NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28: The Difference Between Us.
There is a discord for this fic. It has Live Updates about chapter progress and when they are completed, pictures for characters, lots of tidbits about the story, among other things. Join at https: // discord.gg / aWZ9qX9mAW
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.
People in the Discord called me crazy, they ALL called me crazy when I said Nobara's coming back; AND I WAS RIGHT!
A MAN'S AGENDA NEVER DIES, NOBARA IS BACK BABY AND I ALREADY GOT 2 APOLOGIES SIGNED!
YUJI BLEW SUKUNA'S BACK OUT AND SLEEPKUNA IS BACK! LET'S FUCKING GO!
JJK's also ending after the next few chapters, on 30th of September. Holy Shit.
End of an Era fr, never thought we'd reach here so quickly.
To celebrate such things, here's an early chapter release!
Anyways, as per tradition when it comes to any Gojo fight; I recommend listening to Judas for this chap lol, goes hard asf.
______________________________________________
The next day, 3 pm
Tokyo Jujutsu Forest, Outside of Shoko's office.
"Now you two, I know how much you guys want to do this and trust me I can't wait to see it but we have to make some ground rules first and foremost before you guys can start." Announced Shoko as she sat on the side with some other observers.
Sitting beside her were Principal Masamichi Yaga, Utahime Iori, Itadori Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki. Each of them held wildly differing expressions on their faces as they awaited the battle to start, ranging from elation at the possibility of Gojo being punched in the face to curiosity at the outcome of the battle.
Yaga looked to be incredibly annoyed at the fact that they had chosen his backyard to be the place where they conduct their battle and knew that he would have to pay thousands to repair it afterwards. Utahime looked positively euphoric at the possibility of watching the white haired man get punched for once.
Yuji and Nobara both looked curious at the possible outcome of the fight, from what they knew their teacher was the strongest but Megumi being a Special grade and declaring himself the 3rd strongest sorcerer had hyped them up immensely; what they wanted to know now above all else was 'What is the difference between us and the top?'.
"First and foremost; Satoru, No throwing Purples around! Having the two of you fighting here is bad enough not to mention letting you throw around that blasted attack and destroying half the compound." Shoko declared with a tired grin.
"Damn right, you two idiots better not break my school, or I'll make the two of you pay for all the repairs plus the cost of operations!" Yaga shouted out at them from his place on the bench.
"Fine, Fineeee~! I won't use Purple, not like I need it, I could win without it! Why's Utahime here anyways, shouldn't she be at Kyoto with her class? This seems very irresponsible of you Miss Utahime~!" Satoru acquiesced to their demands but didn't waste an opportunity to tease his favourite target.
"Well, If you have to know, Shoko and Principal Masamichi called me here to help contain this fight of yours with a barrier and help make sure the two of you don't kill each other somehow. And I'll have you know that my students are currently on a mission together so there!" Utahime replied to his teasing with some faux venom in her voice.
"Awww~, that's so cute Utahime~, you came here 'cuz you're worried for me!" Satoru teased in response, knowingly twisting her words just to tease her even further.
"HAH?! No one's worried for you, you jackass!" The black haired woman called out, a blush covering her scarred face as she pulled out a knife from thin air and threw it at him much to his amusement as the knife merely flopped against his infinity and fell to the ground.
The group looked at the two of them with a deadpan expression as they continued their back and forth with Gojo continuing to tease her with Utahime reacting to it all with insults and annoyance. Nobara and Yuji both observed the two of them closely, as if trying to crack a code with Nobara speaking up first.
"They're fucking…" She deduced with squinted eyes, with Yuji just nodding in agreement with the same squinted eyes. A mouth once again opened up Yuji's face which allowed Sukuna to also speak his mind for a second before he was slapped away. "They're definitely fucking."
"Utahime, please just ignore him for now, you can hate ride him later." Shoko said, causing Utahime's and Satoru's faces to both light up crimson as they both fell quiet immediately.
"Anyways, 'Gumi! You can't make some Giant fuck off Kaiju either just 'cuz Satoru annoyed you, the barrier isn't gonna be that big anyways so just don't. And lastly can you both please at least try to not kill each other?" She asked them, knowing that one of them is likely to take it too far.
"I'll try." "No promises~!"
Shoko just sighed in annoyance and gestured towards Utahime with a tired expression. The black haired woman collected herself as her blush faded away, she brought her hand up in the pose of calling down a curtain.
"Emerge from Darkness, Blacker than Darkness. Fend off that which seeks to harm the Pure."
Normally an average curtain would not have been able to hope to contain the battle but it was enhanced severely thanks to the employment of several Binding Vows, each one was used to enhance the durability of the barrier from the inside.
