18 And Into the Fi- is that a Squirrel?

Catching Takiyasha's sword, my brows furrow as I turn to her.

"You better give it back when you're done!" I hear her yell, and feel a grateful smile grow on my face at her consideration.

Then, as Nue starts to fly away, I immediately turn to Sukuna and wave the sword tauntingly in front of his face.

"Heh heh, I got a Cursed Tool before you~," I mock before putting on a fake commiserating smile, "Don't worry, I'm sure- OW MY FUCKING ARM!"

I barely manage to catch my dismembered arm with my non-dismembered arm before it falls off of Nue. With my newly regenerated arm, I grab the sword again, while my other hand throws my dismembered arm up in front of Nue, letting the Shikigami eat it.

Shikigami aren't really alive, so I don't have to worry about it developing a taste for human meat or anything like that, it's just a convenient waste disposal.

I don't want to just litter the countryside with bits of me that Sukuna cut off. That would be weird.

"Seriously, what is it with you and cutting my arms off," I mutter, more to myself than out of any expectation for an answer.

Turning Takiyasha's sword over in my hands, I hold it in front of myself and pull it out of the sheathe. Immediately, I can tell that it's an impressive Cursed Tool, one imbued with a Cursed Technique, which I'm pretty sure makes it a Special Grade Cursed Tool.

I kind of want to keep it. Takiyasha would probably be pretty mad though...

I'll think about it.

The sword itself is deceptively simple. It really just looks like a normal Tachi, the sword that apparently predates the Katana and is about a hand's width longer. It is perfectly standard, if with a slightly embellished tsuba, that has a swallowtail butterfly engraved on it, the symbol of the Taira clan.

"Doesn't look like much," Sukuna comments, making me glance at him briefly before turning my attention back to the sword.

We both know that there is more to it than its simple appearance.

Knowing that, I call forth some of my Cursed Energy and channel it into the sword. In no time at all, the sword begins to change. From my palm outwards, first the Tsuka, the handle, ripples and shifts into smooth, near pitch black wood.

Then the guard and the pommel, Tsuba and Kashira, both twist and shift until they look more like gnarled, ancient wood on either end of a sturdy black painted stick than any part of a sword.

The guard barely even functions as a guard anymore, being only marginally thicker than the handle and the blade, with three 'roots' stretching out and seemingly holding the blade in place.

Then, from the guard like a wave, the blade of the sword starts to turn black, so dark that it reminds me of the void after death. But before the blade can turn completely black, a red energy that I struggle to keep track of properly starts to pour out out the guard.

Not enough to fill the blade with red light, but enough to stain it, like a few red koi swimming below, leaving a trail of swirls and eddies in their wakes.

By the time the strange red energy reaches the tip of the blade, I feel a faint... Something surrounding the darkened metal. Whatever it is, it makes the sword difficult to even look at. It's all fuzzy, like I'm looking through heat waves or an out of focus camera.

Even that sixth sense for Cursed Energy that I have as a Sorcerer is of no help. When I try to peer at it, it feels almost as if my perception itself is getting torn apart, which really shouldn't be possible, because that just doesn't make any sense at all.

Without any real kind of guard, the sword really seems like it has forsaken any kind of defence in favour of being a tool existing purely for the sake of violence.

"Hey, Sukuna," I say without taking my eyes off the blade, getting something between a hum and a grunt from him in response. "What in Yomi am I looking at right now?"

"Disruption?" He theorises, referencing how distorted the blade is, as if the world itself is struggling to recognise it.

"Feels more like Destruction," I return, getting an acknowledging hum back.

Ultimately, it's hard to tell just from observation alone.

...Heh.

A moment passes in calm silence before I let an evil smirk grow on my face, right as I abruptly twist and swing the sword at Sukuna's centre mass.

Sadly for the sake my experimentation, Sukuna dodges by leaning backwards at the last second and plants his hands on Nue before twisting and kicking me off my own bird.

