"Scenario 236: Fighting an enemy with ridiculous firepower in a heavily forested area."
There was a hint of nostalgia in his father's voice, alongside a self-serving smirk on his lips. Nine-year-old Fushiguro shifted from the push-ups he was doing to stare up at his father in confusion.
They were doing physical conditioning, at least he was. His father sat down to the side and was pestering him on tactics to use in fighting enemy sorcerers as well as random scenarios, yet unlike the rest of the scenarios his father had painted before now, this one did not possess the apathetic rote tone he used, which was enough to almost make Megumi break out of character as well, to ask the older man what made this one so different.
Then he gave it a second thought and decided not to. Instead, he changed position and prepared for a sit-up, a part of him listening to his father discuss the scenario and how to counter it, while the remaining part focused on the burn in his stomach.
...
Megumi moved just like his father taught him. Always out of sight, and faster than his opponent could track. He didn't possess his father's ridiculous physicality that would've let him jump about the forest like an ape, a ridiculous feat of strength that not even curse energy reinforcement could mimic. Instead, he had distractions in the form of his shikigamis.
He felt it before he saw it. A sudden temperature rise followed by a cackle of both curse energy and heat, then a solid thum rang out as a lance of heat and light sailed above him and just where his head would've been.
So far, what he knew about his opponents could be tied down into three things. One, he was not human, but neither was he a shikigami. A cursed corpse? Two, his blasts were near lethal, judging by the cauterized stumps every one of his attacks left behind. More so than even Mai's gun had been, lastly, his opponent preferred to fight at range, which made his next option clear.
Close the distance.
A ruffle in the bushes to his left distracted his opponent, and another beam followed, lancing into the forest in a thin straight line, tearing a path through the foliage. The moment the beam fired, Megumi burst out from the opposite direction and into a flat-out sprint at his opponent, and for the first time, he saw his opponent clearly and not just with the eyes of Nue.
He had been right and wrong about it being a cursed corpse. It was similar enough but somehow different from the principal's technique.
This one was most likely made both from a mix of mechanical parts as well as powered by curse energy. He refused to think about the amount of curse energy required to power something of this scale remotely. It had green lenses, sectioned reinforced plates that covered the whole body, and finally, it was dressed in the blue uniform of a jujutsu student.
The green lenses that served both as eyes and most likely as cameras whirled as it focused on him the moment he burst out of the foliage, as it tried to reorient its aim, but before it could make the full scale of motion required to turn three sixty, Megumi was already halfway to it, then its other arm rose sharply, palm faced toward him. A palm that sectioned and split further apart revealing red sinew-like materials that held the frame together as well as a triangular indentation in the middle of the palm.
"Did you truly think I possessed only a single barrel to strike at you?" The puppet's jaws unclenched as it spoke in a mechanical and synthesized voice.
Megumi didn't bother with an answer, neither did he bother to dodge, instead he continued to run head first as the indentation in the arm began to glow with heat and energy. "Fine, remain silent. I was a fool to expect anything simply because of how highly Noritoshi spoke of you."
Then those green lenses whirled once more, focusing on his form, then the puppet called out, "Ultra cannon!"
Megumi stared into the face of death without a flicker of emotion.
A split second later, purple tongues lashed out from the foliage, striking from hidden angles and coiling around each of the puppet's limbs. The first wrapped its forearm, yanking it sideways and sending the blast of superheated plasma veering off course, annihilating everything in its path.
"Pull!" Megumi finally barked, and the remaining tongues yanked back, wrenching the puppet's limbs in different directions and hoisting them into the air.
Toad.
His third shikigami and the reason he had not been in a hurry to act, not until the five little shikigamis were in place. Then he was face to face with the puppet. Ignoring the way the green lenses focused on him, he immediately unleashed a barrage of blows.
The first blow slammed into its midsection, the second was a hammer blow into the side of the face enough to turn it to the side, and the third and fourth were placed meticulously where the lung and kidney should have been.
