With a flex of her will and cursed energy, she sent the first of six thin spikes at Kimiko. With another flex of will, the remaining five lowered to hover around her, distracting Kimiko's attention from Aiko's movement toward the fallen form of Nobara.
The spike blurred towards the older woman but lacked the supersonic speed it could've gotten from the hairpin technique.
One of the incarnated fallen charged forward heedless of the depressions it left in the earth with its very step and jumped in defense of the woman, taking the first spike straight through its unarmored eyes.
Kimiko was forced to drop to her knees as she forced her hand into an inverted shape bowl-shaped seal, in other to control the remaining incarnations better.
One incarnation stayed behind to protect the frail woman, while the remaining two charged at her with heavy stomps that indicated their immense frames. The last one, which still had her attention, struggled back to its feet, she noted with an annoyed frown.
If they didn't have any real weak points, the best way to immobilize them would be to disrupt their cursed energy completely.
With a snap of her finger and a flex of cursed energy, the spike she had buried into the Incarnation multiplied and destroyed the body from inside out, with the remaining shards bursting out of the body and impaling the other incarnation protecting Kimiko.
"What!?" The other woman cried out in shock as she stumbled back from her kneeling position and fell on her ass.
Kugisaki sent a scathing look at the former shrine maiden before speaking. "Where you've spent your past decades plotting Jorogumo's release, I've spent mine preparing for the day she might break out."
The first of the two incarnations that charged towards her finally came in range, and she forced her attention back to them. She stretched forth and pointed two fingers at the charging incarnation before swinging down the fingers with a sharp jerk of her wrists.
Two thin spikes fell from the sky. One buried itself into the back of the Incarnation's knee, forcing it to the floor, while the second buried itself into the joint of the outstretched arm and forced it into the ground.
Trapped.
The second one jumped over the body of the first in a lunge, and she forced aged and weakened knees to duck under the creature. The moment she tried to get back on her feet, her knees seized as arthritis reared its ugly head.
She only had the chance to stare at the recovered incantation, even as it twisted and turned back at her, before a heavy and knotted tree branch slammed into its face.
Aiko had a fierce expression on her face as the heavy branch cracked on the armored faceplate of the incarnation.
A second later Kugisaki finally found her feet and forced herself up, palming a small needle from her pocket and slamming it into the disoriented incarnation. It didn't have the length, and they were too close for her cursed energy to generate any real force, so she had to cheat.
Cursed Technique: Hairpin
The following explosion of force pierced the incarnation and sent its broken form flying further into the trees.
Sending her attention back to the trapped Incarnation, a flex of her will had it dead as well. She forced her eyes to look at Aiko, only to see the younger woman had picked Nobara back up from where she had dropped her, with shaking limbs.
"How is she do-"
Snap
She blinked and she was on her knees.
Blurry eyes stared at the unconscious forms of Aiko and Nobara in confusion. How? What happened?
"Tsk"
The sound shot through the clearing like a bomb. No. She thought even as she forced her suddenly stiff and rigid neck to turn to the side.
Every movement was a struggle, till she finally beheld her once more. No.
The straw statue fell slowly like gravity had lost some power over it, even as a pale white hand snuck its way out of it.
The remaining people lying in supplication were visibly drained of their last essence at accelerated rates before finally collapsing into bones and withered flesh.
No. Kami please no.
She raged, she begged, and she prayed to uncaring Gods.
Multiple-ton chains fell around the doll, broken and crushed.
Not again.
A pale bone-white hand emerged first before an inhumanly beautiful body followed.
Kugisaki watched with wide eyes as the statuesque figure emerged. Pitch-black hair framing the porcelain features of an oval-shaped face.
She had a beautiful little upturned nose, with black eyes and six red dots just above her eyes. A kimono lay wrapped around her just slightly ruffled from her decades-long entrapment and loose around the shoulders, exposing delicate and sensual collar bones and cleavage.
She could've been mistaken for beautiful if not for the madness that lay in her eyes. The pressure she carelessly exhibited suppressed everything in her vicinity, sending a flare out in an empty sea and proving she was the one above all.
The moon hung low, casting long shadows that crept through the forest. A chilling wind whispered through the desolate and broken trees from the previous battles and carried with it an eerie silence broken only by distant, haunting echoes.
The clouds passing the moon added a spectral glow to the scene, revealing glimpses of forgotten corners and decaying facades.
A sense of foreboding settled in the air as if unseen eyes watched from the darkness, and every step she took echoed with the weight of impending doom, as Jorogamo stepped out of her seal.
Her first act was a glance at the kneeling Kimiko, her second was sending a backhand slap with her dainty hand. A backhand slap that cracked and splintered the old woman's head. Sending skull fragments and brains to the floor with the force of a cannon.
"You took too long, you ugly vapid fool."
