DISCLAIMER:

I do NOT own the Oregairu and Jujutsu Kaisen series as they are respectfully owned by the creators and studios.


September 17

7:42 AM

Reina ducked a right hook and gave a transfigured human an uppercut to its chin. She leaned backward to evade a left haymaker from another one and hit the creature with two left jabs in the face before kicking its stomach to push that creature away. The previous transfigured human threw a right low kick to the leg. She didn't react in time and lost balance, which gave an opportunity for the enemies. The transfigured human that she kicked away tackled her to the ground and pinned her in place. The other two approached her in an attempt to devour her flesh, but Reina enveloped herself in flames and burned their mouths when they bit her. After the three transfigured humans backed away, she kicked the one on her left, then stood up to retreat. As she wobbled away with bleeding bite marks all over her body, the fire girl watched the two swordsmen clashing their blades against each other's.

"While I'm just sittin' 'ere still pummelin' these creeps' asses, Bong and that kid are goin' in on each other." Reina thought in frustration. "Aside from our leader, Bong's the only grade 1 in our group. The rest of us are either Grades 3 or 2. We're just a small, decent gang of 11 members... Four of us had to get in the Zenin bastards and it ain't even worth it! Fuckin' K-9 and Reef. But I can't blame 'em anymore after seein' this. I see why they got killed by a brat like this. He's keepin' up with Bong. But that ain't gonna last."

She wanted to watch more, but the transfigured humans were chasing after her.

Meanwhile, Hachiman continued clashing blades with the dark-skinned swordsman. Even though he could keep up with the enemy, it wouldn't last long. The Black Flash helped Hachiman in solving some of his cognitive issues from being sleep deprived by entering a state called "The Zone". During that state, he could manipulate cursed energy as easily as breathing. That way, his combat capabilities increased into a large amount, though in his case, he restored his combat capabilities back to its highest extent.

However, that didn't solve his exhausted and aching body.

Hachiman swung his katana to Bong's left, but the latter blocked it with his own and pushed it away for a counterattack. While the dead fish-eyed sorcerer recoiled from that push, Bong swung down his katana to cut above the former's head. Hachiman weaved to the right to dodge it, and when he saw Bong's blade going down, he stomped it onto the ground, and swung his own, aiming for the neck. The dark-skinned swordsman let go of his katana and leaned forward to catch Hachiman's wrists, stopping the swing and hitting him with a right knee to the stomach.

When his knee made physical contact with Hachiman's stomach, sparks of black light flashed as Hachiman flew away from the attack, broke through a pillar, and crashed into a wall. He fell and went on all fours while vomiting blood.

"Is this what it feels like to get hit by that? It hurts!" The sorcerer thought while wiping the blood off his mouth and chin, and stood up. He noticed his katana on the floor right next to Bong, who held his own katana and rushed towards him. Hachiman ran towards him as well while holding his stomach to ease the pain. When they quickly closed the distance from each other, Hachiman ducked a horizontal swing from Bong and weaved to the right to dodge a left vertical swing while hitting his liver with a left hook. Then, he hit the left side with a right knee strike, and knocked Bong's feet off the ground with a right low kick. Bong landed with one hand and spun around to swing the sword at him. Hachiman jumped back to avoid it, only to receive a graze in the chest, and ran to his katana.

The dark-skinned swordsman realized his intent, and so he front flipped towards him and swung down his blade. However, Hachiman faked his intent, as he caught Bong's right wrist, pulled it to hit his chin with a palm strike, and kicked his left shin. Then, while grabbing the wrist, he trapped Bong's right arm in his underarm to perform an armpit lock and used all of his weight to pin him to the ground, dislocating his right shoulder in the process. The dark-skinned swordsman grunted with gritted teeth as he unintentionally let go of his katana from the immense pain.

"You lose. Tell me everything I need to know." Hachiman demanded while pinning him down. Bong struggled, but to no avail as the sound of bones cracking resonated with the futile resistance. But he still smiled despite the predicament.

"Very... impressive! However, our duel... is far from finished!" Bong declared while taking a deep breath. Suddenly, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer felt pain from the arm he was holding as if it had spikes. He let go, which made Bong hit Hachiman's face with an elbow and as the latter fell, he kicked his stomach. Hachiman tumbled from that kick and went on all fours before feeling the injuries on his body. There were several punctures on the front of his body and arms as the blood came out and stained his white shirt.

"What did he do? Is that his cursed technique?" Hachiman analyzed the situation. "But I don't think it's an innate technique. When I felt spikes on his arm, his body was shrouded in cursed energy. Could he be...?"

"Quite a grip you had." Bong commented while pushing his right shoulder and spun the arm forward to stretch. "Sadly, this is where your end comes to the stage."

"He relocated his shoulder? You know what? I should stop being surprised at the unusual." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer sighed while standing up, resisting the pain all over his body.

He and Bong stared at each other for a moment as the latter sheathed his katana. Hachiman took one step forward, and his opponent did the same. Then, they immediately closed the distance in a blink of an eye. Bong drew his sword, confident his attack would finish him. However, when his blade was out in the open, Hachiman disappeared. The dark-skinned swordsman turned around and saw him taking his own katana and sheathed it. In an instant, Hachiman was already behind Bong, and they both received cuts on the left side of their bodies.

"So you have also learned Falling Blossom Emotion." Bong spoke while turning around to face him.

"Right back at you." Hachiman did the same with his blade drawn after that one exchange of attacks. "Or it's more accurate to say it's a technique derived from that."

"A yes and a no. This is my own version of Falling Blossom Emotion. Instead of just functioning as an anti-domain, it allows me to protect myself against any cursed energy that comes close to me. A technique that combines offense and defense. As for you, it is similar, but it's more about evasion and speed. Curious."

"And I got more tricks up my sleeve, too." Hachiman said while pulling out something inside his inner pocket and threw a pouch. He cut it in half to reveal marbles scattering everywhere, as he plummeted a few marbles still in mid-air onto the ground. The plummeted marbles glowed a golden color and emitted a golden wave that spread throughout the entire room. He sheathed the katana and dashed behind Bong in an instant with the blade fully exposed once again. However, instead of the dark-skinned swordsman receiving cuts, it was the vice versa, as Hachiman bent a knee to the ground with several shallow cuts on the other side of his body. If he hadn't used Maleficent Wind's Rhythm while rushing towards him, the spikes would've impaled him or gave him more fatal cuts.

