A/N
I lied I thought I'm gonna finish this arc in this chapter :D I'm so sorry. Thank you to those who followed favorited and comment since the last chapter.
Not beta-ed I apologize for the minor grammatical mistakes in advance.
3042 July 28
Emi predicted she would find the old man who could use limitless before July, but it was the end of the month now. To be honest, she did not lie—she had already found the man last month. However, the reality was unpredictable, Ono Shichiro disliked talking to people, or so he said. So she was forced to barge right inside his barrier many times. Although it was to irritate him half of the time, the other half was to enjoy the peaceful scenery on top of the mountain (almost everything stressed her out).
"You're a menace." The older man sat across her, eyebrows furled as he tried to drink his freshly brewed tea in peace.
"The same goes for you." Emi eyed Shichiro's black hair, befuddled about the exact generation they lost their signature white hair and surname. "Ono-san, do you remember someone from your family who had natural white hair?"
The man seemed to calm down after restoring the destroyed mountain range barrier for the 26th time this month. "There's no one."
Emi shrugged, realizing she could not continue asking. "Is there a chance you keep a genealogy book?"
"How did you know?" The answer was instantaneous as Shichiro sent her a tired gaze. "What are you pulling off this time? You know, I can make unlimited barriers, but who knows if my ancestors can forgive me if you destroy our genealogy book too," he warned her, crossing his arms with a puff of his chest.
"You really think of me that badly?" The hands that were holding the teacup trembled, and inwardly she praised herself for being dramatic.
"T-that's!" Shichiro looked ashamed after being accused of bullying a junior. After realizing she gaslighted him, he jumped up from his seat, pointing his finger at the girl reproachfully. "OI! Kid! How dare you play with me like that! You were the one who disturbed me in my home, destroyed the barriers protecting this mountain range for fun, and had the guts to eat and drink my food! Although you will cook my food and do my laundry most of the time—" he murmured the last part as if mentally struggling to weigh the pros and cons, "—BUT! Y-you destroyed the barriers! So stop making this old man stupid!"
"Fair enough." Emi did not even show embarrassment after being blamed and instead calmly blew the steam off her tea. She sincerely apologized for intentionally destroying the barrier in her mind, but she got to do what she got to do.
"Are children these days like you? Then I made the right choice staying in closed doors. What did you need to bother me so much?"
Emi, who was waiting for these questions, smiled wickedly. "I'm so glad you asked," she said as she placed her drink on the table while wearing her customer-service smile. "I need your abilities for something."
"And what is that?" The older man glanced at her suspiciously, bracing himself for any bizarre requests.
The girl rested her chin on the palm of her hands. "I need to go back in time."
There was silence. "I should have thrown you out earlier when I had the time!" Shichiro shouted at the top of his lungs, obviously had enough of her antics, then chased her out of his home.
Ono Shichiro could not believe the story he had heard. Rather, he refused to believe it. But after digging up some old family records a thousand years ago, he found her name listed under Gojo Satoru's— Tokunaga Emi . There was no reason she would lie since she needed his help, so as a descendant from the previous generation, shouldn't he be respectful to her?
Disbelief showed on his face as he frantically glanced at the girl behind him. "T-then Tokunaga-senpai?"
"Uh." The girl choked on nothing after being called like that by someone 60 years her senior. "Just use Emi-chan, please," she begged, the color draining from her face.
"Then that's good," he sighed in relief since it was awkward for him, too. Shichiro could never believe something like this would happen in this day and age.
Firstly, hearing about how Emi's story was enough for him to think of her as crazy. Even more so when he heard she was originally the family's aide. Scratch that, she was the helper of a specific person and not connected to any organizations. Shichiro rarely browsed their library because he was planning to burn anyway after finding a successor he could pass the technique Limitless with. The Gojo family did not exist anymore, and other powerful sorcerer clans were known a millennium ago.
Shichiro had no children and no plans to make one. In this day and age, it would not be a blessing. And instead, it would be a curse.
"Then, Emi-chan, you need help with going back to your original year?" The older man clarified, feeling like it was an idea that was hard to wrap around.
