Deep in the sewers below the streets of Tokyo, a rather bloody struggle was happening.
Many figures struggled fiercely, and they all looked eerily similar.
In the shifting shadows of those interconnected tunnels, they appeared to be burly men, but upon closer inspection, they were essentially insects with human forms.
They had no features that were human; they were fully covered in an exoskeleton. They all had wings on their backs, and they all had 4 arms.
One of the three had humanish arms covered up in a brown exoskeleton; it was like that all the way up to its wrists, where they ended up in blades, extending another half a meter.
The strange creature swung its blades all over, trying its best to touch even a hair on their target's back.
The target in question was a more humanoid-looking shadow, a taller, toned and lean figure, with a body filled with patchwork-like scars; It looked as if someone had tried to create a doll out of human skin.
Locks of blonde hair flowed widely on its scalp, reflecting brightly in the dim moonlight, individual strands of hair moving independently to redirect blades.
The bladed Fly Soldier tried nonetheless, its bladed arms moving more erratically as it seemingly tried to push its opponent into a corner.
But Mahito was not so easy to hit, he stepped backwards, and his arm swung backwards, his elbow turning into a fleshy string and his hand into a gigantic hammer.
With a single swing, the string moved like a tail, and the hammer whipped right into the Fly Soldier, sending it flying into a wall.
The entire part of the sewers trembled at that contact, the walls cracked, and the Fly Soldier itself was embedded within the wall.
Before the Special Grade Curse could even breathe, another Soldier jumped towards him; it had been crawling on the ceiling, waiting for an opening.
It took his extended Hammer hand as an opportunity, and it immediately tried to pounce on him.
Mahito smiled, revelling in the strangely developed instincts of his creations as 4 burly fists tried to smash down onto his head.
It would have worked perfectly, but his long blonde hair immediately shifted.
With but a thought, his hair turned into a weapon, expanding almost instantly and pushing upwards and crushing the Fly Soldier into the ceiling violently like a clenched fist, cracking it alongside most of the exoskeleton covering the transfigured creature.
In that very moment, another two Fly Soldiers rushed at him, one trying to cling onto his lower body, while the other tried to swipe its bladed arms at his head.
Unfortunately for them, the Special Grade Curse they were targeting was already getting used to their teamwork.
He smiled, a bony barbed spike extended out of his side, impaling one right through the torso and pushing it back.
At the same time, another spike extended from his forehead, going straight for the other.
The bladed Fly Soldier winced for a moment before throwing itself to the side, attempting to avoid the spike.
Unfortunately, Mahito's control had already been improving in real time; that spike immediately became sharpened and turned into a whip.
With a single snap, the Fly Soldier's head flew off, and the Soldier seemed to burst to pieces, as some of the souls holding it together fell apart.
After that, it was over, Mahito cracked his neck as her looked all around him. The injured or downed bodies of at least 10 Fly Soldiers were scattered all over the place.
Mahito sighed as he rolled his shoulder. He didn't feel sore, he didn't feel tired, but his instincts told him he needed some rest.
He had created many Fly Soldiers for the sole purpose of training and sparring for the past week.
Their Cursed Energy made them feel like 3rd Grade Curses, but their actual strength, Mahito judged to be higher than that of the vast Majority of Kyoto Students... Aside from Aoi Todo and Mechamaru, of course.
It was not a high bar to set by any means, but that likely meant their fighting strength hovered around Grade 2 Sorcerers.
In a group of 10, they seemed capable enough to hold off a weaker Grade 1 Sorcerer.
Mahito himself had only used his ability to alter his own body while fighting, using minimal Cursed Energy.
What remained of the Fly Soldiers were already on the verge of death, but the Special Grade Curse had learned quite a lot...
'Special Grade Curses have a scary amount of Cursed Energy... And that translates almost 1 to 1 with Stamina.'
He felt as if he couldn't get tired, as he had pushed the Fly Soldiers in front of him to the brink of death for hours.
A whole day of fighting, honing his skills, and now he felt quite a bit more confident.
He had engaged in some hand-to-hand exchanges as well, but the most versatile method he had was to alter his own body as he pleased during the battle.
His previously learned martial arts were easy to implement now that he had that much control over his body, and incorporating the occasional axe hand or hammer and spike in his movements completely morphed his fighting style.
He no longer felt as if he were fighting like a human. And all it took was an additional week of practice. Searching for Fly Heads, combining them into Fly Soldiers, fighting said soldiers every night.
He needed no sleep, so it felt as if he had twice as much time.
He had always been adaptable, but this was something else entirely...
'It may be a part of my Technique. Idle Transfiguration allows one to be anything and everything they want. I can freely manipulate myself as well as everyone around me... Maybe it also affects my mentality, making it more flexible.'
His overall talent felt... Enhanced. It felt as if he could see no end to his fast growth.
He reckoned that he would already be able to easily take care of Itadori Iuji and Kento Nanami as they were during their first encounter with the original infant Mahito.
'But I shouldn't assume that things will proceed the same... Kenjaku's plan somewhat hinged on Idle Transfiguration; things can proceed differently now that he doesn't have that in his hands...'
On one hand, Mahito doubted that Kenjaku lacked some sort of Plan B or C. At the end of the day, having his entire plan rely on the birth of a curse with a suitable cursed technique was strange.
On the other hand, he had stolen Suguru Geto's body for a reason. The Cursed Spirit Manipulation Technique was just as versatile and powerful as the Ten Shadows, maybe even more so.
'He likely has different ways of enacting his plans. Since Sukuna's vessel, Itadori Iuji, has already appeared, things are already on track...'
Regardless, Mahito felt confident.
And why exactly?
'At this moment, I am the personification of talent... All I need is time, and I shall surpass everyone else, Kenjaku included...'
Of course, Mahito didn't even think of surpassing Gojo and Sukuna at that point, but matching them? Well, he certainly had high chances of that.
Even more so, he already remembered how domains worked, how they could be deployed, and the rules of that world. He had seen, although through a screen, the 0.1-second domain that Gojo had done, and that Mahito had replicated.
He had many examples of how the top tiers of that world fought, and he was going to use them all to his advantage.
The problem was that he had no idea how quickly things could progress, so he had to train even harder.
So, he set his sights on his next quest.
'I need to land a black flash...'