After Junpei officially joined Tokyo Jujutsu High, less than half a month remained until the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event.
Eichi and Satoru gathered the first, second, and third-year students of Tokyo Jujutsu High and began special training.
Kinji Hakari and Kirara once again clashed with the Kyoto School students.
Although he was not suspended this time, Kinji Hakari's stubborn passion had made him somewhat rebellious since last year, and he was unwilling to participate in many activities.
Coupled with the fact that Tokyo Jujutsu High now had a large number of students, this Exchange Event adopted a free registration format.
It did not strictly follow the rule of only inviting second and third-year students.
In reality, while the Exchange Event was said to be centered around second and third-year students, both Tokyo and Kyoto often brought first-years.
After all, if possible, no one wanted to fight at a numerical disadvantage.
By the way, this year's participant list for the Exchange Event matched the original work, including first-years Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara, as well as second-years Toge, Panda, and Maki.
Junpei did not participate because his foundation was too poor, and he did not have Yuji's strong athletic foundation.
Yuta did not curse Rika this time, so Kyoto School did not target him the way they targeted Yuji.
Furthermore, because Yuta had dealt such a heavy blow to Kyoto School last year,
Kyoto School had already refused to allow Yuta to participate.
The reason given was that the Exchange Event was a place for students to interact and grow, and as a Special Grade jujutsu sorcerer, Yuta could not grow through the Exchange Event...
Mai and Rika, one pursuing a path in jujutsu research and the other planning to enter politics, neither liked fighting, nor did they like combat.
Considering the potential situations that might arise during the Exchange Event, Eichi decided to conduct intensive training for the participants together with Satoru.
Eichi first sought out Megumi, and with Medea's help, infiltrated his own Soul into Megumi's body.
"Megumi, do you usually eat well?"
Eichi said this while pulling up Megumi's shirt, revealing a waist that was somewhat slender for a male.
'Why are you asking that?'
Megumi, observing from deep within his Soul after relinquishing control of his body, asked.
"Your body is quite light. You're taller than Yuji, but you weigh considerably less. You're not trying to maintain your figure, are you?"
Recalling the slender waist, comparable to Nobara's, that occasionally appeared in the anime, Eichi strongly suspected that Megumi was deliberately maintaining his figure.
'No way! Aren't you supposed to help me train? Hurry up and start!'
Megumi, a little annoyed, tried to regain control of his body.
"Alright, alright, I'm starting now."
Eichi raised his hands in surrender, while at the same time deciding to call Tsumiki that evening and ask her to supervise Megumi so he would eat more meat at home.
"Then let's begin."
After a few sets of warm-up exercises to get a preliminary feel for Megumi's body, Eichi slightly bent his knees and held his fists in front of him.
"Furube, Yurayura, Yatsuka no Tsurugi, Ikai Shinsho, Mahoraga!"
As Eichi's voice fell, the surrounding light seemed to dim for an instant.
When the light returned, a tall figure bound by countless cloth strips had appeared in front of Eichi.
"Woof."
"Caw, caw."
Snap.
The cloth strips began to break. Four insect-like wings unfurled from Mahoraga's head, and its head, arms, and feet continuously struggled free from their restraints.
The immense pressure made Megumi, deep within his Soul, instinctively want to swallow.
Then he realized that he was currently a Soul, with no saliva to swallow.
"How nostalgic."
Eichi smiled as he looked at Mahoraga, who was breaking free from its restraints and stretching its body.
This time, Eichi could not summon Heroic Spirits, nor could he use his Domain. He could only use the other nine Shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique to defeat Mahoraga.
Because he was currently in Megumi's body.
His Soul was now like something placed inside a box wrapped in Megumi's Soul aura.
Once he used Abyssal Dark Shadow Garden or summoned a Heroic Spirit, his own Soul aura would be exposed, and the subjugation ritual would be deemed a failure due to the intervention of another person.
