I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit

"So!" Baobhan Sith's voice boomed across the room as she slammed her hand against the blackboard. Dressed in her usual red dress, she stood at the podium, glaring at her audience of two with an exasperated, almost disappointed look.

"You two are the worst students I've ever taught!"

"Huh?" Gojo's jaw clenched, a few angry veins popping up on his temple. Even with his sunglasses on, the irritation in his eyes was clear as day.

"What, got a problem?" Baobhan jeered, unbothered. "Imagine—it took you this long to figure out Reversed Cursed Technique! I had to beat you both half to death to get even this far! Do you know how much work it is to land killing blows without hitting vital points like the brain and the cursed core?"

The core of a sorcerer's cursed energy lay in the abdomen, while the cursed technique stemmed from the brain. As Baobhan had just pointed out, any serious damage to these areas would've meant certain death for Gojo and Suguru back there, along with any hope of mastering the Reversed Cursed Technique.

"Oh, don't pin this on me! It's all Shoko's fault! She tried to explain it with a bunch of sound effects like 'thud,' 'splat,' and 'glug-glug'! Like any normal person could figure it out from that," Gojo grumbled, crossing his arms.

Suguru, seated beside him, glanced between the two bickering sorcerers. It was surreal, watching them argue now, given that just yesterday they'd been fighting for their lives—and nearly lost them—to the woman in red who now lectured them.

"If you want to learn Reversed Cursed Technique," Baobhan continued, her smile wicked, "the quickest method is to just let you bleed out a bit. If you don't get it right away, you're free to go to hell."

Suguru couldn't deny he harbored a hint of resentment toward her. She had, after all, been fully prepared to kill them both back there.

But did he hate her enough to want her dead? Somehow… that didn't feel entirely accurate, either.

Suguru glanced sideways at the gray-haired girl seated at Baobhan's side. Her presence was subtle, as though she wished to be invisible, and she shrank further when her eyes met Suguru's, quickly ducking her head like a startled kitten.

Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, Suguru whispered, "Thank you."

"Oh! Um…" The girl, named Jasmine, ducked her head even further, her cheeks tinged pink. "Well… it was only because Sister Baobhan told me to, so… you're welcome, I guess…"

Suguru's thanks had its reasons. Before losing consciousness in the fight, he'd witnessed Baobhan carrying Riko's body away. Yet today, he'd come face-to-face with Riko—alive and well.

He hadn't been mistaken back then; Baobhan had indeed killed Riko and collected her bounty from the Star Religious Group. But instead of handing over the corpse, she'd used Jasmine's cursed technique to bring Riko back to life.

Jasmine's technique, Backtrace, didn't revive the dead in the usual sense, nor was it just a form of healing. It reset an individual's state to a previous point in time.

The state reverted was not to a past moment in time per se, but to a prior physical or mental "condition"—like the removal of ailments such as "poisoned," "bleeding," or "weakened," as well as buffs like "strengthened," "enhanced speed," and even "invincible." "Dead," likewise, was considered a removable state.

To give an example, let's say someone had received an all-around blessing an hour ago, which wore off twenty minutes ago, then was poisoned and near death ten minutes ago. Jasmine could use Backtrace to erase the poison by reverting to ten minutes ago, or go back even further to reapply the blessing, effectively resetting the person's state without altering the flow of time itself.

While it lacked offensive potential, Jasmine's technique had immense support potential. However, she could only rewind a state up to thirty minutes in the past—if Riko's death had exceeded that limit, even Jasmine wouldn't have been able to bring her back.

Thanks to Jasmine, Baobhan had felt free to go all out on Gojo and Suguru.

"Who cares if they're dead? I can just revive them."

Suguru's feelings were all over the place. On one hand, he appreciated that he and Gojo were alive, but on the other… anyone would feel a little disturbed after experiencing death once, right?

Yet, they couldn't deny that the beatdown had borne fruit. Gojo had finally learned Reversed Cursed Technique, a breakthrough that skyrocketed his potential. While Suguru hadn't mastered it himself, he knew with Gojo's help, it was only a matter of time.

And besides all that, there was something else. It was because of Baobhan that he and Gojo could now sit here peacefully with her in the same room.

After all, Baobhan had done something neither of them could have anticipated—

She'd granted Riko her freedom.

Riko was still a Star Plasma Vessel in terms of her physical existence, but the timing of her assimilation with Tengen had been on the full moon—the very night Baobhan's actions had interfered.

Without her as an eligible vessel, the Star Religious Group had lost any grounds to target Riko.

"That girl's future should be her own to choose. Whether it's making friends, enjoying freedom, diving into her studies, or even indulging in fun—she should be free to live as she wishes. A life should be a web of choices and possibilities, not the cold path forced on her by others, and certainly not as someone else's 'vessel.' That's a laughable excuse for a life, and it disgusts me that people would kill for it."

That was how Baobhan had explained herself to Gojo and Suguru.

Now, watching her seated before him, emanating her usual deadly aura, Gojo and Suguru exchanged a glance, each with a strange thought hovering at the edge of their minds.

Could it be… that this woman is actually a good person?

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T/N: WOah cool curse technique!