"Nah, I'll win."
Yuta narrowed his eyes further. "If you're not giving up or wanting a compromise, then what?"
"This…" I pointed at us.
"You two-on-one is not fair, you know. I'm fixing it." I stated with a big grin on my face.
Yuta's mind staggered. Two possibilities rose in his mind. One, I'll use those rules to make either Rika or him unable to fight to stop the two-on-one, but in that case, I can't use swapping to gain any advantage.
Or…
His head snapped towards where the giant cross was in my domain. At the big Shikigami which was crucified on it.
To Yuta's horror, the chains binding Mahoraga slowly came loose. With a snap, they broke apart and Mahoraga fell down towards the black mist.
Boom.
A resounding sound echoed out inside the domain's space. As soon as Mahoraga's figure hit the ground, the mist exploded outward due to the impact, completely covering the area.
Yuta was already on his guard, but the moment the black mist settled down, instead of finding the Shikigami, he found—
Me.
A shiver ran through his spine, and he snapped his neck back to where I was earlier only to find a towering figure with a big smile right next to him.
"RIKA!"
"BOOM!"
A shattering impact rang out through the entire domain. The impact was so powerful that it gave Yuta whiplash from the air pressure alone.
But somehow he was fine, because Rika moved in just in time. Yuta's eyes snapped back, only to find Rika thrown tens of meters away, her arm twisted at a wrong angle and smoking at the point of impact.
And the Shikigami...
Still standing on top of him.
Yes… I broke Mahoraga's chains.
That meant he was no longer handling the domain anymore. But there was no need for that. Mahoraga had already refined the domain to the point that even if Yuta were to open his domain once more, it would be for naught.
This also meant that I had to take back control of the domain from him, and with that came technique burnout.
So, the moment I freed Mahoraga, I had put a timer on how much longer this domain was going to last before my brain fried out.
But… meh, I won't need that long. I'm ending this right now.
"MAHORAGA!"
My partner heard me loud and clear, and I didn't need to tell him what he had to do.
The Divine General stepped forward again. Yuta's expression hardened while Rika released a low growl from her position.
However, before Mahoraga could so much as move, Rika was once again moving with all her ferocity to protect her Yuta.
Mahoraga raised his fist. Yuta was already reinforcing himself with all of his cursed energy to tank whatever was coming, but surprisingly, Rika was already there next to him in that short amount of time, still with one hand all mangled up and bruised, but the cursed spirit had covered most of the distance to protect Yuta.
Or at least that was the plan before, just inches away from her love, I swapped positions with her, sending her beneath the giant cross of my domain where I stood, and now both Mahoraga and I stood on both sides of Yuta.
I was the first one to move since Yuta's entire focus was on Mahoraga. It made sense since even if I punched him, I couldn't hit as hard as someone like Mahoraga.
"YUTA, GIVE BACK!" A roar sounded from further away. Rika was rushing with maniacal devotion.
Under all that chaos, I landed a solid hit on Yuta's ribs before he reacted, and then Mahoraga's fist came crashing down, which he dodged by only a hair's breadth.
I was already on top of him, sending a flurry of punches towards him, which he didn't even have time to guard against.
But this time, Rika had already arrived. She was suddenly showing enhanced stats out of sheer desperation.
Good thing I had Mahoraga by my side.
The moment she was in range, he charged directly toward Rika, his massive frame tearing across the battlefield as the Sword of Extermination swung downward. Rika met the attack head-on without the slightest hesitation, and the collision between them sent a shockwave through the entire domain. The ground cracked beneath their feet as two monsters clashed with enough force to shake the darkness around us.
At the same time, Yuta rushed me.
He clearly understood that allowing Mahoraga to move unchecked would be a disaster, even when he still hadn't figured out that the monster wasn't just all brawn with no brain. He could freaking adapt.
But Yuta also could not afford to ignore me while I remained the one controlling the domain itself. And his idea was right. If he could do a lot of damage to me now, when Mahoraga wasn't in charge of maintaining the domain, my domain could really collapse.
His fist came first, followed immediately by a sword strike aimed at my neck. He was directly going for the kill now. I narrowly avoided the blade and retaliated with a kick toward his side, but before either of us could properly capitalize on the exchange, I activated a trade and swapped positions with Mahoraga.
The effect was immediate.
One moment Yuta was fighting me.
The next, he found himself standing directly in front of Mahoraga.
