Binding Vow

"Earlier, this spirit could hardly use its cursed technique. And now, it pulled a domain expansion. This might be interesting to watch after all." Sukuna smiled and said to himself while sitting upon a throne of skulls within his innate domain. 

His smile froze as he became momentarily disoriented. Everyone present in the domain for the first time experienced an instantaneous influx of information explaining its effects.

((( The domain, known as "Forest of Tragedy," imposes a unique rule on all individuals within its boundaries. It forbids the activation of cursed techniques, imposing a substantial penalty on those who violate this rule. This restriction applies equally to Betelgeuse and all others inside the domain, making it distinct from sure-hit effects and resistant to low-level anti-domain measures. However, if a technique was utilized to activate the domain, it will deactivate and require a penalty to be reactivated within "Forest of Tragedy."

The duration of "Forest of Tragedy" is limited to three minutes, during which time a Shikigami resembling a young half-elf girl will emerge and proceed towards a seal. If she successfully opens the seal, the domain will end, and Betelgeuse will receive a massive boost to his cursed energy and technique for a period equal to the duration of the domain.

The ice statues within the domain serve the sole purpose of protecting the young 

half-elf Shikigami and preventing any interference with her mission to open the seal. )))

While this explanation provided accurate information about the domain, it omitted a crucial aspect: its sure-hit effect. This additional knowledge was exclusively revealed to Betelgeuse, who required a slightly longer recovery period from the sudden influx of information.

5 Seconds have passed since Betelgeuse opened the domain. Yuiji put one hand on his chin.

"So, we can't let the girl reach the black door over there, at least that's what I understand." Yuji shared his thoughts.

The half-elf in question had already begun her march, she wasn't walking slowly nor did she seem to be in a hurry.

"If we don't interrupt her, I think we have around 40 seconds until she reaches the seal, or a minute if I'm being optimistic." Subaru concluded based on the current pace she was going.

'Now that I think about it, doesn't she seem familiar?' Subaru waived the thought away, right now they had more important matters to deal with.

During all this, Betelgeuse stood in place where he laughed in ecstasy.

"I didn't know you could pull something like this Betelgeuse. You must have had it hidden deep in your bottom!" Subaru provoked him. Something about this situation was off, earlier, Betelgeuse was in the body of a woman. Now Betelgeuse is in a new male body? Things just didn't sit right in Subaru's mind.

"Yes!!! That's right!!! It's correct! It's true! It's a fact! For all this time I've been blind to the true love inside me." Betelgeuse began to cry but it wasn't obvious if they were tears of sadness or joy. "I see it now! Yes! I see it now! I unleashed, I expanded her LOVE!!!" Betelgeuse looked truly happy… or, was it something else?

"This guy is usually nuts, but now he's high as well." Subaru stated and Yuji nodded.

Without speaking another word, they both utilized the opportunity to run towards the shikigami and halt her progress.

_____________________________

In the corner of his vision, Subaru saw an ice statue running next to him. The statue stood in between him and the half-elf, so naturally. He punched its face. This did nothing but bloody his knuckles.

'Shit! I thought these statues might be fragile, but it is like punching concrete!'

The Statue responded to his attack by swinging its left arm. Subaru decided blocking would be suicidal, so he ducked. He was rewarded with a knee that felt like it was made of steel instead of ice. He flew through the air before landing on his back and puking his stomach's contents.

"This hurts like a bitch!" He tried to get back up but failed due to the damage taken, even keeping his eyes open took effort now.

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If Yuji was being honest, the ice statue that punched him in the face wasn't much to write home about. And its slow reactions made it easy to dispatch with a knee. He didn't give it much attention after it was knocked to the ground. He still had dozens more statues that were running towards him. He raised his arms in a combat stance. Utilizing cursed energy wasn't on Yuji's mind, he just wasn't pissed off enough for that.

30 seconds of boxing moves later, and 30 more statues were dispatched.

'These are like minions of a boss, Sukuna's Domain was much stronger than this!' Yuji thought and held the wrist of the Shikigami.

