Ritsuka POV
Cu's eyes were on me.
Mash was watching me too–shield held a little tighter than before. Even Sukuna, somehow both relaxed and terrifying, had stopped smirking long enough to actually wait for my answer.
And me?
Yeah… I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that an hour ago, I thought magic wasn't real.
Now I was standing in a bunker under a burning city, surrounded by skeletons outside, a literal monster–no, a Demigod warrior, a pink-haired kohai turned demi-servant, and a man who punched a giant into the sky so hard the weather changed.
So, you know.
Just a normal day.
Mash had been tense ever since Sukuna walked in. I noticed it instantly. With Caster, she lowered her guard without realizing it. But the moment Sukuna walked in, she'd stiffened–shield up, eyes sharp. It was the total opposite. She shifted her stance, tightened her grip, shielded me and my sister without even thinking.
I didn't feel anything weird from him. Sure he was a dangerous and powerful man, anyone with a pair of eyes could tell you that and whenever I looked at him, I could tell that there was more to him than that.
But the thing was, I was no magician, no wizard and as such, I couldn't really tell if he gave off this dangerous aura, if you could somehow tell from just his presence that he was bad news.
But Mash clearly sensed something.
Maybe that was just how this "Demi-Servant" thing worked. Or maybe she was just overwhelmed. I couldn't blame her for that.
But the thing was: whatever she felt didn't change the facts.
Sukuna saved my sister.
Caster protected all of us.
Mash has risked herself again and again.
That mattered more than any weird instinct I didn't understand.
And the way Caster and Sukuna spoke…
It was strange. Like they already knew how to talk to each other.
Like two veterans who just picked up an old conversation.
Caster treated me politely enough, but with Sukuna, he felt… different. Comfortable. Annoyed, but in a friendly way. Relaxed. As if he didn't need to babysit him.
Meanwhile, me?
I barely understood the basics of this world.
And when Caster mentioned that a new summon might pull a Servant who's actually compatible with me–
Yeah.
That sounded like the smart move.
Gudako seemed stronger after contracting with Mash. I had noticed that immediately–even if she hadn't. She wasn't breathing as hard. She wasn't slowing down. Mash's energy was blending with hers somehow.
So if she and Mash were synced like that…
Maybe I could find someone who synced with me too.
So I took a breath and–
BEEP–BEEP–BEEP.
My watch vibrated violently on my wrist.
A blue-tinted hologram flickered to life above it–static at first, then sharpening into a familiar face with messy hair and a panicked expression.
"Director!? Ritsuka!? Mash!? Gudako!?" Dr. Roman yelped. "Please tell me you can hear me–! We lost your signal for way too long, what happened? Are you all safe? Where are you–oh my god is that a Servant next to you–why is he drinking beer–"
I blinked at him.
Mash blinked.
Gudako gave a tiny wave.
Caster snorted.
Sukuna just raised an eyebrow.
And all I could think was–
Perfect timing, Doc.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
3RD POV
Dr. Romani's hologram flickered wildly, the blue tint stuttering as his eyes darted around the room.
He blinked twice–one at his sister, once at Mash–then froze.
His eyes landed on the mattress.
On the unmoving body.
On the girl whose hair was supposed to be bright white… now came up as washed-out grey. Whose body was paler than it should be, nearly resembling a corpse.
"...D-D-Director?"
The word left him in a broken whisper.
Ritsuka felt Mash tense beside him. Gudako's grip tightened on his sleeve.
Roman lurched closer to the screen, panic rising fast.
"W-Why is she like that!? Why is her hair–why is her skin that color–what happened!? The last I saw her, she was with you guys yet not even half an hour later it's this!? What happened!? She wasn't supposed to be like that–she shouldn't–"
He spiraled immediately,
Rapid-fire questions, no spacing, no breath.
Like he'd been holding all of it in and he finally detonated.
Cu let out a snort.
"HAH–holy hell, Doc, breathe! I ain't understanding a thing you just said!"
Roman did not breathe.
His eyes snapped toward the unknown man–Sukuna, who had begun walking slowly toward Olga.
