Chapter 180 - 180: One Cannot Ally with Others Carelessly

Logically speaking, Emiya Shirou—having mastered Cursed Technique Reversal and realized that a Reality Marble is essentially a Domain Expansion—could now drive his Reality Marble with Reversal. This allowed him to invert the effects of [Unlimited Blade Works], gathering the attributes and abilities of his projected items together.

He could have used the raw stats of [Pseudo-Anubis] to compensate for the abysmal stat panel of [Pseudo-Hermit Purple]. This would make the already incredible Stand ability of [Pseudo-Hermit Purple] even more transcendent.

Even if Shirou knew nothing, as long as he aimed the enhanced [Pseudo-Hermit Purple] at a television for spirit photography, it would work just like Joseph Joestar in the original Stardust Crusaders. Even if Joseph knew nothing at the time, he could directly photograph Rubber Soul's assassination plan.

Granted, that specific photography was a bit of a trap, only capturing the second half of the sentence and missing the first. But you can't deny its accuracy. Once the frustrating precision of [Pseudo-Hermit Purple] was improved, there was no doubt Shirou could directly manifest not just photos of Mahito and the others, but even their exact plans.

Unfortunately, however, the evolution ability of [Pseudo-Anubis] does not increase precision. In the original work, after [Anubis] fought Jotaro Kujo once, it evolved to match the speed and precision of [Star Platinum]. But rather than its precision actually improving, it was more that [Anubis] used its evolved raw stats to crush its opponent.

To use an example: a Stand like [Weather Report], which has a Precision of E, requires active control. Under the user's active control, it can precisely intercept every car moving north within thirty kilometers without affecting anything else. True "Precision A," however, does not require active control; even if Jotaro is unaware that [The Lovers] is escaping, his [Star Platinum] can still instinctively discover the Stand even if it's smaller than an insect.

Thus, [Anubis], which belongs to the former category, ended up with a fate similar to Kars because the user became too tense and relaxed their active control over precision. Naturally, Shirou's desire to use an upgraded [Pseudo-Hermit Purple] to find Mahito and their entire plan hit a wall. Under [Pseudo-Hermit Purple]'s terrible precision, much like how Joseph's photography suggested Kakyoin had turned traitor because Rubber Soul was disguised as him, the result might be correct, but the nuance is dangerous.

The discrepancy involved... suffice it to say, until he resolved the precision issue, Emiya Shirou would not consider that method.

However, that didn't mean Shirou couldn't resolve Mahito and the other Disaster Curses—along with their little schemes—in another way.

"Rock-paper-scissors?"

Fushiguro Toji first glanced at the new katana that had suddenly vanished and reappeared in Shirou's hand. Then, he stared blankly at the rock-paper-scissors gesture Shirou was making with his other hand.

"And betting souls... Is this some kind of Binding Vow? Or is it a required activation condition for your new Cursed Tool?"

Though he didn't know the reason for Shirou's change, Toji's combat experience was vast, and he managed to guess the likely reason behind Shirou's actions.

To this, Emiya Shirou neither admitted nor denied anything. He simply looked at Toji and said, "What do you say? Shall we use the soul of the Curse User whose body you are currently occupying, along with the souls of the other Curse Users and Cursed Spirits allied with him... to bet against the souls of everyone at Jujutsu High, including Fushiguro Megumi?

Cursed Spirits, Curse Users, and Sorcerers... compared to the slow methods of the Cursed Spirits—who need to find a way to defeat or seal Gojo Satoru before they can act—or the Sorcerers, who need to find a way to root out the hidden Curses, isn't my method significantly more efficient?"

'This guy... is he serious!?' Toji looked at Emiya Shirou in disbelief.

"Do... do you know what you are saying!?"

"Of course I know," Shirou nodded.

He understood Toji's skepticism. In fact, anyone who learned the ability of the Stand [Pseudo-Osiris] would think it was some kind of joke.

It doesn't require the consent of the parties involved. As long as someone has a blood connection or a bond of companionship with those parties, one can use that person's consent as a medium to directly seize the souls of everyone related to them.

Regardless of how many souls the person puts up as collateral, [Pseudo-Osiris] can seize all of them upon that person's defeat.

This was the reason Shirou had kept Fushiguro Toji around. Mahito chose to help those Curse Users infiltrate Jujutsu High, and those Curse Users brought the deceased Fushiguro Toji back via Seance. This perfectly assembled the activation conditions for [Pseudo-Osiris].

"So, are you in?" Shirou continued. "What I can tell you is that in the upcoming match, I will only throw 'Rock.' I'm betting my soul and the souls of everyone at Jujutsu High."

Toji remained silent. Seeing Shirou truly put up that stake and extend his hand in the "Rock" gesture, Toji fell into a long silence. After a while, he finally spoke.

"...I'll bet myself, the original soul in this body, and just as you said, the souls of the Cursed Spirits and Curse Users allied with that original soul."

He said it. Although this act of effectively killing himself was incredibly difficult before he actually took action, once he truly committed to it, Toji only felt a sense of relief.

As his words fell, he extended his hand in the "Scissors" gesture.

Fushiguro Toji wore a smile of liberation.

"Megumi... I'll leave that brat to you guys."

With that, as if losing his support, Fushiguro Toji collapsed directly in front of Emiya Shirou.

Only Shirou's voice remained, echoing beside him: "Understood. I have heard your request. Now then...

—[Osiris]!!"

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