Chapter 155 - All Hands Assemble

Ambulance sirens wailed in a chorus outside the barrier. The medical team loaded Maki, Nanami, and Naobito Zenin onto stretchers. Their injuries were too severe. Even after Round Deer forcibly pulled them back to full health, their depleted stamina and shattered Cursed Energy circuits couldn't recover immediately. Staying here would only make them a burden.

Megumi watched the stretchers roll away, then turned and walked back into the ruins. The outer perimeter of Shibuya Station. The Dogenzaka intersection. Suguru Geto leaned against an overturned bus, gasping for air, half his body crusted with dried blood. Atsuya Kusakabe crouched at the curb smoking, the fingers holding the cigarette trembling without stop. That last battle had nearly drained them both dry.

Nobara Kugisaki walked over swinging her hammer, brow furrowed into a tight knot.

"Civilians are basically all evacuated." Kusakabe exhaled a smoke ring, voice gone hoarse. "The barrier targeting Mr. Toji has shattered too. That monster is probably running loose all over the place right now. All that's left is mopping up the scattered Transfigured Humans."

"What about Itadori?" Nobara cut him off.

Nobody spoke. Megumi clenched his fist. No contact. Since entering the subway station, Yuji Itadori had gone completely dark. Where the hell had that idiot charged off to? Had Gojo-sensei actually been sealed or not? Megumi's stomach lurched. He forced the anxiety down hard. He had to find him.

"Rest in place for ten minutes, then we go under—"

Suguru Geto stopped dead. His gaze locked onto the thick smoke billowing down the street. Laughter rang out from ahead.

"Hahahaha! The way you were face-down on the ground just now — hilarious. You didn't even dare fight back, did you?"

Unhurried footsteps. A young man with gray hair and a stitched face strolled out of the smoke and ash, casually tossing a chunk of rubble in one hand. Mahito. Jogo followed alongside him. Freshly formed rocky skin hissed white vapor. The volcanic crater on top of his head belched black smoke. He kept his head low. His single eye was locked rigidly on the ground.

Sukuna's overwhelming power and the humiliation that came with it were still hacking back and forth inside his skull. Every nerve in the group snapped taut. Suguru Geto forced himself upright. Two Grade 1 Cursed Spirits immediately crawled out from the shadow at his back. Megumi laced his hands together and pressed out a shadow seal. Nobara pinched several nails between her fingers.

These Special Grade Cursed Spirits were all still alive.

"Well." Mahito stopped walking. His gaze swept across the sorcerers standing ready, and he curled the corner of his mouth. "Fresh toys."

Megumi stared at Mahito, muscles wound so tight they ached. These things had just come up from underground.

"What did you do to Itadori?" Megumi said through his teeth.

Mahito tilted his head and rubbed his chin in mock puzzlement.

"Itadori?" He clapped both hands together and bent over laughing. "Oh my, that name doesn't quite work anymore."

He straightened up, enunciating each word with deliberate care.

"It's Sukuna now."

Megumi's pupils contracted sharply.

"Are you out of your mind!" Nobara erupted, raising her hand to fling the nails.

"Enough talking."

A hoarse, low snarl exploded outward. Jogo snapped his head up. His single eye was bloodshot, the veins along the side of his face bulging. Against Sukuna he hadn't even had the right to fight back. But these pathetic sorcerers who couldn't even open a Domain, what were they?!

"Kill them all!"

BOOM!

Jogo slammed both hands hard into the ground. No windup. The entire asphalt surface of Dogenzaka instantly melted and collapsed. Hundreds of thick lava pillars erupted skyward with devastating force, completely swallowing the area where Megumi and the others stood.

"Scatter!" Suguru Geto roared.

The instant the road gave way, Megumi opened the Eight Gates. Gate of Life, open! Ferocious green steam exploded outward with a thunderous blast. He stomped through the melting asphalt, using the recoil to launch himself clear of the encircling fire pillars. Midair, he formed seals with both hands.

"Nue!"

The massive thunderbird burst through the sky. Its wings beat once, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel struck straight down at Jogo. Jogo didn't even look. He swung one hand upward, almost lazy. Raging flames coiled around the lightning and surged back in reverse, scorching half of Nue's wings to charcoal in the process.

"Too weak!" Jogo bellowed.

On the other side, using the lava eruption as cover, Mahito skimmed low along the ground and slipped directly behind Nobara.

"Shall I start with you? Kneading your soul a little would definitely be fun."

He reached out his hand. A pale blue light bloomed in his palm. Idle Transfiguration. Nobara didn't look back. She dropped low in an instant.