So, he could only use Megumi's identity and Megumi's abilities to defeat Mahoraga.
Both sides began to move at the same time.
Mahoraga relied on its arm span advantage and threw a punch at Eichi's head.
Eichi ducked, dodging Mahoraga's punch, then struck Mahoraga's calf.
Mahoraga's body tilted, then immediately recovered.
The Sword of Exorcism slashed toward Eichi.
Eichi pushed off with his feet and leaped high, then pressed one hand onto Mahoraga's shoulder for support and began to spin his body.
At the same time, the tail behind Mahoraga's head also moved.
Bang!
Crack!
Eichi delivered a fierce spinning kick to Mahoraga's head, but was also sent flying by Mahoraga's whip-like tail.
A large chunk of flesh was torn from Eichi's right arm, which he had raised to block the tail-whip.
The Reverse Cursed Technique activated, and the injury on his arm healed instantly.
"As expected, I'm still not quite used to it."
Eichi shook his arm.
'What?'
"Your limbs are a bit short, making it easy to misjudge distance during offense and defense."
Eichi held his hand in front of his eyes, and Megumi, deep within his Soul, also understood what Eichi meant.
Megumi was 1.75 meters tall, while Eichi was thirteen centimeters taller than him.
There was indeed some difference in limb length.
This slight difference was negligible when facing ordinary enemies, but when facing strong opponents, always being slightly off could bring significant risks.
"Let's try it first."
Continuously backflipping to dodge Mahoraga's attacks, Eichi formed the hand sign for Tiger Funeral.
A rapidly spinning sphere of wind appeared in Eichi's right hand, and the space around the wind sphere showed a strange sense of distortion.
Mahoraga did not give Eichi time to charge it. Its fist, larger than a casserole, had already arrived in front of Eichi.
Eichi casually tossed the wind sphere in his hand and began constantly dodging Mahoraga's attacks.
Although the Ten Shadows Technique had diverse methods, when counted carefully, there were only a few types. Eichi did not want to throw such an incomplete attack at Mahoraga.
Would that not simply give Mahoraga progress in its adaptation?
"Piercing Ox."
Piercing Ox ran out of Eichi's shadow, then pulled away to a distance.
"Nue."
Once again, Eichi dodged Mahoraga's Sword of Exorcism.
A large brown bird with a wingspan of over ten meters flew into the sky.
Countless flashes of electricity flickered across its body.
"Next, I need to increase the speed of Cursed Energy circulation."
When he had condensed the wind sphere just now, Eichi discovered that the speed of Cursed Energy circulation in Megumi's body was lower than his own.
This also meant that activating a Cursed Technique would take longer.
Mahoraga would not politely stop and wait while the enemy charged an attack or engaged in a verbal battle.
If his movements were even a little slow, the Sword of Exorcism in Mahoraga's hand could split him in two.
After summoning the two necessary Shikigami, Eichi no longer dodged. Instead, he fully unleashed his fighting Cursed Technique against Mahoraga.
Eichi used his smaller build to slide under Mahoraga, then quickly attacked the back of its knee.
As Mahoraga adjusted its stance and the Sword of Exorcism slashed horizontally behind it, Eichi leaped up at just the right moment.
He pushed off forcefully with both feet against Mahoraga's right arm.
Mahoraga's attack veered toward the ground, while Eichi used the force to adjust his posture, landing another kick on Mahoraga's face.
Mahoraga's left hand grabbed Eichi's leg, and Eichi kicked Mahoraga's shoulder with his other foot, pushing himself away.
Just like that, an intense hand-to-hand battle began.
Megumi, deep within his Soul, intently observed this high-level hand-to-hand combat, greedily absorbing the experience within it.
In Megumi's perception, his heart rate was constantly accelerating, and his body was growing hotter and hotter. It seemed as if something he had never experienced before was about to happen.
Finally, after deflecting another one of Mahoraga's attacks, a flash of pitch-black light appeared.
Black Flash!
(To be continued.)