"Haah~ What a waste..."
One.
Mahito was only able to conjure one stable Fly Soldier after a week of trial and error, collecting more and more Fly Heads, trying again and again.
That one soldier he judged to be around the strength of a 3rd grade curse, at least in the amount of cursed energy it had.
But as an abomination birthed from the conjoined souls of around a dozen insignificant Fly Heads? It was substantial, to say the least.
That Fly Soldier looked just the same as the one he had originally conjured, but he looked more reliable. The eyes of the soldier seemed to contain the slightest hint of intelligence.
It was only intelligent enough to follow orders and understand them; it could not communicate, nor could it form any thoughts or judgments.
'Still... Considering the materials used, this is quite good~'
Fly Heads were usually mindless, powerless. They were too weak to even use as training exercises for fledgling Jujutsu Sorcerers.
They were mostly just used by Sorcerers to spot other potential Sorcerers, since only someone attuned to Cursed Energy to some extent would see them.
They were not even considered 4th Grade; they were nothing more than a nuisance.
During his time in the sewers, he had also managed to acquire other materials, two 3rd-grade curses, and one 2nd-grade curse.
Curses just wriggling around among the sewers were his main targets, and some were not Fly Heads.
The more dangerous the curse, though, the more likely it was that Jujutsu Sorcerers were on their way to execute it. This added another factor to Mahito's hunt... Avoiding the sorcerers.
Of the few stronger curses he found, though, only one or two survived his clumsy attempts at compression.
The more Cursed Energy the target had, the harder it was to do. Which was why fly heads remained his easiest target... Aside from regular humans, of course.
Technically, even regular humans had more cursed energy than Fly Heads, so the non-graded cursed spirits made for perfect practice as Mahito continued to perfect his technique.
The Fly Soldier he had created was a merger between 13 different Fly Heads, their souls too weak even to resist the pull as Mahito mended them together.
The fly soldier's body was filled with stitches similar to Mahito's own, but it was still around a head shorter than the original concept.
Fly heads were initially small and insignificant things, stretching them too far risked breaking them apart too quickly.
'I think I found the perfect balance...'
It was wonderful, just how much a developed mind could do with such a powerful and versatile technique.
What was even more amazing was when Mahito realised just how much control over his body he could exert.
Sukuna was the perfect sorcerer because of his two mouths and 4 arms?
Well, Mahito could replicate that form with a casual thought. It took less than a second to grow arms, a mouth, and some extra pairs of eyes. He could even see through those eyes and speak through the mouths perfectly.
Hell, he could give each of his hands a mouth, he could grow a separate set of 4 arms on his back as well.
Even if they were temporary, as his soul tended to revert to its original state after a while, he could maintain such a form effortlessly.
There was quite literally no limit to the shapes that his soul could take.
'Was Mahito in the show like this as well?'
Markus could vaguely remember that Mahito was an infant, slowly trying to discern just what the shape of his soul was.
But to him, everything seemed rather clear. He could see his soul clearly, its shape.
His physical body mimicked it perfectly. He looked like a mishmash between the Mahito that he had seen in the show and the body he had inhabited in his past life.
Well, his past life's body likely mimicked his soul anyway. But the odd thing was that it felt a lot stronger than all the other Special Grade Curses he had seen.
The only soul stronger than his he had encountered was Kenjaku, but that was understandable, Kenjaku was a millennia-old monster, and he was still growing as a Curse with his Technique and understanding of Cursed Energy.
Mahito's soul had seemingly been consumed by his own in a way. Either that or his soul just occupied the empty husk that was the still-forming Special Grade Curse called 'Mahito'.
The best part about having kept his memories was that his imagination was also still just as good.
Looking at the scarred wall in front of him, Mahito smiled as his palms pressed together.
Two holes appeared on his palms, leaking a red liquid. That red liquid mashed itself together as Mahito manipulated it, compressing it more and more, all the way until steam was coming out of his closed palms.
Mahito's smile grew wider, to deranged proportions, as the steam hissed audibly, while the liquid was compressed more and more.
"Cursed Blood Manipulation... Piercing Blood!"
In an instant, a dark red arrow spurted from his palms, immediately hitting the wall at an unbelievable speed, piercing through it effortlessly, and continuing further and further, piercing through all walls and likely a few curses that still lingered in those sewers.
"Hehehe~" The Special Grade Curse couldn't help but laugh as he had finally also succeeded in replicating a cursed technique using his own.
Of course, as a curse, he didn't really have 'blood' in a natural sense. It was merely a manifestation of cursed energy, a liquified version, if you will.
But Mahito had absolute control over it regardless. Every aspect of his body was replicating his soul, and his soul was something he could manipulate freely.
The blood from the arrow fell on the ground, splattering on it before Mahito retracted it all within his palms.
He didn't really need to pull off any tricks like the 'Flowing Red Scale', or turn his blood into weapons. His entire body was a weapon; he didn't need to rely on that.
But piercing blood could be a powerful attack if used correctly. Especially since his cursed energy was not exactly beneficial when mixed with the blood of a regular sorcerer.
It was likely even more poisonous to humans than the blood of the Cursed Wombs. So he had that advantage over Choso.
But what made him attempt such a strange undertaking anyway?
Well, the Special Grade Curse took inspiration from none other than Sukuna, the King of Curses.
Sukuna had also managed to mimic the Piercing Blood technique of the Kamo Clan. He did so using the Ten Shadows Technique, and he could manipulate water thanks to one of his Shikigami.
'My Idle Transfiguration is just as, if not more versatile than the Ten Shadows, it just felt natural to try it...'
He could manipulate his soul into anything physically possible, make clones of himself, manipulate his 'cursed blood', manipulate and use the souls of others, create cursed soldiers that fought for him.
Those were just some of the things that he could think up on the spot, but Mahito was sure that he could come up with even more applications for his abilities.
In the end, it all relied on his ability to manipulate the soul, and he needed to train it more and more. It was overwhelming, just how much he could still grow.
But he knew that just focusing on his technique was not enough... Control over Cursed Energy came naturally to him, but his overall understanding of said Energy still needed some work.
Aside from understanding, he also needed something else... Experience.
'I do feel like I need more combat experience when compared to some of the monsters in this world, though... I should probably start working on that while I also improve the Fly Soldiers...'