Utaha finally managed to stop coughing. She raised her teary eyes and glared at Sukuna, trembling with rage, yet unable to say a word.
This malicious thousand-year-old monster! He definitely did it on purpose!
Scaring her half to death with that terrifying scene, and then using this deathly bitter tea to play a trick on her.
Seeing her shocked, angry, and wretched state, Sukuna seemed to be in an even better mood. He stopped his loud laughter, but that irritatingly playful arc remained on his lips. His four eyes squinted like a lazy beast that had eaten its fill.
Sukuna shifted into a more casual sitting posture and changed his tone, speaking with a condescending, almost charitable tolerance, "Fine, since you're already here, and for the sake of making me laugh, if you have any questions about this... 'New World,' ask them while I am in a good mood."
Utaha suppressed the nauseating bitterness in her throat and the urge to smash the teacup against that detestable face across from her.
Knowing this was a precious opportunity to learn the truth, she forced herself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, her eyes looked directly at Sukuna as she asked the core confusion currently on her mind, "I want to know about the Jujutsu World, and Devils. What exactly is going on? What's the difference between them? And how is power categorized?"
"Oh? You want to start from the basics?" Sukuna raised an eyebrow, seemingly finding her question somewhat interesting.
He propped his chin on one hand while casually playing with the empty teacup with the other, beginning to explain in a tone that was half-nonchalant yet entirely authoritative, like a teacher giving a lecture.
"Let's start with the simple stuff: Jujutsu Sorcerers and Cursed Spirits."
He held up a finger. "Cursed Spirits are curses born from the overflow of human negative emotions—trash like fear, hatred, and anxiety. Based on their total Cursed Energy and danger level, they are roughly divided from low to high into: Grade 4, Grade 3, Grade 2, Grade 1, and the Special Grade that reigns above them."
"Correspondingly, Jujutsu Sorcerers are also ranked by the level of Cursed Spirits they can handle. A Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer exorcises a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, and those who can stably exorcise Special Grade Cursed Spirits are considered Special Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers. As for Special Grade..."
Sukuna sneered, "The standards those guys came up with are a total mess. Some are beyond normal specifications in strength, while others possess unique abilities or cursed objects. However, in the face of true power, these rankings are nothing more than ridiculous boundaries set by ants for themselves."
He paused and continued, "Devils, on the other hand, are something else entirely."
His tone became slightly more serious. "They don't originate from daily human negative emotions, but from humanity's primordial fear of a specific concept. For example, the fear of 'Guns,' the fear of 'War,' the fear of 'Darkness,' or even the fear of 'Death' itself."
"A Devil's strength depends directly on the degree of fear humanity worldwide feels for the concept it represents. The deeper and more widespread the fear, the stronger the Devil."
"Furthermore, Devils possess a core rule: as long as humanity's fear of its concept does not disappear, even if it is killed in the human world, it will be resurrected in Hell."
Sukuna seemed to see through her thoughts and suddenly threw out a seemingly unrelated question. "If my understanding is correct, little girl, the world you've known since childhood... shouldn't have any large-scale wars, right? Gun control is extremely strict, and even things like nuclear weapons were banned and destroyed long ago, weren't they?"
Utaha was stunned and nodded subconsciously. "Yes, that's right. Long before I was born, nations signed a Permanent Peace Treaty. Gun control is strictly enforced globally, and all nuclear warheads were publicly destroyed. While local conflicts and terrorist activities occasionally occur, a world-scale war hasn't happened for nearly half a century."
This was the self-evident foundation of the peaceful modern society she knew.
"As I thought..."
A knowing, insightful sneer appeared on Sukuna's face as his four eyes narrowed slightly.
"The power of the War Devil has weakened to the extreme. It's likely slowly resurrecting and gathering strength in some corner. As for the Nuclear Weapons Devil..."
He elongated his tone, delivering a conclusion that made Utaha's skin crawl, "...it's probably weakened to the point of near-disappearance, or simply been 'eaten' by some existence."
"E... Eaten?" Utaha's voice trembled slightly.
"Ah, it's just a guess by me." Sukuna's tone returned to being lazy, as if speaking of a trivial matter.
"After all, to have a concept representing ultimate destruction nearly erased from the human collective consciousness, making the whole world believe that 'nuclear weapons don't exist,' is not something natural decay can achieve. It's more likely that something even more terrifying 'handled' it in some way."