"…ENCHAIN…"
The very instant that word echoed, a viscous blackness erupted from Yūji's body. It was not cursed energy but a presence denser than anything else… pure malice forged over a thousand years.
Black markings emerged on both sides of his face and began to spread like roots. The skin beneath his eyes tore open, and two crimson pupils snapped wide.
Yūji's expression of determination shattered completely. In its place surfaced an arrogant smile, one that no longer belonged to the boy who had been fighting just moments before.
And he raised his right hand.
!
His fingers, now tipped with long black claws, caught the tip of the Executioner's Sword just before it could touch his throat.
The light, which until that moment had cut without resistance, trembled violently within his grip but could not move forward another millimeter.
"Well, look at that…"
The voice that came from his lips was still Yūji's, yet the being standing there was no longer the boy they knew. He tilted his head, staring at the blade trapped between his fingers with interest.
"I didn't expect to find such an amusing trial these days."
He squeezed slightly, and the sword of light let out a sharp, high-pitched hum, as if crying out under his control.
Hiromi felt an overwhelming sense of danger crash over him like a bucket of ice water.
His pupils contracted violently, and before being reached, he threw himself backward with every ounce of speed he could gather.
Swish
In three steps, he put more than ten meters between them in the blink of an eye.
When he stopped, there was no longer a trace of the calm he had worn during the trial. His face was now tense and severe.
"Ryōmen Sukuna?!"
'Yūji'—or rather, the King of Curses in all his glory—smiled with malice and casually released the trapped sword.
Freed from his grip, the blade of light instantly returned to Hiromi's hand.
"Oh~"
Sukuna's voice rang out as his gaze slid toward Hiromi, measuring him inch by inch.
"You recognize me? Sharp eyes, little judge."
"Sukuna?!" Megumi exclaimed, feeling his heart nearly stop.
Nanami's glasses gleamed. Even Hana, silent until then, had a tremor shake her green eyes.
"You… how the hell…?!" Megumi barely managed to speak; disbelief mixed with genuine fear.
'Itadori was conscious just a moment ago! How did Sukuna get out?!'
Sukuna let out an amused laugh, then turned his eyes toward Megumi and Nanami at the same time.
"Don't make such a fuss." He tapped his temple with a finger. "That brat and I made a little 'agreement.'"
His grin widened, savoring the confusion he had caused.
"He forbade me from killing or harming anyone for one minute."
The tone with which he stressed the restriction sounded less like a limit and more like mockery.
Crack
A sudden sharp sound of breaking bones burst out.
Without hesitation, Sukuna brutally tore off the pinky and ring finger of his left hand.
"When you said 'no harming anyone' in our binding vow… you didn't say anything about not hurting myself! HEHEHEHE!"
Hiromi's face changed. "Damn it!"
He swung the gavel hard, trying to reinforce the domain, but it was already too late.
Swish
Sukuna vanished from where he was like lightning.
Megumi barely had time to move a muscle before those deranged pupils were already in front of him.
"MEGUMI, MOVE!"
Nanami's warning echoed at the same time as Sukuna's distorted, mocking voice:
"Come… taste a special treat~"
Sukuna's bloody hand gripped Megumi's jaw tightly. His fingers dug into his face, forcing his mouth open, and with a violent motion he shoved the two severed fingers inside.
!
Megumi's pupils shrank violently and inhuman sounds tore from his throat.
BOOOM
A black torrent of cursed energy exploded from his body.
Nanami was flung away, smashed against a wall that cracked under the impact. Hana reacted by spreading her wings and retreating at full speed. Hiromi, meanwhile, raised his arms firmly, reinforcing his defense to withstand the surge.
In the middle of the storm, Megumi's body slowly rose, floating unnaturally.
And now black markings identical to Sukuna's began tracing themselves across his cheeks, the skin under his eyes ripped open, and two crimson pupils snapped wide.
"Cough… cough…"
Yūji fell to his knees a few meters away, coughing as he regained consciousness. He lifted his head, dazed, and the first thing he saw was Megumi's face… or what was left of it.
It was a familiar face and, at the same time, completely alien: the twisted smile, the four eyes, and a cruel gleam that did not belong to his friend.
"Remember this?"
