Chapter Text
Divine Light
Right now, in the moment following nothingness, he was surrounded by darkness. Sound was muffled and his body was confined, unable to move, but...
Out of everything he'd ever felt, nothing felt as vivid -as real- as the first few instances of waking up here and now.
Sensation emerged from emptiness -his form clumping together like clotting blood- and he found that he could once again feel and acknowledge that he had, at one point, existed in the past and was now existing in the present.
'Reincarnation?' was his first thought, though it was immediately forgotten as bliss continued to coil around him.
All in all, if he were to think honestly, he wasn't that good of a person, though not really that bad either, in fact one could hardly have called him a person at all.
He been successful only to the point to sustain himself, making ends meet quietly on his own. He had no friends, nor family still alive, nor colleges at work nor a spouse... ultimately it seemed he left nothing behind when he died.
And he did die (at least he thought he did), it wasn't really ambiguous, something something drowning in the ocean, something something plane crash.
In all honesty it was a more dramatic way to go than he thought he was fated for, much more fire and loud noises than the going to sleep one night and not waking the next morning that he'd imagined. So at least there was that?
Though maybe he'd have preferred to die on impact rather than survive to die at sea... drowning, he'd found, wasn't really the type of pass time he'd like to indulge in again... well there wasn't much point in caring now, was there?
Because, in this moment following returning into existence, in the moment where he'd formed from clay in the image of Divinity, he felt like a God.
Not even like a drugs kinda way! Just, pure divinity running through his veins and bathing him in ichor. Gold on his tongue and power at his finger tips, if only this could last forever... if only-
Actually... if only if he could stop to think for a moment...
It'd been less than a second since he'd woken from whatever slumber he's been in and he was revelling in some kind of bliss filled power trip?
... was he sure that he died?
Yes, he was confident, but even then. Testing the bindings around him and looking around the darkness, he found the idea that this was the afterlife disturbing.
So he was meant to sit in nothing forever, bound in unseen chains and high off his mind?
No, this wasn't the afterlife (he refused to believe it would be so depressing) and (even though he was certain that he did) that meant that he couldn't have died. Therefore he, logically, was probably in some hospital somewhere... he wasn't really sure what place he'd been flying over, from the muffled talking probably somewhere Asian...
But, that probably explained what was happening right?
Plane crash, nearly drowning, found by miracle and was now waking up covered in bandages and high on pain killers.
Not optimal condition, but what can you do?
...after the man had concluded his mental train of thought, in nearly a fraction of a moment after gaining consciousness, he decided to pay attention to the outside world.
"-ergent Sila Divine General:-" then he heard something.
That wasn't English.
Definitely Asia... actually, definitely Japanese. He'd, like quite a few people in the year of our lord, had actually gained a passing interest (Read: unhealthy obsession) with Japanese media to pass the time between the end of his shift and going to dreamless sleep and could recognise the general sounds of the language.
What was much more pressing, was that he could understand every word the man was saying.
Now, unfortunately for his GPA, he wasn't that gifted at learning languages (he'd barley learnt the one he spoke for Christ sake) and like the average American, had given up on learning a second by the time that he'd left school.
So his sudden comprehension of what should have been, to him, meaningless noise, startled him beyond belief.
Panic slightly crawling under his skin, he began to fight against his bandaging, his body flexing and contorting trying to peel it away and, as he did so, he realised something quite disturbing. There was no way that this was done any kind of medical professional; whoever bound him wanted him to stay in one place.
Covering him from head to toe and wrapping him up like a mummy, the strange fabric ripped as he forced his limbs free. Had he been kidnapped? What kind of sociopath kidnaps a survivor of a plane crash!
Now free, the cloth around his face fell away and he took a deep breath of fresh air, stretching his body to it's fullest extent, neck flexing upwards to see... the night sky?
Above him, was the sparse few stars visible from the depths of a Metropolitan city, smog and light pollution only showing him the barest hint of the nights splendour. But even then, as the chill night air hit his skin, confusion hit him.
Wasn't he meant to be inside or something? Be it an irresponsible hospital who'd wrap him head to toe or some kind of Kidnappers, he'd think he'd be inside by now... not only that, as he took in a deep gulp of air, it lacked anything that could be considered ocean esque, tasting of car exhaust and blood.
...
Where even was he?!
"Mahoraga"... Que?
Hol up did this bastard just say Mahoraga!
Snapping his head down, looking to the source of the noise he saw... a child? That had been his first thought, as the person he was looking at was easily half his size, barely standing slightly taller than his crotch and hitting some kind of strange pose.
For a second he thought that was that, some JJK obsessed brat standing near him in his clearly shitty state and making references instead of reading the room...
But he then saw the fact that, this was no child, but a teenager. His proportions (while slightly lanky, the boy still having room to grow into himself) where clearly not the round fat and fat heads a young children, instead the early stages of maturity where obvious and front and centre.
The next instant, him having yet to acknowledge the space around him, felt pity for a nearly full grown teen being around 3 ft tall. Perhaps his own struggle hadn't been nearly as bad as this kids, but he could put his out to his brother in diminutive stature.
Then the world hit him.
All around him was a dense feeling fog, that was unseeable with his eyes unless he tried to see it. But when he did, faint traces and outlines of, claw marks, foot prints and gore all surrounded him. It was nearly incomprehensible, it was...
*Clink*
It was... it was perfectly clear.
A shawl of energy wrapped around the boy as well as the man standing some distance in front of him, a faint flicker of energy -clearly depleted- wrapped around the spikey, black haired kid who was slowly standing out of the position he'd been in while referencing JJK...
'Referencing'...
