A/N: Looking back at this work (my second ever) 7 months after... yeah, I can't stand it.
***
Megumi limped through the shadows, wishing he had Reverse Cursed Technique at the moment. But alas, he didn't have access to such a convenience at the moment.
'What was that anyways? A magic sword?' The black haired man didn't know what to call the foreign energy, so he decided to settle with magic. 'Now that I think about it-ugh, this 'magic' energy seems to be everywhere in the air...'
Focusing his attention to a greater degree, Megumi sensed the same energy that red auric sword had emitted, but at a much, much lower amount.
'I need to find some place to recover... Note to self, don't go lingering these streets while weakened...' If all enemies were as powerful as her, then he'd be cooked the moment he decided to half-ass his recovery.
Now deeper in the slums, Megumi searched for any abandoned buildings that could hide him from the views of people, 'that seems like a good one, yeah...'
Jumping through the shadows and into the structure, Megumi settled down as he relaxed himself. It didn't matter to him if the ground was an uncomfortable rock, it was a much worse experience sitting idly in the abyss of his mind anyways.
'Ah... I should probably check what Shikigamis I have available...' Megumi thought, 'but I need to summon them first before I can see if they're tamed or not, I should probably experiment after I recover, I don't want to summon Great Serpent or Max Elephant while they're not tamed.' His thoughts lingered on, 'actually, do I have every Shikigami tamed because of Sukuna...? I guess I'll have to see later...'
Playing back the day, or rather night in his mind as sleep overtook him, his thoughts lingered back on the blue haired woman, 'hopefully, I never run into that hot-headed woman again...' Perhaps he should take Murphy's Law into the equation more.
A migraine then flooded his brain, forcing him to grit his teeth, 'what the hell? Is Unlimited Void still affecting me?' It seems even his brain needed more recovery, which explained why his Cursed Technique felt so burnt out when he had cast Rabbit Escape and Divine Dogs from before.
'Tch, just my luck, huh?' Megumi's thoughts started to fade, hoping to be able to tame Round Deer as soon as possible after he recovered from the damages sustained.
***
"What a day," Ch'en walked into the LGD headquarters after seeing the kids in the slum orphanage off, sitting down on an office chair as she rubbed her temples. 'Who the hell was that guy?' She asked herself the question again, 'a summoner? Is that his arts? No, how did he summon a shadow like puddle?'
The dragon woman turned to her dragon-slaying sword, glancing at its sheathed form as she tried to feel its presence again. It didn't answer.
Ch'en sighed, wondering how exactly that man had been a worthy opponent for Chi Xiao, seeing how he had run off with injuries after one strike from it, 'is it his aura?'
The aura that made it feel like he was a mountain range that had been drenched in blood and guts, spanning across hundreds of kilometers, a never ending disgusting sight that made her nauseous thinking about it again.
'I shouldn't focus on his aura next time, when I broke focus off of it, it became less severe of a distraction...' It was considerably reduced to just an uncomfortable feeling when she had focused herself in combat, rather than the extreme sight that she had just described.
Footsteps cut off her train of thought, Hoshiguma and a tired Swire following her.
"How'd the investigation go?" Hoshiguma placed her right hand on her hip as she spoke out to Ch'en.
"Found some leads... And encountered a rather unsavory person," Ch'en spoke out as she leaned back, feeling a sense of needing to work more.
"Unsavory person? Who's got you so annoyed that isn't me?" Swire tiredly glared at the woman.
"I don't know," Ch'en blankly said, also too tired to deal with any arguments, "he seemed extremely dangerous though... Chi Xiao was practically begging to be drawn."
"Excuse me?" Hoshiguma blinked in slight shock.
"Eh, what the hell? Do we have a big shot criminal running around in Lungmen now?" Swire's tail swished as her ears shot upwards.
"I don't know, if he even was a big shot criminal, you'd think he would've heard of the LGD, but he looked utterly confused when I revealed it," Ch'en propped a hand under her chin, leaning on her desk as her wheeled chair swerved. "He doesn't seem that strong though, considering one swing was enough to leave him running for his life."
"So, we don't have much to worry about then?" Swire breathed a sigh of relief as she crossed her arms, Ch'en nodding along to her words. "Besides, that's Chi Xiao of all things you're attacking him with.
"Uh-huh," Ch'en spoke back, still in thought.
A certain green haired Oni watched as they seemed rather docile in each other's presence, before speaking, "...You two seem to be getting along, that's great-," before Hoshiguma could finish though, the two troublemakers interrupted her.
"Fuck her, honestly," Swire immediately let out.
"Swire could eat shit for all I care," Ch'en dully spoke.
Hoshiguma sighed, feeling as if everything had been going far too good for something like this not to happen. "Forget it... can you draw out what he looks like? I'll tell every officer to keep an eye out for him."
