I didn't get to watch the latest episode 😭😭 I prefer to watch JJK on the TV (cuz i get a big screen and all) BUT EVERYONE KEEPS FUCKING USING IT 😭😭😭😭😭

WARNING: Death. Just... lots of death. And trauma, especially for poor Yuji.

SUKUNA MANAGED TO SAVE THE brat's friend just in time. The sea-urchin head was knocked out with blood dribbling down from his mouth. A state of suspended death, he noted. Held in his other hand was another sorcerer, a scrawny blonde man who was looking at him in fear.

Several meters away from them was a hulking humanoid figure that he recognized right away. It was full of muscle, with four wings protruding from its eye sockets and a tail-like appendage sticking out of the back of its head. Levitating above its head like a twisted version of a halo was an eight-handled wheel.

The Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga—otherwise known as Mahoraga. It was the most powerful shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique. From prior knowledge, Sukuna knew no one who had managed to tame it and he wasn't dumb enough to believe that Megumi had managed it. While he was admittedly impressed that he could summon it, he knew taming it was too far away from the boy's capabilities.

Which means this is an exorcism ritual, Sukuna concluded. An impractical summoning.

It didn't take him long to piece together what Megumi was thinking. The boy couldn't defeat the blonde sorcerer, so he summoned Mahoraga to force him to participate in the ritual, knowing Mahoraga would win.

However, in turn, Megumi would die.

It wasn't the brightest plan in Sukuna's opinion, but Megumi must have been desperate. It was a good thing he had saved the blonde man then. If he had let him die, the ritual would've ended and Megumi would've perished as well.

He carefully set Megumi against the wall and went to heal him.

"Don't die," Sukuna told him. "There's something I need you to do."

On the other side, the blonde man spoke up nervously, "Um, uhh..."

"Quiet," he ordered, still in deep thought. "Just stay there."

In order to keep Megumi alive, he would have to defeat Mahoraga despite his status as an outsider. Fortunately, this would make the exorcism ritual void. But he was curious, he had never fought Mahoraga before. What would it be like? He felt like a giddy child just thinking of the possibilities.

He smirked. "Let's start with a little taste, shall we?"

Mahoraga made the first move. His forearm, which had a blade coated with energy attached to it, slammed down on him. Sukuna lifted his arm to block it, the impact making the ground all around him crack and cave in.

He jumped over head and while he was still upside down, flicked his fingers. "Dismantle."

Lacerations appeared on Mahoraga's arm and the sides of his torso, but they didn't sink in deeply. His Dismantle attack had more of an effect on the building behind them, which was sliced into bits and crumbled down.

Sukuna's eyes lingered on the sword. It was a specialized blade for cursed spirits, known as the Sword of Extermination. It was enveloped in positive energy; had he been a cursed spirit, he would've been a goner if it touched him.

Mahoraga let out a low growl, the wheel over his head turning. Sukuna watched in fascination as his wounds healed.

"What's next?" He asked curiously, sticking his fingers upwards. He aimed a sharp cut across Mahoraga's throat, but to his surprise, the shikigami waved his sword and actually deflected the attack, sending it on another building. A massive slash appeared on its surface.

It deflected the attack! He thought excitedly. You can see it! You can see my cursed technique!

It truly was such a pity that Megumi never got to tame it. It would've made such a good addition to his arsenal. Megumi's current pool of shikigami honestly weren't that impressive. He had potential of course, but Gojo's training methods were pathetic. He would never get anywhere listening to that fool.

Am I honestly the only competent teacher here? He wondered to himself.

Mahoraga came at him again and with a loud cry, slammed his blade at Sukuna's side. He blocked it before it could touch his head, but the impact sent him flying through several buildings.

He crashed through someone's office space, a pile of file cabinets softening the blow.

"Not bad!" He grinned.

Mahoraga's blade came at his face but he swiftly dodged it, sitting on his arm with his feet planted on the shikigami's shoulders and his hand over its face.

"My turn," he smirked, slicing through the skull. It sent Mahoraga blasting out of the building.