"I can win this!"

 She gave him no thought or attention, she simply tried to use her legs like a mindless drone, and it kind of looked funny how she was simply walking in place.

He turned his head around to see Subaru approaching him, Subaru didn't have much of an expression and had a cold aura around him. This made sense in Yuji's mind, they were fighting ice statues in a snow forest after all.

"Agh!!!" Yuji doesn't usually feel physical pain, but getting such a strong kick from his friend to his family jewels did the trick. "The hell, Subaru?!" Yuji looked offended and evidently didn't expect another hit as cold as ice to his liver. He resisted the urge to kneel down and instead stared intently at 'Subaru' who still held that monotone expression and cold demeanor. When 'Subaru' threw a left, Yuji caught his wrist and held it in place. It felt cold, ice cold.

"Oh, I get it now." He put pressure on the wrist and it shattered like ice. When he blinked, he saw what he knew to be true. Subaru never did all this stuff, because it was an ice statue that Yuji just shattered the wrist off.

"Wait, if that was an illusion, then where is Su-" An Ice cold punch to the face interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. He didn't see this ice statue approaching him before it landed its blow. Luckily, he wouldn't have any trouble blocking the next blow since it was telegraphing it. But instead of receiving the expected left punch, he received a kick to the back of his knee that knocked him to the snowy ground.

"Isn't this kind of tactic a super overpowered feint?!" After all, the reason he couldn't see the leg coming was because it was invisible to him, and was instead disguised as a punch that never existed.

"The sure-hit effect of this Domain is 'deadly illusions' reality and your senses take a divorce in here!" Betelgeuse gazed at the sky and said to no one in particular.

With Yuji on the ground and surrounded by ice statues, the shikigami continued to walk forward. At this pace, it will only be 10 seconds before she reaches her goal.

He tried to get up but the ice statues combined their strength to hold his limbs down.

"You are a strong kid, so help others." He remembered his Grandfather's dying words. He became a Sorcerer in part to fulfill the dying wish.

'I'm sorry, Grandpa. I'm not as strong as you thought I was.'

A black key manifested in the Shikigami's hand as she prepared to insert it in the keyhole of the double door. She turned around to give Yuji a condescending smirk as she slowly moved the key toward the keyhole.

_____________________________

Julius ran after where Subaru was pulled to. He was about to join the fight against the cultist Subaru and Itadori were fighting when the two were suddenly enveloped by a black sphere. So he did the logical thing of striking it with his sword, which did nothing.

"It's a barrier, if Subaru and Itadori-kun are trapped inside of it, it might also be imbued with a spell to attack them. In! Please lend me your strength!" The spirit knight called upon his quasi-spirit of yang to boost his physical prowess. He hit the barrier with his fist.

"Nothing again, could it be that physical attacks are ineffective?" Next to Julius, Wilhelm, and Felix also did their best to no avail to break the barrier.

Then, an epiphany struck Julius. "If the barrier is black, then it's made with yin magic which can manipulate space. That would explain why simple physical force can't break it." Julius called upon all 6 of his spirits to put their power in his sword. Even troublesome barriers like this could break if struck with appropriate magic.

" Al Clarista! " His blade glowed bright with the colors of a rainbow. He raised it in a ready stance as it collected more and more mana. Sparks of all colors danced upon it and he struck it down towards the barrier.

Al Clarista worked by taking the unique power of all 6 magical affinities and putting them all to their maximum cutting potential. In essence, it was like trying out a million different keys to open a door that you don't know the lock of. Out of all 6 magical affinities, 5 proved completely pointless. Yet, the affinity of yin made a breakthrough.

Though the barrier should not have been affected by attacks that didn't contain cursed energy, a loophole existed that Yin magic could exploit.

Instead of cutting the barrier, it cut the space that the barrier inhabited, in that way, it avoided the almost infinite durability the barrier possessed to physical attacks.

Shatters

The Domain disappeared with the speed and sound of a glass dome hit by a brick.

