Am I high?
Oh so high in the sky~, I feel I can fly~.
I smile at my own thoughts as they spark a memory, and in this state of bliss I am in, I don't hesitate to voice them.
"Fly me too the moon~,"
It's a nice song. Frank Sinatra is a favourite of mine.
"Let me pla~ay, among the stars~."
A slightly disjointed giggle leaves me as I finish the lyric, and the fact that I don't feel even slightly embarrassed about it makes my thoughts fall back on to why I feel this way.
Black Flash.
I hit one. Finally.
And what a glorious moment that was. Ahhh~, I feel so amazing~.
A Black Flash is defined as a distortion in space that occurs when Cursed Energy is applied within 0.000001 seconds of a physical hit. One one-millionth.
That's not really true though. At least, not fully. It's more a board explanation so that there is an explanation at all to give.
There are too many factors for a concise definition after all. Literally everything is a factor. It's more a natural phenomena than anything else. More or less. Kinda. Who knows~?
I'd been told first that it enhanced a blow by two and half times, and then later I was told it was to the power of two and a half. That's a rather significant difference. Exponents are scary~.
But again, that's apparently just a simplification for the sake of easy communication. At least according to Kamo-Sensei anyway, and he knows his stuff. When he's not screwing with me anyway.
He's so meeeaaan~ hehehe~.
Apparently, rather than one multiplier being right and the other wrong, it's more like they are both either side of a range.
It's not like Black Flash is something that can easily be mapped out. It's a rare enough phenomena by itself, and of those few times they are hit, how many Sorcerers will write out a detailed accounting of how they managed the feat and how significant of an enhancement it granted? Will they even know?
There isn't enough data to be concise about this sort of thing.
Basically, it doesn't really matter.
I hate agreeing with Sukunaaaa~, he gets so smuuuug~. Smug Sukuna isn't a bad thing though~. Hehe.
It's just vibes baby!
Pretty much.
Just vibe it out~.
Vibe vibe vibe~.
"Fiiiill my heart with songgg~! Let me singgggg~ forevermore~!"
Golly gee gosh! Isn't my Soul just beautiful!
Sitting with my back against the giant Torii gate in my Domain, I cast my eyes out at the field of sunflowers spreading in every direction, covering the endless void below. A pretty façade to cover a deadly truth.
Reminds me of taxes.
Hehe.
I don't pay taxes~. Teehee~.
Not that my nation even has an economy yet, but whatever, it's the spirit of anarchism that counts! Down with the IRA! Wait.. Iris? No... that's not right...
My rebellion is doomed~.
A tear leaves my eyes as I moan pitifully and curl into a ball.
Why is it so hard to fight oppression?
Speaking of oppression.
I lift my head and place it on my knees such that I may glare at my Domain.
I generally try to avoid using it for a reason, it's always felt off. Like it's missing something, or is just wrong somehow. Sort of like the uncanny valley in a way. Not really but kinda sorta.
Absently, I slide forward on my bed of sunflowers, dragging my back down the Torii gate behind me until I am lying with my neck bent at an uncomfortable angle.
"You are all I long for~," I continue to sing, my tone more sombre as I wiggle further forward until my head is flat against a sunflower, such that I may stare up at the sky.
My Domain's Barrier blocks out the view.
"All I worship and adore..."
The song turns muted as I trail off in thought.
Oh, I think with a sudden clarity. I really am an idiot, huh?
A chuckle leaves me.
No wonder it always felt like it was missing something.
A Domain Expansion is an expression of the Soul. It is the truest representation of a person's innermost self.
So is it any wonder that my Domain would feel wrong?
Curiosity is something that I am cursed with, but my Curse is Love.
I've explained many times to Sukuna what that means and why it is superior to Hate. It's all about positive cycles. I love you, you love me, and everything is bright and wonderful.
So it truly is no wonder.
