Nobara's voice trembled as she stepped forward.
She never imagined that after so many years apart, reuniting with the gentle, caring older sister she remembered would happen like this.
Saori still looked young and beautiful, but there was no warmth of life in her. If her chest weren't rising ever so slightly, Nobara might have believed she was already gone.
"You know my Saori?"
Even the woman had noticed something was off. She asked urgently, her voice shaking with hope.
If this girl was Saori's friend, maybe she had brought a real specialist here.
A tiny spark, long gone, lit up in her heart.
"Yes... Fushiguro-san, what happened to my friend? What's wrong with her?"
Nobara didn't have the mood to explain the old story, how they had met almost ten years ago. Right now, she only wanted to know what had happened to Saori.
And she wanted her to wake up.
"A curse."
Mukuro only answered with those two words. Then he walked up to Saori's bedside, and at some point, a razor-sharp dagger appeared in his hand.
"What are you trying to do to my daughter?!"
The woman panicked. She shouted and rushed forward to protect her helpless child.
"Ma'am, please calm down! This is a necessary part of the treatment. Do you really think we would harm your daughter in broad daylight?"
Ijichi reached out and stopped her.
"If you want her to stay like this forever, or you're fine with her dying at any time, then I can leave it alone."
Mukuro held the dagger above the girl's arm and let the woman choose.
The people Ijichi had investigated weren't few. They were all cases from recent years, people who had suddenly fallen into a coma for no reason, then never woke up.
Most of them were likely pieces Kenjaku had set up for the Culling Game.
Mukuro had only come because it felt like the timing was close. Just in case, he wanted to see if he could fix the problem before these people were fully taken over.
"That… I'm sorry!"
The woman's eyes trembled. In the end, she gritted her teeth and nodded.
Once he had her permission, Mukuro lightly stabbed Saori's arm. A tiny hole opened, and a drop of blood seeped out.
The next moment, he closed his eyes. Simultaneously, Saori opened hers.
But in her right eye, there was a crimson pupil, with the number "6" inside it, just like his.
"Saori?!"
The woman didn't understand. Her eyes turned red instantly, thinking her daughter had finally awakened. She rushed forward, wanting to hold her.
"I'm sorry, but she's Fushiguro-senpai right now."
Ijichi adjusted his glasses and stopped her again.
"So this is... the legendary Six Paths?!"
Nobara swallowed hard.
After the exchange event, she had heard plenty about the strongest special grade from Maki and Megumi. During one lesson, Nanami had also casually mentioned the concept of the "Six Paths."
A terrifying and mysterious power that only one person in the world could use.
* * *
Right now, "Saori's" face was blank. And Mukuro's consciousness had already entered her mental world.
Here, he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. It was so quiet he could only hear his steady breathing.
Tap, tap, tap…
He didn't need light. He simply walked forward, his footsteps echoing through the endless darkness.
Finally, a faint glow appeared ahead.
Strange mushroom-shaped objects floated in the air. Not far in front of him, a naked woman lay half draped over the top of one of them, like she was asleep.
"How did you get in here?"
She sensed him approaching. Her eyes opened, and she demanded an answer.
This was her innate domain. As far as she knew, the only way to enter was to use Domain Expansion and cover the body she was living in.
But he didn't look like he came in using a domain.
Bang! Bang!
Mukuro didn't answer. He stomped the ground twice, not too hard, but with intent.
He could see it now. Beneath his feet was something like a massive sheet of transparent glass. Under the glass was a dark, stormy sea. And the girl's soul was trapped at the very bottom, collapsed there helplessly.
He wanted to shatter the floor with brute force, but he quickly realized something.
This thing couldn't be broken with strength alone.
"Hey! I asked you a question..."
Boom!
The naked woman was about to speak again, annoyed, when Mukuro vanished from her sight.
"So fast?!"
In her shocked gaze, a razor-sharp long blade appeared in a blink and slashed into her, sending her flying.
But to her surprise, he didn't follow up. He only stared at the sword in his hand.
That strike had felt different.
Hard. Too hard.
Unbreakable.
"It's useless. I'm still not fully incarnated yet. I'm basically what you people call a 'half-cursed object.' The binding vow is still active."
She pushed through the mushrooms. She didn't care that she was completely exposed in front of him. And before he could even ask, she explained why his attack did nothing.
To protect themselves, special grade cursed objects often made a binding vow. They promised not to harm others, in exchange for becoming impossible to destroy.
She had already taken shelter inside Saori's body, but she still lacked one final trigger. Right now, neither of them had full control of the body.
Saori couldn't wake up, but she wasn't dead either. She was only locked at the bottom of this mental world.
That meant the binding vow was still in effect.
"So I can't damage you... which means the Deva Path really doesn't work?" Mukuro rubbed his chin, thinking.
One of the Six Paths, the Deva Path, could control awareness to a certain extent. He had wanted to try separating her consciousness, ripping her soul out of this body.
But now it looked like that plan was dead. And she was right in front of him.
Both of them were consciousness inside this space, and he could clearly feel how strong her soul was. It wasn't stronger than his, but it wasn't something the Deva Path could casually tear out either.
Maybe he needed to seriously injure her first.
"My name is Yorozu. Who are you?"
While he was thinking, she sat down on top of another mushroom and asked again.
She was just bored. Even inside her own innate domain, she wouldn't attack a stranger without reason.
She had to maintain this unbreakable state.
She had to make sure nothing went wrong until Kenjaku's plan began.
And most of all, she needed to see… that man again.
**
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