Chapter 55: This is Precisely the Evil of Humanity
"A Domain deployed from within the body?
No... although it looks very similar, its essence is a completely different Barrier Technique. Why have I never encountered such a complete, alternate system?"
In a certain spot within the underground tunnel, a man dressed in monk's robes was carefully examining the sphere of blades before him, but he couldn't come to any conclusion for the moment.
His thousand years of memories contained no information about a Barrier Technique like this. It was impossible for him to decipher it based on his own experience in the short term, no matter how strong his own Barrier Technique was.
Because the principle of this technique was clearly fundamentally different from the Barrier Techniques known in the Jujutsu world.
It was like biology and chemistry; no matter how profound your knowledge is in one field, you are nothing more than a novice in the other.
He, who had believed everything was under his control, suddenly encountered something he couldn't understand. Aside from a flicker of interest, he felt more annoyance.
He completely failed to grasp why such a variable had appeared, and why it had grown into a form completely beyond his control in such a short time.
Even the investigation into that new Jujutsu Sorcerer had made no progress.
That guy was like some sort of Correction Force that had appeared out of thin air, insistent on stopping and ruining his plans.
He had to find a way, he had to find a way to erase this unstable factor...
But before that, the most hateful thing was the guy who completely disregarded the plan, which led to the situation becoming so terrible.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly, placing his gaze on the "lump of swords" he had just rescued.
"Geto, s-save me... Hurry and save me!!"
Humans can always burst out with a miraculous survival instinct in moments of desperation, and Mahito, in his current state, was likely no exception.
Initially, he could only emit intermittent screams while trapped, but now, he could already stick out half of his terrified head and issue a hoarse plea for help to the other party.
"Oh? You truly live up to Idle Transfiguration; you're still barely maintaining vital signs even under the attack of this special Domain. If it were me, I might die in moments," the man replied with what seemed to be a gentle smile.
"And this Domain Cursed Technique is clearly not developed to its maximum... but it might also be that the caster wasn't fully prepared.
If that wasn't the case, you wouldn't have survived until now. You're quite lucky."
The surprise came too quickly, leaving him unprepared for Mahito, who was virtually immortal, to enter a near-death state.
He didn't know how many special armaments similar to Cursed Tools Emiya's Projection Magecraft could create, but he could tell that the unknown Domain inside Mahito was an aggregate of these special armaments.
Precisely because of this, the power unleashed by this Domain probably depended on the number of special armaments within it.
The number of special armaments aggregated inside Mahito right now was not exaggerated; most were just swords of a hard texture. This was the very reason Mahito was able to cling to life until now.
But even so, it was terrifying enough.
He could even imagine that if the special armaments inside were stacked to a certain degree, it might truly become an "instant kill" upon contact.
Fortunately, he still believed this process would take at least several years or even decades, because that's the time needed to perfect a Cursed Technique.
"Geto," the man Mahito called Geto (and who was actually Kenjaku, possessing Geto's body) narrowed his eyes, a seemingly very kind smile on his lips. He walked up to Mahito step by step and wiped away the tears caused by pain and fear from the corner of his eye.
"Be careful, see? Your soul's sweat is seeping out.
It's very difficult to save you... As we all know, a Domain can only be countered by a Domain, but I don't know the method of stuffing a Domain into someone else's body like this, so I can't save you."
Let alone him; no second person in the entire Jujutsu world could master such a technique.
"However, if you could learn to use a Domain yourself..."
Geto attempted to guide Mahito, and the latter did not disappoint him.
"Domain? A Domain... I see, I see... I understand!
Compared to mere experimentation, combat is indeed better at developing the potential of a Cursed Technique! I can now feel that the precision of my Cursed Technique has been greatly enhanced. If I just prepare some new modified humans, the loser definitely won't be me!"
Finally realizing how he had changed since before the fight, Mahito became uncontrollably excited.
The Domain that relentlessly tormented him inside was also the vortex and staircase that promoted his growth; to avoid death, he had to continuously raise the precision of Idle Transfiguration.
"Hurry and help me, Geto! If you just suppress this Cursed Technique slightly, I can try to deploy a Domain, hurry!"
Domain Expansion is still a type of Barrier Technique; it's very difficult to achieve without a corresponding hand sign or incantation.
However, he failed to notice that the smile on Geto's face had already vanished after achieving his goal.
"Is that so? Then I'm relieved."
Snap!
Geto's palm suddenly pressed down firmly on the small part of Mahito's head that had extended out, and the force kept increasing, even emitting the sound of crushing bone.
"...Ugh..."
Mahito, with only a small part of his head exposed, was still struggling, but confined by Unlimited Lost Works, he was weaker than a normal infant.
Geto ignored the struggle and continued to increase the pressure in his hand.
"I lied to you. I don't know if Domain Expansion can withstand that unknown Domain.
I told you repeatedly not to do anything extra outside of the plan, but you really don't listen at all.
Although absorbing you is much earlier than planned, the threat of death seems to have made your growth barely sufficient."
One hand was still gripping the other party's head, while the other held his forehead, as if troubled by Mahito's actions.
On his forehead, there was a strange line of suture marks, extremely similar to Mahito's.
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation is convenient, but it also causes the precision of the absorbed Cursed Spirit's Cursed Technique to stop growing from the moment of absorption...
I really have your exceptional talent to thank for this, Mahito-kun."
Flashing one last gentle smile towards the opponent, Geto exerted force with his palm, using his Cursed Technique from the outside to pull out the scant remaining parts of Mahito's body.
At least his first statement wasn't a lie; he genuinely didn't know how to save him from this unknown Domain, which was still active despite being detached from the caster. He should have been happy to reuse Mahito's meaningless body.
The death that had been lingering before him finally arrived, and Mahito was no longer so terrified.
"I should have known all along, after all, I... was born because of you humans..."
Geto did not reply. He simply activated Cursed Spirit Manipulation to temporarily turn him into a ball of light and swallowed it whole.
After completing all of this, he gently wiped the corner of his mouth and spoke to himself as a response.
"Humans are indeed such weak and ugly creatures."
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