A grenade exploded inside the intake.
No matter how hard the outer shell was, it couldn’t withstand an attack from within.
Naoya’s body, having lost more than half of itself—though it was hard to say exactly where the waist ended—collapsed.
Thud!
"Sis! Ugh...."
Mai, who had been trying to call Maki awake, lost the strength in her body and toppled backward.
Supporting herself on the floor with trembling hands, she coughed up a clot of blood.
"Stop treating our shared body like trash!"
She had no strength left in her body at all.
Forget standing back up—the pain left her dizzy, and even her bones felt like they were ringing.
If Maki, the Heavenly Restriction user, hadn’t taken the hit, but Mai had, then her arms and neck would have been blown clean off.
The ambush from earlier had only been possible because she’d been so enraged she wasn’t thinking straight.
"And I can’t even use Cursed technique reversal...."
Okkotsu, the one who could heal her, was separated from them.
Mai had similar levels of cursed energy, but she couldn’t use Cursed technique reversal.
To recover, Maki needed to wake up quickly and take back control....
-My head hurts...
"Sis?"
Fortunately, Maki woke up quickly.
Mai let out a relieved breath and wiped the blood running from her mouth.
-What happened?
"I ambushed him when he let his guard down. Hurry up and take back control."
-Right.
She probably wouldn’t know what kind of thing she had almost been subjected to.
And Mai didn’t particularly want to tell her.
Just thinking of that disgusting form made her feel like vomiting.
-Swish...
With her eyes closed, she switched with Maki.
The cursed energy ebbed away, the fragile flesh was reconstructed, and it changed back into the body of the Heavenly Restriction user.
Having regained her own body and opened her eyes, Maki frowned before the throbbing pain.
"Ah."
-Don’t act spoiled. Sis can handle it, but I thought I was going to die.
"Sorry."
-How long do you think it’ll take?
"At least three minutes."
Normally it would take five, but Naoya had wasted time earlier, giving them room to recover.
With time, this sturdy body would stitch itself back together and return to normal.
Of course, right now that was impossible.
"Rest a little... Once my body’s back to normal, let’s leave the barrier and find Okkotsu."
-Yeah.
However it turned out, they had won.
All that was left was to destroy the barrier’s medium and find their comrades.
They had even cut off that stubborn bad blood....
And yet she didn’t feel all that happy.
"...."
-Why?
"I thought I’d be able to overwhelm him."
She had thought that once she got this body, there would be nothing to fear.
Things she’d once needed glasses to see were now visible, and things she’d thought impossible were happening far too easily.
She’d thought she had reached the same level as everyone else. Had she been arrogant?
"...He was a lot stronger than I expected."
She had thought she’d become equal to that person.
But she still had a long way to go.
-I don’t think there was really a problem. You were normal, weren’t you?
"Normal isn’t enough. I need to get stronger."
-...Honestly. You’re weirdly diligent about useless things.
Mai gave a bitter smile inwardly.
That applied to her too.
-I’m the one being protected, you know.
She had finally obtained cursed energy comparable to Okkotsu’s, and yet she still couldn’t use this power properly.
She was only supporting Maki, who was just about to fully adapt to her own body.
She didn’t have much complaint about that, but... since they’d become one body, if her sister wanted to get stronger, she couldn’t just stay still herself.
She couldn’t make weapons forever.
This battle had made that painfully clear.
Mai wanted to grow, to do her share.
"A construction technique isn’t really suited for combat in the first place."
-I wish we had a teacher. I’d make special-grade cursed tools and stuff.
"If you’re thinking of doing something weird with a ‘binding vow,’ don’t. You think I’d be happy if you got stronger by sacrificing yourself?"
-I won’t. Where in the world would you find a crazy bitch trading her life for a single sword?
Mai kept spouting sharp-tongued remarks, not even realizing she had almost become that very “crazy bitch.”
Maki let out a snort at her lively tone.
"That’s fine then."
She didn’t expect anything from Mai.
Even if she didn’t say it aloud, just being together made her happy.
It was good that Mai was growing, but she also hoped she wouldn’t go off on her own.
"The problem is me."
Earlier, when Naoya had broken through Mach 3 speed.
Could “that person” have reacted to it?
"Zenin Toji."
Megumi’s father.
The clan’s headache, and yet the man everyone feared.
If she could reach the same level as him, maybe she could afford to be a little greedy.
-Sis is greedy.
"Yeah. I’m greedy, so I don’t want to let you go either, and I want to get stronger without sacrificing anything."
-If you suddenly say something that sweet... I might not be able to hold back?
"Ahem."
She had worked hard up to now.
It was time to be happy.
Just as she thought that—
-Krrrk
Naoya’s body, which had been turning to dust, stirred.
A chilling sound, like flesh being devoured, rang out as the disappearance reaction stopped.
The lump of flesh convulsing on its own trembled, then was drawn inward by some unknown force.
"....!"
-Creak
Before long, the remnants of Naoya transformed into a giant egg-like shape, and cracks began to spread across the top.
"He’s alive...?"
-No way. The disappearance reaction definitely happened!
In Maki’s shocked eyes, a human hand emerged, breaking through the egg.
