"Roy-sensei?!"
Megumi had already prepared himself to be struck dead by Mahoraga's fist.
Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, a familiar figure suddenly intervened between them. With an indomitable stance, he blocked Mahoraga's incoming punch with just one hand.
The young man's white hair fluttered wildly in the fierce wind, his blood-red eyes behind glasses radiating faint displeasure. His simple attire—a white shirt and black casual pants, unchanged from usual—now seemed incredibly dependable. His upright back appeared capable of shouldering even the weight of the collapsing sky.
"Weren't you overseas?"
"I'll explain that later."
Roy intercepted Mahoraga's fist with his palm, then strode forward decisively.
With one hand gripping Mahoraga's wrist to prevent escape, he raised his other elbow to shoulder height, driving it forward like a cannonball straight into Mahoraga's chest!
Boom!
Mahoraga's body was sent flying like an arrow, smashing through several reinforced concrete walls before skidding dozens of meters across the ground, finally coming to a stop on a distant sports field.
"And this bad habit of yours—resorting to Mahoraga whenever you're indecisive—I'll have to lecture you properly about that later."
Roy knew a single elbow strike wouldn't defeat Mahoraga. After sending it flying, he picked up the crimson finger from the ground and immediately headed outside.
Before leaving the building, he turned to glare at Megumi.
"For now, get out of here and regroup with Yuji and Nobara. Leave this to me!"
"But, sensei, Mahoraga's power..."
Megumi snapped out of his daze, his face twisting into a bitter, helpless smile.
Had he known Roy was back, he'd have been insane to summon Mahoraga!
Mahoraga's strength was terrifying.
In this era, Satoru Gojo was considered invincible, relying on the rare Six Eyes that appeared only once every few centuries and the equally precious Limitless technique.
But figures like Gojo weren't unique in history.
In the past—whether during the Edo or Keichō period—the heads of the Gojo and Zenin clans had fought so fiercely in a formal duel that both perished.
The Gojo clan head at that time, much like the current Satoru Gojo, possessed both the once-in-centuries Six Eyes and the Limitless technique.
Meanwhile, the Zenin clan head's technique was the same as Megumi's: Ten Shadows Technique.
In other words, the Ten Shadows Technique harbored power capable of rivaling Gojo! Among its ten shikigami, Mahoraga—which no one had ever successfully tamed—was the source of this immense power.
Back then, the Zenin clan head had dragged the Gojo clan head into Mahoraga's taming ritual, resulting in their mutual demise and becoming a laughingstock.
Could Roy alone defeat such a formidable Mahoraga?
As a Special Grade sorcerer, Roy's strength was undoubtedly top-tier in jujutsu society—Megumi certainly acknowledged that.
But to say it could rival Gojo Satoru—no matter who you asked, that seemed like pure fantasy.
"I said, leave this to me."
Roy stood at the edge of the gaping hole in the building, his gaze fixed on the distant figure of Mahoraga, who had already risen to its feet. He didn't bother turning his head as he spoke.
"...Can you win?"
Megumi asked quietly, his expression laced with concern.
"..."
Roy's lips twitched involuntarily.
Seriously?
Did he want him to say something like "I'll win" too?
No way was he going to jinx himself like that!
"Just trust me."
"...Understood."
Megumi took a deep breath, steeled himself, then turned and leaped straight out of the building through the window, sprinting toward where he could sense his Divine Dogs.
"Please... you have to win, sensei!"
On the field.
Mahoraga immediately noticed Megumi's movement.
Without hesitation, it kicked off the ground, charging toward Megumi at top speed.
The air whistled faintly in its wake, and even to the naked eye, its speed was terrifying enough to send a chill down Megumi's spine.
BOOM!
But the next moment, a deafening explosion rang out.
Mahoraga's vision blurred as a white-haired, red-eyed youth appeared before it with lightning-fast speed, skidding to a halt with one foot, carving deep fissures into the ground.
At the same time, he pivoted on his foot, launching a spinning kick with enough force to split mountains and shatter stone straight at it!
THUD!
Mahoraga reacted instantly, crossing its arms to block.
A dull impact echoed as an overwhelming force surged through its arms, sending its entire body flying backward uncontrollably—like a skipping stone across water, bouncing and tumbling multiple times before finally stopping.
Roy halted his movement, standing still as he observed Mahoraga's reaction.
His gaze fell on the fallen Mahoraga in the distance, but instead of cold killing intent, his face brimmed with intense anticipation.
"Your ability is adaptation to all phenomena, right? No matter the attack—fire, slashes—you can adapt to it at an incredible speed, rendering your opponent's attacks ineffective. So, can your physical strength improve through adaptation too?"
The words of Futsunushi—the incantation that revives the dead.
