Feast II

The Cleave came fast.

Much faster than the previous ones, even after he revealed all of his tricks. It was denser, heavier, and was followed up by a dozen more that all raced towards me as I dodged out of the way with Shambles.

I suppose it was time to start trying.

The moisture in the air vanished, condensed into a ball of water over my shoulder, and it was joined by the moisture found in the grass, the trees, and even the blood on the ground.

The ball compressed tightly, going from the size of a couple cars to barely larger than a baseball. The cursed energy I had stolen from Suguru was used to create fire and lightning, both further enhanced by my power feeding them.

Then Sukuna moved.

He was fast. Faster than A-Train, and that caught me by surprise. More than that, the difference between him and A-Train was that Sukuna knew how to use his speed and he didn't arrive at the fight utterly spent.

My Haki was just barely enough to warn me when he suddenly flanked wide, closing the distance between us almost instantaneously. He was all smiles as he closed in, a punch going for my face as a Cleave was aimed at my stomach.

The latter I blocked with my katana, leaning my head out of the way of the former before I fired a compressed jet of water that shattered the sound barrier.

It cut through everything in its path effortlessly, and that included Sukuna. The stream of water cut off an offending arm, but almost as soon as it was gone, it was regrowing.

He still continued the same action, sending a powerful Cleave at me that I had the shamble to dodge.

"That's better, atta boy!" I commended, my heart racing and my veins filling with that sweet adrenaline. I felt it again.

That feeling that I had so desperately missed since I killed Homelander.

The feeling of walking that tightrope between life and death where one move, right or wrong, could determine the outcome.

Sukuna just smiled, matching my own before he made a swiping gesture at me. Almost as soon as the Cleave was launched at me, he was on the move, practically appearing behind me.

I reversed my grip on the katana, plunging the blade backwards, but Sukuna managed to catch it in one hand. There was a smell of ozone before a crack of thunder as the lightning lashed out at him, but even as he dodged, he attacked.

I would be dead without my Haki, I knew. A thousand times over. And despite criticizing Satoru about his hand-to-hand skills before, I wasn't that much better. Both of us had the same issue, I realized, as Sukuna relentlessly pressed the attack.

We weren't used to getting hands on when it came to fighting, and Sukuna wasn't the type to give us a choice.

My Observation Haki deepened as the near misses and close blocks got narrower and narrower.

His speed was something else, I decided. If A-Train fought me like this at the very start, I would have died at Lamplighter's memorial. But, it was because my Haki deepened that I chose to stay close to Sukuna.

I always did my best work under pressure.

To that end, I had to increase it. Limit his attacking angles. Manipulating the oxygen in the air was how I turned the fire and lightning into sure hits -- as he was, he was moving around too much.

I grinned as a Dismantle cut my cheek just as I took aim with the water and fire ball.

In machine gun bursts, they started to spit forward, tearing through the buildings and trees around us like they were made of nothing.

Trees broke apart, chunks ripped out of them by water drop sized bullets of water, but there was enough of them that everything was reduced to splinters and rubble. All of it to hem Sukuna in. He chose to oblige me, closing the distance between us.

The ball of water resolidified itself for just a moment before a steam of water erupted from it, plunging down into the dirt. Sukuna narrowed his eyes ever so slightly before I raised a finger up to the sky.

In response, the ground shifted as a pillar of earth began to rise up. The water pressure cut it cleanly, and manipulating gravity made it lighter.

As a result, a second later, we were a couple hundred feet in the sky, standing on a pillar of stone.

"I got a question about that," Sukuna said, looking at the narrow ring I made for us.

"Shoot," I replied, wiping away the blood that dripped down my cheek.

"Why haven't you crushed me underneath a gravitational force, yet?" He asked, tilting his head at me.

I chuckled, "That'd be boring." I replied in all honesty.

Sure, I could probably smother him with ten times the Earth's gravity. I could also fill the air around him with carbon monoxide. I could probably suck out the moisture in his body and blood.

I could probably replace his soul with that of an earthworm. I had options if I felt really desperate.

"But that's what I mean, Sukuna. You can't go full tilt the entire time. You gotta stop and smell the roses, so to speak."

Sukuna scoffed, amused and affronted in equal measures.

"You're still going on about that?"

"It's the difference between satisfaction and gratification," I replied before I grabbed hold of gravity once more.

Satoru had given me an idea for a technique and I just had to try it.

