Kevin the Bored
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37 Halfway There
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 18:38:05 +0000 UTCThe dim light of Tsukuyomi's palace is all that illuminates the midnight world, and Setsura takes a moment to enjoy a cool breeze as it passes.
Arrayed around her, she has every Shiroiwa Yuki-onna above Mid-class in strength gathered together, and on the opposite side of the lake, she can see the same is true of the Kappa.
In the centre of the lake, Narauko stands atop the unnaturally still water. Waiting.
She knows that he wanted this to be a festival, but they would be beyond foolish to trust that enough to bring out their entire villages. Maybe next time it will feel more festive, provided that there even is a next time.
She is confident she can win against any human other than the three that have held the title of Special Grade the longest right now. Narauko and Sukuna may be the ones that the humans call The Strongest, but she believes that the title is only earned when the two are together.
They did work together to best the Six Sighted Catastrophe after all, and she could have fought him well enough.
Noticing some movement on the side of the Kappa, Setsura looks down to her side and receives a nod from Shirokoaka.
Nodding back, she then faces forward once more and takes a step onto the lake. The water freezes below her feet with every step, while on the opposite side, every step of the Kappa Lord causes the calm waters to rage around him.
By the fifth step, Narauko opens his eyes, and when they meet her own, she realises that he must have good night vision. As Yōkai, they all naturally can see in the dark just fine, which is why no one bothered to light torches or anything else to light up the night.
Humans don't have that innate talent, and so she wonders if his vision is a result of a Technique, or a sign that his heritage is not entirely human. It would explain his strength.
Soon enough, by an unspoken signal, Setsura and Kazuro both stop at the same time, leaving them standing in a triangle formation with Narauko between them.
"Am I not taking this seriously enough?" Narauko asks, breaking the silence while glancing between them both with a queer look. "This feels super dramatic right now, but I do not have any dramatic lines to say. Whatever, we all know why we're here, so who wants to get beat up first?"
Setsura rolls her eyes at Narauko's words, and then finds herself surprised when Kazuro doesn't immediately burst forward to fight. From what she's heard of him, that seemed most likely.
However, instead of that, Kazuro almost looks contrite as he speaks up.
"You spoke with the Yuki-onna first, so fight her first." Kazuro punctuates his words by huffing and turning on his heel to walk away.
Ah, she sees it now. Glancing back to the shore, she can see the old Lord Kappa standing there and realises that he must have forced Kazuro to give up the first fight.
The conniving old geezer wants to maximise his advantages by trying to use her to tire Narauko out. That alone tells her enough of how the old man views Narauko, since he seems to be convinced that the human is at least strong enough to best one of them.
She will have to do her best to disappoint him then.
///
Narauko
///
"Well alright then." I shrug, watching Kazuro stalk away for a moment before turning to Setsura with a smile. "No hard feelings, right?"
She raises a brow in return, but I think she's amused. That's good.
"So," I continue, "To be official about things I suppose. I, Narauko, Jujutsu Sorcerer, hereby lay claim to this lake to be my own."
As I finish speaking, I start letting some of my Cursed Energy leak out. It actually takes more effort to do this than not, since being 'hidden' is really more natural to me than flaunting everything like Sukuna does.
But I don't think she knows that, and it feels like the right thing to do right now anyway. This way she can feel my growing excitement.
Setsura huffs at my actions, but nods her head and starts flaring her own power regardless, growing a small smile of her own that she's quick to hide. "I, Shiroiwa Setsura, Yuki-onna, also lay claim to this lake."
I make sure to match with her, pushing out more Cursed Energy and keeping equal to her until she levels out.
"Then, in accordance with the old ways, the strong will take and the weak will be taken from."
She isn't even really that much weaker than me. It's pretty close, at least in terms of output anyway.
It's still not enough.
"May the strongest rule," she agrees, nodding into the growing tension, and I smile.
She feels about as dangerous as Kiyohara does now, so I know she's strong. She just doesn't have Kiyohara's troublesome Technique to make up for everything else.
She just isn't strong enough.
But I am determined to enjoy this, so I have thought of a solution.
A Binding Vow.
It's easy to make a Binding Vow with someone else. You just say the words and it happens. But making a self imposed Vow on yourself is more difficult. Not that it is difficult, it just requires some focus.
