Chapter 68: Sukuna: To Make Sure You Have Your Fun
"Ha? Do you actually think I look like that sniveling brat?" Ryomen Sukuna answered Emiya's question.
And his current mood was quite foul.
"That kid is utterly revolting, he has no concept of respect. To think he'd wait for his companions to escape, then expect me to clean up his mess for him.
But perhaps it's retribution for underestimating me, the phenomenon of 'resonance' has temporarily made him unable to switch back, so I control the body now.
I've thought of a lovely way to make him regret it, you know.
He's willing to sacrifice himself to let those two companions escape, right? So now I'm going to chase those brats and kill them right in front of him. How about that?"
Why would he completely reveal his plan and thoughts?
Of course, because only then would things be more interesting!
To conceal one's wealth, like Satoru Gojo, who has the greatest strength yet still adheres to the so-called rules of the world—Ryomen Sukuna would never do anything so stupid.
How can a strong person not ruthlessly insult the weak?
Killing a person easily and casually is meaningless.
You have to first tell them that you are about to kill them; that is what gives it meaning.
Cursed Energy, Curses, and Cursed Spirits are born from negative emotions.
Humans inherently cannot suppress these feelings, so what's wrong with him adding a little catalyst?
"...You truly are a malicious fellow, Ryomen Sukuna."
Emiya somewhat understood why this guy was called the 'King of Curses' from a thousand years ago. Setting aside his power, his behavior and ideas were indeed profoundly wicked.
Free and unrestrained?
If one only lives for their own goals, this is hardly a derogatory term. But the ideas of the Ryomen Sukuna in front of him clearly deviate from that category. He does not view humans as life forms equal to himself; he completely disregards all life.
The world should revolve purely around him, and anything displeasing should be erased—that is his most authentic thought.
"Malicious? I don't care. I've heard that so much my ears are numb.
Those Jujutsu Sorcerers a thousand years ago started by cursing me quite badly, yet didn't they ultimately worship me as a demon god? To deal with things like humans, gentle methods are useless; they only make them push their luck."
Inserting his hand casually into his pocket, Sukuna's expression finally changed slightly when he looked Emiya in the eye.
"You have one of my fingers on you, right? Hand it over obediently, and I can promise to kill one less person."
As the King of Curses, he was quite true to his word. After all, he had previously promised to spare Emiya's life to be his exclusive chef. He certainly wouldn't use a bargaining chip he'd already used once.
"Unfortunately, I refuse.
As long as I confine you to this place before Yuji Itadori wakes up, there won't be any casualties."
Knowing there was absolutely no room for negotiation with this kind of entity, Emiya swiftly crushed the possibility of such a talk.
Ryomen Sukuna himself revealed it—Yuji Itadori only temporarily lost the ability to switch back.
Even if Yuji Itadori could not return on his own, Emiya would try to incapacitate this fellow, tie him up, and then slowly figure out a countermeasure.
"Eh... Ah!!!"
The Special Grade Cursed Spirit, caught between the two and constantly being ignored, finally couldn't endure the feeling any longer.
It might not be smart, but its senses were unusually sharp—these two genuinely ignored it, treating it as disposable background scenery, or perhaps an ant that could be casually erased on the roadside, hence unworthy of attention.
It couldn't stand it. It absolutely could not endure such humiliation! This was its territory!
"Aaaahhhh!"
The negative emotions brought on by anger and humiliation caused its Cursed Energy intensity to skyrocket. Cursed Energy, compressed to a power comparable to a cluster bomb, began to gather in its palm, and then in the next second...
Boom!
Ryomen Sukuna, finding the creature in between himself and Emiya annoying and noisy, kicked it hard in the chest, sending the Special Grade Cursed Spirit crashing fiercely into a distant wall, momentarily lost from view.
The difference in their Cursed Energy levels was not supposed to be astronomical, yet when they actually fought, Ryomen Sukuna completely crushed the Special Grade Cursed Spirit. In terms of combat talent alone, he was absolutely among the strongest in this world.
