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.
Mahoraga was massive. Watching him appear from within Megumi's soul had not driven home just how massive the Divine General was. And it wasn't just physical size. Impossibly enough, his sheer presence made him seem even taller than his frame allowed. His body was cut out of marble. Each muscle coiled and tensed, and ready to deliver maximum damage. In one hand was the Sword of Extermination, joined to it by a set of bandages, and above its head was the wheel of adaptation that seemed more like a crown from this close.
It did not allow me to examine it forever, moving on the attack in no time. It closed the distance between us in a matter of seconds. It was just a shade faster than Kashimo was, and struck with much more power. The Sword of Extermination cut a dangerous arc and would have cleaved me in twain but for my sudden jump backwards. As I jumped, I weaved my cursed energy into my shadows.
I pinned him to the ground, stabbing through him several times and holding him straight to the ground. Piercing Ox rose from my shadow and began to charge. As Mahoraga flexed, the sword seemed to darken, and then it ripped through my shadows before cutting and blocking the charge of the approaching Ox with a single outstretched hand before stabbing it straight through the stomach with its positive energy-teeming blade. The shikigami stood no real chance of surviving that attack, so I showed no disappointment as I felt it return to my shadow. The good part was that they couldn't die during one of these. I couldn't use them again during the same ritual after they were 'killed,' but that was an acceptable tradeoff for not having to worry about them dying in combat.
I watched as the dharma wheel above its head turned once, and I took a deep breath. When Mahoraga gets hit by an attack, it immediately begins to adapt to that phenomena, and when it gets hit again, it speeds up the adaptation focus. That meant even if I didn't bring my physical shadows to bear again throughout the fight, there was every chance that it would still finish adapting to them by the time I was ready to land the finishing blow.
I returned all my shikigami to my shadow with a flex of my will, and I turned to face the Divine General straight on. He seemed to smile—even if his face did not move at all—as he closed the distance between us. I weaved to the side, body flooded with cursed energy, as I slammed a kick at its head. A hand went up before my leg had even travelled half the distance. I pushed against the hand, and it allowed me to avoid the follow-up with the blade that would have sliced me in twain. He followed the assault on my person as I landed on my feet and took my stance again, moving even faster now that it didn't have to worry about any shikigami in its blindspot.
Starting out with a straight stab for my head, I raised an arm, knocking it out of the way. It felt like hitting metal, but it yielded to the cursed energy that coursed through my every blow regardless. Megumi had been one of the best in his generation at controlling his cursed energy. Placed in a body like this one, and then with the advantage of having landed a Black Flash in the past, I could feel my cursed energy reinforcement actually getting better as time passed. I could feel through the muscles that needed more cursed energy and the ones that would make do with less.
Its other fist followed. I ducked underneath, aiming to land a straight punch to its chest. The blade was back again, and I spun to the side to narrowly avoid being impaled on its gleaming sharp edge. I punched at his head. The creature saw it coming, and instead of retreating or dodging, it decided to headbutt my approaching fist. I wish I could wax lyrical about how an unstoppable force met an immovable object as both our attacks collided. Sadly, that was not to be the case. My hand met his head, and I folded. Even coursing with cursed energy, it was not enough for me to bridge the gap in power between us. My hand snapped backwards—at least two of my fingers were broken from that one clash. I backflipped out of the way of the follow-up slash. This time it kept coming, not allowing me a second's respite. It had the advantage now, and it was clearly determined to use it.
I ducked underneath a follow-up slash that came the second my feet were under me again, pushing backwards. But he did not stop coming. An elbow slammed into my head while I crossed my hands to block a knee to the sternum that would have winded me quite thoroughly. Was a head injury preferable? Probably not, but the spinning in my head meant I wasn't all that opposed to hurling my body into a spin to avoid the thrust of the Sword of Extermination.
It was like the blade burned, the way its positive energy just spread out from it. If it stabbed through me, there was little chance I'd be able to keep using my cursed energy. It would just disrupt all my control in one go. But then having it near me was giving me ideas. I kicked at his chest. It took it straight up before punching me in the stomach.
I didn't even feel the shipping crate I crashed into as the steel folded around my body. I felt along my ribs. They were still intact, thankfully. I'd seen the punch coming at the last second and managed to funnel enough cursed energy there to prevent catastrophic damage.
Mahoraga would not be the Divine General if it just left me there to rest, though. It seemed to flicker through the air as my barely open eyes tracked him leave his position to appear in front of the shipping crate. He picked me up by the head, hand folding around my skull and squeezing.