Normal space returned to Yuji and Subaru's eyes, and Betelgeuse returned to looking like the woman he was currently possessing.

Betelgeuse looked shocked when he couldn't raise his unseen hands to defend himself before Wilhelm rushed forward and cut his head off.

"Was the first Sloth we defeated a double, and this was the real one?" Felix asked

"No, this may not be a matter of which is real. There is likely more than one Archbishop of Sloth, and it may be that all the followers we are fighting here, including the fingers, are the Sin Archbishop of Sloth." Julius responded.

Subaru got up from the ground, he recovered from the blow he received earlier.

"I… dragged you all into this."

They walked back to where their carriages were parked. There were now 8 bodies covered with tarps.

"I knew what kind of enemy we were facing, and yet-"

"Subaru-dono." Wilhelm interrupted Subaru.

"I am sure there must be a lot of thoughts running through your mind right now. And I am sure none of them are half-hearted. But, while it may be inelegant of me, I must say this… Fight! Even if you have regrets. Even if you have remorse, you must fight.

If you have decided to fight, to struggle, then fight with all you have. Do not give up for one second, one moment, or one instant. Cling greedily to the victory within your sight. If you can still stand, if your fingers still move, if all your teeth have not broken.

Stand and fight."

"Are you telling me to get stronger?

"No, I am telling you to be strong ." Wilhelm's speech reinvigorated Subaru, and it reminded Yuji of something that motivated him too.

"You are a strong kid, so help others." 

"But I lost to Betelgeuse earlier, if not for Julius, I would be dead now. How can I be strong?" He voiced his thoughts.

"Itadori-kun, your strength isn't measured by your punches, or even by foresight to predict your enemy's moves. Instead, it is measured by your ability to persist until your work is done, and victory is firmly in your hand. If a warrior loses 100 battles but wins the war, that warrior is strong."

"Thank you, I think I understand, Wilhelm-san." Yuji nodded.

'Ever since coming to this world, I haven't faced the threat of execution. I could run away whenever I want, and yet, I choose to help these people.'

"You are a strong kid, so help others." 'I understand what you said now, Grandpa, but I'll do this because I want to. I won't blame you for the risks I take.'

_____________________________

Subaru had earlier provided the intel that the Witch Cult would attack the village close to the Mather's Mansion, Arlam Village. Due to that, the group was currently riding on top-of-ground dragons and carriages to evacuate the village. The carriages had more than enough space to accommodate the humble settlement, Yuji sat in the front of one of them while Subaru rode his own ground dragon named "Patrasche".

Something weird has happened. Within Yuji's sight, everyone suddenly disappeared. The carriage was the only thing left.

"What is happening?"

He got off the carriage to investigate, but, he couldn't see anyone.

"Could it be, Betelgeuse again?"

Something like this happening would make sense if it was within an illusion, but, to his knowledge. Betelgeuse could only use this power after using a Domain Expansion. 

"Someone must have used an illusion spell to disorient us." He came to a correct conclusion. He closed his eyes and opened them again, no change. So it wouldn't be as simple as understanding it. So then, he did the next best thing he could think of. Itadori Yuji had facepalmed with considerable force. This brut technique was effective, the illusion was dispelled, and he could see everyone again. Although, they seemed to also be under the same spell.

However, Julius and Subaru had also broken out already and were already preparing to free everyone else.

"In, Nes!" Julius called upon his yin and yang spirits. The two spun up from his hand.

"My quasi-spirits will use a spell called nect to connect everyone's minds so we can teach them how to break out of the illusion." So it was supposed to work, however, things are seldom so simple.

Everyone's minds were connected, the good news was that the illusion was instantly broken. The bad was that they all found themselves in a blood-soaked cave.

Subaru collapsed to his knees with a massive migraine, while everyone else stood terrified, for they were within a king's domain uninvited.

"Seriously, I haven't seen insolence like this since the Heian Era." Sukuna said, sitting on his throne made of a pile of skulls.

He held the side of his head and looked uncomfortable.

