Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 23 - Twin-Hui King of Kings

"So I was wondering how you'd escaped — and it turns out you wanted to hit Jujutsu High first and take out the other members?"

The heart of the ruin churned with smoke and dust.

A silhouette, not especially imposing, yet radiating something absolute and unshakeable.

It drove itself like a wedge directly into the path of that slashing strike.

The piercing shriek of space being forcibly torn apart collided with the law-nullifying principle of the Inverted Spear of Heaven.

That World Cutting Slash, sufficient to reduce everyone at Jujutsu High to mincemeat in an instant.

The moment it touched the blade of the Inverted Spear of Heaven, it was as though it had slammed into an absolute wall of denial.

Forced to split wildly to both sides, it carved two bottomless chasms into the ground behind Megumi.

Megumi had held back the spreading slash with the Inverted Spear of Heaven, successfully pulling everyone at Jujutsu High from Meguna's grasp.

Meguna had taken no battle damage. Even the chimera beast agito and Mahoraga were still alive, all thanks to War Criminal Megumi's efforts.

In this struggle against Meguna at full strength.

The title of the strongest.

The first line of defense.

It truly was Megumi's burden to bear.

"Wh-wh-why — why are there TWO Megumis?!"

War Criminal Itadori...

For convenience, Megumi's original self had considered calling this world the War Criminal World.

But that was genuinely a bit disrespectful to the other sorcerers.

The ward was only the War Criminal Megumi ward, after all!

"Since there are now two Megumi Fushiguros on the field."

"Let's call it the Twin-Hui World!"

Twin-Hui King of Kings!

Watching two Megumis tear into each other right in front of him, Twin-Hui Itadori couldn't hold back a cry of astonishment.

On a top-tier battlefield where everything could change in an instant, stopping to give a thorough, passionate explanation of parallel universes, transmigration anchor points, and the origin of his entire power configuration,

That was truly far too much trouble.

Megumi simply pressed his palms together, consolidated every piece of relevant information into a single fabricated set of memories, and then,

"Resonance!"

Drive these non-existent memories straight into everyone's minds!

In an instant, an invisible wave of soul energy radiated outward from Megumi, sweeping across every member of Jujutsu High behind him like ripples on water.

In that same instant, Yuta, who had been about to draw a sword, already understood: the Megumi who had suddenly appeared before them was a being that could match Satoru Gojo.

"In other words..."

Everyone stared in disbelief at the figure standing tall and untroubled amidst the surging tide of shadows.

"It's the strongest Megumi!"

The cry erupted from every throat at once, wild elation from people dragged back from the brink, tangled up with boundless, overwhelming shock.

Hearing that perfectly synchronized title, Megumi finally lost the battle against the corners of his mouth.

"The strongest? I'm not unwilling to accept that."

"Though it would be even better if you could call me Emperor Hui!"

"Kids, get behind me!"

Megumi's voice dropped to a sharp, low bark. Faced with the King of Curses bearing down with pure destruction, he didn't retreat.

He advanced.

Megumi turned his palm over. The marks of Tyrant Possession coursed through his body once more, and a kick loaded with tremendous force sent Meguna crashing back nearly 50 meters.

That kick opened an absolutely safe distance between them.

And with that distance, Megumi and Meguna finally had room to trade trash talk.

"So you intend to challenge me with a relay battle, brat?"

"Have you no warrior's spirit whatsoever?"

Meguna stood with hands on hips, taunting with a not-quite-smiling expression.

Those words landed on everyone at Jujutsu High and stirred up an immediate clamor.

"Let's all go at once!"

Hajime Kashimo put forward the group-assault theory once again.

Yuji, Yuta, and the others tightened their grips on their weapons. The moment Megumi gave the word, they were ready to swarm in.

But the one who openly stopped that tactic this time was Megumi himself.

"You're right, Sukuna."

"How about we set a time and fight again."

Everyone at Jujutsu High went quiet in confusion.

Megumi paid no heed to the commotion behind him. He simply turned around in silence, raised a knuckle to his lips in a hushing gesture, as though he had already made his own arrangements.

"Oh? And when would you like to schedule that?"

Hearing the proposal, Meguna narrowed both eyes slightly.

For Meguna in the current state, this was absolutely good news, all gain, no loss.

Killing Gojo had cost Meguna no small amount of cursed energy and left behind quite a few new wounds. The chance to rest and recuperate undisturbed, to restore full condition, it was a genuinely tempting offer.

"Tomorrow."

Yet Megumi's answer caught Meguna off guard.

"Only one day?"

Sukuna's brow furrowed slightly.

"I'm a very busy person."

"I'm still busy helping the yous from other Parallel Worlds — meet their ends!"

Megumi bared a fierce, brazen grin and pressed toward the King of Curses without yielding an inch.

"Of course, you don't have to agree."

"Either way, once tomorrow's time comes, I don't care what you're doing."

"My Tyrant will automatically respawn near you, Split Soul Katana in hand."

"Tch."

Caught by the throat by a scheme that was shameless and utterly unbreakable.

Meguna clicked a tongue in displeasure, a sound that chilled the blood, and twisted the mouth into a scowl.

After tossing out a few parting words of trash talk, Meguna made a bold departure, leaving nothing behind but a wrecked Jujutsu High grounds and the people still standing in it.

"...Emperor Hui."

"Why did you give Meguna a full day?"

With the crisis resolved, everyone pressed Megumi at once.

"Why not have everyone pile on together?"

Faced with those questions.

Megumi laid out the concern.

"Meguna's Mahoraga hasn't been destroyed yet. Which means whenever the desire strikes, Meguna can let Mahoraga use Adaptation on the Ten Shadows Technique first, limit what I can do."

"And then use Shrine to settle the fight."

"Sukuna is a split-body freak, after all."

Megumi swept a gaze across everyone at Jujutsu High, and finally, behind Mei Mei, found the target he'd been looking for.

"So I need a soul-swapping technique to accelerate my own learning."

"This one day is a buffer I'm keeping for myself."

Amid a wave of stunned, sharp intakes of breath.

Megumi issued the most audacious declaration to all of Jujutsu High, and to the day that was about to arrive:

"Within this single, brief day."

"I will master the Reverse Cursed Technique!"

➤ Next: So I Really Am That Bad?