My eyes went wide at the good news.
If she'd unraveled the materialization of the soul, that meant she'd effectively cracked the Third Magic, but...
Only a few years?
That was far too short a span to call the time it took to dig a Magic out of the dark.
Honestly, I would have expected decades at the bare minimum.
Normally, something like this should have taken centuries. I never imagined it would be solved this fast.
"Really? You actually did it?"
"If we had to derive the formula from scratch and reach the conclusion from nothing, that would be another story. But we had you, Senior—a fully realized result. I worked backward from there, so the number of necessary steps dropped dramatically."
BB smiled as she looped herself around my arm.
The word she'd used so often before—working backward—hit me with fresh force.
The direction needed to reach a single truth.
Trial and error.
She had skipped past most of that, and only someone as exceptional as BB could have pulled it off.
"That's incredible."
"Right? I finished before Maki and Mai turned into old ladies. The timing couldn't be better."
"True enough."
At present, Maki and Mai were in their mid-twenties.
As far as the body went, this was the best period of their lives.
"Can we apply it to the Servants first? Is there anything I need to do?"
"Provide Magical Energy. Though I haven't reached the Root itself. I can only reproduce the phenomenon on a technical level."
Someone who could use Magic, yet was not a Magician.
There was something strangely uncanny about that.
"Do you regret it?"
"Hm? No. I'm not even a magus. Why would I cling to becoming a Magician or reaching the Root? I'm an AI made exclusively for you, Senior. Your well-being is my highest priority and my everything."
The focus vanished from BB's eyes.
It lasted only an instant, but the answer carried a crushingly heavy kind of love.
The Sakura-face line, BB included, had always been serious about love.
Which meant, yes, they could be a little intense.
"Then that's fine."
"Yes. Ah, though if you learn the technique yourself, things might change a little. Want to study it sometime later?"
"Sure. We've got plenty of time."
If I became a magus in the body born from the materialization of the soul...
There was something undeniably romantic about that.
"Then I'll begin right away."
Smiling, BB picked up the handset nearby.
It was the in-house announcement system we'd installed.
Once a Servant achieved materialization of the soul, they became an independent life-form.
No need for summoning maintenance.
No need for a Master's Magical Energy supply as the anchor keeping them fixed in the world.
More than that, they no longer needed the Master to exist at all.
Because they were now independent life-forms.
From a Master's perspective, that was obviously a terrible disadvantage.
There would no longer be any reason for them to rely on the Master.
And yet Kadoc's Servants had remained loyal even after achieving materialization of the soul.
If anything, they had grown more affectionate, more stable.
Even if their Master vanished.
Even if someone like Goetia pulled some trick to block Servant summoning, it would no longer matter.
They would not be separated.
There was no longer any fear of disappearing because of the bond to the Master.
The seven Servants were deeply satisfied by that point.
For the first time, they had the room to seriously think about the future as living beings.
"But if it comes to this, can we even have children? This is basically an infinite-Servant state, so it's kind of murky, ain't it?"
In the basement workshop, BB's workshop, Shuten-douji asked the question while seated in a circle with the seven Servants.
The other six Servants, excluding Shuten-douji, sat in a ring and listened closely.
It was an extremely important matter.
"Hmm... are children really that important? Honestly, they'd just steal time away from Master. I can't say I welcome the idea."
Koyanskaya of Light, the Assassin, was the first to voice a negative opinion.
Koyanskaya of Darkness, the Foreigner, felt the same.
"I do want children, but..."
Minamoto-no-Raiko alone was positive about the idea.
The rest were skeptical.
It wasn't that they disliked children. It was more that they questioned whether they were necessary at all.
Even Raiko understood that feeling.
She loved children, but her love with Master mattered more.
To Raiko, the child in question was her beloved Kadoc himself.
A child was the fruit of love.
They all shared that thought, but the time that would be taken away by a child felt like the greater issue.
BB. Ibuki-douji. Ushi-gozen.
Even those three, who had not openly stated an opinion, quietly nodded.
"Senior doesn't particularly want children either, so let's settle on passing on that. From what I've seen, Senior wants pleasure and the sight of us falling apart for him, not children."
BB reached that conclusion after observing Kadoc's behavior over all the time they'd spent together.
It was an extremely accurate analysis.
"Maki, Mai. What about you two? You're not Servants, you're human, so your thoughts should be a little different, right?"
At that, Maki and Mai, who had been standing off in the corner, stiffened.
The soul-materialization procedure that had taken several days was over.