"W-WAIT–who is THAT!?" Roman sputtered. "Why is he moving toward the Director–what is he doing–why does he look like he's about to inspect–??"
Ritsuka glanced at Sukuna and swallowed hard.
He didn't know why but even through a screen, the man felt off.
And that made him panic harder.
"Who–No, WHAT IS HE!? He has no mana signature yet the energy readings of this mystic code are failing to read him!? He has no mana signature, no Saint Graph–that shouldn't be possible! He's no Servant–so who–What–?"
Roman's voice hiccupped.
Ritsuka watched as Romani's eyes looked towards somewhere over what he presumed was a camera.
"Oh you're kidding me–" Roman whispered, eyes widening. "His energy reserves–these readings–this is impossible–he's ALIVE, how the hell–?!"
Cu raised an eyebrow. "That surprising?"
"SURPRISING?!" Roman squawked. "Do you understand what I'm seeing!? This man–this thing–he has no magical foundation, but his energy output is so high I need to use Sheba to look into the singularity and DO YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SEEING HERE–IT'S NEAR THE GRAIL'S RANGE! I mean–sure, it's miniscule compared to the Grail, but that's like saying a meteor is 'small' compared to the sun–IT STILL KILLS YOU!"
Mash took a step back, startled.
But what surprised him was that Cu didn't even raise an eyebrow at this… Was he expecting this? Did he know?
He supposed it makes sense, he is a caster class servant–and while he doesn't know the specifics–he can guess the basics in how he is more focused on spell casting compared to say a tank or berserker.
Still, the comparison surprised him. While he didn't know a lot about how much energy is in a grail. The director has explained to them on the bridge how the grail could grant any wish to the winner of the Holy Grail War. While he doubted the any wish aspect, the fact that it could grant wishes meant something.
So for someone to say that this man–Sukuna–could be compared to such a device. No matter how small, the fact that he was in that range meant that he was beyond powerful.
Ritsuka didn't know what to feel.
Fear? Awe?
Gratitude?
Sukuna had saved them. That mattered. At least, he'd like to think so.
Roman rubbed his face, muttering incoherently. "I don't… this doesn't make sense… someone with that much raw power shouldn't even exist in this era..."
Then something happened and Romani froze.
The colour drained from his face.
"…No."
Before anyone could ask, he stared–not at Sukuna's data this time–but at a new window that had appeared on Ritsuka's watch.
Mash leaned in.
Ritsuka held his breath.
Roman's mouth opened and closed like he forgot how speaking worked.
"The… Director…" he finally whispered.
"T-The readings… Ritsuka, Mash… Gudako… she's not… she's not showing any standard vitals. Her body is transmitting cursed damage markers in volumes that– that–"
He swallowed hard.
"This is the kind of readout I'd expect from a cursed corpse."
Mash's breath hitched sharply.
Gudako's knees nearly buckled.
Ritsuka felt his stomach drop.
"But," Roman added quickly, voice trembling, "there's–there's something else. She's… stabilizing?--No, something's holding her in a stasis-like state. Not healing her, but preventing her from… fully dying."
Cu scratched his cheek. "Yeah, that'd be me. I couldn't do much about the curse itself but the stasis thing was child's play."
Roman stared at him like he had sprouted a second head.
"A CURSE!? W-Why–how–what happened since the last time I saw you!? I lose signal for maybe half an hour and suddenly the Director is– is– this!?"
Ritsuka exhaled slowly.
He didn't have answers.
He didn't even know where to begin.
Just then, his attention shifted.
Sukuna stopped beside Olga's mattress, kneeling just enough to look at her face. Not touching–just observing. Calm. Focused.
Ritsuka couldn't tell what he was thinking.
But Roman definitely could tell one thing:
Everything had changed since the last transmission.
And now…
He needed answers.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Sukuna knelt beside the mattress, elbows resting loosely on his knees as he looked down at Olga's unconscious form. The room behind him buzzed with frantic voices–Mash explaining, Gudako stammering, Ritsuka trying to calm Roman–but it was all background noise.
His attention was on the girl.
One of his brows rose slightly.