These Binding Vows were recommended by Megumi and they enhanced the barrier at the cost of allowing free entrance and exit of entities through the barrier and making it extremely fragile from the outside along with allowing anyone except Ryomen Sukuna to view the insides of the curtain as if it was not there much to the King's annoyance.
It took some time figuring it out but thanks to the combined experience of all the sorcerers present and the help of the Record left by Fugiwara Yoshitsune, they were able to make the barrier work perfectly for their needs.
'Good, looks like the barrier worked perfectly as intended. Makes me wonder though, who the hell is Fujiwara Yoshitsune? There's barely any information on him other than he was a somewhat well known sorcerer from the Edo era back with Kashimo and Ishigori, I should keep an eye out for any info on him.' Megumi considered as he watched everyone get ready for the fight.
Megumi got himself into a Hand-to-Hand stance, his arms were covered with a Barrier that was soon shining a brilliant Dark Blue tinged with Black as he activated Domain Amplification with a grin.
'I'm not so arrogant to believe I can win this fight, I might not even be able to hit him through the Infinity now that he knows I can. Even after all my training I couldn't hope to match up to Satoru as I am now, so this fight is going to be a very short one. But even so, before I lose, I will at the very least land a few hits on his smug face through that infinity.' He declared to himself, his entire body tensing up as his feet dug deeper into the ground and pushed his cursed energy trait to the maximum to try and hide his presence as much as possible.
"Not sure if I needed to say this but knowing the two of you, I'll just say it. No Domain Expansions got it? Okay, Ready? Set… Go!"
Megumi immediately disappeared in the direction of Gojo in an explosion of dust, the ground beneath him exploded as he reached the white haired man in an instant with his right arm pulled back. Gojo saw this coming and moved to block the attack, the attack proved to be a feint as Megumi tried to quickly go for a left hook to the face.
However Gojo saw this coming and deflected the attack before slamming his fist into Megumi's stomach with a devastating Haymaker, the black haired man coughed up bile from the impact and fell backwards but took advantage of his position and Satoru's stance to land on his hands and push himself off the ground, aiming slam his feet into Satoru's stomach.
The counter attack was a smart move as it caught the white haired man off guard but it didn't manage to land as the time it took for Megumi to channel Domain Amplification and break through the infinity gave Gojo time to avoid the move and use Megumi's momentum to grab him by his legs and throw him to the side through a couple of trees.
Megumi struggled for a few moments as he stopped himself in place after crashing through two trees, landing onto the ground on his knees, he wiped off blood that trickled from his mouth with a grunt as he gathered his breath again and growled in annoyance.
"God damnit, I need to be faster. Just this isn't enough!" He mumbled under his breath as he gathered cursed energy to use a new ability, his fist digging into the ground and creating a small crater as he did from his frustration.
"Come on now Megumi, this can't be everything right? Did I get all heated up for nothing, don't disappoint me here!" Gojo hollered at his student, allowing him to gather himself and charge again.
"You guys sure this is a good idea? Megumi can't even hit him, he's already leaking blood and is bruised as hell!" Yuji exclaimed as he saw his friend's damage.
"No no, watch…" Shoko called out, noticing something interesting that gave her a grin.
Megumi's body shifted for a moment as he bulked up slightly, the top of his head began to create a set of antlers before they morphed back into his skin. He looked up at the awaiting white haired man that had a grin that matched his own, his eyes shining a brilliant aura as they gained a set of circles around his irises.
"Incarnation: Tranquil Deer."
Steam built up around Megumi's body as all the scraps and bruises on his body mended together in an instant, he stood up from his place on the ground triumphantly with a small laugh.
'I didn't get a wink of sleep last night, I had to make sure I mastered this Incarnation before this fight. And god damn does it feel amazing, even this form of RCT that isn't completely mine, it's fucking euphoric.' Megumi sighed out in satisfaction as he channelled Domain Amplification again and rushed forwards.
Gojo chose to take his student head on, they clashed back and forth for a few moments. Unlike before, their clashes weren't as completely one sided, for every 3rd attack that was deflected or dodged by Satoru; Megumi was able to push the man back slightly even though wasn't able to land a clean hit despite the man not going all out and taking him fully seriously.
Satoru landed hit after hit on the black haired man but he did not care as he grit his teeth and allowed his reverse cursed technique to run rampant at full output, his body mending itself while it was being damaged as he forced himself to Adapt and try to overcome the overwhelming force that was Gojo Satoru.
Despite his pain and injuries, Megumi pushed forwards, he threw a haymaker towards his opponent's liver which was deflected by Satoru with a backhand who then tried to counter attack with his own punch towards Megumi's face.
