The Inumaki Clan Prodigy [Jujutsu Kaisen]

Isamu cleaved through shikigami after shikigami, their razor sharp teeth never finding purchase in his flesh for the most part. Every so often the cursed spirit itself would come in to throw an attack or two.

They were well timed in Isamu's opinion. Every time Isamu was forced to choose, was it better to be hit with a stray shikigami or the fist of the curse? Isamu picked the former nearly every time.

As a result, small bite marks covered his arms, legs, and even torso. His uniform was nearly reduced to ribbons at that point, the constant assault wearing it down. But at least he wasn't the only one being injured.

Every time the curse bothered to fight on the front lines, Isamu made sure to do something. A cut on its arm, a throwing knife slipped between its ribs, a punch to the eye, something like that.

But something had to change for Isamu knew, for a fact, that he'd lose a battle of attrition. Every minor injury on the curse was healed in the next instant, a negligible amount of cursed energy spent on the action.

But every injury on Isamu, no matter how small, would stick and eventually start hindering his effectiveness in battle. But luckily, he still had a good tool to even the odds.

"Plummet!" Isamu shouted, activating his innate cursed technique for the first time in a while. The curse stopped in its tracks right as it began closing in on Isamu once more slamming down like the weight of gravity was multiplied a thousand times on it alone.

Isamu made sure to not affect any of the shikigami. For the wider the area a technique was spread over, the weaker it would be. A massive dust cloud formed only ten feet away from Isamu as a large chunk of earth was carved out by the descending curse.

A moment passed as Isamu stood there, looking into the darkness of the pit. His left hand reached up to remove the tatters his jacket was reduced to, leaving him in only his t-shirt.

It was not long before the sound of rushing water filled Isamu's ears. He back stepped as a large pillar of water exploded into the night sky as the curse, too, escaped above. The curse levitated in mid air, far above the Inumaki clan, its bloody and battered body slowly stitching its wounds back together as it spoke.

"It seems the monk was right about you. Very well. Domain-" Isamu rushed forward, sensing the build up of cursed energy before the curse even started chanting.

"Don't move!" Isamu said, desperate to buy time. Isamu gathered cursed energy into a single foot and exploded it outward, launching himself into the air in an uncontrollable dash.

Isamu held his sword in a reverse grip as he neared the curse, arm raised to stab into its head and hopefully kill it before it could expand its innate domain. It was just then that the curse broke free of Isamu's command.

A wave of shikigami swarmed him as he shifted his grip and gathered an immense amount of cursed energy into his blade. He swung it in a basic vertical swing as he released the pure cursed energy.

It exploded out, vaporizing the weak shikigami in the process. But Isamu wasn't cheered up by what many would consider a good move. For he knew it was not the curses intention to do damage with the swarm of shikigami. But to buy time.

"Do-" before Isamu could buy anymore time using his technique, the cursed spirit adapted. Right as Isamu opened his mouth to speak, a small jet of water shot into it, chocking Isamu and buying the curse all the time it needed.

"Domain Expansion: Horizon of The Captivating Skandha!"

——

Hanami ducked the old warriors head kick as the leader slid in, kicking out at her shin. It connect but did no meaningful damage. Hanami straightened with a cross jab towards the muscular one, choosing to ignore the leader.

Which was a mistake, it seemed. The leader hadn't backed off like Hanami expected him to. Instead, he wrapped his legs around Hanami's leg and trapped it. When the muscular man back stepped out of range and Hanami tried to follow, this became clear.

Hanami was put slightly off balance. Nothing an ordinary fighter would even call an opening. But the many opponents surrounding Hanami were far from ordinary.

Hanami's head was struck from the back, forcing her to lean forward, putting her off balance even more. Hanami was forced to bring her left leg forward to support her own weight as her attacker came into view.

The one who'd attacked her from behind, whose momentum carried them forward in front of Hanami, was, to Hanami's surprise, the woman. The one who'd stayed in the back line until now.