A low sound escaped him–half exhale, half amused hum.
"Hoh. Now that's interesting."
Her body was a wreck.
Even without touching her, he could see the damage woven through her bones. Hairline fractures everywhere. A few breaks. Internal bleeding. Organ trauma from what looked like bone fragments piercing into soft tissue. Her ribs had nearly collapsed inward.
Honestly? She shouldn't even be alive.
A hit from Heracles–even a corrupted version–wasn't something humans "survived." Shielder, sure. She was a Servant in all but name. Sukuna could still feel the echo of that Servant–the one he'd sensed in that brief clash of innate domains. As much as it annoyed him to admit, the guy wasn't half bad. The Round Table and twelve chairs weren't exactly subtle.
But this girl?
Just a magus. Young. Untrained by the looks of her physique.
And yet, she lived.
Maybe Berserker went soft.
Maybe she reminded him, even subconsciously, of Illya–the tiny homunculus he'd once treasured in life and death.
He had shattered the Chains of Heaven for her.
But that wasn't the part that held Sukuna's attention.
No.
It was the curse.
Or more accurately–
The curses.
Up close, he could see them clearly. One massive curse spread through her entire body and soul, while smaller ones crawled through her circuits, parasite-like, feeding, expanding… almost merging with her.
Almost.
He understood immediately why Cu couldn't heal her.
Any foreign magical energy would be treated as an attack.
Her body would fight back–and in doing so, cannibalize itself.
Her circuits were already showing signs of self-destruction.
But then–
His eyes narrowed.
Her back.
There was this mass of multiple circuits in a pattern that were somehow immune to the curse. It was as if the curse couldn't touch it.
Right. Magical crests.
Major plot point in the anime–especially for the Tohsaka siblings.
Now he was more interested in who the fuck made these things.
But even that wasn't the strangest part.
It was the… growth.
A spiritual cyst. A malformed spiritual organ. A tumor of energy forming beside her soul–weak, flickering, but undeniably there. A second presence trying to form where there shouldn't be one.
Almost like–
Sakura Matou.
A girl tortured by a wanna be litch. Turned into a minor grail. A vessel connected to Angra Mainyu.
He clicked his tongue once.
"…So it's that kind of thing."
If the tumor kept feeding on the curse, eventually it wouldn't be a "tumor."
It would be a second soul.
A second someone.
And that…
Well, he had never seen that in real life. Not even in the Heian era.
The closest was himself–having devoured his own twin before birth.
But even then, that second soul never grew. It just clung.
Then faded once he became a cursed object–reincarnating later into that brat's grandfather.
But this girl's?
It was growing.
He could snuff it out.
He could purge the curse, uproot the corruption, and heal her body in minutes.
He was more than capable.
But…
Should he?
What happens if he forces positive energy into her?
Will the curse adapt? Will it latch onto him? Will the second soul stabilize? Will it wake up? Become something else entirely?
He had power, sure. But unknowns were the kind of shit that he despised.
His fingers flexed lightly against his knee.
He remembered Tsukimi–Megumi's sister–cursed while he was powerless to do anything.
That tiny ache flickered through his chest.
Not his own emotion.
Not Sukuna's either.
Not Megumi's either.
Something between them.
A part of him–Megumi whispered:
"You can save this one."
Another answered:
"And create something worse in the process."
Before that tug-of-war could go any deeper, footsteps approached.
Cu crouched beside him, cracking his neck as he studied Olga with a more practiced, magical eye.
"So?" Cu asked quietly, "What do you make of this mess?"
Sukuna's lower-left eye drifted sideways for a moment.
Across the room, Mash and the twins spoke rapidly to Roman's projection. The doctor had finally calmed down–panic melting into a shaky mix of confusion and exhaustion–but their chatter barely registered for Sukuna.
He turned his gaze back to Cu.
"…It's complicated," he said.
Cu's grin widened a fraction, sharp and knowing.
"Oh? Complicated enough that even the King of Curses can't fix it?"
Sukuna snorted softly.
"You know," he said, eyes narrowing with amusement, "the funny thing is–I know you're playing me… But you're right."