After his initial sight of the strange energy, and it's coming into clarity, the man then looked around once more. Blood strewn across the ground and the blond man across from the teen held an actual sword in hand, the air was still thick with blood and corpses littered the side of the road.
He was standing in Shibuya, he could recognise that much, the famous Shibuya crossing was empty after a massacre and... and there was a boy standing before him -covered in ominous energy he himself seemed to be emanating.
Time was moving slowly, not literally most likely, more the case that he was thinking much more swiftly than was reasonably possible. Before he'd thought that he'd been bound in bandages and that the tightness in his chest had come from roleplaying a fish a bit too intensely...
However, looking at the falling bindings and metal wire, that wasn't the case... instead he was emerging like moth from it's cocoon and into a very familiar scene.
"Hey Bastard-" fully standing once more, the young man addressed the man with the stupid side ponytail "I'll be dying first, give it your best shot!".
Fire line... but damn this is real isn't it?
This was, without a doubt, the familiar scene from Jujutsu Kaisen.
For a moment things like 'is this a prank tv show or smth,' or 'I must be REALLY high right now,' both came to mind, but the power running under his skin dismissed such thoughts. After all, someone was missing from his view of the scene.
Megumi Fushiguro had summoned Mahoraga against Haruta Shigemo, so where was Mahoraga...?
He looked down at himself, he was shirtless and his skin was completely white, with some kind of jewellery on his chest and wearing some martial artists pants. Around his ankles where thick bands and a sword fastened to his arm with a bandage... looking up he also saw a dimly glowing golden wheel.
Reaching a hand up to his face, he felt a lipless grin stretch across his face and... his fingers flinching back upon touching them, a set of four wings emerging from where he should have eyes. A mental command, like stretching a new limb, brought the tail like protrusion on the back of his head over his shoulder for him to see...
Shibuya Crossing? Yup. Megumi in Suicide position? Also yup. Facing off against the strongest Misogynist in history? Same stupid pony tail, so yup x3. And he was standing where Mahoraga was with his fit to boot? ...
Could be worse... better than Yuji at least.
What followed after that snide -but unfortunately true- mental remark, Mahoraga (guess that's my name now, who cares I guess? Ha, haha) was a deluge of mental anguish and pure panic that cannot be summarized simply with words. It was, put simply, a clusterfuck of unfiltered thoughts clambering over each other.
Was he real? He was in a Manga? Was the Multiverse real? Or was it like a two universe's kinda thing and the only magic guy he got in his universe was some dweeb who used his powers to write a manga? What would he do? What was even happening? How'd he feed his dog if he's in another reality? Di-
*Clink*
And calmness, Mahoraga was calm. It'd taken less than five seconds from his initial exposure to his own hysterical thoughts before he'd adapted to them... adapted to his own thoughts, what a joke.
Such speed was probably only possible because his constantly thinking gave fresh exposure to speed up adaption... which was how it worked right.
Get exposed, start adapting, and every subsequent exposure speeds that process up? That sounds right...
Anyway, now calm, (very calm, the peak of calmness) Mahoraga looked again to his surroundings. After hitting his fire suicide bar, Megumi had seemingly braced for impact, one which never came; so while the blondie was over across from the young man pissing himself, the Sorcerer was slowly turning to look at him.
Megumi's eyes met Mahoraga's four fold wings and he too froze, for a seconds it felt like everything had frozen before-
"What's this now?" in retrospect, his first adaption had been too the easier visualisation of residual Cursed Energy, and as such, as the King of Curses arrived, he saw the full breadth of his power... not five minutes into being in JJk and Sukuna already showing up, the glaze is unreal.
Now, at the risk of sounding like a certain Van de Graaff generator roleplaying as an edo era rice farmer, Sukuna -just on sheer presence- was unreal; genuinely... imagine walking down a path at night, turning around and seeing a full grown tiger mean mugging you.
That was Sukuna... but instead of a tiger it was magic energy that seemed to radiate his malice.
It was a serious situation, he could die... the blondie was cowering in fear and Megumi had spun on his heels to face off against the king... it was probably now that he should do something... but he wasn't, as he was currently trying not to laugh.
Cuz -it wasn't funny, you had to be there- but the look on Megumi's face! It was truly the shit. He looked like a deer in headlight, but even better, his hands where up!
Not to defend himself,
Not to summon one of his Subjugated Shikigami...
But to summon him!
Realistically it was muscle memory (which was even funnier) but look behind you lil bro, raga is already here you don't need to summon him again!
Mahoraga began to wheeze, but his throat held no vocal cords, his laughs coming out as deep wheezes of air.
(Much like when Mahoraga adapted to blue and was therefore not pulled by it while Gojo was, during in the Shinjuku Showdown, Mahoraga's adaptations had hamstrung him. While it was working as intended, his previous adaption that prevented his existential crisis now prevented the fear of facing down the King of Curses to take hold).
*Clink*
"HA!" where the user of the Ten Shadows had previously been looking towards the King of Curses in fear, he startled and fell off of his feet, snapping to look at the Divine General. "HA!HA!" Only to see the Divine General clutching his side and pointing at him, letting out periodic booms of 'Ha!' which where less laughs then booming shouts imitating the act.
To bear witness to the strange sight, there where three people on Shibuya Crossing:
The Strongest Misogynist of History, Haruta Shigemo;
Mahoraga Merchant Extraordinaire, Megumi Fushiguro and...
The King of Curses, Ryoumen Sukuna.
The blond was, quite obviously, pissing himself in fear. Simply either not comprehending what Mahoraga was up too, or not caring, he was instead quietly shuffling for an alley way off to the side.