"We are aware of your cursed technique." Bong spoke while turning around, slowly approaching him. "You have the ability to lower your enemies' awareness using eight similar items with one that differs from the others. It requires the victim to both gaze and listen to the chosen object and he or she will fall prey to your power."

"How did you know?"

"The dog mask K-9 wore was a cursed object, which enhanced the wielder's sense of smell and identify dangers. There is also a special binding vow that shares the wielder's sight and hearing with his 'master'. Although... it comes at the cost of certain portions of his rationality, cognition and communication skills. Almost like he became a dog."

"So whoever his master was, he must've heard me and Zenin Ogi explaining my cursed technique through that mask. Talk about rotten luck on my part." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer clicked his tongue.

"And so, by knowing your technique can also affect hearing as well, the solution is simple." Bong pointed at his own ear. "I will just imbue my cursed energy from the ears to my brain to protect myself. Very similar to the cursed speech's weakness. I'm already blind, so sight doesn't concern me."

"Whether it's sorcerers or curse users, they all like to brag, huh?" Hachiman grinned, but that expression didn't stem from confidence. He was putting up a front to not show weakness.

"Consider it as a habit derived from using Revealing One's Hand." Bong chuckled and the two just slowly circled around each other with their blades pointed forward. He suddenly moved forward, which made Hachiman raised his guard, but that was just a fake out from the former. Agitation slowly crept its way to the dead fish-eyed sorcerer's mind because he currently lacked any tactic to counter his enemy's version of Falling Blossom Emotion. Even the slightest movement from his enemy would make him flinch.

So his only option so far was to evade and retreat until he could find a weakness.

After a brief second of thought, he let Bong make the first move as the latter charged in. Hachiman ran away from him and went back inside the tunnel, which the dark-skinned swordsman followed behind while catching up. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer turned around to face him. Bong responded by swinging his katana to the left, aiming for his neck.

The strange thing about that move was Hachiman hadn't entered his close range, so within a millisecond, he wandered the reason for such an action. And within that brief frame of time, he activated his Maleficent Wind's Rhythm after realizing the intention. When Bong's blade was inches close to him, he dashed away due to their technique's interaction.

Hachiman realized Bong's Falling Blossom Emotion also applied to his katana. Anything that came close to it would also be hit by the technique, since it enveloped the blade as well. Bong didn't give up on the offensive as he rushed towards Hachiman and swung the katana upward, aiming for the right side of his body. With the help of Maleficent Wind's Rhythm, the latter became a blur and appeared on Bong's left side with spikes of cursed energy emerging from it. Bong swung sideward to cut his neck, and Hachiman just dashed away. But when he stopped, Bong was already two feet in front of him. In pure reflex, Hachiman guarded against a diagonal upward swing with his katana, and used his right foot to stop Bong's left leg from lifting, in which, if the former didn't do that, the latter would kick him while clashing blades.

The two retreated and maintained distance while slowly circling around each other once again. He saw Bong's technique around his body disappeared during that last sword attack, and it made the former speculate. After five seconds, Bong once again rushed first, and Hachiman used his Maleficent Wind's Rhythm to get away from him until the right opportunity arrived.

However, that proved to be difficult, as every time he dashed away, the dark-skinned swordsman was already catching up to him at such speed. Bong swung sideways to his stomach, and Hachiman dashed back. Then, Bong quickly appeared next to his right side and tried to hit his face with a left reverse roundhouse kick. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer blocked it with the blade, according to the reaction of his Maleficent Wind's Rhythm. But he couldn't avoid the spikes of cursed energy that emerged from Bong's left leg, lightly piercing his upper chest. Hachiman was fortunate enough to at least avoid taking severe wounds. The dark-skinned swordsman used the same left leg in an attempt to kick his own left leg. As a combination of a reflexive response from Maleficent Wind's Rhythm and rational thinking, Hachiman jumped onto a ceiling, and Bong was already on the ceiling as well.

It was as if they were playing a game of tag every five seconds.

Yet, for the young sorcerer, something as short as that felt like minutes or hours.

That was how much struggle the dark-skinned swordsman gave him throughout the game.

But Hachiman persevered when five seconds finally passed, which meant he could finally be on the offensive. Hachiman sheathed his blade and attacked him with Quick Draw. Bong surprised him by blocking three of his sword strikes. The final fourth strike successfully gave him a cut on his right leg, as Bong barely deflected it.

"He was trying to immobilize me out of fear of my speed." The dark-skinned swordsman grinned while deflecting away a sword thrust from his opponent and tried to counterattack, but the latter used the momentum of that deflection to get closer, switched the grip of his katana to his left hand, and grabbed Bong's right wrist with his other hand while stomping on his right foot.

All within one swift motion.

Hachiman, now holding the blade on his left hand, stabbed the leg that had its foot stomped on while receiving a left punch to his liver by Bong. Despite the heavy blow, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer endured it, and then twisted the blade in Bong's leg to worsen the injury. As if that wasn't enough, he tried pulling the sword up to slice the leg to the thigh. Bong let go of his own katana to twist and pull his right hand to escape the grasp. Then, he grabbed Hachiman's left wrist to stop the blade from getting higher while at the same time catching the katana with his own left hand to try stabbing his liver. Hachiman caught the blade bare-handed, injuring his own palm as the blade was slowly sliding through it. He moved the weapon away and retreated as five seconds passed during that entire swift exchange.

"He went for my leg instead of my liver. It seems his desperate enough to just defeat me alive." Bong thought, and they circled around each other for the third time. He pulled out the scabbard from his obi, raised it forward, and sheathed his katana inside it. "Still, an injury to the leg is a huge blunder on my part. I won't be able to pursue him once he uses his Falling Blossom Emotion. If that is the case... then I will strike faster than even his limit-breaking body can react."

"... What is he-" The dead fish-eyed sorcerer couldn't finish his own sentence because the moment Bong pulled the katana from the scabbard to reveal the blade slightly, the latter closed the distance in a blink of an eye. He raised his own weapon as a reflex from Maleficent Wind's Rhythm and he suddenly got cuts and stab wounds all over. Hachiman kneeled as blood came out all over his injuries while the dark-skinned swordsman sheathed his katana once more.

