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Itadori, Megumi, and Nobara continued their exploration inside the innate domain.
"Is Okkotsu-senpai, like...crazy strong?"
Yuji asked out of nowhere.
"Huh? Obviously. Didn't you feel the cursed energy leaking from him? Just remembering it gives me chills."
Nobara hugged herself and shivered dramatically.
"Okkotsu-senpai is a Special Grade, just like Gojo-sensei. He's stronger than most conventional sorcerers by a huge margin."
Megumi replied analytically.
"Okkotsu-senpai also said it would've been better if either Gojo-sensei or Naoya-san were here instead.... Wait, Naoya-san is a Special Grade too?!"
Yuji finally connected the dots and looked toward Megumi.
"Who's this Naoya guy anyway?" Nobara asked curiously.
"He's this insanely cool guy who flew in on top of a dragon and punched Gojo-sensei the moment he landed. His entrance was super epic. You should've seen it."
Yuji excitedly started recounting his first meeting with Naoya.
"He came to evaluate me and later warned me to keep Sukuna under control.... Oh, and I think he's related to Fushiguro somehow."
By the end of Yuji's explanation, both Yuji and Nobara turned toward Megumi.
"Naoya nii-san is indeed a Special Grade sorcerer. Many people consider him the strongest sorcerer of the current generation."
Megumi explained.
Hearing that, both Yuji's and Nobara's eyes widened in shock. Yuji was especially stunned, considering he'd technically survived being judged by that same man.
"Wait. Nii-san? He is your brother?!"
Yuji was surprised by yet another revelation.
"He is my uncle, but I call him nii-san."
Megumi explained nonchalantly. He would be beaten to near death if he dared to call him uncle openly. Naoya strictly told him to refer to him as a brother rather than uncle, and frankly, after this long time, Megumi saw him as a brother.
Nobara and Yuji nodded in understanding. Honestly, it wasn't that strange for people to treat close uncles or aunts like older siblings.
"Hmm... By the way, how exactly are sorcerers graded? And how do we know our own grade?"
"You seriously don't know that either? There should honestly be a limit to how much of a noob a person can be."
Nobara looked at him in disbelief.
"Sorry for not magically knowing everything about curses and jujutsu!"
Yuji snapped back.
"Jujutsu sorcerers are graded by Jujutsu Headquarters. If you want to know your rank, you can either ask HQ directly or check your issued ID card."
Megumi explained while showing his own ID.
Yuji suddenly remembered receiving one when he enrolled and quickly pulled it out.
"Hm? Mine says Grade 4. Is that high?!"
Yuji asked excitedly.
"Pfft."
Nobara immediately burst out laughing.
"That's literally the lowest grade possible. Honestly, I'm not surprised. You can't even use cursed energy properly and don't have a technique."
Yuji instantly deflated.
"...What grade are you then?!" retorted Yuji
Nobara proudly showed her own card.
"Grade 3."
Yuji looked devastated.
He lost to Nobara.
Desperately hoping for solidarity, he turned toward Megumi.
Megumi silently showed his card.
[Grade 2]
Yuji looked like his soul had left his body. Even Megumi wasn't his comrade.
"All hope is..."
Before he could continue his dramatic breakdown, his eyes suddenly locked onto something ahead.
His expression instantly turned serious.
Nobara and Megumi noticed the shift and looked in the same direction.
A human body.
Or rather—
What was left of one.
Only the upper half remained mostly intact, while the rest had been mangled beyond recognition.
Still, the face was identifiable, but without a doubt, he couldn't be saved anymore.
Seeing the dead body, the three of them got closer to him. Yuji read the name tag on the dead man's body and realised that the person was the son of the lady who broke down in tears outside.
The reality that the mother won't ever be able to meet her son again crushed him from the inside.
Still—
At the very least—
He wanted to bring back the body's torso so the man's mother could have the closure she deserves.
"Oi! Are you an idiot! We still have more tasks to do! Leave this body behind."
Megumi pulled Yuji by his collar and scolded him for not taking the mission seriously.
