Yoru's words were like the radiation following a nuclear blast; though the initial shockwave had passed, the bone-deep destruction continued to spread through Suguru Geto's mind.
"Killed by Satoru..."
"My body stolen by a monster from a thousand years ago..."
"Merging with Master Tengen... starting the Culling Game..."
Suguru Geto clutched his head tightly, his fingers digging deep into his long black hair as he tore at it in agony.
The information overload was simply too much, far exceeding the psychological breaking point of a seventeen-year-old boy.
He had originally thought that if he could just harden his heart and shoulder the sin of 'killing all non-sorcerers,' he could create a paradise free of tragedy for his comrades.
That had been the single lifeline he managed to find during these suffocating, even nauseating months.
But now.
In the coldest, most brutal way possible, Yoru had ground that lifeline into powder right before his eyes.
If he truly followed that path, he wouldn't be building a paradise; he would be the fuse that detonated the entire world!
He wasn't some ender of tragedy—he would merely become the perfect vessel for that monster known as Kenjaku!
How pathetic!
How ridiculous!
"What am I... exactly?"
Suguru Geto let his hands fall limp, collapsing onto the grass like a pile of mud.
Those eyes, once burning with the fervor of his 'cause,' were now filled with nothing but endless emptiness and self-doubt.
He looked at his hands, stained with the residual dregs of cursed spirits and blood.
These hands had once sworn to protect the weak, and later almost decided to slaughter them.
And now, he didn't even know whether he should clench them into fists or let them go.
On the mountain road not far away, the roar of Yuki Tsukumo's heavy motorcycle had completely vanished into the wind.
The Special Grade sorcerer, who spent her years wandering the world searching for 'Root Cause Therapy,' had left with a grim expression after hearing Yoru's terrifying 'millennial plot' spoilers.
She had to go verify the truth of his words.
Because if all of this was true, then the entire jujutsu world had been kept in the dark, played like fools by a brain-monster that had lived for a thousand years!
Only Yoru and Suguru Geto remained on the training field.
Yoru didn't try to use grand platitudes to comfort him.
He knew that some wounds must be licked by oneself, and some confusion must be cut through by one's own hand.
For the next three full days.
Suguru Geto locked himself in his dorm, never taking a single step outside.
He took no missions, attended no classes, and didn't even eat a single bite of food.
He sat in the dark room like a statue, his mind constantly replaying the hideous faces of the Star Religious Group members, the image of Riko lying in a pool of blood, and Yoru's curse-like prophecy.
"What... what should I do?"
Late on the third night.
A torrential rain suddenly broke out. The howling wind drove raindrops against the windowpane, creating an irritating, rhythmic clatter.
Just as Suguru Geto was about to be completely swallowed by the boundless darkness and silence.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A steady, rhythmic knocking came from the door.
Suguru Geto's body trembled slightly as his bloodshot, sunken eyes slowly turned toward the door.
There was no response.
*Snap!*
The person outside seemed to have expected he wouldn't open it. Accompanied by the sharp sound of metal snapping, the locked door was directly shattered by a domineering force.
The door swung open.
The dim light from the hallway spilled through the gap, casting a long shadow at Suguru Geto's feet.
Yoru walked in calmly, wearing a simple black T-shirt and carrying two cans of ice-cold cola that were still steaming with condensation.
He didn't even look at the mess on the floor as he walked straight to the bedside and slammed one of the cans onto the nightstand.
"What? Planning to starve yourself to death in this dump?
Yoru's voice wasn't loud, but in the room where only the sound of rain remained, it was exceptionally clear.
"If that's the case, you'd be better off going to Headquarters and letting those rotten oranges give you a quick end. It'd save that brain monster the trouble of digging up your grave later."
Suguru Geto looked up at Yoru's face, which looked cold and sharp in the dim light.
His cracked lips moved slightly as if he wanted to argue, but in the end, he only managed a raspy, bitter laugh.
"Yoru..."
Suguru Geto reached out a trembling hand and picked up the icy can of cola.
The bone-chilling cold traveled through his palm, finally bringing a trace of clarity to his muddled brain.
"You... still don't pull any punches, do you?"
He pulled the tab, and with a sharp *psshhh*, carbonated bubbles erupted.
Suguru Geto tilted his head back, gulping down the freezing black liquid.
The icy sting traveled down his esophagus, forcefully flushing away the stagnation that had built up in his chest over the past three days.
"Cough... cough..."
He set the can down and let out a long breath.
Though his eyes were still sunken and his face pale, the deathly stillness of a man on the brink of collapse had vanished.
In its place was an unprecedented clarity that could only come after a baptism of despair.
"You're right, Yoru."
Suguru Geto looked down at the bubbling black liquid in the can, his voice gradually steadying.
"Running away doesn't solve anything."
"Whether it's numbly swallowing Cursed Spirit Orbs to protect people who aren't worth protecting, or my previous plan to maniacally slaughter all ordinary people..."
"It's all just a way of escaping this shitty world."
He snapped his head up, and those narrow eyes once again burned with the pride and brilliance of a Special Grade sorcerer!
"I will no longer be used as a tool by the higher-ups to clean their sewers, and I will absolutely not let that thousand-year-old monster take my body!"
Suguru Geto looked at Yoru, a look of profound relief forming into a smile.
"I'm going to use my own eyes to see it for myself..."
"The third path you mentioned—the one that breaks the monopoly and returns the right of choice to life itself!"
Looking at the gaze that had finally broken free from the shackles of fate.
Yoru knew that the Suguru Geto who, in the original timeline, had walked the path of the worst curse user, had died in this very moment.
Replacing him was a more mature, more dangerous, and more determined Special Grade sorcerer!
Yoru raised his own cola and lightly tapped it against Suguru Geto's can.
"Welcome back, Suguru."
*Clink!*
The crisp sound of the collision echoed in the silent room.
Suguru Geto's inner demons had been thoroughly crushed, but the decaying jujutsu world clearly had no intention of giving them much time to breathe.
At the very moment their cans touched, the gears of fate in the shadows ground together with a chilling, screeching sound.