The excitement Jugo felt when he advanced, had died as quickly as it had appeared, not even all the power he currently felt in his body could bring Jugo happiness.
All this because of discovering the advancement ritual for Abomination, sequence 1 of the Chained path.
-You've got to be kidding me...- Jugo sighed heavily, clearly upset by his situation.
The ritual for advancing to Sequence 1 is incomparably simple, yet ironically perverse for Jugo.
"Receive the blessing of a True God, or at least the blessing of a King of Angels who has activated or accommodated Uniqueness."
This is not just a simple blessing, but it means that the deity granting the blessing will suffer a curse of madness during the ritual. Where does the curse come from? From the very symbolism of the source of curses, that is, the Tenebrous World now surrounding Jugo.
Jugo looked around. Before, this place seemed like an impenetrable fortress against enemies, but now? Now it looked like a big, hungry lion that had raised a fat rabbit to have a hearty meal.
Putting that aside for a moment, the mere fact that there were no known gods in this world already drove Jugo to despair.
Where could he find a "good Samaritan" to suffer the curse for him?!
He didn't even consider powerful beings like Kaguya to serve as false "gods", he was certain that woman would die faster than she would escape her seal if she tried.
This only made Jugo more desperate, for a moment he wished he had watched Boruto, perhaps there had been mention of some being powerful enough to help him, but he had no idea now.
He began to consider other possibilities, how about using quantity for quality? Technically possible, if he gathers enough Otsutsuki, he should be able to do it, but how long would that take and how many unforeseen problems would it bring along the way?
Jugo's face was extremely sad, for a moment he stood there, frozen, thinking that perhaps he would die before he could move forward again. Of course, an angel could live a very long time, and considering that, luckily, there was no symbolism of death, age, or anything of the sort in this world, he might be able to live indefinitely. But who knows if there really wasn't?
An angel Sequence 2 was still good enough, right? He could live an extremely long life to the point of even getting tired of living, his power is already extremely strong, right?
Bullshit! He wanted to become a god! Even a Great Old One! Jugo's anger flared up quickly, only to die shortly after, he was disheartened, extremely disheartened.
With a heavy sigh, he put that aside for now, he could think of a solution later. For the moment, he focused on his newfound powers.
The first thing Jugo did was choose his "Dwelling Space". Ancient Banes need a Dwelling Space, which is a manifestation of "Their" Restraint and also the best way to find and destroy what "They" possess. If the object to which "They" are bound is not destroyed, "They" are immortal and indestructible.
Jugo didn't need to think twice about what to choose, the next moment, he felt the space around him ripple, emanating from his castle, the entire Tenebrous World rippled with his energy advancing throughout that space.
Yes, Jugo directly chose a Tenebrous World as his Dwelling Space, there wasn't even any resistance to it. Instead, Jugo felt as if the Tenebrous World accepted him completely.
Now, to truly kill him, you would need to destroy the Tenebrous World itself, a virtually impossible task.
Feeling his connection to this place, Jugo smiled again, at the very least, he doubted that anyone in this universe could truly kill him now. His connection to this place grew stronger with each advancement, but now he felt the connection had deepened even further. Using this place as Dwelling Space was the right decision.
Jugo even thought that if he tried to advance, it would be possible to use this strong connection to lessen the Curse to the point where he could advance alone, but he still lacked confidence.
Even with Bind, trying to endure the corruption of a Sefirah is asking for death.
As an Ancient Bane angel, Jugo gained partial authority over the concept of Curse and two "core" abilities.
His authority over "Curses" greatly strengthened his power. If he understands the essential information about a target, he can create paper figures, puppets, or other means to curse the other party from a distance, or even cause their sudden death, now all he needs is information, knowing about the target is basically his means of cursing.
If he uses his mythical creature form, the surrounding environment will also be affected, it will be distorted by nature and contaminated by various weakened Curses. Basically, if he doesn't restrain himself, simply by existing he can create a land of curses.
His curse of transfiguration has also been strengthened, now on an angelic level.
As long as the Curse persists, the affected targets will be true animals. He no longer needs to emit a silent scream to affect a target. Now, any target reflected in his eyes can be cursed and transformed accordingly. Furthermore, multiple targets can be affected by a single Transfiguration Curse at the same time, and there is almost no limit to the duration a target can remain in the Cursed state.
