"Ah~ Looks like you're reaching your limit. But fighting you feels so damn good! Hahahahaha!"
Mahito's taunts rang in my ears. Even with unlimited cursed energy, I had burned through too much in too little time. My body was overloaded, my head felt heavy and foggy, and my vision was gradually blurring. I really was on my last legs.
Everyone's smiles suddenly came back to me, flashing before my eyes frame by frame, like a slideshow-or my life flashing before me.
I couldn't fall here. The story had only just begun.
Mahito suddenly sensed an explosive surge of cursed power inside the girl before him. It was so dense that the cursed spirit wondered whether she was a humanoid cursed spirit herself.
Every exposed wound on the girl's body healed in an instant. Her eyes were tightly shut, cursed energy and curses enveloped her body, and her feet lifted off the ground. She floated in midair, her disheveled hair spreading and drifting around her.
"[Netherworld Crossing Guide]"
I opened my eyes. My pupils were now so pale they were almost transparent.
Mahito immediately realized he couldn't let the person before him use Cursed Speech. He hurriedly used Idle Transfiguration to extend his arm, turning its tip into a spike that shot toward me.
"[Split]"
An invisible law instantly seized him, and he could only watch as his outstretched arm split into pieces.
On the outside, I acted calm and inscrutable, as though nothing was wrong. In reality, I wasn't doing much better.
[Aaaaaah, Xiao Ba, blood's coming up my throat!!!]
[Aaaaaah, Edano, just hold on a little longer! [Window] has already detected a special grade cursed spirit! Reinforcements will be there soon!!!]
[I can't! My mouth is full of blood! It'll spill out the moment I speak, and then Mahito will see right through me! I'll be done for!]
[Then... sweetheart, why don't you swallow it?]
[...Oh.]
With a gulp, I swallowed it, my face expressionless.
By then, Mahito had recovered too. He sensed a trace of panic in my emotions-I wasn't nearly as unshakable as I appeared. After a moment's surprise, he burst out laughing again.
"Hahahahaha! Interesting! This is so interesting!" Mahito leaped up, transformed both hands into hammers, and slammed them into the ground. Using the impact to propel himself toward me, he drove a fist into my abdomen. His palm instantly turned into a spike and pierced my body.
I crashed hard to the ground.
I hadn't expected him to charge at me like that. By the time I reacted, it was too late. My poor abdomen had been impaled yet again.
"[Idle Transfiguration]"
Ha. This again?
"[Explode, You!]"
I coughed and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, brought up by the backlash. Mahito was far stronger than a special grade cursed spirit with the power of one Sukuna's Finger. I couldn't even imagine how powerful Satoru Gojo must have been.
Wait, Mahito was still alive? Was there no justice in this world?!!!
"Taketori!"
Hearing dependable Nanami's voice, I glanced at the badly wounded Mahito, who had reshaped his body into a caterpillar and was wriggling away at speed. I slipped one hand into my pocket, gripped Sukuna's Finger, and weakly closed my eyes.
I saved Nagi Yoshino, didn't I...?
What I didn't know was that reinforcements did arrive after I lost consciousness, but their cursed techniques had no effect on Mahito. In the end, Jogo rescued him. Amid the chaos, a cursed spirit Jogo had brought killed Nagi Yoshino, while Junpei Yoshino was knocked unconscious. The reinforcements all sustained injuries of varying severity as well.
One day later...
Jujutsu High, infirmary
"Why are you unconscious every time I see you? This time, you've even gone and left yourself half-dead..."
Looking at the girl who had invited her out just a few days earlier, only to end up lying in bed completely unaware of the world around her, Shoko Ieiri slumped helplessly in her chair and tilted her head back to stare at the white ceiling.
The door creaked open.
Satoru Gojo walked in and stood beside the bed, silently looking at the pale girl. "...How is she?"
"What do you think? Her injuries were too severe, she burned through too much cursed energy, and her body was overloaded. Then the backlash from her Cursed Speech knocked her unconscious."
Shoko Ieiri answered irritably, moved away from the bed, and sat down in the corner, lighting a cigarette.
"But I found traces of Reverse Cursed Technique inside her. Mastering it was part of what kept her alive."
"..."
After finishing her cigarette, Shoko Ieiri flicked off the ash and stood up. "You stay with her. I've still got a report to write." She pushed open the door and left the infirmary.
"According to Itadori, Taketori went back because she'd left behind the souvenir she'd bought for you." Kento Nanami's words kept echoing in Satoru Gojo's mind.
Satoru Gojo pulled down his blindfold and leaned against the wall as though all his strength had drained away, covering his face with one hand.
"...What am I supposed to do with you, Edano? Come on, wake up," Satoru Gojo murmured.
He couldn't explain what he was feeling. All he knew was that it hurt in a strange way.
Meanwhile, in the system space
Xiao Ba, the little glutinous rice dumpling, and I stared at each other.
"...Didn't I pass out? Why am I here? And is it nighttime?"
"Because I pulled your soul into the system space to recuperate. Your soul's strength isn't remotely on par with your body's. Leaving it inside your body wouldn't let it recover properly."
"...Oh. So what happened outside? And when I was fighting Mahito, I suddenly felt a surge of power inside me. What was that about?"
"I don't know what happened after you passed out, either, Edano. The system only has permission to scan the outside world when its host's soul is inside their body..."
Xiao Ba gloomily conjured a twig and drew circles on the ground. "And now my system space has gone completely dark, too..."
The twig in Xiao Ba's hand suddenly gave me an idea. "So, can you conjure anything you want in your system space?"
"Yep. But I'm a newly created system, so I don't have any data stored. If I can't imagine what something looks like, I can't manifest it." The tiny eyes on the glutinous rice dumpling turned into T^T.
"Hehehe, leave that to me!"
I closed my eyes and recalled all the different interior designs I'd seen online in my previous life.
When I opened my eyes again, it was still "night" in the system space, but the lights and assorted modern furniture made it feel wonderfully cozy.
"Wow, is this what the world you lived in before looked like, Edano? It's so pretty!" Like a curious child, Xiao Ba went around touching everything.
I bounced onto the soft couch. "Yep! What do you think? Looks pretty good, right?"
Xiao Ba copied me and bounced onto the couch too. "It's so comfy! My system space is all filled up now!"
"Ah~ This feels amazing!" ×2
Sinking into the beanbag couch, Xiao Ba and I sighed in unison.
"...Oh, right. You still haven't told me why that power suddenly surged up inside me."
"Ah, let me check... Found it! Edano, take a look at your cursed technique panel!"
[Netherworld Crossing Guide: Activating this technique puts you into "word spirit state." While active, the power of Cursed Speech increases greatly, your pupils turn an almost transparent white, and you become immune to pain. Depending on the number and intensity of uses, damage will be applied and aftereffects will occur when the state ends. Passive effect: Your body contains a powerful curse. Those who meet your eyes may become enthralled, making Cursed Speech twice as effective with half the effort. Powerful stimuli may cause you to lose control of the cursed power leaking from your eyes, indiscriminately enthralling those around you (ineffective on Grade 1 Sorcerers and above).]
"Ha! My cursed technique awakened. So nearly dying really does make you stronger! I was starting to think you'd tricked me!"
"...Your mastery of Reverse Cursed Technique has increased too. It's at 45% now, and it can run on its own."
"Yay! Xiao Ba, I wuv you!"
"Hmph!" The tiny, booger-sized glutinous rice dumpling turned away and sulked.
I had no choice but to coax Xiao Ba out of it. What else could I do? I'd caused the sulking, so I had to fix it.
Before you continue