Chapter 73: The 'Miracle' of Senji Muramasa
In this cruel and authentic world, the only thing people equally share is the reality of inequality.
This doesn't just refer to the material differences that exist from birth; more importantly: good people are not guaranteed happiness, and those who freely commit evil are not guaranteed punishment.
The concept of karma or retribution does not exist in this world.
This is a truth Megumi Fushiguro realized when he chose to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
It was just like the scene unfolding before him now: the kind-hearted Yuji Itadori had fallen into the clutches of death, while Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses who caused it all, had only lost a few fingers.
This villain still had over a dozen fingers scattered around, meaning not only was there still a chance of his resurrection, but those fingers were also constantly fueling Curses.
Fushiguro absolutely could not accept this outcome.
When he first met Yuji and discovered he was a genuinely good person willing to risk his life to protect friends, even knowing he had become Sukuna's vessel, Fushiguro still made a personal plea to Gojo-sensei to save Itadori's life. Yuji Itadori did survive because of it, even joining Jujutsu High without hesitation, talking about absorbing all of Sukuna's fingers and then embracing a 'correct death'—such foolish talk.
In both action and mindset, Yuji Itadori was a purely good person. But less than two weeks later, he had died right in front of him... He hadn't changed anything; he was back where he started.
It was just like his older sister, who was a kind person in every sense, willing to consider others in everything she did, but received no reward, instead falling into a long sleep after being cursed. He decided to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer precisely for this reason, resolving to use his power to create a world where more good people could equally enjoy happiness.
But in the end, he had achieved nothing...
"It's truly ironic. All that effort just to save a few hopeless scumbags, and in the end, it led to this."
Yuji Itadori's death wasn't the only problem; the evacuation and protection of the nearby residents were also a burden placed on all of them.
Due to the appearance of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the evacuation zone expanded from the initial 500 meters to ten kilometers, essentially bringing half the city to a standstill. And it was all just to save a few scumbags.
"If we had just let those scumbags die in the first place, maybe none of this would have happened."
In his intense emotional turmoil, Fushiguro uttered these words.
"This is a juvenile detention center; it's a place for criminals. If it weren't for the protection of juvenile law, those guys would have been serving sentences in much harsher prisons.
And precisely because they are minors, the crimes those scumbags committed are even worse. Letting them out will only lead to them harming society in the future; they might as well just die here quietly.
In this situation, it might even be a greater help to society and other good people."
Fushiguro tightly clenched his fists, tears or raindrops streaming down his face.
If he was in charge, he would never let Jujutsu Sorcerers risk their lives to save people who would only hurt others if they lived.
The old Fushiguro would try his best to help those he deemed good, but he hadn't held such massive malice toward criminals. However, stimulated by Yuji Itadori's death, his emotions were becoming difficult to control.
Just as the Cursed Energy in Fushiguro's body was about to overflow, Emiya suddenly spoke.
"While I agree that wicked people aren't worth saving, if you keep being this loud, I truly won't know how to save this guy."
"...Huh?"
Fushiguro suddenly froze upon hearing this. If he could save him, why hadn't he said so sooner? What was the point of all that emotion he had been bottling up?
'It doesn't matter! Anything is fine as long as I can save Itadori!'
"Emiya-sensei, you mean... under these circumstances... there's still a chance for Itadori to survive?" Fushiguro urgently asked.
"Provided you shut your mouth first."
"..."
Fushiguro, slightly calmer now, crouched down and carefully looked at the gruesome wound on Yuji Itadori's chest.
He couldn't imagine how Emiya could revive Yuji Itadori, who had even lost his heart.
Even if modern medicine advanced another thirty years, it couldn't achieve this level. Although the Reverse Cursed Technique works best on oneself, few people could reach the level of regenerating a heart.
Under Fushiguro's questioning gaze, Emiya planted the Durandal he held into the ground in front of him, then pulled a finger from his pocket and gently placed it on Yuji Itadori's chest.
