Megumi summoned Nue as it grabbed the back of his uniform to carry him in its claws. The shikigami flew as fast as it could as Megumi grit his teeth.
"Don't Die! Itadori! Kugisaki!"
However, at this moment, Yuji was in the heat of battle with the Finger Bearer. It was faster than him, and stronger too, despite the enhancement he's felt recently. But in such close range, he made up for it by brute forcing his way through the pain and countering anytime he could.
BANG!
The fist of the finger bearer slammed into Yuji's ribs as he coughed a bit of blood through gritted teeth, winding his fist back to slam it into the finger bearer's face, making its head turn as he kept smiling.
"Listen, Sukuna! If I die you die, and you don't want that, do you? Help me!" Yuji shouted into the depths of his mind as Sukuna smiled, relaxing on his throne with a drink he mentally manifested as he sipped it.
"Nah, I'm sure you got this handled, brat. Just hit him a little harder or something. I'll incarnate elsewhere anyway, right?" Sukuna said through manifesting a face beneath the single eye he formed on Yuji's cheek; as he'll just be a consciousness inside the fingers after Yuji dies anyway.
"Besides, it's up to you to switch anyway, and when you do, I promise I'll immediately kill this curse, and then I'll kill Fushiguro, and maybe that Kugisaki girl too if I have the time."
"I won't let that happen!"
"I figured you'd say that much, brat. But if you're so distracted trying to convince me, that guy will actually kill your friends anyway," Sukuna laughed as the face he manifested on Yuji's cheek vanished.
Just then, the Finger Bearer spit at Yuji, unleashing a ball of raw condensed cursed energy that exploded on impact between Yuji and Megumi, who landed beside him earlier.
"Fushiguro, find Kugisaki and get outta here! I'll keep this thing distracted until you two make it out," Yuji said, eyes locked onto the giggling special grade. "I don't care how you do it, but give me a signal once you two are out and safe."
"No way you can do this! You're up against a special-grade, and you've only got one hand left!" Megumi argued as Yuji interrupted.
"Look closely; it's having fun and totally underestimating us. Buying some time for you two shouldn't be that hard," Yuji said as he smirked.
"I can't—"
"FUSHIGURO!! Please," Yuji said, looking over at Megumi as Megumi knew he couldn't change his mind.
Quickly making a hand seal, Megumi summoned the black divine dog as he commanded it to find Nobara. The Finger Bearer, seeing this, grabbed its pants and tore them off, revealing a loincloth as it made it easier for it to move around now.
"Huh?" Yuji thought as suddenly it spread its arms wide as a wave of raw solid cursed energy slammed into Yuji, sending him flying backwards.
KRASH!!!
Yuji spit out blood as even more blood came from his nose. Sitting up in the crater he was in within the wall, Yuji looked at the special-grade below. "A cursed energy barrier?"
Before Yuji could blink, the finger bearer was in the air in front of him, his fist winded back and coated in bubbles of cursed energy like gloves. Yuji's pupils constricted as his body—unwittingly enhanced by Sukuna's actions within his soul—moved subconsciously this time, being able to actually block the blow as...
BOOOOM!
An explosion of force easily shattered both the wall and Yuji's guard as he bounced off the ground of a walkway, the wind knocked from his lungs with ease. However, his will allowed him to focus, hopping back up with his arms out just as the Finger Bearer unleashed another barrier of cursed energy, slamming into him and slowly pushing him back as his feet dug trenches in the ground.
Yuji felt tears leaving his eyes as his hand was melting under the heat, slowly disintegrating as all that filled his mind were the last words of his grandpa: "Help People."
"It hurts, It hurts, It hurts. THE PAIN, THE PAIN, THE PAIN! WHY ME?!" Yuji questioned, yet nobody was there to answer him. "If only I hadn't picked up that damned finger and swallowed it! If only I hadn't, if only!"
"Help People. Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People, Help People!"
It filled his mind like a cancer, and he was ready to give up entirely. "Stop! Don't think about it!" he chastised himself even as more of his second hand faded into vapor.
"PLEASE! NO MORE! I WANNA RUN AWAY, JUST RUN AWAY! I DON'T WANNA DIE! IF I DIE HERE, WOULD THAT BE CONSIDERED A NATURAL DEATH?!"
"Don't think!" Yuji mentally shouted as he roared against the pain. However, this wasn't some anime, he remembered, just as the barrier of cursed energy overpowered him and he thought, "Was I really this weak?!"
———————————————————
Nobara was somewhat injured, her hammer broken, and the cursed spirit with all those faces dead. Unfortunately, there were too many of them and she was being held over the mouth of one of the spirits as she pointed at it angrily.