He could hear the metal plating groan under the weight of his furious barrage, but with a frown, he realized that was all it was doing. This was a puppet. He didn't have the strength to break it, and it didn't have the vital organs or soft targets a real human possessed. Its weaknesses had to be different. Either a core, or a control matrix, and where else would that be but the head?
Megumi's eyes narrowed as he stopped his barrage and shifted his stance. The puppet felt his intent the moment he shifted stances, and it reacted immediately.
"Sword option!" It shouted hurriedly, and Megumi felt its curse energy react. Just in time to see its forearms shiftas it tore up the sleeves of its shirt as well as the purple tongues that held it up. A blade sprouted as the metallic brace reconfigured itself into a four-pronged weapon.
Megumi ducked back, and an instant later, the puppet lashed out at where his head used to be. Then the other hand lashed out at the tongues that were wrapped around the legs. Megumi immediately dispelled the shikigamis, sparing them the injury already inflicted on the first two. Instead, he skipped back another two steps before burying his hand into his shadow and pulling out a pair of batons, straight from the curse storage locker.
There was a lull in the battle as the two opponents sized each other up. The puppet was the first to speak.
"We never introduced ourselves, yet I'm sure we each have some passing idea of the other's identity. My name is Kokichi Muta, but the cursed puppet I control goes by a different name-designation: Mechamaru."
"Megumi. Megumi Fushiguro," he replied curtly, slowly beginning to circle his opponent.
"Not Zenin? Noritoshi was certain you were one."
Megumi shrugged. He didn't care enough to explain his relationship with the clan or his father's.
Mechamaru gave a nod in response as he jerked his right arm back. "It seems like you're not very interested in a conversation. Fine. Boost on." A section of the arm at the elbow opened up as it came to life, belching flames. "Ultra spin!"
Then Mechamaru exploded into a blur. Faster than he could track. Faster than he could dodge. Yet he had the perfect counter for such speed. You can't hit what you can't see.
An instinctive use of a hand sign manifested Megumi's shadow beneath him, spreading it out wide. Then out of his shadow raced hundreds of white rabbits that exploded out around him, obscuring the view of the puppet.
"Rabbit escape," he whispered beneath his breath, then he slipped out of the curtain of white rabbits as Mechamaru slammed his finger into where he had been a split second ago. Megumi emerged out of the side, and spun, pirouetting to swing the two gold-glided crimson batons in his hand into the side of the cursed puppet's head with ridiculous force, and the blow sent it flying to the side, cracking the lenses on that side of the face as well as shattering the reinforced head plating.
Megumi moved to follow immediately, to lash out with a range of blows straight to the head, and before Mechamaru could recover, but he underestimated the curse puppet. Mechamaru's hand lashed out, and he pressed it against the ground, then he used it as a lever to throw himself up, the same instant its head twisted to face him and its jaw unhinged, revealing a cannon that began to charge.
Megumi's eyes widened as he looked straight into the blast of energy for the second time, only this time there was no toad shikigami waiting to divert the strike, and he had not had time to dispel Rabbit Escape so he could not summon it back either, which meant he had miscalculated heavily.
Once again his unfamiliarity with facing a cursed puppet showed. He had assumed a strong headstrike would have disoriented it long enough for him to unload a barrage of hits that would've won him the fight. Quick enough to impress Maki and to back up the older girl. It was a solid strategy. One that worked for humans, animals, sorcerers, and even curses.
"A strategy that somehow didn't seem to apply to cursed puppets, because unlike curses that mimicked the creation of a brain - even if it was destroyed upon their death - a cursed puppet was not so simple."
"Ultimate Cannon!"
Megumi felt a smile creep along his face as he braced himself, because the moment Mechamaru had activated his technique, it became clear. It was incomplete. He was not sure why, maybe because he was in a hurry or the blast slowly came from his mouth. The reason why was irrelevant. What mattered was the certainty he could feel flowing through him.
"I can survive this," was the thought that rang through his head, yet something an idea wormed its way into his head. A novelty. A way through. "That doesn't mean I have to face it head-on." He murmured as his hands locked together in a new hand sign, his shadow widening beneath him as he fell back.
...
