A man wearing a loose kimono was sitting casually with his legs bent on a small hill piled up from body parts. His short pink hair was slicked back recklessly, and bizarre black curse patterns were winding and spreading over his well-defined body like snakes.
After staring at the girl for a moment, the corners of his mouth suddenly lifted at an extremely unsettling angle, almost splitting to his ears. The horrifying look made him seem like some kind of evil dark creature.
“Just in time. Curse spirit meat tastes terrible. Suddenly a woman has come… let me enjoy myself properly, heh, hahahahaha…”
“Clang…” The samurai sword suddenly slashed out, barely blocking the downward-cutting kitchen knife. The man’s body froze in midair, and the four eyes fixed on her were as red as if soaked in blood. “Not bad~ Put in a little more effort~”
In just a few seconds, the sound of blades clashing suddenly grew intense, and they had already traded more than ten moves.
Sakurai Hoshi gripped her long sword tightly, her hands bearing enormous force, unable to spare even a bit of extra attention.
Too fast… what the hell is this guy’s background…
After all this time training, her strength, physique, and agility had barely climbed to 14 or 15. With the boost from [[1]], they could probably reach around 19… but this guy…
Shit!
She had only lost focus for a brief instant, and the other party’s figure vanished from view. She only felt a chill coming from behind her head…
With a clang, the sharp kitchen knife once again struck the samurai sword. The purplish-red cursed energy kept boiling because of its owner’s intense emotions, reaching the point where it could even be seen with the naked eye, continuously radiating from the bright blade.
“Sorry,” SUGAWARA Yu’s expression turned gloomy, his dark eyes looking at the enemy. “Could you please stop touching her?”
The samurai sword covered in purplish-red cursed energy suddenly lifted, then a fist was thrown out, and the erupting black-red cursed energy formed a terrifying afterimage in the air.
“Hahahahaha~ You actually managed to hit me, not bad, kid!” The man, who had taken a Black Flash head-on, instead grew even more excited. Even his four eyes twisted into strange shapes. “What is that woman to you? For the sake of that move, after I eat her, I can return the bones to you…”
“I won’t let you succeed. …I’m going to kill you.” Sugawara Yu’s brows lowered, and genuine killing intent appeared in his eyes. One hand held the sword, and the other covered his mouth. When he moved it away, strange curse patterns had suddenly appeared at the corners of his mouth: “Don’t move——”
As the man’s body stiffened, he rushed up with the sword in hand at full speed.
So strong.
Looking at the battle not far away, Sakurai Hoshi could hardly tell the two figures apart. The air was full of the sound of blades clashing, and their speed was even so fast that afterimages were left in the air.
At this speed and strength, at least 35… no, above 24, and they might not even be using their full power! But this weird guy is actually not a curse spirit… he’s a living human being!
The itchy monster doesn’t work at all, there’s no way to get involved…
She took a deep breath, and for once activated her brain with intelligence 17, urgently thinking during the gap in the fight.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakurai Hoshi spotted the box that Sugawara Yu had thrown aside. Muzan was curled up inside it as if dead, not making a sound.
Sakurai Hoshi’s gaze sharpened.
“Heh heh~ Great, great~ More, put in a little more effort——” The man, who had been cut by several slashes, instead grew even more frenzied. His deformed smile seemed about to tear his whole face apart. “Release all your cursed energy and let me see what you’re capable of!”
“Fall——” Words carrying cursed energy came out of his mouth. A thread of blood spilled from the corner of Sugawara Yu’s mouth, but he paid no mind to the pain in his throat and used a technique that did not belong to him without restraint: “Explode—— Tear apart—— Crush——”
“Useless, useless! Is that all you’ve got?” The curse speech that could easily wipe out a curse spirit nest only added a few more wounds to the man’s body. He excitedly raised a hand and tightly caught the long sword swung by the boy. Then, behind his shoulder, two more hands suddenly extended, brandishing kitchen knives as they slashed toward Sugawara Yu——
“Clang——”
A piercing metallic screech rang out. Black hair fell away to reveal the girl’s beautiful face. Her purple eyes were now reflecting the blade light, and fierce flames were burning inside them: “Using a smurf account? We’ve got no shortage of hands on our side either——”
“Huh? You’re rushing in to die?” The four-armed demon god glanced at her with a trace of contempt. “You’re not as fun as this kid. I might as well eat you right now. Maybe he can get even stronger then——”
“Don’t underestimate me——” Sakurai Hoshi suddenly exerted force and actually made him step back half a pace.
