"You bastard."
Sukuna glared furiously at Eichi, who was critiquing him.
He wished he could devour Eichi alive right now.
But he could not.
With only one finger's worth of power, Sukuna could not even fully activate his Domain, let alone defeat Eichi.
Sukuna's gaze fell upon the pitch-black Domain, as if he could see its edges through the endless darkness.
Whoosh!
A strengthened Dismantle was unleashed, an invisible slash silently disappearing into the darkness.
"So that's it. He's protecting the inner wall of the Domain with shadows."
Sukuna's last hope of escape, the method of breaking the Domain from within, had also failed.
Because he was facing Sukuna's open Domain.
So Eichi had reversed the conditions inside and outside the Domain from the start, strengthening the Domain's outer shell.
Then he had the shadows within the Domain cover its edges, forming a defensive wall to protect the interior.
"This guy, why isn't he making a move yet?"
Sukuna's four eyes narrowed slightly, trying to discern Eichi, who was covered in shadows.
He did not understand why Eichi, who had him completely cornered, still was not acting.
"Cat and mouse? It feels a bit off."
Sukuna enjoyed playing cat and mouse, so he could tell that Eichi's current behavior was not like a game of cat and mouse.
Sukuna was contemplating Eichi's objective, which would be beneficial for his future actions.
But Eichi paid no attention to Sukuna's behavior.
"How does it feel? Is it fun inside the shadows?"
Looking at Megumi, who was slowly emerging from the shadows beside him, Eichi reached out and pulled him out.
Fortunately, shadows would not drench a person like water. Otherwise, Megumi would have gone from a battle-damaged beauty to a battle-damaged soaking-wet beauty.
"...It's amazing, completely opposite to the world as I know it."
After a moment of pause, Megumi shared his thoughts.
"Erect a completely blank Barrier around you, then imagine what that world looks like and load your shadows onto it."
Eichi continued to guide him.
In the original story, Megumi had grasped Domain Expansion in his first year of high school, but due to insufficient knowledge of Barrier Techniques, he could not seal the Domain and could only use the terrain as an outer shell to expand it.
Eichi, knowing this in advance, naturally made early preparations.
One could say that having a teacher and figuring things out on your own were two completely different concepts.
At least in the initial stages, those with a teacher progressed much faster than those who figured things out on their own.
With Eichi, who also possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, as his mentor, Megumi in this lifetime was stronger in both the Ten Shadows Technique and Barrier Techniques than in the original.
Megumi spread his hands, Cursed Energy flowing in his palms.
A hemispherical Barrier rose beside him.
This Barrier was completely blank and capable of loading any Cursed Technique.
Megumi began to imagine how his shadows would flow, how they would expand, how they would attach... Time passed little by little, and with references all around him, Megumi quickly controlled his shadows to enter the Barrier.
"Very good. Now begin to load your Ten Shadows Technique onto the Barrier."
Megumi nodded and began to form hand signs, carefully loading his Shikigami onto the Barrier.
Crack, crack, crack.
The Barrier shattered.
"Alright. Although it's a bit off, it's progress nonetheless."
Eichi did not regret Megumi's failure.
In his opinion, since Megumi had already taken this step, understanding Domain Expansion was only a matter of time.
What Megumi needed now was a little stimulus, something to make him go wild.
It was almost time for the Juvenile Detention Center incident. At that time, he would see whether it could stimulate Megumi. If not, he would have Suguru secretly control a Cursed Spirit to push him.
Eichi did not intend to interfere too much with the Juvenile Detention Center incident. He only needed to ensure that Yuji would not form a Binding Vow with Sukuna.
Because the Juvenile Detention Center incident was an important growth experience for everyone. Yuji learned what it felt like to die and understood his inner self.
Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara also witnessed the true nature of the Jujutsu Sorcerer path, completely shattering the fantasies in the hearts of the young boy and girl.
It could be said that the Juvenile Detention Center incident was the first lesson for them to truly step into the cruel Jujutsu World.
"After the Juvenile Detention Center incident, I need to resolve Megumi's personality issues as soon as possible."
Megumi had a significant personality problem. He tended to undervalue himself.
In other words, Megumi was not selfish enough. He always thought of others.
Coupled with the existence of Mahoraga, the strongest Shikigami in the Ten Shadows Technique.
This gave Megumi the idea that, in necessary situations, he only needed to sacrifice himself to save others.
Therefore, during his usual practice, Megumi always had a "good enough, good enough" feeling, which caused him to always be "a little short, just a little short" when sparring with Eichi and Toji.
Megumi's current mindset was to win by dying, not to win even if he had to die.
This was also why Eichi had not helped Megumi tame Mahoraga.
If this mentality was not resolved, Megumi would not be able to become a top-tier powerhouse, and he might even struggle to surpass Nanami.
As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, if you self-destruct every time you encounter a desperate situation, how can you grow?
One must know that Satoru had evaluated Megumi's talent as no less than Yuji's.
However, due to personality issues, this talent could not be fully utilized.
"I'm going to be busy for a while now."
Just as Eichi was pondering Megumi's problem, Sukuna finally could not hold back and decided to go all out.
A powerful slash was unleashed toward Megumi, but it was blocked by a suddenly rising shadow wall before it could get close.
"Tch, it really didn't work, huh?"
Feeling Sukuna's rapidly decaying Cursed Energy, Eichi knew Sukuna was almost done for.
"Yuji, time to wake up."
The next second, Sukuna's four eyes lost their focus, and a feeling of powerlessness filled his entire body.
"There he goes again. Just who is this brat named Yuji?"
The moment Yuji's consciousness returned, Eichi also dispelled his Domain.
"Sigh, it's that annoying Cursed Technique Burnout again."
The feeling of a Shikigami user being unable to summon Shikigami was truly uncomfortable.
"How does it feel?"
"It's amazing! I can also control slashes like him, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, or control shadows like you, swish, swish, swish..."
It was clear that Yuji was very excited after witnessing the battle between Sukuna and Eichi.
Although he was a typical big-hearted protagonist, Yuji could not hide his excitement when he first encountered such power that only existed in fantasy.
"Swish, swish, swish isn't going to happen. That's my and Megumi's unique Cursed Technique. But whoosh, whoosh, whoosh is possible.
Although you don't have a Cursed Technique, Sukuna is already residing in your body, so sooner or later, he'll engrave his Cursed Technique onto your flesh. Just consider it his rent."
"Really? That's awesome!"
Yuji happily started jumping up and down.
And Sukuna, within Yuji's body, received two pieces of information at that moment.
One, Megumi's Cursed Technique was indeed the Ten Shadows Technique, as he had suspected.
Two, Eichi wanted him to engrave his Cursed Technique into this brat's body to help this Cursed Technique-less brat acquire a Cursed Technique.
A plan began to form in Sukuna's mind.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)