For how could I paint my Soul upon the world only to then hide it away? Love cannot exist in a vacuum. To thrive, love must be witnessed, else reciprocation is impossible.
So how could I possibly express my Soul and then hide it away? Bar entry? Bar exit, for love must also be a choice.
How could I hide my Soul behind a Barrier?
And perhaps more than even that, my Technique is Ten Shadows.
A shadow cannot exist without a light.
And there is only one light that fits the shape of my Soul.
"In other words~," I croon to the air, one hand rising up as if to reach the sky. My smile grows effervescent as the Barrier surrounding my Soul unravels ahead of my palm, allowing thin beams of beautifulsunlight to filter though, thin at first but rapidly growing.
"I, love, you~."
The Barrier falls, and my Domain Expansion immediately extends into the distance in all directions, covering the world in a field of fantastical sunflowers. Each and every petal alight with the glow of Amaterasu reflecting through, creating a sight so wonderous that it brings tears to my eyes.
Truly, this is how it should be. Beautiful.
Everything just feels so perfect right now. I feel amazing.
My gaze falls upon Amaterasu up above, and somehow I feel even better, knowing that my Soul is bare for her to see.
Words are cheap, after all. I proclaim my love so frequently that I'm sure everyone around me is growing inured to it.
But this? This field of sunflowers that decorates my deepest Self?
There is no declaration that could be more honest than this that my feelings are true.
Kachink
"Haha!" Following my startled laugh, my legs lift above my prone form and kick out, sending me straight to my feet, grinning like a lunatic. "You really did it!"
Before my very eyes, I watch as Mahoraga emerges from the darkness below until he is standing on a pair of sunflowers of his own, opposite to me and matching my grin with his own.
I knew that he had hijacked my Technique to use Ten Shadows' Ritual Summoning in order to stave off death during our fight—that's still bullshit by the way, who the fuck does that? Have some respect for the rules of Jujutsu, seriously—but I wasn't sure if he'd actually transitioned entirely from Vengeful Spirit to Shikigami.
These kinds of things are important after all. 'Identity' goes a lot deeper than just names when magic and spiritualism is involved.
It could have been that Mahoraga retained his 'identity' as a Vengeful Spirit even as he adapted to my Technique's Ritual Summoning. In doing so, he could have made use of just the process of the Ritual, the part that allows him to be summoned and force me into a fight. Taking advantage of this is what brought him back to life, because he was a frozen corpse when I dropped him in my shadow.
However, if he had retained his 'identity' as a Vengeful Spirit, then after I killed him he would have just been exorcised as normal, because my Technique's Summoning Ritual only turns 'defeated Shikigami' into 'tamed Shikigami'. So it wouldn't recognise 'defeated Vengeful Spirit' as something to be touched.
It's like getting on a boat without buying a ticket. You can still reach your destination, but as you are not a 'passenger' but are instead a 'stowaway', you will not be free to get off the boat on arrival. Without the proper 'identity', there is no benefit to going through the process.
The reason I wasn't sure which way it went, is because when I tame my Shikigami the process has been basically instant every time, to the point that I've been able to make use of it during a fight.
Mahoraga is different, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
From what I can gather, I think the issue is that the 'information' that is 'Mahoraga', is simply too large. So instead of having him immediately become available to me, I've basically been 'digesting' him for who even knows how long.
And he feels heavy. Spiritually heavy. In a way that makes me incredibly aware of his presence. It's not an inconvenience or anything, I don't think so anyway. It'll just take some time to get used to.
One could say that I have to adapt to his presence. I'm so funny~.
Looking at him now though, it's clear to me that his Technique has reset. I'd expected it would, since it also reset when he went from 'Human' to 'Vengeful Spirit'.
But honestly that's such a minor detail I hardly care about it.
What is much more important to me, is his Soul.
Shikigami do not have Souls. They are not living beings. Shikigami are constructs of Cursed Energy that have been animated for whatever purpose.
