"There are curses born outta fear, and there are curses stitched together from memory. When it's both? Yeah, don't mess with that alone."
—Kento Nanami
Shibuya Underground Sector – Gatepoint Zeta
Three days after Saya's warning, Tokyo's cursed energy started acting up and felt like a city with a fever. Sorcerers were losing their minds about weird readings at subway stations. Even regular folks felt it quite easy, paranoid, freaking out on the train for no reason.
Gojo pulled together a squad (Yaga gave the nod, probably just so he could stop hearing about it):
Akashi Ryuunosuke – frontline brawler, good at recon
Megumi Fushiguro – shadows and backup
Yuji Itadori – pure muscle, hits like a truck
Nobara Kugisaki – curse-breaker, sharp as hell
Saya – the brains, code and glyphs and all that
Gojo's only rule:
"If it doesn't bleed or scream, get out. If it bleeds fire and knows your name? Kill it before it gets chatty."
Initial Descent – Spiral Tomb Zone
Down in the guts of Shibuya, everything went weird. The Air is thick like bad honey, walls curving with ancient symbols. Shadows had their own ideas about physics. Akashi's glyph flickered with every step, not helping anyone's nerves.
Saya's, voice barely heared above a whisper: "We're inside a cursed memory. This place isn't real. It's… remembering itself."
Nobara, rolling her eyes: "Like a Domain?"
Megumi, looking like he bit a lemon: "Nope. It's Worse. This place is dreaming us up as much as we're walking through it."
Chainborn Guardian Appears – Grade 1+
Big dude, stitched together with bones and cursed chains, golden spirals everywhere. No mouth it's just glyphs bleeding outta its eyes.yikes..
"That's a Chainborn," Saya hissed. "Not alive. Just regrets, wrapped up and pissed off."
It let out a shriek, walls pulsed, floor cracked. Here we go.
Phase I – Hit It 'Til It Hits Back
Yuji went first, elbow right to the gut. Creature didn't flinch.
"No organs!" Yuji yelled, already annoyed. "This is gonna suck."
Megumi dropped Max Elephant on it—didn't even get a groan before the thing skewered his shikigami with a cursed bone and poof, gone.
"It learns," Megumi growled, teeth clenched.
Akashi, all business, lit his arm up with glyphfire and threw a chain around the thing's neck. It actually stumbled.
"Saya! Weaknesses! Now!"
"It can't remember pain!" Saya shouted back. "So remind it what dying felt like!"
Phase II – Memory Games
Nobara set up her Straw Doll net, each pin paired with some crazy glyph Saya yelled out.
Yuji tackled the Chainborn, holding it still.
"NOW, NOBARA!"
Hammer dropped. The Chainborn screamed, body convulsing, black light everywhere.
It remembered death.
Except, you know, curses don't stay down. Glyphs on its body flared red. Suddenly, it had wings made of fused metal and a second head and this one covered in Akashi's glyphs.
Saya, barely breathing: "That's your spiral. It's using a memory of you."
Akashi was done playing.
Phase III – Dragon Unleashed
The glyph on Akashi's chest went nuts. His back flared up the pppscales, wings, the works. His skin shimmered, his voice dropped.
"Dragon Tongue: Form Omega."
He spat glyphfire—yeah, not fire, not really, more like burning words. The Chainborn's new wings just melted.
He charged. Claws blazing.
"This is it, chain memory. Time to go."
He punched a burning claw straight through its chest.
Domain Fragment – Spiral Fang Burst.
Half the chamber exploded. When the smoke cleared, nothing left but scorched stone.
Aftermath
Nobody looked great. Nobara nursing a rib. Yuji's shoulder outta place. Megumi bleeding, Akashi still smoking (literally).
Yuji, kinda hopeful: "That was… just one, right?"
Saya, pale as death:
"Yeah. Spiral Cult's not just summoning things—they're training their big bad by sending these memory monsters after Akashi."
Akashi stared into the dark.
"Fine. I'll hunt them back."