The First Thing He Saw Was Erza Beating Up Gray

Jujutsu World

At XX Elementary School, in Grade X, Class X, a bright-eyed little boy with black hair and black eyes was fast asleep over his desk. The teacher at the podium grimaced in distaste as he looked at this student renowned as a "genius," but ultimately could only sigh helplessly-he wanted to intervene but could not, leaving him no choice but to let the boy be.

In his hazy sleep, the little boy seemed to hear something by his ear, the noise making him frown slightly. He paid it no mind, assuming some classmate was making a racket, and rolled over into another position before falling sound asleep again.

Blanc closed his eyes and carefully sorted through the information the system had just shoved into his head. At last, he understood where this news about traveling to another world had come from.

Simply put, the system had originally possessed the ability to travel to new worlds. But something had gone wrong during the first crossing, splitting both it and Blanc into multiple parts that each traveled to a different world.

It had lost its world-traveling function ever since, retaining only the ability to help its host randomly draw abilities.

When it came into contact with the Eclipse Gate's spacetime power, however, the system had picked up information about its other "selves" in other worlds through the chaotic spacetime currents inside the gate.

It had synchronized this world's skills with the other world while copying that world's skills over as well. After copying them, it had even thoughtfully adapted them to local conditions, making it possible to summon them using magic power.

Getting a skill for free wasn't bad.

Mahoraga, if I remember right, was a summoned Shikigami that attacked its summoner first. You had to defeat it before you could command it properly.

But wouldn't you have to be a top-tier Jujutsu Sorcerer to beat Mahoraga? Pretty funny-you had to be a cheat yourself before you could use this cheat. I wonder if my Jujutsu World self has any way to tame it.

Its absurd mechanics, however, made up for those strict conditions.

As long as it was not killed in a single blow, it would immediately recover and begin adapting to the attack. After four adaptations, the attack would become ineffective, and even then, it would not stop adapting-it would continue optimizing.

There was a limit to how many abilities it could adapt to simultaneously, though. Once it adapted to too many, it would delete its older adaptations. Overall, it was something like an incomplete version of the Black Dragon, an utterly broken Shikigami.

How to use this new skill was a problem, though. An untamed Mahoraga could not be controlled and would attack friend and foe alike once summoned. Bringing out an overbearing monster to boss him around would be no fun, but he could summon it endlessly, and it did not matter if it died.

A tamed Mahoraga, on the other hand, could be controlled, but would disappear forever if it was killed even once. That seemed a bit wasteful.

A freshly summoned Mahoraga with no adaptations was one of the strongest beings in the jujutsu world, with few people capable of killing it in one hit. Here in Fairy Tail, however, far too many people could do that.

Suddenly, inspiration struck Blanc, and the image of Mirajane and her two younger siblings surfaced in his mind.

More precisely, it was the "Take Over Magic" they specialized in!

If I could learn Take Over Magic and take Mahoraga into my own body, giving myself its absurd mechanics, wouldn't that be the perfect way to use it?

The thought filled Blanc with anticipation. He decided to start learning Take Over Magic once he returned to the guild and attempt to take over Mahoraga.

If this idea worked, the weakness in close combat that had plagued him all this time would be solved.

Nature Magic already gave Blanc tremendous vitality. Combined with Mahoraga's rapid recovery and absurd adaptability, he would suddenly be able to dish out punishment and take it just as well.

"I'm back!" Blanc pushed open the guild's doors. Yet the moment he stepped inside, he was greeted by a scene that could not have been more typical of the guild.

The first thing he saw was Erza beating up Gray.

A middle-aged man carrying a briefcase stood alone nearby.

The man's face was deathly pale as he stood frozen in place, staring in terror at the "crime scene" before him. A closer look revealed that his body was trembling slightly.

"Put your clothes on! What if the client sees you and thinks we're a guild full of perverts?"