And so I focus.
I will give up every facet of my Inherited Technique, with the exception of Max Elephant. In exchange, my fine control over Max Elephant will be enhanced.
I feel the metaphysical chains lock in place as soon as I finish thinking the final syllable, and when I experimentally try reaching out to my shadow, I find myself unable to touch it at all.
It's disconcerting to be so disconnected from something tied so deeply with my identity.
I smile.
This feels so interesting.
The water in front of me turns into a spike of ice launching for my chest, and I hop to the side to avoid it.
"It is rather rude to lose focus immediately," Setsura calls out, sounding rightly annoyed.
Fair enough.
"Max Elephant," I intone, though I keep the Shikigami in my shadow for now. I only need its Technique.
Snapping my fingers, I use Max Elephant's Technique to gather the lake water around me into four spears that point at my foe.
Max Elephant can normally only generate water with its Technique, but thanks to the Vow it's more like Water Manipulation. How fun.
A wall of ice springs into place in front of Setsura right in time for my spears of water to pierce into it. The spears immediately freeze over, but it hardly matters as I am already there.
The wall shatters under a single punch, and I'm greeted by the surprised eyes of Setsura as I rush through the fragments.
Did she not expect me to get close?
Her surprise doesn't linger for long, as a pillar of ice shoots out of the lake right beneath her feet, launching her into the air at an angle just in time to avoid my fist.
The pillar of ice shatters under the blow, but instead of falling down, the disconnected shards all hover in the air for a single breath before they start shaving away until they are each sharp blades pointed right at me.
I don't really have the space to dodge, so I don't.
My Cursed Energy flows over my skin and Max Elephant's Technique turns it all into water. Water that then rapidly flows around my body like a skin-tight vortex of armour.
It doesn't work perfectly. All of the smaller icicles are brushed away by the current, but some of the larger ones manage to make it through enough to draw blood, one particular shard even manages to get lodged in my shoulder.
Looking up at the falling form of Setsura, I watch her fall while I experimentally test my control over the water. I haven't exactly practiced this.
There isn't really a lot of media that I still remember from my last life, but there is one thing that's coming to mind right now. An ability I read about once.
The vortex of water surrounding me calms as I focus my mind on the effect I desire. It's not really even all that complicated, so by the time Setsura touches back down on the lake, I have the new Technique figured out.
Now I just need to test it.
"Extension Technique: Water Echo."
I lift an arm in the air and watch as a flood of water follows the movement.
Smiling, I turn my attention back to Setsura and take a step forward. Behind me, like a delayed echo, water follows me.
The lake around Setsura's feet rapidly starts to freeze over, creating a growing circle of ice that steams with frozen vapour. The only thing that stops the water immediately around me from freezing over is that I am consciously forcing the water to move, crushing it against itself and shattering any ice before it can spread.
It doesn't really matter. This new Technique isn't all that impressive on paper, but fiction or not, I know how devastating it can be when used right. I may not be an Endbringer, but I don't think that will matter here.
"I'm going to attack now," I say, my voice carrying over the otherwise silent air.
I don't wait for her to answer. Instead, I dash forward, leaving a trail of water following me.
A giant spear of ice rises at an angle from her feet to meet me, and at the same time a dozen more spears rise into the air around her, all honing on to my form.
If the ice was just ice then I could have simply ran through it, but I can feel the weight beholden to them, so I don't. Instead, I simply twist and side-step the spear, feeling the cold air brushing against my cheek.
Not a moment later, my instincts to blare a warning at me that I hastily follow to duck under a blade of ice that juts out of the side of the spear in line with my neck.
More blades of ice burst out of the wall of ice in my path, and in response I swing an arm up, sending out an arc of razor sharp water that cuts through them all and leaves a clear path to Setsura. My other hand smashes against the wall of ice and shatters it.
With no time to send the broken ice back after me, Setsura, still looking unconcerned, gestures forward. The smaller spears of ice hovering around her follow the movement and launch at me with such speed that I can barely track them.
I don't have the time to dodge or block, so I do neither. Instead, I just smirk and slam a foot down in front of myself and come to a complete and sudden stop.
