Happy New Year. I hoped everyone had a nice stretch of holidays. I did and they were made even better when I finished editing this chapter for probably the fourth time. I'm very proud of it and don't want to say more. I hope you enjoy.
Shohei's flowing white hair faded back to his normal black and white polka dot along with his eyes to their typical balance of light and dark. His eyebrows, hair, and skin were all singed from his own supernova explosion of Mahoraga. His arm was more burned than anything else, the skin raw red, even peeling off, and his fingers reduced to numbs.
Shohei, crumbled on his knees, swayed on the spot and collapsed onto his back. His vision blurred as he aimlessly searched the night sky for some star or sign of help. The Veil obscured every glimmer of starlight, robbing Shohei of his night time view.
In his hazy peripheral, Shohei clocked a figure crawling its way towards him. Shohei's head limped sideways and there was Ryomen Sukuna limping his way across the wasteland crater in Shibuya.
"You aren't supposed to be alive," Shohei grimaced weakly.
"And you're supposed to be a crumbling pile of ashes," Sukuna countered. He sauntered up to Shohei, his own injuries looking worse.
Yuji's shirt was reduced to tatters, a secondary eye and hand missing, and severe burn marks and lacerations spanned across Sukuna's face and chest.
"You're fire arrow burned through the last of my cursed energy when I activated my second technique, Stygian Void, to absorb the attack. Being from you and targeting a critically adapted Mahoraga, of course, it was too powerful. Most of the force carried over. I sustained most of my injuries from that."
"Well look at you Shohei Gojo," Sukuna chirped, a new eye forming in its socket. He raised his hand and stump to applaud. The lost hand immediately returned with a surge of positive energy. "That was some quick switching between techniques and even quicker thinking. If I'm not mistaken, and I'm not, you couldn't use two techniques simultaneously with that first Maximum Technique activated. A Binding Vow?"
Shohei spiraled into a coughing fit, blood pooling in his mouth from some unseen injury. He steadied himself enough to say, "Yes. To use Bountiful Horizon's remaining energy at once so I could use my other Maximum Technique immediately."
Sukuna spun on his heels to glance around at the decimation of the final exchange and said, "And that was what blew up that shikigami? But the attack was fueled by its own cursed energy, not yours?"
Simply partaking in the conversation to avoid being killed immediately, and hopefully muster up his backup plan, Shohei planned to keep the curse incarnate talking. That was, until a plan came to mind.
"The more cursed energy of the target, the bigger the bigger the explosion," Shohei explained, searching the far off distance himself.
"Not much could survive being blown apart from the inside out with no cursed energy left to defend or heal itself. You even damaged me enough for my Domain to close."
"That's kind of the point. Supernovas aren't known for being subtle. Singularity Ignition mimics a collapsing star. All the energy once fueling it comes crashing inwards to the core, or heart, and explodes back outwards." Shohei found what he was looking for.
"Flashy," Sukuna commented, his singed skin and smudged tattoos flawless again. "A great technique against anyone, especially those stronger than you. You don't have to worry about being caught in the blast radius when you resist your own attacks."
"Being caught in that blast wasn't desirable with no cursed energy left even if I did resist it," Shohei sighed, glancing down at his singed skin. "I have you to thank for that."
"If you were faster, you could've outstripped the bulk of the explosion while flying away with your little gravity technique."
"Or absorbed some of it with my other technique," Shohei said, his plan ready.
"Oh?" Sukuna cocked an eyebrow, stalking over to stand over Shohei's head.
"Like this," Shohei explained, a smile sprouting across his face as Shooting Star came streaking across the sky.
Sukuna spun on the spot, catching the flying club with one hand. His elbow buckled from the force and he raised his second hand to brace himself. The force Shooting Star gained from streaking across almost the whole of Shibuya struggled in the King of Curses' grasp, writhing as Gravity Conductor animated the club to life.
Sukuna's back turned to Shohei, his eyes gained a new intensity, Tunnel Vision activated and the polka dots of his hair were consumed in black once again. Shooting Star suddenly went slack. Sukuna spun on the spot, not only perturbed by the cursed tool, but sensing a familiar surge of energy.
Shohei exploded into action the moment Sukuna spotted his right fist suspended and his left hand bracing it. Shohei's feet back under him, his fist rose to meet Sukuna's chin. An uppercut from hell launched and a Black Flash exploded into reality. Knuckles collided with jaw and black sparks burst forth in the one-millionth of a second that cursed energy exploded forward.
Sukuna stumbled back dazed, clutching his chin. Blood pooled in his mouth. Sukuna wriggled his lips and spat a lost tooth to the ground. He looked back to Shohei, in disbelief of this meager injury of his, but more in shock of Shohei's second wind.
