Taori took the lead in the assault. She had already spent the last 4 months working within the enemy's forces, so she knew not just their base's location but also their army's strength.
They led a force of around 100 ordinary humans, 50 grade 4 curse users, and 10 grade 3, but they had used half of each in their initial attack. The Jujutsu High attack force however, consisted of only 10 grade 4 sorcerers, 3 grade 3, and then there was Akumu and the rest.
Their victory looked bleak.
Nevertheless, they had no choice but to go in with what little manpower they had or they risked dealing with the resurrection of Sukuna.
They traveled through the great forest for about an hour, and then they finally struck. Rains of bullets and missiles rained down upon the sorcerer's like an exterminator trying his best to kill some stray ants.
Akumu successfully blocked the majority of the attack with a giant wall made from dark whips however, they still lost 2 of their men That's when Hagone shouted during the attack,
"You guys should keep pushing through, I'll help clean this area up. We will catch up to you later."
"If this is all of their forces then you'll lose! We will finish them first, then everyone can help kill Kladd!"
Kenji on the other hand, grabbed Akumu by the shoulder while signaling for the other 2 to follow him.
"THE MORE TIME WE WASTE, THE MORE TIME KLADD HAS TO FINISH REVIVING SUKUNA! WE NEED TO GO, NOW!"
He didn't want to leave him alone, but Kenji was right. Hagone had already gotten scared from confronting Kladd once, would he be able to even fight back this time?
The sounds of a terrible battle echoed through the forest, while eventually growing more quiet as Akumu and the rest managed to get away.
After 40 minutes of continuous running, Taori led the group to a small cluster of mountains. She then pointed up at a small cavern hidden behind some rubble that peeked out of the side of a large cliff.
Taori then stated,
"That's the secret entrance that only the 4 arms of sukuna know about. If we can sneak in from there, we will surely be able to steal or destroy the cursed tool that they are preparing without fighting Kladd directly."
And as if to crush that very dream the blue demon himself spawned behind the party.
"You came back so soon?"
Kenji was the quickest to react, by instantly striking the Kladd with a strong left hook. Without holding back, he activated his cursed technique, causing a powerful black flash to push him back decently, but not enough to send him flying off his feet.
"That was unexpected"
Kenji then immediately followed it up with another black flashed which the curse tried to guard against. This time, he could feel the bones beneath his flesh crack a little. Although it amused him, he quickly healed from it.
"Your cursed technique seems interesting..."
Before Kladd could do anything else, he was instantly barraged by several arrows made of wind that Yukiko had manifested. These were weaker than Kenji's black flashes, so he easily just jumped out of them.
Only to then be instantly caught by Akumu's dark whips which wrapped around his body, as he was then thrown away from the mountains, into the forest, where Taori was waiting while opening her simpel domain.
Kladd tumbled across the ground for a moment, but he instantly gained his footing while trying to halt, as Taori sprang out while aiming for his neck.
He easily grabbed onto her sword, but was surprised at what looked like a purple avatar similar in appearance to Taori, lunged at his neck.
He had never seen Taori's cursed technique, and so he assumed she had none.
Taori's innate technique in question was called 'Astral Technique'. It allowed her to create a copy of herself made from cursed energy, which could mirror any attack she could perform.
The blade pierced straight through his neck, but before the clone could do anything else, Kladd snapped his fingers causing an explosion to immediately ring out. Although the clone was destroyed, it had absorbed enough of the force allowing Taori herself to come out unharmed.
Kladd's own cursed technique was called 'Minor Accident.' It amplified the heat energy produced from friction, allowing him to create powerful explosions with just a snap of his fingers.
Before he could move in to finish Taori off with another explosion, he was barraged with even more slashes of wind, this time targeted at his head. Although they didn't do enough damage which he couldn't heal from, they were still annoying.
He harshly swung his hand, shaking them away, but then a fist quickly punched him in the head as the sparks of a familiar black flash rocketed off him.
Kladd held his ground, but this time he coughed up a mouthful of blood before he was punched in the gut by another black flash. And then, another, and then another.
Before he knew it, he was sustaining too much damage that he couldn't heal from.
Kladd was about to snap his fingers again, but Akumu's dark whips wrapped around each of his hands, and then his fingers. The natural texture of dark whips made it so that generating friction against them was too difficult, and in the end the heat which could be amplified was only enough to burn his hands.
In order to combat against a special grade curse, the group had planned so that Yukiko and Akumu would slow its attacks from a mid range, while Kenji and Taori did as much damage as they could.
Despite having analysed Kladd's cursed technique, Akumu had failed to understand that the target wasn't limited to just his fingers.
The curse then suddenly kicked his own legs together, causing the entire lower half of it's body to explode while Kenji took the full might of the explosion. A cloud of fire and dust devoured the area, as Kenji was blown away into several tree's, knocking him out cold.
"KENJI!"
