Individual Battle II

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The next morning, the individual battles officially began.

The venue was the largest dojo on campus. The teachers from both sides sat on either side, leaving a broad open space in the center. Once both sides had arrived, Gakuganji and Masamichi Yaga spoke in turn, briefly repeated the rules, and the individual matches began.

"First match: Ren Kamishiro versus Kasumi Miwa."

Ren, still energetic even after staying up late to play games, walked to the center of the field. Miwa took a deep breath, encouraged herself, and stepped forward too. After both sides bowed, the match officially started.

Both used cursed blades. Miwa looked somewhat nervous. Ren did not immediately end the match with his technique. Instead, he took a stance and signaled for her to attack.

After gathering her courage, Miwa charged with her sword. Ren answered each move while observing her form.

Ren's swordsmanship, or rather his blade work, was fairly mixed. Most of what he had learned early on came from Maki. After that, he had explored and mastered the rest through training and actual combat.

Miwa's swordsmanship, by contrast, clearly had a system. The school was called New Shadow Style, if he remembered correctly. Atsuya Kusakabe, the second-year homeroom teacher at Tokyo, also seemed to use that style, and he was apparently quite strong.

According to what Ren knew, a powerful sorcerer from the Heian era named Sadatsuna Ashiya had invented Simple Domain to protect his disciples from cursed spirits and curse users. The style had been passed down for a long time. Besides sword techniques, it also included methods for combining cursed energy with cursed tools.

Ren controlled the tempo and traded more than a dozen exchanges with Miwa. He soon realized her foundation was still immature. Her strength and cursed energy were not enough either. Even if her sword skills were solid, she would not last more than one or two moves against an enemy with truly superior ability.

Of course, the people Ren used for comparison were not ordinary. By general jujutsu sorcerer standards, Miwa was actually decent. With Atsuya Kusakabe as an example of someone who had already become a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, Miwa might also achieve something in the future.

But right now, she was far from enough.

Ren's blade slid through an opening in Miwa's attack and forced her to defend. Several quick slashes followed one after another, immediately putting her in danger.

After sweeping her feet out from under her, Ren compared the two styles in his mind and spoke to Miwa as she got up.

"Your sword is too slow. It has no force, and it has no conviction."

Seeing Miwa's bewildered face, Ren explained in a good mood. "To put it plainly, you do not have the will to cut an enemy down. Even if you are holding a wooden sword and know you cannot kill your opponent, once you pick up a blade, you need to understand exactly what is in your hand. It is a weapon. A weapon that can take someone's life. You need the resolve to fight."

"Why did you come to Jujutsu High? Or rather, why did you step into the jujutsu world?"

Miwa was panting, finally getting a moment to breathe under Ren's pressure. When she heard the question, she froze for a second, then answered obediently, "Because we are poor. I have two younger brothers at home, so I became a jujutsu sorcerer."

Ren understood.

Ordinary people could not handle curses. But as long as humanity's negative emotions existed, curses would never disappear. Government leaders and other people in power knew the jujutsu world existed. They kept it hidden from the public to avoid panic, which would only create more curses.

Jujutsu sorcerers were constantly short-handed. This line of work, especially exorcising cursed spirits, carried high risks. Because of that, the salaries and rewards were high. Unfortunately, it could not be publicized. Otherwise, their visible social status would be high too.

The higher a jujutsu sorcerer's grade, the more money they could earn.

Miwa's answer did not surprise Ren. She did not come from a sorcerer family. She did not look like Todo, someone who craved battle and passion, nor like Yuta, who had a heavy story behind him.

There was nothing wrong with a reason like hers, but it had one flaw.

Ren raised the blade in his hand and pointed it at Miwa. "You do not have a reason or will that says you must get stronger. Right now, you are thinking about using the identity of a jujutsu sorcerer to make money. Have you ever considered that one day, you might run into a cursed spirit far beyond your strength and die suddenly on a mission?"

Before the stunned Miwa could answer, Ren continued, "So you do have a reason you must grow stronger. Whether it is for more money or because you do not want to die that easily on a mission, you need the resolve to use everything you have to kill the enemy."

Miwa looked at her reflection on the blade and fell into a daze for a moment.

Then Ren spoke again. "One move. You only have one chance. Show me your resolve."

Miwa lifted her head and saw Ren taking a starting stance almost identical to hers.

'What kind of monster is this?'

The thought flashed through her mind, but it vanished just as quickly.

Ren was right. She truly did not have much resolve when it came to working as a jujutsu sorcerer. At school, she trained hard with Mai, Momo Nishimiya, and the others. She had occasionally gone on missions and encountered danger, but to be honest, nothing had been too outrageous.

If she met an absurd enemy like Ren one day, how long could she last?

Maybe she would die the instant the fight began.

Then what would happen to her family? To Mai, Nishimiya, Mechamaru, and the other companions she might never see again?

Miwa slowly returned her blade to its sheath and took a sword-drawing stance. Her heart settled. She felt cursed energy flow through the sheath, and everything in a close circle around her became clear in her mind. Anything that stepped into that space would draw out this thunderous slash.

New Shadow Style: Simple Domain.

New Shadow Style: Sword Drawing.

'So this is Simple Domain. And this sword draw is interesting too. She wraps cursed energy around the blade and circulates it inside the sheath to accelerate it, so when the sword leaves the sheath, it becomes incredibly fast?'

Ren also returned his blade to its sheath and took a sword-drawing stance. He could not copy the Simple Domain right away. At moments like this, he could not help sighing over how useful Gojo-sensei's Six Eyes were. If he could easily see through an opponent's technique and cursed energy flow, he could probably learn something like this after watching it a few times.

