As the battle in Kyoto intensified, the fight between Megumi and Yuji-Sukuna also neared its end.
"That bastard."
After backflipping to evade Mahoraga's Sword of Exorcism, Sukuna began to retreat while relying on martial arts to continue fighting.
Due to the unhealing curse inflicted by Cú Chulainn, Sukuna's heart was repairing very slowly. On top of that, after being stabbed by Medea's Noble Phantasm, he had lost eight toes, causing his strength to plummet.
This continuous weakening greatly infuriated Sukuna, as he found himself so weak that he could barely defeat Megumi.
This displeased Sukuna immensely, but Megumi's growth also brought him great satisfaction.
He was becoming more and more obsessed with Megumi.
"Just you wait. I will soon seize Fushiguro Megumi's body, and then I will deal with all of you properly."
Bang, bang.
After a few more exchanges with Mahoraga, Sukuna finally found the opportunity he wanted.
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"
Although he was severely wounded, and his Cursed Energy intensity and output had greatly diminished, the King of Curses, with his arms still intact, opened an incomplete Domain using his extremely powerful Cursed Energy and superb skill.
In the air, a giant eye opened on a demonic, ferocious-looking head, and two hands emerged from the demon's mouth, holding Sukuna's body forward.
Instantly, countless slashes swept out like a storm in every direction.
Because there was no enemy like Maki, whom the Domain could not lock onto, Sukuna did not let Malevolent Shrine indiscriminately attack everything within the Domain. Instead, he used the Domain's sure-hit effect to concentrate the slashes on Megumi and Mahoraga.
Attacking Mahoraga was to prevent it from continuing to approach, which would cause his incomplete Domain to close prematurely.
Attacking Megumi was to severely injure him, forcing the summoning of Mahoraga to be dispelled.
Even if he accidentally killed him, it would not matter. As long as he was not completely dead and his body was not too badly shredded, Sukuna could use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal him first, then possess and fully restore Megumi's body.
"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain."
A pale blue circle of light expanded beneath Megumi's feet. Countless slashes were neutralized and disappeared the moment they touched the light circle.
Aside from a very small number of Shinkage-ryu masters like Kusakabe, everyone else's Simple Domain required both feet to remain inside it to activate and maintain it.
This was a restriction set to lower the difficulty of learning Simple Domain.
Because Megumi was the primary target of Malevolent Shrine's attacks, his Simple Domain was shattered far faster than he had expected.
"Falling Blossom Emotion!"
A counter-Domain technique from the Big Three Families.
Pfft.
Not long after, Megumi's Falling Blossom Emotion was also breached.
"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain."
Megumi used his last resort, a Cursed Tool Eichi had given him that contained a Simple Domain personally infused by Kusakabe.
Eichi had given one each to Megumi and Nobara.
However, although Kusakabe was called the strongest Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, someone Kenjaku considered to have some skill, and had even faced Sukuna one-on-one in the original work, he was still someone who had not reached Special Grade.
His Simple Domain could not last long before Sukuna.
Megumi formed hand signs, and a partially summoned Round Deer crawled onto his body in the form of a shadow.
"Damn it, hold on. Hold on!"
Streaks of blood bloomed across Megumi's body. Under the dual healing of Round Deer and his own Reverse Cursed Technique, every wound was healed the moment it appeared.
"Quite capable, aren't you?"
Sukuna, standing in the air, looked down in satisfaction at Megumi, who was still holding on below.
"Don't you dare die, brat."
A flame rose in Sukuna's hand.
"Kamino, open."
The Flame of Ten Thousand Deaths targeted Mahoraga, who was constantly trying to approach him.
This was also an important reason why Sukuna had used an incomplete Domain Expansion.
On one hand, his current injuries were indeed very severe, making it difficult to use a physically demanding technique like Domain Expansion.
On the other hand, it was also to delay Mahoraga's advance.
Unlike a complete Domain Expansion, which featured a skeleton and a shrine on the ground, the incomplete Domain Expansion manifested as a demon's head floating in the air, as if it had not yet been fully consumed, with many eyes.
Using his aerial advantage, Sukuna began racing against time.
Before Mahoraga could find a way to knock him out of the sky, Sukuna successfully created an environment where the Flame of Ten Thousand Deaths could unleash its maximum power.
At this moment, within this Domain, countless substances pulverized by Cleave and Dismantle were imbued with the same explosive Cursed Energy as Kamino.
Even Mahoraga's body was covered with a significant amount of this Cursed Energy.
Now, after the two processes of Cleave and Dismantle, Kamino was about to bloom.
Sukuna drew the flame into a bow and arrow.
"It's over."
The fiery arrow flew out, igniting the dust that had turned into a thermobaric explosive.
High temperature, shockwave, depressurization, overpressure.
A terrifying explosion began to destroy everything within the Domain.
Thump, thump, thump.
After the explosion ended, Sukuna descended from the air and walked step by step to Megumi's side.
Megumi was covered in wounds. The slashes, scorched by the high temperature, no longer bled, but they brought him even greater pain.
This pain sustained Megumi's consciousness.
"You did well."
Sukuna stopped in front of Megumi and praised him.
"It's just a pity you ran into me."
With that, Sukuna's fingers began to change.
He was about to possess Megumi's body.
Whoosh.
A rushing sound came, and Sukuna subconsciously glanced over from the corner of his eye.
"How is that possible?"
Sukuna saw an unbelievable scene.
Mahoraga, who should have been annihilated by Kamino, emerged from the smoking ground and charged toward him.
'No time!'
Sukuna immediately judged that he could not complete the possession of Megumi's body before Mahoraga's attack arrived.
Sukuna reached out and punched toward Megumi's head.
As soon as Megumi lost consciousness, Mahoraga, as a Ten Shadows Technique Shikigami, would be forcibly unsummoned.
Clap!
Megumi grabbed Sukuna's hand.
"Sorry, Eichi-sensei has already told me all of your moves."
Shadows covered Megumi's broken body.
His severed muscles and severely burned body, which should have been unable to move, moved according to Megumi's will, controlled by the shadows.
To make Sukuna drop his guard, Megumi had not used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself. Instead, he had secretly controlled the shadows to prepare, maintaining the facade of being severely wounded and near death.
"Impossible. How could he know all of my techniques?!"
Sukuna shouted in disbelief.
One must know that even in his all-out battle with Satoru last time, Sukuna had not used Kamino.
It was not that he had not wanted to use it, but that Kamino would have been difficult to use effectively in the battle against Satoru.
Therefore, Sukuna had to abandon the idea of using Kamino.
Sukuna suddenly pulled Megumi's body up with force, then used his other hand to strike his head with full power.
At that moment, immense pain came from his soul.
"Straw Doll Technique: Resonance!"
Nobara, who had been hiding in the distance and anxiously waiting for the right moment, delivered a crucial blow.
The intense pain made Sukuna's movements stop for an instant, but that instant was enough to determine the outcome of the battle.
(To be continued.)