“Oh? Strength and speed both increased…” He finally looked at Sakurai Hoshi properly, observing her moves with interest during the battle. “Your swordsmanship comes from the same source as that kid… haha, he really likes you! But,”
He leaped suddenly, dodging the horizontal slash of the samurai sword, and the body falling downward came to a steady stop on her blade. His terrifying face drew very close to hers, breathing in the air she exhaled, sniffing like some dangerous beast scenting its prey.
“I see… it’s breathing? And your sensitivity to weak points is very high… your perception is strong, you know!”
Completely seen through…
What was rapidly strengthening her body’s physical condition was precisely the [[2]] she had comprehended together with [[3]]. Take a deep breath and let a large amount of oxygen enter the lungs, blood, and even the heart. Blood flow and heartbeat would keep accelerating, and the body temperature would also keep rising——
Under such a high body temperature, her physical attributes were boosted to around 35, and her speed and strength could both keep up now!
“I’ve never seen someone force themselves to this extent before… I really have to praise you~ It’s almost like you’re burning yourself up, interesting~” He tapped the tip of his foot and dodged the next slash. The man, once again landing on top of the pile of corpses, bared a wild smile. “My name is Sukuna. I’ll reluctantly let you see it, the true jujutsu—— Domain Expansion…”
As he brought his hands together and formed a strange gesture, the sky suddenly turned black, and a huge black-red shrine radiating an ominous aura rose up behind him——
This feeling is…
Sakurai Hoshi abruptly turned her head and, using all her strength, ran toward Sugawara Yu, who was also running toward her.
In the endless dark sky, before the evil shrine, one second before death arrived, as they were swallowed by the huge cursed energy——
She tightly hugged him.
“Malevolent Shrine.”
The domain was dispelled, as if everything had been an illusion, and the surroundings returned to the curse spirit nest strewn with corpses.
At the bottom of the mountain of body parts, the two boys were still tightly embracing each other, as if the world had fallen into silence at this moment.
“What the hell, so you’re really a pair of hard-luck lovers? How boring… if it’s like this, wouldn’t the meat all be mixed together?”
Sukuna, whose kimono had long since been torn apart in the battle, looked down below with a bored expression, waiting for the cut-up pieces of meat to lose their inertia and separate… the next second, he widened his eyes.
A sword wound appeared on the girl’s back. Her beautiful kimono split neatly into several sections and scattered away, revealing her smooth, uninjured shoulders and back, only to be obscured again by the hanging strands of hair—she was actually completely unharmed.
“Hoshi, your clothes——”
The boy, who had been held completely in a protective embrace, hurriedly reached out and grabbed the scattered strips of cloth, draping them over her snow-white, dazzling shoulders. His face was red as he maintained this overly intimate embrace, then took off his own coat and clumsily put it over the girl.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on here…” The demon god standing on the corpse pile had no mind to appreciate beauty at all. On the contrary, this unexpected development made him completely excited, and the twisted smile on his face was even more crazed than before: “Woman, what exactly are you? You can actually ignore a domain—— hahahahaha~ You’re really getting me excited~”
Sugawara Yu, who had just been wearing a shy and precious expression, now showed a gloomy look again under the man’s wanton words. He tightened his grip on the sword and suddenly burst forward, his figure flashing beside Sukuna, and slashed at the kitchen knife.
