A/N: Welcome to my latest story: Potential Man. Here we go with this one. Next three chapters are up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) already if you want to see them early.
I flared my cursed energy to start things off and then the ground beneath me erupted, two hands rising and moving to slam shit around me, crushing me in their grasp. I sank into my own shadow, using that effect of the ten shadows for the first time in this new life of mine. In my shadow, Ranta's technique ceased to work. He could no longer see me, after all. As a shadow, I streaked through the ground, moving left towards where I had sensed Chojuro's flare of cursed energy before his technique had begun to work.
I rose from the shadow as I approached. The Zenin man turned to me, hands enclosed in stone gauntlets from his earth manipulation technique.
"I'll enjoy beating the smirk off your face you damn—" He never finished the sentence. With a quick application of cursed energy, I shot off the ground like a missile. He took a step back and my left hand enclosed around his face. He tried to pull away but it was too little and much too late. I twisted from covering his face to placing my grip around the back of his head.
I pulled him towards me even as I lashed out with my knee. There was a satisfying crunch as his nose shattered beneath the force. Blood sprayed in all directions as I let go of his head and allowed him to fall to the ground. I came to a stop right above him and then stomped down on his stomach. His body lurched forwards and he began to vomit on the ground right next to my feet. I made to move again but came to a sudden, involuntary stop.
Except this time, Ranta in his haste had failed to take enough precautions to avoid being spotted. I could see him now. Right out of the corner of my eyes. And if I could see him, then that meant I knew just where to direct my shikigami.
It took Divine Dog no time at all to track him down. I'd never returned him to my shadow after the fight with Kashimo so there was no need to call upon him again. I heard the sounds of footsteps and flickered my eyes over to right in front of me. Jinichi Zenin. The older brother to one Toji Fushiguro.
I wondered how he felt, ostensibly about to kill his nephew.
"Even with cursed technique burnout and our well-coordinated ambush, you still managed to do this much to Ogi and Chojuro. You're dangerous, just like Toji," he said. I quirked a brow at that. I didn't expect him to recognise Toji's strength.
"Don't give me that look. The bastard was my brother. I was the one who had to spar with him from childhood. I still have scars he'd left me to teach me what he felt was a poignant lesson—that it didn't matter that I'd been born with a cursed technique and he hadn't, he was the better one. Toji was dangerous for what he represented and what that could do to the clan. You're much the same. It gives me no pleasure to do this, nephew. Rest well," he said, and then he drew back his fist for an obviously telegraphed blow.
His cursed energy spiked and flowed straight to said fist as he reared it back. When he shot it forward, it was surrounded by seven others. Each one big as a full grown man and glowing red. It was overkill. The kind of attack aimed not just to kill, but to destroy completely. And here I stood, helpless to escape it.
At least that's what he thought. Ranta from his position on the shipping crate never saw the Divine Dog coming. In a single dive, it had him pinned while taking a huge chunk out of his midsection. That gave me the freedom to move again. I formed the shape of an elephant with my body and hands as quickly as I could. Escaping into my own shadow wouldn't work for avoiding this attack as it would destroy much of the surrounding ground, and while it didn't look like it, attacks could reach me quite easily in my shadow. It was a technique for stealth and positioning, not for defence.
The max elephant appeared with the sound of a mighty trumpet, taking all seven of the punches straight up. I bent down, near flat to the ground, as the elephant sailed over my head before crashing into one of the containers behind me. Still alive, thankfully. I returned him.
"You survived that one. Not again," he said, rearing his other fist back. The sound of a growl turned his attention towards the approaching Divine Dog. With totality, he was more akin to a massive wolf than a dog for all intents and purposes. The logical thing to do would have been to turn his next attack at me. If I was dead, then the dog would dispel. But then if I somehow survived, the dog would rip him to shreds, so the cautious thing to do was to deal with the dog first. He reared back his fist and punched. I waited until right before the attack was going to hit to return him to my shadow, and by then the second shikigami I hadn't returned after my fight with Kashimo was in position.
Piercing Ox lived true to his name and near gored the man to death with his charge. The body flew into the same shipping crate that Max Elephant had dented heavily earlier. Releasing Divine Dog once again, I got to work. All four of them, against all odds, were still breathing.
Divine Dog headed over to Ogi first. He had been trying to subtly make a retreat once he had recovered from my initial blows. He attempted to slash at the approaching shikigami, but it took little for the dog to jump over the flames and land on his target. Teeth around his shoulder filled the area with delightful screams. Then the dog began dragging his form towards where I waited.