Mechamaru waited and watched as his beam petered out. He scanned the smoke, one lens shattered, the other glowing faintly as the heat around him shimmered. The trees behind Megumi had turned to molten splinters, the ground was a scorched trench. Silence stretched thin.
It was nearly impossible for this frame to express emotion, but satisfaction was not something that needed facial muscles or textured skin to express. He could almost feel it rolling off him. He had won. He could not wait to tell Miwa about it
Then the shadow beneath his feet shifted.
A wet noise like a squelch rang out as a hulking shikigami burst free from beneath his feet. "Ten Shadows: Piercing Ox". He heard Fushiguro's voice call out, and out of his own shadow burst a shikigami. A creature born of ink and curse, muscle and shadow, the massive bull slammed upward from Mechamaru's shadow, leaving the puppet with only a single second to see the black-haired boy hanging on to the shikigami with a death grip as he rode it.
Mechamaru tried to raise an arm, but even he knew it was late. They were too close. Piercing Ox crashed into the puppet like a truck, all weight and momentum. The force buckled Mechamaru's frame, hurling him back. Trees snapped like twigs. Megumi leaped off mid-impact, twisting midair.
He landed hard and rolled, but he was on his feet a second later, and he had already begun to move once more.
Batons in hand, he followed the trajectory of Mechamaru's broken flight. The puppet skidded into the dirt, Piercing Ox's massive horns had gored it while dragging it along the ground, carving a trail as sparks were sent flying from the cracked plating. One lens flickered. The puppet's arm valiantly rose when Piercing Ox's momentum slowed, and Mechamaru pressed the arm to the shikigami's side. But Megumi was already there.
Baton in hand, he struck the extended limb and sent it upward, where it released its impotent blast. Megumi noted its abysmal output of curse energy. The puppet didn't seem to feel pain or injuries; otherwise, the fight would've ended the moment his shikigami gored it, yet some things remained. Laws of Jujutsu that could not be avoided. A hurt body meant a reduction in cursed energy output.
He lashed out with a second and third strike of the baton that dented the skull. The fourth strike cracked through. The green lens shattered under the fifth strike.
Then he paused.
Breathing hard. Batons loose in his grip. Smoke curled off Mechamaru's chest. Plates dented. Cursed energy leaked out in ragged pulses.
"Still operational?" Megumi asked as calmly as he could, not expecting an answer.
But the jaw twitched. "...Impressive," the puppet rasped, voice distorted. "It seems we have underestimated you, perhaps too much..."
Megumi didn't bother with an answer. He didn't care for whatever thought they had of him. Instead, he raised a baton again.
"Stop," Mechamaru said, voice crackling. "I concede. I cannot continue."
Megumi froze, baton still raised above his head for a finishing blow. Then he stepped back.
"Smart choice," he said simply and dispelled Piercing Ox with a flick of his wrist. The massive shikigami dissolved back into his shadow as it widened to accept the hulking beast.
Mechamaru twitched, then went still, as his single working lens whirled and observed the crack in the sky. "It would be wise to summon your shikigami back considering how much you've damaged this frame."
Megumi looked confused for all three seconds before he heard the cries, followed by a thump as something landed meters away from him. He raised his hand to block dust from slipping into his eyes, and when it cleared, a purple hand shot out of the crater, and the monstrosity that followed made him take an instinctive step back.
"More are coming," Mechamaru said as he struggled to his feet, and only then did Megumi look up as he came to a realization.
Maki is going to be on her own for a bit longer.
...
The sound of fists slamming into flesh in the background was ignored, and so was the accompanying muffled curses and laughter as well as the corrections given in the guise of a spar. Toge was not oblivious to what Todo was doing. Far from it, considering he had gone through a similar kind of training.
The only difference was that Toji and Todo were worlds apart when it came down to it. So while he knew the why, he could not say he understood it in the slightest. Why the pineapple-headed brute had taken some sort of interest in their resident vessel, he knew enough to spot that whatever interest Todo had in Itadori was genuine and it was solely because they shared a similar taste in women.
