My Dad Is The Strongest?: Ch.18

'I guess he's not the talkative type,' Killua thought with a hum as he looked at Nanami sitting beside him, the man reading about the cursed spirit on his laptop while another one of his dad's friends called Ijichi was driving them to the destination.

“So…”, Killua began, watching as the man just hummed even while not taking his eyes from the laptop.

“How did you and Dad become friends?”

“Your father and I are not friends.”

“I thought he called you a friend?”

“The man uses the term loosely. Your father and I have collaborated in the past. That's all.”

“So, you don't like him?”, The boy continued with his questions, making Nanami sigh as he closed his laptop halfway and looked at the boy.

“It's not about liking or disliking. Your father and I are professionals. We've worked together a few times over the years and we are quite good at it. Efficient cooperation does not require friendship like most younger members of our society would think.”

“Huh…honestly, if you just said he's too irritating, I would have agreed,” Killua nodded, making Nanami raise an eyebrow at the crass rudeness to his father.

“He also told me you are a lot like him.”

“I'm the better version of him. More disciplined, more talented.”

“Arrogant too,” Nanami added dryly and Killua rolled his eyes while hearing the man driving suppressing a soft snicker.

“Confident,” He corrected and Nanami just hummed before opening the laptop and going back to ready.

“Have you read the file?”

“Enough to know what we're up against. Special-Grade Curse Yamato no Orochi based on the fears of the legends. It possesses eight heads with immense cursed energy and turned the tables on three Grade 2 sorcerers, one Semi-Grade 1 and one Grade 1 before the Grade 1 managed to escape. My only issue is the fact that it appeared on the far edges of Japan in a rural area. Do the more powerful curses not like to reform in areas with high levels of cursed energy?”

“You did not read the file on its legend, did you?”, Nanami spoke with a knowing look, to which Killua raised an eyebrow while nodding.

“I did.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Can't you just tell me the reason?”, Killua asked, shaking his head as Nanami simply stayed silent before he spoke.

“Susanoo, the Shinto storm god, was expelled from the Heavens after he tricked his sister Amaterasu the Shinto sun goddess. After his expulsion, he met two deities who were weeping because they were forced by Orochi to give it one of their daughters every year for seven years. However, when the time came to hand over their eight and last daughter, they couldn't so Susanoo took it upon himself to transform her into a comb and hide her away.

Then, to defeat Orochi itself, he had made a large fence with eight gates in it for each of Orochi's eight heads. He then had the father make eight vats with refined liquor in each of them and placed them at each head. After Orochi came for the daughter and treated itself to the wine, it fell asleep and Susanoo trapped all eight heads before cutting it into pieces, which is also where he found the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi or more commonly known by its formal name as the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.”

“Good. Now taking that into consideration, what shrine is at the location where it manifested?”, Nanami asked and Killua raised an eyebrow before speaking.

“The Suga Shrine, which was made in honour after Susano killed Orochi…I missed that?”, Killua whispered to himself with a disgruntled look, to which Nanami hummed as Ijichi began to slow down.

“Exactly. Old fears left to fester in isolation often birth the most grotesque manifestations and that is how Special Grade apparitions like Orochi form. They do not form just from fear but from worship and awe gone rotten over the centuries.

“So, we're walking into a shrine built by fear, huh?” Killua muttered and Nanami nodded right as they felt an ominous pressure settling on their shoulders.

“This is as far as I can take you, unfortunately,” Ijichi spoke as he looked at them in the rearview mirror, to which Nanami simply nodded while Killua stepped out of the car.

'Oh, this is far stronger than the pressure I felt from Ibaraki-douji,' Killua thought as he stared at the shrine up the steps of the mountain in front of him, staring at the miasma of cursed energy that clung to its surroundings.

The faint sound of hissing was also something that he took note of immediately, Nanami climbing out as well while adjusting his tie.

“You are not to engage unless I give the signal. I'd rather not return you to your father in pieces.”

“I know. However, if I see you struggling, I'm helping out, okay?”, Killua answered as he cracked his knuckles, sparks dancing around his body as Nanami sighed.

“You're so much like your father that it's not even amusing,” Nanami muttered as they walked through the torii gates, the oppressive atmosphere tightening before Killua frowned as the trees around them blackened the further they got up the steps.

Looking up as he felt the Curtain forming, the two of them reached the top of the staircase only to stare at the eerie shrine in front of them, parts of it having decayed even though it's a shrine that many visit on a daily basis.

'I'm guessing that with Orochi here, its energy is eroding the building the longer it's here,' Killua thought with a frown before looking to the side of the shrine as he saw the shadows moving, wanting to go look only to blink as Nanami held his arm out.