Sukuna jumped after him, stomping him all the way down to the street. Mahoraga's body slammed down. Sukuna landed next, the ground cracking under his feet.

There was a creak sound. The wheel was turning again.

"Just as I thought," Sukuna rose to his feet. "It's similar to Yamato no Orochi."

That second attack... instead of positive energy like the first one, the second was imbued with cursed energy. As for my attack, it was able to recognize Dismantle. Both occurred after that wheel on its back turned.

The creaking finally stopped. The wheel was no longer turning. Mahoraga's wounds were all healed, as if nothing ever happened.

Furu's Incantation of the Ten Sacred Treasures and that wheel represent a complete cycle and harmony. I bet this shikigami's power is the ability to adapt to any and all phenomena.

This generation surely was interesting. He could see potential all around, but they were always so weak. It was a pity that these budding sorcerers were never given proper training, constantly coddled by their soft society and weakened by the elders. Mizuhime would be the only one to outshine them all.

He let out a low chuckle, "You showed me the way, Fushiguro Megumi!"

His fingers went into position.

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine."

The space around them rippled, the air growing thick with a heavy miasma that would've suffocated anyone nearby. Rather than creating a separate pocket dimension, Sukuna's domain bled into reality. A large corrupted buddhist shrine appeared behind him, stacked with skulls and horns.

He made sure to spread his domain to a radius of 140 meters. He could've spread it wider, but he needed to make sure Megumi remained untouched.

The guaranteed hit activated in an instant. Everything within 140 meters around him was shredded to pieces. Anything with cursed energy was hit with Cleave while inanimate objects were Dismantled. There were no screams of agony—the Malevolent Shrine killed people far too quickly to let them even speak—just the sounds of everything falling apart.

Before him, Mahoraga shrieked with every cut that was delivered onto his body. The sounds of his shrieking were soon blocked off by hundreds of buildings crumbling to nothing. Sukuna waited patiently, hands in his pockets.

The only way to defeat Mahoraga was to slaughter it with a new attack before it could adapt to it. Cleave would've fit the criteria, but if it hadn't adapted to Dismantle but to slashing attacks in general, then its regeneration would soon be complete.

The Malevolent Shrine disappeared. Mahoraga collapsed to the ground, but the wheel was beginning to turn once more.

Sukuna wasn't going to let that happen.

"Open." He spread his arms out in an archer's position, a fiery arrow appearing between the opened space. He released it. It pierced Mahoraga's face and the whole perimeter burst into flames like a volcanic eruption.

Moments passed. The flames died out and all that was left was razed ground. The scrawny blonde sorcerer from before stared at him in disbelief. Sukuna casually walked towards him, lobbing the wheel—the only thing left of Mahoraga—to the side.

He could feel the blonde's incredulous stare as he walked by. "What're you looking at?" He said coldly. "Be gone."

"I... I'll be on my way!" He shouted nervously, already bursting into a sprint.

There was a wild grin on his face. I survived again! My luck never runs out!

"Once again, I live to see another day!" He cheered, just in time for his whole body to be cut in half in a coronal plane.

Unfortunately for him, his luck had run out during his one-sided fight with Nanami Kento.

Sukuna chuckled in amusement.

He returned to Megumi's side and hoisted him up, then dropped him off in the little hideout the school's principal and healer were holed up in. He allowed the principal to catch a glimpse of him before running away.

Now was the time to let the brat back into control.

He made sure to stand at the Dogenzaka, just in front of the ruins of Shibuya. The brat would see everything; the broken buildings, the slaughtered bodies. He would remember everything Sukuna had done too. It would break him surely, reduce his mind to shambles. It wouldn't weaken his hold on his body, but Sukuna didn't care.

He just loved every moment of the brat's misery.

"Hey brat," he purred, slowly relinquishing his control. "Take a good look."

The marks faded away, the second pair of eyes closed shut, and Sukuna let himself sink into the dark depths while Yuji was pushed forward.

Doe brown eyes blinked into focus.

