A few minutes later, all the Cursed Energy streams were compressed to the extreme.
The light faded inward, and the fluctuations subsided. What appeared above Sukuna's (Utaha's) palm was no longer a violent energy vortex, but a perfect sphere about the size of a fist.
It was a deep dark purple, its surface as smooth as glazed glass, with liquid energy seemingly flowing slowly inside. It floated quietly, emitting a heart-palpitating, highly concentrated energy fluctuation, yet it strangely possessed an inviting luster, like a ripe, succulent, and eerie fruit.
Sukuna looked at this "pill" refined from the Cursed Spirits of the entire building, a satisfied expression appearing on his face. He controlled the mouth on Utaha's face, his tongue licking over sharp teeth, and then—
He swallowed the entire dark purple sphere in one gulp. Without chewing, the sphere melted upon entering his mouth.
Immediately after, an indescribable, explosive sweetness erupted in his mouth. It wasn't an ordinary sweetness, but an ultimate sense of pleasure mixed with the fullness of power and spiritual satisfaction, as if a parched person had drunk from a sweet spring or a starving person had tasted a delicacy.
This "deliciousness" reached the depths of his soul, making even a thousand-year-old monster like Sukuna narrow his eyes slightly and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Mmm... not bad, quite... delicious."
More importantly, as this pure Cursed Energy essence was absorbed, Sukuna clearly felt that his damaged soul felt a wave of comfortable warmth, like parched land being moistened. Although the increase was infinitesimal, it was a tangible benefit. And the total amount of Cursed Energy in his body also saw a small but definite growth.
"Very good..."
Sukuna felt the changes within his body, the light in his crimson eyes flaring up.
"Though the efficiency is low, it is a viable path. Devouring Cursed Spirits to supplement myself... Haha, this era isn't entirely worthless. At least the 'ingredient' reserves are quite abundant."
He glanced at the abandoned building beneath his feet, which had become "clean," without even a trace of curse residue remaining, feeling unsatisfied.
The quality of the Cursed Spirits here was uneven, and the energy they provided was a drop in the bucket compared to his peak, but it had verified the effectiveness of the Soul Devouring talent, pointing out a new path for him to recover his strength.
"Time to go back."
Sukuna restrained his aura and controlled Utaha's body, leaving the hunting ground he had "swept clean" like a phantom.
...
Returning to Utaha's tidy apartment, which had a hint of artistic clutter, it was nearly midnight.
Sukuna's consciousness seemed satisfied from his meal and temporarily fell silent, returning control of the body.
Fatigue rushed in like a tide, but Utaha didn't dare to rest immediately. She threw herself into her soft gaming chair, rubbed her throbbing temples, and fixed her gaze on the laptop on her desk, its standby light blinking.
"It's over... These past two days I've been so busy dealing with Sukuna and those terrifying things that I haven't even touched the manuscript for the third volume of Love ametronome." Utaha let out a wail.
As a rising star in the light novel world, she was a key target of "concern" for her editor, Machida Sonoko, who was famous for being strict and hunting down authors. If she delayed her submission, she had no doubt that Sonoko would actually show up at her door with a deadline sign or launch a terrifying bombardment of hundreds of emails a day.
With a helpless sigh, Utaha resigned herself to her fate, opened her computer, and pulled up the document. On the screen, the cursor blinked heartlessly after the period on the last line, as if mocking her slow progress.
She took a deep breath, forced herself to concentrate, and her slender fingers began to fly across the keyboard, the clicking sounds exceptionally clear in the silent room.
However, just as her inspiration began to flow and she tried to translate the subtle emotional interactions between the male and female leads she had conceived into words, a lazy and somewhat curious voice rang out in her mind.
"Oh? These stories are actually somewhat interesting. Little girl, you usually look so dim-witted, yet you're actually a writer?"
It was Sukuna! He wasn't completely asleep yet!
Utaha's fingers typing on the keyboard suddenly froze, nearly hitting the wrong line.
She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and retorted internally, "Sukuna-san, this is called a light novel. Also, I'm not a little girl, I have a name. And where exactly am I dim-witted?"
"Hmph, I am over a thousand years old, are you that old? Arguing over titles is meaningless." Sukuna sneered.
"Though you certainly are 'big' in some areas, hahahahaha." Sukuna teased his host a bit.
Hearing this, Utaha covered her chest and snapped, "Pervert."
On a daily basis, she worried about whether Sukuna inside her could see everything.
Sukuna ignored her, his attention seemingly genuinely drawn to the words on the screen. "'The light painted her profile in honey-like hues, her heart thundering like a drum'? Tsk, the description is quite delicate. Is the literature of your era just recording these boring romances between men and women?"
His tone carried a condescending judgment, but to Utaha's surprise, it didn't contain much disdain. Instead... it carried a hint of inquiry?
"This isn't called boring romance. This is the portrayal and celebration of delicate human emotions." Utaha couldn't help but defend herself, with a hint of pride belonging to a creator.
"Besides, Sukuna-san, you're a... curse, do you even understand literature?"
"I have read many books, don't look down on me." Sukuna retorted.
Despite Sukuna appearing to be of the martial faction, he actually quite liked learning. In Sukuna's eyes, any knowledge was nourishment that could make him stronger.
Cursed Techniques and Cursed Energy are innate for the most part, but knowledge is something that can be learned.
He paused, controlling one eye on Utaha's face to seemingly focus more intently on "reading" the text on the screen.
He evaluated, "The writing is acceptable, and the emotional rendering is decent. It's just that the scope is too small, all just petty love and sentimental whining."
"True literature should have the spirit to encompass the world and insight into human nature. For example, recording heroic epics, depicting the cruelty of war, or... taking my experiences and writing them into a story. Now that would be magnificent."
Utaha was left speechless.
Having Sukuna write a light novel?
That image was too much to imagine. It would probably be filled with "Cleave," "Dismantle," "Domain Expansion," and "Devouring Cursed Spirits".
Could that even be called Love Metronome?
Might as well rename it 'The Love Story of the King of Curses' or 'My Daily Life Coexisting with Sukuna'.
At the thought, she couldn't help but shudder.