Chapter 39. Awakening from the Dream (Part 3)

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Ritualistic Magic was never a simple craft. It involved a wide range of lengthy and intricate rituals, each with numerous limitations. It wasn't possible to perform true miracles like resurrection, significantly boosting destructive power, or accurately predicting the future. However, Ritualistic Magic had one huge advantage — its versatility.

In theory, being an Beyonder, one could learn things like spiritual vision, divination, ritual exorcism, spiritual prayers, luck enhancement, artifact creation, and much more. However, it all depended on one's level of spirituality. Unfortunately, as an Beyonder of the "Red Priest" path, I couldn't boast a highly developed spirituality. What I had wasn't enough to use truly powerful Ritualistic Magic. Nonetheless, with each new sequence, my spirituality evolved, and along with it, my understanding of the soul and control over spiritual energy.

By now, at the sixth sequence, "The Conspirer," I had reached a level where I could truly unlock the potential of Ritualistic Magic. And now, as I prepared to help Maki and her sister, I was about to do just that.

All types of Ritualistic Magic can be divided into three parts. The first is the offering, which attracts the interest of the corresponding "existence." The second is the incantation, which specifically describes the "existence" in question. The third is the use of simple formatting and symbols to convey what you're asking for.

From this formulation, it's clear that almost all, if not all, Ritualistic Magic works like a prayer to a "deity." As a member of the species "Homo sapiens," I needed to show at least a drop of that so-called sapience and avoid interaction with these so-called deities. This meant I would have to improvise again if I wanted to help Maki. Fortunately, as soon as I learned about Ritualistic Magic, I began looking for ways to help the Zenin sisters, and I already had a plan... or rather, I was going to use a crutch in the form of my own existence in this world.

After preparing everything necessary for the ritual in one of the buildings at the Tokyo School of Magic, I summoned the Zenin sisters. Maki and Mai stood nearby, watching my every move with keen eyes. Their faces showed a mixture of distrust and skepticism, especially Mai's — unsurprisingly, as she knew more about their situation with Maki than her sister did. Maki, with her stern and determined expression, had always been skeptical of "magic," preferring to rely on her physical abilities. It didn't help that Ritualistic Magic was tied to the soul, making it even more mysterious and suspicious.

"Are you sure this will work?" Maki asked, crossing her arms over her chest and watching me closely.

"As long as you don't grumble while I'm working, yes," I replied, adjusting some of the symbols I had already drawn on the floor.

Mai smirked sarcastically and remarked, "For some reason, I don't really trust something called a debt contract ritual. I wonder why?" She paused for a few seconds, as if thinking it over, before continuing with more biting sarcasm. "Oh, right, maybe it's because it sounds like I'm asking a debt collector for help! You're trying to change our souls, you freak! And you're using something like this... This... What did Maki even see in you?!"

Maybe I'm not great at naming things, but is that really a reason to get so worked up? I couldn't help myself:

"Listen up, everyone! I'm a teenage girl. I don't care about any of you. I just want to sarcastically stay silent, then throw out some biting remarks, then go back to being sarcastically silent. What's your next move? Huh?" I paused briefly, checked one last time that everything was in its place, then stood up and finished. "Sarcastic silence or a biting remark? Let's go!"

"Bastard," Mai growled through clenched teeth, seething with anger.

"What's with all this teenage drama?" Maki sighed tiredly, rubbing her temples. "Can we just get started?"

I just shrugged, glancing at the Zenin sisters, a look that Mai clearly found provocative. How else to explain the vein bulging on her forehead? But she was right—we did need to get started.

As Mai had already mentioned, this ritual was called the debt contract ritual. It was a standard ritual for establishing a contract between two people with a third party, usually some deity, acting as a mediator. In this case, I would be the mediator.

The debt contract ritual is performed using the standard "3" candle ritual. The candles are positioned at "ten," "two," and "six" on a clock face, and they must be lit in a clockwise direction, starting with the one on the left.

At the top left, at "ten o'clock," was an ordinary candle. Since it symbolized Maki, this candle didn't have any special properties and had been bought for a few dozen yen at the nearest store.

At the top right, at "two o'clock," was a candle created by Mai using her cursed technique. Besides the fact that the candle itself carried her cursed technique, I also asked her to fill it with her cursed energy.

At the bottom center, at "six o'clock," was a candle whose wax had been melted by my flames. Additionally, it was infused with my spiritual and cursed energies.

"Before we begin, I need you to fully understand what's going to happen," I said seriously, looking at the Zenin sisters. "Do you know what your problem is?"

"That we're twins," Mai replied, finally calming down and putting on a serious expression.

"What are you talking about?" Maki shifted her gaze from the magic circle beneath her feet to Mai.