"Well, don't keep me waiting, bow down already." He sent a slash to cut off the heads of anyone who would fail to bow in time. They all managed to survive, however, Julius got a horrible haircut.

"Your insolence knows no bounds it seems. I'll kill you first, then I'll kill everyone else because I'm in a terrible mood." He prepared to flick his index finger. Something briefly made him pause. Among all the terribly annoying thoughts of the people terrifyingly bowing before him, one piqued his interest.

'Shit! This loop is a dead end, I still have no idea who cast the illusion spell. I'm going to die again without knowing why!' He glanced at the black haired brat. Despite his terrible headache, his mood was improving.

"In, Nes!" Julius called out to his spirits to cancel the spell before Sukuna could cut him down. He didn't realize that Subaru's thoughts were the thing that bought enough time for him to do this.

In a moment, they were all out of the domain and back. Subaru had just recovered from his headache when he was suddenly grabbed by a pink-haired maid.

She tried to run off with him, but Wilhelm stopped her and pointed his sword at her.

"Don't move." He said to her, she was now surrounded.

"Just kill me. Do not humiliate me any further" She said and dropped Subaru.

Wilhelm raised an eyebrow. Before anyone could do something rash Subaru spoke.

"Wait a moment, Ram isn't our enemy!"

"Am I not, Barusu?"

"Huh?"

"If we are not enemies, then how do you explain all of this?"

"That's what I would like to ask you. You are the one that attacked us first. What were you thinking?" Subaru asked her.

"You shouldn't have to ask what I was thinking. It's rich, coming from an ingrate like you, Barusu."

"Ingrate?" Subaru asked.

"A what?" Yuji thought out loud. Surprisingly, Sukuna chose to respond.

'Don't try to understand words too complicated for you, brat.'

"You are one, aren't you?" Ram responded to Subaru.

"After everything, Roswaal-sama did for you… Once you were done with him, you ran to wag your tail to another master."

"Wait, I think you are getting your stories mixed up here."

"So this is what it means to bite the hand that feeds you." Ram said with a glare.

"Listen to me, what about the letter we wrote you about this? Wasn't it delivered to the mansion?"

"Yes, we did get a letter from the capital, but… It was quite amusing, sending us a blank letter."

"A blank letter?" Subaru asked confused, he was sure he saw Rem write it.

"To send a blank letter is a metaphor that means you have no intention of speaking to the recipient. It could easily be interpreted as a declaration of war." Julius explained.

"This is a huge misunderstanding! Do I even look that clever to you?" Subaru argued with Ram.

"So this is what it means to bite the hand that feeds you."

"You are still saying that?"

"I can't say it enough. But I get the gist now. The blank letter was some kind of mistake, and you are still Emilia-sama's dog. Is that correct?"

"Not really, but sure. Dogs are like family. As long as I'm Emilia's dog, it's fine by me."

"Isn't that standard a bit low?" Both Wilhelm and Yuji asked him rhetorically.

"In any case, these guys are reinforcements. They're our allies. We pulled them together to wipe out the Witch Cult. We are running out of time. We need to start evacuating the villagers now."

_____________________________

Things went along smoothly. After they arrived at the village, Subaru explained the situation and eased the villagers's fears with a speech. They agreed to evacuate.

To cover his new bald spot, Julius put on a hat. He used a spell to prevent it from falling off his head.

"Subaru and Julius would go to the mansion to fix the misunderstanding the letter made. Stay here with me, Itadori-kun." Wilhelm said and handed him a sword. "Do you know how to use it?"

"Yeah, I used to swing wooden ones when doing martial arts." Yuji responded

"That's better than nothing, still, give it some swings to get a feel for the steel. While your punches may be strong, it's better to be well-rounded in your abilities."

Yuji did some Katas with the sword. He had form and a talent for getting used to the weight quickly.

"Thank you, Wilhelm-san. I'll do my best to help." While Yuji didn't exactly get used to the idea of killing people, for now, he was putting it in the back of his mind. The creepy hoods the Witch Cult wore made it easier for him to see them similarly to curses.