"If possible, yes," Emi answered, hopeful but painfully aware that if he was the only Limitless user, then he might not have the skill to help her. "I would also like to stay here for a couple of days to look at the records to have a clear understanding of what happened over the years."
Shichiro nodded, giving her permission to browse the place. Despite staying meters away from this place, he roughly knew how all the records worked. Every year, the history would be written down by an aide of the family. All their dealings, plans, if someone died—all of it was recorded. However, those records stopped 700 years ago, considering the clan started declining and the world turned apocalyptic. Although it helped him understand his roots, there was no way he could keep all these things after death, so he opted to burn it and spare his next successor.
Speaking of successorship, since he was the last one remaining, the old man chose to find someone he could teach some of his extension techniques with as he was feeling a little bad their inherited technique was just going to disappear like that.
Emi told him she might stay there for the night, so he let her be. Shichiro had plans of helping her, but there was no way he would be willing to read all those books. The older man closed the shoji door behind him as silent as he could, afraid he would disturb the reading girl. With a weary expression, he started to think of how he could help the kid.
Even if she would make a ruckus from time to time, Shichiro got fond of her after interacting with her consistently for a month.
3042 October 04
"Hey, it's been a week since we last saw her. Do you think she's doing okay?" Daiki nudged him on the ribs when he caught up to him while running around the base.
Kouki stared at the red sky, a little dazed. "I hope so. But she left us some written instructions for training until next week. I think she's going to go back by then. Emi promised she would look at our progress, after all."
They were training alone, like always. Daiki and Kouki were on their last lap around the base; then, they needed to do a mock fight using their innate techniques as preparation for actual combat. Usually, Emi would visit to look at their progress and see how they were faring from time to time. In truth, he could not blame the girl since she had already found her purpose by visiting this place, and yet she would still teach them when she had time. The bags on her eyes were not looking good, though.
Their master would rarely go back home and would only accompany them when they needed to eat. On the other hand, since Lis was the only adult, she would help their training from time to time while looking at Emi's written notes for reference. Thankfully, the girl scared them enough before her continuous disappearance, so none of the two had the guts to slack at all.
"The curses are starting to increase. But it looks a lot more than last time?" Daiki used his knees as support while he roughly wiped the sweat off his forehead after their run. Looking at the stretching boy beside him, he could not help but add, "Master also seems busier these days. I think something bad will happen, what do you say?"
"Coming from someone older than you?" Kouki did not hesitate to use his privilege as he stood up to start stretching back. "There's something fishy happening in the council, but I doubt Master will tell us since we're younger."
Daiki did not seem to be offended and instead helped him stretch his back good-naturedly. "You're only 15 this year. I don't think that's old. Plus, you and Emi-neechan are the same age, right?"
That was when the realization hit him. Emi did not look anywhere near 15; instead, it seemed she was around 10 or 11 years old. It was not also because of her height, but it was her appearance in general. Even supposing she had a babyface, wasn't that too much? Kouki almost forgot they were the same age and always treated the girl as his senpai, seeing that they were also treated as kouhais. It was a weird situation, and yet they respected her by instinct.
"Stop asking so many questions and continue stretching." Kouki, in the end, had to kill his train of thought. He had no way of answering his questions, so how could he answer Daiki's?
Daiki scratched the nape of his neck, embarrassed, then sent the boy a shy smile. "Then wait for me to finish senpai, and we can start our spar," he said lightly, laughing.
3042 October 10
It was easy to underestimate something when you had not started it. Emi's back was hurting and added to the fact that she did not even try to stand up when she entered the study room. All her bones were also aching. After a few months of a grueling search for information about what happened a millennium ago, she and Shichiro finally found the written record after she disappeared. Note also that they also browsed through research into using Limitless to jump between dimensions.
"Emi-chan, what should we do? There's nothing about jumping through time?" The older man flipped through piles of paper, burdened about the possibility she might be unable to go back.
Emi clicked her tongue in irritation. "We didn't expect to find this research in the first place. We need to try and modify this thing—" she pointed at the table where they collected the rims of paper, "—so that we could use it somehow."