Megumi Fushiguro, on the other hand, had his eyes fixed on his Shikigami, wide eyed and anaemic not quite present enough to know what he was looking at and instead floundering with his hands to make the hand sign of a Shikigami which could help in the current situation (and that he could afford at his level of Reserve left).
While the King of Curses rose a single eyebrow and smirked, he had cut his conversation off short with Uraume to investigate the ominous aura coming from the crossing and wandered into something quite amusing. The Incarnated Sorcerer watching in vague amusement as a quite clearly powerful Shikigami mocked it's summoner.
Not caring for their reactions, false calmness letting delirious humour flow through him, Mahoraga continued to laugh. Confusion painted itself across the young mans face, like that of a new born deer, which only caused the Shikigami to laugh more.
Ducking his head, he collected himself. He had to address the situation, Sukuna was right there! Taking a couple of deep breaths Mahoraga looked back up and...
"HA!HA!HA!HA!" burst right back into laughter upon seeing his summoner.
Both hands balled into fists and thrust in front of him to form into his own hand sign, the Shikigami stood up straight and imitated the previously scared look on Megumi's face.
"Wha- ugh... huh?" utter bafflement from the boy, who stared up at his strongest Shikigami.
Mahoraga continued to imitate his summoner over and over, bursting into laughter, collecting himself, and then bursting out again...
However, it would seem that the novelty of the situation had wared off "That's quite enough," Sukuna appeared behind Megumi and grabbed him by his collar, flicking his finger dismissively at Mahoraga while chanting "Kai / 解,". (Dismantle)
Mahoraga extended the Sword of Extermination, estimating where the slash would come from Sukuna's hand movement and tanked the hash of cuts; flinging him back and into the opposing store front. Dust and debris obscured his vision yet he could see just fine.
Standing amidst the debris, Mahoraga looked about his surroundings. Scattered around where the corpses of several Humans -likely those who fled indoors last- and several Transfigured Humans as well.
An unfamiliar Cursed Energy clung to the surroundings, most likely Inumaki's from when he was leading the 'normal's' to safety, Mahoraga memorised the feeling -maybe he could actual make sure the boy didn't loose and arm?- and got to move out the building.
Only, out of the corner of his eye, to see something amidst the destruction. This place was clearly once some kind of store, though whether it was general purpose or something else, the blood made it hard to tell. However...
In the corner, pristine, was something that got his attention, it was round and soft and something he could actually find great use in...
He knew that Gojo preferred Digimon, but Yuji seemed more like a Pokemon kinda guy to him, so hopefully this would be a help once this was all over...
Shadows
Special Grade's where tough, truly in another realm of power entirely. Fighting against the Fish Curse hadn't been a fight but a desperate bid for escape that had suddenly turned into a spectator's sport half way through.
That absurd strength stretched even too their Domains, creating something refined to a point Megumi struggled to fully understand it's structure.
Truth be told, since Megumi had first formed his own Domain a month or so ago -that night at Yasohachi bridge- he'd only been half-heartedly trying to refine his own; truth be told it was hard to refine a Domain without casting it, and casting a Domain was very, very Cursed Energy intensive.
It simply wasn't worth the risk of wasting a good chunk of his supply training only to run out of reserve mid mission Gojo randomly assigned them; be it the risk of his life or the risk of his two classmates mocking him, he'd rather avoid both.
And as such, he had only done enough training to memorize how he did what he did, not bothering to improve on it.
(Furthermore, when using a Domain, it put a lot of stress on the body, with it being the 'height of Jujutsu' and all, and in all honesty Megumi really wasn't enthused enough to try that. It was a hassle, and while -yes- he'd like to get stronger, it was also true that the only reason he became a Sorcerer in the first place was to find a cure for Tsumiki.
Ultimately, he didn't care about the refinement of a Domain or furthering himself to his maximum potential. That was truth he didn't even tell himself, that while he'd do anything to save his sister, fundamentally, he didn't care about Jujutsu Sorcery).
As a result, Megumi's Domain hadn't progressed far past it's initial formation he'd thrown together in a fit of inspiration. He didn't know how he did half the stuff he did in his Domain and he didn't care either way, the minutia of his technique was irrelevant compared to finding a way to wake his sister and upholding his own consciousness.
Compared to this Incomplete Domain, Horizon of the Captivating Skanda had been so refined that, to maintain Chimera Shadow Garden in order to counter it's sure hit, had taken a vast majority of his Cursed Energy reserve.
After Megumi had fought the Special Grade, he was on his last legs in terms of Cursed Energy...
And then he fought the strange man who changed faces after he died - being stabbed through the stomach for his troubles...
And then he was gutted like a fish by that scummy looking Curse User...
And then he summoned Mahoraga...
Megumi had basically no Cursed Energy left, it was bordering on empty in the first place and he'd already been scraping the bottom of the barrel before things had escalated this far.
So, when he said that he was essentially defenceless, that was being generous. More realistically he was a sitting duck, one currently in the clutch of the strongest Curse User ever.
Sukuna was grinning down at him and fear ran down his back in trailing rivers of sweat. There was... normally his hands would be balled into fists to summon his final gambit, but said gambit had just been flung through a wall so Megumi was left sitting there impotent to anything the Curse wanted.
A hand reached down to his face, flinching back he strengthened his Cursed Energy and lashed out with a fist.
It was swatted away with a scoff and the man laid his palm onto his chest-
Only for a familiar sensation, The Reverse Cursed Technique, to flow through him.
His ribs weren't bruised, his mind cleared ever so slightly and the giant hole in his gut closed. "Don't die just yet,-"...
