'What brings me here?'

Upon hearing the question, Lorien's eyes flickered as he glanced at Gojo before turning his attention toward the barrier.

Noticing this, the strongest sorcerer immediately regained his serious demeanor, focusing all his attention on Lorien.

"Are you here for the kids?" Gojo asked, his tone full of protectiveness.

Seeing this sudden shift in attitude, Lorien realized that he was misunderstood, however, Gojo's guess wasn't completely off the mark.

The truth was, the main reason he came here has already been achieved the moment he appeared as ever since he watched the anime, Lorien wanted to meet Gojo face to face.

However, that is just him fulfilling an 'otaku' dream of his and nothing more as he won't be changing his attitude or acting subservient because of this.

This is the so-called 'I wanted to do it, so I did!'

And if we are being honest, Lorien simply wanted to show his presence here, so that in the future, when he was ready to present his achievement, nobody would be left wondering who he was.

Just imagining the possibility of getting on 'stage' to finally present his 'Dream Path', only to be met with the question "who are you?" from one of 'the audience members' was enough to make Lorien feel embarrassed.

Actually, for Lorien, one of the biggest impacts of anime was the impressions it gave him of the characters.

For example, he had a good impression of most of the main cast in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, except for Sukuna and some others whom he viewed unfavorably, it's just that things end here as it won't affect him more than that.

However, apart from his otaku dream, Lorien also came to observe the abilities of others, as for the potential "Dream Path Taker" that idea only came to mind after seeing Maki.

You see, Lorien had become very interested in analyzing cursed techniques and copying them ever since meeting Leila in Tunisia.

After all, by analyzing the cursed techniques, Lorien could learn how they function and their essence, which in turn made using them with his own reality warping and dream realization ability much less energy-intensive.

For instance, with Leila, Lorien got the idea of using illusion and falsifying truth in combat.

And after analyzing Yuki's ability, he learned to apply virtual mass to his attacks, making them a lot more potent.

And now, Lorien came here to see if he could observe and analyze Yuta's 'Copy' technique as it'll be very complementary to Lorien's own ability as after getting it, Lorien could simply copy the abilities and then analyze them slowly when has time.

Not to mention that there is also Gojo who has the ability 'Limitless' which brings the concept of "Infinity" into reality, allowing the user to manipulate and distort space at will.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

It would be weird if Lorien isn't interested in them at all.

Thinking of this, Lorien couldn't help but get the idea of fighting Gojo here to analyze his ability.

However, turning his head around and noticing the stream of people going back and forth, he quickly dismissed this idea, after all, he didn't want to involve normal people in his pursuits for his own selfish purposes.

Looking at the people around him, Lorien knew all too well that each of them had their own life, family, hopes, fears, and dreams and they were not just cold numbers or NPCs from behind the screen.

While Lorien may not actively help people, he also won't consciously harm them either; At least he tries as he prefers to maintain a neutral position.

It's just that if push comes to shove, Lorien won't back down nor will he sacrifice himself as some people do. While he admires those who are willing to selflessly sacrifice themselves, he sadly admits that he is somewhat of a selfish and self-centered person and won't do such a thing.

In the past, Lorien may not have considered these things, and he may have had a darker view of life, but recently he has had time to reflect on his past actions and decisions.

This period of reflection has allowed him to reconsider his priorities and approach to life as he knew that with his power, he could affect the lives of billions of people.

'Sigh...'

'After all, I was once one of those passerbys...'

Shaking his head, Lorien's mind began to wander towards the idea of kidnapping Gojo and the other kids in order to analyze their techniques at his own pace as the thought of slowly deconstructing their abilities and learning from them filled him with excitement.

But as quickly as the idea had appeared, Lorien knew it was not a viable option as the chaos and mayhem that would ensue if Gojo were to disappear would be catastrophic.

'Tsk, Did I come here for nothing then?'

'I should have thought about this earlier...'

Feeling a bit frustrated, a deep frown appeared on Lorien's face; He had come here with a clear purpose, but things were not going according to plan.

'Ugghh, If it was a real life and death battle, I am confident in taking him down in one strike, it's just that to analyze his ability, I'd have to fight him for some period of time.'

'After all, the combination of 'reversing cause and effect' and obliteration isn't something he could counter, and fighting him for a long time will cause a lot of damage to the surroundings.'

Shaking his head, Lorien let out a heavy sigh and decided to give up for now. as he knew that he had to accept the situation for what it was; so, relaxing his body and leaning back on the car, he responded.

"I am indeed very interested in those two kids, however, you don't have to worry about it as I mean them no harm."

However, Lorien's calm response seemed to have the opposite effect on Gojo, as the atmosphere around them suddenly became even more intense.

The tension between them was palpable, and it felt like a battle was about to erupt at any moment.

Right now, Gojo's protective instincts were on high alert, and he wasn't sure if he could trust Lorien's words, moreover, the man in front of him looked very dangerous, at least it was not something those kids could handle on their own.

'It seems that I have to...'

It's just that as the tension between Lorien and Gojo reached its breaking point, the barrier next to them suddenly faded as Yuta appeared carrying Maki and the two missing children.

However, it was clear that Yuta was very exhausted as moments after leaving the barrier, he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Seeing this, Lorien shook his and spoke causing the tension to dissipate, and putting a halt to the potential battle.

"As much as I'd like to fight you, this is not the time or place to do it, moreover, it appears that the kid hasn't realized what his ability even is at the moment."

Saying this, Lorien smiled lightly and pointed his hand toward them, and spoke.

"Heal!"

And as a consequence, the injuries and damage that they had sustained were gone, as if they had never been there in the first place.

Even the cursed energy that had been affecting the children was swept away by some unknown force.

Doing so, Lorien turned his head toward Gojo and said as his body began to fade away

"We'll meet again!"

Watching all of this transpire, a sense of confusion couldn't help but wash over Gojo.

"Did he just come here to show off?"

"What a strange guy!"

"We'll meet again, huh?"