A brown-haired demon with a single red horn on his forehead floated in the air, looking down at the unassuming humans in the carriage who hadn't even noticed him.
His name was Tol, a demon who had lived for 90 years.
He had been hunting human caravans while hiding in the forest, causing many deaths among humans.
Today too, he was going to destroy just another weak human caravan.
But it seemed he was mistaken.
Tol turned his head and looked at the cloaked figure jumping up and down on the ground while waving his hands to attract his attention.
'Is he trying to get my attention?'
Tol thought calmly and quickly checked the mana quantity of this odd person.
'Weak mana, not a threat.'
It was on the same level as an ordinary human.
Having concluded that this weird jumping person posed no threat to him, Tol floated down and stood before him.
Then, before Tol could say something, the figure removed its cloak, revealing a face filled with black patterns and two horns atop his head.
'Not a human then.'
Tol's demeanor changed. Since he was meeting another member of his kind, there was no need to put up a fake expression.
"What do you want?"
Tol asked in an emotionless tone.
Demons didn't have any sort of kinship; they only relied on their strength to deal with each other.
And from the weak mana emitted by this demon, Tol was clearly the superior one here.
Sukuna didn't care about what Tol thought; there were other things he was more interested in.
"Hey, how are you flying?"
Tol became silent for a moment.
Then, after a brief contemplation, he asked back,
"You don't know how to fly?"
It was a very genuine question from Tol.
A demon who doesn't know how to fly?
Is that even possible?
"I don't, so give me some advice, senior."
Giving Sukuna a deeper look and seeing that he was indeed a demon, Tol thought for a moment before saying,
"There is no advice. Flying for demons is instinctive."
"Instinct?"
"Yes, we don't have to think about flying. We can just fly."
"Hm..."
Sukuna scratched his chin, then closed his eyes.
Demon Tol stared at him in silence.
A few seconds passed.
Then suddenly,
Sukuna slowly started levitating from the ground.
Opening his eyes, he said with a small smile on his face,
"Instinct, I think I understand...."
He suddenly tilted his body and, with a powerful force, flew through the sky, going straight for the clouds.
Tol, on the ground, calmly stared at Sukuna's figure moving around the sky like a newborn hatchling.
Seeing the expression of pure delight on his face left Tol feeling confused.
'Why does he look happy?.....'
For some reason, it reminded him of a human.
Demons, unlike humans, were incapable of feeling a majority of emotions such as love, guilt, and empathy.
They could mimic happiness and joy but were unable to truly feel them like humans.
That is why, when Tol looked at Sukuna's expression in the sky,
he could tell it was more human than demon.
'Interesting.....'
Demon Tol's eyes widened slightly.
'Let's capture him and study why he's different.'
He quickly made the decision in his mind.
Demons were, after all, solitary beings.
Under Tol's control, his mana compressed to form several hair-thin needles.
This was his signature magic, Mana Needle.
It compressed mana into thin, hair-like needles and shot them toward the enemy at high speed.
Due to their size, the needles were incredibly difficult for warriors to detect; only experienced mages who had trained for years were able to perceive them.
Predicting Sukuna's flight path, Tol clenched his hand.
But before he could send his attack,
Tol's eyes widened as he quickly flew into the sky.
Crack
The earth beneath him suddenly shot up in the shape of a spike, piercing through his leg.
Tol looked down at his pierced leg and muttered in a dazed tone,
"How?..."
"Take a guess."
Hearing the close voice, Tol quickly turned his head, only to receive a reinforced punch straight to his chin.
Then, without pause, several more punches landed on the demon's body until he lost consciousness.
"I know better than to trust a demon."
Sukuna said in a calm tone, then grabbed Tol by his neck and laid him down on the ground.
Then he pulled up his hood and once again leaned against the tree, waiting for the villagers to return.
As time passed, Sukuna frowned and looked at the group of armed humans coming toward him.
There were three of them—two warriors and a priest.
All of them were humans, and they didn't seem to be particularly strong adventurers based on their gear and mana readings.
Well, to be honest, they seemed quite weak, much weaker than the demon he had just caught.
As Sukuna looked at them with his hood lowered, the party of adventurers was also focused on him.
To be exact, they were staring at Demon Tol, lying on the ground, unconscious.
"A horn, it is indeed a demon..."
"Was he captured? I've never heard of anyone capturing demons....."
As the party of three muttered among themselves, Sukuna suddenly waved his hand and said in a plain tone,
"Go away, brats. Don't disturb me."
"Ah... sir, did you capture this demon?" one of the adventurers asked in a hesitant tone while staring at Sukuna, whose face was hidden under the cloak.
He looked suspicious.
When the warrior was about to question him further, Sukuna suddenly stood up, grabbed the demon's hair, and smashed his head into the ground.
"You think I wouldn't notice that you had woken up? Since you like to act, keep acting."
