"Wait... wait... hold on..." Haruta Shigemo trembled as he forcibly raised a hand and spoke unclearly.
His mind was filled with all kinds of voices, and he could barely speak clearly now, but he still tried to struggle.
At least ask for some information, right?
For example... for example...
But unfortunately, Morien had no interest whatsoever in so-called information, and he knew far more than Haruta did.
He smiled and raised his knife.
Behind Morien, the knife with a human hand that had fallen to the ground at the beginning struggled upright, still trying to launch a sneak attack on Morien.
Clang!
A foot in a leather shoe stepped on the side of the blade, pressing it back down.
Hearing the sound, Morien turned around.
"Oh, thank you." Morien nodded with a smile.
"I-It was nothing." Ijichi said, sweating as he kept his foot on the knife.
He was somewhat nervous, but he had at least seen quite a few Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Negative emotions were the source of Cursed Energy, so there were quite a few lunatics and people with peculiar fetishes among Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Ijichi himself was somewhat afraid of that, but it was still within the range of what he could accept.
"Ah!"
A heart-wrenching scream entered Ijichi's ears, followed by wet tearing sounds.
Ijichi stepped on the constantly writhing knife and instinctively turned his head aside. He pushed up his glasses, sweat continually running down the face of this middle-aged office worker, yet he said nothing.
Some powerful sorcerers had abandoned the kindness of being human. They attacked the weak and took pleasure in tormenting them. Such sorcerers were not recognized by Jujutsu Society and were called "Curse Users."
In Jujutsu Society, Curse Users practically had no human rights and held the same status as Cursed Spirits. Any Curse User who was captured would receive no protection from Jujutsu Society.
So whatever Morien did was his freedom.
Ijichi would not, and did not dare to, say anything more.
The sounds of flesh and blood splattering and the screams grew louder and louder. Ijichi silently turned his head away, facing the other direction.
Even though he had seen plenty, this was still a little too much to accept...
Sounds continued to come from behind him, mixed with Morien's muttering.
It was not the Resonance Curse Technique being sent directly into his mind, but ordinary sound.
So he could actually speak?
Ijichi thought instinctively.
However, it seemed to be the language of some major country across the sea...
Morien's muttering continued.
Ijichi was at least an outstanding student and had interacted with quite a few foreigners. Japanese and Chinese also shared many similarities, so he could barely understand some of Morien's muttering.
Because of his profession, Ijichi instinctively gathered information.
It sounded like he was saying that person had seven lives, which could be used for some kind of experiment.
There also seemed to be words like... hatching... parasitism... host body... nest...
Even more sweat appeared on Ijichi's face.
Those did not sound like good words.
He lowered his head and suddenly noticed droplets falling onto the ground.
Was it raining?
Ijichi wondered.
No, it was not rain.
It was sweat.
I see, I was drenched in sweat...
He did not know how much time had passed before the screams behind him gradually stopped, and the knife beneath his foot also ceased moving.
Suddenly, an excited cry from Morien sounded behind him.
Then came the sound of a knife being casually tossed onto the ground.
Ijichi turned around and saw that Morien had already stood back up. He was looking at his own finger with a face full of delight.
A golden Butterfly rested on his fingertip.
Its color was completely different from the butterflies surrounding him, making it stand out clearly.
Noticing Ijichi's gaze, Morien beckoned to him.
His voice sounded in Ijichi's mind once more.
"Do me a favor. Throw that knife at me. Throw it at my head."
"Huh? Okay." Ijichi pointed at himself in confusion, then looked down at the knife on the ground.
He did not understand, but he respected it.
He bent down, picked up the hand-grown knife from the ground, held it, and aimed at Morien.
"Then I'll throw it," he reminded him.
He turned his waist and swung his arm.
Ijichi hurled the long knife in his hand.
But at the very moment the knife left his hand, he saw Haruta Shigemo behind Morien.
His legs went weak, his center of gravity shifted, and his hand lost strength as well. The knife he threw flew crookedly and spun down in front of Morien.
"I'm sorry!" Ijichi immediately bowed in apology.
"No need." Morien raised a hand to stop his apology, his gaze still fixed on the golden Butterfly resting on the fingertip of his other hand.
The Butterfly suddenly stopped flapping its wings, and extremely fine lines appeared across its body.
The next second, the Butterfly's wings fell away from its body and shattered into fragments.
The entire Butterfly fell from Morien's finger.
"Ha." Morien smiled at Haruta Shigemo. "How lucky, right?"
The voices in Haruta Shigemo's head had long since stopped, but he was unable to resist.
He was covered in blood, his eyes filled with tears. All four of his limbs had been severed, and the mouth with its tongue cut out could not make complex sounds. Several dense bulges writhed beneath his skin, as though insects were crawling inside him.
Most importantly, his stomach was swollen high, and something beneath it kept struggling.
Morien's gaze moved upward, noticing that the final inverted-triangle tattoo beneath Haruta Shigemo's eye was slowly disappearing.
"Ah, was the last life used up?" Morien said regretfully.
It seemed that the miracles Haruta Shigemo had stored up had been exhausted.
Morien revealed a satisfied smile.
"How wonderful. Thanks to you having a full seven lives, I was able to complete the experiment."
"I made so many mistakes in the middle. It's truly wonderful that you survived."
Morien smiled with pure innocence, without the slightest shadow.
Though he wore a mask, Haruta Shigemo could not see his face at all.
But Morien believed that Haruta could surely feel the sincerity in his voice.
Perhaps because he had become a Mystery Pryer, or perhaps because he had used the Eyes of Mystery Prying to look upon the Hidden Sage once, Morien felt that his curiosity had grown much stronger than before.
Just like now.
Morien clapped his hands in satisfaction.
"All right, your wish has been fulfilled."
"Now, you can die in peace."
Haruta Shigemo's stomach grew larger and larger.
Then...
Bang!
His stomach exploded, and a human-sized golden Butterfly drilled out from inside it.
It had beautiful colors and gorgeous patterns. It gently flapped its wings and floated before Morien.
Looking at this Butterfly, the savage smile behind Morien's mask eased somewhat and became gentler.
He slowly shifted the mask from the front of his face to the side, revealing the face behind it, marked with fluorescent patterns.
He clapped softly, his eyes holding a measure of affection and a measure of praise.
This was a blessing for its first "emergence from the cocoon."
The Butterfly rapidly flapped its wings as well, feeling joy.
Morien smiled gently.
"Happy birthday..."
"My lovely child."