Hey everyone, I have finished stocking some chapters, so bonuses should be much earlier from now on!
2 chapters today!!
don’t forget power stones 🙂
…
A little while earlier.
Shortly after Sukuna took control of Yuji’s body.
Inside the Innate Domain.
Regarding Sukuna’s sudden declaration that he was going to help Kaito, Yuji’s response was simple and direct:
“I don’t believe you.”
Sukuna sat on his mountain of skulls, resting his cheek on his fist.
He looked relaxed, almost like he didn’t care how the conversation would turn out.
“This isn’t a matter of belief. It is a Binding Vow—a pact. If I break it, I am the one who suffers the penalty.”
“Besides, heh…” Sukuna sneered.
“Do you really think that bastard lump of meat will walk away unscathed?”
“Why wouldn’t he? Those cursed spirits were clearly terrified of him! Even if I don’t know much about the Jujutsu world yet, I could at least see that!” Yuji shot back.
Sukuna relied on Yuji’s lack of knowledge about Jujutsu.
If Yuji truly understood how things worked, Sukuna would not have been able to deceive him so easily.
“It makes sense you’d make such a flawed judgment in your ignorance. After all, even if that thing is a fake, it still possesses more than half of my total power,” Sukuna said.
“Whatever. Time flows differently here than it does in the outside world, so I’ll humor you and explain.”
Sukuna relaxed even more and tapped his finger against his forehead.
“I’ll explain it using the vocabulary rolling around in that empty head of yours.”
“If you treat a battle like a video game, most high-level players possess an ultimate move called a Domain Expansion.”
“It goes without saying for that meatball bastard who summoned my fake, but those two cursed spirits most likely possess this ultimate move as well.”
“And the best way to counter a Domain… is to expand your own.”
“However…” Sukuna glanced at Yuji.
Seeing the brat was listening intently, a small smirk appeared on his face.
“Once a Domain ends, the user experiences a period of cursed technique burnout. To use your gaming terms, all of their ‘skills’ go on cooldown.”
“I can establish a Binding Vow right now to guarantee the truth of everything I just said.”
“What comes after that is the crucial part… From the look on your face, brat, I see you’ve already figured it out.”
A hint of mockery flashed through Sukuna’s eyes.
Yuji’s expression turned grave.
‘There are two enemies.
They can stagger their Domain Expansions.
They’ll wait until Kaito’s summoned Shikigami burns out its technique, and then the second cursed spirit will activate its Domain…’
Yuji lost his train of thought.
The trick was that Sukuna only left out the important details.
Everything he said was true, so he could easily support it with a Binding Vow.
The ‘fake’ possessing over half of Sukuna’s total cursed energy reserves could effortlessly crush those two cursed spirits with raw stats alone.
Even if they engaged in a Domain clash, his open-barrier Domain wouldn’t be dragged into cursed technique burnout so easily by a simple tag-team strategy.
“Do you understand now? That bastard lump of meat is putting himself in lethal danger just to create an opportunity for you to escape.”
…
…
Sukuna spoke with a tone meant to get a reaction out of Yuji.
“So, are you going to listen to him? Are you going to pretend this conversation never happened and run away with your tail tucked between your legs like a stray dog?”
“Or are you going to hand control of your body over to me?”
Yuji stayed quiet.
He didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either.
He was much less sure of himself than before.
Not waiting for a formal response, Sukuna laid out his terms.
“There are four conditions.”
“One: You will not interfere with me taking back my fingers from that octopus cursed spirit and swallowing them.”
“Two: I will launch an attack against these three cursed spirits.”
“Three: When I chant the word ‘Enchain’, you will unconditionally hand control of your body over to me for one full minute. During that minute, I will not kill or injure anyone.”
“Four: You will forget the third condition, as well as this one.”
Yuji’s face scrunched up in conflict.
He looked up at Sukuna, dressed in his traditional women’s kimono.