“The longer we stay under the Curtain, the more it'll try to find a way out by seeing who's the source of it. I'll go first.”

“Be careful. Like you said, this is an ancient curse reborn from myth and bathed in centuries of cursed energy.”

“I should say that for you,” Nanami spoke and Killua just snorted as they walked onto the courtyard, Killua standing still near the edge while Nanami continued onwards.

The hissing grew louder as the cursed spirit finally slithered out from the shadows, its lower body that of an enormous serpent while its torso was that of a human covered in dark green scales.

On its shoulders sat eight scaled necks that ended in snarling draconic faces, each having dark-violet eyes and a pair of pitch black horns growing from their foreheads.

“Huh, I guess the worship really did corrupt over time,” Killua hummed as Nanami walked forward, opening his jacket while taking off the blade wrapped in cloth on his back.

“Special Grade Apparition Yamata no Orochi, in accordance with Jujutsu protocol, I issue a final warning. Cease your manifestation and disperse,” Nanami spoke, but he got a low rumbling laugh from all eight throats in response.

“You bring the bloodline of the thunder god and a simple sorcerer. What foolishness has taken over your feeble minds to come die in the house built from my bones?”

'Wait, bloodline of the Thunder God? But as far as I can remember, Michizane is the one that Ibaraki called me and Michizane only had the Limitless technique to use,' Killua thought with a frown as he watched Nanami's eyebrows furrow before the naga-hydra fusion surged forward.

With a swing, Nanami stepped forward and effortlessly parried the lunge of one of the heads with his blunt blade. His cursed energy flared the moment his blade hit the head and pushed it back.

The other seven heads were not idle as they coiled through the air and writhed before lashing out in unison at the sorcerer.

With precise movements, Nanami dodged and leapt over their synchronised attacks, his eyes flickering to and fro to block the strikes coming from the sides before he spun around right as a head descended down.

Wanting to have kept his technique a secret, Nanami frowned as he activated his Ratio Technique and swung at the neck's weak spot, a bone-chilling shriek coming from the other heads as the one he cut fell severed to the floor.

However, both Nanami and Killua frowned as they saw the severed head beginning to regenerate, its neck on the original body falling off and meshing itself to the head before another Orochi with its humanoid body formed besides the large one.

'Eight heads, each having enough cursed energy to be classified as a Special Grade. Whenever you cut one head off, it regrows an entire body. Ah, I get it.'

“You carry the scent of Raijin, boy of thunder, but you do not carry his strength. You are but a mere shadow wearing the skin of your ancestor!”, Orochi's growl knocked him from his thinking and Killua watched as the main body continued to attack Nanami while the body with the one head turned towards him.

“Your blood remembers, boy. It sings of thunder and death,” Bearing its fangs with a mocking grin, the air around Killua crackled as sparks danced around his body while he narrowed his eyes.

“I don't know who the hell this Raijin is, but if you say my blood remembers, then let us see if you do,” The cursed spirit laughed as Killua's declaration before both shot forward.

Vanishing with a deafening boom as the spirit went to grab him, his body sparking with energy as he appeared behind the spirit before slamming his leg down on its skull with an axe kick.

With a loud crack of thunder, Orochi's face snapped sideways from the force and cracked the scales on its cheek, but the spirit didn't stop as it whipped its tail around.

However, Killua smirked as he twisted his body and dodged its attempt to crush his body, kicking off of its face to propel himself backwards with a flip.

His feet were not on the ground for long before he lunged to the side, the Orochi clone slamming its hands down to try and crush him before Killua leapt and delivered a spinning kick to its face.

Glancing at Nanami as he watched the Orochi being sent rolling across the ground, he watched as Nanami deflected an attack from another head, turning as a head tried to attack him from behind only for a lightning bolt to burn it off and let it fall to the ground.

With ease, Killua grunted as he rushed in and dropkicked the larger Orochi in the side, sending it blasting to the side before smirking as he saw Nanami's frown.

“You had it, but that one attacked me first,” Killua spoke as he pointed to the Orochi he was facing, who was getting up from the ground along with the new Orochi and the large one.

“We have to figure out its technique because we can't just be cutting heads off. Otherwise, we're going to be stuck facing off against eight Special Grade curses and I want to keep collateral damage as minimal as possible,” Nanami spoke and Killua nodded while looking between the eight pairs of eyes glaring at them.

“Nanami, I got a small theory here. What if it's not just fear fuelling its power? What if it's its legacy too?”, Killua asked and Nanami frowned before a look of realization flashed in his eyes as they watched the spirits beginning to circle them.

