Malevolent Shrine (
Description
Befitting its name, Malevolent Shrine constructs an environment centered around a small, disfeatured Buddhist shrine (vaguely resembling a chinjudō) that has been distorted to instead enshrine demons. It is surrounded by dark water with bull-like skulls and horns floating on it. The roof also has horns emerging from it, along with human skulls that hang down from it. The four entrances to the shrine are formed by large, grotesque mouths, complete with humanlike teeth and tongues.[1][2] Four short, disfigured tree-like stumps with gnarled branches stand at each corner of the shrine.
Malevolent Shrine's guaranteed-hit ability relentlessly slashes apart anything until nothing but dust remains of what has been caught in the effective range, via Sukuna's two types of slashing attacks: Cleave and Dismantle, which only cease when the domain is disengaged or Sukuna is so badly injured he can not sustain the domain anymore. Sukuna can set which of the two attacks to use against specific types of targets, such as using Dismantle for inanimate objects and Cleave for subjects with cursed energy.[3]
Sukuna has the divine ability to expand his domain without closing the barrier to create a separate space. This creates a binding vow due to allowing an escape route from the domain that enables him to expand the effective range of the guaranteed-hit up to a maximum radius of nearly 200 meters. Furthermore, unlike other domains which operate with an outer shell like Unlimited Void and can be cancelled if the shell is destroyed, Malevolent Shrine cannot be destroyed by any normal means because of the lack of an enclosed barrier. The only way to effectively destroy Malevolent Shrine is to injure Sukuna to the point where he can no longer maintain the domain.[4][5]
Usage
Sukuna is a master of domain expansion and his Malevolent Shrine is equally refined as Satoru Gojo's Unlimited Void, capable of overpowering the vast majority of domains. With the power of only two fingers, Sukuna effortlessly cut a Finger Bearer, a special grade cursed spirit, to pieces immediately after opening Malevolent Shrine. Sukuna only expanded his domain against the Finger Bearer to display "true jujutsu".[6]
Sukuna unleashed Malevolent Shrine in Shibuya during his battle with Mahoraga. In order to overwhelm Mahoraga's adaptation ability and avoid hitting Megumi Fushiguro, Sukuna used his domain to unleash a torrent of slashing attacks over a one-hundred-and-forty-meter radius, narrowing down its range.[7] He set Malevolent Shrine to target anything within range with cursed energy using Cleave and used Dismantle for inanimate objects. This not only injured Mahoraga, but also massacred numerous civilians and cut off Toge Inumaki's arm[8] as a result.
During his battle with Satoru Gojo, Sukuna expanded his domain a total of three times. As previously mentioned, Malevolent Shrine can equal Unlimited Void in a domain clash, but that is only the case inside a barrier. Malevolent Shrine's range reached beyond Unlimited Void's barrier during the first clash of domains. With a domain's barrier being weak to attacks on its outer shell, Gojo's domain was crushed by Malevolent Shrine's slashing attacks and he was immediately struck by its can't-miss attack.[9]
Later in the fight, Sukuna revealed that he can change the conditions of his domain with a binding vow, such as removing Malevolent Shrine's guaranteed-hit effect within Unlimited Void's effective area or narrowing down its effective range similar to when it was used in Shibuya in exchange for increased power to counter Gojo's Unlimited Void's reinforced outer shell, collapsing it a second time.[10] On the third exchange, due to Gojo also changing his domain's condition in response, both domains collapsed simultaneously after three minutes due to Malevolent Shrine destroying Unlimited Void's barrier from the outside, but Satoru managing to damage Sukuna enough to the point where he can't maintain his domain.[11]
After a brief physical exchange, the two sorcerers expanded their domains at the same time once again. However, the outcome remained the same, and both domains collapsed simultaneously.[12] As Satoru punched Sukuna into a pillar, both fighters activated their domain expansions once more. However, Sukuna activated his less than one-hundredth of a second later due to having to heal his physical body using reverse cursed technique, thus delaying him from restoring his cursed technique. As a result, Unlimited Void was able to briefly immobilize him, allowing Satoru to severely wound him. The injury rendered Sukuna unable to maintain Malevolent Shrine after two minutes and forty seconds, causing it to collapse within Satoru's domain. Without his domain's guaranteed-hit effect negating Satoru's, Sukuna's mind was flooded with infinite yet incomplete information, immobilizing him and forcing him to summon Mahoraga to destroy the domain.[13]
Afterwards, when Satoru attempted to expand his domain a sixth time but failed, Sukuna planned to finish their fight by expanding his own domain and enclosing it with a barrier to prevent Satoru from escaping. However, upon expanding his domain, it immediately collapsed as a result of the damage done to Sukuna's brain by Unlimited Void, which he was subjected to for a total of less than ten seconds. This prevented the King of Curses from using Domain Expansion for the remainder of his fight with the strongest sorcerer of modern times.[14]
Trivia
- Regarding the name of this Domain Expansion:
- The first part, fukuma (伏魔?), comes from fukumaden (伏魔殿?), referring to an abode of demons/a palace where demons lurk, and is also translatable as Pandemonium.
- The second part, mizushi (御厨子?), could have several meanings:
- Disregarding the honorific prefix mi- (御?), a zushi (厨子?) is a miniature, double-doored Buddhist shrine, similar to a feretory, that is used to store important items like statues, śarīra, sutras, mortuary tablets, and so on.
- The mizushi-dokoro (御厨子所?) is an archaic word referring to a section of the Emperor's residential compound in the Imperial Palace, where food from the kitchen compound, meant for the Emperor's meals, would be brought for more advanced stages of preparation.
- The second character zu/kuriya (厨?) means "kitchen".
References
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga and Anime: Chapter 8 (p. 13) and Episode 4.
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 119 (p. 2-3).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 119 (p. 7).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 228 (p. 8).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 229 (p. 6-12).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga and Anime: Chapter 8 (p. 14-15) and Episode 4.
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 119 (p. 2-9).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 137 (p. 19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 225 (p. 12-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 227 (p. 11-13).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 228 (p. 9-12).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 229 (p. 1-8).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 229 (p. 9-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 230 (p. 8-16).