It's easy for people to get confused, because a dog-like Shikigami will almost certainly act like one would expect a dog to. The distinction, is that the Shikigami is merely acting how its creator subconsciously expected it to, not out of its own will.
I had my suspicions before, but seeing Mahoraga right now, in this state that I am in?
It's so obvious to these eyes.
With my Domain still out, I need no incantation or hand sign for Generous Deer to manifest before me.
"I could never really be sure," I begin as I reflexively reach out to pet his head as he pushes against me. "But everything is so clear to me right now."
They aren't quite the same.
I have no idea how to describe it, the shape of a Soul.
I can't even see them perfectly, or at all really. This nebulous ability to sense the supernatural could hardly be called sight, but that's neither here nor there. This is more like the echo left behind in your eyes after staring at a bright light for too long.
The difference between the two, is that in Mahoraga I can still see the remnants of Masakado.
Make no mistake, that man is gone. The Soul that remains within Mahoraga contains only fractions of the man he once was, amplified and twisted and stretched into something entirely new and deeply powerful.
Generous Deer by contrast, is young. Vibrant and loving but... simple. Like a child that hasn't yet had the time to develop a proper personality.
But it is there, of that I no longer have any doubt.
Generous Deer has a Soul.
Some part of me feels like I should be more amazed by the fact that I have apparently created a Soul, but the larger part of me, still flying the high of potential from my Black Flash, is not.
After all, if two random idiots with the right mix of genitals can create a Soul even by accident, then why in Yomi would I be incapable of it?
I am the best, after all.
I can do anything.
My Domain disappears with a thought, and I drop down to sit on the freshly grown grass beneath me. My eyes turn to the distance, where the earth rises to pierce the sky, and focus in on a single tree.
Then, with ease, my hand falls into my shadow and emerges from the shadow of that tree.
Teleportation.
It's so simple now; who needs to focus on familiar beacons? Not me, that's who~.
I retract my hand and take a moment to actually look around.
"Good thing the area wasn't populated," I mutter to myself, only to immediately feel bad because there were undoubtably plenty of animals and stuff. Though, the thought of a boar getting launched into the stratosphere as the earth rose like one end of a seesaw is pretty funny.
Still...
"This world is amazing," I breathlessly whisper as I witness the scale of my own actions.
The freshly made bowl I am in the centre of must be nearing ten kilometres from end to end, and the tallest points around the edge are so high up that I am certain they will be above the clouds. The clear blue sky stops me from being certain about it yet though.
I'd have thought that the entire bowl would be a barren wasteland of broken rocks considering the punishment it went through, but that isn't the case at all. Instead, everything is green. Grass and trees and various shrubbery cover every inch, all the way to the highest peak.
I can only assume that my Domain put off enough Positive Energy to regrow everything. The only exception is a ring of obsidian black about a kilometre away from me that is maybe another half a kilometre wide.
That'd be from all the magma that was flying out of the earth.
So coooool~.
Laughing to myself, I fall backwards and lie on the grass.
A thought dispels my Shikigami and then my hands come together in prayer, only with my middle and ring fingers curled inwards.
"Extension Technique: Summon Household."
Around me, ten Shikigami manifest.
The strain that used to be there when manifesting too many of them at once simply does not exist anymore.
Around me, ten Shikigami collapse into ink.
Still held together, I twist my hands to be pointing down instead.
"Extension Technique Reversal: House of the Doppelgänger."
Around me, nine inverted Shikigami manifest.
A chuckle leaves me.
"I suppose you would be difficult, huh?"
I dismiss my Shikigami.
My arms drop to my sides, and I simply relax into the grass.
That's enough pushing my newfound limits for now.
Warm sunlight is kissing my skin, the fresh and vibrant scent of nature is filling my nose, and I just feel really good right now.
I want to enjoy this bliss for a little while longer. Anything else can come after.
And as I lie there, embraced by Amaterasu, I can't help but laugh.
I'm happy.
