"And from today onwards, you'll refer to us as Masters." Satoru said with a grin on his face, executing a stupid pose.
"Excuse me?" Leon blurted out, half in confusion, half in disbelief.
After a while:
Leon sat down with his legs crossed, in the white space as the two explained his situation- their situation. He folded his hands and said, "So, let me get this straight… You two were enemies back in your world, who ended up killing each other.
And now a god kidnapped your souls and sent you here to train me and let me inherit your abilities. And this is all happening inside my head."
"Eh, more or less. There are a few more things, but we'll explain them along the way. Just keep in mind that you'll never be the same anymore.
And another fact, while it was him that killed me, it was my student that turned him into a squishy blob," Satoru replied, sounding a bit proud, grinning at Sukuna while pointing a finger at him.
"Big talk for someone who got turned into a Kit-Kat," Sukuna jabbed.
"Huh?" Satoru raised his eyebrows, questioning him like a delinquent, and got completely ignored. Sukuna just stood there, unbothered.
"Just so you know, you caught me off guard, that's all."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you can cope with."
Satoru looked like he wanted to go another round while Sukuna was standing still, folding all of his arms, closing the two sets of his eyes.
"I see," Leon spoke up and added, "I've completely gone insane, haven't I?" He muttered the last part to himself, but the two heard it too.
Sukuna chuckled and said, "Let me clear up his doubt."
Leon looked up, confused, when his vision shifted. As if he was thrown like a ragdoll, he flew above them- no, it was only the top half of his head, as he could still see the rest of his body.
His vision blurred again, and he found himself on the white floor, sweating buckets, fear crawling up his spine. He backed off, rubbing his face, checking if his head was still intact.
'What was that? A vision? No, that felt real.' The momentary sting of pain when his head was horizontally split… It was too real.
But how was he still here? It made sense if this was in his head. But the pain, the sensation, was all real.
"Wow. You do love traumatizing teenagers, don't you?" Satoru remarked as he gave Sukuna a deadpan look.
"He's still twelve," he said with a blank face.
"Yes, and that somehow makes it better," Satoru replied in a sarcastic voice.
"That wasn't completely an illusion," Sukuna spoke. "I did just kill you a moment ago. But since this was arranged by that old hag, whatever happens here, you'll never be permanently affected.
So, as long as you're alive in the physical world, this mental world is basically a perfected training capsule for you."
Leon would be stupid if that wasn't proof enough for him. "If- if you don't mind, who is this 'old hag' you keep talking about?" Leon asked.
"Meh, don't worry about her. She's just an old god who's bored by her monotonous life and supposedly wants to see something interesting in this crazy world," Satoru replied.
"You said you guys were from another world, didn't you? How do you know about me? About this world?" Leon asked.
"Oh, we know a lot, kid-" Satoru was about to speak when-
Sukuna interrupted him and said, "Enough of the questions. This shit's gonna take a long time, so let's get this started with. I just want to be over with this and rest in peace."
"Heh, like you have a choice," Satoru remarked with a grin.
Sukuna shot him a look. "If you've been purposefully trying to get on my nerves, congratulations, you've succeeded." An intense and heavy pressure erupted out of him.
"Owe! I'm getting scared," Satoru grinned, a similarly heavy and dense pressure erupting outwards. Leon's chest tightened, fear and tension rising up his spine.
Sparks flew off the center where the energy from the two clashed. He could see a faint color from both of them, light blue from Satoru and light crimson from Sukuna.
Leon stepped back, not knowing what to do.
Satoru spoke, "I always wondered what the fight with you would be like if you never had the Ten Shadows?"
'Ten Shadows?' Leon thought. The name sounded a bit cool to him.
"Hoh? Do you think you can win if we fight like this?"
"Win is an overstatement, old man. I'm going to divide you into pieces smaller than your disgusting fingers and stuff you back into the very holes you crawled out of," Satoru replied, the grin never leaving his face.
The white space completely changed into that of a city. They were now in the middle of Down Town Metropolis. The only difference was that there were no people here.
The only ones there were Satoru and Sukuna, sizing each other up, and Leon, who was just standing with a bewildered face.
He was confused as to how these two, who acted more like children than he was, were supposed to be his mentors.
Though, the doubt quickly cleared up when they began fighting. It was then that he realized it wasn't just a simple brawl between two arch-nemeses.
It was a demonstration for him, for what was to come, what to expect, and possibly even more.