The voice was in contrast to the words. Her voice had the oily and silky texture a salesman would've done anything to obtain, while the words were as vulgar and rough as any street tough around the corner.
The headless form of Kimiko dropped to the floor bonelessly. Headless of the damage she had just received. At least her death was painless, Kugisaki noted even as she tried to stumble and force her way to her feet.
"Two decades and you could only barely nudge the doors loose, this is why you were never my favorite."
The utterly unfeeling tone of the voice sent shivers down Kugisaki's spine. She knew what was coming next, and like clockwork, the cursed spirit's eyes snapped to her struggling figure and brightened considerably.
"My cute little Chiyo," the cursed spirit called out with a tilt of her head and a smile that was all teeth. Chiyo. A name that few people dared call her. "What a nice vacation you gave me," the delusional spirit continued, heedless of what she had truly done, or most likely uncaring.
Those pitch-black eyes roved around to the fallen form of Nobara and Aiko and widened considerably, "and you even brought me snacks, how sweet of you."
A blink later and Jorogumo's kimono-clad form was above them. Pink tongue left her mouth to gently caress her blood-red lips as she reached for the fallen duo.
Kugisaki made to move the remaining two spikes hovering just above them, even if she knew she was too late. Even if she knew two was not nearly enough to face the capricious cursed spirit Kimiko had released in a stupid act of servitude that saw her rewarded with a bashed skull.
A slipper-clad foot appeared from nowhere, pressing its sole into the surprised porcelain visage of Jorogumo before blasting her back in a pinpoint explosion of force.
The cursed spirit was sent back, blowing past the desiccated figures of the villagers and tumbling head over heels into the forest.
Kugisaki finally felt the pressure on her lessen enough to force herself up to face the person who saved her grandchild for the second time.
The Gojo brat.
His long white hair settled around him, just as he dropped into a protective crouch around Nobara and Aiko.
Sinister crimson eyes stared into the forest that Jorogumo had stumbled into, and Kimiko sent a sharp glance at the eyes.
Last she heard the Gojo brat with the six eyes had eerie blue eyes, not red and black eyes that screamed malevolence on an apathetic visage.
She had noted it the first time but had ignored it, thinking it was her age obfuscating her sight. Now, this close to the eyes themselves she knew they were as real as her hands and legs. Since when did the Gojo clan create another monster?
She forced her attention away from the child and focused it back on the forest; she would have to reconnect with the jujutsu world if only to avoid surprises like this. That was if they somehow managed to survive this unholy mess.
The brat had not moved from his spot above the fallen forms, even as his eyes were focused on the forest.
"She's coming," he called out, his voice soft as a child, even with a tone that was emotionless and empty.
Kugisake idly noted how similar he was to Jorogumo, with words that never really seemed to match the tone.
She focused on the path Jorogumo traced into the forest, realizing that for some reason, she could not see the cursed spirit that the kid pointed out with certainty.
Ascribing it to a feature of his eyes, she focused her concentration on her two remaining spikes instead.
The sound of branches cracking and breaking finally got to her, and she turned tired eyes to where Jorogumo stepped out from.
Even after taking a hit that had trembled the very air they breathed, head-on, her porcelain features had shown no sign of damage. Whatever injury she suffered had recovered swiftly, with just barely a dip in her immense cursed energy pool to acknowledge the weight of the strike.
A single observatory glance at Jorogumo was enough for the child to admit. "I cannot kill her," he noted without any real fear or emotion in his tone.
"At least I cannot risk using Amaterasu long enough to burn through her regeneration." She noted the name of the goddess, was he truly haughty enough to name his cursed technique after a god?
"Can we seal her?" He asked.
"She won't fall for the same trick twice," Kugisake answered, her voice raspy and rough compared to the boy.
"Reinforcement?"
"Maybe," she acknowledged even as Jorogumo fully stepped out of the forest, her full attention on the long-haired boy. Kugisaki knew what that look entailed.
Hopefully, the Monstrous and unfathomable curse energy Jorogumo let out was enough to trigger old failsafes the higher-ups at Jujutsu headquarters set up.
"What a technique," the cursed spirit called out as she stopped a few meters away from them. "Either jujutsu sorcerers have suddenly grown stronger in just a couple of decades, or you, my beautiful child," Scarlet lips were glossed over a pink tongue, while her black eyes held a hungry and predatory look, "You're something different."
"What do you want?" the kid called out in a detached tone. His stance was loose and flexible as he eased up from his crouch to stand straight.
Buying time? She thought.
"Originally? I just wanted to reclaim what my beautiful Chiyo kept me away from," the Jorogumo said, her tone matching the brat's own even if her features said something different. "Now? I have to admit I'm somewhat curious about you, child. And what beautiful eyes you possess!"