///
Kiyohara no Nagiko
///
It is with no small amount of urgency that Nagiko rushes through crowded streets, uncaring of the rain.
Only a small number of buildings survived the chaos, and of those that did, most have been repossessed by the various nobility. A temporary lodging has already been created for the Emperor, and more will surely follow for the rest of the important folk before proper reconstruction can begin.
But until that happens, the common folk will have to make due outside in the rain, under whatever covering they can manage.
Nagiko however, does not care about any of this.
Instead, her heart beats with emotion. Doubts and anxiety churning through her stomach like bile.
The middle of combat is no place for distracting thoughts and her entire body aches with that reminder from the countless scars now decorating her flesh. But now that the battle is over, her mind is awhirl with too many chaotic thoughts for even an ounce of clarity.
Until finally, her frantic pace slams to a halt.
Breathing heavily from both her rush and the battle prior, Nagiko stares with wide eyes at Ise no Tayū, her—only—best friend.
The green-haired woman is dressed loosely in only a single layer of kimono draped over her, while her hair flows freely down her back instead of the more familiar buns that Nagiko is used to seeing.
She is in conversation with an elderly man whom Nagiko recognises as Sakanoue no Korenori, a figure whom could be considered to have been distantly grandfatherly through both of their lives.
Nagiko barely pays him any more mind than it takes to recognise his presence.
The old man notices her first, being the one facing her direction, but Tayū quickly turns around to follow his gaze, and Nagiko feels the air leave her lungs when their eyes meet.
She is moving before even consciously recognising the choice, and not a moment later she is crashing into Tayū's welcoming arms.
It is one thing to be seen to shed tears, doing so only advertises one's depth of character. It is another thing entirely to embrace another so intimately in full view of others.
Nagiko doesn't care.
She just circles her arms around her friend and she squeezes, uncaring of propriety.
You are alive.
"Hello, Nagiko." Tayū's voice remains as level and plain as ever, no matter the situation. "Those rumours will return at this rate."
Nagiko huffs a laugh but obliges and pulls back, though she probably doesn't pull far enough away to really repel the re-emergence of said rumours.
Through her Eyes, Nagiko knows what Tayū is refraining from saying. Her concern over Nagiko's uncharacteristic expressiveness and what could be the cause of her distress.
That only leads Nagiko to glare at her friend.
"What happened to you?" She asks, though it comes out more as a demand. "Everything was happening too fast, all I knew was that you had died. I gambled on a chance that you might come back, and then you did but you were gone too fast for me to know if you were even still you."
"Now now," Sakanoue no Korenori steps in, gesturing genially with a grandfatherly smile in response to her harsh tone. "Tensions are high, but tone is—"
Nagiko glares at the fossil. "Shut the fuck up before I kill you."
He opens his mouth but pauses as he meets her eyes properly, and then he simply takes a step back and turns away. Smart man.
"Now you," Nagiko's eyes turn straight back to Tayū's. "What happened."
Tayū seems both fond and amused at the tone and tight grip on her shoulders. Nagiko is a little bit annoyed that her friend isn't acting appropriately to her own severity, a fact that is only amplified by the breezy tone in which she delivers her answer.
"I was killed."
Nagiko's grip tightens and her eyes narrow further. Her voice contrasts with Tayū's in its coldness. "By that Curse?"
"Volcano-head?" Tayū tilts her head one way, but remains unbothered. "Yes. It was rather scary; I almost cried."
"When did this happen?" Nagiko again demands. "How did it happen? Why? And how are you alive? Why did you emerge from that Curse?"
"I am not going to suffer after-effects or turn into a Curse or any such thing if that is your concern," Tayū responds, and Nagiko can do nothing in turn because she is already glaring as much as she can without becoming foolish. "I cannot be certain of the time, as I was dead, but from what I have gathered, it was a few days ago. Perhaps a week."
A week, and Nagiko had no clue. She hates that more intensely than she can describe.
