Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 20 - The Stacking Emperor
"Ah. The Tiger Sovereign has arrived."
Conqueror King Sukuna slowly curled the corners of their mouth, revealing a smile of absolute arrogance, twisted until it became something grotesque.
In the span of a flipped palm, fingertips had already gathered that sword-finger stance anew, the one that made space itself tremble.
THE DEATHLY-PALE SILVER ARC SHATTERED THE AIR IN AN INSTANT!
The sonic boom from that opening move alone was enough to give any onlooker a glimpse of the force behind that slash.
Yet upon reading that posture, the 68-Tiger standing on the opposing side simply let out a cold snort.
No wind-up. No telegraphing.
The 68-Tiger merely raised a hand slightly and, facing the four-armed divine fiend, mirrored its stance exactly, yet with a presence that matched it blow for blow.
"Release!"
"Release!"
Two completely identical syllables, at the exact same moment, in two utterly different and overwhelming bearings, tore apart the dead silence of the battlefield!
First came the ear-splitting clash of iron ripping the battlefield open.
Two sword cries rang out like a symphony, striking a clear, crisp resonance.
Then the savage energy, compressed to the extreme, detonated in a thunderous explosion.
Carrying with it a destructive force capable of obliterating every living thing, it vented itself wildly in all directions!
Slashes invisible to the naked eye locked onto each other in midair.
Every invisible exchange forced ring after ring of pale sonic waves, plainly visible, to erupt into existence in the air.
Like a materialized tsunami, wave after wave surged and spread across the sky in a frenzy, as if trying to tear the entire heavens apart.
The same technique, layered upon itself.
By all logic, the side with the greater output should instantly shatter this brief, resonance-like equilibrium with overwhelming force, reducing the other, along with the surrounding area, to dust.
Yet what made every person present feel their heart seize was this:
The balance had still not been broken!
The sonic booms from the clashing slashes had already pushed beyond everything Megumi's visual range could capture. Beyond the physical limits of what his retinas could perceive.
But that was the limit of his visual range.
Not the limit of the Tiger Sovereign or Conqueror King!
Sensing a balance that refused to break.
Conqueror King Sukuna showed not the slightest trace of irritation. On the contrary, they threw back their head in a spine-chilling, triumphant laugh.
Those four crimson eyes flickered with an extraordinarily dangerous edge:
"Well? My technique's output has improved quite a lot since our last bout, hasn't it!"
That laughter carried with it an arrogance born of looking down from above.
And a bone-deep fury, suppressed for a very long time!
"I intend to settle my debt for the wound you carved into my soul — in full!"
Facing Conqueror King Sukuna's wild taunting, something that could not be suppressed, a wavering, a gravity, finally surfaced on the Tiger Sovereign's face, which had been as still as an undisturbed well.
"You... how many more fingers from Parallel Worlds have you devoured!"
"After that clash, how many worlds did you plunder, how many fingers did you take, to push your output this far!"
At the mention of fingers and plundering, the manic expression on Conqueror King Sukuna's face settled slightly.
As though sinking into some deep reverie, they fell quiet for half a second.
Then that momentary silence instantly transformed into an even more unrestrained, wild laugh!
"Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?"
"At least a hundred, I'd say!"
Good grief. A stacking Conqueror King.
Now Megumi finally understood.
Why this Conqueror King Sukuna from a Parallel World had been able to stack their own output ceiling to a state this monstrous, inhuman, illogical.
The Tiger Sovereign did it through the half-cursed-spirit, half-human mechanism: the stronger the cursed spirit, the stronger the human; the stronger the human, the stronger the cursed spirit. Bootstrapping left foot off right foot to stack up that singular, era-dominating strength.
A pure product of mechanical synergy!
But Conqueror King Sukuna was pure raw numbers.
Brute-forcing fingers to stack themselves into an absurdity, stacking box after box like a madman. Layering over a hundred Special Grade cursed object fingers into a single soul and body!
Pure stats. The broken overpowered state that arises from it, what does it teach you?
"Let that unfinished clash from last time be brought to a complete conclusion here!"
Without leaving anyone any room to breathe, Conqueror King Sukuna erupted into motion.
That massive body, towering like a mountain range, carried not the slightest hint of sluggishness. Each of the four broad palms condensed a terrifying amount of cursed energy, extreme density, extreme compression.
And launched outward.
Fast. Too fast!
The 68-Tiger's movement had long since completely exceeded Megumi's processing limit. He couldn't capture a single telegraphed motion from this clash between supreme beings!
Where would Conqueror King Sukuna strike from next.
Was there any chance of surviving this.
Would hiding in the shadows even do anything at this point.
"Die!"
Conqueror King Sukuna's figure blinked directly in front of them, no warning, as if it had simply teleported!
All four sinewy arms pulled back simultaneously. With a savage posture capable of hammering out an aerial shockwave, they swung out together!
IN AN INSTANT, THE AIR WAS WALL-TO-WALL FIST AFTERIMAGES!
The terrible barrage came crashing down — overwhelming, without a single gap!
"It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over! It's over!"
The terrifying fist pressure became a hurricane.
Just as that suffocating pressure was about to crush Megumi's skull.
Just as Megumi himself believed he was about to see his life flash before his eyes.
The reassuring pink hair
leapt into view in front of him once again.
The 68-Tiger stepped directly in front of Megumi, and rather than taking a defensive stance, both legs drove hard into the ground.
Both fists pulled back to the sides of the ribs simultaneously, settling into an utterly pure striking posture.
Intensely restrained cursed energy collapsed in on itself frantically across both fists.
The surrounding space even produced a visible distortion of light bending under the sheer concentrated force.
"Black Flash—"
As the 68-Tiger's low, rumbling chant rang out, space seemed to stall for a single instant.
"Consecutive normal punches..."
"Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash! Black Flash!"
Both fists launched out in a torrent of afterimages like a storm of wind and rain. Countless streaks of violent black-and-crimson light detonated in a frenzy at point-blank range!
The black-crimson radiance bloomed like the annihilation of a planet, a shattered nebula scattering outward, filling every inch of the battlefield in an instant!
The proc rate is something else!
But the key thing isn't the Black Flashes.
It's the consecutive normal punches!
"Aaagh!"
In the midst of the interwoven black-crimson lightning and the grinding storm of dense fist afterimages.
Conqueror King Sukuna's scream, laced with agony and savage fury, rose above the thunder of the explosions first, tearing across the vast sky.
When the light of the final Black Flash faded and the violent explosions at last subsided,
The sky full of dust and smoke, as if parted by an invisible giant hand, revealed the horrifying crater at the center of the battlefield.
Yet Conqueror King Sukuna's figure still stood.
Breathing in great, ragged gasps, glaring at the 68-Tiger with eyes nearly overflowing with violent intent:
"See... I held through it!"
"Tch."
Watching Conqueror King Sukuna still standing, the 68-Tiger slowly pulled back their fist, its edge still trailing the dying embers of black-crimson cursed energy.
A rare and weighty gravity flickered through those eyes.
And so, that Tiger Sovereign, weathered by ages beyond counting, carrying the weight of countless timelines, turned solemnly around.
Not looking toward Conqueror King Sukuna any longer.
Instead turning that gaze toward the old friend standing behind: the one who had just narrowly escaped death and had not yet fully recovered from the shock.
The 68-Tiger's expression was more grave than it had ever been.
The will in those eyes was immeasurably heavy, entrusted entirely to the one they now looked upon.
Megumi.
Looking at him. Voice low. Each word deliberate:
"Megumi."
"From here on..."
"Only you can win this for us."
➤ Next: Hui-Suku