Invigorated by Sukuna's injury and the world of cursed energy around them seeming so much clearer, Shohei chanted boldly, "Stygian Void Maximum Technique: Bountiful Horizon!" His hair stood pin straight and still, his right eye's darkness overwhelming his left despite its invigorated glow of Tunnel Vision.
"Again? No reprieve from the Maximum Technique being activated again once taxed?" Sukuna asked, thrown for a loop at the boy's defiance.
"None at all as long as Stygian Void absorbed something. Thanks for the fuel," Shohei said, holding up his once destroyed and now regenerating left arm. His singed skin was without a blemish again. His destroyed arm knitted itself back together, restoring his finger tips.
"That fire arrow had some real kick." The only sign of injury that still remained was some severe burn scarring that not even the flooding energy of Shohei's reversed cursed technique could wipe clean.
Sukuna didn't bother to reply. Instead he stepped up. He and Shohei squared off in the nearly two hundred meter wasteland they created. Respective grins of either desperation or insanity decorated their faces.
"Are you still hungry Sukuna?"
The King of Curses asked, "What more could you have to offer?"
"Like I said before. My all. Clearly I have more to give."
"That's all I could ask for Shohei Gojo!" Sukuna roared, the madness in his eyes reflected more prominently than ever with his own blood drawn.
But suddenly, his manic demeanor disappeared. Sukuna stood upright with his guard lowered. He turned his head to examine his hand.
Shohei raised an eyebrow, confused until he saw a glint of hope. Itadori's robust signature of energy was shining through the barely taxed endless sea of Sukuna's own.
"Yuji!" Shohei muttered, a beacon of hope shining through for once in the night.
Sukuna looked back up at Shohei, a frown across his face instead of his once maniacal grin. Sukuna then disappeared from Shohei's sight.
Suspecting some surprise attack, Shohei released Tunnel Vision and reached out to find his signature. In only a fleeting glance, Shohei saw Sukuna and Fushiguro's signatures disappear through the veil. Only Sukuna's return almost immediately.
Sukuna appeared in front of Shohei, but with Maki's burnt and naked body in hand. She still had an IV needle stuck in her arm and ventilator tube down her throat.
"Let her Go! What did you do to him?!" Shohei screamed, panic and fear brimming within him as he charged Sukuna.
Sukuna tossed Maki aside as he tactfully dodged Shohei's strikes, not playing games any longer. As he blocked a would be devastating blow to his head, Sukuna demanded, "Sit down and listen."
Out from under him, Shohei's legs were sliced off. His new pants turned to shorts as he crashed to the ground. Immediately they were returning to full form, but Sukuna planted his foot on Shohei's chest, throwing a hand behind him to continuously slice off his legs.
"Megumi Fushiguro is in your allies' care," Sukuna assured. Blood splattered all across his exposed back as Shohei's legs were kept snipped to nubs. "I'd fight you further, but I need something from you before this brat takes over again. You will make a Binding Vow with me."
Shohei opened his mouth to ask what Sukuna was talking about, but his mouth was cut wide open, severed at the jaw before he spoke.
"I said listen. Not talk back."
Shohei's jaw began to reassemble, but Bountiful Horizon had almost consumed all its energy repairing Shohei from Sukuna's attack. Shohei would run out of energy soon, especially with Sukuna tearing apart his legs. The fire arrow was powerful, but not as much energy as eleven years of previous combined attacks.
"You won't interrupt me again. As for this Binding Vow. You are the strongest sorcerer of this era I've met that's not sealed away. With your teacher sealed off with no rescue in sight, others' plans are coming to fruition. Things are going to get hectic. Monsters are going to come slinking from the shadows now that your beacon of hope and power is gone. In these coming times, you are going to keep Megumi Fushiguro alive even at the cost of your own life for me until I get what I want. You should be thanking me he's still alive. He didn't look so hot after being caught at the edge of your little fireworks display. I shortened my Domain's area of effect for a reason, but you had to come along and throw a wrench in everything. That's twice I've spared his life. Now, you are not going to mention this Vow in any way, shape, or form to anyone. You will agree, otherwise I'm going to kill this shriveled bit of charcoal that you've been rambling on about all night that I stumbled across when saving my property."
Shohei's jaw had returned and tears of frustration began pouring from his eyes. He was helpless and silent. It was almost like his tongue had never returned and taken his courage with it.
"Agree Shohei," Sukuna commanded. His hand moved from Shohei's legs to aim at Maki. She laid there, her charred black chest rising and falling erratically, her breath hitching with no assistance from her ventilator.
"Okay," Shohei whimpered, grabbing Sukuna's ankle to stop him.
Sukuna stooped down low, pulling Shohei's tear stained face close to whisper in his ear. "Say it properly. And louder if you don't mind."
"I agree to the Binding Vow," Shohei weeped, waving helplessly at Sukuna's raised hand.
