The moment Rowan's words fell, a man wearing monk robes slowly walked out from inside the shrine, smiling as he looked at Rowan's group.
After confirming his appearance, it was Suguru Geto. There were no stitches on his head, so he was not Kenjaku, the parasitic brain.
"Well, well. I thought I was hiding quite well. I didn't expect to be discovered."
Suguru Geto spoke smoothly, his expression relaxed, his muscles loose, and his cursed energy steady. He did not seem nervous at all.
Oh-ho. Strange. Something was off.
Rowan narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over him a few times. Mahito, Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon—the four disaster-level cursed spirits—had all been killed. What right did this guy have to look so confident?
Could it be that he had some other trump card?
Rowan admitted that his interest had been aroused. He showed the same smile as Suguru Geto.
"Be good, Suguru Geto. Be good and let me see what trump card you still have that lets you speak to me like this."
Suguru Geto quickly shook his head and waved his hands.
"No, no, nothing left. Sigh, can we reconcile?"
However, the more he said this, the more Rowan felt that this guy definitely had some trump card. Putting himself in Geto's place, if he had no trump card, he definitely would not be as arrogant as the other party.
So Rowan was very curious. After losing the four great cursed spirits, what did Suguru Geto rely on to be so confident and not fear him at all? This guy was not some idiot.
Good. Come out, Mahoraga.
The next second, an ancient military general wearing armor and holding a great sword was summoned by Rowan.
"Go. Kill him."
Rowan raised his hand and pointed. The target was Suguru Geto.
Mahoraga said nothing and simply charged. Its speed was like a bolt of lightning. In an instant, it appeared in front of Suguru Geto, and the great sword in its hand chopped down toward him with thunderous force.
The sharp blade could tear apart heaven and earth. Before it even touched Suguru Geto, the raging sword wind had already left a shocking sword mark on the ground.
However, just as Mahoraga was about to split Suguru Geto in two from head to toe, it stopped.
It was not because Mahoraga had held back.
Rather, a hand had pinched Mahoraga's blade. That hand was like it had been forged from steel, forcefully stopping Mahoraga's slash.
Uh…
Rowan raised an eyebrow, a trace of astonishment flashing through his eyes. He admitted he had been shocked.
Mahoraga's strength was not simple. After Rowan strengthened it, its power became even more astonishing. A casual slash could split a man-sized boulder in half. If it went all out, it could even split a skyscraper.
But now, Mahoraga's overwhelmingly tyrannical strength had been blocked by one hand.
What was even more absurd was that this hand belonged to Suguru Geto.
No, when did jujutsu sorcerers have this kind of strength? This was truly inconceivable and unbelievable. Even Gojo Satoru would not dare say he could casually catch Mahoraga's full-force strike, right?
Was this really still Suguru Geto?
Bang!
Just as Rowan was wondering whether he had watched a fake Jujutsu Kaisen, Suguru Geto kicked out. Mahoraga's body immediately flew back like a cannonball, shooting toward Rowan.
Medea's eyes flickered, and she casually released a spell. An invisible force swept out, and Mahoraga's body immediately stopped in midair before slowly landing on the ground.
Rowan observed it and saw that a three-inch-deep footprint had appeared on Mahoraga's chest. It showed just how powerful Suguru Geto's kick had been. It was simply unbelievable.
"A little interesting."
Rowan poured cursed energy into Mahoraga's body. Mahoraga's body gradually recovered, and the gloomy eyes inside its helmet released crimson light.
"Go again."
Hearing the order, Mahoraga pounced forward without hesitation. Its speed was even faster than before. The turbulent sword wind seemed as if it wanted to chop Suguru Geto and the entire shrine into pieces together.
Suguru Geto's smile did not change. While scratching his hair, he said, "How troublesome," then stomped his foot on the ground.
The ground split open with a roar. Thick tree branches grew out from the earth, crisscrossing like whips. In an instant, they bound Mahoraga's arms and legs.
Rowan tilted his head and looked at Suguru Geto.
"If I'm not remembering wrong, that should be Hanami's technique."
He remembered that Suguru Geto's technique could, by using Maximum: Uzumaki on Grade One or higher cursed spirits, extract the cursed spirit's technique and transfer it to his own body, allowing the sorcerer himself to possess multiple techniques.
But techniques obtained this way could not have their precision improved.
More importantly, hadn't Hanami already been killed by Medea? Where had he extracted Hanami's technique from?
Suguru Geto did not answer Rowan's question. Instead, he asked with a smile, "Is there really no way to reconcile?"
"You don't want to answer? Fine. I'll interrogate you myself."
Rowan said calmly.
Suguru Geto sighed.
"So there's no way to reconcile after all. Forget it. I expected this anyway. Let's finish this quickly. After all, I still have many things to do."
Rowan: "…"
These words were so pretentious they were practically fatal. Where did he get the confidence to think he could deal with Rowan's group?
Rowan was very puzzled.
