"Ha? You want to be a sorcerer?"
As soon as Souma walked out of the Tombs of the Star, he heard Satoru's exclamation of disgust.
"Come on. You have cursed energy but no technique. Trying to become a sorcerer is just a pipe dream!"
Riko Amanai looked unconvinced. "Then I'll use cursed energy to reinforce my body and train in taijutsu!"
Satoru looked at her with dead fish eyes. "You really are stubborn!"
Souma, however, agreed with Riko's idea.
Having cursed energy but no technique, and thus relying on reinforcement and martial arts—the classic examples were Yuji Itadori and Atsuya Kusakabe.
Besides, as a Star Plasma Vessel, Yuki Tsukumo had the insanely powerful technique "Star Rage." There was no reason to assume Riko absolutely didn't have an innate technique.
Souma thought for a moment and said to Riko, who was still arguing with Satoru, "If you want to become a sorcerer, I know someone very suitable to teach you."
"But you have to think it through. Becoming a sorcerer means losing a normal life and dealing with curses every day."
Riko nodded firmly.
Through this incident, she deeply realized how helpless it was to be powerless.
If she were just an ordinary person, it wouldn't matter. But she happened to be a rare Star Plasma Vessel.
Even if she survived this crisis, she couldn't be sure those people wouldn't come after her again for some other purpose in the future.
Moreover...
Riko glanced at Satoru out of the corner of her eye.
Being a sorcerer seems pretty interesting.
"Alright then. Yaga-sensei, please handle Riko's enrollment!"
"Oh, and Misato too. She's Riko's family. Although she doesn't have cursed energy, she can work as a clerical staff member at the school."
Misato Kuroi, who didn't want to be separated from Riko, was overjoyed. "Thank you so much, Souma-san! You truly are a good person!"
Yaga's face darkened. "I'm just destined to slave away for my students!"
"By the way, Souma, what did Master Tengen say?"
Geto asked, a hint of worry between his brows.
Souma had caused too much trouble this time. First, he massacred a large group of non-sorcerers, then he fired a Hollow Purple at the higher-ups.
Keisuke Zenin, an elder of the Zenin clan, ascended to heaven on the spot—not even ashes remained.
Fortunately, Souma held back at the last moment, so the other higher-ups were only heavily injured and would recover in three to five months.
But the charge of killing and attacking jujutsu higher-ups couldn't be washed away.
Souma scratched his head. "Uh... Tengen and I had a friendly and harmonious exchange. She decided not to pursue the matter."
"Also, she has found another way to delay her evolution and doesn't need to merge with the Star Plasma Vessel anymore."
"As for those higher-ups, after being frightened by me, they should be sensible enough to compromise. If they aren't sensible, I'll just go reason with them again."
"Friendly? Harmonious? Reason?"
Geto's eye twitched.
Knowing Souma, he didn't believe a single word of those descriptions.
Souma huffed. "Hey! Suguru! What's with that look? Is my reputation that bad in your heart?"
Geto looked away. "Souma, self-awareness is a virtue."
Satoru chimed in. "Yeah, Brother. With your personality, taking a dump on Tengen's head sounds like the correct answer!"
Souma clenched his fist with a fake smile. "Suguru! Satoru! Do you two think just because you learned Reverse Cursed Technique, you've caught up to me?"
"Well..."
Satoru lowered his sunglasses, revealing his azure eyes.
He admitted that he was quite confident, even a bit arrogant, now that he had mastered RCT.
Although his brother had also learned it, if he teamed up with Suguru, they might actually be able to suppress him!
Satoru and Geto exchanged a glance, shared a knowing smile, and Geto silently pulled out Playful Cloud.
Souma chuckled. "Looking at your stances, you guys are asking for a beating!"
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Bestowal!"
BOOM!!!
Yaga hurriedly protected Kuroi and Riko, running out of the blast radius.
Looking at the small mushroom clouds rising behind him, Yaga's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
"THOSE THREE BRATS!!!"
Inside the Tombs of the Star, Tengen, who had just fallen asleep, woke up with a start.
"Earthquake?"
...
As Souma expected, the higher-ups compromised sensibly.
No, rather than compromising, it was more like they were terrified.
Souma's Purple had plowed a multi-kilometer trench right under their noses.
This inconceivable power had transcended the realm of sorcerers.
Crucially, it wasn't just Souma. The subsequent brawl outside the Tombs of the Star showed that Satoru and Geto possessed the same level of power.
The close bond between the three was common knowledge. If they tried to punish Souma, they would face three unconventional monsters.
Just thinking about that scene made the higher-ups' spines tingle.
Isn't that just seeking death?
And strictly speaking, Souma hadn't caused that much negative impact.
Master Tengen could now suppress her evolution without the Star Plasma Vessel.
The non-sorcerers Souma killed were the Star Religious Group—extreme fanatics who weren't liked by the higher-ups anyway. If they died, they died.
The heavily injured elders were too embarrassed to mention the fact that a bunch of old masters were one-shot by a first-year student.
They were just annoyed at the Gojo clan members, who, hearing their Divine Child was about to go on a rampage, had hidden far away in advance and didn't get a scratch.
As for the dead Keisuke Zenin, the Zenin clan could only swallow their broken teeth.
Toji had massacred the Zenin clan members in the past too. Why didn't they pursue him? Was it because they didn't want to? No, they couldn't.
...
In the cafeteria.
Souma was eating his homemade Tomato Scrambled Eggs (with extra sugar). Geto was eating soba noodles.
Satoru, having finished his main meal, was devouring ohagi (sweet rice cakes) like a machine.
Riko and Kuroi watched in stunned silence, seriously suspecting his sugar intake had reached lethal levels.
Yaga walked over and slammed three documents onto the table.
"You three have been graded as Special Grade!"
Special Grade. Not only a recognition of their strength but also a signal of the higher-ups' compromise.
"Oh~"
Souma and Geto mumbled incoherently. Satoru kept eating his ohagi.
Yaga's fist creaked.
"This is Special Grade! Take it seriously!"
"Um... what is Special Grade?"
Riko raised her hand and asked.
Yaga explained, "Special Grade is the highest ranking for a sorcerer. One must possess strength far exceeding a Grade 1 sorcerer, or even have the ability to cause large-scale destruction alone."
"Of course, possessing some extremely rare and highly useful special abilities can also qualify one."
"As of now, including these three, there are only four Special Grade sorcerers in the entire jujutsu world."
Riko froze.
She knew Souma and the others were strong, but this strong?!
It felt like finding out your neighbor suddenly became the richest person in the world...