Resonant Propagation

Around Morien's wounds, the injured skin began to peel away, each flake turning into an extremely tiny butterfly the moment it fell.

They detached from Morien's palm and grew in the air until they reached the size of normal butterflies.

With every butterfly that peeled away, Morien's wounds shrank a little, until they healed completely.

It looked as though a swarm of tiny insects were rapidly devouring Morien's wounds, then transforming into butterflies as they fell away.

"Huh?" Haruta Shigemo let out a puzzled sound.

He could clearly sense that Morien had pitifully little cursed energy.

So why could he do something like this?

He had sensed correctly, but unfortunately, Morien was the kind of trash mob that could restore his own health and mana, and he even had a second phase.

Across Morien's body, all the wounds Haruta Shigemo had slashed and stabbed into him began healing while tiny butterflies grew from them. The butterflies then took flight, enlarged, and circled around Morien.

That included the largest diagonal gash across his chest.

Very soon, Morien was surrounded by a swarm of deep-purple butterflies. They formed slanted rings around him, one layer after another.

The butterflies looked roughly the same as ordinary ones and were about the same size, but their wings bore golden and orange-red patterns. Some straight, some curved, they formed shapes resembling lashless eyes.

"Congratulations." Morien adjusted his mask with his left hand and spread his right. "Now comes the boss's second phase."

The next instant, the cursed energy within Morien rapidly surged, and the cursed energy he displayed changed form as well.

Deep-purple particles appeared within the blue flames. They looked like bubbles and insect eggs, constantly appearing, splitting, and bursting.

He infused the Path powers of Propagation and Elation into his cursed energy.

That cursed energy spread from Morien's hands throughout his body, quickly enveloping him completely.

Even the butterflies ignited with blue-violet flames speckled with particles.

"W-what is this..." Feeling that abruptly intensified, bizarre cursed energy, beads of cold sweat formed at Haruta Shigemo's temple. His smile grew somewhat forced. "Are you a cursed spirit? A butterfly cursed spirit?"

"What's with that cursed energy..."

"Oh? You're interested?" Morien glanced at the blue-violet, particle-filled cursed energy covering his body and suddenly recalled something.

[Binding Vow].

In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, [Binding Vows] were very important. One could give up something beneficial to oneself in exchange for something else.

Simply put, it meant voluntarily turning yourself into an overpowered specialist with glaring weaknesses.

Among them, the most common [Binding Vow] was called "Revealing One's Hand."

By revealing one's abilities, one could gain a partial boost to them.

On a whim, Morien wondered whether things from other systems could become part of a [Binding Vow] in this world.

So Morien answered Haruta Shigemo's question.

"It's [Propagation]." Morien replied using the Resonance Curse Technique.

At that instant, Morien clearly felt the Path power within him "jump."

It improved slightly.

Not much, but it was real.

At that moment, Morien suddenly thought of something.

He seemed to know how the Resonance Curse Technique should be used.

Beneath his mask, the corners of his lips curved upward into a grin.

"Hehe."

He uttered a syllable.

"Propagation?" Haruta Shigemo looked confused. "So you're a Propagation cursed spirit?"

"How could that be? I'm human. Don't I look like one?" Morien glanced at the butterflies around him. "They're so pretty."

After a pause, he continued.

"You don't know what [Propagation] is? That's fine. I'll tell you."

"Driven by the primal force of 'loneliness,' the Path of [Propagation] manifests as such: replication, division, proliferation, swarming, and death upon separation. That is [Propagation]."

Haruta Shigemo suddenly clutched his head and took a step back.

"Alright, alright, no need to repeat it."

His expression twisted as he spoke.

Inside his mind, Morien kept repeating what he had just said.

Again and again.

"I wasn't repeating myself." Morien's smile beneath the mask widened.

"I told you. Replication and division are manifestations of [Propagation]."

Inside Haruta Shigemo's mind, the voices grew more numerous and more chaotic.

They were no longer orderly. One voice followed another, layer upon layer; before one sentence could finish, the next forced its way in.

Morien's explanation continued.

"My cursed technique is called the Resonance Curse Technique. It's an incredibly weak, incredibly commonplace technique."

"It cannot harm anyone. No matter how much cursed energy is poured into it, it cannot achieve an offensive effect. In exchange, however, it has gained sufficient certainty. No matter their nationality or species, every living being can understand my words."

"It gives up 'absolute harmlessness' in exchange for 'the message I send will almost certainly arrive.'"

Haruta Shigemo let out a savage roar.

"I said, enough!"

Throwing caution aside, he charged at Morien and stabbed at him with his blade.

"But just as I said, replication and division are manifestations of [Propagation]."

"My voice is also a part of me."

Morien casually dodged his increasingly disordered attacks, then punched him in the face.

The fist covered in Propagation cursed energy struck Haruta Shigemo's face, setting off a burst of crackling sounds.

Those tiny particles exploded one after another, releasing streaks of deep-purple lightning.

Each egg that burst produced a tiny deep-purple butterfly.

And in the instant Morien's fist hit his face, hundreds of butterflies burst from their cocoons.

The tiny butterflies swarmed forward, covering Haruta Shigemo's face and beginning to tear at his skin.

"Ah!" Haruta Shigemo screamed, staggered backward, and fell to the ground.

Morien's "Revealing One's Hand" continued.

"For me, [Propagation], my voice can also be replicated and divided."

"Yet no matter how many times its quantity is divided, the target can still understand it precisely."

"But the human brain has limits."

"Trying to understand hundreds of statements at once would make even the best mind lag and break down."

At that very moment, hundreds upon thousands of voices repeatedly played inside Haruta Shigemo's mind. Because of Morien's cursed technique, he could clearly understand every single one and could not ignore any of them.

"Well then, I've said more or less enough for my 'Revealing One's Hand.'" Morien walked over and picked up the cleaver that had fallen to the ground earlier.

"I'll say one last thing."

He looked at Haruta Shigemo.

"I can control Wish Power."

"I can turn people's wishes into Wish Power, absorb it, and make miracles descend upon reality."

"At this moment, inside this Curtain, there are only two kinds of Wish Power."

He glanced at Ijichi, who was hiding in the corner.

"First, the wish for me to take you down."

He looked back at Haruta Shigemo.

"Second, the wish to torture others."

At that, he gave a soft laugh.

"Hehe, your wish really is..."

Morien stepped forward, slowly drawing closer.

"But it's fine. I won't mock your wish."

"A wish is a wish. There is no distinction between high and low, noble and base."

Holding the cleaver, he walked over to Haruta Shigemo, who lay on the ground curled up and clutching his head, then slowly crouched down beside him.

"So..."

"I'll fulfill both of these wishes properly."

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