This dimensional travel research was printed and piled along with some blank papers. It was also placed at the back of the room, making it awfully hard to find. The girl was glad she decided to check the back on a whim after her eyes were tired of reading. It also helped that there were familiar handwritten notes at the borders of the papers. It was Satoru's, Suguru's, and Shoko's. Emi liked to collectively call them the Triple 'S' since they were idiots who let the world burn.
But the girl realized she was in the same dimension she was before, only in a different timeline.
Emi trusted they were the reason unknown to her why the world turned apocalyptic. For all, she knew they had to choose between a multitude of things. That was why they could not prevent this disaster. The girl trusted them, and she believed they knew better. Although what irked her exactly was how Suguru's handwritten notes at the border eventually disappeared after the first pile. Subsequently, all she could see was Satoru's and Shoko's that got rowdier and rowdier pile after pile.
"This handwriting looks hideous." The older man pointed at the paper with a disgusted look.
Emi checked the paper he was holding and grinned. "Ah, don't worry about that. They say the way you write reflects on your personality. Maybe that person is bad." She instigated, knowing full well it was the white-haired boy's penmanship.
"Then this must be an arrogant person," he added, falling for the girl's scheme, not knowing it was his ancestor's. Shichiro returned the paper back to the pile and glanced at her. "Haaah, after you leave, I can finally burn the things in this room."
"I thought you wanted to find a disciple first?"
The older man frowned, then replied hesitantly, "I don't think I can find one while I'm doing this research at the same time. I also need to find someone young so that they can utilize my extension technique better."
Emi could understand it perfectly; helping her find a way to go back was already a lot of work. The girl estimated that they would take at least two years to go through everything her friends researched and another two to revise and use it however they like. Even though she preferred that she could go back at the shortest time possible, in this case, she had no choice but to settle at this arrangement.
"But it would be such a waste if I did not try to find one." Emi knew Satoru's grandfather would strangle her alive if she let their technique disappear like that.
"Do you have anyone in mind?"
The girl thought for a moment as she closed one of her eyes. "I think I have someone."
3042 October 12
"This is Ono Shichiro."
Daiki stared at the older man bemusedly after Emi introduced him. Kouki, standing beside him, shifted his gaze to the girl who only raised her eyebrow. "Uhm. My name is Miyata Daiki. Nice to meet you!" He used a 90-degree bow, a little confused at the presence of another person in their home.
"I'm Sugiyama Kouki." The teen introduced, patting the little boy's shoulder to calm him down.
Sending him a thankful look, Daiki looked back at the older man who must be around his 60s. He still had a patch of white hair and a black beard that gave the illusion he was younger than he appeared. Emi told them he lived in the mountains and looked for someone to pass some of his techniques to. Now that he thought about it, the name was a little familiar.
"Ono-san…" Daiki was trying his best to remember where he heard his name. "Ah! Aren't you that Ojii-chan who eats children—oomph !"
"I'm sorry, Ono-san, that was not what he meant." The teen bowed in shame as he tightened his grip on the boy's mouth.
"I did not expect you to eat little children." Emi sneered, stepping a few meters away from the old man. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she covered her nose as if smelling something terrible.
Shichiro's face turned utterly red, then spluttered, "W-what? Hey! That was because the barrier I set up was pretty powerful, so children would usually get lost! That's why those parents scared their children from going inside the forest!"
"What do you mean only to get lost?! I have to fight for my life when I get lost in there!" The little boy curled his lips and frustration after hearing what he said.
Emi, who knew first hand what usually happens in the barrier if you did not break it, continued to worsen the situation. "Ah. What a disgusting old man."
Daiki continued to frown, and then his expression got worse when he recalled what happened a few years ago. He was five years old back then and tended to get scared a lot. The boy was also the type who would get bullied. So he was always targeted among the descendants of sorcerers. When running away from the people hurting him, he ran inside the forest in desperation and got lost. Not only was there a giant labyrinth, but there was also some cursed spirit inside.
That was how he met his current master, Fujita Shohei. The man saved him while he was on the verge of death.
