He was simply a little surprised that the Jujutsu World had discovered his and Seele's existence so quickly.
Although An Xiu had not intended for Seele to hide herself, they had only made their first move yesterday, yet someone had come knocking by noon the next day. The efficiency seemed a little too high. He had thought it would take the Jujutsu World several more days to react.
The Misunderstood Seele, Clashing with the Strongest
"There's only one household within several kilometers. Even if we wanted to avoid finding you, that would've been difficult, right?"
"To be fair, that's true."
Hearing Gojo Satoru's answer, An Xiu nodded.
With the observational power of Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes, combined with the fact that neither An Xiu nor Seele had hidden their cursed energy at all, he could probably have noticed something unusual just by glancing toward their apartment from afar atop this construction site.
"So, Teacher Gojo from Tokyo Jujutsu High School, what exactly did you come all this way to see us for?"
"I do have a few questions I'd like to ask you two specifically. But before that, could you introduce yourselves? I've already given my name, after all. It would hurt my feelings if you two refused to even tell me yours."
"I'm An Xiu, and this is my younger sister, Seele."
An Xiu spoke.
"So it's An Xiu and little sister Seele."
Gojo Satoru nodded upon hearing that.
"Then let me explain why I came. We happened to receive information suggesting that a Special Grade had appeared. To verify its authenticity, the school specifically sent me to investigate. If we successfully found the sorcerer suspected of being a Special Grade, and confirmed they weren't a curse user, we would try to invite them to join the Jujutsu World."
"Now it seems that information was indeed true. Little sister Seele's cursed energy has definitely reached the Special Grade level. Even An Xiu's cursed energy has reached the level of a Grade 1 sorcerer."
An Xiu said, "So you were planning to invite us to your Jujutsu High School?"
"No, no, no, no, no..."
However, Gojo Satoru shook his head.
"That was only the original plan. Now, the situation has changed slightly."
"If I'm not mistaken, little sister Seele's cursed energy feels somewhat like an Incarnation..."
As he spoke, Gojo Satoru slightly pulled down his blindfold, revealing the eyes concealed beneath it. Those bright blue Six Eyes stared directly at Seele beside An Xiu.
From the perspective of the Six Eyes, blue-white cursed energy swirled around Seele's body. Yet at her chest, there was an even more powerful mass of black-red cursed energy filled with deathly silence.
This situation was extremely similar to the Incarnations described within the Jujutsu World. The only difference was that the girl named Seele was not an ordinary person or weak sorcerer, as was often described in cases of Incarnation. Even without counting the other cursed energy within her body, Seele's cursed energy was still enormously powerful in Gojo Satoru's judgment. Calling it Special Grade would be understating it. Even among Special Grades, such cursed energy was terrifyingly abnormal.
Coupled with the black-red cursed energy inside the girl, which made even the Six Eyes feel slightly uncomfortable after merely observing it for a while, this was the first time even the well-traveled Gojo Satoru had encountered such a situation.
"A Special Grade that's been Incarnated. Live long enough, and you really do see everything."
Worried that the two, who were still encountering the Jujutsu World for the first time, would not understand the severity of the matter, Gojo Satoru deliberately explained the concept of Incarnation to them.
"In short, she's a dangerous individual parasitized by a powerful curse, with the possibility of having her body taken over and controlled by the Cursed Spirit inside her at any time?"
An Xiu rubbed his chin as he looked at Seele beside him.
Come to think of it, Seele's situation really did resemble Incarnation. After all, Black Seele, as a Stigma Consciousness, looked like a curse in this world no matter how one viewed her. On top of that, she had fused with the Power of Withering that represented death and adapted to the cursed energy system.
Any sorcerer who saw Black Seele's situation would undoubtedly consider her a Cursed Spirit.
"The other me would never do that. Even if she needs to use Seele's body, she'll return control to Seele in the end. Even if she doesn't listen to Seele, the other me will listen to An Xiu-ge."
"And Seele believes the other me would never hurt Seele or An Xiu-ge."
Seele lightly placed a hand over her chest and shook her head at Gojo Satoru.
"Oh? It sounds like the curse inside you has already come out before?"
Gojo Satoru asked curiously.
"The other me appeared when Seele was very young. Whenever Seele was in danger, the other me would appear to protect Seele."
"A curse that not only doesn't seize the Incarnated person's body, but even actively protects its host?"
Honestly, if Seele's manner while answering had not looked completely unlike someone lying in Gojo Satoru's eyes, then if anyone else had told him such an absurd story, he would have burst out laughing long ago.
