For Tomorrow's Sake | Various!JJK x Reader

24 | to protect and be protected

You suppose there's only one way to find out.

The process is essentially torture. New webs spawn from the ground roughly every ten seconds. The moment they appear, you have to react with lightning speed, severing your foot to keep the webs from spreading any further. Not only does that leave you with less than a few seconds to swing at the cursed spirit and try to land an attack, but every time, the pain threatens to take hold of you and make you pass out on the spot. You feel bile rising up your throat. Just because you can heal fast doesn't make the pain nonexistent. It hurts so fucking much. But what choice do you have? It's either fight and endure... or die.

You swing your sword at the spider spirit again. It tries to dodge, but you're just a fraction of a second faster. This time, as you sever its arm once more, it doubles down and twists its body so that it manages to impale you with its stinger-like appendage. It doesn't puncture you through the stomach. Instead, it pierces all the way through your arm, and your hand unwillingly tenses up from the flash of pain, dropping the sword to the ground.

Shit.

Not good. You try to reach down and pick it up, but it's too late. The spider spirit takes full advantage of the opportunity and coils its multitude of arms around you. It's still in the process of slowly regenerating its injury, but it doesn't matter. Unlike you, it has an arsenal of limbs at its disposal. And you've just lost your only weapon.

"Finally caught," it laughs gleefully. You wince as it removes the sharp stinger from your arm. Blood comes gushing out from the wound, and although it closes up immediately, you're still trapped. New webs are already creeping up your legs again. With how tightly the spirit is holding you in place, you can't reach your sword.

Is this really happening? You're not seriously about to die here, are you? This can't be it. You had so many plans. There are still so many people left to save. The true atrocities have yet to even begin. How can you possibly bow out so soon?

"Why no fight now?" the cursed spirit muses. It brings its grotesque face closer to yours and grins, like this is the funniest thing it's ever seen. "No attack? But why? Too scared of dying? Haha!"

You don't have a choice. The second you attack it with your own cursed energy, you'll die, no questions asked. Your Binding Vow will claim your life in an instant. That sword-a cursed tool imbued with energy-was your only hope. You whimper and strain in a pitiful attempt to keep reaching it, but it's fruitless.

You're going to die now. It's inevitable. Since you're going to die, the least you can do is channel all your strength and try to inflict some serious damage, right? Suguru and Utahime are still outside the domain's barrier. You may as well weaken it, so that it's easier for them to deal with. Yeah... that's really all there's left to do at this point. You tried. You thought you could devise a way to survive in this world and save as many people as possible, but clearly, you were being too optimistic.

Okay, then. It's time. You need to accept your fate. As much as you'd like to say that you have no regrets, that would be a big fat lie. The truth is, you're ashamed. You're ashamed that you only made it this far.

Worst of all, you know there are countless people who will suffer and mourn your death, for the rest of their lives.

Tears begin to fill your eyes, and the spider spirit starts howling with laughter, taking great pleasure in your suffering. No matter how much you try to heal, it's futile. Even you're not immortal. All it has to do is target your heart, or your brain. You have nowhere to go, and no way to fight back.

"Goodbye," you mumble, although you know all too well that nobody will hear you. At the same time, you clench your hand into a tight fist, building up your cursed energy and focusing all of it into a point. You'll aim for the spirit's head. One final, forceful attack, and if you're lucky, maybe you'll be able to take this son-of-a-bitch into the afterlife with you. The only difference is that cursed spirits will inevitably be reborn.