"Cut to the chase. Why did you call us here?"
Roy had no interest in beating around the bush. As he'd said, Tengen held no appeal for him.
Even if she was a master of barrier techniques, having built and maintained over a dozen massive barriers across Japan, Roy felt no desire to learn from her or study her methods.
"Very well, I'll keep it brief."
Tengen had no intention of arguing with him and decided to comply.
"You're likely aware of my technique—'Immortality.' It allows me to surpass the limits of human lifespan, granting me longevity. But immortality doesn't mean agelessness. Once enough aging accumulates, my body undergoes an uncontrollable transformation, gradually merging with the world itself. Even my sense of self will vanish, becoming an existence that transcends dimensions..."
The only way to prevent this transformation is to assimilate with a human possessing a special constitution known as the "Star Plasma Vessel."
To put it nicely, it's assimilation.
To put it bluntly—it's possession!
By taking over the body of a Star Plasma Vessel, Tengen can reset her physical state, restoring her youth and reversing the effects of her technique.
Tengen maintains over a dozen massive barriers across the country, including the barriers around Jujutsu High and the Imperial Palace. These barriers suppress the leakage of cursed energy among the populace, and the reason auxiliary managers' barrier techniques are so powerful is because they're reinforced by Tengen's power.
If Tengen were to disappear, these barriers would vanish. The leakage of cursed energy would accelerate, and the number of cursed spirits would skyrocket, inevitably bringing catastrophic disaster to Japan.
In the worst-case scenario, Tengen—forced to evolve—might lose her sense of self entirely and become a monster indiscriminately slaughtering friend and foe alike.
Thus, under no circumstances must Tengen be allowed to evolve. This is the consensus among most jujutsu sorcerers in Japan—including Tengen herself.
Jujutsu sorcerers will go to great lengths to help her find a Star Plasma Vessel, allowing her to possess the body and reset her physical state.
"Eleven years ago, I could have assimilated the third Star Plasma Vessel. Unfortunately, that girl was assassinated by a killer just as she reached the gate."
Tengen glanced beyond the iron-barred door, her expression darkening, her tone carrying a hint of melancholy and lament.
It was unclear whether she was mourning the loss of the Star Plasma Vessel girl or lamenting her own failed assimilation.
Given her monstrous appearance, it was clear the assimilation had failed.
Bocchi remained silent.
All of this was completely beyond her comprehension.
Roy, however, remained calm.
The long-dried pool of blood outside the door was left from the Star Plasma Vessel girl who was killed eleven years ago.
And the one who killed that Star Plasma Vessel girl was none other than Toji Fushiguro.
Who was later killed by a power-surged Satoru Gojo.
Assassinating the Star Plasma Vessel girl was the mission Toji Fushiguro had taken back then—the one that pitted him against Jujutsu High.
"After that, I came to understand certain things. I gave up on assimilation, and as a result, my body began to evolve, leading to what you see now."
Tengen paused before continuing.
"I'm telling you all this to explain that I have now begun to merge with the world itself. Only within this barrier can I maintain this form to meet with you and barely retain my sense of self."
"Because I've started to merge with the world, I can also detect anything unusual—"
"Roy, and Hitori Gotoh... are the two of you within fate?"
Her four eyes locked onto them intently as she abruptly posed this perplexing question.
Her low voice carried an overwhelming sense of urgency, as if the world itself were closing in.
Hitori glanced at Tengen in confusion.
Wait.
This involved her too?
So she wasn't just here as an extra—she actually had a role to play.
Roy's hand, holding the teacup, paused slightly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"There are certain fates ordained in this world—for example, the inevitable existence of the Six Eyes."
Tengen's four eyes remained fixed on Roy, scrutinizing every reaction on his face.
"There are also those who exist outside fate, like Toji Fushiguro, the Heavenly Restricted. But the reason Toji could defy fate was because he was born with zero cursed energy. Without cursed energy, he existed beyond fate's reach."
"Yet both you and Hitori Gotoh possess cursed energy. Yet your actions seem to subtly deviate from fate, which I find deeply puzzling."
...So that's it.
Tengen had begun merging with the world itself. One could even say she was the budding sensory organ of the world—she was, in essence, the world's perception.
It wasn't impossible for her to detect something unusual about Roy.