However, unlike my body, my Water Echo keeps going, a shadow of my body conserving my momentum. I read once that hitting water at sufficient speed is more like hitting concrete. Harder even.
So when my Water Echo slams forward into the spears of ice, I am not surprised when they shatter into fine dust, leaving the air sparkling.
Dashing after my echo, I note the way Setsura's eyes widen briefly before hardening. Almost at the same time, one of her hands comes forward as if to stop me, and unlike the spears before, this time the ice that forms is far more intricate.
It starts as a growing snowflake that twists and folds into itself, multiplying and growing until it stands as a bulwark between us. The shield isn't particularly thick, and with it looking like a large snowflake, it doesn't seem sturdy.
But looks can be deceiving, and when I look at it, I can feel the difference between this construct and the ones she's been throwing at me so far.
Heh. She wasn't taking me seriously. I probably shouldn't complain, since it'd be rather hypocritical.
My grin grows.
For a second time, I slam to a halt right before the snowflake, but immediately burst back into movement, following after my echo.
The water slams into the snowflake and it cracks. The fist that follows shatters it.
With nothing blocking me, I look forward to see Setsura hopping backwards, landing a short distance away. Almost in the same moment that her feet touch the frozen water, it immediately starts to shift.
From where she stands, the ice flattens and twists, lines carving into it until a large lotus flower crafted from ice rises to the air. A thin lattice of tiny poles of ice form around the flower like a cage, only with holes larger than my torso and bars thinner than my finger.
Smiling, I throw a punch at the air and dash to the side while the echo of my fist crashes into the self-made birdcage with all the speed of a bullet.
Once again appearances deceive as, only the very moment before the echo of my fist would have passed through the gaps in her cage, the thin bars abruptly sprout more ice in its path, blocking the attack completely and freezing the echo of my fist.
That's interesting.
I'm given no time to ponder this as from the frozen lake, Setsura conjures one hundred and eight swords of ice. Each of them is as long as I am tall, and they each rise equidistant from one another around her.
More than that, each sword is polished to perfection and lined with intricate and incredibly detailed, unique, carvings. Unlike the simple spears from before, I can feel the power each of these blades has singing in their creation.
It's beautiful. More like a work of art than a weapon.
"I can't believe you through those spears at me," I call out, feeling both vaguely offended and highly amused. Seriously, the difference is staggering.
Setsura smirks at me. "And yet you bleed? Perhaps the quality of those shoddy spears are where you stand?"
Gasping dramatically at the mocking in her tone, I grab the shard of ice in my shoulder and yank it out, healing the wound immediately. "I will have you know, that was a result of me being reckless and silly. Watch, I'll win this fight without taking another hit."
Her eyes narrow so I wink at her and make finger guns. Except, it occurs to me that she would have no idea what finger guns are, which is why I shouldn't have been surprised when she took the gesture as an attack and responding my sending two swords at me.
Caught slightly off guard, I'm delayed in my response and barely manage to lean backwards enough to avoid the first blade trying to cleave my head off. Then, before even getting to think, I plant my hands on the churning water below me and brace as if it is solid. Using the leverage, I pull my legs back, curling up to avoid a downwards strike from cutting me in half.
Immediately after the blade would have cut me, I kick my legs back out, knocking the sword away and only cracking it to my surprise. I thought it would have shattered.
Still, I use the force of the kick to throw myself backwards and roll to my feet. I only get a moment to assess the situation, and I see the vast majority of the swords starting to fly in my direction.
Setsura however seems content to stay bundled up in her little cage. She must not be a fan of close quarters. Well at least I have a victory condition now. Break through her barrier and get close.
Sounds simple, but that barrier seems really tough.
Looking between the dozens of floating blades pointed at me, I realise that this would be a lot easier with, say, a bunch of Shikigami to even out the numbers.
"Hehe," I can't help but giggle a bit.
The Vow is already in place and I won't be able to keep enough focus to break it in the middle of a fight, so oh well. I only cracked that one sword when I kicked it, so I guess I'll just have to hit them harder.
The first sword reaches me and goes for a simple swing at my neck that I step back to avoid, taking care to observe the path it takes. If she's focusing on controlling each of these swords, then they'll probably take similar paths.
If I can learn the rhythm, then this will become a lot easier. Like fighting a Dark Souls boss.
