The original Jujutsu Kaisen actually showed a fair amount of respect for modern firearms and the units that carried them.
In the original work, United States forces had once rounded up Culling Game Players en masse during the game itself. Mopping up Grade 3 and Grade 4 sorcerers was well within what they could do.
The problem was that Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcerers are not the same thing.
A sorcerer is human. Humans are allergic to metal and gunpowder.
A Cursed Spirit ignores the physical damage a bullet does. Without Cursed Energy, you cannot wound a Cursed Spirit.
And the Mahito standing there was a Cursed Spirit. An attack carrying no Cursed Energy couldn't scratch him — not even a missile.
But the rifles in the soldiers' hands began to hiss and crackle like live current, and cursed seals rose along the barrels.
Itadori, standing off to one side, felt the Cursed Energy rippling off those guns. His eyes went wide with surprise and curiosity.
He hadn't dealt with United States forces at all since the Culling Game began, but he'd heard the rumors — that their rifles and ammunition had long since been retooled and upgraded through the Culling Game's System Shop, turning the whole unit into men armed head to toe with cursed tools.
How they had gathered that many points in so short a time, he had no idea. But there was no question about the result: this unit could bring Cursed Energy attacks to bear that would crush any ordinary Grade 2 or Grade 3 sorcerer.
"Open fire!" the captain barked.
Bang bang bang bang bang —
The volley went up as one. Countless Cursed Energy rounds poured out, drawing tangled red lines through the curtain of rain before hammering into Mahito like a cloudburst.
Mahito was riddled with holes in an instant. The momentum drove him backward through the air, limbs flailing like wet rags.
The attack was landing.
A massed volley of cursed rounds — the power behind it was staggering.
"Hahahaha! Your toys are wonderful!" Mahito laughed. "But ordinary attacks don't work on me! Not even ones carrying Cursed Energy!"
And it was true. Ordinary Cursed Energy attacks could barely wound a Mahito who possessed Idle Transfiguration.
"Thanks for the help!" Itadori shouted to the unit's captain. "I've got a way to hurt Mahito — can you help us take this clone alive?"
The captain gave him a puzzled look. "Why take it alive?"
"Miss Mahiru has a plan." Itadori shook his head and left it there.
In truth, after they killed the first Mahito clone on day one, holding on to the remains would have been enough. Those remains could be used to "resonate" with Mahito's true body several times over. They had Nobara's Cursed Technique, and this was exactly the kind of situation she existed for.
But when they'd asked Mahiru's opinion, she had studied the matter carefully and then, oddly, told them to hold off for the time being.
Itadori and the others had asked why. Mahiru only gave a sly little laugh and said she had a very good idea. As for what that idea actually was — she hadn't spelled it out for him.
Still, they trusted Mahiru without question, so they'd been carrying out her plan wholeheartedly ever since.
The captain, though, stayed silent for a moment.
"We don't need your help," he said, shaking his head. "We have a way to hurt this thing."
Huh? Itadori blinked, thrown.
Before he could work out what that was supposed to mean, the captain was already shouting: "Simple Domain rounds — ready!"
Every soldier drew a special magazine from his belt in one crisp motion and slotted it into his rifle.
"Those are —?" Itadori's eyes went wide.
The next moment, every man fired.
The muzzle flashes turned an eerie blue, and the rounds streaked at Mahito, punching through his body again and again.
"Impossible!" Mahito's composure collapsed into terror. "What is this?!"
It was Simple Domain.
Cursed rounds with the Simple Domain Cursed Technique layered onto them.
Used as a means of attack, Simple Domain grants physical damage a guaranteed hit. In the original work, Mechamaru had fired shells enhanced with Simple Domain to wound Mahito.
"That's incredible —" Itadori started, then caught himself and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "But everyone, we need him alive —!"
The captain ignored him.
The soldiers paid him no mind at all. They simply kept firing.
The tide of rounds ground the already half-dead clone — the one Itadori had beaten down to a sliver — into powder, and it dissolved across the ground into a smear of remains. The clone was dead for good.
Itadori looked at that puddle of remains and grimaced. "…I did say. I asked you to help me take him alive…"
"We're under no obligation to help you," the captain said, his voice flat and cold. "Our orders were to destroy this clone."