Yuji explained his ideology to Megumi, to which Megumi simply told him that the man was not deserving of this kindness, as he had committed various crimes and was thus put in the detention centre.
This made Yuji snap at Megumi as he felt that his ideology was being attacked.
This made the two boys grab each other's collars and argue with each other.
"Oi! Idiots! Is this a place to-"
Nobara started yelling at the two of them; however, his voice suddenly disappeared.
Yuji and Megumi realised that as well, and turned to see what happened to her. However, instead of Nobara, all they saw was a jet black portal on the ground.
'The curse's here!'
The boys realised that they were in enemy range.
Megumi immediately checked for his dog, wondering why it didn't inform him.
However, the dog's head was impaled on the wall.
One of his [Divine Dogs] was dead now.
'Shit!'
Megumi cursed internally and was about to tell Yuji to run away, but was stunned by the massive cluster of CE standing right beside him.
'Shit Shit Shit! Move! Move! Move!'
Yuji and Megumi were struck in fear of the Special Grade.
However, Megumi, who was somewhat used to Special Grade levels of energy, soon got his nerves back.
[Rabbit Escape]
Megumi made his hand signs at the last moment as the Special Grade Cursed Womb swiped its hand to chop off Megumi's hand.
Rabbits burst out of the shadows, getting in the way of the curse's attack and deflecting it.
Megumi wasted no time and pulled Yuji away with him.
"Itadori! Get your grip!"
"H-Huh? Ah! Okay!"
Yuji, who was released from the excess pressure of CE by standing right beside the cursed womb, got back his control over his body.
"Inform Okkotsu-senpai."
Megumi ordered his rabbit, which gave a nod and sent a signal to the shikigami with Okkotsu.
"Do you think the curse will stay quiet until senpai arrives?" Yuji asked as he took out the cursed dagger that Gojo gave him.
"Go and ask him."
Megumi replied and got ready to fight.
The cursed swiped its hand, destroying multiple rabbits just from the shockwave caused by its hand movement.
Yuji checked out the curse's body.
It did not possess any legs, and given its stance after it just attacked, the curse was defenceless.
Without any wait, he rushed forward to attack the curse with his weapon.
"Idiot! Stay back!"
Megumi called Yuji in panic. It wasn't an enemy Yuji could take on after all,
Yuji, however, didn't listen. He rushed straight and was about to slash the curse.
However, the curse gave a mischievous laugh.
Cursed energy gathered inside the curse's mouth as it prepared to blast Yuji away.
Yuji's eyes widened. He fell into the curse's trap. The cursed energy was massive, and if he took it head-on, he couldn't guarantee that he would live.
[Toad]
Megumi, though, wasted no time in saving the pink-haired idiot.
The frog shikigami came out of the shadows and launched its long tongue at Yuji, pulling him away, barely dodging the fatal injury.
"AHHHH!"
However, it wasn't all good.
One of his arms had taken the edge of the blast directly and was blown apart.
Blood exploded from the wound as Yuji screamed in pain.
[Round Deer]
A deer shikigami came out of the shadows and stood beside Yuji.
"Heal his hand!"
Megumi ordered his shikigami and took a katana out of his shadows, and he rushed forward to buy time for Yuji to heal.
'Why the hell am I stuck with a Special Grade curse?!' Megumi internally cursed luck.
Yuji looked at his hand that had started to grow back.
Seeing the severe injury heal right in front of him, Yuji was awestruck. He turned to look towards Megumi, who was engaged in a fight against the special grade curse.
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Megumi, with a katana in hand, went in for the attack.
The katana held in his hand was a Grade-2 cursed tool gifted to him by Toji.
Seeing the incoming attack, the curse snickered and punched Megumi from his open side.
Megumi, though, was leaving a gap intentionally.
Cursed energy flared around his legs as the visage of webbed feet appeared over them.