Was it a strategy to make Hanami believe she was weak without her technique and thus dismiss her as a threat while domain amplification was on? Or perhaps she actually was weak and this attack was to make Hanami look upon her as a threat and someone to keep track of, forcing Hanami to split her focus even more and make mistakes due to it?

Hanami stopped thinking and began moving, dismissing her thoughts as irrelevant at the moment, she was in too much danger. Hanami decided to lean into the fall, shooting her hands out to catch herself.

She then lifted both legs into the air so fast the leader of the group was unable to let go in time. Hanami began spinning herself as she attempted to kick the man off of her.

She eventually did, the others too wary of her spinning legs to get near. The leader went flying into a wall, sending dust and splinters everywhere as Hanami regained her feet.

Or tried too at least. Just before she was able to regain her footing, someone she'd briefly forgotten about reared their ugly head.

"Ra's wrath!" The man in yellow shouted as he extended both arms, palms open. A large beam of sunlight quickly washed over Hanami's upper body who'd barely been able to raise her arms in a vain attempt to minimize damage.

The heat was far more intense than any previous encounter Hanami had with the technique. That was the goal of all that. Hanami had found it odd they'd all charged in like that knowing none of them could do meaningful damage.

It wasn't damage they were after, at least not initially. Instead they simply wanted to overwhelm Hanami, make her briefly forget about their spear head until it pierced her.

Hanami's tree eyes were burned to ash and even her plating wasn't enough to stop the light. It was astonishing how powerful the attack was even with domain amplification weakening its output.

Soon, Hanami's entire upper body was devoid of her signature white plating. Leaving only the swirling mass of root underneath.

Her plates were packed full of cursed energy. As such, it would take quite a while to replenish them. So she decided to experiment until then. The roots which made up most of her body mass shot out, only her lower body protected by plating.

Her upper body functioned similarly to the roots she created and or manipulated with her cursed technique. But way faster. The muscular one was unable to react in time as the mass of lightning fast roots and weeds blitzed towards him, carving out a path in the wooden floor.

Hanami's two arm like appendages of roots, their ends sharpened into spikes, lashed out at the man. His liver was pierced by one as the other took off his head.

Hanami quickly shifted and positioned her lower body in front of her, using the only part of her body with plating remaining as a shield. The dense beam of sunlight struck it but was unable to break through.

Now using her "arms" to keep herself up, Hanami's extended her mid section as she whipped out at the man who'd fired the beam, using her lower body as a flail.

"Don't move!" The woman said, putting all of her cursed energy behind her command. Due to the sheer cursed energy in the words and Hanami's novice use of domain amplification, the command was able to take effect just before the man in yellow was hit.

The command only lasted for a second but it was just enough for the man to move out of the way, dodging the attack by a hair. The leader also took advantage of the opening created, coming in from Hanami's right.

"Impale!" The wooden floor boards and the stone under them exploded out, taking the form of spikes as they pierced Hanami's flesh. At the same time a beam of sunlight struck her unprotected roots, burning a hole clean through Hanami's "abdomen".

Hanami let go control over domain amplification as small flowers sprouted from her own body, covering her in red buds. She fired the omnidirectional attack, covering every corner of the room with her cursed buds.

Both men were able to dodge the buds somehow, but the woman was not so skilled. Her earlier command which had saved the man in yellow had destroyed her throat, putting her in a less than ideal state.

Her body was covered in sprouting, mouthed flowers as they drained her cursed energy and ripped her body apart from the inside. But before she could die, her command, no longer blocked by domain amplification, took hold one last time.

Hanami erupted in flames, her body desperately trying to off set the damage through healing. Without her plate's protecting her, the command was much more effective.

Letting out a shriek of agony, Hanami whipped her lower body towards the leader as she extended her upper body in the other direction, reaching out for the man in yellow. He blasted two shots into her, creating two scorching holes in her chest. The attack did little to stop her assault however.

Her root body extended to the left and right before encasing the man in a dome of flaming roots. Hanami quickly shrunk the space as the flames began burning the man alive. He fired out his incredibly powerful technique in every direction, filling Hanami's with holes but just barely missing her head.

Root spears shot out from the inside of the dome, stabbing into the man and stopping his attacks. For a moment at least. As just before his death, he made one final binding vow. Sacrificing his life for a final, magnificent burst of sunlight.

Simultaneously, Hanami heard a command from behind her, the command of the Inumaki clan elder. A command infused with a power one only gains if they have much to lose. A power gained through sacrificing one's own life to bypass domain amplification and, hopefully, end the cursed spirit before it could end the leader and his clan.

"Die!"

——

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." Isamu said as soon as his feet hit something solid. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he realized how shity the current situation was. Being caught in someone else's domain without having one of your own meant death in most causes.

The domain was pretty much what he expected from an ocean based cursed spirit, a beautiful beech with pure blue water. The curse itself was smack dab in the middle of the ocean too, maybe 300 feet from where Isamu stood on the shore.

The domains environment was also pretty shity for Isamu. While masters could use simple domain in the air or even in water, Isamu wasn't quite a master. He could manage one in the air but the water? That was far less doable. Especially with a special grade on that level baring down on him.

*crack* Isamu heard, drawing his attention to his simple domain. Small cracks appeared in the white circle as its slowly lost output due to the domain. He let out a 'tisk' before his arm suddenly move on its own. After slaying the shikigami who'd attacked him from behind without even knowing, Isamu crouched and used his simple domain once more.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." And once more, his sword lashed out, only for Isamu to use simple domain again. This process repeated 3 more time, each simple domain draining his already dented resources.

The curse could easily win this way. Unless Isamu had some epiphany and was able to figure out a domain expansion of his own, the curse could simply drain him of cursed energy simple domain after simple domain before finishing him once he was too exhausted to use another.

But that would take a bit, and it seemed the curse was in somewhat of a rush. So it decided to join in. It rushed in, faster than before, and landed a solid punch on Isamu's chest, knocking the wind from his sails.

Isamu's left hand lashed out, grabbing its wrist before he brought his right hand down, cutting the curses arm off half way up its forearm.

"BLAST AWAY!" Isamu shouted in its face just as he was swarmed with shikigami. A downside to simple domain was that one couldn't use their cursed technique at the same time and vice versa. Meaning as soon as Isamu used the command, he was subjected to the domains guaranteed hit effect.

Isamu appeared to be a mass of wriggling fish rather than a human the moment after the cursed spirit went blasting into the water it'd just came from.

"Die!" Isamu said, turning all of the shikigami to dust as he used simple domain right after. He momentarily questioned his decision to use his cursed technique on the curse but decided it was necessary.

In order for Isamu to come out of this alive, he needed to get out of the domain. To do that, he needed to damage the curse to the point it could no longer maintain its domain. So he needed to do a lot of damage in a very small amount of time.

His best bet was probably 'New Shadow Style: Noon Eclipse Sword Drawing' used in synergy with a powerful command using his technique. The problem with that however was the aforementioned weakness of simple domain.

If he wanted to use his technique, he'd have to drop simple domain, making Noon Eclipse Sword Drawing impossible. And if he wanted to use the sword technique, he'd be unable to use cursed speech. It was a fucked up situation all around.

Isamu was covered in bite marks and blood from even the brief moment he was hit by the swarm. While his skills, speed, and especially attack power had all increased in leaps and bounds in the past year, his durability hadn't really. It was still of a 1st grade level but just barely.

Which meant he couldn't take another one of those attacks. He'd have to rely on his sword. A tall order indeed. But it wasn't impossible.

Sea life of all kinds exploded from the sea, eels, piranhas, crustaceans, and everything else you could imagine. Among them was a broken octopus like cursed spirit, one of his arms severed, the other broken and mangled. His foot seemed shattered too. Despite all that damage, it wasn't enough, the domain stood strong.

Isamu would have to rush in and take advantage of the opportunity created by the damage before the curse could heal them. He pushed his pain body forward as he continued to feed his simple domain.