I went for Jinichi, picking him up with little effort. He was on death's door already, so I had little to fear as I carried his body over to where Chojuro moaned on the ground. I dropped one Zenin on top of the other. If Chojuro was going to try something, then Jinichi's body pressing down on his should be a good enough preventative measure. After Dog had brought over Ogi, I sent him for Ranta.
All four of them laid at my feet after a matter of seconds.
"It was a good ambush, all things considered," I said, and then my fingers came together again, summoning the Round Deer.
I could feel the part of my brain that my cursed technique was engraved into. It was just one of those things that you knew. Like how your hands knew where your mouth was no matter if you directed them with your eyes or not. So I did as Gojo had done in another life. I flooded it with cursed energy, destroying that part of my brain, and then at the same time, directing the Round Deer to get its positive energy to work.
I felt that it had worked even before the healing had truly finished. I could use my technique again, and right on time.
"Domain Expansion: Dance of a Thousand Shadows," I said, clasping my hands together. My shadow darkened until it became so black that it was like it swallowed light itself. Then it began to spread over the ground between us, enclosing the five of us in a world of darkness. The sky became darkness as well as all the world was my shadow.
The sure hit effect got to work instantly. None of them were in any state to even attempt any anti-domain techniques, and so they began to sink into my shadow, one by one being devoured.
I wouldn't have attempted this without my domain. I knew the limits to my cursed technique ordinarily. Trying to consume so many people would have overtaxed me without it being boosted to 120%. It probably would have overwhelmed me as well if they weren't all so grievously wounded, but that was beside the point.
I felt it in my body as both reserves and output began to rise. The weakest of them was a Semi-Grade 1. Two of them were powerful Grade 1s, even so it was no surprise that my capacity felt like it had more than doubled. Output rose at a smaller but still significant 75%. As things stood at present, I'd give myself good odds against someone like Yuki Tsukumo or maybe even Geto—the one that had fought Okkotsu (most of his cursed spirits lost distracting Jujutsu high). But the true monsters of this world, they were still oceans away.
The barrier that made my domain shattered as I dispelled it. All four of their bodies lay slumped on the ground as my shadow retracted itself.
My point total had gone up to twenty-five now.
I contemplated burning the bodies or something but ended up thinking about it for too long clearly.
"What did you do?" Maki asked, staring straight at the bodies that laid at my feet. I turned to look at her.
"They tried to do something stupid. I stopped them. Do you have a problem with that?" I asked, looking at her. I had just killed her father after all. If she wanted to do something stupid like try to avenge him, it was probably best that she did it now that Divine Dog was just waiting for the order to tear her to pieces.
"N-no. You just said you wanted to use the Zenin clan to help things along. So what's with killing them now?"
"As long as there are those who cling to what was, there can never be those who accept what can be. The Hei benefited the most from the old clan structure. Removing them from the board gives us the space to enact lasting change. Besides, what else could I do to those who tried to kill me?" I asked.
She nodded, looking at the bodies for longer before returning her gaze to me.
"You've gotten stronger."
"I can't afford to hold back anymore, can I? Gojo-sensei is gone, and without him we're the ones with the burden of preventing this world from going to shit. He raised me, so maybe I feel the burden stronger than most," I said.
"It makes sense. They did always say the Ten Shadows were the pinnacle of innate techniques. Just didn't think you'd be able to kill four of them working together. Even a Special Grade curse wouldn't have survived their onslaught," she said.
I nodded, not interested in saying any more.
"What brought you here? Aren't you supposed to be coordinating the rest of the clan?" I asked.
"Oh. That. I'm sorry, Megumi," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"We can't find Tsumiki anymore. I sent one of the clan's assistants to get her from the hospital so she could be close enough for when we needed to help her, and she wasn't there. The hospital said she'd been gone for days," she said. I froze at that. Megumi's sister. I felt a squeezing in my chest, like my heart wanted to burst apart.
I stumbled forwards, barely even feeling it as Maki caught me in her grip. I placed my hand against my chest.
'I'll find her and save her. I promise,' I said, feeling the pain reach a crescendo. Like my heart had been placed in a vice that slowly tightened with every second that passed. And then it stopped.
'You better.' The voice came from deep within me. A place that should no longer exist. I closed my eyes and sighed. Fuck you, Megumi.
"Megumi? Megumi?"
