Chapter 17: Escalation.
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Glory to my chief Proofreader; Solare for he is the one who points out mistakes and acts as my favourite wall to bounce ideas off of.
Who do yall think would win in a 1 v 1 fight?
Current Manga Yuji
Or…
Current Manga Maki
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October 23rd, 2017.
'How did I let this happen? I knew this would happen eventually, why did I allow it? How could I allow myself to let this happen?' Megumi Fushiguro was in a spiral of self loathing and hatred.
Lying in front of him was Fushiguro Tsumiki, his older sister and she was asleep. In a sleep that wouldn't awake from for a long while yet, and when she does, she is destined to be taken over by a demon from ages past.
"'Gumi, this isn't your fault. Nobody could have predicted this and no one could've stopped this, we don't even know the source of her curse. It could've happened at any time, anywhere." Shoko comforted him as she tried to explain how none of this was his fault or could've been prevented.
However the words that were meant to comfort, only deepened the loathing. His enormous cursed energy reserves that were normally kept in a tight grip thanks to his incredibly honed control over their output, flowed from him in droves as if a tidal wave had swept through the room thanks to his self restraint slipping a little.
The pressure of cursed energy although not focused on her and the other assistant nurses in the room has caused sweat to pour down their necks in droves. The pressure had also caused the weakest ones in the room to fall to their knees and start to hyperventilate.
'Fucking Kenjaku, the bastard… I let my guard down at some point after all these years of expecting him to come in and curse her, but it looks like he didn't even curse her at home. He could've done it at any point in the past 10 years and I wouldn't have known, he could have even done it at fucking birth for all I know, not even Satoru noticed…' Megumi reasoned to himself, trying to find a way to excuse himself of his own guilt.
Thanks to her experience as a sorcerer that stood beside Special Grade sorcerers like Suguru Geto and Gojo Satoru, Shoko is able to handle the pressure with not more than a drop of sweat on her brow.
She stayed quiet for a moment before she silently brought the taller young man into a deep hug. They stayed like that for a few moments as Megumi calmed himself and reigned in his cursed energy and sighed out in resignation.
"... I need some fresh air. And maybe a smoke…" The raven haired man sighed out as he weakly pushed away Shoko and walked out to exit the building, the brown haired woman following a few steps behind him.
Reaching into his collar and pulling out a box of cigarettes, taking one out and leaning on a nearby railing and lighting his cancer stick with a spark of electricity.
As he took a deep breath in from the cigarette, Shoko joined him at the railing and simply looked at him with her hand on her chin. Wordlessly, Megumi brought up the box and offered her one, to which Shoko gave him a considering look before shaking her head.
"No thanks 'Gumi, I'm good." She denied the offer and simply looked onwards towards the setting sun with a wistful air.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Megumi burst out laughing.
"Man, I really am pathetic. Instead of going out there and doing something useful, here I am sulking for no reason. Whatever, to hell with it all!"
Megumi threw his half used cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, turning to Shoko and hugging her deeply.
"...Thanks Shoko."
"Anytime 'Gumi, don't lose yourself to this world, no matter what happens. Remember you have people on your side that would turn the world upside down for you." Shoko said with a wistful tone as if she was thinking of another person as well.
Both sorcerers then tensed up and looked into the forest in the middle of the Jujutsu Tech compound with strained faces.
"... That's him isn't it?" Megumi spoke up first, readying himself to jump into action.
"It's definitely him, let's go fast." Shoko certified.
"Incarnation: Nue!"
His wings sprouted from his back in less than a second as he held Shoko tighter in his grasp and flapped his wings while they were reinforced with cursed energy, the resulting explosion of speed sent them to skies in a shockwave that sounded out a sonic boom.
Within moments they were right above a group of people, there was a large swallow-like curse with 4 wings and beside it stood two familiar girls and a shirtless man.
With his hands around Yuta was Geto Suguru, a special grade curse user, Megumi growled his anger bubbling up again and turned towards Shoko with a telling look.
