Hagone was on the ground with one knee, gripping his very loose right arm. Quickly he used reverse cursed technique to repair it, but he was cut there once again by an invisible slash that he couldn't make anything of.
It wasn't even just that, but his entire body was covered in unexplainable cuts and gashes with no origin. All bleeding profusely as he tried to fix them with the reverse cursed technique, but alas the damage kept returning. He had just learnt reverse cursed technique so his output was still poor, and on top of that, it was draining double the amount of his cursed energy.
Eventually, he would run out of cursed energy, and only then he would die.
No.. he was being allowed to live, he could be killed any moment. Right now, he was just a plaything before the main course, that being the entire Jujutsu world.
Hagone quickly activated his Cursed technique once again, to make one final attempt at defeating him. But the moment he did, another dismantle which he did not anticipate, cut against his body once again.
This not only put a stop to his reverse cursed technique, but also froze him for one second due to his cursed techniques rules.
Mozu then blitzed in front of him again, before slamming his head into the ground. A large crater was created as Hagone's head was buried inside.
"Wow! You really did put up a marvelous final stand! Too bad no one was around to see it. Such a shame really. No one will know you died, and no one will care. If anyone does I'll just kill them too!"
Mozu had gained all of Sukuna's memories, at least the ones from before he became a cursed object, but he also gained his constitution too despite it being very broken. So when he gained all of that, he also gained some of his instincts, specifically, the ones that tell whether a sorcerer was worth his time or not.
And right now those instincts were screaming at him, there was something even more terrible than him right behind him.
And what was even worse, is that it was where Hagone had left the black haired boy that he killed.
He quickly shifted around to check on his corpse, and his heart froze to see that he wasn't there.
Then shifting back around, he felt a terrible force blow him back off his feet. He was sent flying back a good few metres, before he quickly planted himself back down.
And then, standing over Hagone's blooded body, was Akumu. He was just as bloody as before, but his wounds were clearly healed, but what was most striking about him now was his pale white hair.
"???"
He laid the palm of his hand on Hagone, before the glowing yellow light of Reverse cursed technique was quickly applied to him, healing him of all his wounds. He then picked him up before disappearing once again.
"?????????"
Mozu didn't know what to make of this, and so he just silently waited. He knew very well that the current Akumu could contend, maybe even surpass him, so he had to kill him here and now.
If one were to go back to where this all began, you would see Yukiko on her knee's next to Taori and Kenji's body. Both of which were still alive, but not in very good condition nor conscious.
Then suddenly, Akumu appeared. He dropped Hagone onto the ground near the other two, before healing them all, even Yukiko with reverse cursed technique.
"Saigo? Are you okay?"
People say the eyes are the window to the soul. So when Yukiko made eye contact with Akumu for a brief moment, she could the infinite darkness the seemed to be asleep, yet at the same time awake, swirling inside of him.
Before she could say anything however, Akumu disappeared.
**
Akumu was standing before Mozu once more, this time the latter treated him as threat with more awareness than before.
It was obvious Akumu wasn't the same person as before. Was he someone who ate a cursed object like him? But that question didn't matter, he had to die.
First Mozu fired a dismantle at him to test his opponent. If what his instincts told him were true, then Akumu would most likely dodge. But his heart froze to see Akumu slap it out of the way instead, as he disappeared from view nearly instantly.
Without any warning, Akumu smashed his fist into the bulking titans gut as it reeled back, even spitting out saliva with small amounts of blood mixed in it.
'What!?'
He threw both of his right fists at him, but Akumu caught them both in his own hands, before lifting Mozu into the sky and slamming him back down in the ground.
This didn't make any sense at all. Akumu's current cursed energy was the exact same as it had been before, and yet, he was being overpowered physically?
"Get up."
Those were the first words Akumu had said since waking up. If that was really Akumu anyway.
The second Mozu's back was fully off the ground, Akumu quickly delivered a powerful kick to the back of head, sending him flying away. The kick even knocked him out temporarily, as he coughed up some blood.