The pillar shifted as I formed two balls of gravity. They started the size of marbles, spinning rapidly and gaining mass, which further helped the gravitational pull in opposite directions.

The pillar began to break up and Sukuna saw my plan. Before I could fully realize it, he rushed forward, and this time I met him head on. I lunged with my diamond blade, attacking and defending as I put all my faith in my Observation Haki.

There were cracks of lightning, belches of fire, and sprays of water as we fought upon the crumbling pillar of stone that broke up and started drifting to the gravity balls I had created.

Sukuna was far more affected by them than I was, his body getting pulled in two different directions. Add that to the more limited terrain, and I was able to keep up with him.

He must have sensed that I was getting used to his speed and aggressiveness, so he decided to switch it up.

The ground that we stood on became diced as he sent a wave of Dismantles at them and we both started getting pulled to the gravity wells.

I grabbed hold of them, forcing them to move closer and closer, increasing the intensity on us both as we fought in the air. Sukuna was relentless, determined to get me with a deranged smile on his face.

It was then that I realized my mistake.

I thought I understood what cursed energy was capable of.

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine," Sukuna intoned, looking at me with a triumphant smile. The effect was immediate -- a barrier instantaneously went up, enveloping the two of us. And, unlike before, the barrier seemed… solid? Tangible, almost.

I found myself standing in a pool of blood and before that same shrine that I saw the first time. Only it was upon a mountain of bones -- animal and human alike. Looking up, I saw the spine and ribcage of some great beast, but the space between the ribs was filled with an inky blackness.

"For you, and you alone, have I diminished myself to closing the barrier to my Domain," Sukuna said, standing before the shrine.

My Room was cut off -- I couldn't feel the gravity or stone. Even when he used that Fuga attack, which closed the barrier he set up, I had still been able to feel what was outside of Sukuna's Domain.

Only now, I couldn't. My range was reduced to the limits of the barrier.

"As part of my Domain, I forgo the guaranteed hit aspect of utilizing one's domain expansion in exchange for a greater area of effect."

Oh, he was explaining his technique again for a power up. This… might be bad, I concluded, matching Sukuna's smile.

"This is farewell. You were fun, Law," he said and I knew what was coming. Those same relentless attacks that destroyed everything within range of his Domain.

There wasn't a lot I could do about that. So, I did what I could.

"Room," I intoned, a slash across my face, leg, and arm greeting me first. The first of countless more. "Amp," I continued, smiling away as my entire world became pain.

Armament Haki was the only reason I didn't die instantly, but it only reduced the damage I took. My Haki flowed throughout my body, strengthening it, protecting it, and letting me stride forward despite every single inch of my body being relentlessly attacked by a million cuts every second.

Blood flowed freely from me as I strode forward, and even with my Armament Haki, I couldn't survive.

The cursed energy that each cut delivered was absorbed and repurposed on instinct. Negative energy becoming positive energy. I got a much better look at the process with Satoru, but I couldn't say I really understood it.

The positive energy entered my body, and it was as if my body went, 'Oh wow, this is my jam' and started to dance, which somehow translated to my body rapidly healing itself even as it was destroyed.

Sukuna's eyes widened as I doggedly approached.

"Not enough!" I shouted at him, breaking into a sprint up towards him.

He used his lower arms to guard, the other two remaining in that hand sign. I didn't even bother dodging the slash that he made with a hand that took off one of my legs at the knee, simply jumping up into the air to close the last remaining distance between us.

My fist slammed into the side of his face and the effect was immediate -- his jaw shattered, teeth flew out in a spray of blood, and what was left of his jaw hung off by scrapes of skin.

His eyes widened at the devastating effect of the attack while I just laughed uproariously.

My Rooms were powerful. I could manipulate the primordial forces of reality. I could touch the intangible. I could remove the irrevocable.

There was an endless amount of possibilities so long as they happened within my Room, and the only true limitations I faced were my own imagination, ability, and time.

An Amp-Room was me giving all of that away. The endless sea of possibilities of what I could do… in exchange for enhancing very specific things.

In this case? The impact of my strikes and my ability to heal myself.

Sukuna was already healing his jaw and I slammed my weight down on my new leg, standing before him.

With a feral smile, we clashed before his shrine. My body moved on instinct, slashing at Sukuna and managing to effortlessly take off two of his arms on one side before taking a hit that left me blind in one eye, but only for a moment.