"Do you know? I was classified in the same Special Grade category as this Cursed Spirit."
The Cursed Spirit in front was Special Grade because it truly met the Special Grade standard. However, Ryomen Sukuna was Special Grade simply because the highest classification humans had for Cursed Spirits was 'Special Grade'.
"Come on, let me see what you're made of, Chef."
Sukuna not only unilaterally bestowed a seemingly fitting title upon Emiya but also casually shook his head, making the somewhat fragile body emit cracking sounds.
Having just been resurrected and possessing the body, he naturally needed some pre-fight stretching.
Trusting his own power, Ryomen Sukuna was not worried in the slightest—could this brat in front of him possibly be close in strength to the modern 'Strongest'?
"Trace on."
Given that the Ryomen Sukuna in front of him was not his true body but a form incarnated by possessing Yuji Itadori's body, Emiya couldn't use any Noble Phantasms that were overly fatal. After all, his goal was to save Itadori; wouldn't doing that be counterproductive?
Therefore, the best fighting method should be to limit the opponent's movements as much as possible... From this perspective, the incredibly vast Innate Domain was actually a good thing. Choosing close-quarters combat would be better for pinning down this guy's location.
!
Emiya, gripping Kanshou and Bakuya, forcefully stomped the ground, his body instantly piercing the air as he charged toward Ryomen Sukuna below.
"Great! The momentum looks strong!"
The excited Sukuna grew sharp, pitch-black claws on his palms, then leaped up to meet the charge.
Clang——!
Sukuna's hands grabbed Kanshou and Bakuya respectively, and the smile on his face became even more rampant.
"Come on, come on! You look much stronger than those useless Sorcerers. I like that, Chef."
Bang Bang——Bang Bang——BOOM!!
The two figures moved and collided wildly within the enormous space. Every impact was accompanied by intense sounds and the shattering of the environment. It was only after the final collision violently cracked the bridge beneath their feet, sending them plunging into the abyss, that they separately retreated.
"His strength is immense, his speed is also very fast, and the key is that his combat sense is far superior to the Cursed Spirits before."
Even a simple exchange was enough for Emiya to discern a lot.
Average Cursed Spirits were completely incomparable to this thousand-year-old King of Curses. Even Mahito, whom Emiya had met a few days ago, lagged far behind in this regard.
The recent clash looked evenly matched, but Emiya's physical condition was completely incomparable to Ryomen Sukuna's.
Sukuna's utilization of Cursed Energy was completely masterful. He could easily enhance Yuji Itadori's already monstrous body beyond its limits, then instantly heal it with Reverse Cursed Technique.
Emiya looked down at the Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands.
Crack, crack——
A clearly visible crack appeared on the blade, and it finally broke.
Even though the Kanshou and Bakuya he projected were two grades below the original, barely reaching Grade C, they shouldn't have been this fragile.
"Did you notice? My Cursed Technique.
You can't blame me, your Cursed Tool is too weak."
Ryomen Sukuna brazenly displayed his sharp claws, the taunt clearly visible.
Unfortunately, Emiya didn't fall for it. Casually tossing the broken sword to the ground, Emiya chanted the incantation anew.
"Trace on."
Appearing in Emiya's hands were the exact same pair of couple swords.
"…?"
Ryomen Sukuna looked at the Kanshou and Bakuya in Emiya's hands with a hint of confusion. He couldn't quite understand it. None of the Cursed Techniques he knew could achieve something like this.
"I'm sorry, Sukuna, but my weapon reserves are quite full."
"Then..."
"Trigger Off. "
The Magic Circuits on Emiya's arm became visible, blue lines spreading over Kanshou and Bakuya, causing the wide, feather-like blades to rapidly elongate from the couple swords.
Finally, the original short swords transformed into something that could be called greatswords—Kanshou and Bakuya - OverEdge.
"If the blade strength isn't enough, just make it stronger again!"
