28 Chapter 18. Origins of Disaster

It was the last month of autumn, but thanks to Japan's location in low latitudes, the weather in the country was quite favorable for leisurely strolls, travel, and family holidays. During this time at the Tokyo School of Magic, the bare tree branches, somber weather, cool breeze, and temperatures ranging from ten to fifteen degrees Celsius, all combined with the atmosphere of an ancient traditional Japanese village from the fourteenth century, evoked a gentle tremor. However, for the regular inhabitants of this "hidden-in-the-leaves" school, such an atmosphere had long become commonplace. Of course, that didn't mean it was boring here, as three Sorcerers of Special Rank resided in this place, giving it, as Director Yaga put it, a "distinct and unforgettable touch of 'gray hair.'"

At the moment when all the Sorcerers at the Tokyo School had become accustomed to the antics of the main "disturber of peace" in the form of the Strongest Sorcerer of the present, Okkotsu Yuta appeared in this place. For the past three months, he had been relentlessly practicing his new ability, copied from Inumaki Toge. And how could one not mention Sukehiro Yami with his constant strange behavior, causing bewilderment and irritated eyebrow-twitching.

"How long has he been sitting like that?" Panda asked his friends, looking at Sukehiro Yami, who sat in a lotus position and showed almost no signs of life, only occasionally his chest would slightly rise.

"Almost a day," Maki replied, resting her chin on her hand.

"Will everything be okay?" Yuta asked anxiously.

"It's Sukehiro... Do you think everything will be okay with him?" Maki skeptically glanced at the guy.

"He's still sitting under the tree!" a voice from nowhere, Satoru Gojo's voice, echoed. "I won."

"I'll never argue with Six Eyes again," Director Yaga grumbled, handing over a stack of bills.

"Teacher!"

"Finally, you're back!"

"Salmon."

"I'm not a monster," Satoru smiled, holding large McDonald's-logoed bags in his hands. "Although working for you as a courier gives me strange feelings."

"You did tell us to watch over him while you went to get something tasty," Yuta replied, scratching his cheek embarrassedly.

"I meant I would go grab a snack..."

"Okay, let's just eat already," Maki interrupted, ignoring the teacher's selfishness.

"Teacher, do you know what's happening with him?" Yuta asked Satoru, while Maki, Panda, and Toge sorted out their orders in the background, and Yaga sadly stared at his empty wallet.

"No," Satoru simply shrugged, then continued with an anticipatory grin. "However, he's clearly getting stronger."

◊◊◊

Thinking about it now, I've lived the majority of my life without Cursed Technique. Although, to call things by their true names, even now I possess not Cursed Technique, but rather Spiritual. But even so, eight out of ten years of my life as a Sorcerer, I was "talentless." And such a "plot twist" changes a lot, primarily the attitude towards the power itself.

In this world, you can count on one hand the number of Sorcerers who became strong without relying on their Cursed Technique. And there's nothing strange about it because essentially having a Cursed Technique is directly proportional to having talent. Of course, your mom may tell you that achieving significant results requires putting in enough effort first, and only then luck and talent come into play. But as we grow up, we all understand that it's complete nonsense. I don't deny that a lazy but talented person may achieve less than a hardworking but talentless one, although the opposite is also possible. However, in the world of Sorcererism, the presence of Cursed Technique determines everything.

Eighty percent of personal power—that's how much weight Cursed Technique carries.

What's the moral of all this?

Three months ago, as I watched Yuta Okkotsu fight, for the first time in my second life, I felt envy. A person born naturally talented became stronger than me in just half a year... Stronger than me, someone who has honed his skills and danced flamenco with death for almost his entire life. What can be said here? Thanks to my grandpa for knocking such nonsense out of me in childhood, so instead of envy, righteous anger came, directed solely at becoming stronger.

The next three months were like fire for me: Curse, fire, ashes, Curse, and so on in a circle. All for the sake of waking up one morning, having coffee, and realizing that I'm a muscle-headed idiot who, instead of looking for clues, decided to just bash his head against a concrete wall, subsequently leaving numerous cracks and remnants of his skull on it.

It's been ten years since I first encountered the world of Sorcerers, ten years since I acquired the "Spiritual System." I've become stronger, more mature, more experienced. I was dubbed a Sorcerer of Special Rank. But with all the aforementioned achievements, I still don't possess Cursed Technique, I'm still talentless. So, the question arises: "How foolish must one be to evaluate oneself and one's progress from the perspective of an ordinary person in the 'Magical Battle' world? How lacking in self-confidence must one be to confine oneself to invisible boundaries and halt one's progress?" And, as is often the case in adult life, there won't be a single correct answer to such a question. However, there's no need to answer it; you simply acknowledge the fact that you made a mistake and move on.

I found myself in the gray city that I had seen in my dream half a year ago. Interestingly, this dream occurred more and more frequently, and in the last week, it happened every day. Therefore, this morning, when I was completely convinced that it was an unusual nightmare connected to the unknown that granted me my power, I finally decided to sit down and get to the truth.

The concept of "Spiritual Energy" had been etched into my memory since the age of six when I first became aware of its existence. And although the choice to delve into its essence through a rather cliché method, such as meditation, seemed intricate and naive, this decision turned out to be exceptionally effective.

Cogitation... At that moment, a new term appeared in my mind, as if the final piece of the puzzle had finally completed the overall picture of what was happening to me. Cogitation is simultaneously a state and an act of spiritual concentration on a specific goal, which could be an object, being, or even a scene, like the "Gray City" before my eyes. If I'm right, "Cogitation" should help me elevate the acting process to a certain level without using the usual act of playing out my "Sequence."

