"That really is a huge amount!" the staff member gasped.
In fact, back when Mahiru had first planned to deal with Hajime Kashimo by this method, making money had only been incidental.
Her primary aim was to use the power station's equipment to suppress Hajime Kashimo's performance.
And, at the same time, to earn herself a little cash.
After all, Hajime Kashimo was a man of ancient times.
If Mahiru had invited him to fight by the seaside, he'd have seen through her plan to toss him into the sea at a single glance.
But something like a power station...
He didn't recognize it, and his incarnated vessel held no memory of any specialized knowledge, so he couldn't tell that this place was likewise a trap built to counter him.
So originally, the money had been only a side benefit.
But Mahiru truly hadn't expected that Hajime Kashimo could actually generate this much electricity.
—That she could actually earn this much.
The original idea had merely been to store some charge in a few of the power station's batteries, and later supply that electricity to some of the construction crews rebuilding the city.
But who could have guessed—once Hajime Kashimo got into the fight, he actually got fired up, lost himself in it, went all out with a vengeance.
After the Cursed Energy he unleashed was converted into electricity, the power level instantly surged to its absolute peak.
The staff had no choice but to channel the electricity out to the city to keep the power station from overloading internally.
And that portion of electricity sent out was, astonishingly, enough to light up a whole swath of the city's high-rises.
"You really are a moneymaker, Hajime Kashimo. I'm afraid I'll never forget you." Mahiru was beside herself with joy.
By now the girl had realized just how profitable Hajime Kashimo was.
The immense Cursed Energy Hajime Kashimo was splashing about was, in Mahiru's eyes, no longer lightning, but gleaming white banknotes.
So satisfying, so satisfying.
Whether or not she'd ever even use this money was another matter... but making money itself was simply a thoroughly satisfying thing.
The girl resolved to carry out her plan all the more thoroughly—she would defeat Hajime Kashimo while wringing every last drop of economic value out of him!
Is this thunder all you've got now, Hajime Kashimo?!
Your production... no wait, your output—is this really where it ends?!
In fact, had Hajime Kashimo bothered to inspect the factory building carefully, he would have discovered that its surroundings were laid out with vast quantities of conductive material, along with even more of Mahiru's special spider silk.
The composition of this spider silk—which Mahiru had even enlisted Zen'in Mai to help design—let it conduct electric current with extraordinary efficiency.
And right now, Hajime Kashimo was wildly venting his energy within Fushiguro's Domain. The current passed through the conductors around the factory, then traveled along the spider silk webbing in every direction, into each of the power station's facilities.
Because the electrical power was so terrifying, the very air was warping from the heat.
How long could Hajime Kashimo sustain an output like this?
Even Mahiru wasn't entirely sure.
But she was certain that, given Hajime Kashimo's current output firepower, even with most of his Cursed Energy being siphoned away, the intensity of this battle was already beyond what Yuji Itadori and Fushiguro could handle.
In other words, besides making money, she also needed to make Hajime Kashimo waste as much Cursed Energy as possible while Fushiguro's Domain was still holding.
So it was time for her to enter the fray as well.
"?!"
Within the Domain, Hajime Kashimo sensed a powerful surge of Cursed Energy appear above him, and looked up with a wild laugh.
The Domain, woven of black shadows, had already been lit up bright by his scorching lightning.
"So you've come?!"
Hajime Kashimo admitted he'd grown careless.
So there really was a boy who could keep his head down and pound Black Flash after Black Flash into him; there really was a girl, pathetically weak yet able to deploy a Domain.
He knew Mahiru had exploited his pride. But upon realizing his psychology had been used, far from getting angry, he marveled at how cunning his opponent was—and a fiercer fighting spirit blazed up within him.
"Come on, then, Cursed Spirits!" he roared, his fighting spirit burning to its peak. "I'll admit you've amazed me, but this is still nowhere near enough!"
Mahiru was holding back a laugh.
Though Hajime Kashimo believed he was fighting three peerless geniuses, the truth of the matter was far more ridiculous than he imagined.
Just the thought that Hajime Kashimo wasn't really fighting, but charging up Tokyo, made Mahiru want to laugh.
"Good! Your fighting spirit suits me just fine!" Mahiru too feigned a brimming fighting spirit, a giant hammer condensing in her hands as she swung it down at Hajime Kashimo. "For a very long time now, I've been waiting for someone like you!"
Eh—though it was fundamentally comedic, in order to lure her opponent into getting carried away, Mahiru began hamming it up like a seasoned veteran actor.
The hammer crashed down, colliding with Hajime Kashimo's lightning.
The girl, too, wore the battle-crazed expression that only a martial-arts fanatic could have.
"I once chased after combat, challenging one person after another without end! And yet I always felt unsatisfied!"
The girl laughed heartily. "I gained friends, I gained family, my life is fulfilling—people are always asking me, 'With all that, what could you still possibly be dissatisfied about?'"
Improvising with what was at hand, Mahiru trotted out Ishiryuu's classic line.
"And my answer is—'I'm still only eighty percent full!'"
Mahiru raised her hand, and countless rabbits surfaced from the surrounding shadows, then all at once spewed scorching flames at Hajime Kashimo.
"My life! It's still lacking money... ah no, lacking dessert!"
The rush of wind came sweeping in.
Yuji Itadori, seizing the gap while Hajime Kashimo's lightning was slightly suppressed by Mahiru's flames, landed another Black Flash from the side.
By this point, the boy had landed five consecutive Black Flashes, shattering the historical record for consecutive Black Flashes by a sorcerer. Without a doubt, Yuji Itadori was now the super Black Flash king.
Seizing the chance, Mahiru shot a meaningful look toward Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori.
Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori both froze for a beat, then caught on at once.
Yuji Itadori suddenly staggered where he stood, as if wounded, rolling straight off to one side.
And Fushiguro, behind Mahiru, looked as though she'd abruptly gone limp from exhaustion, a pained expression on her face as she sank to one knee, struggling to maintain her hand seal.
Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori's condition fell squarely into Hajime Kashimo's view.
Hajime Kashimo was quite worn out by now too, his reserves heavily spent.
But upon seeing Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori's "fatigue," his spirits surged once again.
In this moment, he believed both sides were nearing their limits.
And generally, a moment like this—was the final stage of the battle.
"And so..."
And then, he saw it.
Hajime Kashimo saw it—the blue-haired girl before him, locking eyes with him deeply.
In her eyes was a gaze that yearned for a worthy opponent, yearned for battle, yearned to let everything in her life bloom... a look tinged with faint sorrow and longing.
"And so..."
The fervor in the girl's eyes vanished.
Instead, she let out a soft laugh, lifted her finger, and at its tip gathered the glow of [Husk].
"Will you be my dessert... Hajime Kashimo?"
And so, this very night.
About three minutes after the city had been supplied with power by some unknown generation system and lit up, everyone in this area heard a thunderclap like an earthquake.
None of them knew what this thunder truly signified.
Perhaps it was an aftershock of the earthquake.
Or perhaps an explosion somewhere.
People speculated about all manner of possibilities, but they would never have imagined that this thunder was the sound of the heart of a certain sorcerer—one who had spent his whole life in [Forced Solitary Love] four hundred years ago—beginning to beat anew.
"Words like those—"
Hajime Kashimo, after Mahiru spoke those words, completely ignited the entirety of his power.
Thunder shook the whole land.
"—are something I should have been the one to say!!"
____
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🔥 New history: COTE: Counterattack System
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