“I see. It's not fear that created this thing, but worship as well. People feared the shrine,” Nanami spoke as he parried another strike, Killua nodding as he flipped over one of its eight tails that tried to attack him from behind, landing on the shrine's edge.

“Exactly! They feared the spirit, but the respected the legend. What if the shrine is not only a memorial to Susanoo…”

“But a monument that remembers Orochi,” Nanami finished the sentence as he ducked under a pair of tails trying to take his head off, Killua barrel-rolling between a pair of heads before kicking a third upwards when it tried to bite down on him.

“Yes! What if the more people remember the legend, the stronger it gets?”

“That would explain the regeneration. Each head isn't just part of its body, but a legacy of its power multiplied and fused together into one body!”, Nanami said as he narrowed his eyes, hopping back to dodge a pair of jaws trying to bite down before using the momentum of his jump to slam his foot into the neck of one of the heads.

“Precisely. So, that means we can't kill the heads unless…” Killua trailed off as they both looked at the shrine, which now had the two Orochi with one head each standing protectively in front of it with glares aimed at the two sorcerers.

“We kill its memory. The shrine is the anchor. Destory it and we sever the concept of Orochi, take away its belief and make it fall apart.”

“Yeah, but there's one problem, though. Are we allowed to destroy a historical monument?”, Killua asked with a nervous smile and Nanami grimaced before they turned as the heads of the original body hissed, an eerie rattling laughter echoing from their throats.

“You seek to unmake what the world has remember for centuries, but memory is not so easily erased. Every being fears being forgotten and I will not let that happen!”

“…We have no choice. I'll apologize personally to the principal,” Nanami spoke as he took off his tie and Killua raised an eyebrow as he felt the man's cursed energy rising significantly.

Processing the man's words, Killua couldn't help his grin as he reached towards the back of his pants, letting one of the original body's heads get close before slicing it off with one swift cut from his weapon.

“Oh, we're not going to erase your memory, Yamata no Orochi,” Killua spoke as he lowered Kamutoke, which was overflowing and sparking with cursed energy as both Nanami and the spirits stared at the weapon in shock.

“We're going to rewrite it,” Kamutoke crackled in his grip as he shot forward with Nanami following behind him, arcs of lightning trailing around him as the eight Orochi heads rushed at them.

Lightning flashed as Kamutoke sliced through the air, unleashing a burst of lightning that erased the two Orochi with the one head while eviscerating another head as well, making the main body shriek as Killua grinned.

“Cursed Tool Activation: Kamutoke!”, Uncaring for the two heads diving down towards him, Killua simply swung the cursed tool upwards before slicing down, unleashing a wave of lightning that surged upwards and tore through the spirits with ease.

As Nanami ran around the battle in a wide arc, he instantly saw his opening when the lightning impacted Orochi's body, paralysing the spirit as well as tearing chunks of its flesh off.

Rushing in with cursed energy surging around his body, the sorcerer slid under it trying to hit him with its tail before leaping into the air with a corkscrew over another tail.

“Ratio Technique: Collapse!”, With a grunt, Orochi screeched as Nanami's blunt blade impacted his back, blood spurting as Killua rushed past it with Reverse Cursed Energy coursing around his body.

“Cursed Technique Reversal: Thunderbolt!” The lightning arced through the air and impacted the shrine with a brilliant explosion, unleashing sparks of electricity everywhere while the lightning itself destroyed the shrine with relative ease.

Both Nanami and Killua hopped to either side as they watched Orochi falling to the floor, neither lowering their guard as the shrine burned while its main body crawled towards it.

“You…you destroyed it,” Killua narrowed his eyes as he heard the weird tone in its voice, the spirit slowly rising up to a smaller form as seven of its heads collapsed to the floor.

“My shrine…”, It sounded as if it was relieved and Killua noticed that Nanami figured it out as well as both readied themselves.

“Nanami…”

“Yes, that's not despair. It's relief,” Nanami spoke as Orochi's injured head tiwsted at an unnatural angle, its mouth widening into a jagged grin as the cursed markings on its scales began to glow.

“That shrine wasn't my prison, you fools~”, It hissed and Killua's eyes widened as he watched Orochi making a snake shadow with its hand.

“It was a barrier to hold back this!”

'Son of a bitch!', Killua cursed as he rushed around, appearing besides Nanami right as both his cursed energy and the spirit's energy flared.

“Domain Expansion!!”

A/N: And we end up in another Domain-standoff~!! Like I said, this will be a quick arc, but this actually ties into a later arc and a certain maniac himself~!!

Killua will learn a few things in this arc, but that's all I'm going to say.

Next chapter: Domains Clash and A Revelation.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!