A number of my ribs break from the contact, but at this point Positive Energy almost comes as naturally to me as Negative Energy does, so I hardly even have to think about it to heal.

It honestly helps that I keep having to regenerate my arms. Lots of practice that way.

As I'm falling from the sky, I make sure to dismiss Nue before the asshole can kill it, and then I just allow myself to fall. I make sure to keep an eye on Sukuna's form as I do so, enjoying the feeling of freedom that comes with being completely unbound and untethered.

Turning my attention to the sword in my right hand and the sheathe in my left, without taking Sukuna out of my peripheral vision, I mentally debate for a moment before just shrugging and sheathing it for now.

Wouldn't want to accidentally drop it or something.

"Sukuna!" I yell up at him, the sound of rushing wind almost drowning out my words. "How are we gonna know what it does if you dodge!"

"Cut yourself then!" He yells back at me.

"Are you crazy!? I'll die!" I blatantly lie, and not a moment later I hit the treeline and feel dozens of branches snap and shatter against my back.

However, I don't make any attempt to slow myself down, yet, instead of splattering against the earth, I just keep falling. Right before I hit the ground, I simply pulsed my Cursed Energy and fall into my shadow. My technique is awesome like that.

It's a strange sensation, being inside of my shadow. It's tough to describe. If I had to try, I'd say it's like being underwater, you can't even breathe down here and your every move feels heavier, with no leverage to base your movements off.

Naturally, it's a lot easier to move around for me, since I can control my own shadow with the same ease I control my body, but still, it's not as easy as moving around normally. I still can't breathe, and I have to actively make footholds of condensed shadows to stand on.

It would also probably be impossible to see for anyone else, but a nice side-benefit of my technique is that I can see perfectly fine in the dark.

But even if my shadow is a 'pool', it is still more like a flooded warehouse, or even bigger really. In the near distance, I can see all of my stuff. Most of it is just a bunch of rocks to weigh me down.

However, even further away than that, there is a sort of barrier, or perhaps a membrane is more accurate, that surrounds my shadow, containing it.

Like space, direction is difficult to define here, but 'up' is easy to find, because it is the only source of light, pointing back to the material world.

Yet, the most interesting thing for me is in the exact opposite direction. Because down below is what I have tentatively named the Shadow Dimension.

I don't really know what it's like in there, because there is some kind of barrier blocking it off and I haven't figured out how to pass it yet.

If I were to describe the difference between a normal shadow and the Shadow Dimension, it would be that shadows are more like reflections. Hmm, that doesn't really explain it right.

Picture the earth as a flat plane, that is where we walk around and live. Then, below the earth, is another flat plane, this is the Shadow Dimension. 

Wait, is this just Yomi? I don't know, probably not though. Feels different.

Anyway. The connection that I have noticed, is that every single shadow acts like a pillar holding the Shadow Dimension and the Material World apart.

It's actually how my Black Butterfly technique works. It travels down through the shadow of whoever is sending the message and into the Shadow Dimension, from which it searches for the appropriate soul and then travels up through their shadow and back into the world.

It's kind of annoying that I could design a technique to go through the Shadow Dimension even when I can't enter it myself, but it also kind of makes sense, since I have significantly more Cursed Energy than a single Shikigami messenger.

I also really really want to explore it, but I haven't had any luck on that front, which is incredibly upsetting.

One day.

As I have been thinking, my body hasn't stopped falling. Careful manipulation of my shadows has prevented me from even losing any momentum, meaning that I'm still falling at terminal velocity.

One of my eyes closes shut, and at the same time, another opens. Back in the Material World, my Divine Dog peers out from the shadow of a tree, its eye locked onto Sukuna's still falling form.

I wait just a little longer, watching him get closer and closer to the earth, until he too, is just about to hit the treeline. That's when I bring the sheathed sword to my side, holding it in place with my left while resting my right on the hilt.

