Special Training

Afternoon, on the outskirts of Kyoto.

Shiyue Shuo held a horse stance with a pained expression, sweat sliding down his forehead and instantly drying the moment it hit the scorching ground. The Horse Talisman's duration had expired, and his physical condition was at its absolute worst.

Within his mind, a Sheep Talisman shone with a faint violet light. It was this violet glow that steadied his mind and kept him from collapsing from heatstroke.

"It's almost the end of October. Why is it still so hot?"

"Hey, stop spacing out. Now that you've burned through all the cursed energy you stored up with that move, you're the weakest link at Kyoto School." Mai Zenin sat cross-legged beneath a distant tree, lazily spinning her customized revolver in one hand.

Today, she wore a sharp black camisole. The cool outfit did nothing to conceal the fierce killing intent she carried. Although Shiyue Shuo had demonstrated astonishing destructive power during their previous mission, she still believed he needed to be put through brutal training.

"Senpai, I think you should be a little gentler with a patient who's just overdrawn his body. At least verbally."

Mai snorted but did not argue.

"Ten more minutes."

At the other end of the training ground, Kokichi Muta stood barefoot in the shade.

He wore a well-fitted Jujutsu High uniform, and his delicate, fair face almost seemed to reflect the sunlight.

"Muta, do you really not need to rest a little longer?" Kasumi Miwa asked worriedly, gripping a wooden sword.

"No, Miwa." Kokichi Muta shook his head, his voice clear.

"Then let's begin." Noritoshi Kamo stepped out from the shadows, several blunt blood arrows pinched between his fingers, his expression solemn.

"Shiyue, everyone has already learned about your situation from the principal. During your downtime, you're not even as capable as an ordinary person. But if you learn Simple Domain, you'll at least survive a few seconds longer when facing an enemy." Kamo's voice echoed across the training ground.

Kasumi Miwa walked over to stand opposite Shiyue Shuo, holding her wooden sword horizontally. "Shiyue, Simple Domain is an art for the weak. You don't need enormous reserves of cursed energy. You only need to use a specific frequency to create an area around yourself that can neutralize outside techniques."

"But your feet can't leave the ground, or it'll fail." As she spoke, she handed her wooden sword to Shiyue Shuo. "We'll demonstrate first."

Kasumi Miwa picked up another wooden sword from the ground and nodded toward Mai in the distance.

Bang.

Kasumi Miwa moved like lightning, her wooden sword carving a blindingly fast arc through the air. "Simple Domain—Quickdraw!"

Under normal circumstances, Shiyue Shuo's pitiful cursed-energy senses would never have been able to catch that strike. But with the Sheep Talisman's enhancement, his perspective had completely changed.

Through his soul's perception, Shiyue Shuo watched lines of cursed energy spread from beneath her feet, forming a transparent semicircle roughly two meters in diameter. Within that area, all energy pulsed at an extraordinarily stable frequency.

"So that's how it works. This is Simple Domain?"

As a transmigrator, Shiyue Shuo understood the principle behind the move in an instant. With the Sheep Talisman's aid, he began imitating that frequency.

"Come!" He beckoned to Kasumi Miwa.

Smack!

At the critical instant before the wooden sword struck him, Shiyue Shuo swiftly drew his sword and knocked it aside. Though the impact still sent him staggering back several steps, Kasumi Miwa's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Luck?" Mai narrowed her eyes from outside the field and raised her hand, firing two blank rounds.

Bang! Bang!

"Ow!"

Shiyue Shuo had just been about to deactivate the Sheep Talisman and see whether he could perform it with only his own strength. But the instant he withdrew its effect, his reaction speed was nowhere near fast enough to keep up with the bullets. Both rounds struck his shoulders squarely, making him bare his teeth in pain.

"No, my actual body is just too weak." Shiyue Shuo rubbed his aching shoulders, panting heavily.

He realized something: New Shadow Style's Simple Domain emphasized the perfect union of cursed energy and swordsmanship. Yet he possessed neither sword skills nor powerful cursed energy to support him. It seemed he simply could not perform this move with his own abilities.

"What if I try mobilizing the talismans themselves?"

Shiyue Shuo steadied himself again. This time, he did not activate the talismans. Instead, he focused all his attention on his nearly nonexistent core of cursed energy. At the very center of it was a wheel engraved with the Twelve Talismans. He slowly poured his weak cursed energy into it, and the moment it entered, the wheel began to turn.

"Mai-senpai, again!"

Bang! Bang! Mai fired again.

This time, Shiyue Shuo put down his wooden sword. An extremely faint layer of cursed-energy ripples formed across the surface of his body.

Bzzzt—

When the cursed-energy bullet came within half a meter of his body, space seemed to twist strangely. The flying bullet seemed to hit an invisible wall, its cursed energy instantly canceled out before it dropped limply to the ground.

The training ground fell into dead silence.

Noritoshi Kamo's gaze froze. Kasumi Miwa's mouth fell open, and her wooden sword nearly slipped from her hand.

This was not New Shadow Style's Simple Domain.

A normal Simple Domain used a technique to neutralize attacks, but what Shiyue Shuo had just used was more like cancellation, not neutralization. It did not resemble Simple Domain at all. It was more like Satoru Gojo's Limitless. Though his low cursed energy meant this cancellation could probably only block one or two attacks, it was still a qualitative leap.

"This isn't New Shadow Style." Noritoshi Kamo stepped forward, his expression complicated. "Shiyue, what did you just do?"

"I... I don't know either." Shiyue Shuo scratched his head as he spoke. He had no idea what had happened. He only knew that after his cursed energy was released through the wheel, it slowly spread out from his body and gathered around him.

"Though it only lasted an instant, an ability that can block sure-hit effects is enough to save your life at a critical moment."

After several consecutive days of training, Shiyue Shuo finally mastered a Simple Domain that belonged to him alone. He now lay sprawled on the ground, watching the crimson clouds at the horizon gradually fade.

"It's finally over. Now I can go get a good night's sleep."

Just then, Noritoshi Kamo's phone began vibrating urgently. He answered it, and his expression gradually shifted from calm to exceptionally grave. A faint but deep killing intent even surfaced in his eyes.

"We've just received an emergency order." Kamo put away his phone and looked at Shiyue Shuo sprawled on the ground, as well as the others standing nearby. "Something happened at Tokyo School. They're requesting Kyoto School's support with the investigation."

"When do we leave?" Kasumi Miwa asked.

"Now!"

Add Bookmark

Return to Contents

Report Chapter Error

Share with Friends: