Chapter 10: Utahime's Plot
"Dra—!"
Acting purely on instinct, Miwa drew her blade again.
The flash of steel didn't strike forward.
Instead, it slashed backward—because her Simple Domain had detected an attack approaching from behind.
Automated counterattack: activated.
Only in the very next instant did realization crash down on her.
There was no enemy behind her.
The only thing that could be that close, approaching from her rear—
Her pupils constricted violently.
She tried with all her might to stop herself, but it was already too late.
The counterattack of Simple Domain was fully automatic.
Her body had already moved before conscious thought could intervene. And it had to be that way—only by bypassing cognition entirely, relying on pure instinct, could reaction speed be pushed to its absolute limit.
Her Draw—a technique that concentrated cursed energy into the sheath and blade to achieve explosive acceleration—was an attack so fast that a single fleeting thought was all it took to execute—
Suddenly, Miwa felt her entire body lift off the ground.
In the next moment, the scorching heat and crimson glow rushing toward her face reminded her of the real threat—right in front of her.
Her sense of danger spiked violently.
And yet—
Just as the heat brushed against her skin, it retreated at breakneck speed.
No—
That wasn't it.
It wasn't the heat retreating.
She was retreating.
Miwa realized this instantly as the scenery around her streaked backward—but how was that possible?
"Where are your innate techniques?"
Ren shouted, his voice carrying clear confusion.
His left hand had Miwa by the collar.
His right hand was gripping Mai.
He sprinted through the surging heatwave at full speed.
"That thing is already using its own special ability—why are you two still not using yours?!"
His tone was genuinely baffled.
"W–Well…"
Miwa hesitated for a long moment. Only then did she finally process what was happening—realizing that the hand yanking at the back of her collar belonged to Ren.
Her face, already flushed red from the heat and drenched in sweat, grew even redder—like glowing embers.
"I… I don't have an innate technique."
At the same time, a storm surged through her heart.
W–What just happened?!
That hand just now—was that Ren's?!
He had casually grabbed her… and completely overridden her Simple Domain, the technique she was most proud of?
"What?!"
Ren faltered for a split second while dodging another wave of the cursed spirit's flames—nearly getting engulfed on the spot.
---
How was that possible?
Hadn't Utahime-sensei told him that every jujutsu sorcerer possessed an innate technique?
That a born technique was the very foundation of a sorcerer—the definitive proof of their identity?
How could there be a sorcerer… without one?
"It's true that most sorcerers have innate techniques, but… but I'm an exception," Miwa said softly.
"I only have cursed energy—no innate technique. That's why I trained my cursed energy control so hard… and devoted myself to mastering the secret arts of New Shadow Style…"
In an emergency like this, Ren didn't bother digging deeper.
He immediately turned to the girl on his other side.
"Mai—what about your technique?"
Mai had just slammed six more bullets into the revolver's cylinder and was unloading them straight into the inferno-shrouded monster.
"My technique…"
She hesitated, her tone suspiciously evasive.
"I already used it."
"…What?"
"You didn't notice?" she snapped impatiently.
"A revolver only holds six rounds. But just now, I fired seven times in a row."
"My technique is called Construction. It allows me to create real, physical matter from nothing."
"That seventh bullet—I constructed it on the spot. That's how I pulled off an unexpected seventh shot."
"Do you think a cursed spirit knows a revolver's capacity or its maximum rate of fire?"
The girl tucked under his arm went silent.
…This feels wrong.
While sprinting at full speed, Ren tilted his head up toward the ceiling, barely suppressing the urge to scream at the heavens.
What kind of teammates did Utahime-sensei assign me?!
One sorcerer with no innate technique.
One sorcerer whose technique might as well not exist.
And a training ground that was supposed to house nothing stronger than a Grade 3 cursed spirit—yet had spawned something far beyond that.
Was she really trying to guide him?
Or was she trying to… kill him?
Complaints aside, the problem still had to be solved.
When the lizard cursed spirit paused its flames, Ren stopped atop a platform that hadn't yet been consumed by fire.
"So," he asked calmly,
"can I step in now?"
This time, the girl under his left arm didn't make a sound.
"I–It looks like… we can only rely on you now, Kanzaki-kun," Miwa said weakly from his right side.
"I'm sorry… we were supposed to look after you. Utahime-sensei entrusted us with that…"
Ren nodded.
"Miwa—get behind me."
"…What?"
"I can't fight properly while carrying both of you," he said with a wry smile.
With a casual motion, he swung Miwa onto his back.
"Hold tight."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the lizard cursed spirit reared back and unleashed another torrent of flame—like a roaring dragon of fire—straight at him.
Ren leapt skyward, evading the blaze. At the same time, his right hand straightened, fingers together like a blade.
"Sever."
A brilliant blue arc of cursed energy shot forth.
The lizard's massive face was sliced cleanly in half—its elongated snout nearly shorn off entirely.
"Sever!"
The cursed spirit let out a shrill, agonized scream as blood sprayed wildly. It tried to flee, but the second blade struck its left shoulder, instantly severing the entire forelimb.
"Sever!"
The third slash targeted the remaining half of its head. The creature dipped slightly; the blade grazed past its cranial fin and cleaved straight through its arched back—flattening it into a smooth plane.
An ocean of blood erupted, like Mount Fuji in violent eruption.
Ren raised his hand again, preparing the finishing blow—
Only to see the cursed spirit suddenly lift its head.
The head that should have been half-gone was fully restored. Not a single wound remained. Its enormous jaws opened wide once more, flames surging anew.
"What the hell?"
Ren sprang away, eyes narrowing in shock.
It could regenerate that fast?
As he spoke, the severed forelimb and bisected back began bubbling and swelling, flesh rapidly reforming at a visible pace.
"Cursed spirits aren't like humans," Miwa whispered from his back, lips close to his ear.
"Their bodies are composed entirely of cursed energy. They don't have the same vital organs. Damage can be reconstructed almost instantly."
"Their only true weak point is the head. To kill one, you either destroy the head completely—or overwhelm it with an attack so intense it dies instantly, with no chance to regenerate."
So that's how it works…
Honestly, today had been incredibly educational.
Sorcerer and cursed spirit rankings.
How to harm cursed spirits.
How to kill powerful ones.
Ren casually swung Mai onto his back as well, stacking the two girls like a human totem pole.
"What are you doing?!"
Mai finally spoke up, letting out a muffled grunt of pain.
Caught in the middle, Miwa also let out a small cry.
"Bear with it," Ren said.
"Hold on tight. I'm going all out."
With that, he leapt again—evading another wave of flame. Midair, both hands thrust forward, fingers spread wide.
Cursed energy surged.
At the tip of each finger, a blade of light ignited.
Ten sword-lights spun at high speed, weaving into a crisscrossing lattice of blades. The superheated air erupted with a deafening hum.
The sound vanished in an instant.
In the next moment—along the path where the hum had passed—machine tools, stone, and debris were shredded into fragments.
And the lizard cursed spirit—
Its mountain-like body was abruptly divided into dozens of shattered chunks of flesh, raining down in pieces from the air.