Iaido is a term that doesn't exist yet, but the art of the quickdraw has been about long before then. It's called Battōjutsu now, according to Yoshiie, who taught me about it.

He's the Heir to the Minamoto clan, so he's been taught a whole bunch of stuff. Really a wellspring of knowledge, doubly so when it comes to traditional stuff and politics, though I mostly ignored the latter.

Either way, I turn away from the light of the Material World and start a nose dive down, my hand ready to draw Takiyasha's sword. Through my Shikigami's eye, I wait until the first leaf touches Sukuna's kimono, and then I twist my shadow until up is down and down is up.

In less than a second, the abyss of the Shadow Dimension disappears from my sight and the light of Earth replaces it, yet I do not slow down, only falling 'up' instead of 'down'.

There's a faint sense of vertigo as my centre of gravity is violently yanked around, but it only lasts a brief moment and is easy enough to ignore.

Instead of thinking about that, I just focus on the sword in my hand and the sight of Sukuna above me, and then there is no more time to think as I burst out of my shadow with my sword already in the motion of being drawn.

I feel my ears pop at the sudden shift in air pressure, and the light of the sun against my skin feels extra crisp as Sukuna and I crash towards each other, both of us smiling like idiots.

Unfortunately for me, I forgot one key fact about my relationship with Sukuna. Almost every single time that we've fought without Cursed Techniques, he has kicked my ass. Repeatedly. If I'm not holding back at all, I'm both faster and stronger than him physically, but his instincts and sheer skill in close quarters combat just outshine me too much.

That is to say, despite the surprise attack, despite both of us moving incredibly fast in each other's direction, and despite the fact that he was literally falling from the sky, he still manages to dodge.

Only by the barest of margins, but Sukuna's instincts are too sharp and right before the sword could cut into him, he makes a platform of condensed Cursed Energy that he then kicks to propel himself over the sword and behind me.

But worse than just that, he even grabs me by the forearm, uses it as a pivot to twist until his feet go from pointing at the sky to crashing into my back, sending me flying into and then through a number of trees, sans one arm and one sword.

Left lying in a pile of splinters on the corpse of a now dead tree, I allow myself a moment to just stare at the sky and wallow in pain.

"Sukunaaaaa," I whine once I hear him walking closer, and I wait until he is close enough before leaning my head up enough to glare at him. "Why are you so mean to me?"

"Am I to just allow you to cut me?" He asks in turn, a mocking smirk on his face that I repay by lifting my stump of an arm and pumping it full of Positive Energy until it regenerates with my fore and middle finger already crossed.

Turns out, you can't really flip the bird in Japan. I know that the expression was derogatory back in ancient Greece, but apparently it never spread to Japan until the modern era of my last life. Which means I can't flip anyone off, sadly.

Luckily, there are two alternatives. One is to clench your fist and stick the tip of your thumb through the middle and forefinger. Apparently it's a hand sign meant to represent the vagina, and I guess anything related to women is supposed to be insulting.

Then there's the option I prefer, which is crossing your fingers. In Western nations it's a sign of good luck, but here it is a sign of cleansing the impure. So making the gesture at someone is basically like saying they're dirty.

In other words, I'm being derogatory.

Which I why I have to quickly roll away to avoid being cut in half.

Sometimes I feel like I lost my common sense at some point, because even with Sukuna acting like Sukuna, I'm not even remotely upset. Instead, I just roll to my feet with a slight laugh and turn to Sukuna with a smile, quickly raising my arms in surrender when he points the sword at me.

"Relax~, we should really test it on some wood or an animal or something. It would be really reckless to use it on a friend, don't you think?"

Sukuna huffs, but does actually lower the blade, which surprises me somewhat.

"It felt strange," he says. "When I projected my technique off of the blade, I barely managed to keep it's cohesion, and the energy expenditure was incredibly inefficient."

