A Young Girl's Ten Shadows

By Special FX and Icura

~o~

Chapter 8: Cutting Ties

~o~

1999 (3 years later)

It had been four years since she had joined the Zenin clan.

The time that passed her by was both short and long, but her life had eventually fallen into a routine regardless. During the weekdays, she had lessons in the mornings followed by training in the afternoon. That usually left her with a few hours of free time a day for her to do as she wished. Most of this leisure time was usually spent researching or simply reading for pleasure.

Her hours might have been a bit longer than she would have liked—especially since she was still physically a child and proper sleep was important—but as a former salaryman, she was used to long working hours. So while she had some minor gripes, this lifestyle was still far better than when she was a soldier in the frontlines, tense during the quiet lulls and frantic during the chaos of battle.

Of course, there were sometimes deviations from her usual routine as well.

Sometimes, she would go out on carefully curated missions to hunt a cursed spirit, though always with some kind of hidden safety net. Whenever Toji was available and willing, she would train with him and Naoya to improve her melee combat skills. If he wasn't, she would just train with Naoya instead. Occasionally, Naobito would provide instruction on her jujutsu training whenever he wasn't too busy with his clan duties as the head.

Then, of course, there was Satoru Gojo.

Yes, she could have outright refused his invitations, but unless she had a good reason to, it wasn't worth the risk of potentially damaging the relationship she had painstakingly cultivated over the years. With Satoru's reputation only growing as the years passed by, the fact that she was able to reign in some of his more rebellious tendencies had only helped improve his image in jujutsu society.

Honestly, Satoru should be thanking her for all she had done to improve his image and show his value as a powerful resource to those at jujutsu headquarters, in spite of how often he actively sabotaged his own reputation with his ridiculous antics. She had done so much that, if she had been in the same clan or a lesser clan as Satoru, they would probably have leaned on her more, maybe even forcing her into a position as his public relations manager. Thankfully, since she was from a rival clan, it was patently ridiculous to rely on what was technically his competitor.

Honestly, if it weren't for her, Satoru would have probably gotten himself killed by now.

That idiot had better be ready to pay her back in full when it was time to collect since she wasn't going to skim when she demanded compensation. A relationship was a two-way street where both parties should benefit after all. What use was it if she couldn't take advantage of nepotism and boost her own standing in the proverbial corporate ladder? Satoru better be talking her up to the higher-ups in the future whenever she interviews for a new position! As a former human resources manager, she knew all too well the power of a referral from an influential person.

Skills? Qualifications? Experience? Hah! None of that mattered in the face of nepotism. There was a reason why networking was considered to be the most vital skill for climbing the corporate ladder after all.

Her phone started to buzz suddenly, shaking her out of her thoughts.

It was still far too early for it to be Satoru since he wasn't one to have something as defined as a daily routine. Getting up from her seat, she made her way over to her phone and picked it up. It seemed someone had sent her a text message.

Father: Papa is buying a yacht. Let's go sailing next week! Bring Satoru-kun too.

Tanya stared blankly at the screen for a moment before setting her phone down with a sigh.

She could already feel a headache starting to come on—and she hadn't even spoken to Satoru yet. She had told her parents numerous times to spend the money they had received from the Zenin clan freely and not to feel guilty about it, so it was a relief when they started doing just that. However, after dipping their feet in, they ended up going all out; they were now spending money like it was water.

They had already purchased a new mansion along with a bunch of other expensive and unnecessary things like fancy sports cars and exotic wild animals. Now, her father wanted to buy a yacht? They were acting like they weren't already paying the salary of ten maids and butlers, not to mention the team of personal cooks they hired around the clock. In fact, they were even eating far more lavishly than she was.

At this rate, they were going to go bankrupt within a couple of decades or so.

Though, if they didn't increase their spending by too much more, it shouldn't be a problem for her. By the time they run out of money, she should be old enough to move her funds and shares into accounts under her own name, keeping them out of their hands by the time they get desperate. However, she wasn't going to abandon them. If necessary, she would provide them with a stipend to at least live a modest life, though nowhere close to this level of extravagance.

Tanya sat back down at her desk and took a sip from her coffee mug.

