This was the first time Uchiha Hikari unleashed Susanoo in the Jujutsu world.
Even in its basic skeletal form, the moment the crimson giant materialized, an overwhelming aura blanketed the battlefield. Kenjaku, standing behind a swarm of hundreds of shikigami, wore a look of pure shock.
"What… is that!?"
A shikigami?
But… could even the Zen'in family's shikigami, one of the Big Three, radiate this level of oppressive force?
Under Kenjaku's gaze, Hikari raised her right hand.
Susanoo mirrored the motion.
Then, a massive crimson sword, over ten meters long and wreathed in flames, materialized in the air, gripped firmly by Susanoo's skeletal hand, its blade leveled forward.
"You ready to take this slash?" Hikari asked, locking eyes with Kenjaku. After a brief charge, she swung the blade.
Whoosh!!
A tsunami of wind roared, and a blazing wave of fiery sword energy surged forward! With one swing, it carved out a fan-shaped inferno nearly a hundred meters wide. Within that zone, hundreds of shikigami disintegrated on contact, vaporized before they could even react.
One slash, obliterating both form and spirit!
Sensing danger, Kenjaku had already begun retreating the moment Hikari raised her sword.
At the same time, he flicked his sleeve, activating his domain: "*Womb Profusion!*"
Instantly, the gravity in the area spiked a hundredfold!
The slashing sword energy slowed under the crushing force, and by the time it reached Kenjaku, its power had waned. It only tore his clothes and left a bloody gash across his chest, failing to cleave him in half.
Everyone within a few hundred meters felt an immense pressure crash down on them. Curses like Jogo slowed to a crawl, their movements sluggish. Even Esdeath, mid-punch, frowned slightly, her steps growing heavy.
Hikari was the only one unaffected.
Susanoo absorbed most of the pressure, so she stood within the skeletal giant, her expression calm. "So this is Kaori Itadori's domain? Not bad. A bit stronger than the Judgment Spear Teigu, maybe."
Kenjaku could use the techniques of his past hosts. The Cursed Spirit Manipulation summoning shikigami came from Suguru Geto, while Womb Profusion, which manipulated gravity, was from Yuji Itadori's mother, Kaori Itadori.
Amplifying gravity by dozens of times was just one application.
There was another…
"*Reverse!*"
With a shift of Kenjaku's hand seal, the gravity flipped. Everyone was yanked upward, "falling" into the sky. Even Susanoo staggered, floating dozens of meters before Hikari stabilized it with her Flight Technique, hovering with her feet off the ground.
"Got any other tricks?" she asked.
"…"
Kenjaku's pupils narrowed.
Cursed Spirit Manipulation and Womb Profusion were his go-to techniques. Most opponents, even Special Grade sorcerers, would fumble under their weight, exposing weaknesses for him to exploit—like how he'd later kill Yuki Tsukumo. But this black-haired girl? She was completely unfazed, something he hadn't anticipated.
"…No choice, then."
After a brief hesitation, Kenjaku formed the seals for Cursed Spirit Manipulation again, summoning every remaining cursed spirit he had. This time, hundreds of them filled the sky, a dark, oppressive mass far more imposing than before.
Then, he clasped his hands. "*Maximum: Uzumaki!*"
Instantly, the cursed spirits swarmed together, merging and compressing into a dense, dark vortex of cursed energy, surging toward Hikari like a tidal wave.
Facing this ultimate technique of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Hikari didn't budge. Susanoo tanked the hit, and as faint cracks appeared on its skeletal frame, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Leaving marks on the second-stage Susanoo… about on par with Danzo's Wind Release, I'd say."
Kenjaku noticed the cracks too, his eyes glinting with excitement, as if he saw a path to victory.
But…
Hikari glanced at the skeletal giant, then casually looked away, raising her sword again. "My turn."
With that, she swung once more.
A crescent-shaped wave of fiery sword energy erupted from the blade, slicing through the cursed spirit vortex like a hot knife through butter. It streaked toward Kenjaku like a meteor chasing the moon. He had no time to dodge—blinding starlight filled his vision, and with a crack, his body was cleaved in two!
One slash…
"Done."
Hikari twirled her sword, letting the crimson blade and Susanoo's skeletal frame fade into the air.
Kenjaku wasn't dead yet. Without a host body, reduced to just a brain-like lump, he had no means to resist further.
Meanwhile, Esdeath, after toying with Jogo like a cat with a mouse, mimicked Gojo's move and twisted off his head. Then, with a few heavy punches, she sent Hanami and Dagon crashing into the ground, leaving craters over ten meters deep.
Gravely wounded, they were forced to deactivate their domains, their cursed energy nearly depleted.