But then they widened into saucers when he saw what was in front of him.

Yuji could see... nothing. Nothing but flattened ground and the dead body of a blonde man he didn't recognize.

He was standing at the edge of Shibuya, but the city wasn't there anymore. All he could see was an endless barren ground. The tall skyscrapers and bright billboards were no more, just ruins on the ground. And the people...

The... the people...

Memories flooded into his head. People being ripped to shreds by Sukuna's Domain Expansion. Panda and Kusakabe being forced to keep still as a fiery meteor descended upon them. Twin sisters murdered. And Mizuhime...

He saw his own hands giving her away to an unknown enemy.

It was all too much for him to handle.

"Ngh... NGHHH! GAHHH!" He fell to his knees, vomit spilling out of his mouth.

He was hyperventilating and his vision was becoming blurry from his tears. His nails dug into the hard ground, almost making them bleed. Another broken cry left his lips.

"I'm wondering why the heck I have to be executed."

"Just... die already." He begged. He no longer knew who he was talking about—himself or Sukuna.

"I already know how I'm gonna go out."

"Just me! Just me!" He shrieked madly, clawing at the skin on his face. He wanted to rip his skin off, he wanted to jump out of this body. This body, which was nothing more but an empty husk for the Devil.

"When it's your time to go, make sure you're surrounded by others."

"DIE! NOW!"

"Help people."

"Help people."

"Help people."

"HELP PEOPLE."

I couldn't do it! He squeezed his eyes shut. I couldn't help anyone! They're all dead! Dead! I killed them all!

He killed people. He put all his friends in danger. He handed Mizuhime over to some stranger. She was probably dead now because of him...

Yuji didn't know how long he stayed there, kneeling at the edge of the fallen city. His eyes were transfixed on the destruction, unable to peel away from it.

"I need to move." He said numbly. At this rate, he was nothing but a murderer. "I need to fight."

━━━━━━･❪ 🩸 ❫ ･━━━━━━

"Good morning, melons," a velvety voice purred.

Dark blue eyes fluttered open. It took her a while to notice her surroundings, but she knew immediately that she had been pulled into Sukuna's domain.

The first thing she noticed was that it was hot. And she was wet. Very, very wet. Dazedly, she blinked through the steam, trying to register what was going on.

The strong metallic scent of blood drifting into her nose finally made her snap out of her stupor. She recoiled back, eyes widening in horror when she realized she was sitting naked in a steaming hot springs bath full of blood instead of water.

The sight of being bathed in so much blood almost made her scream had it not been for the arms squeezing around her naked body.

"Wha—Sukuna?!" She sputtered in disbelief. She could feel him behind her, her back resting against his muscular chest and oh god, he was naked too. "W-what is going on?!"

She would've been flustered. She would've yelped in embarrassment and demanded to be released.

But right now, she felt too shaken. She remembered everything. Yuji being forcefully fed more fingers. Sukuna awakening. Her killing Nanako after her twin sister was killed. Being cursed again, for (supposedly) the third time.

The last thing she remembered was passing out after witnessing him cruelly stomp over Nanako's head. So how did she end up here, naked in some blood-filled hot springs with him?

"I figured you needed to relax," he purred, sounding all too pleased with the situation they were in. "So I conjured up a hot spring for you to let loose. Don't you feel better already?"

"Did you strip me naked?! And why is it filled with blood?" She asked shakily.

He let out a groan that she could feel reverberate from his chest. "Not even a 'thank you' for trying to make you feel better? The youth these days have no manners."

"Sukuna!"

"If you're not going to relax, then at least shut up so I can relax," he rolled his eyes. "I had quite the busy day, melons. Unlike you who was knocked out for all of it."

He leaned back against the edge, one hand yanking her back so she could recline against him. He let out a deep breath and she could feel his body relax as the stench of blood and decay wafted all around them.

"I don't like the smell of blood," she told him quietly.

"You'll get used to it. "You'll learn to love it," he promised, and the thought of that ever happening terrified her.