"Oh~? So the sword isn't capable of discerning between friend and foe then? Or do you think it's exclusively tied to Takiyasha-san?"

"Who?" Sukuna abruptly asks, looking at me with furrowed brows.

My own expression falls flat as I stare at him with much disappointment. "Taira no Takiyasha. Our classmate. The owner of that sword?"

"Oh, so that's her name."

"You really forgot?"

"I don't make a habit of remembering the names of weak trash."

"Well whatever," I say, not feeling like reopening this argument. "Gimme the sword back, I'll cut myself."

He doesn't bother asking for a Binding Vow or anything, because we both know I'm a terrible liar, and he is more curious about the nature of the sword than he is worried that I'll attack him with it again.

So he tosses it back at me, blade first and like a javelin aimed at my heart, because he is still an asshole like that.

The sword feels really dangerous though, so I don't catch it with my chest, just in case it can kill me faster than I can heal. Instead I simply lean to the side and catch the hilt before it can pass me.

The minor attempt on my life is so expected at this point that I don't even think to complain about it this time. I just catch the sword, hold it out in front of me and clench my free hand into a fist except for my pinkie finger.

Then, for the first test, I simply slowly push my pinkie finger into the flat of the blade. Immediately, I feel like I'm poking a burning stove and I watch in abject fascination as my finger just disappears as I push further into the flat of the sword until I hit the first knuckle.

When I then pull away, I am greeted by the sight of one third of my pinkie completely missing, a small amount of blood leaking down the stump.

Observation number one, the cut doesn't cauterise, so despite the feeling being similar to burning, it is not the same. Observation number two, the cut is incredibly clean, so the effect is not rough at all. Observation number three, holy shit that was just with the flat of the blade, how sharp is the actual edge?!

"Hey Sukuna, cut off my finger," I say while holding the same hand out, clenched into a fist except for my ring finger.

Then my hand falls off at the wrist, and even as I catch it, I can only give Sukuna the stink eye. "I said my finger."

"It is off, is it not?" He says, looking down his nose at me.

Shaking my head, I toss the sword at him so that I can hold my hand in my hand, and I bring my severed pinkie up and hold it next to my severed wrist.

"Come look at this," I say, gesturing to the two bleeding stumps, and Sukuna dutifully steps closer to peer at the two wounds.

A moment of observation passes before Sukuna frowns slightly, an expression that grows when he looks up at my own mocking smile.

The difference between wounds is barely noticeable at all. Sukuna's technique cuts at a molecular level, or maybe even finer, I can't say for sure without a microscope. But at the end of the day, it is a slash, which means that the cut has a faint groove in the direction of the slash, unlike the wound from the sword which left no groove at all, just a perfectly clean bisection.

"The sword left a cleaner wound," I say, looking down my nose at him. "Did you really get outdone by an inanimate object~?"

Sukuna's hand flashes forward, but before he can get his attack off, Divine Dog bursts out of the shadows and into his side, biting down on his wrist and smacking him through the forest with its paw.

"Ha!" I laugh as I pull the sword out of his dismembered hand. "How does it feel!"

Sadly, my elation is cut short when I feel a Black Butterfly emerge from my shadow, distracting me. Pouting, I reach a hand forward for the butterfly to land on, only for the sudden impact of a pair of feet against the side of my head to send me crashing through the forest for a second time.

What an asshole, I think to myself as I climb out of the second pile of rubble in as many minutes, completely ignoring the fact that I was the one that started this this time.

Brushing myself off, I walk back to Sukuna, who is holding the sword again, and other than huffing in his direction, I ignore him in favour of the butterfly. This time I'm not interrupted when I hold my hand out, and the butterfly lands on my forefinger, causing the message within to be transferred into my mind.

You two ran off before I could even tell you where to find Michizane~, Kamo-Sensei's voice fills my head, his tone teasing, and my lips twist a little in embarrassment. You need to head to Chikuzen Province, in Kyūshū. I trust that you can find your own way with that. Try not to get distracted~.