If he were any other person, Toge would've most likely gotten an aneurysm from listening to the duo shout, "My brother!" in the background. Luckily for him, he was not just any other person.
Speaking of aneurysms, his eyes refocused on the figure in the distance. They were both aware of each other's presence and the Kamo Heir's act of hiding out in the forest, looking for a prime spot to snipe at Itadori instead of hunting the grade-two curse, only confirmed their worries.
The only saving grace was that the worst-case scenario, which involved the entire Kyoto student body as well as Todo trying to kill Itadori, had not come to pass. But judging by the explosions shaking the forest now and then, it was clear the different groups must have already met.
Kamo Noritoshi fidgeted in his barely hidden alcove and under Toge's stare. His platinum hair half-covered his face, but his purple-eyed' glare could not be hidden even if he tried. Here was someone willing to do the bidding of the elders for no reason. Someone just like the duo that had killed Panda.
He felt his gaze narrow into something murderous as he watched Noritoshi fidget once again, while he remained as still as a statue, pressed against the tree he leaned against. The only sign he was human was the slow rise and fall of his chest. Under the wings of Toji Fushiguro, one of the things he had learned from the assassin was patience.
The patience of the hunt.
So he stood and watched, with the meaty thwack of flesh and bone hitting each other for ambiance. In the end, one of them was forced to break, unable to remain still any longer, and it was not him. Kamo Noritoshi acted.
The Kamo heir stood from his crouch and pulled his bow, having grown tired of watching and waiting for Todo to make a move. But Toge was not going to let him have his way. The moment Noritoshi pulled out the first arrow from his bow, Toge began to move. Slipping through the underbrush and the forest like a snake, the only person who realized he was missing was Todo, and even he hadn't noticed the precise moment Toge moved.
…
Noritoshi arranged four arrows on his bowstring, pulling it back with the precision of a seasoned archer. His stance was flawless, his focus razor-sharp as he aimed at Sukuna's vessel's unguarded back. Every variable had been accounted for, except for the Inumaki scion, who vanished the moment Noritoshi started preparing his attack.
However, the threat Toge brought was too low to disrupt his plans. Noritoshi had already prepared countermeasures by using cursed energy to muffle his words in case things went awry. He couldn't maintain it for long, but it should be enough for a quick fight. He'd also prepared countermeasures for his rebellious classmate's interference.
Noritoshi had not spent the last few minutes hiding in the tree for nothing. He'd been watching with his eyes uncharacteristically wide open, calculating angles, trajectories, wind speed, and the subtle movements of his classmates, including Todo. All while enduring the unfeeling glare of Inumaki Toge. Ignoring it, he drew back the string, the tension in his arms and mind as taut as the bow. Firing multiple arrows at once was borderline impossible for most people if they were human. But Noritoshi Kamo was no mere human.
He released his grip on the string, and with a sharp twang, multiple arrows shot forth. The projectiles tore through the air with deadly precision. But a simple fact disrupted his perfect plan: he didn't fully understand the Inumaki technique.
"Blast away!!"
The words, incomprehensible to his ears, had an immediate effect. The forest trembled, and his arrows froze mid-flight. Before Noritoshi could react, they reversed direction, tearing back toward him.
His eyes widened in shock as the arrows slammed into him two times faster than he had shot them, piercing his shoulder and stomach. The force sent him flying backward, crashing into the roots of a massive tree. His bones rattled as pain lanced through his body. Blood soaked into his uniform as he struggled to push himself upright, his fingers shaking as they gripped the bark.
With a grunt, he ripped the arrows out and tossed them aside. He ignored the bleeding as his mind raced, analyzing the situation His own projectiles had come back at him, guided by Toge's cursed speech.
He hadn't even seen the Inumaki, hidden as he was in the foliage. He had underestimated the power of Toge's cursed speech and the Inumaki clan in general due to their inability to measure up to the three great clans. That dismissal had made him underestimate the purple-eyed teen.
He had assumed cursed speech only worked if you could hear it. That assumption had cost him dearly.
He wasn't sure of the specifics, but he'd learned enough. The next time he would be ready. Toge at least needed a clear line of sight to use his technique, a disadvantage he didn't suffer.
