I Can't Even Tell Whether You're Lying to Me Anymore

After his moment of reflection, Kana Shizumi turned the page.

"I began experimenting, but this was an entirely new concept, unlike the Death Paintings...

I decided to take a bolder approach. I wanted to create it from nothing.

Unlike the process of pregnancy and gestation, it would break free of humanity's constraints, be born from cursed energy, and then have the human elements filled back into it...

Yes, if I had to put it that way, this should have been a control experiment. I looked forward to its results. If it succeeded, I could try some arrangements that had previously been unusable on it."

Since this concerned him personally, Kana Shizumi read it with particular care.

"The experiment failed. There must have been a flaw in my line of thinking.

The process of creating something from nothing was not so simple after all... Was fertilization itself truly the origin of life?

Though somewhat discouraged, I still had time. I could make other attempts."

He turned the page. Several decades had passed.

Failure...

Failure...

Failure...

Records like these piled up endlessly, making Kana Shizumi break out in a sweat as he read.

Until, in an entry marked "Showa Era Year 20," Kana Shizumi found an entirely different answer.

Success.

"I extracted an enormous quantity of negative energy. This was an unprecedentedly abundant resource. I had to seize this opportunity and see if I could complete it in one go."

Showa Era Year 20... an enormous burst of negative energy all at once?

Kana Shizumi scratched his head and checked the historical background on his phone.

1945. Super-bombing, also known as LeMay's Barbecue...

Holy shit, that was a bit of a dark joke.

Kana Shizumi rubbed his increasingly sweaty head, pondered for a moment, and decided to skip over this sensitive period.

"I successfully gathered a complete negative entity of cursed energy. This proved that my line of thought was not wrong... But to let it be fully born, I needed to make further arrangements.

What exactly should I do? I thought about it for a long time before deciding to implant it.

I selected an entirely ordinary woman and planted this portion of negative cursed energy within her. Through a process akin to pregnancy, I had it alternately absorb nutrients, thereby simulating the human portion."

Oh?

Seeing this, Kana Shizumi could not help raising an eyebrow.

So after all that, you still needed someone to give birth to it... Jail Mom, turns out you couldn't do it either!

"But I quickly discovered that its growth rate was somewhat too fast.

Form of Purity burst from the body after only three months, and it lacked emotional perception related to humans... I discovered that it was merely a pure cursed spirit.

This was not the result I wanted, so I reclaimed it and placed it into another host once more."

He had only been joking before.

He had not expected there to really be an energy-recycling stage.

So long ago, he had already been chewed up and spit out by Kenjaku again and again...

"This time, I deliberately imposed restrictions, using binding vows to monitor and manage it closely.

By intentionally extending the time it lived within the host, I wanted it to absorb more human traits. This method seemed quite feasible...

Because the Form of Purity born this time possessed a human appearance.

But the result was still disappointing... It did not possess intelligence, and it behaved with extreme violence.

I did not think this was the correct approach, so I made another decision.

I extracted the negative energy from Form of Purity. Just as one creates a Cursed Object, I extracted this individual already stained with traces of humanity...

Through this method, I could harmonize and purify the cursed energy within Unblemished with its human components."

By this point, Kana Shizumi wore an expression of sudden realization.

He understood immediately.

No wonder Kenjaku had especially emphasized "Secondary Incarnation" when he had first awakened.

"By purifying it over and over, repeatedly fusing it... then having it ingest this thing, the energy belonging to the cursed spirit portion would surely become far thinner..."

Fuck, you really were a genius.

But it also felt like decorating a pile of shit.

After all, the goal had been a half-human, half-cursed-spirit being, and the Death Paintings were the straightforward result. Kenjaku had gone in one giant circle only to arrive at exactly the same answer.

Yet from the experimenter's perspective, Kenjaku seemed to be in high spirits.

This was the most recent handwritten entry, from two days ago.

"Though Unblemished is still fundamentally half-human and half-cursed-spirit, unlike the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings,

its birth is the result of countless rounds of purification and refinement. Thus, it possesses an unparalleled trait... infinite tolerance for negative energy, as well as the possibility of assimilation.

On him, I can design and adjust things however I please.

Implanting Six Paths Tsuji's Cursed Object into his body is itself a groundbreaking attempt.

If it succeeds, then my line of thought is correct. If Unblemished can accommodate a Cursed Object, perhaps he can also accommodate multiple techniques?

Six Paths Tsuji's Cursed Object itself possesses a special circulation ability. If I can successfully activate and use it, that will mean I can conduct many further experiments..."

It was not written explicitly.

But Kana Shizumi had already pursed his lips with a frown.

Though this was only speculation, considering that energy recycling had indeed happened before...

There was every reason to suspect that if Kenjaku was dissatisfied with this version of Form of Purity, he could decisively choose to start over once again.

Now that would be some real mother-son filial piety.

So Kenjaku had shown him this book to warn him as well?

I can't even tell whether you're lying to me anymore...

As he reflected, Kana Shizumi also noticed a note left in the corner.

It read:

"Six Paths Tsuji... possibility of Domain Embedding..."

Was he still doing research?

Judging from this section alone, it should have belonged to another handwritten manuscript.

Considering Kenjaku's age and the nature of his research, there was every reason to believe that he had countless similar books hidden away.

He was done reading. Now it was time to distill the important points.

Kana Shizumi lightly rubbed his forehead and summarized.

First.

There was nothing wrong with keeping his head down. Judging from Kenjaku's behavioral logic, he would definitely have no psychological burden if he wanted to kill him.

Second.

The collection progress of Six Paths Tsuji's Cursed Objects directly affected how much power he could wield. Once he gathered them all, he would very likely obtain a second technique.

Then there was the third point...

Of course, this part was only speculation.

"Six Paths Tsuji's Cursed Objects are connected to domains too?"

Tch.

Suddenly, I really want to follow the serial... Professor Kenjaku, when will your new paper be published?

Don't make me look forward to it so much, okay?!