Now it was the sisters' turn.
But on the way down, the conversation had become so serious they hadn't been able to cut in.
It wasn't as if the topic had nothing to do with them.
'Children...'
The sisters sank into thought, carrying the same concern.
Children.
They had never thought about it all that deeply, but they had felt that having them wouldn't be so bad.
Giving birth. Carrying on the family line.
That instinct, that custom, had been dissolved into them unconsciously.
But as they listened, their thinking gradually changed.
People carried on the line because they died.
Because they wanted their blood to remain, some proof that they had lived.
But if one achieved materialization of the soul, one would not die.
Which meant there was no need to have children.
Mai finished thinking before Maki and opened her mouth first.
Maki answered right after her, as if following her lead.
"I feel the same as everyone else."
"Me too. If I can stay with Oppa, that's enough. I never had the room to worry about children in the first place."
So the two of them had reached the same conclusion.
BB could tell the sisters had thought it through properly before deciding.
There might have been some influence from the atmosphere in the room...
But their own will weighed far more heavily.
"Good. Then we'll conclude that Maki and Mai will avoid having children as well. You'll need to keep up contraception consistently, understood?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
The sisters nodded at the same time.
Even if their bodies became capable of bearing children, they had decided not to.
"Then let's begin. Over there—both of you, lie down on the beds."
BB pointed to the beds set some distance away.
Two mechanical-looking beds stood side by side.
The sisters immediately walked over and lay down.
As they settled in next to each other, their shoulders brushed lightly.
The sisters were lives born in the world of jujutsu, not the world of Magecraft.
We had first needed to determine whether Magecraft could affect them at all, but the conclusion had already been reached.
Magecraft did affect them.
Which meant they too could become targets of soul materialization through Magic.
BB rose from her seat and approached the sisters.
True to her nature as an AI, even the procedure itself was carried out by machine.
Light flowed through the vein-like channels engraved into the beds where the sisters lay.
A large square scanner hung above them.
Beside it was a control panel, and on the far side of the scanner several mechanical arms were arranged.
It looked exactly like surgical equipment.
"Then we'll start. It won't hurt, so don't tense up too much~"
With BB's easygoing voice, the machines whirred to life.
Soon, the sisters' bodies were swallowed in white light.
All seven Servants. Maki and Mai as well.
Every one of them achieved materialization of the soul.
There was no dramatic change in appearance, but there was another dramatic change.
Not only Mai, but even Maki became capable of using Magecraft.
Infinite Magical Energy.
And the means to control that Magical Energy as well.
Mai adapted quickly to handling Magical Energy thanks to her experience using Cursed Energy.
Maki, with her superhuman senses, caught up almost immediately.
Koyanskaya taught them the basics of Magical Energy control.
Each Servant then taught them how to use that power in battle.
Each had their own methods, their own individuality.
With seven distinct styles gathered in one place, the range of combat options they could learn became vast.
'It actually worked.'
What shocked me most was seeing Maki use Magical Energy.
She still retained all the properties of a Heavenly Restriction body, yet she could wield Magical Energy anyway.
Magical Energy was a different force from Cursed Energy.
I'd been sure that meant it wouldn't violate the innate binding placed on her, but seeing it with my own eyes was still staggering.
"Isn't this completely broken?"
"It absolutely is."
Mai let out a sigh at the sight, and I nodded too.
Broken was broken.
That said, if Mai kept living, she too could eventually grow to the level of a Servant.
The same went for Maki.
Infinite time, and infinite Magical Energy.
With both of those in hand, the scope of their growth became almost immeasurable.
"But... are you going to use this on the others too?"
A few months after we'd all adapted, Maki asked me that while curled up in my arms on the bed.
I held her and thought it over.
Mai, lying beside us, blinked quietly and watched me.
"Hm... that's a hard question."
"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked something pointless."
"It's not like that."
Holding the sisters on either side of me, I fell silent.
I was learning soul materialization, but at the moment only BB could actually use it.
Even so, my decision was BB's decision.
If I said to do it, BB would follow through, which meant the choice ultimately rested with me.
'Everyone...'
Gojo. Geto. Naoya. Yaga. And the rest.
What if I offered soul materialization to every Jujutsu Sorcerer I knew?
In the Servant Universe, all humans existed in a state of soul materialization.
They crossed the vast Sea of Stars.
But this world had not reached that level.
It wasn't ready.
More than anything, even if people achieved materialization, there was every chance it would only create greater chaos.
