Night had settled deep over the city when Megumi Fushiguro rushed through the glass doors of the medical center, his breath ragged and his eyes scanning the empty corridors.
Minutes earlier, he had received a terrified call from his step-sister, Tsumiki.
Her voice had been trembling over the line, pleading for help and claiming a shadow was watching her outside her room.
Over the receiver, Megumi had caught the faint, guttural echo of a cursed spirit.
Fearing the worst, he had sprinted across the district without a second thought.
Yet, as he reached her floor, the silence in the hallway felt almost unnatural.
There were no signs of a struggle, no lingering residue of a low-grade curse, and no broken glass.
Megumi pushed open the door to Tsumiki’s room.
She was standing alone by the window, her back turned to the doorway.
“Tsumiki?” Megumi called out softly, holding his stance near the frame.
The woman turned around slowly, her posture calm and composed.
“You made it, Megumi.”
Megumi let out a slow breath, assessing her frame from top to bottom.
She looked completely unharmed.
“Sister…
what happened?
You said you were in danger.”
Tsumiki offered a faint, awkward smile, looking down at her hands.
“I’m sorry.
I lied to you.
I wasn’t in any danger.
I just needed you to come here so I could tell you something in person.”
Megumi stared at her, a flicker of irritation rising in his chest.
“You couldn’t have said it over the phone?
You had me running across the city for nothing.”
His tone was cold, typical of his usual guarded demeanor around family, but the relief in his posture was obvious.
Tsumiki looked at him, her smile fading into a chilling, distant expression.
“Megumi…
I’m not your sister anymore.”
Megumi froze, a drop of cold sweat sliding down his temple.
“What…
what are you talking about?”
The woman using Tsumiki’s face looked at him with pity, her eyes void of any familiar warmth.
“You’ve already guessed it, haven’t you?
You just refuse to accept it.
How predictable.”
Megumi’s voice cracked, his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides.
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Me?” The woman gestured to herself with a light laugh.
“My name is Yorozu.
Some of the older sorcerers from the Heian era might still remember me.” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
The cruel, unfamiliar tone coming from his sister’s mouth shattered Megumi’s last remaining thread of denial.
The woman standing before him wasn’t Tsumiki.
Her body had been stolen.
She was an ancient sorcerer, reincarnated through Kenjaku’s binding vows just like the rest of the Culling Game participants.
Megumi’s eyes went wide, his voice shaking with absolute desperation.
“When you woke up earlier today…
you acted like yourself!
Why did you play along?!”
Yorozu tilted her head slightly, tapping her chin with a finger.
“Hmm.
Why indeed?”
She offered him a bright, empty smile.
“Because watching you cling to hope was entertaining.
But now, it’s getting boring.”
The words hit Megumi like a physical blow, locking his limbs in place as his mind spiraled into dark despair.
Before he could summon his shadows, a shadow materialized right beside him.
“Who’s there—”
A clawed hand clamped onto Megumi’s jaw, locking his mouth open with terrifying force.
A severed, blood-soaked pinky finger was shoved straight down his throat before he could struggle.
Megumi’s vision blurred, his nervous system shuddering as an overwhelming, ancient presence surged into his core.
As his consciousness began to fade into blackness, his eyes caught the face of his attacker.
The frame was unfamiliar, but the dark, venomous markings spreading across the skin were unmistakable.
Sukuna…
why are you here?
What happened to Yuji…?
The question remained unanswered as Megumi’s mind sank into darkness.
Megumi’s body convulsed once.
Black markings spread across his face, arms, and torso, settling into their distinct, ancient pattern.
He threw his head back, letting out a deep, echoing laugh.
“Finally!
The vessel I wanted!”
Sukuna raised his new hands, flexing the fingers as he took in the sensation of the Ten Shadows core resting within his chest.
Beside him, Julian’s physical frame sagged, stumbling backward against the wall.
Julian opened his eyes, gasping for air.
He was thoroughly confused.
He had expected to wake up in the white void of the System space the second Sukuna forced the finger down his throat.
Instead, his consciousness had drifted into a dark, weightless space for a brief moment before his physical senses suddenly snapped back into place.
He blinked, rubbing his throat as his chest heaved.
“Dammit…
that finger tasted worse than it looked.”
Julian looked around, expecting the familiar white void, but found himself standing in a dimly lit hospital room instead.
Beside him stood Uraume.
And directly in front of him stood a young man with dark, spiky hair and black markings etched across his face.
Megumi Fushiguro.
Or rather, Sukuna occupying Megumi’s frame.
Sukuna turned his head slowly, his narrow eyes locking onto Julian with a dangerous, lethal edge.
Julian remembered the hard slap he had delivered to Sukuna’s face right before losing consciousness.
He offered a weak, sheepish laugh.
“Hey…
any chance we can call that water under the bridge?”
Sukuna didn’t answer with words.
He raised his hand and flicked his wrist.
“Dismantle.”
Julian didn’t even see the motion.
Razor-sharp, invisible force swept across his torso, severing his body before he could utter another word.
“Hey!
Unfair—”
The darkness claimed him completely.
Julian bolted upright in the bright, seamless white room of the System space, clutching his chest and breathing heavily.
“That felt completely different from falling out of the sky…”
He rubbed his torso, verifying that his head and limbs were still intact.
He still couldn’t wrap his head around what had just happened.
One second he was being used as a temporary vessel on the streets of Tokyo, and the next, he was standing in a hospital room getting sliced in half.
Beep.
The System’s mechanical voice echoed through the space, providing the missing context.
“Upon completing the forced incarnation transfer into the secondary host, Sukuna transported the Host’s original body to the medical facility.
Using Tsumiki Fushiguro as bait, he lured Megumi Fushiguro to the location, executed the soul transfer, and eliminated the Host’s remaining physical shell.”
Julian nodded slowly, clicking his tongue.
“So that’s how it played out.
Talk about a convoluted strategy.”
He shook his head, pushing the thought aside as the evaluation panel expanded before his eyes.
“Time for the settlement.
I technically took a swing at Sukuna and survived a two-hour host override.
The payout better be massive.”
The blue interface flared with text.
[ Attempt Failed: 11 ]
[ Cause of Death: Slain via direct Dismantle strike by Sukuna in physical combat.
]
[ Evaluation: A tragic outcome.
The opponent was operating under temporary host constraints, yet victory remained out of reach.
]
[ Clearance Rewards: ]
Massive Increase in Cursed Energy CapacityAdvanced Cursed Energy ManipulationAdvanced Martial ProficiencyAdvanced Impact & Slash ResistanceInnate Technique Acquired: Mythical Beast Amber (Inherited from Hajime Kashimo)Special Skill Acquired: Reverse Cursed Technique