"Is this how you are going to die, brat? How boring." Sukuna spoke from inside his innate domain. He watched Yuji being crushed, and he was disappointed. Even as Yuji lost consciousness, he still remained a prison for Sukuna. "But…" Sukuna gazed at the neutral energy surrounding them in the atmosphere. He had already managed to seize and manipulate it in the past, and he suddenly got an idea. This prison was built to constrain him and his cursed energy. But would it be able to affect that?
Sukuna spent his full concentration on this hypothesis. During the last moments of Itadori Yuji's life, Sukuna was able to grab a small amount of mana and bring it inside his innate domain, all without control of his physical body.
Using that unrecognized energy, Sukuna seized control of Yuji's body mere moments before it could be completely crushed.
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"-Malevolent Shrine." Sukuna smiled wickedly at his petrified opponent. Despite Betelgeuse having more cursed energy at the moment, winning a domain clash was effortless when the Spirit's refinement was practically nonexistent. A moment later, numerous cuts appeared all over Betelgeuse's body. Those cuts were quickly healed by the automatic use of the reverse cursed technique. However, more and more cuts would rain endlessly on the Archbishop.
"ARGAHHHH!!!" Betelgeuse screamed in horrible pain. He could do nothing but squirm while standing up as pools of blood sprayed from his effectively immortal body. Endless cuts and endless healing, it was pure torture. The pace of the cuts slightly outpaced the healing. In time, the slashes would reach vital points, and Betelgeuse would die. "Heheha, Hehahaha, HEHEHA, WUHAHAHA!" Sukuna laughed psychotically at the sight.
"Holy shit." Subaru was stunned by seeing Betelgeuse tortured this way. For the moment, he didn't care to think about why he was spared from the slashes of the domain he was in.
"YOU INSOLENT LOVE STEALING WRETCH!" Betelgeuse cried and summoned over a hundred unseen hands, and they were cut apart in the same moment. "GHAA!!!" He cried more and summoned more hands, and they were cut apart at the same moment. "Gkh!" More hands were summoned and cut apart. "GHBRAHHH!" Betelgeuse spat out a river of blood containing his vocal cords. He also summoned more hands. They were cut apart. "Hghhh…" Betelgeuse wheezed and summoned more hands. His real hands had already gone limp from the damage to the tendons.
Betelgeuse summoned more hands.
He summoned more and more unseen hands. He summoned more invisible hands. He summoned more imperceptible hands. He summoned more insensible hands. He summoned more unseeable hands. He summoned more concealed hands- And then, Betelgeuse Romanee Contee had stopped summoning hands.
The time duration from his earlier domain expansion, giving him practically infinite cursed energy, had run out. Sukuna instantly noticed and paused the slashes before the Archbishop's body could be totally destroyed.
The formerly green-skinned man fell on his back, in five pieces. The head and torso were still attached, yet the number of deep slashes left over was surely fatal.
Subaru stared in awe at the scene. 'Amazing, in terms of power, I could only compare it to Reinhard, yet it feels so different from just a mana attack. A Domain's power is-' "Truly excellent." Sukuna talked over Subaru's thoughts. He put his hands in the pockets of Yuji's baggy pants. Originally navy blue, their color was now brown with a hint of red, a result of Yuji's earlier injuries.
"Truly frightening." Taking an instinctive step back, Subaru muttered under his breath. Sukuna walked forward, calmly and deliberately. His expression was that of a child preparing to open his Christmas present, combined with an underlying psychopathy that betrayed that he had no pure intentions.
"You have something of mine, Natsuki Subaru." Sukuna said while standing just a meter away from Subaru.
"I… do?" Subaru answered, confused. A drop of sweat went down his forehead. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"Yes, you will be giving it back soon, there is just one thing to take care of first…" Sukuna stated, and right on cue, Betelgeuse invaded Subaru's body.
"Sukuna you bastard!" The possessed boy stated with pure loathing. Sukuna knew exactly who was speaking, but had his own reasons for letting this charade play out.
"I, BETELGEUSE ROMANEE CONTEE, BY THE NAME OF THE WITCH, HAVE TAKEN THIS BODY TO PUT YOUR HERESY TO AN END!!!" 'Subaru' began summoning unseen hands, but before they could go anywhere, his body convulsed, and the real Subaru took control.