"Arghhhh!" I screamed as I tried to bring my hands together. This was foolish. I should have opened my domain the second the fight began. What a foolish thing, me thinking that I had the privilege of starting without it. That I could somehow weaken him enough without it that the domain would end the fight instantly. My thoughts stopped like a car smashing into a wall as I felt the blade slip between my ribs. I couldn't breathe.
Even bringing my hands together to use my domain was useless. The positive energy emanating from the blade was fucking up all my control. I gasped breathlessly as he slid the sword out before rearing back and hurling my still form away. I felt myself slip into the water. Positive energy, it was crawling through every inch of me. But it wasn't mine. It was Mahoraga's.
They said when you got close to death, you saw your whole life flash before you. I just saw darkness. But I felt something. Positive energy. Mahoraga's sword would not heal me, positive energy or no. But my own positive energy, that was another thing entirely. I focused on the feeling the sword had left behind even as I felt the positive energy fleeing. It was cursed energy, just inverted. Not multiplied by itself, like I previously thought. No. It was inverted. Multiply to create one.
It was just math. I did as I thought, and I felt the first trace of it. My own positive energy. I barely even needed to direct it. It went straight to the wounds I could feel, healing them and bringing me back to full consciousness. It was exhausting, I felt. At least a quarter of my reserves had gone into healing the three wounds I'd sustained so far. Now, I could open my eyes, and it was to see myself be almost consumed by a cursed spirit.
I clapped my hands together, working more by instinct than anything else. A single thread of shadow shot from my clasped hands and stabbed straight through the creature. And then I felt a train slam into me. All my previous sinking was reverted as I was thrust right back out of the water. I looked down at the thing. It was like a massive sea serpent. I sent the positive energy I'd mostly used up in healing to my fist and smashed it against its head. The creature bubbled and deflated, before its head exploded beneath me.
I twisted, pushing off against what remained of its neck and jumping back to the surface of the pier. There I found the Divine General waiting for me. Round two.
This time, as he rushed at me, I wasted no time in bringing my fingers together.
"Domain Expansion: Dance of Thousand Shadows." My domain opened even faster for the third time today. Creating the barrier, imbuing it with my innate technique, setting the rules, all of it was even easier with practice. I could feel my domain as it got more refined with each use. At this stage, I could probably have managed to beat Naoya without either of the advantages I'd received in our fight against each other.
Speaking of Naoya, he hadn't been fast enough to outrun my domain's sure-hit effect, and neither was Mahoraga. The Divine General was frozen a few feet from me, and he began sinking into my shadow. Slower than anyone else had ever been, and I wondered what would happen if he got absorbed into my shadow. Would that count as killing him for the sake of the ritual? I sure hoped so. Would it give me an increase to my cursed energy reserves? Probably not. I wondered if I could get the ability to adapt from him, but I would rather have the shikigami than the ability without the shikigami. Adaptation required being exposed to an attack first, and I had no interest in doing that kind of grunt work.
The wheel above his head turned again, and the speed at which he was being overcome by my shadow slowed even further. This is exactly what I had been afraid of. There was a chance that he would adapt faster than my domain could take him down, and in that case, what was there to do? Plan B.
Mahoraga's wheel turned again, and his absorption rate slowed even further. I grunted and brought my hands together, waiting.
It took only a minute more for the wheel of adaptation to turn one more time, and the Divine General was unleashed from the shadows that held him. He continued his relentless pursuit of me, but we were still in my domain, sure-hit or not.
My shadow formed several dozen tendrils, and each one stabbed into the Divine General.
"Arghhhh!" I screamed, forcing the shadows to come apart, ripping him to pieces with the strength my domain added to my technique. And then, like nothing had ever happened, his body was fully intact again, and he continued his journey forwards, moving step after step with intent.
I forced him to stop, threading my shadow with his. He just kept fucking moving. His shadow ripping itself away from mine. So this is what happened when the Divine General was fully adapted. Piercing Ox would have been perfect right about now, but I couldn't use him anymore. From my shadow came both Tiger Funeral and Divine Dog Totality.
Tiger Funeral attacked upfront. Divine Dog prepared to attack in a blindspot. I flooded my body with cursed energy and jumped into the fray.
Tiger Funeral hit with strikes strong enough to crush stone. I followed in its wake as we made to overwhelm the Divine General. The entire domain was my shadow, and so movement here was easy. I stepped forward and appeared right in his guard as my shadow spat me out. He turned, moving the Sword of Extermination to slice me in twain.