"So, in the end, why are you here?" Kouki intervened, at last, unable to endure that Emi was bullying Shichiro. He smiled apologetically then dragged the girl back from the hem of her shirt to stop her from creating further misunderstandings.
"Shohei is your master, right?" Not waiting for their confirmation, he sighed tiredly. "He's entrusting you to me while he was away."
"Eh? Is sensei going to stay a lot longer as Emi-san did?" Daiki blinked, wondering why all the trusted adults around them seemed to be busy. He always included Emi in that train of thought since she was more of an adult than a child.
"…pretty much," the girl responded after staring at the boy for a while. "You will stay with us on top of the mountains so I can help you with your jujutsu training. I also talked about this with Lis-san, so she would be staying here to help look after the non-sorcerers."
The boy nodded, realizing that without Emi and his master, Lis' only powerful jujutsu-shi was around this side of the camp. It made him sad, though, for he knew the woman would stay here alone.
"You should pack your things. We will get you tomorrow morning." Shichiro pointed at the two then turned his heel. Emi, who was standing with them, ruffled both of their heads and smiled.
Daiki liked the girl and knew Kouki was pretty fond of her too. After all, she was the one who saved them all those times they needed help. It did not only apply to those life-threatening situations but also emotionally. Emi knew when to intervene, encourage and rebuke them. She was like the older sister they never had, and he was quite happy they got to stay with her for a longer time.
Emi followed Shichiro back to the mountain. Looking at his back, she could understand how troublesome it must be to take on the burden of taking care of two children. But this was not only because of the request. It was also because of Shohei. The two of them went way back and were old acquaintances. Until one day, they had to go their separate ways.
Well, not that separate. There was at least one dreadfully strong curse that tied them up to this mountain.
"I can't believe you're still this selfish. I thought you changed after taking in those two boys." Shichiro looked over at his old friend with a disappointed sigh. With a 'tsk,' he disappeared from where he was, leaving Emi with Shohei alone.
"…how did it go?" The older man did not even try to face her as he maintained his gaze over the chained gigantic curse on the floor.
Emi tried to look away from the scene, remembering it was not her business. "They agreed."
"That's a relief."
The cursed spirit growled as he maintained his eye contact with Shohei, mostly muttering broken sentences while trying to break away from her bind. " Tired…leave. Long…time…Sho..hei. "
"Fujita-san," Emi called the attention of the man. "It's not my place to say this, but you should still take responsibility for the relationships you made along the way. I can't always help you. I know Lis-san knows about it too, but you at least need to talk to the two children."
"Helping this once is enough, and Shichiro's there. He's not the type to break his promise." The older man's gaze seemed to be unclear as he made different hand gestures. An invisible barrier covered the curse, and once again, the mountain was surrounded by a labyrinth.
The girl hefted a deep sigh, well aware he had already made his decision. "I supposed I could stay for a few more years."
Shohei finally turned to look at her wearing a small smile. "As always. I'm really grateful to you, Emi-chan."
"Stop thanking me. Don't you think you're using my good-naturedness too much for your own agenda?" The girl sent a glare full of killing intent for the first time since they met.
The older man's hand stilled for a moment, then he laughed. "Then I guess I was caught?"
Emi retracted back her killing intent, then shook her head in disappointment after realizing he was already a hopeless case. They were a victim of circumstances, but she already involved herself more than she intended to. It started when she saved Kouki, back when she noticed the man was watching. The girl would admit it was out of charity. However, who knew their master purposely set him up so that she would save him. She had no choice but to fall for his schemes considering she badly needed to know the location of the limitless user.
The plan was not that difficult. Shohei purposefully revealed the teen's location, again and again, to put his life in danger. If Emi were like before, she would be offended then retaliate. But since it was also partially her fault and the man meant no harm, she decided to let it go.
Shohei already hinted at her to help and protect his disciples until they were old enough to do so themselves.
"I want to thank you for saving my disciple," the man did a full dogeza showing an expression of gratitude. 'Japanese,' Emi thought, realizing she rarely saw her kind these days.