"Just you wait, if it's the Witch you want, you can meet her right here!" Subaru had already prepared for this moment. "I-I CAN RETURN BY DEATH!" He shouted at the top of his lungs… and nothing in particular happened. Both he and Sukuna were surprised by this.
'He broke the vow he was meant not to, the one that caused him to be cursed when he did the same against the whale. Was this "Witch" supposed to come and stop him? I can probably guess why she didn't, but it doesn't matter now. I couldn't be sure earlier, but now I know exactly how his technique works.'
"Thanks for confirming, Natsuki Subaru." Sukuna stated in response.
"N-no way, you heard all of that?" The shocked Subaru put his hand on his throat in disbelief. Betelgeuse soon took over. "What nonsense are you spouting?! We will all meet the Witch in accordance with the Ordeal…" He paused when he saw Sukuna's glare up close. For a long second, both his eyes and mouth opened wide. The strongest terror he ever felt filled his soul. It felt like an hour passed, when in reality it was less than a second since he spoke, and until his soul met its demise under the domain's tweaked sure hit effect.
"An annoying one, right? Since I was so kind as to dispose of him, it's only right that you should uphold your end of the bargain now." Subaru's face didn't immediately return to its normal expression. But when he heard the word bargain, the tug inside him let him know exactly what it meant.
"...Did you plan this from the start, Sukuna?"
"Probably, but we won't know until I can confirm." Sukuna paused before saying-"a finger, I assume?"
Subaru nodded in response. "Right, so this is a binding vow…" If he had to describe the feeling, it would be like a pointed knife gently touching his soul with its tip. Not a danger unless you make the wrong move. Subaru raised his right arm, presented his hand, and extended his index finger.
Sukuna held the extended finger with two of his own. He did so with a grace betraying deep concentration. He sent pulses of Cursed energy into Subaru's body, soon enough. The small piece of Sukuna's soul that was hitching a ride on the black-haired boy resonated. By carefully and precisely altering the pulses of cursed energy, Sukuna attempted to make the soul piece move. He soon succeeded, and in a short time, it went just where he wanted it to.
"So, how do human fingers usually taste?" Subaru said. He felt like something evil exited most of his body and is now concentrated in his index finger.
"Depends on the age, mine are waxy. But yours should taste just fine." A clean and utterly painless cut separated Subaru's finger at the base. The cut was so clean that not even blood dared to flow out of the wound. Sukuna raised the severed finger to his mouth. He inserted it slowly, first letting the fingertip brush against his teeth and then his tongue. He then inserted the rest and savored the taste. 'Salty' was the last thought the King of Curses had before swallowing the finger whole.
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It was a long day for me, from fighting the whale, the cult, getting possessed, and now swallowing a finger. At least it all happened in one go. It's sad that I got to thinking this way, but you have to take the wins when they come. Especially with an ability like mine.
"What's wrong, something's got your tongue?" I could hear Sukuna say and laugh. This whole situation is more than weird. Why the hell did he make that deal with me and then make me eat HIS finger? I understand he is evil, that's his whole shtick. Psycho curse maniacal entity that possesses the good-natured protagonist. I would say it's a ripoff, but it does have its originality too.
"Don't ask why I did that, because I don't feel like telling." Of course, he says that, really, how am I supposed to tell what goes through his head?
"What the hell, I actually can't tell if you did this for your own amusement or for some other purpose." I answered him, and it's true. This guy in front of me doesn't strike me as the type to do crazy shit for no reason… actually he does, but that's beside the point. I can feel something spreading inside my body. I̶t̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶s̶ ̶n̶a̶t̶u̶r̶a̶l̶,̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶.̶
"Well, I think it's well done now. I hope you will provide an intriguing meal, Natsuki." I hear him say, and the scene changes abruptly. I'm sitting somewhere with a strong sense of deja vu. I know this place and this feeling, I died and returned by death. I'm still here.
