Feast I

Satoru made a sweeping gesture with his hands and a condensed ball of cursed energy entered my Room, revealing it to be a torrent of gravitational pull.

Stone, dirt, and wood from the buildings around us were ripped up and flung to the central point of the ball.

It was a neat technique, I acknowledged, a grin on my face. Sukuna didn't even bother to uncross his arms, leaving the ball for me to deal with.

I suppose I had already revealed this card to him, so I played it again in full.

The gravity that attempted to pull us into the spiraling sphere that made a wide circle around us was brushed aside, the gravitational forces by the sphere countered by my own.

I had discovered it back during my fight with Homelander, when I used circumferential force to generate pressure within the sun to forge my diamond blade.

Gravity became another one of the tools in my tool belt, and like all the others it had been refined over the course of a year.

For that reason, the technique swept over us, obscuring our vision for just a moment, and even when the dust behind us was pulled up into the technique, we remained unbothered and standing on two platforms of untouched earth.

I let out a low whistle at the sight, seeing a ten foot hole in the ground surrounding us.

"I didn't really find what I was looking for in this world, but I gotta say, the inspiration I'm getting is more than making up for it."

Satoru looked down at me, his dark glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose to reveal some of the bluest eyes I had ever seen. He was a real pretty boy.

"That wasn't cursed energy," he realized instantly. "And what did you do to your DNA?" He asked, sounding kinda grossed out.

I reacted by covering myself up and adopting an embarrassed expression, "Don't look at me like that. It's embarrassing," I said in a teasing voice while Sukuna scoffed dismissively.

"What's embarrassing is calling yourself the strongest when this is the most you can do," Sukuna remarked, making Satoru narrow his eyes. His cocky smile became strained and I could tell the dismissal got under his skin.

All the same, he laughed, "I'm being underestimated. That's a first. Suguru? Get the lackey."

He ordered easily, his grin becoming all teeth while I looked at Suguru. He narrowed his eyes, ready to throw down, but the tension came to a screeching halt when I raised my hand.

"Actually, could we fight instead? I can't see cursed spirits, so on my end, I'd be punching air. And I want to know what in the hell you're doing with that barrier of yours," I admitted freely and I got a dirty look from Sukuna.

"What? Look, I get this is a big day for you since you're apparently some big shot, but it's not for me." Now Sukuna adopted a suffering expression so I just waved him off.

I looked back to Satoru, and I think I just now registered as a threat in his eyes.

"So? Go on, do that 'Reveal Your Hand' vow thing." I urged, pointing lowering my Room to get a better view of what he was doing. Because, the more I looked at it, the stranger it got.

Satoru was well within my Room, yet as far as my power was concerned, he was well outside of it. It was the first time I had encountered something like this before.

Sukuna sighed, "Did you really have to throw off the mood?" He groused, and I just made a dismissive gesture.

The two teenagers exchanged a quick glance and there was a shift in the air. I could guess why -- Sukuna was the big, bad, King of Curses. Which probably meant something given that this world had cursed spirits and people used cursed energy. And, here I was, a total unknown, speaking to him as an equal. It was for that reason Satoru decided to answer,

"You mean my Infinity? Are you really telling me you don't know about it? Who I am?"

Wow.

"I don't. Just consider me a tourist passing by. Oh, and word to the wise -- no one ever looks good when they pull the 'do you know who I am' card." I remarked and I examined the technique anew.

Infinity? That was fascinating and it explained what I was looking at. He was manipulating space. I'm not entirely sure how he was doing it, but the distance between Point A and Point B was seemingly endless.

Therefore, he wasn't inside my Room despite being inside of it.

Neat.

And that gave me an idea-

"As if I'd take advice from some shitty old man," Satoru sneered, throwing off my train of thought.

Old man?

"Old? I'm twenty," I stressed, unbelieving that I just got called old. Old, of all things.

I didn't become a fossil just because I left my teens. My complaint got a middle finger as a response, so I blew out a sigh.

"Alright. Fine. Time to learn some manners, you punk ass brat," I replied.

It was Sukuna who made the first move, blurring into action as he darted to Satoru. A fist raced towards his face, coated in an energy a bit like his Domain, and I sensed some resistance as his fist struck the Infinity.

Satoru's eyes widened while Sukuna cackled, mostly because he stole my opponent. The two of them continued past Suguru, who braced himself for a fight.

"That prick," I sighed, looking at Suguru as I felt more cursed spirits seem to manifest around him.

I couldn't see them, but I felt their presence all the same. With them, at least, the cursed energy was less refined. They were concentrated entities of a single flavor.

Dragon. Rainbows? Rainbow Dragon.

Am I pretty?

Centipedes.

There were a host of others, but those felt the strongest. Swallowing a sigh, I drew my sword and Suguru took that as the sign to start fighting. The dragon raced forth, closing the distance between us nearly instantly and despite not being able to see the cursed spirit, I found that I could still interact with them.

Swapping places with a Centipede cursed spirit, Suguru's eyes widened as I was suddenly next to him. A thrust of my sword was blocked by a curse, and despite skewering it, it remained undamaged.

This was an annoying match up, I decided. Haki allowed me to strike the cursed spirits, but I couldn't injure them.

"So, what's your deal?" I asked him, the dragon circling around and he jumped back, landing on its head. It was pretty funny looking because, to me, he was just standing on empty air.

"There's no point in telling you," Suguru replied, and I rolled my eyes at that. He made a gesture and the cursed spirits around me lunged.

I swapped placed with Suguru and found myself standing on the dragon's head before plunging the blade down. Off to the side where Satoru and Sukuna were fighting, a building was ripped up as another blue sphere was thrown Sukuna's way.

The stab didn't really do much to the Dragon beyond piss it off, but that was the point. Swapping with another curse, I felt the dragon racing down towards me. It wasn't particularly smart, because it slammed into the ground in an attempt to crush me.

Instead, it crushed a handful of its fellow cursed spirits.

I harnessed the energy their death released.

Condensing it into a ball that I plunged my diamond katana into, letting it envelop the blade as I pulled it out.

"The impression I'm getting is that only cursed energy can interact with cursed energy, right?"

Now Suguru looked tense, sweat breaking out on his brow and his lips were thin.

"Before we start for real, can you do that reversed cursed technique stuff? I don't want to kill you on accident like I did that blonde guy. I thought it was more common."

Suguru's eyes narrowed into slits, considering the question before speaking slowly but clearly.

"No," he admitted, "I can't use RCT." That binding vow was fascinating to watch in action, because I could feel Suguru get stronger.

"What I do have is this…"

At the proclamation, I felt something weird happen to me. If I had to describe it, it was like I was enveloped by a Room while information was shoved into my head.

Answer honestly.

Am I pretty?

Suguru launched an attack and I found that I couldn't move my body. I couldn't use my technique either.

It was a Room that was specialized -- I couldn't do anything until I answered the question honestly. And, I imagine that there would be consequences if the cursed spirit asking the question didn't like my answer.

"I mean… if you have to ask…" I replied, and with the question answered, the binding part of the Room faltered.

On instinct, I switched places with Suguru and I saw him get cut up by whatever cursed spirit he had sicced on me. He cried out in shock and pain while I pivoted, sending a slash at the dragon that cut its head off.

With it dead, I fed the cursed energy to the blade and looked at Suguru, who was now a bleeding heap on his knees.

It looked like he'd gotten cut up by a bunch of scissors. His uniform was in shreds, his hair was a hacked up mess, and he was sporting some deep slashes.

My gut instinct told me he had managed to call off the attack before it killed him rather than that being the limit of damage that I would have taken.

I walked by him, "You did your best! No shame in losing," I said, patting him on the shoulder as I left him behind.

Suguru himself was a bit weak, but his cursed spirits were interesting.

An idea was cooking in the back of my mind, and I took some time mulling it over. It wasn't the magic that I wanted, but I was really finding it hard to regret coming here. The powers here were so unique.

It was a bit of a shame that I couldn't fully utilize cursed energy, but what I could see and use was great.

My phone buzzed and I looked down to see it was Robin. A text message.

I read it over as Satoru and Sukuna fought in the background, demolishing the school twice over.

A slow rumbling chuckle escaped me as I looked over at the fight, seeing Sukuna grab Satoru by the face and drag him through a wall before throwing him with a dozen Dismantles chasing after him.

Satoru was bloodied, his white hair dyed red, and he wasn't looking so hot. He caught the Dismantles with his Infinity before he held out a hand.

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red," he intoned, but I couldn't really tell what that meant.

What I did know was that it was a failure based on Sukuna's uproarious laughter as he closed in.

"No RCT. No Domain! And you dare call yourself the strongest?!" Sukuna exclaimed mockingly, like he'd heard the funniest joke.

"You can barely challenge me even in this reduced state!" He added, closing the distance and it was obvious that Satoru didn't have much hand to hand experience because he tried to block a feint before Sukuna punched him in the side, a hand ripping into his side before he yanked it out to the side.

