Of course, it had to be Mahoraga right from the start! Megumi knew clearly how troublesome the Heavenly Tyrant was. During his special training, he had been beaten by Maki Zen'in plenty of times. The difficulty of the Heavenly Tyrant, aside from a body with zero Cursed Energy rendering detection useless, was that unreasonable hand-to-hand combat ability. Ordinary techniques couldn't even damage that body because the Heavenly Tyrant possessed innate resistance to Cursed Energy.
Megumi didn't even plan to use Domain Expansion. This was because when he fought Maki, no matter how he used his Domain, it was just a waste of Cursed Energy. A body without Cursed Energy cannot be locked onto, making the sure-hit effect null and void—this passive skill of the Heavenly Tyrant countered Domain Expansions too hard.
Especially since Megumi was a shikigami user. His Domain's [Sure-Hit] and [Sure-Kill] were highly dependent on his shikigami. But the Heavenly Tyrant could instantly kill shikigami and couldn't be locked onto... What was the difference between that and not expanding the Domain at all?!
Mahoraga's fist and Toji's fist collided. Toji felt like he had punched a metal wall. Before he could even exert full force, he retracted his arm and immediately braced for impact. In the next instant, Mahoraga punched Toji away, smashing him into the high-rise.
But it didn't end there. The immense impact force meant Toji didn't stop even after hitting the reinforced concrete wall; he smashed through it, flew out of the building, crashed into a second high-rise, and within a split second, pierced through that one too, finally smashing into a third building.
A series of booms sounded like broad-daylight thunder as one building after another slowly collapsed.
Amidst the collapsing floors, Toji spat out a mouthful of blood and raised his fist. He felt a dull ache in his knuckles, like a hairline fracture.
He pushed aside the debris, his bones making cracking sounds. His body was like a rusted gear, only now slowly waking up. He stood and looked into the distance through the rising dust. Megumi, atop the owl shikigami, was looking down at him with a smile. The dust made the whole world look blurry, as if they had stepped into a secret realm from a fairy tale.
In the next instant, Mahoraga descended from the sky.
Toji immediately vacated his spot. When Mahoraga hit the ground, it felt as if the entire world shook. Its weight clearly wasn't that massive, yet when it landed, it felt like a million-ton iron block dropping. The destruction of the floor reached down to the foundation, like the hand of a god pressing down on the world, displaying the majesty of divine might.
Mahoraga flashed out from the pulverized foundation and rising dust, throwing another punch.
While retreating, Toji gently touched Mahoraga's hand with his palm, using skillful force to deflect it. Mahoraga's fist grazed past Toji's ear. The momentum sounded like the atmosphere tearing apart. A massive gust of wind slammed into Toji's face; even without a direct hit, it felt like he had taken damage.
But in the next instant, Toji's other fist struck Mahoraga's abdomen.
A massive shockwave slammed into Mahoraga's gut. The Heavenly Tyrant's fist could easily shatter steel; even a Special Grade Curse hit by this would be severely injured or killed outright. The Heavenly Tyrant's way of fighting was melee, and in the realm of melee, they were almost invincible—almost.
*Thud.* Toji's fist connected with Mahoraga's abdomen, but Mahoraga didn't even waver. Toji felt like his fist had hit an ancient city wall, a high mountain, not a shikigami.
Toji's pupils constricted. In the next instant, he moved from his spot again.
Mahoraga raised its foot and kicked the air. But even missing, the air pressure generated by the excessive force pulverized the building's foundation. Cracks extended endlessly outward, finally climbing up the main structural pillars. *Crack.* The pillars shattered, and the foundation collapsed amidst the shaking, like a hollow sinkhole swallowing everything.
Toji and Mahoraga were swallowed by the pit simultaneously.
But before two seconds had passed, the pit roared. Massive debris shot upward, piercing through the entire high-rise. The building, finally unable to withstand the battle between the Heavenly Tyrant and Mahoraga, began to distort. The entire structure collapsed like stacked blocks, debris falling like rainstorm onto other directions. Adjacent buildings were hit, triggering a chain reaction of collapses.
Toji leaped into the high air. covered in dust from head to toe. He shook his head and looked at his hand. The knuckles were red and swollen. He, the Heavenly Tyrant, had fallen into a disadvantage in close-quarters combat. Why?
