Automatic Writing

The blow that would have at the very least wiped Tokyo off the map was never delivered, however.

What was the reason?

Satoru Gojo's Domain Expansion was faster. Index had no real intention of attacking and merely extended her arm as a warning. Or perhaps...

"Infinite Void"

Whatever the reason, it's pointless to think about now. The situation, once set in motion, cannot be stopped. The seal formed by his right hand and the words that slipped from his mouth were instinctive reactions driven by his defensive reflexes and his duty to protect the town.

He dragged the nun-garbed girl, who had no cursed energy, into his domain. The immense amount of telesma she radiated was enough to overwhelm him to the point of making him avert his eyes.

A deep black world, akin to outer space, enveloped the two. 0.2 seconds after the Domain Expansion, Gojo still didn't fully comprehend what he had done.

His thoughts spun.

Infinite Void leaves lasting effects on non-sorcerers—this technique shouldn't be used for non-lethal missions. She used supernatural abilities, so she must be a sorcerer—but she has no cursed energy? Her nun's habit might protect her—it deflected physical attacks, but there's no guarantee it can withstand this. The answer—he must deactivate it immediately.

Meanwhile, before he could reach this conclusion, the girl was about to be assaulted by an attack that forced infinite cycles of perception and communication.

First, the "Walking Church" formed the initial layer of defense.

The "Walking Church" not only defends against physical attacks but also against curses and higher-dimensional magical attacks.

Considering how "Angel Fall," which descended upon Windsor Castle's deepest parts with similar defenses, was broken through, one could argue about the "Walking Church's" supposed infallibility or whether the opponent was just that formidable.

Even if the "Walking Church" was breached, a second layer awaited.

The "Virgin Mary Worship Spell" or "Mercy of the Virgin Mary." This is a spell only those with the quality of "Gabriel, the Power of God," a member of the "Right Seat of God," who have eradicated original sin, can wield.

It negates punishments and nullifies curses, allowing the user to bypass promises, bindings, and conditions.

Thus, all debuffs are ineffective on her. The effect of Infinite Void, forcing infinite perception and communication, is a form of binding and would be repelled as an impure curse.

These firewalls are just the surface layer of her magic. She doesn't need an active defense.

But, this doesn't mean she had time to actively disable her automatic defense mechanisms.

"Warning, Chapter 3, Verse 6. Detected attack on the archive. 'Automatic Writing: John's Pen' forcibly activated."

Index's primary personality entered a semi-dormant sleep mode, replaced by "Automatic Writing."

The previously manifesting "Third Arm" dissipated as it left her control.

The girl shimmered like a ghost. Her dark green irises were now marked with red patterns.

Had it been a mere physical attack, the "Automatic Writing: John's Pen" might not have activated unless she was gravely injured.

However, for information attacks, especially in combat status, even a minor attempt to breach the archive would trigger a response, treating it as a potential intruder.

To repel the intruder, the Index of Prohibited Books analyzed the enemy spell like a machine.

Jujutsu and magic are different systems. While Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes could see the power, he couldn't understand it.

Just because he couldn't doesn't mean Index couldn't.

The difference lay in their familiarity with the laws of other worlds.

Of course, even Index couldn't fully understand every aspect of jujutsu upon encounter. But that was sufficient.

The Index of Prohibited Books used a dictionary-like method of analysis, searching for relevant elements and constructing counter-spells based on likely matches. Hence, the speed.

"Warning, Chapter 13, Verse 36. Successful reverse calculation of enemy spell. Determined as a barrier mimicking the underworld."

Identifying weaknesses requires precise knowledge of the spell's specifications.

For example, if there was an "unbreakable shield," the countermeasure might be found in its myth. However, to repel an attacking magician, finding such a specific weak point is unnecessary.

Instead of looking up the myth, one could find a "spear that pierced the unbreakable shield" from another story. This might seem contradictory and "illogical," but religion and mythology often feature such paradoxes, and so does magic.

This approach's strength lies in creating weaknesses on the attacker's side rather than relying on the defender's weaknesses.