Skin slick with sticky fluid and blood.
What forced its way through the opening and appeared in its natural form was—
"Looks like you two get along real well. Makes me all warm and fuzzy too, y’know."
Naoya from his human days.
Except for his strange skin tone and the disgusting, writhing wings on his back, he looked exactly the same as he had in life.
"Just die already...!"
"I thought I was done for too... but, uh, what was it? They say curses get stronger after death, right?"
Curses becoming stronger after death.
Cases where a great grudge or a mass of cursed energy leaves behind remnants that trigger some kind of mutation.
By forcing his way through that slim possibility, Naoya had truly reached his limit and been reborn.
"Seems like that doesn’t apply to cursed spirits either. Or maybe it’s because I wasn’t fully mature yet?"
"....Doesn’t matter."
The recovery was already complete.
If he survived without dying, she’d just kill him again.
In fact, this was a good opportunity.
"What I was lacking."
Naoya no longer had any emotions left.
She wouldn’t be swayed anymore, and she wouldn’t suffer because of the past anymore.
"You’re going to be my practice dummy."
Sorcerers kill curses.
Even if they’re reborn, they kill them again, and again.
Now it was time to cut that cycle off completely.
Maki gripped the sword Mai had newly created for her.
It had no special abilities, but perhaps because it had used a fair amount of cursed energy, it was sturdy.
It wouldn’t break. That was enough.
-Whoosh!
The moment she drew her sword, Naoya accelerated and closed in.
His speed was no less than before.
In fact, perhaps because he had regained the familiar form he used in life, there was no hesitation in his movements.
-Bang!
Maki’s foot was driven back as she blocked Naoya’s fist.
As the distance opened, Naoya’s arm pulled back, and his wings reshaped themselves into the form of a fist.
-Shhhrrrk!
Multiple frames of air appeared before Naoya’s arms and wings.
As he threw a full-force punch, the frames burst, and four shockwaves shot toward Maki.
-Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
With enough power to devastate the surrounding area, stone pillars crumbled and thick dust rose.
"Nothing got added, but the whole thing got stronger!"
Even in human form, the specs from his cursed spirit days remained.
It felt close to the completed version of a speedster famous for a long time.
Naoya charged toward Maki, who had jumped into the air to evade.
"Peekaboo."
-Smack!
Naoya’s kick slammed into Maki’s stomach before she could react.
Speed is power. With force enough to bend her waist, Maki’s body was flung back and rolled across the ground.
Naoya immediately pursued, his hand touching her body, and—
-Bzzzz
the penalty of Projection Sorcery activated, trapping her in a one-second frame.
Naoya, having circled around and accelerated, smashed his fist into the frame.
-Thump!
It hurt several times more than a human fist ever could.
If she kept taking this blow, she’d go down before ever reaching top speed.
Even in the face of danger, Maki’s brain worked colder than ever, busy with self-reflection.
"I’ve already become like that person."
Think.
What is different between that person and me?
Why can’t I see what that person sees?
-Sis. Do you have some kind of plan?
She couldn’t stop there. She had to go further.
Only by surpassing that person could she bring down the enemy in front of her.
Because there are two of us.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
Without giving her time to focus, Naoya’s storm of consecutive attacks continued.
Fists, feet, wings—flying in at a speed hard to follow with the eye—hammered at her guard.
"You! No matter how many thousand or ten thousand years pass, you’ll never become like Toji! Don’t you get that yet, you idiot!"
"Shut up."
"The one standing there is me!"
-Smack!
The wings, moving as if they were one body, struck Maki and sent her flying.
Snickering, Naoya then leaped up and began racing through the air.
"Maybe something’s changed... but so what?"
All he had to do was accelerate to top speed and ram her.
She wouldn’t be able to react.
That brief moment of growth was a privilege only someone like him could seize.
"This time I’ll kill you without leaving even a corpse!"
He would not let his guard down again.
He was tired of playing around, so now it was time to finish this.
"He’s coming again."
Maki also realized this was the line between life and death, and once again prepared a counter.
But this time was different. It had to be different.
"I’m pouring everything I have into this."
She wanted a fight with no regrets.
She wanted to use everything she had to the absolute limit.
My limit is definitely not this low.
"I feel like I’m almost there, if I could just go one step further...."
-Sis.
Then Mai, who had been silent, spoke to Maki.
"Why?"
-I’m saying this because it might be the last time.
"...."
-I love you.
Even in a situation like this, she was saying that?
Maki, dumbfounded, smiled.
"Yeah. Me too."
-Then make sure you pull it off. I believe in you.
Mai said nothing more.
A sudden love confession that didn’t fit the mood at all.
Someone might have called it a death flag, but Maki actually felt stronger for it.
"Yeah. We’re getting out of here alive."
There was still so much she wanted to do.
She couldn’t give it all up.
The two of them would definitely go back together.
-Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Up above, that idiot was gleefully accelerating.
Before long, he’d ram straight into her body.
And he’d probably be spouting nonsense like, You’re a halfwit.
Suddenly, she remembered what Okkotsu had said before they came in here.
-Maki-san is still Maki-san.