Man I miss those games.
That pang of sorrow is washed away as another sword comes barrelling towards my chest, spinning like an arrow.
A twist to the side is enough to avoid it, but by now the rest of the swords have arrived, and suddenly there is no time for idle thoughts.
I squat under another swing and raise a leg to avoid a low cut, using the single point of focus to spin around and avoid another thrust.
Ten swords come at me at the same time, a horizontal swing to my neck from four sides, diagonal to both legs and another four to my torso.
Grinning like a loon, I bounce off my toes and into the air, rotating my body until I am perpendicular to the earth, allowing me to slip through the gap between both horizontal attacks.
A laugh leaves me as I land. So joyous am I at doing such an action movie dodge that I nearly get pierced by the next sword.
I'm starting to get the hang of how they move now. It's all very surgical. Precise. Makes it easy to predict.
My will takes control of the water that has been pooling off of my body with all this movement, and I form it into half a dozen tentacles that immediately swing out to bat aside the next set of swords.
I suppose I don't need to break them after all.
My eyes narrow down on Setsura's barrier, even as the majority of my attention is still on forming the water around me into tentacles to bat away the violent swords.
No sense in being too passive.
Raising a leg, I pump it full of Cursed Energy and bring it down with force.
The five foot circle of water around me practically explodes, while the ice further out shatters to pieces almost entirely. Setsura's creations are fine though.
Not unexpected, but the swords did at least get blown back a little bit, giving me some breathing room that I don't waste. My muscles tense, the impossible strength of my body making me smile as it always does, and then my body becomes water as only an echo is left behind.
The eight swords she kept behind all form up in front of me, three charging forward to meet me.
I don't stop moving and drop into a slide at the last moment. The three swords smash into my echo and turns it into a sculpture, which gives me an idea.
Sliding back to my feet, my hands clap together and without braking contact, I pull them apart until I am holding a ball of water. Bringing one side of my hands up to my lips and pointing the other forward, I take a deep breath before blowing between my fingers.
The ball of water expands ahead of me like I'm blowing a soap bubble, rapidly becoming as wide as I am tall. Not a moment later, I pull back and punch the bubble of water forward, sending it rocketing into the guarding swords.
Keeping up my pace behind the bubble, I smirk with satisfaction as it impacts the swords of ice and immediately freezes over, coincidentally locking the swords in place with its bulk.
Not pausing to admire my genius, I hop and vault over the ball of ice, cresting it to see Setsura staring at me with a raised brow.
I think she looks at least a little bit impressed.
Like I did with the snowflake, I slam to a halt right before her cage and then throw myself back in motion, following after the echo.
Unlike with the snowflake, the echo is simply frozen in place just like the last attack I sent at the deceptively effective cage.
Not halting my movement a second time, I angle myself to the side slightly, aiming a punch at the open air between the cage's bars.
Unsurprisingly, the very instant before my fist would have passed the barrier, ice extends out from the bars, moving so fast that there isn't even a blur, and blocks my blow completely.
I feel the bones of my fist break and my shoulder dislocate from the impact, but the ice doesn't move at all, even as some of my blood breaks through my knuckles to taint the alabaster surface.
Damn.
I see the exact moment that Setsura's eyes notice my blood by the way her eyes and smile widen in tandem, and as I bounce back and circle away from her pursuing swords, I cut her off before she can say anything.
"That doesn't count as taking a hit!" I yell at her.
Turning to face the approaching hoard of swords, I don't bother with any tricks and kneel to place my hands on the lack below. A pule of Cursed Energy leaves me and then flows out of me incessantly, spawning forth an absolute tsunami.
"You bled!" Setsura yells back.
My wave of water swallows the hoard of swords and joins the rest of the battlefield in freezing over. With a moment's respite granted, I turn an accusing finger to Setsura.
"I bled from my attack! Not yours!"
Setsura huffs and then makes a simple gesture with her hand, flicking a finger up.
Following the movement, one hundred and eight swords rise equidistant around her.
"Tch."
Well then. I guess I need to figure out a way to break that barrier sooner rather than later. As I think that, I notice a white mist starting to flow from beneath the lotus platform of her barrier.