She made sure to savor the taste of the warm beverage before she let out a sigh of contentment. Being able to enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning always helped improve her mood. She reached over to her bookshelf and pulled out an economics book to do some leisurely reading. The hours continued to tick by as she enjoyed her uneventful morning, though in the back of her mind, she knew that it would all come crashing down soon enough.

When the clock struck ten, her phone started to ring. She closed her eyes and shut her book. After letting out a sigh, she finished the last sips of her coffee before she answered the phone.

"...yes?"

"Hey, Tanya~" Satoru playfully greeted through the phone. "You wanna hit the arcade today?"

"Do I have a choice?" she dryly asked.

"Hmm…" Satoru hummed. "Nope!"

Tanya rolled her eyes at that.

"I'll meet you at the usual place then!" Satoru cheerily added, after which he hung up.

After putting on her jacket—it was a rather chilly morning—she made her way outside. Her room was located in the Hei district of the compound, and it was quiet as usual. The reason for that was that there weren't many Hei members to begin with, and they spent most of their time away on missions or training. As she made her way toward the garage where her driver would be waiting for her, she happened to cross paths with the clan head.

He had one arm resting inside his robe while the other hand held a bottle of alcohol in it.

"Naobito-sama," Tanya greeted, bowing slightly.

"Tanya," Naobito simply replied. "Going out with the Six-Eyes brat again?"

"I am."

"Mmm." Naobito hummed as he took a sip from his bottle. "...he's gotten rather attached to you, hasn't he?"

"...unfortunately."

"Hah!" The clan head laughed. "It's not a bad thing to have the Six-Eyes brat on your side. I enjoy seeing the infuriated faces of the Gojo elders as well."

Tanya wasn't surprised to hear that.

At the last summit of the three great clans, Satoru had pretty much been following her around the entire time. The Gojo clan's elders hadn't been pleased when he outright refused to return to their side. Naobito—as part of the rival clan—did his best to fan the flames, rubbing the fact into their faces. Honestly, she was surprised that a fight hadn't broken out right then and there. There was even a good chance that half of her bounty was probably fueled by their intense ire, but there was nothing that could be done about that.

"I'll take my leave now, Naobito-sama."

"Tanya," Naobito stated, just as she was about to turn the corner. "Seek me out after you return. It's about time I teach you about some of the more advanced jujutsu arts."

Tanya simply bowed her head before she turned the corner and left him behind.

While she might have kept her usual straight face, on the inside she was positively glowing. The clan head had decided that she was at a suitable level for moving on to the advanced jujutsu arts. Increased responsibility was only given to those who were looked upon in a favorable light after all. That was a positive mark on her proverbial annual employee review!

Ah, truly the taste of success was wonderful indeed.

~o~

The trip to the arcade was no different from their usual trips there.

Satoru would challenge her to a variety of different games and she would lose most of them, unlike in the past. Even if he didn't act like it, Satoru was still a genius through and through. He was the type of prodigy who was naturally talented at whatever he touched. It was only reasonable that he would eventually have an edge over her, especially since she wasn't a genius and she didn't particularly care to get better at games. It was a pastime, but it certainly wouldn't help secure her future.

Rather, they were starting to lean more on cooperative arcade games than competitive ones these days. He still tried to get higher scores than her, even though it was a bit pointless.

"I'm starving." Satoru leaned back against his seat and stretched his arms over his head. "You wanna go grab some food?"

Tanya glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a bit late for lunch, but she was rather famished as well.

"Alright," she simply replied as she stood up from her seat. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I saw this new diner open up that I wanted to try."

That answer didn't surprise her one bit. Satoru loved trying out new things. He was a bit of a foodie, always going out to try new snacks. Not that she minded; Satoru usually ended up picking good places for food, and the Zenin clan was paying for her expenses anyway.

"Let's go then."

Tanya followed Satoru as they made their way out of the arcade. Apparently, since the diner was nearby, it was faster to just walk so they left their rides behind in the parking lot. As they waited at the intersection for the light to change—Satoru had tried to jaywalk earlier before she pulled him back—he glanced over to her.

"Hey, Tanya," Satoru suddenly said without his usual playfulness. "What happened to your neck?"

She pulled her jacket back up—it must have slipped off a bit from the strong breeze—so that it would again cover the bandages around her neck.

"Nothing," Tanya simply replied. "It's just from training."

"...that so?" Satoru mused to himself before the pedestrian light changed.