"New Shadow Style Original: Sabertooth Fireworks!"


The Shell And The Slug: Part 5

The Truth Of Suffering

Rewinding 2 minute ago before Bong's deadly attack.

"He just won't stay down!" The young archer thought in frustration as he shot more arrows at the special-grade curse, who didn't feel affected by them while fighting Lyaksandro.

Meanwhile, the curse user with the heavenly restriction struggled to fight Mahito at close combat because the cursed technique called "Idle Transfiguration" would be his death if he failed to evade one of Mahito's hands. No matter how much he chopped him with the axe, Mahito would still regenerate due to that cursed technique. And so, after dodging his attempt to grab three times consecutively, Lyaksandro jumped away to gain distance, but the special grade wouldn't even give him four feet of space as the latter pursued him. The archer prepared another arrow to shoot, along with three more arrows held to the hand, pulling the bowstring. He fired the arrow and then, in one swift motion of his fingers, he fired the other three in quick succession. The last arrow was curving towards the cursed spirit.

Mahito sensed those arrows coming, but he chose to ignore them and continued chasing. What he didn't expect was the arrows exploding into a shockwave of cursed energy that blew up his right arm and his entire lower body to pieces. He then grew his left hand big enough to block the last arrow that was curving to his face. The arrow exploded a shockwave, but it only left a huge injury on his backhand.

"Hmm... These arrows are slower than the previous ones... They have residuals.. Then that means this is a cursed technique that probably involves adjusting the explosive power and trajectory of projectiles? He could make them faster too, but the more explosive he wants them to be, the slower they get. It's like switching between fast arrows and explosive ones." Mahito thought while setting his eyes on the archer, who pulled out four arrows in the quiver behind his back. The special grade transformed his own legs into that of a horse and sprinted towards him. Lyaksandro fired a beam of raw cursed energy at Mahito from his mouth, which he evaded by jumping over it. The young marksman shot all four arrows at once and exploded in the ground to hinder the special grade's movement. It only worked for a moment, as Mahito kept going forward with his damaged and healing pair of horse legs, while laughing maniacally. When Mahito closed the distance between them and tried to touch him, the archer covered himself with the cape of leaves, as sharp tree branches grew from it and impaled the former away. "So that cape of his is actually a cursed tool?"

"NOW!" The archer shouted and Lyaksandro fired a beam of raw cursed energy with his mouth. The special grade curse tried to evade, but the branches that pierced through him started growing more inside his body, reaching into the limbs and vitals and made him immobile. Lyaksandro's long-ranged attack blew up Mahito into pieces, as flesh and blood scattered all over the walls, ceilings, and the archer's cape. The attack ripped the black shawl and pants to pieces. When they thought it was their victory, something touched Lyaksandro's left foot, and he noticed a hand with a thinly stretched arm attached to Mahito's severed head. Mahito used Idle Transfiguration to try reshaping the curse user's soul, but the latter destroyed the hand with his axe before he could do more.

"At least wait for a few more seconds." The special grade curse pouted while his body was slowly regenerating with his cursed technique. Because his clothes were in pieces, his toned body was revealed in full view and his lower body was entirely black. "I could've turned you into a lizard- NO, WAIT! A butterfly!"

"Lyaksandro!" The archer expressed his worry and Lyaksandro raised his own thumb to reassure him. However, the latter's leg was deformed, with its skin color changed into green, the foot's shape stretched longer with the toes attached together, and bumps rose from the flesh. Although he couldn't see the state of that limb, the archer saw how his partner struggled to move his left leg, and so he glared back at the special grade curse. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

"I told you! I was trying to turn him into a butterfly!" Mahito answered with his re-grown torso. "Oh, on second thought, maybe I should go for an elephant? How about a giant with a cat's head? Or maybeeee~"

"SHUT UP!" The archer fired an explosive arrow at the regenerating cursed spirit, and the latter re-grew his legs to jump away from the attack. When Mahito tried to re-grew his arms next, Lyaksandro ran like a three-legged creature towards him with the axe held in his mouth while his left foot remained paralyzed.

"Ahahahaha! A dog! Okay, I'll turn you into a dog!" Mahito said between laughter while his body fully regrown.

Lyaksandro pounced at him while holding the axe with his right hand and swung it down at his head. The special grade curse just weaved to the right to evade and reached his hand to the curse user's left side. However, the archer shot his hand with his fastest arrow, as his partner swung the axe upward and chopped off Mahito's left foot and kicked his stomach to put distance between them. The archer shot one fast arrow at his other leg, and then shot three explosive arrows simultaneously at him. The explosion caused the debris from the concrete to scatter along with the cloud of dust.

Mahito jumped out of the dust cloud with his legs transformed into that of a spider, crawling on the ceiling and evading more arrows, until he noticed the archer finally ran out. The look of realization from the archer brought a huge smile on Mahito's face as he stretched both arms elastically towards the former. The young marksman covered himself with the cape of leaves to protect himself while Lyaksandro jumped towards the special grade curse. Mahito reshaped his own mouth into that of a lizard with sharp teeth and stretched his neck to catch Lyaksandro's wrists when he swung the axe at him.

When Mahito thought he finally caught the axe wielder, the latter gathered raw cursed energy in his mouth and fired an explosive blast. As Lyaksandro landed back on the ground, he approached the archer, who pulled the bowstring as if he was ready to shoot an arrow, even though he used up all of them. The cloud of dust on the ceiling cleared itself to reveal Mahito remained whole, unaffected by the attack for the umpteenth time.

"You guys really don't get it, huh?" The special grade curse said with a disappointed sigh. He then noticed from inside a tunnel, the dark-skinned swordsman, Bong, stood tall while Hachiman was lying prone on the ground soaking with the disgusting sewer water. "Uh oh. That doesn't look good. For someone who has Shani Dev's gift, he's pretty weak."

Mahito changed his priority to rescuing the wounded sorcerer, but a projectile of cursed energy hit him once again, only this time, the explosion was more destructive and the radius was larger than before. While watching Mahito's body scattered everywhere, the curse users heard footsteps behind them, and so they turned around to see the former's head running with two feet on his neck.