Blanc watched, his eye twitching. Whether they would be taken for a guild of perverts was anyone's guess, but their reputation as a guild of violent maniacs had probably already been cemented.

He glanced sympathetically at the middle-aged man, who looked as though he was questioning his entire life. Pure fear shone in the man's eyes. He wanted to turn and flee, but Erza's terrifying aura kept him from moving a single step.

"Well, well! Blanc! You finally decided to come back!"

The first to notice him was Wakaba, who was sitting nearby puffing away on his pipe. His usual companion, Macao, was absent today, though. He had apparently gone out on a job.

"...Who's that?" Blanc set the luggage on his back down beside a table and pointed at the middle-aged man near Erza as he asked Wakaba.

"Oh, him? He's a client who came in to post a job today." Wakaba blew a smoke ring, a hint of amusement at the man's misfortune in his voice.

"Erza happened to run into him at the entrance, so she brought him inside. But the moment they stepped through the door, Gray went running around naked right in front of her. So Erza decided the guild's reputation had suffered a devastating blow."

"And she blew up on the spot." Cana walked over and picked up where he left off, imitating Erza's tone with a deeply pained expression.

"'The guild's reputation must never be ruined by some naked exhibitionist pervert!' That's what she shouted."

Blanc glanced at the client, who had already begun questioning his entire life, and felt that their reputation had now been ruined even more thoroughly.

Thud!

With one final dull impact, Erza finally let go.

Gray lay plastered to the floor like a dead fish slapped onto a beach, his face bruised and swollen, not a shred of dignity left. Something white was even spilling from his mouth.

Erza steadied her breathing and tossed her scarlet ponytail. Turning around, she transformed from a fiend into a proper knight within a single second, then solemnly bowed ninety degrees to the client.

"I sincerely apologize for that disgraceful display. Please rest assured that we will carry out your request perfectly."

Terrified, the client hurriedly returned her bow over and over.

"Whatever you like is fine!" With that, the man ran outside so fast he nearly sent his briefcase flying.

Erza looked at the now-empty entrance and sighed in frustration.

Then her keen gaze caught Blanc, who had just entered. Her eyes brightened slightly, and she walked straight toward him.

Feeling the pressure bearing down on him, Blanc instinctively straightened.

Erza stopped in front of him, her expression stern and unsmiling, as though she were about to announce something important.

"Blanc, welcome back."

"Ah...yeah, I'm back, Erza."

Erza nodded with the utmost seriousness. Then, without disrupting that solemn atmosphere in the slightest, she asked an entirely natural question.

"So, where are the souvenirs?"

Blanc fell silent for a moment. Although he did often bring souvenirs back from his trips, he had a feeling Erza had come to regard it as some kind of established tradition.

She certainly looked as though she had been waiting for him to bring some back. Wouldn't it be awkward if he forgot one day? It seemed he had created a little extra trouble for himself.

He grumbled silently to himself, then bent down in resignation and opened the travel bag at his feet. From inside, he pulled out an elegant square box securely wrapped in a fine ribbon and handed it over.

"Here. This is for you."

Erza accepted it with both hands, treating it with the utmost solemnity, anticipation written across her face.

"...What is it?"

"A cake from a famous dessert shop in the town where I was training. The gift box has temporary preservation magic on it. Once you open it, you have to finish it that day, but it'll keep for a week if you leave it sealed."

Erza's eyes instantly lit up. She hugged the cake tightly to her chest, nodding like a chicken pecking at grain. "Thank you. I like this souvenir very much."

With that, she hugged the box and eagerly turned toward a clean, empty table nearby, where she sat down.

Her posture was as dignified as if she were attending some ceremony, but from the look of things, she could not wait to start eating.

Blanc then began handing out souvenirs: Tarot Cards for Cana, "high-tech underwear that prevented accidental exposure and wouldn't come off easily" for Gray, and so on.

Finally, Blanc headed toward the counter with the fine liquor he had brought from the Royal Capital.