The swarm of shikigami quickly closed on him but he was not deterred nor was his assault halted. Isamu slashed and thrust, flipping over and sliding under the shikigami as he neared the cursed spirit who'd also closed in with his minions.

It threw a straight punch with its broken but healing left fist which was aimed for Isamu's head, at the same time a jet of water rocketed out of the ocean towards his left flank. Isamu's blade swapped hands before it cleaved through the jet of water. At the same time Isamu barely ducked the punch from the curse.

Bring his sword up in a reverse grip, Isamu swung his swords deadly edge towards the curse in a diagonal slash. Two eels sprung from the curse's abdomen and were subsequently cut down, but they functioned as serviceable meat shields.

The curse elbowed Isamu in the face, his domain amplified stats still a bit too much for Isamu to handle constantly. Isamu responded with a slash followed by a straight kick with two throwing knives mixed in between the two attacks. The combination resulted in a single knife in the curses side and a small cut on its palm.

More importantly, it bought him enough space to renew his simple domain, just in time.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." But instead of engaging in basic combat once more, somewhere he knew he had the slight disadvantage, he engaged in a battle of techniques where hopefully he would fare better.

"New Shadow Style: Evening Moon Sword Drawing." Isamu launched himself towards the curse, every shikigami it attempted to use as a meet shield cut down in the single slash that made up Evening Moon. The same slash that eventually met the curses body.

Isamu's sword pierced its stomach flesh, cutting through half way before it was stopped at its spin. Isamu attempted to move back but the octopus would have none of it.

"After each sword technique, your small domain drops not long after even while not in my domain. Which means I just need to make sure you don't use your domain again after you use a technique and my guaranteed hit will activate." It explained as it grabbed onto Isamu's sword arm with its remaining left hand, its right still healing, eel like curses shooting out from the curse and wrapping around him to keep him in place.

Isamu's mind raced as he thought of a way out. He was still safe for the moment, his simple domain would drop shortly however. He couldn't use his technique, it would get the curse off him, true, but it wouldn't stop the sure hit effect from activating which was the curses true goal.

He also couldn't really fight or get away without getting the curse and it's shikigami off him either. So he'd have to rely on pure cursed energy instead.

Isamu's cursed energy spiked as he poured the vast majority of his cursed energy pool into his blade. Not only did he draw on his own reserves but also the cursed energy ingrained in the cursed tool he'd made himself.

Normally, such a thing would not be possible, but due to the blade being so close to Isamu and its cursed properties originating from Isamu's cursed energy, Isamu was able to find a way.

Not that it was even something you'd want to do if you could. At best, it would lower the grade of the cursed tool by one or two spots. At worst, the tool would shatter completely, its cursed energy exploding out in all directions and most likely harming the welder in the process. Isamu was aiming for the worst case scenario.

Isamu was as reckless as possible as he pumped his cursed energy into the blade while he manipulated its cursed energy to run rampant. The blade was soon covered in cracks before it reached its breaking point and exploded.

A flash of pure white light filled the domain as both the curse and Isamu were blown back. Isamu was, fortunately, mostly unaffected. One's own cursed energy was mostly ineffective against oneself, the curse taking most of the energy into its stomach helped a lot too.

As soon as Isamu landed, he crouched and activated simple domain once more with only a split second to spare. The feeling of performing simple domain felt odd without his sword, the thought saddened Isamu a little. The curse on the other hand was not as fortunate.

The entire right side of its upper body, torso, arm, everything, was gone, half of its face covered in one, large burn mark. It buckled and dropped to its knees as it summoned all it could to buy itself time to heal. Shikigami nearly replaced the water as they approached in a massive wave.

Isamu just smiled at the approaching tsunami of vicious little bastards. He knew the curse was walking a thin wire, the slightest bit of additional damage enough to force its domain close. It was do or die time!

——

Most, if not all, cursed techniques were up to the interpretation of the user. How they think the technique will work, within reason of course. Akio's technique, 'Sunlight Advent' was even more interpretation based than normal.

