I do not own Jujutsu Kaisen or any of the characters.
Culling Game
Shinji flipped as he fell. As soon as he and Kasumi had entered their barrier, they'd been separated. Shinji only knew that, because as he fell past a skyscraper, his was the only reflection he could see. He drove his right hand into the cement between two windows, skidding to a stop and looking around. He could see obvious signs of battle, and a few corpses, but for the moment, he didn't see any sorcerers. No sooner had he thought that did a transparent, blue tentacle burst out of the window beside him and yank him backward into the window. A split second later, the wall where he'd been exploded. He looked back, then sighed as he saw it was Junpei who had pulled him in.
"Junpei," he smiled. "Why are you competing?"
"I didn't have a choice," Junpei said. "A Kogane showed up and told me I was registered. I chose a place at random, but I guess you and I had a similar thought."
"Well, we don't exactly have to kill each other," Shinji said. "Who tried to blow me up, anyway?"
Just then, the window exploded, a man with a hand grenade in each hand landing to Shinji's right.
"Oh," Shinji said, then slammed the back of his fist into the man's chest, hurling him back out of the window, then kicked the grenades after him. "Anyway, we're trying to get enough points to add rules so that we can save Megumi's sister and also make a way for people to get out of the game without being killed. That way we won't have to kill each other."
Junpei nodded. "I think there's only one person in this barrier with enough points."
"Kogane, can you show us the list?" Shinji asked.
His Kogane's torso split open, showing the list. As Junpei had said, only one person had enough points.
"Alright, so we need to find that person," Shinji said. "Jun Asado. Want to search together, or separately?"
"Separate," Junpei said. "If I find him, I'll think of a way to signal you. Or if I manage to beat them, I'll meet up with you before trying to change any rules."
Shinji nodded. "I recommend keeping them alive if you can, but if not, the points are more important."
Junpei nodded and headed for the stairs, Shinji simply dropping out of the window, then using a western-style Cursed Energy broadsword driven into the wall to slow his descent. Once he'd landed safely, he let his projection fade, pulling the Japanese broadsword he still had with him from its sheath on his back. It had been decided he'd keep his disguise until after the Culling Game, so he'd also be using the Cursed Tool for as long as he could. He headed into the city, walking calmly and saying nothing. However, finally, he stopped, looking toward a taller tower than the one he'd met Junpei in. He smiled instantly. Kasumi had left him a note. A massive flag made out of spider silk was waving from the side of the building, and he could see a silhouette standing above it. He shrugged and fired a single blast of Cursed Energy into the air. The blast exploded and the figure turned, then waved a sword over them before dropping off the tower. Shinji smiled, leaning against a wall beside him, only to push off of it a moment later. Someone walked out of the building ahead of him, stark naked and drenched in blood.
"Well, I'm pretty sure your Cursed Technique is inappropriate," Shinji said.
"You're a handsome one," the woman purred, swaying her hips and smearing blood on her breast at the same time as brushing her blonde hair behind her ear. "Would you like to have some fun before I kill you? It's less painful that way. You'll enjoy it all the way to the end."
"Oh, so you're like a succubus," Shinji said. "Yeah, sorry. I'm unofficially spoken for."
"That's too bad," she smiled, her fingers extending into claws. "Then I guess we do this the hard way."
"Not really," Shinji said. "Do it."
The woman spun, but before she could react, Kasumi's blade split her across the diaphragm and severed both arms at the forearms. Then, Kasumi sheathed her sword and ran to Shinji, hugging him. He smiled, hugging her back.
"I know how to find the guy with the big score," Kasumi said. "He likes challenges from strong opponents or groups."
"Then let's go and submit a challenge," Shinji said.
"Shinji?" Junpei asked, walking over. "Kasumi? You didn't go very far."
"Didn't need to," Shinji said. "Kasumi found out how to get him to come to us. We just need to prove we're powerful enough to be worthy of challenging him. Cocky bastard that he is."
Junpei nodded. "Where do we start?"
