JJK: Wheel of Time

Nao stood among the debris of unknown fragments, her hand gripping Dojigiri so tightly that she could hardly loosen her fingers. She had never experienced anything like this before. Growing up, the most she had ever encountered were small curse spirits, but this curse user incident had exposed her to a truly threatening existence.

The curses they faced now weren't particularly strong, but Nao had to cut each one down herself. Unlike last time, where she merely injured the enemy and forced them to retreat, the sight of blood and severed limbs flying was a harsh and overwhelming visual experience for her.

Shin, who stood nearby, hardly lifted a finger. After clearing out the curses in this section, the doors along the hallway stopped opening. Shin tried walking toward the pitch-black corridor ahead, but it seemed endless. The dark mass lingered just out of reach, always staying at the same distance.

He continued walking until Nao disappeared from his sight behind him. After some thought, Shin kept walking forward, but after a while, he saw two familiar figures appear from the shadows ahead: Nao, holding Dojigiri, and White Wolf crouched beside her.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Nao turned around in surprise. "Shin-kun, weren't you ahead of me? How did you end up behind?"

Shin didn't answer immediately. Instead, he activated his technique, moving like a ghost between the cracks of time. He tried walking both forward and backward, but each time, the result was the same—he would always find Nao ahead of him once again.

Returning to the original spot, Shin canceled his technique. Nao, who felt a slight disorientation as Shin's position seemed to shift, hadn't fully processed what had just happened when Shin spoke. "This domain is structured like a loop. No matter which direction you walk, you'll always end up back where you started."

Nao thought for a moment and offered a suggestion. "Then what about these doors? If the hallway is a loop, where do the doors on both sides lead?"

Shin stepped up to one of the nearby doors. "That's what I'm about to find out. Stay alert."

With that, Shin turned the doorknob. Ready to face danger, he opened the door—only to be met not by a curse, but by his own back.

Spinning around, Shin quickly opened the door directly behind him. As expected, he once again saw his own back. These weren't mirror images conjured by a curse; it felt more like looking into a mirror, except the reflection wasn't facing him.

Nao peeked over his shoulder, astonished by the sight. She turned her head back and forth in confusion, clearly overwhelmed by what she was seeing. Shin thought for a moment and then had her stand in the middle of the space. He faced her and began walking backward toward the door.

In Shin's vision, the "him" on the other side of the door did the same, backing up until he reached Nao. Simultaneously, Shin felt his back bump into something—Nao herself.

'Spatial folding? These doors are connected. Crossing through one is the same as entering the other, and what we see is just an illusion.' Shin said thoughtfully.

"Now… what happens if we keep opening the doors?"

With that, Shin decided to test it. It was like placing two mirrors opposite each other; in theory, the reflections would continue infinitely, but due to angles and light loss, the reflections would eventually fade into darkness.

But what about this curse? How many "reflections" could it create?

Click.

Shin opened the next door. As expected, he saw Nao's back once again. From Nao's perspective, as each door opened, she saw more and more copies of Shin.

White Wolf, curious about seeing yet another version of itself, spun in a circle. In response, a dozen White Wolves spun in sync.

As Shin continued opening door after door, Nao saw Shin running past her repeatedly, and her field of view expanded further and further.

"This is too slow. Let's push this further."

Wheel of Time

In a flash of overlapping, broken sounds, Shin moved like a barely visible wisp of smoke, sweeping through the strange scene in an instant. The strange reflection extended to the horizon until Shin heard something break. One section of the "line" suddenly disappeared.

Looking at the vanished section, Shin sighed. "1,364 reflections. That's the limit, huh? I was hoping it would keep going."

Turning to Nao, he said, "Get ready. I'm about to break this."

"Huh…"

Before Nao could steady herself, she saw Shin's figure blur and heard a sharp, dissonant sound. Then everything around her began to crumble.