The girl crossed her arms, starting to feel burdened when the older man took a long time to prostrate himself in front of her. "I can't accept your thanks," she started helping the man up then dusted the clothes of the man that painfully reminded her of her Ojii-chan. "We agreed on a deal. That's why I saved him."
"Then what kind of deal is it?" The man gave her a well-practiced smile while he patiently waited for her answer.
They both knew what kind of deal it was. Did he take Emi as some kind of a fool? Despite being in this body, she was pretty old herself. Emi did not want to accept his thanks back then, and she had no plans on doing so now. He really was a selfish old man—what Shichiro said was right. Albeit she was not the one to judge, it irritated her that even in this era, there still a bulk of things adults refused to acknowledge that affected the children they were taking care of in the long run.
Well, there goes her mental health. Emi guessed it was fine as long as she covered all the bases despite the fact that she would relive her own hell in her dreams every night.
3042 November 20
Kouki pouted when Emi added another set of metal weights on his ankles.
"Making a pitiful face won't work." Emi grabbed his legs and lifted him effortlessly. He screeched in panic while Daiki, who was suffering from nausea beside him, could not help but clap in admiration. "I am not using cursed energy while pulling you up. You should also be at this level after continuous weight training for a few years. Training your body separately from your technique would help you in cases where you don't have any cursed energy."
"But Emi-san, shouldn't we just be more careful in using up our energy?" Daiki poked the teen's red cheeks while he was still upside down.
"Put yourself in more life-threatening scenarios, and you'd find yourself using up your cursed energy more often." The girl dazedly looks at a blank face before letting go of Kouki's legs as if reminiscing. He fell on the ground with a thump then coughed when he inhaled some dust.
The teen understood this well. Kouki was a lot more confident now than ever since they stayed on top of the mountain to train with Emi and Shichiro. Sooner or later, they will be fighting with stronger curses without the girl to back them up. It scared the teen a little, but he needed to face his fears if he wanted to be strong enough to protect himself.
The two would frequently check on them then disappear after to take care of whatever they were doing inside the study room. Daiki was so curious that he tried to sneak inside more than once but Kouki eventually convinced him to mind his own business whenever they passed by the door. He was interested, too, but he knew better than to concern himself with it.
"You're a little too hard on them." A voice interrupted their conversation right when Kouki was about to stand up.
"Master!" The two boys screamed in delight as they rushed to hug Shohei.
Emi crossed her arms while observing them from afar, then said, "Maybe you should be the one taking care of them."
"Ohohoho," he laughed, waving his hand back and forth. "There's no need. You're right there, aren't you?"
His sensei had not appeared for a while, so they were super excited when the old man visited them. Before, whenever they asked Lis where their master was going, she would only dismiss them, saying he was busy with council affairs. It was the first time Shohei had disappeared for a long time without showing up to check on them. Maybe he trusted Emi and Shichiro a lot, so he trusted them in their care. But as much as he liked the girl's presence, he could not help but feel something was wrong.
"Master, where have you gone?" Kouki asked out of the blue when they finally sat inside of the house to talk.
"You see, I'm paying all my debts right now."
Daiki scowled, visibly looking down on him. "You're paying all your debts from gambling, right?"
"Sensei, I thought you stopped with your bad habits." The teen could not help but copy the same expression the boy was showing. "How much exactly did you owe that much that it made it so hard for you to pay?"
"So much that I can't pay with it using only my body," he dramatically wiped an imaginary tear from his eye while sniffling.
"What do you mean?" Daiki asked innocently, unaware of the sexual innuendo the older man suddenly added in the conversation as he turned to Emi and Kouki to ask for help. "Did he want to be sold as a slave?"
The teen covered his ears. "Stop listening to Master. Just know when he starts talking like that, he's turning into a different person.
Emi hummed in agreement while she listened to their banters. "If you're looking for Shichiro-san, he's in the study room," she said after a while, slumping on the table to get some sleep.
"Then I'll be going!" Shohei cheerfully bid his goodbye to go to another room.
Daiki, sitting across from Emi, stared at the dozing figure as if struggling with something. "Should we wake her up?"
