Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 22 - Below, It's Shadow Too

Two hours before that spatial rift capable of crossing parallel universes was forcibly torn open.

Tokyo Jujutsu High. The underground top-secret observation room.

Zzt,

On the screen of the old cathode-ray television, irritating grey-and-white static bloomed and spread.

Accompanied by waves of grating electrical interference.

Mei Mei's Black Bird Manipulation finally forced its way through the disruption, and the distorted image struggled back onto the screen once more.

Through the crow circling a thousand meters overhead.

The entire ruined wasteland of Shinjuku, and the life-or-death battle between Satoru Gojo and the Sukuna-in-Megumi, was laid bare before everyone at Jujutsu High without reservation.

But the observation room was thick with a silence deeper than the grave.

Yuta stood at the front, arms wrapped around the scabbard, unable to accept that Gojo-sensei had lost.

Those eyes, always radiating gentleness and resolve.

Were trembling now, filled with undisguisable shock and refusal.

Yuta desperately wanted to rush to the battlefield.

But the condition Satoru Gojo had set for Jujutsu High,

Wait until Sukuna had weakened before engaging.

Had not been met. Not even close.

The footage on screen rewound to the first phase of the Domain clash.

Satoru Gojo had seized that 0.01-second opening and drove the absolute torrent of information from Unlimited Void crashing into the King of Curses' mind.

Taking advantage of the gap while the King of Curses was suppressed, he launched his attack.

In the instant Gojo's pale fist was about to pierce through the Sukuna-vessel.

The body that should have been locked in place by information overload abruptly moved.

"Surprised?"

"I never took Unlimited Void at all!"

On screen, that face covered in black cursed markings showed not a trace of stupor, it split into a wild grin.

"Every bit of Unlimited Void was eaten by your student... and what's more, willingly!"

The King of Curses seized the moment Satoru Gojo's mind reeled and erupted into a sudden counterattack.

Cursed energy surged. A devastating Anti-Gravity System slammed into Satoru Gojo's abdomen, tearing open a gruesome gash of blood.

And in doing so, it declared to the entire battlefield, to everyone watching in the Jujutsu High broadcast room, the truth that no one was willing to accept.

Megumi Fushiguro's consciousness.

Had turned completely to the King of Curses.

"No... impossible!"

"How could Megumi surrender to the King of Curses!"

Yuji stared hard at the screen, desperately searching his best friend's face for even a single trace of forced struggle or pain.

There was nothing.

Through the lens, Yuji could only see that familiar body, now home to nothing but absolute savagery and cold, crimson eyes.

"Savor it well, little monk!"

From this point on.

The timeline of this parallel Shinjuku world slid irreversibly toward ruin.

"Is that so?"

On screen, Satoru Gojo, knocked back, steadied himself.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Those pale blue Six Eyes, half-hidden beneath disheveled white hair, locked onto the monster wearing his student's face.

"Well... I suppose you can no longer be called my student!"

Satoru Gojo bared a savage grin.

"Then I'll go all out!"

Cursed energy erupted to a state no one had ever witnessed.

Killing intent made tangible flooded the sky, radiating out from Satoru Gojo like a tsunami in every direction.

Making the King of Curses feel a tension he hadn't experienced in a thousand years.

"Nine Phases."

"Polarized Light."

"Black and Declaration."

"Between Front and Back."

The radiance of Hollow Technique: Purple bloomed once more across Shinjuku.

"Looks like it turned out pretty well."

Satoru Gojo surveyed the ruins ahead. A smile crept onto his face, the smile of someone who believed they'd already won.

But the one who walked out from the ruins.

Was the King of Curses. Completely unscathed.

"You've got to be kidding."

Dragging a body torn open by Purple, Satoru Gojo stared at Sukuna in disbelief.

Those Six Eyes, capable of seeing through the true nature of every technique in existence, were contracting violently, locked onto Sukuna, who hadn't even had the hem of his clothing singed.

As if sensing the bewilderment radiating from Satoru Gojo, and from every observer behind the screen, on the verge of collapse.

Sukuna let out a spine-chilling laugh of triumph.

