The Inumaki Clan Prodigy [Jujutsu Kaisen]

Sparks flew as Isamu and his one eyed opponent clashed swords. Isamu had the upper hand in skill but his opponent was stronger and a bit faster.

Suddenly, a giant hand grabbed the one eyed man's leg and pulled him out of the way of a slash from Isamu. Isamu was not discouraged however, he followed through with his slash, this time cutting open the hand.

No blood leaked from the projected limb, instead it simply disappeared. Isamu was not sure if it was due to the technique being unable to sustain itself after taking such damage or if its user just dispelled the technique.

"You're tough, and all without your technique. Geto was right to send us after you. You would've been a real thorn in his side otherwise." The shirtless man said.

Isamu didn't do anything in response. He just stood there, watching them with calculating eyes. If Isamu had a technique like the hand technique, he would use it much more liberally. Perhaps it had a high cursed energy cost and the man was using it sparingly to conserve resources.

Or maybe there was some kind of cool downtime between uses. Both were possible but neither felt right to Isamu. Isamu was given no more time to strategize before the one with the eyepatch rushed him, ready to gut him.

Isamu slide under his horizontal slash and rushed the rear line. The man extended his arm and launched his projected hand towards Isamu. Isamu jumped and tucked his body together, keeping his arms and legs in a straight line. As a result, Isamu slipped through the hands fingers.

Before Isamu could capitalize on his opening, he sensed the hand behind him disappear as a new hand appeared, grabbing Isamu and tossing him away. 'So there's not a cool down. But it seems he can only make one hand at a time. Every time he uses it, it's with his right hand and a right hand always appears. He probably can't use his technique with his left hand then.' Isamu thought as he softened his landing with a roll.

If it wasn't a cool down, it would have to be cursed energy, but that still didn't feel right. The technique had been used a good amount throughout the fight and if it's cost was high, the man would've shown some signs of fatigue by now. But no such signs were present nor did Isamu sense the man had large cursed energy pools.

But what Isamu had noticed during his approach was a small cut on the man's right hand. It wasn't very big, maybe the length and depth of a paper cut, but it was there. It was on the spot Isamu had cut the giant hand at. Was that it? Any damage taken to the giant had was reflected onto the users real hand.

If that was true, all he needed to do was focus on damaging the hand and eventually enough nerves would be wrecked in the users hand, making it impossible to use the hand again. It was the best Isamu could come up with and he didn't have any more time to think as his opponents approached once more.

But there was something different about this attack for the shirtless man was now leading the charge while the swordsman fell back. An uneasy feeling settled in Isamu gut at the move. Did the swordsman have some kind of ranged technique? If it was so, Isamu was in trouble.

Facing two potential grade 1 sorcerers, each with techniques, while not having cursed speech available was bad. Isamu was certainly in a tough spot. The man extended his hand and its projection appeared, rushing at him.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain."

Isamu crouched as a white circle appeared around him, nullifying the technique. If the man was going to push him on the front line, Isamu would go for his actual hand instead of trying to chip away at his technique.

Before Isamu could sheath his sword and attack with Batto Sword Drawing once more, a line of blue flame shot towards him. The attack was so potent that simple domain could only weaken it a bit before it struck Isamu. It hit his shoulder dead on, tearing through his uniform before sliding off his shoulder, unable to pierce his cursed energy reinforced shoulder.

He looked back at the sorcerer with the eye patch, now finding no such eye patch.

In its place was a flaming blue eye, the place the bolt of flame had come from. His shoulder was now covered with 2nd degree burns but he was given no time to recover.

He had been forced to drop his simple domain due to the damage, leaving him vulnerable to both techniques. The projected hand came from above, ready to slam him into the ground. Isamu dashed away, dodging it by a hair. But the swordsman had predicted his path of escape and had fired there.

As a result, Isamu ended up dodging right into the beam. He brought his sword up to block the beam with the edge of his blade. The beam split down the middle. One side of the flames missed him completely while the other nicked his arm.

Yet again, the projected hand appeared and smashed him into a wall. Before it made contact, Isamu angled the tip of his sword towards the hand. If he was going to get hit, he would at least do some damage in the process.

His blade stabbed through the hand like it had just slapped an upright nail. Before the user could deactivate the hand, Isamu dragged his blade down, creating a large slash all the way through the hand.

The projection disappeared and as soon as he was no longer pinned to the wall and began to fall, a line of blue flame met him in the air. Isamu saw it coming but was unable to get his sword up in time, his arm was still hurting from getting slammed into the wall with such force.

The best he could do was shift his body slightly to minimize the damage a bit. Once Isamu landed, he didn't waste anytime and ran into a nearby alleyway. Isamu was getting pressed hard and if he tried to take them head on, he'd lose.

Once he'd turned the corner, Isamu started to scale the wall of the building with the help of his cursed energy infused hands and feet. Once he'd climbed the wall he intended on raining down some throwing knives. But he wasn't given the chance to.

