Isamu truly had no idea where to go or what to do. If Isamu was following his heart, he would exist the vail and find Maki. But he'd be of little use there, he wasn't a doctor and couldn't use his reverse cursed technique on others.
If Isamu was following his morality, he would go save as many people as possible while killing as many transfigured humans as he could. But if he was being honest, looking around at the mass destruction caused by the meteor, there weren't many more people to save. None he could get to quickly anyway.
So all he could think to do was go and find another big player and kick their ass. From what Yuji said, there was a cursed spirit with stitches all over it. Isamu hadn't seen it or killed it yet so it was probably still alive. Finding it wouldn't be a bad idea.
It would refill his cursed energy a bit and would stop any more transfigured humans from being made. The problem was, that Isamu didn't know where it was. He didn't know where anyone was at that. Nanami and Naobito were in the wind, Isamu hadn't seen Yuji or Nobara since the start of the night, and Isamu would be beyond lucky if he could find an assistant supervisor in all this.
The only ones he did know the location of were Megumi and Toga. Their general location at least. He knew they were heading over to Shoko and her small outpost so Megumi could get help, he was pretty much completely drained of cursed energy after using round deer and his domain expansion, making him more of a burden than anything if he stuck around, a fact he was completely aware of.
The default option would be to head straight to B5 where Gojo and the prison realm were supposedly located. The problem with that was twofold. One, it was possible the enemy found a way to move the prison realm by now, meaning it would be a huge waste of time going there if he arrived and found nothing and no one. Two, Geto was guarding it, meaning even if he did find it his chances of actually getting it back were low.
So that was a no-go, but so was aimlessly wondering hoping he would run into some cursed spirit or cursed user he could beat up. So, what was the plan?
Well, if he knew where some big bads were, it wouldn't be a problem. But Isamu doubted any of his allies knew where any big players were, nor would Isamu know where to find his allies should they know. But Isamu could figure it out, maybe.
Running over to the edge of the crater, Isamu found his feet moving a lot faster than before, each push off the ground sending him further. Even after his heightened state of mind faded, he still enjoyed some of the benefits.
Before long, he found what he was looking for. Near the edge of the crater were transfigured humans, wandering aimlessly into the crater. As soon as they noticed his presence, one Isamu wasn't trying to hide in the slightest, they all pounced.
Well, pounced implied they did it somewhat quickly. It was more like they shambled over to him at a moderate pace. Isamu remembered them moving faster, even if these seemed to be more fatigued and damaged.
But taking into consideration Isamu was going toe to toe with two much more powerful individuals not even 20 minutes ago, it made sense these nobodies didn't push him in the slightest. A 20% drop wasn't nearly enough to close the gap in their speed.
One of them, a green humanoid creature with eyes nearly the size of a normal person's head lashed out at Isamu with its whip-like arms, each one lined with sharp thorns. Two more transfigured humans rounded it and tried to circle Isamu.
Isamu dodged through the whips with ease, ducking, side-stepping, and hopping whenever necessary. He ended his line with a dive and roll, dodging a simultaneous attack at his head and feet. Mid-roll, Isamu kicked up at the transfigured abomination, his foot meeting its chin with so much force its head popped like a balloon.
Isamu quickly stood and threw two throwing knives behind him casually, not even looking as the two other transfigured humans had baseball-sized holes blown through their hearts.
Isamu crouched down to examine the human made to look a lot like a cursed spirit. He pushed the disgust and pity for the creature to the back of his mind to join his other raging emotions, he had no time to deal with them right now.
Isamu imbued more cursed energy than usual into his hand before stabbing it into the human. His left hand joined the right before Isamu pulled the things chest apart. His right hand continued, digging around for whatever could be considered a heart.
He eventually found one, as disfigured and disgusting as it was, but no dice. It wouldn't work. He threw it over his shoulder before stabbing his hand back in, cutting the human further as he changed his search area. Honestly, he should've checked here first.
Cursed energy was stored pretty much everywhere in your body, but the largest concentration of it was in your gut, somewhere around your stomach, maybe a bit lower. This led many to say cursed energy was stored there, even if it wasn't technically the only place.
The point was, if Isamu was going to find any cursed energy left behind by the "creator" of this monster, it would be there. Finally, he found something. It was small, no bigger than a golf ball, but it was something. Some kind of organ storing cursed energy.
Humans normally didn't have anything physically storing cursed energy but maybe it was necessary for the cursed energy of the user to exist so far away from them without it wanting to return to its source or back into the environment. Either way, it simplified Isamu's plan.
"Return." By commanding the cursed energy stored within the small organ, Isamu could force it to return to where it came from, back to its master.