Jorogumo moved with the final word, swinging her arms in a wide arc. For all the years she had known the cursed spirit. She had never actually seen her fight. So what attack would hit from that far?
A forceful push to the side sent her crashing to the ground head-first. She jerked her head up in time to see the brat run forward, before jumping. His body twisted mid-air and parallel to the ground as he made a twist mid-air with a sharp jerk of motion before landing in a roll that he smoothly recovered from.
What? Was the only thought on her head before the sound of collapsing trees forced her attention to the edges of the clearing. All the trees at the edge of the clearing had been split horizontally at a sharp angle.
She had not even seen the attack.
xxxx
The cursed spirit's smile widened at his maneuver. He had only escaped the attack thanks to the perception that came with the three tomoe form of the sharingan.
The thin and nearly imperceptible thread had snapped out faster than he expected, and this close, the pressure the cursed spirit seemed to exert slowed him. Was this just pure cursed energy, or was it a technique?
The way the trees collapsed behind him made him even more certain of dodging the threads and indicated their sharpness. The shock on the older woman's face when he sent her to the ground almost cracked his serene features with a smile.
The curse spirit swung out another arm and he had to refocus to calculate and track the trajectories of the threads.
Sixty meters away.
Five threads for five fingers. Unequal speed is attributed to the length derived per finger. Slower than the first attack due to the already covered distance giving it less time to gather speed and momentum.
The cursed spirit swung her other arm vertically, sending another wave, a slower but not less deadly set of threads coming at him faster than the human eye could see.
Forty-Five meters
He jumped and spun mid-air over the first set. Twisting his body sideways as soon as he landed, he evaded the third while in continuous motion, and with a flex of cursed energy, he slammed his feet into the earth, sending up cursed energy-reinforced earth that barely diverted the rest by inches.
Thirty meters
In all this, he had never stopped running towards the seemingly unbothered cursed spirit, neither had he slowed down for even a split second. In defiance of the immense pressure the cursed spirit radiated, he was running at her fast enough to make progress.
Twenty meters
The cursed spirit was a mid to long-range fighter, so all he had to do was get close enough. It had only shown two techniques so far. None of which was applicable to a close-quarters engagement.
The first was its ability to puppet people, something that was powerful enough to work even while imprisoned in a seal. The second was the thin and nearly invisible threads that were fast enough to cut and sever everything they passed through.
Ten meters
Finally, he got into close combat range when a sharp spider-like limb with a deadly scythe-like pincer slipped out the back of the kimono aiming for his head.
He swiftly dropped to his knees in a heartbeat; his momentum carried him speeding beneath the spider limb. The only victim of the scything limb was his waist-long hair.
He slid past the amused cursed spirit before slapping his left palm hard enough to stop his slide. Using his core muscles, he lifted his body with the single hand as a fulcrum and spun mid-air to deliver a devastating blow to its unguarded back.
Multiple spider-like limbs suddenly sprung out from its back and stopped his kick dead. So he was wrong about her close combat capabilities.
She twisted her neck back to look at him as he recovered to his feet. "So feisty, makes me want to eat you up."
He ignored the sultry tone and moved closer, throwing a quick punch and kick combo that the spider-like limbs maneuvered and blocked successfully.
"And what beautiful hair that was," the cursed spirit continued with a surprising but honest sad frown on its face.
It lashed out with another spider limb that tore his shoulder open as he barely dodged back. Its hidden spider limbs were faster than its actual body, he noted even as he found his feet.
"Ora Ora, is my cursed energy getting in your way?" The cursed spirit asked with a kind smile. "Let me help out a bit there."
Then there was nothing. His eyes widened in shock at the seeming impossibility. It had condensed its cursed energy from the previous volcano into something that could barely be called a candle. What the hell was he fighting?
He sensed a flare of cursed energy from above, and he jumped even further back out of range. A heartbeat later, two spikes came down like the hammer of god, breaking the sound barrier in a solid boom of force before burying themselves into the cursed spirit and pinning it down to the ground in an x shape.
"Ora Ora Ora, what are you doing, Chiyo-kun?" The cursed spirit called out with a smile as she twisted to face the old woman, heedless of the spike that was embedded halfway into her. Her immense cursed energy immediately cushioned against the damage of the blow and healed her in the same second.
His eyes noted barely a dip in her cursed energy. He already knew it would be hard to deal any real blow, considering how fast it healed his enhanced kick to its face. But this was simply something else. Not even Satoru could boast of this much cursed energy, even with the six eyes optimizing his control.
So this was why they could not kill it the first time. It would be nearly impossible to tire it out and make it exhaust its cursed energy. That left you with a cursed spirit that simply refused to die.
With a forceful jerk, it ripped its way out of the spiked implement and started walking towards the older woman, towards Aiko.