[Toad: Jump Boost]
By utilising the shikigami's cursed energy from his [Ten Shadows arsenal], Megumi was able to give himself partial features of his shikigami. It was a technique that Naoya taught him while he trained under him. Naturally, he can use it as well, but this was just an inferior imitation of what can be done with the cursed tool [Will of Shadows] that was left behind by his grandpa.
Megumi's figure jumped over the cursed spirit he swiftly used CE reinforcement over the katana and slashed the curse.
"KIIIIIII!!!!!"
The cursed womb screeched in pain as the deep strike from Megumi dismembered the arm that he used to protect himself from a severe blow.
The cursed turned around to kill the hateful human that hurt him just now.
The human thought was nowhere to be seen.
Megumi emerged from the shadows of the curse's blind spot, a handy technique learned from the best [Ten Shaodows] instructor in the world.
[Giant Snake: Striking Shadow Snake]
Cursed energy coiled around Megumi's arm before erupting into the form of a giant serpent head.
The snake slammed into the curse and blasted it into a nearby wall.
"Woah! Amazing Fushiguro!"
Yuji cheered, seeing Megumi easily handle the curse.
Megumi didn't reply. His gaze was focused straight at the special grade cursed womb.
The curse, plastered on the wall, glared at Megumi and seemed to be cursing him internally.
"GRAHHHHH!!!!"
The curse gave out a war cry as CE exploded out of it.
Megumi and Yuji narrowed their eyes only to widen them a second later as they saw the curse heal itself right in front of them.
To add more insult to injury, the womb around the curse started to peel off, and a second later, the curse jumped off the wall and stood on its legs.
It was now filled with renewed energy.
"Heh. This doesn't look good at all."
Megumi gave a nervous smile as he saw the Special Grade curse in its full power.
"Itadori, are you healed?"
Megumi asked without turning around.
"Yeah! I am all good, thanks to Mr Deer. Let's fight this cur-"
"If you are done healing, take a rabbit and go check on Kugisaki. Leave now."
Megumi said calmly as he once again took the katana out of the shadows.
"Huh? I cannot leave you here alone?! It's a special grade!"
"I will manage somehow....you will only get in the way of me concentrating on the fight. Go and check on Kugisaki; she might be in danger."
Megumi raised his katana and blocked the kick that was about to drop on him.
The curse smirked, seeing Megumi below him.
Megumi struggled with the pure brute strength of the special grade curse; however, his gaze moved towards the curse's chest.
In there, he spotted something familiar. The special grade cursed object, Ryomen Sukuna's finger.
"So you are a finger bearer. That explains the rapid, Cursed womb maturing."
Megumi's shadow darkened, and an instant later, Megumi hid inside his shadow, making the curse lose his balance.
[Nue]
The owl shikigami flew out of the shadows and struck the special grade with its lightning-charged wing, paralysing it for a second and giving Megumi enough time to reposition and make another hand sign.
[Giant Snake]
The actual snake shikigami launched out of the shadows and was angled to send the shikigami flying straight into a wall.
Once sent flying, Megumi unsummoned [Giant Snake] to preserve CE. Unlike Naoya, he didn't have massive reserves of CE to support summoning multiple shikigami in quick intervals.
"Run away, Itadori! I have things in control! Okkotsu-senpai will be here in a moment!"
Megumi scolded the pink-haired boy, who was still not willing to leave Megumi behind with such a dangerous enemy. Megumi's words about him getting in the way struck him, and after placing a boulder on his heart turned around and ran away.
"Be safe, Fushiguro!" yelled Itadori and ran out of the room.
The finger bearer looked at the weak yet tasty body running away. He felt that there was something strong and tasty within the boy, yet he let him go. Right now, he had another pest to crush.
CE gathered in its mouth as it prepared itself to fire it at Megumi.
Seeing the familiar yellow glow in the curse's mouth, Megumi realised a blast was coming its way.
[Rabbit Escape]
Countless rabbits came out of Megumi's shadow and stood between him and the curse to form a protective wall.
The finger bearer wasn't fazed one bit. It simply fired the cursed energy blast that tore through the rabbit wall easily.