"Itadori-san, there is something I want to ask you." Julius approached and said.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Back then, when my spirits helped break the illusion everyone was under. Do you know what resulted in us ending up in front of… That one?"

"Oh! You mean Sukuna, to be honest. It surprised me too."

"Sukuna… he looked very much like you. I could tell something was inhabiting your body. Still, it probably sucks to have someone like that in your head all the time, right?"

"Nah, i'm used to it. Although, he has been yapping a lot since that thing happened today. He doesn't like you."

"Heh, I can imagine. May I know what he is saying?" Julius chuckled.

"I mean… half of what he is saying about you are curse words, and many of those are ones I don't think anyone said for the last 1,000 years." He sheepishly replied.

"That bad? Well, I do seem to be making a habit of making enemies lately." Julius shrugged. "I'm hoping to reconcile with one soon though."

"Still… What I don't get is how nect was able to affect you two. Considering you have no gates." Julius added.

"That magic you used to connect our minds? I don't exactly get what a gate is… But Sukuna likes to yap about you and your spirits daring to touch his soul."

"I see, I think I get it now. Since you have two souls inside your body, my spirits must have accidentally confused Sukuna's soul for a gate. In any case, I won't make that mistake again."

_____________________________

An explosion destroyed one of the carriages used by the merchants in the village. Witch Cultists stowed away in other carriages sprang out and began to attack anyone in sight with their daggers.

Yuji and a Cultist stood against one another with their weapons ready.

"Goa!" The hooded Cultist shouted, and a fireball shot from his left palm toward Yuji.

It wasn't difficult to dodge, and it hit the haystack behind Yuji, igniting it. The Cultist used the distraction of the blazing fire to dash forward. Their blades clashed.

"I don't get it, why are you attacking this village of innocent people?"

"Why? Why oh why? I wonder too! But it is not up to someone lowly as me to question the will of her holiness!" The Cultist chuckled as sparks flew from their blades by their intense clash. With his superior natural strength, Yuji knocked the Cultist's blade to the ground. He chose to use the opportunity to knock him out with a single punch to the face, which no doubt would have had a shocked expression on it under the hood.

"I didn't feel any cursed energy in my fist or muscles this time, am I doing something wrong?" Yuji asked himself while another Cultist prepared to attack him from behind.

He turned around in time to block a thrown dagger towards his stomach. Unbeknownst to him, that was only a distraction to get him to not anticipate the next attack.

"Fura!" An invisible blade of wind hit the left side of his face. The Cultist was surprised Yuji's head wasn't in two pieces, although, a huge scar would surely form if he survived.

"Fuck… that hurts." Yuji used his hand that wasn't gripping the sword to hold his bloodied face, he wasn't sure if his eye was still there considering the amount of pain.

"Sturdy kid, Fura!" The cultist swung his arm and launched another wind blade. Yuji instinctively raised cursed energy to minimize the damage. What should have been his right hand destroyed was instead but a deep scratch. It wasn't enough to make him lose his grip on his sword.

Perhaps it was because of the pain, but this time Yuji didn't hesitate to cut down the Cultist who held no steel weapon. He stood in place after that. Fire and the roars of battle raged all around him. His body was high on adrenaline as he breathed the smoke that was all over the air. Yuji turned around at the sounds of footsteps rushing towards him. Cursed energy coalesced just in time around his midsection to prevent critical damage from the dagger a Cultist rammed into him with. With his one good eye, Yuji noticed it was the same one he spared earlier.

"..." Yuji didn't speak, the cultist attempted to pull his dagger out to attack again, but, there was one problem. 'This kid's gut muscles are way too strong!'

Were the last thoughts he had before a sword split his head apart.

"Only a little blood, must be a flesh wound." Yuji said as he removed his rag of a shirt to inspect the damage. He tied the rag around the side of his face that was bleeding, it made for an effective bandage.

_____________________________

A loud explosion alerted Yuji to the rest of the fighting going around, he rushed to the blast's origin where he found Wilhelm lying battered on his back, though clearly alive.

