Six-Eyed Sukuna, starting from Hunter x Hunter

Chapter 216 Barrier, Mist (Two Chapters Combined)

"It's really incomprehensible how they can curse people so easily..." Su Wu's tone was full of doubt.

It's both a story of pure love and filial piety...

But carrying around a super-grade curse is really cool, I love it so much, it's so chuunibyou-ish.

Even though two or three years have passed since the time travel, Su Wu's chuunibyou (delusional) personality has not disappeared.

His body grew, but his soul seemed to have remained forever at the moment of death.

That's why he can do many things that people who consider themselves mature can't do with ease, without any taboos.

That's why he could say "curse" in an envious tone.

After all, in the eyes of upright people, this is a cult, and only curse masters would have such thoughts.

"Perhaps...it's because of love?" Gojo Haru answered, though he himself wasn't sure.

"This is the second time I've seen this situation," Gojo Haru said after a moment's thought.

It seems that both times, it was because of love.

"This is the second time I've seen it too." Su Wu's tone revealed a hint of subtlety.

"...Huh? You humans... can create monsters like that?" Hongyan asked curiously.

Even if it's a dog demon, the dog is in front of it; simply put, the dog's characteristics are obvious.

My damn curiosity is just as strong.

"Ah, it seems that many cursed spirits and demons were born because of the evil thoughts of you humans," Hong Yan muttered.

Anyone who heard this would think that humanity is the root of all evil.

"Will things be like this a thousand years from now?" Gojo Haru asked.

"...It seems to only happen to children. That sorcerer cursed his best friend, or maybe his lover, when he was very young?" Su Wu shook her head.

"It's probably..." He stroked his chin and recalled for a moment.

He'd almost forgotten all the lines from that crazy comic.

"Stay by my side forever, or never die or something like that?" he guessed.

"Only children have those kinds of feelings. Once you grow up, you can't give such unreserved feelings to others anymore," Su Wu sighed.

When we were young, we valued emotions above all else; as adults, we weigh the pros and cons.

"So, in that case... what I actually encountered was a father and daughter," Gojo Haru recalled, recounting the story in detail.

About twelve years ago, twenty-year-old Gojo Haru was more mature than when he was a teenager, but he wasn't the type to stay in the old house in Kyoto all the time. So occasionally he would take on some missions outside of Kyoto, ostensibly to patrol the world, and then spend a month traveling back and forth, and then take a few minutes to deal with troublesome cursed spirits.

That time, the problem was a cursed spirit that had devoured half the villagers.

Extremely evil, extremely cruel.

But when Gojo Haru followed the residual filthy energy to the location of the cursed spirit, he discovered that his target had changed from one to two.

The enormous, bloated monster clung tightly to the emaciated middle-aged man, purple slime dripping from its mouth, while it kept crying out, "Hungry, I'm so hungry..."

"I want to eat something..."

"Not enough, not enough, I want more, I want more food."

The middle-aged man who was being haunted by the monster, however, wore a sad, apologetic, and helpless smile when he saw Gojo Haru.

"You must be an adult from Kyoto."

"Could you... give me a little more time?" he pleaded.

She was so confident in her abilities that even if her opponent ran 500 meters ahead, she was certain she could take them down in an instant. She casually agreed.

He also wanted to see what the other party intended to do.

"..." The man murmured something, which seemed to be a name, but also seemed to be just a meaningless whisper.

"Are you still hungry? If you're not full, then eat me too."

"I'm sorry, I turned you into a monster." He looked at the monster, tears of helplessness streaming down his face.

"She used to be... a very, very lovely child." His facial muscles twitched.

Gojo Haru looked at the extremely ugly cursed spirit that was anything but cute, and remained skeptical of the man's words.

"...Father...?" The monster stared at the man with eyes like a bulging fish, and spoke in a slightly childish girl's voice.

"I..." It secreted even more mucus from its mouth.

"……No……"

It screamed and bit off half of the man's body.

"Father..." the monster murmured, tears streaming down its face.

It is no longer human and cannot fight against its body's instincts.