Just then, their Kogane all appeared, letting out deafening ringing sounds for a moment. Then, they announced that someone had added a rule allowing players to transfer each other as many points as they want, counting toward the change in their point counts required to survive, stated in rule eight. Shinji nodded and told his Kogane to transfer both Junpei a point. Then, they all headed up to the top of the tower Kasumi had been on before. They took the elevator, all of them waiting in silence, until they finally reached the top, only to find someone waiting for them. He was dressed like a Buddhist monk, a kusarigama hung from his hands, a katana decorated his back, and there were two things behind him that Shinji really didn't want to see. The first was a centipede long enough to coil around the tower twice in order to climb it, then having the front half of its body raised. Its body widened and flattened into something resembling a cobra's hood but made of a likely very hard exoskeleton, and the last ten sets of its legs were actually long arms that ended in extremely long scythe-like blades. Its face bore a pair of massive eyes, and its mouth was lined with both needle-like teeth and blade-like teeth. The other thing Shinji didn't want to see was another insectoid Shikigami, except that this one bordered as much on dragon as it did insect. Its wings were that of a dragon fly, except with eight instead of four, its entire body was covered in rigid, bluish-black chitin, it had a dragon head, but with a pair of pincers to either side of its mouth and its horns were waving slowly like semi-rigid antennae, its forearms were covered in long needles that glowed ominously red, its hands had been replaced with openings surrounded by three claws in a triangle, six insectoid legs ending in spikes jutted out of the bottom of its body, just before its tail, bone spikes extended from its back in three rows running the length of its body, and the end of its tail bore a scorpion-like stinger.
"Well, we wanted a chance to prove how powerful we are," Shinji sighed, looking to the monk in control of the two disgusting Shikigami. "Are you Jun Asado?"
The monk shook his head.
"Vow of silence?" Shinji asked.
The man nodded.
"Right," Shinji sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well then, I guess there's no point in using this, or hiding. I'll deal with the Shikigami with Junpei. Kasumi, be careful with him."
Kasumi nodded, accepting the Japanese broadsword and its sheath before Shinji turned, a pair of Cursed Energy projections from his back forming a pair of bird-like wings before he leapt off the building. The battle began instantly with the insectoid dragon roaring and spinning itself after him, extending its right arm. Shinji flapped his new wings instantly, just barely clearing a blast of Cursed Energy. Shinji shot away from the tower and the creature shot after him. It roared at it neared him and he hummed interestedly. It was faster than he had expected. He flipped under another blast of Cursed Energy and shoved his right arm forward, his right wing exploding forward in a blast of its own, exploding against the Shikigami's chest, launching it into the air. He flipped, spreading his arms, the wings snapping out to the sides to catch him before the dragon roared, raising its left arm. A massive wave of bright green acid sprayed out of the opening, and he flipped, darting around it before flapping his wings hard, streaking upward. As he past, he turned his body perpendicular to it and spun, his wings flattening into blades as he spiraled, ripping up the dragon's front. As he got above it, his wings returned to their normal form before a massive mallet of Cursed Energy formed and he swung it downward at the Shikigami. Its arms snapped upward, catching the mallet before it roared, flames exploding from its mouth. Shinji narrowly escaped the flames and let the mallet fade before exploding downward, his right fist exploding into its back and sending it exploding into the ground. A moment later, the dust cleared around a blast of Cursed Energy, Shinji forming a spherical barrier around himself. The blast parted around the shield, cracks spiderwebbing across it before the blast had passed. Shinji let the barrier fade and held his arms out. His wings began to rapidly fire blasts of Cursed Energy, the Shikigami taking off and streaking through the air, avoiding the blasts rapidly before its left arm snapped out and a dozen globs of acid exploded out of its arm like a burst of machine gun fire. Shinji flapped his wings hard, narrowly avoiding the shots and exploding toward the Shikigami.
"Sorry, but I have bigger threats than you to deal with!" Shinji growled.
