What's worse than a swarm of cockroaches so big that it fills the road as they chase after you and try to eat you?
A huge swarm of cockroaches that wants to eat you, that's led by a special grade curse that can replicate those cockroaches almost endlessly.
I glanced down at the downed form of Ryu. He was a good fight, but I was a little disappointed by how easy that fight went. If not for the guy's absurd durability and advanced reinforcement, I might have killed him by accident.
It was a really good thing that both Ryu and Uro knew how to reinforce their vitals, or those hits might very well have been lethal. I'll need to be more careful of that in the future, but thankfully, I was NOT planning on recruiting Kurourushi, so I can kill every single cockroach here.
I felt it trying to hide itself and its signature in the swarm, but its cursed energy reserves were so much larger than the other roaches that it was pointless.
I cocked my arm back; it was time for a little crowd control.
I punched forward and used my technique to generate a huge shockwave that tore through the street. Windows shattered from the residual air pressure, and the road was carved from the wave of pure destructive force.
The wave hit the oncoming swarm and decimated their charge.
Millions of tiny signatures vanished, and others were scattered as the river of black bugs was split like the Red Sea. And as the flood of bugs was crushed and obliterated, one figure withstood the pressure wave.
Tall and dark as night, contrasting with the white face of a cockroach, there stood Kurourushi. Cursed tool in its white, warped, human-like arm.
Fester was a unique cursed tool; it was a purple, thick, fleshy cleaver with six barrels on the front edge, each barrel shot eggs that burst and hatch cockroaches from either a range or directly into a wound to make it far, far worse.
...I wanted it.
While I really liked my Cursed technique, being a one-trick pony was how people came up with counters. And look at Sukuna, he was one of the few sorcerers to use cursed tools in canon, and it saved his life, too.
...and if I thought the weapons were cool, that was just a bonus.
The cockroach curse raised its cleaver to point at me, and another swarm of cursed energy-reinforced cockroaches erupted from behind it.
The tsunami of bugs raged forward, and I sighed. It was going to be one of those fights, wasn't it? The curses technique allows it to replicate, control, and reinforce cockroaches around it, so naturally, it was going to sit behind the horde of man-eating cockroaches.
I concentrated my technique into both of my hands. I wanted to try something.
Twin spheres enveloped my hands, and I spread them wide as I saw the wave close in.
I smiled devilishly, 'Technique Extension: Thunderclap,' I thought to myself, and slammed the palms of my hands in a clap.
The result was instant and everything I hoped for.
A concussive wave of force emanated from my hands, and the swarm was torn apart. But the wave of destructive force was not concentrated just on the wave of bugs before me.
Instead, I heard buildings all around me implode backwards, and I sent a nervous glance at Ryu's downed form. Thankfully, he wasn't crushed by the rubble, so I turned my attention to the head bug, chittering in agitation.
It cocked its grotesque arm back in a swinging motion and exploded from his spot in a blur of movement.
I watched its charge for a moment and started to vibrate my legs. I lifted my right leg and stomped downwards, vanishing from my spot and decimating the road we were on.
I reappeared in front of it a moment later and had to duck under the swipe from the cockroach's cleaver. I heard it slice through the air above me, and I vibrated my arms to full capacity.
A sharp ringing sound started to come from my arms, but I punched forward regardless. Its left arm hurried into a sloppy block.
As my fist impacted against its forearm, a sharp cracking sound followed by a spray of purple blood signaled its loss of said arm.
The top part of its arm flew off, the bottom mangled and ruptured, and it shrieked an unholy noise in agony. The sound made me wince as my eardrums were assaulted, but I still leveled a right straight to its torso.
It seems to have learned from the first impact, as it blocked with fester rather than a part of its own body.
A loud ringing sound, almost like a gong, rang out from the blow, and the cockroach curse was pushed back several meters. I smiled as its last remaining arm shook even after the impact.
My smile dropped as I saw its recently destroyed arm bubble and bulge, regenerating quickly. I closed the distance in a moment, trying to stop the thing from regenerating, but its shadow shifted.