And men also lack the ability to control or stop it.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have devoured half the village's inhabitants in the first place.

Gojo Haru didn't move, but just watched as the monster slowly devoured the man, merging the two into one.

If the other party is willingly being taken advantage of, what's the point of stopping them?

Then he used a move to kill the monster.

"After that, I found the survivors from their original village and asked them some questions."

"It is said that the girl and her mother were imprisoned by the villagers and starved to death."

"He was imprisoned for two months before he died."

"It is said that the mother and daughter survived for a period of time by eating the insects and rats in the room raw. The mother couldn't bear to eat them herself, so she gave them all to the girl."

"After the insects and rats in the room were eaten, my mother starved to death. After she died, her body rotted and maggots grew on it."

"The girl did not understand the meaning of death. She only thought that her mother was covered with insects, so she picked up the insects one by one and put them in her mouth."

When her father returned, the villagers, who had forgotten about the mother and daughter, remembered their existence.

When they opened the door, black flies and a foul stench hit them.

It's too late.

"Why are the villagers locking them up?" Su Wu asked.

"It seems that... the mother and daughter can see demons." Gojo Haru recalled the reason she heard at the time, a mocking expression on her face.

"They possess spiritual power and could have become Onmyoji."

"But the villagers felt that they were in cahoots with demons to murder people."

"But what appeared near that village were just some weak little demons that could be easily killed even by ordinary humans," Gojo Haru said casually.

"...How come they only ate half the people in the village?" Su Wu pursed her lips after hearing the story.

Feudal villages are a killer! Shouldn't we wipe out the whole village?

"Is it because they're not strong enough? Compared to Zeninji's mother, who was a top-tier monster, the father and daughter I encountered were only level one monsters at most, and that was after they ate half the village. They were probably only level two or three when they were first born," Gojo Haru speculated.

"What a pity..." Su Wu clicked her tongue in regret.

"Humans... always manage to do so many things that even demons are afraid of." After listening to the story, Hong Yan's hair stood on end.

They locked the child and the frail woman in a room, starving them to death, forcing the child to eat worms that bred from rotting flesh to fill his stomach.

Even a demon wouldn't have imagined such a torturous method.

"Indeed." On this point, Sora and Kurenai, both non-human, agreed.

Humans are indeed terrifying.

"However, judging from the existing combinations, it seems I won't be able to obtain the personal curse." Su Wu sighed with great regret.

"How about I curse you when you die?" he asked Gojo Haru with interest.

"...Verbal curses probably won't work, right?" Gojo Haru paused for a moment before beginning to explore the feasibility of this matter.

It is known that Su Wu's curse power is very strong, and Gojo Haru's curse power is also very strong.

Furthermore, when a person with powerful curses sincerely curses a dying person, it can cause unexpected consequences.

So... can Su Wu curse Gojo Haru?

"We can meet the general requirements, but when it comes to feelings... do you really have them?" Gojo Haru looked the boy up and down.

The moment he saw the other person, he knew he had met someone like him.

The only one of its kind.

Since they are of the same kind, they are naturally similar in some aspects.

"...It's a bit disgusting..." Su Wu frowned, showing a look of disgust.

"I can't imagine the scene of me crying and begging you not to die, to stay by my side forever, in front of you as you are dying." The white-haired boy's expression was somewhat distorted.

Although he's a bit of a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur), let's not go for this kind of thing.

"...I can't imagine it either." Gojo Haru also showed a subtle, slightly nauseating expression.

Because he wouldn't do such a thing.

Even when Zenin Akira, whom he considered a friend, died, he did not experience much emotional fluctuation.

Sometimes he would doubt whether he truly considered Zenin Akira a friend.

But the only person he's ever been able to have a normal conversation with is Zenin Akira.

Lord Seimei was too old, and everyone else either took advantage of him or fawned over him. Lord Seimei, Lord Gojo, Lord of the Clan, Lord of the Divine Child, and Your Highness were all titles used by others to refer to him.

Only Zenjiro Akira would openly express his emotions in front of him, calling him Haru or Six-Eyed Boy with anger, dissatisfaction, or jealousy.

