"They should be at least semi-Grade 1 level."
"Semi-Grade 1?"
"They're that weak?"
"Seriously, if you say that so casually, a lot of people would end up heartbroken."
Suguru Geto shook his head helplessly.
"So, what now? We go in together?"
"Betty and I will go."
Gojo glanced at her.
"She's still not very familiar with hotels. Besides, she's never even ridden an elevator before."
"I could go by myself."
Betty tossed her hair and spoke calmly.
"I've seen elevators on television. They're simple. You just press the button for the floor you want."
"I know it's simple for you."
Gojo rubbed her head with a grin.
"But do you recognize the numbers?"
Betty opened her mouth to argue.
Then immediately closed it.
Unfortunately, he was right.
In the end, she could only mutter under her breath and obediently follow him toward the hotel.
Geto watched the two disappear through the entrance before rubbing his cheek.
"They really do look like a father and daughter."
He paused.
"Why am I suddenly a little jealous?"
"I've got plenty of Cursed Spirits too."
"Is it because none of them are as cute as Betty? Or as smart?"
He fell into deep contemplation.
Meanwhile, inside the elevator, Betty glanced at Gojo.
"Are you sure those Curse User Group Q people will even make a move?"
"You're showing up this openly."
"If you're really as ridiculously strong as you claim, shouldn't they have run away already?"
"No, no, no."
Gojo shook his head.
"If that's how things worked, Reinhard van Astrea would never have to fight anyone."
"He's absurdly strong too."
"These people don't care about laws or morality."
"They only care about profit and their own goals."
"They're a lot like Elsa."
"I'm willing to bet that even if Elsa were standing in front of Reinhard, she'd still attack."
"At the very least, she'd fight first and run later."
"Besides, I haven't really interacted with these people much over the years."
"Or dealt with them."
"I've spent most of my time fighting Cursed Spirits."
"So it makes sense that I don't have much deterrence against them."
"And look at my age."
Gojo brushed aside his bangs.
"I guarantee there are plenty of people who've never met me and don't think I'm anything special."
"Hearing that just makes me even less interested in them."
Betty sounded disappointed.
"They don't sound very intelligent."
"Come on."
Gojo laughed.
"This is one of the few legal opportunities to kill people in this world."
"There aren't many people stronger than me anyway, right?"
"Hmm."
Gojo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"If we're only talking about your jujutsu abilities, you're roughly equivalent to an ordinary Special Grade Cursed Spirit."
"Strong, but still manageable."
"If we include your Mana, then you're closer to a Special Grade Cursed Spirit with a Domain."
"Maybe even more versatile."
"My magic only amounts to a Domain?"
Betty frowned.
"That's because your Mana reserves are tiny."
Gojo shrugged.
"Without me, your magic doesn't really count for much."
"And Domains are far more terrifying than you think."
"For example, inside your own Domain..."
"You wouldn't need to trap your enemies before blowing them up."
"The Domain itself would be the cage."
"You could detonate anything you wanted."
"And every attack would have a guaranteed hit effect."
As Gojo explained, the elevator continued climbing.
Eventually it stopped on the eighteenth floor.
"This should be the place..."
Standing in front of the room, Gojo reached out to knock.
Then both he and Betty sensed the same fluctuation of Cursed Energy.
BOOM!
The fragile door exploded inward.
At the exact same moment, Betty's voice rang out.
"El Shamak!"
There was no discussion.
No communication.
Not even a glance exchanged between them.
Yet the bond and understanding they had developed required none of that.
Their actions synchronized perfectly.
The instant they rushed into the room, another massive explosion erupted.
A violent shockwave surged toward them.
Neither of them moved an inch.
The hotel room had already been reduced to a complete mess.
Near the entrance lay an unconscious woman dressed as a maid.
Another girl in a school uniform was currently falling out of the window.
Within the darkness created by El Shamak stood a tall figure.
The man wore the combat uniform of Curse User Group Q.
Unfortunately for him, El Shamak had completely seized control of his body and mind.
He stood frozen in place like a puppet.
Gojo swept his eyes across the room.
Then he vanished.
The next moment, he appeared outside the building.
In midair, he caught the unconscious girl before she could hit the ground.
Immediately, he activated Reverse Cursed Technique and checked her condition.
Fortunately...
Nothing serious.
The explosion had merely knocked her unconscious.
Her injuries were minor.
After a quick treatment, she slowly woke up.
The girl was none other than Riko Amanai, the Star Plasma Vessel they had been assigned to protect.
"They waited until we arrived before making their move?"
Looking down at the girl in his arms, Gojo's expression darkened behind his sunglasses.
Being looked down on like this was genuinely irritating.
Carrying Riko, he floated back toward the destroyed room.
While flying through the air, he suddenly sensed something.
His gaze shifted toward a distant location.
Then he casually raised a finger.
A crimson beam no thicker than a strand of hair shot outward.
In an instant, it crossed the distance between them.
The red light appeared directly in front of a man who had only just arrived before Suguru Geto.
The newcomer hadn't even had time to speak.
Hadn't even had time to attack.
Like the man in the room, he wore the uniform of Curse User Group Q.
The only noticeable difference was that his rank seemed somewhat higher.
Other than that, there was nothing special about him.
But that didn't matter.