"This means, I died?" Oops, seems I let that one out loud. But time didn't stop, so that means it's all fine…
…We ended up fighting the cult again, thankfully, everything went according to plan up till now. I met Emilia-tan, even if she didn't recognize me, so my batteries are all charged up. I'm still not sure about that whole blank letter thing. I know Rem wrote it, but she isn't the forgetful type, so there must have been some other mistake. Seeing her again soon would be nice too; if not for her, I wouldn't have the strength to fight right here. But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? There is still that cockroach bastard Betelgeuse. I swear, I will see to his end.
I'm going to die again, aren't I? It's freezing, not unusual since I'm standing in snow. Still, this is a 'Domain', and I know the cold is by far the least of my worries. I think it's already been a minute in here. Since Yuji hasn't broken through yet, that idea failed. I hate dying, I really don't want to. So it's only natural that my life flashes through my eyes before it's about to happen. Yes, it's only natural, I see it all as my brain looks for a way to get out of this situation alive. Give it credit, sometimes it does work. I haven't been keeping count, but I'm sure the number of my near-death experiences is higher than my actual death experiences. Probably, I haven't been keeping count of my actual deaths either. That's probably bad, could explain some of my issues… Or not, anyone would have trouble after dying so many times. Did I mention I relive those deaths while my "life" flashes before me? I still can't keep count, though.
He is dying, my friend is dying. My brother in this other world is dying. Before my eyes, he is being crushed by the huge, dark hand. I feel sick, yet I'm filled with adrenaline. "Damn you, Betelgeuse! How many more times will I have to do this?!" I shout and desperately try to save Itadori Yuji. I know it's useless, I understand he is going to die here, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. I hear his bones crunch, and I see the blood leaking from the sides of the crushing hand. I feel sick.
"Truly frightening." I mutter under my breath. Sukuna returned, he massacred Betelgeuse in the most brutal way imaginable, and I have a good imagination. I don't feel any pity for the bastard, yet my glee is subdued by the sheer power displayed.
"You have something of mine, Natsuki Subaru." The demon said while standing too close to my personal space. "I-I do?" I answered him. What is he talking about? Wait, could it be? H̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶.̶ "Yes, you will be giving it back soon, there is just one thing to take care of first…" Sukuna stated, and right on cue, I felt the bastard that should be dead starting to possess me.
Betelgeuse shouted something about the witch out of my mouth, but I didn't care to know what it was. I was focusing on taking back control, due to my earlier experience, it wasn't as difficult as in the last loop. "Just you wait, if it's the Witch you want, you can meet her right here!" This was it, my final gamble for this loop. Still, it's a calculated one. I'm almost certain it will work. "I-I CAN RETURN BY DEATH!" …It didn't work.
Sukuna wants to eat my finger; by itself, it's a strange thing. But the fact that it's probably related to Return by Death makes it even stranger and scarier. In any case, I have to cooperate for now until this "binding vow" is completed. I don't technically know the consequences of breaking it, but I can feel it will be something that even dying won't fix. So I let the demon possessing my friend hold my index finger, and he sends waves of his energy through me. It surprisingly feels… natural. Nothing about it is strange. H̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶t̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶s̶?̶ So I respond to the call, and I feel myself flowing outside most of my body. I am in my finger now, and before I know it, I have been swallowed by m̶y̶s̶e̶l̶f̶.
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Subaru felt odd. He felt the sensation you feel after waking up from a long dream. Yes, it felt exactly like that. All the events of the current loop and a little before it, none of those memories felt like events that happened, or more accurately, not events that he was lucid in. "What a strange feeling… Sukuna?" Subaru was surprised by Sukuna's expression. Sukuna's face showed expressions that he hadn't held for a very long time. It was like he was experiencing rapid emotions that he was unfamiliar with.
'Emilia, Rem, and that damn brat…' Sukuna thought about them, and did his best to banish the emotions that came with it, the ones he didn't recognize were particularly disgusting, or more accurately, distressing. "Tch, I can see why Ram treats you like that, Subaru. To think you would go this far for those people, just because of the strings pulling your heart, it's disgusting." Sukuna said and settled on an expression that was a mix of anger and disgust. Yet were his words really aimed at the Subaru before him? Somewhere inside, he knew they were aimed at a different Natsuki Subaru. Sukuna absolutely did not want to entertain the thoughts throbbing at the back of his head, thoughts that belonged to Natsuki Subaru.