Now, Megumi had been Anaemic for a while now: it was why he'd summoned Mahoraga in the first place -not having anything to loose on the brink of death- and it was why it took him a while for him to understand that Mahoraga (the bastard) had been mocking him when it laughed at him.
But, by far, the worst mistake he made in this half dazed state of blood loss, was looking up when the King of Curses spoke to him. "-I have something in mind for you still." Itadori's face twisted into a grin of only teeth, black tattoos and perverse glee. Blood drenched him like a second skin and so too did the aura of pure malice.
For a moment, he'd thought it'd be like the detention centre once more, another fruitless bout between him and the contender for Gojo's place as the 'Strongest'... so much was his disspair that he almost forgot to breath, but then the sound of concrete crumbling could be heard from where the Divine General had been flung.
But, there was movement within the destruction and out from the wreck came once more Mahoraga, however this time he dragged something behind him.
It was a giant Pokemon plush that was about as tall as Megumi himself, while he didn't know the name of the creature he did know that the fabled scourge of the Ten Shadows shouldn't be clutching it in one hand as it trailed behind him like a toddler with his favourite blanket.
Was his- did he get a defective Mahoraga?
Typical of his luck really, Sukuna was looking at the white figure much less amused now, yet did nothing as the Shikigami walked all the way over to the two of them.
Crouching down, elbows on his knees, Mahoraga thrust his index finger onto the ground. Once, then twice, then a Third time. Megumi had no clue what was-
Mahoraga pointed at a different point on the ground and shook his head, he pointed again where he pointed before and nodded...
It was his Shadow, Mahoraga was pointing at his Shadow.
Opening up his techniques Shadow he watched as the Shikigami stuffed the giant plush into the realm of liquid Shikigami fluid -that wasn't a good mental image, he was NOT visualizing that- before turning again to the King of Curses and cracking his knuckles.
"Now that's the spirit," Sukuna shouted and unleashed a frankly devastating front kick to the Shikigami and thus the fight began-
Thankfully away from him, though the bellowing destruction and screams ringing out in the distance was far from reassuring
How fast where those two, to be able to cover dozens of buildings in an instant? It took him a couple seconds just to climb one and they where over in the distance punching each other through them like...
It didn't matter.
Right now, right now all he had to do was get to Ieiri-Sensei and get himself healed. Just one foot in front of the other for now.
Turning on his heels, he began his walk towards the medics far off on some... he didn't remember he exact location, but he could let her Cursed Energy guid him to her once he got close enough.
Maybe... Sukuna had healed him -he didn't know (didn't want to know) why he'd that- but even still it seemed the King of Curses hadn't seen the need to restock Megumi with some new blood. Surprising really, the King of Curses is an Asshole, the world is shocked! Which meant, unless he wanted to collapse on the side of the road, he'd still need to get healed up.
...his head was sagging now and the corners of his vision where both blurry and dark. "Shit..." his cursing was light but, he didn't, right now it was just... one foot in front of the other for now...
Megumi Fushiguro began to walk, and as he turned he came face to face with the Curse User he'd summoned Mahoraga on in the first place.
"Uh,"
"Huh?"
Silence reigned for a moment, and Megumi found that his mind was racing now faster than it ever had really gone before. Firstly, was the Curse User deterred from fighting him thanks to all that happened? The awkward stance, smug grin and light grip on his sword both spoke of his intention and his underestimating him.
That led to number two. The Curse User thought he had the upper hand, however Megumi wasn't about to die anymore, even if he was near critically injured; so... what should he do?
It was now just weighing pro's and con's. Would the cost of fighting this man be worth it and is running away a viable option... Megumi was confident that he could easily win in a fight against this idiot if he wasn't half dead, but that wasn't the case. He'd still gamble on himself, even if he disliked leaving anything up to chance, but that meant running...
Could he run? Well that depended on whether or not it'd put his life more at risk to run; as of right now he needed to pace himself and even walking was taxing, meaning the question wasn't really 'could he escape him?' but instead 'would it be more exhausting to beat him than to run past him?'
Looking at the sleezy grin on his face, it was easy to tell that this bastard was in on this for the love of the game; there was no way he was going to let 'easy prey' like Megumi go, meaning if he wanted to save the most stamina...
Yeah the twink had to go.
A plan was formed in his mind in an instant, less a structured formula than a general sense of actions following one after the other. Jumping forward and forcing his diminished supply of Energy to respond he lunged at the man.
"Divine Dog, Totality!" his hands where the hand sign and the dregs of his Cursed Energy formed into his one Totality. Bursting from the Shadows towards the man, who stumbled back to the ground, barley dodging the attack on pure luck.
Just as quickly as it arrived however, it too disappeared. Summoning his Shikigami had a sharp up front cost and a smaller maintained cost for as long as it was summoned; it was more cost effective to keep them around a while, as even on the off chance it'd be useful, to avoid having to spend the steep cost to summon it back after having already dismissed it.
But Megumi didn't even have enough Energy to maintain it in the first place, so after it's one snapping bite, he let it disappear back into liquid shadow which crashed down onto the man.
As the liquid shadow fell, he reached into it and pulled out his sword as he stumbled forwards, aiming the blade as he began to fall onto the man.
Ultimately he didn't have to coordination to do anything fancy, the only reason he summoned his Shikigami was to either get an easy take down or put the man off balance for an easy follow up. Knowing that he couldn't maintain it, he'd prepped himself to get what he need from his shadow in the brief instant the body of his Shikigami remained after dismissal as still falling liquid shadow.
It hadn't even been a thought to him, if he should let this man live, the only thought being on how quickly he could kill him. In fact, he'd have preferred if Diving Dog had bitten him in half and he was a little disappointed it only knocked him over and made him have to finish him off
Scum like this, bad people like this man, deserved to die.