I had to cross my arms to block the fist-shaped swarm of bugs that slammed into me from the curse.
I felt more bugs shoot off the curse and start to revolve around it in a hurricane of flesh-eating cockroaches.
What's more is that I felt some of the fuckers crawling around on me, clearly having stuck on from the 'fist' of bugs it punched me with.
I jumped back another step and sent a wave of vibrations out from my body to clear the weak bugs trying, and failing, to eat me. They were, however, eating at my cursed energy, which would NOT be tolerated.
I saw Kurourushi's arm fully regenerate, and it took a large step forward. The hurricane followed him and carved through the cars and debris around it.
I checked on my reserves, feeling that this might be a more annoying fight than I thought. I was right given the fact that I was still bordering on less than a fith of my reserves.
I watched it take another step forward, further decimating the road and buildings around us. I sighed, 'Does it really think I'm just going to stand here and take that?' I thought to myself, channeling my technique into my hands again.
I clapped again, and the blast tore through the tornado of bugs around Kurourushi. A momentary gap that opened a path to the curse for only a second.
But in a fight against special grades, one second is an eternity.
I was in front of it before it could understand what happened, lashing out with a vibrating elbow to its… cheek?
Do cockroaches have cheeks?
I banished the thought, opting instead to watch as the curse's head snapped back, a hole erupting from its head, and purple blood spewing from it.
It roared in pain, Fester swiping at my midsection and threatening to bisect me where I stood. I slapped at it, cracking space just before I made contact with the cursed tool.
The thing's arm shot wide, and its left arm lashed out in a sloppy punch. I twisted, letting the arm pass me and dodging the punch. Before retaliating with a vibrating rising knee to its overextended torso.
Its chest collapsed inwards in a spray of purple blood and gore, and a rising uppercut that cracked space sent the thing skywards and away from its entourage of bugs.
Speaking of, the bugs were currently forming a black sphere around me. Trying to ensnare me, but regardless of how many there were or how they tried to trap me, a billion times zero still equaled zero; the power gap between us was simply too big for numbers to matter.
I sent another wave of low-powered vibrations out from my body, and the swarm was either scattered or erased.
I jumped, trying to get to Kurourushi before it could fully regenerate the damage I had done to it. But it pointed the bladed edge of its tool at me, and several bullet-like tiny eggs shot from the barrels on its edge.
I aerostepped right, dodging the eggs, and aerostepped right for the curse once more.
Only to be met with yet another swarm of bugs, which I cleared with a wave of my hand that cracked the space in front of me.
The curse, however, used its limited intelligence to learn from all of our previous exchanges, and as I watched the swarm disperse, I saw it swipe down with its cleaver to cut me in half.
I threw my palm up to catch the blade and used Quake right as it was about to bisect me. Its whole body moved back from the momentum shift, and it utilized that moment of pivoting to send a pale shin into my side.
I grunted as the blow connected. The curse was a little stronger than Uro physically, so it wasn't too bad.
My right arm trapped its leg against my side, and it made a confused chittering sound as it tried to pull its leg free. But I wasn't going to let this thing out of my grasp quite yet.
My face split in two by my elated grin, and I punched it straight in the face.
BLACK FLASH
The sparks of black graced me once more, as the cockroach shot downwards like a missile.
It ricocheted off the nearest building before bouncing off the ground and cratering into another building.
I pointed my hands behind me, and a quick application of Quake and Aerostepped brought me before its recovering form.
It sent a desperate swipe at my gut, but I jumped back to dodge it. It followed up with a diagonal swipe down and to the left, but I stepped to the right and pivoted my body, letting the cleaver cut harmlessly through the air next to me.
I sent a vibrating left hook to where its liver should be, and it exploded backwards. It stumbled from the force, and I took my moment to seize the one thing I really wanted from this exchange.
I vibrated my right arm to full effect and chopped at its right elbow. The arm holding its cursed tool flew off, spinning through the air, as its arm was blown up at the elbow.