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, and he didn't elaborate any further either before they crossed the street. The diner Satoru was leading them to seemed to be located in an area with many other restaurants. It was a fairly crowded area, though that was to be expected at this time of day.

As they turned the corner, she saw a very familiar figure in the distance, wearing his usual black muscle shirt and baggy training pants.

Spotting Toji Zenin in that crowd was…unexpected, but it could hardly be said to be surprising. They lived in the same compound so it was only reasonable that they would run into each other in the city sometimes, even with how big and populated Tokyo was. Toji wasn't alone either; there was a woman next to him, holding onto his arm as they walked. Besides the form-fitting sweater and jeans, she had short black hair and an athletic form.

If she had to describe the woman's look, it would be a tomboyish style.

It shouldn't have been anything particularly noteworthy. She had seen him like this before in a similar situation, only with a woman with dyed blonde hair and a gyaru fashion style instead. The thing that she remembered the most from that encounter was the smirk on his face, lustful yet mocking in that casual way of his. However, even then, his eyes were still as dead as they usually were.

This time, it was different.

Toji had an expression that didn't match the bored and vacant look that he usually had. There was a spark in his eyes. One that made him almost seem like he was genuinely enjoying himself for once. It was…vaguely familiar.

In the beginning, when she had first joined the training sessions, his eyes had a somewhat similar spark to them. However, as time went on, it almost felt like he was growing more and more detached by the day. It was evident to both her and Naoya that he had been putting in less and less effort in their sessions. Perhaps he had some sort of expectation for her or Naoya at the start.

Although if he did, he never once mentioned it.

If she had known what his criteria was for the performance evaluation, she could have adjusted to match them. It wasn't like she or Naoya hadn't inquired before, especially when the sessions started decreasing, but he just never gave a real answer. The last time that they had trained together was nearly three months ago; he was rejecting them more often than not these days. And that was when he was even in the compound to begin with. It was around a year ago that he started returning to the compound less and less, to the point where he rarely stopped by at all.

It was as if he was starting to separate himself from the Zenin clan completely.

That was a bit of a disappointment; Toji was a master at his expertise and having a chance to spar with someone like that was incredibly rare. There was no doubt that Tanya had gained a lot through those sessions, but she supposed that the same couldn't be said for him. A teacher and student was a transaction, a give-and-take relationship. If one side of the equation couldn't be satisfied, then this conclusion was natural and expected. However, she couldn't help but wonder…

Just what had he been looking for?

Tanya stared at the couple, watching Toji even crack a smile and laugh at some words from his companion. It was a strange sight to see. Though, even with how he seemed to be enjoying himself, his eyes kept scanning the crowds around him all the while. Those very same eyes eventually spotted her. Their gaze met briefly—and then his eyes passed her by just as quickly. She knew that he saw her, but regardless of everything, he still ignored her.

It seemed that he was busy with his own business so she could only do the same.

Satoru had been standing next to her, watching with an arched eyebrow all the while. "You good?"

"Yes." Tanya turned her sight away. "Let's go."

~o~

It happened at the end of the month. It had been sudden and with no warning whatsoever.

Toji had permanently left the clan.

The man had packed up everything that he owned—which honestly wasn't much—and simply left. No one had seen him go, and the only person he talked to before he left was the clan leader, Naobito. He didn't even bother to say any farewells to the two children that he had occasionally taught. Naoya had rampaged for a while and then sulked after that.

As for Tanya, she was indifferent about it. Disappointed? Yes, but it wasn't as if they were particularly close.

While she did respect Toji as a teacher, that was the extent of their relationship. They didn't talk or interact much outside of those training sessions, and they had never formed any social bonds either. What he had been looking for, he never seemed to find, and then he had simply moved on. Honestly, it was more surprising to her that he had stuck around for as long as he did since he had never been treated well in the clan despite his prowess.

Perhaps he had finally grown sick of everything and decided to take his talents elsewhere. She couldn't blame him for that; an employee should have the choice to choose who they want to work for, even if they might not get what they desire. Still, as a former HR manager, she just couldn't help but think about what a waste it was to let go of such a valuable resource.

Naobito didn't disclose any information about why Toji left or to where, but unlike Naoya, Tanya wasn't particularly incentivized to find out. If she ever saw him again, she would greet him and give him the respect that he was due, but the reason that he left without saying anything to her was obviously to cut ties. With her and the clan. She would respect his wishes in that case as a former student of his.

