Chapter 119: Whose Mahoraga Is as Big as a Monster?! (Patreon)

Yuji Itadori's expression stiffened. "'Divine Kingdom' means exactly that—a Divine Kingdom! Did you kill them?!"

"You seem to have misunderstood something. I—"

"Furube Yura Yura…"

Before Daniel could finish, Megumi Fushiguro, who never took pressure lying down, blew his top.

Daniel didn't stop him. He only remarked, "Such an impatient guy, Old Megumi. Aren't you afraid of catching your companions in this?"

"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga."

The shadows at Megumi's feet boiled, and a pale, hulking figure rose from them. Two feather-like things covered its savage face, and a wheel floated above its head.

The enormous figure appeared between the two men like a small building. Mahoraga held a long sword in one hand, and its presence was crushing.

Megumi grinned. "Don't worry. I only dragged you into the taming ritual, so I'll go die first. You enjoy yourself."

Bam!

The moment he finished speaking, Mahoraga backhanded him with a punch. Megumi was sent flying into a row of shops, buried under rubble and left on the brink of death.

"Fushiguro!" Before Yuji could even work out what was happening, he watched Megumi get smashed away by his own summoned shikigami.

"Itadori, get Fushiguro out of here first!"

Kugisaki had also broken free of Daniel's charm by now. She grabbed Yuji and ran toward the buried Megumi.

Anything that could make Megumi unleash an untamed shikigami in the blink of an eye was clearly beyond them. And they couldn't handle a shikigami that had gone berserk, either.

Their only chance to keep him alive was to use the time before Mahoraga came to finish Megumi off and go find Gojo-sensei.

Yuji clenched his fists and shot Daniel a bitter, resentful look before following Kugisaki.

"As expected, people who mess around with something as negative as curses really aren't right in the head, huh?"

Daniel wasn't angry. If anything, he was rather excited. He had originally planned to pull Sukuna out first, restore him to his peak and finish the mission.

But now was a good chance to see whether Mahoraga could really adapt to everything. If it could, he'd use the Authority of Wrath to steal a copy of Megumi's technique.

"I'll hold back a little. Do your best to adapt. Make me fall for you, Mahoraga."

Naturally, Mahoraga didn't answer. A fist the size of a truck came down on top of Daniel's head.

But in the next instant, its whole arm was blown to pieces by Daniel's Reflection.

Missing an arm, Mahoraga didn't hesitate. It swung the Sword of Extermination in its other hand at Daniel.

Clang!

Daniel raised an arm, fist clenched, and blocked the blow. Reflection took effect again, and the sword bounced back and split Mahoraga in two from the chest.

The two halves of Mahoraga crashed to the ground.

Yuji and Kugisaki had just dug the dying Megumi out of the bricks when they saw Mahoraga, cut in half like a 2.5-Jo Satoru (Gojo, 'five strips,' halved), and blurted out in shock, "So strong… He took care of that terrifying-looking shikigami in just two moves?"

"Not quite. This thing is very tough. Give it a little time and it'll adapt right back."

"Oh, right. While we have a moment, let me explain. You can think of the Divine Kingdom as my personal space. I just moved those people there."

"After all, it's not safe here. It's perfectly normal for me to show a little kindness, right?"

"Huh?" Yuji and Kugisaki froze. So they'd misunderstood? Then what did Megumi summoning Mahoraga count as? Refusing to take pressure lying down?

Realizing it had been a misunderstanding, Yuji said apologetically, "Sir, I'm sorry, we got it wrong. Could you find a way to bring Megumi around?"

"When he wakes up, I'll make sure he apologizes to you!"

Daniel waved off the honest apology. "Relax. He can't die until Mahoraga is dealt with. I'll be right there."

As soon as he finished speaking, the wheel above Mahoraga's head suddenly turned a full circle, and its body, split in two, snapped back together.

