The ice-cold axe blade carved upward in a savage crescent, carrying lethal force.
At the instant that blow, powerful enough to shatter his jaw, was about to touch skin, the smooth amplification film surrounding Kaede suddenly changed.
In a blink, the invisible cursed energy crossed the boundary of form and condensed into real, heavy water.
Sploosh!
The massive axe slammed into the sudden surge of water, producing a deep hydraulic thud that set the teeth on edge.
The brutal kinetic force that could have split stone was forcibly slowed and diverted inside the high-density water layer. Crystal-like spray exploded outward, stopping that killing blow in midair by sheer force.
Hidden by the burst of water, a fist laced with cold mist shot out from the blind spot in the defense, driving straight for Mei Mei's face with absolute resolve.
A strange gleam flashed through Mei Mei's pale blue eyes. She did not pull back the axe to block.
The instant the fist nearly reached her nose, her slender neck bent backward with astonishing flexibility. Her ankle turned, and her whole body drifted half a step sideways like a willow branch in the wind.
The punch brushed past her pale hair and struck empty air.
Even after missing, the black-haired figure showed no reckless urge to overcommit.
Using the forward force of the punch, Kaede kicked off with the tips of his toes and retreated like an arrow loosed from a bow, decisively opening the distance between them.
At the same time, the water armor that had been clinging to his body as protection abruptly peeled away.
That thick liquid exploded in midair. Under the shaping of cursed energy, it became countless needles as fine as ox hair, flashing with deadly cold light.
With a shrill tearing sound, that dense rain of water needles ignored gravity and shot wildly upward into the sky.
"Caw!"
Pained cries rang through the trees one after another. Several black crows circling overhead, serving as Mei Mei's extra field of vision, were pierced through by the water needles before they could react.
Bloody mist mixed with black feathers burst in the air, scattering down across the grass.
Mei Mei twirled the axe in one hand, flinging the water clinging to the broad blade down into the dirt.
She slowly straightened, glanced over the broken bird carcasses on the ground, then locked her gaze once more on the boy standing ten steps away, his balance already recovered.
"You switched from amplification to your innate technique in an instant and used physical water as a buffer. Not only did you bleed off the impact, you used the moment your defense separated from your body to clear away my 'eyes' overhead."
Mei Mei lifted a finger and flicked a bloodstained black feather from her shoulder. The smile at her mouth gradually gave way to cold calculation.
"A very calm tactical exchange. However, forcibly shutting down my visual network is a direct loss of assets.
The sparring fee paid in advance by Jujutsu High does not include compensation for those birds.
I'll be recovering that debt, with interest, in the next exchange."
Under the shade of the trees, Megumi Fushiguro drew in a long breath and forced down the brief shock that had gripped him.
His gaze jumped quickly between the puddle on the ground and the feathers drifting through the air, his mind racing.
"He switched between Domain Amplification and his innate technique under live combat pressure without any lag...
That level of cursed energy micro-control is practically a bodily reflex."
Megumi's brow remained locked tight, not only analyzing the fight but also imagining how he himself would deal with the same situation.
"And more than that, Kaede didn't let a brief exchange go to his head.
Against someone like Mei Mei-senpai, a hand-to-hand monster, and without a weapon, he gave up close-quarters entanglement and prioritized destroying her visual advantage to build a safe distance.
That's the optimal move. But now Mei Mei-senpai's response is going to change too."
As if to prove his guess right, Mei Mei no longer rushed forward with the same tricky bursts of footwork and explosive movement as before.
She gripped the long haft of the massive axe with both hands and planted her feet slightly apart, rooting herself firmly into the earth.
The light cursed energy that had been circling around her grew heavy as stone.
"Since you've forcibly shut down my aerial surveillance, blind pursuit would only lead me into the traps laid by your water. In that case..."
Her eyes sank completely. The muscles in both arms tightened, and the ground beneath her feet cracked apart inch by inch under the massive pressure.