There was no way she could relax even if she wanted to. Memories of what had happened kept flooding through her mind. She felt as if her body was beginning to unravel and break apart at the seams, and she didn't want to know what would be left of her once it was done.

The clawed fingers twiddling with her hair forced her back into focus. Sukuna was humming contentedly, like an overgrown cat getting what he wanted. She could feel the heat radiating from his body as he hugged her to him.

"Sukuna," she spoke up. "There's something I want to ask you."

"Hmm?"

"Did you curse me a thousand years ago?"

For a brief second, there was no response. But then he sighed. "Way to ruin the mood, melons."

"Answer me," she said firmly. "Did you curse me?"

"Perhaps I did," she could feel him shrug. "Why?"

"Mahito told me that something was wrong with my soul," she began. "He said that it was chained down, and that you were on the other end of it."

"Kinky," he chortled.

She pinched his side.

"Ouch."

"Listen to me," she snapped. "Is what Mahito said true?"

"...Who's Mahito again?"

She let out an aggravated groan and swiveled around on his lap, facing him this time. She didn't hesitate to whack him over the head, to which he scowled at.

"Sukuna!"

"Alright, alright, fine!" He rolled all four of his eyes. He readjusted his grip around her hips to make sure she didn't topple off of him. He was too comfortable with their new position to make any changes. "I may or may not have cursed you, but it was an accident, okay? It wasn't intentional. After you died, I was the one who found your body. I couldn't handle it. I lost control and cursed you, but I didn't realize it until I found you here in this era."

Finding Shisui again was the last thing he expected after he incarnated in the brat's body. Despite that little bitch Gojo trying so hard to keep them separated, it didn't take him that long to piece together that Mizuhime wasn't incarnated like he was, but reincarnated instead. She had been born into this era, with the same face and body, but a different name and no memories (but he remedied the latter of course).

Mizuhime was frowning at his explanation, deep in thought. "Mahito said—he said that you were controlling whether I lived or died. That was your curse. Is it true?"

"Oh?" He straightened up, intrigued. "And what brought him to that conclusion?"

"He tried to use Idle Transfiguration on me, but it failed. Just like with Yuji." She explained.

"Interesting..." He murmured, genuinely fascinated by this. He figured that he had cursed her, but he initially thought that his curse was to make her reincarnate in the same era he would rise to power once more.

What were the words he had said upon seeing her corpse?

"You can't leave me... I won't allow it!"

Ahh... a smirk curled up his lips. Now it all made sense. She truly couldn't leave him, not even through death. He didn't know if it would help her escape aging, but he doubted it. If one could truly ascertain immortality through a curse, then plenty of people would've already cursed themselves and their loved ones. That was fine, there was still his plan to ascend her after all. Or kill her if she refused to.

He was the only one allowed to kill her, no one else.

Then she would completely, undeniably be his.

Mizuhime started to fidget a little bit; it finally registered in her head how... suggestive this position was.

"Uh, look, can you just," she swallowed nervously. "I dunno, revoke the curse?"

He let out a laugh, as if she had said something funny. "Revoke the curse? Why on earth would I do that?"

"Well—"

"—Not all curses are bad," he purred, inching his face closer to her. He could see her cheeks reddening as she averted her gaze, trying to push herself away from him but he held her against him tightly. "This one is beneficial. It's keeping you safe, don't you see?"

"Yeah except Gojo cursed me too."

He paused, then finally pulled away. "What."

Now he was finally getting it. "Gojo cursed me and, well, he kinda cursed himself too, I guess."

"Explain." He demanded.

"Mahito figured it out, as usual," she said bitterly. "Gojo is the second chain. He chained himself... to me. So he could follow me wherever I go. When my soul reincarnated because of your curse, Gojo's curse activated and reincarnated so he could follow me. Don't you see it? Your curse isn't just keeping me alive, but it's keeping him alive too."

Not to mention there was Nanako's curse too... she shuddered at the thought of it. Three curses. How could things have gone so wrong?

(She didn't know it yet, but the three curses laid on her would be the cause of her undoing.)