"What is it?" Sukuna asks, in that way he asks questions that comes out more like a demand than anything else.

"It's just Kamo-Sensei, don't worry about it~," I say, not wanting to admit that I didn't know where I was taking us with Nue. "He was just reminding us not to get distracted is all~."

I wasn't lying, but he can clearly still tell that I'm not saying everything either, but he doesn't comment on it.

"Anyway, we best be going." I match my words with action by making the shadowgraphic of a bird to summon forth Nue once more. "Wouldn't want our prey to run away or something."

Sukuna huffs and tosses the sword back at me, normally this time, and hops onto Nue's back. However, when I move to join him, I abruptly freeze as I realise something...

"Where did the sheathe go?" I mutter, staring accusingly at the sword in my hand. "Divine Dog, find it."

As my Shikigami plays fetch, I hop up onto Nue's back and decide to use the time before it returns wisely. By which I mean figuring out where I need to go.

A fun fact about Jujutsu is that I actually wasn't really too wrong when I first called it magic. There are actually spells, a whole bunch of them. The only thing is that they are basically all incredibly weak in terms of combat potential.

Innate Techniques outshine spells many times over. They're more like cantrips than anything really. Still, cantrips are useful too. Such as a spell to point you in the right direction.

Jujutsu Sorcerers are really too obsessed with fighting. I kind of get it, since their whole job is killing Curses, but still. Apparently there are five 'Principle Clans' that focus more on communing with the Gods and miscellaneous stuff, like divination and calendar keeping and such.

Kamo-Sensei called them a lot of not very nice things, so I don't think he has a very high opinion of them. I want to visit one of the clans though, because I feel like I'll be able to learn more theory stuff, even if I won't be able to learn anything that will make me stronger.

Shaking away my thoughts, I bring my free hand forward, coated with Cursed Energy, and I quickly draw a set of symbols in the air. The first layer is designed to mark the spell as something that effects myself.

Then, the second layer of symbols are drawn, all referencing the stars and asking for guidance. I briefly glance up, but it's still evening, so the stars aren't out yet, which sadly means I can't use them for reference like an open book exam.

Finally, the last layer is the 'offering' part. If I was a non-Sorcerer, I'd have to make an actual offering of grain or livestock or blood or something, but I'm not, so I can just fill this part with Cursed Energy.

According to Kamo-Sensei, the offering part only needs to be dedicated to the stars, but I tend to modify my spells to honour all the kami involved, not just the stars. From the wind to Amaterasu herself, since it is daytime right now, so she can undoubtably see where I'm trying to go.

Doing so makes the spell cost more energy for basically no gain at all, but I have energy to spare, and I love the kami of my home, so I do my best to give them all the respect they deserve.

...Forest kami might be a bit mad at me though, since I keep getting kicked through trees and stuff by Sukuna, but I've made sure to plant a bunch of trees too. I don't know if that makes up for it, but hey, no harm in trying. Probably.

Whatever the case may be, the spell is finalised just in time for my Shikigami to return with the sheathe in its mouth, and I activate the spell with a single word, skipping the lengthy incantation because I know Sukuna will attack me for wasting his time if I don't.

"Chikuzen," I intone, and the array of script I wrote into the air bursts alight. A moment later, the light transforms into a faint line that only I can see, shooting off into the distance, over the horizon.

A mental command has Nue take off while I dismiss Divine Dog and sheathe Takiyasha's sword. I'm not sure if it's a placebo or I'm reading into things too much, but it almost feels like the wind is gently pushing us forward as we fly.

If it was a few months ago, I would have written it off for sure as some hallucination, but now the feeling just makes me smile.

"So!" I exclaim after a while, turning to sit down next to Sukuna with Takiyasha's sword on my lap. "Do you think it's Destruction or Disruption?"

Sukuna tilts his head side to side for a bit before answering. "Destruction," he answers. "It felt more like it was tearing at my technique than trying to unravel it."