Without bothering to notify Sukuna, Emiya, wielding the two greatswords, erupted in movement, arriving above Sukuna's head and simultaneously slashing down with the blades.
BOOM!
Ryomen Sukuna chose to cross his arms above his head to take the blow. The cost was blood bursting from his forearms where the blades cut into him, and the ground beneath his feet simultaneously collapsed, sending him falling downward.
Emiya didn't rush to pursue. Instead, he directed his reinforced blades toward Sukuna's location.
"Trace on."
What he held this time was a longbow with a sword-arrow nocked on it.
"Broken Phantasm."
He didn't use the Pseudo-Spiral Sword, just a normal sword-blade that had been converted into a Noble Phantasm.
The sword-arrow hurtled downward, seeming to reach Ryomen Sukuna in the next instant. He finally openly used his Cursed Technique, slicing the sword-arrow neatly in half, but this was useless against a Noble Phantasm in a state of self-destruction.
"Dismantle!"
BOOM!
The violent explosion caused the entire underground space to shake, and water splashed up dozens of meters from the surface below. Emiya knew this attack definitely wouldn't kill Ryomen Sukuna; his only goal was to restrain the opponent as much as possible.
However, once the fire and smoke cleared and the sky-high spray of water began to fall like rain again, Ryomen Sukuna's figure was not in the expected position.
"He escaped? No... that Cursed Spirit?!"
Realizing the error, Emiya immediately turned to the direction where the Special Grade Cursed Spirit had vanished, only to see the continuously burning ghostly blue flames and Ryomen Sukuna, who was now holding a finger in his hand.
"I acknowledge your strength, Chef.
So, I must also adopt a stronger form to make this battle enjoyable for you, right?"
With that, Ryomen Sukuna didn't hesitate to throw the disgusting finger into his mouth and swallowed it.
Gulp——
As the finger was swallowed, the amount of Cursed Energy on Ryomen Sukuna's body began to rapidly climb, and even the minor injuries he'd just sustained were healing.
There are twenty of the 'Sukuna's Finger' Special Grade Cursed Objects in total.
For every one Yuji Itadori's body contains, Ryomen Sukuna's power increases by a certain amount. This overall increase in strength was remarkably obvious.
Ryomen Sukuna casually tore his upper garments, revealing his muscular body covered in black markings.
"The feeling of power returning is great, even if it's just a little bit.
Come on, let's continue to enjoy the slaughter."
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"What's the point of wasting two precious fingers on one guy?
You might as well let me just go and burn that damn brat myself!"
In a crowded fast-food restaurant, Jogo was unreservedly venting his dissatisfaction to Suguru Geto. To ordinary people who cannot see creatures like Cursed Spirits, they were completely unaware that several terrifying monsters had appeared here; they only felt that the temperature had inexplicably risen a lot.
"Relax, Jogo.
Our goal is to fully revive Ryomen Sukuna, but the prerequisite is that we must eliminate Satoru Gojo first. Otherwise, the plan to eliminate humanity can never be achieved.
Gojo has already noticed us, so we must proceed cautiously."
Suguru Geto gently spun his spoon in the cup, reassuring the angry Jogo, "And the brat you speak of isn't so easy to handle, either. Otherwise, how could Mahito have died by his hand?"
It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned Mahito. The moment Suguru Geto said those words, Jogo's rage instantly ignited.
BOOM——!!!!!
He didn't even care whether this was a busy area or how many people were in the restaurant. The leaking flames instantly turned the place into a genuine inferno.
No screams were uttered because they didn't even have time; their vocal cords were burned to ash, and they died.
"Then listen up! If your so-called Sukuna is useless enough to fail to kill that guy, I will personally go and burn the brat to death! If you dare to stop me again, I'll kill you too!!"
"Alright, alright."
Undoubtedly, Jogo's threat was quite terrifying.
But Suguru Geto merely continued to gently spin his spoon, giving a perfunctory response.
Because he was more concerned with another matter now—
"Let's see what you two can accomplish, Ryomen Sukuna, and...
Emiya Shirou."
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