Blood gushed from his side but Sukuna grabbed his head and mercilessly threw him to the ground. He plummeted down like a rocket, and I felt the barrier of Infinity flickering around him.

So, I decided to Shamble him with a rock that was at my feet.

Blood seeped out of his side, touching my sandals as I crouched down next to him. His left side was pretty much gone, a chunk missing entirely.

But he was still conscious, looking up at me and I could tell it was the first time he had ever felt real fear.

"This RCT stuff. Negative to positive energy. Watch closely, okay?" I said, siphoning off some energy from my sword and holding the ball above one hand.

"It's like two wrongs making a right," I told him, taking the cursed energy and converting it into positive energy.

Satoru's blue eyes were transfixed by the sight, watching the process even as he rapidly bled out. It was the best way to describe it, in my opinion.

Someone did you wrong, then you did them wrong right back, and all of a sudden, you felt better.

He understood it. It was a bit slow. A bit sluggish, but I watched him converting negative energy into positive energy. The bleeding slowed and his flesh started to mend. Blood trickled out of his mouth as he looked up at me,

"Why…?"

"That's a good question. Why?" Sukuna asked, approaching and I could tell he was annoyed.

"He's second rate trash and barely amusing as it is. The strongest only because I was sealed away." He raised a finger before making a slicing motion in the air. A Dismantle raced towards Satoru's neck, but by the time it arrived, Satoru was already gone, off near Suguru.

Sukuna narrowed his eyes at me, his annoyance growing as he watched me stand up. His gaze demanded an explanation and I readily gave him one,

"You were holding out on me," I accused, holding up my phone with Robin's text as condemning evidence.

"Robin spoke to Kenjaku. What's this about a Culling Game?"

Sukuna offered a thin smile that was every bit as sharp as his attacks.

"It won't be relevant to you. You'll be dying soon enough," he defended himself, confident in his victory.

"Really? You didn't think a battle royale with some of the strongest sorcerers of this world wasn't worth a mention? You could have given me something to fight for, you know?" I replied, vaguely offended that he tried to keep such a secret from me.

Robin had made contact with her power, slipping Kenjaku a phone because I was interested in all the things Sukuna wasn't telling me. When I sent her to secure our exit, that gave Robin a chance to call and Kenjaku spilled all the juicy details.

A real gossip, that one was.

"Is that what this is, then? You're protecting those brats?" He challenged and the tension swelled between us once more.

"Can't have a battle of the strongest if you're missing the modern strongest, now can you?" I pointed out with a disappointed shake of my head.

"This is unreal. How could you be so short sighted, Sukuna? Don't you know you have to let the minnows go so they can come back to you as fully grown fish?"

We were a lot alike, I could freely admit. But there was one key difference between us.

Sukuna craved satisfaction. I craved gratification.

They were so very close in nature, but there was a divide there.

Satisfaction was instant. Easy. There was a constant stream of it depending how low your standards got.

Gratification was harder. It took time to build towards, yet it was every bit as fleeting as satisfaction was.

The difference was that a moment of gratification would never be forgotten while a moment of satisfaction would be lost in a sea of similar moments.

It was the difference between good and great. Easy and earned. Gorging yourself and savoring the experience.

He didn't even deny it, "If the minnow didn't wish to be eaten, then it shouldn't have been caught." He replied, leveling a stare at me. Suguru and Satoru were recovering, the latter more so than the former. But they weren't going to interfere in this spat. Not when it worked out in their favor.

"That's your issue, Sukuna. You gotta learn how to savor something," I said, tilting my head.

"So. We're doing this here?"

"It's as fine a place as any," Sukuna replied, settling into a stance. Though, he looked faintly surprised when I Shambled the fingers that were beneath our feet into his hands. Five in total, bringing him up to ten fingers-...

"Wait, hold up -- how are there ten when your nephew ate one?" I questioned while Sukuna chowed down.

He responded with action. An extra set of arms grew from his sides, tearing off the top of the yukata that he wore, revealing a mouth on his stomach. Sukuna cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders, and he wore a satisfied smile on his face.

"That answer your question?"

Pretty much, yeah. "And you were saving this little trick of your sleeve for what, exactly?"

"I didn't have enough of my soul to incarnate fully, but now that I'm back up to half of my full soul…" he trailed off, settling in a stance once more.

"I suppose I should thank you. Not many would have been foolish enough to aid me in their deaths."

"Happy to help," I replied with a smile in my voice, feeling a hum of anticipation.

"Don't disappoint me now, Sukuna. If I beat you too easily after this, I'm going to cry."

Sukuna merely chuckled before he made a slicing motion with his hand.