"Twins aren't just considered a bad omen for sorcerers for no reason," I nodded at Mai. "Essentially, during the development of monozygotic twins in the womb, they are considered a single entity by the world — a single sorcerer, to be precise.

"So…?"

"Who am I?" I suddenly interrupted Maki.

"..."

"You are Rei Ayanami. But, who are you? Are you Rei Ayanami as well? Correct, I'm the thing that is recognized as Rei Ayanami," I quoted one of my favorite memes from Evangelion, ignoring the angry glares from the two sisters. "Does that explanation make more sense?"

"Idiot," Maki shook her head in exasperation.

"I swear, one day I'm going to kill you," Mai muttered, her glare sharp enough to kill if looks could.

"You don't like this, you don't like that… How am I supposed to please you women?" I sighed in frustration.

"Just explain it properly instead of using memes like some stupid school kid!" Mai snapped.

"From the moment you were developing in your mother's womb, your cursed energy was divided between the two of you because, to the world, you are one sorcerer — one Ayanami Rei, so to speak," I smirked, managing to sneak in the comparison again. "The problem is that Maki's Heavenly Restriction doesn't work as it should because of this split cursed energy. As for you, Mai, your Creation Technique was also affected, possibly even more so… Tell me, did you ever think your meager strength was the maximum you could achieve with your cursed technique?"

"What are you talking about?" Mai frowned.

"I met a very old sorcerer who was a user of the Creation Technique. Let me tell you, at her peak, she wasn't weaker than any special-grade sorcerer."

"What nonsense are you spouting? If there were another user of my cursed technique, I would definitely know about it," Mai shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't say she was alive," I shrugged, continuing to tease this "wild cat."

"Just explain it properly before her head explodes from anger," Maki sighed, looking at her sister with pity.

"Megumi's sister was one of the vessels. Satoru and I solved her problem, but I had to fight a female sorcerer who lived during the time of the real Sukuna," I finally began to explain. "By the way, as far as I know, besides having the Creation Technique, she could also be considered an ancestor of the Zenin clan."

"What was her name?" Mai asked after a few seconds of silence, clearly processing what I had said.

"Yorozu."

A silence hung between us. Honestly, I didn't expect this information to pique Mai's interest so much.

"Alright, if you're that interested in this person, you can look up more about her in your family's archives. But right now, we have work to do," I spoke first. "Back to the matter at hand. Your main problem is cursed energy. Maki shouldn't have any at all to fully unlock the true potential of her Heavenly Restriction. As for you, Mai, you lack enough cursed energy, which is why your output is insufficient for the Creation Technique, which is very 'hungry' in that regard."

"If it were just a problem with cursed energy…" Mai shook her head, clearly disagreeing with me.

"The issue isn't just with cursed energy but also with your poor mastery of your own cursed technique," I replied, earning two reproachful looks in return. "Don't look at me like that, it's the truth. However, this problem stems from the small output of cursed energy — or rather, it's 'incomplete.' At least, that's what I think."

"That's what you think?" Mai gave me a skeptical look.

"I'm a sorcerer, not a scientist," I just shrugged. "All my conclusions are based on logic, the information available to me, and a positive attitude."

"A positive attitude?" Mai repeated, as if she hadn't heard correctly.

"Is there a problem?" I stared her down.

"Just get on with it," Mai sighed tiredly, unable to hold my gaze. "Before you say something that completely destroys my resolve."

"That's the spirit!" I clapped my hands and continued, but a little quieter. "Let's just hope your souls don't explode."

"What did you say?" Mai blurted out.

"Nothing," I raised my hands in surrender.

"Don't worry, Mai, he's joking," Maki tried to calm her sister, then added, "You are joking, right?"

"I wouldn't have offered to help if there was a chance of your death," I put on a serious face that could be trusted and shook my head. "Alright, let's get started!

Without giving Maki and Mai a chance to say anything else, I reached out to my spiritual energy.

"The debt contract ritual is based on the binding vow of sorcerers. Under normal circumstances, a sorcerer cannot completely rid themselves of cursed energy through a vow. There are two reasons for that: first, a binding vow only works in the presence of cursed energy, which means that if Maki wanted to use a vow to completely rid herself of cursed energy, the binding vow wouldn't work. The second reason is that the prerogative for such a radical change belongs solely to the Heavenly Restriction, which, as we know, is also a kind of binding vow, except it's created by the world itself. The debt contract ritual is something in between a regular binding vow and a Heavenly Restriction because, thanks to me, it doesn't work on cursed energy but directly interacts with the soul."

"So you weren't joking about the soul?!" Maki suddenly blurted out.

"To be honest, I have no idea what's going to happen next… Well, here we go!" I grinned at the sisters and activated the ritual.