Chapter 19: The Parade I.
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Glory to my chief Proofreader; Solare for he is the one who points out mistakes and acts as my favourite wall to bounce ideas off of.
We officially passed 50k words as of this chapter so thank you all for reading this far and here's to 50k more!
I recommend listening to 'Bury the light' while reading this lol.
Enjoy :)
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It all started with echoing screams, within moments the cursed energy in the atmosphere was so thick it could almost be seen with the naked eye. Curses upon curses appeared seemingly from nowhere and started attacking everything in sight.
The city had been mostly evacuated by Jujutsu headquarters, a feat that he didn't even want to think about. All that mattered was controlling the damage and exorcising every curse possible.
"I'll take right, you take the left and let's meet at that big clump in the middle." Megumi said after taking a moment to make a mental map of the approximate locations of curses.
"Alrighty then~! But try to keep up and don't slow me down~!" Gojo declared excitedly before he disappeared from his place and reappeared on top of a large first grade curse in the distance. Before he even landed a blue flash shone in front of his hand.
The curse froze for a moment before being crushed into the size of a grain of sand by a Bluish singularity that was summoned by the white haired man, after which he flicked his hand up, sending the singularity ahead where it casually crushed and slaughtered a few dozen weaker curses.
"Look at him go… Idiot makes this look easy as hell, can't waste time. Need to get in there and thin the hoard." Megumi sighed with a sense of exasperation.
Megumi readied himself as he summoned all his shikigami and sprinted ahead, followed by his squad. Reaching into his sleeve as he ran, he pulled out 'Kage' and started slicing through any curse in his path.
'Wonder if Miss Spy is still around, would they pull her back and make her cull curses back in Tokyo or keep her around me to spy on me during work? Either way, I can't afford to hold back. I need to kill as many curses as possible.' Megumi considered while fighting as his cursed energy surged in response to him activating his cursed technique.
By his side his Shikigami were summoned, each one of them attacking in unison. Blizzard morphed into his Totality form as he was running, his claws shredding through curses as if they were made of wet tissue paper.
A grade 1 curse came hurtling from the side, its large tendrils surrounding Blizzard and were about to clamp shut but the wolf Totality was grabbed by a large tongue and pulled away.
Gamma didn't waste time dropping him as he turned around in a circle to increase his momentum and flung the Totality towards the offending curse. Taking advantage of this momentum Blizzard swung his claws and ripped the side of the curse apart, causing it to fall to the ground in agony.
The curse shivered and convulsed for a moment before dragging itself from the ground to look upwards, in front of it was Piercing Ox charging with full force with a cloud of dust behind it. The curse was run through in an instant, unable to protect itself as it was rendered into dust.
Megumi was then ambushed by a group of humanoid curses from all sides, they all rushed in as he weaved in and between them. He started whittling their numbers down cut after cut as limbs flew off, 2 of the curses jumped on his back and started biting at his neck.
He shouted as his built up rage boiled over in him again, he elbowed one to get it off of him before grabbing the other and slamming it onto the ground, he then drove Kage into the curse's right eye with a vicious crunch.
This move effectively nailed it into the ground as it slowly bled out in pure agony, he turned to the other one and landed a savage haymaker onto its face, the force of the impact crushed its face inwards as he grabbed it by its neck and held its right shoulder, before proceeding to pull.
Megumi struggled for a moment as he burned with an inferno of obsidian cursed energy, he pulled the curse apart with all his strength as it began to be torn apart in his grip while it was screaming in pain. Within a few seconds the curse was torn in half right down the middle of its body, its blood and guts falling out and covering the sorcerer.
He stood there for a moment as he slowly calmed himself down to regain his focus, turning away from the crumbling curse he grabbed Kage's hilt and looked down at the still alive curse with a frown. He placed a foot on its body and pulled out the blade before moving his foot above the curse's head stomping down in a single movement, causing the head to explode as the curse faded away soon after.
"This is gonna be a long fuckin' day, huh? Let's equalise these numbers a bit…" Megumi sighed out after wiping blood off of his face. Deciding not to waste time, he then activated a new Incarnation as he sliced through a Grade 3 curse that tried backstabbing him.
"Incarnation: Rabbit Escape."
From the top of his head sprouted a pair of white Rabbit ears, his leg muscles bulged slightly and his Green eyes shifted to a deep Crimson.
'Not the most flattering Incarnation but I can't deny this effect…' Megumi thought slightly annoyed at the perceived indignity of having Rabbit ears. He focused for a moment before he channelled his newly gained ability; Cloning.