"Don't worry about me, get him! I can handle myself!" Shoko declared with a resolute expression.
Megumi nodded and dropped her near some trees, she reacted in time and gracefully made her landing and ran ahead to join the group.
Bringing his fist back, Megumi readied himself with cursed energy to impact into Geto. The man wasn't a special grade for nothing as he reacted in time and ordered his swallow curse to block.
That proved to be a mistake as Megumi's attack drove straight through the semi-grade 1 curse as if he was a hot knife slicing through butter. The curse shattered into dust behind him as Geto had to block the punch himself while reinforcing himself with cursed energy.
The force of the attack drove Geto backwards as 2 groves were run into the ground by his feet. Megumi's wings shuddered and melted away as he kept pushing Geto away. They struggled for supremacy until they both jumped away from each other.
"It is good to see you again! It looks like you thrived as a sorcerer ever since that day, it makes me happy to see a young sorcerer like yourself grow so much!" The older sorcerer laughed out while flicking his hand.
"Y'know I'm not even mad that you're here Geto, I have some shit to work through. Here to spread your maniacal ideologies again?" Megumi growled as he inspected his knuckles and saw that they were slightly bruised from the impact.
From the sidelines, both sides were confused and alert from the sudden attack and addition of a powerful sorcerer into the equation.
"Who the hell is that? He's so strong, he managed to push Geto-sama so far!" The shirtless blonde man exclaimed in surprise.
"Is he on our side? He has to be since he attacked that creep!" a panda deduced next to Yuta.
"Tuna mayo!" Agreed a boy with platinum blond hair and collar that reached up till his nose.
Yuta didn't say anything as he seemed way too overwhelmed with everything but he didn't have to as Maki spoke up next to him.
"He's definitely on our side! His name is Megumi Fushiguro and he's the idiot's personal student and practically his adopted son. He's already a First Grade sorcerer and goes on missions almost everyday." Maki explained with a hint of respect in her voice.
"You know a weird amount about him, Maki, you sure you don't have a crush on him~?" the panda teased her.
"HAH? He's my cousin, you jackass! Of course I know a lot about him, not like those back at the clan would ever shut up about him. It's always 'Megumi Zen'in this! Megumi Zen'in that!'. It never ends!" Maki growled out in response.
Megumi readied himself to rush forwards again as he pulled out Kage and tensed his body ready to attack with Geto responding in kind as he summoned two First Grade curses by his side to protect him. However, before either of them could continue their altercation a familiar voice sounded out from behind them, calling out to Geto specifically.
"Step back from my students Suguru, don't start spouting your insane ideologies to them." Gojo said a few metres away from the group in a relaxed stance.
"Satoru! It's been so long! How've you been, I heard about your students and knew that I just had to meet them." the curse user said cheerfully to his best friend.
Turning to face the 5 young sorcerers he went on to list their names and their most important qualities with utmost glee and satisfaction.
"Fushiguro Megumi; The inheritor of the Ten Shadows, Heir to the Zen'in Clan and your personal student. Yuta Okkotsu; A Special Grade Cursed human and the master of The Queen of Curses. Panda; Principal Yaga's masterpiece, an Abrupt Mutation Cursed Corpse. Toge Inumaki; sole survivor and inheritor of the Inumaki clan's Cursed Speech. And…"
Near the end of his speech his voice trailed off as his expression twisted into one of pure distaste and malevolence.
"Maki Zen'in… The Zen'in Clan's second greatest failure."
"Why you…" Maki didn't take kindly to being referred to as such and spoke up with bubbling rage.
Suguru Geto's cursed energy surged as his grip on it was released, leaking his pressure on all those around. His strength as a Special Grade curse user was shown to all as any sorcerer below Semi-Grade 1 fell to their knees, unable to handle the oppression; with the exception of Shoko Ieiri who stood by unfazed in the slightest.