"Actually, I do," indeed, the blue haired Lung did, considering her near photographic memory and super speed that would put any human back on Earth to shame, she grabbed a piece of blank paper from the printing machine.
Ch'en then immediately snatched a pencil from a cup that held writing utensils, quickly sketching the features she remembered from the man on the piece of blank white paper. Sketch lines quickly made themselves clear, becoming a darker and more defined line as she continued drawing.
Swire and Hoshiguma watched on in curiosity as the figure was drawn clearly.
They had black hair, spikey and a well defined face with an immaculate jaw-line. He held a blank look, his eyes looking tired as he held a picture perfect stoic expression all across his face. His outfit caught the most attention, looking simplistic but expensive. A white martial arts gi clung to his figure as the black haori contrasted with it.
"Wow, are you sure you're occupied by the fact he could be a criminal, or the fact that you probably got rejected by him?" Swire let out a chuckle.
"You wouldn't be saying that If you saw him, I bet that you'd piss your pants," Ch'en spat out. 'His aura practically screamed murder.'
"Eh, you think some pretty boy is enough to scare me? And who's the one who came back here all frustrated?" Swire grabbed another office chair and sat in front of Ch'en, "what'd he do anyways?"
"First of all, he escaped by summoning a thousand rabbits, try getting through a horde of them," Ch'en shot a glare at Swire, "and secondly, his aura practically gave away his bloodlust."
"His aura?" Hoshiguma chimed in, "what's that like?" She attributed the rabbits to be some summoning arts. Although rare, they are not unheard of. But 'aura' was something she was very intimately aware of, considering any competent fighter on Terra has some instinct towards danger.
"Pfft... The great Chi Xiao and prodigy Ch'en getting stopped by a bunch of rabbits~?" Swire chuckled to herself as grabbed her stomach, finding it way too amusing.
"Shut it," Ch'en glared at her, before leaning back on her chair and sighing. "You already know how you can feel if a person wants to kill you, right?" Ch'en continued on as she watched the two nod, "bastard felt like he slaughtered an entire mountain of people."
"That bad..?" Hoshiguma muttered.
"So we have an unchecked psychopath in Lungmen who can escape Chi Xiao, great..." Swire felt a headache coming in with her exhaustion. "How'd Chi Xiao get distracted by a bunch of rabbits anyways? That's pretty damn hilarious to think about."
"It wasn't just the rabbits, he could also hide in the shadows and manipulate it to his whims," Ch'en countered.
"Two different arts abilities? Or does his 'shadow arts' just let him transform it into anything? That's quite terrifying to think about," Hoshiguma sighed, "I'll keep an eye out for him, he wouldn't be difficult to miss anyways."
"Thanks Hoshi... No thanks to you, though, dumbass tiger," Ch'en huffed and stood back up.
"Eugh, of course, of course, I'm too tired to deal with you right now," Swire slumped back in her chair, not wanting to deal with the woman anymore.
"Anyways, back onto the topic of the illegal drugs that found their way here..." Ch'en stood back up.
"No need, we've already been informed by the officers you sent back, they're from Siracusa right?" Hoshiguma saved her the time of having to explain.
"Siracusa? We got the mafioso to deal with now too?" Swire grumbled.
"Not necessarily, it could be a small gang," Hoshiguma pointed out, being more knowledgeable about the subject. "But I believe they are still translating the invisible ink on the boxes. The translators said to expect results by tomorrow in the afternoon."
"That's good to hear," Ch'en nodded, "I'll try to find any leads on the black haired man while I wait for the results then."
As the dragon lady walked away from the other two, an uncanny feeling seemed to come up in her chest. The longer he stayed in the slums, or Lungmen in general, she felt as if a wave of change would soon rock the entire nomadic city.
***
The sunlight bore down upon the abandoned structure with a mighty gleam. Inside the building, the resident did not find it to be a comforting guest.
'I don't feel like getting up,' Megumi laid on the ground, eyes barely open. It was around the same feeling he had when stuck in his own soul, a deprecating sensation that stabbed into him like a needle. '...I can't even fall back asleep.'
Actually, falling back asleep would just be an even worse experience, being brought back to the memories of him killing Gojo, Higuruma, and everybody else who died by Sukuna's hands. 'Especially my... Forget it.'
WIth a grunt, the black haired man sat up and propped himself against a wall. The adrenaline and urgentness from yesterday had already faded, leaving him in an exhausted mess. 'At least my injuries have recovered somewhat...'
That was when he decided he needed a way to make money, and he was going to search through the slums and rob any criminals he found. 'Since my brain has been fried by Unlimited Void, I need to find the limit I can reach before Cursed Technique burnout... I need to get Round Deer fast, if it isn't already tamed. I'll probably see if it's tamed or not after I check out on my other Shikigamis.'
