Megumi waited in front of the barrier with clenched fists.
'I was the one who saved him back then. That's why I have to stop him if Sukuna took over. '
He thought.
He didn't have to wait for long because Sukuna walked out of the barrier with Eso tagging along.
"It's Sukuna.." Megumi mumbled.
"Who are you looking for now, brat? This brat Itadori will never come back." Sukuna grinned.
"It's not for you to decide. I know Itadori..will come back for sure." Megumi said.
"Not if his life is in danger. " Sukuna smirked as he pierced his own chest with his hand, taking out the heart after doing so.
"I can live without this but he can't." After saying that , Sukuna threw the heart away.
'What should I do? Without the heart, Itadori would die if he tried to come back.' Megumi thought. 'I have to do something. Itadori's heart must be restored before he came back.' Megumi studied Sukuna, 'Sukuna can restore it? It's possible because he is king of curses. But, it would be hard for me to force him to restore the heart. Right , Nakamura can also use reverse cursed technique although I still don't know how much she could use it on another person. Still, it's more realistic than forcing Sukuna. The only problem is I can't contact her right now. This is so frustrating. It can't be helped tho. At this point , I can only fight him first .'
Megumi charged towards Sukuna with vigor while making Nue attack from behind.
"You charge towards me first despite being a Shikigami user? Surprising." Sukuna grinned, "You! Don't interfere until I say so." Sukuna then said to Eso who could only nod in reply.
Sukuna didn't even have to try to be able to dodge Megumi's attack and counterattack him. Megumi knew that was to be expected since Sukuna already had the strength of four fingers.
The battle went on for a while and Megumi was constantly beat up. Even his snake Shikigami got destroyed in the process.
Megumi stood, blood flowing down from his head.
Looking at Megumi's state, Sukuna laughed.
"Right, where is that classmate of yours? Not coming to rescue her classmate like she did back then? I had some impression on her." Sukuna said.
"It's none of your business.." Megumi gritted his teeth.
"Is that so? Then, you can die here right now." Sukuna said.
Megumi however, chanted, "Furube, Yurayura.."
"You're getting fired up. Show me, Fushiguro Megumi!!" Sukuna laughed.
But, Megumi suddenly remembered what Gojo said, "To die and then win and to die victoriously..They are completely two different things, Megumi. Give it your all and be more greedy."
Megumi said to himself after remembering that, " Bring out the full potential of the shadow. Don't think about the specifics for now. Release it while coagulating your cursed energy. Imagine a future version of myself that has surpassed my limits!"
"I'll show it to you!!!"
"Domain Expansion!"
Shadows appeared out of the ground, shrouding the area where they stood.
"Chimera Shadow Garden."
Blood dripped out of Megumi's nose and head as he forcibly use Domain Expansion.
Shadow Shikigamis attacked Sukuna and Eso as soon as the domain is used.
Sukuna's lips curled up into a terrifying smile as he witnessed Megumi's growth.
Sukuna shifted to make a move. However, this was interrupted by Sachiko.
"This domain is pretty nice, even though it's still incomplete. However, can you please stop for now? You'll end up killing Itadori at this rate."
Megumi was surprised to see Sachiko walking towards them. Even though his domain has no boundaries, walking freely towards him without getting attacked by the shadow Shikigamis made him surprised.
He, however, deactivated the domain expansion.
Meanwhile, Sachiko dealt the final blow to the already injured Eso.
As soon as Megumi deactivated his domain expansion, Nobara and Junpei ran towards them. It seemed like they were waiting in the distance and didn't rush here like Sachiko.
"His heart was taken out?" Sachiko blinked after seeing the hole Itadori's body.
"Sukuna did it." Megumi nodded.
"Well, it's obvious." Nobara rolled her eyes.
"So, you still decided to come save your classmates." Sukuna commented.
"It's not like I have any reason to let them die. Besides, I heard you could come out. So, it should be interesting." Sachiko shrugged.
"I almost forgot she was still unreliable." Megumi sighed.
"Right, I'll have to ask you nicely to fix Itadori's heart." Sachiko continued which made the three facepalmed.
Ask nicely?
Yeah, as if it was possible.
"Now why do you think I would do that?" Even Sukuna was amused.
"It's not important who fixes the heart, is it? I think you know I can fix Itadori's heart so you must know I would fix the heart myself if you refuse to do so." Sachiko replied.
"So you're the Arrogant one? Let's see if your strength can back up those words." Sukuna said as he charged towards her.
"So it seems you want to fight." Sachiko observed, "Alright , I actually want to know how strong four fingers Sukuna is. Wait, You ate the fourth finger already , right ? I also want to know how much stronger I got too."