Perhaps, maybe, they should be considered friends.

Gojo Haru never attended school because mortals cannot teach the children of gods.

He learned continuously through reading all by himself.

Friend...? What's that?

"What a pity," Su Wu sighed again.

There were negative emotions, such as pain and anger.

As for negative emotions about love... there must first be love with positive meaning before negative emotions can arise.

But he didn't have any.

There's no point in talking about love; love is utterly useless.

"Your Highness—" A group of people with disheveled clothes and hair ran in. They were covered in dust, each with some blood on them, pale faces, and gray lips.

It looked as if something had drained his life force, causing him to lose ten years of his lifespan in an instant.

"Barrier! The barrier is set up!" They ran halfway there, their legs gave way, and they collapsed to the ground. After shouting their last words, they fainted on the spot.

It looked like a group of people had suddenly died.

"...They really set up a barrier starting from the torii gate...covering almost half the mountain area..." Gojo Haru sensed it and said with emotion.

The key issue is that these people are not particularly strong, and their spiritual energy is not very concentrated.

Such a barrier consumed a significant amount of their energy.

That's why I suddenly fell into a coma. My spiritual energy was exhausted, and so was my physical strength, which is why I collapsed.

I estimate it will take at least a week to recover.

"...It seems pretty good." Su Wu walked out of the room, and the barrier began to operate, with wisps of white mist escaping from it.

It's estimated that it won't be long before the area from the middle of the mountain will be shrouded in white mist.

"Since they've done it, let's have someone send them down the mountain," Su Wu said casually, pointing to a group of people.

"One for each of them, send them down." He pointed out the people around him who had been sent by other families to serve him.

"Go down now, or it will be difficult to walk when the fog gets thicker," he urged.

The group of people from different families looked at each other, nodded, and led the unconscious people down the mountain.

Gradually, their figures were swallowed up by the white mist.

"So you're not planning to keep them?" Gojo Haru watched leisurely, only speaking after the person was out of sight.

"There's no point in keeping it," Su Wu shrugged.

He was just an informant planted to monitor him; the fact that he's been patient for so long is already a testament to his good temper.

"Those two...?" Gojo Haru gestured to the two girls beside her.

Although they look quite different from the traditional noble princesses, they are still of noble birth...

"We don't need anyone to serve us," the two little girls quickly said. "We can take care of ourselves." They emphasized.

"Look," Su Wu said, not surprised.

"If even those two don't need anyone to take care of them, then the others need even less. Maro alone can take care of all of them," Su Wu said casually.

Maro, whose name was called, proudly raised his head and said, "It's my honor."

"Hopefully, some of them won't give up," Su Wu said, stroking her chin. "It'll be a good opportunity to test the barrier's abilities."

For example... the ability to transform corpses into energy to maintain the barrier.

"There definitely will be." Gojo Haru said with certainty.

After all... among those who were planted, there were a few who could be called suicide soldiers.

An hour and a half later.

The group that had escorted the people back to their homes then returned to Wushan.

Upon reaching the torii gate, I saw a thin layer of white mist swirling behind it.

It's getting foggy……

However, fog on the mountain is not a rare sight.

They casually lifted their feet and stepped over the torii gate.

The clear and melodious sound of wind chimes rang in my ears.

The world seems to have changed.

They were completely unaware of this, only noticing that the fog on the mountain path seemed to be getting thicker and thicker.

Half an hour passed, and they still hadn't seen any sign of the shrine.

At their speed, they should be almost at the shrine at the top of the mountain in half an hour.

It was only then that they realized something was wrong.

The fog grew even thicker, making it impossible for them to see the road beneath their feet or the people around them.

Behind the white mist, pairs of large, bright eyes seemed to appear.

"Red mist..." Su Wu reached out, tentatively trying to grab a wisp of red mist that drifted in front of him.

"If too many people die, won't this mountain be covered in blood mist? It'll look like a demon's stronghold..." Su Wu couldn't help but complain.

"The white mist is much prettier; it's ethereal and otherworldly, clearly a place where immortals live."

(End of this chapter)