Chapter 84: The End, A Choice
Geto Suguru turned his head sharply. Countless vengeful spirits emerged from the darkness—Non-Sorcerers he had killed with his own hands, and innocents who had died because of his plans.
Their faces were marked with scars of resentment, their eyes filled with pain and unwillingness, as they swarmed and surrounded him.
"Why did you kill me?" "Didn't you say you wanted to protect us?" "How are you any different from those monsters?"
The accusations rained down like hail, but Geto Suguru did not look back.
He tried to shake off that hand, swimming desperately toward the light, wanting to return to his companions, wanting to be redeemed, wanting to tell them, "I was wrong."
Just then, Gojo Satoru finally grabbed his wrist, the warmth of his palm transmitting through his skin, carrying a familiar strength.
"Suguru! Hold on to me!"
Gojo Satoru's voice pierced through the darkness with unquestionable firmness, and the wails of the vengeful spirits behind him seemed to weaken.
Geto Suguru was on the verge of tears; he could feel himself getting closer and closer to the light, closer and closer to redemption.
But the next second, a soft, fragmented sound of sobbing came from behind him—a sound so familiar it made his entire body stiffen.
"Why, Geto... why did you do this?"
Gojo Satoru's calls grew fainter, while that sobbing sound became clearer and clearer, pulling at his heart like an invisible thread.
"Don't look back! Suguru! Whatever you do, don't look back!" Gojo Satoru roared in his ear, gripping his hand even tighter.
But Geto Suguru's body refused to obey; he slowly turned his head to look into the depths of the darkness.
The vengeful spirits suddenly scattered, and in the cleared space stood two elderly figures. They wore simple clothes, their hair was gray, and their faces were covered in wrinkles—it was his parents.
"Why, Geto?" His mother's voice was choked with sobs, her eyes red-rimmed:
"Why did you kill us? We are your family..."
His father said nothing, just looked at him quietly, his eyes filled with disappointment. That gaze was like a knife, stabbing deeply into Geto Suguru's heart.
"It's not... I..." He wanted to explain, wanted to say it was because of his "stance," wanted to say it was for the "future of Jujutsu Sorcerers," but the words died on his lips, and he couldn't utter a single one.
How could he explain? Explain that for an "ideal," he had killed the parents who gave him life with his own hands?
Tears uncontrollably welled up and spilled over, sliding down Geto Suguru's cheeks and dripping into the darkness below, where they were completely swallowed without even causing a ripple.
Gojo Satoru's hand was still pulling him with force, the heat of his palm carrying an unwavering determination, yet Geto Suguru felt completely powerless.
The sins he had created with his own hands, the mistakes that could never be undone, were like cold iron chains tightly binding his limbs, dragging him into the depths of the darkness, making it impossible for him to take another step toward the light.
He looked at his parents' sorrowful faces not far away; his mother's tears slid down her wrinkles, and the disappointment in his father's eyes pierced his heart like a needle.
He looked at the resentful gazes of the vengeful spirits around him—the innocents caught up in his plans, the people who died because of his "righteous cause"—their faces still bore the pain of their deaths.
At this moment, Geto Suguru suddenly realized with clarity that he had long ceased to be worthy of redemption.
His hands were stained with blood; he had killed the parents who gave him life and dragged countless others into hell with his own hands.
Even if a companion reached out to him now, even if Gojo Satoru was still struggling to pull him, he could not break free from the shackles of those sins. He owed too much—so much that he could not even forgive himself.
"Satoru..." Geto Suguru said softly, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible, as faint as a candle in the wind:
"Let go."
Gojo Satoru's pupils contracted sharply, his eyes beneath his silver-white hair filled with disbelief. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to shout "No," wanting to tell him "We can still go back," but before the words could leave his lips, Geto Suguru had already let go of his hand.
The warmth from his fingertips vanished instantly, and Geto Suguru, having lost his support, fell into the depths of the darkness like a fallen leaf.
Gojo Satoru's voice, Shoko's shouts, and the crying of Nanako and Mimiko all gradually faded, eventually disappearing from his ears entirely.
Countless vengeful spirits lunged from the darkness, their icy hands grabbing his body and dragging him deeper.
Geto Suguru did not struggle, nor did he resist; he closed his eyes and let the darkness completely engulf him.
Only the sound of his parents' sobbing and the endless regret in his heart remained, echoing repeatedly in the vast darkness, lingering for a long time.
He finally understood that the path he had chosen was never one of "saving Jujutsu Sorcerers," but a path into an abyss of self-destruction, and this fall was perhaps his only ending.
Outside the room, the horizon had turned a pale gray, and the morning light filtered through the clouds, casting faint shadows on the ground.
Rin's figure stood rigidly outside the meditation room. He hadn't moved all night; he had just stood there, waiting from the dead of night until dawn.
Hoping that the person behind the door would have a change of heart, hoping that Geto Suguru would let go of those heavy plans and stay in this "home" with Nanako and Mimiko.
He had even planned it out: if Geto Suguru opened the door, he would try to persuade him one more time, even if it meant saying trivial things like, "The beaches of Hawaii are still waiting for us," or "Nanako hasn't had a chance to wear her swimsuit yet"—anything to make the other person waver would be enough.
Until footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway, and Manami walked over in a hurry.
"Rin, why are you here?" she asked, her face filled with confusion. "I didn't see you or Lord Geto at breakfast this morning, and I checked the training grounds too. I was worried something had happened to you both..."
She had seen them return together last night; how could they have disappeared so early in the morning?
Rin did not explain that he had been standing there all night; he simply tilted his head toward the meditation room door, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible hoarseness:
"Go inside and check on him."
Manami nodded and gently pushed open the wooden door.
The scene inside the room made her freeze instantly.
The previously tidy meditation room was now in complete disarray. The meditation cushion was overturned on the floor, the kerosene lamp was shattered in the corner with oil spilled everywhere. Geto Suguru was alone, leaning against the wall with disheveled hair, his eyes downcast, as if he had just gone through a fierce struggle.
"Lord Geto! What happened?" Manami was startled and hurriedly stepped forward, fearing he was injured, her tone filled with worry.
Facing her inquiry, Geto Suguru slowly lifted his lowered head.
The next second, Manami froze. There was not a trace of haggardness or exhaustion on his face; on the contrary, the confusion and hesitation in his eyes had vanished without a trace. His gaze was brighter than ever before, revealing a nearly paranoid brilliance, as if last night's struggle had never existed.
"I'm fine."
Geto Suguru's voice remained gentle, yet carried an unquestionable firmness:
"Manami, help me with something—contact all the cadres currently outside immediately. Tell them to return to the base as quickly as possible. I have important tasks to arrange."
The decisiveness in that tone made Manami subconsciously set aside her worries.
She knew that when Geto Suguru spoke in this tone, it meant the plan was about to move forward.
"Yes! I'll go right away!" Not daring to delay, she immediately turned and left, wanting to complete the order as quickly as possible.
But when she hurried out the door, she found the hallway empty. Rin's figure had disappeared, and only the morning light fell on the floor, reflecting a faint, long-cooled footprint.
Manami paused, looking back at the meditation room door, then at the empty hallway, an inexplicable sense of unease rising in her heart.
She didn't know where Rin had gone, nor did she know what had happened inside and outside the room last night. She only knew that Geto Suguru's order had been given, and a storm seemed to be approaching.