"The next part of the lesson will be pure frontal destruction. Are you ready to receive the hammer, my dear employer?"
"The next part? No need..." Kaede let out a soft laugh.
The air over the training ground seemed to solidify completely.
Mei Mei, just about to unleash a direct assault, suddenly froze where she stood.
The heavy axe was still gripped firmly in her hands, and the cracks beneath her feet were still spreading silently, but her breathing became extremely shallow and slow the instant that laugh reached her.
"My technique lets me control liquid infused with my cursed energy. During the fight, there was the water vapor from my amplification, the spray from my water armor... and the residual trace left in the blood of the crows I hit.
Quite a lot of it splashed onto you too, didn't it?"
Against the side of Mei Mei's pale, elegant throat, a slender short blade made from dark red bloodstains and clear water had formed without warning, pressed directly against her skin.
Its sharp tip had already pierced the surface slightly. A tiny bead of blood slid down the cold edge and spread into a dark smear along the edge of her purple high collar.
It was the sum of every "opening" from the battle so far, the vapor blown apart from his amplification, the shattered remnants of his water armor, and the cursed-energy-tainted blood sprayed from the falling crows.
What had seemed like meaningless combat waste had, under the control of a single will, completed its transformation within this tiny space of a few yards, from discarded residue into a murder weapon.
"It's true that even though I have a lot of cursed energy and barely enough output to keep up... this amount of water alone wouldn't be enough to pierce your defense. But what if we add the binding vow from revealing my technique just now?
So..."
Kaede looked at Mei Mei.
Mei Mei's pale blue eyes lowered slightly, their corners taking in the blood-water blade against her windpipe.
The coldness on her face held for less than a second before gradually breaking into a complicated look of appreciation and self-mockery.
"The output boost from 'revealing one's hand'... and you used it like this.
Using every drop of 'loss' produced during the battle as groundwork. This is no longer ordinary sparring. It's a hedge trade calculated all the way down to the bone."
Mei Mei slowly released the axe haft, letting the heavy weapon fall into the grass with a dull thud.
She raised both hands in a symbolic gesture of surrender, her eyes shining with the feverish look of a merchant who had discovered a first-class startup before anyone else.
"If this were a fight to the death, that move would already have declared my bankruptcy.
That level of residual cursed energy control, combined with deliberately giving up defense to gain the binding-vow boost from disclosing your technique...
Even a few milliliters of liquid had enough 'interest' in that moment to pierce the reinforced body of a Grade 1 sorcerer."
Mei Mei tilted her head slightly, avoiding the sting at her throat, and her voice carried undisguised fascination.
"Where did Gojo-kun dig up a monster like you?
That kind of combat thinking can't be summed up with a simple word like 'genius.'
For this sparring session, I think I'll have to apply for double compensation from him. No, triple, as a risk premium."
Not far away, in the shade of the trees, Megumi's lowered hands were trembling slightly.
His thoughts had not even fully escaped the crushing pressure Mei Mei had unleashed, and yet the fight had ended in a way he had never predicted.
"The binding vow from revealing his technique... He calculated that Mei Mei-senpai would form a momentary blind spot because she saw him as being at a disadvantage."
Megumi wiped cold sweat from his forehead, his dark green eyes filled with complex shock.
He began reassessing the classmate standing in the middle of the training ground, who even looked somewhat drained.
"Under that level of close-combat pressure, he still split his attention to mark every droplet that splashed out?
That calculation load... it's like weaving a spiderweb into a fishing net inside a raging hurricane.
If it were me, I couldn't maintain cursed energy residue that precisely in that situation."
Megumi let out a long breath. His tense shoulders dropped, but the look he gave the center of the field was heavier than ever.
"Hey, since the winner's decided, undo your technique already.
Mei Mei-senpai has a good temper, relatively speaking, as long as she's paid, but if that knife actually cuts, Jujutsu High's budget is going into the red."