Cursed Technique Reversal. Normal cursed techniques were fueled by negative energy, cursed energy, and produced an effect. For example, Gojo's "blue" was a sphere of blue cursed energy which sucked in anything around it. But when he uses positive energy to fuel the technique instead, he is able to produce the reverse effect, a red sphere which blasts everything away.
Normally, cursed technique reversal only works on simple techniques. It was easy to image what the reverse of a pulling force would be but not so easy to imagine how you would reverse a technique like Megumi's ten shadows. And since jujutsu was mostly based around the imagination and interpretation, these hard to visualize reversals were hard to realize, making it harder to unlock than an extension or maximum technique.
Cursed speech was a simple technique. If anything, it was a bit too simple. You could command someone to do just about anything. At first, Isamu thought of using cursed technique reversal to forbid someone from doing something.
Instead of forcing them to do something, you stop them from doing something. On the surface, it was a fine idea. Until you remembered "don't move" already exists. Isamu could achieve the same result with far less cursed energy by just strapping a "don't" on the front of his command.
So that was one idea out the window. Then Isamu thought of commanding himself, the opposite of commanding others. But that fell under an extension technique more than a reversal. Definitely an idea for another time but not now.
These thoughts weren't new to Isamu in the slightest. He'd been planning his whole path of power for a while, after all. Back when he was still… absent minded… around Maki, she'd inquired on his thoughts.
——
"What is it?" Maki asked, her legs crossed as she sat on the ground on the other side of the coffee table Isamu, too, found himself seated at. A box of Chinese takeout sat in front of her, a par of chop sticks poised to strike at the noodles inside. A similar box sat in front of Isamu, his chop sticks untouched and the box unopened.
'Nothing' Isamu quickly signed, finally picking his chop sticks up and breaking them apart, finally getting around to opening the box and digging in.
"I know it's not nothing. You've been burning a whole into the table for the last few minutes… I don't appreciate you lying to me." Maki said, her face stone cold, her gaze even colder.
A few minutes? Had he really been staring that long? Isamu let out a sigh before stabbing his sticks into the noodles, leaving them there, and rising his hands to sign.
'Seriously, it's nothing.' Isamu said before going back to his noodles.
"Alright… fine…" Maki said, her gaze heating up a bit as she began eating as well. They ate in a semi-tense silence for a moment before Isamu was attacked.
Maki dove over the coffee table, knocking over both of their food containers before wrapping her arms around Isamu's neck and pinning him to the ground.
"Tell me or I'll make your life much more difficult." She threatened, squeezing her arms a bit too tightly as she stared into his eyes, mere inches from his face. Isamu rolled his eyes but couldn't stop a smile from slipping onto his face.
'Fine' he mouthed, causing Maki to relent a bit. She leaned back and straightened her back, still towering over him as she straddled his waist, her hands pressed against his chest, keeping him down.
'I'm trying to form an idea for my cursed technique reversal.' Isamu signed before explaining his pit falls and his flawed ideas. After some thinking on her side, she suggested something.
"Well, you force someone to do something. The reverse of doing something could be to not do anything… or… it could be undoing something." Maki figured, getting off Isamu and sitting crisscrossed at his side as he sat up.
'That's… not a bad idea.' Isamu signed, deep in thought.
"Of course it isn't, it was my idea. If you ever brag about it, make sure to credit me." Maki said in fake arrogance.
"Now, clean up this mess." She continued, taking a fist full of noodles from the floor and tossing it in Isamu's face with a laugh, forcing Isamu to defend himself with his own ball of noodles, a smile on his face as he smeared some all over her face.
——
"roetem a yb kcurts eB." Isamu's command came out in reverse, as if a recording of his voice was played backwards. In the next instant, a column of stone, pipes, metal, and paint appeared right where the man was standing, encasing him in its concrete embrace.
That worked well. Using his cursed technique reversal, Isamu had reverted the small chunk of area back to before it was struck by the meteor. And since the man was standing in the space the street had been only moments before, he was trapped in it.
This technique didn't only apply to streets and meteors however. If Isamu was punched, for example, he could command himself to "be punched" using his cursed technique reversal. This would make it so his body was never punched but the opponent would still feel the cursed energy drain of punching him.