A small trail of cursed energy suddenly shot out of the small lump of flesh, causing Isamu to drop it as he watched where it flew off to. It was too fast to physically follow, but it would leave behind residuals Isamu could sense and follow. A little bread crumble trail he could follow to the master of the transfigured monsters running rampant in Shibuya.
——
Uraume coughed up blood as the shikigami punched them right in the diaphragm, waves of cursed energy wreaking havoc as they passed into and through their body. They grabbed the arm at the last second, seeking to freeze it off but the only result they could muster was some slight frost covering the skin.
The shikigami pushed them into the air with the arm they were clinging to before snapping it back, causing Uraume to fall back to earth. In mid-air, Mahoraga kicked them in the gut so hard they went flying into a nearby building, through it, before stopping once they hit a large moving truck.
How had it survived? Blue Comet should've crushed it without fail. Only Master Sukuna could survive it during the golden age of jujutsu, at least of the people Uraume had used it on. They even used it on one of the void generals, crushing them to bits. That was before the general's heyday but the point still stood.
That attack wasn't something you could just shrug off with pure refinement alone. It had to be some kind of cursed technique or maybe a natural biological trait of the shikigami's odd body. If Uraume had to guess, they'd say something was up with the wheel hovering above its head.
At the start of the battle, Uraume's ice froze it with little trouble, even through applications that weren't all that potent. But after that great wheel revolved, Uraume was forced to use more powerful techniques and applications to get the same effect.
Then the wheel spun again and its resistance to being frozen increased again. But that wasn't the only thing. It also got harder to shatter even once frozen. Now, after another spin, it was barely affected by Uraume's ice, even with prolonged exposure.
So it had some kind of defensive technique which made techniques lose their potency after several uses along with making the shikigami more durable with the tell being the wheel spinning which also came with a healing of the shikigami's body.
Which suggests Uraume had to end it in one blow before its technique could adapt to the attack. The problem was, Uraume didn't have anything else. They wouldn't call themselves a one-trick pony as they had plenty of ways of doing damage. But they'd already tried those ways. Shattering, freezing, stabbing, crushing, everything had failed.
Every physical change was already at least partially adapted to. So Uraume would have to resort to a chemical change to waste it in one blow. The easiest way to do that would be to burn it somehow. But Uraume didn't have any way of burning it or applying heat in general. Everything about Uraume and their fighting style was cold, Uraume's one win condition was the exact reverse of their entire technique.
But, even if Uraume didn't currently possess the tools to win, that didn't mean they couldn't learn.
——
Yuji woke in a daze, his surroundings a complete mystery to him. The sound of rushing water and murmuring filled his ears as his eyes snapped open. His pupils dilated for a second or two before finally adjusting to the light of the destroyed bathroom he and the cursed womb death painting had trashed during their battle.
He looked around and luckily wasn't met with an enemy or a transfigured human. Instead, he found a familiar face.
"Nanamin…?" Yuji asked, accidentally mispronouncing Nanami's name as the older sorcerer crouched down to his level, examining his beaten and battered form.
"We'll need to get you to Shoko, your wounds are far from minor," Nanami said, referring to the hole in his liver and the chunk of flesh taken from his shoulder and bicep. Yuji was about to protest, saying something to the effect of 'I can still fight' but Nanami stopped his efforts with a hand.
"I know. I will not get in your way if you wish to return to the battlefield after being treated. You are our best chance at beating the patch-faced cursed spirit after all. But you are of no use as a sorcerer the way you are now." Nanami continued before getting to the side of Yuji and carefully getting him to put an arm over his shoulder and stand.
"There is no sign of any powerful individuals in the area. Your path to the medic will be relatively smooth and nothing any half-decent grade one sorcerer can't handle. I will be off then. I'll try to clear away the transfigured humans the best I can." Naobito said, rounding a corner as Nanami carried Yuji out of the bathroom, twirling his mustache a bit as he did.
"Thank you, Naobito. For both clearing our path and for saving my life earlier. If you did no more tonight, you would still be seen as a hero this night." Nanami said, surprising Naobito a bit. Both due to what he said and who it was coming from. The praise was unexpected and the way it was delivered made it hard to believe this man was a salaryman not too long ago.
"You have done more than I think you give yourself credit for, first-grade sorcerer Nanami. But enough talk. Get Sukuna vessel to the woman." Naobito said before walking off ahead of them as they shambled towards the escalator leading to the upper levels of Shibuya.
Nanami was about to respond, bidding Naobito fair well in some way, but was interrupted by a rumble that shook the very foundations of the subway station they found themselves in. In the next moment, the room shot up in temperature, the air's humidity becoming almost suffocating, like they were in the deepest parts of a jungle.
Before they could move to a safer position, a wall of steam shot down the escalator. The only thing the three of them could do was raise their arms at the last second, confusion flooding their minds.