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A few minutes had passed since Megumi summoned [Mahoraga].
At first, Sukuna, who was maintaining [Hollow Wicker Basket] with his hands, thought he would be able to handle the new shikigami the kid had summoned.
Those thoughts were soon crushed as the Divine General proved that it wasn't some run-of-the-mill shikigami.
However, this only made the King of Curses grin from ear to ear.
He undid [Hollow Wicker Basket] and was immediately attacked by the Domain's sure-hit effect.
Sukuna didn't care. He simply used [Dismantle] on all the shikigami that had latched onto his body before heading straight into the fight with Mahoraga.
Jogo, who was trapped inside the Domain along with Sukuna, watched the whole thing play out in awe.
The King of Curses was one thing, but even the shikigami was something that couldn't simply be ignored.
No matter how many times it got sliced and diced, the shikigami returned completely healed and attacked even more fiercely than before.
The fight was relatively balanced, but the occasional interference from the Domain's shikigami was becoming a little annoying for Sukuna.
Especially [Round Deer].
The shikigami used positive energy to disrupt Sukuna's technique just long enough for the Divine General to land a solid hit, sending the King of Curses flying.
Before Sukuna could recover, he was rammed by either an Ox or an Elephant shikigami, both of which were promptly diced apart a moment later.
Sukuna rushed towards Mahoraga and punched him in the chest, sending the Divine General flying while slicing apart the creatures that kept appearing around him.
Mahoraga was sent flying by the impact, but the Divine General stabilized itself in no time.
Sukuna rushed after the shikigami, only to find his leg caught in its grip.
Before he could react, Mahoraga swung him around and threw him onto the shadowy ground like a rag.
The Divine General landed a short distance away and immediately charged back towards Sukuna, its glowing sword oozing positive energy.
Sukuna jumped up, narrowly dodging the blade as it sliced through the space where he had been standing.
[Dismantle]
Mahoraga's sword arm was chopped off.
Sukuna smirked.
However, the Divine General didn't seem to care one bit.
It jumped up and kicked the King of Curses squarely in the jaw.
"That one hurt a bit."
Sukuna commented as he was sent flying, glancing at Mahoraga.
[Click]
The wheel above the shikigami's head rotated.
An instant later, Mahoraga was back to normal.
No wounds.
No missing arm.
The shikigami was back to full strength.
No—if anything, it seemed even more dangerous than before.
Noticing that, Sukuna smirked.
The shikigami was getting more interesting the longer the fight lasted.
Sukuna landed on the shadowy ground and glanced at the shadows beneath him.
"The kid's CE should be hitting its limit soon..."
He grinned.
"...Might be interesting."
Somehow, the sea-urchin-haired kid had piqued Sukuna's interest.
"Now then, let's continue the fun."
A/N: Not gonna write about Yuji-Sukuna vs. Mahoraga; the anime and manga have already shown how it ends up.
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Skies away from Shibuya:
Currently on top of a giant dragon, the Special Grade Sorcerer, Naoya Zenin, was flying towards Shibuya.
"Why the hell are we still not there yet?!" Naoya shouted in irritation.
He was at the very edge of the country, but considering his speed, he should have been in Shibuya around half an hour ago.
Now, either Shibuya was farther than he expected or he overestimated his speed.
Naoya looked irritated, not like anybody could blame. Right now, something big was happening in Shibuya, and he was not able to get there to make sure everything was alright.
Naoya scooted and looked down towards the ground, wondering if he had either missed or come farther from Shibuya.
He stared at the ground for a while when suddenly his eyes widened.
"Stop!"
Naoya ordered, and the shikigami that was a mix of [Rainbow Dragon] and [Turbo Granny] came to a halt.
Naoya made a hand sign.
[Nue]
The owl shikiami emerged from Naoya's shadow, took flight and waited for Naoya's instructions.
"Sparkles, stay there for a while."
Naoya then patted the dragon that he was riding.
"Move forward"
The shikigami blasted forward as ordered; however, seconds later, they spotted Nue in front of them.
"Stop."
Naoya ordered once again.
"Sparkles."
*SQEE!!!*
"Yup, my shikigami, not an illusion... a looping barrier."
Naoya narrowed his eyes. A deliberate action to stall for time.
Naoya simply raised his hand.
[CTR: Umbral Dissolution]
Shadows burst out of him and flooded the skies around him. Soon, the liquid-like shadows touched the edges of the barrier, and the moment they touched, they started dissolving the barrier itself; moments later, the entire barrier was dissolved.