The moment he crashed, he instantly reawoke as he healed himself with reverse cursed technique. His face had turned red with rage as he shouted,
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!???"
And then he fired a torrent of dismantles, all aimed at Akumu who effortlessly dodged each one. At some point he even yawned, inspiring even more hatred in Mozu.
It was then that Akumu finally used his dark whips, and transformed them into a single sword. Mozu swung both of his left arms at him, which he briefly cut off before stabbing the sword through his chest.
Mozu kept using reverse cursed technique to pump his heart, as well as heal both his arms, but Akumu let go of the sword that was already planted in his chest, before inserting two more with brilliant speed.
With his lower right arm, Mozu then grabbed onto Akumu's own arm before smiling menacingly.
"Got you this time!"
He then tried to fire a cleave to slice it off, but Akumu's cursed energy output sky rocketed for a brief moment, completely enveloping Mozu's own.
In the end, that cleave was only able to cause a paper cut wound.
Akumu then smashed his fist into Mozu's head once again, causing his nose to bleed heavily as he was sent tumbling back from the mighty blow. Akumu had triumphed Mozu in nearly everything. Cursed energy output, hand to hand combat, even the ability to read each others rooms.
But there was still one thing he had to try.
Finally fixing both his left arms, Mozu clasphed two of them together preparing to unleash his domain. And at the same time, Akumu realised what he was going to do as he opened up his black palace just as quickly.
"Domain Expansion: Cruel offering!"
A terrible worn down shrine with plants and vines surrounding it, manifested from the shadows behind Mozu as the sky turned blood red. Numerous cow skulls then began to spawn all around him, pushing himself and the shrine high into the sky, as even more twisted plants and vines grew from them.
And then it came, a wave of slashes engulfed the area, tearing every single thing within a range of 200 metres apart.
Akumu and Mozu had fought quite far, so Yukiko and the rest were at the edge of it's range, but the cursed spirits that had fled from the forests monastary were unfortunate enough to be caught in it.
Cleave targeted sorcerers, objects and spirit's with cursed energy, while dismantle tore everything else apart until only dust was left.
Although Akumu's simple domain was holding up, that was all it could unless Mozu himself decided to enter it.
Mozu had been laughing like a maniac, ever since Akumu opened his simple domain. Normally to counter another domain expansion, one would open their own. But Akumu did not, or rather he could not.
"ALL THAT POWER, AND NO INNATE TECHNIQUE TO BACK IT UP!??"
Akumu did not possess an innate technique, meaning that in a battle of domains he would lose every time. Even if he used simple domain, eventually it would crumble.
"I really wish I could, but using cursed techniques in this body is too difficult."
And then immediately after, Mozu whispered,
"Open, furnace."
Mozu pointed one of his fingers at Akumu, before it lit on fire. Then with the rest of his hands, he pulled on that fire, stretching and transforming it into a great javelin filled with devastating power.
And then he released it.
The mass of energy was then sent hurtling at Akumu, as he took it on at full force. The temperature in domain instantly rose, increasing well pass whatever an ordinary human was supposed to be able to endure.
As the pillar of scorching fire erupted into the sky, Akumu's simple domain instantly broke, allowing not just the incinerating arrow to burn him, but also the relentless cleaves to tear him apart.
He was sure of it. There was no way Akumu could've survived it this time.
But then something strange happened.
A small splinter appeared on his body, which Mozu easily ignored. But then it grew, and more of them appeared until there were too many to notice.
"What?"
He started to heal using reverse cursed technique, but the the right arm was quickly torn off by an invisible cut.
It was a dismantle.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"
And while the flames of the divine furnace still burned, a silhouette began to step out of them. It's skin was completely burnt and charred, but it was already quickly healing from the damage, as some semblance of a face was formed.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!??"
The walking corpse simply whispered,
"I am regret."
A black javelin zipped through the inferno, and pierced Mozu's head.
He was killed on the spot, just like that.