Chapter 21: Upgrade and a Talk
3rd POV-Sukuna
Even during the Heian Era, he never witnessed someone use a Black Flash that many times.
Facing Sukuna in a fight meant death. And in death was the answer. Many sorcerers broke through their limits trying to kill him yet no one succeeded.
The face of desperation and their final despair brought immense satisfaction to him.
But this kid had neither.
It was as if he had no choice yet his emotions remained stable and firm. Someone who couldn't be broken.
'Was it 10 or 12 times? And headbutting with a Black Flash? That's a first.'
"The technique was similar to Yorozu's but it seemed inefficient." Definitely, the Ten Shadows Technique was far more efficient compared to Mai's technique.
For someone like Sukuna, it didn't matter whether the senses he felt were from a human body or a Curse's body, he could understand a Technique by watching it once or twice.
"Interesting. Something more to look forward to when I'm fully revived," he spoke to himself with a smile.
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3rd POV- none/Mai
'Alright. It's time to take out those Gacha I got.'
For his fight with the Special Grade, he decided not to use any of the Gacha because the effects of binding vow would be more pronounced.
He was truly risking death in that fight. At least he believed that he was.
Without wasting time, he first took out the 'Enhanced Vision' card and used it up. The card dissipated into tiny motes of light that entered his eyes.
Instantly, the colors around him started to feel different. The focus shift was much smoother and easier.
Tiny objects felt more detailed than before.
He looked out of the window and everything that was hundreds of meters away felt like it was in front of him.
He could've given it to his sister considering the fact that she couldn't see Curses without those Glasses.
'Oh right. I forgot about them.'
[Cursed Glasses:
A Cursed Tool that can be used to see Cursed Spirits by people who can't. Doesn't carry any extra durability.]
'When she becomes like Toji, she won't need them.' But there was no harm in having something helpful instead of not having it.
'I'll have to get one custom-made with a Vibranium frame and bulletproof glass.' He didn't want any tiny issues that could end up causing bigger problems.
After that, Mai took out the Beast Spear.
The moment it manifested, Mai felt it. The souls were trapped in the Spear, no, not just the souls, it was their whole existence.
When the Spear was created, the creator, driven by vengeance, ended up using himself and his sister as a sacrifice to create this weapon.
Even after the enemy, Hakumen no Mono, was slain, their raw negative feelings didn't dissipate.
In better terms, they're now trapped within the Spear and will be stuck in it forever unless the Spear gets destroyed.
'Holy Shit! This is more of a Cursed Object than a Cursed Tool.'
Mai thought that, once it got manifested, it could be used as a tool. But, sensing the trapped souls, his first thought was to free them. He was not a psychopath who would keep such souls bound for no reason.
Then the question arises. Why were they not liberated? Mai felt that it was just like a tragic accident where those sibling souls ended up getting trapped in their own creation.
'Not now.' He wanted to do it at a time when nobody bothered him. It was 3 PM and others would arrive sooner or later.
Then he took out the weapon that almost killed Gojo Satoru.
Inverted Spear of Heaven. It was certainly emitting a weird type of Cursed Energy.
Mai conjured some thick ropes and tried to cut it with the weapon, and unsurprisingly, the moment it touched the ropes, the ropes disintegrated.
'What about Construction?' He created a few grams of pure Vibranium and tried to cut the piece of metal with it.
This time, it did nothing. This was the inevitable proof that whatever he creates using the technique becomes permanent and isn't some glitch in the system that can be taken advantage of.
Now, there were three Gacha rewards left.
The summoning card for any random character from Konosuba world couldn't be used now as he had no way of hiding that person. Mai also won't be able to protect them if the Jujutsu Headquarters ends up against him/her.
'So, not now.'
After that was another summon.
[Shikigami Summon Baku] was something he would have to use when no other option was left. Baku was a summon on par with Mahoraga, if not more powerful.
Mai was confused because he didn't know about Mahoraga even though he was a Zenin. That knowledge was limited to only a few people even in the clan.
'So this Mahoraga must be some crazy Shikigami.'
After all these Gacha, he was left with the most powerful one.
[Special Character Card: Saiki Kusuo]
He still had qualms on whether to use it on himself or on upgrading the system. After all, the card showed more than 100 abilities on it.
'But what use is it when I can't control those powers?'
'System. Upgrade yourself.'
[Are you sure?]
'Don't make me repeat myself.'
[Confirmed.]
[Beginning the Upgradation...]
[Estimated Time for Completion:
10 days]
He did it. He used up the card that annoyed him.
"That's a long time but expected." When it took 16 years to create, 10 days to upgrade was not long.
He also won't be able to use the features of the System. Which means, no Observe skill, no Gacha, and no Quests.
'It would be nice if one or two powers were leftover even after upgrading.'[A/N: Aight. I got your back]
Mai went ahead with the upgrade even after knowing that it would take some time because he believed the enemy's side wouldn't act right now.
After they lost a strong member Hanami, and Mahito being out of juice, they'll have to wait for a few days.
"Of all, Idle Transfiguration seems to be the one with the highest potential."
He said that because, in the hands of a Cursed Spirit, it can only use the Lapse version or its neutral version.
Since they can't use Reverse Cursed Energy or positive energy, they cannot go ahead and create a Reversal version of it.
'Well, Hanami did something though. Creating Cursed Energy from Life force of plants, wonder how it was possible?'
Coming back, Mai believed that Idle Transfiguration would be the best power to steal.
As long as his soul was intact, he could easily regenerate from physical wounds no matter how bad they were.
He could probably learn Reverse Cursed Technique for healing now but Mai had some other ideas with Idle Transfiguration.[A/N: which I won't disclose now. It's a bit easy to think what he would do if you know what Geto truly wanted.]
Just that the ability was not an actual ability but a Cursed Technique meaning it could be resisted using appropriate Jujutsu.
"For now, I have ten days. Better get stronger if I want to steal it from him."
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Later, Mai joined the group and had some boring talk with everyone. Like always, Todo was observant and somehow found out that Mai had gotten stronger and asked him for a fight for which Mai declined it and distracted him with Takada-chan's Autograph.
Mai was a bit paranoid about Itadori after talking with Gojo.
'How much of a coincidence is it for Itadori to be in that situation?'
Obviously, there were a few instances that didn't make sense.
It was as if he was...
'...born for that moment.' His Grandpa died, he ate the finger, and he was some kind of Unique vessel to hold Cursed Objects.
All of the events can't be a coincidence, right?
'And that pseudo-Geto knew that Itadori would be alive even after he was declared dead.'
"How did he know?" was the question that Mai wanted to know the most.
"Mai. Do you have free time?" Mechamaru suddenly asked.
Only then did Mai remember that he already promised Mechamaru before the event that he would have a talk.
Mai nodded and took him to his temporary lodge.
"First of all, have you ever delved into these topics?" Mai asked showing him various research papers on his phone.
"What's this...Organ Regeneration through Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering? Yes. I have an idea but I never went deep into Biology.
I'm more proficient in Mechanics and Electronics as you know..."
"Yeah. Your Cursed Technique is Puppet Manipulation. Those topics seem like the ones you need the most."
"Yeah. So, could you explain about this? I'm not exactly knowledgeable in this."
Then Mai explained Mechamaru how the advancements in Stem Cell Therapy were made these past 5 years. Other changes in regenerative medicine and organ transplantation were rapid because of high level data analysis methods.
"But the practical aspect seems lackluster." Mechamaru said almost getting the gist of what Mai explained.
Mai was a bit surprised on how fast Mechamaru understood what Mai was conveying.
'This guy is quite intelligent.' In fact, everyone in Jujutsu Kaisen seemed fairly intelligent whether they were sorcerers or Curses.
"That's where my Cursed Technique comes in." Mai replied.
"Oh Yeah. You were about to explain about your technique before the event."
"Yeah. But now, after what happened, I'm not sure about speaking about it." Mai said.
Just a moment after listening to Mai's words, there was a subtle disturbance in Mechamaru's Cursed Energy.
"W-what do you mean by that?" he asked. His robot persona also broke down for a second.
"I mean, if they're able to sneak into Jujutsu High barriers, then what else could they be capable of? They might be secretly spying on others somehow."
"T-then..."
"Yeah. I'm not telling you about my Technique." Mai stated plainly.
"...Fine. I won't force you."
"But I don't have to explain to you about my Technique. I can just tell you how the technique will help you in curing your disabilities."
"... That's right. I was thinking from my perspective where my Technique can't be explained vaguely."
[A/N: From here on begins my bullshittery for a few paragraphs. Just don't use too many brain cells reading this.]
"Well, let's first start with what is the main problem in bringing these theories of Stem Cell Therapy into practice.
The answer lies in how Stem Cells morph into cells of respective organs whether it's a nerve cell, kidney cell, muscle cell, blood cell, liver cell, or any other cell in the body.
The process of morphing is kickstarted by the presence of certain enzymes and chemicals. These chemicals are only present before a baby's birth which facilitates the growth of all the organs.
The above said enzymes and chemicals can't be properly administered in the artificial process. But with my Cursed Technique, it is possible. Although it'll require certain proficiency and knowledge on my side, the main requirement is Cursed Energy.
Usually, it wouldn't have required much but because of the complexity, the need is extremely high. Unless you or I have tens of times more than a Grade 1 sorcerer, it's not possible immediately.
Still, we can take our time and do it slowly over the course of 2 whole years."
Mechamaru patiently listened and asked a question or two for clearing doubts.
"How much Cursed Energy would you require?" he asked Mai.
"Eh. Even if you ask me how much, how should I compare it to? Why don't you just flare out your Cursed Energy? I'll compare it to that."
And Mechamaru exactly did that by flaring all the Cursed Energy he could via the puppet. After 15 or so seconds, Mai said to stop.
'That much would be enough for Gojo to trace Mechamaru's real location.'
"Hmm. I can't say exactly but about 50 to 60 times as much. Which you nor I have. So, -"
"I do." Mechamaru interrupted.
"Say what? How do you have that much?" Mai was surprised. Even Gojo won't have that much.
"Well, like you said before, I can't explain how I have that much but I can tell that I do have about 80 times as much as I've shown now."
"Holy -. For real? Then, it'll take about 6 or so months instead of 2 years."
"Why that long?" he asked immediately.
"Well, I will need to study this complex chemistry and understand all those processes, right? How will I do it instantly?"
"..."
"And we can't hurry in these things. We have time. So, let's take the most successful route."
'We don't.' is what Mechamaru wanted to say but couldn't.
Because of the binding vow, Mechamaru couldn't snitch on himself or give away any information till October 31st.
But he was happy that Mai was worried for him. He was happy that he made such friends.
He wanted to be beside them, not as a puppet but as a regular human, laughing and crying beside them.
'Sorry, Mai. I'm happy that you're doing this much for me but the circumstances...' the real Mechamaru clutched his hand at the cruelty of the situation.
'I will defeat them, and get back to you all. No matter what.' he consoled himself.
"Thanks for the help, Mai," he said after looking at him for a few seconds.
"Don't bother. We're friends, right?" Mai said with a bright smile.
Unfortunately, Mechamaru didn't know that the day he could walk again would be when chaos ensues.
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A/N: I'm really sorry for the late upload. I couldn't get the right motivation to write the chapter.
And the dialogue also felt hard to write.
Putting that aside, what world do you want the MC to go to using that Multiverse Quest coupon? I'm confused about some options. Give your vote below.
[Here] - Just give it a Like from the given options.
You can also give your own comment but there are only a few stories I can choose from.
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