Itadori drew a long breath.
It struck him, all at once, that these people had come to help him kill Mahito for reasons that had nothing to do with being good people.
These people… weren't allies.
"Hello, Mr. Yaga, Miss Mahiru." In an office at Jujutsu High, an old man in military dress smiled warmly. "I've come to discuss a partnership."
Mahiru sat off to the side with her head tilted, watching the two old men talk.
"General, I'm not sure I follow you." Yaga considered it, then spoke first. "Aren't we already working together? Do you have some new proposal?"
The old man chuckled and waved a hand behind him. His secretary stepped forward, drew several photographs from a document folder, and laid them out one by one on the desk.
Yaga glanced down — and froze.
Curious, Mahiru got up off the sofa and leaned over the desk to look.
It was a series of photographs, all of them showing United States troops killing Mahito clones in different locations.
Mahiru studied them carefully. None of the battlefields in the photos looked like the ones from the past few days. Which meant these fights had probably happened today — possibly only minutes ago.
"We also have video, and trophies…" The old man slid a phone playing a clip in front of Yaga, then nudged it toward Mahiru so she could see it more easily. "Whatever you'd like verified, I can provide."
Yaga frowned. "Forgive my bluntness, General. A good many of these locations aren't under United States jurisdiction — you sent troops into territory we administer, and I don't recall being notified in advance."
"Set against the safety of the public, surely none of that matters?" The old man they called General smiled and waved it off.
Yaga narrowed his eyes, an edge of displeasure in his voice. "The principle is sound enough, I'll grant you…"
"As you've seen for yourself." The old man spread his arms, still smiling. "On Jujutsu High's side, apart from a handful of powerful sorcerers like Miss Mahiru here, no one can do meaningful damage to this Cursed Spirit."
"And as you know, he's still growing stronger. More troublesome by the day. Today he threw a great many of your districts into panic. Tomorrow he may well break through one of your strongholds, and the tragedy will be enormous."
"So what exactly are you proposing?" Yaga rubbed his chin.
"What I'm proposing is that we cooperate." The old man smiled. "We station our units inside your strongholds."
"Station them inside our strongholds?"
"You have no way to hold off the Cursed Spirit called Mahito. We do. We've already developed cursed tool rounds that damage him with ease. Work with us, and you can borrow our strength and accept our protection. At the same time, we accumulate more combat experience — and we share your resources a little…"
So that was it.
Listening from the side, Mahiru had the whole picture.
The same old play.
Station troops under the banner of protection, then use the garrisons to seize ground inch by inch. And nobody could say for certain whether these people had other aims behind that.
Yaga understood all of it just as well, of course.
"Frankly, this is something you should be taking to the jujutsu higher-ups," Yaga said, brow furrowed.
In theory, the jujutsu higher-ups still held the reins of the jujutsu world.
"Oh, come now." The old man looked delighted. "Who doesn't know that the people who actually control the main power of the jujutsu world are the two of you? Two Special Grade Sorcerers, plus Miss Mahiru and her companions… every real force out there either belongs to Jujutsu High or belongs to Miss Mahiru." He spread his hands. "Do you truly intend to keep letting yourselves be restrained by a pack of old men who can barely fight?"
Yaga grimaced and said nothing.
Off to the side, Mahiru rolled her eyes.
It was true, though.
She'd been wanting to complain about it for ages.
Those feeble creatures among the jujutsu higher-ups had far too much control over the jujutsu world.
But there was no helping it. If you wanted help and coordination from official bodies outside the jujutsu world, the higher-ups' influence was indispensable. Mahiru had long since stopped bothering with that crowd, but Yaga still had to leave the old men some last shred of dignity.
"There's also —" the old man began, smiling, as if he had more to add.
He was cut off almost at once.
"Hey, mister," Mahiru said, raising a hand and talking straight over him. "A while back, when I was tracking Mahito, the trail led onto your turf. I applied for permission to go in and find that Cursed Spirit, and you wouldn't let me in — you told me to come back and file a request. I've filed plenty of times now, and you still won't let me through. Why is that?"
