Fushiguro Megumi's eyes widened, red veins twisting through them. His face was twisted in pain, as if he were going through something unbearable.
The ice spikes around him cracked apart layer by layer. With his freed hands, he suddenly grabbed his own neck.
Black markings started to appear on his face, and under his eyes, two long slits opened up. A pair of narrow, crimson eyes slowly opened.
Fushiguro Megumi—no, now it should be Ryoumen Sukuna.
Ryoumen Sukuna used the same technique from a thousand years ago—the one Kenjaku had used to seal his soul into twenty fingers and turn them into cursed objects. Sukuna moved his own soul into a finger he had cut off himself, then forced Fushiguro Megumi to swallow it.
That way, his soul left Itadori Yuji's body and took over Fushiguro Megumi instead.
As soon as Sukuna's soul left, Itadori Yuji passed out and collapsed to the ground.
If Kenjaku had shown up earlier and handed over the four fingers and the corpse-head, Sukuna wouldn't have needed to fix the heart that Uraume had destroyed in Yuji's body—he could've just let him die.
"Well, no big deal," Sukuna said with a twisted smile, now in control of Fushiguro Megumi. "Letting this brat watch while I kill everyone around him sounds like good fun too."
As he felt resistance from deep inside the mind, Sukuna didn't care. He took the four fingers and the corpse's head that Uraume held out, and swallowed them all.
Inside the mental space, Fushiguro Megumi's soul gradually stopped resisting.
Still not enough.
Megumi's soul hadn't fallen far enough yet. Right now, it was just being held down by the power of the special-grade cursed objects. There was still a chance he could come back.
It would've been better if he could finish the bathing ritual.
But right now, there clearly wasn't enough time to prepare for it.
Those two had already arrived.
Feeling the rush of two powerful cursed energies approaching fast, Sukuna looked up toward the sky.
The clouds that had covered the full moon slowly drifted away, letting the clear moonlight shine down on the ruined street below.
Against the glow of the moonlight, two figures floated in the air, slowly descending.
"Heh, flying feels better than I expected," the black-haired young man said with a smile.
"Hey now, it's only because I'm carrying you that you can fly. You should be thanking me!" the black-haired girl replied with a mischievous grin.
"Then I guess I'm calling it 'Yukino-powered flight.'"
"Hayashizaki!"
Yukinoshita Yukino and Hayashizaki laughed as they landed in front of everyone. The moonlight gently lit up Yukino's cool, calm face, bringing a slight blush to her cheeks.
Even though Kugisaki Nobara and Uraume were enemies, they both had the same thought at that moment:
"This is a battlefield, you know. Maybe save the flirting for later?"
Hayashizaki glanced around. Todo Aoi, shirtless, was trapped in ice. Itadori Yuji lay unconscious on the ground. Yoshino Junpei wasn't visible, but Hayashizaki could sense faint cursed energy from a nearby building. Only Kugisaki Nobara seemed mostly okay, still able to move.
As for the spiky-haired boy who looked perfectly fine...
Hayashizaki looked at the familiar dark markings on Fushiguro Megumi's face and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if it isn't the King of Curses. What are you doing in Fushiguro's body? Was Yuji's body not good enough?"
"Well, the brat could wake up at any time. Wouldn't want him ruining my fun," Sukuna said with a grin. "Besides, now I get to use Fushiguro's technique too."
"What, are you just copying what others do now?" the black-haired young man said with a mocking tone. "See someone with a cool technique and you just take over their body to get it? That's kind of childish, don't you think?"
Sukuna's eye twitched a little before he grinned coldly. "You little brat…"
With his usual teasing successfully getting under Sukuna's skin, Hayashizaki shot a quick glance at the black-haired girl beside him. She met his eyes, clearly understanding his signal.
Yukinoshita Yukino gave a small nod.
Hayashizaki turned back and reached to the side. The shadow beneath his feet suddenly twisted like a whirlwind rising from the sea. The swirling shadow rose into his hand and formed a jet-black battle halberd.
The black-haired young man smiled slightly.
"So what if you've got the Ten Shadows Technique? You still won't beat me."
Sukuna looked at the halberd made of shadow in his hand. Its sharp axe blade and pointed spear tip glinted coldly in the moonlight.
His eyes narrowed in thought.
That material… was it the same as the Demon-Slaying Sword?
Having once been cut by the one carried by Mahoraga, Ryoumen Sukuna quickly recognized what the weapon was made from.
But it didn't matter. He wasn't a cursed spirit, so even though that demon-slaying sword carried positive energy, it couldn't deal the kind of real damage it would to a cursed spirit. At most, it just added a bit of extra pain.
Besides, if it couldn't hit, it didn't matter anyway.
Just treat that halberd like a regular cursed tool—no need to be overly cautious.
The problem wasn't Hayashizaki himself, it was the girl beside him.
Ryoumen Sukuna shifted his sharp gaze from Hayashizaki to Yukinoshita Yukino.
If he wasn't mistaken, the technique she used to fall from the sky with Hayashizaki just now, and those shining blue eyes of hers, were the same as Gojo Satoru's Limitless Technique and Six Eyes.
That girl had once served as Hayashizaki's host, just like how he had used Itadori Yuji. As expected, her body also carried that strange power that let her copy and use the techniques of others. She could even replicate something as rare as the Six Eyes.
Compared to Hayashizaki, Yukinoshita Yukino—with the Limitless Technique—was way harder to deal with. If both of them came at him together, it'd be a real problem.
Ryoumen Sukuna quickly ran through his options.
With how overly confident Hayashizaki was, he probably wouldn't let the girl join the fight. All he had to do was take him out first, and then—
"Yukino, this time, let's fight side by side." Hayashizaki smiled at the black-haired girl. "You've been waiting for this moment, haven't you?"
"Okay."
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded, her face showing a soft smile too. A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes. "Don't slow me down, Hayashi-kun~"
The grin on Ryoumen Sukuna's face froze.
Wait—what?
What happened to your cocky attitude?
Bruh...
…
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