"Let's not. She hasn't slept properly for a week now. It's best if we let her be for a while." Kouki dragged the boy outside to continue training, seemingly used to how the girls' body clock worked.
After a few hours, Shohei finished talking to Shichiro, giving them a few cursed tools as he left. Kouki wondered how long they would be able to see their master again. From what he understood of Emi's hints, he might disappear for a long time. That was why she was sort of babysitting them for him. Thinking of what kind of work needed his full attention, he got back to his training to distract himself.
He must be swamped with work.
3042 December 26
"How are you doing, Lis-san?" Emi casually asked her while killing curses consecutively. Using the broadsword as a boomerang, the girl stood behind her protecting the rear. "It's been a long time since I've last seen you."
"Ah, Emi!" Lis greeted her, trying her hardest not to call her using her surname. She was still not used to it, but the girl had insisted that she should stop using honorifics while talking to her.
They continued to fight the stream of curses, defending the south gate of the camp where their house was stationed. Lis did not expect to see the girl this time since she stayed in the mountains with that old man, Shichiro. In truth, she badly wanted to visit the two boys, but while Shohei was away, she needed to attend most council meetings in his place. These days she was so busy considering her sensei started to drop more and more of his work on her.
It took an hour and a half to clear at least a kilometer of the place from cursed spirits, and it was already with Emi's help. Lis could not imagine how the sorcerers in this area would handle such a large group of curses without her. The woman's knees weakened after the continuous fighting. So she was brought in with some jujutsu-shis inside the gates to be healed. There were fewer casualties than before, and she could not be any more thankful.
"You should take a break, Lis-san." Emi slung her arms on her back to support her. She carried the woman who was twice her size with no problem.
"Ah, you're right. I've been holding back too much." Her lips raised into a curve, but her eyes did not reflect the same emotion. "You were too nice, Emi. You knew, didn't you?"
The girl did not answer and instead helped her up. They entered the south gate with no problem, but Lis could not still get the courage to stand up. The woman's knees continued to buckle under the pressure she had been holding up since a few months ago, and back then, she did not realize the consequences of their actions.
The woman had known her sensei since she was a child. There was nothing she did not know about Shohei. She knew how he and Shichiro had been friends since they were teenagers, how they had fallen in love with the same woman, and how that woman died to save the two men's lives. It must probably be because they could not handle her death well, so they unconsciously cursed her. As a result, she became a special grade cursed spirit, much stronger than anyone she had seen before. Because of regret, they decided to keep her in the mountains instead of exorcising her.
They even built a large labyrinth inside to protect her and protect the people from getting hurt by her. However, the longer they contained her, the more powerful the cursed spirit got.
Shichiro eventually accepted the situation, albeit he refused to get married after that. On the other hand, her sensei tried to hold on to her presence as much as he could. Shohei refused to exorcise the curse even after it tried to escape the mountain a couple of times. In the end, he fell into unhealthy coping habits like gambling, smoking, and drinking alcohol. He only stopped this after saving and bringing back Daiki from the mountains.
"I'm sorry for bringing you into this, Emi." Droplets of tears fell on her palms. Her slumping shoulders curled more as she could not stop her eyes from watering. The woman still did not hear anything from the girl, and somehow, instead of feeling lighter because Emi did not blame her, she felt uneasier because of silence.
Lis regretted many things in her life, but there was nothing more frustrating about knowing what was to come and yet being unable to stop it.
3042 December 27
The boy stood in his place horrified when he caught sight of the enormous cursed spirit behind Shohei. Emi's cursed technique pressed down on Daiki as they stood on top of the South Gate. On the other hand, Kouki was in no better shape to get out of the girl's technique either as they both tried to get out of her hold. They wanted to join the fight but were unable to. Most of the curses below were grade three and higher.
If the two inexperienced kids joined the battle, they would be liabilities instead of help.
"Uhk." Daiki wanted to cry. He wanted to help his master so badly. They arrived here half an hour ago with Shichiro, who dropped them off to Emi when he got the chance.
