After completely severing ties with the jujutsu world…
Ronova found herself with nowhere to go.
Returning to Shoko Ieiri’s apartment was out of the question.
She wasn’t worried about herself.
She was worried about Shoko.
If Headquarters discovered Ronova was still staying there…
Shoko would undoubtedly be punished.
With nowhere else to be…
Ronova bought an ice cream from a nearby convenience store and wandered aimlessly through Ginza.
Eventually…
She climbed onto the rooftop of a skyscraper.
Sitting casually on the edge…
She let her legs dangle over the side as she quietly admired the city below.
Tokyo’s skyline was breathtaking.
A metropolis of tens of millions…
Yet from this height, everyone looked insignificant.
Then…
A familiar voice came from behind.
“I thought you’d be hiding somewhere.” “I didn’t expect you to be enjoying the scenery.” It was Gojo Satoru.
Ronova didn’t even bother turning around.
“I didn’t do anything wrong.” “So why should I hide?” She took another bite of her ice cream before speaking again.
“Besides…” “Someone else is supposedly everywhere.” “But when I actually needed him…” “He was nowhere to be found.” “That’s pretty disappointing.” There was no need to ask who she meant.
Gojo sighed.
“The strongest sorcerer of the modern era…” Ronova continued.
“And yet you only show up after the battle’s already over.” “What kind of strongest is that?” Gojo had no reply.
He could explain that Headquarters had deliberately sent him away on another mission.
He could explain that the entire operation had been planned behind his back.
But…
Those explanations no longer mattered.
The battle had already happened.
People had died.
The relationship between Ronova and the jujutsu world had been irreparably broken.
Nothing he said could change that.
To be honest…
Gojo himself didn’t know what to do anymore.
On one side…
There were the sorcerers.
On the other…
There was Ronova.
Both sides had suffered because of his decision.
It was a headache unlike anything he had ever faced.
Although he hadn’t personally witnessed the battle…
Piecing together what had happened wasn’t difficult.
He knew exactly how it had unfolded.
In truth…
He didn’t believe Ronova had done anything wrong.
She had warned everyone before fighting.
She had given the sorcerers an opportunity to withdraw.
They had refused.
If their positions had been reversed…
Gojo wasn’t even sure he would have shown that much restraint.
He probably would have attacked immediately.
From that perspective…
He couldn’t condemn Ronova for defending herself.
No one could reasonably expect her to surrender quietly while dozens of sorcerers attempted to exorcise her.
But another problem remained.
Gojo was still a jujutsu sorcerer.
He could ignore the higher-ups.
He could openly oppose them.
Yet…
He couldn’t completely disregard the entire jujutsu world.
Those who had died were still fellow sorcerers.
Their deaths couldn’t simply be ignored.
More importantly…
Everything had started with his decision.
If he had exorcised Ronova the day they met…
None of this would have happened.
In a sense…
Every sorcerer who died that day had died because of the choice he had made.
That responsibility belonged to him.
Gojo slowly closed his eyes.
After thinking for a long time…
He finally reached a decision.
It wasn’t a perfect solution.
Perhaps…
It wasn’t even a good one.
But it was the only path he could see.
He looked toward Ronova.
The evening breeze gently lifted her long white hair.
“I’ll give you two months.” Ronova finally turned to look at him.
“Spend those two months becoming as strong as you can.” “After two months…” “I’ll come find you.” “And when that day arrives…” “Whether you live or die…” “Will depend entirely on yourself.” Ronova froze.
A duel?
Against Gojo Satoru?
The ice cream in her hand suddenly didn’t seem very appealing anymore.
She opened her mouth.
She wanted to negotiate.
Even extending the deadline would be something.
Unfortunately…
Gojo had already vanished.
Only the breeze remained.
Far away…
Hidden from Ronova’s sight…
Gojo quietly watched the lonely white-haired girl sitting on the rooftop.
Don’t disappoint me…
Ronova.
There was a reason Gojo had proposed those two months.
First…
He needed to give the jujutsu world an answer.
Ronova had become his responsibility.
Publicly declaring that he would personally deal with her was enough to temporarily satisfy Headquarters.
More importantly…
Those two months would reveal Ronova’s true nature.
A battle against the strongest sorcerer alive.
A battle she had almost no chance of winning.
That kind of pressure would force anyone to reveal their true self.
If Ronova abandoned her principles…
If she began massacring innocent people to rapidly increase her strength…
Then Gojo would immediately hunt her down.
She wouldn’t survive long enough to reach the agreed date.
There would be no mercy.
On the other hand…
If Ronova endured that pressure…
If she still refused to slaughter innocent people despite knowing death awaited her…
Then Gojo would have his answer.
When the promised battle finally arrived…
He could quietly allow her an opportunity to escape.
With his abilities…
Creating such an opening wouldn’t be difficult.
Everything depended…
On Ronova’s choices over the next two months.
After confirming Gojo had truly left…
Ronova completely dropped the composed expression she had maintained.
She scratched the fluffy white tip of one of her crimson wings in frustration.
Then let out a long sigh.
“…This is awful.” A duel with Gojo Satoru?
Wasn’t that practically a death sentence?
Ronova had become incredibly powerful.
Even without completing her Domain Expansion…
Her overall strength had already reached the level of a Special Grade cursed spirit.
The problem was…
Not all Special Grades were equal.
The gap between Special Grades could sometimes be greater than the gap between an ordinary human and a professional sorcerer.
Gojo Satoru stood at the very pinnacle of that hierarchy.
Alongside Ryomen Sukuna…
He represented an entirely different realm of power.
Even Sukuna, possessing only a single finger’s worth of power, had effortlessly overwhelmed a Special Grade cursed spirit.
That alone spoke volumes.
Facing someone on that level…
Ronova honestly couldn’t imagine herself winning.
Of course…
There was one method.
If she abandoned all restraint…
If she began indiscriminately slaughtering humans…
Every death would rapidly strengthen her.
Thousands.
Millions.
Given enough victims…
Her growth would become unimaginable.
Eventually…
She might even surpass Gojo.
But…
She would never choose that path.
She had accepted becoming a cursed spirit.
She had accepted that killing was sometimes unavoidable.
Yet…
She had no intention of becoming a monster that massacred innocent people without reason.
No matter how much her cursed spirit instincts influenced her…
Deep inside…
She still possessed a human heart.
She still retained the basic morals she had lived by before her reincarnation.
Ronova didn’t consider herself a saint.
Nor did she consider herself evil.
She was simply…
An ordinary person trying to survive in an extraordinary world.
Expecting someone like that to become a world-ending demon overnight…
Was asking far too much.