Creating weaknesses is not entirely accurate; rather, it's better to say the attacker gains a special effect.

This isn't so much a causal treatment as a symptomatic one—a way to eradicate the pathogen without understanding its complete pathology.

In summary, to counter jujutsu, one doesn't need to understand its inner workings.

Applying similar magic's countermeasures works just as well.

"Commencing construction of anti-Thelema spell based on the decoding method of the 'Book of the Law' obtained from the primary personality, correlating with Hadit."

The basic principle of magic warfare is to search for weaknesses based on the myth or legend of the magic. If none exist, find another myth.

This is easier said than done, requiring immense knowledge and speed—attributes only those like Index possess.

"Executing 'Lord, Where Are You Going? Domine, Quo Vadis' now."

The domain shattered, like glass breaking, dissolving away.

"Confirmed destruction of the barrier. Judged effective."

Even after breaking the domain, "Automatic Writing" didn't stop. It moved on to eliminate the intruder.

Recognizing the girl's movement within the domain after its deactivation, Gojo watched her actions.

He hadn't touched Index. The confusion of encountering an opponent moving within his domain for the first time hindered his decision to act. Deactivating the domain was due to his concern for her safety, a premise now is flawed.

Even without deactivating the domain, any move to neutralize her would have been lethal. Not knowing her defense mechanism, he couldn't risk it. Observing was his only option.

"Warning, Chapter 22, Verse 1. Confirmed motif of Esoteric Buddhism: Indra's seal. Central era: 7th century. Language system: mix of Old and Middle Japanese with modern Japanese. Beginning construction of the most effective spell against the above-mentioned technique.

'Durvasa's Curse' - two seconds until full activation."

In Indian mythology, who is the strongest?

The answer is not necessarily a god.

Interestingly, humans who have undergone yoga training can possess powers that even the gods cannot resist.

One of these sages, called Rishi, is Durvasa, who caused havoc in ancient Indian literature with his curses. According to some texts, his curse, which deprived Indra and other gods of their powers, was the trigger for the churning of the ocean of milk, a creation myth in Hinduism.

Based on this legend, a spell was constructed to attack Gojo, whose innate technique was short-circuited after the domain expansion.

Even without his technique, he could fight with just his cursed energy. Though it might be difficult against Index, he just needed to either escape or buy time until his technique recovered.

Gojo resolved to do so—

The girl suddenly collapsed.

"What?"

The nun lay face down on the asphalt, unconscious.

The adult man stood ready, silently watching her.

The silence was broken by the screams and running footsteps of the curse user who regained consciousness and saw the devastation around them.

Gojo didn't comprehend that the threat had temporarily passed.

It was like a game suddenly shutting down mid-play.

He felt frustrated as his resolve turned out to be for nothing.

"Damn you, Pendex, taking my energy without permission..."

The voice from the girl, who had just regained consciousness, was strangely out of place, lacking the coldness from earlier. Gojo was so taken aback he felt dizzy.

The girl was groaning, but despite her words, there was no sign of diminished magic or therma.

Incidentally, there is a theory that Index, known for her insatiable appetite, requires a lot of energy due to the influence of her perfect memory ability.

In other words, using her grimoire to the fullest was like running around a vast library.

"I'm... hungry..."

In the deserted intersection, the sound of her stomach echoed.

It was enough to turn even a horror movie atmosphere into that of a light-hearted slice-of-life comedy.

"I haven't eaten anything for three hours. If you could fill my stomach, I'd be very happy."

Her beaming smile carried an undertone of pressure, as if to demand compensation for her spirit equipment.

The quip that almost escaped Gojo's lips, wondering if begging was a Buddhist thing, was stifled by the sight of her sharp, white canine teeth visible in her open mouth.

---

"Ah, I thought I was going to die. It's really tough when you're hungry.

"Where does it all go?"

Inside a family restaurant. Between us at the table, there was a pile of plates so high we couldn't even see each other's faces.

