Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 28 - Adaptation Begins (Patreon)

Lightning crackled and surged!

Chimera beast agito, a mountain of flesh erupting from the ground, launched a savage charge straight at Megumi Fushiguro!

A fist the size of a cannonball, laced with dim violet arcs of electricity, expanded madly across Megumi's retinas, threatening to shatter every inch of space around him.

Faced with this terrifying beast that should have driven anyone to despair, Megumi's eyes held not a single trace of retreat.

"A chimera beast, is it? Still cuttable!"

In that split-second flash of lightning and sparks, the muscles of Megumi's arms fired all at once, carving a dense, impenetrable flurry of vicious sword-strikes through the air.

The attack sequence between the long blade and the short blade completed its switch in an instant at close range!

The Inverted Spear of Heaven could dispel agito's existence in a moment, sending it slipping back into Sukuna's shadow.

But that was merely a pause.

Agito still existed within the Ten Shadows Technique.

As long as Sukuna needed it, his cursed energy was more than enough to summon it even mid-fight.

Using the Inverted Spear of Heaven against agito was nothing more than a stalling tactic.

To truly crush this suffocating two-on-one assault head-on, agito had to be killed completely, killed at the root!

"Split Soul Katana!"

Megumi roared. His body dropped in an instant like a phantom, slipping beneath agito's thunderous overhead punch.

The vicious blade gripped in reverse in his left hand wrenched out a fierce afterimage at his side, and at an extremely tricky angle slashed instantly toward the unguarded center of agito's chest!

In the moment the blade's tip was only a hair's breadth from agito's body,

An anomaly erupted!

Within agito's vast shadow, a strange ripple spread without any warning.

Then, the body of the King of Curses himself, Ryomen Sukuna, covered in black cursed markings, emerged from within the shadow!

He had used his own flesh to forcibly block the Split Soul Katana's path!

The dull sound of a blade sinking into flesh rang out.

The King of Curses' flesh was torn apart without mercy. Dark red blood sprayed like a fountain and spattered across the devastated ruins.

Yet looking at this strike that should have been a significant victory, Megumi's pupils suddenly contracted.

This was not the result he had wanted to see.

Every attack that couldn't guarantee a fatal wound would only add to Sukuna's progress.

And sure enough.

Cut deep by the Split Soul Katana, taking that brutal hit through sheer force, the King of Curses showed not a shred of pain, not a single step of retreat.

On the contrary, that savage face twisted into a smile of supreme arrogance.

As the corners of Sukuna's mouth spread wide, the sacred halo floating behind his head suddenly blazed with blinding light!

"Adaptation... begins!"

Sukuna's wild laughter exploded across the ruins.

The King of Curses' tactic was to fully adapt to both the Split Soul Katana and the Inverted Spear of Heaven, in the middle of the fight itself.

"Come then. Let's see whose Adaptation arrives faster!"

Sukuna twisted that face — identical to Megumi's, into a savage snarl. With agito at his side, the two flanked left and right and hurled out another round of crushing blows that tore through the sound barrier!

Megumi watched as Sukuna's right hand, unusually, didn't form sword fingers or open-palm claws. It balled into a fist.

No Dismantle. No Cleave. Pure, clenched fist.

Using the extreme violence of his cursed energy reinforcement alongside agito, Sukuna pressed forward in a high-intensity close-quarters brawl!

"This guy... actually stopped using slashes?"

The experience accumulated at Shibuya, combined with everything War Criminal Megumi had taught him, it had already given Sukuna a unique tactic for dealing with Mahoraga.

"Until he's sure of the kill, Sukuna won't hand me free opportunities for Adaptation."

Under the strain of the two-on-one grind.

The number of shikigami had already constrained Megumi's options.

The battle had fallen into a death loop, one that was extremely disadvantageous for Megumi.

Drop Dad Armor, and Megumi, operating at a Grade 1 level of cursed energy, would be elbowed to death by Sukuna at full strength.

Keep Dad Armor active, and Megumi could only attack using cursed tools.

Under this seemingly unsolvable, no-way-out situation, Megumi's lips curved slightly upward.