Then, as he reached it, his wings left his back, spiraling together into his hands and forming a katana with a nine-foot blade. The dragon roared, swinging its right hand as Cursed Energy began to shine from the opening. Then, Shinji streaked past it, his sword splitting its arm the entire length before the blade bisected its torso across the chest. The Shikigami fell, transforming into a cloud of Cursed Energy before Shinji reformed his wings. He looked to the tower just as Moon Dregs, with Junpei inside of it, drove both of its stingers into the centipede's back, breaking through a spot he'd been targeting to break the chitin. The chitin shattered and the Centipede writhed and screamed as Moon Dregs' poison spread through its body. After a moment, it fell, exploding into the ground, Junpei having Moon Dregs carry him through a broken window in the tower as Shinji landed opposite the Shikigami user from Kasumi. She was breathing hard and had several relatively shallow cuts on her arms, legs, and side, but the monk was unharmed, his kusarigama spinning above him in a blur. He glanced back at them, eyes narrowing, and Shinji traded his wings for his favorite arm blades before he and Kasumi charged together. The monk huffed and spun, his kusarigama whipping around him. Shinji deflected the weapon when it whipped around at him, and Kasumi ducked under it, slashing at the monk, only for the rest of the chain to block her sword. He monk flipped backward over Shinji, then yanked his chain downward as he landed, the kusarigama whipping downward at them from above. Shinji and Kasumi spun in opposite directions, allowing the chain to crash to the ground before Shinji slashed it off. The monk hurled it aside and whipped out his sword, steel sheath and all, and instantly began to deflect their strikes. Their blades crashing into the steel sheath rapidly, the two trading places rapidly as they struck again and again, the monk spinning and dodging around them constantly to avoid nearing the edge. His sheathed katana slammed into Kasumi, throwing her at the edge, but she drove her sword into the ground, skidding to a stop and swinging out over the edge only to swing back onto the top of the building, ripping her sword free as Shinji and the monk were trading blows, both using their bodies along with their blades. Sparks flew rapidly, and when Kasumi rejoined the battle, her own blade joining Shinji's in failing to get past the monk's, the monk leapt backward, flipping and landing on the raised upper level toward the center of the tower.
"You're good," Shinji admitted. "But you can't hold out forever. I'd like to avoid displaying too much power and attracting too much attention to myself, though. It's bad enough my name's on display for anyone taking part already."
The monk surveyed them both for a moment before drawing his sword. Instantly, his Cursed Energy exploded to all new heights, making Shinji's eyes widen. He'd been suppressing his power with a Binding Vow. The monk returned the sheath to his side, then exploded forward. Shinji crossed his blades, blocking the monk's, the ground below him cratering. Kasumi slashed, but the monk spun around the blade, kicking her and sending her bouncing away as the monk leapt backward. Shinji narrowed his eyes before exploding forward, reaching the monk in the blink of an eye as his arm blades became a pair of katana. Their blades clashed rapidly, Yuma taking control of his arm to allow Shinji to focus on only one arm. Their blades clashed faster and faster as both began to put in more and more effort, but still the monk kept pace with them, fending them off seamlessly. Finally, Shinji let his katana fade as he lunged. Yuma's sword deflected the monk's, only for the monk to get the sword between them again in time to block Shinji's punch. Shinji's Cursed Energy flashed black and the monk exploded backward into the raised section, but simply stepped forward again, still unharmed.
"Let's test it, then," Shinji growled, kneeling and placing his hand on the ground. "Domain Expansion!"
The void swallowed both and the monk looked around as the projectiles blazed to life around him, Shinji vanishing.
"One Thousand Hell!" Shinji shouted, beginning the attack.
The monk crouched, pulling his sword back behind himself. Then, he began to flip and spin, his blade deflecting and blocking the projectiles into each other rapidly. Explosions began to fill the void around the monk, but still the monk deflected every shot. At least, for a minute. However, there were enough projectiles to last for three minutes, and Shinji could restock them as needed, provided he had enough Cursed Energy. Finally, the explosions had grown close enough to block the monk's view, and while he was able to protect himself for another few seconds, one finally slammed into his back and exploded. Then, it was done. The blasts were slamming home unimpeded, and after two minutes, the Domain faded, leaving Shinji standing before the monk's burned, mutilated body. Except, he was still breathing. He pushed himself up, his skin charred black and cracked, exposing muscle and bone and bleeding heavily, and yet still he was able to lift his sword and ready himself to continue.
"You are just something else," Shinji said. "It's too bad you had to be our enemy. You'd be a hell of an ally."
"You will never defeat Kenjaku," the monk spoke, his Cursed Energy once again skyrocketing.
"I knew it," Shinji growled. "It's a Binding Vow."
"I couldn't speak until I was dying, but in accepting my death by speaking, I gain exponentially more power in order to take my murderers with me."
"We'll see about that," Shinji said. "And I'm not the one that's going to kill Kenjaku, no. But he will die."
He crouched, forming himself a katana again as the monk's power continued to climb.
