You call this a projection?

So, he took this beating for nothing? He lost face for absolutely no reason?

Hearing Emiya Shirou’s words, and with Shirou deliberately releasing the aura of those soul chips so that Gojo Satoru—who could truly sense them—could feel the distinct presence of Mahito and the others within them...

Gojo Satoru stood there with a look of pure silence, staring at Emiya Shirou. He felt he had been duped, and duped on a massive scale. It was to the point where Gojo nearly considered starting the fight again—the kind where he’d call over Okkotsu Yuta and the rest to gang up on Shirou.

How could anyone bully someone like this? This was treating him like a complete fool. Even though Gojo Satoru was indeed a ”fool” in his own eccentric way...

”...Emiya, you said you can solve the Sukuna problem?”

After a long silence, the present-day Gojo Satoru was clearly much more stable than the truly lawless youth he had been before Fushiguro Toji taught him a lesson. Even if he couldn’t stand the higher-ups of the Jujutsu world and desperately wanted to wipe out those disgusting officials right now, he was still holding back. His psychological shift involved looking at the big picture, preparing a sufficient number of the new generation before cleaning house.

This growth allowed Gojo, after hearing Shirou’s taunt-filled words, to merely twitch the corner of his mouth. He quickly noticed the contradiction in Shirou’s statement: ”If I remember correctly, Sukuna was turned into cursed objects long ago, wasn’t he?”

”Are you saying that these things—which look like chips from a Pachinko parlor—aren’t actually cursed objects made from those cursed spirits?”

This question was vital. Gojo Satoru had to understand the nature of these items.

”Correct. These soul chips are not cursed objects. Therefore, if you wanted to use them as talismans—using the aura of a Special Grade cursed spirit to suppress or drive away lower-level spirits—it wouldn’t be impossible,” Shirou explained.

”After all, I can adjust these soul chips to let their presence leak out. However, they are no longer cursed spirits; they are just souls. Whether their lingering presence still works on other spirits is something you’ll have to experiment with yourselves.”

Saying this, Shirou tossed one of the soul chips to Gojo. After letting him feel it, Shirou continued: ”Naturally, once these former Special Grade spirits become soul chips, they won’t increase the strength of any spirit that tries to eat them.”

’Soul chips? No longer cursed spirits, just souls?’

Undoubtedly, for an average sorcerer, Shirou’s words would be hard to grasp. It wasn’t that they couldn’t understand the literal meaning, but rather that the meaning completely contradicted everything they knew about jujutsu.

Do cursed spirits have souls? Undoubtedly, yes. This wasn’t because sorcerers possessed a scientific spirit and captured spirits for experiments, but because the jujutsu world possessed Seance techniques—techniques that could channel the soul and body information of others through physical remains to possess a medium. Sorcerers naturally believed in the existence of the soul.

However, precisely because Seance techniques exist—and are considered classic techniques in the jujutsu world—the long-standing habit of recording history (inherited from a certain great Eastern nation) meant they had very clear records of their effects. Even if a sorcerer tried to only channel ”body information” and not ”soul information,” there was always a risk that the target’s soul would follow the channeled cursed energy and technique, leading to an erosion of the medium.

Simply extracting a soul and turning it into something Shirou called a ”soul chip” shouldn’t be able to truly isolate the spirit’s cursed energy. If anything, since Domain Expansions and techniques are variants of Reality Marbles, a spirit’s soul naturally carries its technique and cursed energy.

But Gojo Satoru was no ordinary sorcerer. Possessing the [Six Eyes], he truly could not see a single trace of cursed energy residue on these soul chips.

It was exactly as Shirou said. Through some special method, Shirou hadn’t just handled the spirit’s soul; he had neutralized the spirit’s cursed energy as well?!

”Can this technology—turning a cursed spirit into a ’soul chip’ like this—be traded?”

Realizing how game-breaking this technology and ability were, Gojo asked directly: ”Even if this technology requires a specific technique, as long as you let Yuta copy it with his Mimicry, I can agree to any condition you have.

Even if you want to meet Tengen and copy his technique, it’s fine. I can take charge and ’persuade’ those higher-ups for you!”

Gojo brought out what he considered his highest stake. As long as Shirou agreed, he would absolutely use ”physical persuasion” on the higher-ups, break into the Star Corridor where Tengen resided, and let Shirou project him. After all, Tengen’s technique was [Immortality].

Gojo believed that Shirou, who possessed a Shikigami (Stand) capable of manifesting any intelligence, couldn’t possibly be unaware of this. It was rare for anyone to refuse the temptation of immortality.

The reason Gojo hadn’t let Okkotsu copy Tengen’s technique before was twofold: first, Tengen’s status in the jujutsu world was truly lofty; second, Gojo wanted to keep a trump card in case he ever needed a suitable bargain for Shirou. Now was the time for the Tengen card to be played!

Just as Gojo looked at Emiya Shirou with full confidence, Shirou naturally shook his head.

”Regrettably, this is not for sale. Or rather, Okkotsu Yuta’s technique likely cannot copy this ability of mine.”

Stands were not cursed techniques. If Okkotsu wanted to use his technique to copy [Pseudo-Osiris] or [Pseudo-Atum], he would first have to become a Stand user just to see and touch them. Even if Okkotsu wanted to learn how Shirou became a Stand user—perhaps by copying Shirou’s [Unlimited Blade Works] (given that techniques are variants of Reality Marbles) and then projecting a Stand—Shirou would first have to find a way to refine [Unlimited Blade Works] into a technique that modified his biological reality and could be passed down through bloodlines. Only then could Okkotsu read and copy that information from his cells.

Otherwise, a Reality Marble is ultimately a variant of a Domain Expansion, and there remains a significant difference between a domain and an innate technique. A Domain Expansion leaves an object in the real world rather than completely replacing the world like a Reality Marble—that was likely the reason.

”However, if you have any cursed spirits you want turned into soul chips, you can ask for my help at any time. For the time being, I’ll handle them for you for free.”

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