The voice that came from those lips was unmistakable, deep and mocking. Sukuna.
"I told you I'd get to see something interesting…"
Trembling, Yūji reached out a desperate hand to grab him, but 'Megumi' swatted his arm away like garbage.
"I told you."
Sukuna tilted his head, shamelessly savoring the fear consuming Yūji.
"Brat."
Before Yūji could respond, Sukuna's fist was already buried brutally in his abdomen.
Boom
The devastating blow. Yūji had no time to react and his body was sent flying.
"ITADORI!"
Nanami's roar thundered through the chamber, though his own body faltered, hindered by the lingering weight of the domain.
Sukuna didn't even turn his head to look at the boy he had just hurled away. His attention was on something else.
With absolute calm, he ran a hand through his own dark hair, slicking it back as he adjusted to his new body.
"Mmm…"
A satisfied sound escaped his throat as he looked at his hands with delight. Then he spread his arms wide, testing the freedom he felt, like a wild animal just released from its cage.
His four eyes gleamed as they locked on Hiromi.
"Your domain…"
"Did it strip me of cursed energy?"
The smile that followed was as dangerous as it was slow, spreading with a mix of amusement and disdain.
"I don't know why… but that doesn't amuse me."
Hiromi's face drained of color in an instant. Standing before him was no longer a sorcerer he could reason with, but something far worse.
A living blasphemy that turned the air into poison simply by existing.
With a violent motion, he raised his right hand and once again condensed the gavel that symbolized judgment.
"Judgment!"
The hammer came down with the intent of sealing a new verdict.
!
But it never reached the ground.
A hand shot out and caught his wrist before the impact. It was a hand with long black nails, gripping with such force that the gavel froze a mere hair's breadth from the floor, immovable.
Hiromi's pupils contracted. He hadn't even seen when Sukuna had moved.
Sukuna leaned in, invading his personal space until their faces were dangerously close.
"Ah~ I almost forgot…"
"Your judgment… isn't it supposed to only judge the same culprit for the same crime?"
His fingers tightened, and a crack echoed as the bones in Hiromi's wrist gave way.
"Hahahaha!" Sukuna burst into laughter. "Because, you know? That brat was just a vessel. The one who unleashed the massacre in Shibuya and crushed those more than twenty thousand insects…"
"It was me! Your Honor!"
Hiromi's eyes widened in pain at the confession. His body reacted before his mind, pouring cursed energy into his legs as he launched a kick straight at Sukuna's abdomen, desperate to free himself from that lethal grip.
Bam Bam
But Sukuna didn't even budge.
With his free hand, he deflected each strike with precision. Megumi's body, under his control, displayed abnormal reflexes and strength.
"Ugh!"
Hiromi groaned in pain, each strike was being deflected, his wrist cracking as if it were about to shatter completely, and yet he could not let go of the gavel.
Sukuna tilted his head, amused, studying each desperate attempt of the judge.
"How do you break such an annoying domain as yours, huh?"
His voice carried morbid curiosity and his movements were always one step faster than Hiromi's.
Sweat ran down the judge's temple as he clenched his teeth. But he did not answer, only intensified his attacks, launching kicks charged with energy that made the ground rumble.
Nothing worked.
Sukuna kept blocking with one hand, deflecting each blow as if playing with him. And every time Hiromi tried to gather the power to form the gavel again and declare another judgment, that monstrous hand tightened its grip, ripping a gasp of pain from him and shattering his concentration instantly.
The King of Curses was enjoying himself.
It showed in his smile, in the calm with which he controlled the fight, in the cruelty with which he dictated the rhythm.
And then—
"GIVE HIM BACK!!!"
A cry filled with despair and determination cut through the remaining oppression of the domain.
Hana floated in the air, suspended like a beacon in the midst of chaos.
Her body was wrapped in golden light. Above her head, the angelic halo suddenly erupted, turning into a small sun that pushed back the darkness of the domain.
The young angel brought both hands to her mouth like a trumpet, her green eyes shining with a pain and fury no one had seen in her before.
Every fiber of her being trembled with determination as she fixed her gaze on Megumi's body, now controlled by Sukuna.
"GIVE ME BACK MEGUMI!"
"Maximum Output: Jacob's Ladder!"