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?! Why is it that you are still alive?" A Witch Cult woman said and chewed on her fingers intensely. By the manner of her speech, it was clear to all including Subaru who now stood next to Yuji, that this was the Archbishop of Sloth before them. "After all the abuse you suffered, why? Why do you not bend to my diligence!?"

"Hey, look here!" Subaru shouted as he pulled out Betelgeuse's gospel from his tracksuit. "It's the gift from your precious Witch you have been looking for."

"You thief! You really did have it!!!" Betelgeuse ragingly shouted back at him.

"Don't shout, if you keep yelling like that, it'll make my brain tremble." 

"...You must die, DESU!"

"Julius, Yuji, I can handle this one on my own. So take care of Wilhelm and yourself." He referred to Yuji with that last word.

Then, Subaru turned tail and ran, aiming to get away from the village."

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait right there! Where do you think you are going, you insolent little tiny wench!" Betelgeuse gave chase and used the unseen hands to clear a path through the thick woods.

"No matter where you try to run it's pointless! What is it that you expect to find wherever you are running to?" Betelgeuse seemed assured of their imminent victory.

Subaru grabbed a green crystal from a tree, an act that went unnoticed by the mad spirit that was chasing him.

"At last, it is over." Subaru was cornered with nowhere to run as Betelgeuse declared.

"Do you, know what this is?" Subaru held out the green glowing rock in his hand. His face didn't mirror his supposedly hopeless situation.

"Huh?" The 'Woman' tilted her head in confusion. Subaru chuckled in response.

"This is Emilia-tan's barrier stone, you see, this forest is infested with Witch-beasts and…" Growls by malevolent creatures interrupted Subaru's monologue. "Well, I think you can 'digest' the rest."

"Desu!?" Creatures resembling 2-meter tall wolves with a single horn on their head pounced and mauled Betelgeuse who was too late to react accordingly. Subaru was ignored by the Witch-beasts due to the barrier stone he was holding.

_____________________________

"One finger left…" Subaru muttered as he limped back to the village. At this point in time, he was no longer mentally affected by the bodies that littered his pathway back to the village.

In front of him stood an old man with that recognizable mad look in his eyes. His identity was confirmed by his bad habit of chewing on his fingers.

"You wretch! It's the end for you! No more cheap tricks! You will die here!" Betelgeuse prepared to launch his unseen hands.

"Halt it! Villain!" A half-elf woman declared. On her shoulder sat a great spirit, but he preferred to identify as a cat.

She held out her hand and manifested a large block of ice in the air.

"Emilia-ta.." Subaru halted his words when she gave him a confident smile before focusing her gaze back at the enemy.

"I knew it! My diligence has been rewarded! The Witch has returned my devoted love!!!" Betelgeuse cried tears of joy as looked at Emilia like a Messiah.

"You are wrong, She has nothing to do with the Witch… And your love is purely one-sided!" The cat on her shoulder responded and fired dozens of icicles.

"Ahaha, so this is the power of my Witch's love!" Betelgeuse dodged to the side and blocked the rest of the ice icicles with his invisible hands.

Emilia launched a wave of frost forwards, Betelgeuse's arms and legs were engulfed in blocks of ice and immobilized. He didn't attempt to use his unseen hands anymore.

"Ah! So this is love's true end! Hahahaha!"

Emilia froze the old man's body, thus, ending his life. "Thank you, for being defeated." She said to the Archbishop of Sloth.

With the defeat of this last finger, all members of the Witch Cult in the village have been eliminated.

"We've finally done it." Subaru said. He was conflicted between feeling relieved or sad from all the losses they had taken to get this far.

Yet, Emilia stood before him and their eyes met. He had a lot of things he wished to say to her, but did he have the courage after all the recent events?

"Get over there." His doubts were relieved by a pat on the back from Felix. He walked towards Emilia. But their talk couldn't have been interrupted in a worse way…

"Subaru-kyun?" Felix noticed something was off about Subaru as he froze in place.

