Chapter 22. LOVE, DEATH + HEIR (Part 1)

Avoiding the black wolf's leap onto my back, I skillfully grab its tail, executing a sharp turn and hurling it towards the second, white wolf, lurking on the side, preparing to bite. Suddenly, a [Sense of Danger] tingles in my mind, prompting me to strengthen my legs with Cursed Energy and hastily retreat in less than a hundredth of a second.

In the next moment, a massive shikigami owl descends to that spot. With a stomp, I send a pulse to a trap pre-set underground, located under the right wing of the owl, thus activating it. As a result, the "giant" loses stability, tilts to the left, and unable to withstand the shockwave, crashes into the ground with a loud crash.

"Not bad," I speak while sitting on the back of the dark-haired guy who fell off the shikigami owl. "But to defeat an opponent many times stronger than yourself, you need to use cunning and manipulation, not just tactics and a brilliant mind."

"To defeat the 'Asakusa's King of Destruction' with cunning and manipulation?" Maki's voice is heard from the side. Glancing back, I notice how the girl, with a light and graceful gait, like a panther, approaches me with a spear in hand. "The same as extinguishing a fire with gasoline."

"The Asakusa's King of Destruction" is my new title, which I received four months ago after the events of the "Night Parade of a Thousand Demons." Since that evening, life has somehow calmed down, in the sense that nothing serious happened afterward, and I slightly eased in my determination to expel everything and everyone from the entire territory of Japan. I decided to pay more attention to the Spiritual aspect of my strength and prepare for Sibyl, and what comes after.

By the way, one of the "things" I am preparing for that time is a special spiritual ritual that can unlock the true potential of the Zenin sisters. Thanks to the shift of focus to Spiritual Energy with the transition to the sixth Sequence, I have learned many interesting and sometimes even frightening secrets, including Spiritual rituals. I was aware of some of them before, but now their variety and power have increased manifold.

Although, for now, I am not entirely sure if my idea will work, and I did not want to try something that could harm Maki or something worse.

"Well, better this way than repeating the same action and hoping for a different result," I said, patting the guy on the back.

"I get it, you're the 'King of the Hill,'" my gloomy junior grunted. "Maybe you'll get off me now?"

"And why? Does it hurt your pride this way?" Before I could irritate the guy any further, I had to roll to the side, dodging the spear's edge that passed just a couple of centimeters from my scalp.

"Get up, Megumi," Maki said, assuming a combat stance. "We still have a whole day ahead."

Megumi Fushiguro is a freshman at the Capital Technical School of Magic. As second-year students, he was a breath of fresh air for us, albeit a rather gloomy one. It was nice to have a junior whom we could tease and teach in our free time. For me, as a transmigrant, it was a very interesting encounter; after all, this guy was not only the son of the biggest pain in the ass among the Sorcerers but also the most troublesome among all the freshmen who joined us this year.

Whoever catches the interest of the "Two-Faced"... Perhaps there's even more to life?

I was also intrigued by the Ten Shadows Technique that the guy inherited. A cursed technique originating from the Zenin family, it involves using shadows to create shikigami through summoning. As the name suggests, there can be no more than ten of these shadow-shikigami... However, there's a nuance — not more than ten shikigami themselves, but the summons, meaning the same two "wolves" that are hounds, count as one summon.

"Damn Monday morning," Megumi grumbled, getting up from the ground and dusting off his sportswear.

"Don't you have a mission tomorrow?" I asked the guy.

"Yeah," Megumi replied tersely.

In that case, I don't envy you," Megumi grinned. "After all, you're unlikely to leave here in one piece. And I told you, think twice before asking Maki to train together. She's a Spartan. If you want to train with her, you'll have to go through fire, water, and copper pipes, then turn yourself inside out and do it all over again."

"The biggest problem is you," Megumi boldly replied. "Satoru told me she wasn't this... tough before you."

"Hey, Maki!" I addressed the girl with the feigned offense. "Did you hear that? They're talking behind your back," I continued, turning to the guy. "Maybe you've even formed a special 'club' to complain about her?"

"No," the girl shook her head. "The Director, Panda, and Toge do hold evening meetings, but they discuss a common problem named 'Sukehiro Yami.' Sometimes even Mei Mei drops by."

"Really?" I turned to Megumi.

"It was supposed to be a secret," the dark-haired guy nodded.

"I understand the Director, Panda, and Toge, but such betrayal from Mei Mei I didn't expect..."

"You can understand her; she didn't have so much work before you. She already looks perpetually tired, and with your presence in the school, it's even worse," Maki, twirling her spear, got into a combat stance and continued, "Well, enough chitchat. Attack!"

Honestly, if anyone should complain about it, it's not me but this girl. What have I done? The guys have training only three times a week, and even then, I don't beat them up too badly. Although, after Yuta went abroad, the intensity did increase a bit, but they cope much better with it now. It's been over a year since we started this "military training course for an unknown future." But Maki... She found a problem for herself. After Suguru Geto nearly killed her, she went crazy about training, and of course, I got the worst of it! How else when your teacher is Satoru, and your classmates constantly complain that they already feel the taste of "Positive Cursed Energy." Although, if it were true, it would be even better.

So, everything would be fine if our training with Maki went as before, half an hour, maybe an hour at most, beatings from my side, and that's it, well-deserved rest. But no! Somehow, this girl manages to exhaust me in close combat. Me, who went through four transformations by Sequences. It's not that her physical strength is now equal to or even greater than mine — there's no doubt, I'm still stronger than her, but Maki's talent in martial arts is something incredible. To understand how important this can be for us, Sorcerers, here's an example: my old man didn't have a Cursed Technique, but he was damn talented in everything related to battles, so talented that he claimed it was like God slapped him on the ass and endowed him with his talent. And Maki... She surpassed even my grandpa. Maybe the connection to Mai didn't allow Heavenly Cursed Energy to take away all her Cursed Energy, but it surely didn't skimp on talent. Coupled with the fact that she trains twenty-four seven, seven days a week, and fifty-two weeks a year, it resulted in even I, someone who surpasses her in physical strength, sometimes catching a beating from her.