Suguru Geto clasped his hands together and said softly, "Domain Expansion: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha."
In an instant, the beach and ocean reappeared before everyone.
Rowan's pupils trembled. He was shocked. This time, he was truly shocked. Suguru Geto could actually use Dagon's Domain Expansion. Wasn't that a little heaven-defying?
Then large numbers of fish-like shikigami emerged from the sea like a storm blotting out the sky. Each one looked ferocious as they stared at Rowan's group, as if looking at delicious, mouthwatering food.
Death Swarm.
Suguru Geto looked at Rowan's group, raised his hand, pointed, and gave the order.
"Kill him…"
Before his voice could finish, it suddenly stopped.
The fish shikigami looked at Suguru Geto in confusion and discovered that Suguru Geto's gaze had become dull, like a puppet's.
At the same time, Rowan's voice rang out.
"Withdraw your cursed energy and release the domain."
Suguru Geto did so without hesitation. The beautiful sunlit beach instantly vanished without a trace, and along with it disappeared the countless fish shikigami.
Everyone returned to the shrine in an instant.
Looking at Suguru Geto, who had lost the ability to resist, Medea could not help praising, "No matter how many times I see it, Master, your mind-control magic is simply cheating."
Those without mental resistance could not withstand it at all. One glance was enough to control them.
Hidden, powerful, convenient. It was most suitable for turning the tables in a desperate situation.
Especially against those who did not know Rowan could do this, the probability of being hit was infinitely close to one hundred percent. After all, in battle, gazes meeting was perfectly normal.
"You flatter me."
Rowan walked up to Suguru Geto with a smile, switched to the Memory-Memory Fruit, and pulled Suguru Geto's memories out of his brain.
"Let me see what exactly is going on with you."
Out of curiosity, Medea and Nero also moved closer and watched Suguru Geto's memories together with Rowan.
After Rowan watched through Suguru Geto's memories, he quickly found what he wanted.
"So that's how it is. So that's what happened. Impressive."
Rowan did not hold back his praise. The reason Suguru Geto could catch Mahoraga's great sword, use Hanami's jujutsu, and even Dagon's domain… was entirely because of the leader of the Time Vessel Association.
After this mysterious yet arrogant leader defeated Suguru Geto, seized Suguru Geto's position as leader, and made him vice leader, in order to appease Suguru Geto and have Suguru Geto serve him wholeheartedly, he taught Suguru Geto a very powerful cursed technique.
Death Return.
Do not misunderstand. This Death Return had nothing to do with the Return by Death of Subaru Natsuki, the protagonist of Re:Zero. In Rowan's view, instead of calling this cursed technique Death Return, it would be better to call it Death Absorption, or perhaps Death Banquet.
The effect of this cursed technique was very simple.
Any cursed spirit controlled by Suguru Geto, after dying, would not have its abilities, cursed techniques, or cursed energy disappear into nature. Instead, they would be absorbed by Suguru Geto.
In other words, the more cursed spirits controlled by Suguru Geto died, the stronger Suguru Geto himself became.
After the deaths of Hanami, Mahito, Jogo, and Dagon, the four great cursed spirits, their cursed energy and cursed techniques were all inherited by Suguru Geto himself.
That was also why Suguru Geto could use Dagon's domain.
In truth, not only Dagon's domain, but also the domains and cursed techniques of Hanami, Mahito, Jogo, and the others could all be used by Suguru Geto.
Just say it. Was this cursed technique awesome or not?
Another thing worth mentioning was that in the original plot, Suguru Geto possessed more than four thousand cursed spirits.
But now Suguru Geto possessed only a little over two thousand cursed spirits.
The other half had all been absorbed by Suguru Geto as nourishment. This was also why Suguru Geto could subdue Hanami, Mahito, Jogo, and the others.
Because the current Suguru Geto was too powerful. Not only had he mastered all kinds of abilities, but his cursed energy was also astonishingly vast, already surpassing Gojo Satoru.
But Suguru Geto knew very well that even so, he was still not Gojo Satoru's opponent.
Because Gojo Satoru's strength did not lie in his cursed energy, but in his Six Eyes, his technique, and his domain.
Before he had a way to break through Gojo Satoru's domain, he was still not Gojo Satoru's opponent. After all, that man was far too powerful.
He was the second strongest man Suguru Geto had ever seen in his life.
As for the first, that was naturally the man who had stolen the position of Time Vessel Association leader from him.
Gojo Satoru's strength was something he could still see, and he even felt he had hope of catching up. But that man's strength—he could not see the end of it at all. He did not even have the extravagant hope of catching up to him.
Because he was far too strong.
This made Rowan a little curious. Just who exactly was this Time Vessel Association leader, to make someone like Suguru Geto feel that he could never even see his back?
Driven by curiosity, Rowan began flipping through the parts of Suguru Geto's memories related to this mysterious leader.
And with this look, Rowan discovered something extraordinary.