It was all about how Akio's interpreted sunlight and its conceptual ideas. To the point it became a weakness of the technique as the sunlight was also up to the opponent's interpretation and what they thought the sunlight would do.

Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem as Akio's will took precedence. So as long as he was there too keep his will steady, no one else could meddle with his light.

Akio made his final binding vow, sacrificing his life to ramp up the output of his technique for one final explosion. The sunlight simply following Akio's last interpretation. So as long as no other interpretation was forced upon it, everything would blow up, as planned.

Unfortunately, life was not so easy.

A large, vibrant red rose erupted from Hanami's shoulder, the eye at its center opening as wide as possible. For a cursed plant like it, all sunlight was good sun light. Sunlight either led to healthy plants through photosynthesis or healthy plants through the consumption of those who die from the heat.

So for the flower, the sunlight in front of it was just a middle man which led to the life of plants. Meaning it was an exceptable target for its energy absorption.

All sunlight that neared it was swallowed up as all of the energy hitting Hanami's body was weakened. The flower was unable to absorb the entire blast, far from it, only taking about 40%, but it was still able to protect itself and its welder, for the most part.

It could not reveal it its success for long however. For the command of the clan head soon washed over them both.

The command "die" was an odd term for the Inumaki for it changed from target to target. Buy and large however, it seemed to keep a theme from killing curses.

Curses were made of cursed energy. So if they ever run out, they die. Just like humans with blood but to a more extreme level. This just so happens to be the route cursed speech takes when killing a curse, it vaporizes its cursed energy until it's all out.

This combined with Akio's explosion, weakened as it was, would've been enough to take the curse out with them. But, again, life was not so simple. For the clan head made a single mistake in his casting, one most could not blame him for.

Overcome with the cursed energy bestowed upon him by his final binding vow, he was not able to properly select the target of his wrath. Instead, the best he could do was target anything he felt hatred towards at that moment. This would've work too as the curse was certainly hated by the leader.

But there was one loop hole Hanami was able to exploit without even knowing it. Subconsciously, the clan head also felt some hatred towards the abilities of Hanami as they'd been used to slay his comrades.

Usually, this wouldn't be a problem as the basic application of cursed speech, the kind the clan head used in his final moments, can't target inanimate things such as cursed techniques. But Hanami's cursed techniques were not inanimate, but living plants.

As such, the flower brimming with cursed energy on Hanami's shoulder was also subjected to the command. All of the cursed energy it absorbed consumed in a moment before the command moved on to Hanami herself.

Hanami felt her cursed energy pool rapidly drain as her already heavy burnt and destroyed body began turning to dust. But just as Hanami was about to succumb to her injuries and the command, the leaders life expired and the command stopped.

Hanami couldn't believe her luck. If the command had not wasted time destroying the cursed energy contained in her flower, Hanami's own massive reserves wouldn't have been enough to fend off the command before she died.

Hanami, burned, battered, and half disintegrated, began crawling away from the battle field with her single remaining arm. She knew she was in no state to continue fighting. Only 5% of her cursed energy pool remained and her body was useless to put it nicely.

She would just have to place her faith in Dagon. Hopefully he could finish the job she'd started and failed.

——

Isamu dashed forward to meet the shikigami head on. Letting out a burst of cursed energy into the ground, Isamu launched himself through the air before he sent yet another blast of cursed energy into the wall of fish.

Luckily, they were all weak, the curse no doubt too damaged to summon anything of higher quality. A hole just big enough to fit Isamu opened from the blast as the curse was once more revealed to him.

Raising a fist back and into the air, infusing it with every shred of cursed energy he had left, emotions flashed through Isamu's mind. A streak of white representing the Inumaki clan, a line of gray flashing to cover it, representing their discontent after a failure.

A bright yellow representing Hoshi clashed with the grey. A streak of red overcame them both representing Isamu's anger at Hoshi's death. Before a vivid green overcome them all, representing Maki and her love.

As Isamu entered striking range of the curse, all of the colors in Isamu's mind were swallowed and combined into a single bolt of black lightning.

"BLACK FLASH!!"