10:36 P.M. RESTAURANT AVENUE, SHIBUYA
Hanami ducked and dodged the many metal spikes aimed her way before standing and striking out at the blond sorcerer in the fancy clothes. Hanami's fist slammed into the flat of his wrapped blade with the force of a shotgun blast.
He blocked it without too much trouble, setting up a solid punch from the mustached man to Hanami's right, her crown of thorns breaking partly from the impact. Hanami spun, throwing a back fist before fainting it into a single leg grapple. The man fell for it, resulting in him being slammed into the ground before either sorcerer could do anything.
Hanami slipped between his legs, towering over him as he stared up at her. She wound up a haymaker but only stuck stone, forming a small hole in the ground. The man had used his technique to get away.
Hanami raised her left hand, blocking a blow from the 7:3 sorcerer as Dagon's killer came in from her right. The young man swung towards her right hip while the 7:3 sorcerer kicked out at her left knee, hopping to make an opening for his comrade to capitalize on. It seemed the boy had retrieved the shorter blade.
Hanami rolled back and as she stood she raised her arms and shot a wave of cursed buds towards the two before scanning the battlefield for the mustached man. Hanami had learned a few things from her attack on the Inumaki clan.
One of which was their ability to recreate some uses of her technique using her body. Not only did this increase the power of the ability, it also allowed her to use domain amplification while "using" her techniques, partially addressing the biggest downside to domain amplification.
A downside to this new approach was its increased cursed energy cost. Hanami didn't worry much about that however, cursed energy reserves was one thing they had in spades.
"Explode." The boy said, causing the buds to burst into balls of raging fire the second they left Hanami's body, blasting her back into a building. Another downside was that the buds stopped being part of her body after firing, making them lose the benefits of domain amplification.
The 7:3 sorcerer rushed Hanami as the old man made an appearance as well. Hanami's shoulder blades split apart, roots shooting out of the new cracks in her armor before stabbing over her shoulder in two condensed spikes.
The bolden haired sorcerer blocked one of the root spikes but was unable to prevent the other from digging into his left shin. The mustached man came from Hanami's left with a flying knee which she ducked under.
The old sorcerer continued on over her, grabbing a loose pipe from the ceiling, spinning in the air and throwing it towards Hanami in a javelin throw.
Hanami blocked it easily with her right arm while simultaneously catching the 7:3 sorcerers blade who swung for their rose after she'd retracted the root spikes. Hanami heard the swoosh of air behind her as a silver light entered the corner of their vision.
Hanami forced the roots beneath her armor to explode out, forcing a piece of her armor with it to block the sneak attack. It seemed it was all a distraction so the boy could jump from above and cut her head off.
Right before the blade struck the piece of armor, the boy redirected his blade downwards towards the now unprotected shoulder and more important, the flower.
——
The cursed tool tore a bloody trail through the cursed spirits shoulder, through the rose, and out their left side, the blade packed with so much cursed energy Isamu was surprised it hadn't shattered. The amount of focus necessary to channel that much cursed energy into a blade without it breaking could only be found immediately after landing a black flash.
Having seen the curse reattach its arm after it was cut off by Nanami, Isamu knew there was more work to be done if he wanted the wound to last a while.
"Burn." He said, commanding the air between the falling arm and about 20% of the curses torso and the rest of its body. The arm caught fire near instantly, as did the root attempting to reach the flesh and wood.
Naobito ran full tilt at the curse, planting a flying knee into its face as Nanami backed away, ready to carry out another plan. Nanami's cursed technique, ratio, allowed him to visualize a line with ten points across it along the length of a living thing. If Nanami strikes at the 7 to 3 ratio on that line, he can perform a critical hit.
But by extending his target to inanimate objects in a similar vine to Isamu's extension, Nanami would break apart the land scape, sending out a large wave of cursed energy while infusing any rubble with cursed energy in order to make it an effective weapon against cursed spirits.
"Form a pillar." Isamu commanded, forcing a large pillar of stone to shoot out of the ground at a 45 degree angle. Nanami then leaped into the air, his tie wrapped around the knuckles of his right hand, and punched the top of the pillar.
Giant, car size blocks of stone, each infused with cursed energy flew towards the injured curse who was trying, and failing, to fight Naobito in its damaged state. Naobito suddenly retreated as the blocks slammed into the entire right side of the already crumbling building.
All three first grade jujutsu sorcerers made a hasty escape as the building collapsed on the cursed spirit. Even still, they knew there was a good chance it lived form even that.
"Never have I faced such an annoying creature." Naobito commented while blowing some blood out of his still broken nose.