While the combination of motions had been planned out in his head, to the Curse User it must have happened all at once; first the pathetic young Sorcerer had looked at him, then a giant hound tried to bite his head off.
Said hound then turned to a watery shadow like substance before the Sorcerer had grabbed something within the liquid, pulled it out and fell onto him, a blade digging into his stomach as he did so.
Just like that, the fight was over in less than three seconds.
"Huuu-" his sword entered into his gut but, thanks to his weak hold, slipped upward and punctured one of his lungs, the man letting out a shallow wheeze and freezing over in agony as blood spilled from the wound.
Catching himself, using the sword like a cane and stopping himself from fully collapsing, Megumi got on his feet, aimed the sword again and fell a second time.
While the man had began to try and scramble back, this time the sword entered his chest and around where his heart should be. Falling down to one knee, straddling the mans waste, Megumi too the sword into a reverse grip in both of his hands and thrust it up and back down again until he was sure the man wouldn't get back up.
Letting it drop to the ground, the Cursed Tool forgotten by the boy's dull and fading mind, the most recent Practitioner of the Ten Shadows began to shamble down the streets of Shibuya.
Cars crashed around him and he heard even more of the panicked screaming of Non-Sorcerers in the distance, but his eyes where locked on the road before him; indifferent to the body he left behind as his brow and jaw both set into grim lines.
One enemy down.
Now all he had to do was get to Shoko, that was easier said than done.
Divine Light
Dog walked.
He was getting dog walked, in broad daylight (it was like 11pm or something) and Sukuna was folding him up in his own cloths and was about to put him away.
Now, at least, he knew what Kusakabe was so pissed at Genius' for. There was no way that the 'unloved wretch' Ryomen Sukuna had ever, ever, gotten any amount of formal martial arts training, but simply on talent and observation alone he was moving like an actual hand to hand god.
For god sake he'd grown a full foot and had hands as big as the mans body and his was still somehow piecing him up in terms of punch and kick.
Now, did he do better than his cannon counter part?
No, not at all.
Though, he did copy that move where he had began to throw his limbs at Sukuna in order to hit him whenever he got cut, that was fun. Got pump faked the same way too though, actually fully broke his ankles.
(Reforming from a discarded wad of blood, the wheel *Clink*-ing above his head as he did so. Landing on the pavement he watched as Sukuna landed and swung for a Dismantle in one solid movement. Mahoraga would have moved to thrust a limb forward in order to send it flying at the sorcerer...
But the more advanced sight of Cursed Energy he'd gotten earlier had allowed him to see that the King hadn't gone to activate his technique, the 'spark' of Cursed Energy -the same one Sukuna saw to predict red before the nuke in Shinjuku- just before a techniques application wasn't present.
"Ha," Sukuna was grinning, teeth splitting his visage and cheeks contorted like rotting leather "You're a clever one," he swung for a second time; however this time he saw that spark of cursed energy, he moved to throw a limb-
Nothing happened.
"Heh," the King of Curses swung again, the spark was there but instead Mahoraga simply moved to protect it's vital points- nothing happened.
The King was faking the spark of Cursed Energy before a techniques activation... just to stunt on him. Bitch really ain't taking me serious.
It was bad.
If he decided to ignore every spark Sukuna threw out, then Sukuna would start to actually use his technique and dice his unprepared ass to pieces and if he moved to intercept each time then he'd be stuck boxing the air like cannon raga.
So, to actually be viable he had to predict which of his attacks where a feint and which was the real deal ahead of time, something that he had no way-
*Clink*
Wait, update just dropped... nah it's the lying update; trash pull, another common, waste of money.)
In retrospect, he could respect actual Mahoraga a little more now, the poor half-sentient Cursed Technique... thing, had really been trying it's best. Fight Sukuna was harder than it looks, ok! And it already looks fucking difficult!
...
He figured something out, he actual knew stuff about his adaptions before he started to adapt.
It was actually pretty cool. So once he experienced a phenomenon, it gets added to the pool of things he could adapt to. Once he'd finished his last adaption, Mahoraga could then choose to adapt to something and then he does so. Once and adaption was complete he could then again pick from the pool and start the process again.
Very nifty.
Not only that, but if he where to start adapting to something then stop halfway and start something else, the progress on the last would be saved. Furthermore, the boost to adaption speed thanks to repeated exposure to the same phenomenon continued to stack even when he wasn't directly adapting to that thing in the moment...
Cool, cool...
It was pertinent to note that, just because he'd adapted to something, doesn't mean that he'd fully countered it.
Like how it took his cannon version took four (five?) adaptions in order to bypass infinity, that was the case for everything that he adapts too. However, thanks to Modulo, he also knows that both the speed of each adaption and the speed of said adaptions where based on how complex the thing he was adapting too was.
(He didn't know how an Alien kicking you at near the speed of light could be considered 'simple' but the mind of Gege Akutami's mind would always remain an enigma).
Furthermore, just because he adapted a full counter to a thing, didn't mean he couldn't adapt to it even further. Like how CanonRaga had adapted to Infinity to turn it off whenever he touched Gojo, he then further adapted and made his version of the world cutting slash...
All of this to say that he'd been doing a lot of that 'further adapting'.
First of all, the first things he'd tried to adapt to was Sukuna's cuts. First adaption had made him slightly resistant to cuts, then the second was a direct adaptation to Shrine -letting him see the cuts despite them being invisible- ('You can see it Mahoraga! You can see my Cursed Technique!' Bars Sukuna, bars) before a third to cutting which made him able to tank most of Sukuna's low powered Dismantles.