"He always manages to keep his head in one piece!" The archer thought with gritted teeth. "Did he purposely detached his own head seconds before he got hit? Is the head the weak point?"

Mahito just thought it would be annoying to have his head blown off and regrow it. There was no deep meaning behind that action.

"Dan! Da-dan-daaaaan~! Daaaan~!" Mahito was singing the theme of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, as his body re-grew and used his transformed horse's legs to dash at the swordsman, who sheathed the katana to prepare himself against the cursed spirit's move.

However, a blade stabbed through his mouth and stopped him.

It wasn't Bong's.

It was Hachiman's.

"Don't interfere..." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer spoke with an exhausted and husky voice, and glared at Mahito. "I need to win this by myself."

"Hmmm... NAAAAAAH!" Mahito refused to comply, as he tried catching Bong with a giant hand, but the dark-skinned swordsman cut it into pieces. The action was a futile effort because of the special grade curse's Idle Transfiguration, and so Bong got hit by the hand. Mahito tried grabbing him, but Bong cut his fingers, so the latter was pushed out of the tunnel instead. The special grade curse touched Hachiman's chest to use his cursed technique to heal him. "I need you to stay alive because I don't know if there's a point in talking to a dead guy."

"Just shut up..."

"... Wait." Mahito noticed something odd... "Why-?"

Idle Transfiguration didn't work.

Hachiman's wounds were still present.

"What's going on? I'm touching his soul, aren't I? Then how come... No, it's not the soul that's the problem? His own body is fighting back. How? It couldn't be just from cursed energy. When I reshaped his soul, his body resisted and force the soul to restore its original form." Mahito scratched his own head with an arched eyebrow in confusion at this strange phenomenon.

"Get your hands off me." Hachiman violently slapped his hand away and turned around to face the dark-skinned swordsman.

"Is it that 'pride and honor' thing? He knocked you out for a second there."

"I just passed out. Ever heard of microsleep?"

"Are you saying that being sleep deprived is the reason you laid on the ground? What a liar~." Mahito mocked him, but he found it strange how the exhausted sorcerer could still stand tall.

One could say Hachiman was accustomed to more gruesome injuries, that simple stabs and cuts wouldn't be enough to make him scream in pain.

Training at that mansion.

Preventing an assassination attempt at Okinawa.

The Chiba Port Tower Incident.

Surviving against an assassination on himself.

His previous battles resulted in him being brutally wounded all over his body and being dangerously exhausted. The fight against the two curse users and Zenin Ogi was perhaps the worst one in his opinion because of the scars in his body and the large scorch marks on his forearms. There was also the curse user called K-9. He was an opponent he wished to never face again because receiving his attacks was the most painful.

Even while receiving injuries from Bong, Hachiman somehow entered micro-sleep once more, and woke up after sensing Mahito approaching them fast.

Mahito sensed cursed energy from behind. By instinct, he and Hachiman ran away while the former grew his left hand to block a long projectile of raw, cursed energy. But he miscalculated its power, and so the attack penetrated through his hand, and only grazed the dead fish-eyed sorcerer's left arm. If the latter didn't move to the side a second sooner, he would've had a hole in his chest or had his arm amputated.

"Okaaay~! 2v1 fight is officially over!" The special grade curse declared. "Let's kill them together."

"No!" Hachiman refused.

"Don't be stubborn. If we won't make it out of this, then you'll die without knowing what you are."

"... What did you just say?"

"Hm? Yeah, I know everything about you. The reason you're strong and why people are after you. I have it all."

"What am I?"

"Uh, I don't think I can answer at the moment!" Mahito shouted while turning around, grew both hands and clasped them together to transform them into exoskeletal limbs of an insect. He used those large insect limbs to block another attack of raw, cursed energy. The long-ranged attack pierced through most of his arms until it finally stopped at two left, leaving only large cracks.

"Hey..." Hachiman put a hand on Mahito's shoulder. "I got an idea."


Lyaksandro went to his knees while vomiting blood onto the ground.

He was exhausted from manipulating raw, cursed energy too much.

If he continued to use his gift, he would run out of cursed energy, and possibly die from having his mouth area exploded.

Lyaksandro's only card was his innate technique and fight at close combat. However, it was guaranteed it wouldn't work against a special grade curse such as Mahito. Not to mention, his partner ran out of arrows, and even combining the gift from his heavenly restriction and the archer's cursed technique was futile against their opponent in the end. Their best option was to run, but relying on Bong would be a terrible idea as well, since the swordsman would be fighting both the sleep-deprived yet skillful sorcerer and the powerful cursed spirit at the same time.

"We might have the advantage if we regroup with Bong and Reina." The young archer spoke while staring at the dust cloud their attack caused in the tunnel. "Even if our attacks aren't working on him, he must've used up a lot of cursed energy, since his self-healing is from using his innate technique. If we can get him tired and force him to empty all his cursed energy, we might win."

Lyaksandro nodded in agreement. That seemed to be the best... no, the only good idea for this situation.

Although he was exhausted, that didn't mean he couldn't fight anymore. In fact, he was still confident in fighting in close combat.

In terms of close combat, he'd be third best. The second would be K-9 and the first was Bong. Reef was a decent melee fighter as well, but his true potential wouldn't bloom in battle without preparing himself, such as drawing circles for his cursed technique. And with his fragile-looking body, he'd still fall behind.

Exhausting Mahito. That idea was already challenging enough. Mahito was a special grade curse, so that would mean his cursed energy was vast. They fought for so many minutes, and at that time frame they were already losing stamina and cursed energy while Mahito still had that childish enthusiasm and psychotic intent. The two curse users just stared at the tunnel filled with the cloud of dust until they noticed at least three figures exiting. The first one was Mahito with the usual menacing grin on his face, quickly followed by two large transfigured humans. Those creatures were about four meters tall and three meters wide. They were bewildered at how the special grade curse managed to sneak in such large monsters.

Lyaksandro prepared himself, as a red transfigured human with a huge mouth charged towards him while Mahito and his other transfigured human focused on the young archer. The red transfigured human tried grabbing him, but he only jumped away and ignored it. His priority was to protect his partner.

But that was a grave mistake.