Instead of being met with a clear, maybe a bit wreaked, roof top. Isamu was met with a giant palm. It seems the man had predicted where he was gonna go and had moved to intersect him. Due to the surprising nature of the attack, Isamu was unable to dodge.

The hand pushed him off the building before he would even step foot on it. Isamu began to plummet towards the ground, he flipped and turned uncontrollably. During his fall, he saw the blue eyed man in the distance, ready to fire yet enough beam of blue flame.

Isamu had to do something or he'd die. The head on strike from the beam earlier had covered his left side in 3rd degree burns. If he was hit again, he might be able to survive, a possibility that would turn impossible once he hit the ground.

Regrets flashed through his mind as he watched the flame approach him. His clan, his parents, Maki, every one of his regrets bubbled up to the surface as he racked his brain for a solution to his current predicament. So, with no other options, he tried using his technique.

"Rise and protect!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath Isamu shot up and incased him in a protective sphere of stone and metal. He had done it! He had used his extension technique. Normally the target for cursed speech was limited to living objects. But by extending the target to inanimate objects, Isamu was able to control and command non-living things as well.

But this technique did come with some downsides. One, it costs about 1.5 times more than a regular command on a living thing. If a command on Gojo costs 100 cursed energy, a command on the ground would cost 150 cursed energy. Secondly, it had a much stronger back lash.

Isamu vomited blood inside his protective shell. His throat was swollen and bloody. Isamu had about one more command in him before his throat was completely unusable. He would have to make it count.

Isamu was in very bad shape. He had a few broken ribs from the constant hits from the giant hand, a third degree burn covering the left side of his torso just below the ribs, and second degree burns covered his right shoulder.

The only good thing about his condition was his cursed energy pool being nearly full as he'd only used simple domain twice and his cursed speech once. Isamu considered using his head start binding vow to cripple one of his opponents. Sure, he wouldn't have cursed speech for the next 24 hours but he'd rather be subjected to that than be dead.

Isamu's thoughts were interrupted by a hand smashing through his stone barrier before it disappeared. Ripping through the dust the hand made when released was a bolt of blue flame. Isamu raised his sword to block it once more. This time he was able to deflect it away from his body completely, coming out of the exchange unharmed. Isamu returned the favor with a throwing knife.

He did not see if it connected as he quickly jumped down from his platform onto the nasty ground of the alleyway. Soon, the entire mouth of the alley was blocked by a projected hand which was quickly approaching his position. Isamu launched three throwing knives into it before he dashed towards it with his blade poised to strike.

Isamu had a theory that if the hand took enough damage, it would be dissolved even if the user didn't wish for it to be so. His theory was proven correct when the hand was forcibly released after Isamu cleaved through the palm with a diagonal strike. Isamu was now face to face with the shirtless man with the annoying technique.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain."

Isamu pushed the limits of his domain and his voice, increasing its radius to the max in order to trap the man in it. He succeeded and quickly sheathed his sword.

"New Shadow Style: Batto Sword Drawing."

The man had quick reaction times but Isamu was quicker. Isamu was able to cut off the man's right pointer, middle, and index fingers. Dropping his domain, Isamu sprinted towards the man. He was still recovering from getting his fingers cut off so he was unable to react in time to prevent Isamu from slipping behind him, putting him into a choke hold, and turning him to face the direction Isamu had run from.

Isamu did this all in time to shield himself from the swordsman's flames using his own ally. The man was struck right in the chest, covering nearly his whole torso in anger burn marks. Isamu wasted no time and plunged his katana through the man's back, piercing a lung in the process.

The man had been too dependent on his technique, so as soon as it was taken from him when his fingers were severed, he was easy pickings. Isamu pulled his sword out and discarded the man, leaving him for dead in a destroyed alley.

As Isamu ran toward his remaining foe, he slashed at any beams that were fired while tossing some throwing knifes at the man. Isamu was still grazed and burned here and there during his approach but as long as he got within range, Isamu would win.

Soon, Isamu accomplished his goal. Once Isamu was within 20 meters of the swordsman turned sniper, he threw his sword like a javelin at the man.

"Don't move!"

Using his head start binding vow, Isamu was able to command the man. The swordsman froze like a deer caught in headlights, unable to do anything but watch as the sword rocketed towards him.

The man's flaming left eye was pierced by the projectile before it continued on into his brain. He was killed nearly instantly.

Before Isamu could relish in his victory, he collapsed to his knees. A torrent of blood spewed from his lips, forming a large puddle below him. That last command had completely destroyed his throat, making cursed speech unusable even if Isamu hadn't used a binding vow.

Isamu was beyond exhausted and was definitely in no condition to fight, not after losing so much blood. He needed to make it to Shoko to get treatment, or at least find a safe place to pass out. Despite every bone in his body screaming for him to get up, even the broken ones, all Isamu could do was lay down and let the darkness claim him.