SmashSmashSmash
The demon's body twitched before going limp again.
After knocking out the demon again, Sukuna looked at the adventurer party and said,
"Leave. Don't disturb me."
The three adventurers looked at each other before backing away and making their way to the city.
After they were gone, Sukuna continued waiting for the villagers.
Fortunately, after a few hours, when the sun was about to set, the villagers returned with a new face.
"Who is he?" Sukuna asked, pointing at the scholarly-looking middle-aged man.
"Mr. Sukuna, we found this architect who became interested in helping us after hearing our goal."
"Hm? An architect?"
As Sukuna looked at the brown-haired architect, he looked back at Sukuna.
"Is this the gentleman who wants to build a city?"
"Yes! This is our savior, Mr. Sukuna!"
The villagers excitedly introduced Sukuna to the architect while hiding his demon identity.
"My name is Ante."
"Ryomen Sukuna."
The two of them shook hands.
Just then, one of the villagers pointed with his finger.
"Um.... Mr. Sukuna, who is that?"
Everyone unconsciously followed his lead and looked at the unconscious demon on the ground.
"Is that.... a demon!?"
The architect exclaimed in a surprised and confused voice.
"Don't worry about him. I have captured this demon for some use," Sukuna said calmly while placing a leg over the demon's head.
"You.... captured the demon?"
The architect stared at him with eyes filled with disbelief.
On the other hand, compared to the architect, the villagers were more curious to see the demon instead of being scared.
They couldn't help but wonder why Mr. Sukuna had captured one of his kind.
After some convincing, all of them got on the wooden cart, which Sukuna picked up and quickly carried back to the village.
"You.... are a very strong warrior....."
The architect complimented Sukuna while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"I know, I'm the strongest."
Sukuna gave him a thumbs-up, making the architect fall into confusion.
After leaving the architect at the village, Sukuna quickly took the demon to a remote area before continuously slapping his face.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up—oh, you're awake?"
Demon Tol, with his face swollen red, stared at Sukuna with blank eyes.
The reason for that was self-evident.
Because Sukuna had stopped suppressing his mana.
'....such power.....'
Demon Tol's eyes trembled at the incredible scene he was witnessing.
Sukuna's mana.
It filled his entire vision.
It covered everything. It was so much..... he was at a loss for how to describe it.
"What's your name?"
Demon Tol heard his words and replied in an absentminded voice,
"Tol.... my name is Tol, sir....."
Demons only acknowledged power.
And the power Sukuna possessed was beyond his comprehension, bordering on the realm of the divine.
It was only natural to address such a being with respect.
"Tol? Alright, tell me about your magic."
"Yes, sir....."
All demons were more or less magic geniuses who delved deep into a magic of their own creation for decades or even centuries.
They could learn human magic if they wanted, but most of them were too arrogant to care.
Though the vice versa of this case was not entirely true, humans were unable to learn the magic of every demon.
As some demons had different physiology from humans, there were spells that only demons were able to cast.
And Sukuna was an even more extreme case.
His cursed technique, now known as a magic technique, was something that no other human or even demon could use.
The reason was because his magic technique was imprinted directly in his brain; it was something only he was born with.
Meaning, in this world, only he could use Dismantle/Cleave. No other being could do it.
With Demon Tol explaining his magic, Sukuna quickly mastered a new spell.
Mana Needle.
Demon Tol stared in silence as Sukuna managed to use his signature magic after less than an hour of teaching.
"Hm... you don't know any other spells?" Sukuna asked while casually moving the mana needles through the air.
"No, sir.... this is the only magic I know."
Sukuna raised a brow and looked at Tol.
"How long have you been alive?"
"More than 80 years."
"80 years?.... you're dumb, aren't you?"
"..."
Sukuna shook his head and calmly thought,
'I wanted to learn more spells, but he only knew one.....'
It looked like he would have to gain knowledge using the books the villagers had bought from the town.
'As for this demon...'
Sukuna's eyes lowered slightly.
The only good demon was a dead demon.
They were all uncontrollable monsters who had no bottom line.
To be exact, the concept of a bottom line itself didn't exist for them.
'Leaving him alive has no advantage.'
It would only bring him headaches and unnecessary trouble.
As Demon Tol was quietly watching Sukuna's mana, his body suddenly split in the middle and disappeared.
Sukuna glanced at the disappearing demon before looking away.
This was the horror of his magic technique.
First of all, it could not be detected with the naked eye; the slashes were invisible.
Meaning, warriors had no way to detect them.
Unless they were monsters who could somehow sharpen their senses to an inhuman degree and feel their presence...
Except for this exception, his slashes could only be sensed with mana.
But here was the thing.
The slashes were too fast.
Way too fast.
He believed they were even a few levels faster than Zoltraak.
It was not something a mage could hope to avoid or even defend against in time.
Not to mention their power.
He had yet to meet someone who could survive his slash.