That's about what I figured from the sensation I got when my finger touched it.

"I wonder what its limit is, if it even has one," I ponder to myself before shaking away my curiosity and turning my attention back to Sukuna. "By the way, Michizane is definitely going to know Domain Expansion. Did Kamo-Sensei show you Hollow Wicker Basket?"

He scoffs and scowls off into the distance. "Only after I figured out my own Domain."

"Sounds about right. You might just be better off using your Domain though, since you actually kind of need your hands to fight, unlike me."

Domains are powerful because of the sure-hit effect that forces everyone inside the domain to play along with its rules, and Hollow Wicker Basket is an Anti-Domain technique that disables the sure-hit effect of Domains, making it very useful to know.

However, one must keep both of their hands locked together in the appropriate hand sign in order to keep the technique running, which is pretty inconvenient when you need your hands to fight. It's not a problem for me though, because I am a Shikigami user.

"Are you not planning to use your own Domain then?" Sukuna asks, though I feel like it's more just to make conversation than out of any real interest. Then his tone turns mocking as he continues, "Or is it that you cannot?"

"Of course I figured out my Domain," I scoff at him. I witnessed the same stuff he did to figure out his own. It's not like it was really all that difficult. "I probably won't use it though. I feel like something's missing from it, but I can't figure out what."

It's kind of annoying. I feel like I could use Domain Expansion right now, but the thought of doing so rankles me in a way I can't properly explain. It's like how you could put on a sock filled with slime, but would you really want to?

It's a weird example, but that's how I feel about it. Like my Domain is full of slime. Metaphorical slime.

"Oh, speaking of Domains," I say, snapping my fingers and feeling like I just had a eureka moment. "I actually just remembered something I wanted to talk to you about. I got this feeling a few days ago that a Domain isn't actually the highest peak of Sorcery."

Sukuna raises a brow at that, and I can understand his incredulity.

"I can't really explain it properly," I start. "But I was messing around with my technique, when I felt like there was some extra expression that I was missing. I don't know, it just feels like there's some... Final form, or hidden technique. Like the technique's soul or something, some kind of... Black box hidden away inside the techniques engraved in our brains. However, I feel like to access it, you need to master everything your technique has to offer, which really screws me over, because my technique has a whole lot of stuff. You just cut though, so I figured that out of the two of us, you'd have a better chance figuring out what it was I felt."

Sukuna actually looks a little bit surprised by the time I'm done talking, and I find myself surprised when he starts chuckling lightly.

"I have already felt something similar," he says, making me smile ruefully, because of course he has. ""The Soul of my technique" huh?," he mutters, looking contemplative.

I decide to leave him to his thoughts, recognising when he is focusing on something in his mind and not wanting to disturb, because I'm actually a nice friend.

Like I said, I'm not really sure what this feeling that I, or apparently both of us, have felt is, but I know I'll figure it out eventually. Probably way after Sukuna though, because seriously, my Ten Shadows is way too versatile, I love it so much.

I should probably be more concerned about the fight we are heading towards, but honestly I just can't bring myself to be. Even if I was alone I would be confident, but with Sukuna by my side?

I really just can't picture us losing, no matter what scenario I come up with.

We're The Strongest, after all.

///

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Next chapter for sure will have the fight lol

Also, while I remember. Mahoraga will eventually be a part of the fic, so I have a very important question regarding this.

Mahoraga's Adaptation Technique. Should it;

A) Be permanent Adaptations

B) Be temporary Adaptations

C) Be up to 8 permanent Adaptations (With this, it can toss away one adaptation, such as fire, for something else like lightning if needed.)

I am undecided on which to go with, but it is a very important decision, cuz it will naturally have a very big impact on the future, so please pick your preference.

(Edit: Patreon members were split between A and C and so I've already pretty much decided on C, but still feel free to share your thoughts.)