Kaito decided to wait and see how things played out first.
In theory, he could summon Fraud Megumi and hijack his body fast enough that the brainless [Sukuna] would mistake Fraud Megumi for another tumor attached to him.
Just a slightly bigger one than the tumor on his stomach.
The holy Suku-Blob, connecting every Fraud!
But summoning [Sukuna] (aka Mr. ‘Head Too High’) and Mahoraga at the same time would be a literal suicide bombing!
Both of their combat programs were built to go after the strongest thing in the area.
Imagine if the US dropped Little Boy and Fat Man, but instead of hitting their target, the two nukes turned on each other and exploded in mid-air.
No one would want an ending like that.
So, Kaito gave up on the idea, though he wasn’t happy about it.
To keep the real Sukuna and Jogo from ganging up on the brainless [Sukuna]…
Lord Kaito himself was stepping onto the battlefield!
Never mind that he’d technically never left the battlefield and had been chilling in the VIP seats the whole time.
‘I’m literally live-streaming while strapped to a deployed nuke.
If that doesn’t make me a war correspondent, I don’t know what does.’
Kaito kept two tentacles under the skin, holding on like a loyal tumor.
Then he pushed himself to the limit and called out five more tentacles.
Counting the two anchors, Kaito’s real limit was seven tentacles at once!
And he wasn’t just waving bare meat sticks around, either.
He was molding them into precise fingers to form hand signs!
[Sukuna] wasn’t a Shikigami Kaito had conquered, so he couldn’t control or command him.
But he could still act as [Sukuna]’s tumor.
Right now, it was fair to say they were basically one being.
Kaito couldn’t choose who [Sukuna] attacked, but he could make sure that attack was much tougher.
First up: the Tengai Shinsei meteor dropping on their heads.
Five tentacles formed hand signs.
Two pairs made the Enmaten sign, and the fifth pointed up like a blade.
He was giving up complex hand signs in exchange for a big boost to the slash’s power.
At the same time, Kaito chanted: “[Dragon Scales], [Recoil], [Twin Meteors]!”
This incantation wasn’t exclusive to the World-Cutting Slash.
It was the universal amplification chant for Dismantle.
The [Signs] and the [Chant] were in place.
[Sukuna] sensed it too.
Most people would be confused.
It was like having a tumor on your body suddenly start working a job for you.
For someone like [Sukuna], who was all about fighting, it made even less sense.
After confirming once again that Kaito was part of his body, [Sukuna] ignored him.
He looked up at the falling meteor.
From a distance, it looked like a big rock, but up close, it was massive.
Heat waves rolled across the area.
Without cursed energy, regular clothes would have caught fire long ago.
[Sukuna] raised his hand.
He performed several cursed hand signs that no ordinary person could do at the same time.
His incantation was perfect and complete.
Nothing was missing.
This [Dismantle] didn’t cost [Sukuna] a second of wind-up.
One slash, ten thousand cuts!
The magma boulder, hundreds of meters wide and powerful enough to destroy a city, paused for just a moment.
Thousands of slashes burst from its center.
It was as if Minecraft had come to life—the meteor broke apart into countless fist-sized magma cubes, then exploded.
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!”
A meteor fireworks show erupted in the sky above Tokyo Jujutsu High!
Judging by how far the magma shower spread, more than half the old wooden buildings on campus were going to need serious renovations.
The weather was perfect, with a clear blue sky.
That only made the red rain of magma seem even more threatening.
Kaito still felt like something was missing.
Satoru Gojo’s 200% Hollow Purple in Shinjuku…
On top of Gojo’s own [Signs] and [Chants], it had taken Utahime and Gakuganji working together to assemble the full amplification ritual of [Dance], [Music], [Signs], and [Chants], which pushed Utahime’s support technique to its peak.
Old man Gakuganji was only there to fill the [Music] slot.
Utahime’s technique, [Solo Forbidden Area], had nothing to do with dancing or music by nature.
Maybe any sorcerer could develop a full amplification ritual like hers, at least in theory.
But for most, it wasn’t realistic.
In a fight where every second counted, just managing hand signs and an incantation was impressive.
Adding music and dance?
No way your opponent would just stand by and let you.
Normally, only support types like Utahime had any reason to develop a full ritual.
But Kaito was different.
He could act as an accessory.
For [Music], he could sing a pop song.
“The weather outside the window~♪” Kaito started humming without thinking.
That Unlimited Void: Pop Song AMV Edition meme was stuck in his head.
He’d probably remember it for the rest of his life.
If he could actually develop the full ritual, having two mouths in this Suku-Blob body would finally be useful.
He could use one mouth for the incantation and shape a second one to sing the backing track.
“Didn’t think you had something like this in you, Kaito!!”
Sukuna had just arrived, and seeing the scene made him even more eager.
He realized the fake had more than twice his own cursed energy, and now Kaito was boosting it even further.
A one-on-one fight was out of the question.
Sukuna looked over and saw Jogo holding a charred, withered husk, looking anxious and lost.
Sukuna quickly moved to his side.
“The tree’s burning to death, and your brilliant plan to save it is crying over it and watering it with your tears? Idiot.”
“You…??” Jogo tensed, then realized the one standing in front of him was the REAL Sukuna.
The other [Sukuna] did nothing but repeat “You’re holding your head too high” while blowing people’s heads off.
“Get lost.” Sukuna kicked Jogo aside.
“That thing’s already looking this way. I don’t have time to explain.”
He snatched the charred Hanami from Jogo’s hands.
Credit where it’s due: Hanami’s defense was a lot higher than Jogo’s.
Even after getting roasted by lethal fire—the one element that hard-countered it—a sliver of life still clung on inside.
“Cut off the burnt parts of the tree and let it regrow. You don’t even know something this basic.”
[Cleave] activated with surgical precision.
The shriveled husk was carved away, leaving only the core.
Sukuna sliced a deep trench into a patch of distant forest untouched by the fire, magma, and heat, then tossed Hanami’s core inside.
“…” Jogo stared blankly, a glimmer of hope in his eye.
Hanami could survive!
But Sukuna only did it to get rid of Jogo’s burden so he could focus on the fight.
After just a moment of eye contact with his empty, dull counterpart, Sukuna lost interest in the fake.
Sukuna’s gaze dropped and locked onto Kaito.
Both Sukuna and the Suku-Blob smiled.
Sukuna’s was from his hunger for battle—while Kaito’s was from the excitement he’d been waiting for.
This first suicide-bombing act had finally reached its peak.
Jogo got to his feet and took his place shoulder-to-shoulder with Sukuna.
Across from them, nearly two hundred meters away, the [Sukuna] program processed data while Kaito’s tentacles formed hand signs.