Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

Chapter 146 Awakening

"Reasonable people..."

""

The sound seemed to come from a very far place, carrying a warm power that penetrated Rito's mind.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

The scene before my eyes collapsed like a shattered mirror.

Keisuke Sato's figure began to blur, and the narrow street and the old Japanese-style house also faded rapidly.

All the images were receding, like a dream that had been abruptly interrupted.

Rito felt a warm hand holding his wrist.

It's Xiaoye.

No, it's pupil.

She stood before him, a hint of worry in her amber eyes.

Her other hand was pressed against his forehead, her fingertips emitting a faint glow.

"You almost got lost in there."

Rito was panting heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He looked down at his hands, which were trembling slightly.

Those memories from just now...

What Keisuke Sato said...

"I..." Rito opened his mouth, but found his throat too dry to make a sound.

"That's the memory labyrinth exploiting your deepest weaknesses." Tong's voice softened.

"It will find the most vulnerable parts of your memory, then amplify and distort them until you can no longer distinguish between reality and illusion."

Li Ren remained silent for a moment.

"Then what I saw...—" He looked up, meeting Hitomi's eyes, "was it all fake?"

Tong did not answer immediately.

A complex expression flashed in her amber eyes.

After a long silence, she spoke.

"The illusion of the memory labyrinth is constructed based on your real memories."

"But whether those memories have been altered, I can't even tell. Because I can't see what you're seeing; it's too late, and I haven't had the chance to access those earlier fragments of memory."

"You mean, those memories might be real?" Rito's voice was slightly hoarse.

"I told you, I can't tell," Tong shook her head.

"But I can tell you one thing."

"What?"

"The past cannot define who you are; only the present moment can."

Rihito was taken aback.

Looking into Tong's amber eyes, he suddenly felt that the words spoken by this sorcerer who had lived for a thousand years possessed a penetrating power.

He took a deep breath and nodded.

"You're right. No matter what my past was, right now, I only want to do one thing."

"Rescue Mr. Gojo," Hitomi said for him.

Rito stood up and glanced around.

The surrounding environment has returned to normal.

They stood in the center of the lobby on the first floor of the mall, surrounded by neatly arranged shelves displaying various goods.

If it weren't for the fact that all the goods on the shelves were empty packaging, Liren would almost have thought that she had just walked into an ordinary shopping mall.

"Has the maze been solved?" Rihito asked.

Tong nodded.

"The fluctuations in magical energy within the mall have stabilized, so we should consider the first hurdle cleared."

Rito looked down at his right hand.

A red mark appeared on his palm, shaped like some kind of pattern, emitting a faint glow.

"This mark..." Rito whispered.

"The reward for the first level is to collect seven tokens to proceed to the central tower and obtain the Prison Gate," Hitomi explained. Rito clenched his fist. "Let's go, let's keep going."

The two walked through the mall and exited through the back door.

Outside the back door is a narrow alley, with piles of discarded cardboard boxes and other debris on both sides.

The alleyway leads to another street, where pedestrians with vacant eyes still linger.

But Li Ren noticed that a small crack had appeared in the pale purple light curtain in the sky.

"The pressure inside the barrier is starting to increase." Tong looked up at the crack and frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"This means that the number of people entering the 9th barrier has exceeded the barrier's own capacity. If more people continue to enter, the barrier may collapse prematurely."

Li Ren's expression darkened slightly.

"That prison gate..."

'

"Don't worry, as long as the central tower is still there, the Prison Gate will not disappear," Tong said confidently.

Rito nodded and was about to continue forward when he suddenly heard the sound of fighting.

The sound came from a main street about two hundred meters ahead, accompanied by the loud noise of buildings collapsing.

Rito and Hitomi exchanged a glance, and immediately quickened their pace, running towards the direction from which the sound came.

As he rounded a corner, the sight before him caused Rito's pupils to shrink sharply.

The main street was in a mess.

Several large craters were blown into the asphalt road, the windows of shops on both sides were shattered, and an overturned car was burning, with thick smoke billowing into the night sky.

In the heart of that chaos, two figures were locked in fierce combat with a tall man.

Rito recognized the two figures at a glance.

Pink hair, muscular physique.

"Polygonum cuspidatum?!"

Another figure, with black spiky hair and wearing a school uniform, formed hand seals and summoned a giant white dog-shaped shikigami.

"Fukuhiro?!"

Both of them were in a very disheveled state at the moment.

Itari's school uniform was torn in many places, and there was a bleeding wound on his left arm, but he still maintained a fighting stance, his fists clenched, staring intently at his opponent in front of him.

Fushiguro's condition was slightly better, but his breathing was noticeably rapid, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

His shikigami was hovering above his head, emitting a wary cry.

But the man opposite them caused Rito's pupils to suddenly contract.

He was an extremely muscular man.

Standing nearly 1.9 meters tall, with sculpted muscles, he wore a black tight-fitting vest that revealed his muscular arms covered in scars.

His face was angular and sharp, with a cynical smile on his lips, but his eyes were as sharp as a wild beast.

What's most eye-catching is the knife in his hand.

Li Ren recognized the knife.

No, he knew this man.

"Fuheishen..." Rihito whispered the name.

The man who once assassinated a Starmash and defeated Gojo Satoru.

That man, regarded as the pinnacle of "Heaven and Curse" in the world of sorcery.

That man who should have been dead.

Why is he here?!

Tong's gaze fell on Fu Heishen'er, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes.

"That body... is the product of a sorcerer's modification. I can sense the aura of some kind of cursed object within it."

""

"The Advent Ritual—" Rito repeated the word in a low voice, memories from the original work flashing through his mind.

Voxel was supposed to die five years ago during the Astral Mission, but he was later resurrected by the Cursed Master through "Spirit Conjuring".

He was brought into the world through the body of a cursed sorcerer, using his grandson as a vessel.

"It seems that although I changed the plot, Shen'er's way of appearing was not affected." Rito frowned.

He turned to look at the battle.

Itadori and Fushiguro were clearly at a disadvantage; Fushiguro's speed and strength far exceeded their capabilities.

Even if the two join forces, they can only buy time at most.

"What do you plan to do?" Tong asked.

"They are my partners, and I must help them." Rito said without hesitation.

"And it's no coincidence that that person appeared here. We must stop him, otherwise the later levels will only get more difficult."

After saying that, Rito took a deep breath and began to circulate the magical power within his body.