It smiled in glee, sure that the attack was going to hit the annoying human.
However, as the rabbit wall was cleared by the blast, it revealed that Megumi was not at his spot. He simply vanished.
It looked around, trying to find the human, but all it saw were the rabbits around him.
The surviving rabbits looked at the curse and then moved all around the curse without any suspicion.
The curse gave one last glance at the rabbits and lost interest in the weaklings.
From his blind spot, however, Megumi jumped out with cursed energy gathered around his arms and electricity crackling around it.
[Nue: Shock Strike]
Both of his arms struck the curse, who felt the electricity jolt through its body, hurting and slowing its movements.
Megumi used his head's position to cast a shadow on the cursed body and retrieved his katana from those shadows and used it to land a deep strike on the curse.
Enraged by the weak human's struggle, the creature dodged by bending backwards and was about to launch back and use its head to strike the human's skull and have it roll off his shoulders.
[Divine Dog]
However, things didn't go as planned.
The black wolf came out of the shadows and chomped off the curse's nape and pulled it back into the shadows along with him.
Megumi smirked and made yet another hand sign.
[Giant Snake]
The snake shikigami came out of the shadows and hissed menacingly at the finger bearer.
Without wasting a moment, that it's fellow shikigami bought. The giant snake headed straight towards the finger bearer to land a fatal strike.
The snake and finger bearer skidded through the ground, dragging the curse, who, if he had been a human, would have had his back broken by Megumi's combo.
A familiar yellow glow came from the snake's direction, and without wasting a second, Megumi unsummoned the snake.
One of his shikigami died today. He didn't want another one dying.
The blast headed straight for the ceiling and caused a blast strong enough to destroy the ceiling and even shake the entire structure.
It looked at Megumi hatefully.
Megumi, on the other hand, noticed the hateful look and, as his father had taught him, gave a shit-eating grin back in response.
....
!!!
That's it.
That was the final straw. The finger bearer decided that it would mercilessly kill the human in front of him.
But it realised it.
It had enough power to kill him, but not to kill him mercilessly.
For that, he needed more power.
Like the one the tasty Pink-haired other human had.
It will kill and eat that power.
The curse's mouth started to curve up into a smile, and a second later, it started to laugh maniacally at its grand plan.
Seeing it laugh, Megumi got cautious. He was at an advantage now, but it was also true that he was running low on fuel. He needed to be careful.
"GRAHHHHHH!!!!"
The curse started to yell at its max volume, making shockwaves just by yelling.
Megumi was blasted away by the shockwave, though he summoned a horde of rabbits to cushion him.
As it continued to yell, the CE around it started to rage, and within moments, a portal similar to what engulfed Nobara formed.
The curse was smart and efficient; it made a portal straight to the strongest power within the domain. It will kill the human and take his power, come back and kill the other human too. The plan was simple and smart. The curse smiled in glee before it jumped inside the portal.
...There was just a minor miscalculation here.
The strongest power within this domain didn't belong to the pink-haired human.
"Umm...thanks for coming to me on your own."
Yuta Okkotsu was mildly surprised to see the special grade curse jump straight out of the portal and land in front of him. He was on his way to exorcise it, but the curse was kind enough to deliver itself to him.
Something was wrong here.
The curse felt all its senses warning him that he had f*cked up.
There was no pink-haired human he saw earlier.
And this unknown fear made it impossible for him even to move.
The curse's eyes shook uncontrollably until it finally rested on the new human with a sinister feel to him.
"Grrra-"
Before it could even finish his detailied threat, the sinister human ended its life.
...The humans are a cruel and merciless kind.
Those were the final thoughts of the finger beared before its body burst ablaze, exorcising it.
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Many of you will be asking it, so I am posting it here on my own. Here's the list of shikigami that Megumi already have:
1. Divine Dogs
2. Rabbit Escape
3. Toad
4. Nue
5. Giant Serpent
6. Round Deer
7. Max Elephant
Also found this fan comic while scrolling social media.
Do stone the fic if you liked the chapter. It will make me happy.