This was all done in the early stages of the fight where the King was still probing to see if he was worth his time, at this point all it needed was one more adaption to cuts and he'd be immune to cuts completely... however once Sukuna noticed he'd decided to start playing with him.
After Sukuna had noticed that his technique had stopped being as effective and had started to experiment with a hunch he clearly had; switching up what he did every time Mahoraga got used to what he'd been doing before.
Time after time he'd adapted-
*Clink*
*Clink*
*Clink*
Yet as they kept going, fighting styles changing and throwing projectile's switched to hand to hand switched to launching kicks led to his wheel adapting -not to a specific fighting style- but instead to Sukuna's superior stats. ('Cursed Energy?' he heard the King mutter as he launched him back into an overpass).
All of this... was useless...
Yes he could match Sukuna whenever he stuck to one thing for too long, but then Sukuna would surpass him somewhere else. All of this was done because the King suspected what Mahoraga could do and was having fun confirming it; and keeping his Fire in reserve to keep a trump card...
This was what CanonRaga had done, trying to match the King of Curses was futile and would only lead to him being subjugated. No, what he needed to do was use his advantage to it's fullest. Because progress to adaption was saved even if you stopped half way, he'd use any spare instant to adapt to one thing.
Fire.
Sticking hands into exploded cars.
Running through crumpled buildings.
Every time that he had the opportunity to get more exposure to fire and speed up the adaption further he'd do so. All to lessen the damage that Sukuna's final play would be. Hopefully those little, half dead, fire's would be enough for him to adapt before Fuga :D.
... Yeah things weren't looking good.
More specifically, he watched Sukuna's hand form an Enma and Cursed Energy mount from his Reserve and into active use-
"Ryōiki Tenkai: Fukuma Mizushi / 領域展開: 伏魔御廚子,"
(Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine)
Thousands of Cuts rained down onto Mahoraga and he could hear the city collapse around him. Pain lanced across his form, yet none of the cuts reached bone, only scoring meat and muscle; he could see Sukuna watch from the centre of his newly formed Domain and Cursed Energy continued to build and build-
Mahoraga turned and ran.
Cursed Energy reinforcement had been a useful acquisition, letting him make for the edge of the Domain faster than was reasonable. In less than a moment he was nearly outside the full 200 meters of Malevolent Shrine and soon home free...
But, just outside the Domain, within what had used to be an alley way, he saw someone.
It was a teen with White hair and Tattoo around his mouth. Inumaki Toge, he wasn't standing within the actual Domain, but standing on jelly like legs on the cut off before it; he'd wondered how he survied with only a lost arm but he could see why now, he didn't get hit by the brunt of the Domain, instead getting caught up in the thermobaric explosion.
White Energy enveloped his hand, he grabbed his arm by the shoulder and pulled as hard as he could. Pain stretched and stretched. Skin, muscle and bone popped, his arm torn clean off by himself.
Throwing the arm as hard as he could, his momentum adding to the power of his lob, the arm span through the air and smashed into the young Sorcerer. He was thrown backward and into the alley way - most likely only a half dozen feet, but hopefully enough to preserve his limbs.
"Kamino:... / 竈:..." Pure heat emanated from the depth of the Domain. Mahoraga wasn't clear just yet and he wasn't going to make it, instead he turned and fully Reinforced himself, curling into a ball and braced for impact.
"-Fuga / 開 ,"
(Furnace:... Open)
*Clink*
Adapting to the Domain, now fully immune to cuts, Mahoraga was fully healed, just as the arrow of pure flame lanced out and struck. A pillar of fire, proof of the King's Divinity, towered over the Skyline. There wasn't a single person Kilometres around that didn't feel the Earth tremble or the bloom of light painting the night sky.
The laughter of the King of Curses rang out, everything crashed with heat and flame.
Pain was familiar to Mahorga at this point, the adaption which had prevented him from panicking had cured him from caring about such things, but as he was baptised in fire he wished he was completely numb. Blown backwards and out of the Domain, which closed as the Fire began to cool, and landed on the remnants of Shibuya crossing.
Incinerated down to scraps of meat and bone, Mahoraga lay as a charred hunk of singed skin and burning flesh on the streets of Shibuya.
*Clink*
Until he wasn't.
Grinning to himself, the Divine General stood, recovered from all damage. And let the newest of Adaptions settle under it's skin, the Dharma Chakra Wheel glowing golden above his head. Now he was much more resistant to fire...
"Running I see," and what did he expect from the King of Curses, he was right behind him in seconds.
The two of them where once again where they started, with a fresh hole punched into the heart of Shibuya right behind them and the corpse of Haruta right Infront (The blond full of stab wounds and pooling blood, damn Megumi, restraint is a virtue bro).
"I wonder..." Sukuna's words where absent minded but he could here the underline rage in his tone; the King of Curses cared only for strength and he held no respect for anything for anything but his pleasure and displeasure. But running in a fight? He wasn't pleased with that. "-can you adapt even if your body is fully dead?"
Ominous words-
Behind him the signature of a Sorcerer appeared, they where much less powerful than either him or the King and slower as well. Spinning in place, Reinforcement allowing him to round on the figure and try and crush them in one smooth movement-
"Hikori Juhō:- / 氷凝呪法:-" (Ice Formation) blowing into the palm of her hand, a mist of ice billowed into him. Mahoraga didn't hear the end of the chant, now buried under a mountain of ice. Both Sukuna and -he assumed- Uraume where behind him now, talking most likely.
He hadn't adapted to this in any capacity, and as such every fibre of his being was frozen through. He couldn't move and everything burned with cold... but even if his body was fully dead, it was still present and as such...