Noritoshi clenched his jaw, forcing out a labored breath as he pulled new arrows from his holster. He spat blood onto them, then fired them into the forest, his blood acting as a homing beacon. The cursed energy infused into the arrows should have been enough to track down Toge.
Before he could even finish his thought, another word rang out again.
"Break!"
Noritoshi's eyes widened as he felt the effect even if he couldn't understand the command. His connection to the arrows shattered. The world spun, and he knew Toge was still coming for him. The Inumaki was relentless, and staying in the forest was a death sentence. He needed to move, needed to change the environment and shift the battlefield to one that favored him.
He bolted out of the forest, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling with the sense that Toge was still on his trail. His body screamed with pain, but he pressed on. Even if he managed to defeat Toge, he wouldn't be in any condition to pursue Sukuna's vessel. That meant he had to trust the principal's plan, hoping the semi-first grade would be enough to handle the vessel.
His legs carried him into an abandoned section of the school, and he dashed into a two-story building. The tight spaces inside would give him an edge. He raced up the stairs, making his way to the top floor, where he finally stopped, positioning himself in the hallway and watching the stairs below. His breath was shallow, but his mind was clear every sense alert. Bow raised and ready to fire.
A minute passed, and he felt the faintest stir of unease. Where was the Inumaki?
Before he could process the thought, the wooden wall beside him exploded. He spun on his heels, but it was too late. His eyes widened for the third time that day at the sheer unpredictability. Toge had climbed up the side of the building, bypassing the stairs entirely. The Inumaki scion shot through the debris, feet slamming towards Noritoshi's head.
He had all of a second to interpose his bow before the blow smashed through it and sent him tumbling, disoriented into an empty classroom. He rolled with the impact, but his head rang as his vision blurred. His back hit something solid, and he scrambled to his feet, a shake of his head cleared his sight. His bow had dulled the blow enough.
Noritoshi's grimace curled into a smile. Toge had just made a mistake.
Toge walked into the classroom, footsteps nearly nonexistent and eyes brimming with restrained anger. Noritoshi smile twisted into a frown. He was not sure what he had done to deserve the anger the Inumaki gave off, but he was going to find out sooner or later.
"You have to understand this goes beyond this competition don't you Inumaki?" Noritoshi asked, his voice drawing steady. He studied the teen in front of him, noting the angry purple eyes, the furrowed brow, and the faint redness in his throat.
"This competition is merely a font for our cause. A cause that is right and just. I thought if no one else among your classmate understood, you would. You, the scion of one of the clans even if you are of a lesser stock. If the others failed to see it, you must understand the danger Sukuna's vessel represents, the danger that Gojo Satoru's teachings bring to our society."
Toge didn't reply. Didn't even mother with the hand signs the Inumaki were rapidly being known for. Instead, he moved forward, slowly, his eyes unwavering. There would be no convincing the other student about the righteousness of his path. Which meant this would end with a fight no matter what.
Noritoshi's mind raced as he calculated the variables. Toge had stamina, no doubt, and his cursed speech was a powerful weapon. But there was a limit to how much he could use it. His throat was already showing signs of strain. That was his weakness.
A sharp smile tugged at his lips. He needed to outlast Toge; then he would strike at the right moment with his full power. His fingers twitched in anticipation as he shifted focus to himself, he was injured, with two arrow wounds and possibly a concussion. Which meant outlasting the Inumaki was a gamble too high. Instead, he needed to finish this quickly.
He straightened, taking a steadying breath. His mind was clear now. His body roared to life as he whispered, "Flowing Red Scale."
His heart beat with a solid thump at the self induced doping. Heat flooded his veins. His pulse thundered in his ears, pushing his body to new heights. The ache in his limbs faded, replaced by an electrifying focus that sharpened his senses. His eyes snapped open. Red markings painting them. Every shift in Toge's posture, every subtle movement, he saw it all.
He didn't have much time, but he didn't need much either, instead, he charged forward in the same instant the Inumaki did. Neither of them noticed the sky crack open.