"Oh? Adapted already?" The corner of Daniel's mouth curled up. He tried slicing at Mahoraga with wind blades formed through Vector Manipulation.

Shhk shhk shhk!

Dense wounds tore straight through, riddling Mahoraga's huge body like a sieve again.

"So it hasn't adapted to Vector Manipulation. Then it was only adapting to breaking through my Reflection just now?"

Click.

The wheel on Mahoraga's head, buried under the dense wind blades, turned another full circle. The blades that followed left only white marks on its body.

Daniel stamped a foot on the ground, and dense earth spikes rose from beneath Mahoraga's feet and impaled it.

"So it can only adapt to derivatives of Vector Manipulation, not Vector Manipulation itself?"

Daniel had more or less figured out its mechanism. Once Mahoraga adapted and healed again, he neither dodged nor evaded. He raised a hand, reinforced his body with Cursed Energy, and took its punch head-on.

The tremor from that terrifying force shattered every pane of glass along the street. Daniel didn't budge, but when he felt the impact on his hand, the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.

"It really broke through Reflection. Worthy of Mahoraga. I kind of want you."

Daniel attached the Authority of Wrath to Megumi, sharing the Ten Shadows Technique from his body. Now he could be a Self-Destruct Kid, too.

Seeing Mahoraga raise its sword to cut him down, Daniel caught its fist, swung it in a half-circle over his head and slammed it into the ground, then brought a Cursed Energy-covered fist down on it with his other hand.

Rumble!

The whole street instantly sank several meters, and the buildings collapsed once their foundations gave way.

Yuji and the others, caught in the shockwave and the wind pressure, were blown half a street away.

Yuji struggled up from the ground and stared blankly at the street shrouded in dust. With that kind of physical strength, was that man even human?

Daniel waved the dust away and raised an eyebrow at Mahoraga, its upper half blown apart on the ground. "You're one tough one. But you're not mine, so I won't play with you anymore."

Before Mahoraga could recover, Daniel hit it with another punch, pounding it to nothing and dispersing it into shadows.

He turned back to the dumbstruck Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki with a smile. "All right, done. Let me heal that guy for you."

The Reverse Cursed Technique lit up, and Megumi, who had been lying there like a dead dog, was instantly restored.

It wasn't long before he came to.

Yuji let out a breath. "Fushiguro, thank goodness. You're all right."

"Itadori? My taming ritual was interrupted. Was that man's doing?"

Before Megumi could get a grip on the situation, he saw Daniel looking at him with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

He jolted, and his hand shot up to go for another self-destruct.

"Itadori, run! Leave me!"

"Wait, this man is a good guy! He moved those ordinary people into his technique's space. They aren't dead!"

"And he's the one who healed your wounds. Fushiguro, hurry up and apologize."

Megumi paused at Yuji's explanation. Did that mean he'd blown himself up at the wrong person?

Realizing he was in the wrong, he instinctively started to apologize.

Then he saw Daniel curl a fist with great interest and stretch his arms out, one high and one low.

"I've never liked taking a loss. Try a Self-Destruct Truck of your own, Old Megumi."

"Furube Yura Yura."

Megumi's face darkened with exasperation. Where did this guy come from? Didn't he know you needed all ten Shadow techniques to summon Mahoraga?

"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga."

A pale figure rose from Daniel's shadow.

But compared to the three-or-four-meter Mahoraga Megumi had summoned, Daniel's was enormous thanks to his vast Cursed Energy, and it towered to sixty meters.

Every curse user and sorcerer in Shibuya saw the Mahoraga that looked like it had stepped out of a tokusatsu film set.

Just standing there, it was obviously terrifyingly strong.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Megumi cracked. How could someone have the same technique as him, and with that absurd amount of Cursed Energy, too?!

Yuji was stunned. Kugisaki instinctively grabbed Megumi's collar and shook him. "Apologize already, you stone-faced idiot! I don't want to be buried with you!!"