Sukuna shoved his face back to the ground when Shohei felt something like heavy chains interlocking between him and Sukuna. The sensation faded like Bountiful Horizons's depleted energy, pouring its final efforts into restoring Shohei's legs once final time.
"Good," Sukuna purred, stepping away from Shohei and brushing off some dried blood on his chest. "And one more thing. About that absorption and recycling technique. I've actually tasted enough from you and don't want you troubling me again."
Sukuna looked back down at the boy with his typical polka dot hair. The King of Curses flicked his hand near Shohei on the ground, tearing through his right eye and blowing out the side of his head.
Shohei let out a blood curdling wail at the top of his lungs. His hands flew to his eye, his blood pooling in them. Searing, shooting, ceaseless pain wrung all across his skull and face. He could not see out of his right eye, blood spurting into his remaining left. He couldn't hear out of his right ear, reaching to cup it only to not find one at all.
"Now don't be dramatic," Sukuna scoffed, prowling over to the boy.
Shohei tried crawling away and lashing out at the man with one hand, but Sukuna overpowered the boy, pinning him to the ground again.
"Hold still." Sukuna ordered, a hand bathed in positive cursed energy.
"Get off of me!" Shohei shrieked helplessly, gasping and writhing. Now matter how hard he tried, he couldn't resist. Shohei was exhausted.
Sukuna waved the hand over Shohei's head briefly, then stood up, kicking the boy away like a scurrying rat. His blood stopped flowing as heavy, and blood stained bone could be seen freshly replaced across Shohei's skull. His eye and ear were still missing and exposed muscle could be seen across the skull and in the empty socket.
"You won't die. Be thankful. Hopefully it teaches you a lesson."
Shohei's half functioning vision came and went as the lightheadedness overwhelmed him. Not even the familiar ring of a damaged ear could be heard to his right. His screams grew fainter and fainter. He slowed and slowed, and soon he entirely stopped thrashing around in the dirt and ash.
Instead, Shohei's remaining eye scanned the horizon for Maki. He tried crawling to Maki, his right hand still clutching his head as his left clawed into the dirt to drag himself along. After what felt like a whole other night of hell and pain, Shohei made the journey to Maki's side.
Shohei tried to muster some thoughts of getting Maki to Shoko or calling for help, but he couldn't think straight. Both were impossible anyway. He was out of cursed energy. Bountiful Horizon spent the last of itself returning his legs, leaving no excess to refuel his own reserves. He didn't have his phone. It was destroyed along with the rest of his body when he was reduced to just a head.
Clueless and helpless, Shohei's body defaulted to being of some use to Maki as his brain shut down. Shohei pulled himself on top of her burnt naked figure, draping his body over her to cover her from the cold night air, oblivious to her feeble, raspy gasps for air.
His vision failing, Shohei's final sight was Sukuna strolling away towards the city, stopping at the edge of the crater left in Shibuya. Some blonde figure strolled past him only to be cut down.
The devil on earth muttered something, and his black tattoos disappeared. His signature was replaced with Itadori's.
The young boy's soul crumbling under the sight before him, his scream rocked Shohei to sleep.
Guys. I was proud of this chapter because it made me feel like Gege himself. Putting your main character through the wringer is oddly satisfying. Not that I want Shohei to be endlessly unhappy, but man. Trauma in the making feels to powerful to write. Either way, I'm excited to write the next chapter, but equally unsure how I'm gonna address the fine details and move on from here. I have the plotting and lots of ideas for here up till the big reveal of Sukuna's , if you know what that is, but I really only partially know the tone I want to take for the immediate events after this.
Tone in Shohei's reaction to all of Shibuya. The tone of Shohei's new dynamics with everyone and their own experiences, especially Maki. How I want to conclude several relationships with some characters and Shohei for the time being until they show up in the manga again or fail to do so in typically Gege fashion of abrupt and tragic endings. Its really all a lot of little emotional stuff I've got to stew on, because while action is fun to write, I want to be better at depicting emotions and dynamics, especially with how deep you can analyze and pick apart those in JJK.
Cut me some slack in regards to posting the next chapter because I really want to nail how I'm gonna style this tone shift and new, ending, or evolving relationships others are gonna have with Shohei. For example, Maki, Megumi, Yuji, and surprisingly Yuki for the most part. And less relevant but still important or interesting to address Mai, Todo, Inumaki, Shoko, and Yaga.
I'm excited for what end results I produce next chapter, but I can concretely say don't expect any action after these previous chapters of what felt like nothing but action. Next should be the very tail end of Shibuya and after that chapter maybe the beginning of the Perfect Preparation Arc.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'd actually really like to hear where you think the story could go or what you would like to see in it like certain fights, character interactions, or flushed out and or explored relationships. Once again thank you for reading.