Chapter 53: [53]: Sukuna
"What are you doing with my body?"
Suddenly, "Sukuna" reached up and grabbed his own throat, but the voice that came out was Itadori Yuji's.
Sukuna, feeling control over the body slipping away, was filled with confusion. "How are you still able to move?"
Itadori Yuji stretched his body, completely nonchalant. "What are you talking about? This is my body, isn't it? Also, who are you? Am I possessed by a ghost or something?"
"Ryomen Sukuna," Shin replied, the black energy from his earring coiling around his hand as a blade slowly emerged from his palm. He smiled as he explained to Yuji, "He was a curse user from the Heian period who became like that after death. His twenty fingers have become special-grade cursed objects."
"Twenty fingers?" Yuji seemed focused on something unusual. He then noticed the oppressive presence of the boy in front of him, who had mysteriously drawn a long sword from thin air. The blade gleamed with a sharp, cold light as it reflected the soft moonlight.
Yuji gulped nervously. "Uh… what are you planning to do with that sword?"
Nearby, Fushiguro, whose wounds had mostly healed, glanced at Yuji with some hesitation. "Itadori Yuji, according to the regulations of sorcerers, you are now considered a curse..."
"And… and what does that mean?" Yuji asked nervously.
Fushiguro paused before reluctantly uttering the cold word: "Exorcism."
"Wait, doesn't that mean I'll die? That's not right, I'm fine, see?" Yuji started jumping up and down, pulling at his own face and doing a few squats. Watching this, beads of sweat formed on Fushiguro's forehead. He couldn't tell if this was really Yuji or a curse disguised as him. But if this was truly Sukuna, he couldn't allow him to escape.
"Don't worry, I'll figure it out," Shin said casually, as if discussing what to eat for dinner, causing Fushiguro to grimace.
"Shin, don't act recklessly. If things get out of hand..." Fushiguro began, but Shin hoisted his sword onto his shoulder, looking at Fushiguro with a mix of amusement and disdain.
"Come on, Fushiguro. Why do you always act like a 'suicide bomber'? I'm a special-grade sorcerer now, remember? Have some faith in me. Besides, this is just one of Sukuna's fingers; it's not like it's a full-blown challenge. It's going to be a little boring, actually."
Suddenly, Yuji's cheek split open, forming a grotesque small mouth, from which Sukuna's voice emerged. "Sorcerers..."
Before he could finish, Yuji slapped the mouth shut as if swatting a fly. However, another small mouth appeared on the back of his hand, which Yuji promptly smacked again. Although the mouths didn't hurt him, Yuji was visibly annoyed. "This brat's body is way too strange!" Sukuna snarled.
Shin turned to Yuji, smiling. "Yuji, you can control your body, right? How about this—let Sukuna take over for a bit. I'd like to see what the so-called King of Curses is capable of, though he's probably a bit weak right now."
The mouth on the back of Yuji's hand twisted into a vicious grin but remained silent. Yuji hesitated. "Are you sure? This Sukuna guy seems really dangerous."
Yuji blinked and, in an instant, Shin disappeared from view. A hand gently rested on his shoulder, and that mocking voice whispered in his ear, "Don't worry. If things go south, I'm fast enough to run away."
Yuji didn't fully understand the situation, but Shin seemed confident, and his abilities were beyond anything Yuji had ever imagined. He decided to follow Shin's lead. Besides, if something went wrong, he could just take back control of his body. With that, Yuji closed his eyes and gave it a try.
Moments later, black markings once again appeared across Yuji's body, covering his face in a sinister pattern. When his eyes opened, the two cracks beneath his eyes also split open, revealing four malevolent eyes brimming with bloodlust. Sukuna slicked back Yuji's hair and grinned wickedly, the sharp edges of his teeth gleaming in the moonlight. "Very well. Let me show you."
The ground beneath his feet cracked and swirled, and with a wide, manic grin, Sukuna swung his hand, ripping through the air with a high-pitched screech. His clawed hand could tear through even the strongest barrier.
But despite the blinding speed of his attack, it hit nothing but air. Sukuna wasn't particularly surprised. His eyes darted around, quickly locking onto Shin, whose relaxed smile made it seem like he was merely on a casual outing.
