read my new story : American Fast & Furious NSFW
What made Kenmei ultimately decide not to plunge his blade into Toji Fushiguro's heart and end the life of the "Heavenly Tyrant"?
Resurrecting him to be with his family? Persuading him to turn over a new leaf and be a good father?
Impossible. This scumbag didn't look anything like a "good father."
Kenmei would bet fifty cents that if Toji died, his kid wouldn't shed a single tear.
What Kenmei truly found unacceptable were Toji's last words, which sounded almost like he was entrusting his orphan to him.
Kenmei hated that kind of thing the most. Just a second ago, they were enemies fighting to the death.
This old man had calmly said his kid would be sold to the Zenin clan and told Kenmei to deal with it. Even without the emotion of anger, Kenmei wanted to beat the crap out of him.
The subtext was: You killed me, leaving my kid fatherless. Now he has no choice but to be sent into that hellhole. Do whatever you want. He kicked the ball into Kenmei's court, inflicting moral torture.
For a moment, it did sting, because it reminded Kenmei of his own past—orphaned, relying only on his sister to survive.
But he quickly snapped out of it.
Toji, this thick-browed, big-eyed bastard... his abacus beads were practically hitting Kenmei in the face!
Did he think Kenmei was some saint? Or did he think because Kenmei was young, he was easy to fool (stupid)? Did he really think Kenmei would fight one of the three great Sorcerer families, the Zenin clan, for a kid he didn't know, just because of a dying man's words?
Leaving aside whether he had that much influence, even if he could do it, it would be a huge hassle.
Why would he do such a thankless task?
Using psychic spells to view Toji's "life flashing before his eyes" before his "death," Kenmei learned quite a few interesting things.
The ones who labeled Toji a "monkey without Cursed Energy" were the Zenin clan members. The scar on Toji's lip came from when the Zenin clan threw him into a pit of Cursed Spirits as a child to test the physical enhancement of his Heavenly Restriction.
As expected, the three great families of the Japanese Jujutsu world—Zenin, Kamo, Gojo—were all rotten to the core.
Unless you had the absolute strength of the Gojo clan's young master to turn the family into a dictatorship, any kid without a proper Jujutsu education getting close to them would only suffer misfortune.
Kenmei kicked Toji back from the gates of hell partly out of childish revenge: You want to plot against me? I'm flipping the table.
Handle your own kid.
I'm not his dad.
That was one reason. The second reason was that Kenmei felt simply killing Toji would be a waste.
Literally. Kenmei had experienced the strength of the "Heavenly Tyrant" firsthand. That title was the real deal, with zero inflation.
Toji Fushiguro was ridiculously strong.
Before a blade pierced their chest, how many Sorcerers in the world could even react and realize they were being targeted by the "Sorcerer Killer"?
Kenmei only beat Toji by exploiting a "bug" (his psychic abilities). Otherwise, the iron-wall defense of the Heavenly Restriction allowing him to tank Cursed Techniques with his physical body, combined with the unpredictability of his super speed and the fatal damage from Special Grade Cursed Tools, made him a nightmare for all Sorcerers.
Moreover, killing Toji offered no reward. This scumbag old man wasn't a Special Grade Cursed Spirit that would drop Points. Plus, using psychic energy to kill a Heavenly Restriction user might cause unknown changes. No one else's Heavenly Restriction was as strong as Toji's; these were risks Kenmei had to consider.
There are generally two ways to deal with such a terrifying enemy: destroy him once and for all, or assimilate him.
The former is a last resort. Assimilating such a gifted killer and turning him into a nightmare for your enemies is the true masterstroke.
Imagine if some blind Sorcerer provoked Kenmei. He could just "release the Heavenly Tyrant," and everything would be sorted out by nightfall.
For ordinary people, the most efficient way to tame this unruly beast was money. That was the simplest way to get the "Sorcerer Killer" Toji to fight for you, and it was what most people did.
Naturally, Kenmei wouldn't use such a crude method. He was the one who freeloaded; no one took from him.
Also, when Kenmei healed Toji, did anyone really think he only used healing spells?
Impossible. He wasn't that big-hearted.
Kenmei didn't like testing human nature.
Talking about gratitude with a hitman? Are you brain-damaged?
No one could guarantee that a fully restored Toji wouldn't try to kill Kenmei again, or switch targets and kill Yomi Isayama instead.
Kenmei had already decided what he would use to collar Toji.
Psykers are called "Witches" in the Imperium anyway.
So what if he, a user of "witchcraft," had a dirty heart?
In short, a lively Toji Fushiguro could create far more value for Kenmei than a dead one.