"It was quite the event, my death. Much was learned; I feel as though I have taken a peek behind a curtain that should have remained closed. So if you wish to hear the story, then I would ask that you allow me to hide behind your shadow for a time, for you are quite the sturdy shield and I am rather averse to trying my luck a second time."
"Don't ask stupid questions," Nagiko immediately chides, full of scorn. "Your presence has never been a burden on my mind, and I shall slaughter anything wretched that enters my sight."
Tayū smiles at her, and Nagiko feels her glare melt away, to the point that she almost turns to look away.
"Very well then," Tayū nods, pleased with herself. "That Curse cornered me alongside a Yōkai, both were Special Grade. Apparently, the Yōkai is a servant of the Nurarihyon, whom the Curse had agreed to temporarily serve for whatever reason."
Nagiko's hackles raise at the mention of the Nurarihyon.
Daiyōkai.
There are few, but each is a true monster akin to Ōkami. Living Legends. To hear that one such being is making moves in this manner is not comforting.
"I was on the regular mission to subdue Sukuna-biko-na-no-kami-sama when they came. The Curse apparently wished to fight against a Domain Expansion for some reason, but settled for crushing me under a Maximum, which was certainly overkill."
Tayū ruefully shakes her head and makes an expression as if to say 'can you believe it?'
Nagiko does not share in her nonchalance.
"I am not sure what the Curse's goal was beyond testing itself, but it appears that the Nurarihyon was after Sukuna-biko-na-no-kami-sama. At least, his subordinate was. As it happens, she was rather successful in grasping Sukuna-biko-na-no-kami-sama's Death before I could exorcise it, and wasted no time merging the corpse with some Cursed Tool I could not identify. So in regards to my mission..."
Tayū lifts a hand up to between their faces, clenches her fist bar her thumb, which she points down in what Narauko calls a 'thumbs down'. Then, Tayū blows out a long raspberry as she drags her thumb down.
"Total failure on all fronts," Tayū concludes as if it is something to be proud of.
Nagiko regards her friend with squinted eyes. "You are starting to sound like Narauko."
Tayū sighs in resignation and responds in defeat. "Everyone is."
Nagiko huffs an amused breath at that, because it is true. It's nothing surprising; Narauko is both powerful and charismatic, so it is only natural that those around him would begin to adopt his mannerisms.
"Regardless, how are you alive?"
"Extension Technique: Earworm," Tayū answers with a slight smug smile. "The Curse killed me, yes. But my Katauta got stuck in its head, and then the Curse simply finished the rhyme for me and brought me back to life. I imagine the only reason it survived the action was because it had no physical body."
There are obviously more details, many that Nagiko can intuit with her Eyes, but that is hardly important to her.
"I did not know you could do that," Nagiko tersely replies.
"I was not sure of it myself," Tayū shrugs. "That is all I know on the matter. Your turn. You look awful, what happened to you?"
Nagiko regards her friend for a moment longer before relenting with a long sigh.
"Where to begin..."
///
Kamo no Yasunori
///
Yasunori is the first to step into the hell that has become of the Capital. He's sure there are many concerns to be had, and many things he is going to get yelled at for not doing, but honestly he doesn't care.
He isn't really someone who can be yelled at anyway, the number of people able to chastise him is vanishingly few.
So instead of caring about any of that, Yasunori makes his way to the sole source of life remaining within the Palace walls.
He comes to a stop a short few paces away from Sukuna, standing in the centre of an enormous crater of scorched earth.
Sukuna himself is standing solitary under the rain, his form silhouetted only by the faint sunlight filtering through the dark clouds above. He is so still, so at peace, that Yasunori almost hesitates to interrupt the moment.
Almost.
"Yoo! Sukuna-kun~!" He cheerily greets, only to freeze as Sukuna turns enough to meet his eyes and Yasunori's heart skips a beat.