"Is it really so scary? You are me now, it's the natural result of our actions. Of course, I'm not saying I wanted it to end up this way, but I can imagine worse things than this cozy hellhole." A specter of Natsuki Subaru said and laughed, not really. It wasn't anything a sane person could see or hear. The real Natsuki Subaru, for example, had no idea of this delusion. "He must be wondering what is going through your head, King of Curses. Your expression is an amusing one after all." The specter said and glanced over at Subaru. It then sat down on an animal skull and began to get comfortable.
"Sorry, I guess my finger doesn't taste good after all. Maybe it's all the sweat? Sour doesn't go well with meat after all." Subaru blurted out words. They brought Sukuna out of his turmoil, the specter disappearing from his sight. "But, as much as you look like someone with good taste, I know you wouldn't go this far just for a snack. Even if it's of the highest witchbeast favored Natsuki grade quality." Subaru paused, he took a breath, and took on a serious expression. "So then, what's your angle here, Sukuna? Just how much of my memories have you seen?"
Sukuna blinked in response. He briefly considered lying, but decided against it. "More than enough, Natsuki Subaru. It was a gamble and an experiment. The results were well outside expectations, though." Sukuna looked at Subaru with a look that pierced his soul. "From that brief time that our souls merged, I now know everything important about you. Besides your time travel technique, you aren't anything special. Just a fool bigger than most fools." Sukuna looked at Subaru with some disdain.
Subaru cringed and shivered at those words. By the way Sukuna talked, he could tell he wasn't lying. "So that's that then, how did you even get the idea that I might have return by death in the first place?"
"I had reasons beyond your understanding. There is no point in this continued conversation; I already know how you'll respond to everything I say." Sukuna said and then glanced upwards towards the barrier of the domain. "We both have bigger problems now, you breaking the taboo twice openly probably brought it about." Subaru looked surprised by Sukuna's words.
"Just- What is it you are saying?" Subaru glanced upwards where Sukuna looked.
"She's here, I'm sure you know what that means." Sukuna said with a hint of concern on his face. A bass-like sound that was slowly getting louder could be heard from the direction of the ceiling. The dark ceiling seemed to get even darker as a large shadow invaded the enclosed space. Sukuna's frown tilted upwards. "Luckily, it doesn't seem she has any kind of method to her anger."
A figure cloaked in shadows descended from above, only her pale mouth was visible, which displayed no expression. Her look struck a sense of deja vu in both Sukuna and Subaru. "I love you." The figure spoke in a perfectly neutral voice, devoid of all emotions. Her soft sound would bring calm to all men if not for the abomination it was spoken from.
"Satella." Subaru had no more doubts about who it was.
"I love you." Satella said again. Her shadow appendages slowly went towards Subaru. Seeking to envelop him in consuming love.
Subaru felt the scruff of his tracksuit being grabbed by Sukuna. "If you are looking to eat this boy, I would have to intervene." A glowing white energy enveloped Sukuna's hand, it flowed directly into Subaru and regenerated his severed finger. "You are helping me?" Subaru asked him, and Sukuna scoffed. "More like, I'm not going to let you use your ability again. So I'll be taking this Witch down now, or at least this specter of her."
The Shadows that invaded Sukuna's domain held immense Cursed Energy that exceeded his current reserves. On top of that, they performed a domain expansion like effect as they attempted to overwhelm Sukuna's barrier. Sukuna knew this was a mere wisp of the sealed Witch's full power. The sure hit of Malevolent Shrine was disabled for as long as the Witch's shadows were here, and due to their immense output, Satella's shadows completely consuming the domain wasn't out of the question given enough time.
"I love you." She said and sent two appendages to quickly grab Subaru. Sukuna threw the boy on his bottom behind him. "Dismantle" He swung his hand and cut the shadows a moment before they could touch him. The slash continued forward and was absorbed by the large shadow mass behind. Soon, four appendages were sent forward to attempt what the previous two had failed.
"Dismantle" Sukuna said, and slashed with his technique again. Just a moment before the slash hit, the shadowy appendages merged together. The invisible slash wasn't enough to destroy the now singular shadow. Sukuna widened his eyes and smirked in response. "Oh, so you aren't mindless after all." "I love you." Satella declared to Subaru, she didn't even consider addressing the obstacle before her.
