Brutal.
That was the single word that perfectly describes the scene in front of Kenjaku.
Hundreds, perhaps tens of thousands, lay dead, most of their corpses damaged beyond recognition, their organs falling out, blood covering the earth beneath, their limbs twisted in an unnatural way. Across the battlefield were hundreds of cursed tools stabbed or lodged on the ground.
Despite the scene, it wasn't a battle, it was simply a massacre, the largest scale possible.
Over a thousand sorcerers are dead. tens of thousands of foot soldiers sent by the emperor to fight are also dead. In the end it was all but a futile attempt to survive.
'Can sorcery even recover after this?' Kenjaku knew it was a massive gamble bringing him in, although he won, the cost was simply too big, the entirety of the archipelago was thrown into a state of chaos. Worse of all, Kenjaku didn't know about what the man would do next. Will he proceed with the ritual? If so, that will be the worst-case scenario.
"Is this your final answer?" A man's hoarse voice snapped Kenjaku out of his trance. In the distance was a man with long, swaying hair wearing a simple black yukata sitting down on a rock. he was clean in contrast to the battlefield, only having a small spray of blood across his cheek.
"Haaa..." Across from the man was a scene Kenjaku would've never thought would happen. Ryomen Sukuna lay there helpless, his entire body torn and ripped apart. He was missing most of his limbs except for his torso, with the bottom left part missing a huge chunk, his left leg being tendons, and his jaw broken; his four arms are all gone.
"No… I don't have an answer… Even if I had, I'd doubt it would satisfy you." At this point, thousands of thoughts raced through his mind. What else is left? How could he turn this over? In the end, it all leads to one answer.
He can't win.
His cursed energy is practically depleted, any binding vow would be useless in front of ■■■■■. His brain is damaged beyond recovery, he's not even sure whether he could still use basic re enforcement.
"Sukuna, I'm not disappointed, whether your answer is satisfying or not doesn't matter." The long-haired man spoke, his arms resting on his knee, his entire posture unbothered.
"After all, you already knew the outcome from the start, yet you still came to this battle. I never understood what it is with your obsession with 'strength' and all. Was it because the only thing that doesn't reject you is strength? Do you truly believe rejecting everything was the right way to live?" The man narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke.
"Don't lecture me about life *cough*—" Sukuna looked down at his bleeding throat. he used his last bits of cursed energy to recover some part of his throat and mouth. He knew this was the end, no more regret.
"You, the almighty king," Sukuna said sarcastically, even laughing a little. "'Boring' that was the first word you ever said to me, the first way you addressed me," along with many other insults.
Sukuna paused for a moment, changing from kneeling to sitting. he looked rather laid back despite his injuries.
"You may not understand me, king, but I understand you very well, it's not the job of the winner to sympathize with the loser, *cough* *cough*." Sukuna paused again, turning his eye towards the sunrise. for all its worth, this was the greatest honor to receive as the 'loser.' "Strength is the only law I could follow, if I even wanted a sense of belonging in the world, then strength would give me that, though I suppose someone like you would never understand." Sukuna side-eyed the man.
"After all, the world bends to your will, king."
Thud.
His body fell backward, coughing up blood again, his eyes closed, feeling the cold-mushy texture of the ground, likely mixed with his own blood.
'king.. in the end we'll face eachother again whether you'll like it or not'
"Hmm… shame, I suppose it'll be a long time before we'll meet again, Sukuna." The man closed his eyes for a moment, his swaying hair covering his face. "I hope, by that point, you'll understand what I meant."
"DARLIIINNG!" A high-pitched female voice sounded across the battlefield, a naked female ran over to the man, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and leaning into him.
"Yoruzu, stop messing around." The man coldly said, though he didn't reject her and instead flicked her forehead.
"Ouch… that brat is so annoying, you know? Our babies kept getting frozen up! Wouldn't you spare a moment just to cheer me?" Her face turned sour, a sad, clearly forged expression across her face. she leaned in, biting his earlobe, her hot breath hitting his face.
"Later, we still have something else to do." The man stood up from the stone, letting Yorozu dangle behind him before locking her hands and legs. she grinned at him. The man stood there staring down Kenjaku.
"■■■■■, will you proceed with the ritual?." Kenjaku warily spoke. He's confident he can escape, but for how long he can live after that is unknown. Two of the strongest sorcerers, are standing in front of him. he couldn't see himself continuing his plan even if he wanted to.
"No, not yet, it'll take too long for anything to be filled, I'll wait until humanity has progressed further, preferably until the population reaches a number of billions." The man spoke, wiping the blood off of his face. He spoke rather casually while walking over to Kenjaku, scaring the life out of him.
"That's… going to be hard, isn't it?" Kenjaku isn't a stranger to waiting and being patient, however, due to the current situation of earth being overrun by cursed spirits from east to west, even if they waited it out, Kenjaku was positive that humanity would be wiped out tomorrow. There are barely even any sorcerers left to combat them, and now cursed spirits are all around the globe.
"That's not a problem. Yoruzu will take care of it." The man shrugged at Kenjaku before leisurely turning around, ignoring Yorozu poking his cheeks.
Kenjaku shrugged back, deciding to ignore the elephant in the room. "Well then, when the time is right. I hope by that moment you will keep your side of the vow."
"Who do you think I am?" He shot an annoyed look at the 'clueless' Kenjaku before sighing. "Yoruzu, sacrifice yourself."
"Hmm? It's that time already?" Yoruzu seemed appalled at first, her face turning reluctant. "Fine, if it's for you, I'll even eat dog poop and smear it all over my body~"
The man shot a hopeless look at Yoruzu.
"Darling, keep your promise, okay? We'll meet again on the other side." When Yoruzu hopped out of his back, for the first time, her face turned serious.
Kenjaku turned around, ready to leave, for the time being it seems he would have to cooperate with Tengen to rebuild society, though it wouldn't be a bad opportunity to slip some backdoors for him, perhaps his gamble really did win.
---
The sun streaked across the sky, clouds disappearing unnaturally, and the sky turning red.
An artificial sun rose onto the atmosphere creating a gloomy red sky, it felt unnatural at first glance.
Positive energy spread throughout the earth, an enormous amount of it coating the entirety of the atmosphere.
Nearby curses screeched to death as the artificial sun, a pure substance of positive energy created by Yoruzu. Although it wasn't the most efficient way, it was the easiest way. Yoruzu used a binding vow for the last 16 years, accumulating both hers and his beloved cursed energy all to create this artificial sun. Not only that, using a binding vow she made after extortion from the current emperor while also going to the neighboring empires, she harvested their people for cursed energy using a cursed tool however, that cost her life. In the end, she died creating that sun.
As the last cursed spirit dies on earth, for the first and only time, all cursed spirits have been extinguished from the face of the planet.
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(A/N: just decided to rush everything since this is just a prologue anyway, if you have a question, wait until about chapter 10-30, this plot point won't matter that much until then).