It shrieked in rage and pain, reaching its remaining arm to grab the arm and tool.
I dashed at the arm, ripping the cleaver from the detached hand.
It lunged again, "…Give," its distorted chattering voice echoed, "GIVE BACK!" It screamed in broken speech.
"OH, this thing?" I asked sarcastically, "Hmm…" I hummed, feigning consideration. "Nah, I think I like it," I said with a sadistic grin.
It chittered and roared a high-pitched shriek, lunging for me with its regenerating arm.
I channeled cursed energy into the cleaver, and it shook lightly. I could feel there was a 'trigger' within the cursed energy of the blade, and I pulled it.
The cleaver kicked back in recoil as eggs shot from it, and I smiled harder, "I see why you liked this thing…" Its arm finished regenerating, and its fist barreled toward me.
I ducked the blow and sliced at its arm. Despite the blade's relative bluntness, the blade carved through the curse's arm like a hot knife through butter.
My vibrating left fist lashed out, meeting the punch it threw with its own left arm. Its fists met, and its arm exploded backwards into purple ichor.
It howled in pain and agony, and I slashed downwards across its chest. As I carved down its chest, I shot eggs inside its body. But unlike Kurourushi, I did not have a technique that allowed me to control the bugs inside, so I had another idea.
I jumped back and sensed the egg was reinforced by my own cursed energy. No way was I going to give this thing anymore bugs to send at me. So I focused and activated my technique, enhancing the vibrations of those eggs.
Because they were composed of and reinforced by my energy, I could use my technique on them like I could on my barriers.
The curse moved to jump at me with its pale legs, but was stopped as its chest exploded like it was hit directly with tank rounds.
I jumped forward and slammed the back of my left fist into its stomach and cracked space on impact.
The curse catapulted backwards and through the remainder of the building into the sky.
"GIVE BACK TO ME!" It shrieked as it soared through the air. Its right arm bulged and regenerated before it threw both arms wide. The sky darkened as a colossal wave of bugs blacked out the sun for a moment.
My eyebrows shot up at the fucking absurd number of signatures I was feeling within that bug cloud. It threw its arms forward and downwards. The swarm followed suit into massive spikes of cursed energy, reinforced bugs.
For any sorcerer below special grade, or even those in special grade that lacked a large-scale AOE, this attack would most likely be fatal.
Unfortunately for Kurourushi, I fit both of the latter categories. I put Fester in the waistband of my pants. I would need both hands for this.
I forced my technique to activate around both of my hands to the maximum I could. Two spheres generated around my hands, both quaking with the raw amount of energy I was pushing into this next attack.
This would drain me of the majority of my remaining cursed energy, but as a wise man once said, 'Fuck it, we ball.'
"Maximum Output: Thunderclap," My body said almost automatically, and a wave of desolation unlike anything I have made yet exploded around me.
The incoming bugs ceased to exist, and Kurourushi was punted skywards, flying through a cloud and drilling a large hole in it.
I panted heavily. I was pretty tired, but I was very close to running out of cursed energy. I shook off my exhaustion and Aerostepped after the insect curse.
I punched through the cloud as Kurourushi's upwards momentum halted, and he started to fall. I grabbed the handle of Fester, channeling my CE into it once more while flying past the curse.
I swung the cleaver at the curse's midsection and bisected the curse while flying past it. Its top half started to bubble, and I was impressed by how crazy this curse's regeneration was.
I placed my palm against its chest and punted it down with a quick use of my technique. I threw my hands up and used Quake to spike myself down in chase.
We impacted the devastated ground at the same time, and my knees pinned its arms. "This has been fun and all," I started gathering what little remained of my cursed energy, "But I think it's time this ended." I had gotten Fester, so there was no point dragging this out longer.
I hovered my palms just above its head, and it writhed below me. Knowing I didn't have much time before it broke itself free from my hold, I activated my trump card for this exact circumstance.