Cu barked a laugh, satisfied.
Sukuna turned back to Olga's ruined body.
"Healing the physical damage would be trivial," he began. "Her organs, bones, circuits–those are easy. But even a lousy Caster like you knows–"
"Yeah, yeah," Cu cut in, rolling his eyes. "The moment you push energy into her, the body fights back and tears itself apart. I've been doing this long enough to recognize a death trap. And who the hell are you calling a lousy Caster?"
Sukuna ignored the last part.
"I could also remove the curses," he continued. "All of them. But they've already seeped into the soul. If I try to rip them out now, there's a chance her soul will tear with them."
Cu raised an eyebrow, smirking.
"So that's a fancy way of saying you can't do it?"
A low huff escaped Sukuna.
"Who the hell do you think I am?"
Cu chuckled. "That's what I like to hear."
Sukuna leaned back on his heels, fingers tapping lightly against his knee as he considered the unconscious girl again. The room's noise faded even further.
He could heal her.
He could purge the curse.
He could snuff out the budding, unstable second soul before it ever took shape.
But the risks were real.
And if he made the wrong call…
There went the potential allies.
There went Chaldea's trust.
There went his connection to this mess.
His eyes flicked toward the group–the nervous twins, Mash's worried frown, Roman's projected face watching anxiously from the watch.
He exhaled through his nose.
"…Shouldn't we ask them first?" Sukuna said quietly, tilting his head toward the others. "It's their call."
Cu blinked, surprised for half a breath.
Then he smiled–not mocking this time, but approving.
"Fair enough," he said. "Let's hear what the peanut gallery thinks."
Sukuna rose to his feet, dusting off his knees, and for the first time since examining Olga…
He looked genuinely curious about what they would choose.
And whether they truly understood the weight of the decision being placed in their hands.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Cu stood and rolled his shoulders once, shifting back toward the projection hovering above Ritsuka's wrist.
Roman's frantic muttering quieted when he saw the Servant's expression turn serious.
"So," Cu began, jerking a thumb toward Olga's unconscious form, "here's the real problem, Doc. Her physical injuries aren't the big deal. I could patch those up myself if that was all it took."
Roman blinked. His eyes motioned for the Caster to continue.
Cu tapped his foot against the concrete, tone turning flat.
"The curse. It's dug into her too deep. Not just the body. Her circuits, her being… she's halfway to being this curse-being abomination."
Mash inhaled sharply.
Gudako's hand flew to her mouth.
Ritsuka clenched his fists at his sides.
Sukuna huffed. "If I push any energy into her as she is now, it'll trigger every defensive reflex in her body. She'll tear herself apart trying to reject it."
He snapped his fingers once.
"Instant death."
Roman paled visibly.
"But," Sukuna continued, "I have a method to separate the curse cleanly. I can keep her alive through the process. Mostly."
A pause.
A heavy one.
"The issue is simple: she might die anyway. Or something worse might happen."
Cu nodded, tapping his fingers against his thigh.
"That's why we're not making this call ourselves. You lot decide. She's your Director. Your responsibility."
Silence fell.
Mash swallowed hard, guilt twisting her features.
Gudako looked between Olga and Sukuna, unsure–scared, even.
Ritsuka stepped forward.
"I…" he began, voice roughening, "I think we should let him do it."
Mash's head snapped toward him. Gudako stared in disbelief.
Ritsuka continued anyway.
"We can't fight like this. Carrying someone who can't move… someone who's cursed this badly… it's a liability."
He looked at Mash and Gudako, then at the projection.
"And Saber–the one Caster described–she's not something we can handle if we're protecting someone who's dying. We need every advantage we can get."
Mash's lips trembled.
Gudako opened her mouth–then closed it again.
A soft sound escaped Ritsuka's watch.
Barely audible.
But Sukuna's head tilted.
Cu's eyebrow rose.
Mash jerked her gaze to the hologram.
"…Do it."
Ritsuka blinked. "Doctor?"
Roman exhaled shakily, then lifted his head with the expression of someone forcing himself into a role he didn't feel prepared to hold.