The moment he turned around and ran, the monster's mouth open to reveal a person with a sheathed katana, ready to draw the blade.

It was Hachiman.

...

"Hide you inside my transfigured humans, huh?" Mahito repeated some of the plan Hachiman explained.

"Your transfigured humans have cursed energy dwelling in them to the point any sorcerer would mistake them as cursed spirits." Hachiman explained further. "You can also change their size and proportions to an unnatural degree. So if you can make one large enough for me to get in, I can sneak in a killing blow."

"Uhuh, but why only one? Wouldn't it be better to fight him with more help? I'm telling you, that guy is good at fighting both from far away, and up close and personal."

"It's so he would let his guard down. While you and another transfigured human go after his partner, one will distract him. If we send more enemies, he'd split his focus evenly on both you and the transfigured humans. Just by sending one with me hiding in it, he'd just think it's just an obstacle and ignore it after one or two defensive and offensive moves, and then prioritize on saving his partner. Once he turns his back, that's my kill."

"Oooooh~!" Mahito understood while wearing a face of an impressed child.

"Make two transfigured humans to block the tunnel so the other guy with the sword won't interfere. It doesn't have to be enough to stop him, just for us to buy some time. As for the other guy with a bush cape. It's an easy solution..."

...

After sensing his cursed energy, Lyaksandro realized their miscalculation, as they didn't consider the possibility that Mahito and Hachiman would go together to fight them. But he already closed his eyes and protected his ears with cursed energy in an instant. Fortunately, he was able to protect himself from Isolation Effect, where it was imbued in the transfigured human's large teeth.

He turned around while jumping away to prepare himself for an upcoming attack. When he did, Hachiman was already close and swung the katana. Because he jumped away, Lyaksandro was barely within the blade's reach, so he should only receive a cut on the torso.

Yes, just a cut on the torso.

But Hachiman's concentration grew. His goal became ever more singular when battling an enemy to the death. Within the blade he held bore only one purpose. One swing exuded his desire. That desire, along with his emotions, brought a strike that served as their consequence of causing misfortune upon him.

The moment the tip of his blade came in contact with the curse user's flesh, sparks of black light flashed...

That light.

As dark as it was still bright.

The essence of death.

The cut on Lyaksandro's body was deeper and severe. It cut the felling axe in half as blood spilled all over the floor. It was as if he was cut by a larger and rougher weapon than a sharp blade.

At the same time that all happened, the young archer unfortunately didn't defend himself from Isolation Effect while covering himself with the cape. The golden light stole away his attention. That caused him to unconsciously deactivate his cursed tool, which Mahito took such opportunity and grabbed his face. Resistance was futile, as the special grade curse used Idle Transfiguration to transform the unfortunate sorcerer into a grotesque abomination.

Its right arm was now in the chest, while the left arm was behind his back. The legs split into ten with one toe each, and it slowly fell down to do an arm stand. From afar, one would mistake it as a large beige flower moving by itself.

Mahito chuckled for a moment, proud at his own "artwork" until he sensed the cursed energy of the two transfigured humans weakened. The ones who were blocking the tunnel. He turned around while transforming his legs into that of a horse and sprinted towards Hachiman to grab him with a long, stretching left arm. After pulling the sorcerer, Mahito grew his other arm large enough and transformed it into a large limb of an insect to act as a shield against a fast moving blade. The katana cut through the limb, but couldn't cut it in half as it got stuck midway. Mahito whipped his long right arm while turning in to a whip of thick flesh with a pointy end. The swordsman removed his katana from the exoskeletal limb, ducked from that whip attack, and cut the long arm off. The special grade curse swung down his insect limb at him, only for the latter to jump away and rolled.

Hachiman stood up and saw Mahito fighting, but he couldn't see his opponent because of Mahito's large limbs. Before he could lean closer, the red transfigured human grabbed him and put him back inside its mouth to retreat.

"Hey! What the hell is going on!" The dead fish-eyed sorcerer shouted and used Quick Draw to slice the monster into pieces from the inside. When he was finally free and killed the transfigured human, he checked his surroundings and realized he was in another tunnel. It was a different one, with each end lead to unrecognizable areas. "That transfigured- or rather, Mahito got me out really far from there. I can't hear the fighting. How did this thing run so fast? No, when Mahito whipped his arm, he tapped its legs. He must've used his cursed techniques to make it run faster. Even though I didn't see who he was fighting, I can guess who it was from how familiar that cursed energy that I felt was. It has to be-"

"Namichah Ayagikih." A voice of a woman echoed in the tunnel. Despite recognizing the voice to be a woman, it didn't sound human. It was distorted and spoke in a language unknown to him. No, he couldn't be sure if it was even speaking in the first place. It probably just made noises that any cursed spirit would make. Hachiman turned around and saw a large cursed spirit with black lines running across its entire muscular body. It had a helmet-like head that didn't cover its teeth, branches for where the eyes were supposed to be, and two black lines that zigzag down its face. It wore a white cloth that completely concealed its left arm and wore black baggy pants that were held up with a white sash. "Diarfa eb ton od. Em htiw emoc."

"Is it speaking or just grumbling nonsense? There's something off about it, too. That... that's a cursed spirit, right? Why doesn't it feel like it?" When Hachiman thought of that, the mysterious being spoke once more.

"Diarfa eb ton od. Em htiw emoc. Namichah Ayagikih."
[Hikigaya Hachiman, come with me. Do not be afraid.]

For some reason, he finally understood its speech. It was an eerie sensation that caused his spine to shiver.

"What the hell are you..." Hachiman asked while glaring at the spirit, though his frightened emotion was visible from how his katana shook. He acknowledged the being right in front of him was a cursed spirit.

More likely a special grade at that.

It didn't give the presence of one unlike Mahito, who easily gave off that feeling from his cursed energy. Despite its appearance and stronger than average cursed energy, Hachiman couldn't sense the malicious presence that any cursed spirit always emitted. That made him even more terrified because a cursed spirit had the ability to conceal it. And the way it communicated to him was what gave him the conclusion. Hachiman encountered three special grade curses so far, two in just one day. A larger scheme was running throughout this whole chaos. That much, he understood.

Should Hachiman fight it?

No, it would be a losing battle.

Even with his full and recovered strength, the difference would still be as clear as day.

