Echelon: A Multiverse Story

Unlike Yuki, Maki pertained to a different kind of beauty. A rigid, stubborn kind of beauty, but then beauty nonetheless. With how Maki presented herself, it wasn't as though she herself was unaware of such notions; though her inability to recognise why people considered her presence in a room despite her circumstances said a lot about her.

She's focused on what she's lacking rather than what she already has, Quinn chuckled to himself inwardly. Sounds familiar. 

In a way, he could see himself in her. A shorter, beautified version of himself with a polearm and voluptuous curves, but the sensation was the same. Her inherent worth was already present: she was kind, in her own sort of way, she was strong, and she had a set of beliefs she lived by. It wasn't that her beauty was inherently important when attributing worth to her, however from Quinn's point of view, he couldn't help but place such a value on her because of that. 

It's wrong, he told himself, but then it's not important, either. 

"You're looking at me like you expected something else," Maki seemed to sneer. She was crouched down into a sort of pose, her polearm extended out behind her. Having taken him out to the field in order to spar, her hostility felt more forced than necessary, though Quinn didn't question it beyond that. 

Making her angry could ruin what could be a month of planned balance. I'd…rather not deal with the devil-incarnate while trying to train!

"I couldn't sense anything off about you until it was pointed out," Quinn said. 

[Cursed Technique: Axis] 

With a deep breath, the barrier activated, surrounding Quinn with what likely amounted to chaos itself. He wasn't certain if it really was that, however with how it worked and interacted with reality, it was close enough. 

Concentrate. 

With regards to harmful possibilities, blacklisting them was relatively easy; cursed energy was quite useful in that aspect. Without more binding vows, he couldn't simply use axis in order to prevent any harm from befaling him; it wasn't that easy. The technique was relatively simple, though by proxy that meant remaining simple required a number of conditions to be met. 

For one, he mumbled under his breath, steadying himself as Maki approached. It means I need to be consciously aware of anything with cursed energy. 

Simply put: anything with cursed energy was subject to bypass chaos. 

No, not bypass—but weave in between. It's not like anything can just pass through, but something with the same fundamental building blocks as the barrier could wiggle past it, like a fish in the sea. 

Yuki Tsukumo's cursed energy lagging behind her movements was proof enough; without calculations and concentration, Axis couldn't determine whether to let it through or not, so it simply stopped before readjusting to Yuki's intentions. 

It's a double-edged sword, Quinn smiled inwardly as Maki's spear shot away from him. At the cost of protecting me from anything without cursed energy, it means anything with it can get in!

"It's a bootleg infinity," he chuckled, moving forward. Anything from air to leaves could easily pass through the domain due to the nature of the technique; and by that same nature, anything chaos considered to have inherent harm, like say a bullet, would have its intent readjusted. 

I'll need to be consciously aware of any and all cursed energy around me if I want Axis to protect me.

Maki clicked her tongue as her polearm was shot away from him again, sliding through her hands as Axis deflected another blow. She spun on her feet a moment after, swinging herself around in an arc to adjust for the sudden displacement of her weapon, using the weight of the blade at the end as leverage. Like a carousel, she spun around and slammed the polearm back into Axis. 

"Don't you get it?" Quinn muttered, dashing forward. He closed the gap immediately, kicking Maki to the ground and jumping on top of her. With his barrier, she was slowly pressed down into the ground, unable to move. "Nothing will get through." 

She clicked her tongue again. "Get off!" 

Weirdly, as Quinn leant in, he felt himself slip slightly. Other than Maki's struggling, he wasn't moving at all, and yet he felt himself…fall, almost as though he'd been pushed down the side of a cliff. 

Unbeknownst to him, Axis had been deactivated. 

With a mirror of her own, Maki locked Quinn in, wrapping her legs around him and flipping him over, placing herself on top of him. She leant in a moment later, a wry smile on her face. "You shouldn't have done that!" 

"I didn't do it on purpose," he sighed. "My cursed energy is a little wonky, that's all. I don't have a complete grasp on it yet." 

Quinn tried moving, though Maki's grip on him was stronger than he'd anticipated…and where she was sitting on him was particularly distracting, leaving him no time to reactivate Axis without losing focus. 

Maki smiled. "Not gonna turn it back on?" 

"You're doing this on purpose!" 

After a minute or so of gloating and unnecessary teasing, Maki released him. She'd been kind enough to leave him without any bruises or scars, though what came after might have been just as bad. 

"You're just like a student from Kyoto," Maki muttered. She gestured for the rest of the second-year students to come over, sighing deeply as she sat herself down. "You're a one-trick-pony." 

Quinn frowned. "I'm not exactly experienced when it comes to anything other than turning my technique on and off, you know?" 

"Exactly." 

Failing to grasp her meaning, Quinn was grateful for the saving grace that was Yuta Okkotsu. They were sharing the same boat, both being relatively inexperienced when it came to jujutsu, however his insight into the field was astounding. 

Yuta smiled, sitting himself down. "Maki's saying your lack of playing cards is your weakness. You…could say you only have a single suit, while she has the entire deck." 

"Even the blue-haired girl could probably beat you," Panda muttered. "Doesn't mean you're weak; it just says a lot about the cards at your disposal." 

"Salmon." 

Maki nodded in agreement. "How about this: fight me without your technique." 

Had Quinn miscalculated? It felt wrong to assume so, though the sudden failure of axis did say a lot about how it worked. Even slight adjustments or a momentary loss in concentration was enough to completely negate its effects; it was powerful, but it was also incredibly fair on his opponents. 

No, he thought to himself, it's only like this because it's programmed to do so. Even with the vow intact, the technique itself is still malleable; I can alter things based upon my understanding of the technique. It's…only as weak as I let it be.

In the first place, he'd limited his technique in order to make room for more applicable skills. The potential his technique possessed was conditional; it was only as potent as Quinn's understanding of it was. Simply put: Cursed Techniques were only as powerful as their users let them be. It didn't matter if it could do this or that so long as the possibilities were numbered. 

I…need to increase my options to the point that my technique can perceive anything as being manipulated. I…need to create infinity?!

More accurately, Quinn needed to create an infinite number of variables for when Axis could be applicable. By doing so, he would remove the tedious conditions like calculating for certain approaching variables—like attacks, heat from the sun, or the air itself—and automate it by having axis itself do the work. 

It's not like I'm lacking in resources, since chaos has to exist, no matter what. 

If death was the absolute force keeping him from returning home, then chaos was the bridge he'd use to close the distance. Simple, yet outstandingly difficult at the same time. It wasn't about understanding or becoming better; it was about improving to such a degree that he might not even be himself anymore. 

All due time…for now, I need to focus on the fundamentals. 

Axis would work eventually. It could operate on the condition that he allocated resources to it, though that was difficult. Training to improve something that existed conditionally was like learning to write with a hand you knew you'd lose in a month's time. So long as the possibility of accidentally deactivating Axis existed, there was no further need to change how it worked. Activating it when he needed to was all that was necessary.

 "In the meantime…" Quinn said aloud, turning to face Maki. "How about lending me a weapon?"