"Careful what you say now, because I don't need Monkeys like you in the world that I'm creating!" Geto's hatred towards all non-sorcerers was released for all to see.
At this statement, curiously it wasn't Megumi or Gojo that reacted first, it was Yuta Okkotsu who's nervousness and fear seemed to have all but disappeared as he marched forwards towards the curse user and declared with a never before seen conviction.
"I can't say I'm sure what you're talking about yet. But I refuse to help someone who insults my friends!"
At this declaration, Geto's expression softened as he apologised with a true honesty, "Ah, my apologies Yuta. I never meant to upset you."
"So then…" Gojo said as he walked forwards towards Geto.
"... Mind explaining why you're here?" Megumi finished for him as he walked in between Yuta and the curse user.
"To declare war. All of those gathered here, listen up! Two months from now on December 24th, the Night Parade of a Thousand demons shall commence! This event will take place in two places; the Crucible of Curses, Shinjuku in Tokyo! And at the sacred land of Jujutsu Sorcerery, Kyoto!"
The curse user raised his hand and declared with malevolent fervour "I shall release 2000 curses upon each location, and of course their orders will be to slaughter every Human in sight! If you want to avoid this impending hell, you must put your lives on the line and fight!"
"Let us curse each other to our hearts content!" his cursed energy pressure leaked once more as he finished his speech.
A voice came from his side and took the wind out of his sails.
"Ah Geto-sama! The store's closing soon!" the blonde girl named Nanako exclaimed while looking at her phone.
"Eh? Why all the excitement for a place so full of monkeys? Well, so be it. Sorry Satoru, but the girls want to try crepes from a store on Takahashi street, so I'm afraid we'll be going."
Turning away from his best friend and the rest of his former comrades, he walked towards his group of curse users as he tried to convince them against going to a place filled with 'Monkeys'.
"Leaving? Not on my watch Suguru." Gojo stepped up to stop him with Megumi drawing his blade by his side, ready to attack at his teacher's command.
"I wouldn't if I were you… Your precious students are all still within my range!" Geto stated as around all of his students dozens of curses, each one above Semi-Grade one, manifested and surrounded all the first years with a large one eyed first grade curse appearing beside him on guard.
After that another curse partially formed next to Geto, its body was hazy and unformed but around it stormy clouds formed. These clouds flowed outwards and surrounded Geto and his group, then they started to float into the air gracefully.
"Well then everyone… I'll see you on the battlefield." the raven haired man said as he and his comrades flew away.
Within moments all the curses summoned by Geto Suguru were ripped to shreds by all those present as after the dust settled, an awkward silence formed.
"... Shit."
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
…
In a large room of Tokyo Jujutsu Tech HQ a meeting that could alter the fate of the world as we know it was taking place.
"Suguru Geto, he is a Special Grade Sorcerer with the Cursed Spirit Manipulation technique that allows him to absorb and control any and all vagabond curses that he defeats in battle." At the board was Ichiji Kyotaka who was explaining the main problem to all those present.
"He has amassed a gargantuan amount of curses using his cult as a lure, that combined with his already vast reserves prior to his defection and the increased amount of curses born recently; it may not be a complete bluff to say he could release 4 thousand curses." He went on to explain with a grave look on his face.
"Even so, most of 'em are probably 2nd grade curses at best and his allied sorcerer could only be at around 60, tops." clarified principal Yaga.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that… however brief or incomplete the summoning, that curse he used to fly him and his comrades away, from its cursed energy alone.. It must be a special grade." Megumi pointed out from the side, leaning on the wall next to Gojo.
The white haired man nodded in agreement "Yea' exactly. It's hard to imagine him, of all people, starting a fight he didn't think he could win."
"GODDAMN! Someone contact all the alumni, the big 3 clans and we'll even ask help from the Ainu Jujutsu Society. We need every bit of help possible." Principle Yaga started with a grave tone of finality.
"It is time to eliminate The Curse known as Suguru Geto!"