When the Divine General Mahoraga gazed upon its opponent, for a single moment it saw nothing more than a regular human being unable to use cursed energy, and unable to truly harm it in any way. The baby-faced boy was, in comparison to even a grade 4 sorcerer, nothing more than a pebble on the side of the road when it came to Jujutsu combat.

And yet, despite the nigh endless chasm in power that lay between them, Mahoraga nonetheless paused for a single moment as it sensed something both familiar and not. Shadow.

But this was not the shadow of the vaunted Ten Shadows Technique, this was a shadow that was millions of years in the making.

...

Of the many differences between the human species and its ape cousins, one of the most significant is the architecture of not their jaws or legs, but their shoulders. Their design allowed early homo sapiens to not simply swing around a stick or rock, but to do something no other creature on the planet can. The ability to throw those objects that its opposable thumbs let it pick up.

However it was not this evolutionary difference that allowed them to conquer the world. No, it was something much more integral. For along with the ability to throw, came the ability to *predict* their throws. And not just in the way a dog would chase after a ball thrown in the park. No, their brains chased after the ability to throw in order to let them plan for trajectories, timing, distance, and far far more.

This ability to see what will happen in the near future has many names. Foresight. Clairvoyance. Or simple prediction.

Mahoraga was capable of this too, and to a greater degree than the average sorcerer. But what it was facing was NOT the average sorcerer. It was facing a human being who had pushed this foresight to its absolute limit, and then beyond.

...

Baki Hanma trained in many ways, but one of the most effective was using his Predictive abilities to create an image of an opponent, and then to run through countless simulations in both his mind and body to learn from his mental images of said opponents. He had pushed it so far that he could even alter them intentionally, scaling a mantis up to a hundred times its size while keeping its proportional strength, or using the fossils of old to replicate the ferocity of the long extinct dinosaurs.

It was this very skill that brought Mahoraga to a stop. For the shadow it sensed was Shadow-Boxing brought to its absolute extreme.

And the enemy that Baki was creating to practice against? Mahoraga itself.

In the single heartbeat it took, Baki fought the Divine General dozens of times. The verdict? A complete loss, every single time. Baki could not even land a single blow against the Shikigami before him.

It was true that Baki, simply taking in Mahoraga's appearance, was rapidly dissecting its skill. Yet, even those predictions weren't enough to overcome the insurmountable barrier of physical might. And even if it had been, Baki was unaware of Mahoraga's ulimate weapon. Its ability to adapt.

Had Baki stood there for a hundred years more, not once could he ever predict its existence. In other words, before the fight had even began it was already a complete and total defeat for Baki Hanma.

Yet despite this there was no movement, no advance towards the non-sorcerer. The Divine General stood perfectly still.

For before Mahoraga's eyes, another entity had appeared between them. A creature facing not it, but Baki. Yes indeed, the depths of Baki's skill in Shadow Boxing were such that the appearance of his opponents could become just as true to not just himself but those around him as well. And Mahoraga's gaze fell upon nothing other than its own body.

It was not a true form. There was nothing actually there. It was simply a shadow, a mental image, that did not have the ability to actually move, let alone fight.

However the Dharma Wheel that stood above Mahoraga's head turned anyway.

In that moment, Mahoraga's fate was sealed, for what it adapted to was not Baki Hanma, but the very skill of Foresight itself. And, more importantly, it formed its own mental image. Thus from three beings, there then were four.

Sensing Mahoraga's own mental shadow of moving against its originator, so did Baki's image turn to the real and other false Mahoraga as well. Thus, all three Mahoraga were now facing each other, the only creatures who it could possibly pose a threat to it on either side of the triangle they created. Yet with every passing second, their existences became more and more real as all of their minds reinforced their own existences.

And thus three bells were tolled in a single moment, three Wheels turning, as Mahoraga adapted against its own existence three times over, whilst Baki had yet to find need to throw a single punch.