Sukuna roared, unleashing a barrage of invisible slashes, all aimed at Shin. But in a bizarre twist, the dust in the air around Shin seemed to expand and contract before disappearing completely. The rooftop, which should have been torn apart, was still intact, and Shin stood there, unharmed.
"Oh? Interesting. Now, how about you try mine?" Shin said, smiling.
Sukuna raised his hands, preparing to defend himself, but before he could act, an intense pain shot through his arms. He looked down to find both of his arms severed, the blood flow halting immediately. His eyes lifted to see Shin, casually twirling his pristine sword, unfazed.
"Is this your technique?" Sukuna muttered. His arms began to regenerate rapidly, new limbs growing where the old ones had been cut off. If not for the vanishing stumps, it would have been impossible to tell that his arms had ever been severed.
"Just one finger's power isn't enough, huh?" Shin mused to himself. His casual tone only made Sukuna's grin widen further. Shin twirled his blade again, walking toward Sukuna. "Your Reverse Cursed Technique is pretty impressive. But I bet you're wondering what just happened, aren't you? My technique is called 'Wheel of Time.' To put it simply, I can speed up my own time. So just now, I walked over, cut off your arms, and walked back, all in a blink of an eye."
Sukuna raised a hand to his forehead, his bloodlust boiling to the surface. 'He revealed his own technique, So that move earlier… that was a time-based technique?"
Then Sukuna's gaze toward Shin changed. It was still chilling, but no longer carried the disdain of observing an 'ant.'
"Now it's my turn."
"Domain..." Sukuna's fingers had barely started to come together when an effect from Shin's technique activated instantly, or rather, in a fraction of a second.
Wheel of Time: Turn.
Shin almost instinctively moved to slice Sukuna's head off but stopped himself. After all, this was Itadori's body. Sure, Sukuna could use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal, but being too brutal didn't sit right. It might make him look more like the villain than Sukuna himself. So instead, he casually threw his blade, Dojigiri, into Sukuna's abdomen, then followed it up with a punch to his face. Taking a deep breath, Shin gathered his surging cursed energy into his fists and, as though he were pounding a training bag, pummeled the defenseless Sukuna into the air within this frozen world.
"Release."
*Bang!*
Sukuna was pinned to the opposite building's wall by the blade, Dojigiri, impaled through his stomach. The dark-blue, cursed energy slowly dissipated from where Shin had stood.
Spewing a large mouthful of blood, Sukuna felt as though he had been thrown into a kaleidoscope, spinning chaotically in every direction. The barrage of attacks came from all sides, overwhelming his senses.
"These injuries… They aren't from a single attack, but they all appeared at the same time. This technique…"
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"
With blood trailing from the corner of his mouth, Sukuna forcibly expanded his domain. A sea of corpses and blood erased the surrounding scenery. Half-naked, Sukuna stood before a towering altar, his blood-stained upper body a sinister painting. The calm blood ocean below reflected Sukuna and the ominous shrine behind him.
However, this shrine was no symbol of divinity or peace. Its four sides bore massive, sharp-toothed mouths, while its base was constructed from the skulls of horned beasts. This was no god—it was a demon from the depths of hell
"Only one finger… The cursed energy isn't enough to maintain the domain for long. And this annoying brat's technique is troublesome. Heh… Sorcerers are always a pain, no matter the era!"
*Cleaving, Slaughter*
"Cleave" which could be launched repeatedly, and "Dismantle" a deadly attack meant to destroy any foe with cursed energy in a single strike—within Sukuna's domain, these two attacks would relentlessly pursue their target until Malevolent Shrine vanished.
As the violent storm of attacks was about to descend upon him, Shin activated his technique to take Fushiguro, White Wolf, and Itadori's two unconscious classmates outside of the domain's range. Then, he returned to face Sukuna within the domain.
"This domain is different from the ones I've encountered before. It's like Shuten Doji's—there's no trapping effect, but the range is greatly expanded. And this feeling…"
The imminent sense of danger wasn't coming from any particular object. In that moment, Shin felt invisible blades closing in on him from all sides, as if the entire space was about to be sliced apart.
New Shadow Style: Simple Domain!
Shin executed this technique, also known as the 'domain of the weak,' and drew his swords, Onikiri and Kumo-kiri
Whoosh!