He made an insane choice that instantly sent the entire Jujutsu High livestream room into an uproar.

"Disengage Dad Armor!"

BOOM!

With a thunderous shout from Megumi Fushiguro,

The Sorcerer Killer's markings flowing across Megumi's body vanished in an instant. Megumi's Grade 1-level body was exposed once more before Sukuna.

Switching forms mid-battle in front of the King of Curses. An absolutely foolish move.

"Heh. Death wish."

Sukuna paused for a fraction of a second, then erupted into an unstoppable savage grin.

His feet drove down hard. The terrifying force cracked and fractured the ground beneath him.

Without the Sorcerer Killer's dynamic visual acuity,

Sukuna's speed in Megumi's eyes instantly jumped to a dimension that could only be described as terrifying.

That clenched fist opened. Five fingers extended once more like a blade.

With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, it aimed straight at Megumi Fushiguro's completely unguarded abdomen!

"Megumi, what are you doing?!"

"Without Dad Armor, how do you stand against the King of Curses!"

Everyone locked onto the livestream screen felt their souls lurch.

Atsuya Kusakabe collapsed and clutched their head. Yuta Okkotsu had already instinctively gripped a weapon, the corners of their eyes going wide.

"At Megumi's cursed energy level, that hit's going to tear straight through!"

The Jujutsu High crowd stomped their feet, staring in tense agony at Sukuna's swinging palm claw as it closed tight against Megumi's body.

Time stretched infinitely.

"Cleave..."

The King of Curses' tone was languid. In the drawn-out trailing syllable, it was as if he had already seen through the outcome of this battle.

"Megumi Fushiguro. I never expected you'd expose a weakness like this."

Sukuna's palm pressed tight against Megumi's skin, feeling the faint pulse of a fragile body beneath.

"Your little maneuver is truly delightful."

"I'll probably forget you once I've finished eating."

Cursed energy of terrifying intensity compressed madly in Sukuna's palm.

Holding nothing back, the most lethal technique within Shrine, the one that automatically adjusts its power to the target's cursed energy level and slices the target apart completely!

A net of slashing attacks appeared between Megumi's abdomen and Sukuna's palm,

The crowd at Jujutsu High closed their eyes. They couldn't watch.

DING.

But what came from the battlefield was not the sound of flesh being torn apart.

Megumi's body did not, as the King of Curses had imagined,

Turn into diced mango.

That slashing net, which should have been capable of tearing through space itself.

As it sliced madly at the skin of Megumi's abdomen, it sent a burst of blinding sparks flying instead.

Utterly incapable of leaving even a single scratch. Not a millimeter. Not a hair's width of wound on that seemingly fragile flesh.

"What..."

On that face that forever wore arrogance, the smile froze.

The King of Curses felt a shock he hadn't known in a thousand years.

Megumi lowered his head slightly. He looked at Sukuna, disbelief written across every inch of that face, and the corner of his mouth split into a mocking, vicious grin more contemptuous than anything the King of Curses had ever managed.

"After Mahoraga's wheel has cycled through four rounds of Adaptation."

"Unless death comes — the Adaptation effect persists. Forever."

Sukuna's pupils locked onto Megumi. A single uniquely plausible thought spread wildly through his mind.

"You, who came from Parallel Worlds..."

"Could it be..."

"That's right!"

Megumi Fushiguro snapped upright. His eyes burned with the absolute fanaticism of someone who had calculated everything!

And Megumi's Mahoraga had long since had slashing attacks adapted on its behalf, on the Okinawa battlefield, by Jujutsu High Gojo's Mahoraga incarnation!

Mahoraga incarnation, MVP!

From that point forward.

Mahoraga had always carried the Adaptation brand of the Shrine technique, adaptation to slashing attacks.

As long as Megumi pressed that halo against his own head, he was the equivalent of possessing absolute Adaptation against both Dismantle and Cleave!

"I did give you fair warning, didn't I?"

"Against me, who has long since adapted to slashing attacks — you are the challenger!"

➤ Next: Black Flash and Firelight