Zenin Maki. Now just Maki.
Was she Mai, or was she Maki?
Maybe both.
But what did that matter?
I’m still “Maki.” A phantom clinging to my younger sister’s body, and at the same time, “Mai” as well.
From the moment it became like this, that had been an undeniable fact.
-We’re one as two.
Mai. Maki.
A greedy pair of sisters who didn’t want to let go of anything in their hands.
More. Higher. Faster. Stronger.
What they needed to hold all of that was—
-Swoooosh!
Just as Naoya finished accelerating and charged in, Maki suddenly realized it.
That her vessel was.
Bigger than she’d thought.
"Ah."
In the sensation of time slowing down, she could see Naoya rushing toward her.
She could catch even that one sneering corner of his mouth without missing a thing.
The air, the trembling wind, body heat, everything around her was showing her what she had not been able to see before.
"I see."
By affirming the self she already was, she could see what had been invisible.
The possibilities she hadn’t known she had rose to the surface and blossomed into talent.
And she naturally understood how wastefully she’d been using it.
"What I can do isn’t limited to this."
The habits of a Grade 4 sorcerer, ingrained in her body.
She didn’t need to fight that way anymore.
Because already, “I,” “Maki,” and “Mai,”
had each been completed in their own right.
-Slash!
The clash between Maki and Naoya.
The winner of the second round was Maki.
"?!!"
"Haha."
Now that she had broken through her limit, it felt like she might fly away.
It wasn’t just something she could see. She could feel it.
Things she couldn’t see were becoming visible, and the fact that she could do whatever she wanted with them.
"This feels amazing."
-Yeah.
At this moment, the two of them were freer than anyone else.
"I’m still faster than you, though. What the hell is wrong with this?"
-Crash!
"It’s not wrong. I’m telling you everything."
"Why! Why is this happening!"
Everything around them was telling Maki how Naoya moved.
Naoya’s speed no longer frightened her.
Even the sky that had seemed out of reach.
-Tap!
You’re not the only one who can perceive things by their “surface.”
Maki kicked off the air and leaped upward, her sword flashing.
-Snick! Snick!
Before he could even react, both of Naoya’s wings were cut off.
"Ghk! What the hell is this!"
-Whip! Whip!
He threw attacks that would never reach her, but Maki dodged them lightly.
Her movements were clearly different from before.
They were rougher, more beastlike than a sorcerer’s style, but to Naoya they were too fast and too solid to perceive.
-Slash!
The moment he showed an opening, he was bitten apart.
Mai’s sword strike cut off Naoya’s lower body.
Acceleration and transformation were now just useless tricks to Maki.
"You got there? Seriously?"
So the place I thought I’d reached was actually far away.
While I was satisfied with this much and laughing, you were already taking another step forward....
"You fucking bitch!!!"
Naoya’s inferiority complex exploded.
Speed and everything else no longer mattered.
All that remained was killing intent toward the rotten bitch in front of him.
"No matter how amazing you’ve gotten, you won’t be able to dodge this!"
"Domain Expansion!"
As Naoya formed a hand sign, his cursed energy condensed and a barrier unfolded.
From the darkness, the structure symbolizing Naoya’s domain emerged.
Time Cell Moon Palace.
A twisted womb shape with a giant eyeball embedded in the center.
The result reflected his nature: hating weak women and taking it for granted that they should be trampled.
"Ha... this is pretty good. I feel refreshed."
His first successful Domain Expansion.
As euphoria surged through him, Naoya laughed with satisfaction.
"At this rate, that brat Maki’s gonna be flattened and die for sure."
The effect of Naoya’s domain, Time Cell Moon Palace, was expansion of the technique’s target. Every single cell of the enemy could be designated as a target of Projection Sorcery.
At a glance, it might sound meaningless—but in reality, it was an utterly vicious ability.
If the one struck by the sure-hit effect couldn’t control each and every cell at will, their body would collapse.
But then.
"Huh?"
Maki was nowhere to be seen.
"No, what kind of bullshit is that! This is my domain, isn’t it? Even if I can’t sense her, how does it make sense that I don’t know where she’s hiding?!"
Naoya, silently screaming, looked around for Maki.
The unease that she might attack from somewhere he couldn’t see wouldn’t go away.
And that prediction was not wrong.
-Slash!
Naoya’s head flew into the sky.
Before his head hit the ground, Naoya still couldn’t grasp what had happened to him.
In his spinning vision, he saw Maki holding a sword.
"What the hell is this... this doesn’t make sense... why...."
"I’m classified as inanimate."
It was impossible to trap Maki, who had no cursed energy, inside a domain.
The sure-hit effect also could not recognize her.
For Naoya, Domain Expansion had been his trump card, but in reverse it had benefited Maki.
"If you hadn’t used a domain, your odds of winning would’ve actually been higher. Idiot."
-Heh heh.
Before his consciousness vanished completely, the last thing Naoya heard was Maki’s mocking laughter.
Zenin Naoya vs. Maki/Mai.
Victory: Maki.
And then—
Twelve years after death.
The moment a rare talent comparable to Zenin Toji, or perhaps even surpassing him, was completed.
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