"The Indestructible Holy Sword, Durandal, apart from its unbreakable blade, has another hidden effect called 'Miracle.'"
"...?"
"As long as a phenomenon is physically possible, most things can be realized, but the cost will be far greater than the 'Miracle' it causes."
Miracles and magic are not free. The beautiful idea of equivalent exchange doesn't exist in reality either.
Emiya disclosed this information mainly to attempt to continue using a Binding Vow to enhance Durandal.
Even if it came at a cost, he would do it without hesitation. He absolutely could not accept someone he knew dying incorrectly right in front of him... especially in the same manner.
However, the 'Miracle' Emiya intended to invoke was certainly not one that would directly resurrect Yuji Itadori, as he couldn't afford that cost, even with his self-erasure as a premise. Even a 'Miracle' to restore a heart is conceptually not much simpler than resurrection.
The 'Miracle' is not so easily deceived.
The true method should be the one Emiya originally conceived: communicating directly with Ryomen Sukuna in the spiritual domain, as Sukuna's Reverse Cursed Technique genuinely reached the point where it could easily restore a vital organ like the heart.
In fact, the 'Miracle' Emiya intended to invoke was not one of direct spiritual communication, but a simple catalyst ritual.
The medium was the 'Sukuna's Finger' placed on Yuji Itadori's body.
So, next...
"I use the inability to use this Holy Sword again as a 'Binding Vow,' in exchange for the enhancement of the 'Miracle.'" Since it is one of the fundamental rules, even this intangible thing should be enhanced by the Vow.
"I use the collapse of the Holy Sword as a price, in exchange for the 'Miracle' of the catalyst."
Under this layered stripping, the cost of the 'Miracle' was also restricted to a controllable range.
It was a pity Emiya himself didn't know soul-based sorcery, forcing him to be so roundabout. Although, standard sorcery is likely unusable in the world of Jujutsu anyway.
In the next second, the indestructible blade began to shatter inch by inch, its destruction more thorough than if Ryomen Sukuna had poured all his might into it. If the original owner of
the blade or any Heroic Spirits who cherished their Noble Phantasms saw this, they would likely cry out and condemn such complete waste. But for Emiya, as long as it could accomplish the one thing only it could do, the weapon had fulfilled its due value.
A moment later, Durandal was completely shattered, and the catalyst ritual Emiya desired was activated. To delve into Yuji Itadori's spiritual domain at this moment, Emiya's mind and soul had to make contact with it.
He gently placed his finger on the opponent's forehead.
He hadn't fully decided how to "convince" Ryomen Sukuna, but he had to reach that first stage before he could attempt the rest. Emiya's consciousness began to sink, much like falling asleep.
But until his consciousness gradually blurred, he never saw the world of the spiritual domain, as others described. Instead, his consciousness began to uncontrollably drift.
.
.
.
"Clang——! Clang——! Clang————!"
What suddenly woke Emiya from that daze was a very clear, ringing sound of a hammer forging iron.
Emiya was very familiar with this sound, as it inexplicably echoed in his Magic Circuits whenever he fully activated his Projection Magecraft. Wasn't the act of creating a forgery of an original still a form of forging?
During the Sengoku period, when countless blades were forged, numerous swordsmiths across Japan had their own workshops.
They would sometimes follow armies to repair broken swords during wartime.
Among these smiths, the most famous was the swordsmith of Kuwana in Ise Province: Senji Muramasa.
Youtou Muramasa (Cursed Sword Muramasa)—this blade is almost as world-renowned as the Holy Sword Excalibur.
Yet, due to various derivative works, few people know that the Cursed Sword Muramasa does not refer to a single blade, but a collection of a series of blades, all bearing the Muramasa inscription.
They were feared by the world as Cursed Swords for two reasons: first, they were too sharp, making them easy to take a life while also prone to harming the wielder; and second, the Tokugawa Shogunate's ban on them.
The Muramasa lineage lasted for three generations, with three or four smiths in each generation inscribing blades with the Muramasa name.
