JJK: Wheel of Time

As Mahito's body began turning black, preparing to form a hardened shell, he sensed something was terribly wrong—the sensation of something tearing through him, signaling the attack had already landed!

In that moment, Mahito carefully evaluated his injuries: his limbs had been sliced apart like chopped scallions, his heart and chest had been pierced seven times, revealing different cross-sections. His neck and left eyebrow down to his chin had been cleanly split, and a gaping hole pierced from his left eye through the back of his head.

All these injuries appeared simultaneously, and two unknown forces were preventing his flesh from regenerating. One was slowing his recovery, while the other seemed to be a toxin, affecting both his nerves and cursed energy.

It was those three swords! Mahito's gaze fell on the boy in front of him, who had shifted his stance and switched the order of his swords. Moreover, the cursed energy residue lingering in his body was unmistakable…

…

Shin Shuichi had unleashed his technique, entering a state of "Zero Moment" as he threw his cursed blade, Dojigiri, straight through Mahito's left eye. The blade pierced through the oozing fluid and lodged itself in the back of Mahito's skull, half of its length sticking out.

With Onikiri and Kumokiri in hand, Shin moved in an instant, closing the distance between him and Mahito. The blackened, incomplete hardened shell forming on Mahito's body was effortlessly sliced open by the cursed blades, which cleaved through his flesh. The continuous flashes of the swords severed all of Mahito's limbs.

Shin noticed the blackened flesh wasn't regenerating, and the dark, purple fluid seeping out seemed to indicate Mahito's plan—he hadn't intended to block Shin's attacks but had set up a trap with the toxic liquid hidden beneath the surface.

"Too bad… It's useless. Let's see if you can survive under the effect of these three cursed swords," Shin murmured.

Kumo-kiri's fluid motion cut through Mahito's neck, leaving the blade suspended in mid-air. Shin pulled Onikiri from Mahito's eye, while Dojigiri cleaved Mahito's head in two uneven halves without resistance.

Dojigiri then sliced Mahito's upper body in half, suspending it mid-air, while Onikiri cut through Mahito's internal organs, laying them bare.

Shin embedded Kumokiri deep into Mahito's heart, and with the three cursed swords crisscrossing through his body, Mahito was left in pieces, their cursed attributes having penetrated him deeply. Only after ensuring the effects had fully settled did Shin release his technique.

Blood erupted from Mahito's torn body like water from a burst dam, but before it could hit the ground, threads of regenerated tissue began rapidly stitching his body parts back together. Mahito's two separated heads rejoined, and a new eyeball formed in his left socket, rotating to take in his surroundings.

With a wide grin, Mahito shoved the loose eyeball back into place and then, with a gleeful expression, coughed up several lumps of flesh. He mashed them together with his hands, still smiling.

Polymorphic Soul Isomer

Mahito's technique, Idle Transfiguration, allowed him to touch and alter the shape of other people's souls, thus reshaping their bodies. He could also modify his own form to suit different combat scenarios or needs.

The lumps of flesh in his hands were the remnants of victims whose souls he had transfigured. They now served him, doing his bidding and performing actions against their will. This transformation, driven by the alteration of their souls, was beyond the healing powers of Reverse Cursed Technique.

By fusing different souls together, Mahito harnessed the rejection reaction between them to unleash immense power—this was his Polymorphic Soul Isomer.

Mahito's smile widened as he spread his hands. The fused flesh swelled, erupting into multiple tumorous growths that quickly expanded. In an instant, these growths sprouted tooth-filled heads, resembling a cluster of serpents, all lashing out with uncontrolled violence and cursed energy.

From a purely technical standpoint, Shin found this technique fascinating. Under Mahito's manipulation, these once-ordinary human souls had been merged to create something far stronger than the sum of its parts. Even though it was likely a one-time use, the power granted to Matsumoto through Mahito's transformation had allowed him to wield cursed energy he couldn't have possessed in life. This suggested that Mahito's technique not only altered souls but also manipulated the flow of cursed energy.

As the deformed heads lunged at him, saliva dripping from their fanged mouths, Shin simply observed. All of it—the heads, the drool—froze in mid-air. Mahito's gleeful expression was locked in place, like a picture frozen in time.

Shin raised Onikiri, pointing it toward Mahito's twisted grin. "Let's see if this next round will finally kill you."

The blades of Onikiri and Kumokiri danced, slashing in a continuous series of diagonal cuts, reverse cuts, and spinning strikes. Every obstacle between Shin and Mahito was shredded into fragments by the chaotic flurry of sword strikes.

In the midst of the floating remnants of flesh, Shin detected a strange shift in the air. His head began to pound, his chest tightened, and breathing became difficult—as though his organs were failing.

"Poison gas?"

But in an instant, the symptoms vanished. With his Reverse Cursed Technique always active, Shin's body reverted to its previous state, neutralizing the poison mixed into Mahito's transfigured creations before it could cause lasting damage.

"Getting smarter, huh? You didn't let the poison touch you, so now you're using a gas that can cover the whole area?" Shin Shuichi stepped toward Mahito, who was still looking in another direction. Raising Onikiri, Shin slashed diagonally from Mahito's left shoulder to his right hip, then followed up with strikes from Kumo-kiri and Dojigiri.

As Mahito once again realized his body had been reduced to pieces, his first instinct was to search for Shin. When he saw the boy standing there, unharmed, his face twisted in simple confusion.

