The tables turned

The icy axe blade swept upward with lethal force, tracing a vicious half-moon arc.

Just as the blow that could shatter his jaw was about to touch his skin, the smoothly flowing film of Domain Amplification around Feng abruptly changed its nature.

In an instant, the invisible cursed energy crossed the boundary between forms and condensed into tangible heavy water.

Squelch!

The heavy axe cleaved into the suddenly surging water, producing a dull hydraulic sound that set teeth on edge.

The savage momentum, enough to split rock, was forcibly checked and deflected by the dense layer of solid water. Spray burst outward like exploding crystals, stopping the killing blow dead in midair.

Under cover of the bursting water, a fist wreathed in cold mist shot out from a blind spot in her defenses, driving straight toward Mei Mei's face with decisive force.

A flicker of surprise crossed Mei Mei's pale blue eyes, but she did not pull her axe back to block.

Just before the rush of air from his fist reached her nose, she bent her slender neck backward with extraordinary suppleness. Her ankle pivoted slightly, and she slipped half a step sideways like a willow branch swaying in the wind.

His fist brushed past her white hair and struck empty air.

Having missed, the black-clad figure showed no impatient urge to press his attack.

Using the forward momentum of his punch, Feng pushed sharply off the ground with his toes and shot backward like an arrow loosed from a bow, decisively opening the distance between them.

As he retreated, the Water Armor protecting his body abruptly peeled away.

The viscous mass of water burst apart in midair, shaped by cursed energy into countless hair-thin needles gleaming with deadly cold light.

With a shrill whistle, the dense shower of water needles defied gravity and shot furiously into the sky overhead.

"Caw!"

Agonized cries echoed one after another above the woods. The black crows circling overhead, serving as Mei Mei's extra eyes, were pierced through by the water needles before they could react.

Clouds of blood mist mingled with black feathers burst in midair, then drifted down onto the grass.

Mei Mei twirled her axe one-handed, flicking the water left on its broad blade into the dirt.

She slowly straightened, her gaze sweeping over the mangled bird corpses before locking back onto the boy ten paces away, who had already regained his balance.

"You switched instantly from Domain Amplification to your innate cursed technique, using tangible water as a buffer. Not only did you dissipate the impact, you also used the moment you stripped away your defenses to eliminate the 'eyes' overhead."

Mei Mei reached up and gently brushed a bloodstained black feather off her shoulder. The smile at her lips gradually gave way to cold calculation.

"A very coolheaded tactical exchange. But cutting off my surveillance network is a very real financial loss.

"The sparring fee Jujutsu High paid in advance doesn't include compensation for those birds.

"I'll collect that debt-with interest-in my next offensive."

Beneath the trees, Megumi Fushiguro took a deep breath and pushed his brief astonishment back down.

His gaze darted between the puddle on the ground and the feathers drifting through the air, his mind racing.

He switched between Domain Amplification and his innate cursed technique under the pressure of actual combat without the slightest hesitation...

That level of fine control over cursed energy was practically an instinctive bodily response.

Megumi Fushiguro's brow furrowed. He was not only analyzing the fight, but also putting himself in Feng's place and considering how he would respond.

And Feng didn't let that brief exchange go to his head.

Against a physical combat expert of Mei Mei's caliber, he gave up on fighting at close range without a weapon and prioritized removing her visual advantage to establish a safe distance.

That was the optimal solution, but Mei Mei was going to change her approach, too.

As though confirming Megumi Fushiguro's prediction, Mei Mei no longer relied on footwork and explosive power to launch unpredictable rushes.

She gripped the heavy axe's long haft with both hands, spreading her legs slightly and planting herself firmly on the earth.

The cursed energy that had flowed lightly around her now grew as heavy as stone.

"Since you've forcibly shut down my aerial surveillance, blindly chasing you would only lead me into the traps laid by that water. In that case..."

Mei Mei's gaze turned utterly dark. The muscles in her hands abruptly tightened, and the ground beneath her feet cracked under the immense pressure.

