To be cursed at so bluntly by a child of the modern age sparked a flicker of genuine irritation in Kenjaku, a being who had survived for a thousand years.
"You brat..."
"Did I say something incorrect?"
Souma shrugged, turning his attention to the shell-shocked Yuji Itadori. "Listen, Yuji. Kaori Itadori was indeed your mother, but she died long before you were even born. The thing standing in front of you is a monster that crawled into her hollowed-out shell and has lived for a millennium."
A surge of nameless, primal fury rose in Yuji's chest, cutting through his confusion.
"Wait, back up!" Yuji blinked, reality warping around him. "You're saying my mother was already dead when I was born?"
Souma rolled his eyes. "It sounds bizarre, I know, but that is the reality. To put it accurately: you are the child of your father and a monster wearing your dead mother's skin."
Yuji's brain felt like it was crashing under the weight of the information. But one thing was clear: the person standing before him was desecrating his mother's body. It was an ultimate sacrilege.
"You bastard! I'm going to kick you out of my mother's body!"
Yuji roared, lunging forward, but Megumi Fushiguro grabbed his arm, holding him back. "Stay calm, Itadori! The cursed energy coming off those two is massive. We can't handle this. Let Souma-sensei take the lead!"
Souma stepped forward, rolling his shoulders. "It looks like I've derailed your little grand plan."
Kenjaku let out a cold laugh. "That remains to be seen. Hanami, force that boy to swallow Sukuna's finger. I will keep Souma Gojo occupied!"
"As you wish," Hanami replied in a voice like discordant radio waves, the meaning vibrating directly into Kenjaku's mind.
"Hey, hey. Plotting to divide and conquer right in front of me?" Souma's voice went flat. "Did you forget to ask for my opinion?"
In the blink of an eye, Souma vanished.
THOOM!
Kenjaku's pupils contracted. When she looked to her side, Hanami was gone, replaced by Souma.
The forest curse had been sent flying into the school building, smashing through multiple brick walls before crashing into a pile of rubble.
How is he this strong? Kenjaku felt a cold sweat break across her brow. The pressure radiating from this man was unlike any Six Eyes user she had ever faced in history. She immediately activated Kaori Itadori's innate technique: Anti-Gravity System.
"Hm?"
Souma felt his weight vanish. The sudden detachment from the earth's pull caused a momentary stiffness in his movements.
"Now, Hanami!"
Hanami erupted from the debris, their right arm encased in a massive gauntlet of woven thorns, and swung with a roar.
BOOM!
The strike hit Souma's Infinity, sending ripples like a stone dropped in a still pond. Souma grinned, unmoved. "Not a bad hit."
He reached out with lightning speed, grabbing one of the wooden branches protruding from Hanami's face. With his left hand acting as a vice, he began a brutal, one-sided barrage with his right. Each punch carried a sonic boom, shattering Hanami's wooden skin and spraying dark fluid everywhere.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Gravity!" Kenjaku shouted.
The world suddenly inverted for Souma. The Anti-Gravity was gone, replaced by its reversal. His limbs felt as though they were made of lead, every movement requiring the strength to move a mountain. Hanami used the opening to retreat, summoning a dense thicket of vines to entangle the sorcerer.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
The vines were shredded into sawdust. Souma blurred into a streak of light, closing the distance instantly.
Kenjaku's heart skipped a beat. Impossible. His weight is over a thousand times greater than normal. How is he still moving that fast?
CRACK!
Souma's fists buried themselves into the abdomens of Kenjaku and Hanami simultaneously. They folded like paper, sent flying backward only to be intercepted mid-air by a brutal roundhouse kick to their spines. Souma was playing keep-away with their lives, treating the two powerful entities like soccer balls.
"Damn you! Blood Manipulation: Blood Star!"
"Technique Release: Thousand Trees!"
Desperate, the two unleashed a barrage of long-range attacks to create a buffer.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
A crimson vortex swallowed their counterattacks whole. Souma watched Kenjaku with an amused, knowing look. "Blood Manipulation? Is that a trick you picked up while you were parasitic on Noritoshi Kamo?"
"Tch!"
Kenjaku wiped blood from her lip. She hadn't realized Souma's knowledge of her history went so deep.
"Enough games. It's time you both died," Souma said. The air around him began to burn as he pushed his Six Eyes to their absolute limit.
Kenjaku and Hanami felt the cold touch of the Reaper. Souma's feet didn't touch the ground as he flew toward them, his fists wreathed in cursed energy and black sparks of spatial distortion.
The impact tore through them. Before they could even register the movement, gaping holes had been punched through their midsections. Souma's lightning-clad fists rained down, turning their bodies into ragdolls.
I will die. I've planned for a millennium, and it ends here? Kenjaku realized she had no choice. She had to use a trump card or lose her life.
"Hanami! Hold him for one second!"
Hanami threw themselves forward, transforming their arms into a massive wooden shield. The wood splintered and shattered under Souma's relentless assault, but it held. Kenjaku reached into her mouth and spat out a small, inscribed sphere.
She tore the talisman away and began a frantic incantation. The sphere swelled and pulsated, morphing into a terrifying, disheveled female spirit with long, matted hair and a demonic visage.
"Mother of Cursed Wombs: Crimson Hannya!"
In Japanese folklore, a Hannya is a vengeful spirit born from the bottomless resentment of a woman. During her time as Noritoshi Kamo, Kenjaku had experimented on a woman who could bear children with curses. After nine forced pregnancies and nine abortions, the woman had died in a state of pure, unadulterated hate.
Kenjaku, ever the pragmatist, had converted her soul into a Vengeful Spirit: a tool to be used. The sheer volume of her resentment had elevated her into a Special Grade entity comparable to the legendary Orimoto Rika.
Crimson Hannya let out a soul-piercing shriek and lunged at Souma.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
A massive crimson sphere of repulsion slammed the Hannya into the earth, pinning it down instantly. A total, effortless suppression.
However, that single second was all Kenjaku and Hanami needed to vanish into a pre-prepared escape route.
"They certainly move fast when they're scared," Souma sighed, looking down at the struggling Hannya. He looked at the spirit, sensing the echoes of the woman trapped within. "The Mother of Cursed Wombs... so that's how it is."
Souma brought his hands together, forming a complex mudra.
"Domain Expansion: Dustless Land."
A vast, black sphere expanded, swallowing Souma, the Hannya, and even Megumi and Yuji.
"Whoa... it's beautiful," Yuji whispered. He looked around at the "Sky Mirror" within the domain, the ground a perfect, reflective surface under an endless, crystalline sky.
Megumi stared in awe. "This is Souma-sensei's Domain... it's breathtaking."
Within the domain, the Crimson Hannya's cursed energy was systematically stripped away. Its monstrous form began to flake away like old paint, dissolving into dust. In the center of the fading darkness, the translucent figure of a woman appeared. She was no longer a monster, but a soul being freed.
"Thank you," a faint whisper brushed against Souma's ear.
"You're welcome," Souma replied softly. He watched as the woman shattered into a thousand points of light, disappearing into the beautiful, reflective horizon.
Read The Full Story at P@treon: P@treon .com/zefyrus (total chps: 137)
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