*Clink*
There it goes. Fresh Skin appeared across his body and the ice within his body cleared in an instant. Now everything felt much less cold. What came next he didn't know, but as more and more cold came in and Mahoraga kept choosing to adapt to it, soon enough it's become a none issue.
*Clink*
These adaptions where pretty fast, but what could you expect, he was covered in ice so the constant exposure to cold made his adaptions speed up and up.
*Clink*
Finally. Mahoraga flexed its muscle and an unbearable heat exploded out from it's core. Mahoraga, it would seem, could remix attacks it was hit with and incorporate them into future adaptation; like ogRaga's World Cutting Slash being similar to Sukuna's shirne.
Where as the first two adaptions had been to Cold in order to prevent damage to his body, this newest one was to Ice Formation. Now adapted to the technique and apparently with the wheel inspired by Sukuna's lil trolling of the population of metropolitan Tokyo, decided to let him explode himself in a massive fire ball.
Sukuna was alone, Uraume had left it'd seem. "You where completely frozen through and died no? Yet you could still adapt, so your body has to be completely destroyed... how convenient,".
In the aftermath, surrounded by fire and Sukuna, frowning lightly to himself, muttered as his Cursed Energy began to wane, "Very interesting. You definitely have my attention, Fushiguro Megum-" his head didn't slump or anything as dramatic as that. Instead the tattoos across his form disappeared.
Itadori Yuji was once again in control.
Shadows
Megumi found the loss of a litre or so of Blood was rather detrimental to his long term longevity. But low and behold, he'd managed to drag himself over to where he thought Ieiri would be.
Passing by a clothing store, a car flew from above and crashed through the large front window, Megumi stumbling to the side as the Divine General and the King of Curses fought among the city above...
Still suffering from blood loss, his decision making was impaired that was at least what he'd tell someone if they saw what he was doing. Stripping off the top of his Jujutsu High Uniform -stashing the pin in his pocket- he climbed through the window and looked around.
Some kind of branded clothing store, the type Gojo was proudly present him presents from despite having done so a dozen times before.
Shirtless and the barest amount of Cursed Energy around his fingers and knees as he climbed slowly through the broken glass, leaning on the half crumpled rear bumper of the car -ignoring the fire starting in the front seat- he grabbed hold of one of the manikins.
Pulling off the short sleeved black shirt from one and the black jacket from another, he pulled them on and felt relieved to no longer be covered in the sticky blood of his previous fights.
Attaching a pin to the jacket, he kept on stumbling on...
Shoko and Principle Yaga where on a fly over from one side of the road to another. It was the type of bridge where there was stairs on the sidewalk either side of the road and was made so that particularly busy sections of traffic didn't have to stop for pedestrians.
Across the street's. Be it in store fronts, the road and sidewalks or the roofs surrounding them, dozens of Yaga's quilted Cursed Corpses stood vigil.
Walking up, familiar with his Cursed Energy already, the two saw him coming and took note.
He didn't hear what they said, but Yaga had stormed down the stairs and towards Megumi and Ieiri had called half heartedly after him. For half a second he though he was about to have an argument with the principle, something there really wasn't time for, but instead the man looped an arm around Megumi's shoulder and forced him to put his weight onto him instead of his own legs.
Assisting him up the stairs, Yaga then helped him sit on the floor besides Shoko, who leaned down and began to inspect him, "Don't bother-" he said, and where he saw the woman was about to respond but instead he cut her off "My wounds are healed already, I just need some blood,".
Shoko blinked, sending him an unconvinced glance before laying a hand over his chest, the pale white light of the Reverse Cursed Technique spreading through him once more. "You are pale... and I can tell your blood pressure's low,"
'How'd you know that...?' he half heartedly muttered, and was ignored.
Instead, Yaga spoke instead. "You healed yourself?" was said in a stilted tone, the same hardness he'd always heard from the principle but without any bite; his worry was evident.
"It was Sukuna," the silence was biting and heavy, in the distance and explosion rang out as if to punctuate his point.
Awkwardly Shoko continued to heal him and take periodic puffs from a still lit cigarette. Megumi didn't know what to say, he'd always been poor with words and the awkward tension was something he wasn't accustomed being his job to break... usually one of the two idiots would say something with no care for the room.
"Satoru said you quit," was what he muttered, causing Shoko to send him a raised eye brow.
Letting out a puff between her lips she smirked down at him, he could practically see the amusement on her face "Satoru talked about that?".
Looking anywhere but the woman's eyes, he staired upwards and at the night sky, "Back in my first year of Junior High, he wouldn't stop bragging about it for a week straight, he bought a pack of cigarette shaped gummies..."
... again silence rang... what the fuck was he even saying? Was now really the time for this!?
"Ieiri-san, you need to get into Shibuya," the mood dropped from the previous awkward cadence to seriousness once again. Out of line was the best way he could frame what he'd just said, completely against Jujutsu regulation was another.
"No, Shoko's role after this mission is concluded to risk her getting involved before the situation has died down-" his voice was firm and Shoko's own face was impassive, it was clear she'd say something if this wasn't (most likely) the thousandth version of the same conversation she'd argued before.
Shamelessly, he interrupted the man as he spoke "Is that opinion as Principle or as a Jujutsu Sorcerer,"
"Fushiguro." there was warning in his tone but he blew past it, his voice raising in volume slightly.
Matching him, Megumi continued "This has moved past just the veils anymore, we need any hands we can get out there, you don't understan-".
"Satoru has been sealed," Yaga said, "And I understand that, but Shoko isn't going to change the outcome of the battle in Shibuya with her presence. Where or not he's unsealed won't be effected so, as she's the only person able to heal another we have, I need to prioritize her safety,".