With an uncharacteristic snarl on his face, heedless to the possible consequences of using his cursed energy with the second stage of his Sharingan, he increased its supply to his eyes, to the intense sensation of his three tomoe fusing and reforming into his Mangekyo.
The cursed spirit felt a change within him and started to turn back to react to this new variable. But it was never the fastest, and with the increased perception that came with the final stage of the Sharingan, it was even slower to his sight.
He slowly closed his left eye, raised his right hand, and let it curl, with two fingers straightened. He focused on the technique and felt it blossom.
Amater-
Boom.
An explosion overhead. His eyes snapped up, and the technique dissipated before it could even finish forming. Something had hit the barrier and broken through it from outside. Reinforcements?
They were greeted to the site of two falling forms. Two Cursed spirits. His eyes enlightened him with unasked-for clarity. This fight was about to turn into something else. Something far more brutal than he expected.
Aiko.
He ignored Jorogumo for the first time since he laid scarlet eyes on her and ran instead, coming to a stop where the old woman Kugisaki had found her feet and she stood before the fallen duo of Nobara and Aiko.
The curses slammed into the ground with thunderous force, uprooting the few trees that remained standing and imprinting a crater in the ground.
"Huh, what dares intrude on my hunt?" Jorogumo called out with an annoyed frown on her face for the first time.
A gray hand stretched out of the dust that had been thrown up in the fall, and with a lazy wave, the dust was blown away and dispersed, revealing the forms of the two cursed spirits.
The one that dispersed it was a humanoid cursed spirit just like Jorogumo. Its pale gray figure was covered in a black outfit with a yellow-black spotted cape around its shoulders. Its back was hunched over, and it held its hands over a black cane.
It raised its single cycloptic eye to observe them before it finally settled on Jorogumo. Its lips slowly spread out in a black-toothed smile.
"And another one is born," it spoke, with its interest resting solely on its fellow humanoid cursed spirit. "What is your name, newborn?" It asked in a grandfatherly tone.
Even Jiki could see the way Jorogumo's eyebrow raised in disbelief at the cursed spirit's patronizing tone.
"Another special grade?" He heard Old Woman Kugisake call out behind him, with dread deep in her voice.
"You've to run, kid." Her voice lacked the usual hard tone he had characterized her with. He could almost hear her plead as her voice broke. "Take Aiko, Nobara, and get out of here now the barrier is down."
He sent a single glance back at her, and she met his scarlet eyes with dread-clouded brown.
"Newborn?" Jorogumo asked with a sharp smile as she looked the two cursed spirits over.
"That is no newborn, Jogo," the second cursed spirit called out as it rested a single palm on the shorter and hunched-over curse shoulder.
He said called out, but it let out ineligible words that managed to translate into something eligible in his head, a technique?
The second one was much larger than the first, standing at over six feet at least. It was bone white with black marks raking around its form. Its left hand was hidden behind a stitched-over white cloth, while its head was a face plate with branches for eyes.
"Ora Ora, even if I was a newborn cursed spirit, has time changed so much that two bugs like you would casually wander into this spider's web?" Jorogumo called out with an insidious tone lacing every word.
"Huh, you would give insult even without knowing our objective?" the shorter curse called out in anger.
Jorogumo gave out an exaggerated sigh before shrugging delicate-looking shoulders. "Speak then, let me know if this intrusion is worth my dance with my beautiful white-haired partner." She sent a glance at him that he would've called seductive if it wasn't coming from a centuries-old monster.
With a more weary glance at her, the short cursed spirit spoke. "I have been gathering up cursed spirits. To change things in this world-"
"Boring. So you would wage war then, unleashing another night parade?" Jorogumo interjected in a bored tone. She did not even allow him to finish his sentence. "It didn't work the first two times it was done, why should I bother now when the caliber of curses and humans are so much lower? Why should I bother when I could have it all for myself?"
Jiki ignored the byplay and sent another glance back at Old Woman Kugisaki. "If I could take one down at immense loss to my cursed energy. Who would you say is the most dangerous?"
His words seemed to shake off some of the fear she had, and she gave him a calculating look before answering easily. "Jorogumo. If she intended, we'd be all dead now."
"I thought as much."
He could not see a certain way of Killing Jorogumo considering the unfathomable depths of her curse energy.
With two other special grades as comparison, he knew they were not a match. Not even together. He was not sure even Amaterasu would overcome her regeneration in time.
Against her, the fight would boil down to how fast she could regenerate versus how fast Amaterasu can kill her. He did not like their odds of living long enough to celebrate that victory.
The other two special grades were different. He could see the limit to their cursed energy. Even with their large reserves, he was certain that killing them wasn't an impossibility. Killing them after what he planned to do was the problem.
Yet he didn't have a choice.
Twisting his cursed energy into what he wanted, he pressed his two hands together in a tight grip and called out in a whisper.
Susanoo.