Jujutsu Kaisen: I Have A Gardevoir

Restricted by cursed spirits and cursed techniques, Suguru Geto certainly didn't understand the mysteries behind Pokémon moves.

The move Hypnosis doesn't only work on living beings—it works on ghost-type Pokémon like Gengar too.

Back in ancient times, Jigglypuff used this move to dominate an entire era, let alone Darkrai, who is known as the "God of Nightmares."

The God of Nightmares is the ruler of nightmares.

How do you induce nightmares? Of course, you have to put your target to sleep first.

In terms of inducing sleep, if Darkrai claims second place, no one in the Pokémon world would dare claim first.

As long as the target's strength doesn't exceed Darkrai's or unless their willpower is exceptionally strong, like Aoi Todo's, they cannot resist its Hypnosis.

Unfortunately for the Grade 1 cursed spirits, they didn't meet either condition.

One by one, they were put to sleep without fail.

During Suguru Geto's moment of shock, the third cursed spirit was also hypnotized.

But that wasn't the end of it. What made Suguru Geto feel even more incredulous was that the cursed spirits, once in their sleep, seemed to be suffering from an invisible attack, gradually weakening.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long for the cursed spirits under hypnosis to completely dissipate.

Suguru Geto tried to recall the cursed spirits, and though they disappeared from the battlefield, their condition didn't improve.

They were still asleep, still continuously weakening.

"What exactly did you do?!"

The bizarre turn of events left Suguru Geto unable to maintain his composed demeanor.

"I didn't do anything."

Akira spoke sincerely.

He wasn't lying. He really didn't do anything.

Nor did he need to do anything—as long as the enemy was hypnotized and Darkrai was nearby, its ability would activate automatically.

Its ability, called "Bad Dreams," allows nightmares to affect reality, causing hypnotized targets to weaken over time and eventually die. It's an innate, unique trait of Darkrai—a manifestation of divine power.

Of course, Akira had no intention of explaining this to Suguru Geto.

This wasn't like a cursed technique where you could use public information to strengthen your effect. Revealing such secrets without any benefit—only an idiot would do that.

For this reason, Suguru Geto didn't believe a single word.

That was exactly what Akira wanted: for his opponent to be puzzled. During that precious window of time, he and Pangoro regrouped, launching a pincer attack.

Amid cries of "Ora ora muda muda!" one unfortunate Grade 1 cursed spirit turned to dust.

Akira then targeted the second spirit. Recalling a cursed spirit also took time, and with Akira and Pangoro moving at full speed, every second mattered.

Another round of "Ora ora muda muda."

In a normal battle, purifying the cursed spirit wouldn't have been so easy. But when the cursed spirit couldn't fight back, things were different.

In the Pokémon anime, if someone gets hit by Hypnosis, it's basically an instant loss—much more overpowered than in the games.

Akira and Pangoro were both power attackers; even a tank couldn't withstand their blows.

Thus, Suguru Geto's confident strategy of combining quality and quantity not only failed to work but cost him two cursed spirits. The four he had recalled were also continuously losing strength.

"It seems six Grade 1 cursed spirits are still not enough. Why don't you release a few more?"

Akira rested his sword on his shoulder. With Pangoro on the left, Darkrai on the right, they maintained a triangular formation—ready for both attack and defense.

"Don't get cocky, brat!"

Suguru Geto, enraged by Akira's dismissive attitude, unleashed cursed energy so dense it seemed to materialize around him. Some of those emanations even made Akira, despite his current strength, feel nervous.

But before those emanations could manifest, the cursed energy swirling around Suguru Geto returned to calmness, along with his expression.

"I almost let you act me out again. The more your opponent wants you to do something, the less you should do it. If I keep releasing Grade 1 cursed spirits, I'd be walking right into your trap."

"What kind of trap could I have?" Akira feigned innocence, "I'm just a registered Grade 3 Sorcerer—how bad can my intentions be?"

"I haven't figured it out yet, but I will soon."

With that, Suguru Geto released the four Grade 1 cursed spirits, the same ones affected by Darkrai's Hypnosis, right in front of Akira.

This time, it was Akira's turn to be surprised:

"What are you doing? Even if you're Special Grade, you don't have many cursed spirits of this level, right?"

Like sorcerers, the higher the level, the fewer cursed spirits there are.

Low-grade cursed spirits could die in large numbers, without much care—they were easily replaceable.

But higher-grade cursed spirits—losing even one required a long time for accumulation and development to replace.

Although Japan held the world's highest cursed spirit retention rate and activity, Grade 1 cursed spirits were still relatively rare, and their appearance often triggered a response from the Jujutsu Alliance.

Let's not forget that Suguru Geto was a Cursed User—he couldn't move about openly.

Despite this, Suguru Geto smiled and waved his hand nonchalantly:

"They're not many, but also not few. Just six? I can afford the loss. I couldn't figure out how to wake them, so I might as well use them as bait. They're Grade 1 cursed spirits after all, fitting your expectations."

And so, on the basis of sacrificing a thousand of his own, the ball was passed back to Akira.

One had to admit that this move was highly effective.

Suguru Geto wasn't wrong—Akira had been acting this whole time, trying to draw Suguru Geto into his rhythm.

Whether it was using lower-grade cursed spirits to surround him or Darkrai taking down enemies with Hypnosis and "Bad Dreams," it was all for this purpose.

However, just six Grade 1 cursed spirits weren't enough to meet Akira's expectations. If his plans were exposed prematurely, Suguru Geto would become cautious, and all his efforts would be wasted. In that case, retreat would be the only option.

Akira was always realistic about his own abilities.

He was a "Special Grade Gatekeeper."

There was still a considerable gap between him and old-school Special Grade sorcerers like Suguru Geto.

As far as Akira knew, Suguru Geto had over 7,000 cursed spirits, with anywhere from a few dozen to over a hundred Grade 1 cursed spirits, and at least three Special Grade cursed spirits.

By comparison, Akira only had three Pokémon capable of combat, and his strongest, Gardevoir, wasn't even in Kyoto.

Under such circumstances, his only chance of victory was to exploit the information gap and Suguru Geto's unwillingness to kill him.

The first part of the plan had succeeded, but just two steps away from full success, Suguru Geto saw through it.

No wonder he was a Special Grade sorcerer, part of the most golden generation in the jujutsu world.

He wasn't an opponent that could be defeated solely with risky maneuvers and cunning schemes.

If that's the case—

"Darkrai, devour to your heart's content."

Upon receiving the command, Darkrai, the dark Pokémon, abandoned its previous evasive tactics and used the most direct and efficient method—piercing the chest of one of the cursed spirits with a claw.

Though it successfully woke the spirit, before it could react, Darkrai opened its mouth and devoured the dissipating cursed energy.

A Grade 1 cursed spirit—a monster that would be noteworthy anywhere—was merely food to Darkrai.

Sorry, I'm not targeting anyone specifically. I just want to say that all of you here are ____!