So what would be the correct action?

He wanted to fight because the cursed spirit in front of him could be a major threat. No, it was already classified as a threat by Gojo Satoru. Hachiman remembered Yuji's story of how Gojo carried him to a fight against a special grade back in July. They encountered two special grade curses: One with the power of fire, and the other with the ability of nature.

Gojo even showed the dead fish-eyed sorcerer his drawing of what those two looked like. Despite its childish and awful illustration, Hachiman already knew this one was the special grade that could use nature to its advantage. That, along with the cursed spirit with a volcano on its head, were the unregistered special grade curses. Was it also safe to assume that Mahito would be in that category as well? He never heard of any folklore or stories about a human with stitches except for Frankenstein. The former seemed more likely to the sorcerer.

"esle rO ...emoc, woN. snamuh eurt eht fo eno, imanaH em llac yam uoY."
[You may call me Hanami, one of the true humans. Now, come. Or else...]

The cursed spirit named Hanami answered with a threat at the end. Hachiman gulped and calmed himself, stopping himself from trembling, and pointed the blade at the curse with a stance.

Did he have a chance of winning?

No, he understood that more than anything in the situation. But he may have a chance of escaping.

"hsiloof eb t'noD."
[Don't be foolish]

Hanami warned with its right hand curled into a fist. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer heard the sound of wood creaking from behind, and so he turned around slightly to see the exit of the tunnel blocked by thick trunks of wood. Still, Hachiman still thought he could escape through the unregistered special grade. He should at least outmatch it in speed with Maleficent Wind's Rhythm. Slowly, he approached it while Hanami slowly shook its head in disappointment. Then, Hachiman dashed towards it and Hanami already threw a punch at his face. However, instead of hitting him, he disappeared in a blur, but the cursed spirit wasn't bewildered by it.

It was almost as if Hanami wasn't impressed at all.

And so, the cursed spirit turned around, as Hachiman was escaping from him until the former was running beside him. Hanami tried to hit him with the back of his right hand, but the dead fish-eyed sorcerer became a blur and was already ahead of him. At the same time, Hanami received a cut in the neck which didn't bother him at all as the injury healed in an instant. Hachiman continued his retreat, but the special grade already caught up to him within a second. The cursed spirit tried hitting again, and the result was the same. At the third attempt, the moment Hachiman came out of the tunnel, Hanami was right in front of him, and finally landed a punch in the face that sent him flying back to the tunnel. After crashing into the tree trunks that blocked the other exit, Hachiman struggled to stand up while Hanami just slowly approached him. Even with Maleficent Wind's Rhythm, the special grade curse outmatched him easily.

"Em erujni ot hguone elbapac gnieb rof uoy esiarp tsael ta lliw I."
[I will at least praise you for being capable enough to injure me.

Hanami complimented. It didn't sound condescending or arrogant. The cursed spirit was truly impressed. Or rather, the tone felt like he was only stating facts and just analyzed the sorcerer's strength. Hanami saw his nose bleeding and his left arm appeared to be broken.

"Deliaf noitca evisnefed ruoy smees ti, revewoH. esiarp htrow osla si tath? mra ruoy thiw emit ni ti dekcolb uoy? Ho."
[Oh? You blocked it in time with your arm? That is also worth praise. However, it seems you failed.]

After stating that, Hanami dashed towards Hachiman and slammed his head into the tree trunks, breaking them and knocking him out unconscious.

Truly, a one-sided battle.

After confirming the sorcerer's unconscious state, the special grade pulled him by the back of his collar, dragging him to his destination.


Three days ago

It was morning, yet he didn't feel relieved from exhaustion. Rather, it became worse because he hadn't slept for the entire night. Every time his consciousness faded into sleep, the voices in his head would always shout and woke him up completely. Thanks to Yuji's meddling yesterday, Satoru ordered Hachiman to stay in bed for a while and rest. Of course, he didn't.

What should he do now that morning arrived? Should he skip school and rest?

No, he had to teach his pink-haired junior and there were possibly more curses to exorcise in missions.

And so, with that in mind, he stood from his bed and wore his attire for work after brushing his teeth and washing his face. He planned to drink coffee to keep himself awake, but before he approached the door, someone knocked.

"Good morning~! Hikigaya-kyuuuun~!" The voice of the strongest sorcerer caused him to sigh and opened the door after clicking his own tongue in annoyance.

"Good morning, Gojo-san." Hachiman greeted him formally.

"... You don't look so good? Did you get enough sleep?" Satoru asked while tilting his own head.

"Yeah, I stayed up late binge watching Game Of Thrones. Overall, it was a good Western TV show, though I'm still in season 2."

"Ah, did Yuji-kun recommend that to you? He told me a lot about that show. It went pretty bad when poor Danny [REDACTED BECAUSE OF SPOILERS]."

"Stop spoiling the series, you idiot." Hachiman responded in a deadpan tone and walked, but Satoru didn't move in the doorway to let him out of the bedroom. "Move."

"No."

"What? Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, with you." Satoru crossed his arms, and suddenly the young sorcerer slapped the left side of his own head.

"And it's about that!" Satoru pointed at him. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"It's a new habit whenever I get annoyed." Hachiman lied nonchalantly.

"A new habit, huh? You said annoyed, but you looked like you just heard your wife died recently." Satoru went inside the room while closing the door behind him. "Hachiman, tell me the truth. You're gonna skip school for the day and consult with your Great Teacher Gojo."

"You can't be serious..." The young sorcerer raised his head to the ceiling with eyes closed shut, while clenching the handle of the long suitcase tighter than usual.

"Don't even think about fighting your way out of this." Satoru said after noticing that small action. "Come on, sit over there."

"What about your work as a teacher? I'm not the only one you should be worrying."

"They're fiiine~. It's not like they're gonna die when I'm not looking."

"That's a pretty big death flag you just triggered there." Hachiman said with a drop of sweat on his cheek while sitting on the bed. Meanwhile, the white-haired sorcerer sat on an office chair at the desk.

Should he keep quiet about his condition? He doubted this teacher in front of him would let him go. Even if he did let him go, Satoru and others like Yuji would still stick their nose on to his business. Yukino and Haruno might've already suspected a strange behavior in him and he didn't notice. While the voices tormented him, he didn't feel like getting rid of them. He clung to those voices no matter what painful words they said to him.