He felt his soul be filled with cursed energy as it grew slightly in size, near his chest a blob of his soul gathered and split off from the main body. That blob flew out of his body, looking like black slime from an anime.
The blob then morphed and shifted before gaining colour, within a few seconds it turned into an exact copy of himself, but thanks to his enhanced soul, due to reincarnation and being made of two souls that fused, he could sense that the clone was hollow.
The Cloning technique followed the shape of the soul by using his soul's info as a prototype base and then made a copy. As a side effect of this, the clone was way weaker than the original in durability; about 90% weaker so it wouldn't be able to endure hits from a grade 2 curse easily.
That drawback wasn't that problematic as he felt he could still split a few more times before he tires out his soul, up to a maximum of 9 copies it seems.
The clone ran ahead by his side, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out The Dark Moon Greatsword. With a grunt, he leaped into the air, his blade shining with a brilliant Moonlit blaze. As he reached the apex of his leap, he twisted and landed on a large curse stabbing it straight through.
Shortly after the impact a tidal wave of cold flowed out of the impact area as the curse struggled to move for a moment before imploding with an icy burst.
The clone laughed out while wiping frozen bits of the curse off his shoulder
"Talk about giving me-" the clone started with a grin while looking at the original.
" - the Cold Shoulder!" The original finished, sharing the same grin.
"Looks like we share the same mind, soul-" The original muttered out as he was analysing his newly gained ability, beside him was Blizzard who had just swatted away a 2nd grade curse that was aiming for the distracted Megumi.
"- and technique! Since I am able to access our inventory even though I'm the clone body." the clone pointed out, finishing the other's sentence. Beside him was Gamma who grabbed a still running Ox and threw him at an oncoming
"Ok, this shit is gonna get old fast. From now on, clones only talk when necessary to other people and are called CloGumi for lack of a better alternative!" Megumi declared, before leaping into action once more.
He immediately found prey as he dug his blade deep into the side of a curse, running forwards while slicing it apart. Jumping over the falling body of the curse and leaving it behind to be finished off by his clone.
The clone drove his blade through the curse and dragged it with him, using his building momentum he then lunged at another curse that was charging at him to slow it down. His momentum and angle flinging the curse at the oncoming curse.
The impact caused both curses to tumble down to the ground in a heap on top of each other, taking this opportunity, the cloned sorcerer charged his blade with cursed energy and drove it into the curses; shishkebabing them with his Greatsword.
However this action, while effective as it caused both curses to be rend to dust, left him wide open for an attack from behind. As a bolt of lightning flashed behind him with great speed, and slammed into his back; a large explosion of electricity sparking around him.
Pain shot through both Megumi's backs, as the clone shuddered and melted away into a puddle of shadows. Megumi who was in the middle of clashing with a Semi-Grade 1 curse, collapsed to the ground from the unexpected pain and abruptly shut connection to his former cloned body.
"AGH FUCK! Shiit… so that's how it feels to die, fucking hell that sucks…" Megumi grunted out, his body still shaking from pain and unable to protect himself as the curse he was fighting as it took its chance to try and stab him through with its spiked appendages.
Just as he was about to be hit, he was grabbed by Blizzard who leaped up to high ground away from enemies to allow his master to recoup. In the wolf's arms his rabbit ears melted away as he lost his focused control over the Incarnation.
A couple of seconds later, Megumi recovered, getting back on his feet alert to any other attacks as all his shikigami retreated to their master's side at the ready to protect him and attack. He took a moment to note that the fragment of his soul that was split with the clone, flew back into him taking a moment as it splattered on him and merged back with his main soul.
'... that shit shouldn't have hurt me so much, must be thanks to the clone's reduced durability. Even with the increased electric resistance from my Nue Mutation, that attack still one shot it. But it's good that the fragment of my soul came back to me. Note to self: Find a way to separate or remove pain from clones so I never have to feel that shit again.'
Looking up to the sky, he focused on a dark cloud that stood out from the others, his trained senses easily spotting the large amount of cursed energy within it.
"I assume that attack came from you Curse?" he said while extending his hand to grab onto the Dark Moon Greatsword that was brought to him by Gamma after his clone died.
"Yes, I did it, Megumi Fushiguro. Geto-sama told me to keep you away." Bellowed out the dark clouds above him.
They then started to shift and move downwards to his level as they coalesced into a humanoid form. Its skin was a deep Bluish Black, the middle of its chest was opened revealing its bright Cyan core from which flowed absurd amounts of electricity that covered his body and formed into a faux mohawk at the top of his head.