Or, he could command someone with his regular technique before commanding himself to command that person using his reversal, resulting in Isamu never actually commanding the opponent and never spending the cursed energy. But since he didn't extend the command to the opponent, they would still be injured from the command Isamu "never" performed.
For course, that use of the technique would be pretty useless as a command from the reverse costs twice as much as a regular command but the concept and implications still stood. Isamu was happy with his talent to say the least.
The man shattered the stone he was trapped in and darted towards Isamu but before he could even close half the distance, Isamu spoke in backwards gibberish once more.
"enots eht fo tuo kaerB." The man shot back to the center of the stone pillar where he'd been not even a second ago, the blocks of concrete he had sent flying also returned, mending themselves back to the pillar to encase the man once more.
Isamu grinned as he leapt forward, shattering the entire chunk of city in a drop kick. The man exploded out of the other side of the column, skidding across the ground for a moment before quickly regaining his footing only to be met with a barrage of rocks as soon as he looked up.
"Crush him." Isamu spoke, commanding the large chunks of stone he just created to crush the man from every side. And to Isamu's disappointment, the attack landed. The man tried to jump and escape to the sky but he was too slow, far slower than before. His right leg was crushed to pulp as a result.
The man landed, catching himself with his only remaining hand as to stop himself from falling face first into the dirt. Isamu looked at him kneeling on the floor as his smile slipped from his face. It seemed he didn't have as much in the tank as Isamu thought.
By all accounts, this was a good thing. The man, an obvious threat able to go toe to toe with people like Isamu and the cursed spirit was kneeing, his body crushed and destroyed, not even able to walk properly. But to Isamu, it was just sad.
"derujnI eB." Isamu said, watching with joy as the man's body began to repair itself. No, not repair, just undo the damage it had taken. Before long, the man was back to full health, Isamu's special grade cursed tool being pushed out of his body and left on the ground as the man stood back up, his machete in hand.
The cursed spirit had tested his jujutsu. His ability to use his technique in ways he'd never thought of before. But this man had tested his physical ability. But not to the extent Isamu wanted. He wanted this man to really give him a run for his money. The best fights were the ones where the underdog wins after all.
"Drop your weapon." Isamu said, forcing his grip to relax and for the machete to fall and stab itself into the ground. But before the man could pick it back up, Isamu sheathed Maya, took the scabbard off his hip, and placed it on the ground before getting into the primary unarmed fighting style of the Inumaki clan.
The man stopped half way through rearming himself before his grin grew as he looked onto the eyes of his combatant and the gleam that made the man want to give it his all. To not disappoint such a gleeful young man.
They both sprung forward, cracking the ground beneath their feet before they met each other fist to fist. Isamu threw a jab which was ducked under before he was hit with a nasty right uppercut followed by a barrage of heavy blows. After taking a few disorienting hits, Isamu was able to grab one of his enemies wrists, his face bloody and bruised.
Isamu punched with his free left hand only for it to be parried out of the way and for another heavy fist to smash into his nose, brutally breaking it. The man then kneed him in the gut, causing Isamu's head to bend downward as he spat up blood. The man brought his knee up into his bent over head as his right elbow slammed down at the same time.
Blood splattered out of Isamu's nose, mouth, and even ears at the attack before the man casually grabbed one of his arms and threw his away into the dirt and mud.
Well, that wasn't gonna work. Not that Isamu really expected it to. He was never really in tune with the style of the Inumaki. It was too offensive for his tastes. It was designed as a secondary way to attack if the Inumaki clan cursed technique didn't get the job done or if the opponent knew how to block the technique.
But Isamu used swords most of the time, meaning he was rather inexperienced with the style. On top of that, he didn't have the ferocity to really make the style work. Isamu preferred countering or waiting for his opponent to slip up. At least when he was facing humans, cursed spirits were a different story as they were super weak to cursed speech.
So Isamu would prefer a more counter heavy, defensive style over the super aggressive Inumaki clan style. But he didn't know any, he always prioritized swordsmanship over martial arts when it came to training one of the schools and the few times he'd tried to learn a style from Gojo were too surface level and brief for Isamu to learn the style enough to make it useful.
