The ruins of Shibuya still smoldered, Jogo's flames leaving the air heavy with heat and ash. The glow of molten rivers was fading into a faint red shimmer, the silence broken only by the groaning of collapsing towers.
Perched atop the rubble, Sukuna stretched his neck with a grin sharp enough to split the air. "Good, good! It's my turn now!"
Mahito turned toward him, wings twitching, grin fixed but mind racing. Yuji's body was still under Sukuna's control, his cursed presence pressing like a weight on the air.
'If we fight now… can I guarantee victory? Of course not~ I can't even ensure Yuji's soul would come out unscathed if I use my Idle Transfiguration.'
The thought dredged up another memory, clear as day.
Gojo's voice, calm but resolute:'If I am ever indisposed in any way… I want you to take care of my students. Save them like you did today. In exchange, I'll make it so you can live in the Jujutsu world unbothered. Doesn't matter that you're a curse~'
Their pact. Their deal.
Mahito had earned his trust once, through actions that blurred the lines between curse and ally. He continued to build on that trust, training Maki, lending advice to the younger sorcerers.
Playing prisoner for a few days was nothing if it bought him legitimacy. Gojo understood power, and he had seen Mahito's potential. The Elders? They were irrelevant, powerless old ghosts. The real game was being played between monsters.
And Sukuna was the greatest of them all.
Mahito's grin widened, even as his soul tensed. Fighting him is inevitable. But I came prepared.
"Are you sure you wish to dance right now, Sukuna?~" His voice rang with playful malice. "It seems a storm is brewing…"
Above them, the clouds were thickening. Jogo's volcanic heat had churned the air, filling it with moisture, feeding a swelling tempest that stretched across Tokyo. The night sky flickered faintly with veins of lightning.
Sukuna barked a laugh. "I'm not buying the 'scared' act, brat!"
He slashed with a flick of his wrist. Dismantle.
The invisible cut shrieked through the air, a perfect blade of cursed energy. Mahito's body twisted unnaturally, his soul curving around the strike. What should have torn him in two became nothing more than a shallow graze across the surface of his flesh.
Another slash, then another. Each one cut apart entire towers, ripping steel and stone as if they were paper. But Mahito danced around them, his movements instinctive, honed from endless practice against his own clones.
Sukuna's grin sharpened. "Not bad."
Thunder rolled overhead, echoing like a drum.
Mahito licked his lips. 'Fate plays a part, huh?~'
He reached deeper, into the reservoir within him. The first soul he had ever devoured, on Yuki Tsukumo's mission.
A curse born of the storm, steeped in thunder.
He had studied it, trained it, discovered something exquisite: lightning already formed in the sky could be bent with almost no cost, shaped endlessly so long as the clouds raged. All it took was a nudge, and the heavens themselves answered.
And tonight, Jogo had given him a storm to play with.
Mahito's grin split wide. His body crackled, arcs of violet electricity dancing along his skin. His hands spread as cursed energy poured from him, weaving with the sky above.
Sukuna's smile faltered for the first time. "What-"
The storm howled.
Lightning gathered, the clouds writhing as if alive, their cores pulsing with raw power. The air grew thick, charged, every hair rising with static. Mahito's eyes gleamed, reflecting the storm he had summoned.
"I planned this for you, Sukuna~" His voice rang like a hymn of mockery. "The day I swallowed that lightning spirit, I knew I'd need it against you."
The sky split open.
Bolts the size of towers converged into a single spear of white-hot annihilation, channelled through Mahito's outstretched arm. Half the reserves of the devoured soul burned away in an instant, every ounce of its essence focused into this strike.
"Fall for me! Maximum Technique: Shattered Sky!~"
The lightning came down.
It didn't strike like rain. It devoured. A colossal torrent of light, tearing through the sky and slamming straight into Sukuna.
The world went white.
The explosion roared louder than Jogo's meteor. Streets vaporised, towers crumbled, molten rivers boiled into steam. The blast lit Tokyo for miles, brighter than day, brighter than flame.
Sukuna's body seized. His grin vanished, his muscles convulsing under the force. Yuji's vessel crackled, overwhelmed by the storm's raw fury.
The King of Curses, for the first time since his resurrection, staggered. He had no way to fight back, no opportunity to even block it.
The only thing allowing him to cling to life was his extreme use of Reverse Cursed Energy. Something that Mahito also relied on to not kill Yuji.
Shoko Ieri being nearby also gave him the boldness to act as needed.
Mahito pressed harder, pouring every scrap of control into the torrent. The clouds above split, their reserves emptied all at once, nature itself bending to his hand. His wings spread wide, eyes alight with savage glee.
"Dance with me, King! Dance with the storm!"
Then, silence.
The lightning faded, leaving a scar across Shibuya. Smoke curled from the ruins, buildings reduced to ash and twisted steel. At the center, Sukuna lay motionless. His body smoldered, steam rising from his flesh.
Mahito hovered above the devastation, chest heaving, the grin never leaving his face.
He could feel it: Yuji's soul buried, Sukuna suppressed, if only for now. The King of Curses… knocked down.
Yuji's body was also filled with burns; parts of his flesh had almost been turned to charcoal. Sukuna had been pressed to the point where he only focused on healing vital areas.
Mahito's eyes narrowed. Even unconscious, Sukuna radiated menace. His sheer cursed energy leaked like an ocean tide, waves of pressure that crushed the air around his broken form. It was less a man lying in ruin than a calamity paused mid-breath.
'Well, that delivered a shock large enough for Yuji to take over again, I assume… Sukuna only had fifteen fingers to begin with. But it's a good thing I took him by surprise. I am not yet prepared to clash domains with him. Next time we meet, it won't be as easy~'
With a casual flick, Mahito descended. He lifted Yuji's charred body, cradling it with mock gentleness, and soared toward the edge of the battlefield.
There, among shattered storefronts, Yaga and Shoko Ieri emerged from the smoke, searching for survivors. Their eyes widened as Mahito landed before them, wings twitching, grin stretching like a mask of delight.
"Don't look so surprised~" he chimed. "Things are pretty chaotic in there. Still trying to contain the situation!"
Before either of them could move, Mahito dropped Yuji at their feet. Yaga's fists clenched, Shoko's hands twitched toward her medical kit, but in the blink of an eye, Mahito was already in the air again, vanishing into the storm with laughter trailing behind him.
A tremor rippled through the distance. Mahito's grin faltered, then sharpened as his head snapped toward the source.
Cursed energy, dark and immense, flared like a beacon. A shadow rose, the ritual of Ten Shadows, summoning something ancient, something monstrous.
Mahoraga.
Mahito's smile returned, cruel and eager. "Ahh~ Perfect timing. My true target awakens."
He glanced once at Sukuna's unconscious form, then turned his eyes toward the new storm rising in the distance.