I couldn't stop laughing, even as the intensity of the strikes around me increased, leaving me only with scraps of clothing to protect my modesty.

Sukuna was without a doubt the better fighter between us. He was faster, stronger, and he was just plain better when it came to throwing hands. But I felt the gap between us shrinking as we clashed -- a block of an overhand strike with my forearm leading to a low kick at his legs, before I reversed my grip to my katana and lunged to plant the grip into his chest.

The effect was immediate with his sternum shattering like glass, blood erupting from his mouth as his lungs were pulverized, but he healed them near effortlessly and continued to fight.

He was laughing with me as we fought, trading a series of blows that neither of us really kept a track of. It was pure instinct. There was barely a cautious thought in my head as we butchered each other. There was no real plan. Just fighting it out until I forced him to drop his Domain.

The gap between us shrunk enough that he couldn't fend me off with just two arms. He dropped the handsign and, immediately, I noticed the constant slashes reducing in intensity.

They were still enough to kill me a billion times over, but the weakened assault emboldened me. My Armament Haki was able to protect me from the worst of the slashes, and Sukuna noticed it.

"What the hell is your body?" He said with a laugh, blocking an overhead slash with my katana, catching the nicked blade between two hands.

"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" I shouted back, delivering three rapid fire kicks to Sukuna -- one to his knee, another at his thigh, and the third at his ribs. His leg gave out from underneath him, his arm managing to catch the third kick, but it crumpled his forearm like tissue paper.

With Sukuna's good leg, he threw himself back while he threw me to the base of the Shrine. I landed on me feet, blood splashing-

An image flashed in my mind. Sukuna's hands clasped together, his upper arms moving as one as he delivered a single slash at me. I dodge and then my world became fire.

I had no idea what that was, but I broke into a dead sprint, running towards Sukuna as he landed on top of his Shrine. Exactly as I saw, he clasped his four arms together, almost like he was praying. Then, with a single deliberate gesture, he sent a Dismantle at me that utterly dwarfed every other one that I had seen so far. It was visible to the naked air in the split second that I had to see it, crossing the distance in an instant.

I could have dodged, but that would delay me.

My grip tightened on my katana as I swung at the Dismantle, the clear diamond blade turning a pitch black as my haki flowed through it.

The two clashed in the middle, but the result was obvious from the start. But, I didn't need to win. I just needed to not lose.

The Dismantle carved through my black blade but it offered enough resistance that I could divert the attack.

I felt a pinch in my arm as it became severed at the shoulder, my diamond sword split in two.

Yet, all the same, as I leapt up to Sukuna, who made to clasp his hands to summon that fire, I grabbed hold of the blade of my sword with my remaining arm. The edge bit into my fingers and I saw Sukuna's eyes widening as I sailed closer.

"Too slow!" I shouted, swinging the half blade at Sukuna, putting all of my haki behind it. It slammed into the shrine first, the wood splitting, followed by Sukuna, and it continued all the way until it hit the edge of the Domain.

It cracked like glass, along with the shrine that crumbled to pieces and a second later, both of us were falling through the air.

Dismissing the Amp-Room, I created a normal Room, and immediately used a push of gravity to slingshot myself towards Sukuna.

With a lunge, I plunged the broken blade into his heart, both of us hitting the ground with enough force that we dug a trench with Sukuna acting as the plow.

He was just a head, his chest, with two stumps of arms on one side. Still alive, though. I leaned in, meeting his gaze, and I stated the results in no uncertain terms.

"This is my win."

"Seems that way," Sukuna agreed. No resentment to be found in his voice. He was someone who lived by the sword and embraced the thought of dying by it.

"Enjoy the Culling Game. Just be sure to kill that other half of my soul. I can't stand the thought of the last part of myself being some pathetic loser that managed to be suppressed by a toddler."

I pulled my blade free of his chest. Pushing back my blood soaked hair, "Sukuna," I said, catching his attention, "You're not dying here."

That got a mild look and a cocked eyebrow and I waved off his concerns, "It's winner take all, yeah? Hate to break it to you Sukuna, but by my estimations, you don't have shit. No way that bet was even. So, instead, I want this…" I continued, my smile growing. "I want you to be my friend."

"...You've got to be kidding me," Sukuna replied, seeming honestly surprised by my demand.

