Ren muttered, "Rika!"
A black spot bloomed in the air, and Rika manifested instantly into existence out of thin air.
The instant she appeared, Ren felt it.
Ren felt his cursed energy pool connect to Rika. Every cursed technique he had ever copied awakened at once… It was an almost dizzying fullness, a rush that made his fingers twitch.
It was like remembering that he could breathe through both his mouth and nose at the same time.
Ren didn't waste a second; he clasped his hands together—fingers interlacing in the hand sign in a precise hand sign.
指組み.
He inhaled once—then began to chant.
"Stitching through form… Connecting through will… Thread becomes law—bind this domain!"
"Maximum technique: Binding of Izanami!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the room exploded into red!
The entire room erupted outward—covered in red threads in every direction, crawling over every candle, every talisman, every tile. They stuck to the walls, the ceiling, the floor—everything. Thousands of lines of cursed energy snapped into existence in less than a heartbeat.
All of them connected back to a single point.
Ren.
Ren smiled as the threads pulsed around him.
"After a lot of thinking and theorising, I realised doing a ritual would take too much time… and cursed energy. Those two were still problems because, sure, I have cursed energy—but only for five minutes. When I activate Rika, only then do I have enough cursed energy to do whatever I want… But without her, my cursed energy pool is pathetic.
Up until now that's never been a problem. I can handle weak curses on my own with a little improvisation, and if someone is too strong, I summon Rika and borrow her cursed energy. With the copied techniques, I can fight almost anyone…
But a ritual? That's not a fight; I can't end it in less than 5 minutes… It's too complex. Even in the manga and show of JJK, there is no ritual this complex. Not only that, this ritual is mainly based on binding vows, which itself has never been done before. I don't remember any ritual actually having a binding vow as a core component… Other than, well, my own perfected red circuit, but that's something I did… but still… Since I pretty much invented this type of ritual, I know for sure this one will take more than five minutes…
20 hand signs, more than 10 binding vows… It's not that I can't say these binding vows or make them; no, it's like coding… In simpler words, I can't code one file at a time… If I do that, then it will take me more than 5 minutes… I can't use Rika as a cursed battery for something this long."
I have the blueprint. I just don't have time to build the building.
His hands blurred, racing through hand signs.
Tiger.
Serpent.
Bird.
Horse.
Ox.
Dragon.
Monkey.
Rabbit.
Wolf.
Then back to the interlaced sign—
指組み
—and again:
Tiger.
Serpent.
Bird.
Horse.
Ox.
Dragon.
Monkey.
Rabbit.
Wolf.
And then the sign for his maximum technique, the same one that invoked Binding of Izanami.
指組み
"Honestly, this problem seems impossible to solve, but that's only if you think about it in an analogy of building a building. But I am not building a building here. No, I just want to make complex binding vows. I have the resources; in simpler words, I just lack time.
And if I lack time… then all I need to do is perform the ritual fast inside the five-minute limit. In other words, if I can't code one file at a time, then I will just start coding all of them at the same time rather than coding them one at a time…
I'll do the ritual fast. Faster than it's meant to be done…
I'll force it inside the five-minute limit, and there should not be any problems since it's just binding vows; I can break them any time and stop the ritual…
Now how will I do this?
I'll use what I have. My maximum technique—Binding of Izanami—is actually perfect for this. It burns the maximum cursed energy possible every second. I created this technique when I was desperate, fighting my first special grade. Back then I had almost no techniques… but I had cursed energy. So I made this.
With Izanami, I can fill an entire room with red threads. It squeezes cursed energy out of me at the highest possible rate, which is why it's the fastest method to do this ritual because I can make the binding vows fast, almost nonstop, because of all of the cursed energy around me nonstop being used, plus I already did the hand signs. Now I should be able to make all the binding vows without a problem!"
Ren stopped the hand signs, inhaled deeply, and spoke into the sea of writhing threads:
"Binding Vow: The Severed Stitch"
"The red stitch outside my flesh is no more.
Never again shall I weave the original thread beyond my body.
In its place, two paths endure — Spider and Sword.
branches of the original, equal, and whole."
The moment the words left him, the reaction was instantaneous.
The red threads convulsed, then split apart with violent force.
"SHRRKK!"
"SKRRTTCH!!"
The threads tore in opposite directions, pulling at Ren with them. His skin, muscles, and nerves screamed. His body jerked sharply.
The recoil smashed through Ren's body.
A shockwave tore through the chamber as thousands of cords tried to rip away from each other.
Ren gasped and gritted his teeth as he felt like his skin was being pulled…
Ugh… what the fuck? Why does this hurt? Shit, I need to be faster! I didn't expect to actually feel damage!
Is this the problem with doing the ritual this way? Fuck, I knew there would be some sort of a problem since I have never used my maximum technique like this, but… Ugh, NO, I can still handle it. I am not stopping till Red Stitch is evolved tonight!
1st "Thread of Living Silk—Forever"
Vow: "I relinquish the red stitch in my weave. No longer shall my red stitch hurt anyone. From this day, they will stretch and bear eternal weight."
The threads pulled harder—then fractured apart again; half of them thickened, turning more solid, more visible.
2nd "Adhesion Vow—what I cast clings."
Vow: "What my hands release shall cling to earth, to steel, to flesh—until I will them free."
3rd "Gossamer Forge—Produce, Spool, Repeat."
Vow: "When I call, my weave shall not wait. It shall spool, pattern, and bind in the instant I command."
4th "Conduct Severance—Flesh for Steel".
Vow: "Threads shall be strengthened at the cost of channel—never again shall they be my conduits."
5th "The Weaver Seen".
Vow: "I abandon the hidden path. From this day, my weave shall shine in the eyes of all."
As he finished the fifth Spider vow, the split threads shuddered—half of them thickened, becoming heavier and more visible. Ren felt something all around him—like he had grown extra limbs and extra nerves.
Ren forced the next vow out fast:
"Now for the sword part.
1st The Unseen Edge.
Vow: "My threads shall never bear weight nor bind. They are cut loose from the world, only to slice."
The sword-threads sharpened instantly.
They sliced into the thicker spider threads.
2nd: Fingers of the Fang.
Vow: "The blade shall answer only to my fingers—no other vessel may draw its edge.
In return, my command over its form, its flight, and its strike shall be absolute."
The moment he spoke the second Sword vow, chaos erupted.
The reaction was catastrophic.
The red stitch threads exploded in violent motion.
The sword-threads whipped violently, cutting through the air—
—and slicing through Ren's skin.
Blood misted around him as fine lines crossed his arms, his collarbone, and his cheek.
His body bled from hundreds of cuts at once, each from a single hair-thin cursed thread.
Half the threads connected to his body transformed into sharp edges all at once.
Ren began bleeding from a hundred places at once. The red strings connected to his body twisted sharply—half growing serrated, half trying to pull away.
Ren sucked in a breath, eyes wide, the room spinning red.
"Fuck."