Nao felt like she was standing on a cloth being twisted tighter and tighter. In the blink of an eye, the ceiling was suddenly to her left.

The world spun, and she was about to fall toward what used to be a wall, but then a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

Holding Nao with one hand and White Wolf with the other, Shin leaped into the air and activated his technique. He then freed his hand then quickly nocked an arrow on his bow, drew the string, and released a glowing blue streak of cursed energy that blasted a hole through the twisting corridor.

Grabbing both Nao and White Wolf, Shin leaped through the hole, and the scene around them shifted. They were back in the school's hallway where they had started.

Just as Shin set Nao and White Wolf down, he heard the sound of rushing wind behind him. He turned just in time to see a massive chunk of wall hurtling toward him.

Boom!

With a single punch, Shin shattered the wall into pieces the size of eggs. The debris scattered harmlessly around him, guided by his controlled cursed energy.

Looking up at the writhing mass of flesh that was now forcing its way through the gap in the wall, Shin calmly said to Nao, "Take White Wolf and get out of the building."

Nao immediately picked up White Wolf and handed Dojigiri to Shin before jumping out of the nearest window.

The massive creature continued to struggle, its hulking form smashing through the stairs and walls of the building.

"Good thing we set up a barrier. Otherwise, this would be a pain to clean up."

The curse had six limbs resembling those of a frog, a face with a ring of jagged teeth, and a thick, reptilian tail.

Without activating his technique, Shin looked at the hideous creature and sighed. "Curses… they're really getting uglier and uglier. Can't any of them at least look decent?"

As he muttered, Shin charged forward with Dojigiri in hand...

Outside, Nao had just caught her breath when she heard a series of explosions. She turned to see the main school building's windows shattering in waves, followed by three entire floors of the building being demolished as a massive creature crashed through the walls. Amid the dust and debris, a figure flew out—Shin, covered in dark purple liquid.

The full form of the curse was now exposed under the moonlight. Upon closer inspection, its two left limbs had been severed at the base, and a long gash ran down its chest, revealing pulsating flesh underneath.

"Woof!"

White Wolf suddenly barked. Nao, startled, caught a glimpse of a shadow darting toward her from the corner of her eye.

Just as she raised her hand to defend herself, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, followed by a rope-like object wrapping around her neck and upper body.

"You there, brat! If you don't want her to die, throw me that sword!" a shadowy man shouted.

Shin, who had just landed on the ground, looked over and saw the curse user had Nao restrained, with a large, rope-like fish curse binding her. Nearby, White Wolf was also held down by a toad-like curse spirit.

With the massive curse still rushing toward him from behind and Nao's life in danger in front of him, Shin smiled. "You want this sword? Sure, here you go!"

The curse user slightly relaxed as Shin prepared to throw the sword, but something felt off…

"Why… why does it hurt so much? My hand… where's my foot?"

The curse user fell to the ground, confused and powerless. His body was damaged, his limbs severed. His last thought as the pain consumed him was, "I've been tricked…"

Behind him, Shin stood with Dojigiri in hand, looking at the fallen curse user. After thinking for a moment, he activated reverse curse technique, healing the man's limbs and wounds just enough to keep him alive. After all, there were still questions to ask.

The plan had been simple: Shin had charged Dojigiri with cursed energy, threw it to impale the curse user, then reactivating his own technique, striking down the man and his curse spirits in one swift motion.

Shin chuckled to himself. "He asked for the sword, so I gave it to him. Too bad he couldn't catch it."

Looking up at the giant curse creature, Shin smiled again. "You're interesting… but too weak. If you were a special grade, you might've been a real challenge."

With a single hand, Shin formed a seal and activated his technique once more. Jumping onto the curse's head, he swung Dojigiri through the air, the blade reflecting the moonlight in a cascade of shimmering light.

A deep gash appeared from the creature's head down to its tail. The curse let out a final wail as it split in two, its massive body barely holding together by a few strands

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