The Root had never claimed that its protection of him was flawless.
It had indeed promised to smuggle him into this world, and due to his inherent adaptability, he could instantly become a resident of this world.
But it had also warned him not to flaunt himself before the world's consciousness.
Roy hadn't dwelled on why before—but now he understood.
Flaunting himself before the world's consciousness meant risking exposure of his protective camouflage.
Although the Root's magnitude is undoubtedly far greater than that of this world, the two are ultimately existences of the same level. Roy directly jumping onto the opposing world's consciousness would naturally be noticed—that wasn't strange at all.
Then.
Even though he had adapted to this world's rules, traces of other worlds' rules still lingered on him.
To the world's consciousness, this was equally suspicious.
However, it wouldn't immediately act against him—suppressing or expelling him outright. Judging by the principle that world consciousnesses operate on the same rational logic as the Root, it would likely first seek to understand his nature before deciding how to deal with him.
No matter how wary it was of him, driven by the instinct to study the foreign rules he carried, the world consciousness wouldn't outright kill him.
And as long as he remained alive, as soon as the Root discovered his predicament, it would personally retrieve him.
Even a world like Jujutsu Kaisen's—one grown extremely agitated after losing Gojo Satoru—hadn't attempted anything against him. Right now, Tengen was merely questioning him here, which spoke volumes.
The Root was right.
Even if he were exposed, the chance of being instantly obliterated was less than one in a hundred million.
But.
What about Bocchi-chan?
Roy himself might exist outside fate.
But why would Bocchi-chan also be outside fate?
Wasn't she a native of this world?
Her home, her friends—everything was here, wasn't it?
Roy had previously suspected whether Bocchi-chan, Kita-chan, and Miko Yotsuya were transmigrators like Utaha, but the results had proven they were indeed natives of this world—not refugees who had crossed over. Their interpersonal relationships were all rooted here, without any discrepancies.
Moreover, Bocchi-chan possessed cursed energy and had even awakened an innate technique.
By all appearances, she was a native of the Jujutsu Kaisen world, wasn't she?
"...If you're asking that question, you should direct it to the world itself that merged with you."
After a long silence, Roy didn't provide an answer. Instead, he deflected the question back to Tengen like a Tai Chi push.
Tengen didn't miss Roy's reaction, observing the pensive frown on his face.
Suspicion inevitably arose in her mind.
Did he truly know nothing?
Or was he deliberately being evasive?
"Or perhaps..."
At this moment, Roy suddenly spoke again.
Whatever he had thought of, his gaze toward Tengen abruptly sharpened.
"...has this world itself undergone some... changes that even you don't understand?"
Tengen's expression shifted.
Drastically.
As if someone had exposed her deepest secret.
"How do you know about that?!"
"...So it really is like that, huh?"
Roy's expression darkened as well.
He did have a hypothesis—one that fit the current situation.
And it was a deeply unsettling one.
Bocchi-chan and Miko Yotsuya—their interpersonal relationships were indeed all rooted in this world.
But that didn't necessarily mean they weren't transmigrators.
There was another possibility.
That their original world had fused with this one.
No.
Fusion?
That phrasing was too gentle.
"Devoured" would be more accurate, wouldn't it?
All this time, Roy had overlooked one crucial question.
The Root once said that the Jujutsu Kaisen world had grown restless after losing a certain key figure.
But where exactly did this restlessness manifest?
Was it merely the reckless act of rescuing Mahito?
If that's all, it could at most be called impulsiveness, not restlessness, right?
Does the Jujutsu Kaisen world itself not have any means to compensate for the loss of key figures?
Suppose.
—After losing Gojo Satoru, the Jujutsu Kaisen world frantically sought out weaker worlds to devour and replenish itself.
What then?
This would indeed explain why Bocchi-chan's interpersonal relationships fit seamlessly into this world, yet she still feels subtly detached from its fate.
It's likely not just Bocchi-chan—Kita-chan, Yotsuya Miko, and others are in the same state as her.
The possibility that this speculation is the truth is far greater than Roy himself imagined.
The connections between worlds.
This doesn't just signify conflicts between humans and humans, or creatures and creatures—it likely means that worlds themselves can come into conflict.
Or, to take it a step further—worlds can wage wars of annihilation against each other!