These curses were limited in strength to begin with. Even Jogo, the strongest, was only about as powerful as Sukuna with eight or nine fingers—outclassed by Gojo. Esdeath hadn't even used her full power, holding back on the final blows at Hikari's request to keep them alive.
Next up…
"Time to seal them."
Hikari pulled out pre-prepared sealing scrolls and began sealing Jogo and the others, labeling each with "Fire," "Wood," "Water," and so on for distinction.
Mahito's scroll got a "Rotten" label. Fitting for a total scumbag.
Kenjaku's was simply "Brain."
As she worked, Esdeath crossed her arms, watching Hikari's sealing technique with a cool gaze. "What's the plan for them now? More fishing?"
"Nah," Hikari shook her head. "The big fish is already caught—this brain-looking guy. As for Jogo and the others… I've got other plans."
Kenjaku aside, Hikari had already decided what to do with Mahito and the four Special Grade Curses.
Killing them outright? Too wasteful.
Using them as power banks? Now that's making the most of them.
Yup.
When she'd first tried absorbing Idle Transfiguration from Mahito, Hikari noticed something. These curses, born from human fear, hatred, and despair, had an uncanny affinity for absorbing those negative emotions. As long as such emotions existed nearby, they'd continuously convert them into fresh cursed energy.
That's why Mahito and his crew had such insane recovery. Even when Jogo was reduced to a head by Gojo or Mahito was forced to self-destruct to escape Nanami and Yuji, they could regenerate fully in no time by soaking up negative emotions.
Sure, their capacity to absorb those emotions wasn't limitless due to their strength caps.
But the supply of negative emotions? That was endless.
As long as human society existed, fear, hatred, and despair would keep flowing. Even outside the Jujutsu world, it'd be the same.
This meant Hikari could use Mahito and the others as conduits, repeatedly siphoning off the cursed energy converted from negative emotions—a sustainable way to "drain the pond without killing the fish."
In theory, it sounded solid.
Whether it'd work in practice? That'd take some testing.
Hikari planned to take her time experimenting.
The battle on Tokyo's west side didn't make the news or cause a stir like the one in Hokkaido. Hikari had chosen a remote mountain area, sealed off by Esdeath's ice and her own Blood Coral Barrier. Plus, it happened at night, so while the commotion was big, it stayed contained to the mountain, with minimal impact elsewhere.
In the days that followed, some in the Jujutsu world noticed the disturbance but kept it under wraps, preventing it from leaking to the public.
During this time, Hikari stayed low-key, only checking in with Gojo and Yuji to mention she'd clashed with some Special Grade Curses and picked up a few more of Sukuna's fingers. Between Jujutsu High's five and Jogo's original five, she now had ten.
She figured Kenjaku likely knew where the remaining fingers were—or had hidden them himself—but she'd need to dig through his memories to confirm.
So, Hikari focused most of her attention on studying the curses' techniques and memories.
After some practice, her Idle Transfiguration skills had improved significantly. She could now freely enlarge, shrink, restore, or regenerate wounds on others' bodies.
To get there, as planned, she'd quietly conducted extensive experiments on a group of heinous criminals. By choosing scattered locations and restoring their bodies while wiping their memories after each test, she kept her actions under the radar.
"Restoring" was a loose term—since these were irredeemable scumbags, and Japan's Western-leaning laws often failed to punish them adequately, Hikari saw no issue with tweaking their "functions" during experiments. Call it justice.
With Idle Transfiguration mastered, Hikari was ready to put another part of her plan into action.
"That guy… he's still around Tokyo, right?"
"Time to pay him a visit."
The next evening, Hikari brought Esdeath to a dam near Tokyo. After a bit of searching, they found a hidden basement converted from an abandoned factory.
"You're Mechanicmaru?" Hikari asked.
"…Who are you?" replied a young man with a spiky black ponytail, around seventeen or eighteen, slightly older than Yuji. His body was wrapped in bandages, his face deathly pale, looking frail.
No surprise there.
Since birth, he'd been afflicted by the Heavenly Restriction, leaving his body so weak he could barely move normally.
But that same restriction granted him immense cursed energy and a wide technique range. Using Puppet Manipulation, he could create "Mechanicmaru" puppets of various sizes, projecting his consciousness into them to act in his place.
In theory, these puppets could operate across all of Japan.
In the original story, Kokichi Muta, aka Mechanicmaru, struck a secret deal with Mahito and Kenjaku, trading Jujutsu High intel for a chance at a healthy body. But after the deal, he was forced to fight them, lost, and died—a tragic figure.
And now…
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Uchiha Hikari, a friend of Yuji Itadori and Gojo Satoru."
"And the one who sealed Mahito and Suguru Geto."
Hikari got straight to the point. "I'm impressed by your talent in mechanical engineering and want to invite you to join my research institute. In exchange, I can use Idle Transfiguration to restore your body to full health. What do you say?"
"?!"
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