Chapter 143: A New Beginning

The new body for Panda had just been completed when a swirl of black mist rose around him, subtly warping the surrounding space.

Sōjun Minamoto guided the three cores into the body.

Click—

The pieces slotted into place like perfectly matched joints.

The intangible yet substantial cores fused seamlessly, and a soft black light radiated from within. It connected and intertwined with the curses surrounding Panda’s body, as if cautiously probing before merging.

After a brief struggle and entanglement, intricate black patterns spread like spiderwebs across Panda’s surface, then gradually settled.

Soon, the markings receded entirely, and the surrounding cursed energy flowed smoothly back into the core, like swallows returning to their nest—back to where they truly belonged.

The surge in Cursed Energy pushed past Grade 2, nearly hitting Grade 1 before it abruptly plateaued. Excess energy swirled around briefly, like a lost child searching for a home. After a moment’s hesitation, it scattered and faded away.

Sōjun Minamoto watched the energy dissipate.

Such a waste.

Panda straddled the line between human and cursed spirit, connected to both, yet benefiting from neither.

Still...

Sōjun Minamoto enjoyed doing things that disrupted the balance.

More importantly, this method let him gradually infuse his own power into the mix...

Eventually, they’d have to face him head-on.

For now, the balance mechanism couldn’t touch him, and he didn’t have an effective way to fight it directly either. Each time he was targeted, he could only respond after the fact—it was always reactive, never proactive.

He hated that.

Sōjun Minamoto looked at Panda, whose condition had stabilized.

He was still the same Panda. The changes were internal—on the surface, not much looked different.

“Come on, let’s see how it turned out.”

He waved Panda over.

Panda heard the voice and slowly opened his eyes. A flicker of black light flashed in his pupils.

That sudden spike in cursed energy was threatening to spiral out of control.

A happy kind of problem.

Burp—

Panda let out a burp, feeling—for the first time ever—a real sense of fullness.

Even when he was human, he rarely ate his fill. After death, as Panda, he didn’t even feel hunger anymore.

“Sōjun, I feel stronger now.” Panda raised his right paw and flexed his arm.

Under the lights, his claws gleamed coldly with sharp edges.

When he lowered his paw, the lab table beneath cracked open.

But the surface quickly rippled, and the cracks began to mend on their own. Clearly, the table was also a high-grade cursed tool.

“Follow me,”

Sōjun Minamoto said, walking toward the courtyard. He stopped under the large tree.

Panda walked upright, carefully trailing behind. He could feel the power brimming inside him.

He used to move on all fours, but now his legs alone were enough to support his weight.

“Sōjun,” Panda called out again, his small frame barely reaching Sōjun Minamoto’s thigh.

“How do I test it?”

He tilted his head up, his voice tinged with an instinctive excitement.

“Hold on,” Sōjun Minamoto said, pausing.

Just as Panda started to wonder why, a burst of laughter rang out from outside—as if answering Sōjun Minamoto’s signal.

“Wahahaha~ I’ve been promoted to Grade 2—”

The voice arrived before the person did. That overly familiar dramatic entrance...

Riko Amanai strode into the courtyard, hands on her hips, laughing proudly, practically demanding praise with her expression.

Looks like she passed the promotion to Grade 2.

It was a bit later than expected, delayed by all the recent events—and mostly because of him.

As Riko Amanai stepped into the courtyard, she saw Sōjun Minamoto pointing at her while looking at Panda.

“Let’s try her out.”

“Huh?”

Before her confusion could fully register, a black and white blur lunged at her.

As Panda pounced, wrinkles flared around his nostrils, fangs jutting out, his muscles swelling like an overinflated balloon. His expression twisted into something wild and savage.

It was the older brother—Gorilla Core.

But the transformation didn’t stop there. Two horns sprouted from his forehead, a large bone plate extended backward from the back of his skull forming a protective neck shield, and a short horn emerged above his beak.

