"...You've definitely lost your mind."
Even Momo Nishimiya, who had been mentally prepared for this, was still shocked by Naoya Zenin's shameless level of self-confidence.
Arrogant.
Did he even understand what he was saying?
She had heard plenty about this noble young master's overbearing attitude, but now that she was facing him directly, she still couldn't help frowning.
Honestly.
She had never seen anyone this full of himself in her life.
It was like how Momo Nishimiya knew perfectly well that she was an absurdly cute beauty, but even she wouldn't go around flaunting her looks all day, much less declare herself the one who defined the beauty standards of a new era.
And yet Naoya Zenin dared to do exactly that.
This bastard actually had the nerve to openly question the very foundation of ancient Cursed Techniques in front of everyone, and even mock the sorcerers who studied them as people with "brains that have stopped thinking"?!
"You think I've gone mad?"
Naoya Zenin stood with his hands behind his back, his voice measured and unhurried.
His tone was calm, but anyone could hear the complete lack of respect in the voice of this young master of the Zenin Clan.
"Of course I do!!!"
Momo Nishimiya snapped.
"What, do you think you're the reincarnation of Abe no Seimei?! You think you can bring about another Heian era?! You're not even a Special Grade Sorcerer!"
"Abe no Seimei was certainly the founder of Cursed Techniques, and those great sorcerers did bring about the golden age of Jujutsu. But they were not infallible gods."
Naoya Zenin's amber eyes swept coolly across every doubtful gaze in the classroom.
"Treating the greatness of the ancients as sacred scripture is nothing more than an excuse spineless mediocrities use to numb themselves. That is not heartfelt reverence. It is the excuse of the incapable."
He carried himself as though he had been born with the right to command others.
That composure and pride, worthy of a noble clan, made everyone else seem dim by comparison.
"If even I am not qualified to question them, then which one of you is?"
"D-don't get carried away..."
Even Momo Nishimiya, who had come in so aggressively, was shaken by the sheer arrogance radiating from Naoya Zenin. Even her rebuttal had lost some of its force.
The little witch's mouth twitched hard, and in the next instant, she summoned her broom.
"Naoya Zenin! Since your technique also has to do with wind, how about we compete in speed?!"
Momo Nishimiya's technique was [Tool Manipulation], which let her communicate with her broom and soar through the sky.
Her method of attack was also simple, using the broom to shape Cursed Energy into air blades. It was a very straightforward application of Cursed Energy.
This witch had already seen Naoya Zenin's true level during his lecture.
Just gathering a whirlwind at his fingertips had required a fairly long chant.
She didn't know exactly what Naoya Zenin's technique was, but judging from how precisely he controlled those wind blades afterward, it was likely a technique focused more on fine control than actual combat.
When it came to using Cursed Energy to command the wind, Momo Nishimiya believed her [Tool Manipulation] was top-class even within the Jujutsu World. There was no way she would lose to Naoya Zenin in terms of skill.
The only difference between them was total Cursed Energy.
That was the advantage of a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. As a student, Momo Nishimiya naturally couldn't match that.
So what she wanted to compete on was casting speed.
After all, total Cursed Energy only determined the power of a technique. The speed of activation depended on one's control over Cursed Energy, and the speed of the chant.
No matter how much Cursed Energy Naoya Zenin had, there was no way he could release his technique faster than she could.
"Compete in speed?"
Naoya Zenin merely raised an eyebrow.
"My technique has absolutely nothing to do with wind, but that works out nicely. This way, I can demonstrate that the [Binding Vow] technique can be used by students of any level."
"...What did you say?"
Momo Nishimiya couldn't believe her ears.
Naoya Zenin's technique had nothing to do with wind?
Then how had he gathered a whirlwind in front of so many people before, then split it so precisely into countless tiny wind blades?
Could it have just been an air blast created purely through Cursed Energy?
"But there are too many students in the classroom today. If your hand slips and you accidentally hurt someone, that would be troublesome."
"Hey! You're scared, aren't you?!"
"No."
Naoya Zenin shook his head.
"I'm just planning to compete with you in a different way."
The teacher raised a single finger.
"Woman, I'm giving you one chance."
"If you can successfully release even one wind blade in front of me, I lose. How about that?"
"Are you kidding me?!"
Momo Nishimiya was instantly consumed by rage.
Never in her life had she been humiliated like this.
So the witch immediately gathered her Cursed Energy and unleashed her signature move at top speed.
[Tool Manipulation: Wind Scythe]!
Cursed Energy surged violently at the tip of her broom, tearing through the air as a cold, crescent-shaped wind blade was about to burst forth.
And then, in the very next moment.
Naoya Zenin's index finger twitched ever so slightly, and a wind blade appeared out of nowhere, instantly crushing Momo Nishimiya's nearly formed blade and blowing it apart into scattered motes of light.