Just as he moved on, she needed to as well.

"Tanya, it's time for you to learn an advanced technique," Naobito said as he stood before the koi pond. "I have already explained to you what an innate domain and domain expansion is. Now, I will teach you how to counter one."

Tanya simply nodded in response.

An innate domain was essentially one's mental landscape that they were born with. They served as the basis and foundation of one's innate cursed technique. Domain expansion, on the other hand, was an advanced barrier technique used to bring one's innate domain out into the real world. It was essentially an area-wide barrier—the size of which depended on the user's skill—where the user's innate domain would be constructed within its perimeter. Whoever was caught within it was at the mercy of the rules and conditions of the domain.

In the past, domains varied greatly. They each had their own differing rules and conditions, some of which could even be akin to contest rules. However, as time went on, the mindset of sorcerers changed. Domains shifted from a focus on merely forcing the target to obey rules to a more lethal approach: the guaranteed hit of the user's cursed technique. Unavoidable and unblockable.

Naturally, this led to domain expansions becoming more difficult to learn and use, but the effect was much more devastating.

Therefore, domain expansion was considered by many to be the peak of jujutsu sorcery. It was a high-risk, high-reward maneuver that took a huge amount of cursed energy to activate so it was usually only used to end a battle.

In either victory or defeat.

"Most sorcerers will never achieve domain expansion, but you might run into special-grade curses that possess it." Naobito continued his lecture. "Therefore, it is crucial to know how to counteract it."

Naobito moved away from the koi pond as he gestured for her to follow.

She obliged, shadowing behind him. He led them through the compound to the back, and then outside into an empty clearing. It was only here that he finally turned around to face her once again. In order to ensure that nothing could sneak up on the compound, the area directly around was cleared of trees, but this spot in particular was bruised and brutalized by many cursed techniques over the years, ensuring that no trees would have grown even if they were planted here.

"There are very few ways to defend against a domain, and none that could deal with it as well as this technique," Naobito said as he got into a stance. "As such, the Falling Blossom Emotion is an art that has been secretly passed down only within the three great clans. It is one of the reasons for our dominance even in modern times."

Tanya watched as Naobito flared his curse energy. His cursed energy wrapped around him like a protective coak.

"This technique uses your cursed energy to act as a shield around your person. It will automatically counter-attack anything that touches it. This includes a domain's sure-hit attack," Naobito explained. "Some domains that rely on metaphysical or mental attacks may bypass this defense, but those are extremely rare. You might never find one in your lifetime."

That made sense since the technique relied on using cursed energy to repel attacks; any attack that didn't have any physical substance wouldn't be affected. Though, that did beg the question…

"How would someone defend against a domain that relies on more complex attacks then?"

Tanya had never liked leaving things to chance, even though she often had to.

"It's unlikely you'll ever see one of those, but one way to go about it is with the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain," Naobito said as he deactivated his technique. "It's a barrier technique that creates a small domain around yourself to protect you from the effects of a domain expansion. It can protect you from anything that Falling Blossom Emotion cannot."

"Wouldn't that make Simple Domain the superior technique then?"

"Simple Domain may protect you from a wider range of attacks, but it can also be easily destroyed by a domain. It's a stalling technique, at best. Because Falling Blossom Emotion relies on your own cursed energy instead of a barrier, it won't be torn apart."

"I see." Tanya nodded in response. "They both have their own practical uses then. It would be useful to learn them both."

"Hah!" Naobito laughed. "Ever the precocious brat, eh? Most sorcerers don't even manage to learn one."

"I'll be sure not to let you down then."

"Hmph, as you should. We'll start with Falling Blossom Emotion first," Naobito stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Get into the proper stance and focus your cursed energy. Envision it as a layer of skin over yourself."

Tanya obliged and mimicked Naobito's stance, flaring her cursed energy.

Knowing Being X, she wouldn't put it past him to orchestrate something where she would eventually have to face off against an enemy with domain expansion. Therefore, it was of utmost importance that she took all the precautions she could get to survive.

~o~

Despite her determination, Tanya was not a genius.

