Chapter 27 -Switching with Sukuna

"You're so troublesome." Sachiko huffed as she fought with the curse user. "You won't let me leave, will you?"

"No, if I let you leave now, you'll ruin the plans." He replied.

"Well, at least you're honest about that." Sachiko replied nonchalantly as the battle continued. The fight had been going on for a few minutes already and no one could actually leave because no one was actually winning. But, she knew the curse user was not showing his real strength just like she wasn't.

As a result, it was more like a spar than a real battle.

However, Sachiko had a chance to study the curse user, especially his cursed energy flow when he used cursed energy to attack. It was a shame he didn't use a cursed technique against her. She thought.

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Itadori thought about switching with Sukuna. But, he knew it was extremely risky to do so and that was why he was trying so hard to fight on his own. He knew Nobara was battling with the death painting brothers in endurance but that didn't mean the two brothers wouldn't attack him here and there. But, with Nobara using her cursed technique, the two couldn't focus on him that much anymore.

Nobara groaned as she put another nail into her arm. Kechizu looked like he was at his limit soon while Eso didn't seem that affected by her cursed technique yet.

"Kechizu..." Eso murmured. "Don't die."

"Eso..." Kechizu mumbled. If Nobara continued at this pace, he could die.

"Itadori! Lend me a hand!"

And, Itadori did. He quickly punched Kechizu with black flash. However , he was attacked by the finger -bearer the moment he stopped paying attention to it.

Kechizu was on the verge of dying after Itadori's punch and whispered Eso's name.

"We are one entity." Eso remembered Choso's words, forcing himself to undo his cursed technique.

"I haven't shown you this technique yet. It's called Hairpin." Nobara said as she used hairpin to finish off Kechizu.

"Kechizu..." Tears could be seen in Eso's eyes as his brother got killed.

"Nice. One down. We can definitely do this!" Itadori said.

However, he suddenly felt an even stronger aura surging from the finger-bearer.

"What..is wrong..?"

"It became stronger....?"

It was like some switch had been flipped. The finger-bearer got even stronger and became even more aggressive.

"What is happening?"

It was the last thing Itadori could think before getting hit by a blast of cursed energy again and again. His head was hit with the stone wall several times already and blood flowed all the way down to his uniform, staining them.

Nobara was also attacked by Eso who reactivated his wing king as soon as his brother died. She tried to dodge the attacks but it was hard to do so.

Just when she thought she was about to die, she saw Itadori in front of her, pierced in the stomach by a wing king. The finger-bearer also didn't stop the attacks, instead, it semt blasts of cursed energy to attack them.

"Itadori..."

"Kugisaki....run.."

Itadori mumbled as he kept protecting her.

"Itadori!"

"Run....Get away from this barrier as far as you can. I will hold on for a few minutes..and then.."

"And then what?"

"I'll let out Sukuna. We still have to destroy this curse so that more people won't be cursed." Itadori replied.

"Are you crazy? Nakamura said...you can't.."

"She said not to make a pact... She didn't actually say not to switch with Sukuna you know.." Itadori said with a weak smile.

"It's still..."

"Please listen to me, Kugisaki."

"Fine...I'll just get some backup so don't you dare die." Nobara then quickly ran outside of the barrier.

As soon as Nobara was outside , she saw Megumi and Junpei. Junpei was applying pressure on his chest to prevent more blood loss but he wasn't looking really good.

"Why are you still here and not on your way to hospital? And where's Nakamura? If she was here, she could've treated your injuries."

Nobara frowned.

"I..insisted on staying here and we're trying to call Nitta san because we lost contact with Nakamura."

Megumi nodded to Junpei's reply.

"Wait..what do you mean you lost contact?"

"That's what it sounds. Divine dogs couldn't track her and we also couldn't call her." Megumi replied grimly.

"Fushiguro also tried to go into the barrier after I came out, but for some reason, he couldn't go in. I also couldn't go in after I came out." Junpei explained.

"Right, Itadori told us to run. He planned to let Sukuna out because the finger-bearer became even more powerful." Nobara told them.

"What? We're running away?" Junpei asked.

"We should, for now. We can't deal with neither Sukuna nor the finger-bearer. No matter who came out of that barrier, we would die. So, we have to do the logical thing." Nobara said.

"But..." Junpei tried to interrupt, "I thought you were friends with him...You can't just abandon him"

"I wasn't abandoning him, okay? We'll just move to safety first and then we can get backup later! That's what that idiot asked us to do!! Do you get it?" Nobara practically yelled.

"I..."

