the target's five senses and perception, but the specific results of the confusion need to be confirmed through the game's description.
At this moment, Kazuma Hato could still maintain his usual calm and composed cold expression, but Satoru Gojo, upon hearing the results, could no longer hold back.
[[Obsession with Strict Obsession]: Confusion of the target's five senses and perception for a certain period of time. Specific effects are randomly generated after activation, and can be canceled midway, or continue until the spell's power is exhausted.]
[Current target: Yasuo Maeda.]
[Current random effect: Grants a random organ the sense of taste.]
[Random organ: anorectal region.]
This should just be an illusion-like spell cast on the target, since that part of the human body can't actually have taste buds... It's just that this randomly generated effect... Kazuma Hatori can only say that the other party is really unlucky.
But Gojo Satoru, having learned the answer, didn't care about any of that.
Hahahahahaha!!!
The effect of this technique was so good to him that he couldn't hold back for long. Gojo Satoru started laughing out loud without any restraint, and he was so happy that he couldn't stop for a while.
The echoes that reverberated through the hall were filled with schadenfreude and glee—if there had been a tatami mat or sofa in front of him, he probably would have laughed so hard he rolled around on it.
The senior executives in the management department looked bewildered, completely unable to understand why Gojo Satoru was suddenly so happy.
"Why...why are you laughing, Gojo Satoru!"
Maeda Yasuo, who had just been hit by Hagoromo Kazuma's [Taboo] technique, was furious inside, but on the surface he tried his best to maintain his usual arrogant demeanor.
Having waited for Hatake Kazuma for most of the day on an empty stomach, he was now completely unaware of any unusual changes in his body. He simply assumed that Gojo Satoru was laughing at him for being so frightened by the gunshot earlier.
"You think you can rest easy by threatening and intimidating us with your lives here, just because you have Kamo and Gojo backing you?"
After calming down, Maeda Yasuo laughed in anger and immediately wanted to hold Hato Kazuma accountable—how dare he try to attack him in front of all the senior executives of the General Staff!
"Arrogant young man, you will pay the price for your disrespect today."
"Oh dear, you might be the one who has to pay the price first, old man."
Upon hearing this blatant threat, Gojo Satoru's smile vanished.
Not only did he speak before Kazuma Hatake could, but he also spread his hands in a gesture of utter helplessness, which only made Yasuo Maeda angrier.
"To save face for you, I won't reveal the truth here—think about how you're going to beg for forgiveness when you get back, and then contact our new head of the Kamo family."
Gojo Satoru raised his hand and patted Hato Kazuma's shoulder, tilting his head with a smile.
"Before that, he only needed to pay for one shoji door. Do you have any objections?"
In the long silence, no one made a sound.
At this moment, the head of the Gojo family clearly intends to protect Hagoromo Kazuma, and the Kamo family has already become his property.
As for Yasuo Maeda, he was a disciple recruited by the [New Yin] faction. Although he was also a high-ranking member of the Jujutsu Directorate, he represented the faction centered around the [New Yin] faction and had little to do with the three main families.
Therefore, facing the dual threats from the Kamo and Gojo families, and with no casualties so far, Kazuma Hagoromo may have indeed activated a certain technique, but it doesn't seem to have any lethality.
At least for now, Yasuo Maeda looks perfectly fine, lively and healthy.
In this eerie silence, the senior management of the supervisory department and Gojo Satoru reached a tacit understanding to pretend that nothing had just happened.
Even though they all knew that with Gojo Satoru almost laughing to tears, the unknown effect of the technique was definitely still in effect.
But in any case, everyone on the surface is waiting for the other shoe to drop and won't make a move at this time.
They have already witnessed Kazuma Hatori's decisive and swift approach, preferring action to words, and are now too afraid to step forward blindly.
Even if we label the Kamo family head as a curse master, so what? If he decides to kill them here, can they be brought back to life on the spot?
And that strange spell—at least we should know its effects beforehand… Unanimously, everyone felt a very ominous premonition.
For the Gojo family's kid to laugh like that, it's definitely not good news.
"This meeting ends here. Please return... Head of the Kamo family."
Another, seemingly more senior, aged voice rang out.
"The original purpose of inviting you to this meeting was simply to meet the new head of the Kamo family. As for the appointment of you as a teacher at Tokyo Higher Vocational School, the Directorate will discuss it separately and give a reply."
Before Kazuma Hatori arrived, the meeting was defined as a [questioning session]; as soon as Kazuma Hatori and Satoru Gojo stood there, the other party immediately and cunningly changed the nature of the meeting, making it sound as if it was just a meeting with the new head of the household.
As for the support rate he received from the Director's Department... Kazuma Hatake opened the floating window and looked at the progress marked "[Director's Department Support Rate: 21%/50%]" in the request, and knew that the other party had no intention of agreeing to let him be a teacher at all.
The current surge in support is most likely due to people on Satoru's side, plus the Kamo family elders who learned he wanted to become a college teacher.
"Yeah?"
He closed the floating window and spoke calmly.
"That's nice to say, but you don't even want to call me by my name."
The other person was immediately speechless, and almost cursed out loud in their mind.
Don't you even know how a human being can call him that?!
Despicable!!
At that moment, Kamo Chokichi, who was already in hell, felt a deep emotional resonance with him.
Fortunately, Kazuma Hatake wasn't really trying to make things difficult for the other party—these NPCs were hiding their identities, and their names weren't displayed in the system, preventing him from using the "treat them to a meal" method to increase his support.
But that's okay. Once the effects of the technique spread, they'll know who they really should support.
As the members of the General Staff Department passed through the shoji door, whose outline could be vaguely discerned, and watched Gojo Satoru leave with a rather assertive protective stance, one hand on Hato Kazuma's shoulder, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
One troublemaker wasn't enough; now an even more troublemaker has arrived.
So cold-blooded that he doesn't follow any rules at all, he's no different from a fierce god.
“Kangfu,” one of them said.
"Didn't you realize you were under some kind of spell?"
Maeda Yasuo hesitated for a moment, then tried to sense with his magical power for a long time before slowly shaking his head and even letting out a cold snort.
"No, that kid might just be bluffing."
—That evening, at a Maeda residence.
Faint sounds could be heard coming from inside.
“…yue…yue…!”
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