After saying that, Sachiko strengthened her body with cursed energy , enhancing her physical abilities. Then, she waited for Sukuna to get closer before finally making a move with a blast of cursed energy. Sukuna dodged the blast pretty easily. The place where the blast of cursed energy hit was pretty much destroyed.
"Even if the amount of cursed energy put in the attack wasn't bad, it seems you don't understand about Jujutsu at all. Is that all you've got?" Sukuna flashed a cocky grin.
"Oh, don't worry, I haven't even started yet." Sachiko chuckled as she created threads of cursed energy in less than a second, binding Sukuna with it like some sort of net. It was actually the same move from the Goodwill Event but this time it was used against Sukuna so the amount of cursed energy infused to the threads were no doubt terrifying.
Sukuna found himself unable to break free from the small threads of cursed energy. The threads were unbelievably strong unlike their fragile, thin look and what was more unbelievable was the cursed energy couldn't flow properly as long as he was binded by the threads.
"It also cancels out the opponent's cursed energy? Interesting." Sukuna smirked.
Sachiko walked closer towards Sukuna and when she was in front of him, she slapped him.
"What...what did you just do?!" Nobara was amazed.
"Did you..just slap Sukuna? Why?"
"Yep, No reason. Just felt like doing it." Sachiko said.
"Seriously?"
"Well, now I can talk about slapping Sukuna in the face and live, right?" Sachiko said in an excited tone.
"When I get my powers back, I'll kill you, Nakamura Sachiko." Sukuna said, offended by Sachiko's actions.
"Please. Go ahead." She chuckled. "It's nice to be targeted along with Gojo sensei!"
"...."
Megumi, Nobara and Junpei stood there a bit dumbfonded.
"Gojo Satoru? I see, so you are all smitten over that brat." Sukuna mocked.
"....what are you talking about? It's not even like that..!" Sachiko stuttered a bit at the thought of Gojo.
'It's so obvious...' Nobara rolled her eyes.
"Ahem!"
Junpei awkwardly coughed to get the attention and said, "We should do something about..the heart?"
"Oh, right. Almost forgot that." Sachiko awkwardly laughed, ignoring Nobara and Megumi's eyerolls.
"Okay, now I'll restore Itadori's heart while Sukuna can't move." Sachiko said but hestitated for a while.
"What're you waiting for?!" Nobara snapped.
"Oh, I just realized I've never restored someone's heart before. Should I do it the risk-free way? Or..."
"Wait, are you even sure you can fix this?" Nobara asked, impatient.
"Quite sure. I've healed my heart, lungs and internal organs all at once before but it was in my domain and I was using it on myself. Not someone else, so I'm not sure if that counts as an experience."
"...."
'That doesn't sound reassuring at all!" Junpei screamed internally.
Megumi looked like just hearing Sachiko talk made his ears hurt.
Nobara, well, she looked like she was trying hard not to murder Sachiko right there.
"Fine. I'll just give it a try." Sachiko sighed, looking at the three's reaction. She used the reverse cursed technique to restore the heart.
"It's done now." She said after a while.
"Itadori..you can come back now." Nobara said, seeing the hole in the chest closed up after restoring the heart.
Sukuna cursed before Itadori took over again. Itadori smiled and said, "Hi, I'm back!"
However, he was slapped in the head by Nobara.
"You idiot!"
"Hey, I was desperate, okay? Besides , it all worked out in the end." Itadori defended himself.
"It's because Nakamura restrained Sukuna and restored your heart." Megumi said.
"So Megumi chan thinks I'm reliable!" Sachiko teased.
"Don't call me that!" Megumi sighed as he said.
"Megumi then!"
"Don't.." Megumi looked so done with her antics.
Sachiko laughed at Megumi, making him look more annoyed and Nobara and Junpei scolded Itadori. This continued for a few mimutes and when the chaos finally died down, they walked back to the bridge.
"Nakamura, thank you." Itadori said.
Sachiko seemed a bit surprised, then she said, "No need. I didn't do it for the sake of helping people or anything like that. I just did what I thought was interesting so..."
Itadori smiled nonetheless, "I still think I should thank you. What matters is that you saved me and our classmates by doing so and I think you actually care in a way even if you say it's not for the sake of us."
"Maybe, but when I said I don't care about the world, I meant it." Sachiko said after a while.
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AN:
Sorry for late update ! I wasn't feeling well for the last three days and couldn't get myself to write. I'm still not feeling really well but I didn't want to take too long to update so here is another chapter. Pardon me if there are some inconsistencies and mistakes in this chapter. My eyes are kinda tired so I'll just check and edit later. But if you find some, please paragraph comment it?
Again, thanks for sticking with this story :)
I hope we get to more interesting parts of the story soon :)