"Mahoraga is a shikigami that cannot be exorcised."
That was what every user of the Ten Shadows Technique, and every Jujutsu Sorcerer who knew of it, believed.
And in practice, it had always been true.
But there was no such thing as a technique its user could never wield.
There was always a way.
The wall was simply so high that most would break before they ever reached the top...
Still, the method existed.
You could gather the power of destroyed shikigami into one and forge a composite shikigami.
Or you could pour everything into a single keyword and sharpen it to the limit.
I chose to push him toward the latter.
If you inherited and fused the shikigami together, your tactical options narrowed too much.
Maki and Toji. The Soul-Liberation Blade.
A grown, sharpened Fushiguro Megumi.
I gathered the factors that had never existed in the original story and forced them into collision.
The result was what stood before us now.
Maki mattered, of course, but Toji's presence had been enormous.
Boom!
Mahoraga slammed into the barrier, ricocheted off it, and crashed into the ground.
Then it bounced back up from the earth.
The ideal answer was simple: erase it in one shot with overwhelming firepower, leaving nothing behind.
Like Fuga. Like Hollow Purple.
I had thought Guan Yu could fill that role, and I hadn't been far off.
But the distance had been lacking.
"A hundred-meter radius isn't enough."
It had nearly crossed the field from end to end.
Even after charging and smashing through close to a hundred meters, Mahoraga still held its shape.
Worse, the wheel above it was turning, adapting even further.
It was disgusting to look at.
"Ushi-gozen. Noble Phantasm."
"Yes."
Ushi-gozen dipped her head and shot upward into the sky.
There was no need for long explanations in a moment like this.
"Everyone, fall back! I'm going to nullify the exorcism ritual, so don't panic!"
Ibuki-douji amplified her voice with Magecraft.
It sounded like she was speaking through a loudspeaker.
Thanks to that, the three in the distance immediately broke toward me.
It was all according to plan.
The three of them ran in, while Ibuki-douji lunged straight at the Mahoraga that had already restored itself in a single breath.
The three and the one crossed paths at the midpoint.
"Sorry."
Megumi came over breathing hard.
It seemed the fact that his desperate, Cursed Energy-draining strike hadn't worked was eating at him.
"The plan was good. We were just short on distance, that's all. We'll go for the next one. You did well."
I patted Megumi on the shoulder and kept my eyes fixed ahead.
Right then, Ibuki-douji was pinning down the fully regenerated Mahoraga.
Boom!
As Mahoraga was driven into the ground, Ushi-gozen climbed higher and higher into the heavens.
Ibuki-douji. Ushi-gozen.
Both of them were strong enough to grind Mahoraga to dust, but this time it would be Ushi-gozen.
Ibuki-douji had already tested her Noble Phantasm once, if only lightly. For Ushi-gozen, this was the first time today.
Her first Noble Phantasm.
Part of the reason I chose her was because I wanted to treat this like a field test.
You had to take a machine out for a spin before you really knew it.
"Wretched thing. Become dust."
High above, Ushi-gozen's form began to change.
Her black hair bleached white.
A third eye opened on her forehead, and violet Magical Energy surged around her body in waves.
Rumble.
On the ground, a tidal swell of black cloud rose up, and thunder shook the sky.
It looked like a calamity made visible.
Then, from within that black deluge, a colossal shape emerged.
Four legs jutted from its massive body.
Its form was modeled after a bull, yet it had neither neck nor head.
[Daishinshi].
Purple lightning, wrapped in the power of Gozu Tennou and Indra, coiled around its hooves.
"[Uou Hanten: Shinrai Horyetsu]!"
The gigantic form slowly raised one hoof, then brought it crashing down toward Mahoraga.
Heaven and earth shook.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
Beside me, Zenin Toji muttered in a hollow voice.
Maki and Megumi looked much the same.
I'd thought Toji might be a little more used to this sort of thing, considering he'd already seen a meteor fall.
Apparently it still felt fresh.
Anyway.
[Daishinshi]'s hoof crushed Mahoraga without the slightest mercy and smashed it to pieces.
The ground convulsed.
Lightning sprayed in every direction.
The aftershock was so violent that even the barrier shattered apart and collapsed.
All that remained was a gigantic crater.
"It is finished."
After unleashing her Noble Phantasm, Ushi-gozen descended to my side.
She looked faintly refreshed.
"That was your first time using your Noble Phantasm, right?"
"Yes. It has been some time since I last wielded my power so freely. It was rather exhilarating. Thank you for granting me the chance."
Smiling, Ushi-gozen settled herself at my side.
Ibuki-douji had already returned as well, guarding my other flank before I even noticed.
"Good lord... That was the end of the world, plain and simple."
Ijichi Kiyotaka murmured with a vacant expression.
Fair enough.
"You were pretty startled, huh?"
"Y-yes, very. To be honest, I thought I was going to die too. The scale was completely different."
"Yeah, it gets a little extreme. You probably shouldn't drive right away in that state, so let's rest a bit first."
"What? No, it's fine. Fushiguro-kun looks exhausted too, so I think it would be better to get him back as soon as possible. Let's go."
Ijichi Kiyotaka rubbed his chest and shook his head.
There was something likable about the way he insisted on doing his duty.
"Thanks. We're in your care."
After a quick farewell, we left the clearing at once.
Megumi was being supported by Toji.
There was only one car waiting.
If you didn't count the Servants in the headcount, it had more than enough room.
Me, Toji, Megumi, Maki.
One in the passenger seat, three in the back.