"Your next lesson will be pure, head-on destruction. Ready for the hammer to fall, my dear employer?"

"Next? That won't be necessary..." Feng chuckled.

The air over the training ground seemed to freeze solid at that instant.

Mei Mei, who had been about to unleash a powerful frontal assault, abruptly went rigid.

She still held the heavy axe firmly, and the cracks beneath her feet continued spreading silently, but the instant his chuckle faded, her breathing became exceedingly shallow and slow.

"My cursed technique lets me control liquids infused with my cursed energy. The mist from my Domain Amplification during that fight, the spray from my Water Armor... and the cursed residue left in the blood of the crows I hit.

"Quite a bit of it splashed onto you, too, didn't it?"

Against the side of Mei Mei's pale, slender neck, a thin, short blade formed from dark red bloodstains and crystalline water had settled against her flesh without warning.

Its sharp tip had already pierced the surface of her skin. A tiny bead of blood slid along the cold, gleaming edge, spreading a dark stain at the edge of her purple high collar.

It was the culmination of every "opening" in their fight-the mist of Domain Amplification scattered by her axe, the shattered remnants of his Water Armor, and the cursed-energy-tainted blood splashed from the falling crows.

What had seemed like meaningless losses in battle now moved at the behest of a will, completing their ultimate transformation from "waste" to "weapon" within a space only a few meters across.

"Sure, I have a lot of cursed energy, and my output has only just caught up... but this little bit of moisture isn't enough to break through your defenses. What if I add the binding vow from revealing my cursed technique just now?

"So..."

Feng looked at Mei Mei.

Mei Mei lowered her pale blue eyes slightly, glancing at the little blood-and-water blade pressed against her throat.

After remaining frozen for a fraction of a second, the coldness on her face gradually dissolved into a complicated expression of admiration and self-mockery.

"The power boost from revealing your cursed technique... You actually used it for something like this.

"Using every drop of 'waste' produced in battle as a setup-this isn't ordinary sparring anymore. It's a hedging transaction calculated down to the bone."

Mei Mei slowly released the axe haft, letting the heavy weapon fall onto the grass with a dull thud.

She raised both hands in a symbolic gesture of surrender, her eyes shining with the fervor of a merchant who had discovered a top-tier stock before it went public.

"If this had been a fight to the death, that move would already have declared me 'bankrupt.'

"That precision in controlling cursed residue, combined with deliberately abandoning your defenses to gain the binding vow bonus from revealing your technique...

"Even a few milliliters of liquid now carried enough 'interest' to pierce a Grade 1 Sorcerer's reinforced body."

Mei Mei tilted her head slightly to avoid the stinging sensation, her tone taking on an unmistakable note of fascination.

"Where on earth did Gojo dig up a monster like you?

"Simply calling you a 'genius' doesn't begin to cover that kind of combat thinking.

"I think I'll need to ask him for double the fee for this sparring session-no, triple, as compensation for the risk."

Under the trees a short distance away, Megumi Fushiguro's hands trembled faintly at his sides.

His mind had not even escaped the overwhelming pressure Mei Mei had exerted moments earlier before the battle ended abruptly in a way he could never have predicted.

The binding vow from revealing his cursed technique... He counted on Mei Mei's perception of his 'weakness' creating a momentary psychological blind spot.

Megumi Fushiguro wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his dark green eyes filled with a complicated sense of shock.

He began reassessing his classmate, who stood in the center of the training ground looking somewhat drained.

Under that kind of intense physical pressure, he still had the attention to spare to mark every drop of splashed liquid?

That amount of calculation... It was like weaving a spiderweb to catch fish in the middle of a raging hurricane.

If it were me, I couldn't possibly maintain such precise traces of cursed energy in that situation.

Megumi Fushiguro let out a long breath. His tense shoulders slumped, but his gaze toward the center of the training ground became more solemn than ever.

"Hey, the match is already decided, so hurry up and release your cursed technique.

"Mei Mei may be easygoing-as long as she gets paid-but if that blade actually cuts her, Jujutsu High's accounts really will end up in the red."