Unlocking potential

"We're short on personnel. Right now, we can only send a Grade 2 Sorcerer to protect Miss Tsumiki..."

"If the danger level doesn't rise, we might not even be able to send a Grade 2 Sorcerer..."

Before the operation began, Megumi Fushiguro had already asked the Assistant Supervisor, Ijichi, to help protect his sister.

Even now, the voice from the other end of the phone still echoed in Megumi Fushiguro's ears. He should have realized it long ago:

Since June, cursed spirit attacks across Japan had been multiplying exponentially. Although more people had awakened during the same period than in previous years, the sheer number of cursed spirits had left Jujutsu High unable to allocate its personnel effectively.

But why had it started in June?

Why had the cursed spirits become so frenzied, so numerous?

There was only one answer-

"Sukuna..."

In June, Yuji Itadori had swallowed Sukuna's Finger for the first time, breaking the "shackles" that had kept all twenty fingers peacefully sealed.

Freed from their restraints, the special grade cursed objects had begun turning legends that once caused only paranormal phenomena into deadly prisons of cursed spirit attacks.

Even a rash impulse from decades ago could bring death to someone's door one evening, years later...

And now, standing before Megumi Fushiguro...

This newly born special grade cursed spirit spread its arms, leisurely stretching its new body-

It looked identical to the special grade cursed spirit Megumi Fushiguro had encountered at the Juvenile Detention Center. Clearly, most special grade cursed spirits spawned by Sukuna's Finger belonged to the same type...

"If I kill it... will Tsumiki survive...?"

The shadows beneath Megumi Fushiguro's feet twisted. His gaze was resolute. He would exorcise it here, no matter what.

Though officially still a Grade 2 Sorcerer, he had undergone Hajime Kashimo's intensive hand-to-hand combat training, Satoru Gojo's cursed energy output training, and gained practical combat experience at the Goodwill Event.

Taken together, those experiences meant the Megumi Fushiguro of today could no longer be compared to his counterpart in another timeline...

"Nyeh-heh-heh~"

The special grade cursed spirit lifted its head and straightened, letting out the same vicious laugh as Cursed Womb Must Die.

The cursed energy radiating from its body was abundant and steady. Unlike the embryo at the Juvenile Detention Center, it had killed countless humans with curses and absorbed years' worth of cursed energy, making it far more-

Powerful.

"So fast!!"

A lump of cursed energy shot out as though launched from a slingshot, striking with the force of a cannonball and sending pain jolting through Megumi Fushiguro's wrists.

The edge of his sturdy black-bladed cursed tool chipped and broke apart. In both speed and strength, this special grade cursed spirit clearly had the advantage.

"Nue!"

An orange owl shikigami spread his wings and flew out of the shadows.

Megumi Fushiguro grabbed Nue's talons, then sharply swung himself backward in an arc, putting distance between himself and the special grade cursed spirit.

But seemingly having seen through Megumi Fushiguro's plan, the special grade cursed spirit shattered the ground beneath its foot with a single stomp, then used the recoil to launch itself at him, swinging a heavy fist brimming with cursed energy...

The distance between them was short.

Before his training, that punch would have hit Megumi Fushiguro square in the face and knocked him unconscious.

But...

"You're a lot slower than those guys' punches!"

"Max Elephant!"

The shadows on the ground expanded in an instant.

A huge pink elephant shikigami stepped out of them, swung his long trunk high, and blasted a waterfall of water straight into the special grade cursed spirit's charging path.

The massive volume of water instantly halted the special grade cursed spirit's attack in midair. Thick clouds of mist spread, obscuring its vision...

"Nue!!"

A black silhouette wreathed in lightning sliced like a blade through the mist that shrouded half the domain.

The lightning conducted through the water still clinging to the special grade cursed spirit, and an exploding mass of electrical light instantly engulfed its entire body.

"I'm not done yet! The Well's Unknown Abyss!"

As he spoke, Megumi Fushiguro's hands formed signs so quickly they left afterimages. In the shadows, the airborne Nue rapidly fused with the toad shikigami. An extraordinarily resilient tongue wrapped around the special grade cursed spirit's torso and slammed it brutally from midair into the ground...

"Guh!!!"

Purple blood spurted from the special grade cursed spirit's mouth.

Megumi Fushiguro's seamless chain of shikigami attacks had seriously injured it.

But that did not mean it had lost the ability to fight-

A red glow steeped in curses erupted from the special grade cursed spirit's body.

Several slashes with no detectable presence swept through the air with a whoosh, instantly cutting the toad tongues summoned by The Well's Unknown Abyss into pieces...

"That didn't finish it...? Divine Dogs..."

Megumi Fushiguro's pupils contracted. He immediately retreated, his hands snapping into the summoning sign for his next shikigami...

But he was too slow.

The cursed spirit, its entire body glowing blood-red, was already in front of him. Its fist, wrapped in a bloody aura, smashed squarely into Megumi Fushiguro's ribs.

Thud!

Megumi Fushiguro's vision went black as he was sent flying. His body slammed into the earthen wall at the domain's edge, and blood trickled from a wound on his head to the corner of his eye...

Spiderweb cracks spread across the wall. Agonizing pain stabbed through his ribs...

At least two of them were broken.

"Gah-"

Megumi Fushiguro spat out a mouthful of blood and forced himself to try to stand.

The special grade cursed spirit had not been using its full strength. Only now was it fighting seriously...

But Megumi had already expended too much energy.

Summoning shikigami in succession had drained him far more than he had expected. His technique for summoning Divine Dogs had already been canceled, and his hands shook uncontrollably as his consciousness grew hazy.

The special grade cursed spirit's vicious, mocking laughter echoed in his ears. Watching the figure draw closer and closer, Megumi Fushiguro finally let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"Haha... guess this is the end..."

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Megumi's voice was hoarse, yet it carried the overwhelming power of a chant:

"Furube... yura yura..."

The sight of his clenched fists instantly wiped the vicious grin from the special grade cursed spirit's face. In almost the same instant, it put an enormous distance between itself and Megumi Fushiguro:

That was a cursed spirit's absolute fear of its natural enemy, an instinct it possessed as a special grade...

That thing... was coming...

"Winning by dying and risking death to win are two different things. You need to be greedier."

"You're always thinking of winning with your final trump card. If you keep doing that, you won't even catch up to Nanami."

Just as he was about to finish chanting for the taming ritual, Satoru Gojo's figure appeared in Megumi Fushiguro's vision once more.

Be greedier...

Try harder...

His clenched fists slowly relaxed. Under the special grade cursed spirit's baffled gaze, Megumi Fushiguro opened his hands.

"Fuck this. I'm not doing it."

"You want me to be greedier? I'll show you!"

Megumi Fushiguro formed another hand sign. This time, it was not to summon any shikigami:

"Domain Expansion-"

The shadows beneath his feet erupted like raging waves, swallowing the entire underground space before the special grade cursed spirit could react.

Pitch-black light gushed from the shadows, drowning every color-

"-Chimera Shadow Garden!"

The shadows surged like a living ocean, staining the ground throughout the domain with pure darkness.

The cursed spirit looked down at its feet, all four of its pupils shrinking to pinpoints in an instant.

Domain Expansion.

Pushed into a desperate corner, Megumi Fushiguro had mastered Domain Expansion.

Even if it was an incomplete, irregular domain, it was still undeniably a Domain Expansion.

Even if it was hideously crude and lacked even a sure-hit effect...

It was still enough to deal with this special grade cursed spirit!