"I can hear you, Maki, no need to shout," I said, pulling back from her as I stood now on my own two feet.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine." I needed to find her. Tsumiki was not in control of that body so that means Yorozu was the one that had escaped, but she hadn't done that in canon. So why was she doing it now? What had changed?
"What was that?" she asked, gaze sharp and assessing.
"Nothing," I said, trying to think. There was only one thing I knew Yorozu wanted. She wanted to fight Sukuna. Would she have gone to face Itadori himself? He was in Tokyo same as me, but in the other colony. There was a chance she had gone to him, but the messages I'd had Maki send to Tsumiki should have given her the impression that I'd give her the one-on-one with Sukuna she was looking for. So why had she made a move?
"Kogane, where is Tsumiki Fushiguro?" I asked, feeling a mounting mixture of confusion and irritation rising.
"There is no player in the Culling Game with that registered name," the shikigami replied. I near snarled at the thing before I froze. Of course. She would have registered under her true name since there was no need for pretence in this situation.
"Where is Yorozu?" I asked instead.
"She is in the Tokyo 1 colony," the shikigami said, showing me her position on the map. Fuck. She was seeking out Sukuna then. And if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that she would not survive that fight.
"Who is Yorozu, Megumi?" Maki asked. I turned to her, wanting to ask her to fuck off before realising I needed her now. More than ever.
"The ancient sorcerer incarnated in Tsumiki," I said.
"Wait, what? There is a sorcerer incarnated in Tsumiki? How did you know this?"
"I always knew. That is why I sent the messages through you. I did research on ancient sorcerers while I had you passing messages between us," I said.
"But how?"
"Because my sister would have insisted on seeing me the second she woke up. The fact that she was fine receiving information from you made it clear enough," I said.
"But how did you know the name of the sorcerer in particular?"
"We don't have time for this. I need you to get moving now," I said, not completely comfortable with the line of questioning.
"What?"
"I need you to go to Okkotsu. Tell him I need him to add a rule allowing movement between the colonies. I need to reach her," I said.
"But—"
"Maki, please. I need you to do this for me. I'll owe you one," I said.
"You'll owe me nothing. You saved my sister. I'll help save yours," she said. I nodded in thanks as she began to walk away. But then she stopped and turned around.
"Megumi?"
"Yes, Maki?"
"When this is over, you have to explain yourself. I'll excuse the obfuscations for now, but once this ends you tell me everything," she said.
"Of course," I conceded with an easy nod. I'd have come up with a good enough lie by then.
She began to leave and then I turned back to the husks that remained of the four men I'd just slain. The colony was virtually empty now. Kashimo had killed almost everyone upon his incarnation and then whoever remained had probably been done in by the cursed spirits that had been left to run amok. Kashimo had little interest in killing them as they couldn't put up a good fight and I had no interest as they didn't give any points.
So what was there for me to do now? To wait for Maki to get my message to Okkotsu.
"Kogane, show me the players with the most points," I said, and it showed what I expected. Okkotsu was at the top of the list with one hundred and thirty points. Hakari had seventy-six, then there was me with twenty-five and Charles Bernard with about ten. The rest had point tallies in the single digits. Expected.
I decided that I would transfer my points to Hakari when I managed to reach him so I could tell him the right rule to add in context. Part of me just wanted to watch the Map of the other Tokyo colony to keep appraised of what was happening, but that would do nothing but bring me even closer to the point of madness. I wouldn't be able to do anything, so what was the point of watching? There was only one thing I could do now, and that was trust the others to do the right things.
Not just that, though, I thought after a few seconds of just staring at the sky. I could also get stronger on my own.
Could I do it now? I was pretty confident. My cursed energy output had risen to the level where I had a greater output of it now than anyone other than Okkotsu, Gojo, and Sukuna—at least among those whose output I could estimate. Did I have higher output than Tsukumo? Maybe. That would show itself in the strength of my tamed shadows, I knew. In the manga, Nue had grown to the size of a building when Sukuna summoned her. I'd get similar gains with my own shadows now—if to a much lesser extent considering I wasn't at his level… yet.
And it wasn't just about whether I could do it. Tokyo 1 would have Sukuna, Yorozu and who knows what other threats considering free movement between colonies would be permitted. I needed him when I entered that gauntlet. I needed to complete the Ten Shadows. Replenishing my cursed technique with Round Deer was easier this time as I was more confident about what I was doing, and then I stood and took the required stance.
"With this treasure, I summon…" I took a deep breath.
"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga," I said, and the world went still.
A/N: Well, it did have to happen eventually. Next three chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.