I can only assume that that will freeze me if I get too close, a defence against melee assault.
That just means I need a ranged answer.
I can think of dozens of solutions off the top of my head that would have been available if not for the Vow. That's pretty funn-
A gasp leaves me as inspiration strikes.
I have had an idea!
If one Vow has got me in trouble, then surely a second Vow will cancel it out right?
The swords start flying towards me again, but this time I don't bother moving. Instead, I just call Max Elephant out into the world.
The large pink Shikigami rises from nothing right in front of me and immediately shoots a torrent of water from its trunk that slams straight into the encroaching hoard and immediately starts to freeze.
I ignore that though and place a hand on the back of the Shikigami's hind leg, closing my eyes in focus.
The beam of water starts freezing over, ice steadily spreading towards Max Elephant who can't output enough water fast enough to keep the cold at bay.
I open my mouth, my words heavy with spiritual weight. "Max Elephant will cease to be an autonomous being. It will take a permanent, inanimate shape. In exchange for this loss of versatility and autonomy, the strength of Max Elephant's output will be enhanced drastically."
Right before the ice would have reached Max Elephant's trunk, the water is cut off and the Shikigami is pulled backwards. The last of the water freezes with a thousand tiny spikes barely brushing up against the end of the Shikigami's trunk.
However, none of the ice reaches as Max Elephant starts to twist and shrink in on itself, collapsing into my open palm in a rather fascinating display.
It takes only seconds before the once large elephant has twisted into a vaguely cylindrical shape half again as long as my arm.
I watch with intrigue as my Shikigami morphs to my desires. The body smooths out, sharpening and taking hard edges. The end shrinks into a thin cylinder with a wide tip, while the rest thins out and starts to take shape.
It only takes a moment, but I cannot stop smiling when I am left holding a blocky, futuristic looking sniper rifle in my hands.
The barrel is shaped like a trunk, the wrinkles turning into sharp plates like heat vents, while the main body is vaguely shaped like an elephant's head, two tusks growing to halfway underneath the barrel.
A pair of 'ears' protrude from the body of the rifle, folding down like a guard to the trigger, while the scope that sits on top is shaped like a rectangle and glows red.
Oh hell yeah, I think to myself, admiring the new form of my Shikigami.
I turn my attention back to Setsura, watching as she summons forth another set of swords without a care. She eyes my changed Shikigami curiously, and I decide to indulge her.
"Extension Technique: Elephant Gun,"
Setsura sends her swords forward for a third time, but I just bring my Big Fucking Gun up to my shoulder, plant my feet, and take aim.
Taking a deep breath, I look through the scope, watching as the hundred swords all form up between Setsura and I, but I don't need to use my eyes to see her.
I let got of my breath and pull the trigger.
A blue light flashes from the barrel and disappears into the wall of swords while the recoil slams into my shoulder. An instant later and my ears are assaulted by the bang of the sound barrier being shattered.
The light fades into nothing barely a moment later, leaving the world in a strange stillness as I stare at the gaping hole left in the wall of swords. A hole that allows me a clear sight all the way to Setsura's form.
She is standing inside of her barrier, eyes wide and jaw dropped, staring down at her side in shock. One of her hands reaches to apply pressure, but it only manages to drown in the torrents of blood pouring out of the hole carved into her hip.
Dang, I aimed off centre just in case this was more powerful than I expected, but that still looks pretty bad.
Giving my Shikigami an appreciative once over, I can't deny it. This is cool as fuck.
I'm brought out of my self admiration when Setsura collapses onto her back and all of her constructs shatter into pieces.
"Oh shit." Dismissing my Shikigami, I throw myself forward, reaching Setsura's side in mere moments and dropping to my knees to hold her off the ground.
She looks up at me like she is seeing me for the first time, and I look down at her like blood is coming out of her mouth. Because blood is coming out of her mouth.
That can't be healthy.
Setsura tries to speak only to end up coughing blood at me.
"Just wait a second will you? I will fix you up right now. Sorry for hitting you so hard." As I speak, I pull my mind towards the self imposed Vow that is blocking me off from the rest of my Innate Technique and I start to slowly unravel it.
It doesn't really take long, and I soon feel my mind and soul open up to the full breadth of my abilities once more.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Selfish Deer," I intone as soon as I can.
