"Why are you yelling so dramatically?" Mirai mumbled, picking at his ear. "You're making it sound like I'm the villain here."
He curled his lip in mild annoyance, folding his small arms across his chest.
With genuine, morbid curiosity, Mirai watched as the muscle-bound "Divine Body" unhinged its jaw like a python and systematically swallowed the "Divine Eye," "Divine Ear," and "Divine Brain" whole.
Originally, Mirai had planned to wrap this up quickly. But now? He was genuinely intrigued. What kind of abomination were these four bootleg superheroes going to form?
As for his bet with his stupid otouto? Whatever. Giving Satoru the win this one time wouldn't hurt. After all, shouldn't an older brother pamper his little sibling every now and then?
Sitting comfortably on Jedora's plush back, with Mahoraga standing dutifully at his side, Mirai reached into the four-dimensional void of his shadow, pulled out a bag of tomato-flavored potato chips, and began munching.
Down in the alley.
Under the forced amalgamation of Ogami's "Séance Technique," the four-in-one entity violently deformed. Its flesh bubbled and surged like a horrific slime monster.
After a few agonizing seconds, its form finally stabilized into an alien, curse-like humanoid.
Its entire body was smooth and ash-gray. It was completely bald, entirely naked, possessed a long, thick tail, and its reproductive organs were recessed smoothly into its abdomen. Dark purple bioluminescent spots patterned its shoulders, head, forearms, calves, and stomach.
And, thanks to the hyper-precise measurements of the Six Eyes, Mirai knew its exact height: 1.68 meters (5'6").
"What the fuck—cough, cough, cough!"
Mirai was so violently startled by the "Superman" standing before him that he inhaled a potato chip and nearly choked to death.
He stared in absolute disbelief. "Frieza?!"
"Kehehehehe!"
"Are you scared, you arrogant little brat?!" Ogami shrieked, intoxicated by the overwhelming cursed energy radiating from her creation. "You're going to regret letting them fuse! Go, my grandson! Rip that kid's head off!"
Boom!
The lean, unimposing body of the bootleg Frieza exploded forward, instantly breaking the sound barrier! Its speed was completely disproportionate to its size!
"Mahoraga!" Mirai barked.
Boom!
The Divine General intercepted with equal, hypersonic velocity. The two titans collided in a shockwave of passionate, hyper-violent hand-to-hand combat!
In an instant, the alleyway was pulverized. Buildings collapsed! Hurricane-force winds whipped through the street! Dust and debris blotted out the sky. The sheer scale of the brawl was apocalyptic.
"Oho~ Its strength, speed, and durability have all skyrocketed. It can actually keep up with Mr. Mahoraga's baseline rhythm," Mirai muttered, chewing a chip thoughtfully. "Subarashii. But... why isn't it using its thermal vision?"
"Given its newly boosted cursed energy output, those lasers should be strong enough to cause visible damage to Mahoraga now..."
Mirai trailed off. Suddenly, the blue glow of his Six Eyes flared. His pupils shrank to pinpricks.
Fwzzt!
Two blindingly hot, blazing red lasers—each as thick as a tree trunk—shot out of the dust cloud, entirely bypassing Mahoraga and aiming directly for Mirai's head!
"Got you!"
A hideous, triumphant grin split Ogami's wrinkled face.
Of course she knew Mahoraga possessed a perverted, absolute defense capable of adapting to any phenomena. But her target was never Mahoraga to begin with!
The Ten Shadows Technique, no matter how legendary, was ultimately just a Shikigami-summoning technique. And all summoning techniques shared one glaring, fatal weakness: The Summoner.
It didn't matter if the Shikigami was a god of destruction. The sorcerer pulling the strings was still made of mortal flesh and blood!
"Let's see how your precious Shikigami blocks an attack at the speed of light, you little brat! Kehehehehe!"
"It's really bad luck to pop the champagne before the game is over, Hag."
Mirai's teasing, utterly unbothered voice pierced straight through the superheated steam and rang directly in Ogami's ears.
"Wh—How?!" Ogami gasped. "That attack could vaporize a Special Grade cursed spirit in a single hit!"
Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Hovering effortlessly in the air beside the young boy was a magnificent, perfectly circular mirror of blazing, ethereal gold. The hyper-lethal laser beam—capable of instantly melting steel and vaporizing curses—had struck the surface of the mirror and vanished without leaving a single scorch mark.
The absolute defense of the jujutsu world: The Yata Mirror.
"That was incredibly rude," Mirai sighed, looking genuinely disappointed. "I was showing good sportsmanship by not attacking the fragile summoner in the backline, and you repay me with a cheap shot?" He raised an eyebrow.
Jedora understood his intent instantly.
With an eerie, ghostly speed that bordered on teleportation, she materialized directly in front of Ogami, whipping her velvet tails around the old woman and hoisting her upside down into the air.
The entire maneuver took less than a second.
