(Extra chapter)
We've reached 20 energy stones...one more chapter at 50 energy stones.
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Night falls.
Lynn sat in the shop, playing with a transparent screen in his hand.
On the screen, multiple arcs converged at a single point.
That was where Mechamaru, or rather Kokichi Muta, was hiding.
According to the timeline, Kokichi Muta had already sold out Jujutsu High's information to the Cursed Spirit faction.
Lynn had wanted to find him as soon as possible to stop him, but his hiding place was too well-hidden. It was only today, with the help of system items, that he finally located him.
Lynn pulled out a black card and, after a minute of chanting...
A flash of black light passed, and Lynn disappeared from the shop... reappearing in a hidden corner of Kyoto Jujutsu High.
This was a warehouse for discarded Cursed Corpses and mechanical parts, a place rarely visited. The air was thick with the smell of machine oil and dust, along with a faint scent of mold.
"Creak—"
Lynn pushed open the rusted iron door, carrying a warm yellow hurricane lamp in his hand.
The dim light flickered, casting his shadow long and thin.
"Come out."
Lynn's voice echoed through the empty warehouse, calm and certain.
"I know you're here, Kokichi Muta."
Dead silence.
Only the whimpering sound of the wind blowing through the gaps in the window could be heard.
There was no response.
"Or rather... should I call you 'Ultimate Mechamaru'?"
Lynn wasn't embarrassed by the lack of response. He walked to a corner of the warehouse where several broken puppets and a large pile of messy cables were stacked.
"A 'Heavenly Restriction' that exchanges physical completeness for massive Cursed Energy output."
"Although you possess power far beyond your peers, your true body can only lie in a bathtub in a sterile room, where even the touch of moonlight on your skin is as painful as being burned by fire..."
Lynn pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting cold light in the dim illumination.
"That feeling... must be quite unbearable, right?"
Before his voice could fade...
"Click."
From the shadows deep within the warehouse, the sound of mechanical operation finally came.
A somewhat crudely designed humanoid puppet slowly walked out. It was a spare unit Mechamaru used for activities within the school, and it looked quite worn out.
Red light flickered in its electronic eyes, and a low, guarded male voice came through:
"Who are you?"
"How do you know my name? And my physical condition?"
Mechamaru's voice carried undisguised killing intent.
His main body was hidden in an extremely secluded place. Aside from the principal and a very few Higher-Ups, no one knew his true identity or location, let alone the specific details of his 'Heavenly Restriction'.
This man who had suddenly appeared... was dangerous.
"I am a merchant."
Lynn pulled over a dusty old chair and sat down, his posture relaxed, completely ignoring the other's hostility.
"Don't be so nervous. I have no interest in your secrets; I'm only interested in a 'transaction'."
"A transaction?"
Mechamaru gave a cold laugh, his voice coming through the speakers with a hint of static.
"I have nothing to trade with a suspicious guy like you."
"If you don't want to die, leave this place immediately."
The puppet raised its arm, and the muzzle in its palm faintly glowed with Cursed Energy.
"Really?"
Lynn didn't move; he simply pulled a photograph from his coat and placed it gently on the ground.
In the photograph was a young girl with long blue hair, smiling gently at the camera.
Kasumi Miwa.
Boom—!
Mechamaru's mechanical body shuddered violently, and the red electronic eyes instantly became blindingly bright, as if overloaded with current.
The Cursed Energy that had been gathering in its palm instantly dissipated.
"You..."
Mechamaru's voice became rapid and furious, as if a raw nerve had been touched.
"What do you want to do?!"
"If you dare touch a single hair on her head... I will kill you!!"
"Calm down."
Lynn shrugged.
"I just want to ask you a question."
Lynn pointed to the photo on the ground, his eyes becoming deep.
"If I said I have a way for you to see her with your 'real body', would you be interested?"
"Not through this cold machinery, but with your own feet, standing in the sunlight, holding her hand."
The warehouse fell back into a dead silence.
Only the sound of gears turning inside Mechamaru was exceptionally clear.
After a long while.
"What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Mechamaru's voice carried a hint of trembling, the hysteria of having his pain point prodded.
"My body... that's a Heavenly Restriction that even Reverse Cursed Technique cannot heal!"
"In this world, aside from a monster like Mahito who can change souls, no one can heal me!"