That side had been a complete mess too, so there was no reason this world would be any exception.
'No. Bad idea.'
If I handed it out one by one, rumors would spread.
And once rumors spread, the powerful would come crawling in and start every dirty scheme imaginable.
It would only make things worse.
Maybe it was too cold of me, but in the end I decided to refuse cleanly.
Maki and Mai were exceptions only because they were my women.
"I'm not going to use soul materialization anymore. I don't know what might happen later, but that's my decision for now."
"Really? Then it can't be helped."
"You thought it through well. If a means of immortality spreads, eventually it'll plunge the world into massive chaos."
Maki nodded, and Mai, who had had her eyes closed, opened them and nodded too.
The fact that they understood immediately eased my heart.
Our immortality was something special.
It could be overlooked because we were exceptional cases, but if it became a technology that could be distributed?
'It'd be a complete disaster.'
I decided I would learn soul materialization, but never use it.
And so, even as the years passed...
Even when people slowly aged and died before me, I did nothing more than attend their funerals. I did not cling to their lives.
For humans to live as humans and die as humans.
Letting them enjoy the span of life allotted to them was not a sin. It was only natural.
We, who had stepped outside that order, were the exception.
And that was not wrong.
"Thanks to you, I was able to live a life without regrets. Thank you. Truly."
Like so many others, Geto smiled when he looked at me before his death.
The Cursed Spirits he had gathered, he launched into the empty sky with the maximum technique of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Uzumaki, and erased them all.
Because when a sorcerer with Cursed Spirit Manipulation dies...
The Cursed Spirits they possessed are released.
"Mr. Kadoc. I'm here."
All the while, Yuji still lived on with the face of a young man.
The Kusozu brothers were the same.
They had become half-Cursed Spirit, so they did not age and had drifted far from natural death.
Just as expected.
So Itadori had grieved deeply too, but in the end he was able to endure it.
Because he had family, and because he had me as a neighbor.
"Welcome back. Have you eaten?"
"Not yet. Can I eat here?"
"Of course. Choso, Eso, Kechizu, come on in too. If we're eating, let's all grab a spoon together."
I led the Kusozu brothers into the living room.
Since their house was right next door, we came and went often.
That made it easy to share meals.
And easy to make plans and head out together.
'I've really gained a lot...'
I had eternal neighbors to share meals with, and outside there were all kinds of cars.
One per person. Ten in total.
Not just cars, either. The Japanese economy.
More than that, I had effectively become a kind of hidden power manipulating the world economy from the shadows.
Koyanskaya and BB handled the actual control, of course...
But I had become the concealed owner behind the curtain.
Maybe that was why.
"Lord Kadoc, are you here?!"
People from government agencies came running to me from time to time, just like this.
Today, though, the man looked especially desperate.
"Yes. What's the matter?"
"Forgive me, but could you come to the National Diet Building at once?"
The man who had run here begged between ragged breaths.
At a glance, it was clearly serious.
The Servants in the living room...
And the ones elsewhere in the house as well, all sensed the shift in the air and came into the kitchen.
Yuji and the three brothers, who had been eating with me, hardened their expressions too.
This world was the world of jujutsu.
A world where serious trouble breaking out from time to time was only natural.
"I don't mind, but is it urgent?"
"Yes. The issue is... aliens have appeared. However..."
Aliens? My eyes widened in disbelief as the man, sounding half out of his mind, continued.
Aliens had arrived not long ago.
And now there had been an incident where they were trying to force their own rules onto everyone.
At first, the government and Jujutsu Headquarters had tried to handle it themselves, but it hadn't been easy.
The scale of the problem was too much.
'Was there ever anything like this in the story?'
Jujutsu Kaisen had ended with daily life being restored.
That was all.
But after living far longer than that ending ever covered, a day like this had finally come.
It was strangely fascinating.
"Understood. I'll get ready, so have a glass of water and catch your breath. They're not demanding we go to war this instant, right?"
"Y-yes. That's right."
"Then we're fine. From the sound of it, they came from far away and are already trying to remake things to suit themselves. I don't like that one bit. We can't just let it slide."
The way they were acting was so much like religious extremists that I almost had nothing to say.
What, did the aliens inherit that kind of blood too?
"Everyone, let's move."
"Yes, Master."
I rose from my seat with the Servants.
Yuji and the three brothers said they would come too.
No matter how many aliens there were, if they were survivors who had fled here, then as a matter of human decency we should welcome them warmly.
But...
If they'd crossed the line, then it was time to teach them a lesson.
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