Title: "Cursed Shadows: Alex's Inexorable Descent"

Prompt: As Alex, a teenage hikikomori to the bones, sat in the familiar dimness of his room, the glow of Jujutsu Kaisen anime illuminating his face, his life suddenly flickered out. The scene he was absorbed in featured a fierce battle between sorcerers and cursed spirits, and like an ironic flash, it was the last thing his eyes registered before he ceased to exist in the world he knew. The world he awakened in was markedly different from his usual confinement, but there was an eerie resemblance. He was still in a room, though this one was sadder and more lonesome - apparently abandoned. He tried to inspect the cryptic gloom around him, but he couldn’t move as he used to. He felt more like a smoky presence, a legion of negative energy. Looking at a shabby, dull mirror, he saw his reflection, his new form—a weak cursed spirit. Before he could reconcile with this strange reality, the far-end door creaked open, and a girl stepped in. Her petite figure betrayed her fiery eyes that glowed under her short, honeyed hair. Her face bore an element of determination camouflaging her youthful vigor, her cheeks lightly graced by freckles. She was dressed in a black high-school uniform with a fitting waistcoat, buttoned up high. A ribbon was tied primly around her neck, the ends dangling over her chest, and a skirt cascading to her knees. Her legs were clad in black socks reaching up to her knees, and sturdy brown shoes adorned her feet. This was Nobara Kugisaki, the female protagonist from Jujutsu Kaisen, Alex realized, his heart pounding. He had seen that fierce expression countless times on his screen, but seeing it aimed at him was an entirely different terror. Without wasting a moment, she snapped her hand in her pocket. To his horror, she pulled out the distinctive hammer and nails, her tool of choice to purge cursed spirits. She held the hammer firmly in her grip, a sense of resolve flashing in her eyes, mirroring the bold spirit he'd admired in the series. The golden-head nail glistened ominously under the weak light, appearing lethal as it was intended to be. As Alex watched Nobara in abject horror, she moved swiftly like a predator closing in on its prey. Her oceanic eyes met his form, and without hesitation, she raised the hammer high above her head. Alex felt a cold paralyzing fear grip him. He instinctively tried to dodge; however, his new body was awkward, unresponsive to his will. His six amorphous limbs shivered like water disturbed by a pebble. Nobara's grip tightened on the hammer handle, her knuckles white under the strain. She drove the nail into what seemed to be one of his arms—an ethereal limb of shadows and smoke that now resembled a mutilated purple human limb. The nail pierced his incorporeal flesh as if it were butter, making Alex howl in pain, a screech that echoed eerily around the abandoned room. Concentrated cursed energy surged from her palm and into the hammer, creating a visible glow that traveled along the length of the nail into Alex's form. He felt the energy spread within him, tearing him apart from the inside, as she prepared to finish him off with her signature Cursed Technique. His agonizing cries crescendoed, the sound warping the air around them. Just as Nobara prepared to channel the finale of her technique, a presence made itself known. Out of thin air, Mahito materialized behind the hunter, his gray eyes gleaming ominously. Without warning, his hand landed on Nobara's shoulder, immediately activating his Cursed Technique - the Idol Transfiguration. The very atoms around them seemed to shiver. A distorted hush swept across the room, as if the world held its breath. His touch was like an insidious caress of death skimming her skin, darting in an unseen dance that was feared by even the most formidable sorcerers. It manipulated the very soul, contorting and reshaping it into grotesque forms that belied the laws of reality. Mahito’s beguiling smile dropped as he watched Nobara's assault on Alex, his newly discovered interest casting a sinister glow in his eyes. For beneath Alex's fearful shrieks and formless limbs, he'd sensed something unusual - a distinct resonance imprinted on his cursed energy, not unlike a human soul. Mahito's interest pricked - a unique soul to study, an exhilarating prospect he couldn't resist. His grip on Nobara became an inhibiting restraint, powerful curses sealing her movements. As he nonchalantly approached the mutilated cursed spirit, Nobara’s frenzied eyes bored into him - her fear frost-like in its palpability. Mahito’s hand floated towards Alex's form, a harrowing hush following in its wake. His touch, laced with his cursed energy, connected with the writhing entity, his Idol Transfiguration swiftly activated. Alex's amorphous form lost its ferocity, becoming smooth and diminutive as Mahito willed. The frightening transformation left Alex resembling an elaborate, translucent gem. Mahito then turned back to Nobara, a terrifying smirk unfurling on his face. His restraining hand slid from her shoulder, traveling down to her chin, keeping it in an iron hold. The room pulsed with an uncanny stillness, thick with dread and anticipation. With his other hand, he brought the transformed Alex closer to Nobara, whose wild eyes widened in pure horror. The fear mirrored in her eyes never reached her attacker. Without a moment's hesitation, his fingertips pushed open her rigid mouth. He was beyond cruel, beyond remorseful. Ruthlessly going against all laws of morality and nature, Mahito stuffed the trembling gem - a condensed Alex - into Nobara's mouth. His smile only widened as he slid his fingers further in, pushing Alex down her throat. describe how Mahito then used his technique to swap the souls of Alex and Nobara, also changing them so that they were indistinguishable from each other. Alex fell to his knees in his new body and started coughing because he had a cursed spirit in his throat. Mahito approached him and said that he thought he would be useful in accomplishing his plan to take over the world and ordered him to go to a magic college and pretend to be Nobara.