A Bizarre Adventure That Begins in Jujutsu Kaisen

Chapter 94 Spells and Magic, Part Two (9/10)

I never imagined I would be so furious when I was looked down upon!

But—it's not over yet!

Ryomen Sukuna roared, "You brat, don't underestimate me! I am the King of Curses!!"

The makeshift domain that kid created couldn't last long under the relentless slashes of "Demon-Subduing Chef." If they could just stall, victory would still be assured.

The thought had just arisen when Su Nu belatedly realized that a clear and regular black pattern had appeared in the center of his torso, like a "cut along this dotted line" mark on a packaging box.

Immediately afterwards, he "saw" something not with his eyes, but with his magical power—a vast expanse of deep, pitch-black scars appeared out of thin air around his body, as if space itself had been torn apart.

The entire landscape of the mind was sliced ​​apart by this extreme strike!

His body, along that circle of black dotted lines, was neatly and smoothly split in two by some force that he could not yet understand!

"This is impossible!" Su Nuo roared, his upper and lower body separated, a mixture of excruciating pain and disbelief.

As Ryomen Sukuna was cut in half to become "Ichimen Sukuna," Tsukumo Yuki's fluent explanation also came to an end.

Theo turned his gaze to the black sorcerer who had been listening silently, his expression somewhat complex and unreadable: "Miguel, you've been active in Europe for many years, so you should be more familiar with their systems. Is there anything to add to your analysis?"

Miguel recovered from his brief reverie and pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Lord Tsukumo's summary is quite accurate. However, one point deserves special emphasis: in Europe, a considerable portion, or even the majority, of those who practice magical arts are non-magicians who are not born with the ability to perceive curses."

They learned classical knowledge systematically, underwent rigorous training in logic and willpower, and practiced the "Vow".

A profound understanding of, willingness to bear, and skillful application of "costs" can also drive miracles and achieve goals.

The Jade Record is a long-established, influential transnational magical organization with roots throughout Europe, and can be considered the backbone of the European Magical Federation.

The very first sentence of its introductory text, The Emerald Book, is said to have been written by its legendary founder, Master Hermes Trismegistus.

This sentence has always been etched in my mind; it may explain a lot:

Magic is the science and art of making changes happen according to one's will.

Ritual is the tool for realizing art; it is neither the subject of the painting nor the object being painted. The subject is always and can only be consciousness.

Those who are without the weakness of consciousness submit neither to the gods nor to death.

In this way, one can depict one's own world with one's own heart, and surpass the world from which one was born with a better world.

;

"To depict one's own world with one's own heart," it sounds like—" Dio repeated thoughtfully, "somewhat similar to the core idea of ​​domain expansion?"

That is, to temporarily overwrite reality through highly condensed and concrete mental landscapes.

Miguel shook his head and said frankly, "I don't know."

The "domain" is still a somewhat distant area for both the past me and the present me.

However, I do remember the textbook mentioning that a strong will can even allow non-magicians to create their own unique domain.

The current leader of the Aegis School is not a sorcerer. They regard this as a true miracle belonging to mortals and praise it highly.

"Wow—this shows that popularizing knowledge of magic is effective, which sounds like a great help to our cause," Theo said, somewhat pleased.

"Perhaps, Lord Theo. But you might want to first hear about the nature and cost of this 'domain'."

Miguel continued.

"This realm of magic" is fundamentally different from the "realm development" in our sorcery system.

It is not a temporary, explosive combat skill that can be moved with the caster, but a semi-permanent barrier that requires years of effort and precious resources to gradually transform a specific location into another world. It is usually built on ley lines.

The practitioner needs to continuously infuse this area with their own intentions and philosophical ideas, so that it is constantly strengthened, solidified and settled, eventually forming a magical realm with a strong personal imprint, or an "Atelier".

This realm is not equipped with any innate techniques; its extraordinary effects are replaced by a series of open-source, learnable, but extremely complex combinations of magical rituals.

What's even more special is that this realm of magical arts "can be inherited".

As long as a successor who can be found who is highly compatible with the creator in terms of philosophical thought, core concepts, and worldview, and who can even develop them, the previous leader can transfer core control of the field.

Therefore, battles between high-ranking sorcerers in Europe are rarely skirmishes or mobile battles; they are more often positional battles fought around their respective workshops and leyline nodes.

Those sorcerers who successfully establish and control renowned and powerful workshops, and thus dominate a region of ley lines, are revered as "Bound Lords," or simply "Lords."

They spend most of their time within their own territory, relying on home-field advantage, and rarely leave easily.

"In layman's terms, it's like this: " Yuki laughed and continued, summarizing in a more straightforward and even slightly teasing tone: "The monarchs' own willpower and spell power levels are often insufficient to support the development of their domains, so they choose to use long rituals of decades or even longer to slowly accumulate and solidify their imagination and spell power to create a domain.

Their domains may be very powerful, but each activation or full-power operation requires a long charging or preparation time, and their mobility is extremely poor.

Ordinary sorcerers are more like loan sharks—in order to achieve miracles that they could never accomplish on their own, they make harsh vows and mortgage their future in advance, which may require them to spend their entire lives repaying the price.

In fact, magical arts are just spells; there is no essential difference.

It's just that sorcerers use and rely on the tool of "binding" more generally and systematically.

When I was traveling in Europe, I once killed a monarch who wanted to abduct women.

His domain is quite large, with a radius of fifty meters, and its strength is also fairly average. His various automatic defense and counterattack mechanisms are also quite annoying.

However, his own reaction speed, combat skills, and physical strength were pitifully weak.

When the guaranteed hit effects of both sides neutralized each other, I pulled out the "Phoenix Wheel" and charged forward, blasting him to pieces with a full-force whip.

Then the domain collapsed on its own, and the entire workshop instantly crumbled and collapsed.

After hearing this, Theo couldn't help but complain, "Hearing 'domain,' I thought every monarch was a half-step special-grade mage."

After all that, it turns out they were just a bunch of level one earthbound spirits!

What's the point of living a life confined to one's own little world, lording it over others?

"Haha~ Level One Earthbound Spirit" — a very vivid and accurate title.

However, compared to becoming a president, scientist, Olympic champion, or astronaut, for non-magicians who cannot control magical power or are born with magical formulas, the extraordinary dream of "becoming a false monarch in a field and wielding power through knowledge and will" might be a more realistic and attainable one.