However he played directly in the black haired man's plan as Megumi used his ability to manipulate shadows to open a small hole under Gojo's right leg causing the man to lose his footing and miss his attack, giving Megumi a wide opportunity to land a hit which he took immediately.
Megumi's arm sparked with electricity from his mutations as he managed against all odds to rip straight through the White Haired Sorcerer's Infinity, however as his fist was about to land; The Golden Sparks that flowed throughout his arm had a spontaneous evolution as from their Glorious Gold the turned into an Ominous Obsidian.
The Black Sparks surrounding Megumi's arms turned into an explosion of Lightning which spread and burst outwards in a blinding display of power. The Devastating Haymaker smashed onto the white haired man's cheek with a blinding ferocity, causing him to stumble backwards from the force of the impact.
Megumi paid no heed nor did he care to announce his Black Flash, all he cared about was gaining his flow in the battle and truly driving home his point. To finally show Satoru that he wasn't alone anymore, that he could rely on someone else to bear his responsibility again after so long.
Gojo held his cheek in pain, he could already feel a mark forming on his face, he even tasted a wholly unfamiliar tint of iron in his mouth. From the sidelines Yaga stood up from his shock as he witnessed something he thought impossible after so long.
"H-He actually hit him, with a Black Flash no less…" Utahime muttered in shock, beside her Shoko just gaped her mouth in surprise as the cigarette that was in her mouth simply fell out. While Yuji and Nobara cheered as they saw their friend land his first clean hit in the fight.
"Do you think Fushiguro can actually do this?" Yuji asked Nobara excitedly as he saw the tides of the battle start to shift slightly.
"Well, if Gojo-sensei decides to go all out and throw everything he has at him, he might have a little trouble." Nobara answered.
"But would he lose?"
"Nah He'd Win."
"You actually landed a Black Flash on me as your first hit and played dirty while getting it? Fine then, kiddy gloves are off. Let's finish this Megumi!" Satoru declared as he got into an actual fight stance after spitting out a glob of blood, his fists were covered with a Blue glow as he covered them with his 'Blue' ability.
Megumi grinned in response the marks of Gama manifested on each of his palms, his muscles bulked up even further as his bone density grew further and his senses were enhanced to even greater heights. From his back sprouted obsidian wings as well as he activated four Incarnations at the same time.
'Incarnation: Nue, Gama and Divine Dog!'
"Likewise Satoru!" He declared as a shadow tendril shot out from his hand and created a small ball of tendrils over his head which faded away right after revealing The Inverted Spear of Heaven which fell into his awaiting right hand. "The real fight starts now, you better not hesitate 'cuz I won't!"
'My body isn't used to the strain of maintaining so many Incarnations at the same time so suddenly all the while switching to use Domain Amplification when needed, so I'll probably collapse right after this rush. But by God I will cut him if it's the last thing I do!' Megumi affirmed to himself.
"W-When did he get that?!" Shoko cried out in shock as she saw the weapon in his hands, the same one that almost killed Satoru a decade prior.
The ground beneath him shattered as Megumi blurred ahead at Satoru who did the same, the arena of their fight shattered under their whims. Gojo was first to attack as he went for a Blue infused punch to Megumi's gut, in response to this the black haired man decided to go for a desperate gamble.
Instead of dodging or deflecting the attack, he chose to draw him in by abusing his Blue infused punch's special trait; Attraction. Stronger than normal they may be, they also cause an opening to form in his attacks as no matter what his fists will be attracted to the closest object to them even if it wasn't his original aim.
As his fist got closer to Megumi's abdomen, he moved his wings towards the fist which caused the two of them to attract each other, much to Satoru's surprise. As the fist was about to land, Megumi then deactivated his cursed technique completely at the exact moment of impact causing Gojo to miss the attack and open up his guard.
Megumi used this opening to land his second hit on the white haired man which was a devastating elbow into his solar plexus with the help of Domain Amplification, he then moved his arm down to try and slice into him with the Inverted Spear but Satoru wasn't a man to be caught off guard twice in a row as he jumped back for a moment before pointing his finger at his student like a gun and firing off a crimson singularity.
"Red!"
In response to this Megumi reactivated his Incarnations again along with his wings and used them to help block the attack, however the sudden swap between using his cursed technique at such a high level and activating Domain Amplification placed a heavy burden on Megumi's body and mind due to his inexperience which caused his eyes to turn bloodshot as he began to have a nosebleed.
Megumi dragged himself up to his feet and looked towards Satoru with a shaky grin, in fact his entire body was shaking due to the strain he was placing on it even as he was healing himself with the Tranquil Deer incarnation.
"Why the hell is he pushing himself so much, isn't this just a spar?" Nobara asked, worried after seeing her classmate in such duress.