A backhanded swing drove her hammer straight at Mahito's wrist. "Back off!"

THUD!

Nails reinforced by powerful Cursed Energy drove deep into the back of Mahito's hand.

Mahito recoiled, looked at the nails embedded in his hand, and flicked away the blood. "Oh? Cursed Energy driven into the soul? That actually hurts."

Suguru Geto directed a mantis Cursed Spirit to dive from above and cleave toward Mahito's skull. "Kusakabe! Cover her!"

Kusakabe drew the blade. New Shadow Style sword energy cut off every escape route Mahito had. On the other side, Megumi landed. Speed pushed to its absolute limit, weaving through the dense forest of lava pillars, driving straight toward Jogo. He couldn't fight from range. The old monster's fire coverage was too vast. Drag this out any longer and everyone would be burned alive.

He had to get in close and break the casting. Jogo noticed the approaching green steam and sneered.

"Looking to die."

Both hands whipped through the air.

"Ember Insects!"

Hundreds of insects wreathed in green flame poured from his palms and hurtled toward Megumi at a speed that broke the sound barrier. Megumi didn't dodge. His ten fingers flew together in overlapping seals.

"Rabbit Escape!"

Thousands of white rabbits surged out in an instant like a crashing wave, slamming into the fire insects through sheer force of numbers.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A dense chain of explosions detonated above the street. Torrents of charred ash rained down. Megumi pushed through the blast wave, treading across scorched ground, and drove straight to Jogo's face. His right fist, wreathed in green steam, swung hard and aimed directly at the other's face. The punch tore through the air and detonated a deep, concussive boom.

Jogo narrowed his single eye and raised his left arm to take it head-on.

THUD!

Flame and green steam crashed together. The savage shockwave radiated outward from the two of them. Shop windows on both sides of the street shattered simultaneously. The ground beneath Jogo's feet sank half an inch, forcing him back half a step. What was going on with this kid's physical strength?

"Is that all you've got!" Jogo reached back and seized Megumi's wrist in an iron grip.

Extreme heat instantly burned through his uniform sleeve. The flesh sizzled with a scorching hiss. That arm was finished. Megumi didn't so much as furrow his brow. He pressed forward instead of pulling back, eyes locked on Jogo. You took the bait. The shadow on the ground behind Jogo boiled wildly.

"Piercing Ox!"

A massive, heavily armored black bull exploded out of the shadow in a savage charge. It had been building speed in the shadow's depths for a full 20 meters. Too close. No way to dodge. Jogo's face went wide with shock. He released Megumi on instinct and poured every ounce of Cursed Energy to his back in defense. The enormous horns, carrying terrifying momentum, drove straight into Jogo's back.

THUD!

The impact thundered across the street. Jogo was sent flying by a direct hit. He crashed through three lamppost poles in a row and smashed headfirst into the ruins of a convenience store, buried completely under the debris. Megumi panted hard, shaking out his badly burned right hand. The blisters on his wrist had already merged into one continuous patch. He had to finish this now.

He was about to charge into the ruins when a suffocating wave of heat erupted from beneath them.

BOOM!

The convenience store rubble blew into the sky. Jogo, his entire body blazing with incandescent white-hot flame, drifted slowly up from the crater. The back half of his body was caved in, but the fury had already stripped him of all reason.

"You little brat..." Jogo was a volcano on the verge of eruption. "I'll burn you until there's not even ash left!"

He raised both hands high above his head. The air across all of Dogenzaka was sucked dry in an instant. A massive white-hot fireball more than 20 meters across was taking shape at terrifying speed. The extreme heat began melting the tires of the surrounding cars. If that thing came down, the entire street would be leveled.

Megumi stared at the fireball forming overhead, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. The Gate of Life's speed wouldn't carry him out of the blast radius. No escaping it. The only option was to go all in. Megumi drew a deep breath and slowly raised both hands, lacing them together in front of his chest.

If the barrier couldn't seal it off completely, he would drag the entire street into the shadows along with it.

"Domain—"

"Hey. You over there, the one with smoke coming off your head."

A languid voice drifted down from above, and every movement in the street stopped at once. Megumi's hands froze. Jogo snapped his head up, arms still raised high. Atop a nearby signal tower, a figure in a Tokyo Jujutsu High uniform crouched on the railing.

Face covered in black tattoos. A pair of crimson slits split open beneath each eye. A cruel smile at the corner of the mouth. Sukuna.

"I forgot to mention." The smile didn't move. "Everything you do from here on out — you follow my orders."

➤ Next: The Protagonist Enters the Stage