The fight was best described as utterly chaotic. He'd only seen something like that once, when Superman had fought against those Kryptonians.
His memories were a bit hazy of that fight, and it was basically an edited version on the news channel. But the destruction these two ensued was similar to that.
The city was already a ruined rubble. The fight had shifted from purely physical and martial arts he couldn't follow through to a catastrophic, ability-based battle.
Satoru kept using his blue and red spheres to attack. Both abilities seemed to have different effects. Then there was Sukuna, who, with a flick of his fingers, could cut down anything in his path.
One minute, both of their bodies would be a gory mess, which was already traumatizing enough for him; next, they'd both magically heal, everything growing back as if time itself was being reversed for them.
He attributed that to what happened with him when his head was blown off by Sukuna. But he didn't know that the two could heal themselves, even from the brink of death.
And in this place, where their endurance was endless, they'd only stop until one accepted defeat.
Leon didn't know how long it had been since the two were fighting. Surprisingly, he was completely unaffected by all the destruction, so he could watch it pretty closely.
And in the latter half of the fight, they kept spamming something called Domain Expansion, which'd encase both of them in pitch-black sphere and an evil-looking shrine gate that would turn everything into dust around it.
By the end of it, the fight that almost looked like a stalemate ended in Satoru's favor, when suddenly Sukuna started bleeding endlessly from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
Satoru said something he couldn't understand; about how Sukuna's brain had been completely melted, and he was just pushing his luck.
They both seemed pretty beat up. The city? What city? The entire region was nonexistent as of now. Those two attacks specifically.
The big purple explosion from Satoru and that bright orange-red flame arrow from Sukuna. Leon was completely bewildered. Were these powers supposed to be inherited to him?
Just imagining "what if this was the real world" sent shivers down his spine. Tens of millions of people, hundreds of billions, probably trillions of dollars of infrastructure.
If both of them were individually this strong, then how strong would he be? For the first time since he woke up, a strange emotion flowed through his heart.
Excitement? Anticipation? Hope? He didn't know if it was just one or all of that. If this wasn't some dream, a trick played by his brain, then maybe, just maybe, he would turn his life around.
His aunt, Kate, who he didn't even remember, came to his mind. If this was real, if the universe had really given him a chance, then he'd take it without any second thought.
Satoru now stood victorious, his body covered in blood, his snow-white hair dyed crimson. Sukuna lay battered, staring at the sky with empty eyes.
"So, how about that, you fossilized prick?" Satoru asked with a chuckle.
"Shut up! And let me rest," Sukuna replied, grumpy. 'Damn that Infinity and Infinite Void.' No matter how much he pushed him, there really was no perfect counter to Infinity or his infuriating Domain Expansion.
He still remembered the model for the World Cutting Slash, but without Mahoraga's adaptation, there was no way to upgrade Dismantle to that level.
But he'd rather be nice to Itadori Yuji than accept defeat, especially if he has to keep working with this man-child. He looked at Satoru and scoffed.
Now they were back in the endless white space. Satoru and Sukuna both were on the floor, Satoru sitting cross-legged, while Sukuna lay on his back.
"Oh, we completely forgot about that kid!" Satoru suddenly realized that he had a job to do.
Sukuna just stayed silent. He knew Leon would be unaffected, so there was no need to hold back in that battle. And frustratingly enough, he lost.
'I don't think using my tools would have made any difference either,' he thought, clicking his tongue.
"Aw, someone's grumpy," Satoru chuckled, his voice bordering between mock and pity.
"Leon! Don't just stand there. Come forward and sit down. For today, we'll just explain all the abilities that you'll have.
Your training will start from tomorrow, or the next time you sleep," Satoru spoke, and Leon, after hesitating a bit, walked towards them and sat down, legs crossed.
So, the gist was, he'd basically be given three major abilities: Satoru's, which were called Limitless and the Six Eyes. All would be explained to him as he got trained by them.
Then there was Sukuna's, which was called the Shrine, the cutting and slicing technique, Dismantle and Cleave. Then the Fire, the Divine Flames. All fell under his Shrine.
And lastly, the Ten Shadows, which earned a scoff from Sukuna and a smirk from Satoru. Leon was smart enough to connect the dots.
It was the ability that Satoru had spoken about before that crazy fight, an ability that had given Sukuna the edge to defeat Satoru, back in their world.
