"Oh, right. Just to reveal the trick, I hid the cursed tool I whacked Whitey with under my tongue earlier. It looked like I had a tiny bit of cursed energy, right? The inside of the body is a type of Domain. Even against an average curse user, you should assume they've swallowed a hidden weapon or two. ...Didn't that sound like a teacher just now?"
"If ya didn't say that last line, it woulda been perfect."
Toji left that commentary with a proud look, while Suguru Geto watched his every move without letting his guard down. Right in front of him, Toji slowly walked to the equipment shed in the corner of the grounds and pulled out a single large Boston bag.
"Well, except for the young white-haired kid over there, I'll take you on with some random cursed tools. Let's see... Well, will this do?"
Saying that, he rummaged through the bag and pulled out a cute, pink magic wand.
"...Are you kidding me?"
"Hey, hey, don't judge everything by its appearance. Cursed tools come in all shapes and sizes, right? I just thought this would be enough for you."
"...Tch, is that so?"
"...Yeah. You seem more competent than Young Whitey. You're annoyed but you haven't snapped, and you've got a good physique. Looks like you're up for a brawl. —You like martial arts, don't you?"
"...Well, yes."
"I see, I see. Then, how do you handle an opponent like this?"
No sooner had he spoken than Toji moved behind Geto at a speed that was barely trackable by Geto's eyes—a deliberate speed.
Faced with 'dangerous movement' that he couldn't help but follow with his eyes even knowing it was a lure, Geto chose the immediate activation of his technique.
—Cursed Spirit Manipulation. A technique whose rank is neither superior nor inferior to Gojo's Limitless, its effect is the capture and command of cursed spirits weaker than himself, or those weakened to the brink of death.
Possessing such a blessed technique, Geto chose a wide-range attack by releasing fodder cursed spirits in all directions.
However, against Geto's move, Toji chose a deliberate frontal breakthrough.
Discarding the advantage of being behind him with the utmost ease, Toji smashed through and exorcised the fodder spirits with a single swing of the pink wand. What he asserted through body language was the fact that fodder wouldn't even serve to stall him.
It was eerie how the large heart-shaped gem at the tip of the wand glowed brighter every time Toji struck a cursed spirit, but what was most terrifying was that, despite the cursed tool being Grade 3 at best, even the additional Grade 2 spirits Geto released were easily beaten to death when wielded by Toji.
—Purely, his physical strength exceeded common sense.
Understanding this, Geto judged that he would surely be worn down if he stayed on the defensive. While maintaining a barrage of massive numbers of fodder spirits, he summoned his prized cursed spirit.
"—Rainbow Dragon!"
"Oh, not bad! At least you know that committing forces piecemeal is a bad move!"
Along with the fodder spirits that were being beaten to death one after another, a giant dragon attacked to crush Toji Fushiguro in one go. It was the Rainbow Dragon, a powerful monster possessing the hardest scales among the cursed spirits Geto manipulated.
Against the Rainbow Dragon, the response Toji took was 'punch it for the time being'.
Naturally, it is impossible to exorcise a cursed spirit with a punch lacking cursed energy. But that does not mean physical blows are ineffective against cursed spirits.
"This snake is hard!"
"He deflected the Rainbow Dragon with just a fist—!?"
Yes, even for a cursed spirit, the impact of a physical attack cannot be ignored. The Rainbow Dragon, having taken Toji's fierce counter-uppercut to the jaw, had its charging trajectory deflected, and Toji's figure was hidden from Suguru Geto's vision by becoming the 'shadow of the Rainbow Dragon'.
"Damn i—!?"
"It's admirable that you can think 'damn it' about that move! But if you have time to think, you should act! —'Put everyone's feelings into light! Hissatsu! Magical Mai-chan Vanish!' Take that!"
"Ha—?"
—This guy, this old man, what did he just say?
Immediately after that noise ran through his thoughts, Geto, who had been 'distracted' even for an instant, was mercilessly assaulted by a torrent of intense cursed energy unleashed from the pink wand Toji held.
Judging that the Rainbow Dragon's defense wouldn't make it in time, Geto reinforced his body with full cursed energy to oppose it. However, he was driven to the point of buckling at the knees, gasping for breath, and breaking out in a cold sweat by the sheer high output. Finally, Toji, who had rushed in, stopped a vertical overhead chop just millimeters from Geto's brain.
"Okay, it's over. You really are a serious goody-two-shoes. It's a good tendency to think when something incomprehensible happens on the battlefield, but it's meaningless if your body isn't moving at the same time. Don't choose between thinking and fighting; do both at once. Because you didn't do that, you got beaten by this funny toy that looks like a stick, see? If your mind goes blank in the middle of a fight, consider yourself dead right there."
"...I yield."
Saying that, Geto collapsed onto his back, breathing roughly as he ruminated on the weakness Toji had pointed out. However, in the process, noise inevitably crossed his thoughts, and unable to endure it, he threw a question at the PE teacher who effortlessly hoisted him up.
"Fushiguro-sensei."
"Hmm? What."
"...What on earth is that cursed tool?"
"It's the Jujutsu Girl Magical Mai-chan's basic weapon, the 'Magical Mai-chan Mace'. The special move is 'Magical Mai-chan Vanish', where it absorbs cursed energy with the gem at the tip and releases it all at once."
"—What was that?"
"No, don't 'what was that' me. Like I said, it's Jujutsu Girl Magical Mai-chan's—"
Sadly, however, even after the explanation, his brain couldn't grasp the content at all, and Geto remained only confused; his doubts were not resolved.
That question would eventually be cleared up that evening when Geto accidentally encountered Mai Zen'in, who had transformed into Magical Mai-chan and was devoting herself to training in the dormitory garden, and asked her about the situation. But that is a story for another time.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]