BOOOOM
A divine thunder roared as, before her joined palms, a pillar of pure golden light erupted.
More than ten meters wide, it advanced like a celestial spear tearing through everything in its path.
The power effortlessly disintegrated the staggering remains of Hiromi's domain, carving a direct path toward Sukuna.
Even time seemed to stop.
!
Sukuna's mocking expression froze.
His eyes widened for an instant before his vision was drowned in an ocean of sacred light. He didn't even have time to fully release Hiromi's wrist—
"GUAAAAHHHHHH!!"
An inhuman scream shook the chamber as Megumi's body was completely consumed. The golden light mercilessly burned both the soul of the King of Curses and the flesh he had stolen.
The pillar tore through what remained of the courtroom and kept rising without restraint, ripping the sky and dispersing for a moment the gloom that covered the city.
Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the center of that column of light.
Slowly, the intensity began to fade, and within the glow a staggering silhouette appeared.
"Hana…"
A weak voice, but so familiar that it made the girl's heart stop for an instant.
Hana felt a jolt of electricity run through her entire body. The golden light surrounding her went out in an instant, as if her energy had given way to shock.
The pillar vanished immediately, revealing the figure within.
"M-Megumi…?"
Her voice trembled between disbelief and hope.
The smoke cleared, and at last she could see him clearly. Megumi, barely standing, his body shattered and skin charred in several places, still smoking.
But his eyes… they were no longer red. They were his own, dark and tired, looking at her with confusion and fragile calm.
"Now… I… remember everything…"
His voice was barely a whisper. With titanic effort, he raised a badly burned hand toward her.
!
Hana's heart exploded in a wave of relief so intense it made her shake. Tears poured uncontrollably, breaking the mask of fury that had held her together.
"MEGUMI!!!"
Without thinking for a second, she flapped her wings and shot toward him like a flash of light.
"DON'T GO!!"
The shouts of Nanami and Hiromi rang out at the same time. Nanami's face was pale, gasping for breath, while Hiromi clutched his right arm in pain, scorched by the pillar's passing.
But it was already too late.
Hana threw herself without thought into "Megumi's" arms. She wrapped him tightly, clinging to his neck as sobs shook her body. She pressed her head against his shoulder, unable to hold back the overwhelming emotion filling her.
"I-I… always had…"
In that instant, she completely let her guard down, surrendering to the impulse to embrace him.
And then, beneath the burns covering "Megumi's" face, something stirred. The black markings that had seemed dormant ignited at once, twisting and spreading.
The corner of his mouth tore open until it nearly reached his ears, forming a monstrous grin. Four crimson pupils flashed open with a murderous gleam beneath the blackened skin.
"He…"
A growl slipped from his throat… the unmistakable laughter of Sukuna.
Before Hana could notice, the only healthy arm of "Megumi" coiled around her waist with the strength of a constrictor snake, trapping her with no chance to escape.
The deformed head snapped violently back and a giant mouth full of fangs opened wide. A foul, burning breath hit Hana's skin just before the beast lunged at her exposed neck.
"Kurusu Hana!!"
Nanami's desperate shout thundered.
A flash tore through the air before anyone could see it coming. The cold light of a sword sliced cleanly through the arm that held Hana trapped.
Slash
The left forearm was severed in one smooth cut.
"GRAAAHHHHHH!"
With a roar of fury, Sukuna involuntarily released her and was hurled backward.
Hana, with no support, began to fall.
Her body was collapsing without strength when firm arms caught her before she touched the ground.
Nanami caught her and looked at the young woman's face. Hana stared back without seeing, her pupils empty as tears slid down her cheeks.
Several meters away, Sukuna managed to stop himself, slamming his feet violently against the ground. His bleeding stump twisted and sealed shut in an instant, regenerating muscle and skin rapidly.
He jerked his head up, his four eyes blazing with rage, fixing his gaze on a point in the air that until then had gone unnoticed.
There floated someone wielding a long katana. Beneath white hair, mocking eyes gleamed, and on his face shone a smile full of insolence.
"Damn… bastard…" Sukuna growled through his teeth.
"NERO!"
"Didn't you say you wouldn't interfere with my recovery? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NOW?!"
________
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