"Girl, the curse inside you is powerful. That terrifying cursed energy is unlike anything I've ever seen, even for me. And cursed energy is born from humanity's negative emotions."
"In other words, Cursed Spirits born from all manner of human negative emotions are inherently evil. The reason she hasn't taken your body may simply be due to some unavoidable factor. Once she finds an opportunity, an evil existence like that will not hesitate in the slightest."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
In response, Seele, standing opposite him, remained completely unmoved.
"This is really troublesome. You should know that in the Jujutsu World, sorcerers are supposed to exorcise Incarnated individuals just as they would curses."
"And you too, An Xiu. Sheltering a curse could get you labeled a curse user by the Jujutsu World. Believe me, those higher-ups are absolutely capable of doing something like that."
As he spoke, powerful cursed energy had somehow gathered around Gojo Satoru.
An Xiu did not deny it. "Talking is pointless. I believe Seele and the other Seele would never hurt me. Besides, even if we accepted your view, based on what you just described, handing Seele over to you people would not lead to any good outcome, would it?"
Itadori Yuji's situation in the original story made that clear. Even if you accepted the Jujutsu World's arrangements, those higher-ups would turn around and slap you with a death sentence. If not for Gojo Satoru forcing their hand, Itadori Yuji, the protagonist, would have been killed by those higher-ups right at the start.
Under such circumstances, An Xiu would have to have rusted in the head to agree with Gojo Satoru's view.
An Xiu was certain that the moment he agreed with Gojo Satoru, the man's next move would be to take him and Seele back. While he would most likely protect Seele before the higher-ups just as he had protected Itadori Yuji in the original story, was An Xiu so bored that he had to go suffer through that humiliation?
Did he not understand Black Seele's situation? As clones manifested through the system, both Seele and Black Seele possessed absolute loyalty to him.
Besides, there was no need to go back with Gojo Satoru to resolve this issue. Beating him up right here would accomplish the same thing.
After all, the higher-ups of the Jujutsu World in the original story were clearly bullies who feared the strong. An Xiu also wanted to know whether those higher-ups would still dare strut around before him and Seele if Gojo Satoru, the strongest, lost to Seele.
Seele Was Unaffected
A huge scythe appeared in Seele's hand. Seeing this, Gojo Satoru extended one hand toward the two of them.
Cursed Technique: Lapse: Blue.
A tremendous pulling force appeared across the rooftop. Even the railings around it shook violently under that suction before being violently torn free, gathering together under the force of cursed energy and smashing toward Seele.
Whoosh!
Seeing this, Seele swung her scythe and sliced the gathered debris into fragments. Then she tapped off with her toes, vanishing instantly before reappearing behind Gojo Satoru without warning.
Her scythe danced. In that brief instant, Seele attacked dozens of times, yet every strike seemed to be separated by a thin membrane, never truly reaching his body.
Cursed Technique: Reversal: Red.
With his index and middle fingers held together, red cursed energy completely opposite to Blue exploded before Seele. The immense repulsive force within it pushed everything on the rooftop, intending to blast Seele away.
Yet as the cursed energy swept through, Seele was nowhere to be seen.
Using Quantization, Seele had returned to An Xiu's side the instant Gojo Satoru counterattacked.
"A technique that allows instant movement? Even Blue's attraction and Red's repulsion can't catch you. That's a very powerful technique."
Watching the girl return to where she had been, Gojo Satoru spoke with clear admiration after witnessing her performance.
In response, Seele, who was usually so polite, unusually said nothing.
She was not surprised that her previous attacks had been ineffective. Since she also knew the plot, Seele understood Gojo Satoru's abilities very well.
The Infinity technique was a technique that brought something akin to Zeno's paradox into reality—so-called relative stillness.
The closer an object came to Gojo Satoru, the more its speed approached stillness. In other words, no attack could ever reach Gojo Satoru himself.
In terms of physics, it was an almost invincible ability. And Gojo Satoru, who could use the Six Eyes to drastically reduce his technique's consumption and thus possess nearly inexhaustible cursed energy, could maintain the Infinity technique as a permanent passive skill, covering his body twenty-four hours a day.
However, there were ways to break it. Just as Ryomen Sukuna's Space Slash in the original story could bypass the Infinity technique's protective mechanism and directly attack Gojo Satoru while ignoring Infinity's defense.
Seele could accomplish something similar.
She vanished again. This time, Seele did not choose to launch a sneak attack from behind. Instead, she appeared directly before Gojo Satoru, her scythe already pressed against his body at some unknown moment.
Slash!