"Emi, please," Kouki begged as he watched the fight. "Even if I die, I want to help."
"Do you think you can help them with your meager abilities?" Emi mercilessly turned him down as she pointed from afar. "It won't make a difference if you're there or if you're not there."
Standing in the middle of the battlefield was a curse four-story tall. It had many arms and roughly the same amount of feet. It floated above Shohei, Shichiro, and Lis as they tried to exorcise it. People who were also watching this scene held their breath, they could feel the amount of cursed energy the enemy was releasing, and it was nauseating for them even to approach it. Daiki's eyes widened in this belief as he watched the fight, they got the upper hand, but it appeared it would not last long.
"Will we win?" Daiki had never heard of any curse as big as that. But it seemed oddly familiar, and he only needed to go near it to confirm.
Emi did not answer and continued to watch the fight. She finally removed her innate technique allowing the boys to stand. Suddenly, there was a flash of light blinding all the spectators. Daiki checked to see if Kouki was okay, but when he saw his jaw drop from shock, he immediately followed his line of sight.
Master?
Contrary to other people's belief, Fujita Shohei knew when to give up. That was why when the cursed spirit he was keeping chained in the mountains started to get stronger than he expected, he eventually fell to the conclusion that he finally needed to let go. It was a complicated process mentally, and with his age, it became harder to welcome change.
Then an opportunity came when Shohei heard a strong jujutsu-shi trying to find Shichiro, so he lured the person near their camp, hoping that he could ask the person for help. Needless to say, he did not expect that the sorcerer was a girl and at the same age as Kouki. With this, he was back to square one and settled with using her to protect the two boys while he was away.
That was right; he was old anyway. He needed to take a rest for good. Getting past 80 years old was never his style. Plus, he already talked with Shichiro and settled their old grievances despite being punched in the face a couple of times.
Shohei's innate technique was bomb-making. He remembered he and the grumpy older man were great buddies because their technique complimented each other so well. They were partners in crime and best friends. With Shichiro's limitless, they exorcised quite a lot of curses. Until now, those good feelings never disappeared in his heart. It was funny to think how fast time had gone by. Now he had three disciples that he could rely on. Sadly, he might not be able to see them grow to dashing young men he trained them to be.
Hah, if Shichiro heard his thoughts, he would get a smack on the back of his head.
"Extension technique: Self Destruction."
Shohei compressed the cursed energy in his chest, forcefully gathering them in one place. Then he charged to the gigantic cursed spirit at his fastest speed, passing through Lis and Shichiro, who shouted at him. He could not hear their voices because of how focused he was. Shohei didn't want to listen to them anyway. Both of them must be hurling curses at him to stop his suicidal attempt.
Funny, he seemed too old to be a suicidal freak.
The old man landed on top of the curse. Wearing a sheepish smile, he greeted the curse under him. "It's been a long time since we've been this close, Radana," he murmured, fear not evident on his face. "I'm sorry for holding you in this world for so long."
"Sho…hei..." The curse called in an extremely familiar way.
The man seemed to recall something and laughed loudly. "Yes, I am selfish. When did I say I wasn't?" He threw all the cursed tools he was using earlier downward, letting it fall so it wouldn't be destroyed with the explosion.
The cursed energy swirling in his chest after being compressed for so long could not manage to stay in one place anymore. Using his whole body as a shell for his cursed technique, the energy burst out in one go.
If rebirth was true, he wanted to be born again and meet with the people he treasured.
"Radana..." If there was another life—
Cursed energy flowed through every part of his body, and because Shohei had a large amount of it, it did not take long for the explosion to happen. A bright light shone in the middle of the battlefield. Everything it touched evaporated, making the cursed spirits in the surroundings disappear.
The spectators blinked, but it still took a while for the people to gain their sight back. At the first minute, there was silence. Then there was a commotion.
A/N
To Amatsumi, Technique Arsenal stores the technique that was used to attack the user. So it's like a pokemon ball, sort of. And Emi could use it depending on the disparity between her strength and her enemy (if weaker than her then it's easier, if stronger it may have a larger/stronger recoil on her body).