Tiger Funeral shot out behind him, smashing a punch into his head that forced him off balance. I punched him in the chest instead. I felt his ribs under my fist. He twisted, about to hit Tiger with a backhand, but my shadows took it to safety, and then I kicked him behind his knee, forcing it to buckle. Tiger Funeral punched him out from the left side of his face before returning to my shadow.
He twisted in my direction, realising I was the biggest threat, but it didn't matter because I was gone by the time he had completed his swing. I returned as the blade passed me by and clapped him around the ears, sending cursed energy with the blow that would have scrambled a human's brains. He stepped backwards. Tiger Funeral stomped him in the lower back. He tried to turn, and it was gone.
It turned to me, and I was gone as well. It reared around, turning in every direction and waiting for the next attack. And then I grabbed one of his legs as he tried moving again. That split-second distraction allowed Tiger Funeral to land a devastating right hook. It forced him to the side, and I followed it up with one of my own.
Tiger Funeral smashed a kick to his chest. He tried to catch the foot, but too late. Tiger was gone again. In its place, I smashed two punches to its head in quick succession. He tried stabbing me with the blade again.
Tiger Funeral swept his feet out from under him. He flipped with the attack, returning to his feet with admirable speed. Still, that didn't stop Tiger Funeral from landing a follow-up axe kick. He pushed out with his chest as it did so, forcing the shikigami's knees to buckle. That would have worked against me, but Tiger followed through with the attack. And then it was in my shadow again.
Mahoraga tried to stab me straight in the head, but I was gone as well. It looked around, turning in each direction, waiting to see where we would attack from next. The question it had on its mind was the wrong one. Because this entire domain was my shadow. That included the ceiling. Taking one from Megumi's book, I dropped Max Elephant right on his head.
All his attention focused on seeing where we would attack from first, there was no chance of him seeing it coming. Max Elephant smashed into him, but he managed to get his hands up at the last second to prevent himself from being smashed into the ground. His muscles strained as he held the enormous creature up. Mine was about double the size of Megumi's already, and it would grow bigger as I got more and more cursed energy. Now everything was almost ready for the coup de grace.
Mahoraga twisted and then turned to toss Max Elephant off to the distance. At least, he tried to… Orochi rose from within my shadow and wrapped itself around the Divine General. Within a subjugation ritual, I could use shadows that had died either on their own, or I could use them as part of a totality. Divine Dog worked best as a totality, but Orochi worked best on its own. With his hands held above its head keeping the bulk of Max Elephant from crushing him, there was little he could do to escape Orochi's hold.
He was trapped. Now to end it. I pulled the bow out from my shadow. Special Grade Cursed Tool: Transcendence. I pointed it at Mahoraga, and then I began to draw the string. From behind me, Nue rose. Its lightning hit me at full capacity, and I felt none of it as Transcendence absorbed the power. An ethereal arrow of pure concussive force formed. I took a breath. This was it. My one shot.
I aimed carefully even as Mahoraga's muscles began to strain against Orochi's wraps. I aimed straight for the head and fired. The arrow flew quick, and it flew true; it hit with an explosion that brought light to my domain for the first time ever. Both Orochi and Max Elephant were destroyed in the attack. Nue rested behind me while I felt disappointment pool in my stomach. He had survived. The attack had damaged the Divine General, but he was healing. Enough of him had survived to allow him to remain.
Plan B failed. I now had only one desperate gamble.
"Cursed Technique Reversal," I said, forming a seal as I fed positive energy into my own innate technique. The Ten Shadows did not have a true reversal, but my cursed shadow manipulation did. I could feel it. Positive energy threaded into my shadow, and then instead of seeking to absorb, it spat out.
First was a shadowy haughty form. Naoya. He stood in front of me, strong and proud. And then next was Kashimo, the reincarnated sorcerer incarnating again in shadow. And then came the Hei all at once. Ogi, Ranta, Chojuro, and Jinichi; I could see it now. My innate technique allowed me to consume sorcerers into my shadow and take their essence, essentially. The reversal of that spat them back out as shadows I could control. Was this how the initial Ten Shadows had formed?
I could feel a connection to each of them like they were my own shikigami, and I felt it now. It was over for Mahoraga. Because with this group, I could conquer a nation.
A/N: And so we get Reverse Cursed technique and a Cursed Technique Reversal reveal in the same chapter. Fun times. Yes, I'm messing with the rules a bit (the Orochi summoning). It's a bit of a copout because I realised I used it in the fight against Tiger Funeral so I needed an explanation since Sukuna had killed it before now, and figured since we don't know much about the subjugation ritual, we might as well. 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.