Sukuna was silent, taking in her words. She watched with bated breath... then he threw his head back and laughed.

"Haha... HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He cackled, his dark laughter echoing throughout the domain. The sadistic glee in his tone sent shivers down her spine. "This is great—no, it's fucking perfect!"

"What?!" Her face scrunched up in anger and disbelief. "How the hell is any of this perfect?! Even if you find a way to kill Gojo, he'll just come back because of his stupid curse!"

"That's exactly why this is perfect!" The crazed grin he wore nearly split his face. "I can kill him over and over again! I can finally give him the agony that he deserves! I'll ruin each one of his wretched lives for all eternity!"

He threw his head back again, unable to hold in his deranged laughter. Mizuhime could only stare at him in defeated frustration.

This wasn't what she wanted. She just wanted it all to end. For Gojo to be gone. For the curses forced onto her to disappear. She was chained down, but all she wanted was to be free for once in her fucking life.

The old Sukuna would've understood her fears. He would've vowed to help set her free. He... he wouldn't do this.

Mahito's old words came back to haunt her: "How naive. Don't you know you're talking about the King of Curses?"

She finally got the message.

The Sukuna she loved was long gone.

When she died all those years ago, she had taken his heart with her.

━━━━━━･❪ 🩸 ❫ ･━━━━━━

Half of Nanami's body was charred and melting and Yuji didn't think he could move.

Mahito's hand was touching Nanami's chest and when Yuji did move, he was far too late.

Nanami turned to him, his remaining eye soft with acceptance, relief, and sorrow all at once. "You've got it from here," were the last words he would ever hear from him.

Yuji felt his heart stop, time slowing down as the upper half of Nanami's body was blasted away with a single touch of Mahito's fingers. After that, all he could hear next was a harsh ringing in his ears as what was left of Nanami's body fell apart on the floor.

This couldn't be happening.

Just a few hours ago Nanami was alive, guiding him and the other sorcerers around this chaos. They were supposed to work together to free Gojo and then everything would be okay again. None of this was supposed to happen. Things weren't supposed to get this bad. How did it come to this...?!

Mahito's giggle forced him back to reality.

Yuji's vision turned red.

"You... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?! MAHITO!"

"I can hear you just fine without the yelling, Itadori Yuji!" He laughed.

They clashed. Mahito fought him with transfigured humans, taunting him with the agony in their faces.

Yuji was heaving, blood dripping down the front of his face from the punch Mahito landed on him. "How can you...? So often... and with so many people! How can you play with so many people's lives?!"

He let out a horrible laugh, "Would you prefer that I contemplate all the reasons for messing with their lives and look remorseful the next time I kill someone? I'll be sure to do that, kay~?"

Yuji let out a shuddering breath. His teeth were gnashed together and his face was stinging. He didn't know whether to scream or cry. Just months ago he was a high school student hanging out with his friends at the occult club. And here he was now, surrounded by so much cruelty that he couldn't wrap his head around it all.

Mahito lifted up his arm, transfiguring it into a grotesque mockery of a sock puppet resembling Junpei's face. "Heeeelp..." It croaked mournfully at him.

"Here's a simple answer since you're such a simple guy. Itadori Yuji, you are me." He stated, stabbing his finger through Junpei's head.

"What the hell?" He seethed.

"Yeesh... no need to get so upset every time," Mahito simpered, chuckling innocently as he waved Junpei around. "'Tis just a curse spouting nonsense. But you know what? Until you accept that fact, there's no way you'll ever beat me."

"All that blabbering," he growled, pushing his hair back as blood continued to drip down his face. He could tell that a scar would form later on. "You really don't stop talking. I'll make sure those are your dying words!"

They clashed a second time.

This time, however, Mahito found living human targets to use as weapons against him.

No more, he thought. No more, no more, no more!

He chased Mahito up the stairs, only for his blood to run cold when he saw three non-sorcerers staring at them in confusion. Before he could even shout at them to run, Mahito stretched out his arm and pierced through each of their bodies. He swung the makeshift whip at him just as he reached the top of the staircase.

