Five-colored smoke erupted, blanketing the ground and obscuring the sunlight. Through the hazy veil, a shadow of something monumental loomed.
The soaring "Flying Dragon" looked like a mere dwarf in comparison. The shadow was as massive as a skyscraper, yet its form was humanoid—a supernatural existence that seemed to ignore the very limits of physical laws.
One might wonder how five human-sized Gakugangers could combine to reach such a scale, but the secret lay in the fact that the Gakugangers were ultimately shikigami. The fusion of shikigami can often trigger transformations that are entirely unbound by the original forms of the constituents.
"Hmm. Is it something akin to 'Totality,' as described in the Zen'in clan's records of the Ten Shadows Technique...?"
While Naobito Zen'in offered this calm analysis, the wind swept away the remaining smoke to reveal a hyper-muscular, giant version of Principal Gakuganji, looking like a cross between a Nio guardian statue and the God of Thunder.
Standing 50 meters tall, weighing 3,000 tons, and boasting an output of 15 million horsepower, the shikigami was announced by Azuki Sakata with a resounding shout: "Great Gakuganger of Herculean Union!"
It was the kind of simple naming one might expect for a toy aimed at four-year-olds, but as previously mentioned, its appearance wasn't exactly that of a "Sentai Robo."
First, floating behind it like a Buddhist halo was a ring of drums in the style of Raijin. In its powerful arms, it held a colossal Flying V guitar; for some reason, the neck had a keyboard built into it, and the headstock was bristling with six trumpets instead of tuning pegs, looking like a cluster of municipal PA speakers. While it felt like every element of the Gakugangers had been crammed into one body, the fact that the unit itself was just a massive, shredded Principal Gakuganji ruined the aesthetic entirely.
However, despite that, Satoru Gojo's exceptional eyesight picked up on a minor detail that absolutely didn't need to be noticed.
"Suguru! The bald head is made of glass, and all five of them are riding inside!"
"What!?"
"No, that information couldn't possibly matter less. Also, Gojo, how can you even see from this angle?"
Just as the Tokyo school's second-year trio was rowdily observing, the Gakugangers were indeed stationed inside the head of the Great Gakuganger.
But the reason Gojo was indulging in such silly escapism was because of the specs his Six Eyes were perceiving from the Great Gakuganger.
"No, for real, this is impressive. Turning the battle itself into something like a Sunday morning anime—treating it as a stylized 'ritual'—is honestly brilliant on the Kyoto school's part. It's like a formal dance or ritual sumo, and they've mixed in 'music' too. By incorporating Wu Xing theory, the complexity and effort of the ritual become quite substantial. A shikigami used to perform a ritual to summon the main shikigami... The Gakugangers themselves were a nested structure."
"You're giving them quite high praise, Satoru. Does that mean... you don't think they can win?"
"I feel bad for Haibara and the 'Flying Dragon,' but yeah. By now, 'anyone' can see it, right?"
Gojo pointed ahead. The Great Gakuganger of Herculean Union held its guitar high like Jimi Hendrix, and from its body erupted a torrent of cursed energy with incredible output.
No matter how you looked at it, its instantaneous output was equivalent to Special Grade. It was clearly a "one-shot super-firepower" prepared through immense time and effort, and it was not the kind of energy the "Flying Dragon" could handle with its built-in functions.
However.
"Even so, that's no reason to give up! 'Flying Dragon'! Detach and use 'THAT'!!!"
Responding to Yu Haibara's roar, the "Flying Dragon" flew gallantly toward the Great Gakuganger, which was shrouded in a storm-like vortex of cursed energy. With a thunderous blast of its boosters, it separated its lower half. The leg components, aligned and at full throttle, slammed into the Great Gakuganger's chest like a missile, engulfing its upper body in a spectacular explosion.
Truth be told, within the "Flying Dragon's" separable body, the "Light Pillar Technique extracted from a Semi-First Grade Cursed Spirit" was housed in the lower half.
The power of that desperate charge—using the lower half as a missile and incorporating a "Vow of Technique Abandonment"—was enough to instantly kill any average shikigami.
It possessed an overwhelming destructive force that would have easily taken out the individual Gakugangers before they merged; the impact generated a massive mushroom cloud over Jujutsu High's Kyoto campus, sending birds from the surrounding forests fleeing in a panic.
But, the Gakugangers had already achieved their Herculean Union into the Great Gakuganger.
"Darn, what a shame! It only turned his beard and eyebrows into an afro... 'Flying Dragon,' maximum output on the 'Defensive Barrier'! At this rate, we just have to tank the Gakugangers' finishing move and survive!"
Haibara steeled himself, but the Great Gakuganger remained perfectly intact. Its massive frame didn't even flinch within the flames. It funneled the immense cursed energy it wore into the raised Flying V, preparing to strike a finishing blow against the "Flying Dragon," which was desperately fleeing through the air behind its barrier.
"I admire your spirit! But because of that, I won't hold back! Great Gakuganger! Herculean Descent! HEAVENLY METAL CALAMITY!"
Immediately after, the downward strike was unleashed. The resulting explosion of cursed energy obliterated the Flying Dragon without a trace and carved a deep, massive crater into the Kyoto school's practice field.
At the epicenter of the destruction, the Great Gakuganger stood tall with its chest out, its victory clear to all.
"---This shikigami showdown is hereby awarded to the Kyoto school. Yaga, I assume you have no objections?"
In response to Gakuganji's declaration, Masamichi Yaga, pinching the bridge of his nose while thinking of his student, gave a nod of acknowledgement. And so, the shikigami battle of the day concluded safely with the Kyoto school's victory.
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