That was evident when the lesson with Naobito had ended with her unable to take the next step of optimization with the technique. Even though she had a lot of advantages and liked to stack things in her favor, she knew where she stood, especially in comparison to actual geniuses like Satoru Gojo. It was like that in her first and second life so it wasn't any surprise that it would be the same in her third.

While most would have just kept trying, bashing their heads against the wall to make a breakthrough, the wisdom from her previous lives' experiences was that it was best to use all the resources available at her disposal. For example, schools could have free tutoring, though most people—paradoxically—wouldn't partake of those services, even if they were on the verge of failing.

In that sense, not using those resources would be the same as wasting them. What was the point of a study guide for an exam if no one used it? That was the reason why she was now sending a text message to a certain someone. Thankfully, she had a cellphone with a slide-out miniature keyboard, even if the buttons were tiny. If she had to deal with the number keypad to type out her message, she would have probably broken her phone by now, especially since it was already plenty annoying with its short battery life.

Tanya: I need help with a technique. Falling Blossom. You know of it?

Satoru: Yeah. Get online. We'll talk while we play.

Tanya: Give me a few minutes.

Inside her room, Tanya walked over to her desk and turned on her computer. Unlike when she had first gotten it, it was now practically top of the line. Her computer had been constantly upgraded over the years since she had more than enough money to afford it, even importing parts when she needed to. She had actually gotten quite good at putting the PC components together herself, and that had culminated in a computer that didn't look anything like it once did.

At this point, it was like the Ship of Theseus.

The start-up cycle had been cut down to a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, even though she did as much as she could with the hardware, the software side was still as troublesome as ever. The Windows 98 operating system was still on the buggier side, giving her issues every now and then like freezing her computer or bringing it to the blue critical error screen that required a manual restart. It was annoying, but not unmanageable since these problems still persisted in her first life, even in the newer versions.

The first thing that she did when it was done loading up was to check up on her investments.

There wasn't much management that needed to be done since nearly her entire investment portfolio was in long term stocks of blue-chip companies like Apple which she knew would become huge in the future. And most importantly, these companies were all international, far away from the curse-plagued lands of Japan. That ensured that they wouldn't be affected by any massive curse-related event that was likely to happen in the future at the behest of Being X.

Closing down those windows, Tanya opened up the game that she had been playing with Satoru recently. With the advent of DSL in Japan, replacing 56k dial-up, it was now much faster and more feasible to play online games. By using this method of gaming, it allowed her to go days or even weeks without having to directly see his smug face. Indeed, his typed words lacked his usual tone and arrogance, making them far more tolerable in comparison to actually hearing him in person. As a result, when they actually did meet up, she was much more amicable and tolerant than she usually was.

The online game that they had been playing recently was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game—or MMORPG for short. It was a medieval fantasy game, shown in an isometric view which was a slanted overhead viewpoint. The game technically wasn't that popular here since most people in Japan preferred the console or arcade scene, but since they only partied with themselves, it wasn't that noticeable.

Satoru was a warrior while Tanya chose to be a mage.

It was a simple and effective enough combination, even if they did have to stock up on health potions since they lacked a healer. They hadn't bothered making up names; they simply put in their given names as their characters' names. After messaging each other in-game and meeting up in town, they teleported to a high level cave area to grind out experience points by hunting the monsters that spawned there.

While they did so, they finally got to chatting.

Tanya: So, do you know about Falling Blossom?

Satoru: You mean Falling Blossom Emotion?

Tanya: Yes, that one.

Satoru: Yeah, I know it. What part are you having trouble with?

Tanya: My output. I already have the basics down, but the amount of cursed energy I need to use to maintain it is too much.

Satoru: Oh, that's easy. Just use less cursed energy.

Tanya: …

Tanya: Thanks for stating the obvious.

Satoru: LOL.

Satoru: Sorry, but I got the Six-Eyes. I can just use less XD

Tanya: …

Tanya: Okay, another question then. It sometimes reacts half a second too slowly to incoming attacks. How can I improve that?

Satoru: ?

Satoru: Just react half a second in advance.

Tanya has logged off.

~o~

The clan elders were nothing but old fools and weaklings.

Naoya Zenin had always known that, but they were even bigger idiots than he had originally thought, and the rest of the clan was no better. The fact that they had ostracized Toji and refused to acknowledge his strength was one thing, but to push him to the point of leaving the clan entirely?

It disgusted him.