"Futsunushi-no-Okami, Yura Yura"—symbolizing perfect cycles, representing the power to harmonize with all phenomena in the world, allowing oneself to adapt to any phenomenon!
No matter what kind of attack it faced, given time, it could adapt with astonishing learning capabilities, and once adapted, that power would almost never affect it again.
In other words, given enough time, it was practically invincible!
Its only flaw might be its own fragility.
To a sorcerer like Megumi Fushiguro, Mahoraga's strength was already absurd—far from anything resembling "fragile." But in Roy's eyes, its physical resilience was merely passable.
Its greatest weakness was its own fragility, and to adapt to an opponent's attacks, it had to endure them in that fragile state for a period of time—meaning there was a high chance it could be killed before adaptation even completed.
Roy was brimming with anticipation for Mahoraga.
He held Mahoraga's power in high regard and had no desire to see it quickly falter under his assault. Quite the opposite—his expectations leaned the other way.
The stronger Mahoraga's adaptability, the longer it endured under his onslaught, the more delighted he became!
In the distance, Mahoraga rose from the ground once more.
Its arms hung limply as if broken, but after a surge of cursed energy circulated through its body, they effortlessly restored themselves—its regenerative abilities were nothing to scoff at, likely on par with a cursed spirit.
Click!
At the same time, the wheel-like array rotating above its head and behind its back suddenly shifted.
Though it had only turned by the smallest increment, Roy's keen eyesight caught the movement instantly, and his expression brightened.
"The adaptation has begun—has its strength increased?"
To test this, Roy stomped the ground.
With the most violent momentum, he shot toward Mahoraga like a cannonball.
For a moment, faint thunderous echoes rumbled through the air, and faint ring-shaped clouds of dust manifested around him before being flung backward in his wake.
BOOM—!!
A deafening explosion, like the collapse of mountains and the splitting of earth, erupted.
The stadium floor fractured uncontrollably, the once-flat surface now uneven, chunks of debris sent flying.
Especially beneath the point of their clash, the ground shattered like a spiderweb, even caving inward.
Roy observed Mahoraga from a short distance away.
A pleased smile gradually spread across his face.
His fist had originally pierced toward Mahoraga's abdomen like a blade. Against a normal human—even a sorcerer like Megumi Fushiguro, whose cursed energy reserves weren't exceptional—even with full-body reinforcement, they would have been torn apart, reduced to scattered pieces.
Yet Mahoraga endured the blow, only staggering back a dozen steps before steadying itself, standing firm once more.
"...Not an increase in strength. This seems more like improved resistance to blunt force."
Roy's expression turned contemplative.
If its strength had truly grown, he should have felt more resistance in the impact. Instead, the sensation was less about difficulty and more about hardness.
Likely, Mahoraga's adaptation, under the relentless barrage of direct physical strikes, was evolving its physiology toward greater durability—its body becoming sturdier to withstand the punishment.
Though not a boost in power, the enhanced resilience was still commendable, at least vastly improving its survivability.
"Adapt a little more!"
Roy's face broke into a grin brimming with delight.
Without hesitation, he pressed forward again—this time not with brute force alone, but with an elusive footwork that made his movements ghostly and unpredictable. In a fleeting instant, he bypassed Mahoraga's guard and launched a flying kick straight at its head.
"Evolve further—give me more satisfaction!"
That way...
It could become the strongest shikigami!
...
In another open space.
"Granny, that special-grade teacher seems to be fighting that monster."
The mohawk-covered young man's body appeared as if coated in a layer of wax.
The layer of wax oil writhed over his body, completely submerging his hairstyle, face, and physique.
Gradually, it transformed into the appearance of a black-haired young man.
Standing over 180 centimeters tall and appearing to be in his thirties, his entire body was sculpted with impeccably toned muscles. The broad shoulders and narrow waist formed a striking proportion, making it immediately clear that this man was a seasoned warrior. An aura of enduring strength radiated from him.
"What should we do next?"
The grandson, now wearing the black-haired man's appearance, asked Granny Ogami in a voice that was stiff yet noticeably more at ease.
"They're fighting? Is it infighting?"
Even without her grandson telling her, Granny Ogami had already been observing the battle in the stadium from afar.
That white-haired boy's every punch and kick unleashed earth-shaking power, making Granny Ogami's eyelids twitch in shock.
She had originally believed that the Heavenly Restriction was the pinnacle of invincible physical prowess.
Who would have thought there was someone even stronger?
Such terrifying power was like the very embodiment of violence itself. Just watching from a distance made her scalp tingle and goosebumps erupt all over her body. It felt as though a single punch from him could reduce her to pulp.
For a moment, Granny Ogami wasn't entirely sure whether the Heavenly Restriction Berserker could stand against that incarnation of violence.
"Leave them be for now. Let them wear each other out."