Then, he abruptly ran off, aiming to get as far away as possible from anyone. Julius, Felix, and Yuji all ran after him and caught up quickly.

"G-get away from me. Before, before…" Subaru momentarily paused his speech before his tone lost its sanity. "You are already too late."

"Subaru?" Felix asked, panicked. "I was worried earlier, but to think this would actually happen… Felix, this is not Subaru." Julius shocked Felix with his assessment.

"That's right, I am Sin-Archbishop of Sloth, Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti, DESU!" 'Subaru' responded

"Fantastic! Amazing! What an absolutely perfect body this is! It's been decades since I've had such a perfect Vessel!" He cackled, mad with happiness.

"You madman! Get out of that body right now!" Julius ordered and pointed a sword at his head.

"Madman? Yes! I am driven mad by love!" Betelgeuse said and let his face get cut gently by the sword pointed at it.

"Generous love, respectful love, pure love, familial love, tender love, erotic love, friendly love! Love, love, love, love! Love! Love! Love!!!" He screamed before collapsing to the ground and breathing heavily.

"Subaru, don't let him control you!" Yuji said to him. "Wake up Subaru!" Julius added.

"It's useless, this body is already under my subconscious control."

Subaru! Don't you forget why you have brought all of us here! Yuji said to him.

"Why? Well, It's becau-Get out of my head, you moron!" Subaru responded. "I am Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti! This body has already become my finger… Shut up, I am Natsuki Subaru!" He continued.

"Julius, kill me…"

"What are you saying!? Subaru!?"

"Please, if you don't, we can't win." 

'No, not like this, Sukuna! Isn't there anything you can do?! Please!' Yuji said to the demon within his head. And under normal circumstances, Sukuna would have refused and used this opportunity to sadistically taunt Yuji… but not this time.

'Sure, why not.' It didn't seem Sukuna even paid any mind to how Yuji was "using" him.

Everyone instinctively turned their heads towards the menace next to them. Felix's breath froze. And Julius was lost for words staring at where Yuji used to stand.

Before they had time to process this development, Sukuna dashed off with Subaru in his arms. 5 seconds later, and he was roughly thrown on the grass.

"Guh, Yu-Sukuna?!" This was bad, why did Sukuna get him away from everyone at this moment? And why was he simply smiling without doing anything?

"I'm going to have a chat with this boy, Spirit." Sukuna declared and Put his palm on Subaru's face. "Wha-"

" Cleave " After Sukuna said those words that spelled guaranteed death, Subaru stopped feeling Sloth inside his head.

"I guess having this body is useful for one thing." Sukuna looked at his palm and stated.

"Well, where is your gratitude?" Sukuna asked the shocked Subaru.

"I'm sorry, I'm really thankful, it's just, I wasn't expecting something like this."

"Don't get used to it, I did it because I wanted to. And of course, it wasn't for free." 

Subaru gulped, he had a bad feeling.

"You'll make a binding vow with me." Sukuna stated as if it's obvious

"Eh, like a contract?" Subaru's bad feeling wasn't getting any better.

"I guess uncultured sorcerers might call it that, but yeah. Although… Severe consequences are known to happen whenever one side breaks such a vow. The binding vow will be this. The next time we talk together, you will feed me one of your fingers." Sukuna said as if it was obvious.

"Huh, What" Subaru wasn't sure if he heard right.

"I thought I was clear, anyway. If you refuse I'll maim you and brutally massacre all your friends before making you eat them." Sukuna once again said without his tone changing.

"I-I get it, you want to, eat my finger." Subaru said.

"Yeah, next time we talk." Sukuna added to make Subaru understand. 

"So, if I agree to that you'll not brutally murder everyone I care about?"

"That's what I said"

"..." Subaru was close to making a decision.

"And I'll sweeten the deal, I'll even regrow your finger back afterward. Sounds good doesn't it?"

"Fine, a finger isn't much anyway." Subaru raised his arms in surrender. The small change within his soul let him know the vow was sealed.

Sukuna grabbed his own left pinky with his right hand. He then tore it off like it was food he was playing with.