At that instant, Gojo Satoru's eyes widened as he sensed danger. Driven by instinct, he used Blue's pulling force to retreat instantly.
Yet even so, a huge wound was carved into his chest. Blood gushed continuously from it like a stream, staining his clothes red within seconds.
With blood flowing freely, Gojo Satoru, who had retreated directly into midair through his technique, stared at Seele in shock.
I'm... injured?
Gojo Satoru no longer knew how long it had been since he had felt the sensation of being injured. Or rather, he no longer knew how many years it had been since he had bled.
It had not been through the interference of some special cursed tool. Someone had directly broken through his defenses head-on with a technique.
For a moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar emotion welled up inside him. It was the long-lost sense of crisis his body felt after encountering danger.
Healing the wound on his chest with Reverse Cursed Technique, Gojo Satoru suddenly felt a trace of pleasure.
He felt as though he was becoming a little excited.
His previous plans? They were no longer important. Though he still very much wanted to bring the two of them—or rather, the girl before him—into the Jujutsu World, Gojo Satoru now only wanted to have a satisfying fight first.
On the rooftop, Seele watched the changes in Gojo Satoru's expression. Realizing that he was about to get serious, she likewise calmed herself.
"The range of the next battle may be quite large. Please retreat somewhere safe first, An Xiu-ge."
"Okay."
Taking Seele's hand, An Xiu was instantly sent to the outskirts of the construction site. Seele then returned to the rooftop in the same manner.
"Would you mind telling me how you broke through my technique's defense and injured me just now? Did you do it through your technique?"
Gojo Satoru did not stop Seele from sending An Xiu out of the battlefield. Or rather, he could not stop her, and he could not be bothered to.
Returning from the air to the rooftop, Gojo Satoru merely asked Seele curiously how she had broken through the Infinity technique.
"It was my technique, Quantization."
Seele answered.
It was precisely through the power of Quantization that she had been able to hurt Gojo Satoru while he was protected by the Infinity technique.
Just as Ryomen Sukuna's Space Slash could ignore Infinity's defenses, Seele herself could ignore physical laws to a certain extent through Quantization.
For instance, instant movement essentially involved entering a quantum entanglement state through Quantization. By using quantum entanglement's ability to ignore time and space, she could travel between two points in the quantum realm using real-world coordinates. To outsiders, the result looked like teleportation.
Likewise, Seele could use that power to grant her attacks the same properties. In gaming terms, it meant ignoring physical defense and dealing true damage.
For another example, when she entered a Quantized state, Seele could ignore physical collisions to a certain degree. Even without traveling between points, she could pass through obstacles or evade attacks.
It could be said that Quantization was an extremely comprehensive ability that possessed offense, defense, and mobility all at once.
Otherwise, it would not have cost a full 8,000 points at its original price in the system shop, only 2,000 points less than the Herrscher of Life and Death authority, which sold for 10,000 points.
Naturally, when Seele imbued her attacks with the same properties through Quantization, the so-called Infinity technique became completely useless.
"In the next battle, Seele will not hold back anymore."
"That should be my line."
In midair, a wildly arrogant smile appeared on Gojo Satoru's lips.
"In this battle, you're the challenger!"
Cursed Technique: Lapse: Blue!
Boom!!!
With all five fingers spread, Gojo Satoru swung his right hand. A terrifying pulling force more than a hundred times stronger than before pressed downward. The entire building instantly caved in and collapsed. Vast cursed energy swept up steel bars and broken stone, forming several meteors with astonishing destructive power that rained down upon Seele.
Yet this earth-shaking attack did not even touch Seele's body. The girl's petite figure passed through the meteors like a ghost, instantly arriving above Gojo Satoru.
Cursed Technique: Reversal: Red!
Red cursed energy erupted with repulsive force, shoving out an open area nearly a hundred meters in diameter in the center of the Abandoned Construction Site, which had already become ruins, much like a Shinra Tensei from another series.
Yet just like the meteors before it, Red's attack passed through Seele before Gojo Satoru's eyes without affecting her in the slightest.
Hollow Technique: Purple, the Eruption of the Power of Withering
After two consecutive attacks proved completely ineffective, Gojo Satoru slightly raised his brows before charging directly toward Seele.
Since technique attacks were ineffective, Gojo Satoru intended to entangle her in close combat and determine the victor through the way of "elbow techniques."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
For a moment, the two figures became afterimages as they collided. Moving at speeds nearly invisible to the naked eye, they exchanged an unknown number of blows in a single second, turning several thousand meters around them into their battlefield.
Before you continue