The endless slashes rained down without pause, but Shin's blade work created an impenetrable defense, deflecting each strike. The slashes collided with his swords but lacked the strength to cut through them. However, in a split second, Shin dodged, and a deep gash split open his right shoulder.
Though the wound healed in an instant thanks to his Reverse Cursed Technique, the powerful strike made Shin get a little more serious.
[Wheel of Time]
Shin suddenly appeared beside Sukuna, holding his sword. Blood welled up from several cuts on Shin's body, but before it could stain his clothes, the wounds vanished. Meanwhile, Sukuna's severed arms began to crumble into dust as they fell to the ground.
The scene of corpses and blood began to fade, revealing the twinkling night sky above. Sukuna looked down at his missing arms, this time finding that even with his Reverse Cursed Technique, the healing was excruciatingly slow. He closed all four eyes slightly. "I look forward to next time."
Before he could finish his sentence, Sukuna's eyes closed completely. The black markings disappeared from his kneeling body, and the sinister aura surrounding him vanished entirely.
When Yuji opened his eyes again, the first words out of his mouth were, "That hurt so much!" He looked at his body, finding no wounds whatsoever—he was perfectly fine. Every part of his body was intact, but the intense pain still lingered, almost like an illusion.
When Yuji looked up, he saw the black-haired, ponytailed boy leaning over, smiling at him. The terrifying sword from earlier had disappeared.
"Hi, nice to officially meet you. I'm Shin Shuichi."
Yuji stared for a moment before shaking the hand Shin offered, getting to his feet. Surveying the surroundings, which had been utterly transformed, he noticed that Fushiguro and his two classmates were nowhere to be seen. "Uh… It was so dark in there. What happened outside? Did you beat Sukuna? And where are Fushiguro and the others?"
"Over there."
Following Shin's gesture, Yuji spotted Fushiguro approaching them, having noticed the domain's disappearance. Relieved, Yuji sighed, "Phew! I'm glad everyone's okay."
Shin smiled warmly, watching Fushiguro approach. "Are you only worried about others? Yuji Itadori, you've become the vessel for Ryomen Sukuna. What I just fought wasn't Sukuna at his full power. He hasn't been exorcised. Because… for Sukuna to die, you'll have to die as well."
Startled, Yuji saw that Shin wasn't making any moves to attack, so he quickly explained, "Uh… Isn't there some other way? Besides, I still don't really understand everything that's going on."
Shin patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Someone will come to take care of your situation."
As for this complicated mess, involving a special-grade cursed object and the revival of the legendary King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, naturally, all of it would be handled by the most powerful and capable—Gojo Satoru
"You can't hide that you just want to avoid dealing with it yourself."
In a room covered in talismans, Gojo Satoru sat backward on a chair, observing the tightly bound Yuji in the center of the room. He glanced over at his student, who was leaning against the wall, and sarcastically remarked.
With his Six Eyes, Gojo easily saw through Yuji's condition and confirmed the truth. Stroking his chin, he grinned with interest. "You can control your body, right? Do you feel anything unusual?"
Yuji nodded. "Yeah, I can. The only weird thing is I can sometimes hear that guy's voice—he's really annoying."
Gojo stood and began pacing in circles around Yuji. "Itadori Yuji, you've seen Ryomen Sukuna now, haven't you? If he were to regain his full power, countless people would die. The higher-ups are scared, and they want to kill you. But I think that's a waste."
"A waste?" Yuji didn't care much about the fact that some people wanted to kill him. After thinking about it calmly, he figured that dying was probably the best way to solve the problem. If that terrifying curse came out, many people would suffer and die.
His grandfather's words echoed in his mind, "You are a strong kid, save as many people are you can and be surrounded by those who care about you."
Yuji thought to himself, 'If it really comes to that... maybe I should just let them kill me. That way, I can save a lot of people, right?'
"So, I proposed a different solution."
Gojo's voice interrupted Yuji's thoughts. "If you die, Sukuna will die with you. But you are a rare vessel capable of containing Sukuna. So why not let you absorb all twenty of Sukuna's fingers first? Then, when the time comes, we'll kill you, and Sukuna will be completely exorcised—without a trace."
°°°
If you want to read ahead and access 20 advanced chapters, check the patreon
Link: Patreon/Moziel