"What are you-" Subaru's words were caught off Sukuna's loose finger being shoved down his throat and directly into his stomach. Due to the speed, he barely had time to notice the waxy taste.

"What's wrong, something's got your tongue?" Sukuna taunted as he laughed.

"Don't ask why I did that, because I don't feel like telling."

"What the hell, I actually can't tell if you did this for your own amusement or for some other purpose." Subaru responded. His stomach felt heavy like it was housing something that shouldn't be there. And soon enough, the feeling spread to the rest of his body. He felt his body tingle for a second before settling down.

"Well, I think it's well done now. I hope you will provide an intriguing meal, Natsuki." Sukuna swiped his index finger left, and cut Subaru's head in half. Should anyone have seen the body, it would be clear to them that Natsuki Subaru has died.

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The sun shined high in the sky. Natsuki Subaru was back standing in the exact spot he was in hours ago before they went after the Witch Cult.

"This means, I died?" He muttered to himself and looked at his hand.

"Can you repeat that, Subaru-kyun?" A catboy who dresses as a female said from his left side. Subaru panicked internally but relaxed when he quickly realized that the taboo would activate if anyone heard what he said.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." Subaru turned to Felix and noticed the people sitting in a circle around him. 'So my checkpoint was updated this time, convenient.' Subaru paused in thought for a moment.

"There are a few things I realized about the Witch Cult. Could it be, that there is a power that allows one to override the consciousness of another to take over their mind? Like, possession?"

"So are you saying, that you think one of the Sin Archbishops has that ability?" Julius asked.

"Yes, I believe. That's how he managed to stay alive for so long. And how he always seems to pop up everywhere." Subaru added and Yuji felt the similarity of this to Sukuna taking control of his body.

"In an old book, I saw a research account of a similar subject. There is such a long forgotten magic, or not so forgotten." Julius said and glanced over at Yuji for a moment. "However, this technique is only known to work under specific conditions."

"Conditions?" Subaru asked.

"Only Witch Cultists, and only a select number of them are thought to be capable targets of possession."

"So, those would be the Archbishop's "fingers" ?" Felix added his thoughts.

"Most likely, they also serve as the user's spare bodies. It's quite a tasteless arrangement. Although one befitting of a Sin Archbishop." Julius said.

"So if the Archbishop's confidants, the fingers were to be wiped out…" Subaru thought out loud.

"If that were to happen, his soul would have nowhere to go. And that would be the end of him." Julius completed Subaru's line of thought out loud. "So then, we should first defeat the fingers in the forest, and then confront the Archbishop directly." Everyone around cheered up at Julius's strategy. 

"I hate to burst your bubble guys, but I don't think it's just the fingers. I think he might be able to possess me too." Subaru said to the group which just confused everyone. Particularly inside the mind of one entity.

_____________________________

Inside Sukuna's innate domain. The disgraced King of Curses lied upon his thrown. Minutes ago his expression was that of utter boredom, his eyes were even closed while he tried to take a nap. He started paying more attention to the noise outside when the group talked about the Sin Archbishop. But his eyes only opened when he felt a familiar presence from the direction of that black-haired Japanese boy. No, it wasn't the sudden surge of cursed energy coming from him that Sukuna would normally write off.

'It's like one of my fingers, but much smaller.' After thinking about it for two seconds, Sukuna understood. Somehow, the brat had a minuscule portion of Sukuna's soul inside his body. 'I can't believe I only noticed this now… no, that's not right.' Sukuna shook his head. "You grabbed my interest, Natsuki Subaru." He smirked as his head ran with theories of how could this happen. Whatever was the case, he knew that he would enjoy the result.

"I hate to burst your bubble guys, but I don't think it's just the fingers. I think he might be able to possess me too." The words spoken by Subaru echoed in Sukuna's domain. A reflection of the impact they had. If Sukuna kept his memories from the previous loop he would be laughing at himself for not figuring it out right now. But hindsight was just that. The real Sukuna had a lot to think about.