Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 25 - You're the Challenger (Patreon)

At Jujutsu High, in that moment.

Everyone was agonizing over how to cheer up the strongest.

"Good luck?"

"Don't die?"

Nobara scratched her head, a massive bead of cold sweat sliding down her temple.

"Something feels seriously off about this..."

"I mean, someone operating at that terrifying a level is already a match for Gojo-sensei."

"In a situation like this, encouragement from small fries like us feels a little weightless, doesn't it?"

Yuta Okkotsu stroked the sword sheath in silence, then let out a wry laugh.

"True."

"Facing a death match at that level, it's like we've lost even the right to worry about him or cheer him on."

"Because we can't set foot in that tier of combat ourselves. So naturally, we can't generate any real empathy on the same frequency."

That gap was devastating.

There was no denying it, that face with the sea-urchin spikes of black hair was more familiar to everyone at Jujutsu High than anything else in the world.

But reason reminded them. Ruthlessly.

The Megumi Fushiguro they knew had long since gone over to the other side.

And the soul on the other side of that door was a visitor carrying a mission that spanned countless Parallel Worlds, hunting down a demon god.

"At our level, it's hard to understand the mindset of someone that isolated, that supreme. Everything he carries. Isn't it?"

"Absolute strength breeds that kind of loneliness, and there's simply no way we could teach him anything about love."

"I feel like we'd say the wrong thing."

In the long countdown of waiting.

Everyone's minds began involuntarily replaying everything this other-world Megumi had done since the day he arrived.

Whether it was letting everyone call him Heavenly Emperor Hui, or acting carefree, or even mimicking Gojo-sensei's insufferable, punch-worthy attitude.

At first, they thought it was just a personality quirk, some shift in this Parallel Worlds version of Megumi.

But when they calmed down, it clicked.

"It was all to ease our pain over Gojo-sensei's death, wasn't it?"

Heavenly Emperor Hui. You're so gentle.

After the unshakeable pillar of Jujutsu High had come crashing down.

They'd really needed a new anchor to hold up their belief and morale.

Megumi's arrival had been, without question, the finest presence to steady the room.

"This guy has gone and shouldered everything again, hasn't he."

The brothers of the Anti-Sukuna Squad, standing at the back of the crowd.

Watching this group of Jujutsu High students who had finally understood, they too couldn't help but feel something complicated stir at the sheer weight Megumi bore.

CREAK,

Just as the heavy atmosphere was about to reach its peak.

The thick, soundproofed door sealing off the training room was slowly pushed open, metal scraping against metal.

Every gaze snapped to the doorway at once, like a spotlight locking on.

The Megumi who walked out had long since shed the iconic Jujutsu High student uniform.

He was wearing the same combat attire as Gojo-sensei.

A black form-fitting short-sleeved shirt on top, hugging every line of muscle, layered under a white outer garment. Loose, flowing white warrior trousers below.

Identical to Satoru Gojo.

Though the look also carried a trace of Toji Fushiguro.

Today, the strongest looked considerably more serious than usual.

That tension transmitted itself to every person in the room.

Taking in the grave expressions around him, Megumi forced a smile and tried to lift the mood with the kind of half-baked tone Gojo-sensei always used.

"Relax. Sukuna is nothing but a defeated opponent. I've beaten him twice already!"

At those words, the expressions of the Jujutsu High crowd visibly eased, just a fraction.

"That should do it, Sensei..."

Megumi murmured in a voice no one could hear.

Projecting an even more carefree image so that everyone at Jujutsu High could worry a little less, that was Megumi's choice.

All he wanted right now was to get out of everyone's sight as quickly as possible, before the oppressive atmosphere could spread again.

And at a moment like this, it was Yuji's turn to step in.

"Megumi, your old man is such a nuisance!"

Two identical voices rang out at exactly the same time. The two Yuji Itadoris looked at each other and burst out laughing in unison.

That back-and-forth laughter finally infected Megumi too.

He immediately understood what Yuji meant, had Toji withdraw from the possession state, and laughed out loud as he turned and showed them his back:

"Ha! Come on then!"

Yuji laughed and clapped Megumi on the shoulder.

After that, everyone at Jujutsu High let go of their restraint, and the blessings came one after another.

"Go on, Grade 2 sorcerer!"

"Go prove you're not a man who rides on his father's coattails!"

"Win it, Heavenly Emperor Hui!"

And the strongest man's response to every single cheer was one line, loaded with absolute confidence,

"I'm going to win!"

With heavy, deliberate steps, Megumi made his way to the rooftop.

Traces from when Rokujuji and Utahime had performed their ritual still lingered here. Gazing at the scene, Megumi's chest filled with a tangle of feelings he couldn't quite sort out.

But unlike Gojo-sensei.

Megumi had no need for any of that assistance.

He spread his arms wide, reaching out across the distance to sense the turbulent cursed energy currents swirling above Shinjuku.

"That Meguna, openly exposing a cursed energy signature that brazenly?"

"Truly underestimating me."

Megumi struck a confident stance.

No incantation needed. No technique amplification needed.

Megumi rode Nue high into the sky, then used the Sorcerer Killer's techniques to keep suspended briefly in midair.

Between the clouds, the corner of his mouth curled upward, and he murmured softly:

"God said, let there be light —"

In an instant.

The radiance of Jacob's Ladder pierced straight through heaven and earth, stretching Megumi's shadow endlessly long.

"And so, there was light."

"With light, there came shadow..."

Megumi kept chanting the scripture verses that looked unbearably audacious to any onlooker, his face bright with swagger.

"Oh. The angel's technique."

Far across the divide, Meguna sensed the movement on Jujutsu High's side.

But Meguna genuinely couldn't figure out why a technique would be released from such a vast distance away.

This was pure cursed energy waste.

What Sukuna had not noticed at all was that, under the effect of that heavenly light,

A shadow stretching without limit had already drawn close to the flank.

"With shadow —"

Megumi's voice paused. Clearly the final movement of the chant.

Cursed energy surged through his entire body. Megumi drew a finger like a blade and pointed sharply at Meguna, high above Shinjuku.

By now the shadow had long since surrounded Sukuna, who had no idea it was coming.

"With shadow — comes my father!"

RRRIP, "DAMN!"

The sound of flesh tearing and the King of Curses' stifled grunt rang out together.

Meguna snapped around with a snarl, only to find that the Sorcerer Killer, carrying no cursed energy whatsoever, had already driven the Split Soul Katana straight into the heart.

The shadow tide surged. Megumi's figure flickered. Before Meguna could even collect its senses, another punch came crashing in.

"This punch is for,"

"Gojo-sensei!"

Crimson-black lightning leapt and crackled, drawing open the curtain on this battle of the strongest.

"Black Flash!"

In the burst of light, Meguna's silhouette staggered back in a sorry state. That flailing, graceless figure was a perfect contrast to Megumi's soaring, high-spirited bearing.

Megumi raised a smile.

"A word of warning, for what it's worth, you're the challenger here!"

➤ Next: The Greatest of All Time vs. The Greatest of the Modern Age