Chapter 171: Delinquent High Schooler Beats Up a Century-Old Woman
Even though Kenjaku seemed to have been beaten to death by Emiya Shirou—to the point where his soul had been turned into a soul chip by [Pseudo-Atum] and added to Shirou's collection—the Four Disaster Curses, like Mahito, were still at large.
Having collaborated with Kenjaku, had they really not found a single corpse of the legendary sorcerers Kenjaku had preserved from various peak eras?
Emiya Shirou had been somewhat excited when he used his past-life memories to identify Granny Ogami among the curse users following Gojo. She was a medium capable of summoning sorcerers from the past, after all.
He hadn't forgotten his original purpose for "transmigrating" into this Jujutsu Kaisen game world: to find a method or ability capable of cracking the [Pandora's Box] in the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya world and preventing the destruction of that world.
However, it was clear that Granny Ogami had no idea what Shirou was talking about. She still believed her luck was incredible for finishing the Seance ritual before Shirou could reach her. After thinking for a long time, she couldn't recall who the names Shirou mentioned—Kashimo Hajime, Ishigori Ryu, Uro Takako—belonged to.
She naturally assumed Shirou was talking nonsense. Or rather...
"Heh heh heh. Unlike those ignorant brats, it seems you recognize who I have successfully summoned. You're so terrified that you've lost your mind and started spouting gibberish."
...She believed Shirou was so afraid of the Fushiguro Toji she had summoned that he was trying to trick her into thinking Toji was unreliable, hoping she would switch the Seance target to someone else.
Amused by this thought, Granny Ogami laughed dismissively at Shirou's words. "It's true, you should be afraid. After all, your technique involves manipulating some kind of invisible flame, doesn't it?
And judging by how easily Jiro Awasaka was killed, you can probably manually adjust the temperature of those invisible flames. However, it seems you need to stay close to those flames to activate that effect."
Despite being unable to see [Pseudo-Magician's Red] or its flames, Granny Ogami—as an old curse user over eighty years old—had quickly deduced about seventy to eighty percent of the Stand's ability. This was partly due to experience, and partly because she knew the details of Awasaka's technique.
The proverb "A bird leaves its tracks" applied perfectly to the jujutsu world. It was hard for the information of even slightly famous sorcerers or curse users to remain hidden. Techniques were inherited through bloodlines, and famous users usually had ancestors whose records
could be found in ancient texts. By observing their combat performance and cross-referencing records, one could guess their technique.
Furthermore, there was the "Binding Vow" known as [Showing One's Cards]. By revealing the details of one's own technique, a user could boost its effectiveness. This made information management nearly impossible for most.
This was why Granny Ogami had been so surprised to see Jiro Awasaka defeated instantly.
—[The Inverse].
That was Awasaka's technique. Its effect made any strong attack hitting him become weak, while weak attacks became strong. It was a seemingly invincible technique if the opponent lacked information. Of course, it was useless against Gojo Satoru's [Six Eyes], which could see the flow of cursed energy and tell if the technique was active.
Similarly, Emiya Shirou had already retrieved this information from his past-life memories. By using [Pseudo-Magician's Red] to manipulate flames and temperature, he had instantly adjusted the heat of the Stand flames on Awasaka's body to a level that bypassed the technique's threshold, charring him instantly.
Granny Ogami had been too panicked to realize this at first. But once her Seance was complete and she had Fushiguro Toji to protect her, she regained her composure and even guessed the nature of the Stand ability.
"Unfortunately for you, whether it's these invisible flame attacks or your temperature manipulation, both are useless against Fushiguro Toji.
As the [Heavenly Tyrant] who was born unable to see cursed spirits, he is the most adept at hunting things that cannot be seen! As long as your invisible flames cannot catch my grandson—who has been possessed by Toji—no amount of temperature manipulation will have any effect!" Granny Ogami stated confidently.
This was her trump card for coming out of hiding even before Gojo was sealed and for targeting Jujutsu High. Fushiguro Toji had almost killed Gojo Satoru once. If he were equipped with even stronger cursed tools now, the rules of the jujutsu world would no longer be set by Gojo, but by her!
"..."
"Which kind of 'useless' were you talking about?"
A familiar voice whispered in her ear. Along with the voice came a physical sensation: someone had suddenly appeared behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"...!?"
Wha—what? When!?
Granny Ogami, who had been acting high and mighty just a moment ago, froze in place, not daring to move an inch.
"While my moral compass makes it hard for me to hit the elderly... once I took a little look at your memories..."
Emiya Shirou projected the prayer beads in her hand—an item she clearly used frequently. Through the memory fragments obtained from the structural analysis and the characterization of Granny Ogami by "Gege Akutami" in his past-life memories of the original work...
Shirou, who had moved behind her using the time-stop of [Pseudo-The World], tightened his grip on her shoulder.
"I quickly got over it," he said, his voice cold. "Some people truly have no right to continue existing in this world. Don't you agree?"
"Wait, just a minute..." Granny Ogami tried to sputter an excuse, or perhaps call for help from her "grandson" who was acting as Toji's vessel.
But faster than her words were the fists of [Pseudo-The World]!
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA—!!"
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