"Quite a proficient barrier user. To think I didn't even notice the barrier I'd entered..."
His expression darkened.
"Whoever set this up knew what they were doing."
The dragon blasted forward at full speed and headed straight towards Shibuya.
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Back in Shibuya:
The entire city that was bustling with life and energy a few hours ago now seemed engulfed in fear and panic.
The majority of the common people couldn't see what was going on, but some of them could. Grotesque monsters of different shapes and sizes were out there hunting humans, and the humans were powerless against them.
Luckily, some people came to help them and defeated the monsters, but they were still trapped inside and couldn't leave the city.
And as people were starting to lose hope, a loud roaring voice filled the area.
All of them- humans, sorcerers, cursed spirits- were made to look up. A giant dragon was up there in the sky, and though many of them couldn't make it out, there was also a human standing on top of the dragon.
The dragon suddenly vanished into the shadows, and the human who was standing on top of it started to fall.
Wings came out of Naoya's back as he dove down. Shadows rippled around his palm, and the [Inverted Spear of Heaven] came out of it.
Naoya unsheathed it mid-air and stabbed the barrier that surrounded the city.
A moment later, a loud shattering noise filled the air.
Naoya looked down and saw the people looking back at him with awe. He soon spotted the familiar sorcerers who had a somewhat relieved expression seeing Naoya being present there.
Naoya simply gave an apologetic gesture for arriving so late. He checked the time on his phone. Now that the signal was back, his phone adjusted back to normal time, and it showed Naoya how late he was. The barrier probably had both a loop and a time dilation function.
(A/N: It's a barrier similar to the one in which Mei Mei and Utahime were trapped during the Hidden Inventory Arc)
Naoya scanned the area around him to check the surroundings and immediately spotted two domain barriers in the city.
"One is Megumi's....I don't know the other one." Naoya mumbled and made a hand sign.
[Zankyo]
Shadows burst out of Naoya, and from within them the shikigami emerged.
However, because they were in the air, there was no footing for the shikigami to stand, which in turn made him fall... only for the shikigami to make a sword and stand on top of it like a cultivator from a xianxia novel.
The shikigami looked towards Naoya, waiting for his orders.
"Check that domain over there; save others if the situation is dangerous."
"Understood, Master."
With his hands behind his back, Zankyo flew away on his sword.
Naoya, on the other hand, turned towards Megumi's domain and used his technique.
[Projection Sorcery]
His figure blurred, and moments later, Naoya appeared near the domain.
With his hand on the domain's barrier, Naoya activated his technique.
[CTR: Umbral Dissolution]
Liquid Shadows flowed out of Naoya's hands, covered the domain's boundary and started dissolving it.
Within seconds, the domain collapsed.
Naoya immediately locked in and rushed in to get Megumi. With the domain broken, the boy would be in a burnout phase.
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Inside Megumi's Domain:
The fight between Sukuna and Mahoraga grew fiercer with each blow. Neither of them was showing any signs of stopping, and with the domain's sure-hit effect active as well, Megumi was struggling to hold everything together.
If the domain collapsed, his life was the least of his worries now. If he let these two beasts out while they were amidst their fight, then the entire city would be destroyed.
Sukuna's technique was slicing everything around him apart, but despite that, the divine general ran through the sea of slashes, charged up his positive energy sword and attacked the king of curses with all his might.
Sukuna blocked the blow with CE-reinforced strength but was still sent flying by the force behind the attack.
The maniacal smile on his face showed no signs of disappearing. Even while mid-flight, he was planning what he should do next to kill the shikigami.
However, all of a sudden, the shadowy world around him disappeared.
"Huh?"
Surprised by the sudden change of scenery, Sukuna let out a confused grunt.
He felt a new presence around him, turned around, and noticed... a fist coming straight at him.
With such an unexpected attack, there was no time for the king of curses to dodge.
The fist connected with Sukuna's face... and the cursed energy sparked black.
[Black Flash]
"Don't worry, Megumi!"
Naoya announced with a confident smirk.
"You ask why?"
His grin widened.
"It's because I am here!"
He completely ignored the shocked expression of Jogo and the annoyed yet relieved look on Megumi's face.
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A/N: Hi everyone. Author here. Just writing this to say hello to you all after a long time. Would have posted sooner, but the keyboard on my laptop started to give me trouble.
Thankfully, I got a new keyboard. Still getting used to it, so if there are some typos, do forgive me.
Anyways, happy weekend to you all.