[Image (In Discord)]
"Geto-sama said I am 'Raiden', you call me that. He also say 'You stay far from school, stay here.' so you listen to Geto-sama or I hurt you!" the curse declared harshly with its gruff voice as it pointed at him.
'No doubt about it, this is an unregistered Special Grade curse. By the looks of it, a disaster curse born of Humanity's fear of Lightning and Storms. But if I had to guess, by how he looks, talks and his cursed energy control… he's incomplete. Geto must've captured him while he was freshly born and capped his growth. I can kill him, I just need to lure him in and capture him in a Domain Expansion.'
Megumi grinned as he confirmed his plan for the upcoming fight, readying Kage in his right hand and then his Greatsword in the other, his Hakama flowing in the wind as around him the carnival of bloodshed continued.
"Is that so, 'Raiden'? Alright then, that's just fine by me! I have no plans of leaving, so get ready! Because I'm about to show you exactly how electrifying fighting sorcerers can be!" the raven haired man declared, as his shikigami readied themselves to attack alongside him.
'Let's see if I can annoy him into making a mistake, considering his mental age, maybe terrible electricity puns would work…'
"Raiden not know much, but Raiden know that joke was lame!" Electric energy surged around the Special Grade curse as it brought its hands up, ready to fire off bolts of lightning.
"Haha, oh come on now Raiden! Let's not jump to electrocutions!" Megumi laughed out as he blurred ahead followed by his shikigami.
"UGH, RAIDEN KNOW THAT ONE WORSE!"
The claps of thunder sounded out throughout Shinjuku as bolts of lightning flashed through the air. The arcs of electricity flew to the air at blinding speeds and nearly struck Megumi down from the air where he was approaching the curse.
Thanks to his enhanced speeds, reaction time and perception, Megumi was able to track the trajectory of the lightning and swerve to the side. The bolts of electricity surged past him and struck the building debris behind him, the large chunks being turned into dust from the impact.
'Now that I consider it, if aimed at my weaker shikigami he could kill them outright in a hit or two. I'll unsummon them and keep Blizzard. Right now what I need is pure speed and survivability, I need to be able to get close and trap the bastard in my Domain. After that, it's checkmate!' Megumi thought mid dodge and desummoned all his Shikigami but Blizzard as he had the speed and agility to keep up and not get hit.
At his whim, all his shikigami melted away into shadows, leaving only Megumi and Blizzard in his Totality form to try and close the distance between him and the curse.
"Geto-sama said 'Keep your distance from them and hit them with lightning from afar.', so I fly back now!" Raiden foolishly announced outloud before clouds formed beneath him, readying to carry him further away from the approaching duo.
'Shit, can't let him get away! If he makes too much distance and gets a few lucky hits in, this could get bad fast. I never tried this before but so be it, desperate times call for desperate measures!' Megumi thought in slight panic.
He charged up his Greatsword with cursed energy which caused it to shine with its Brilliant moonlight once more and threw it at Raiden to slow him down. It surged through the air at blinding speeds, leaving a trail of icy mist in its wake.
Not expecting such a move, the curse was taken by surprise and faltered slightly. However even with this hesitation, he was fast enough to dodge the blade. But not fast enough to avoid it completely as it struck his left leg at the knee, cutting it off and bringing Raiden to the ground.
"Now, now Raiden! Don't run away like bitch now, there are so many more shocking things I need to show you!" Megumi exclaimed as he readied his improvised move, trying to anger and throw off his opponent at the same time.
"RAIDEN REALLY DON'T LIKE BLACK HAIR MAN!" the young curse said as it was writhing on the ground in pain, its leg already healing back albeit slower than it should've thanks to the icy power of the Dark Moon Greatsword interfering with the healing process slightly.
'Now's my chance, only one Incarnation won't be enough to catch up now. But if this Incarnation manifests as I want it to while combined with Nue, I could slow him down while also closing the distance incredibly quickly. Visualise it, envision the map of my soul and how it will mend with the essence of my shikigami. Force it to bend to your will!'
"Incarnation: Nue and Gamma!"
In less than a second, wings exploded from his back, his limbs gained more muscle and bulked up. His mouth and limbs began to morph but stopped and returned to their normal shape, his hands instead being covered by a small mucus membrane before a sigil began to be formed in both his palms.
'Don't allow it to follow the path of least resistance, make barriers and borders for change in your body and flood the excess essence through them. I am the master of this Technique and it will bend to my vision!'