Then remembered how cautious Kaito always was around the King of Curses.
Finally, Yuji refused: “Forget it. Your credibility doesn’t even compare to Kaito’s. Besides, I feel like you’re trying to scam me.”
“Is that so.” Sukuna didn’t get angry.
His face remained placid as he proposed an alternative.
“Then how about this? We fight. If you can land even a single blow on me, all the conditions are void, and I will unconditionally help that bastard lump of meat.”
“Conversely, if I win, we go with the terms I just laid out.”
“Unconditionally?!” Yuji’s eyes lit up.
He slammed a fist into his palm.
“Al—”
“—right! Just wait… I’ll beat you…” The upper half of Yuji’s head hung suspended in the air, staring down at his own mouth before abruptly stopping.
This was the Innate Domain.
He wouldn’t actually die.
But… the Binding Vow had been established.
Sukuna shifted his gaze back to the red octopus cursed spirit in front of him.
Dagon had already thought things through.
Their overarching goal was for Sukuna to return to the world in his prime anyway.
Handing him the fingers a little early shouldn’t be a bad thing.
Dagon regurgitated the six fingers he had looted from the Cursed Warehouse.
“Puu! Puu!” he gurgled as he offered them up.
Sukuna didn’t care in the slightest, snatching the six talisman-wrapped fingers.
Ignoring Dagon’s gurgling, he tore off the paper seals and rapidly swallowed the fingers one after another.
To be honest, they tasted terrible.
For his own fingers, which were coated in a layer of grave wax and tasted no different from a bar of soap, he could only give a solid zero out of ten.
But he laughed.
He clutched his forehead and laughed maniacally.
“Heh heh… Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
His power was coming back fast, but that was expected and didn’t excite him.
What really mattered were the changes happening inside the vessel.
His hypothesis was correct!
This brat’s body was an inexplicably perfect cage for him.
But eating so many fingers at once made his power spike, letting him take over Yuji’s mind for a short time.
Condition One of the Binding Vow: Complete.
The results were gratifying.
Six fingers had bought him a brief window of complete, autonomous control over the body.
Feeling the sunlight on his shoulders, he felt like a free man!
“Puu! Puu!!” Dagon was still gurgling in his ear.
Sukuna maintained that twisted smile.
“You want me to go help your comrades?”
“Puu! Puu!” Dagon nodded repeatedly.
He had a mission to complete.
If he wanted to handle both ends, his only option was to beg Sukuna for help.
Unfortunately, he didn’t understand Sukuna in the slightest.
“You just gave back a few fingers that were mine to begin with, and you think that means you can boss me around?”
“REPULSIVE FODDER. GET LOST!!”
The next second, Sukuna glanced into the distance and sent a slash straight at Dagon.
The confused little octopus went flying, blood spraying everywhere.
It wasn’t fatal, but it hurt like hell.
Even then, he didn’t forget his mission, clutching the smartphone and typing away through teary eyes.
If Dagon had known more about Sukuna, he would have realized that staying quiet was the smartest move.
Sukuna would have ignored him and gone off to look for a strong opponent to fight.
“Condition Two of the Binding Vow: One-third complete.”
Just because Sukuna was following the Binding Vow didn’t mean he really planned to help Kaito.
As a thousand-year-old veteran with flawless credit and a long history of abusing Binding Vows, Ryomen Sukuna understood one thing better than anyone: a Binding Vow was ultimately a game of wording.
Sukuna grinned, eager for the fight and the kill.
There was even a hungry look in his eyes.
“Kaito… As my first proper meal in a thousand years, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy eating you.”
…
Back on Kaito’s end.
He already knew Yuji had been tricked.
Sukuna was now taking over the main body.
Throw Jogo into the mix, and even the completely brain-dead [Sukuna] combat program might get caught slipping.
Kaito thought it over for a moment, then muttered, “Maybe I should bring out [Fraud Megumi], have him summon Mahoraga, and just go for the double suicide attack.”