The large shadow appendage leaned back for a second and expanded in volume significantly. Sukuna watched with growing interest, eager to see what tactics this Witch might employ to defeat him in his own domain. The shadow then shot forward with a speed comparable to a cannonball. Sukuna's grin could only widen in response as it took a maniacal quality.
Sukuna pointed a hand forward. The massive shadow split apart like the Red Sea a centimeter before it could touch Sukuna. The two halves began converging to try and catch Subaru, who was behind him. However, Sukuna expected this move. He leaped backwards and grabbed Subaru's shoulders. The shadows narrowly missed them both as they converged into one. The massive appendage tried to advance again, and Sukuna brought his hand together.
When the King of Curses brought them apart, scores of invisible slashes were sent in all directions, excluding Subaru's. The raw power of the technique destroyed the Shadow. "Haha! Is that all you got, Satella?" Sukuna's output rose with his excitement. He could feel it, despite being hardly a portion of the original; this agent of the Witch was a threat to his life. Or more accurately, to the progress he had made so far. He could not allow Subaru to die under any circumstances until he knew a new checkpoint had been set. As things stand now, Subaru returning by death would both undo the binding vow he made and ensure Sukuna wouldn't learn about the time travel ability.
Sukuna grabbed the boy and tossed him into the shrine behind them. Multiple shadows shot forward to try to grab him in mid-air, but were quickly destroyed by dismantle. "Eyes on me, Witch!" Sukuna shouted and leaped forward towards the large mass of shadows.
He slapped the shadows experimentally, and, as he suspected, his hand suffered large damage. The brief contact consumed its skin, and any more time spent in the shadows, and the hand would be gone completely. Sukuna quickly repaired the damage before trying something new. He performed what should be an impossible feat: Domain Amplification, while Domain Expansion was still active.
In its essence, Domain Amplification is the act of coating your exterior with your innate domain, while not imbuing it with a technique or barrier like one would with a Domain Expansion or Simple Domain. The effect is that outside techniques seek to flow into the vacuum created, thus allowing the user of Domain Amplification to disable cursed techniques by almost coming into contact with them.
By all metrics, there is no way one should be able to use both Domain Expansion and Domain Amplification at the same time. Fundamentally, the two techniques shouldn't coexist. Yet Sukuna made the impossible task seem effortless.
With Domain Amplification coating his body, he punched the shadow mass.
The effect was like punching mud; bits of shadow sprayed outside. But for the most part, it took no significant damage. Still, Sukuna could only grin as he found a method of touching the shadow without being consumed by it.
"Begone, interloper." Satella finally took notice of Sukuna and glared at him from behind the dark veil. She pulled back and unleashed 100 spears of hardened shadow appendages to try and pierce him.
Sukuna leaped upwards and backflipped to dodge the attack. The air cracked in a powerful boom twice for each spear, and they impacted the red 'water' of the domain harmlessly. 'Fast, if I wasn't already excited. I might have gotten hit.' Sukuna's thoughts were interrupted by the spears changing direction and trying to skewer him in the air.
He was upside down in the middle of the backflip when he brought his arms over his chest; he brought them apart the moment he was upright again, unleashing a powerful X-shaped Dismantle
The air cracked with a deafening shockwave as the two supersonic attacks met head on. Most shadow spears broke apart like ceramic, though some survived the attempted interception.
Sukuna hardened his body with Cursed energy and braced for impact. The sharp heads of the shadows did not pierce his skin, but they did slam him into the shrine behind with impressive force. "You wanna go?!" He stood up on the roof of the shrine and shouted at Satella. She formed a huge shadow tentacle and slammed it from above at Sukuna.
The king of curses raised both hands to block the blow. Another shockwave echoed in the domain when the tentacle made contact with his defense. His cursed energy enhanced body threatened to break under the massive pressure. Still, he laughed when he noticed this attack was hardened like the spears before and didn't have the muddy texture most of the shadow did.
"Cleave" The black tentacle in his hands exploded into little pieces with those words. "So you can consume whatever gets into your shadows, but you have to trade attack power to use that ability. To combat someone on your level, you have to harden your attacks and therefore lose out on your main advantage." 'Still, dealing damage with dismantle isn't really possible against the shadowy mass. Should I aim for the Witch itself? No, from the way her cursed energy flows. I can tell the figure is just a representation similar to structures inside a domain. Damaging it wouldn't result in anything, and it would just reform. I would have to either exhaust the whole shadow of cursed energy or cause it so much damage that it is unable to hold form anymore.'
