Megumi Fushiguro was in a state of absolute, manic transcendence. Within the ink-black depths of his own domain, assisted by his shadows, he was actually trading blows with the armored Mahito.
"Divine Dog!"
Jagged claws tore through Mahito's armor, but the curse split himself into two perfect replicas, each delivering a synchronized, heavy blow toward Megumi.
"Black Flash!"
Black lightning roared, but Megumi's body dissolved into a pool of ink just before impact. He re-emerged behind the real Mahito, his eyes cold and devoid of doubt, his fist wreathed in dark energy.
"Black Flash!"
BOOM!!!
"What—"
The sheer kinetic force felt like being struck head-on by a speeding semi-truck. Mahito's armored torso cracked and buckled under the weight of the impact.
However, a moment later, Mahito reappeared a few meters away, panting but wearing a mocking sneer. "That hurt, you know."
"Too bad for you, that wasn't soul damage. At most, it's a bit of a sting. But as for you..."
Megumi remained silent, but his knuckles were charred and raw. His flesh was beginning to ulcerate. Even though he was the one attacking, a micro-second of contact with Mahito's skin had allowed a trace of Idle Transfiguration to seep in. The wounds on his hand were already deep enough to expose the bone.
"Megumi! Without Kugisaki's technique, we can't kill him! Get the wounded out of here first!" Yuji yelled as he struggled to stand.
Megumi hesitated for only a fraction of a second before reacting. Within the Chimera Shadow Garden, the shadows swirled like a whirlpool, physically tearing a hole through the outer shell of Mahito's domain.
"I can't hold this for long! Go! Now!"
The group scrambled toward the jagged exit.
Outside the Domain
CLANG!
Nobara hammered a nail into the black, veined shell, but it sounded like metal hitting solid bedrock. She was frantic. "Dammit! Isn't the outside of a domain supposed to be fragile?"
"Fragility is a relative term, you know."
"Huh?"
Nobara spun around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Three figures stood in the dim light of the station.
An old man with ripples of muscle, a sake gourd hanging from his belt, and a look of sharp, drunken intelligence.
A stoic man with a horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose and exploding twin-ponytails.
And a handsome, refined young man surrounded by a small army of hovering mechanical drones... Kokichi Muta—Mechamaru?!
At least there was a familiar face!
"Is Mahito in there?" Kokichi asked Nobara urgently.
Nobara nodded quickly.
The stoic man stepped forward, his expression unchanging. "Is my brother, Yuji, in there?"
The muscular elder chuckled. "Is the next head of the Zenin clan, Megumi Fushiguro, in there as well?"
"Ehh???" Nobara's eyes turned into tiny dots. Her brain was momentarily unable to process the bizarre collection of newcomers.
Just then, a swirling vortex opened in the side of Mahito's domain.
Inside the Domain
"Move! Quickly!"
Megumi groaned, straining to keep the exit open. Todo and the others were about to leap out when a figure suddenly lunged in.
The moment Choso saw Yuji Itadori, a memory that never existed flooded his mind. He saw the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings sitting around a long dinner table, sharing a meal. And there, sitting with them, was their youngest brother, Yuji, smiling and happy.
"Onii-san! Ahh~" In the memory, Yuji held out a piece of food, feeding it to Choso with a bright grin.
In reality, Choso's eyes welled with tears.
"Souma Gojo... he didn't lie to me. You really are my brother!"
Choso looked at Yuji with profound tenderness. But then, his gaze shifted. He saw Yuji's battered, bloodied body. He saw Mahito, not far away, preparing to strike the boy again.
Choso's aura exploded in a violent red mist. "You dare... lay a hand on my brother?"
"Slicing Exorcism: Red Scale!"
The horizontal mark across Choso's nose turned a brilliant crimson. Blood seeped from his skin, hardening into thousands of tiny, razor-sharp needles that whistled through the air toward Mahito.
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
Mahito was instantly riddled with holes.
"Who are you now?" Mahito hissed, his wounds knitting together as he turned toward the newcomer.
A moment later, the old man, Zenin Naobito, sauntered in, followed by Kokichi Muta and his mechanical swarm. Naobito looked at Megumi, who was still maintaining his domain, and his eyes lit up like a child finding a lost treasure.
"A Ten Shadows genius who mastered Domain Expansion at fifteen! Remarkable!"
No wonder Toji didn't want to sell the boy.
I'll have to negotiate later, Naobito thought. We need Megumi back at the clan to lead the family.
"Mahito!"
Kokichi Muta's voice was cold. For him, this was a grudge match.
Mahito sneered. "Oh, it's you! How's that new body working out? No 'thank you' for the surgeon?"
Kokichi smiled thinly and pulled several specialized canisters from the chest cavity of a drone.
"That's..."
Mahito's smirk faltered. He recognized those. In their previous fight, Mechamaru had used those very soul-disrupting agents to bypass his invulnerability.
Kokichi held up the canisters for everyone to see. "These can damage his soul directly."
Before he could finish, Yuji lunged forward and snatched one of the injectors.
He stood up slowly, his eyes as cold and stagnant as a dead sea. He had watched Mahito torture his friends. He had watched him laugh while people died. If Megumi hadn't reached a new level today, Yuji would be looking at a pile of corpses right now.
Having touched the bottom of despair, Mahito's earlier words echoed in Yuji's mind.
"Yuji! You are me!"
"I don't remember how many I've killed... it doesn't matter!"
"This is a war!"
Yuji clutched the injector, walking toward Mahito. Everyone could feel the shift in the air; the boy's aura was no longer that of a hero.
"Mahito... you were right."
"Eh?" Mahito felt a genuine shiver run down his spine.
"I am you."
"I was a fool, pretending to be some champion of justice while relying on everyone else's strength. That wasn't me. It shouldn't be."
"I don't need a reason anymore. I don't need an excuse. I'm just going to follow my heart."
Yuji stopped in front of Mahito, his face terrifyingly calm. "And right now, Mahito... my heart really wants to kill you."
At that moment, Kokichi distributed the remaining injectors to the others.
Looking at the circle of sorcerers closing in, all armed with soul-killing poison, Mahito felt a coldness he had never known.
"Wait..."
BOOM!!!
Because Choso and the others had entered, the domain's structural integrity failed. The black shell shattered like glass.
Nobara, waiting outside with her hammer raised, gasped at the sight.
Mahito was riddled with soul-poisoning needles. His limbs were tattered, unable to regenerate properly. Yuji held the final injector, walking toward him with the slow, deliberate pace of a reaper.
"No... wait... please... I'm sorry..."
Mahito's eyes were wide with pathetic, primal terror. He was sobbing, scrambling backward on his hands because his lower body had been pulverized. He left a long, smeared trail of blood on the floor.
But Yuji didn't slow down. He loomed over the curse like a demon coming to collect.
Mahito broke. He wailed, his body twisting in a futile attempt to hide. "I'm sorry! I was wrong! Please spare me! I won't do it again... I promise! Spare me!"
Yuji raised the needle. "Go to hell."
Suddenly, a figure plummeted from the ceiling.
BOOM!!!
Yuji was sent flying, caught mid-air by Choso who dampened the impact.
The weeping Mahito looked up and began to howl with relief, like a bullied child seeing their mother. "Hanami! Hanami! You came for me! Save me, Hanami!"
Faced with a literal army of sorcerers, Hanami didn't hesitate. With a wave of her arm, massive, thick vines burst through the concrete, growing with impossible speed to wall off the sorcerers' vision.
Hanami scooped up the broken Mahito and vanished into the darkness, fleeing the station before the vines could be cleared.
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