Inside the bath.
Sukuna lay naked inside the little pool he had made himself, now filled with warm water.
On the side, Demon Solitar calmly sat on a wooden stool with a magic book in her hands.
As she finished reading the book, she gently closed it up before turning to Sukuna and asking in a calm tone.
"Unlike humans, we demons do not sweat or excrete; we digest everything we eat, turning it into mana."
"Which means we do not have a need to clean ourselves, so why are you taking a bath like a human, Sukuna?"
Sukuna splashed his face with warm water, then glanced at Solitar before replying.
"I'm trying to understand how humans feel."
"A meaningless endeavor, still if you do manage to feel something, then please enlighten me."
"Well, I am enjoying it."
Solitar tilted her head in confusion.
"....enjoying?"
"Yes, I find it funny and relaxing."
Sukuna submerged his mouth under water and blew out air, making air bubbles appear on the surface.
Solitar stared at his actions in silence.
....was bathing in warm water truly enjoyable?
With her centuries of memories, she didn't remember taking a bath ever being something to be enjoyed.
Yet seeing Sukuna's behavior, she couldn't help but fall into doubt.
So, after a moment of contemplation, she placed the magic book in her hand on the wooden shelf before coming near the pool.
Then, under Sukuna's confused eyes, she started taking off her clothes in an unhurried manner.
She took off her reddish blouse, then crouched down and grabbed the ends of her white one-piece dress before pulling it up, revealing her pure white legs without a single blemish.
As she raised it up, it reached her hips, revealing the v-shape of her womanly body along with a small cut running down the middle.
Sukuna watched in silence as she completely took off her dress, revealing two soft, medium-sized breasts with cute pink nipples adorned on them.
Sukuna blinked his eyes as Solitar took a step inside the pool before dropping down and sitting on his left side, slightly leaning against him.
From his high vision, he could see her two breasts slightly floating in the water.
Solitar remained calm, as if she couldn't sense Sukuna's gaze; she was completely focused on trying to understand this so-called 'enjoyable' feeling Sukuna had talked about.
Sukuna, on the other hand...
Felt her soft body leaning against his side and involuntarily lowered his head before taking a sniff from her teal-colored hair.
It smelled like flowers.
'Another physiological trait to deceive humans?'
Sukuna couldn't help but think in his mind.
Just then, Solitar suddenly turned to face him.
Their gaze collided before she opened her mouth and asked.
"I don't feel the joy you spoke of earlier."
Seeing her calm gaze, Sukuna raised his hand and placed it over her shoulders before replying.
"You need to spend more time to understand it; it took me years to get it."
"I see, it seems I was impatient. Will a century of bathing help me understand it?"
"... make it two centuries; you're a little dumb after all."
"In what sense do you think I am lacking to proclaim me as 'dumb'?"
"In a lot of areas, there are so many it's hard to list them all."
"I see..."
Solitar turned her head back against Sukuna's arm that was on her shoulder.
----
After the weirdly long bath, Sukuna and Solitar returned back to the room and started focusing on magic again.
Unknowingly, a month passed by.
Sukuna stood on open ground and raised his hand, making a small ball of mana condense above it.
Pointing his hand towards the tree, he sent the attack.
Crack
Instantly, the tree was riddled with countless holes. Not only that, several trees behind it were all broken as well.
"Mana Strike, a simple but effective magic, though its power is a little weak...."
Sukuna muttered, then clicked his finger, making hundreds of triangular long swords appear in the sky.
The swords hovered around here and there before disappearing under his control.
Behind him, Demon Solitar, who was wearing her disguise, took a step forward and muttered in a dazed tone.
"Amazing..... The magic which took me decades to understand and centuries to master.... you learned them within a month..... simply fascinating....."
Both of these were the two prized offensive magics of Demon Solitar.
And he had managed to learn them within a month.
Sukuna turned towards her and asked,
"How is the defensive magic I told you about coming along?"
Solitar raised her palm, revealing a light blue pentagonal magic shield.
"I am close to achieving the hexagonal defensive magic shield you spoke of."
"I believe it will be able to neutralize Demon Qual's Zoltraak as you said."
Sukuna heard her before replying,
"It's a pity you didn't learn Qual's Zoltraak when you were with the Demon King."
"I understand the pathway. It is only a matter of time before I can use Zoltraak as you requested."
"Hm, explain it to me as you're learning it."
"As you wish."
Sukuna and Solitar walked around the periphery of his Dawn City before arriving at the gate.
"You're working hard."
Sukuna patted the shoulders of the two men who were fully equipped in armour, protecting the gate even though no one had come here for the whole month.
"Thank you, Lord!"
The two of them replied in a loud tone, happy to be acknowledged for their efforts.
"Hm, take care."
Sukuna nodded, then walked inside, followed by the silent Solitar.
Walking down the familiar path, they arrived before the academic building that had recently finished construction under Solitar and his guidance.
The whole structure was divided into five floors and one underground layer.
He had shifted all of the magic books he received from the human kingdom to the 3rd floor, converting it into a library. The first and second floors had small labs as well as several classrooms.
The fourth and fifth floors were being used by him and Solitar for their magic research.
The two of them greeted the apprentice mages along the way before coming up to the 5th floor, looking at the large stone tablet with intricate runes pasted on it.
"Let's finish setting up the barrier today."
"Alright."
The two of them got to work and carefully started embedding the stone with magic patterns.
After a few hours, they stopped and took a step back.
At the same time, the runes on the stone lit up with blue light and started gathering mana from the air.
Then a ray of mana rushed towards the sky through the hole they had made in the roof beforehand.