Megumi thought back to The Inverted Spear of Heaven, already knowing that it couldn't tame Shikigamis, since it cancelled out Cursed Techniques and would simply dispel them. 'I guess I can't take shortcuts, huh...?' But in regards to money, his most serious problem at the moment, he wished could at the very least take a shortcut in that problem.
'I also need to learn more about this world and their races... I wonder if I'm the only one without animal features, I haven't seen a normal human... Not even once,' Megumi pondered in his mind, 'I'll do that once I have a stable amount of money, perhaps I could run through a few libraries. Too many things I have do, now that I think about it... but I should just get them done with, and find another way out of this mess.'
***
Skulk across the rooftops, look around, and then hide in the shadows. Rinse and repeat, every time he leapt to a new building he could feel the exhaustion of his muscles, the wind blowing against his face.
Although the bruises and small cuts on his body were already healed by the attack from yesterday, the internal damages still persisted like a beheaded cockroach.
Megumi watched as poor and homeless people passed by on the streets, scrounging through anything that they could find. He also occasionally saw some kids pickpocketing and making a run for it, but he couldn't bring it in his heart to jump down and beat them to a bloody pulp.
'This is tedious...' Most of the people around the general vicinity that he was roaming had nothing. Even if they did, they gave no reason for the man to attack them. Perhaps he should check other sectors, ones that seem to have higher levels of criminal activity than here.
'Maybe deeper in...' Just as he spoke those thoughts, a certain sight caught his eyes as he leapt across the buildings, 'what's going on over there?'
A group of armed individuals were walking down the streets, there were seven of them, each carrying a weapon and decent quality looking armor. The poor people around were scattering at the sight of them, either dragging or making their kids look away; or just plain shaking in fear. It seems the most noticeable and intimidating feature about them were their horns, if the content of the whispers of the afraid were anything to go by.
'Mercenaries...?' Megumi's best guest was that, and he was curious where they were going... 'Perhaps they are going to a service area? Do they pay for getting jobs done? If it's dirty I won't indulge in it...'
Betting on his chances, he decided to trail them in the shadows, hopefully finding a solution to his problem. 'There seems to be a racial stereotype of them, like foreigners in a different country, or are they just naturally this feared?'
The black haired man continued to make his analysis on them while sneaking on them, also listening into what the dispersing crowds were saying.
"It's a Sarkaz..."
"What are mercenaries doing..."
"Lungmen of all places..?"
"First the Siracusans... Now them...?"
Megumi already knew this city was called Lungmen, but Sarkaz and Siracusa was a completely new term he hadn't heard. 'Sarkaz mercenaries, huh? Is that a common job occupation for them? I probably shouldn't throw around generalizations...'
The group were now entering a less crowded area, looking through buildings and alleyways as they moved at a rather fast pace; despite walking. '
They seem pretty powerful... Not that strong, though,' Megumi felt rather confident in beating them despite his injured state; the worst part is if he suffered from burnout. 'Two theories right now... My Shikigamis are all tamed from Sukuna, or they are back as they are from during the Culling Games...'
He pushed himself out of his thoughts as the two of them entered a building, one that looked run down... But Megumi felt something wrong with it, as he stealthily hugged the wall to the entrance, glad that there were shadows.
'It looks shabby from the outside, but inside...' There were fancy decorations aligning the walls now that I came in to get a better look. 'A secret building? This might be it...'
The group of Sarkaz mercenaries came to a door, knocked onto it, and then a small opening for voices to come through opened.
Megumi listened intently.
"What's your need?" A voice came from the rectangular opening of the door.
"Any services, I'll pay for the price, how about you?" One of the Sarkaz mercenaries leaned over and spoke into it.
Megumi decided to memorize that, deducing it to be...
Click
The door opened, and a light shone through, forcing Megumi back further into the shadows that weren't reached by the light. He enhanced his ears with Cursed Energy to get a better hearing from them.
From the general gist of it, it was a place where you accept bounties or services that involve killing people, whether they be terrible, good people, or just normal people. They have it all, and if you successfully bring evidence of their death, they pay you.
'It's pretty hidden in the slums... A good source of money... But too morally gray for my tastes...' Megumi pondered if he should get into an occupation like this or not. 'I'll just target the scum, and then immediately leave once I've made enough money, this is the only option I have... Especially because I lack any identification in this world...'
The man made his choice, and gazed at the door which was now closed. He took a deep breath, 'Alright, here goes nothing...'
A/N:
Would you rather Megumi have to tame the last 3 Shikigamis?
Or
Would you rather have Megumi have all of them but suffer from injuries that prevent their full use, and have to find a way to recover his fried brain?
I thought of just giving him all of the Shikigamis, but I want to know your opinions. I have plans for both scenarios.