He almost feels as if he blacks out for a brief moment. Primal instincts whiting out his mind entirely of thought as the certainty of death brushes against his Soul.
And then the moment passes as Sukuna seems to recognise him.
Yasunori can't help the way his smile grows.
You have truly become something incredible, Sukuna.
"How're you feeling?"
Sukuna regards him in silence for some time, and Yasunori idly wonders if this is where he will die. He can honestly say that he no longer has any confidence in predicting Sukuna. He has no idea what will set him off, what will cause him to kill. He doesn't know if speaking again will get him killed, or if he will die from staying silent.
It's scary. He really has no idea if Sukuna will kill him, or for what reason, if any.
He has never felt more proud of a student before.
"As if it would be a waste to kill you," Sukuna finally answers, and Yasunori smiles again at the words.
Sukuna does not hesitate. That is for other people. But were Sukuna anyone else, then what he would be feeling right now would be hesitance. Hesitance to kill him, and Yasunori is weirdly pleased by that.
Narauko's influence no doubt.
He is at least smart enough to not mention any of this.
"Now why would you be considering that in the first place?" Yasunori asks with a friendlily teasing tone.
Sukuna raises a brow. He gestures vaguely around them. "After this, could I be anything but a Curse User?"
"Hah!" Yasunori laughs in his face, causing Sukuna to frown minutely, but he can't help it! That's just such a funny and entirely unexpected thing to hear! He can't help but laugh! "You're actually serious~!"
Yasunori's head is removed from his shoulders.
Tendrils of blood explode out of his neck and into his decapitated head, connecting the two and then rapidly pulling his head back into place. A touch of Reverse Cursed Technique later and he is as good as new.
"That was uncalled for," he pouts, before quickly raising his hands in surrender.
Once he is somewhat confident he isn't going to be murdered again, Yasunori lets out an amused sigh before the sound of crashing water catches his attention. He turns to the side to see a flood of seawater rushing down the canyon that Sukuna carved through the earth, and another startled laugh leaves him.
Doing some quick arithmetic in his head, Yasunori realises that if Sukuna's slash had gone in both directions, he would have cut the Realm in half.
"You aren't a Curse User, Sukuna." They both watch the water crash in to fill the void in the earth as he speaks. "You are too powerful for that. What you have done today will certainly make you the enemy of all mankind, but it won't matter. After seeing this? No one will declare you a Curse User. No one will pursue you. Simply because they know that there is nothing they could possibly do to you but die. Congratulations though, you might have just become the most hated Human throughout our entire history."
Silence reigns between them for a while as they simply watch the crashing waves slowly fill the void.
"Kamo." Sukuna eventually broaches without looking away from the water, his voice perfectly even.
"Yes?"
"Do not ever refer to me as a Human again."
"Heh. Sure thing, Sukuna."
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
I don't normally do this, but fuck you, Ise no Tayū is back bitches!
Generally, I dislike when someone dies and then comes back to life in stories. It really takes out a whole lot of depth, because there should be consequences. I am still mad that I had to kill Shatterbird in my Tear it Down fic, but that was how the plot developed and so that is what happened.
The only reason I'm allowing a resurrection here is because the explanation I have for it is something that I think is reasonable in-universe, just look at Hakari. Like yeah, I was really upset when tayu died, but I want to make it very clear that that is not even slightly enough reason for me to resurrect someone.
I write by creating characters and then writing out what I feel is the rational progression of events, as judged by the various character's personalities, abilities, motivations and more. My own personal desires will influence which parts I write, but will never influence the contents of the plot. Author bias is something that I feel ruins a story.
But yeah, there's a lot of characters so there's a lot happening in the wake of all of this. I ain't gonna write it all tho, cuz doing every pov would be incredibly redundant.
Also, since this arc is coming to an end, I'm considering a brief hiatus, but idk since I gotta pay rent now lol. We'll see how I feel I guess, I just don't wanna burn out and also don't wanna starve :/