Sukuna put his hands together in the hand sign for his domain. "You are making me have to think about this, Witch of Envy." The barrier of the domain expanded in size from the outside, and then it opened. The previous black sphere disappeared, replaced by just the shrine in the middle, standing in the clearing of the forest.
The sure hit of Malevolent Shrine returned, but it couldn't hit Satella directly, nor did it hit anything inside the Shrine where Subaru was located. However, any rock, tree, or other living beings within a hundred meters or so were now taking the full brunt of Dismantle.
An endless rain of slashes poured all around Sukuna and Satella's Shadows. The cliff overlooking the battlefield was slowly starting to turn to dust, starting with the limestone.
Without the domain's barrier, there was no worry of the Witch eventually overrunning the barrier of Malevolent Shrine for her own domain. "Now, let's take it from the top!" Sukuna leaped forward to punch the Witch in the face. All of his limbs were caught by invisible hands as he was halfway in the air, holding him in place.
Sukuna looked surprised for just a moment before cutting the hands away. "Of course, you can use those too." He was reminded of the feeling of having his heart grabbed. But it wasn't like that was a new experience before his Isekai. He kicked the air like it was a solid platform, and strangely, it obeyed, allowing Sukuna to catch Satella off guard and hit her in the cheek with a powerful punch.
She was knocked backwards a little, but stayed connected to the large shadow. Sukuna's momentum carried him behind Satella. He hit her with a spinning kick while still in the air to knock her towards the cliffside.
Sukuna landed on the ground, watching as two boulders fell from the cliff towards Satella. Before they could hit, they were grabbed by something invisible. The boulders were thrown forward with a speed so fast that vapor cones formed around them. "Cleave" Sukuna whispered. He could activate the contact-only technique on anything that was in the sure hit range of his domain. The approaching rocks thus turned to fine dust way before they hit their target.
He sensed the Witch's cursed energy rapidly approaching behind the thick cloud of dust and braced for her attack. Instead of coming from the front like he expected, his only warning of the Witch's trickery was the sharp pain to his back, causing him to reflexively harden the point with cursed energy.
This was bad; the shadow stake driven through him would have pierced his heart by now if he were a millisecond slower in his cursed energy control. 'I wouldn't die from that, but it would likely cause my domain to shatter, leading to my death anyway.'
Sukuna twisted around quickly to see the Witch looking at him behind the mourning veil. "You have seen too much. die." She said and punched with full force. Sukuna blocked with his left arm, it twisted and broke from the force, with blood flying off. He dug his feet into the ground in the last second to avoid impacting the cliff behind.
The dust from the earlier boulders cleared enough to see, as did most of the shadows. "You are concentrating most of your energy into this corporeal body to exert more force." 'Not a bad move, she wouldn't be able to kill me if she continued with her usual shadows. Even with more starting cursed energy reserves, she would still lose such a battle of attrition.' He thought and poured positive energy into his damaged arm.
Sukuna got into a fighting stance with his left hand forward and his right fist behind. "Once I regain my full power, I will kill you for real. But for now, I'll kick the ass of this envoy of yours." He was caught off guard by his own words, but didn't show it. Natsuki Subaru's memories must be rubbing off on him more than he wanted to admit. In turn, the Witch adopted an old boxer's stance, where the fists are pointed forward at chest height instead of protecting the face.
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Subaru watched with his hands on his ears as the two calamities went toe to toe outside the shrine. They both moved like blurs, but the Witch seemed to have a noticeable speed advantage, not to mention physical strength, which Sukuna couldn't match directly.
Despite those advantages, which usually decide hand-to-hand fights, Sukuna more than made up with his overwhelmingly better fighting technique. It wasn't that Satella had bad technique. But in the face of a fighting genius, even what her beloved taught her could not hope to compare.
Satella swung a left, accompanied by a sharp shadow aimed at Sukuna's neck. He put his palms to the ground and performed a manji kick that 'broke' Satella's shoulder and knocked the solid shadow aside and into the shrine. Simultaneously, he activated cleave on the ground in a spiderweb pattern.