A small bubble of positive energy formed between my hands and directly over the curse's head. It gave a deafening howl that rang in my ears, and its writhing became a nearly untamable bucking that threatened to knock me off it.
Thankfully, it stopped shortly after, its body disintegrating into nothingness. I dispelled the bubble immediately and nearly collapsed in exhaustion. Back-to-back special grade fights while using super draining techniques has that effect on you.
I was thankful for my astronomical cursed energy regeneration, because aside from after the vow from Jogo, this was probably the lowest I have ever been.
I moved to a sitting position, staring at the sky. I felt oddly… at peace after two draining fights. It was a nice feeling. I basked in the moment for a second longer, feeling the breeze on my face.
That was until I felt Uro's signature close in, and a warm sensation came from my nose. I whipped it away with my thumb before Uro could see what was undoubtedly a dribble of blood from my nose.
I used WAY too much cursed energy in way too short a time frame.
I glared at the pinkette when she landed, and she sent me a quizzical glance, shifting her weight. "What?" she asked me as if she had done nothing wrong.
I sighed, far too tired to cover the issue of her abandoning me to fight the curse alone, "Nothing." I said with a shake of my head, getting to my feet, "Nothing at all…"
I started to walk to Ryu's downed form, and Uro trailed behind me, "Soo…" She drawled, "What's our next course of action?" she asked as we closed in on the injured man.
"First thing we have to do is find a new house for us and for this guy," I pointed at the downed man, walking over and heaving him onto my back in a fireman's carry, "Then I'm going to sleep."
She sighed, "Must we really go through that 'home hunting' as you called it again?" she whined out, "Can't we just rest in any random abandoned home?"
I hummed in consideration. Normally, I would have said no, because I wanted to find a base of operations to train at and sleep, but Ryu was a cold reminder that this was still, in fact, a death game.
With that in mind, I decided to give Uro the win this time, "...Fine, but in exchange you're watching him while I sleep."
I saw her shudder out of the corner of my eye in disgust, before an idea came to her, and she turned to face me fully. I did the same, curious as to what she was going to say, "...Only if you promise to tell me more about this era and about what has happened in the world since my time."
My eyebrows rose, "That's a big ask, you know, there are a lot of things that have changed over the last 1000 years." I started giving her the most deadpan look I could muster, "But yeah sure, I guess it was only a matter of time, really, before you needed to more anyways."
I did plan on making sure she lived after the culling games and making sure Jujutsu society wouldn't come after us after Sukuna was dealt with.
As for my plan for Sukuna…
Punch him really, really hard and hope he dies. Many times, if need be.
Uro broke me from my ridiculous thoughts of slaying the king of curses as she spoke, giving me a small, soft smile, "Then I look forward to our first lesson." Without a second thought, she turned and started forward.
I stared at her back for a moment, 'Am I crazy or does–' I brushed the thought off before it could fully form, 'Yeah, right.' I thought to myself, before moving to catch up.
But as I caught up, I could have sworn her hips were swaying just a hair.
…Must be the lack of cursed energy getting to my head.
I ignored the little voice that hoped I was wrong.
.
.
.
A/N:
Aaaaaaand done, sorry again for the late chapter. I kinda wrote out the first chapter for the force fic yesterday and was too tired to finish this chapter, so really sorry about that. I'm not going to post it just yet because I want to give this fic more of a foothold and to also build up a backlog of chapters for that fic for when finals roll around.
I had a couple of questions about how Ryu was tanking all of those punches from Shinji so I just want to clarify that Shinji's attacks are durability negating by virtue of targeting your internal organs and no other way. Don't worry, I'm working on that too, but also Shinji wasn't using his technique for all of those punches.
I hope you didn't think this fight was too easy, but Kurourushi is honestly kinda weak? Like he was getting beat by a holding back non-rika enhanced Yuta, and an all out Yuta with a Rika amp was throwing hands with Ryu soooo.
In any case let me know what you thought and how I can improve. Have a great night!