"You are the strongest I've ever fought, even four hundred years ago," the monk said. "It's an honor to fall to your hand. I'll be honored to take you with me."
"You won't," Shinji said, then slashed.
His katana erupted into a massive beam of Cursed Energy, exploding outward and swallowing the monk before exploding, filling the air for a kilometer with a massive blast, the concussion shattering every window inside the barrier. Finally, the blast faded, the monk's corpse falling to the ground hundreds of feet below, his katana stabbed into the ground in front of Shinji. Shinji walked over, pulling it free of the ground and shook his head.
"All with a normal sword," he said, snapping the blade. "That guy was insane."
"I almost wish we could have recruited him," Kasumi said. "He was stronger than his Shikigami."
Shinji nodded in agreement. "By far. Whoever said a Shikigami user is reliant on their Shikigami obviously never fought them."
"If they had, I doubt they'd have been alive to say it," Kasumi said, then hissed in pain.
"Yuma," Shinji said.
Yuma set his hand on Kasumi's shoulder, healing her wounds, and Kasumi smiled.
"Thank you, Yuma," Kasumi said. "And you, Shinji."
"You're welcome," Shinji smiled.
Kasumi stepped forward, leaning in, and Shinji moved to meet her, only for Junpei to clear his throat.
"As much as I don't want to interrupt you, you might want to turn around, Shinji," Junpei said.
Shinji sighed, turning. "I was just hoping she'd wait a few more seconds."
Hovering in the air beside the tower was a Cursed Spirit with four arms, blue skin, long, wavy black hair reaching the back of her knees, a skirt of severed arms, a necklace of shrunken heads, a second necklace of bloody vertebrae, gold bangles on all four of her wrists, gold and silver bands on her biceps, a pair of tiny skulls as earrings, a golden tiara with a crescent at the top with the ends pointed upward, and each hand holding a different type of weapon. One was a scimitar, one a mace with massive spikes, one was a trident-like spear, and one was a waraxe. Shinji formed himself a pair of broad, stout, western-style swords and Kasumi backed away, already recognizing that Shinji would have to fight the Cursed Spirit personally. Shinji even went as far as returning to his original form so that he could focus on fighting without having to focus on his disguise at all.
"Kali," Shinji said. "An Imaginary Special Grade Cursed Spirit. The Hindu Goddess of Time, Doomsday, and Death. Depicted with anywhere between four arms and ten and with her legs and even faces often matching her arms. This is going to hurt."
After a moment of both remaining motionless, both exploded forward, their blades clashing rapidly, Yuma once again controlling his arm as Shinji formed them a set of wings. He wasn't sure how Kali could fly, but he also couldn't say he was surprised. After a few minutes, Shinji's blade shattered, and he replaced it with a Cursed Energy replica of Dragon-Bone. When Yuma's shattered a moment later, he did the same. Shinji flipped over the mace, slashing at the sword just as Cursed Energy exploded from the back of the blade, shattering Kali's blade. Yuma deflected the spear, then sent his own blade exploding into the mace, shattering it. Shinji slammed a kick into the center of Kali's chest, hurling her backward before exploding after her. She stabbed at him with the spear again, but Shinji ducked past it, both swords unleashing blasts of Cursed Energy to shatter the remaining weapons. Unlike the real Dragon-Bone, Shinji's replicas were powered by his own Cursed Energy, rather than storing Cursed Energy from kinetic energy. That made them slightly more versatile but more fragile. Both blades shattered as they smashed the last of Kali's blades, but Shinji simply flipped, Yuma's fist exploding down on Kali's head, a Black Flash sending her exploding into the ground. Shinji flew down to the ground, shifting his wings into a pair of spike-knuckled gauntlets as Kali stood, more arms separating from hers until she had ten arms, faces likewise separating from hers until she had her primary face and one on each side of her face. Lastly, she created a second set of legs, which spread to complete a four-point stance. Then, both combatants exploded forward. Shinji and Yuma both prepared themselves for pain and to have to tank a lot of damage. Sure enough, for every two or four strikes they blocked, the rest of the arms would slam into them, and they bore as much power as Yuma's arm could. Shinji formed them a suit of Cursed Energy armor to help withstand the blows and they struggled to land any hits. However, as per common sense, ten arms were not only good for offense, but for always having spare limbs to block attacks. Kali cackled wickedly as she pressed her advantage hard. Then, Yuma and Shinji's arms swept upward, their arm blades severing four arms at the elbows. Kali staggered backward, shrieking in pain, and Shinji exploded forward, his and Yuma's fists exploding into her chest and sending her hurtling away. She stood, but just as she did, Yuma's palm slammed into her face, smashing her to the ground.