Although I'm slightly puzzled by the definition of "Cogitation" that emerged in my mind—centralization of thoughts and maintaining a rational focus. Rational focus? For what?

At that moment, the black sun hanging high in the sky blinked, and then again, after which the black light emanating from it concentrated into an even darker point, which turned out to be a pupil. Sweeping across the entire city, like an emperor observing his dominion, the eye stopped at me. And again, the scene before me cracked, and then began to crumble into nothingness. Until today, I always woke up at this point, but now I forced myself to stay.

Suddenly, I felt an irresistible force pass through my body. Looking at my hands, I noticed that they consisted of a red glow, along which cracks began to spread. Is my Soul crumbling? As if a light bulb lit up in my mind, I began to fill myself with Spiritual Energy, which, when overflowing, started to pull the cracks back together.

I don't know how long this cycle of destruction, overflow, and restoration lasted, but at a certain moment, I found myself in emptiness. I didn't smell anything, didn't hear sounds; it seemed as if I were blind. However, looking again at my hands, I was surprised to see that they now looked completely human: regular skin, muscles, and bones. So, this means that...

Prior to this, in the "Gray City," I saw my Astral Projection — the outermost layer of the Soul that I could observe through Spiritual Vision. Essentially, it's a manifestation of any kind of energies and the physical form of a person; that's why my hands were made of red glow. I also know about the Soul Body or the "Axis of the Soul"—the foundation of the soul, its most "internal" part. All biological beings have spirituality and possess a Soul Body, and although I can't observe this part of the Soul, sometimes, with strong concentration, I can trace the path my Spiritual Energy takes, and it originates precisely in this part of the Soul. By the way, using Spiritual Vision and "Spiritual Techniques" burdens the Soul Body, so up to a certain point, I reached a state where I still have Cursed energy, but I can no longer use Pyromancy or Provocation.

Now, I have taken a different form… Something more spiritual than the Astral Projection, but not as profound as the Soul Body… Astral projection, perhaps that's how something similar is called in pop culture.

My mental storm was interrupted by the trembling of emptiness, followed by a shadow... Yes, that's it, a shadow in emptiness. I agree, it's strange, impossible, and overall, it felt like I was getting high before meditation, but looking up, if such a concept even existed in this place, I saw a huge something descending upon me. This object emitted a strange, overwhelming Spiritual pressure, preventing me from moving.

And at a certain moment, this something landed on my body. I only had time to blink before finding myself once again in the midst of the "Gray City."

"Catastrophe of Destruction: Origins of Disaster… City of Calamities!" a raspy, gender-ambiguous voice echoed out of nowhere. It exuded antiquity and ashes.

I had the feeling that this voice resounded simultaneously from the very world and within my own head. A strange sensation—hearing other voices in my own head. However, no matter how I mocked, I still couldn't shake off the shiver coming from the depths of my Soul... A shiver coming from my Path, my Sequences.

And in that moment, it was as if I saw through. Before me unfolded a view of the true Spiritual Realm: around me, the City of Calamities, beyond it, endless streams and whirls of Spiritual energy that, like the branches of a gigantic tree, spread as far as my imagination could reach, and beyond that… Beyond that was emptiness... Emptiness that came after destruction... After...

"Calamity of Destruction: Origins of Disaster. City of Calamity!"

◊◊◊

At that moment, in the real world.

Still unconscious, Sukehiro Yami began to move. Sitting in a lotus position, he formed the "horse" hand seal, and words that had never been heard in the world before escaped his lips:

"Calamity of Destruction: Origins of Disaster. City of Calamity!"

Regardless of who he was — whether a Sorcerer with almost no Cursed energy, a Cursed Corpse, or the "Strongest" in the world — everyone's hearts trembled in fear.

"What... What's happening?" Yuta was very surprised at how nervous Rika had become.

Suddenly, the surroundings darkened sharply.

"Look," Panda said with a trembling voice, pointing a paw to the sky.

When everyone looked up at the sky, an amazing scene unfolded before their eyes: something completely dark obscured the entire sky, casting an infinite shadow.

"Satoru, what is happening?!" Director Yaga asked Satoru.

"It looks like Territory Expansion," a broad smile appeared on the face of the "Strongest."

"What the hell does strangely mean?! This is not the time for childishness!" the director exclaimed, grabbing onto the nearest protrusion of the building as everything around began to shake.

"Did it not seem strange to you that Sukehiro isn't using any hand seals, no spells at all? Of course, mastering magic means mastering subtraction. The skill of any Sorcerer is determined by their ability to reduce the steps required to compose and activate a technique... But to completely skip all of that and directly use Cursed Technique? Doesn't it seem to you that he isn't a Sorcerer in the usual sense of the word?"

"And what does this have to do with?"

"What does it have to do with you?" Satoru skeptically stared at his students. "This was Sukehiro's task, a Sorcerer unbound by the common sense of our world, fully embracing this fact and using it to his advantage."

After these words, everything around seemed to dissolve like a dream, and the world that seemed on the verge of the "Catastrophe of Destruction" returned to a normal state: rare rays of sunlight pierced through gray clouds, a cool breeze carried fallen leaves across the ground. The only thing that changed was Sukehiro Yami, who, opening his eyes again, "revived" for the second time.

***

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