Chapter 37 Love, Possession, and Reluctance

Cat Island, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

There are almost no people living on this island, and there are spider webs everywhere. The giant spiders hanging in the air are as big as the palm of an adult woman. At this time, Kagura Mio is particularly envious of Gojo Satoru's lack of shame.

She was not afraid of spiders, but she felt uncomfortable with the sticky spider silk sticking to her body, so she followed Gojo Satoru.

She looked at her palms and wanted to sigh.

"What's wrong?"

Under the black eye mask, a glimmer of light flashed in Gojo Satoru's eyes. He keenly noticed the change in Kagura Mio's mood.

"Nothing, I just think it would be nice if I could resonate with you."

There is no limit to short-term possession, at least it avoids the possibility of being entangled by spider silk.

Gojo Satoru was silent for a moment, then he raised his hand, calmly reached out, pressed it on the back of Kagura Mio's head, and rubbed it casually.

"Do you really like resonating with the great and handsome Gojo teacher? Mio Mio~"

Although she knew that he was just joking to make her happy, Kagura Mio still kicked the stone under her feet, her tone a little irritated: "Satoru, if--"

"There are no ifs." Gojo Satoru interrupted her without hesitation and pulled Kagura Mio into his arms, "You will be fine."

Kagura Mio was silent and said nothing. She followed Gojo Satoru around the island.

"How do you feel?" Gojo Satoru asked tentatively.

Kagura Mio shook her head, "Something's wrong."

"You felt it too, right? That strange cursed power." Standing on the dock, Gojo Satoru supported his chin with one hand and pinched his cheek.

"I always feel like something is wrong..."

He suddenly stretched out his hands and imitated the matchstick man in the cartoon, "It's like a maze? Or a secret realm. I feel like I need to unlock some password to open the treasure chest and find the treasure. But unfortunately, the most likely thing you'll find is a super ugly curse spirit instead of some gold or silver treasures."

Gojo Satoru sighed, "How could a curse spirit like that be born in a place with so many cats? It's a pity that Jay isn't here, otherwise I could watch him eat cat curse spirits."

Gojo Satoru said as he squatted down lazily, watching the sunlight shine on the stone slabs of the pier.

In addition to his personal will, the reason why the two of them came to this Cat Island was also based on the information collected by the high-level experts.

Twelve years ago, during the Sendai battle, Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru were led all the way north, and almost all the cursed spirits in that direction were killed by them. The growth of a cursed spirit requires very strong negative emotions, so when he and Kagura Mio revisited the old place, all they saw were some small fry. The two discussed and decided to come to Ishinomaki City - an area that he and Geto Suguru had never stopped at.

However, neither Gojo Satoru nor Kagura Mio had expected that there would be such a strange cursed spirit on the island.

Tsk.

It was summer, and the scorching sun made people dizzy. Kagura Mio turned around without a second thought and hid in the waiting room of the dock, watching Gojo Satoru playing with the cat from afar.

The air was filled with the salty smell of the sea breeze, and the sun was scorching hot, as if even time was being burned and distorted.

The sea and the sky in the distance were connected into a line, looking clear and blue. Kagura Mio stood in the waiting room and felt like she was in two different worlds - the air conditioning was turned on very low, but she felt very hot.

Something burned her blood like a fire hidden beneath her skin.

Kagura Mio was in an extremely irritable mood. She turned her head slightly and a voice flashed through her mind.

[Open...Open it]

It was that familiar voice again.

For a moment, Kagura Mio really felt that she was going insane -

everything in front of her eyes turned black and white, her world was no longer in color, everything was like an old movie in slow motion, and it was even skipping frames - for a moment, Kagura Mio thought she had seen Zenin Naoya's technique.

The white cat curled up at Gojo Satoru's feet and rolled lazily, while Kagura Mio stood blankly in the waiting room, looking absent-minded.

Gojo Satoru paused in teasing the cat.

Rokugan could feel every fluctuation and residue of cursed energy, but it was difficult for him to make a direct judgment on the situation - this cursed spirit seemed to have "grown" on this island, and its cursed energy residues could be found almost everywhere. They tracked it all the way and found that it was strongest only at the dock.

But it just doesn't appear.

It's like...waiting for someone to open it.

"Mio, why are you in a daze again?" Gojo Satoru narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a joking voice, "Or are you worried about that cursed power?"

Kagura Mio did not answer. Her fingertips trembled slightly, and the cursed power in her body was restless. A strange energy slowly bloomed like the source of life, as if some monster under the sea was slowly opening its eyes.

That felt really wrong.

All the blood in the body seemed to be flowing backwards, and the voice in her mind was like a lingering lover constantly saying to her in her ear: [Try it~ Open it~] It

feels so, so uncomfortable... Kagura Mio's fingertips moved.

Her cursed power leaked out a little at this moment, but at the moment the cursed power leaked out -

the air seemed to be cut by an invisible knife, and a huge curse seemed to be half summoned, abruptly splitting the entire waiting room from the inside out.

"Kagura Mio!"

Almost at the same moment when he felt her cursed power overflow, Gojo Satoru flashed to Kagura Mio's side and raised his right hand. A pale blue ball of light exploded instantly, blocking all the attacks.

However, the cursed power did not stop, but instead surged in all directions like a tide. Kagura Mio felt more and more that her body was out of control, and she was so uncomfortable that she was gasping for breath.

The cats lying on the dock basking in the sun were all furious, and the originally peaceful island was instantly torn into a dead silence.

Beneath the calm, undercurrents surge.

Kagura Mio looked up suddenly.

She closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened them again, her eyes became cold. She raised her right hand slightly, and a pattern of resonance emerged between her knuckles. Dark stream-like magical power burst out from behind her, swirling around her like a backward waterfall.