"Not even gas works? What is his technique? It doesn't seem to be just speed… Could it be some kind of remote slashing?"

Sure enough, the modified creatures Mahito had summoned also lay shattered on the ground. No matter how he changed his form—whether hardening his body or becoming fluid—none of it could withstand Shin's strikes. Poisonous liquids, gases, or even spikes covering the entire area—none had any effect, leaving Mahito continually sliced apart.

The ominous sense of danger grew stronger, and Mahito realized he might need to flee soon.

Idle Transfiguration!

Mahito's body started splitting like a worm, and from his mouth, he vomited a handful of "flesh strips." In the next moment, the twisted sounds of distorted beings echoed as the transfigured humans charged clumsily toward Shin. Mahito's body began to mutate, growing to the point of almost tearing through the parking lot ceiling, with limbs sprouting blades that no natural creature could possess.

"Is this your best?" Shin whispered into Mahito's ear as he left his parting words, entering Time Null once more. Moving across the battlefield, Shin stepped on the distorted creatures, arriving behind Mahito. With his technique pinpointing Mahito's "real body," he effortlessly sliced through a clone in his path, then thrust Dojigiri into Mahito's back, pushing the blade through layers of flesh until the tip emerged from Mahito's chest.

A towering phantom, resembling a demon, appeared above Mahito's mutilated body. Its fearsome face looked down at him with cold indifference. In the stillness of the moment, the ghostly figure raised its ancient, blood-stained sword and brought it down in a merciless strike.

Time resumed.

"What the…"

Mahito's face split open with multiple lines of blood, and his mutated body began to fall apart. But this time, the damage wasn't just physical—Mahito felt as though his very soul had been sliced open. This injury was beyond his ability to heal instantly. Worse still, the boy's attack had been capable of harming his soul, which meant only one thing—he could die.

For the first time, Mahito felt the cold breath of death on his neck. His face, now fragmented, broke into uncontrollable, hysterical laughter. His technique flared wildly as he realized his opponent had bared their fangs. Now, the real battle could begin.

"This feeling… it's amazing! Is this what it's like to walk the line between life and death?"

Mahito felt as though he were walking a narrow path suspended in darkness, with death surrounding him on both sides. One wrong step, and he would fall into the abyss, never to return. But this extreme sensation gave him a thrill like no other.

In an instant, Mahito's technique was completed. Shin, still in Time Null, saw the modified creatures around him starting to explode. The five he had taken from the hospital had undergone grotesque fusions, turning into a nightmarish monstrosity.

Mahito's body no longer resembled anything human. He had started to disintegrate into insect-like forms, and it wasn't hard to guess that he was preparing to flee.

Shin knew he had only one option—to kill Mahito in the next attack. If he failed, Mahito's modified creatures would blow up, collapsing the parking lot, and Mahito would escape into the underground drainage system. Shin could already predict the escape route.

But Mahito's soul was incredibly resilient. His previous attack should have been enough to exorcise him, yet it had only severely wounded him. Whether he could finish Mahito in the next strike was uncertain.

"Oh well, I'll give it a shot."

Repeating his earlier strategy, Shin further dismembered Mahito into smaller pieces. He summoned the ghostly phantom once more, and as the technique was released, Shin expanded the range of his reversal technique, reversing everything except Mahito.

The explosion never came. Mahito was gravely injured again, but instead of despair, a look of understanding crossed his face. His fragmented body, now reduced to writhing worm-like forms, began burrowing into the ground. Meanwhile, the modified creatures started showing signs of exploding again.

Shin entered Time Null for the third time and broke through the ground, cutting the worms that were trying to escape into the sewer system into pure chunks of flesh. After triggering the techniques on his cursed blades one more time, Shin watched as the clump of flesh unnaturally sped up and shot into the sewage below.

"Still not enough…"

Shin cursed under his breath. Mahito was unbelievably resilient, more tenacious than a cockroach and slipperier than an eel. Even if Shin reversed time on Mahito, it would only restore him to his previous state. Without a soul-targeting technique, Mahito had managed to escape yet again.

Staring at the countless bugs now mixed into the sewage, Shin realized that Mahito's technique had scattered his cursed energy, making it impossible to identify which bug was part of his core.

"Don't let me see you again. Next time, I'll kill you for sure."

Shin spoke to the flowing sewage, his voice calm and matter-of-fact. It wasn't a threat but a statement of fact. If Nao ever woke up, her technique alone would be enough to cut Mahito to pieces. And if Shin found another way to target the soul, Mahito's fate would be sealed as soon as they crossed paths again.

"Besides Mahito, there's the volcano head and that tree cursed spirit… But since their collaborator, Suguru Geto, has been confirmed dead, these special-grade cursed spirits are rather unique. I'll report all this to Gojo-sensei later. For now, I'll need to call for cleanup."

As Shin leaped out of the hole, he ran straight into the aftermath of a massive explosion. His expression remained unchanged as the debris flying toward him reversed course. The crumbling walls, shattered columns, and gaping holes in the ground were seamlessly patched up as though time had rewound itself.

To an observer, it would have seemed like everything had been restored in the blink of an eye. The broken structures were repaired, and the modified creatures, too, returned to their original forms, collapsing to the ground in death. Each one bore a neat bullet hole in the center of their forehead.

"Hello? Yes, I'm at XX Hospital. I encountered an unknown special-grade curse here, and we fought in the parking lot. The curse was gravely injured and escaped. The situation is a bit complicated—send someone to handle the aftermath."

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