The higher-ups' scheme!

Seeing how agitated Shoko Ieiri was,

Satoru Gojo once again questioned what kind of being Ronova really was.

Are you sure she isn't a charm cursed spirit?

Just look at how thoroughly she's bewitched Shoko.

But when he thought about what Shoko had been through,

Gojo sighed again.

All right, he couldn't really put all the blame on Shoko.

After all, the other jujutsu sorcerers had been willing to use Shoko as a hostage to threaten Ronova, all for the sake of capturing her.

They had even come close to actually killing Shoko.

Yet Ronova had saved Shoko at the critical moment, and it was also Ronova's warning that had kept Shoko from being punished.

From Shoko's perspective, the jujutsu sorcerers who were supposed to be her comrades had tried to take her life.

The cursed spirit who should have been her enemy had protected her instead.

Under those circumstances, it was hardly surprising that she sided with Ronova.

Gojo understood, but he still had to say what needed saying.

Ignoring the wild look in Shoko's eyes, Gojo continued, "The whole world knows now that I'm going to challenge Ronova in two months."

"When the time comes, if Ronova isn't strong enough, there's no way she'll survive."

"And what do you think Ronova will do over these next two months?"

"If you were in her shoes, would you stop at nothing to get stronger so you could defeat me?"

Shoko fell silent.

Putting herself in Ronova's shoes, she felt as though she understood the pressure Ronova was under at that moment.

After all, this man's name was Satoru Gojo.

The strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age.

One could even call him the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in nearly a thousand years.

Gojo's strength was difficult to describe in words.

It was equally difficult to quantify with numbers.

It wasn't as though history had never seen jujutsu sorcerers with both the six eyes and the Limitless Technique.

But not one of them had reached the heights Gojo stood at today.

That was Satoru Gojo.

His strength wasn't built on the foundation of the six eyes.

Rather, his strength had brought the reputation of the six eyes to entirely new heights.

If Shoko had to face an opponent like that,

Even she couldn't say with confidence that she could resist killing people and frantically increasing her own power.

But if it was Ronova,

She looked Gojo straight in the eyes and said with conviction, "I might kill to get stronger so I could defeat you."

"But I know Ronova. She would never do that."

Gojo smiled.

She really guessed right.

Should I expect anything less from someone who lives with her?

"That's right. I've actually been watching her this whole time. If she showed even the slightest inclination to take a shortcut to getting stronger, I'd make sure she didn't live to see two months from now."

"But she hasn't."

Hearing the implication behind Gojo's words, Shoko's anxious expression finally settled.

Just as she understood Ronova, she actually understood Gojo very well too.

So she quickly figured out what Gojo was planning.

She also knew that if Ronova truly held to her principles and refrained from slaughtering innocents,

Gojo wouldn't kill her two months from now.

That finally let Shoko breathe a genuine sigh of relief.

And that was exactly what Gojo had intended.

He had come to put Shoko's mind at ease.

After all, Gojo was a large part of the reason Shoko had ended up in her current predicament.

He bore responsibility for it.

That was why he had made this trip specifically to keep Shoko from worrying too much in her holding cell.

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Once he finished, Gojo lowered his voice and told Shoko, "Just stay put here and don't do anything unnecessary."

"Who knows? You might still get a chance to leave someday."

If anyone else had said that, Shoko would have taken it as nothing more than an attempt to comfort her.

But coming from Gojo...

After all, Gojo was notorious for doing whatever he pleased.

If it was him, he really might manage to get her out.

Meanwhile,

At the Tombs of the Star Corridor, not far from Gojo and Shoko,

Lord Tengen was gathered with a group of Jujutsu Society higher-ups, discussing the approaching showdown between Ronova and Gojo.

"While I admit that boy Satoru Gojo is indeed a monster,"

"His unprecedented talent, combined with his uniquely gifted six eyes and the Gojo Clan's cursed technique, has placed him at the pinnacle of all jujutsu sorcerers over the past thousand years."

"But the opponent he'll be facing is the stuff of legends—the Death Curse Spirit."

"Can he really win?"

A senior member of the Gojo Clan couldn't help asking with a sigh.

Gojo had always been the pride of the Gojo Clan.

Although he was rebellious and had a terrible relationship with his family,

Whatever else might be said, Gojo was still a standard-bearer for the Gojo Family.

Everyone in the Gojo Family fully acknowledged his strength.

In the past, they would never have worried about Gojo losing.

But this time, even the members of the Gojo Family couldn't help feeling concerned.

The Death Curse Spirit's fearsome reputation was simply too overwhelming.

Her mere existence was enough to make people's blood run cold.

At that moment, Lord Tengen spoke as well. "Rather than questioning whether Satoru Gojo can defeat the Death Curse Spirit,"

"I think it's more likely that he'll ultimately let her go."

"After all, you all know what Satoru Gojo is like."

When it came to disobedience, Gojo was in a league of his own too.

He was notorious for refusing to listen.

The best examples were Ronova and Yuta Okkotsu.

There was no need to elaborate on Ronova.

Yuta's case was much the same. The higher-ups had clearly ordered his execution.

Yet Gojo had stubbornly protected him anyway.

With that precedent, it was hard not to wonder whether Gojo would suddenly act up again during his showdown with Ronova and let her go too.

It wasn't as though Gojo had never done something like that before.

Those words earned deep agreement from the higher-ups around them.

Gojo really was excellent in every other respect. He was simply too disobedient and immature.

But just then, one of the higher-ups suddenly had an idea. "What if we could leave Ronova and Satoru Gojo with no room for reconciliation and make them sworn enemies?"

The moment those words were spoken, the eyes of the surrounding higher-ups lit up.

If asked to fight Ronova themselves, these higher-ups wouldn't dare.

Just look at the state Yuki Tsukumo, a Special Grade Sorcerer, had been beaten into.

But if they were asked to plot in the shadows and sow discord,

They couldn't have been better suited to the task.

And precisely because they were so skilled at it, a plan was soon drawn up.

Then they summoned Masamichi Yaga.

And issued him an order.

After hearing what the order entailed, even Yaga was dumbfounded.

What do you mean, send the students of Jujutsu High to exorcise Ronova, the Death Curse Spirit?

Even the Special Grade Sorcerer Yuki Tsukumo was slapped around like a spinning top by Ronova.

And you want to send a bunch of students?

How is that any different from sending them to their deaths?

But as it happened, sending those students to their deaths really was the higher-ups' objective.

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