"You have one minute!" Shinji said.
Their shared body adopted Yuma's Curse form instantly, and he roared, then spoke.
"Domain Expansion!" Yuma roared in his high, vibrating voice.
As the barrier swallowed them, Kali looked around, staring around at the inside of a pitch dark void.
"Nightmare Horizon!" Yuma snarled, voice coming from beside her ear.
She spun, seeing nothing, only for Yuma's fist to explode into the side of her face, launching her. She finally crashed down on whatever passed as the ground and stood again, looking around wildly. Suddenly, a blade found her leg, slashing a shallow gash into it and she screamed in pain, falling to that knee, holding two hands to the gap, her severed arms having regenerated finally. A fist crashed into her abdomen, lifting her, but when she grabbed for it, there was nothing there. Then, a kick slammed into her head, launching her away.
"How does it feel to be blind?" Yuma's voice hissed in her ear, her fists finding nothing. "Most people, and Cursed Spirits as well, live their entire lives taking sight for granted. They learn to fear things that they see. Heights. Spiders. Snakes. Guns. Midgets. But when are people most afraid?"
A front kick exploded into Kali's face, sending her flying and crushing her nose.
"It's when they're in the dark," Yuma's voice snarled from all around her. "When they can't see where the thing they've learned to fear is. That is when they're most afraid. Right now, you've learned to fear me, thanks to not knowing where I am. I could be," his voice shifted to her right, "over here," to her left, "over here," far off in the distance, "way the fuck over here!" As he spoke the last time, his voice was once again whispering into her ear. "Or even, right behind you."
His sword sprouted from her chest and her eyes went wide. Then, it slashed upward and out of her before she could react and the barrier faded, leaving Shinji standing above Kali's disintegrating corpse. He looked around as Kasumi ran over, and she threw her arms around him, Shinji smiling, hugging her.
"What happened?" Kasumi asked.
"Yuma went dark," Shinji said. "He taught her how terrifying it is to be blind."
Kasumi shuddered. "That's terrifying." She looked around as Junpei walked over to them. "So, now we challenge Jun Asado, right?"
"No need," Shinji said. "He's already here."
They all turned to look, seeing a man walking toward them with a butter knife in one hand, a gi as his only clothing, currently stained crimson and dripping blood, and his hair messy from bed head and also matted with blood.
"You three put on a good show," Asado commended them. "Especially you." He pointed at Shinji. "Now, however, it's time for me to collect your points. Don't worry. I'll be sure to let you watch as I skin the bitch first."
Shinji narrowed his eyes as Cursed Energy spikes blazed to life from his knuckles. "Bring it on, Asado."
"Very well," the man nodded. "Domain Expansion."
Everyone's eyes went wide as the entire world suddenly distorted, breaking apart, stretching, rotating, splitting, duplicating, spiraling. Shinji's head suddenly felt as though it were in a blender as the world before his eyes transformed into the view on the far end of a kaleidoscope. Asado hovered in the distance, suspended in Jesus pose, and all three of them stood on the ground. Except, the ground was suddenly disassembling itself in a wave heading rapidly toward them.
"Scatter!" Shinji shouted, all three jumping a different direction.
Then, the weirdest thing happened. The Law of Gravity became a friendly suggestion. Shinji crashed sideways into a skyscraper and cratered it as though it were solid ground, suddenly unable to move under the force of the gravity. Kasumi drifted weightlessly for a moment before streaking downward and exploding back into the ground, which had reassembled itself without Shinji noticing. Junpei, on the other hand, suddenly found himself hovering in place, spinning like a top.
"Allow me to welcome you to my own personal Domain," he said. "Most Jujutsu Sorcerers of the modern era are laser focused on guaranteed kills with their Domains, but there is no guaranteed kill associated with mine. I just multiplied the guaranteed hit several times and carefully fine-tuned the effects of my Domain through more than then thousand battles. In this Domain, you're free to kill me. You just have to reach me first."
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