“…As expected, I’m not very interested in you right now, brat. I’ll take your woman from here——” Sukuna did not even turn his head toward him. His four bizarre eyes were all fixed below, as if staring at prey he was bound to get. He pressed down hard, and Sugawara Yu was forced to the ground by the huge force.
“Uraume.”
“Yes, Lord Sukuna.”
As the demon god called out, a short-haired boy actually walked out from behind the corpse pile and, with a wave of his hand, sent out an ice blade.
“Don’t disturb Lord Sukuna’s pleasure.”
The boy named Uraume said coldly, blocking in front of the gloomy Sugawara Yu.
“Great~ Now it’s just you and me left.” The demon god’s malicious laughter stopped, and his four scarlet eyeballs stared tightly at Sakurai Hoshi: “Pick up your sword.”
“…Men who are too impatient are really annoying.”
Sakurai Hoshi slowly put on Sugawara Yu’s clothes and gripped the long sword again.
She raised her head and looked coldly at the man on the corpse pile, lifting a provocative smile: “And besides—— you’re standing too high.”
With one slash, the girl’s stance as she swung her sword was like a sacred dance. Fierce golden-red flames flared up, and all the curse spirit remains around them were reduced to ashes. The corpse pile underfoot turned into golden specks of light and dispersed, and the powerful demon god was forced down to the ground, looking up at the nest now filled with golden specks and free of resentment.
“Curse spirits and resentment were dissolved instantly… If I were a curse spirit, that last slash would have turned me to smoke right away.” Sukuna tilted his head with interest, examining the beautiful girl surrounded by the specks of light. “You, are you the divine child of some sun god?”
“These light specks… Lord Sukuna, this woman is probably the miko Hime, who was spoken of in the rumors, possessing the power to purify the hatred of demons and ghosts——” Uraume exhaled a breath of cold air and, in the gap in the fight, took the time to answer Sukuna, even though he was slashed three times by the boy for it and did not care at all.
“Hime? Your name isn’t Hoshi, is it? What did that kid call you just now——” Sukuna grabbed the girl’s hands holding the sword with his two hands, while the remaining two hands were about to hack down with the kitchen knife, when he suddenly widened his eyes and his movements stalled, “This is…”
Taking advantage of his momentary lapse, Sakurai Hoshi forcefully broke free of his grip and slashed across his chest.
The demon god, who should have dodged by instinct, actually took the move head-on with his body, and his chest was immediately cut open with a bloody wound.
“Hahaha, hahahahahahahaha——” He instantly moved to the girl’s front, not caring about the knife stuck in his chest, one pair of hands forcefully cupping her face, the other pair tightly locking around her waist. “You really are a miracle—— Hime! I’m completely obsessed with you!”
A hot, soaring emotion rushed straight to the top of his head. A pleasure he had never felt before wrapped around him completely. He wanted to laugh, to laugh madly, to devour this terrifying pleasure, this unbearable joy, together with that surging desire——
Eat it all.
Ryomen Sukuna’s face showed crazed delight and pleasure. The pupils in both pairs of eyes shrank to needle points, the corners of his mouth split to a nonhuman angle, and he bit into her neck.
A scalding sweetness he had never felt before surged into his throat, and endless desire and pleasure rose from his heart, crawling all the way up into his mouth…
The miko, whose flesh and blood was being frantically sucked at, raised her head with difficulty and opened her mouth:
“Muzan——”
The next second, Sukuna, who was immersed in the sweet taste, suddenly felt a stabbing pain on his back.
That tiny,不起眼 box had somehow been opened. The white-haired, red-eyed demon king opened his scarlet eyes and stared at Sukuna with disgust and hatred. A long, bizarre tentacle, as if condensed from blood, extended from his body and injected the demon king’s blood into the back of the King of Curses.
The next second, dazzling golden-red flames blazed up and burst out from the demon god’s abdomen——
“Hinokagutsuchi no Kazan· Sixth Form—— Scorching Bone and Sun!”
The flames carrying purification power burned away everything cursed by demon blood to the very end.