Leon was expecting them to not explain the Ten Shadows too and keep it for the future, when Satoru went ahead and described it, about what it was.
It was basically about summoning shadows or shadow creatures from the shadow dimension. There were ten of those summons, the first of which was already tamed by default. The demon dogs.
But the rest would have to be summoned and fought against to tame them and use them after that.
There was also another detail. The Ten-Shadows originally would be permanently erased if they were summoned and were destroyed, but the one here had a cooldown time after being destroyed. The details would be explained to him later.
Sukuna spoke this time, still laying on his back. "Well, this one is straightforward. We can't exactly help you with this one. We'll just give you the details about the shadows. Taming them is your job, as it can only be done in the physical world,"
Looking at Leon, Satoru gave a smirk. He was expecting him to find this all overwhelming and maybe even lose his mind in denial.
But the kid was surprisingly calm. Well, it made sense if what they'd seen about him was true. Leon was always smarter than others. He was adaptable to any kind of changes that'd suddenly come to his life.
He didn't know about Sukuna, but he was genuinely surprised when Leon had slapped himself to his senses when he'd thought about doing something stupid in that hospital room.
It was a rare sight to see a person who was strong enough to pick himself up. He suddenly remembered Yuji's face, his bright smile, and how he'd overcome all of his emotional turmoil.
Yeah, he himself had learned a lot from the kid.
As for Sukuna, well, Sukuna was Sukuna. He couldn't be bothered with what anyone was feeling. He just had a job to finish.
Training this brat so that he could finally rest for eternity. He was still pissed about getting abducted unwillingly and, worst of all, having to work with two brats.
Well, at least his powers wouldn't be lost to time. 'Hmm… Is this how it feels to have a future generation?'
Maybe he did have some regrets, after all. Or not. And that was just a random fleeting thought.
"And lastly," Satoru spoke. "You'll also have to train your body in the physical world, you know, your stamina and endurance.
While the training on this mental plane will also affect and change you physically, if your body isn't ready for the sudden change, you'll face physical backlashes. So, try to keep up, okay?"
"But how will I do that if I can't even move properly?" Leon asked. After all, he was completely disabled, as far as physical abilities were concerned.
"Oh, right. Oy, Sukuna, work your magic, will ya," Satoru looked back at the sleeping guy, almost ordering him.
"Tsk, can't you do it yourself?"
"I might be able to do it now, but this one's important, so let's take no risks, shall we? Come on, didn't you want to finish this and be done with it?" he asked with a grin.
"What a pain!" Sukuna complained and got up, then walked towards the nervous Leon. He too had gotten up and was looking at him.
What was he going to do? 'I hope he doesn't cut me up again,' he thought, taking a gulp.
Sukuna raised his upper right hand and tapped his finger on Leon's forehead, then a sudden wave of warmth washed over his body.
Like a warm blanket, the energy wrapped him around, and he felt dizzy. "Well, that's it for this session. See you soon, kiddo. Remember, don't forget to train your physique," Satoru waved a goodbye with a grin.
Sukuna's neutral expression was the last thing he saw before he fell asleep again. It was strange, falling asleep while sleeping.
It was like negative and negative making a positive. His eyes fluttered open. Leon got up from his bed with an energy coursing through him, a wave of comfort that he'd forgotten about.
He looked at his arms and legs; everything was as it was, in that mindscape, all healed. His breathing, affected by his stretched skin, even blinking his eyes was an effort before, but now, everything felt normal.
In fact, everything felt better than normal. Something welled up in him, emotions he'd been trying to let out from the moment he'd woken up.
Tears burst out of his eyes. His voice didn't crack, but his hands were over his eyes, muffled cries echoing in the room.
Everything that happened in the last eight to ten hours, nothing was a dream. It was all real, and he'd really been given another chance.
"Leon, is everything alright-" Kate opened the door, since she'd heard some sounds from the room, but she was wide-eyed when she saw her nephew sitting on the bed, crying his eyes out, completely healed.
.... To be continued!!!
A/N: Alright, second chapter done... Don't forget to leave some comments and thoughts... And of course, do point out if you see any mistakes. As for chapter length, I think for now, I've found the sweet spot of 2400 to 2800 words. It doesn't feel tiring up to this length so, I'll stick to this for now and if I'm more free in the future, the chapter length might increase.
Also, thanks for all the support in the first chapter, was really nervous what kind of response I'd get or get any at all. Thanks again and see you next chapter... Bye!