Yuji was too slow to dodge, so he brought his arms up and braced himself. They slammed him against the wall.

"Dammit!" He cursed as he slid to the floor. He managed to catch one of the victims. "Are you okay?!"

The man let out a low groan before slowly turning to face him. "Yeah!" He said, his head swelling up like a balloon. There was a wet pop sound as his head blew up, blood and brain matter splashing all over the place.

It splattered all over Yuji's face. He flinched back, eyes clenched shut in instinct.

I can't see! He thought, trying to wipe it off as Mahito came at him, his hand now shaped like a huge Medieval flail.

He desperately scrambled to his feet, half-blinded. Just as Mahito was about to swing, his body suddenly stiffened, blood spurting from his mouth as if he had been hit.

"Wha—?!"

Yuji recognized the attack instantly. "Kugisaki...?!"

She... she was here? The thought of her made his once shattered hopes glue itself back together. Nobara was here. He wasn't alone anymore. They could win together.

Without giving Mahito any chance to recover, he got back up and immediately punched him in the face. The impact of it made the curse fly back against a column and Yuji kept him pinned there, trapping him with a series of devastating blows.

KILL HIM! His mind screamed. Kill him now! Before he kills anyone else!

He grunted, pulling his fist back to throw the fatal hit—only for Mahito to split himself apart into a bunch of fleshy balls with legs.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He looked around in frustration. Which one contained the part of the soul he needed to finish him off?!

Suddenly, he sensed a flare of cursed energy appearing behind him. He whirled around, catching sight of one of Mahito's pieces trying to sneak around at the side. That had to be the one. Without hesitation, he ran up and kicked it, blood and guts bursting all over his shoe and leg.

"Gotcha!" A cheery voice exclaimed.

Yuji turned a second too late, Mahito speeding by him and disappearing into the hallway.

He tricked me with cursed energy!

"MAHITO!" He roared, chasing after him.

He was right behind him, close enough that he could tackle him to the ground. But then a figure appeared, a second Mahito entering the hallway from the other end.

What...? Yuji faltered a bit. Was that double somewhere else before?! Is he trying to fuse back together to heal?!

But to his astonishment, they passed by each other. The new Mahito was running at him now, and as for the second...

Another person entered the fray, appearing on the other side of the hallway.

"Itadori...!" Nobara panted, looking surprised to see him.

Horror dawned on him. Now he understood why Mahito—the real one—continued to run forward. "KUGISAKI! RUN!"

It was too late. Mahito reached her, his hand touching a portion of her face before jumping away to dodge her attack.

The false one let out a gleeful laugh. "Haha! A direct hit—"

Yuji was on him in an instant, his fist meeting with his face. It broke through the skull completely, blood and brains splattering the wall behind him. The rest of his body slumped pathetically to the ground, defeated.

There was still the real Mahito left to deal with, but that didn't matter to him right now. He immediately turned his attention to Nobara who, to his absolute relief, was still standing in one piece.

"Kugisaki! Are you okay?!"

Her face—the one thing Mahito managed to make contact with—didn't look injured in the slightest, but Yuji could still feel his heart hammering away at his chest.

"Itadori..." she said to him, sounding eerily calm. There was a smile on her face that didn't give him the comfort it usually did. "Tell everyone it wasn't so bad!"

As she spoke, gruesome marks appeared over the left half of her face and a second later, her face exploded. Her body fell back, her eyeball following suit.

Something in his mind cracked as he stared down at her. Nobara's body laid on the floor, her lone eye staring back at him lifelessly. Next to it was a hollow socket.

"No... no way... Kugisaki! Kugi..."

Itadori Yuji had reached his limit a long time ago. And now, he had finally broke. 

— author's note —

I GOT THESE CUTE PICREW FANARTS FROM cocogum ON TUMBLR!!!

AND HERE'S MORE FROM THEM:

(they really REALLY like sukuhime and i can't blame them 🥰💖)

I tried my best to do my own picrews too btw 💀 here are mine (I struggled with the hair leave me alone):