Chapter 207: This is My Maximum Technique, [Meteor]!!!
As the best duo at Jujutsu High, Itadori Yuji and Fushiguro Megumi had long ago formulated multiple sets of coordinated strategies, waiting for actual combat to implement them specifically according to the situation.
Originally, as jujutsu sorcerers, they shouldn't have had much awareness of cooperation.
After all, this was a profession where the rate of individual action far exceeded group operations.
The reason they currently often set out as an entire school year was primarily because they were still students. By the time they reached the third year, the missions assigned to them would all become solo executions.
It was equivalent to being protected students in the first and second years, only to go out as interns and face the "harsh beatings of society" in the third year.
Fortunately, both were "good boys" who completely followed Emiya-sensei's arrangements. Thus, they were able to undergo extensive coordination training in advance, which was now playing a crucial role.
In the early stages of battle, Itadori Yuji protected Fushiguro Megumi so his technique could be implemented perfectly. Once Fushiguro successfully expanded his Domain, he could, in turn, use the Domain to provide an output environment for Itadori.
After all, while the defensive and offensive performance of the shield-axe was indeed excellent, the target was ultimately a bit too large.
Trying to maximize offensive performance through special methods was difficult to achieve in actual combat, but with Fushiguro's Domain as support, it was completely different. Once the Domain was fully expanded, Fushiguro was entirely capable of hiding Itadori's entire body within a special shadow space and releasing him from any position as needed.
Furthermore, there was a vital point to this tactic: to satisfy Itadori Yuji's demand that "bigger is better," Emiya had even added a special property to the shield-axe—it could continuously increase its mass with the infusion of cursed energy.
This was a small application of the [Forging] technique.
Cursed energy is also a high-efficiency energy; who said it couldn't be converted into physical weight? Even though it sounded like a common trait, when developed to the extreme, it was unparalleled in power.
After a series of previous tests, Itadori Yuji had successfully found the limit of the power he could master, which was approximately 50 tons—more than ten times the initial mass of the shield-axe. When such a massive amount of force was concentrated at a single point, the final result was essentially the pinnacle of destructive power.
To prevent himself from falling into the tragedy of being caught in the powerful aftershocks and losing consciousness again, Fushiguro Megumi released his maintenance of the Domain the moment he let Itadori Yuji out. Only Jogo, who was currently in a high-speed state, couldn't reverse the powerful inertia of its own body. There was only one thing it could do, and that was to also put its full strength into meeting the strike from Itadori's axe.
Unfortunately, it did not have as much time as Itadori to prepare.
"To dare toy with me like this!!"
When Itadori Yuji raised the shield-axe high, Jogo originally had some possibility of minimizing the damage by dodging, but it chose not to do so at all. Raging flames instantly ignited on Jogo's right hand, and after a brief charge, they shifted from red-yellow to blue-violet, causing the ground beneath its feet to show obvious signs of melting.
Regardless of whether the preparation time was sufficient, in terms of the shift in attitude, it was definitely putting in its full effort.
BOOM—!!!!!!!
There was no sound of flesh shattering or anything of the sort, because under this kind of world-ending impact, such sounds simply could not survive.
The ground of the entire tunnel was shaken to pieces by the terrifying impact. The electric lights on the ceiling, which had already been flickering incessantly, now went on strike completely, occasionally flashing sparks at the broken cables. Fortunately, the lava flowing in the corners was still scalding hot, providing some light for this dangerous space.
"Drip... drip... sizzle..."
As blood continuously dripped onto the ground and was instantly evaporated by the high temperature, the result of the battle had likely emerged.
How could Itadori Yuji, who used a shield-axe to fight, be burned by flames to the point of bleeding continuously?
Jogo lost without suspense, losing in this clash of pure strength, and also losing to the shield-axe in Itadori's hand forged by Emiya. This was because its entire arm had been vertically sliced in two under the shield-axe's violent attack, yet the blade of the shield-axe showed not even a single nick.
"Huff, huff... what on earth is this weapon? Even a Special Grade Cursed Tool shouldn't have this kind of strength..."
Never mind Grade 1; there were plenty of Special Grade Cursed Tools that had been destroyed by people.