He pointed down at the tide of shadows beneath his feet.

"Below — it's shadow too!"

War Criminal Megumi had handed Sukuna the most valuable tactic the Ten Shadows Technique had to offer.

The battered Satoru Gojo was no longer any match for the King of Curses at full strength.

"How delightful. I'll probably forget you soon enough."

The King of Curses stood in excellent condition over Satoru Gojo's corpse.

Everyone already knew the outcome that was coming.

......

......

Silence.

It had smothered Jujutsu High for a full two hours.

In the long two hours since Satoru Gojo fell, not a single person had spoken.

Everyone sat frozen where they were, like hollow shells drained of their souls.

Finally, it was the War Criminal world's Hajime Kashimo who spoke first:

"Forget about Megumi Fushiguro. Let's all go in together."

It was the first time the jujutsu scholar's strategy had been met with outright rejection.

From the corner, Atsuya Kusakabe, who had kept their face buried in shadows the entire time, slowly raised their head:

"What, are we going to cosplay as speed bumps together?"

The rebuttal came fast, on the verge of breaking down.

"Or maybe we should do what Kamo did, spend whatever time's left with our families..."

Despair spread through the room like a plague, fast and unstoppable.

Amid the rising chorus of arguments.

The crash of an axe hitting the floor tore through the atmosphere.

The room went instantly silent. Every gaze snapped toward the source.

"Mei Mei, what are you—"

Everyone stared at Mei Mei, completely out of character, having driven a giant axe straight through the floor, and couldn't hold back the cry of bewildered alarm.

Across Mei Mei's refined features, beads of pale sweat had already gathered.

"I just wanted to remind everyone. There's an intruder."

A crow's cry rang out again.

As if to confirm it, the screen erupted with the most piercing, anguished shriek a crow could produce.

The broadcast feed flashed, cutting in an instant from the ruins of Shinjuku to the corridor just outside Jujutsu High's innermost barrier.

In the dim surveillance footage.

A figure was advancing with suffocating, unhurried steps, slicing through layer after layer of Jujutsu High's defensive barriers as if on a leisurely stroll, slowly drawing closer...

"Megumi Fushiguro."

Also the King of Curses.

Mei Mei focused, intending to capture Sukuna's position in greater detail.

But the moment Mei Mei tried to connect to that perspective, a piercing scream tore out.

"Hss—"

Mei Mei clutched both hands to their head.

"All my crows... are dead."

The words hadn't even finished before a violent, thunderous roar seized control of everyone's heartbeat, like a death knell sounding.

BOOM!

The ceiling of the sealed chamber was completely shattered.

And amid the sky full of cascading wreckage and blinding sunlight pouring down.

The King of Curses descended like a nightmare from the depths of hell, a figure like a demon god, appearing directly above the crowd, real and unmistakable.

"Alright, insects. Time to end this!"

Sukuna hovered in midair, looking down from on high at the panicked, terror-stricken members of Jujutsu High scrambling below.

A vicious smile spread across his face. He settled into that familiar slashing stance, taking aim at every person in the room.

The chant of death, like a divine verdict, rang clear at every ear:

"Dragon Scales."

"Repulsion."

"Twin Meteors."

To guarantee a one-hit kill, Sukuna invoked the incantation to amplify his output directly.

"Farewell, though you're nothing but a pack of commoners who weren't even born in my age!"

The invisible slash cut through the air.

Driving straight down at the people below, already locked in place by the oppressive force, unable to move, obliterating them!

In this moment, whether it was Yuta drawing a blade, Hajime Kashimo summoning crackling lightning, or Atsuya Kusakabe closing their eyes in despair, there was only one thought left in every mind.

We're going to die...

And yet.

In that one-in-ten-thousand instant, the anticipated sound of flesh being torn and bones being shredded never came.

CLANG!

A clear, resonant sword-ring rang through Jujutsu High. Atsuya Kusakabe forced their eyes back open, and found a figure had thrown itself defiantly in front of everyone.

That figure.

Without any doubt.

"Wait, why are there two Megumis?!"

➤ Next: Twin-Hui King of Kings