'Gee, thanks teach,' was said off to the side as Megumi bit out again.
"It's past all of that!" He lurched forward, but Shoko -with a frankly impressive amount of Cursed Energy Reinforcement- kept him sitting as she kept healing more blood into his veins, "I know you remember who I said healed me. It's not just about the Veils or Gojo being sealed anymore. Half a Dozen Special Grades are on the loose, Sorcerers are dying left and right-"
He coughed, something he hadn't known had been lodged in his throat being dislodged as he raised his voice, a thick wad of blood being spat to the side before he kept going, "It's not just Satoru... Sukuna is out, fighting Special Grades and- at the moment he and Mahoraga are fighting,"
Again silence reigned over the three of them. The admittance was heavy, it was a guillotine hanging over his head and he knew it.
"... do you think that he'll win?" It was Shoko who said that, much less concerned about any form of decorum before the cold facts. "Last I heard he was at, what? Three fingers?"
That was right, One from the School, One from the Detention Centre and One from Yasohachi... "I think so... before he appeared I felt his presence to a much weaker extent, I think someone fed Itadori some fingers and that's how he's free right now..."
Yage frowned even deeper, but he could see an underlining of... it was like sadness but hardened "So Itadori reached his limit on how much of Sukuna he could control?"
Again the question hung in the air. If that was the case, then the King was in control and Itadori was gone-
"No," he said and he hoped it didn't sound as much like denial like it did to himself "It's temporary, and once it's over and Mahroaga's dead, then we need to be able to reinforce those already in Shibuya..."
...
Biting his lip he gave his final thoughts, "We don't know how many special grades are left, I know that Nanami and Ino are already in critical Condition and Itadori likely won't be any better off either. As a Sorcerer-" he bit back his pride, it'd done nothing for him so far anyway, "As a Sorcerer, against those Curses and for the injured, Ieiri-san would be helpful beyond measure. We need her out there,".
Yaga was conflicted, he could see it. How Jujutsu Headquarters worked was that there was the central Bureaucracy under the Jujutsu Inspector General which handled to paper work of their world and the management of the regulations and giving judgement to those that breached them.
Under them, was the two Jujutsu Schools. This was the only official Jujutsu Institutions in the country -aside from the Ainu Jujutsu Society in Hokkaido- that catered to Sorcerers unaffiliated to any clan.
While the Clans operated independently, even down to having their own 'Special' grading system, they also had special privileges to whisper in the Inspector Generals ear and be exempt from certain laws under the ruse of 'clan matters'.
However, the Schools where the ones that gave missions and work to the everyman of Jujutsu Sorcerers, a hub for managers and assistant managers... and at their Head and technically second only to each other and the Inspector General, was the Principles.
As such a pillar of their Society, Principle Yaga clearly had much he had to balance between his own conscious and his role within their society. Panda and Itadori where examples of how he was willing to bend the rules he was meant to uphold to do what he thought was right but...
"I'll go then," taking another puff and breaking the silence again, Shoko spoke, "Not really your choice y'know, I have free will and all,". Yaga looked down at his once student in brief surprise before smirking slightly.
Crossing his arms he shook his head, "I can't condone insubordination, but considering the situation I'll save sanctions until after,".
"scary~"
Plan set, Megumi sat and settled in, the RCT flowing into him and restoring his blood. Closing his eyes he prepared himself to "And Fushiguro, are you sure that you should return to Shibuya,".
Without even opening his eyes he responded "I'm certai-"
As if timing it to contradict his words, a pulse of otherworldly Cursed Energy washed over them, in the distance he could hear destruction of untold magnitude before- a pillar of fire arced through the sky.
...
Silence reigned again, Yaga's face was bleak once everything settled down and his hoard of Cursed Plushes waddled around them. Ieiri held a similarly bleak expression as they prepared themselves.
Surrounding the younger sorcerer, the Cursed Corpse's stood either side of him as he sat leaning against the railing of the foot bridge, fencing him in
"No," Yaga said, his arms crossed but the stiffness in his posture told him that he at least wasn't happy at giving his order, "No, I can't let you do that. You said it yourself, it's too dangerous out there. You need-"
*Crash*
"Shi-" before the principle could finish cursing, something arrived behind Megumi.
The boy had been leaning against the railing of the foot path, the bridge over the road putting them around fifteen feet up and above the ground. The two of them stared, pale and slightly fearful at something that stood on the street bellow, right behind him.
Leaning back further into the railing, the metal beams digging into his back, he rolled his head and looked at the street bellow and found...
The Divine General standing before him.
Standing around ten feet tall, the giant shikigami was now only slightly looking up at them, but while that would have normally terrified him, instead what he felt was bafflement.
"Fushiguro-" that was Itadori's voice, which made sense, as Itadori Yuji -back in control- was sitting on the shoulders of Mahoraga like a kid at an amusement park. The giant Shikigami, looking proudly (how do you look smug with a face like that) and scooped the teen up and held him eye level with them.
His arms where angled upwards like a child reaching for the kitchen counter and overall didn't fit his status as the 'strongest of all shikigami'.
Holding him under his armpits like he was some kind of rodent or puppy, the boy hung in the air, on the wrong side of the railing, as Mahoraga presented Itadori to him. "-Please help me get down,".
Megumi staired again, once more baffled. "Itadori-" he said, but whatever retort he was going to say died on his tongue; Yuji Itadori held no expression, his eyes staired only straight ahead.
He had heard the destruction, the malice that darted around the city around him as he trekked over to Shoko, but to think that Mahoraga had won -or at least, not lost...
But at what cost.
Looking at the lack of light in Yuji's eyes, Megumi knew the price was steep.