His limbs slammed back to the ground, horns angled forward in a charging stance.

This was the older sister—Triceratops Form—Panda’s strongest state.

Dust burst up beneath her as she charged. After a blur of motion, she was already face-to-face with Riko Amanai...

It was Sōjun Minamoto’s first time seeing the sister form, and he found it oddly fascinating. He started recording data on the Triceratops.

Core transformation meant soul transformation, which in turn altered the body—each form manifesting power tailored to different situations.

It looked like the new body was a perfect fit, already completely synchronized with the core.

This entire transformation played out right before Sōjun Minamoto’s eyes. He could tell that throughout the process, Panda’s body had been automatically adapting its materials.

For example, the horns were formed from a segment of Special Grade bone.

Each of the three forms came with unique differences, and Panda’s body would autonomously adjust to form the most optimal material composition.

Sōjun Minamoto’s gaze landed between her two horns, right at the center of her brow. There, a pale red orb glowed—that was where the sister’s core resided.

Others couldn’t see it directly, but they could detect it through the fluctuations in Cursed Energy.

Even if it couldn’t be directly targeted, they still needed to be taught how to conceal it. Leaving it exposed in such a vulnerable spot wasn’t smart.

After all, in the world of jujutsu, there’s no telling what kind of bizarre power could appear. Just because you haven’t run into it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

The Triceratops form was closing in fast on Riko Amanai.

She didn’t flinch. She’d seen Panda before—they’d even played together not long ago.

She hadn’t expected that by the time she returned as a Grade 2 sorcerer, he’d already become this powerful. His speed was so fast, even she was struggling to keep up.

But…

This kind of head-on charge? Way too immature.

It reminded her of how she used to fight.

She shifted to the side and took a small step back, dodging the follow-up strike—a hammering swing of the Triceratops tail.

A gust of wind grazed her cheek, lifting strands of hair near her temple.

Riko Amanai felt the force behind it. Surprised, she began to take the battle more seriously.

Raw strength could cover for a lot of shortcomings. She needed to stay calm and observe closely.

As long as the gap in power wasn’t too wide...

A sorcerer’s battle was a battle of information.

She slowed her breathing, sharpening her focus, her eyes locked onto the Triceratops form.

Sōjun Minamoto looked on, satisfied. This one had grown up.

As for the other one...

He shook his head.

Who would’ve thought the shyest sister would end up having the most aggressive personality?

The Triceratops form was covered head to toe in high-grade cursed tools. Designed by Sōjun Minamoto himself, she didn’t even cast a large shadow under the blazing sun—perfectly tailored to counter Riko Amanai.

Not to mention, the immense Cursed Energy within her far exceeded Riko Amanai’s.

Her body also housed the properties of multiple cursed tools, which Sōjun had integrated into a range of strange and unique abilities...

On paper, she had every advantage.

Yet in reality, she was getting toyed with.

Riko Amanai wasn’t just another student like Kento Nanami or Yu Haibara. Her relationship with Masamichi Yaga was much closer—she was one of his core disciples, and the junior Sōjun Minamoto had personally mentored.

Because of that, she was well-versed in Panda’s background and similar secret matters. Yaga rarely kept anything from her.

He doted on her.

Aside from the truly classified stuff like the completely autonomous Cursed Corpse, she basically knew everything. Sometimes even before Sōjun Minamoto did. It was a bit like a grandparent-grandchild dynamic.

The Triceratops form soon fell behind.

By the end of the match, her weaknesses were laid bare—and Riko Amanai’s growth was just as clear.

Sōjun Minamoto called it.

Triceratops slumped to the side, covering her face with her claws in embarrassment.

It was her first outing.

She got too excited.

In the end, it had turned into a total beatdown, but since Triceratops seemed to be enjoying herself, Sōjun let the match play out to the end.

Once Panda reverted back to his base form, she melted onto the ground like liquid, looking totally spent.

“How... how is this possible?” Riko Amanai, who had clearly won, was still half-kneeling on the ground.