Of course, curses can be resisted or removed, but to remove an Angel's curse requires not only the correct method, but also sufficient strength, good luck to whoever tries.
Of course, even without external means, such as blood and personal objects, curses can now be based directly on emotion. This doesn't mean he can't use curses without them, but he can greatly strengthen his curses through emotions that connect him to the target, whether it's his own or the target's.
For example, he could use his anger towards someone to strengthen a curse against them, or he could use someone's anger towards him to do the same, basically using connections through the emotional bond between himself and the target.
Regarding the abilities he received, the first is Bane, as a type of Deviant, he can inflict all sorts of negative influences on a target that approaches or witnesses him while he is not in his Mythic Creature Form.
This can range from causing very strong evil thoughts in victims, altering their values, provoking an explosion of desires, or even leading to an immediate loss of control.
Basically, as long as someone looks at Jugo, even without transforming into the mythical creature's form, he can cause a series of negative effects. If the target is very weak, Jugo doesn't even need to do anything, just looking at him or being too close to him can kill anyone.
The second ability is Spiritual Influence, he possesses the ability to influence and attack spirits directly. Basically, he can open his mouth and inhale, forming a cold breeze that forcefully pulls the enemy's spirit, making it impossible to maintain a state of concealment near him. If the target is too weak, their soul is simply ripped directly from their body, something he could already do before, but now the range and power are much greater.
Of course, his previous abilities have greatly increased in power, and with his mastery over the current curse, there is no longer a clear limit to his control over zombies, werewolves, or whatever else, he can create them indefinitely and maintain control over them.
Whether his ice or corruption reached an extremely high level, his chakra also grew to an absurd amount, to the point where he felt it had increased at least tenfold.
In summary, its strength grew exponentially.
There was one last ability, something that didn't really qualify as a proper Ancient Bane ability, but which was caused by his connection to the cursed artifact he had become attached to.
Jugo disappeared from the Tenebrous World the next moment, instead, he found himself in a hazy space, almost completely tinged with gray. For a moment, Jugo even thought he had entered the Castle of Sefirah.
But no, he was somewhere else. He observed the place, stunned, for a moment, but as he thought, the mist rippled and he saw himself, literally, he saw a projection of the scene with him, more precisely, Jugo still inside the dark cell from when he first arrived in this world.
Seeming to understand something, Jugo regressed even further, to the moment of his birth. He saw a woman with orange hair like his, giving birth while screaming in a delivery room, it was clearly Jugo's birth, when his soul had not yet arrived in this world.
Lost in thought, he began to walk back even further, navigating through this gray mist. He quickly understood where he was: the Historical Void of this world. Jugo was surprised that it actually existed.
He went further and further, seeing scenes throughout the centuries, until finally he found himself back on the moon, at the moment the Giant Tenseigan was formed hundreds of years ago. He tried to cross over, but there seemed to be a barrier preventing him.
He understood, this was the furthest he could go, until the creation of the Tenseigan.
It was interesting to be there, but he didn't feel he had much power in that place, he couldn't be like Klein, drawing on historical projection, which was a shame.
Even so, this ability wasn't bad, he could literally know the entire past if he navigated there far enough, from the point where the Tenseigan was created to the present moment, he seemed to be able to see the past of this world.
For a moment he wondered if he should change his name to Three-Eyed Jugo.
[A/N: Reference to Game of Thrones: Three-Eyed Raven.]
Shaking his head, Jugo began to go back, advancing through the story until he reached the point where he woke up in this world. Looking at his hazy figure, he sighed, thinking about the advancement to Sequence 1.
He felt that if he could go back, he would have wanted to choose the path to the abyss, but... he only says this because he knows that the current him is no longer a madman who could lose control at any moment.
The path to the abyss was never an option for him, he knows that, moreover, he doesn't know the rituals to advance on that path either, except for the low-sequence ones that appeared in the original book, but the high-sequence ones could be even more difficult to progress through.
Jugo was about to leave, but when he looked at himself one last time, his thoughts couldn't help but wander: what if... what if he could choose the Abyss pathway now?
Jugo's mind was blocked because he was used to thinking through sequences across the world of LOTM, but there were exceptions, even more so in this Ninja world with various abilities full of bugs.
Thinking about this, his eyes gleamed slightly, and in the next moment, he emerged from the historical void.
[A/N: This chapter is a bit confusing, but anyway... I hope you understood it. A small spoiler ahead: the Abyss Pathway is very close.]