He was a mole.
The reason he sold Jujutsu High's intelligence to the Cursed Spirit group was to trade for Mahito's 'Idle Transfiguration' to heal his body.
This was his only hope.
"Exactly."
Lynn nodded, not contradicting him.
"Mahito can indeed heal you."
"But, Kokichi Muta, do you really trust Cursed Spirits?"
Lynn stood up and walked step by step toward the trembling puppet.
"Mahito's 'Idle Transfiguration' is essentially a forced distortion of the soul."
"He can indeed give you a healthy body, but at what cost? Your soul will be tainted, and you will become his plaything."
"And..."
Lynn stopped in front of the puppet, looking down at those red electronic eyes.
"Do you think that the moment you truly recover your body, those Cursed Spirits will let you go?"
"They will kill you, and they might even kill the girl you want to protect."
Mechamaru fell silent.
This was the deepest fear in his heart.
As a mole, he had been walking on a tightrope, gambling with his life every day. He knew he was making a deal with the devil, but he had no choice.
"But I am different."
Lynn reached out, a faint glow of Cursed Energy flickering at his fingertips.
"I don't need to distort your soul."
"Do you remember Maki?"
"The failure who was looked down upon by the Zenin Family."
Lynn smiled.
"Just a few days ago, she was a weakling who couldn't even defeat a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit."
"But as you saw today, she suppressed your classmate Mai with pure physical strength alone."
"I did that."
Mechamaru snapped his head up.
He had seen Maki's changes clearly through the miniature surveillance puppets he left near Mai.
That kind of transformative power... that sense of lightness, as if freed from a curse... "How did you do it?"
Mechamaru's voice trembled; it was the longing of a drowning person seeing a piece of driftwood.
"This is my 'merchandise'."
Lynn pulled out a glass bottle containing a black liquid (the Cursed Energy residue extracted from Maki's body).
"I can strip away the negative effects brought by the 'Heavenly Restriction'."
"Of course, your situation is much more complex than Maki's."
"A complete cure will require time and a heavy price."
"However..."
Lynn put the glass bottle away and looked at Mechamaru.
"I can give you a little'sample' first."
"To let you escape that damn life-support device for a short time and walk out of that dark room with your own feet."
"Even if it's only for ten minutes."
"Want to try?"
Temptation.
It was an irresistible temptation.
For a boy imprisoned in darkness for over a decade, even a single minute of freedom, even just to see the sun with his own eyes, to see the girl he liked... he would give his soul for it without hesitation.
"I..."
Mechamaru's voice became hoarse, with a hint of a sob.
"What do I need to pay?"
"It's simple."
Lynn produced a contract and placed it before the puppet.
"First, stop providing intelligence to those Cursed Spirits. Or rather... only provide the intelligence I allow you to provide."
"Second, continue to cooperate in the events that follow."
Lynn leaned in close to the puppet's ear and whispered a few words.
Mechamaru's electronic eyes flickered several times, seemingly weighing the options.
After a long while.
The puppet reached out its cold mechanical hand and pressed it onto the contract.
"Deal."
"If you can really heal me... what's wrong with giving you this life of mine?"
Lynn tucked away the contract with satisfaction.
[Contractual transaction complete!]
[Obtained Item: Long-term cooperation with Kokichi Muta.]
[Service Revenue: 15,000 points.]
[One-time deduction for rule enforcement loss: 7,000 points.]
[Net Profit: 8,000 points.]
"A wise choice."
"Now, as a down payment..."
Lynn exchanged for a bottle of [Life Support Potion (Potent Version)] from the system mall and placed it in the puppet's hand.
[Product Name: Life Support Potion (Potent Version)]
[Price: 1,000 points.]
[Effect: Briefly relieves physical pain and maintains vital signs, allowing survival for 1 hour even away from life-support devices.]
[Current Balance: 20,240 points]
"Tonight, you can have a beautiful dream."
"In your dream, you can stand in the sunlight and hold her hand."
With that, Lynn picked up the hurricane lamp and turned to leave.
As the sound of the iron door closing rang out.
The warehouse returned to a dead silence.
Mechamaru looked at the potion in his hand, then at the photo on the ground.
The red light in his electronic eyes flickered.
"A real... body?"
He gripped the potion tightly.
"Miwa..."