Even after reducing the power of Red to the absolute minimum through meticulous control, it was still more than enough.
Boom!
"Huh?"
Geto stood with both hands in his pockets and turned toward the noise.
A suspicious-looking man had just been shot straight through the stomach by a crimson beam.
His strength vanished instantly.
He collapsed to the ground.
After striking him, the red light buried itself in the earth and triggered a small explosion.
Not particularly devastating.
Just a crater roughly five meters wide.
Against that attack and the resulting shockwave, the Curse User had lost all ability to continue fighting.
"I was just about to test my magic."
Betty clicked her tongue.
"You're so stingy."
"You never give me a chance to show off."
By the time Gojo returned to the room, the darkness of El Shamak had already faded.
The trapped Curse User had regained his senses.
Seeing Gojo, Betty, and Riko Amanai in Gojo's arms, the middle-aged man opened his mouth to speak.
Betty beat him to it.
"If you defeat me, you might survive."
Her tone was calm.
The man snorted.
"So you're Satoru Gojo."
"Just a brat."
"And you even brought an even smaller brat with you."
"Arrogant."
"Today I'll show you what true power..."
Betty tilted her head impatiently.
"I've never liked people who talk too much."
She snapped her fingers.
Countless purple crystal blades materialized throughout the air.
Without warning, they shot toward him from every direction.
Unlike the bizarre abilities created by various Cursed Techniques, magic excelled at overwhelming force.
More.
More.
And then even more.
Relentless bombardment.
Betty demonstrated that principle perfectly.
In the blink of an eye, enough crystal blades to turn someone into a pincushion had reached the still-talking Curse User.
His voice stopped abruptly.
His pupils contracted.
Fortunately, he wasn't completely incompetent.
Just as he prepared to counterattack, he failed to notice the tiny translucent cubes hidden among the countless crystal blades.
Each one was barely the size of a fingertip.
A thunderous blast erupted.
The incoming blades were intercepted by the activation of his Cursed Technique.
"Is that all you've got? If that's your best, then it's not nearly eno..."
Before he could finish speaking, Betty snapped her fingers again.
The tiny cubes revealed themselves.
They had already surrounded him completely.
Gojo watched without interfering.
He knew Betty could defeat this man effortlessly.
She was merely becoming accustomed to combining magic and jujutsu, maximizing her overall strength.
As he watched, the girl in his arms stirred.
Riko Amanai's eyelashes trembled.
Then she woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes, a sharp scream rang through the room.
"AHHH!"
A slender hand flew toward Gojo's face.
But the instant she screamed, Gojo had already covered his ears.
As a result, the princess carry came to an abrupt end.
Without any support, Riko immediately fell.
Thump!
"Hiss!"
It happened so suddenly that she couldn't react.
Before losing consciousness, she'd been attacked.
Then she woke up in a stranger's arms.
Naturally, she assumed he was her attacker.
Striking him had been pure instinct.
What she hadn't expected was to suddenly find empty air beneath her.
The impact left her convinced her butt had split into several pieces.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Only then did she finally notice her surroundings.
And only then did she see the middle-aged man desperately dodging Betty's attacks.
That was the person who had attacked her.
Realizing this, Riko slowly turned back toward Gojo.
The white-haired boy looked roughly her age.
Handsome.
Smiling brightly.
He bent down and extended a hand.
"Oops."
"I didn't expect you to start screaming all of a sudden."
"Sorry about that."
Riko eyed him suspiciously.
Still, she accepted his hand.
"You are...?"
"Right, introductions."
"I'm Satoru Gojo."
"That's Betty."
"And downstairs is Suguru Geto."
"We were sent by Jujutsu High to protect you."
As he spoke, Gojo dragged over a sofa and helped the unconscious maid back into a sitting position.
"Here, have a seat."
"That guy's the one who attacked you, right?"
"If you'd like, you can sit back and enjoy watching him get beaten up."
"Or, if you want to punch him yourself, that's fine too."
"As the Star Plasma Vessel, we'll do our best to fulfill your requests."
After quickly checking the maid's condition and confirming she was unharmed, Gojo flopped onto the sofa.
Riko's brain froze for several seconds.
Then she suddenly snapped back to reality.
"Miss Kuroi!"
She rushed to the maid's side and shook her shoulders.
"Miss Kuroi!"
"Please save her..."
"Relax."
Gojo waved a hand.
"I already checked and treated her."
"She's fine."
"She'll wake up soon."
While speaking, he somehow produced a bottle of soda from nowhere.
Twisting off the cap, he held it out.
"Want a drink?"
Riko stared at him.
At a time like this, how could she possibly be thinking about drinks?
She immediately shook her head.
Gojo didn't mind.
He'd never expected her to accept anyway.
It was simply basic courtesy.
Now that Riko was safe and standing beside him, any danger had effectively disappeared.
There was nothing left to worry about.
Taking a sip of his drink, Gojo turned his attention back to Betty's fight.
Despite it being her first battle against a Curse User, she remained completely at ease.
She dominated the entire encounter.
At this point, it was less of a fight and more of a one-sided humiliation.
Then footsteps echoed from the hallway outside.
A familiar voice followed.
"Having a nation-level protector isn't exactly a good thing."
"Especially for a man."
"Tch. Give me a break."
Without even turning around, Gojo responded.