The Opposite Self

Whoosh!

At the voice that suddenly sounded beside his ear, Mo Bai did not hesitate. He wrapped his fist in Cursed Energy and swung it hard behind him.

Bang!

From the impact against his fist, he knew his opponent had blocked the punch with an arm. Mo Bai quickly leaped backward.

“Follow the Divine Dogs out!”

Bang!

"Guh!"

Mo Bai had barely shouted the warning to the students behind him when an attack struck his waist, sending him flying sideways into a nearby wall.

"You've still got time to worry about other people in a fight? Haven't you grown at all in this world?"

The flippant female voice rang out again. Only then did Mo Bai get a clear look at her.

The resemblance was striking.

Apart from her long hair, features softer than his, and white clothes that were the exact opposite of his black outfit,

she looked just like another Mo Bai.

"So what's this supposed to be? Two different personalities fighting? And here I thought I was mentally sound."

The Divine Dogs are still with those students. I can't recall them. That leaves me two Shikigami short...

Mo Bai spoke as though he could not care less, but inwardly he was calculating every bit of fighting strength he had available.

"Well, the first part's close enough. Novels and anime these days do love a classic black-versus-white showdown. But you've got the second part wrong."

The feminine-looking “Mo Bai” pointed at her head as she finished speaking.

“You used to be perfectly normal. But after you took on Cursed Energy and had those heart-to-hearts with Lynae and Rover, things changed. They got to you.”

As she spoke, “Mo Bai” extended a hand. Cursed Energy surged over it.

Seeing that, Mo Bai was now certain all the Cursed Energy he had lost earlier had flowed into her.

It was even possible that the half of his Cursed Energy he had lost had condensed directly into the person before him.

But what had happened in between? Why had she appeared only inside this Sonoro?

Was this Sonoro itself the cause?

"Looks like you catch on quickly. Then again, if you were a little dumber, I might be a little smarter than I am now."

“Mo Bai” spoke, raising her hands slightly before lowering them. The maze inside the classroom vanished.

"Hee hee hee!"

"Early to bed, early to rise... keeps you... healthy!"

"I failed... my finals!"

In its place, the space became a broad arena resembling a colosseum, packed with Cursed Spirits.

Mo Bai noticed, however, that she did not attack immediately.

By now, Mo Bai could work it out without her explaining.

She had been born from the nature of this Sonoro combined with his Cursed Energy.

Cursed Energy made Mo Bai's emotions fluctuate more sharply than other people's and left him more prone to negative thoughts.

The Sonoro called the Dark Side of the Academy had absorbed every one of those thoughts.

Then, when Mo Bai entered this space, it mimicked the fluctuations of his energy and formed the woman before him.

In short, she was Mo Hei, Mo Bai's complete opposite.

Whoosh...

Did the Divine Dogs get those students out?

Whoosh!

Mo Bai had just sensed that the students from earlier were safe when Mo Hei flashed in front of him like lightning.

She's fast!

This time, Mo Bai was the one on the defensive.

And now he realized she had been holding back in her earlier attacks.

Both her speed and her strength.

Boom!

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Eat! Eat! Eat!"

Mo Bai was punched by Mo Hei into the crowd of Cursed Spirits.

"You know, there's so much negative emotion in this space that all I have to do is let a little Cursed Energy leak out, and I get a whole swarm of Cursed Spirits to use."

Mo Hei lifted her chin proudly as she spoke.

She looked like a child showing off a toy to an adult.

"Great Serpent!"

Boom!

Mo Bai summoned Great Serpent's tail and wiped out the Cursed Spirits around him, then looked toward Mo Hei nearby.

Something was very wrong.

With the Cursed Energy split evenly between them, the gap in their strength should not have been this huge.

He could create Cursed Spirits too. The real problem was physical strength.

When she fought seriously, he could not match her in hand-to-hand combat...

What about her technique?

If she was his opposite, did she have the Ten Shadows Technique engraved in her as well?

Rumble!

Mo Bai tested her by ordering the massive snake tail to strike.

"Heh. Planning to win by hitting harder?"

Mo Hei shifted aside and easily avoided the attack.

"Hm?"

But then she suddenly sensed that Mo Bai's Cursed Energy had vanished from this space.

"Not good!"

"Nue!"

Hiss!

Wreathed in violet lightning, Nue emerged alongside Mo Bai from the shadow cast by Great Serpent's tail. They attacked Mo Hei together.

"Not a chance!"

Whoosh!

At Mo Hei's furious shout, both Mo Bai's and Nue's attacks missed.

Just as I thought...

Mo Bai studied the spot where she had stood, rubbing his chin.

Mo Hei's physical strength was frightening, but a blinding light had flashed when she moved.

Because this space was so dim, the light she gave off when she moved was especially noticeable.

Without a doubt, it came from her.

Had she gained a new technique?

Mo Bai shrank Nue to the size of an ordinary owl and perched it on his shoulder, then watched Mo Hei warily.

"Tch!"

Realizing Mo Bai had noticed something, Mo Hei charged at him, visibly frustrated.

"Nue."

"Get lost!"

Mo Hei knocked the lightning-wreathed Nue away with an elbow. In the next instant, she was in front of Mo Bai.

So it really is her technique that makes her so fast.

Clap!

After watching Mo Hei's attack, Mo Bai calmly formed a hand sign.

"Piercing Ox."

"Moo!"

A huge black ox emerged from the shadow beneath Mo Bai's feet and charged at Mo Hei.

Piercing Ox had not been tamed, so its charge was far more powerful than Nue's, whose Cursed Energy Mo Bai had deliberately reduced.

"Tch!"

Screech!

It drove Mo Hei back a considerable distance. She was about to use her technique to break away when she caught Mo Bai watching closely from nearby.

Damn it. He's standing there watching just to learn how my technique works.

But...

Screech!

While Mo Hei struggled against Piercing Ox, Nue swooped at her again from behind.

"Radiant Light!"

Hummm!

Mo Hei shouted, and a burst of blinding light exploded outward from her, filling the dark space.

Mo Bai, who had kept his eyes on the fight, immediately called off his attack and recalled Nue.

As for Piercing Ox...

"Moo!"

The untamed Shikigami, beyond Mo Bai's control, vanished into the light.

By now, Mo Bai had a fairly good grasp of her technique.

There was the glow that appeared around her when she moved, and the burst of light just now.

It was most likely a technique that enhanced her physical abilities and Cursed Energy output.

"My technique is the Ten Shadows Technique. It lets me fight using a fixed set of ten Shikigami. I can also enter shadows and store things inside them."

Having drawn out her technique, Mo Bai told her what his own could do.

Mo Hei bared her teeth.

"Hah."

A moment later, she steadied herself and let out a quiet breath. Drawing back all the Cursed Energy she had poured into the surrounding Cursed Spirits, she said:

"Same here."

Fwoosh!

Once they had both spoken, the Cursed Energy around them surged at the same time.