『Felix Karl Grimm』
"Huff Huff... damn."
I wiped my bloody mouth and groaned as Sukuna walked closer with his high and mighty attitude. This fucker acted like he was going to kill me but I was not sure. He wanted Megumi alive after all, he was toying with me right now. He probably won't kill me as long as I keep him entertained.
But there was also the problem of Yuji. Somehow, I needed to make sure that Yuji survived. I can't let Sukuna make a binding vow with him while he aims for my ass instead of Megumi's. That was not acceptable.
"Give me a break your highness, I'm running on fumes here. What enjoyment are you going to get out of a half dead man?"
Sukuna sighed and put his hand on his hips as if he were a child whose parents told him he couldn't play with his toy.
"You won't stay half dead for long with an attitude like that."
Again, he blitzed me and grabbed my throat before lifting me up like a rag doll. But instead of killing me, his hand glowed white, and he forced his Positive Energy to run through me to heal my accumulated injuries before rearing his arm back and flinging me towards the city.
"Come on! Try harder, or else you'll die."
I righted myself to my feet and skidded to a stop just in time to see Sukuna sprint at me. Just a moment away from impact, I let my body go limp like a cat and avoided a blow that created a shockwave like a missile.
This fucker... is really trying to kill me.
Or he was very good at convincing me that he would kill me. Either way shit was bad. I used a chain to throw a car at Sukuna who smacked it away before stomping on the ground and sending a wave of dust and force towards me that threw me away.
"That's the spirit! Curse more!"
I felt Ember and closed my eyes briefly to concentrate. Broaden my horizons, get creative. How do I use this efficiently? The best way I know how. If I did not have a gun now, I'd just have to skip the gun and use the bullets instead.
Pointing my arms forward with my fingers imitating a gun in the way a child would, the tips lit on fire and I aimed at the cars parked around the street before shooting several fire bullets at their gas tanks with impeccable precision.
Boom! BOOM!
Sukuna was momentarily surprised as the cars exploded around him, catching him off guard as I presumed he was not knowledgeable about gasoline as an old head. Regardless, it brought me a precious few seconds. A precious few seconds to plan.
My energy reserves are the biggest problem here. How do I restore my energy? I had no moment to rest but...
My eyes landed on a nearby grocery store.
Fuck it, this'll do.
With wild abandon, I pulled myself to the grocery store using my chains and crashed through the window before punching into the fridge and pulling out a carton of milk which I immediately started chugging like a man dying of thirst in a desert. Feeling my energy trickle upwards as I did so.
I never thought [Mmm Milk] would actually come in useful like this.
"You really are a strange brat. I thought you were strange when you dived to get milk in the middle of a fight, but it is restoring your cursed energy somehow."
Freezing at the sound of Sukuna behind me, I let out a deep breath and chugged more milk before ducking behind the counter.
"Of course I won't let you go that easily!"
Sukuna rather predictably lunged at the counter I was hidden under before with his fist raised, but in his path appeared my [Barrier], intercepting his strike.
CRACK!
"Huh?"
"Kuakh!"
Sukuna looked at torn apart hand in surprise while my barrier barely maintained itself with a massive shatter running all across as if it were glass that stopped a bullet. I felt like I was shattered like glass as I coughed up blood but kept myself crouched under the counter with my hands moving around desperately.
'C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon, please please please.'
"I hope you weren't planning on hiding behind this thing forever."
Crash!
With another punch, Sukuna completely shattered the barrier, making me writhe on the ground in pain, trying to regain my breath. That shit hurt so bad, as if razors were ran across my ribcage. Sukuna kicked away the counter and looked down at me before raising his leg, aiming to stomp me.
'Way of White - Wrath of the Gods.'
He was only briefly staggered as a white shockwave erupted from my body and completely trashed the store. Right after, I summoned multiple Black Knights to go attack him with their weapons to buy me time while I thought up yet another plan.
"You think these toy soldiers will hold me?"
Screech!
I grimaced at the horrible screeching noise as Sukuna started tearing apart my knights. I decided to take a few potshots at him with Ember Bullets, but they did about as much damage as someone putting out cigarettes on his body.
"Come on! Curse harder! You aren't trying hard enough!"
At least someone here seemed to be having the time of their life as he planted his foot on my stomach and sent me flying out into the street before I crashed into a car. Days like these really made me wish I learned Homeward instead of the cooler spells.
Seeing Sukuna dash towards me again, I swapped out Infernal Chains with Superhuman and Ember with Precognition before turning both on at Max and stacking Removal on top of it before summoning a Black Knight next to me and grabbing its great sword.
Seeing his trajectory, and the hit I was about to take. I ducked to the side and swung the blade at Sukuna, surprising him for a second as he had to adjust himself and block the blade with his arm which made him receive a deep cut all the way down to the bone. Even the concrete beneath his feet shattered from the force I put into my swing.
"Yes, that's it! That's pretty interesting!"