"Let's see..." Hachiman held his own chin in thought, massaged his temple, and rest his head on his hand. All to express his difficulty of explaining the issue to the white-haired teacher. "I have these voices in my head."

"Is it a curse?" Satoru asked.

"No. If it is, you should've noticed it sooner."

"That's true... then, is it an illness or something? Schizophrenia?"

"Just the voices so far... During that fight with the special grade at the Chiba Port Tower, it destroyed the hearing aid on my left ear. Then, my tinnitus got worse because of how loud the cursed spirit was and how much I panicked for my life. A few days later, those voices came into my head. And they kept getting louder and cruel as time went on."

"Auditory hallucination?" Satoru leaned back in the chair in thought. "You didn't consult to a doctor? Or told Shoko-chan about it?"

"No..." Hachiman answered while averting his gaze.

"Why'd you hide it?"

"... I just thought I deserved it."

"Hah... You're that bothered about being the main cause."

"What am I?"

"... I don't know, but even I'm leaning on the idea you have something to do with the rising curse activity in your home. I'm gonna say this again and not gonna sugarcoat it, you're an abnormality. If there is one thing the higher-ups and I agree on for once, it'd be about that." After Satoru's words, Hachiman just remained silent and maintained his sitting position. Seeing his student clearly in distress from thinking, the white-haired sorcerer spoke further. "Hey, you know about Yuji's issue, right?"

"... About Sukuna?" Hachiman answered without looking at him.

"Yeah, you know how the story goes: The poor kid tried fighting a cursed spirit, and he needs to eat that finger to do that; About to be executed until yours truly saved the day; worked as a sorcerer for a while until he got 'killed'; and here he is, still alive and working in secret while others think he's dead."

"So I've heard. Itadori told me, including the part he let Sukuna take over his body to finish the job, but almost killed Fushiguro."

"Then you should understand his mind set a little. Even after all that, he still wants to do sorcery. Circumstances are different between you two, but your roles are kinda the same." Satoru stood up from the chair and approached his student. Hachiman raised his own head to look at his teacher, then suddenly caught Satoru's right hand, that was about to stab his heart with his fingers, barely stopping it before it could reach deeper. As blood trickled through his shirt, the sleep-deprived sorcerer struggled to stop the hand from sinking deeper into his flesh, while Satoru purposely pushed slowly with a grin until he pulled back and wiped the blood off his own fingers.

"What the hell!?" Hachiman shouted while holding the wound on his chest.

"Just trying to confirm your will to live. So you don't wanna die, but you want something to mess with your life? Are you a masochist?" Satoru asked while sitting back in the chair. "Or rather, you're trying to be the scapegoat for every bad thing that is happening to everyone?"

"..."

"Either way, no one wants an idiot who only knows how to beat himself up."

"... That's right." Hachiman had a look of realization.

"You should give more thought to how other people feel. How come you understand a lot of things, but can't understand that?!"

"Don't you get it? He's doing it again! Being the scapegoat for all this!"

"... I hate the way you do things."

Yui, Haruno.. and Yukino.

In the end, he was doing exactly what they hated; what they feared for him.

The promise to them that such a thing would never happen again, and yet he showed hypocrisy.

He gave thought to how others would feel about his condition, but just became optimistic that no one would know.

He made them worry and made the same action SHE hated the most.

After seeing his student's expression, Satoru stood once more with a sigh and went out of the room.

"Get your self treated and get some sleep."

"Wait." Hachiman called out to him, which the teacher stopped and turned around to face him. "After I get treatment, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure, call me back here after seeing Shoko-chan."

After that discussion, he visited the doctor to treat the wound in his chest while receiving medication for his auditory hallucinations. Hachiman was hesitant to drink a pill because he became accustomed to the voices despite being scornful, hostile, and annoying. However, his white-haired teacher was right. In the end, he took those voices to heart and almost believed what they said.

He kept them as self-punishment for failing.

But beating himself up and not standing back up from that would be meaningless.

And so, Hachiman took his first pill in an effort to remove the voices in his head. Then, he called Satoru back to his room and discussed a certain topic that he was researching for a while now.

Hachiman didn't have faith in it, but the idea had been bothering him for a while.

During the fight at Okinawa, there was a mysterious element that made Hachiman curious. He wasn't sure at first, but he had a theory after learning more about curses, techniques, and the functions of their power. He wanted to explore on that theory but he abandoned it in the end, thinking it would be a pointless effort. Then, after surviving against an assassination attempt on his head and transferred to Jujutsu Tech, the theory resurfaced. While thinking about that, he remembered his mission at the Chiba Port Tower and at the Mihama Bridge, which gave him a tremendous idea.

Hachiman consulted Satoru for such an idea after experimenting and researching past sorcerers as far as only a few decades ago. The white-haired teacher listened to his student's idea, paying close attention and thinking about the logic behind it. At first, Satoru's expression wasn't serious, but silent and focused, and then, as Hachiman's explanation went on, it changed into that of bewilderment and looked like he had trouble thinking. Seconds After Hachiman finished giving his thoughts, Satoru finally spoke.

"... It might work." Satoru said while holding his own chin, appearing to be unsure about the idea.

"You think so?" Hachiman asked.

"To compensate, focusing more on the structure and applying rules would really make this work. Let's see... It's like building a school or any establishment, really. Think of the school as the technique and the budget in making one as cursed energy. You want to construct a really large building, but then you realized it's so expensive, you might not have enough money in your budget to afford other things like equipment, furniture, or even hiring teachers. So instead of focusing on the size of the building, you focused on things that need less money. Even if it's not a big school, it could still function as an educational institution as long as the fundamental aspects of it are still there... something like that."

"That's a long analogy, but I get what you're saying. This technique requires a lot of cursed energy. But by doing this method, I can turn something that highly advanced into a more standard one. I might even use it more that once in one day with enough practice."

And so, Hachiman decided to train to achieve the technique he wanted to learn with his special method. Satoru assisted him by just giving some tips and suggestions. It took an entire day for the dead fish-eyed sorcerer to achieve satisfactory results.

.

.