Otherwise, the number of cursed tools passed down from ancient times wouldn't be as scarce as it is now.
Taking only the records of Gojo Satoru that were publicly known, he had destroyed about ten Special Grade Cursed Tools. Otherwise, why would so many people view him as an eyesore who didn't follow the rules?
Even a tool like the Inverted Spear of Heaven, whose ability was to nullify techniques, was eventually destroyed by Gojo Satoru using his technique. Cursed tools do not possess the "indestructible" [Binding Vow] characteristic like cursed objects do.
Jogo was, after all, a major collector obsessed with various cursed objects. According to the technique output it had just calculated, even a Grade 1 or Special Grade Cursed Tool should have suffered at least some degree of damage.
After all, no one has ever been able to actively manufacture a Special Grade Cursed Tool; no one knows what kind of weapon will become one, so naturally, there's no way to improve the strength of the tool in advance.
Furthermore, no matter how much the Jujutsu world transcended normal society, it lacked any craftsmanship that far exceeded normal forging levels—no matter how powerful a "hundred-fold forged" sword from hundreds of years ago was, could it really compare to the products of a modern assembly line?
But the cursed tool in front of it... what was going on? Why could its high temperature of nearly ten thousand degrees fail to cause any visible marks?!
"You mean this?"
Hearing the question, Itadori—who had just barely managed to pull the shield-axe out of the deep crack in the ground and was preparing to pursue—immediately lifted the weapon and swung it around several times in a showy manner toward Jogo.
"This is a weapon specially tailored for me by Emiya-sensei. All its abilities perfectly match my combat habits."
Itadori Yuji's love for this weapon could not be described in words.
That feeling was like a child earning their first pot of gold, or obtaining their first toy in life... the feeling was completely different. No matter how beautiful and moving a later girlfriend might be, could she ever compare to one's first love?
"Emiya Shirou... a cursed tool personally forged by that guy?!"
To this day, Jogo could finally understand why Emiya would nonchalantly destroy a weapon that seemed like a treasure back then. Could it be that cursed tools of this level were simply the type that fellow could easily tailor for a student?!
It had to admit, it... it... it was truly envious, jealous, and hateful!
Why did someone who didn't cherish them at all possess such an ability? If Jogo had obtained such a noble ability, it would definitely cherish every single piece of equipment it forged.
Heartache, immense heartache... that deep pain even began to make Jogo forget the physical pain in its body.
"Fine, fine... before I kill all humans, I will definitely find a way to preserve this precious craftsmanship first."
The injury of having its arm vertically sliced in half looked horrifying, but Jogo had basically recovered its right arm's injury before it even finished speaking. The price paid was merely a noticeable weakening of its total cursed energy.
How should it put it? After Emiya had helped it cut off all the extra parts of its body below the head previously, the recovery training it underwent had indeed played a great role; at the very least, its recovery ability had improved by several levels.
This also happened to prove from another perspective that abilities only become more effective through practice, didn't it?
"Kill all humans? Has this cursed spirit started hallucinating because the pain is too much?
Forgot I'm still here? Go, Mahoraga!"
Actually, with the powerful Mahoraga as support, the strength comparison between the two students and Jogo was no longer that different. It just depended on whether their cooperation was perfect enough to fully utilize their advantages, giving them hope of killing Jogo bit by bit.
And the most important link in this was whether Mahoraga's strength could be gradually built up to the highest level by Fushiguro Megumi during the battle.
After Fushiguro gave the command, Mahoraga—who lacked much capacity for independent thought—immediately and loyally executed his order, rushing in front of Jogo at maximum speed and swinging the Sword of Extermination.
"What's happening... its speed increased again?!"
Knowing it could not directly clash with pure positive energy under any circumstances, Jogo immediately chose to dodge, yet it was still grazed on the side of its body by the blade under the continuous attacks. Although it only resulted in a wound that wasn't very deep, dark purple blood began to drip uncontrollably, unable to be stopped.
For sorcerers, positive energy generated by the [Reverse Cursed Technique] is a precious thing equivalent to life force, but for cursed spirits, it is a completely different story.