The Divine General's sword descended without warning, forcing Yuta to throw himself backward to avoid being bisected. At the same time, I appeared beside Rika and drove a punch into her ribs, which practically did nothing besides reminding me I had to hit the gym soon, and then I switched positions again before she could retaliate.
From that point onward, the battlefield descended into controlled chaos.
Every exchange flowed into another exchange. Every attack carried the possibility of becoming someone else's problem. Whenever Yuta attempted to engage me directly, I would switch positions and force him to deal with Mahoraga instead.
Hell, if I got my timing down, I could make Rika's attacks, which she was throwing at Raga, hit Yuta.
Oh… how much that pissed off the yandere spirit, I can't even describe.
Whenever Rika focused entirely on Mahoraga, I would suddenly appear at her flank and attack before disappearing again.
While Mahoraga was mostly invincible against Rika, there was one attack which she could still do that posed a problem to the Divine General, that one attack which Yuta and Rika used against Geto.
I'm sure that to do that they both had to have access to their unlimited cursed energy and had to work together, but I was not taking any chances.
Anyways, neither Yuta nor Rika could fully commit to an offensive because at any moment they could find themselves attacking each other instead.
Unlike me, however, Mahoraga was actually inflicting serious damage. The wheel above his head continued to rotate. The dude was starting to adapt to my switching and how I behaved and was honestly anticipating when I was going to switch him and where.
I literally saw him switch from punching to grabbing the moment I swapped him from Rika to Yuta, and the next second he grabbed the boy instead of punching him, which Yuta would most likely dodge away from anyway, and then tossed him away like he was some sort of fidget toy.
At first, the adaptation focused on Rika herself. She was no normal curse after all. There is a difference between an ordinary cursed spirit and a vengeful cursed spirit.
Just raw damage sometimes isn't enough to kill them, especially someone like Rika.
Her unnatural toughness gradually stopped mattering as much, and each successive strike from the Sword of Extermination began cutting deeper into her body. The positive energy contained within the blade burned through her form every time it connected, forcing even Rika to recoil from attacks she would normally ignore.
The pressure on Yuta and Rika increased dramatically as Mahoraga started adapting to their normal fighting styles and habits. Our coordination improved in real time as he kept on adapting.
For the first time since the battle began, they were the ones being forced onto the defensive.
I noticed the change immediately.
Yuta was still keeping up, but he had started hesitating for fractions of a second whenever a trade became possible. He was thinking more than acting, calculating every movement because a single mistake could place him directly in front of Mahoraga's sword.
Yes, even Rika's attacks weren't as lethal as Mahoraga's sword. There was no tanking his sword. He would die if he took a single hit. Yuta genuinely was under pressure now.
Now, I don't consider myself a genius fighter or a prodigy, but I have learned this through experience: hesitancy during a battle was a sin.
The more you showed it, the more your enemy could find faults in your defenses.
And I did find one in his.
Yuta stepped forward to intercept Mahoraga, or more accurately, dodge that monster, just as I exchanged positions with the Divine General. The sudden change forced him to adjust his footing, and for the briefest moment his guard opened. Not knowing whether to commit to a counter or a full evade, his eyes roamed toward both me and Rika, trying to find what move would be safe depending on what the others were doing in case another swap was coming.
And that delay gave me a chance. I struck instantly.
I swapped his position with Rika in front of me, throwing Rika into Raga's frontal onslaught while Yuta appeared right in front of me and my fist slammed into his chest.
To even my surprise, the space seemed to ripple out the moment my fist made contact with his chest. A feeling I had surely been missing out on during the fight.
It was hard to even spot what happened next due to the dark atmosphere around us, but black lightning exploded across the battlefield.
It was a Black Flash.
The impact of the Black Flash folded Yuta around my punch before launching him backward through the darkness. The ground shattered beneath him as he crashed across the domain, and for the first time since the fight began, the momentum shifted completely in my favor.
Mahoraga did not waste the opportunity.
The Divine General immediately pressed the advantage, forcing Rika into a brutal exchange that gradually pushed her backward. The wheel rotated again and again as the adaptation continued, and eventually even Rika could no longer withstand the pressure. Mahoraga overwhelmed her completely, pinning her to the ground, ready to rip her apart completely with the Sword of Extermination.
Seeing Rika trapped, Yuta made one final desperate attempt.
Ignoring his injuries, he rushed toward me with his sword drawn, clearly intending to end the fight, banking on the fact that I would not swap positions again or Rika would be freed.