Did they really not understand that they were still alive because of that man's whims? That he could have easily destroyed the entire clan anytime he wished to? Were they really so blinded by their own weakness that they refused to acknowledge the power of the strongest?

The day Toji left, Naoya finally understood.

The sin of the weak was not being able to understand what true strength was—and to recognize their own patheticness. That was why he was the only one who had been able to understand Toji.

No, that wasn't entirely true. She had seen it as well and had once mentioned that Toji had caught Satoru Gojo's eyes. The wielder of the Six-Eyes and the Limitless. A prodigy who could only be born once every couple of hundred years was able to recognize Toji's worth.

And if even a girl had seen what the rest of the clan failed to recognize, what did that say about them?

The three of them could all understand Toji's strength because they were all the same. They would all eventually stand together at the top, among the strongest. Not like the rest of the clan or even those worthless jujutsu sorcerers in the Hei who thought of themselves as elites. No, the ones who would distinguish themselves and stand at Toji's level would eventually be Satoru Gojo, Tanya Zenin, and himself.

That much was already preordained, destined even. They were the chosen ones who were born to be the next generation to carry the mantle of strongest after Toji.

It was fate. Their fate.

Naoya punched the training dummy in front of him so hard that it splintered into pieces. The wood splinters harmlessly bounced off of his cursed energy reinforced body. He dusted off his clothes before he took a look around the empty clearing. Dozens of training dummies littered the ground—all of them destroyed in a similar fashion. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any training dummies left for him to use.

Clicking his tongue, he began to make his way toward the dojo where Toji had once trained.

He didn't bother cleaning up the destroyed training dummies; that was a job for the servants after all. Since he would have to wait for them to bring in more targets, he would have to practice with something else in the meantime. Perhaps he would seek out Tanya and spar with her. Even though she was a shikigami user, she had grown into a fierce combatant under Toji's tutelage. He would know; whenever Toji wasn't there or he refused their requests, they would spar with each other instead.

It wouldn't be hard to find the girl.

She stuck out like a sore thumb with her long blonde hair after all. He had also noticed that she was a creature of habit. If she wasn't spending the day out with Satoru Gojo, she was either training or in the library with her nose deep into a book. She was quite dedicated like that, and if he wasn't careful, she could leave him behind.

As Naoya walked along the familiar route to Toji's old dojo, the ground started to shake.

A low, ominous rumble resonated through the air. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The rumbling grew louder, more insistent, until it became an ear-shattering explosion that echoed through the entire compound. There were screams, but he didn't pay attention to those weaklings. The direction that the explosion had come from was the same direction as Toji's old dojo. Naoya activated his cursed technique and dashed over there.

His eyes grew wide when he saw what had happened.

The dojo was in shambles, pieces of destroyed wood and gravel were littered all over the garden that had once been in front of it. He took a tentative step forward toward the blonde-haired girl standing amid the wreckage, beneath the large shadow that fell over the compound. High above it all was a massive serpentine creature made up of glistening white scales. Its eyes glowed with an eerie pink light while its mouth—half opened—revealed rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth that buzzed like sawblades.

The air around the creature—the shikigami—seemed to crackle with cursed energy.

Tanya's other shikigami hovered around her. The angel floated over her head with his multiple wings while the golden lion stood on guard protectively by her side and the sheep helped to keep her balance. Blood dripped from the large gash on her face—revealing some of her teeth. Injured as she was, she still managed to stand tall as the massive shikigami looked down on her.

As Naoya stared at the scene amidst the screams and falling rubble, he realized something.

That, among the three of them, she might be the one that was closest to Toji. Toji was strong, even though he had no cursed energy. Tanya was strong, even though she was a girl. They were both the exceptions rather than the rules. Outliers who had proven their worth even among the trash dump they had been born into.

Staring up at the battle that was about to take place, there was no doubt in his mind that it would end in her victory. However, he still needed to prevent the fools in the clan from interfering and ruining the shikigami ritual. He could already hear them approaching. Just like with Toji, none of them could understand her either. The sin of the weak truly was their inability to understand what true strength really was.

It seemed that Naoya would need to overwork his Projection Sorcery.

For none would get past him today.

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: Whew, another chapter. Writing a lot these days.

Special FX: I got nothing to say this time, lol. Just thanks for reading!