Chapter 30

Earlier…

With her wounds healed, Nobara was about to charge back out into battle. But then remembered her nails are all used up. "Shit," she muttered.

"Sanso!" called the cursed human flying in the air. "Nails, please!"

Nobara appeared confused. "Huh? Who are you and what are you…" she suddenly jumped as a large hand came before her and offered her some rather unusual nails!

Slowly, she peered up at this curse that smiled. "Brother requested these for you, do with them as you please," he said in a gentle voice.

"Uh… thank you?" she said in a rather uncertain voice. But she wasn't about to refuse. There was about forty of them in her hands. The weight was about right as she saw some curses making their way through the line. Taking one into hand, she began to infuse it with her energy, but found it only needed a fraction of the usual amount! "Wait… are these already…" but there wasn't time to dwell. She took the nail and struck it mid air with her hammer.

It flew!

It tore through six of the curses before it became embedded in one, with the snap of her fingers, the nail burst and the curse took out another three along with it from the explosion alone! "Whoa..." she whispered and marveled down at the nails, but then, her smile grew. She was going to take out more of these bastards than Fushiguro!

#

It was time to come down from the skies.

Junpei hit the ground running as he joined his brothers on the battle field. His training with Suiryu and the brothers has certainly paid off. His now older siblings each took turns and took their time with him to learn and understand his abilities. He was quick to grasp on to them as the methods came to him naturally. He also used his knowledge of horror movies to better understand his curse abilities too. What blood can be used for, how to fully weaponize it and so forth. So far, he was using three finger bearers worth of blood to keep his body strong, he was about the same size as Choso, but a little more broader and stronger appearing.

When he came to the ground, he was quick to unleash his abilities. The blood that pooled behind him was utilized instantly. A massive amount went to the ground as he turned it solid, making the finger bearers freeze in place. Then he made a sharp crimson blade. "AAHHHH!" he shouted and in a single slash, he managed to cut down twenty finger bearers!

"Whoa…" he whispered in amazement, but there was no time to dwell on that. More of them were coming!

He began to recall all the lessons taught to him by Choso. "I want you to learn everything I know, little brother, for you are very capable of doing so. As such, you won't be defenseless. Despite were our abilities came from, we must use them to the fullest extent of our power…"

He didn't quite understand the reference, but he took everything Choso had to offer him and use it as his own.

Choso wasn't the only one either to infuse their knowledge into him. Sanso made certain he could perfect the ability to make weapons and shields with blood. Eso taught him the rot technique that would bide him time if needed, but at the same time, it would take out any and all in his path. "I can also tell you what Kechizu was capable of too, but perhaps for now. You rather learn what you can with what is given."

Kechizu… he never really thought about the curse brother who gave his life so he could return, but he will learn about him when this war is over and find a way to honor him for the brother's sake.

At the same time, Junpei couldn't believe how powerful he has become in such a short time.

He has trained this whole time with his brothers, Yuuji and Suiryu to understand who he is now and what he has became. For the first time since his return, he felt he understood now. Although powerful, he saw that he was helping his brothers, he was helping Yuuji and his friends hold back the sea of curses sent to destroy not just them, but the surrounding villages and then, the cities.

It took them little time to clear the third wave, but he paused as he began to sense something.

Powerful energy was coming their way, more refined and trained. The so called special grade curses they just mowed down were not qualified to be such a thing, but those coming towards them… they were.

"Brother…" he turned to Choso who merely smiled at him. "Are you ready once more?"

He nodded. "Let's show them what we can do," Junpei stood at the ready, mimicking Choso's stance as they compressed a good portion of the blood Junpei controlled. He could feel the tension of it, the blood began to take shape and form.

"Almost…." Choso said, then the fourth wave began to appear. "NOW! PIERCING BLOOD!"

A flurry of arrows were sent towards the wave, but many were blocked and deflected. But it was to be expected. After all, when facing forwards, you wouldn't look down would you?

Tanso had sent off his legions once more as they began to strike down the forth wave. Junpei was a little disturbed to see small woodland creatures easily tear down a fully grown man!