“I’ve been training hard for two and a half years, and I still can’t beat a Panda that’s only been alive for a few months?”

“Ughhh...”

She pounded the ground with her fists, head hanging low as a miserable whimper slipped out. Her eyes kept sneaking glances at Sōjun Minamoto.

“Quit the act.”

“Okay!”

Riko Amanai leapt to her feet. She’d been holding back a bit—if she hadn’t, she would’ve won ages ago.

“Panda’s training is your responsibility now,” Sōjun Minamoto said, pointing at her.

A passing of the torch.

“Eh?” She blinked, then quickly lit up and smacked her chest twice with a loud thud to show how serious she was.

“Leave it to me!”

Then she twirled her finger through her hair and, with a playful pout, added:

“Help me level up too, okay? I’m not asking for much—just, like, around Panda’s level.”

Sōjun Minamoto gave her a side glance. “That method doesn’t suit you... unless you’re fine not being human anymore?”

She quickly shook her head. Yeah, no thanks.

“But if you’re serious about improving, there is one way,” Sōjun Minamoto said, fixing his gaze on her.

“What is it?” she shot back.

“Exorcising Curse Users.”

Sōjun Minamoto’s voice was calm.

“The reason your progress is so slow is because the total amount of Cursed Energy is limited. If someone else has taken a piece of it, you can only claim what’s left. And everyone’s share is fixed at birth...”

Riko Amanai mulled over the idea.

She’d heard this theory before—it was basically the innate talent argument in the jujutsu world.

But this “total amount” idea was new. Surely no one could actually access the full measure of the jujutsu world's Cursed Energy... right?

She glanced at Sōjun Minamoto, and the thought became less certain.

“But I haven’t even claimed my full share yet,” she said, puzzled. “And I’m already progressing this slowly.”

The frustration was getting to her—like trying to scoop dirt with a spoon or put out a fire with a teacup.

“For various reasons, the total amount is nearly used up.”

Sōjun Minamoto paused.

“Think of it like conveyor belt sushi. There’s only so much food going around, the place is packed, and there aren’t enough chefs. If you want to fill your plate, you need to make sure there’s enough supply left.”

How do you ensure that?

If there’s not enough to go around, the only way to make sure you get your share... is to reduce the number of people eating.

Saying this to anyone else would be outrageous—it’s the kind of logic that could spark a civil war in the jujutsu world.

But Riko Amanai was different. She trusted Sōjun Minamoto. She had her own moral compass, and she’d decide what was right or wrong by her own standards—then ask herself:

Is this really what I want? Is this what my heart tells me to do?

And in the end, she’d make her own choice.

Sōjun Minamoto wasn’t trying to push her into killing. He was helping her build the mental groundwork...

The jujutsu world was on the verge of chaos.

When the more perceptive sorcerers started to catch on...

At first, conflict between sorcerers and Curse Users would escalate.

Then, once they realized it still wasn’t enough, the clashes would spread—not just between those two groups, but throughout the entire sorcerer community.

Eventually, even cursed spirits would be drawn into it. The entire jujutsu world would be swept up in the mess.

That’s when the real chaos would begin.

Sōjun Minamoto actually hoped to see it unfold. Masamichi Yaga becoming principal had been a step toward that future...

Just as he was mapping out his next move, Riko Amanai suddenly spoke up.

“Then... aren’t you the one who took the biggest share?”

...?

Sōjun Minamoto’s eyes narrowed.

This girl’s got some nerve.

Riko Amanai grinned. “Never mind then, I’ll just keep training the slow way.”

Then she shifted, her tone turning serious.

“But if you ever need anything... you can always come find me.”

Sōjun Minamoto froze.

“What is it?” Riko Amanai noticed.

“Nothing.”

He raised his hand to block the sun. The incomplete black ring mark on the back of his hand trembled—it was Kenjaku.

Kenjaku was reaching out to him.