'No technique. Let's see how fast this slash can be.'

Ren stared at Miwa, who was ready to strike. The cursed energy on the sheathed blade in his hand circulated faster and faster, until the entire sword looked as if it were burning with surging blue flame.

Clang.

A sharp metallic sound rang out. Ren's figure vanished from where he stood. What appeared in front of Miwa was the blade already cutting free of its sheath.

The moment Ren "touched" her Simple Domain, Miwa's blade automatically released its thunderous slash.

Seeing the killing intent and the sharp momentum in Miwa's draw, Ren finally felt it was decent.

In this high-speed clash of sword draws, their blades would normally collide. Then one side's sword would be cut apart, deciding the match.

But Ren did not do that.

At the instant before the blades met, he slightly shifted the angle of his edge. The two swords passed alongside each other. Then Ren turned and twisted his cursed blade.

Miwa's high-speed slash lost control under the sudden change. The sword flew from her hand, spinning toward the side.

Then a hand reached out in midair with perfect accuracy and caught the hilt, pulling the blade back.

Miwa looked at her empty hand and exhaled deeply. Then she bowed to Ren. "Thank you."

Masamichi Yaga announced the result. "First match, Ren Kamishiro wins. One point to Tokyo Jujutsu High."

When Ren returned to his seat, or more accurately to where everyone was kneeling on the floor, he sat cross-legged because he was not used to sitting properly like that.

Looking at Miwa, who had returned to Kyoto's side and was being comforted by the others, Maki sighed. "There are normal people on Kyoto's side after all."

Then Yaga announced the next match.

Panda versus Mai.

Mai's technique was not a secret, especially since Tokyo had her older sister. Her technique was called Construction. Its effect was to construct matter from nothing, and the matter created by the technique did not disappear after the technique ended.

When Ren first heard about that technique, he could only sigh at how incredible jujutsu sorcerers were. As expected, cursed techniques were more absurd than the last.

Unfortunately, because of Mai's own limitations, the amount of matter she could construct each day was small. Roughly one bullet. Combined with the revolver she used, that cursed-energy bullet would be hidden among six shots to catch the enemy off guard.

The fight began.

Panda immediately gave his opponent a surprise. Beneath his adorable appearance lay powerful close-combat ability. Most importantly, the dojo created both advantages and disadvantages for Mai.

Panda's large body was not just for show. Reinforced with cursed energy, he could take several of Mai's bullets and keep fighting, even if they were not live rounds. Mai's close-combat ability was much weaker. Once Panda got close, she fell into danger again and again.

The deciding exchange finally came. After Panda exposed an opening, Mai used the chance on purpose and hit his core with her constructed cursed-energy bullet. She had traded several injuries to gather information on that location.

But Panda was not just Panda. He had three cores.

When Panda switched into Gorilla Mode, the law of victory was decided.

"Second match, Panda wins. Tokyo Jujutsu High has two points."

"Panda rules!"

"Tuna mayo!"

Panda scratched his head and laughed under everyone's cheers.

Kyoto's atmosphere was much heavier. After Momo Nishimiya and Kasumi Miwa comforted Mai, Noritoshi Kamo said, "Just do your best from here. Do not blame yourself."

"Third match: Toge Inumaki versus Mechamaru."

Mechamaru stepped forward. "I am going."

After entering the field, Toge politely said, "Kelp."

His opponent did not understand, of course.

At the signal to start, Mechamaru's hands suddenly fired many small spheres.

Their target was the floor. When the spheres struck, they shattered and released thick smoke. Mechamaru's body shifted once, and he vanished into the rising haze.

"Blow away."

At Toge's command, a sudden wind rose inside the room and tried to scatter the smoke.

At that moment, a red light flared within the haze. A blazing pillar of fire shot out immediately after.

Toge dodged quickly. Mechamaru kept using various methods to hide his form and launch ranged attacks, trying to drag the fight out until Toge reached his limit.

Toge noticed the plan, so he tried to avoid using his technique as much as possible while quickly locking onto Mechamaru's position.

The dojo lived up to its reinforcement by advanced barrier techniques. Even under Mechamaru's bombardment, it mostly held its shape.

In the end, after Toge's voice had already grown distorted and he was probably close to his limit, he finally found Mechamaru. The tools Mechamaru had used to hide his body were all spent, and once a Cursed Speech user had a clear target, this Ultimate Mechamaru puppet probably could not withstand more than a few moves.

With no better option, Mechamaru chose to surrender. He had spent a great deal of effort on this puppet, and conceding in this situation would at least preserve it.

'In a different environment, I might have been able to fight longer.'

That was what Mechamaru thought when he returned to his seat.

As soon as Toge came back, everyone surrounded him with concern. The throat medicine they had prepared was immediately handed over.

The situation was basically decided. Tokyo had already taken three points. The worst result was a draw. As long as they won one more match, the Goodwill Event's victory would once again fall to Tokyo Jujutsu High.

At that moment, Maki raised her head. "It should be my turn."

Sure enough, Masamichi Yaga announced the next match.

Maki versus Momo Nishimiya.

The result barely needed explaining. Nishimiya flew near the ceiling and constantly used the wind blades raised by her broom to attack Maki, but Maki blocked all of them with beast-like instinct and her blade.

Then Maki used the room's layout, stepping rapidly off the walls and structures to knock Nishimiya down. After that came the ugly sight of an "adult" bullying a "child."

"Maki Zen'in wins. Another point to Tokyo."

"Woohoo!"

Ren and Panda had wanted to welcome Maki back with an exaggerated cheer, but under Maki's almost murderous glare, they sheepishly swallowed the rest of it.

"Next match: Yuta Okkotsu versus Noritoshi Kamo."

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