"Yes, we will have to finish it with a powerful command from Isamu. I don't see any other way to kill it if this wasn't enough." Nanami expanded on Naobito's point, motioning to the building sized cloud of dust.
"Isamu!" A voice called out from behind the group. The one who's named had been called spun around to find his apprentice running over to him.
"Megumi. Are you okay, how is Maki?" Nanami asked, turning as well while Naobito kept an eye on the giant dust cloud created by the collapsed building.
"Round Deer did the best it could, but she should still get treatment from Shoko. I ran into Toga and he agreed to take her before coming back to lend a hand with the cursed spirit." Megumi said, delivering a small amount of good new to the group who perhaps needed it most.
'Thank you, Megumi.' Isamu signed.
"Don't mention it." Megumi responded coolly, Isamu could tell the thanks did not go unappreciated however.
"Yeah, yeah. Very heart warming. We still have an enemy to face. Get your heads in the game." Naobito cut in as the shifting of dust and rubble became clear.
"It is… clear… to me… that I will not come out of this… battle… alive… hear me, mother. I give onto you my life… the life you have granted me to… eradicate the humans… plaguing you. I am ashamed of my failure but still… I ask… grant me the power to take these… humans with me… to the grave." The curse said, stumbling out of the dead heap of concrete, glass, and metal.
Suddenly, the cursed energy in the environment spiked as the cursed spirit entered into a binding vow, sacrificing its life for an unreal amount of cursed energy. All of its wounds healed in an instant, its flower reappearing with a ball of cursed energy so dense and potent it made the last one look like a match compared to a house fire.
"Domain Expansion: Shining Sea of Flowers!"
Before any of them knew it, they appeared in a field of multi colored flowers stretching far into the horizon, the bright blue sky hovering over them as a radiant sun bombarded them with heat from above.
"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain!" Isamu shouted, pushing the technique with the help of the flow state granted to him by black flash. Expanding its radius to claim an area big enough to cover him and his companions.
"It can't use domain amplification anymore! Megumi, expand your domain and we can crush it with our techniques." Naobito commanded, shouting at Megumi as he kept a keen eye on the crouched curse with the cannon of cursed energy on its shoulder.
"I… I can't. I don't have enough cursed energy to use it for more than a few seconds, not after using round deer. Not nearly enough time to get any use out of it." Megumi said,
Isamu rushed ahead, expecting them to follow his lead. Isamu extended his domain into a more oval shape as Naobito raced forward, the curse struck out at him but was frozen when Naobito blocked the hit. Nanami rushed in just behind him, knocking the cursed spirit towards Megumi using his technique.
Megumi summoned his demon dog to slash out at it before releasing it right after, not wanting to drain more energy than necessary. Still, a good, football sized chunk was torn from its stomach. A chunk instantly healed by its overflowing cursed energy.
That was definitely a problem. They'd have to either put it down in one blow or wait out the binding vow. Neither were good or even realistic options. But if Isamu had to choose, he'd say the former was slightly more reasonable.
Isamu burned a lot of cursed energy throughout the fight. Commands like burn or freeze were expensive as hell and the constant pain in his throat reminded him of how little he had left in the tank. And with him being the only one with a simple domain, their ability to survive this domain was very dependent on his cursed energy reserves.
With that thought ruling out the second option, Isamu rushed forward to carry out the first. The domains output, superior to his own even without the binding vow, was quickly reduced the size of his simple domain, forcing their group to tighten up their formation.
Getting close to Megumi, Isamu whispered something to him as they neared the curse.
"When I give the signal, use your domain to buy me a few seconds. After that, leave it to me." Isamu commanded without the use of his technique, getting a nod from his quasi apprentice.
They all circled the curse, Isamu's simple domain slowly shrinking, making them all aware this battle was on a timer. Naobito froze it with ease, giving Nanami the chance to slash its mid thigh with his technique. The curse was launched towards Isamu only to be met with a solid arm jam packed with cursed energy, closing lining it to the ground.
At the same instant, roots shot from the ground and humanoid plants appeared, attacking Nanami and Naobito, preventing any further interference for a bit. Isamu stabbed towards its head, blade in hand. The curse gripped his hand and arm with both hands, preventing the lethal blow. Its legs shot up, wrapping them around Isamu's arm and putting him in an arm bar. For a cursed spirit, it was surprising good at grappling.
Isamu let go of his blade before catching it with the other, going for the head once more, ignoring the pressure seeking to break his arm. Right before Isamu's arm was snapped, Isamu whistled.