Toji laughed. "I see. Your Mahoraga... you specifically gave it [Blunt Force] resistance training, didn't you?!"
Correct answer.
Since it had the ability to adapt, naturally, one must give Mahoraga the best adaptation space. Toji Fushiguro is a Heavenly Tyrant, and so is Maki Zen'in! The fighting styles of the two Heavenly Tyrants were very similar. The difference was mostly a matter of style, but ultimately, combat boiled down to various close-quarter techniques. Toji focused more on intelligence gathering, while Maki focused more on improvisation. That was about the only difference.
Targeting this, Maki had specially engaged in limited combat with Mahoraga beforehand. This included but was not limited to [Strikes], [Slashes], [Internal Destruction], and other grappling skills and white-knuckle combat. The current Mahoraga, leaving aside other aspects, possessed outstanding resistance to [Blunt Force Resistance], [Slash Resistance], and [One-Inch Punch].
This was originally intended to deal with Ryomen Sukuna. At least historically, the techniques Sukuna used were similarly unpretentious. But no one expected plans to fail before changes; the emergence of the Dream Migration completely shattered the recorded fighting style of Ryomen Sukuna. If nothing else, the infinite technique generation caused by Copy Cursed Techniques would be hard for Mahoraga to adapt to...
*Bang!*
In the next instant, Mahoraga rushed out from underground, lunging at Toji in the sky like a vicious dog. Toji glanced at Megumi riding the owl shikigami and praised him in his heart. *This* is the true way a shikigami user fights.
A so-called shikigami user shouldn't risk themselves in close combat with the enemy, even if that user possesses considerable melee skills. Just like now—Megumi choosing to spectate from afar while Mahoraga pursues relentlessly—this is the essence of a shikigami user.
Perhaps getting schooled enough times over the past two months finally taught Megumi, who originally loved to fight alongside his shikigami, this essence, making him like a traditional sorcerer.
"Then, I'll have to show a little real skill too," Toji whispered.
*Bang bang bang bang!* Toji and Mahoraga exchanged blows continuously, falling from the sky to the ground. Mahoraga's fighting style was straightforward; it wouldn't dodge or evade any attacks. Yet its powerful fists caused atmospheric tremors every time. Toji utilized this, constantly using martial arts to deflect these direct attacks.
He casually grabbed a shard of concrete. While fighting Mahoraga, he ground the shard into a stone blade and slashed at Mahoraga. The stone blade shattered.
Mahoraga charged like a berserk beast. Toji, smiling, gently touched it with his hand, then sent an indirect shockwave into Mahoraga's internal organs. In various parts of the world, there are martial arts that act directly on internal organs without damaging the skin. The most famous is the 'Remote Cow Hitting' (Ge Shan Da Niu) from the great eastern nation next door. Now, Toji was using it.
But it was still useless! Mahoraga didn't even pause. Its fist almost touched Toji's forehead. At the last moment, Toji performed an 'Iron Bridge' bend. The fist wind grazed his forehead, actually cutting a bloody line. Blood dripped onto Mahoraga's fist and shattered in an instant.
Toji retreated sharply, then suddenly stomped his foot. Massive cracks appeared beneath both of them. Mahoraga's body tilted violently. In the next second, Toji's thigh whipped into its face. It was a kick of extreme power; the point of impact actually triggered a shockwave. An air ring radiated out, looking like an angel's halo.
Mahoraga grabbed fiercely at Toji's thigh, but Toji had already retracted his leg before that.
*Bang crash crack!* The two clashed again, but this time Toji actively retreated. He faced Mahoraga front-on, but his feet moved backward rapidly in a moonwalk like Michael Jackson. He didn't need to look behind him at all; his feet and body naturally completed the action of dodging obstacles.
*Rumble.* Another high-rise collapsed.
Toji flew backward, with Mahoraga close behind. *Trouble,* Toji thought.
In terms of combat technique, Toji overwhelmingly outclassed Mahoraga. Although Mahoraga was strong, its behavioral pattern followed the most basic beast mentality. It wouldn't dodge or retreat; it just attacked, attacked, and attacked.
