Crimson Tides (Malereader X JJK)

Chapter ~ 23

'Some have an overwhelming presence. Some keep very quiet.' Megumi thought as an image of Sukuna's finger flashed in his mind "Some have already been consumed by a cursed spirit. They're all resonating."

The curse began stretching, its large smile never faltering

'One of Sukuna's fingers was hiding inside a cursed spirit.' Megumi raised his scimitar horizontally, holding the back of the blade with his left hand 'When Sukuna manifested within Yuji in June, it released its cursed energy.'

The curse spat out a golden glob of pure cursed energy into its hand and began stretching it back with his other, forming it into a projectile.

'It looks like that curse from the detention center but compared to it...' Megumi was sent into the air as the projectile slammed into his blade, shattering it and the ground around him 'It's much stronger!'

Megumi dropped the blade in his shadow, sliding back as he landed 'What do I do?' He thought, summoning his dog to get him out of the way from the curse's next strike as it appeared behind him.

With the distance made between the two, Megumi formed the sign of a bird "NUE!"

With a loud screech, a shadowy owl flew out from his stomach, slamming into the fingerbearer who had attempted to rush him 'Partially summoning my shinigami takes a lot less cursed energy. I'll still have to be careful.'

From behind him, the Divine dog: Totality split into two different masses of shadows and rushed forward, pelting the curse in attacks as the partial Nue helped from above.

Megumi was forced to take the full brunt of the curse's attack as it began wildly firing off strikes of cursed energy, each one sending a large explosion through the innate domain as it tried to get Nue out of the playing field.

~(Flashback)~

*WHACK*

Megumi was sent rolling across the wood floors as Gojo shook his hand off nonchalantly.

"Okay, I win again." Gojo said. Instead of his usual sorcerer attire, he wore some casual everyday wear, pitch black with blacked-out glasses "This is unusual. You rarely ask me to train you."

Megumi picked himself up, glaring sharply at his teacher

"Are you in a rush after the Itadoris surpassed you?" Gojo teased

Megumi sat criss-cross, the evening sun shining into the room "Well beggars can't be choosers."

"Well. I don't think you're second to them when it comes to ability and potential." Gojo tapped his head "The problem you have is with your mindset. You don't know how to bring out your best, do you?"

Megumi's eyes widened in disbelief, he almost felt insulted "Huh?! Are you saying I'm not trying my best?"

"No, I'm saying you don't know how." Gojo countered, pocketing his hands "Look at the baseball game the other day. Why did you go for a sacrifice bunt?"

Megumi flinched, confused as Gojo continued "Did you want Nobara to advance the bases, even if it meant you'd be out? Well good for you. But people like Yuji and I always swing for the fences. I'm not saying a bunt is bad. Baseball is a team sport, after all, and everyone has a role to play. But jujutsu sorcery is an individual sport."

Gojo approached Megumi "Isn't it important to coordinate with other sorcerers?" Megumi asked as Gojo crouched in front of him

"Yeah. But no matter how many allies you have around you when you die, you die alone." Gojo said, his eye looking at Megumi from above his glasses "You're just underestimating yourself and the others. You're not envisioning a stronger version of yourself."