"?!"
The entire classroom fell into dead silence.
Not a single student had missed what had just happened.
Because Naoya Zenin had said he wasn't skilled in wind-based Cursed Techniques, he had deliberately demonstrated the process of gathering Cursed Energy slowly so that everyone could see how the technique was cast.
And yet the whole process had only a beginning and an end.
The part in between seemed to have been cut out entirely.
"H-how is that possible...?"
Mai Zenin swallowed nervously.
Sitting in the front row, she had the clearest view of every single movement Naoya Zenin made.
It was like this noble young master had casually tossed out a stone.
And yet its precision was no different from drawing a bow, taking aim, and loosing an arrow.
Its speed was unbelievable, too.
"Your fundamentals are solid, and the execution was flawless. You've clearly learned the basics of Jujutsu well. Unfortunately, you're still too slow."
Naoya Zenin was not deliberately mocking Momo Nishimiya.
He had genuinely learned something from this little witch.
If Momo Nishimiya's [Tool Manipulation: Wind Scythe] could be called a wind-related technique, then it would be more accurate to say she was condensing Cursed Energy into a wind blade.
That was completely different from the wind blades Naoya Zenin had created.
He had relied entirely on the acceleration stacking of [Projection Sorcery], forcibly generating opposing air currents to compress invisible air into a sharp blade, then firing it with precise control through Cursed Energy.
It was a completely unnecessary detour.
If he hadn't just established a [Binding Vow], he might really have lost to Momo Nishimiya.
Coming to Jujutsu High really had been worth it.
It was better than staying at home and trying to figure everything out behind closed doors.
But condensing Cursed Energy into a wind blade ran completely counter to the operating logic of [Projection Sorcery]. If he tried to shape a wind blade out of Cursed Energy within the limit of twenty-four movements per second, he would only end up freezing himself for one second.
So in the end, did he still have to use the roundabout method?
"W-what did you do?!"
Momo Nishimiya couldn't understand what had just happened at all.
No.
No sorcerer present who had seen it would understand.
No casting time?
Why was Naoya Zenin able to fire off a wind blade instantly?
He had completely skipped the process of gathering Cursed Energy and chanting the incantation?
The shock this dealt to the little witch's worldview was simply too great.
This was a complete overturning of the foundation of ancient Cursed Techniques.
A new technique.
And not just any technique, but a revolutionary one capable of completely rewriting the Jujutsu World.
If every sorcerer's casting speed could become twice as fast, or even more than three times as fast...
Then from this day on, anyone could open with their trump card the moment a fight began!!!
The way every student looked at Naoya Zenin changed.
At first he had been an enemy.
Now their eyes were burning.
No.
It was greed.
No sorcerer could possibly reject a Cursed Technique this absurdly powerful.
At that moment, the students could hear only Naoya Zenin's voice.
"What I just used was [Binding Vow]."
Naoya Zenin's elegant voice made all the students hold their breath.
"I used [Binding Vow] to erase the casting process, leaving only the result."
In this world, the most insidious thing was canceling startup and recovery.
Flash canceling normal attack recovery.
Phasing into Divine Dog.
That impossible string of instant inputs and chained actions.
Even Gojo, with his absolute defense, hadn't been able to stop Sukuna's instant-cast Slash That Cuts The World.
Many thanks to Sukuna-sama for the open-source inspiration.
Now Naoya Zenin was about to tell the entire Jujutsu World, tell everyone, that they understood nothing about what real pre-made techniques were.
There were three steps to a Cursed Technique.
Gather Cursed Energy, chant the incantation to operate the technique, then release the Cursed Technique.
But anyone could notice one detail.
Gathering Cursed Energy and releasing the Cursed Technique were universal conditions shared by all techniques.
The only variable was the incantation, the part that operated the technique.
In other words, the differences between techniques came from that step.
So from another angle, if that incantation step could be removed, then one could use already prepared Cursed Energy to release different Cursed Techniques at high speed.
It was like everyone else was still carefully painting the details of an oil painting, while Naoya Zenin skipped the whole act and simply printed the painting on the spot.
Was handwriting and printing even comparable in speed?
No matter how fast someone wrote, they could never match the speed of printing.
Especially when rushed, people would make all kinds of mistakes, and that would cause all sorts of problems.
Chaotic Cursed Energy flow. Stumbling over the incantation. Even backlash from Cursed Energy that could put the sorcerer in danger.
But a technique under [Binding Vow] would never make those mistakes.
Because in any situation, as long as a stable amount of Cursed Energy was supplied, the result would always be fixed.
And its speed was beyond anything any sorcerer could imagine.
In other words...
By his own power alone, Naoya Zenin had completely open-sourced the Jujutsu World's King Crimson.
"This is."
"[Chantless Cursed Technique]."