"As acting Director," he said–voice steadier than his hands–"I have to make the hard calls." He looked at Olga, and something pained flickered in his eyes. "Ritsuka is right. We can't face something like that Saber while protecting someone in this state. It's… impossible."
Mash whispered, "Doctor… are you really sure…?"
Roman took a breath.
"No. I'm not."
Then, quieter, "But this is the only path forward."
Everyone turned to Sukuna.
The King of Curses clicked his tongue.
"Tch. Fine."
With that, he stepped toward Olga's body, the floor creaking faintly under his weight. No one spoke. Even Caster, who had been smirking half a second ago, fell silent as Sukuna knelt beside the mattress again.
He slid one hand beneath Olga's shoulder, turning her gently onto her stomach. The motion was surprisingly careful–precise, deliberate. His right hand lifted, fingers flexing once before the nail sharpened into a clean, razor-point.
A single swipe.
Fabric parted without resistance. Her coat and dress split in a neat arc, just enough to expose the upper portion of her back–a fist-sized window to the circuits embedded beneath her skin.
He placed his palm over the revealed area, eyes closing.
The room exhaled.
And then he felt it.
The curse–its main root–lurking like a living parasite wrapped around her soul and burrowed deep into her body. Smaller tendrils crawled through her circuits like starving worms, gnawing at everything they could reach.
His lip curled very faintly.
There.
He found the exact point where the "core" tethered itself to Olga being.
A thin strand of cursed energy slipped from Sukuna's palm–barely the width of a hair. It brushed the core, testing, catching, linking. A bridge no thicker than a thread now connected the curse to him.
The curse reacted instantly.
It tugged.
Latched.
Recognized a stronger feeding ground.
Good.
His own cursed energy flared, tightening the connection, making it more obvious–more inviting. The curse swarmed toward it like a starving animal sensing meat. In the same breath, Sukuna whispered:
'Dismantle.'
A clean, perfect slice severed the curse's attachment to Olga's body.
The effect was immediate.
The curse went feral.
It tore forward, searching for purchase–scrambling to reattach to the girl it had claimed. But the link to Sukuna's palm widened in that same heartbeat–stretching from a thin thread to a thick channel.
And the curse chose.
It lunged straight into Sukuna's hand.
Caster choked. "What in the–oi! Are you insane?!"
Sukuna didn't open his eyes. Didn't look at him. He only smirked–subtle, sharp, amused.
The moment the curse fully crossed into him, his cursed energy snapped around it like a cage. Not consuming it. Not dispelling it. Containing it, almost sealing it inside his hand and isolating it from his core.
A living parasite caught inside a stone prison.
The floor vibrated faintly from the sudden shift of violent power.
Only then did Sukuna speak.
"Relax. I've got it."
The curse writhed under his skin, but it couldn't escape.
He placed his left hand on the exposed skin of Olga's stomach again.
A hum filled the air.
Soft at first.
Then brighter–warmer–like a second heartbeat awakening in the room.
Reverse Cursed Technique.
The glow was faint, almost invisible to anyone without enhanced perception, but Mash and Cu saw it instantly. Even Roman's projection flickered as his scanner picked up the spike.
Positive energy poured into Olga's body like sunlight drawn into a dying ember.
Warm, clean energy seeped into her body, threading through broken bone, shredded muscle, and bruised tissue. Bones realigned. Fractures sealed. The internal damage repaired itself with calm precision.
But the real work began once the positive energy hit her circuits.
The smaller curses scattered through them recoiled instantly, twisting and bubbling like insects caught in a flame. Sukuna didn't give them the chance to regroup or mutate; he flooded the channels, burning them out one by one until the circuits finally stopped resisting and accepted the healing flow.
Behind him, someone sucked in a breath–Mash, maybe. Or Gudako. He didn't bother turning to check.
His focus went deeper.
Deeper.
To the soul.
That was where the last remnants hid.
And where it was forming.
The spiritual lump pulsed faintly–like a malformed organ trying to turn into something else. A second identity attempting to take root where it had no right to exist. Weak. Unstable. Dependent on the curse that had been feeding it.