Yaga and the old man both looked at her.
The old man's smile didn't waver. "Ah, that… we're still discussing it. Certain matters are rather sensitive, after all —"
"What's there to discuss?" Mahiru tilted her head. "It's exactly what you just said — it's all for the sake of the public. Or is it that only you get to [help] us, and we don't get to [help] you?"
The old man's smile held, but the light in his eyes dimmed a shade.
He was quiet for a few seconds, then turned and beckoned his secretary over. "Tell them to approve Miss Mahiru's request for cooperation. Immediately."
The secretary froze. Huh?
He clearly hadn't expected the old man to agree so readily.
The next instant he realized how obvious his shock must look, ducked his head, murmured an acknowledgment, and hurried out of the room at a quick trot.
About a minute later he came back. "Miss Mahiru, your access clearance has been arranged. You may go at any time. A dedicated team will be there to receive you."
Well, well. Amazing how agreeable people get at moments like this.
Mahiru dusted off her backside and stood. "In that case, I'll go take care of business."
"One moment, Miss Mahiru." The old man raised a hand. "We've provided you with a convenience. Might you agree to our garrison in return?"
Mahiru's step stalled.
She turned around and pointed at Yaga with a look of perfect innocence. "Take the cooperation stuff up with him, not with me."
"Er…"
Mahiru spread her hands. "Come to think of it, what was your reason for stationing troops again?"
The old man answered on reflex. "…To help you deal with that troublesome Cursed Spirit, Mahito."
"Then there's no problem, is there?" Mahiru grinned. "Give me two days. I'll find Mahito and finish him off, and everybody goes home happy."
The old man's mouth fell open.
Mahiru walked out of the office without looking back.
Outside, she lifted her face to the sky. The downpour had stopped. The air was thick with damp, and water pooled in every dip and rut in the ground. At least it smelled clean.
At the edge of the sky, a small winged rabbit came flying toward her.
Mahiru put out her hand. The rabbit dropped onto her palm and left a single bullet there.
It was exactly the sort of Simple Domain round the United States could now mass-produce and had already put into live combat.
"Anti-personnel, is it?" Mahiru turned the bullet over in her fingers, thoughtful. "Simple Domain, huh."
This thing wasn't only effective against Mahito.
It worked just as well on her.
By now she could have worked it out with her eyes shut: the United States forces had not come with good intentions. They were absolutely pursuing an agenda of their own.
Hahaha… it was almost funny. Mahito had been in this world for all of four days, and the research needed to develop a round like this would take a great deal longer than four days.
So why had the military already been working on this bullet before Mahito ever appeared?
The reason went without saying. It was meant for her.
These people had almost certainly been treating Mahiru as a hypothetical enemy from very, very early on.
And honestly, anyone who marked Mahiru down as a hypothetical enemy was no kind of decent person.
Under those exact circumstances, Mahito's trail happened to lead into territory the military controlled. It was genuinely hard for Mahiru not to wonder whether the top brass of the United States forces were working with Mahito — or even with the phantom Kenjaku behind the Culling Game.
They'd probably be easy enough to string along, that leadership.
Her impression was that the top brass of the American forces were better than the jujutsu higher-ups, but not by much. She'd need to be ready to treat them as enemies.
"Not that it really matters," the girl said with a shrug.
In fact, ever since a certain plan had taken shape in her head, the girl had stopped seeing Mahito's appearance as a bad thing.
If anything, it was good news.
Kenjaku's update, Mahito's arrival, the American military sticking its hand in — three factors that should never have lined up at all, and Mahiru had lined them up. Now, at last, she had a real chance to solve modern Japan's "points shortage" problem.
____
🔥 HELP UNLOCK THE NEXT BONUS CHAPTER!
* Comment & Win: For every 5 REVIEWS on this chapter, 1 bonus chapter is released!
* Power Stones: Hit 100 POWER STONES? Bonus chapter unlocked!
* Early Access: Can't wait? Support on P@treon: Walnut-chan to read up to 40 chapters ahead and unlock a library of 60+ stories!
🔥 New history: DanMachi: Collecting Goddesses Right from the Start! — posted on The_Mikudayo