While Ronawa was peacefully minding her own business and leveling up, the gears of fate began to turn.
It started with that Feather of Death.
Although Gojo had solemnly sworn that he had exorcised the newly born Special Grade cursed spirit, the higher-ups of the jujutsu world obviously weren’t going to just take his word for it.
Mostly because Gojo had a track record.
Look no further than Yuta Okkotsu—he was the prime example of Gojo’s insubordination.
Yuta harbored the Special Grade cursed spirit Rika, a power capable of completely overturning the current hierarchy of the jujutsu world.
For a Special Grade of that caliber, the best—and only—solution was exorcism.
Yet, Gojo had chosen to protect Yuta.
Setting aside the sheer danger for a moment, just the existence of Yuta Okkotsu as an uncontrollable variable left the higher-ups in an incredibly passive position.
After all, the one thing those in power fear most is the uncontrollable.
So now, when Satoru Gojo strolled in holding a “Feather of Death” and claimed he had already exorcised the Special Grade cursed spirit?
Why on earth would the higher-ups just blindly believe him?
Especially when they realized the kind of power lingering on that feather.
It left them deeply unsettled.
Even though the Feather of Death was no longer in Ronawa’s hands and its power was vastly diminished, the residual energy—a power that felt as if it could slay any “living thing”—was still enough to send shivers down the spines of the jujutsu elites.
They didn’t even need to see it with their own eyes.
Just a cursory sense of it was enough to imagine exactly how terrifying the owner of that feather, the newborn Special Grade, truly was.
For a matter of this magnitude, there was no way the higher-ups would just take Gojo’s one-sided story at face value.
They had to investigate thoroughly.
And when the higher-ups of the jujutsu world put all their resources into investigating something, very little could stay hidden from them.
For instance, they quickly discovered that Gojo had recently rented a small, secluded house in a remote area.
Furthermore, there was an unfamiliar, never-before-seen girl living in it.
Knowing Gojo, the higher-ups obviously didn’t think he was suddenly feeling romantic and keeping a girl as a plaything.
They only had one hypothesis: could this girl be the Special Grade cursed spirit that was supposed to have been exorcised?
Consequently, investigations and probing operations targeting Ronawa commenced in short order.
And as everyone knew, there were no well-kept secrets in the jujutsu world.
As the higher-ups deployed personnel to investigate Ronawa, the news quickly leaked.
More people began to notice her.
People like Suguru Geto!
At this point, Ronawa still had no idea she had already drawn so much attention.
To be fair, this wasn’t really her fault.
It was entirely because Satoru Gojo’s credibility was practically in the negatives.
He was the kind of guy whose words nobody trusted.
“Weird.
Why are there so few people today?”
As usual, Ronawa stepped out of her house, intending to head to the hospital for another round of “crashing funerals.” But as she walked down the street—a street that usually had at least a decent amount of foot traffic—she found it chillingly deserted.
There were only a handful of people around.
And they kept glancing at her.
Even if Ronawa was normally a bit narcissistic and figured people staring at her was just human nature, she realized something was wrong this time.
Sure enough, after checking their phones for a brief moment, the few scattered individuals rapidly closed in on her, forming a perimeter.
It was a clear-cut encirclement, intent on capturing her right then and there.
Now Ronawa was certain: they were coming for her.
Internally cursing Gojo for being completely unreliable, she braced herself.
Just because she couldn’t beat Gojo didn’t mean she couldn’t beat anyone else.
Did some random, no-name sorcerers really think they could just waltz up and exorcise her?
In your dreams!
Right at that moment, a massive roar erupted from a nearby alleyway.
A split second later, a hulking cursed spirit tore through a building and crashed directly into the street.
The sudden upheaval stunned not only Ronawa but also the sorcerers closing in on her.
Before they could even react, the intruding cursed spirit roared and launched a violent assault on them.
An all-out brawl erupted instantly.
Just then, a voice laced with amusement sounded from behind Ronawa.
“How surprising.
The rumors were actually true.”
“Satoru really is too bold for his own good, actually daring to protect a cursed spirit as dangerous as you.
Isn’t he afraid of dying by your hands one day?”
If there was one person in the world who understood cursed spirits best, it was undoubtedly Suguru Geto.
As the wielder of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, he was the world’s foremost expert on them.
Because of this, even though he couldn’t instantly discern Ronawa’s exact origin, he could acutely sense her danger level.
It was a fatal, overwhelming danger—one wrong move, and he’d be entirely erased.
Yet Gojo hadn’t chosen to nip a cursed spirit this dangerous in the bud.
He had protected her.
From the looks of it, he even planned on raising her.
In Geto’s eyes, this was pure insanity.
But then, thinking about Gojo’s usual behavior…
Geto found it strangely fitting.
Satoru Gojo was just like that; you could never predict his thought process.
Compared to Geto, who was still in the mood for lighthearted banter, Ronawa was already sweating bullets.
If there was one person in the world she absolutely did not want to run into right now, it was Suguru Geto.
After all, Geto literally ate cursed spirits.
“You’re very tense.
Satoru must have mentioned me to you,” Geto said soothingly.
“Don’t worry.
I won’t do anything to you.”
Ronawa didn’t believe a single word.
Men’s words are all lies.
If she believed him, she wouldn’t even know how she died.
Sensing her extreme guardedness, Geto elaborated.
“While I do like controlling cursed spirits, I would never use Cursed Spirit Manipulation on you.”
“Your potential is too vast.
Simply eating you right now would be an utter waste.
I’m actually counting on you to help me complete my grand plan in the future.”
Geto’s Cursed Spirit Manipulation had one major drawback: the growth of any cursed spirit he “ate” was instantly halted.
Whatever strength they had the moment he consumed them became their permanent, fixed power ceiling.
Therefore, eating Ronawa now would be an egregious waste.
It was much better to let her mature.
Only if she reached her full potential would his plan have a higher chance of success.
Thinking of this, a visible, fervent heat burned in Geto’s eyes as he looked at her.
He seemed impatient to take her with him right then and there.
But again, Ronawa didn’t trust him one bit.
“Oh, I see,” she said aloud.
“Well then, I look forward to working with you.”
Internally, her eyes were darting wildly, calculating an escape route.
Geto noticed this, of course, but he didn’t care.
He was a Special Grade sorcerer; there was no way he couldn’t handle one little cursed spirit.
Sure, Ronawa was also Special Grade in status, but she had just been born.
She hadn’t fully developed yet.
Therefore, the advantage was entirely his!
By now, the sorcerers who had come to capture Ronawa had already been subdued by the cursed spirit Geto had unleashed.
At that exact moment, Ronawa abruptly lunged toward Geto.
Simultaneously, her innate technique, Death of All Things, activated.
The horrifying mechanics of the technique made Geto’s hair stand on end in an instant.
His instincts screamed that if this attack connected, he would absolutely die.
Just as he moved to counter, he suddenly realized Ronawa had vanished from right in front of him.
She had.
Ronawa’s target for Death of All Things was never Suguru Geto.
In reality, unless Geto was stupid enough to just stand there and tank the hit head-on, it would be very difficult to kill him outright.
And if she failed her first strike, she wouldn’t get a second chance to use Death of All Things on him.
Her objective was clear.
The thing she was going to kill with Death of All Things wasn’t Suguru Geto.
It was “distance”!
As the spatial distance between them was slain, Ronawa instantly materialized far, far away.
Without looking back, she bolted.
If she waited for Geto to process what had happened, running away wouldn’t be nearly so easy.