I saw the attack coming and understood immediately what he was trying to do. My eyes too went towards both Mahoraga and Rika, and surely enough, swapping now would free Rika. It was counterproductive.
That unconsciously made me walk towards Yuta. First it was slow, and then I picked up speed until both of us were running towards each other.
I could feel it. We both planned to end this fight in the next move.
However, he had a sword. I had just my hands.
So, just as we entered each other's attack range, he thrust his sword forward right at my heart.
The effects of the Black Flash were still lingering inside me. The incoming sword slowed down under my enhanced perception.
That sword was death. Even with Reverse Cursed Technique, I doubted I could survive if he completely destroyed my heart with that sword. I was no Sukuna after all.
So yeah, that was death.
And I found myself rushing right at it with a big smile on my face.
Yeah.
I was smiling like a freaking maniac. It was clear that my common sense had been completely destroyed by this godforsaken shonen anime. I was turning into a war junkie.
"Come, Okkotsu, let's kill each other." I shouted with an ecstasy which I was certain I'd be embarrassed about after the adrenaline wore off, if I survived after this, that is.
Just as the sword was inches away from piercing my chest, I activated my technique.
However, instead of exchanging people, I focused on something else.
Yuta thrust with everything he had and pierced, but he couldn't feel the flesh-piercing resistance when his hand itself hit against my chest.
He stayed there for a few microseconds, against my chest, holding onto his sword, while still unable to feel any blood or resistance of flesh.
Baffled and confused, he took a single step back and looked into his own hand only to find the sword was gone.
Instead, he was holding a chocolate bar.
"What!"
"I planned to eat for a quick snack. I hid it from Yuji, planned to share it with him later on." I replied to his confused question. His eyes darted toward me, specifically to my hand, which was now holding his sword.
"You poured your cursed energy into the bar to make it an object which you could swap things with." Yuta said, finally understanding what happened. A genuine shock crossed Yuta's face.
"Yeah." I nodded and used the blade to do exactly what he had planned on doing. I stabbed him, and there was no evading from this point-blank range.
And by the time he realized what had happened, the blade was already driving straight through his chest.
The battlefield fell silent.
Even Rika froze.
Because for the first time since the fight had begun, Yuta Okkotsu had been completely outplayed.
"YUTAAAAA!" A sudden roar from the corner of the domain rattled the entire domain as Rika's one giant eye widened to its absolute limit. The rows of teeth were on full display, terrifying. However, no matter how much power she erupted with, the limitation on her cursed energy reserves held her back, and Mahoraga didn't let her move even an inch.
Yuta, on the other hand, was baffled by the sudden change of the situation. He was already using the remaining cursed energy he had to heal himself, but seeing that the blade had entered his chest and his heart was pierced, the chances of surviving weren't high.
Perhaps if he had his earlier cursed energy reserves and output, but currently neither his reserves were enough nor his output was high. And by the look of it, it was clear that Yuta had figured that out as well.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved.
The sword remained buried deep within Yuta's chest, having pierced straight through his heart, and even without being an expert in Reverse Cursed Technique, I knew just how catastrophic that kind of injury was.
Again, not everyone is Ryomen Sukuna and Satoru Gojo. They can survive getting their hearts pierced through the raw output of RCT.
A wound like this was not something that could simply be shrugged off through toughness or determination.
Maybe Okkotsu could have done that. He was a genius, which was stated multiple times in the show, but I doubted it by how low both his reserves and output currently were. And by the look of it, it was clear that Yuta had figured that out as well.
The darkness around us remained silent. Rika was still pinned beneath Mahoraga, tossing around under him, flaring what limited cursed energy she had to break free, but the Divine General had already adapted to her.
There was no escaping from him. As for killing Rika, I wondered why Mahoraga hadn't done that yet. Aren't cursed spirits supposed to be prone to raw RCT output, something that the Sword of Extermination emitted?
But I was starting to realize what was going on. This Rika was not entirely a cursed spirit. She was more like a Shikigami.
Killing her was possible, and seeing Mahoraga's spinning wheel, he might as well do it soon.
Yuta stared down at the blade protruding from his chest before slowly lifting his eyes toward me.
And for the first time since this battle began, I saw no intention of fighting in them.
Only resignation.
"Before this ends," I said while keeping my grip firmly on the sword, "answer me something."
Yuta remained silent.
"Why?"
His eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Why did you try to kill Yuji?" I asked. "Out of everyone in this world, you should understand him better than anyone. Gojo once saved you from execution when everyone wanted you dead. Yuji ended up in the exact same situation, so why the hell are you suddenly acting like one of the higher-ups?"
Yuta didn't answer immediately. If anything, he looked surprised that I even knew that, but he didn't bother asking how I knew. He just let out a sigh, like he was accepting his condition once and for all, and only then did he finally open his mouth.
"You really don't know."
I frowned. Was that even a question that needed to be asked? One of the good guys, a heavy hitter no less, had actually switched sides out of nowhere. Isn't that something worth wanting to learn about?
Yuta let out a slow breath before finally speaking.
"The execution was never real."
The words immediately made me freeze.
"Huh?!"
Yuta continued before I could interrupt further.
"The higher-ups ordered me to kill Itadori Yuji. Same with you."
My eyes narrowed.
"And you took the task."
He just shook his head.
"They blamed both Itadori and Gojo-sensei for Shibuya. Besides reinstating Yuji's execution, they also declared that anyone attempting to unseal Gojo would become a criminal."
I could only frown at that. I didn't have high hopes for those old geezers after learning what they were capable of from both Yuji and Choso, but this was a new low, even for them.
However, that still didn't explain why he took the job.
Yuta looked away for a moment before continuing.
"My plan was simple. I would kill Yuji temporarily and then revive him with Reverse Cursed Technique afterward. That would have fulfilled the condition of the binding vow for me, and then I could have declared Yuji's execution a success. Even the higher-ups would have believed the execution had been completed. Since the binding vow wouldn't affect me later on, that would have led attention on Yuji to disappear."
The more he explained, the more ridiculous the entire situation sounded.
Like what in the actual f*ck was that plan? All this just to remove attention from Yuji. Why even bother? How many other strong jujutsu sorcerers are there besides him to worry about Yuji's execution in the first place?
And more importantly, why in the bloody hell didn't he say it sooner?
"You absolute idiot." I felt like slapping the naive fool, but I restrained myself. The poor bastard was already dying.
"It was a reasonable plan. If you weren't this freaking strong." Yuta actually chuckled at that.
"No, it wasn't!" I snapped immediately. "Do you have any idea how much trouble that would have saved if you had just explained that from the beginning?"
"I was under a binding vow."
That answer immediately shut me up. My understanding of binding vows wasn't enough to comment on that subject. So far, what I had done was instinctive at best with that power system.
Silence settled between us again as I processed everything he had just revealed. The urge to heal him crossed my mind almost immediately. Now that I knew the truth, he might still be lying to me here, however, killing him felt a bit too much if he was indeed telling the truth. He had never actually been the enemy. And considering how little I knew about the possible future, I was going to need all the help I could get.
However, another problem appeared just as quickly. Even if every word was true, there was still the binding vow.
The higher-ups had ordered him to kill me too. What was his excuse about killing me? I had no Sukuna to keep me alive. How had he planned to bring me back to life?
One look at the boy's face told me that he had none. I was most likely collateral damage.
And, for a second, let's say I set that grudge aside for now, hard as it was. But even then, if I healed him and released him, would he be forced to continue pursuing me?
Would we simply end up fighting again tomorrow?
The more I thought about it, the fewer answers I found.
"Don't think about it too much. I died because I was weak and I underestimated what you were capable of. You have no fault in what happened here. If anything, you had every right to defend yourself." He spoke.
Neither of us spoke after that, as if the result was already decided. There was no changing the outcome anymore.
Yuta's eyes narrowed a bit as he let out a soft smile.
"I do have one request though, please don't kill Rika." He asked with geniune emotion in his tone.
I felt like the bad guy here suddenly. "Just die already." I snapped with irritation.
That let him out a chuckle.
"Gojo-Sensei would have liked you."
And with that, he closed his eyes.
I pursed my lips, sighing at the outcome of this fight in the end, accepting fate. If anything, I should be happy that it wasn't me bleeding out down there.
And with that thought, I tightened my grip on the sword.
One clean motion followed.
The blade flashed.
And Yuta Okkotsu's story came to an end.
And as soon as that happened, the domain around me pulsed with cursed energy, signifying that he had truly died as his powers came soaring into me.
The massive pool of cursed energy, his technique, memories, and skills.
The Trade was completed.
"NO…. YUTAAAAAAA!"
xXx
A/N : And that ends the Omakes for the Shibuya arc. Hope you liked it. After this, we're finally moving towards the Culling Game.
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