The relationship between negative cursed energy and this positive energy is even more irreconcilable than water and fire; the only consequence of them clashing is continuous mutual dissolution, leaving behind not even a shred of byproduct. Even when a sorcerer uses [Reverse Cursed Technique] to repair their body, they must keep the positive energy running separately from the cursed energy within their body.
"But in the end, it's just a shikigami. I don't believe you can be that powerful!"
After successfully jumping away from Mahoraga's attack, Jogo immediately gathered flames of nearly ten thousand degrees in its palms again, then swung them violently at the Mahoraga that was still hot on its heels.
BOOM!
The blazing fire struck Mahoraga's body and completely swallowed it, dispersing into a shockwave that melted the ground within dozens of meters into a lava-like state before finally dissipating.
"Heh, this is a temperature that can easily melt even steel into liquid.
A specially forged cursed tool is one thing, but does a body of flesh and blood really think it can resist extreme heat? Such a thought is simply—"
Whoosh—
Before Jogo could even finish its confident words, it saw what seemed to be a layer of invisible wind rising around Mahoraga, instantly blowing away all the flames surrounding it. Beneath the layers of fire, Mahoraga's physical body showed no signs of injury.
It was unclear whether its powerful recovery ability had negated the burn damage or if the attack had failed to harm Mahoraga from the start.
"Wha... what's going on?
Could it be that it's actually the type that is immune to fire...?"
This was the most reasonable answer Jogo could think of. But Fushiguro Megumi clearly wouldn't let it off on this point.
"While you were fighting Itadori, I already sacrificed Tiger to Mahoraga as well to increase its ability stats. As the battle continues, it will only get stronger and stronger.
And because your technique is simply too one-dimensional—if it's just fire, Mahoraga's adaptation capability already makes it completely immune.
Now, how will you fight it, cursed spirit?"
Before truly mastering Mahoraga, these abnormal abilities were things Fushiguro Megumi himself had to worry about and think through. Because back then, if he couldn't solve these problems, Mahoraga would always just be a cursed spirit stuck in a taming ritual; the only way to use it was a suicidal mutual destruction. It wasn't just a shadow shikigami that Fushiguro couldn't subdue, but also an invisible mountain pressing down on his head.
As long as he couldn't solve its problem, he wouldn't be able to bring about another leap in his own strength.
Fortunately, all these problems had been perfectly solved by the novel ideas brought by Emiya, and even Fushiguro Megumi had successfully found a combat style he could enjoy.
Was there anything better than playing cards?
"Completely immune to my technique... are you kidding me?!"
How could Jogo possibly believe such an absurd thing? A shikigami that could truly continuously adapt to techniques—someone like that would have no trouble unifying the Jujutsu world, right?
After all, no matter how many low-level sorcerers there were, they couldn't pose the slightest threat to a Mahoraga like this.
Choosing subconsciously to reject this claim, Jogo immediately waved its hands again to summon several barnacle-like volcanic vents. Growing all around the walls, they simultaneously launched attacks toward the Mahoraga in the center from different directions.
There was reason to believe that nothing in the physical world could maintain its form under such a high-temperature washing; the substance with the highest known melting point for humans was only around four thousand degrees.
However, after a pit several meters deep was literally melted into the ground, Mahoraga, standing within it, only suffered some minor, inconspicuous injuries that were recovering at an extremely fast speed. It climbed back to the top step by step, treading on the ground that had completely melted into fluid, returning to Jogo's presence like a demon from hell.
"It really... but I understand now. The prerequisite for this ability is the need for sufficient time to adapt to the technique's effects.
In that case, I just need to directly break through its upper limit, right?"
As it spoke, Jogo raised its palms high, allowing terrifying high temperatures to continuously gather within them. Jogo itself stared at Fushiguro and Itadori with a distorted, ferocious expression.
"I've figured it out. Even Ryomen Sukuna will surely appear of his own accord when his host is about to die. I just need to create the conditions where the vessel cannot resist.
As for you brat, and this nonsensical shikigami... I must personally burn you all to ashes!
What's the use of a shikigami that looks powerful! Let you admire it with your own eyes in the final moments of your lives—the true limit of a technique, my Maximum Technique!!!"
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