(A/N: I changed the ritual a bit and removed the mummification process, I felt this one suited my narrative better.)
In a mountain range in the Land of Whirlpools, in a sealed underground space, Madara's body already lay in the center of a black coffin.
Jugo looked at the body with an excited smile on his face.
A month had passed and just as he had predicted, he had managed to complete the Wraith potion using his method, so he could finally begin the advancement ritual to become a Puppet.
The ritual was simple, he needed to possess the target's body, not only that, he needed to be trapped inside it. For this, the rituals he had acquired upon reaching sequence 5 would be useful. The corpse was completely naked, its body covered in runes in ancient Hermes.
The room, lit only by a few candles, was also filled with runes, from the floor to the walls, with the corpse in the center.
All of these seals were connected to spirit binding, trapping a spiritual body within something. This type of ritual was performed to create more powerful zombies or to seal these spirits for later use, trapping powerful spirits, but now it was used to keep Jugo imprisoned.
In this ritual there is no middle ground, if you fail, the strength of a Wraith will not be able to escape, but if you advance, you can easily escape with the power of a Saint.
Of course, that didn't matter in the Beyonder world, for them, failure equals death. You either truly die or become a mindless abomination. With the characteristic Beyonder sequence 4 being tied to the corpse of a saint or angel, failure usually means the creation of a very powerful and uncontrollable zombie.
Here the difference between cadavers becomes clear, an angel's cadaver has a much more powerful containment, which would generally mean a stronger seal. During the ritual, it guaranteed more powerful stability, but Jugo wasn't worried, he didn't have the hidden consciousness of the creator hindering his progress, so a Saint's cadaver would be more than enough.
He hoped Madara's body was of sufficient quality, he couldn't think of a better option at the moment.
Jugo chose a location far from Otogakure for the advance because he knew that if, by some miracle, he failed, the resulting zombie would be so strong that Otogakure wouldn't be able to handle it. Jugo wasn't the type to worry about the consequences for others, but he already had a certain attachment to Otogakure and its inhabitants.
Karin, Kin, Dosu, Guren and even Suigetsu came to his mind, people who weren't there because they were forced to be, but because of a connection, however fragile.
The land of the whirlpool was a difficult-to-access island, so he hoped that would delay any catastrophe. He had already left a message to be found in the village, Guren would know what to do. He didn't know how the werewolves would react after he died. Besides, the woman was the calmest of the group, which is why he chose her. He left a letter to be opened only after a long period of time, it was all he could do.
Even Jugo's clones had been completely released, it had been a long time since he had at least a few hundred active clones.
Of course, he doubted he would fail.
Taking a deep breath, he transformed into a Wraith and entered the corpse. As soon as the inscriptions sensed the spiritual body, they activated, glowing with a dark purple light. The candlelit room took on a brownish hue due to the fusion of colors.
Jugo wasted no time and entered the Tenebrous World with his consciousness, eager to move forward.
The weight was immediate, unlike all his previous advances, it was as if a hot soldering iron had been placed directly on his chest.
Wraith's scream echoed through the room, it was sharp and supernatural, fortunately, there were no living beings nearby, or they would all have had their souls shattered.
Jugo's consciousness was rapidly fading as he felt pain, it wasn't because he was fainting, but because he felt as if he were splitting apart!
His soul continued to separate, each evil thought, each bad action, each dark desire, each part that defined his sins was creating its own consciousness, separating itself from him and trying to escape far from the corpse!
Jugo was still screaming, trying to control these fragments of himself so they wouldn't escape, but it was like trying to grab water with his bare hands!
Madara's corpse was showing its own aftereffects, black eyes continued to open all over his old, wrinkled body, his skin turned pitch black while white pus oozed from his eyes.
This was a sign that the body was having difficulty withstanding the corruption, fortunately, perhaps because it had been bathed in the aura of the Tenebrous World for a long time, the body did not reject this power and seemed able to contain it.
At the moment when Jugo felt he could no longer endure it, something else began to escape from his main soul, black chains, chains formed by his restraint, each time he had hesitated, each time he had chosen to hold back instead of acting on his evil desires.
Chains continued to escape from his spiritual form until his entire spirit became a tangled mess of chains!
The chains did not stand still, they ensnared the curses formed by their evil thoughts. The number of chains continued to grow at high speed, so fast that it left the fugitive curses desperate.
Outside, the corruption of Madara's body continued to rapidly regress, reverting to his aged appearance, inside, the war was easily won by the chains and Jugo felt his mind clearing the more he absorbed the curses.
Sensing what was happening, Jugo felt extremely satisfied! He had made the right choice, focusing on restraint during this time had not been in vain! If he had followed the path of indulgence, he probably would have died without the strength to deal with the curses.
When the last piece of the curse was sucked back in, the countless chains began to retract, twisting amongst themselves, the chains slowly began to flatten, like black bandages around a body, containing it from within.
No aura could escape those bandages, which resembled a cocoon. The moment the bandages stopped twisting, a hole opened in the area where the mouth should have been, a much more powerful Wraith scream rang out.
Even far away, outside the mountain range, the scream seemed to have no sound, but it reached the consciousness of all living beings several kilometers away, from large animals to insects, all froze and fell to the ground, dead.
Their souls, as if carried by a strong wind, were pulled at high speed straight into the open mouth.
In the mouth, there were no teeth, no flesh, only an endless darkness.
Once all the souls were devoured, the figure began to writhe, the bandages separating as they formed a smoky black shape, compressing into thicker bandages while the inside was completely hollow. The being was entirely made of black bandages wrapped in a humanoid shape with pointed claws, there were no eyes, nose or mouth. Even this form was not visible to others, just like Madara's Limbo clones.
He was merely a cluster of curses, all trapped within his bandages, which continued to release a dark miasma.
The mythical creature form of the Chained path depends on 2 factors, the first is which path you followed more during your low and mid sequence, Bind or Curse.
The second is the target's own consciousness, so he ended up feeling that an Ajin was very similar to him, invisible, powerful, an immortal curse, which ended up leading to his current form.
(A/N: This form was based on the anime Ajin, I thought it would suit Jugo.)
Sure, Jugo is now just a collection of curses stuck together with a lot of "glue", which is why he's invisible.
If it weren't for following the Bind side and Madara's body still maintaining a restraint over him, he wouldn't have been able to remain in that form with such lucidity, but he could feel that Madara's body wouldn't hold out much longer, his skin was cracking and leaking black blood, even his own Bind wasn't able to withstand it.
Taking one last look at his mythical creature form, he escaped Madara's body. The entire ritual collapsed as soon as he left, the runes exploding outwards like a rain of ink, staining the walls, floor and ceiling.
Jugo reverted to human form as soon as he left, having to kneel to avoid falling, his gaze revealing a profound madness as he used Bind with all his might to recover.
Just a few seconds outside in that form and he almost went into a crazy frenzy.
Jugo could only sigh at that, all that power, yet unavailable to him.
Even so, a tired smile couldn't help but escape his face and soon Jugo was laughing loudly, his deep, resounding laughter echoing throughout the cave.
He did it! Now he no longer needed to be afraid, he is the fear!