However, they were only famous for their blades.
Only the first generation, Senji Muramasa, was renowned as the blacksmith who gained fame by forging.
Emiya, born in the modern era, should have no connection with such a figure, but...
Clang!
The blacksmith who finally put down his hammer had the exact same appearance as Shirou Emiya.
Emiya couldn't change anything in the dream, for he was only an observer without a physical body. Yet, he heard the Shirou Emiya in the center of the workshop muttering to himself.
"Though this old man is Muramasa, he is but an imagined personality of what this body would be if it lived as Muramasa. It feels like watching someone else's dream.
This old man has always lived for the sword, clinging to the ridiculous dream of whether steel used to cut down men could also be used to save them. It's quite fitting for this body; the personality and experiences are so similar... That's why we could merge in this situation."
Apart from Emiya's method of substituting a Heroic Spirit's power into his own body, there is another way to summon a Heroic Spirit: by allowing a portion of the Heroic Spirit's personality to revive in a person's body through Incarnation.
The former only replaces power, while the latter replaces power along with a portion of the personality, much like a true Servant summoning.
This 'Shirou Emiya' was the combined entity after Senji Muramasa possessed a certain 'Shirou Emiya.'
This imagined personality does not truly belong to Senji Muramasa himself, but is 'Shirou Emiya' who experienced the life of Senji Muramasa.
"Born with the talent for forging, yet he only pursues forgeries that resemble the original... This is a type that is looked down upon among craftsmen."
Senji Muramasa said this, as if criticizing Emiya's Projection Magecraft. "Just as no matter how perfect a forgery is, it cannot imitate a one-of-a-kind Divine Construct, this old man has also spent his entire life pursuing that realm... Who would have thought it would be realized in this body after death?"
A Divine Construct, as the name implies, is a 'Miracle' forged by beings superior to humans, such as gods or the stars themselves—a realm completely unattainable by humans. Otherwise, how could Emiya's sorcery not even be able to project them?
But the Senji Muramasa in front of him had done it.
"The ultimate blade this old man pursued in the past was not a deadly steel edge that shattered flesh and bone."
Clang!
"What this body pursues is the reckoning of resentment. The severing of karma, the severing of destiny, the severing of fate."
Clang——!
"—In other words, liberation from fate."
Clang———!!!
Fierce and searing flames were leaping in the dream, making Emiya, who wasn't even a physical entity, feel the heat.
He couldn't project Divine Constructs because, as a human, he could never understand the process by which they were forged by the stars.
But now, Senji Muramasa was meticulously dissecting and displaying this blade right in front of him.
"To reach this is through countless research. Using thousands upon thousands of swords as a mold, accumulating countless swordsmiths.
To reach this is through various syntheses. What is displayed here is the long-cherished wish of all things.
What gathers here is all the un-karma—everything of this old man's life existed to reach this blade.
Its name is—Tsumukari Muramasa."
Even though the many steps of its forging were right before his eyes, Emiya still couldn't comprehend them. It seemed that all the techniques brought by Projection Magecraft were but a tiny fraction of this skill.
But there was no doubt that this memory was truly etched into his mind, and Senji Muramasa spoke these words:
"This old man is only a swordsmith; he's not proficient in combat at all.
But forging is something you must learn well.
This is the 'Miracle.'"
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the spiritual domain Emiya originally intended to reach, Ryomen Sukuna, perched atop countless corpses, indeed saw an outsider. The 'Shirou Emiya' who mysteriously appeared there was identical to the one in Sukuna's memory, yet he was draped in a strange white cloak.
"How did you sneak in here, brat... No, that's not right.
You... you're not him, not entirely... Who are you?!"
As it was half of his own spiritual domain, Ryomen Sukuna wouldn't be so completely oblivious.
"Just a swordsmith, living in the past, like you.
Since I've borrowed that body, I should do something before disappearing.
I ask you to make a compromise, Sukuna."
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