The Witch lost her footing when the ground was cut apart, an unexpected development. She wasn't supposed to have legs, but it seemed she went too far when making this solid body to fight this curse that threatened everything. "Ahh!" She yelped, a cute voice amidst the battle for quite literally fate itself. Sukuna sent a slash forward, but in the last moment, amidst hearing that voice, he changed the target from the neck to the dark veil that hid her upper face.
The veil dissolved and did not reform. Her body was still mostly covered by dark shadows, protecting her from the sure hit effect. But her face was laid bare for Sukuna to witness. "Emilia…" A specter behind Sukuna said the word he was thinking. It wasn't her, he knew it wasn't. But that didn't mean his heart did. A heart that belonged to Natsuki Subaru was forcing Sukuna to feel things he did not want to for the second time today.
"Kya! " A solid kick to the chin brought Sukuna out of his stupor and rattled his brain. Malevolent Shrine was on the verge of collapsing, so he brought his hands together in the hand sign to enhance its integrity. " Hya!" The Witch lunged at him with a needle made of shadow, aimed for his stomach. Luckily for Sukuna, he was more than used to fighting with a concussion as opposed to doing so with whatever curse having Subaru in his mind is.
Sukuna sidestepped and grabbed Satella's elbow. He performed a joint lock that allowed him to take the long shadow needle for himself. Satella prepared to defend from a stab to the body, but instead, he used the weapon to pin her left leg to the ground by driving it through it. At the same time, Sukuna repaired the damage to his brain with the reverse cursed technique. With Satella unable to dodge, Sukuna prepared all his energy in his right fist.
Satella was running out of shadows; she still had more than enough for the form she was using. But she was running low on the shadows she used as ammunition in this fight. So in this instance, she elected to reinforce her body instead of bothering with a usual counterattack. This was fine, taking physical blows hardly drained her energy, and they could not damage her current form after she hardened it. She was confident a second before the blow hit her, but as it impacted her stomach, so did a flash of black lightning.
"Black flash!" The blow tore the Witch from her left leg, and made her hit the cliffside at well above the speed of sound. The torn leg remained pinned to the ground along with the solid needle impaling it.
The cliffside collapsed fully under the pressure of the unending slashes as well as Satella's impact with it. She avoided being crushed by the rocks using an umbrella of unseen hands. She didn't bother using them for most of the fight due to the dusty environment that made their main quality useless. At the same time, she vomited a black liquid. When it hit the ground, it evaporated into black gas. Similar black liquid flowed from the hole in her stomach that the 'black flash' caused. She slowly closed the wound and looked at Sukuna with disdain.
"Witches should be burned at the stake, should they not?" Sukuna began gathering a massive amount of cursed energy in his hands. The dust around them heated up and ignited, glowing a bright orange and then yellow. "Divine Flame: Open." Impossibly hot flames danced in Sukuna's hands as he unleashed the finality of the shrine technique.
Sukuna stood between the Witch and the Shrine where Subaru was. He intended to avoid damaging the boy too much. If divine flame caused life-threatening burns, he could heal them easily. But he doubted it would even come anywhere near that.
Satella's face morphed to horror as she looked in his direction. Tears leaked from her eyes as she held her mouth in disbelief. "Haha! You put on a good show, but you cry just like every other insect before the flame of death!" Sukuna shaped the yellowish white fire into the shape of a large arrow. Satella just stood in place, looking directly forward in fear, or was it sadness? Sukuna was too excited to care, as he released the arrow, her face shifted to one of mourning. Once again, Sukuna couldn't care to know why. 'Unless…' "NATSUKI SUBARU!" He shouted the boy's name. At the same moment, a massive explosion rocked the forest.
Julius just woke up. His head was pounding, and his stomach was practically killing him. Whatever damage had happened there, it needed to be treated by Felix fast.
'Thank you, Kua. I could not be alive if not for your efforts. You can rest and recover your mana now. I will be fine from here on.' He used his mental link to thank his quasi-water spirit for keeping him from death so far. Then, a massive explosion ignited the forest nearby. "SUBARU!" He shouted the name despite the blood in his lungs.