"Megumi's wiped, so he can take the front. The three of us can squeeze in back. You're not taking the passenger seat, right, oppa?"
Maki asked as she opened the passenger door.
She knew me well.
"Nope. The uncomfortable seat should go to the person who needs it most. Ijichi-san, let's move."
"Right. Get in."
We climbed into the car right away, and the two Servants waited in spirit form.
Megumi took the passenger seat.
I was wedged into the middle of the back seat, with Toji and Maki on either side.
A hair's breadth.
That tiny margin had been the difference between success and failure. It was a shame.
Still, now that the exorcism had been nullified, Mahoraga's adaptation had reset to zero.
We could use the same strategy next time, just with a little more added to it.
Neither I nor the Servants had Cursed Energy, but we weren't treated as inanimate objects either.
Which meant we couldn't directly assist in the exorcism ritual.
If we could have, I'd have spoon-fed him the whole thing just to stop that damn [Furube Yura Yura].
"Megumi. Next time, make it a clean success."
"Thanks. I will."
Megumi answered my encouragement in his usual dry tone and closed his eyes.
He sounded detached, but he meant it.
Mahoraga would have to be scheduled for another day. The fingers, I'd keep searching for as usual. And what remained was...
This was done. That was done.
As I sorted through my thoughts, the next task rose to the surface.
Orimoto Rika.
Turning that vicious, dependable form of hers into that of an ordinary girl.
Spirit Origin conversion.
In other words, even a soul's outward appearance could be changed well enough through Servant methods.
I also had experience interfering with souls and separating beings that were treated as the same existence under jujutsu law.
It wasn't as easy or as fast as Mahito's Idle Transfiguration...
But if I took the time, adjustment was possible.
Of course, I couldn't twist a soul into death.
That was something only Mahito could do.
"Idle Transfiguration..."
The moment I thought of Mahito, my heart began to pound.
Slowly, but with force.
Healthy, powerful, like the heart of an athlete honed to the extreme.
Mai had returned from a mission.
Maki was with her.
"Is it really right to hand a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit to a student?"
Right now, Zenin Mai was Grade 3.
Like Maki, she was still a low-ranked Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Which meant she should naturally have been assigned weaker Cursed Spirits...
And yet, in practice, she had already exorcised everything from Grade 2 to Semi-Grade 1.
Maybe it was because she was always paired with Maki.
Maybe it was because they rated Kadoc highly.
Mai didn't know the reason, but it made her uneasy.
She was dissatisfied too.
For Maki's safety if nothing else, they should have been assigned lower-grade Cursed Spirits.
From the standpoint of mission safety, that was the obvious call.
But instead, from the very beginning of school, she had been sent out alone with Maki.
There was no supervising sorcerer with them either.
Most of their missions did assign weaker Cursed Spirits, thankfully...
But every time a stronger one got mixed in, she couldn't help sighing.
"Why do you look so miserable?"
Right after they returned to Jujutsu High, Maki asked as she pulled drinks from a vending machine.
Maki had orange juice.
Mai had orange juice too.
"Because they're giving us Semi-Grade 1 missions. You do realize we're still first-years who haven't even gone through the exchange event yet, right?"
"I like it. Feels like we're being recognized."
"The mission assignments are way too weird. It's not like we're constantly hunting high-grade Cursed Spirits, but this still isn't normal, is it?"
Mai took a sip of orange juice and let out a sigh.
It was exactly the kind of reaction you'd expect from someone with no real ambition in the jujutsu world.
Maki, on the other hand, was pleased.
Even if it was a little dangerous, building up achievements meant faster promotion.
From Grade 3 to Grade 2, and then to Grade 1.
Special Grade was impossible for her because of the nature of her abilities, but she intended to climb as high as she could.
To do that, she needed recommendations from other Jujutsu Sorcerers.
A strong record mattered, and so did making a name for yourself.
And this exchange event would be the first step.
News of the exchange event always spread throughout the jujutsu world.
"Calm down."
Maki sat down beside Mai and patted her on the shoulder.
It looked like some cheating boyfriend trying to soothe his girlfriend.
"Ugh."
Mai shook her head as she looked at Maki patting her.
This was all the result of her own choices.
Still, I have to endure it.
Sometimes her resolve wavered, but if she ever truly gave in, she knew she would regret it.
If those were the options, suffering through it was better.
Mai steadied herself, recalling the advice she had heard from Kadoc.
So she wouldn't get hurt.
"More importantly, why are we supposed to be here? Isn't today's schedule over?"
"Yeah. We could head home, but Suguru told us to wait a bit. Said there's someone we're supposed to meet."
"Meet? Who?"
"A second-year senior, apparently. Something to do with the exchange event."
"The exchange event? So they're really sending us too?"
Mai's eyes went wide.
Normally, first-years weren't chosen for the exchange event, but exceptions did happen.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru back in their Tokyo Jujutsu High days had been one such case.
"Yeah. You probably didn't bother listening because this kind of news annoys you, but both you and I are probably participating. Toge too."
"Even Inumaki-kun? Are they really that short on people?"
"You don't pay attention to what's going on at school, so I guess you wouldn't know."
Maki snorted and took a drink of her juice.
Two second-years.
And from the first-years, Maki and Mai, plus Okkotsu and Inumaki. Six in total.
Kyoto Jujutsu High would be bringing six on their side too.
It was shaping up to be very interesting.
"Ah, there they are."
Maki muttered as she looked into the distance.
A pair of Jujutsu Sorcerers with a distinctly rough, insolent air were walking toward them.
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