Taking inspiration from Inumaki, he formed the sigil into the shape of a frog's eyes and mouth. He aimed his hand towards Raiden and put his middle and ring fingers so they touched the sigil on his hands. In response, the sigil glowed and surged with cursed energy.
The mouth of the Toad on the sigil widened as a long shadowy appendage fired off from its middle at its target. In less than a second, the shadowy tendril reached the curse and struck him on his shoulder. On impact the tendril exploded outwards and wrapped around the curse's upper body.
With a hefty pull and a flap of his wings, Megumi flew forwards at speeds he couldn't have attained before and reached Raiden in less than a second. His foot extended ahead as it charged with enormous cursed energy, less than a metre from Raiden's surprised and fearful expression.
'On my road to the top, I'll have to face challenges and opponents that completely outclass you. I can't waste time on your defective ass!' Megumi's determined thoughts grew and festered as he roared out.
"So just lie down and think of hell!"
Just as it was about to make impact, the space between the curse's heads and Megumi's foot distorted and his cursed energy sparked and flashed a blinding Reddish Black.
"BLACK FLASH!"
Reddish Black lightning exploded from the impact, arcing throughout the area singing the environment around them. Megumi's foot was driven into Raiden's face, the sheer power of the impact shattering the chrysalis of the curse's incomplete form, cracks forming and spreading through his body.
Taking advantage of his momentum he swivelled in the air and then flapped his wings all the while pulling himself with his shadow tendril to push his opponent downwards into the ground beneath them, the force of his attack sent a shockwave around. The concrete shattered under his stomp, leaving the mark of a small crater beneath him.
He then brought Kage down with his right hand, the blade shining with an azure glow. He stabbed it down at Raiden's right elbow, the blade piercing straight and driving the limb into the ground with a viscous crunch.
Not caring for the curse's screams of pain, he kept feeding Kage cursed energy as streams of pressurised water fired off around it and stabbed into and out of the curse's body. Reaching to the side with his left arm, from his hand firing off a shadow tendril that wrapped around the handle of the Dark Moon Greatsword and pulled it to himself.
"Geto sent you? He sent only you, to stop Me?" Megumi questioned with a manic chuckle, his mind still high from the Black Flash. Grasping his Greatsword as Blizzard arrived at the crumpled form of the Special Grade curse.
The brilliant Moonlight of the Greatsword shone as he drove it into the left shoulder of the curse, the icy powers of its bitter blade taking effect instantly, causing an explosion of frost. The frost flowed into the rest of the curse's body.
A synergistic effect took place as the tendrils of water already stabbing through Raiden's body shook and froze, causing spiked crystals of ice to form and shred his insides.
Blizzard pounced at the curse's head with his maw wide open, his jaw crushing his head with great force. Raiden's body shivered and spasmed, his formerly blindingly powerful lightning failing him as it spazzed around and fizzled away.
"He thought your- Your Incomplete, Deformed, Defective ass could beat me? Don't make me laugh, I DON'T EVEN NEED MY DOMAIN TO CRUSH YOU!" Megumi declared with a snarl before he lifted his foot and stomped down at Raiden's exposed core.
He stomped and stomped, each hit sending small shockwaves around him and pushing the curse's body into the ground. Each impact created cracks on his body, his core shook from the consecutive attacks.
"When you get to hell, tell 'em to make some room." The sorcerer ordered before he landed his final stomp, completely shattering the curse into a million pieces, each one of them being reduced to dust in the matter of a few seconds.
When the dust settled, all that was left was Megumi panting, his body covered head to toe in purplish blood and ash. Blizzard stood back up straight, his jaw stained with the blood of the curse and looked around to find another target.
Putting away his Greatsword into his Inventory, Megumi shook his head to signal Blizzard to stop.
"Don't bother, they got Satoru around. We need to go check on Yuta, if that bum managed to capture this Special Grade, Weak as it is, he must have some other tricks up his sleeve. We can't let him kill Yuta and capture Rika, he might become a real problem then."
Wiping away soot and blood from his face, Megumi holstered Kage at his hip and readied himself to make his way to the Tokyo Jujutsu High, right after he spit on the place where the corpse of Raiden used to be.
"Should get some practice with this new ability on my way there… What should I call it? Shadow Tendril is accurate but wordy, I can't really think of any right now so I'll just leave that to future me to consider." Megumi muttered before desummoning Blizzard.
He aimed towards a nearby building with his hand and shot his Tendril at it, straining his arm to build a strong pull and then shot off in the direction of the school with a flap of his wings.