It was the peak of summer, a season when the Jujutsu High sorcerers were constantly on the move, busily attending to their duties.
A year had passed since the failure of the Star Plasma Vessel assassination plot. However, having unexpectedly achieved a desirable stage of evolution for Lord Tengen regardless of that failure, Wessen—the leader of "Q"—had completely lost interest in the Vessel. Currently, he was spending his days enjoying research and underground maneuvering within his subterranean hideout.
"So the attempt to assassinate Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara fell through, huh? It would have been a nice bonus if I could have placed some mental strain on Naoya Zen'in or Suguru Geto, but oh well. Last year's plan to destroy the Kyoto school was a bust too. I suppose luck is starting to swing their way. Still, it's entertaining in its own right to see what kind of potential modern sorcerers can show with cursed energy!"
Wessen muttered these things to himself—a habit typical of those who have lived alone for a long time. He was currently working on a project separate from Bitz: the creation of "homunculi."
His grand plan and ultimate ritual, the Culling Game, had been in development for many years. Ideally, the procedure involved "evolving Tengen and merging them with the land of Japan," "obtaining Cursed Spirit Manipulation somehow," "acquiring carefully selected cursed spirits capable of interfering with the soul," "using Cursed Spirit Manipulation to control those spirits to simultaneously perform the incarnation of cursed objects and the awakening of sorcerers," and finally "initiating the Culling Game." However, this route was discarded because the modern user of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Suguru Geto, had grown stronger than anticipated—not to mention the fact that he was best friends with this era's Six Eyes user.
As an alternative, he was now developing the homunculi.
"I only caught a glimpse of it during the shikigami duel, but that 'Panda' Masamichi Yaga created recently... that's a brilliant concept. I have to admire his skill in creating a fully independent cursed corpse by loading it with information from multiple compatible souls. If we just do that with humans, we won't have to go around hunting for 'vessels' every time. We duplicate soul information extracted from cursed objects, find stable combinations, and pour them into fetuses. Then we implant a cursed object and set it to incarnate on a timer. I've already implanted some, and retrieving them would be a hassle, so I'll leave those be... Though, having 'Angel' recovered by Jujutsu High might be a bit of a nuisance. Well, we were going to be enemies anyway, so it's probably too late to worry about that. More importantly, I need to prepare a new vessel for Sukuna. Yuji is far too strong as a 'cage,' so he's not very practical for a new plan centered on releasing all the incarnations at once. Besides, he's already out there eating strange things."
As he spoke, Wessen performed various rituals in front of a vast array of fetuses floating in culture medium. On his stitched forehead, a refreshing sweat of labor trickled down—the kind unique to those striving positively toward their goals.
---
Meanwhile, at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Toji Fushiguro, who had somehow ended up looking after his students for over a year, found himself with free time while they were out. He and the children he had effectively ended up babysitting were taking advantage of the empty grounds to practice jujutsu.
"Dad, isn't this a bit much running...?"
"Stop whining, Megumi. At the end of the day, horsepower and stamina are what matter most. Especially for you, a shikigami user. Any idiot knows the basic rule that if you target the summoner, you win in one hit. There's no harm in training."
"Then why do I have to keep this ring out the whole time...?"
"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga can adapt to all phenomena, right? According to the 'instruction manual' Naoya dragged out of the Zen'in storehouse, the sorcerer themselves can accumulate the experience needed for adaptation instead. In that case, there's no better option than to keep adapting constantly. In fact, that thing's been clicking away while you've been running, hasn't it?"
"Then why did I have to summon Divine Dog too!"
"Parallel control is a basic skill for shikigami users. Now shut up and run—Maki's about to lap you!"
"There's no way I can beat Maki!"
"Don't give up. You actually have cursed energy, don't you? Put some spirit into your gut!"
"Ngggh...!"
Interspersing their conversation with this heartwarming (?) father-son banter, the group finished their basic running drills until everyone was exhausted. In their worn-out state, they proceeded to a rotating sparring circle under Toji's supervision.
The first to stand in the center was the representative for non-sorcerers, Tsumiki Fushiguro. It might seem surprising that she was participating, given her future goal of becoming an assistant director, but since there was a rule that opponents could not use cursed energy and had to rely solely on taijutsu against her, it served as simple martial arts training for her.
"Your power delivery is weak! Focus on the coordination of your legs, hips, back, shoulders, and arms!"
"Yes! Hah!"
"Oof!"
"Megumi, defend properly. Tsumiki's Wing Chun is actually starting to look like something. If you take a hit poorly, it's gonna hurt."
"It already hurts!"
After a bout of fisticuffs between siblings that looked a bit too serious for a mere quarrel, Tsumiki went through consecutive matches against Maki and Mai—her somewhat distant aunts. The next match was against the newcomer of the children's group, Hana Kurusu, who had joined the previous year.
Tsumiki managed to win that one by using her trump card, the Iron Shoulder, thanks to her longer experience. However, exhausted from the back-to-back fights, she was struggling against her final opponent.
"H-He's so fluffy, I can't get a solid hit!"
"Panda is Panda, after all!"
Yes, the final opponent was none other than the Panda from the Yaga household, who had joined the children's group starting today.
"An abrupt mutation independent cursed corpse, huh... Masamichi is making some troublesome stuff."
"Take this!"
"Whoa, the dust! It's a pain to wash a Panda, you know!? Masamichi has to do it!"
"It's basically washing a giant stuffed animal... Alright, my turn is over!"
"Good work. Megumi, you're next. Keep the Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga's wheel out. You can use any other shikigami you want. Tsumiki, you watch. I'm stepping in, so everyone besides Megumi better be ready."
"Are you serious? It would've been a breeze without Toji."
"I figured you'd think that, so I'm joining in. You should be happy, right?"
"I'm against child abuse! You DV dad!"
"Where do you even learn words like that? Besides, I was thrown into rooms full of cursed spirits and did this endlessly. I'm being plenty kind, aren't I? Just as your name suggests, you should be grateful for your blessed environment, Megumi."
As the children made their blatant dissatisfaction known at Toji's remarks, the circle sparring for the budding sorcerers and Heavenly Restriction users continued.
Over the next two hours, the training session concluded, steadily forging the children into the fighting forces of the future.
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