It's one thing to be gnawed upon by a hundred rats. It's another to see someone get pulled apart by 120 squirrels!

"Remind me to not piss off squirrels…" he muttered to Choso. His brother simply nodded in agreement.

Choso went off on his own to take out any trying to sneak past them, Junpei was about to go on ahead when he froze. He watched as this curse spewed out these small figures before unleashing them into the world. His skin crawled as he sensed the humans trapped within these hideous forms.

His eyes glared at the curse responsible…

Mahito.

His eyes came upon Junpei as a look of excitement followed. "IT'S YOU! I GET TO PLAY WITH YOU AGAIN!" he cheered.

Junpei merely smirked. "Too bad, it's only a clone…" he muttered to himself. But on the bright side, it may give him the chance to kill Mahito another time. It became an odd stand still. Junpei stared at Mahito and Mahito at him, but the curse couldn't contain his grin. "You were SO MUCH FUN for a human… I do admit, I am a little upset that your friend… Oooo there he is, the demon vessel! I can see his heart break all over again!" he paused though as he saw Yuuji walk onto the battlefield but his sights were set on the volcano like curse.

Mahito shrugged it off and turned his focus back to Junpei. He smirked before moving rather fast, but it wasn't too fast to be avoided. Junpei didn't move as Mahito grabbed his arm and licked his lips with greed. "I cannot wait to do this all over with you… I never thought it would happen…" Junpei felt him trying to touch his soul, but then… Mahito was repelled!

He stumbled back in shock, Junpei merely smiled. "We're on a level playing field now…" he said and brushed back his bangs. His curse energy began to swell, he felt himself growing stronger, and his left eye went a little hazy before his vision sharpened to that of his right.

Mahito only smiled. "That's so cute to think we're on an even scale! But let's see how far that goes! I may not be able to turn you now… but…" his mouth opened, he made his symbol for domain expansion.

Just as he was hoping for.

The world enclosed around him, trapping Junpei into the domain, his brothers turned to him, and he merely smiled back at them as he became closed off. There were arms linking together every which way. Mahito cackled aloud. "I am going to turn you into something WORST than the last time! But I can't make up my mind as to what you should look like!"

"I wouldn't bother trying to figure that out, besides, I know you aren't the real curse I want, merely his clone." He snickered though. "It doesn't matter either way, if anything if I am not satisfied with how you die… I get a chance to do it all over again."

There came a look of concern over Mahito. His smile faded away as he glared down at Junpei. "You are being serious aren't you?" he said in a bewildered tone.

"Well, come on then, if you are going to transfigure me. Do it!"

Junpei felt the energy come down upon his shoulders. It tried to push its way into his body by force, some of the arms that were linked around him began to converge and try to grasp his soul. But once more, they were all repelled off!

For the first time, Junpei saw the look of utter fear on the face of Mahito. "Impossible… you can't repel me! Only Sukuna and his vessel have been able to repel me!" he protested.

The smile on his face couldn't be contained. "Who do you think I learned it from?" Junpei said with a twisted grin of his own. "I will never forgive you for what you took from me. But at the same time, had it not been for you, I wouldn't have amazing brothers now, and also, I have the strength to destroy you…" He paused but looked about oddly. "As nice of a place this is, I think we end this…" He nicked the tips of his thumbs, from there; he grew a line down the inner part of his arms, from the bend of his elbows down to the wrists. "Domain Expansion… Blood ties…." He said.

The domain began to fill with the crimson fluid that flowed off his arms, Mahito's domain was washed away as the curse became overwhelmed with the flow. The domain continued to fill with blood until it forced its way into Mahito. He ingested more and more until his body filled with it. Yet as the blood entered him, all the transfigured people he kept slowly oozed out of his mouth. Junpei smirked as he stood before him. "This… is for my mother." He said in a cold, callous tone.

His arms crossed over, taking command of the blood within the horrible curse before him, then, with a sharp extension of his fingers, he watched with satisfaction as Mahito became impaled all over his body. Wrenched his arms away from each other, Mahito tore to bit before his eyes and then, he turned the blood to rot and ensured not a single scrap remained of this clone…