Several days have passed since the family trip to Vegas. Naoya had visited with Toji, whose broken leg healed perfectly after he slept, Megumi, who had gained quite a bit of respect for his dad after seeing his awesome side, and the three good-friend magical girls: Tsumiki, Maki, and Mai. For some reason, during the trip, Naoya had spent his time constantly handing over pickpockets who targeted him relentlessly to the police.
Having welcomed the New Year, the members of the Fushiguro family were participating in the Zen'in clan's New Year event today as a formal family obligation.
Of course, Toji hated it to death, but as he self-deprecatingly admitted to having mellowed out over the past year, he ultimately and reluctantly decided to participate to debut Megumi.
Honestly speaking, Maki and Mai didn't look like they wanted to go back either, but they made the agonizing decision to go since Naoya was going.
As for Megumi and Tsumiki, who didn't really understand the situation, they were looking around anxiously like borrowed cats.
Normally, among them, the three non-sorcerers—Tsumiki, Maki, and Toji—would inevitably be showered with terrible abuse and backbiting the moment they crossed the threshold of the Zen'in household.
However, on this day, the presence of Naoya Zen'in, who was accompanying them on good terms, prevented the Zen'in clan members from uttering a single insult.
—The Next Head who fought Satoru Gojo evenly, kicked him around, and made him vomit.
Such overwhelming status intimidated the members of the Zen'in clan, who were thoroughly subservient to the strong.
But whether that alone would silence them completely is another story. There was one more reason why today's banquet was quieter than a funeral hall.
"Hap-py-New-Year ~! ...What's wrong? The vibe is bad, isn't it?"
"Satoru-kun. It's your fault. Why are you here?"
"Well, normally for New Year's greetings?"
"That's definitely a lie. Until last year, there was absolutely no talk of that."
"Well, yeah. Greetings are just the pretext. I figured you'd definitely be back at your parents' home this time of year ~. Let's fight, Junior."
"Satoru-kun. Are you a Jump character? Goku? Have you become a battle junkie?"
"Maybe because someone kicked the crap out of me, I trained seriously for the first time?"
"Stop it. With my compatibility, I can never get anything better than a draw, ya know?"
"Then if it's a draw, I'll call it Naoya's win."
Satoru Gojo was picking a fight with the Next Head with a beaming smile. His presence, seemingly cleared with Naobito to be here, was silencing the lined-up members of the Zen'in clan.
And in the end, due to Naobito's single authoritative command of "It's a rare opportunity, show everyone the strength of the Next Head," a revenge match between Naoya and Satoru Gojo was arranged with a 10-minute time limit.
"...It's a bad day. Or maybe a bad year? Can I go get exorcised after this is done?"
"Before that, it's the hospital, right?"
"I hate this too much. Everywhere is crowded this time of year... Well, let's start, even though I don't wanna."
With such light conversation, both took their stances. Since this was a fair and square match, the Bindings of 'Encourage Good' and 'Punish Evil' were silent, making the situation even.
In that situation, the first one to make a move was Naoya.
"Phantom, Flash, Sonic Impact—!"
Right from the opening, three consecutive Extension Techniques. In Naoya's case, where the Binding makes it so that even omitting the cursed chant counts as 'having chanted', simply speaking the names of the Extension Techniques produced more than enough effect.
The composition of the techniques Naoya used this time was: 'Phantom', which leaves a virtual image in that spot for one second by stopping the surrounding light; 'Flash', which creates afterimages by incorporating frames of 'momentary pause' into high-speed movement. And 'Sonic Impact', which fires invisible air cannons infused with cursed energy by striking the stopped air at high speed.
What was created by the combination of these was a hail of air cannons fired all at once from the countless clones of Naoya. Moreover, since all of them carried 'Black Flash', the shock from the spatial distortion could blow away Satoru Gojo along with his Infinity.
Just like last time but in reverse, Naoya went on the 'defensive' to see how Satoru Gojo would handle this attack. What happened before his eyes was the complete defense of the air bullets by the infinite barrier.
However, regarding that defensive result, Naoya's brain sounded an alarm and analyzed the 'sense of incongruity' that arose in his heart. He began to form a rough estimate of the 'trick' Satoru Gojo had devised.
"Taking that power without moving a step... Are you using 'Blue' on yourself?"
"Gross... How do you know, you don't even have the Six Eyes."
"If I think only in terms of Limitless Lapse, 'Blue' is the first candidate. From there, it's just a word association game... You pinned your feet down, didn't ya?"
"Well, I guess so. True enough. Then, how about this!"
What Satoru Gojo released as he said that was 'Blue', an invisible force field. However, what differed from his previous usage was that the force fields formed a chain of rings.
"Whoa, dangerous. I was about to get torn apart. That ain't somethin' to use in a match...!"
"No, why can you dodge it?"
"I stopped the air on a hunch and slipped out of the force field in that gap. If it were anyone other than me, they'd be dead, ya know?"
"Well, it's you, not anyone else, so it's fine!"
"Stop spamming it, seriously, it's too scary!"
Satoru Gojo generated a massive amount of 'Blue' force fields with enough momentum to engulf the surroundings, trying to tear Naoya apart along with the space in the middle of the force fields. And Naoya Zen'in ran through the sky, threading through the gaps of that death space, and when he saw he couldn't dodge, he blew the force fields away with Black Flash to survive by brute force.
The one on the offensive was Gojo, and the trend of the battle was less 'even' and more of a gradual decline for Naoya. In that case, inevitably, the one to play the card to break the stalemate would be Naoya, who was forced on the defensive.
Immediately after, with a six-fold hand sign formed in 0.1 seconds, Naoya Zen'in turned 'invincible' and charged at Satoru Gojo.
"Domain Expansion: Soul-Bound: Revolving Lantern of the Floating World's Dream!"
"Tch! There it is, invincibility mode!"
Naoya's Domain Expansion unilaterally trampled everything and could be captured by no one.
Turning his own body into a Domain, he performed an extreme acrobatic feat of blowing away the barrage of 'Blue' generated by Satoru Gojo while punching the Infinity with the spatial distortion caused by Black Flash.
Against that attack, Gojo endured by fixing himself in place with 'Blue' just like before, but the piercing shock of the Black Flash mercilessly assaulted Gojo's body, accumulating damage that could absolutely not be ignored.
"Forcing yourself to stand your ground, are you an idiot!?"
"Shut up! If I don't get blown away, I have a way to deal with this too! 'Phase', 'Twilight', 'Eyes of Wisdom'—Cursed Technique Lapse: 'Blue'!"
"You moron!? Are you trying to blow yourself up!? Why!?!? The shadow of a single night reflected in the magic lantern! Extension Sorcery: The Fourth Wall!!!"
Satoru Gojo's counter-like technique and the barrier construction by Naoya, who sensed it.
The techniques of both parties, which miraculously established almost simultaneously, converged after a moment of deadlock in the form of Naoya's barrier imploding inward.
At the end of a single blow of 'Blue' with a tremendous range that gouged out the Zen'in clan's courtyard along with the barrier, a giant clod of earth was generated in mid-air.
Immediately after that lump, super-compressed by Infinity and turned into rock, fell into the garden, it cracked with a tremor, and two dizzy Special Grade sorcerers tumbled out of it together.
"Well now, is it a draw? Then, as the Gojo boy said before, it's Naoya's win! —Hey, Jinichi. Carry the two of them!"
Naobito declared this and laughed heartily, while the many others were taken aback. And Jinichi Zen'in, nominated directly by the head, carried the two with a sigh.
The New Year at the Zen'in clan took on a color far from peaceful as the stage shifted back to the banquet.
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