"This is more than just a fight for him, for the two of them even. It's about proving a point." Shoko explained, not turning away from the fight as Megumi got up and rushed forward again.
"...Proving what?" Asked Yuji, entranced with the fight before him. He watched as Megumi flew ahead with the help of his incarnations, dodging avalanche after avalanche of rubble that Gojo was throwing at him with the help of his Limitless cursed technique.
"It's about proving that Satoru doesn't need to bear the responsibility of being The Strongest alone anymore."
Satoru's face was covered in shadow as Megumi approached, only his galactic eyes were visible as he raised his hand to the air and aimed it at Megumi. On his right side, a Brilliant Azure singularity formed and on his left a Blinding Crimson one formed as after a moment they were attracted into each other and collided creating an ominous Purple aura within his hand.
"SATORU, DON'T!" Shoko screamed out immediately as she stood up from her place and started approaching the barrier.
"Holy shit bro, do you feel that?!" Nobara shouted out as she felt the sudden sharp spike in cursed energy.
"I taste that!" Yuji shrieked out in response while shielding his eyes from the gusts of dust, the very presence of the cursed energy sent shivers down his spine as it did the others.
Megumi didn't slow down in his approach, in fact he got even faster as he closed the distance between them with the Inverted Spear of Heaven in his right hand.
"Hollow Purple."
Gojo snapped his fingers as from them a blinding orb of Purple energy formed into an unstoppable singularity that crashed ahead in the direction of Megumi and obliterated everything in its way. The blast destroyed everything in its way as it reached the end of the arena and crashed into the barrier, shattering it apart in an instant and dissipating right after.
Megumi was nowhere to be seen as the shards of the Curtain fell around them, screams rang out through the air but Satoru didn't care. He just looked around for a moment, although his eyes told him that Megumi didn't exist anymore, something in his heart rejected that reality.
'I know he's alive.' Satoru looked around as if he was looking for a ghost that didn't exist between the falling shards of the curtain.
Just then, for a single moment, panic shot through his veins as he considered the fact that he may have actually killed him.
And it was then and only then that he felt a presence form behind him, he immediately turned around with his hand already forming a Reversal Red.
There was Megumi standing behind him with a giant grin on his face, his hair was singed and he had lost all of his upper clothing but in his hand was the Inverted Spear which was already nearing the white haired man's neck as he shot out of Satoru's own shadow.
Along his body were burns that were being mended together thanks to the Reverse cursed technique granted by his Deer Incarnation, despite being healed they still left behind burn scars that were bound to remain for a while.
Megumi's plan to enter the shadows at the last second was brilliant, he had bought himself enough time to dodge his teacher's ultimate attack and give himself an opening to attack.
"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!"
The Lord of Shadows was fast, blindingly so.
But The Honoured One was faster.
The Crimson singularity slammed into Megumi's open abdomen and sent him crashing away through a massive boulder and cartwheeling upside down through the air before finally landing at Shoko's feet who had started running towards the two of them after the barrier shattered.
Yet, despite his assault failing and gaining severe damage, Megumi laughed. He couldn't help himself, in that moment he only felt one singular emotion; Elation.
"The hell are you laughing about, I won!" Satoru asked between gasps of air and laughter.
Megumi started laughing even harder, he laughed so hard he started writhing on the ground even with his beaten and battered body, he could hardly even breathe. Shoko had to answer the man's question for him instead as he couldn't hope to do so himself.
"S-Satoru, y-your neck." She stated in awe as she motioned at her own neck to show him the specific location.
Gojo mimicked her action and touched his neck, feeling an odd yet familiar sensation as his finger picked something up from it right as his adrenaline wore off. He pulled back his finger to look at it, his sapphire blue eyes widening in shock as he did.
On his finger was a red liquid, Blood. He recognized it right as the pain came back into his senses. On his neck was a shallow line, from it oozed blood by the droves.
For the first time in a Decade; The Strongest Sorcerer, The Honoured one, Satoru Gojo was Wounded and Bleeding Once Again.
________________________________
Author's Note:
PTSD technique: Panic Purple
Also in case it wasn't immediately obvious, Megumi is still WAAAAAY weaker than Gojo, he landed a grand total of like 3 hits while Satoru beat his ass harder than he beat Miguel lol.
He only landed hits when he managed to outsmart Gojo and was beaten black and blue every other time. Satoru didn't even go all out and the Hollow Purple wasn't a maximum output, but this fight wasn't about who was stronger.
It was about proving a point.
…
If you want access to all my stockpiled chapters, currently about 7 chapters ahead(26k~ Words), you can go do so on my new Patreon!
For about the price of an Average coffee (3$), you can get access to everything I've written so far as well as special privileges on Discord among other things.
Join at patreon .com/ Helios539