A Thoroughly Exhilarating Tiger Funeral Subjugation

Just like playing Pokémon, Naomitsu successfully subdued Piercing Ox once again and stored him in his shadow space.

"I'm still in great shape! Should I try subduing Tiger Funeral too?"

After a moment's thought, Naomitsu decided to subdue Tiger Funeral as well. After all, he still had over two million units of cursed energy in his body. Even without the binding vow, he had over a million.

The subjugation ritual continued, this time for the ninth shikigami, Tiger Funeral.

"Roar!!!"

Tiger Funeral was a huge tiger with reddish-yellow fur. Strangely, though, he stood upright like a human.

He also held a large cleaver in his hand. He looked nothing like a wild beast, but rather a tiger dressed as a warrior.

"Sure enough, the higher up you go, the stronger they get. The ninth shikigami is already starting to resemble Mahoraga in form."

But a shikigami was still a shikigami. They had no reason, only an endless desire to attack before they were subdued.

Tiger Funeral charged, swinging his cleaver.

If Round Deer and Piercing Ox represented the ultimate in recovery and offense, then Tiger Funeral represented the ultimate in combat technique.

His blade moved fast, delivering eighteen slashes every second. He could also dodge Naomitsu's counterattacks with ease.

If this guy knew Projection Sorcery, even Satoru Gojo would be out of luck.

The battle continued, with Tiger Funeral relentlessly pressing the attack. Naomitsu kicked him dozens of meters away, but he charged right back the next second, swinging his blade again.

Throughout the fight, Naomitsu kept his body wrapped in cursed energy. Otherwise, that ferocious assault would have cut him into countless pieces long ago.

"If that's all you've got, we can end this now."

Naomitsu raised his hand and aimed a Cursed Energy Cannon at Tiger Funeral. His highly concentrated cursed energy still required charging, making a hit almost impossible, so he could only use a medium-powered Cursed Energy Cannon.

This sort of Cursed Energy Cannon fired instantly, much like Ryu Ishigori's attacks. A blast using five hundred thousand units of cursed energy matched Blue in power, but Naomitsu needed two to three seconds to charge it.

Beyond that was releasing a million units of cursed energy to produce Purple. Satoru Gojo could unleash that level of cursed energy instantly, though he still needed to chant if he wanted to increase its power.

For Naomitsu, preparing a million-unit burst of cursed energy took at least ten seconds.

The only shortcut to releasing cursed energy faster was constant practice, improving his body's adaptation to cursed energy and his control over it.

At least for now, Naomitsu was nowhere near capable of that. Perhaps this was the path dependence of a summoner: he was too accustomed to summoning shikigami to fight his enemies.

"Then I'll use you for practice, Tiger Funeral!"

A blast from Naomitsu sent Tiger Funeral flying, tumbling among the rocks in the gorge. But moments later, he charged back in.

Naomitsu grinned and fired instant blasts from his hand in rapid succession. The power of those instant blasts kept increasing.

Starting at ten thousand units per Cursed Energy Cannon, he steadily raised the output in increments of a thousand. Only actual combat like this offered the fastest improvement.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shattered rocks flew and trees snapped. Like an agile cat, Tiger Funeral darted between the trees, dodging the instant Cursed Energy Cannons.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The distance steadily closed until Tiger Funeral stood before him, blade in hand. Taking a point-blank cursed energy blast head-on, he swung his cleaver straight at Naomitsu's neck.

"You thought I was just a summoner? Fooled you! I'm a mage and a warrior too!"

Naomitsu clenched his fist and punched, wrapping it in cursed energy. A thunderous crash rang out, and the shock wave swept loose stones and broken timber off the ground.

Tiger Funeral's swings accelerated to twenty slashes per second. Meanwhile, amid his relentless punches, Naomitsu finally landed a Black Flash.

The game had officially begun!

Black fists struck amid the crossing flashes of steel. The sound of blows landing on flesh and the sensation of each solid hit made Naomitsu's muscles hum.

"That feels amazing!"

Bodhi had no tree, nor did the clear mirror have a stand. After landing a Black Flash, that was the state Naomitsu entered.

A second, then a third-he landed four consecutive Black Flashes, driving Tiger Funeral backward like a ball beneath his relentless blows.

"Number five!"

This punch drove straight down from above. One blow slammed Tiger Funeral deep into the ground.

Crack... crack... crack...

A hand clawed its way out of the ground amid the constant sound of shattering bones. Naomitsu slowly descended and planted a foot on Tiger Funeral's head.

"Domain Expansion! Three Births, All Things!"

Stretching his muscles and joints, Naomitsu chose to finish the final stage of Tiger Funeral's subjugation ritual with his domain, making sure not to waste the cursed energy statue in the process.

The ninth shikigami, Tiger Funeral! Subjugation ritual complete!

"I think I got a little too carried away!" Looking at the devastation around him, Naomitsu scratched his head awkwardly.

Fortunately, he was out in the wilderness, and the area would recover naturally in time. Had this happened in a city, plenty more people would probably have died.

Compared with jujutsu sorcerers, humans were far too fragile.

Shaking his head, Naomitsu headed back to the Zenin Clan. He had been out for a while and needed to rest before checking those seven youngsters' training results tomorrow.

The next day, Naomitsu did not get up until ten in the morning. Only after his mother reminded him did he remember that today was the new students' assessment day.

"Nao-chan, these are the boxed lunches Maki and Mai made for you. Oh, right, Zhenwei made one for you too."

After helping Naomitsu change his shoes in the entryway, his mother brought three lunch boxes out of the kitchen. They were packed full, with obviously generous portions.

"Got it. You don't need to make dinner for me tonight."

With this much food, he would not be hungry that evening after eating it all for lunch.

At the Playground, Okkotsu and the other five stood like puppets. After three or four hours under the sun, Maki's fists were already clenching.

"Where's the teacher?"

Arriving last, Yunmeng looked at the six of them in confusion. He thought he was already rather late, yet the teacher still had not arrived.

"Maki, Mai, weren't you with the teacher?" Mechamaru looked at the three Zenin sisters.

"Nao... the teacher was sleeping, so we didn't disturb him. He should be... probably awake by now?"

Mai had been about to call him Nao-chan, but she remembered Naomitsu telling her to address him by his title at school and corrected herself.

"He should be here soon!" Maki's patience was nearly exhausted too.

A few minutes later, Naomitsu arrived with a yawn. Naturally, he had not taken a car; he had ridden Nue straight to Kyoto Jujutsu High.

"All right, let's begin the assessment."

Knowing he was late, Naomitsu avoided his two older sisters' murderous gazes and clapped his hands at the seven students, announcing the start of the new student assessment.

Seven students, seven separate sparring assessments.

Apart from the somewhat peculiar Yunmeng, Naomitsu handed all six of the others over to the second- and third-years, including Fujiwara and Naoya Zenin.

Zhenwei Zenin vs. Aoi Todo

Nobara Kugisaki vs. Maki Zenin

Mai Zenin vs. Noritoshi Kamo

Inumaki Yaki vs. Kasumi Miwa

Mechamaru vs. Naoya Zenin

Yuta Okkotsu vs. Fujiwara Sora

Once the roster was confirmed, the second- and third-years took their six assigned students away. Only Yunmeng remained, standing before Naomitsu.