"It's making me lose control." She gritted her teeth and insisted, her tone flat, "But this is the only way to lure it out."

Gojo Satoru stood beside Kagura Mio.

He had taken off his blindfold a long time ago, his white hair was slightly messy due to the sea breeze, and his pale blue eyes were as cold as if they were soaked in ice.

"Mio Mio, I leave it to you."

As soon as the words fell, the cursed spirit that had been continuously outputting its energy to resonate with Kagura Mio finally appeared.

It was like a terrifying mixture of all the animals and plants on the island, with a cat's skeleton and bird's wings, but its body was covered with peeling spell-marked skin, and its eyes were full of hideousness.

Gojo Satoru said in a cold tone: "Come on, I'll play with you."

The next moment, he disappeared from the spot.

That cursed spirit can fly, so if Gojo Satoru can contain it in the sky, it will reduce the impact on Kagura Mio.

Before the terrifying cursed spirit had time to react, Gojo Satoru's figure appeared from behind it.

The white-haired man had no intention of fighting at all. He just used a "Hypostyle·Chi" and the purple cursed power instantly broke through the cursed spirit's body like a corner of the exploding sky.

The overwhelming cursed energy tore through an area of ​​dozens of meters in front of him. The huge amount of energy crushed half of the island's mountains and carved deep grooves into the ground. If it were usual, Gojo Satoru would probably praise himself, "Today is another great day, Gojo teacher." But now Gojo Satoru had no interest in his masterpiece at all -

Kagura Mio vomited blood and fainted again.

He supported her before she fell, but her weak body and the cursed energy wrapped around her made Gojo Satoru realize something horrifying -

she had his cursed energy in her.

In other words -

a little bit of the attack that Gojo Satoru just delivered to the cursed spirit still lingered on Kagura Mio.

It's not the damage, but the lingering curse.

At this moment, Liuyan’s eyes widened for a moment: Has her resonance with the cursed spirit reached such a deep level? What will happen next, will it be -

breaking through 100%?

Kagura Mio felt that her consciousness was at a very strange level.

She couldn't feel anything around her. She felt so tired and sleepy that she couldn't even open her eyes.

She seemed to be in a dark, claustrophobic space. She didn't know where she was, she just felt like she was no longer human.

Deep in the consciousness, there is a woman sitting on a red silk thread.

The woman casually flicked the silk thread wrapped around herself, and said with a hint of playfulness in her tone: "Oh~ Is it a kid who came to play with me?"

Kagura Mio met her gaze.

At that moment, her eyes widened in horror -

the woman had a face exactly the same as hers, but her face was lifeless and as cold as a piece of calm paper.

The moment the two people looked at each other, the woman's eyes like the most vicious cobra wrapped around Kagura Mio's consciousness. Kagura Mio instantly felt a pain in her chest, as if her heart was burning with a raging fire. She was in so much pain that she subconsciously touched her chest, only to find that she had no flesh at all.

"Your body belongs to me, kid~"

She spat out a mouthful of blood.

Gojo Satoru used his force to wipe the blood from the corner of Kagura Mio's mouth.

It is now 3:30 in the morning. Kagura Mio is so weak that she looks like she is going to die at any time. Not only is she vomiting blood constantly, her heart feels like it is being burned by fire, and that patch of skin is terribly hot.

She looked extremely painful, with her eyes tightly closed. She was immersed in pain and despair, muttering something like "Your body belongs to me~".

Gojo Satoru frowned.

He had known about Kagura Mio's auditory hallucinations half a year ago, and they had become increasingly intense over the past six months. When she didn't want to tell him, he pretended not to know. But this time was different - this

was the first time that Kagura Mio had such a strong physical reaction due to the use of a ritual.

Is it that the magic in her body is moving? No, not only that, today on Cat Island, that cursed spirit seemed to be the natural nemesis of Kagura Mio. Everything seemed to be arranged by someone, and they were walking on the path planned by others.

This feeling of being out of control was not pleasant for Gojo Satoru, let alone at this moment.

His palm lingered for a moment over her heart.

The six eyes examined Kagura Mio's body, and for a moment Gojo Satoru saw her heart entangled by silk threads - no, that's not right, there was definitely more than that.

Gojo Satoru had read in the "Japanese Kampo Medicine Guide" at home that the heart belongs to "fire". This statement studies the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory of Chinese medicine.

If we follow this correspondence, then the reason why Kagura Mio kept vomiting blood after using the technique is essentially because her body was being burned by fire - that technique, her attack method is related to fire?

Warm liquid flowed down the corners of Kagura Mio's eyes.

Gojo Satoru was shocked for a moment.

To be honest, he rarely saw Kagura Mio cry.

The first thing a child from a family of sorcery learns is to endure pain. Gojo Satoru has almost never seen Kagura Mio cry.

So at this moment, he was stunned.

He admitted that he was a relatively cold person and had difficulty empathizing with others.

But at the moment when her tears fell on the back of his hand, Gojo Satoru hoped from the bottom of his heart that he could bear this pain for her.

He didn't want to see her cry again.

I also don't want to feel like this anymore where I can only watch her suffer and not be able to help.

His tone was a little low, it was the strongest and rarest kind of calmness and prayer.

He sang the Japanese song for her again -

"The sun's light, the moon's whisper, eternal and unchanging, I vow to protect you with my oath."

His lips gently touched her forehead.

At this moment, Gojo Satoru felt his powerful obsession and desire, the emotion a man has for a woman, love, possession, and reluctance. He hoped that she would always be happy and joyful. It was an emotion that was almost as strong as a curse.

"I won't let you die, Mio."

"I swear on Gojo Satoru."