So he'd have to improvise. Aka, self teach. He was experienced with that, at least.
Isamu healed his many broken facial bones and his eye drums as the man continued his onslaught. Isamu ducked a punch only to be met with a knee to the face. Isamu rolled to the side, quickly standing up but was kicked in the stomach and elbowed in the face right as he got to his feet.
The man grabbed his white hair, now stained with his own blood, and pulled his head forwards into his knee, breaking Isamu nose again. Isamu grabbed his leg and kicked off the ground, bringing both of them to the floor.
Now on top, Isamu tried to press the small advantage but was countered quickly and forced to stand. The man quickly joined him on his feet before going in for more. Isamu tried his best to defend and counter, being met with some success but it was only delaying the inevitable. He might block a blow here and there but eventually a fist would slip past his guard and throw him off his game, leading to a snowball effect of punches and kicks.
This was much different than when Isamu was armed and was using his technique. Isamu had lowered himself to pure martial arts and his lack of strength in that department was being shoved in his face.
It wasn't a speed issue. The man's reflex's were insane and his fists were lightning fast but Isamu was able to follow them without too much trouble. The problem was the huge gap in their respective skill. Each punch had a plan. If Isamu blocked this way, the man would follow up that way. If Isamu dodged that way, the man would move this way.
Everything he did had a next step. He was able to plan out everything Isamu could do given the attack and planed a follow up, counter, block, or dodge to meet Isamu's move. As a result, Isamu was left bloody and with a sense of helplessness. Like he was simply a bystander, unable to do anything as his defenses crumbled and his body followed.
Isamu hated that feeling of helpless but he couldn't let his emotions get the best of him, not while he had no muscle memory to rely on. He had to come at this from a logical perspective.
If it wasn't a speed thing, how could Isamu make up for the technique difference? Well, he could be faster than him, making skill irrelevant. But Isamu would have to be significantly faster than he was now and he saw no way of becoming that fast at the moment short of a sacrificial binding vow which he wasn't going to do for obvious reasons.
He could become more skillful and match or surpass the man's own technique. Isamu didn't see that happening either. The man was more skilled than Isamu by a mile. A gap Isamu wouldn't be able to close before the man killed him.
But what was technique? At its core? As Isamu understood it, it was kind of like a set of rules you followed in a fight. No, not rules, more like guide lines. If the enemy does X, do something like Y. That kind of thing. So Isamu just needed to figure out how to address a specific move in the time it took for the man's fist to meet face.
It wasn't that Isamu couldn't figure that part out. He could make a plan in his head on how to counter a certain move just fine. The problem was, he was too slow, his thoughts were anyway. He would figure out how to counter a certain move, sure, but only after being hit, making the answer to the problem irrelevant. So if he just had more time, he could artificially make his own "technique" without it actually being a technique.
But how would he make that time? Well, he could break his arm or leg with cursed speech but that defeated the purpose of fighting barehanded, to learn how to fight without swords or his technique.
If only he knew what the man's next move
would be, he'd be able to think of a solution before the man's body even began putting the action into motion, far before a visual tell was seen.
——
Megumi could've run into any number of things in Shibuya, few of which he had confidence in defeating, as deprived of cursed energy as he was. Transfigured humans were no real threat as long as you didn't let yourself be ganged up on. It was the big players that worried Megumi.
But he did feel a bit more confident with Toga helping escort him to Shoko after he'd returned from dropping off Maki. Toga hadn't informed Megumi on her condition but judging by his expression, it wasn't good. He'd know more once he reached the medical tent himself.
Oddly, they hadn't run into many transfigured humans and had fought none. Those they did see seemed to avoid them. Or rather, avoid the area they were traveling through in general. They didn't know why nor did they have the time to find out. The less time spent in this war zone, the better. Especially after that meteor that'd knocked out a good chunk of Shibuya.
Their relatively calm journey through the destroyed skyscrapers and collapsed roadways was suddenly interrupted by a cool breeze and the appearance of a man. Or was it a woman?