16 Chapter 16
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Itadoi had failed, in a way that he couldn't forgive himself for.
Junpei's death, after saving his mother, was a possibility he hadn't considered.
He was a fool.
Because of his foolishness, not only was Junpei dead, but so were dozens of other students who had absolutely no connection to the Jujutsu world.
Trying to make things better only made the result much worse than it originally should have been.
He felt sadness, remorse and anger for the lives lost.
He felt self-hatred. So focused on himself, he had forgotten that the world around him could still be affected by his own actions.
This was no longer a simple anime world, this was now the world he lived in, and if he didn't act accordingly, people would die because of him.
That was something he could see clearly now.
And he would no longer ignore this fact.
"Give me a situation report." Nanami asked, and Itadori, standing to the side, wiped his lips before saying it.
"All the students are..." Itadori was clearly uncomfortable with his next words, and Nanami was quick to notice. "Dead. I was too late."
Nanami didn't respond to the information, but it was clear from his frown that it had annoyed him.
"What about you?"
Itadori shifted his shoulders, and clenching his fists, he quickly diagnosed himself, his brow furrowing as he raised his fists. "I'm fine, that idiot didn't land any clean hits."
Mahito, emerging from the rubble into which he had been thrown, shook his head as he wiped the blood from his lips, his gaze becoming serious as he turned to the two sorcerers interacting.
But Nanami, noticing the bleeding and bruises all over his face, raised an eyebrow in question, his eyes turning to stare at Itadori.
"Itadori, what are those bruises?"
Itadori blinked for a moment, and remembering that Mahito shouldn't be affected by attacks from ordinary sorcerers, he quickly replied.
"I hit him pretty hard in the face." Rubbing his fist, Itadori gave a small, dismissive smile. "He didn't manage to do much."
"Did he touch you?"
"Yes, but I think Sukuna must have stopped him or something."
"I see." Nanami looked thoughtful for a moment. "My attacks don't affect him, but I can stop him. We'll shower him with attacks from all directions and at that point, we'll exorcise him."
Seeing the teenager nod in agreement, Nanami took his own position, the grip on the handle of his blunt sword firm as he was about to advance.
Mahito, seeing the two ready to do battle, sighed in annoyance as he transformed his arm into a blade.
'I need to finish off the first degree sorcerer first, I can leave Itadori Yuji for later-'
But while he was formulating his plan, Mahito quickly jumped up to dodge a punch that smashed into the ground where he had been standing moments before.
'Did he get any faster?' Mahito questioned in his mind, his eyes returning to Itadori to see the boy staring at him with a murderous look.
Nanami, seeing the curse retreating, quickly covered the distance between them, Mahito raising his bladed arm fast enough to block an attack from his blunt sword.
!
But just as he was about to counter the sorcerer's attack, he turned to block a fist, the attack hitting him square in the face and pushing him towards Nanami, who followed up with a clean hit from he blunt sword to his neck.
'Shit!'
About to be swallowed up by a torrent of attacks, Mahito jumped, his body deforming into a ball of flesh as countless thorns exploded in all directions.
But the two sorcerers were undeterred, simply walking away while breaking the thorns that threatened to hit them, digging until they could reach the ball of meat.
But as he reached him, Mahito changed shape once again, his body taking on a childlike form as he leapt away to dodge Nanami's sword, which smashed into the ground.
Boom!
But being hit just as Itadori seemed to be waiting for his change of form, Mahito flew away as blood flew from his mouth, his body bouncing on the ground a few times, before he quickly returned to his ordinary form and stood up.
'Did he read my intentions?' Clutching his chest, Mahito breathed heavily as he tried to recover. 'If I carry on like this, I'll certainly die. I need to get Itadori Yuji away.
Mahito, giving a small smile, opened his mouth and began to regurgitate something.
!
"Uh?!"
But while he was hoping that he would have time to finish the process of expelling the shrunken humans from his stomach, his eyes widened when the two sorcerers covered the distance between him.
'You don't hit someone throwing up!!!'
Boom!
Receiving a sharp punch to his chin, his head was pushed up, before another sharp punch pushed him down, making him swallow again.
