Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 15 - Big Is Right

"Fushiguro is mine!"

Kashimo I brought a hand-blade crashing down from above.

The right arm fell like a bolt of lightning, leaving a searing trail of light in its wake. The hand-blade moved at extreme speed, the air had no time to part to either side. Instead it compressed into a visible white membrane, clinging tight to the leading edge of the blade, letting out a piercing shriek as the strike descended.

Tsumiki leaned back in a tactical dodge, arching the body in reverse like a cat bending low. The waist revealed astonishing flexibility in that instant.

Like a shadow-cutter stealing life itself.

Hair cascaded downward like a black waterfall, the tips sweeping the dust on the ground and lifting a thin wisp of smoke.

Faced with the surprise strike, Tsumiki perfectly withdrew the body from the range of Kashimo I's hand-blade. Only the chest, heaving too greatly from the effort, could not fully escape the reach of the electrical charge clinging to the air around it. An involuntary wave of numbness ran through Tsumiki's chest. The lung muscles spasmed once, forcing a short muffled grunt up through the throat.

Yet Tsumiki did not retreat. Tsumiki advanced.

Riding the momentum of the backward lean, the core exploded with force. The entire body snapped back like a spring compressed to its limit, chest held high with pride, letting Kashimo I see the true gap in "power."

The full curves rose high beneath the tight binding of the Insect Armor, almost reaching the tip of Kashimo I's nose.

A taunting smile at the corner of the lips.

And pity.

"Are you mocking me!"

Staring at what Kashimo I could never possess in this lifetime, Kashimo I flew into a rage.

The hand-blade came down again.

This time, nothing held back. The hips and waist twisted sharply, pulling the shoulder along, and every ounce of force converged in an instant onto those five pressed-together fingers, an unstoppable thunderous slash.

It landed squarely on Tsumiki's chest.

BOOM!

Dark violet arcs of electricity leapt wildly across Tsumiki's chest.

Yet Kashimo I felt no joy at all. That unexpected hit left Kashimo I staring blankly down at a flat, meager chest, a tic running through the face.

"It's okay, Kashimo!"

"Back then, Todo almost beat me half to death — and that was just because I only said I liked someone with enough personality!"

Megumi was still holding the hand seal inside the Hollow Wicker Basket, but that did nothing to stop the delight spreading across his face. Getting more worked up as he spoke, he pressed on:

"In other words!"

"A pint-sized mama type is also a very distinctive personality, okay?!"

"Don't give up, Kashimo I!"

Megumi's roar pierced through every wisp of smoke on the battlefield and reached the very depths of Kashimo I's heart.

"Fu! Shi! Gu! Ro!"

Kashimo I's aura surged again, the killing intent far more lethal than moments before.

"Using emotional intensity as an accelerant to draw out hidden potential?"

Tsumiki watched Kashimo I suddenly spurred on by the encouragement, and pressed both hands hard over a heart wrung with pain.

"Odou, how could you do this to your older sibling?!"

Seeing Tsumiki's devastated expression, Megumi broke into a sunny smile.

"Don't worry, I'm very fair about this."

"Who said you can only have one preference?"

"Bigger. Is. Better!"

Megumi's thunderous declaration rang out like a thunderclap and pierced through the entire battlefield, stirring both Tsumiki and Hana Kurusu at the same time. All three of them, driven by surging emotion, had unleashed far more potential than ever before.

"Hell yeah!"

For the spectator Hajime Kashimo, this was without question the most perfect feast. He pressed both hands above his brows in excitement, trying to take in every detail of the fight.

But the words Megumi had just blurted out kept churning in the depths of his heart.

In the end, he couldn't hold back.

"Fushiguro, when you say 'distinctive personality,' do you mean—"

"The male type is an even rarer kind of distinctive personality!"

Megumi's eyes lit up with a gleam that sent Hajime scrambling backward in fright, hurriedly putting more distance between the two Hollow Wicker Baskets.

Thunder continued to roll.

Lightning and silver-gray insectoid armor were still racing all over the battlefield.

Perhaps due to the difference in cursed technique mastery, Tsumiki in the Insect Armor form was being suppressed by the Mythical Amber Beast at every turn. Each thunderous punch sent countless metal fragments scattering. The Insect Armor had even lost the ability to achieve full coverage.

Tsumiki's legs. The waist. The chest.

Every area that had taken the brunt of Kashimo I's assault could no longer grow new liquid metal to replenish it. The repair speed slowed and slowed. The newly generated plating grew thinner and thinner, the color dimmer and dimmer, fading from its original silver all the way to a pale gray.

Shards of silver liquid metal lay scattered across the ground, reflecting fragmented points of light under the lightning's glare, like pieces of shattered stars strewn across the earth. Like a broken mirror, too, each fragment holding a miniature reflection of this battle.

The Mythical Amber Beast was a fighting style that consumed lifespan. But what was more obvious, far more obvious, was that Tsumiki's condition was declining at a rate that far outpaced Kashimo I's. Tsumiki's breathing had already turned ragged and rapid.

Just as Tsumiki was beginning to feel the strain, Kashimo I suddenly flipped back in retreat.

The toes touched the ground for just an instant. The body drifted backward several meters as though weightless, opening up distance from Tsumiki. Knuckles opened into a palm. Once again settling into that precise, familiar stance.

"The electrical charge has built up to about enough..."

Lightning converged from every part of the body toward the palms, condensing between those two hands into a spike of light that grew brighter and larger by the second.

A smile of victory spread across Kashimo I's face. The gaze locked onto Tsumiki, as if the image of the next second were already visible, Tsumiki swallowed whole by the lightning.

But the finishing move never came.

Tsumiki cut it off directly.

"The metal has built up to more than enough!"

Tsumiki's spirit snapped back from exhaustion in an instant, the fatigue vanishing from the face in a single breath. A smile does not disappear. It only changes hands.

The victorious smile transferred instantly onto Tsumiki's face.

After discovering that the True Sphere — meant to be an unavoidable hit, had failed to connect with Hajime Kashimo, Tsumiki had immediately switched strategies. The plan was simple: even at the cost of wearing down the Insect Armor, keep feeding more liquid metal into the True Sphere. Expand its volume. Widen the attack range.

Tsumiki had deliberately feigned weakness, using the deterioration of the Insect Armor to lull Kashimo I's judgment, making it look like nothing but passive defense. Kashimo I never noticed that the metal shards knocked loose hadn't disappeared at all. They had been silently, soundlessly absorbed by the True Sphere all along.

Like streams flowing into the sea. Like silt sinking to a riverbed.

By now, after burning through more than half of the remaining cursed energy, the True Sphere had long since grown to blot out the sky. Like a great celestial body, it bore down on the position where Kashimo I stood.

It didn't move quickly. It didn't need to. It was large enough to seal off every possible direction of evasion. It moved like a mountain range, carrying an unstoppable, all-crushing force, closing in on Kashimo I inch by inch.

"Come on. Show me how you dodge this."

Tsumiki spread both arms wide, fingers slightly curled, guiding that enormous True Sphere as it pressed forward.

Even Hajime Kashimo, the most fully developed version, the one from the main world, could not help but shudder.

"An attack like this, even if you turned yourself into diced mango, you still couldn't dodge it!"

And Kashimo I, whose Mythical Amber Beast was far less developed than his, could only stand frozen in place, watching the offensive filling the field of vision grow larger and larger.

The shadow had completely enveloped Kashimo I's entire body, wrapping it in absolute darkness.

The lightning looked so small before that sphere.

"In other words."

"It's Tsumiki..."

➤ Next: Holy Shit — Uraume!