"I'll remember your face! I swear I'll curse you!" she vowed; yet, before it could actually eat her, a massive serpent bit down on the spirit, killing it instantly. That was when a frog's tongue wrapped around her, pulling her into its mouth as Megumi had arrived.
"I'm not a fan of frogs..." she told him as he looked annoyed.
"Too bad!"
———————————————————
Yuji was slumped against another wall as he chuckled at his situation. "I got ahead of myself," he muttered. "I thought I was strong. Strong enough to die on my own terms at least..."
He stood up, weak and injured as the Finger Bearer looked surprised he could still move. "But I was wrong. I'm weak... ARGH! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Yuji complained.
"But I'm about to.... A natural death... I was too naive."
He remembered the Principal's words: no Jujutsu Sorcerer dies without regrets...
"Even then, to be able to say that your death was natural...." Yuji thought as he remembered something else. Curses are a result of negative energy flowing out of people.
"In that case, hatred, fear, and regret... Let it all out! With this fist!" Yuji thought as he put everything he had into his fist and punched harder than ever before at the Finger Bearer's head, and yet...
Thk.
"Heh~" the Finger Bearer laughed as it caught Yuji's fist, albeit with much more resistance than it anticipated.
"Dammit!!" Yuji knew it was over. That was everything he had left, and without Megumi and Nobara escaping, he wouldn't release Sukuna here either.
However, before he could once again fall into despair, the Finger Bearer stopped as both he and the special-grade turned in the same direction.
ARROOOOOOO!
Megumi had given the signal as Yuji recognized it as the divine dog's howl.
ARROOOOOOO!
ARROOOOOOO!
It called out a few times to make sure Yuji heard it, and Yuji had finally let go. The Finger Bearer turned back to Yuji and was met with a strange sight. The desperation and fear had completely vanished from his face, and strange markings covered his face entirely as a bored expression formed.
"It seems the original was right; no matter how you slice it... Yuji is an annoying brat."
BANG!
Sukuna slammed the stump that was Yuji's arm into the Finger Bearer's face, shattering its jaw as it was sent spiraling through multiple walls of its innate domain. It bounced and rolled across the floor, using its cursed energy to regrow its jaw; yet, Sukuna was sitting casually, fully healed, on the edge of the walkway they were on now as he stared into the distance.
"I'm not sure exactly how long the brat will stay unconscious, but since I let things play out relatively the same, I should have ample time to spare." Sukuna spoke to himself as he could hear the heart of the Finger Bearer pulsing violently.
KREEEE!
The Finger Bearer charged a blast of cursed energy and shot it at Sukuna's head, but with a casual gesture, he swatted it away. In the time it took for the Finger Bearer to blink, Sukuna was in front of it, and throwing out a light jab to its chest, a massive chunk of its chest was destroyed as it was sent flying again, slowly healing.
"Damn, I forgot that the super soldier serum works on a potential basis and not a fixed boost. This is some insane power I've gotten..." Sukuna said as he stood over the half-dead Cursed Spirit. "Unfortunately, I'm not going to show off to you of all things, so you can die with just this much."
He winded back his fist and, for a split second, the finger bearer saw a cruel grin splitting his face as this cursed energy infused fist landed like a bomb, killing it instantly as the innate domain shattered from the inside.
———————————————————
"Please expand the evacuation zone to ten kilometers," Megumi asked Ichiji.
"What about you, Fushiguro?" Ichiji asked, concerned that he wasn't getting in the car too.
"I'm staying. If things go wrong... it's my responsibility to finish him," Megumi said, remembering what he asked Gojo to do for Yuji before everything, back on that rooftop.
"After I take Kugisaki to the hospital, I'll be back as soon as I can," Ichiji offered as Megumi shook his head.
"No. You won't make much of a difference anyway. If you do come back, bring a grade 1 or stronger jujutsu sorcerer," Megumi instructed, although he knew there was probably nobody available.
However, as they talked, Megumi felt a shift in the area and felt the domain disappear. "The special-grade is dead already!?" he thought. "Now we can wait for Itadori to come back—"
"He ain't coming back anytime soon..." Sukuna said, relaxing against the tree behind Megumi as he turned to the sound instantly.
"You know, I promised that brat I would kill you after I finished off that cursed weakling," Sukuna said, grinning before he thought about ripping out Yuji's heart. "Nah, that brat won't make that vow with me after what I'm about to do anyways, so I'll keep him alive," Sukuna thought as he sighed.
"I hope you're ready for your final fight, emo brat," Sukuna said as he casually ate the finger the special-grade had within itself, buying him even more time on top of what he saved by making it quick with that weak Finger Bearer.
"This can't be happening...." Megumi thought, fear gripping his heart even tighter than when he was face to face with the Finger Bearer minutes ago.