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Next day

Hachiman tested the technique he developed several times to see if there were any flaws or certain errors that needed fixing. The test subject was Satoru, who shut down the Limitless to allow his student to hit him. They spent until nighttime to reach the goal they've been searching for. After several attempts and sword cuts at the white-haired sorcerer (which were healed because of reversed cursed technique), Hachiman lied on the grass on his back, losing both stamina and cursed energy from that test run. Meanwhile, Satoru had a satisfied smirk while staring down at him.

"Yeah, you did it." Satoru said with a chuckle while sitting on the grass next to his student, who was just staring at the night sky.

"Seriously?... In one day?" Hachiman asked between heavy breaths with a doubtful look on his face.

"Well, what can I say? You're a genius, and with the guidance of the GTG, you have obtained enlightenment!" The teacher said in a dramatic tone.

"Uhuh... thank you."

"No problem. So, what are you gonna call it?"

"What?"

"Everyone who uses it has a name. Plus, it's bonus hype points to call out the name of your special move out loud!"

"... Then-"

.

.

.

Hachiman felt dizzy, and also felt his feet weren't on the ground. After opening his eyes with struggle, he noticed he was moving forward.

Was he floating?

No, someone was carrying him under their arm. He guessed it was that special grade curse he fought earlier based on the size of the legs and the feeling of their large muscular arm wrapped around him. He didn't know how long he was unconscious, but that didn't matter since he also registered they were still in the sewers. Fortunately, his blade was clenched in his hand as well. It seemed he still held it while unconscious. Either Hanami was an idiot for leaving a weapon close to the enemy's hands, or he was that confident in defeating him more than once.

For starters, he was correct.

Hachiman didn't stand a chance against the special grade and couldn't even escape from it, so it would be unreasonable to think he could be successful at the next attempt, right?

Wrong.

With the katana still in his hand and his cursed energy recovered only slightly, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer thought he had no choice but to use the technique he recently developed. However, he lacked confidence at the success rate of using it. There were three main reasons for this situation:

1) It was only developed in a few days.

2) He was still exhausted, and the boost effect from the Black Flash was gone. Not to mention, he was injured.

3) His opponent was a special grade curse.

In other words, it would require a stroke of luck for Hachiman to pull it off.

He needed to successfully place the technique, and then attack the branch-eyed curse swiftly to make his escape. There was a thought of landing a Black Flash, but that attack required immense concentration, and so he viewed it as a critical hit. Hachiman couldn't tell what his critical chance was, so he discarded the gamble and just focused on damaging the curse fast and severe, at least to the point of making Hanami wary of him. And then, make his escape before the curse fully regenerated.

That was his plan.

That plan was a gamble itself as well, but he had no other choice.

The temporary alliance with Mahito had officially ended. Whatever plans they had for him wouldn't be good.

"Oh, just give up." Shina's voice spoke in a loud volume.

"It's hopeless. Might call it quits?" Chisa's voice as well.

"Hachi-nii is deeeaad~! Hachi-nii is deeeaaad~!" And then Yoshimi's voice sang.

Despite the hallucinations, it did not faze him. Mostly because he didn't have time to ponder their insults when he had to survive. But he understood one thing.

The voices in his head weren't necessary anymore.

After thinking that, the voices became louder and mixed in with grotesque and irritating noise.

But he ignored them. He had other things to focus on.

And so, he let go of the katana, which grabbed Hanami's attention. While walking, the cursed spirit noticed the sorcerer's hands moving.

"detcepxe I naht reilrae pu ekow uoY."
[You woke up earlier than I expected.]

Hachiman ignored him as well, and raised both hands close to each other forward, exposing his palms with fingers closed. He intertwined his two thumbs and then bent the right ring finger down. With a deep breath, he shouted...

.

.

.

"DOMAIN EXPANSION!"

With that one phrase, the large area drastically changed with the dead fish-eyed sorcerer at the center of it all.

Strange, glowing creatures surrounded them.

The special grade curse couldn't figure out what those creatures were. They appeared to be blue worms with four or more antennas on their large flat head. On the center of that flat head was a yellow glow that shined brighter than their blue bodies. There were five yellow bumps in their bodies that lined up from the head to the bottom, where there was a strange tail that appeared to be pulsing.

In truth, those "creatures" were actually large neurons. Their movements were as if they were swimming in the air like a fish. Each movement caused a distortion of space, and so looking at them so close together, moving so quickly while distorting space in their trail would cause dizziness to ordinary people. The flying neurons' elongated bodies were as long as 6 feet. There were even neurons crawling on the ground, though they were fewer than the flying ones.

He couldn't tell how many were surrounding him.

Hundreds?

Thousands?

Perhaps millions?

Too many to count.

Above the cursed spirit was a gigantic brain, and below him was a giant heart. Both massive organs were surrounded by orange, giant, glowing webs. Those webs were actually just large neurons connected to each other. The curse stomped his foot three times, unsure if what he was standing on was glass or some invisible floor that separated between him and the massive heart.

So far, what the branch-eyed curse understood was...

"He's already at this level?!" While having that thought, he also realized the sorcerer he was carrying disappeared from his arm. He looked around and finally saw Hachiman standing tall and sheathing his katana.

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"STARVING DEN OF THE PLAYFUL AVIDYA!"


TRIVIA:

1) Avidya is a concept that is present in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It means "ignorance, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and incorrect knowledge."

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Hello, I'm back.

I just got a new job recently and I was trying to get used to it. That's why it took so long for me to finish this chapter.

Finally, after taking so many Ls, 8man finally has a domain expansion.

What is that special method they were on about? Well, for manga readers, you might already guess what he did from that flashback above.

For anime-onlys... well, the answer will be in the next chapter as well as other questions like: Who is the guy who appeared to fight Mahito? What is happening on Yuji's side? Where the hell is Gojo when you need him?

But, overall what do you guys think?

I guess I didn't put much depth into the villains (At least not yet) but this is more on 8man's perspective. To him, they're just enemies he needs to kill for his own survival. Bong's version of Falling Blossom Emotion is just an idea that came in my mind. As for Mahito, well I tried to make him as crazy and childish as he is in the actual series, but I kept thinking he's a little too childish? At the end, I felt satisfied.

Thank you for reading this fanfic. Please leave a review as your opinions will be helpful for making this story better.