His body was pouring out blood, as both his arms and legs were brutally mangled. But it looked like he had diverted all his cursed energy to his chest and head, so those were the least damaged. He would live if he could get healed in time.
However, that seemed unlikely now.
Akumu and everyone else was suddenly overcome by a terrible feeling of dread, as the cloud of ash and smoke started to clear.
The moment the curse became visible, Taori ran towards it at full speed.
However, the curse had already started to weave its hand sign.
"Domain Expansion."
Akumu shielded Yukiko in his black palace while Taori quickly summoned her own simple domain. Kenji appeared to have been blasted out of its radius, so he would be fine.
A giant shadow casted over the sky, before everyone became trapped in a dark veil. Then suddenly, the sky returned, however it was pale and grey despite there being no clouds. And not just that, the ground beneath their feet had been replaced by a dark powder of some sort.
"Flourishing Despair."
The only one who could move amongst them while casting simple domain, was Taori, so she quickly went on the offence. However she had no clue how long it would take until it would break, and then her death would be certain.
'New Shadow style: Falling Moon Tide.'
She then launched a wave of thrusts at Kladd, while her clones only added to it, doubling the ferouciness of her attacks almost instantly. The curse spirit in question could no longer heal from her attacks due to using most of it to open his domain.
A large sum of Taori's attacks landed, but her simple domain shattered at a moments notice.
In Kladd's domain, it's guaranteed hit effect allowed him to change the target of the technique from himself to everyone else. Letting him blow people up from just the slightest movement.
The friction in joints, the friction from muscles sliding against bone, these were all enough to trigger a micro explosion, causing internal damage.
All four of Taori's limbs were blown up at the joints, instantly crippling her as she fell to the floor. Kladd could also continue to blow up her spine, but he did not want too. Oddly, the girl wasn't even screaming from the pain, but rather just looked mildly uncomfortable.
"I said I was going to kill you, only after I become Sukuna. Just stay like that and rest for a while."
He then turned his head towards Akumu who was shielding Yukiko in his simple domain.
"You two on the other hand, are going to die."
He quickly ran towards the two as Akumu panicked not knowing what to do since he couldn't attack outside of simple domain. Yukiko fired two slashes of wind at him, but the curse was still relentless in its pursuit.
And then, a sudden thought emerged in Akumu's mind.
The moment the curse stepped inside of Akumu's simple domain, a large dark whip in the shape of lance pierced through its chest, creating a gaping hole.
Thanks to landing a black flash and increasing his understanding of cursed energy, Akumu had gained the ability to make his dark whips more concrete and sharp, allowing him to form weapons from them.
"What..?"
Kladd's domain began to collapse, and then suddenly it broke, allowing everyone who was trapped to escape. The giant hole in his chest was taking forever to heal thanks to his domain, and being barraged by Yukiko's attacks right after certainly didn't help.
"What..???"
And then, a punch from Akumu with his fist wrapped in dark whips delt the final blow, knocking Kladd down into the ground.
He was going to die.
'I'm going to die!?'
Upon having this revelation, he shouted,
"3RD ARM RYO! QUICKLY! USE THE CURSED TOOL ON ME! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT ISN'T COMPLETE, I'M A CURSED SPIRIT, I WON'T LOSE MY WILL!"
And then, stepping from the shadow of the partially destroyed forest, was Ryo. He was wearing the executive cultist robe, but his hood was let down, revealing his grey hairs and wrinkled face as well as a strange metal choker around his neck. In his right hand, was what looked like a shrunken finger. He looked down at the pathetic state of his former master, and smirked.
"Oh please. The sukuna cult is done for, and I've finished my work anyway."
Despite being on the verge of being exorcised, the cursed spirit spoke,
"What do you mean!?"
To which Ryo gladly explained.
"Seven years ago I worked as a scientist exploring Tengens biology in the Shibuya power plant. I made a discovery that Tengen's parasitic cursed energy was extremely reactive to external influences from humans, so I proposed that we transplant it into Jujutsu Sorcerers to make them even more powerful. Those higher ups agreed, but right when I was at the cusp of a breakthrough, the project was dropped. Just because a couple people died, the greatest advancement in human history was halted. Luckily for me, I had the backing of a man called Senjuro. He gladly assisted in my research, and solved every road block I encountered. However, Tengen's cursed energy was still too potent for the human body to handle, so we set our sights on something much more achievable while we were still figuring out the kinks. I'm sure you can figure out what that was."
Upon hearing Senjuros name, Akumu's heart froze. He knew that man was despicable, but to think he was that engrossed in the SPP incident?
"I thought you said it wasn't ready yet?? If you eat it, you'll die!?"
"Are you dumb? That was a lie. Even if these sorcerers never came, I planned on using that extra day to consume the finger before you asked for it back."
"YOU BASTARD!"
Akumu quickly started to run towards the cultist, while Yukiko fired off several of her wind slashes, but they were both too slow.
The old man quickly swallowed the finger, as his entire body was devoured in black flames and lightning.