He lunged at me again, I saw it coming and ducked out of the way. He went for a kick that I leaned back from and a punch I sidestepped. But the fourth attack that I saw coming, he threw a jab, but moment I made the move to dodge it, I got hit in the side with a kick that I barely managed to intercept with Precognition.
"I see, so it's some sort of foresight. I decided that if you moved to dodge my attack before I even made it that I'd switch to a kick, and you reacted. Quite a neat trick."
Tsk. Of course, he figured it out that fast.
But even if he knows, that does not change the fact that even without being able to foresee his attacks accurately, I still had far better reaction times with it active.
I did not have to win. I just had to stall long enough. Like babysitting a superpowered toddler.
I charged at Sukuna again, but chose to ignore my foresight this time, instead, I did something even he would not predict. I summoned a Black Knight, grabbed it by the ankle and swung it like a club towards Sukuna, but before it was about to make contact, I unsummoned the Black Knight and used the moment of confusion to land a blow on Sukuna.
Crack!
"Ah, clever."
My fist hit him squarely in the abdomen and my barrier manifested behind it, the force of my hit forced his back to hit the barrier and take reflection damage on top. But it also had the side effect of making me cough up blood too.
Sukuna grabbed my wrist and squeezed, making me groan in pain as it was crushed to bits. He lifted me up before rearing an arm back, forcing me to create another barrier to block his punch.
Shatter!
"Kuakh!"
"Interesting! Very Interesting! How many times can you do that before you collapse!?"
As my eyes started losing their vision, I couldn't but smirk at what I saw. A deep shaky breath of relief escaped me.
"Heh... took you long enough."
"Huh-"
Thud!
I couldn't but feel a slight laughter boil over from my guts as Sukuna got kicked away like a ragdoll by a properly angry looking Gojo who promptly caught me mid air and let me down gently.
"You look really beaten up, Grimm."
"Cough! You think?"
When I crouched behind that counter, it was not to give myself a moment to think, but instead to text Gojo as fast as I could. Which read as 'HELP NOW SUKUNA WOKE UP DETENTION CENTER HELP', since we were outside the veil, the message was able to send, and Gojo was the kind of person I had hoped would check his phone often.
Gojo put a hand on my shoulder and spoke.
"Golden Scale. Clockwise. Roots. Shed Blood. Path of White. Great Heal."
I blinked as I felt a wave of healing energies much like my own Heal miracle washed over me and looked at Gojo in surprise, who simply just smirked at me and gave me a thumbs up.
"What can I say? I've been practicing. Shoko always made fun of me for not being able to heal others."
Letting out an incredulous laugh I let my legs collapse from under me.
"Cheaty bastard."
This guy, he had memorized and learned almost all the spells from the Way of White with one read.
"Says you."
"Har har. But seriously, you need to restrain Sukuna and heal the wound on his chest so that Yuji can take over, he is holding him hostage by taking out the heart. You got that?"
Gojo gave me his ever so sure cocky smile again alongside a thumbs up.
"Definitely. Now, go rest. I'll handle this bastard and teach him not to mess with my students."
"Good..."
I let myself collapse backwards and pass out.
✧―✧―✧―✧「」✧―✧―✧―✧
『Felix Karl Grimm - The Inventory』
"Bwah! Damn it, that was not pleasant."
I jolted up, but instead of being in a bed back in Jujutsu High, or dead, I was in the inventory once more with the Dealer leaning against the counter with an amused expression. I didn't know passing out fulfilled the condition of sleeping to reach the Inventory but it was good to learn.
"Good evening Gambler. It seems you weren't so lucky this time."
Shaking my head and rubbing my eyes I got back onto my feet before walking over and plopping my ass on one of the stools against the bar. Despite being here without any injuries, I still felt like I got ran over a few times.
"Tell me about it. Feel like I pulled two deadmans hands in a row. But I can't deny that I was way too confident for what I was trying to do."
Picking up the chocolate milk she slid over, I chugged it like it was hard alcohol.
"It seems you have, you know what they say, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. You can only win while gambling for so long. Though this time, it seems like you didn't exactly lose."
With that, she slid two tickets over the counter, making my eyes widen as I looked at their sheen and read what was written on them.
Feat Achieved! Fight the Finger Bearer to a standstill
+1x Advantage Gold Ability Gacha Ticket
Feat Achieved! Stall Sukuna and Save Yuji Itadori's life
+1x Diamond Trait Gacha Ticket
I picked up the two tickets with eyes glowing with raw greed.
Maybe what happened wasn't so bad after all.
A/N: Sukuna is a monster and a half, this was less of a fight, and more of trying to survive a slasher movie villain for Grimm. But he did way better than he was expected to and actually got a few real hits in against Sukuna which is more than what most people can say. And of course, he does not let his pride blind him and asks the man himself, Gojo for help.
Gojo is here to help! The wonders of modern communication! And the Butterfly effect is here too, Gojo can actually save Yuji because Grimm accidentally taught him healing spells. The canon train has derailed and been set on fire. What did you guys think about the Sukuna encounter? I'd love to know.
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