Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 34 - Just This Once

Ten thousand meters above the ground.

Megumi and Piercing Elephant were still hurtling downward, their descent wrapped in a shriek that tore through the atmosphere.

The distance between that massive shadow and Ryomen Sukuna on the surface below, under the mad pull of gravitational acceleration, only a final, suffocating few hundred meters remained!

In that lightning-flash gap between life and death, Megumi's mind raced through his options.

"No good — I have to stop Furnace: Open!"

"With my body unable to use Reverse Cursed Technique right now, there is absolutely no way I can eat a direct hit from Furnace: Open!"

Ghost Brain,

Open!

Megumi snapped his head down and stared at his own arm.

In that brief exchange of fire arrow aftershocks moments ago, the burn scars left by Furnace: Open were still plainly visible, shocking against his skin.

The aftershock alone had done this much damage.

And what was coming next, this Furnace: Open would carry no elemental-reaction mitigation whatsoever!

Mahoraga's Adaptation had already advanced to the first rotation, which theoretically meant it could reduce the damage Furnace: Open dealt to Megumi.

But Megumi had no confidence he could tank Furnace: Open head-on.

He needed another way. Suppress the dust cloud's spread as much as possible.

"Should I have Piercing Elephant blast a torrent of water straight down?"

The image of using the water current to cancel the fire arrow flashed through his mind.

But the moment that thought surfaced, he killed it himself without mercy.

"No, no, no — Piercing Elephant's water current cannot cover a full 200-meter-radius weightlifting barrier."

"As long as even a single speck of dust survives, Sukuna's Furnace: Open will eventually spread right back to his side."

The elemental-reaction route was completely blocked.

A flash of ferocity crossed the depths of Megumi's eyes.

"Then there's only one option left..."

"I'll cut you down into a spray of blood and flesh while Furnace: Open is still charging!"

"Stop your Furnace: Open!"

Megumi let out a thunderous shout in midair.

Both legs snapped sharply downward and stamped hard against Piercing Elephant's broad back, wide as a city wall. He wrung every last drop of burst-ready cursed energy from his body and drove a ferocious kick downward!

His fingers and palm cleaved through the space before him.

He summoned the Inverted Spear of Heaven back up from the surging shadow tide, and the figure clutching that cold gleam became a streak of silver, launching toward the King of Curses standing on the surface below!

The massive Piercing Elephant jolted to a dead halt in midair, stopped cold by the enormous reaction force.

Megumi's figure, riding that terrifying thrust, became a bullet fired from a chamber. His speed surged to its absolute limit.

"I have to make it in time!"

Borrowing force through Piercing Elephant, he had forcibly wrenched his descent speed ahead of the beast itself. He led that colossal creature by several hundred meters, a falling meteorite.

The lethal blade in Megumi's hand blazed into full view.

He descended before Sukuna as if he'd teleported.

The Inverted Spear of Heaven, radiating absolute suppressive force, was already raised high, its tip aimed directly at Sukuna's chest!

And at this very moment, between the palms of the invincible King of Curses, the blazing white fire arrow representing death and annihilation was still madly devouring the surrounding cursed energy.

That signature drawn-bow stance still locked at his chest!

Sukuna was still charging!

He hadn't fired yet!

"Perfect — just drive the Inverted Spear of Heaven between Sukuna's palms, and Furnace: Open is completely neutralized."

Interrupt the technique. End the crisis.

Quiet joy surged through Megumi. The winning smile rose in him again, his eyes fixed on the face identical to his own.

He saw the one difference.

Those four pupils, belonging to the King of Curses.

The mark that distinguished War Criminal Megumi from Sukuna's dominance.

And yet.

In that one-in-ten-thousand-second exchange of gazes.

Megumi found nothing in those four eyes, no terror, no fury, no frantic desperation.

Only this.

Something spanning a thousand years, through countless dull days and sleepless nights.

A craving for battle.

And the scorching gaze that came with it.

In that era, Sukuna had been an absolute powerhouse.

But a solitary one.

A powerhouse incapable of experiencing love.

Now, Sukuna's arms had not yet released the bowstring, not because he lacked the speed. Not because his reactions were slow.

It was deliberate.

The King of Curses was using this primed, ready-to-detonate Furnace: Open, this dust-choked hell spanning two hundred meters, to send a burning invitation to the one and only young man before him who could push him to the edge of annihilation.

In that single instant, the hand Megumi had wrapped around the blade's grip should have driven it into Sukuna's chest.

That is what should have happened.

And yet, gazing at the empty expanse before him, at Sukuna's melancholy eyes,

If he plunged the blade in now.

Megumi feared he would never forget it for the rest of his life.

The wind continued to howl over the ravaged ruins of Shinjuku.

The two who faced each other fell into absolute silence.

Beneath Sukuna's slightly widening pupils.

Megumi Fushiguro's wrist flipped in a sudden snap.

The Inverted Spear of Heaven, a hair's breadth from Sukuna's heart, traced an impossibly strange arc through the air...

And sank back into the surging shadow tide beneath Megumi Fushiguro's feet.

THUD!

The Inverted Spear of Heaven and Megumi landed on the ground together. Megumi stood on the surface. The Inverted Spear of Heaven melted entirely into the shadow tide, going completely still.

"Oh?" Sukuna fixed his gaze on Megumi with great interest.

And in the instant Megumi touched the ground, the shadow stretching behind him exploded outward in a flash!

As though some seal had shattered, it spread in every direction with frenzied, absolute intensity, swallowing the ground in moments, reaching all the way to Sukuna's feet.

Yet sensing this surge, not a trace of alarm appeared on Sukuna's face. Instead, a smile returned, one long unseen.

Pure.

Untouched by any malice.

Only the pure craving for weightlifting.

Because Sukuna had already read Megumi's intent.

In a situation like this, to not pour every last shred of focus into condensing Furnace: Open, that would be the greatest disrespect one could show an opponent.

The shadow tide swept past Sukuna's figure and continued spreading outward, with Megumi at its center.

Ten meters. Fifty meters. One hundred meters...

Until it overlapped with the range of Malevolent Shrine, perfectly, without a single inch to spare.

Only then did the shadow tide finally halt its terrifying expansion.

Directly above, Piercing Elephant, carrying the physical gravitational acceleration of tens of millions of tons, was still making its final death plunge. The shadow blotting out the sky had already swallowed the space above them both.

"Shadow tide at 200-meter radius: construction complete!"

Megumi stood atop the black abyss and lifted his head with confidence, his gaze colliding once more with the eyes Sukuna had turned toward him.

In this moment, nothing more needed to be said.

Megumi curved the corner of his mouth slightly upward. He faced the earth-shattering fire arrow about to erupt from Sukuna's palms.

In a voice only the two of them could hear, he whispered:

"Just this once."

Megumi murmured softly.