“The one to be exorcised is not me—it’s you, child,” Harunaga said with a smirk, as he floated several katashiro talismans in the air before him.

There were ten—no, twelve of them.

They seemed to be emerging endlessly from inside his clothing, making me wonder if those talismans themselves were part of some magic spell.

With a flick of his finger, Harunaga sent the talismans flying toward us, his lips curling into a smile.

“The one who should be exorcised is you, not me.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I replied.

But before the talismans could do anything, they all froze solid, falling uselessly to the ground. They were trapped by Yuki-onna’s ice magic before they could even activate.

“Yuki-onna became a monster because of you. And yet, she never killed anyone. She’s not like other monsters,” I said.

“You didn’t see it? She killed two sorcerers from Mutsu,” Harunaga retorted.

“That was self-defense.”

I often think about my previous life—about that moment, right before I was stabbed by that strange man. If I had realized he was carrying a blade, could I have survived?

But the answer is always the same: no, I couldn’t have. It was impossible.

That lunatic intended to kill me, and there was no reasoning with him.

So, I firmly believe this: some people can’t be reasoned with. If someone comes at you with the intent to kill, you must kill them first, or you’ll be the one to die.

“Then my actions are also self-defense, wouldn’t you say?” Harunaga continued.

“No,” I replied. “What you’re doing is simply reaping what you sowed.”

As I fought against Harunaga, one thing became clear: every spell he used was channeled through his katashiro talismans. Unlike me, whose magic directly transformed from Silveit, he had to take the extra step of using talismans.

That unnecessary step created a weakness. If I could destroy the talismans before they turned into spells, Harunaga wouldn’t be able to use magic.

And that likely applied to his defenses as well.

“Raikan,” I said.

The lightning cage I summoned was different from before. This time, it wasn’t for defense—it was meant to trap Harunaga.

“Such pointless efforts,” Harunaga muttered, as he pulled out a katashiro talisman. But before he could activate it, my lightning cage automatically reacted, burning the talisman to ash.

Just like with my ki-rai, lightning magic was good at automatic counterattacks.

This was why I had used a lightning cage. As I expected, it burned up his talismans the moment they appeared.

For the first time, the carefree expression disappeared from Harunaga’s face. His lighthearted demeanor vanished.

“I see… So, you’ve managed to break through my defenses,” he said.

“Exactly,” I replied.

A sorcerer who couldn’t use magic was nothing more than a regular person.

No, Harunaga wasn’t human anymore. He was a monster without magic.

“Now, all that’s left is to exorcise you.”

As if to punctuate my words, ice spikes shot up from the ground, impaling Harunaga’s legs.

“I’ve waited for this moment,” Yuki-onna, still in Aya-chan’s form, said.

“The moment I can finally kill you!”

Her blue Silveit threads gleamed as she drew a circle before her and exhaled. The moment her breath passed through the circle, it turned into a white, freezing wind that enveloped Harunaga and my lightning cage, freezing them both solid.

“Let’s shatter him, Itsuki,” she said. Explore stories at m,v l’e-NovelBin.net

“Yeah.”

I summoned a large rock and hurled it at the frozen Harunaga without hesitation.

It wasn’t as powerful as my meteor, but this spell, called tobitsubute, used Silveit to launch rocks at high speed.

Harunaga might have looked human, but he was still an insect—a monster. And, more importantly, he was the scum who created Yuki-onna in the first place.

I had no reason to hold back.

My magic should have shattered both the ice and Harunaga into pieces… or so I thought.

“I really thought I’d die there, child,” Harunaga said.

Though the ice shattered, Harunaga was completely unharmed.

…Not a single scratch.

“Itsuki-kun! No! That won’t work!” Shirayuki-sensei shouted from the audiovisual room window.

“That’s the ‘Curse Transfer’! It’s a spell that shifts any injuries to the katashiro talismans it’s resonating with—this is the deepest level of resonance magic!”

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Harunaga said with a grin. “This secret technique is one only a handful can use, myself included. It does take some time to prepare, though… You gave me too much time by summoning that cage, child.”

…Seriously? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Was such a spell even possible?

“It’s a useful spell, Curse Transfer. Once it’s active, the talismans resonate with each other, absorbing any damage. The best part? I don’t even have to do anything once it’s in place.”

“…”

I ground my teeth in frustration.

I couldn’t believe such a spell existed.

I wanted to know more about it—but now wasn’t the time for curiosity.

“Well, then. I’ll take my leave now,” Harunaga said.

“No, you won’t,” I replied.

“Oh? You’ve already sealed all your spells, child. You can’t defeat me.”

But I knew exactly what I needed to do.

I just had to exorcise him.

I summoned five strands of Silveit. The countdown to his demise had already begun.

Since developing Oborozuki, I had given it a lot of thought.

That spell devoured everything around it. A black hole that pulled everything toward it.

But there had to be a more versatile spell. And I’d found it.

“My magic isn’t finished yet,” I said.

“Oh? Still fighting, are we? Give it up already…”

My five Silveit threads flew toward Harunaga, wrapping around his body.

But he didn’t notice them.

Without True Sight, there was no way he could see my threads.

“Your ‘Curse Transfer’ works for as many katashiro talismans as you have, right?” I asked.

“Indeed.”

“Then what happens if all those talismans are destroyed at once?”

“Impossible. I possess over 8,096 talismans. You think you can erase them all?”

“Yes. I do.”

I cast my spell.

By combining five attributes, I summoned Composite Attribute: Night. But this time, I didn’t create a single, exposed black point.

Instead, I formed a large black sphere around Harunaga, trapping him inside.

“A barrier? But… it’s so dark.”

This was my safety measure.

By creating a vanishing point only inside the sphere, I could safely, and completely, erase the monster.

“Rakyō,” I chanted.

With my words, a deafening sound like that of rock being drilled echoed, and the black sphere began to shrink. Inside, Harunaga’s body was being devoured.

“You think you can exorcise me with this? Without even sealing teleportation in this barrier…?”

Despite his situation, Harunaga still sounded confident. So, I decided to explain.

He’d already lost.

“It’s too late. That spell cancels out all magic.”

“…What? I… I can’t cast anything?!”

Finally, Harunaga realized what was happening.

Just like when I exorcised Raikō Dōji using the same Night attribute, this magic sealed the target’s spells and consumed them.

Nothing escaped. No one escaped.

That’s why this magic was the night.

“Stop! I’ve only just returned to life! Do you know how much I sacrificed to reach eternity? If I die now, those who perished for me will…”

“For you?”

Yuki-onna’s voice cut him off.

The black sphere was now half its original size.

“No one died for your sake. You killed them. Embrace that arrogance as you die, exorcist.”

“Ridiculous! A mere child—an insignificant monster—dares to defy my eternal…”

And then he was gone.

The black sphere vanished entirely, along with Harunaga.

It was an abrupt end, but he had been exorcised. The proof was in the slow dissolving of the barrier Harunaga had created.

Rakyō left not even a trace of the black mist typical of exorcised monsters.

However, one thing did remain on the ground: the relic of Adashino Harunaga.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep