บท 39: Shibuya: Mission Accomplished
Third Person P.O.V.
Junpei breathes hard over his enemy's defeated body. It was a hard and ugly fight. His opponent was strong albeit not looking it. He was estimated to be Semi-Grade 1, the same rank as people like Inumaki, Mechamaru Kamo Noritoshi, and Utahime.
It's an accomplishment to pull a Victory against him, even without considering the difference in experience.
"*Huff* *Huff* I'm still so behind..." But Junpei doesn't let the Victory go to his head. He knows that many of the people around him would do the easy work of a curse user.
He started late, so he needs to work hard to catch up.
"Now... Where's Mei-san?" He looks around, lost.
.............
In the Hachiko Station, a woman in monk clothes sits on the ground as she patiently appears to wait for something. Kenjaku rests her cheek in her fists while staring at the Prison Realm unblinkingly.
"Hm, let's wait a little more..." She says to herself "!!"
*Whoosh*
Kenjaku moves fast, calling the already summoned cursed spirits to protect herself.
But even so, the hidden blade cuts through the shield of small cursed spirits like butter and goes for her throat. She still put her arm to block, which was easily cut too. The blade only stopped halfway on her neck, and she needed to jump off to not get decapitated.
"Oh... As expected, you didn't die only with that." Fushiguro Toji says in a calm voice as he cleans the blood of his blade.
"And it is not expected for you to be alive..." Kenajku answers with a disgruntled smile, holding her bloody throat and gaining time to heal herself with the Reverse Cursed Technique.
"These Cursed Tools are a little too showy for a sneak attack." Toji says as he lowers his stance to the next attack.
Hard not to be noticed when you are holding Special-grade tools.
"That Ogami Hag, huh?" Kenjaku finishes healing "That's why I didn't want to mess with your body... It's out of the Jujutsu System." She says while narrowing her eyes, her hand unconsciously going to her chest "This body also doesn't like you."
"Whatever." Toji appears uninterested in her words and simply shoots forward at neck-breaking speeds.
Kenjaku in response summons a batch of sorted cursed spirits to block his path, unfortunately, it does not do much to hinder his advance. The small curses explode instantly as Toji makes easy work of them.
Kenjaku doesn't underestimate the man, at the same time she knows it would be a waste to use numbers against him, so she decides to go for quality.
She has an assortment of curses that she can use, but the better ones obviously have Innate Domains as their main abilities and against a Heavenly Restriction user... It's not that effective.
She tries to trap him in an Innate Domain that affects his senses, but he simply brushes it off like nothing.
'Tch, but I remember from Geto's memories that he was affected by that Kuchisake-onna curse Innate Domain.' She frowns.
Then it hit her... He answered the "Am I pretty?" question voluntarily, to start the Innate Domain aggression... He did that on purpose because he was carrying the Inventory Curse.
He had full confidence in turning down the Domain before it could kill him, so he took the blunt from the weak, but useful, curse.
He really treated it better than Megumi...
Right now, Toji has no weakness.
Kenjaku jumps away from his attack in a hurry, in an almost desperate fashion.
"Women don't like clingy men! She shouts and changes strategy.
She used some curses that don't affect him, but affect the environment around him. Opening holes, planting minefields around him, raising the terrain, and other non-direct ways...
'But this is not gonna kill him.' She sees this slowing him down, but not as much as she wanted. And as she retreats to keep her distance she notices that she is being taken farther and farther from the Prison Realm.
She jumps back at the tunnel, Toji jumping on the ceiling in the walls like he has springs on his feet, moving in a 3-dimensional way to deal with everything Kenjaku throws at him.
"Damned Monkey..." A little of Geto escapes as Kenjaku gets angrier.
It's a little frustrating when your better cards, the ones that you spent a lot of time to hone and use in battle become useless. Toji fights in the most primitive way, drags you down to fight on his level and then beats you with experience.
Toji's sword gets dangerously close, in truth, it reaches her at some moments, but Kenjaku is no slouch either and is able to avoid receiving fatal injuries. And without being finished she will heal herself.
But Toji gets closer and closer, he goes through a curse that can solidify the air like he is simply breaking a glass window.
*Wooun* *Bam*
At some point, his blade got dangerously close to her head and she had no choice but to use one of her Trump cards. The Innate Technique of her previous body, the Antigravity System.
Toji was forced to his knees by the shift in gravity, the strain making it difficult to move.
"C'mon... How long will it take?..." She talks to herself.
Toji was already starting to resist the effect of the technique when something suddenly changes in Toji.
His body jerks up for some time, spasming uncontrollably.
"Finally." Kenjaku sighs in relief but still doesn't drop her guard.
This is obviously her work. In the first minute, the two started battling, she understood how he came back... and sent some curses to kill Ogami.
It was surprisingly easy to do that because Ogami was stationed in a place to defend one of the Curtain's sources. The fact that Ogami is not a priority to Megumi backfired, he couldn't go carrying her around and he couldn't give her to the sorcerers either.
Well, she is not that important after he discovered that she can't really resuscitate anyone... He will probably say "Too bad" and forget about her in the next second.
"Tch, can this body of yours play by the rules?" Kenjaku gets annoyed again.
The technique was not canceled, Toji is really out of it but it didn't change anything because he is still going for the kill. *Swish* He dashed at her
"And I really didn't want to use it... Uzumaki." A basketball-size Uzumaki appears in front of her and she blasts Toji away.
The Sorcerer Killer has good enough instinct to block a good part of the blast with his weapons but he is still sent flying out of the station by the force of the attack.
"Well, let's dip. things are getting out of control..." Kenjaku dusts herself before going back to the Prison Realm. Toji is someone elses problem now, and if he comes back, she wants to be far away.
.............
"The irony of me saving your ass," Maki smirks over Dagon's dead body, her mocking words directed at the wounded Zen'in Naobito.
"Hmpf, did I ask for your help?" He says in discontentment
"You old drunkard! You would be sleeping with the fishes if I didn't help you now!" Maki flips him off
As they are arguing in a way an outsider wouldn't know if they get along or not, the wall of the Building where they are standing explodes, startling them and making them adopt a battle-ready stance immediately.
"Is that?" Naobito's face shows incredulity as he watches a silhouette appear from the Dust and debris "Toji-kun?"
"Toji...? Where did I hear that name?" Maki asks in a serious tone, in truth her whole body is serious.
This newcomer is giving her a sense of danger that is rare for her to find nowadays. And a familiar feeling too...
"That's Toji... Fushiguro Megumi's Father." Naobito reveals
"What?" Maki exclaims "Didn't he die like 10 years ago?"
"Yes, he really died. But someone must have brought him back." Naobito guesses it easily.
Nothing is impossible in this world of Jujutsu.
"Yeah, he looks a little off..." Maki adds, eyeing the man carefully.
Now that she is comparing... He really looks a lot like Megumi.
"!" *Swish* *Clank*
Toji suddenly dashed and attacked Maki who quickly blocked with one of her blades.
"This is one of Mai's..." Maki narrows her eyes while they maintain an impasse in this little contest of strength. "You met Megumi?"
Those two are not ones that normally lose a dispute like that.
"..." Toji didn't answer her. His blackened eyes are devoid of any emotion.
"I don't understand but... I'm gonna kick your ass, Father-in-Law!"
She was starting to be pushed back slightly, but with a grunt of effort, she disengaged from him and tried to slice his hand. The hand that was reaching for the Inventory Curse around her waist, but he retracted it fast enough to dodge.
It seems some instincts are being kept alive on this walking corpse.
*Swish* Now it's Maki's time to dash forward and attack Toji. She used a horizontal Slash at his torso that was predictably blocked, but she used the moment to spin herself and deliver a powerful kick at him.
That was also blocked by his forearm, but he was sent flying anyway. Maki gives chase out of the Building to not give him a chance to recover.
After the small exchange from before, she guesses the two are fairly equivalent in the physique stats department, but he is taller and has more muscular mass.
'Weight is power!' She remembers Megumi saying it a hundred times when talking about his darkness powers. And when he was talking with Mai about making that weapon.
Toji is not only heavier than her but has a slightly bigger range too, and as much as she hates to admit it... He is probably more skilled than her too.
*Clank*
Another clash occurs as he blocks her upward slash.
"I've been compared with you a lot, you know?" She smirks "It's time to graduate from your shadow!" With a trained twist of her wrist, she rotates their weapons, and disarms him, but consequently loses her own weapon in the process.
Now the two are unarmed.
It's a price that she willingly paid, she has more weapons in her possession anyway... But she doesn't pull more out of the Inventory Curse.
"..." Maki, to the surprise of anyone that would be watching, raises her fists and squares up against Toji. "Bring it on!"
It's unknown if some part of him recognized her challenge or is just the best path that his robotic mind came up with, but he also raises his fists in a similar stance.
"..." The two stare at each other for a moment till...
*BAM*
They disappear from their spot and in the next instant, they are already in each other's faces with their fists. They are forced back by the impact, their face turning back, but immediately the two go back to fight simultaneously.
They engage in fierce close-quarters combat. From an outside perspective, one would simply see them Blur off their limbs, catching a glimpse of the afterimages of when an attack was blocked or landed.
They stay rooted in place as they attack, block, and dodge their opponent's attack. It almost looks like they are playing, playing a very dangerous game because the blood flying and the shockwaves of the blows are very real.
They are not holding back and anyone would wince just for the sound of the attacks. But as they continue to try to kill each other slowly, something happens...
*ZUuuuuum* *Fwwoounn* Crack* *Crack*
A buzzing quiet sound is the prelude of a huge wave of Cursed Energy hitting them... Hitting the whole of Shibuya like a flood, like it drowned the whole place.
Windows break, the ground cracks, the light posts explode and the whole place gets darker and darker. Like some colossal figure is blocking the moon and stars.
"!!" Maki feels her knees weak, no... Heavy. This is a familiar sensation. She turns to look at the overall direction of the source of this overwhelming amount of Cursed Energy and pressure "Megumi..."
..........
Inside the Imaginary Battlefield
"I have two Domains, but they are not independent... Like how a second floor of a Building can only exist with a first floor beneath it, one of the conditions for me to open my Darkness Devil Realm is using the Chimera Shadow Garden beforehand. Normally this would be impossible for another person... The consumption of Cursed Energy and the strain on the brain it's a barrier that no other can surpass... But like I said, I'm special." Megumi explains to the fallen Sukuna.
It's only right to give the courtesy to explain how he defeated her.
"Initially, I already considered the Domain Battle a loss for me... It would just be an opportunity to destroy your Shrine in another way, to force a weakness. With Mahoraga or my strong body, for example. But what a surprise... Destiny gave me the tools to win even on that. Maybe it was the reward for my efforts for trying to win this properly..."
"My first Domain, Chimera Shadow Garden creates an optimal territory for me to use my Ten Shadows Technique. I forsook the sure-hit effect to increase the effectivity, but it's probably one of the strongest domains out there when coupled with my huge reserves of Cursed Energy... I'm literally a god there. The second Domain is overpowered because it has multiple sure-hit effects and attacks. You are hit with everything my Darkness can do: suppress your senses, absorb your cursed energy, concussive blasts of gravity force... And I think it will continue to increase in the future..."
Megumi explains how ridiculous his ability is. In game terms, at the same time it silences, stuns, drains, and does damage. Very fitting and in accordance with his versatile style. A little of everything...
The reason for all this precaution is that he never saw the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen, so he didn't know what kind of tricks Sukuna could have under her sleeve. In a certain way he over-prepared, but it paid off in the end.
He crouches down at her side "You know, normal people have this battle between good and evil inside them... Me? It's more like a battle of 'I need to enjoy things fully' versus 'I need to survive no matter what'. Our battle is a great moment where those two clash. I could have fought more cowardly to ensure victory without risks... But I felt that I would regret it in the future. I really wanted to end this fight with a battle of domains. So to please those two sides I only did that after Mahoraga finished adapting."
He smiles down at her "So don't think I'm underestimating you or that I held back. I didn't use everything... But I gave my all."
"And why are you saying this to me again?" The dying Sukuna speaks with her bloody mouth.
"Courtesy, I guess... It's our final moments, so I guess I want to stretch it as long as I can or say something memorable because I will remember this moment Forever."
"Hmpf. You are still just a little indecisive in battle...Enjoy, not enjoy... Survival or not. Just continue to do what you want, if you die, you will have your answer that your path is wrong. And that will be satisfaction enough. You will naturally know the right path too..." Sukuna gives some life advice to him.
"...guess I'm still a coward then. I'm not ready to bet so much only to discover the 'right path'. I have so much to live for... Infinite possibilities and all that." Megumi gives a nonchalant shrug of shoulders "If things went really bad, I would not mind crawling on the ground like a worm and killing you by biting... It doesn't matter how unsightly it would go, winning is everything. Pride is cool, but will be the first thing that I will discard to survive."
"Well... The winner is king, so your method should be the right one then." Sukuan doesn't argue. In her mind, losers shouldn't say much. "Grabbing Victory through non-conventional means is also strength."
"..."
"..."
The two stay silent for a while, different from anime and movies... Death is not considerate enough to happen at the perfect time so that things don't get awkward.
"*Haah* Too bad..." Megumi sighs regretfully and reaches towards Sukuna... To give a last squeeze on her giant badonkers
"..." Sukuna flatly stares at him as she is molested at death's door "What? Regretting it already?'
"Hmm... no." He answers after thinking a little "I just realized that things reached this point exactly because I wanted to kill you from the beginning. Weird that our relationship is kinda good because of that... If I let you be imprisoned inside Itadori we would never be what we are today... It's an ill-fated relationship with an expiration date, but ended up being pretty enjoyable because it gave us the opportunity to get to know each other. It doesn't matter how we meet, the important is that we met... Maybe this is destiny."
This makes Megumi think a little more deeply about how he will live his life. It's obvious but...
"...it's still complicated." He sighs again "If I only live for the sake of survival, it will be a boring and wasted life... But if I enjoy too much, I can die. Maybe life is about learning how to balance things because no one is one-dimensional?"
"I will not repeat myself..." She already said her piece previously.
In her mind, you just need to be strong to bear whatever consequences your selfishness can bring... And if you die you should accept that it's your limit.
"It's what I'm doing..." Megumi understands what she is thinking. The two kind of know each other very well at this point "And I will not accept dying for at least some millenia... An old lady like you already lived enough and can be ready to part, but not me. There are a lot of cheeks to clap out there and annoying people to beat up. I have a list."
"Fuck you." Sukuna coughs at the insult.
"There, there... No need to cough blood, we are not in a cultivation story." Megumi grabs and holds Sukuna close to his chest almost tenderly "It's really a waste..." Megumi sighs again, looking at her lovingly.
The two eye each other regretfully, and Sukuna starts disappearing in motes of light.
Then he kisses her. A bloody kiss that tasted like iron, but he didn't care. She also doesn't seem to care, putting her remaining hand on his face as their lips stay connected in a surprisingly chaste kiss.
They separated slowly and hesitantly, a strand of bloody saliva connecting their lips till they were far enough. Megumi's mouth is now smeared with blood but he pays it no mind.
"Don't look at me like that..." Sukuna says slowly "If you are so full of regret... you should have simply gone around capturing everyone from the beginning... then you would have time to do what you want... and control everything."
"I started weak... But I learned my lesson now. Next time, a lot of people are getting out of the playfield as soon as I can remove them." He explains himself.
This is another thing that he will have to learn how to balance... What he should protect in canon from happening and what he should prevent. He will need to get more experience on that, he is only a novice Contractor after all.
"Goodbye, Sukuna. Say to Itadori in the airport that I regret nothing." Megumi gives his farewells
"Hah~ Giving up so early? Where's your greed?" Sukuna smirks
"...?"
"Don't you... want everything...?" At this point, she is almost disappearing, but she still has the strength to raise his remaining index finger at him "It's like this, right?"
"..."
"I love... you..." She smirks before disappearing completely.
*Ding* *Ding* The sound of notification echoes almost at the same time.
"..." Megumi's eyes widen dramatically, looking at his empty arms for a long time even after Sukuna disappeared. "This... works?"
He grabs his phone slowly... Almost fearfully. He suddenly has hope, but what if it didn't work?
He just made peace with the result...
Maybe this is Sukuna's last "Fuck you?..." A double "Fuck you." If it works, she survives, with an incredible amount of Plot Armor that is not out of place for her Character. And if it doesn't work... It at least gave Megumi some hope before squashing it mercilessly. Just to break his heart a little... The Queen of Curses till the end.
"It stated on the Mission that she is immune to Lures and Bindings, but... I ignored Love Confession... In that situation... Normally it should be impossible..." How can someone move the heart of Sukuna in that situation? At this point, he doesn't even think that she really loves him... There's some lust, respect, admiration, camaraderie but not really love... But she can give a fake Love Confession. To trick the mission and survive.
He presses the side of his Company Smartphone and the screen lights up.
[Congratulations! You completed the Mission "True Sukuna's Successor"! Check your rewards!]
[You captured Ryomen Sukuna(T7) - Jujutsu Kaisen]
"No fucking way... "
In the Retinue Tab, it shows that her status is Dead.
"Wait! Isn't there a clause that says that I can't use a Warranty on someone who died through my hands?" He goes to check the perk in a hurry.
He reads everything again...
"Oh... Stamped...." He sighs in relief.
Warranty would not work if a Character dies, before the tattoo of the Stamp fully manifests, by his actions and knowing inaction.
Because it was a Love Confession, he is safe.
"Damn..." He stands and dusts himself. A carefree smile on his face. "I guess sometimes good things happen with good people..." He nods to himself.
Or this world continues to reward selfishness.
The ones that make the rules of the Waifu Catalog are not good people either...
"Ah yes, what is this about compensation?" He briefly read the notes about the mission completion.
There's a part regarding one of the rewards...
The Additional Objective 1, says that if the Contractor chooses to fight Sukuna after eating 15 fingers or more, he will gain a 100 credits and the Ten Shadows Technique.
Probably a call-back to the fact that Sukuna used the said technique in Canon after taking over Megumi's body. But he is Megumi... So instead of gaining the technique again, which would be interesting, or having a power-up... He received 20 credits as compensation.
"What kind of Scam is this? The Ten Shadows is one of the greatest techniques of this world... I should gain more. Oh, there's a Call Support."
Megumi quickly writes a message to the Company, arguing about the low reward.
*Ding*
The answer is immediate.
"Damn, they are fast... Maybe is some time-based powers..." He reads the message, his face twitching a little.
_________________________
Greetings Dear Contractor,
The reward conversion was made with a lot of thought and consideration to guarantee Absolute Fairness on the subject. We considered the [Ten Shadows Technique] worth the price of a First Template: 20 Credits.
And if you think that is unfair, remember that you benefited from the fact that Fushiguro Megumi was only worth 20 Credits when you made your Chargen Build.
If you have any other doubts, don't be shy and ask.
Yours Sincerely, Agent 000000000121
_________________________
"Hmm... Can't fault their logic... Their lawyer team is kinda good..." Megumi begrudgingly accepts.
He was thinking about arguing and asking for the Template of the Ten Shadows to give to a subordinate, but he kinda doesn't want to share his power... He is selfish like that.
"Whatever, 20 credits is enough to give an appropriate template to someone of my Retinue." He decides to forget about it.
No use in annoying super-powerful people and he is in a great mood because he "saved" Sukuna.
In some way, not only he received 60 credits for the capture, he also saved 100 credits from buying a copy of her down the line. In his mind, he gained 160 credits.
"Now this is what I'm talking about... Things going my way." It's probably his Blackbeard Template that makes him this Lucky when working on achieving his goals.
He smiles widely and decides to go back to the real world...
The Second Additional Objective of the mission, the one that offered extra rewards in case the Contractor defeated Sukuna after eating all 20 fingers or the equivalent gave Megumi a huge boost.
It doubles his reserves of Cursed Energy... Reserves that are already as big as Yuta's, that people Always said are almost endless. And this after defeating Sukuna... The Sukuna had at least double Yuta's reserves.
This means that Megumi has a whooping 6 times more Cursed Energy than Yuta.
Feeling the rewards of the mission set on his body, his big smile gets even wider and toothy.
"If I'm not a Bijuu, what am I?" He laughs
From now on, it's just a Victory Lap.
____________________X_____x_____X________________________
Author's Note: Hey there.
I like to think that Sukuna is Megumi's true soulmate. The other has other titles, like the sibling not related by blood, girl that he saved, groomer…
Anyway, this week was kinda hectic, with some things happening that took my time so I cut the chapter a little short… Spoiler, there would still a little fight to capture Jogo.
Bye Bye, Till next time.
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