This is the true rhythm of battle, Mirai thought.
Looking down at the inverted, terrified hag, Mirai spoke with aristocratic disdain. "Order your good grandson to shoot my Shikigami with his lasers."
"What?!" Ogami stammered, wondering if her hearing was failing her. For a moment, she was so stunned she forgot to struggle.
The fluffy tails constricting her torso suddenly tightened with bone-crushing force!
"I said," Mirai's voice dropped an octave, devoid of all emotion, "tell your discount Frieza to shoot Mahoraga with his lasers. Do not make me repeat myself."
"Agh! I'll do it! I'll do it!"
When you are the fish on the chopping block, you don't argue with the butcher's knife. Under the terrifying threat of being slowly squeezed to death, Ogami shrieked the command!
Down in the crater, Mahoraga—who was currently holding the "Superman" by its tail and slamming it repeatedly into the asphalt like Hulk thrashing Loki—paused and released its grip.
Regaining its freedom, the bruised and battered "Superman" looked at Mahoraga with genuine fear in its eyes.
Following its master's frantic orders, the entity fired its thermal vision point-blank!
Mahoraga didn't dodge. It didn't block. It simply puffed out its massive chest muscles, took the dual lasers directly to the sternum, and smiled.
"Hmm. The power is decent. Enough to pierce Mr. Mahoraga's baseline durability," Mirai nodded in satisfaction. "Whether used for a flashy execution or a sneak attack, it's a very practical move. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Jedora?"
[Mm.]
The sweet, telepathic response echoed in his mind. Mirai reached out, gently stroking Jedora's fox-like ears with a deeply satisfied grin.
Hearing this casual exchange, a horrifying realization dawned on Ogami.
The majestic Shikigami carrying the boy hadn't attacked once. Mahoraga possessed the ability to adapt to all phenomena. And the mirror...
Masaka?! (Don't tell me?!)
Suddenly, an ethereal chime rang across the battlefield.
Ding.
The Dharmachakra hovering behind Mahoraga's head slowly rotated one click.
A single adaptation. The thermal lasers that the "Superman" was so immensely proud of instantly ceased to inflict any damage. The principle behind the attack was simple, hyper-concentrated heat. It didn't even require a second spin.
At that exact same moment, a barely visible spark of golden-red light flashed within the depths of Jedora's eyes, hidden beneath her elegant bangs.
Mirai didn't even need to verbally confirm it. Sharing a direct sensory link with his ultimate Shikigami, he felt the data upload.
The corners of his mouth stretched into an unbridled, wildly arrogant grin.
This battle hadn't just been a test of Mahoraga's adaptation speed. More importantly, it was the ultimate field test of Jedora's replication ability!
And the results... were extremely gratifying!
Mirai couldn't hold it in. He slapped a hand over his face and began to laugh.
"Hahaha!" "Ahahahaha!" "WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Like a child who had just unboxed the ultimate toy on Christmas morning, Mirai waved his hand and shouted with feverish excitement.
"Jedora! Show them what a real optic blast looks like!"
Jedora's elegant bangs danced in the wind.
After a brief, terrifying accumulation of cursed energy, the red-gold light pooling in her eyes violently erupted! Two massive, hyper-dense pillars of thermal energy shot forward!
The sheer power of the blast pierced the clouds, ripped through the sky, and shattered the atmosphere!
And Granny Ogami...? What Granny Ogami?
"WOOHOO! I LOVE JUJUTSU!" Mirai cheered.
Ten kilometers away from Mirai's location.
A woman with a ring of jagged stitches across her forehead stood on a rooftop, one hand resting lazily on her hip.
She stared up at the terrifying, red-gold laser currently tearing the sky apart.
Excitement. Shock. Fear. Avarice. Pure, unadulterated lust. All of these emotions warred for dominance across her features at the exact same time.
"Well, this is certainly... an unexpected variable," the stitched woman murmured. "An anomaly even more troublesome than the Six Eyes... Yet, ironically, it seems the realization of my ultimate plan just became infinitely easier!"
She hugged herself, her breath hitching in manic excitement.
"Just you wait, my perfect Adam. When I ascend to the throne of heaven, I will make you my most devoted slave!"
"Only you... only a specimen with your divine, impossible talent is worthy of breeding the new human race with me! Together, we will share the new world!"
"Join the glorious evolution!" "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The woman was so overwhelmed with excitement she cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands, her expression twisting into a mask of wanton, unrestrained madness.
Her words were razor-sharp, dripping with megalomaniacal dominance.
To her, Gojo Satoru—the worshipped, untouchable Six Eyes Divine Child—and Zenin Mirai—the unmatched, terrifying apex of the new era—were nothing more than pawns on her chessboard. They were playthings to be manipulated, and eventually, prized breeding stock destined to kneel beneath her skirt.
A/N: For this week, every 100 Powerstones will get ya'll an extra chapter! Thank you!