"Besides , you're losing so much blood already. You're not gonna make it if this goes on." Nobara grabbed Junpei's hand and prepared to flee.

"I'm staying." Megumi said.

"What?"

"You said it could be Sukuna that comes out or it could be the finger-bearer. Either way, it is my responsibility because Tsumiki is my sister and I was the one who saved Itadori back then. That's why, I need to stay here to deal this."

"Not you too, Fushiguro!" Nobara shouted.

"Just go with Yoshino first." Megumi said firmly, leaving no room for discussion.

"Tsk, Whatever..." Nobara said.

Nobara didn't run quickly because Junpei couldn't run. She wished Fushiguro was with them and carried Junpei.

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Back inside the barrier, Itadori was trying to endure for a few minutes before switching with Sukuna. During those minutes, he was already pierced by Eso's wing king and punched by the finger-bearer multiple times. His head was injured, stomach and chest pierced.

"It has been a few minutes, right?" Itadori said to himself.

"Sukuna? Switch with me."

"I refuse." Sukuna replied with a sinister laugh.

"Why? I thought you will die if I die."

"I still have seventeen pieces of my soul, brat."

"Even so...I still don't want to die.. and I want to kill these curses so that more people won't die."

"You sound so pathetic, brat. What? Are you now going to ask me to save you with a pact? I thought that little classmate of yours warned you." Sukuna said.

"I'm not agreeing to a pact with you. If I want you to take over, I just have to lose control for a while, isn't it so?" Itadori replied as forcibly gave control to Sukuna.

"This brat...he is getting on my nerves."

Sukuna said as he was given control of Itadori's body.

The two curses paused their attacks the moment Sukuna gained control.

"Wait...I'll think of what to do with this brat." Sukuna said.

"Alright, let's hunt down a group of brats together." He made his way to go outside of the barrier.

It was at that moment the finger-bearer attacked.

"While it's true that curses usually can't go outside of the area they manifested, it is not the case for you, is it? But, you refuse to go out with me. Oh, right, you're controlled by someone after all. That is the reason you are about two fingers strong despite only swallowing one of my fingers." Sukuna said with a sinister grin, "If it is the case, just die here."

Sukuna attacked the finger-bearer while Eso just watched at the side. His errand did not include facing with Sukuna, after all.

Soon, the finger-bearer was destroyed by Sukuna and Sukuna took his finger back. And, he swallowed.

"Now, let's go hunt down the brats."

Before Eso could reply anything, "It's not a question and if you don't listen to me, I'll kill you." Sukuna simply said before leaving. Eso could only follow him.

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Junpei and Nobara ran together. After running for three minutes, they ran into a certain someone.

"Nakamura?"

Nobara raised her eyebrows.

"I thought something happened to you because we lost contact with you."

"Oh...about that, my phone was completely destroyed. Not that it would've worked anyway since I was in a barrier. I tried to come back sooner but sorry guys, I ran into something troublesome." Sachiko didn't look at Nobara who was sending murderous glare.

"Oh, you're injured? Here, let me use Reverse cursed technique on you." Sachiko diverted the topic and healed Junpei.

"I am healed?" Junpei blinked.

"You don't know about reverse cursed technique ?" Sachiko asked.

"No."

"Well, it's multiplying a source of cursed energy with another to create a positive energy that can be used to heal." Sachiko explained.

"Oh, it's cool." Junpei said, "But why didn't Yuji use it when he was injured? Is it supposed to be an advanced technique ?"

"Yes, it is. Only a few people can use cursed energy to heal because the process to heal humans is more complicated. To be able to heal another person using reverse cursed technique is even harder." Nobara said.

"But I can use it because you know..I'm a genius." Sachiko winked.

".....God damn, stay away from Gojo sensei. You're starting to sound like him." Nobara groaned.

"I don't think that's a bad thing." Sachiko pouted.

"I can't believe you're older than us..." Nobara sighed.

"Oh, I almost forgot. What about Yuji..umm..Itadori and Fushiguro? Did they stay there to stall some time?" Sachiko finally asked after wasting a few more seconds laughing.

"Wait..don't say Itadori was going to switch with Sukuna and Fushiguro's waiting him?"

"..."

"They are..."

"F**k, I was gone for like a few minutes? Didn't I warn him not to do so?" Sachiko facepalmed.

"Well, you didn't warn him like that." Nobara rolled her eyes.

"I didn't? As expected, trying to activate Possibility without real contexts and all like this really takes a toll on my mind. But, let's not worry about that for now." Sachiko said to herself.

"Alright , I'll go find them now. Wanna come with me?" She asked.

"We're coming."

"Alright. "