I was eating while explaining to Satoru Gojo, the sorcerer, how things had come to this.

Let me tell you about what happened after I arrived in Japan. The first problem I hit was money.

In reality, I hardly brought any money when traveling from England to Japan. Though I received some pocket money from the church, most of it went to spirit equipment, or food, or food, or food.

In short, I was penniless.

As a presumed 14-year-old girl in a nun's habit with a fake identity, I had no legitimate means to earn money.

However, by using hypnosis on people or forging documents, I could clear that hurdle to some extent. Initially, I thought I could get by with a part-time job, but I was naive.

I'm currently being pursued. It seems that it's problematic for English sorcerers to cause trouble in Japan, so Japanese sorcerers were sent after me instead.

I couldn't work with sorcerers attacking me in the streets. After repeated interference, I decided to take the offensive and activated the 'Divine Punishment Spell'.

This spell functions indiscriminately and can't choose targets. There's always a chance that civilians who might harbor hostility toward me could get caught in minor disputes or troubles. I couldn't keep it activated indefinitely, so I intended to use it as a warning to deter anyone from bothering me.

So, I decided to lure them out before activating it, making it clear that it was my doing. Sorcerers are sensitive to unnatural influences, even if they can't detect earth veins or dragon veins, and 'Human Repulsion' successfully drew in only the sorcerers.

After that, they collapsed one by one like mosquitoes when I activated the spell.

"That's what I thought, but you were the exception."

"Can you either eat or talk, not both?"

This young man, Satoru Gojo, didn't harbor any malice toward me for some reason.

What happened next was as we both knew. My cross got destroyed in the fight, and I used the 'Third Arm'.

I only intended to scare him a bit for the damage to my spirit equipment, but I got hit by a mysterious barrier attack, triggering 'John's Pen of Automatic Writing'.

Once that happens, I can't control myself for a while.

'Automatic Writing' is a safety mechanism for emergencies, so it can't be turned off easily by the person themselves, as that would be too dangerous.

Regaining control took a kind of effort, like trying to shut off an annoying alarm clock while half-asleep or forcing yourself to get up despite feeling drowsy.

"Magic, huh?"

Gojo, with his eyepatch, made a thinking gesture, hand on his chin.

I wondered how he perceived the outside world. Was it through sorcery?

He had taken it off during the fight, so perhaps it was a seal for mystic eyes.

Searching 'Mystic Eyes' brought up over a thousand results including 'Balor's Eye' among the 103,000 grimoires, offering unnecessary information.

"Alright, leave it to me!"

What is this? He seemed really untrustworthy. His behavior was oddly childish.

Moreover, the sorcerers should have been warned enough by this incident.

"Hello? Yeah, about that matter..."

Gojo pulled out his phone and called someone.

"Sorry, I lost♪"

He said this in a tone so light and insincere it was evident even over the phone.

For a while, he listened. It felt more like he was waiting for the other person to finish speaking.

After a few seconds, he resumed the conversation.

"I'm not kidding."

Gone was the cheerful tone, replaced by a voice filled with a menacing intensity.

Even though it was over the phone, his voice was loud enough for me to hear clearly, filled with what seemed like anger or shock.

"So, there's no way you can win against someone I couldn't beat, right?"

After a few more exchanges, he hung up.

"Alright, let's negotiate."

"Negotiate?"

He skillfully maneuvered through the pile of plates and leaned forward.

The conversation seemed to be taking a strange turn. What did he mean by leaving it to him? What exactly had I entrusted to him?

"Do you have any intention of returning to England?"

"No."

Instant reply. Of course not, why else would I have gone to the trouble of fleeing the country?

"Then, you plan to live here?"

"Yes."

"And how will you manage the money?"

"I'll earn it through part-time jobs."

"Can you cover your food expenses with that appetite?"

"Ugh..."

He hit a sore spot. In fact, this was the first time I'd eaten so much since arriving.

"Here's a proposal." 

He's grinning, I had a very bad feeling.

"—Why not become my pet?"