How Shiba Survived the Beginning of the Seitei War! Kagurabachi Chapter 121 Spoilers!

In the previous Kagurabachi chapter, Yoshinojo sacrifices himself in an attempt to kill Ariu Mikaboshi.

Kagurabachi Chapter 121 is titled, “The Irishima Talks End”

This is the finale of the five-part Irishima Talks mini-arc within the Seitei War Arc.

This chapter has 21 pages, including the colored cover, which features the top 5

Editor’s note: “A fierce battle!!”

The chapter begins with Ariu surviving the attack, where we see his left side taking the brunt of the explosion.

As he is about to ambush Ariu, Hiroto remarks that Sumika creates an environment around the user that is used in his favor: on himself is regeneration and the nullification of Sorcery and on enemies, the numbing of their senses.

Sumika’s conditions are the same as Magatsumi’s, the latter creating a field of life absorption that heals the user and drains life from the enemy.

Furthermore, like Magatsumi, the user can manipulate gravity to a certain extent, hence why both Ariu and in the future, Akemura Soga, were able to float in mid-air.

Hiroto uses Kurotsuchi to try and bury him, which even Ariu feels the weight of.

Alongside Hiroto, Shiba then grabs hold of Ariu.

We finally learn the name of Shiba’s Teleportation Sorcery. 

Itazura.

In Japanese, it has the kanji for “evil” and “appearance” but it is not as harsh as it sounds.

Instead, it is best translated as “Prank” or “Practical Joke” due to how Shiba’s Teleportation feels like a cheat or practical joke.

Itazura is not actually a Teleportation Sorcery.

Instead, it creates a “temporary error” between himself and whoever he is touching.

>Narrator-kun: The information of their location, height, weight, etc. He can freely change the information of their body

Basically, Shiba reprograms the reality between himself and the person he is touching to transport them to a different location.

But judging from this explanation, it could also mean that Shiba can actually alter the state of that person.

Of course, it is not to the extent that Shiba can revive the dead but physical attributes such as height, weight or location can be altered within clear limits, such as the limits of the human body and Shiba knowing where the location could be.

It is also possible that faraway locations can drain the user’s Spirit Energy significantly.

Right now, Shiba is adding weight to Ariu to add effectively to Hiroto’s Kurotsuchi, exceeding his limits and yet Ariu can still move, likely due to Sumika’s reducing the Sorcery’s effectiveness.

Mashiro uses his Akuu to send more metal pieces to try and bind Ariu further.

Hiroto tells Mashiro he will die from blood loss but Mashiro is confident that Shiba will teleport them out.

Shiba is confident that they can take out Ariu.

Yes you two will die. 

So many death flags.

Now here is the kicker.

Sumika is not simply the ability to reconstruct the environment to the user’s favor, by healing the user, draining the enemy’s life force and nullifying their senses.

In fact, Sumika does not directly do that but rather, it is just the side effects.

And all Six Guardiands of the Mikaboshi can do what Ariu is capable of.

Sumika instead is a “mass of murderous intent” in the form of a massive black centipede made of Spirit Energy from the Datenseki that is designed to push back against one’s natural enemies.

We see both Yoshinojo and Hiroto covered in holes that bisect their bodies, killing them.

Also covered in holes, Mashiro prepares to launch his sword towards Ariu’s throat with Akuu.

However, Ariu grabs his floating sword and declares that he is impressed by how they have forced him to use Sumika and so he slices Shiba’s neck with his junior’s sword.

We get a flashback of Mashiro’s past, how he was paired with Shiba to compensate for his own weakness.

Mashiro’s parents abandoned him as a kid and while the Sorcery Bureau took him in, he was not adopted, so much as cultivated for his Sorcery and so there was no warmth there.

Shiba acted as a brotherly or parental figure, being the only human in the Bureau to give him warmth by teaching him what youngsters like him are normally taught not to do, such as smoking.

For example, when Mashiro was worried they would be caught smoking and slacking off, Shiba assures him that they will run away before they get caught using his Sorcery.

It is because of this experience that Mashiro was confident that Shiba would save all of them with his Sorcery.

As Mashiro lies on the rocky ground, dying, he realizes the only reason he was Shiba’s partner is the simple fact that only he could do it.

Meanwhile, Shiba awakens, surprised to still be alive in spite of his neck being slashed.

He is dragged by Ariu to reunite with his father and fellow Mikaboshi Guardians.

Ariu commands his ability, Sumika, to gift himself, his allies and Shiba, the gift of healing.

However, while Shiba is healed, due to the present large loss of blood, he will feel hazy and not have enough stamina, which are the perfect conditions to use Shiba as a messenger.

Shiba escapes Ariu’s grip to land a jump kick but Ariu slams him to the ground as he asks why he was spared.

Ariu sees Shiba’s Sorcery as convenient for the task of making him the messenger to convey the Mikaboshi’s demands and explain the results of this battle and the overwhelming difference in power.

This is quite a clever inversion, going both ways.

This battle is treated as the one crucial thing that would give Japan the edge: information of the unknown enemy’s mysterious power.

However, this was actually all staged.

Although Ariu never wanted to use his powers, this incident still benefitted their cause as Shiba witnessed how utterly unmatched the Mikaboshi are due to the Datenseki, giving the normal Sorcerers and even the strongest, the Soga Clan, no edge in the war.

We see the names of all six of the casualties during the Irishima Talks:

Three of the delegates

Nobuharu Himura 

Tetsuo Harita 

Akira Takamiya 

Three of the four elite Sorcerer guards

Hiroto Soga 

Yoshinojo Soga 

Shuji Mashiro 

In this order, all are dead.

The chapter ends off the mini-arc as Shiba lies defeated while Ariu sits on the lounge chair for the Irishima Talks.

Introducing Shiba’s true ability and then showing this reliable ability, the Teleportation that saved the lives of Hakuri, Chihiro and countless civilians since the start of Kagurabachi, fail miserably at this crucial juncture.

It also reminds us why Shiba failed to stop Yura and the Hishaku’s assassination of Kunishige Rokuhira.

Shiba is not omnipotent.

He is reliable but he is human.

And it feels like Shiba has been living with so much guilt for not being able to save Mashiro and the Soga kinsmen, who could have lived longer lives had Shiba let go of Ariu and prioritized evacuating all or even some of them.

But of course, not even Shiba could react to such a sudden development.

Shiba suffers from survivor’s guilt, from the very start of the Seitei War to its aftermath.

The fact Ariu chose him as the messenger, to deliver the message to declare war on Japan, cements Shiba’s tragic story, as a man who was allowed to survive because of his ability yet, in spite of his reliability and experience, is unable to save the people he loves w

His journey with Chihiro will be to overcome or confront this trauma and succeed in using his ability when it counts most.

This is a surprising inversion or exploration of the “cheat” ability, similar to My Hero Academia’s Eraser quirk because instead of sealing the ability like My Hero Academia, Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen have done, we see throughout the story how effective it is and in the very moment we realize it is actually the strongest possible natural Sorcery of the series that we see its biggest blunder.

It has limits and that limit is the user.

The Seitei War officially begins next chapter, after 8 chapters of setup.

Editor’s note: “Defeat…And then…”

Kagurabachi Chapter 122 will be released on May 18, 2026.

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