'Shit! I need to get away before-'
About to retreat, his thoughts were interrupted when Nanami's sword struck him squarely in the jaw, Itadori quickly grabbing him by the hair and pulling him into a kneebar, before the two sorcerers began to punish him with an unstoppable wave of attacks that drew more and more blood from the curse.
But as the incessant attacks continued, Itadori squinted as Mahito threw his head back, the feet of the curse firmly planted on the ground as he seemed about to open his mouth.
'This is it!' Turning to Nanami, Itadori was quick to grab the older sorcerer by the collar of his shirt, throwing him away and confusing him.
"Domain Expansion! Self-Embodiment of Perfection!"
Being hit by the curse's expanding domain barrier, Itadori quickly jumped to land firmly on top, his smile widening as a huge amount of cursed energy accumulated in his fist.
"Itadori, don't do that!" Nanami shouted in an attempt to stop him, but it was to no avail as Itadori's fist came down on the barrier, breaking through it and opening a passage through which Itadori fell. "Idiot kid!"
Mahito, who was already angry at having been unable to capture Nanami in his expansion of his domain, felt the veins in his forehead pop as he saw Itadori fall.
"Shit!"
!
"I warned you, didn't I? That there wouldn't be a second time."
With Sukua's voice ringing in his mind, Mahito's eyes widened as three cuts threatened to split his body in half, his arm hanging by a thin layer of flesh.
Falling to his knees, the curse breathed heavily as all the damage to his body finally seemed to hit him. The exhaustion of using the expansion and receiving Sukuna's cuts had been the trigger.
Mahito had reached his limit.
But that was far from meaning that the fight was over.
Because it would only end when one side died.
Boom!
Being hit by a kick to the face, Mahito rolled backwards while still struggling to restore his body from the cuts, blood exploding from his nose as he stabbed his fingers into the ground to stop his momentum.
Shit! If that's the case, I'll use it all at once!'
Mahito, expanding his body as much as he could at the moment, transformed it into a strange mass of flesh with arms and eyes in a matter of seconds, Itadori looking at it with disgust in his expression as he sped towards the curse.
'You think turning into a piece of shit is going to save you?' Pulling back his fist, Itadori let his cursed energy explode, his teeth clenching as he threw his fist.'
Boom!
As Mahito's massive body exploded like a balloon, Itadori quickly moved his gaze to a manhole cover, his vision catching a small, deformed form of Mahito trying to reach him.
And pointing the tip of his finger, Itadori squinted.
Ever since he had devoured the finger in Junpei's house, he had realized that his connection with Sukuna's cursed energy had become even stronger.
He could feel that he was able to incorporate a small part of the curse king's technique.
He didn't know if it was enough to use his techniques, but he had a small feeling in the back of his mind that he could.
It was like a feeling that screamed at him to try.
And so he was going to try. At that point, there was no point in not doing it.
In the end, he only had himself to gain.
"Dismantle!"
*Cut!
Mahito, about to reach the manhole cover, opened his eyes wide when he felt the flesh of his small body being cut, his only arm being broken in half, as he quickly squeezed through the cover.
Nanami, who had caught up with him moments before, quickly hit the manhole cover, destroying it and opening the way to the sewer.
"Shit!" Nanami, pulling out the cell phone, quickly dialed Ino.
Itadori, who at this point was looking at Nanami with a little fatigue in his eyes, suddenly felt his legs weaken, his body giving way as he held his knee.
'What a ridiculous waste of cursed energy!' Breathing heavily, he tried to get up, but the lack of strength in his muscles made it impossible at that moment. 'Sukuna, fuck off with your ridiculous cursed energy reserves!'
"Let's go after him too, Itadori!" Nanami, turning to Itadori, was surprised to see the boy on the ground.
"Sorry, Nanami! I think I overspent my energy!" Putting his hand on the ground, he tried to get up once more, but again, his body gave way. "Shit, you need to go! He's too weak!"
Clenching his teeth in anger, he shouted for Nanami to continue.
'Shit, shit, shit! Squeezing the fabric of his clothes, Itadori frowned.'
In the end, the cut was too weak. His body was not yet ready to use Sukuna's techniques to their full capacity.
But even so, it was certainly an achievement. It meant that he could assimilate the curse king's techniques.
At that moment, he had taken another leap towards becoming strong.
It was a shame that he had been unable to kill Mahito in the process.
.
