Inside the juvenile detention center, in an unoccupied area.
Itadori Yuji stood facing An Xora and Seele.
Given that Ryomen Sukuna had previously attacked bystanders, Fushiguro Megumi—having learned his lesson—had immediately left with Kugisaki Nobara, with no intention of staying behind to watch.
As a result, the only one remaining to observe was An Xora.
"So… you're really not planning to leave first?"
Itadori Yuji looked at An Xora with concern. "Sukuna is really dangerous."
"Even if Miss Seele isn't afraid of Sukuna, if Sukuna suddenly attacks you in the middle of the fight, and Miss Seele doesn't make it in time to protect you…"
Then this 'sparring match' to test Sukuna's strength would probably end with someone dying.
An Xora silently added the rest in his mind.
After all, if such a situation truly occurred, Seele would undoubtedly go all out immediately to protect him. With the full authority of the Herrscher of Life and Death unleashed, the one who died certainly wouldn't be An Xora.
Besides, that scenario wouldn't happen anyway. If even Itadori Yuji could think of this, how could An Xora and Seele not have considered it?
"Don't worry. In this fight, Seele won't be making a move. She'll stay by my side the whole time to protect me. As for Ryomen Sukuna's opponent—"
An Xora paused slightly.
"It'll be the other Seele."
"The other…?"
Itadori Yuji froze. "Does that mean Miss Seele has an older sister or a younger sister?"
"Idiot."
A terrifying surge of black-and-red cursed energy erupted.
Amid the roiling cursed power, Dark Seele's figure slowly materialized beside Seele.
"Ryomen Sukuna's opponent… is me."
Cold. Dangerous. Overbearing.
This was Itadori Yuji's first impression of Dark Seele.
Floating in midair beside Seele, her color palette dominated by black and crimson, Dark Seele's presence was the complete opposite of Seele's usual gentleness. Her sharp gaze alone radiated overwhelming malice.
Feeling the waves of lethal danger crashing over him, Itadori Yuji swallowed hard.
"T-This… what is going on here?!"
This was a curse, right?
This bone-chilling sensation—there was no way it wasn't a curse!
Why would a curse this dangerous suddenly appear beside Miss Seele, who was clearly a Special Grade sorcerer?!
"As you can see," An Xora explained calmly,
"just like Sukuna's consciousness resides within your body, Black Seele has lived inside Seele ever since she was very young."
"However, compared to your relationship with Sukuna, Seele and Black Seele get along… a bit better. So you don't need to worry about her harming you. This time, it was Seele and I who asked her to help us test Sukuna's strength."
In truth, it was Dark Seele who had proactively requested to fight Sukuna.
An Xora's original plan had been for Seele to take the field, with Dark Seele only revealing herself if an accident occurred and Sukuna tried to attack him—stepping in at the critical moment to stop Sukuna.
But the current arrangement wasn't bad either. Considering that Dark Seele hadn't fought at all since defeating Gojo Satoru last time, An Xora ultimately agreed to her request.
"A curse… that won't harm its host, won't fight over the body, and even actively helps?"
After hearing An Xora's explanation, Itadori Yuji felt his mind go blank.
"So you're saying… Miss Black Seele won't try to take over Miss Seele's body, won't have any malicious intent toward her, and will even help her when problems arise?"
"That's right. When Black Seele first appeared, Seele hadn't awakened cursed energy yet—she didn't have her current strength either. Back then, to prevent Seele from being bullied at the orphanage, it was always Black Seele who protected her."
An Xora's words entered Itadori Yuji's ears clearly. Every word made sense—yet put together, they felt utterly incomprehensible.
Does a curse like this… really exist?
Looking at Seele and Dark Seele before him, then thinking about Sukuna inside his own body, Itadori Yuji truly felt, at that moment, just how unfair the world could be.
"But… Gojo-sensei said that Ryomen Sukuna is the King of Curses, even among all curses. Will Miss Black Seele really be okay?"
"Heh."
Hearing this, Dark Seele curled her lips into a disdainful sneer.
"Just release Ryomen Sukuna already. The rest isn't something you need to worry about."
"The King of Curses?"
She laughed coldly.
"Just an ordinary man who happened to be born in an era without me."
As her words fell, the entire area seemed to plunge into a brief, suffocating silence.
The next second, a mouth suddenly opened on Itadori Yuji's face, grinding its teeth as it spoke:
"You bastard… you've got some nerve saying that!"
There was no doubt about it—this voice belonged to Ryomen Sukuna.
As the strongest King of Curses from a thousand years ago, Sukuna had seen no shortage of arrogant fools. Many had dared to spout nonsense in front of him—and every single one of them had ended up dead by his hand.
Logically speaking, being looked down upon by some nameless nobody shouldn't have stirred much emotion in him. If anything, he should've found it amusing.
Yet for some reason, Dark Seele's words struck a nerve.
An uncontrollable fury surged within Sukuna, flames of rage spilling outward.
The feeling made him want nothing more than to tear everyone present into pieces.
"A curse tamed into a human's pet—and you think you have any real strength?"
"And you, brat," Sukuna sneered,
"you heard them yourself. They're the ones who asked me to make a move. So hurry up and hand over the body already. I can't wait to make these idiots regret it!"
"First, that foul-mouthed curse… and then that woman over there who dared to attack me last time!"
Even though Dark Seele had successfully drawn all of Sukuna's hatred, the notoriously vindictive Sukuna hadn't forgotten Seele—the one who had caught him off guard and nearly killed him with a single strike half a month ago.
Now, Sukuna was already planning it out:
Kill Dark Seele first—then take his revenge on Seele.
Driven by impatience, he kept urging Itadori Yuji.
Finally fed up with Sukuna's nonstop nagging, Itadori Yuji stepped back a few paces and nodded toward Dark Seele in the distance.
"Alright… I'm going to release Sukuna now."
Closing his eyes, black markings began to spread across Itadori Yuji's body.
The next instant—
Four eyes opened.
Ryomen Sukuna's eyes, brimming with madness, locked onto Dark Seele.
Without the slightest warning, he raised his hand and unleashed several slashing attacks.
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