The citizens of Dawn City looked in surprise as a large dome covered their entire land except for the harbour.
"With this barrier intact, no monster, human, or Demon will be able to enter without your permission....."
Solitar said in a calm tone.
"We'll pause the human restriction, since the people have to go outside the city almost every day to take care of their crops and hunt wild animals."
Sukuna walked towards the stone and slightly tilted it, making it possible for humans to enter and leave his city.
Then just as he was about to turn around, the sound of hurried footsteps came from behind him.
Sukuna and Solitar turned their heads, only to see Erde covered in sweat, standing at the room's door.
"Lord Sukuna, people have arrived outside the city!"
Erde said with an excited look on her face.
'Someone finally dares to come here?'
Sukuna widened his eyes in surprise before following behind Erde to see the guests.
When they reached the city gate, they were greeted by a team of adventurers.
The four of them were standing outside the city gate, being questioned by the two guards about their purpose.
Sukuna was happy that his deserted city was finally getting some visitors, so he quietly followed them as they walked through his city, bought some things from the villagers, before coming to the empty harbour and complaining.
"Why are there no ships? Isn't this supposed to be a port city?"
The leader of the adventurers asked in confusion, seeing no boats docked at the harbour.
They had come here to catch a boat going to the northern land.
Alas, it seems they had made a mistake.
"Wait! This isn't the Warm City??"
'Oh, they mistook my Dawn City for Warm..... sigh, idiots.'
Sukuna shook his head and was just about to turn away when Solitar beside him started speaking.
"They are spies from the human kingdom."
Sukuna stopped and glanced at her.
"The entire way, their eyes kept darting around, scanning every place. They pretend to be a group of adventurers, yet their manner of conduct belongs to those of trained soldiers....."
She calmly listed several points, making Sukuna frown.
'Demons, they are so good at understanding human behavior...'
Erde beside them clearly heard her words and clenched her fists in frustration.
Sukuna walked towards the four adventurers, immediately catching everyone's attention.
The four adventurers looked at Sukuna and exclaimed in surprise.
"Why is there a demon here?"
"What the hell is this? A demon inside a city?"
Sukuna stopped a distance away from them and asked in a calm tone,
"Are you from the royal city?"
"..."
The four of them froze at the same time.
But then, not even a second later, they quickly reverted back to their expressions and said,
"Royal city? What do you mean?"
"We're adventurers trying to reach the northern plane....."
Sukuna rubbed his head, then glanced at his citizens who were looking at them.
After thinking for a moment, he said in a plain tone,
"Leave now, royal spies."
"....."
"I will not say it again."
The four adventurers glanced at each other before lowering their heads and silently walking towards the city gate.
'So they really were spies, huh.....'
Sukuna thought in his mind, watching them retreat in silence.
At the same time, Solitar came beside him and whispered to him in a small voice.
"It is better to get rid of them, or else the humans will keep bothering us."
Sukuna remained silent. He had already killed many spies, thinking the royal capital would stop with the useless attempts. Alas, they never learn.
Although this encounter did give him some ideas.....
'Since they keep sending spies.... it's only right for us to send our own, no?'
It seems he must sneak into the human city and steal a shit ton of their stuff before they will learn their lesson.
But the only problem is....
'The barrier will take too long to disable... I already have more money than I can spend, so what's the point of stealing more..... and I believe my current magic knowledge has already started to surpass what the royal capital has to offer.....'
It was difficult. Fighting against someone from whom you have nothing to gain is indeed difficult.
It's just not worth the effort.
Shaking his head, Sukuna glanced at his empty harbour.
'Building some ships will be nice too.....'
Too many things, too little time.
For now, he will focus on accomplishing one thing at a time.
Going back to the academic building, Sukuna walked up to a special room on the 4th floor which was being guarded by an apprentice mage.
"Is it your duty today, Tier?"
"Yes, City Lord....."
"Hm, good job."
Sukuna smiled and patted Tier's shoulder.
Then he was about to go inside when he stopped and looked back at Solitar.
"Stay here, don't come inside."
"How long will you keep hiding this from me? It makes me curious as to what you've been working on."
Solitar said, staring at him with her usual smile.
"Even though I share everything with you, all of my research, why do you not do the same with me?"
Unlike Solitar, who shared her original magic with Sukuna, Sukuna never shared or even showed her his Shrine's effect.
In fact, she didn't even know that he had something like Shrine. He only told her that he defeated the royal capital by using earth manipulation magic.
But it's not like he hadn't shared anything with her. He told her all of the magic which didn't consist of his main attack strength, similar to how he taught Erde and the other apprentice mages.
"Are you questioning my words, Demon Solitar?" Sukuna said in a calm tone, looking straight at her.
"Of course not, I just wish to deepen the trust between us."
"I will tell you when it's time. For now, just wait outside and don't move."
"Understood."
Leaving her behind, Sukuna entered the room and closed the door.
Unlike the bright atmosphere outside, the interior of the room was filled with dark black symbols.
And in the middle of those symbols stood a table with candlelight burning around it.
On top of the table lay a half-finished spear, with a unique spearhead which resembled a two-pronged, jitte-like blade.
Inverted Spear Of Heaven.
He was recreating it, with effects more suitable for this world.
It was a weapon he had been working on by combining both the cursed tool knowledge from the JJK world as well as the magic tool creation knowledge he had learned in this world.
Alas, he was still lacking a lot in order to create what he wanted.
But he was improving at a terrifying rate. It shouldn't take long before he is able to finish it.
----
Note: Give power stones!