A black eruption of what seemed like ink exploded into the domain right as Isamu's simple domain shattered.
"Don't move." Isamu commanded the curse itself, forcing it to drop his arm. As it did, he reached for his special grade cursed tool still logged in its gut. If only he could get that in his grip, he could rip through the curses torso all the way up to its head and finally finish it.
But right before his grip tightened on the handle, the ball of energy hovering right in front of its left shoulder exploded. It did the same thing it had done last time it was in this much danger. Not that Isamu could really complain, he reused commands all the time.
Isamu was blasted away, his entire torso and face burned into a black mess, not that it hindered Isamu's plans much.
"Saraswati. Pull it together. Destroy." By using the cursed energy he'd planted in the blade right before releasing it, Isamu commanded the blade to use its technique on itself, making it release an explosion of cursed energy so powerful and destructive, a hole the size of a large car tire was blown through the curse's stomach and arm, clearing away the either right side of its body.
Now that he wasn't using simple domain and the curse couldn't use domain amplification while in their domain expansion, Isamu's technique could finally shine. He would have to keep it simple however, he was running on fumes.
"Fly towards me." Like the command 'blast away' but in reverse, the cursed spirit was picked off the ground and flung at high speeds towards Isamu as he found some footing.
"Split apart." Using his technique to force the cursed spirit to split the plating on its head, revealing the swirling mass of roots beneath. Reeling back a fist, Isamu finally landed a lethal blow.
"Black Flash!!"
The curses head exploded in purple blood and splinters as the rest of its body continued to fly, traveling behind him a good ways before flopping to a stop pathetically. As Isamu watched the domain shatter, black shards of pure cursed energy flouting to the ground, Isamu felt the cursed energy of the cursed spirit, still overflowing from its binding vow, disperse into the environment.
But nearly half of it made a beeline straight for him. For some reason, when Isamu killed a cursed spirit or curse user, a part of its cursed energy reserves always fused into him, becoming his own cursed energy. At first, he thought it was normal. But after speaking to Kusakabe and later Gojo about it, he found it was an anomaly neither had ever heard of.
As the cursed energy flowed through him, giving him as much, if not more, cursed energy that he had entered Shibuya with while pretty much doubling his maximum cursed energy. Which was saying something considering he'd gained a lot from slaying the octopus.
Isamu collapsed to his knees, his entire upper body burned from the cursed energy explosion, both of his eyes melted from his skull completely. Isamu's mind filled with many things as his consciousness faded to black for he knew he would not survive such a serious injury.
Unlike some, he didn't think of things he wanted to cross of his bucket list or things he should've done. No, all of his thoughts were consumed by the image of those he loved fighting without him. Trying to free Gojo without him. The thought of being a useless corpse, being nothing but sorrow and pain on his loved ones degusted him to his very core.
Suddenly, under the shower of black sparks created by his 6th ever black flash, Isamu's wounds began to close on their own. As Isamu finally grasped the true essence of cursed energy, positive energy flowed through his body.
Before long, all damage Isamu had taken was no where to be seen. No puncture marks in his arms or sides. No charred flesh and bone. No melted eyes leaking from his skull. All that was left was a shirtless Isamu, kneeing with a peaceful look in his eyes. As, for what felt like the first time ever, he truly experienced what existing felt like. What living felt like. Now, he could truly be useful.
Isamu inumaki, the star of the Inumaki clan, the former clan head of the Inumaki, the most talented member of the New Shadow Style School, the youngest first grade sorcerer in history excluding Saturo Gojo, finally awakened.
——
10:45 P.M., OCTOBER 31st, SHIBUYA.
Jogo rushed through the city streets, darting towards the explosions and towering roots. No one but Hanami had such control over plants and if she was fighting, she must've found the kid who'd killed Dagon. Jogo was more than happy to take a detour and kill the brat.
But before he could make it within even a few blocks, a figure dashed out of an alleyway and impaled Jogo through the chest as he leapt from one building to another. Looking over his shoulder, he found a man in a white, long sleeve shirt with black hair and even blacker eyes wielding some kind of cursed tool in the shape of a machete.
Jogo threw a hand over his shoulder and blasted a column of fire towards him before spinning around and finding some footing. The hole in his chest quickly healed as Jogo's single eye focused on the man. The man possessing cursed energy. The man completely untouched by his flames.
"Who are you?" Jogo asked, curiously, arrogance, and anger infecting his voice in equal parts. The man gave no response as he took a step, creating a small crater from the sheer impact on the stone as he pushed off the ground. Jogo was caught off guard, how could a human with zero cursed energy move so quickly?