It wouldn't last long now.
Sukuna paused.
He could purge it completely, erase the possibility forever.
But…
Should he?
It was almost guaranteed the second soul would fade on its own now that the curse was gone. And if–by some ridiculous twist of fate–it survived anyway?
Then it was meant to be.
With that thought, he guided his positive energy carefully around it, removing only the cursed fragments clinging to Olga's soul. They evaporated cleanly.
And then he lifted his hand.
Her complexion shifted–ashen turning warm again, her pulse evening out as though someone had turned life back on inside her. Most of her hair returned to its original snowy white, though a thin streak of silver stubbornly remained.
Mash gasped softly.
Gudako's eyes widened.
Ritsuka stared, stunned.
Roman's projection flickered.
Cu's brows shot up–not in shock, but in a kind of impressed disbelief.
Sukuna didn't respond to any of them.
His attention had already returned to his right hand–where the core curse rattled inside the cage he'd made for it.
Now. What to do with you? Hmm, now here's an idea.
He centered his cursed energy and pushed the curse upward–slowly, carefully–guiding the writhing mass until it gathered at the tip of his index finger.
The shift stung–a dull burn crawling up his nerves–but he ignored it.
A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.
Good.
Precision mattered here.
Once the curse was fully packed into the finger, he rotated his wrist once, aligning it forward. His cursed energy flared–thin, focused–wrapping around the finger like a membrane.
Then–
He expelled it.
A burst of corrupted force erupted outward, instantly caught inside a delicate sphere of his own energy. Pure black churned at the center, wrapped in a faint bluish-transparent layer that kept it from tearing the room apart.
The contained curse pulsed like a miniature collapsing star.
Across the room, Cu's eyes went wide.
"…You've gotta be kidding me," he breathed, half laugh, half disbelief.
Sukuna's grin sharpened.
"Almost looks like…" he muttered under his breath, barely audible, "…a mini-Uzumaki."
A technique stolen from the brain.
A crude imitation. For now.
With a small twitch of his hand, he drew the curse back into the finger, compressing it into a tight, malignant knot. The sphere dissipated.
Then he turned the finger slightly upward.
A thin line split across the base of the digit–so precise it looked drawn on. Sukuna's cursed energy sliced cleanly through flesh and bone.
The finger snapped free.
Mash gasped.
Gudako covered her mouth.
Ritsuka turned green.
Even Roman's projection glitched in shock.
Sukuna caught the severed finger before it dropped. His real finger regenerated instantly. Then, using the falling blood, he marked the severed one with a sealing formula, locking the curse inside.
The air hummed with containment.
He flicked the sealed finger into his shadow. It disappeared without a sound.
Only then did he straighten, rolling his newly regrown finger experimentally.
The procedure was complete.
And behind him–
A soft, shaky inhale came from the mattress.
The group spun toward Olga instantly.
Her fingers twitched.
Her chest rose.
And then–
Her eyes opened.
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-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Authors Note:
Yo, how's it going guys? Good? Neat.
So–how did you like this chapter?
Yeah, yeah, I know there wasn't any action here, but c'mon… I have to move the plot forward somehow or the pacing will explode. And before anyone suggests I pull out an 8-10k monster chapter–nah. My style just doesn't fit that. I'm a 3k-6k kind of guy, that's my comfort zone.
On a serious note though, what did you think?
Did anything feel awkward?
How was the Ritsuka part at the start?
How was Romani's reaction once he finally got through?
How did Cu and Sukuna's dynamic feel?
And of course… How was that Mini-Uzumaki replication?
Couple of things:
If it felt like Romani agreed a little too fast–don't worry. There's an actual reason for that. It'll be covered properly in his interlude (two interludes after the Fuyuki arc–one for Ritsuka, one for Romani). So look forward to that.
And for those craving action–don't worry. That's coming in the next chapter.
More content available on my PA-TREON . COM / ST_SCARFACE : INTER 5, FCO Chapter's 5 to 10, 4 chapters of A Pragmatist's Guide to a Prophecy (HP SI AS HARRY) for now.
As always, thanks for all your support.
Ciao.