"You're a funny guy, Sukuna. And I can empathize with you, you know?" I told him, Shambling out some rubble for some clothes since mine were bloody rags at this point. My phone was gone too.

Sukuna stilled at the thought of someone empathizing with him, telling me he thought it was impossible.

"Even at half strength, you wiped the floor with the strongest of this generation. So, I don't think your story is one of defeat that ended with you split up into those fingers."

Sukuna was watching me carefully, more guarded than I had ever seen him. All the same, I knew my next words hit the mark.

"You got bored. You accepted all challengers and you slaughtered them endlessly. Any time you found someone that would be of interest, you found them and you killed them. I can only guess how long you did it for, but I'm guessing it was awhile. Long enough for it to become a cycle. Until the faces and abilities might change, but nothing else did."

I got dressed and continued, "You got bored. So damn bored that even the things that you do enjoy couldn't alleviate it. Then, for some reason or another, you get a bright idea -- instead of hunting down people strong enough to amuse you, you force them to come to you. A Culling Game. A battle royale of the strongest. Everyone that managed to be born and flourish in your absence gathered up in one place for the sole purpose of entertainment."

Sukuna's lips thinned and that told me I saw right through him.

"I understand," I told him earnestly. "Probably better than anyone else could. You see, back in my home world, there was a hero named Homelander. The world's greatest superhero. And every night as a kid, I used to close my eyes and dream that one day I could be the world's greatest supervillain. It's all I ever wanted to be and do and against all odds, I got my chance. I got super powers and I could be the man I always wanted to be."

I sighed, almost wistful, "Oh, you should have seen us. He wasn't the man or the hero I thought he was, in the end, but that didn't make him any less incredible. I terrorized the world just to get his attention, brought nations to their knees, and it was all worth it in the end. Our final fight… in the ruins of a broken city, the whole damn world being destroyed all around us, billions of lives snuffed out in hellfire as a backdrop to our battle…"

I trailed off, looking down at Sukuna to see he was regenerating. And listening.

"I didn't realize it then, but that was my perfect death," I admitted. "The world was ending, I was fighting my childhood hero as his equal, and… If I died right then and there, I would have died as happy as I had ever been."

The world's greatest hero and the world's most terrible villain killing each other at the very end of it all. Perfection.

"But I didn't die. I missed my chance. Now, I'm forced to discover who I am without Homelander. You see, I wanted to be the villain to his hero. Now?"

I gestured around us, "I'm just a villain. I don't stand for anything. I don't embody anything. I'm just a powerful asshole that has access to the multiverse… and I thought that would be fine. And it was good enough for a while, but it's just so empty, tormenting regular people when they can't fight back. What's the point of taking something from someone that never had anything?"

More than anything else, that's what my time in Fallout taught me. I had the power to roll over gangs of raiders, to take over the world… but it was all so unfulfilling.

So empty. There was no challenge there. No risk. It was so… impersonal to destroy someone from my ivory tower.

I was forced to confront how directionless I was without Homelander acting as my North Star. Questions that I had never bothered to ponder before his death at my hands.

What was a villain?

"So, what? Me and you frolick across this multiverse? Until what?" Sukuna asked, sitting up now that he was fully healed. He didn't sound… unamendable to the idea.

"I dunno. I… I want to become a calamity," I admitted to Sukuna, honestly and from the heart. "I want to embody the idea of Evil. I don't want to be a supervillain. I want to be the supervillain," I continued, pursing my lips.

"But I have no idea what that means. Or how to go about it. So, I'm going to take my time with it. I'm going to explore what it means to be a villain to me. Until, one day, I can stand before genuine heroes with my head held high and ideals that equal their own."

I stepped forward to Sukuna, offering a hand down to him. "And I think the ride would be more fun with you there. Maybe I can convince you to savor your entertainment more. Maybe you'll betray me and we can set the multiverse on fire in our conflict. Either way, it'll be fun!"

"So, what do you say?"

Sukuna looked at the offered hand for a long moment, seemingly genuinely perplexed.

"Law?"

"Hm?"

He brushed my hand away to stand on his own two feet, "You're without a doubt the craziest bastard I've ever met," he said with honest praise and I knew I had him.

"So I'll only say this once and you'll never hear the words from me again in your life… so, savor them."

Sukuna offered a small bow of his head to me,

"You have my sincerest apologies. I mistook you for a human."

"Don't worry about it. It's an easy mistake to make."

I made a new friend.