A Dead Man's Return

VII. Mahito

Nobody's POV:

...

9:55 PM

Fear.

That's what every soul in the sewers felt simultaneously. Unadulterated fear at the overwhelming evil that pulsed out of Itadori and reverberated throughout the dark and dreary sewers.

"Sukuna," the patched up curse whispered in horror, staring at malevolence itself in the form of a red shadow.

...

However, the feeling, as quickly as it came, vanished into thin air, Itadori keeping possession of his body and opening his eyes to the darkness. He glanced around to survey his surroundings; weirdly enough, everyone stood still in a weird trance. Hell, even the cursed spirit, who was just a second ago cackling like a deranged lunatic, looked terrified out of his mind.

"I'll allow it this once—there won't be a second time."

Those words flooded through the sewers in a nigh slimy consistency just like the sludge next to them did, a sinister atmosphere clouding the space. Itadori took this frozen atmosphere as his chance, allowing his fist to stockpile his cursed energy, then cocking it back as he began running towards the bewildered curse. With all the strength he could possibly muster in a second, he launched the burning fist forward, connecting perfectly with a jaw.

...

For the weeks he was away from everyone, he had grown considerably stronger and more knowledgeable about cursed energy in general. During this time, he had learned how to harness his cursed energy and use it with his already superhuman-like attacks, thus creating super-powered strikes. However, the downside was that there was always a delay between his fist's first impact with whatever he was hitting and the curse energy that followed.

The delay was a only fraction of a second—to the human eye, it'd be too quick to catch. To a curse, it would surely catch them off-guard until they figured it out.

Although Yuji couldn't utilize his cursed energy at its maximum potential, perhaps this delay could prove to be an even greater weapon than if it didn't exist. The element of surprise was always a wild card in battle.

...

The cursed spirit absorbed the powerful punch as the fist sunk into his cheek, his blood-curling eyes locking onto Yuji's face. However, within a split second, a wave of powerful cursed energy expelled from the vessel's fist, launching the patched faced monster backward with a gaping hole in his cheek. The curse's blood escaped rampantly from the wound as it spilt all over the sewer's ground.

Kugisaki and Nanami stared in awe at the sheer power behind Itadori's strike, the former almost a little envious that he had become this much stronger in such a short amount of time. However, she beamed internally at the fact that his wish of becoming stronger was coming true.

"And that, is Divergent Fist," Yuji expressed with a serious look in his eyes, steam pouring off of his knuckles that was attributed to the amount of force it struck the curse with.

"Y-You—" the curse sputtered in a muffled voice, the hole in his cheek quickly regenerating as it appeared to mold itself back into place. However, the lasting damage had already been done, the curse in question raising his eyes inhumanly and childishly letting out, "You hurt my soul."

"Uh—what?" Yuji whispered as he raised an eyebrow and lowered his hand. The pair who accompanied him quickly made their way to him and stood close behind, awaiting the curse's next move. Itadori turned to them for a moment, then furrowed his eyebrows as he took a step forward and returned his gaze to the cursed spirit, inquiring, "I'm not sure what that means, um—you have a name?"