'Lia, whatever is happening over there, Subaru has it covered.' Puck said in his mental link to Emilia. All occupants of the dragon carriage looked at the growing tower of dust with concern, and then it all burst into flames. "Subaru!" "Subaru!!" "Subaru…" They all shouted his name in one form or another.
"Subaru-dono!" "Julius!" The sword demon and the world's greatest healer looked at the rising pillar of fire in concern.
When Ram saw the rising pillar of fire, her first thought was of Roswaal-sama. However… "Though it may look similar, it's not exactly how Roswaal-sama's Al Goa looks." The shockwave that rattled the mansion's windows confirmed her suspicions. "Barusu had a hand in this."
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Amid the firestorm that sought to consume everything outside the shrine. Sukuna rushed inside, but not out of concern for his own immediate safety. The sight he was greeted with was Subaru lying on the floor with a stake of sharp, solidified shadow embedded in his neck.
A large pool of blood had already gathered, and Subaru's hands were still holding the piece in place, unmoving. Yet, his pupils weren't dilated yet. 'He is still alive.' Sukuna realised, a rare moment of relief at someone's safety for him.
Sukuna quickly used reverse cursed technique at maximum output into Subaru's neck. "I'll have to take the shadow out; there is no way to save him while it's in his neck. As it stands, his cervical nerves must be severed, but blood flow to his brain is not."
Sukuna pulled the stake out, he continued to input a large amount of positive energy into the ruined neck. Subaru watched it all, until his brain could no longer maintain consciousness.
Sukuna stopped healing Subaru as soon as he was sure the boy's life wasn't in danger anymore. If he happened to become paralysed, Sukuna didn't care. If anything, that might stand to benefit him. "So cold, and I thought you had a thing for me~" The specter in his mind spoke, he paid its mindless drivel no attention.
The shrine disappeared as Sukuna ended the domain; the ground was cratered, flattened, and scorched in every direction for 100 meters. The only exception was the piece of rock Subaru was lying on, the one stained with his blood.
Beyond the devastated environment, Sukuna noticed the catboy healer running forward with a group of knights. He decided this was his time to leave. And so, Sukuna ran in another direction faster than anyone could track.
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2 Hours have passed, so it seemed from the movement of the sun in the sky. The brat just now is beginning to stir up in his mind. "Huh, I can't move? Wait, you are in control, Sukuna?!" He hears the voice in his head.
"Obviously. I took control as you died back then." Sukuna felt like rolling his eyes as he stated the obvious. "I took care of that spirit while you slept all slothfully."
"W-wait, you did? Are you actually a nice guy??"
Sukuna felt offended about being asked this, his face twisted in a comical expression until he remembered just how much of an idiot his vessel was. He settled by slapping his forehead and keeping quiet.
"Ow! That's not nice, you know! It's my forehead you just slapped!"
Sukuna crossed his arms, 'talking' with his vessel for 30 seconds made him want nothing more than a nap. So he relinquished control of the body and let Yuji take the front seat.
"Ah! I'm back. Feels strange when Sukuna is in control." Itadori Yuji cracked his joints as he enjoyed having control of his body again.
"I should get back to Subaru and the others, just where are they now?" As Yuji looked around, he realised his biggest concern should be where he was right now.
It looked to be the edge of a village somewhere, and the air felt cold on his skin. "So, Sukuna, where is this?" Sukuna didn't answer.
"Look, I'm not asking for much. It's just, it would be really helpful if you told me in what direction you went after dealing with Betelgeuse. Like, if you went North or South. That would be helpful." As Yuji said this, he realised he doesn't know how to tell where North and South are, so it might not be helpful.
Yuji went around the village but didn't spot anyone. The place seemed deserted. His keen senses picked up the scent of something cooking, and he rushed towards the house with the smoking chimney. He started to get a bad feeling when no one opened the door after he knocked multiple times. The smell of cooking pork started to smell of burning, so he grabbed the door handle, and it opened easily. The lock looked to have been broken by brute force.
"Sukuna, just what did you do?" Yuji knew he shouldn't, but he had to step inside. He had to go towards the kitchen and see what he knew Sukuna had left in the fireplace. What he found there was not pork, nor was the meat that very soon exited his stomach.
ARC 1 END