Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 31 - Lift It (Patreon)

"Expand... domain."

The entire Shinjuku ruins, pushed to the absolute peak of chaos and noise.

Even the underground observation room at Jujutsu High, miles and miles away, seemed to have every last sound drained from it in that single instant.

No earth-shattering roar. No screaming battle cry.

Yet Megumi's voice cut through the howling wind and raging flames with pinpoint precision, driving straight into the depths of every soul watching this battle between gods and demons.

"A Domain Expansion?!"

Inside the underground chamber at Jujutsu High, everyone erupted in disbelieving cries at the exact same moment.

Yet what none of the Jujutsu High personnel watching the screen, not even the King of Curses on the other side, had anticipated was this:

Megumi not only refused to stop his incantation. He added more conditions to it.

He carved the final Binding Vow condition into this domain about to be born:

"0.2 seconds."

"With a Binding Vow, I will expand a 0.2-Second Domain Expansion!"

That instant.

Sukuna's hand blade. Megumi's battle cry.

Both seemed to freeze completely.

Then the vision of a world being destroyed came crashing down all at once.

The sky shattered.

Boundless, viscous liquid shadow — dense enough to swallow every last ray of light.

Chimera Shadow Garden.

In the next instant, it replaced everything the Shinjuku ruins had been.

The thick black shadow surged into a towering tsunami and instantly trapped the indomitable King of Curses dead within this absolute domain that belonged to shadow.

"He wants to fight domain against domain?"

Sukuna watched the space swap out in an instant, voice dropping low.

"No — my slashing attacks have been neutralized. In this situation, a head-on clash of guaranteed-hit effects will put me at a disadvantage!"

"So I should..."

His palms snapped together, forming a second technique capable of countering a domain.

"Hollow Wicker Basket!"

In a flash, countless threads of cursed energy wrapped around Sukuna so tightly that not a single gap remained.

Under these conditions, no matter what Megumi's guaranteed-hit effect turned out to be, Sukuna had ten thousand percent confidence. With the depth of his own cursed energy reserves, he could weather this laughably brief 0.2 seconds without a scratch.

Yet this entire sequence of actions was, in terms of this battle, completely useless.

It had even disrupted the King of Curses' offensive momentum.

Shifted him from attacker to defender. Cost him every last chance to directly interrupt Megumi.

And when Sukuna, in that lightning-fast 0.1 seconds, peered through the dense cursed-energy gaps of the Hollow Wicker Basket to look back at Megumi:

"You little..."

Realization arrived a beat too late. Sukuna looked toward the domain expander before him.

Megumi stood quietly in place.

As if he had known all along that the King of Curses would make exactly this cautious, defensive choice.

Across Megumi's face, a brilliantly sunny, mocking smile had spread wide.

That smile landed like a slap across the King of Curses' face.

"I really overestimated you. I thought only the Megumi I possessed was useless..."

The King of Curses felt a fury he had not known for a thousand years.

Every one of Sukuna's judgments had been calibrated against the Megumi inside him.

War Criminal Megumi had no guaranteed hit.

That did not mean the Megumi who could go toe-to-toe with Sukuna also had none.

It was precisely this reasoning that had made Sukuna fear Megumi's guaranteed-hit effect might be overwhelmingly powerful, and choose the Hollow Wicker Basket.

Yet the mocking smile Megumi wore now made it crystal clear. The King of Curses' earlier state of high alert, from beginning to end, had been one thing and one thing only:

Flattering himself.

"So you're useless too!"

To think that even Satoru Gojo had been brought to his knees beneath Malevolent Shrine. In domain-versus-domain clashes, Sukuna had absolute confidence in crushing anyone.

Yet in this particular battle, that confidence had become wariness, and fallen completely into Megumi's trap.

"You really are trash!"

This was a child playing an old man for a fool.

"Megumi Fushiguro, are you a child?! You don't even have a guaranteed-hit effect!"

Sukuna's face flushed red with fury. But there was nothing he could do.

In this moment, Sukuna knew.

He could no longer stop the birth of Chimera Shadow Garden.

And at this very moment, the shadow tide beneath Megumi's feet surged again, completing the final and most daring step in tandem with the Domain Expansion.

"Right now, I'm going to initiate the Chimera merge!"

With Megumi's shout, the form of Max Elephant nearby lurched to a sudden halt.

INSTANT REFINEMENT!

Countless shadow tides with physical form clambered wildly over Max Elephant's body, granting it the traits of more and more animals.

"Piercing Ox... Round Deer..."

"What kind of monster are you trying to merge out of Max Elephant?"

Sukuna peered through the gaps of the Hollow Wicker Basket at the massive elephant undergoing its terrifying transformation. A flash of barely concealed contempt crossed all four of his eyes.

"But do you really think this can hurt me?"

"With your cursed energy output, how could you possibly deal damage to me through anything other than cursed tools!"

As if steadying his own resolve, Sukuna kept mocking Megumi's Chimera merge.

But the next second, the King of Curses read from Megumi's face the most deeply unsettling aura he had felt since the battle began.

Spirited, bold confidence flooded the boy's face once more.

"Who said I expanded the domain for a 120% boost?"

"All I wanted was this sky."

Megumi's smile grew more unbridled.

The merged Max Elephant plunged into the shadow tide in an instant, vanishing from before the King of Curses.

"There's no need for words anymore —"

Megumi slowly raised his head. His gaze passed over Sukuna's head and fixed directly on the false sky constructed by Chimera Shadow Garden.

He lifted his fingers and screamed out his final, ultimate move:

"( )( ), ( )( )( )( )( )!"

BOOM!

The 0.2-second limit expired. Chimera Shadow Garden slowly faded, and Sukuna let himself ease, just slightly.

But after the domain dissolved, Sukuna realized there was still a layer of shadow enveloping him, growing larger, drawing closer.

"It's above!"

He snapped his gaze upward, and saw only the colossal elephant form, its body enlarged countless times over through the Chimera merge, plummeting straight down.

As that massive body fell, Megumi's thunderous cry gave the ultimate strike its name:

"Lift it!"

➤ Next: Piercing Elephant