If it were anyone else, they would have been killed by Toji long ago. This attack method was too full of openings for Toji, and he could break it casually. But Mahoraga's powerful adaptation and regeneration made it completely fearless of Toji's means.
Toji was confident he could keep stalling. Mahoraga, while strong, ultimately didn't have that many special attack methods. Mahoraga's strength lay in adaptation, not raw attack power. Knowing this, Toji dared to say he could wear it down for ten days; until he ran out of stamina, Mahoraga wouldn't even be able to touch him.
Maintaining Mahoraga required Cursed Energy. Even an excellent sorcerer like Megumi surely couldn't persist in maintaining Mahoraga's action time for ten days. In his calm analytical mind, Toji told himself: *Just keep stalling, and the final victory is yours.*
Then, his emotions spoke: *Screw that! I'm teaching my son a lesson, what the hell am I staying calm for?!*
*Thud.*
Toji landed on the ground, slowly exhaled, and looked up.
Mahoraga's massive body was right in front of him, striding forward, arms spread as if to embrace Toji. Behind it, Megumi rode the owl, watching Toji coldly. What a merciless scene.
Toji smiled.
"Really, that's enough," he said. Then, he formed a hand seal.
Due to the Heavenly Restriction, the Heavenly Tyrant possessed zero Cursed Energy internally. This allowed the Heavenly Tyrant to be completely invisible to all Cursed Energy sensing. Even the Six Eyes couldn't confirm the Heavenly Tyrant's position by any sensing method other than direct sight.
Combined with physical abilities that transcended common sense, this made the Heavenly Tyrant the most famous Sorcerer Killer, with a reputation worth its weight in gold.
So, is there an existence with similar concealment abilities to the Heavenly Tyrant and robust physical stats? Yes.
The manifestation of humanity's fear of forests: Hanami.
Although a sentient Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Hanami possesses a unique elemental attribute that allows for easy integration into the natural environment. Similarly, despite not having a zero-Cursed Energy body, by fully merging into the natural environment, Hanami can also become invisible to Gojo's Six Eyes.
And while Hanami's physical stats are far inferior to the Heavenly Tyrant, its defense is extremely outstanding. The One-Eyed Cat (Gege Akutami) once personally said that if Jogo were hit by a Black Flash, he would be heavily injured, but Hanami's defense is superb, so even after being hit by consecutive Black Flashes, it could still persist and retreat.
This referred to the Goodwill Event, the battle between Hanami and the protagonist team: Yuji Itadori and Aoi Todo. At that time, Hanami was hit by Yuji's advantage and Todo's Black Flash, yet still survived.
From this perspective, Hanami's technique is a perfect match for the Heavenly Tyrant. But this is impossible, because even if a Heavenly Tyrant had an Innate Technique, with absolutely no Cursed Energy inside the body, they couldn't use Cursed Energy to fuel or release the technique.
—But, this is the [Dream Migration], and Toji Fushiguro is in Mahito's core circle.
Mahoraga was right before his eyes, but Toji smiled and muttered to himself, "Let me think." The man said, "It feels... like it should be like this."
—Technique Release:
—Forest's Benevolence.
*Boom, boom boom boom!*
Massive tree roots suddenly manifested from underground. These roots bound Mahoraga like pythons. In the next instant, Mahoraga tore the roots away, but the roots continued to bind it endlessly. Mahoraga let out a sharp roar, destroying roots continuously, but the infinite roots eventually wrapped around it.
Then, while Mahoraga was still tearing at the roots—flowers suddenly bloomed on them.
The flowers that even Satoru Gojo fell victim to in the original work. These flowers had no attack power, but they could eliminate a person's hostility. Even a shikigami was no exception.
In the distance, Megumi, riding the owl, changed his expression drastically. Finally—
Beneath these flowers, sharp wooden spikes suddenly grew.
"Mahoraga... needs a one-hit kill, right?" Toji smiled. In the next instant, Mahoraga was impaled by countless sharp wooden spikes.
Only at this moment did Toji Fushiguro's Cursed Energy finally erupt. Massive Cursed Energy burned quietly around Toji; from a distance, he looked like a burning man.
He extended a finger, pointing at Megumi. "Come on. Round two."