After taking some time to get used to his condition, Megumi Fushiguro nodded at Satoru Gojo.
"I think I've got the gist of it now. Aside from the Shikigami I choose to turn into Divine Treasures, I can still summon two more Shikigami, but not completely. I can only do a partial summon or have their technique possess me..."
Hearing that, Satoru Gojo hooked a finger under his blindfold, shifted it a little from side to side, then flicked it back against his forehead with a snap.
"If you look at the core of it, then with partial summons and technique possession, the corresponding Divine Treasure patterns do not appear, right?"
Megumi Fushiguro nodded.
"Yeah."
"Then that means the so-called 'only two Shikigami can exist at the same time' really comes down to this. Only two Divine Treasure markings can appear at once, only two techniques can appear at once, and only two Shikigami bodies can appear at once..."
For a moment, Megumi Fushiguro just stared at Satoru Gojo in a daze. The way he broke things apart and then reorganized them into a conclusion felt so much like Akira-sensei that it caught him off guard...
"In that case, the combination of [Iku-tama], [Chikaeshi-no-tama], and [Taru-tama] opens up way too many possibilities..."
Satoru Gojo could see Megumi Fushiguro was already sinking into thought.
"Well? Looks like you've got plenty of ideas already. Want to head back and sort them out first? The experiment on my end is not urgent."
Megumi Fushiguro suddenly remembered he was supposed to help Satoru Gojo with an experiment and quickly said,
"Let's do it now... Those ideas will probably take a lot of time before they can become actual techniques..."
Satoru Gojo nodded, raised a hand, spread his fingers, and turned his palm toward Megumi Fushiguro.
"Then stab here. Don't hold back."
Megumi Fushiguro took a deep breath and immediately summoned [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi]. A bizarre sword appeared in front of him, with five hilt-like grips and three blades extending outward, each the same length in every direction.
And then... Megumi Fushiguro promptly collapsed to the ground holding [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi]...
With the amount of Cursed Energy he currently had, simply summoning [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] felt like using a Domain. His entire reserve was drained dry in an instant...
He hurriedly summoned [Iku-tama]. Once the markings appeared over his heart and his Cursed Energy surged dramatically, Megumi Fushiguro finally managed to climb back to his feet with [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] still in hand.
He shot a glance at Satoru Gojo's other hand, the one hidden behind his back. He had definitely taken another embarrassing picture just now!!
Whatever... He was used to it...
Megumi Fushiguro shook his head helplessly and thrust [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] at Satoru Gojo's palm.
The moment the tip of [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] was stopped by the Force of Stillness, the wheel at the center of the sword began spinning rapidly. Megumi Fushiguro could even feel a gust of wind blowing back at him from the blade...
Seriously, this thing could double as an electric fan...
Without pausing for even a moment, Megumi Fushiguro pulled the sword back and stabbed toward Satoru Gojo's palm again. This time, as though it were struggling against something, the blade slowly pushed into his palm amid a harsh scraping sound.
"Dispel the technique..."
Satoru Gojo pulled his hand back and gave [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] a slightly complicated look. That strike just now had made this thing feel almost exactly like the [Inverted Spear of Heaven]...
After healing his hand, Satoru Gojo extended it again.
"This time, slash down from above the hand."
Megumi Fushiguro did as instructed. [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] sliced into the Limitless once more. This time it was different from the earlier sensation of cutting through butter. It was as if the sword had treated Satoru Gojo's hand and the technique in that space as a single whole, then cut straight through both at once...
"Expand..."
Satoru Gojo smiled. Every time, it broke through in a different way. This thing was far too interesting.
After restoring his hand with Reverse Cursed Technique, he stretched it out again and spread all five fingers.
"One more time..."
Megumi Fushiguro nodded, gripped [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi], and thrust it at Satoru Gojo's open palm again. This time, [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] went straight through his palm without even any resistance.
At that point, it felt less like breaking through and more like the Limitless had simply never activated at all...
But even [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] could not escape the scrutiny of the focused [Six Eyes]. After healing the wound and shaking out his hand, Satoru Gojo sorted through what had just happened.
If the original Limitless was a turtle that could never be caught, then this sword was doing the exact opposite.
Through an extremely subtle manipulation of Cursed Energy, subtle enough to be called an "infinitesimal," it disturbed the Infinity and gave priority to defining the originally "dynamic" zero point of the Limitless. From there, it approached that zero point, turning the originally dynamic state of untouchability into a static upper limit on attack speed…
And that static limit could be defined however the wielder wished through the "subtle Cursed Energy" used to interfere with the Limitless. In that case, what had once been an unreachable state became a contest of how each side defined the standard...
And because the technique was engraved beneath the surface of the body, the interval covered by that standard included the caster's own bodily tissue. That meant Satoru Gojo had to evade it, or use the same kind of subtle Cursed Energy to correct it!
Once it reached that stage, the exchange would become an endless cycle, one side setting the question and the other solving it, rather than the old one-sided, brainless form of defense...
Although during the attack it remained an "infinite question-setting process," and the definition of the speed zero point kept changing, so outwardly it still looked much the same as before.
But the instant Satoru Gojo encountered this for the first time, or failed to understand the principle behind the breach, or became tired, distracted, or made a calculation error, the attack would pierce straight into his body until it hit that limit value...
[Why does this way of breaking through feel weirdly familiar...]
Satoru Gojo looked at [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] again.
[It can define and think. Looks like [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] itself has intelligence.
Most likely, this sword not only adapts incredibly fast, it also contains the "analysis archive" of every Mahoraga that came before it...]
With [Iku-tama] empowering him, Megumi Fushiguro wielded [Yatsuka-no-tsurugi] with ease. Seeing that Satoru Gojo had finished thinking, he raised the sword again and looked toward him, a strange excitement on his face.
"Sensei, want to keep going?"
Satoru Gojo was completely absorbed in thinking about whether those breakthrough methods could be turned to his own use, so he did not notice Megumi Fushiguro's expression. He gave a slight shake of his head.
"Not for now. Those last few gave me some new ideas, so I'm going back to sort them out first…"
"Oh, right. Megumi, your grasp of the theory is pretty solid now. Go help me teach the first-years tomorrow."
"Uh..."
With a rapid string of crackling sounds, Satoru Gojo vanished from where he stood. Megumi Fushiguro then looked again at the row of human-shaped holes stretching from right in front of him all the way into the distance...
Megumi Fushiguro let out a lingering sigh.
"Good thing he didn't say he was taking me with him..."