My favourite Shikigami climbs out of my shadow and immediately nuzzles its snout against Setsura's shoulder.
Like something out of a time lapse, the hole in Setsura's hip regenerates to perfection almost instantaneously.
A gasp leaves Setsura's lips at the feeling and she shoots up, hands patting down where her bare skin is visible through the hole in her robes.
Her eyes turn to me after a moment with a startling intensity.
"You really can heal Yōkai," she notes, seemingly for lack of anything else to say coming to mind.
"I am not a very good liar."
"I thought I was going to die, just for a moment," Setsura abruptly admits, making me blink.
Feeling sheepish, I scratch the back of my neck and fail to meet her eyes.
"Uh, sorry? I did not want to kill you but I also did not want to insult you by hesitating to hurt you."
"How many of those Shikigami do you possess?" Setsura asks, seemingly not even hearing my apology.
"Uh, ten? My Technique is called the Ten Shadows," I answer truthfully, idly wondering if she's in shock or something.
"Ten," she whispers to herself, quietly enough that I wouldn't have heard it if my senses were normal. "You pushed me until I felt death's touch with only one tenth of your strength?"
"Err," I freeze, not really sure how to respond to that.
I probably shouldn't mention my training weights.
Luckily, I am saved from having to answer when a boisterous presence rapidly starts to approach, indirectly reminding me that we aren't alone. I kind of forgot about the audience to be honest.
"MARVOLOUS COMBAT!!!" Kazuro's voice rings out before the excitable Kappa crashes down on the ice right next to us. "I DO HOPE YOU DO NOT EXPECT TO BEST ME SO EASILY!!"
Setsura rises to her feet with a scoff, sneering at Kazuro, but ultimately decides against saying anything to him. Instead, she schools her features and turns to give me a formal bow.
"You have proven your strength surpasses my own. I, Shiroiwa Setsura, hereby forfeit any claim to this lake." Formality done, she rises from her bow and glances to Kazuro and then back to me. "If you could best this fool with an even smaller fraction of your power, it would please me greatly."
"Hah!" I laugh, but shake my head. "Sorry, but I can not do that. Kappa fight with water and Yuki-onna fight with ice, so I figured I should beat you with water and Kazuro with ice. It seems like the right thing to do."
This way neither side can claim that their element is stronger than the other, because the strongest of them will have both lost to the other.
"DO NOT HOLD BACK AGAINST ME NARAUKO!!!" Kazuro yells, but we both ignore him.
Setsura smiles and shakes her head at my words. "Very well, do as you please."
Her piece said, Setsura turns and walks away, returning to her side of the lake where the rest of the Yuki-onna are standing watch.
Taking the moment to observe them, I note with some amusement that they appear rather shocked by this turn of events.
My awesomeness is truly breath-taking.
"NARAUKO!!!" Kazuro yells once more, and I send him a smile.
"Give me a minute to get rid of all this ice to reset the battlefield, okay?"
"FINE!! DO NOT TAKE LONG!!"
Someone's impatient.
I let out a breath and my smile falls slightly.
I really thought that would have been harder.
Oh well. One down, one to go.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Wasn't feeling this fight at all at the start, cuz for some reason it took me 3 days to remember that ice manipulation can do more than throw spears around. Idfk what kind of brain fart has been poisoning me.
Still, I feel like this chap is kinda meh tbh. I feel like I made a mistake by not properly setting the stakes. I've realised that it's actually really rather difficult to write a fight without there being stakes and like, a proper reason for the fight.
But I am not going to go back and change it, I'm just going to plow through with my mistake no matter how much it makes me hate myself. Because all the psychic damage I take writing shit I don't like just makes the lesson stick better so that I don't repeat my mistakes.
Next chap should wrap up this side quest that has gone longer than I thought it would, then it'll finally be the capital arc, which will have more than just the torny btw.
Comments
Javen
the ten shadows is such an absurdly versatile technique its actually ridiculous. I love it. I REALLY hope this fic will go on long enough to eventually see Narauko evolve into a being capable of throwing down with the real power houses and not just humans and high class yokai.
Kz3838
Thank you for the great chapter, love how your using binding vows here. Stay safe out there and keep up the good work!
