7

Hayara rubbed his eyes as he got a proper look at Sukuna standing in the doorway, he blinked. Four eyes looked back at him, inky black tattoos smothered the monster's face in different arrangements. Ichinose clutched the bedsheets tightly, slowly backing up further into his bedframe.

"So you're finally seeing in a true sense, the cursed energy in your body was absorbed efficiently, as I perceived." His fanged teeth form a grin as some plan had seemed to come to fruition.

"Just... what are you?" Hayara manages a terrified question through shaky breath.

"Someone who does as he wishes. I'm a wretched curse who spits at the world." Sukuna shrugged off the statement, he didn't care for appearances.

Hayara's head began to spin as he glanced around the room, it, like his consciousness, looked like it was swirling. The forces that moved around the room were not the air or a gust of wind, it almost seemed as if emotions such as hate and fear drove through the very room around him. The demon slayer had begun experiencing new sights and sounds, all of which seemed to originate from one source, the calamity standing before him. The negative feelings both clung and floated off of him as though he was a great tree supporting thousands of leaves which came and went with the wind.

"It's no surprise you can't comprehend cursed energy at this stage." Sukuna gazes mockingly at Hayara's sorry state as he attempted to maintain balance.

Ichinose took a deep inhaling breath, forcing himself through nausea and confusion, after all, he had no idea of Sukuna's mindset towards struggle or laziness, the demon slayer would just assume that if he laid back down to recover, or threw up, or present any display of weakness, his head would be parted from his body.

Sukuna smiled as Hayara managed himself off of the bed with minimal dizziness.

"Fear is a fantastic motivator, I think you'd have taken a few days to adjust to such a thing in a more relaxed atmosphere." The King of curses blinked as he observed the successes of his twisted manipulation.

"Cursed... energy?" Hayara manages a question through baited breath, a majority of his consciousness was focused on simply composing himself in this strange state he had been thrown into.

"Mhm, I've bestowed upon you a special gift. Cursed energy is the spiritual manifestation of negative emotions which seeps out of every conscious thing." Sukuna explained with a neutral tone.

"B-but I've never heard of such a thing before?" Hayara decided not to mince around words and probe on what he found most puzzling about cursed energy, it was completely outside of his knowledge. Unlike demons or breathing techniques.

"That's because no being as far as I know is capable of harnessing it within this region." Sukuna purposefully omitted the fact that he came from a different time period, or world as far as he knew, for reasons unknown.

"And now I can?" Ichinose reasoned and began to understand his current scenario. Though he was far from accepting it in joy or as a gift, rather connoting it as a terrible curse, seeing what this strange characteristic known as cursed energy was given to him by. Hayara pushed down his internalised misgivings apprehensively as he blinked and looked ahead of him, gaining a better understanding of the 'being' in front of him.

Four red pupils were trained on him, each belonging to a fierce looking eye. Black marks trailed up Sukunas face, snaking into various patterns and icons which stood out against 'his' pale skin. Hayara would reminisce about the murals placed in temples regarding demons and spirits, and how the appearance that this thing now took in front of him truly resembled the things depicted in those icons, Sukuna was the ideal picture of a monster.

The demon slayer swallowed the accumulated spit in his mouth out of nervousness, shifting his arms off of the bed frame and realising he could stand free of support now, as his dizziness had all but vanished, allowing his eyes to adjust to the clearness of everything around him, and how the swirling and visible emotions, or 'Cursed energy' as he was just told caused him to see the world in a completely different light. As if the Earth was a living and breathing thing, and everything in it was constantly moving and alive.

Hayara's contemplation of his new found characteristic was quickly broken by the King of Curse's words, which as damning as they were, sent a chill down the young slayer's back.

"We'll go outside to some place remote, and I'll prepare you to harness it properly." A sinister smile glistened across Sukuna's face, in other words he meant to train, however Hayara had misgivings about what the definition of training was to this monster.

...

The noticeable sound of a biwa playing echoed through the both constricting and expanding halls of each and every room.

Akaza's vibrant kanji-etched eyes reflected the ever changing scope of the infinity castle as he was uprooted from his previous position and lifted upwards further into the ever changing interior of the castle. His body glided across the towers of buildings as they stretched limitlessly into the dimly lit orange horizon of the unique space. He began to see the various domains of the upper moons as he went along towards whatever objective he held within the infinity castle, one of them being the magnificent palace of Douma, Akaza's spectral eyes narrowed in emotion at the sight of it, only for a moment as the sight of the large building passed by in a blur as he continued upwards, ever more into the depths of the space.

Finally he arrived at a platform, leaping onto it with little sound, he proceeded to walk forwards calmly, his eyes scanning the area around him as he did so, the tip-tapping of his feet against the wooden floor caused it to creak ever so slightly, providing the only sound in a dead silent space. Causing the atmosphere to be rather eerie. Yet this was no concern for an upper moon, who instead placed his fear in the being now in front of him. He kneeled swiftly as he spoke.

"Lord Muzan." Akaza spoke with trepidation, the level of fear and mixed admiration whenever he was around his ruler was constant.

"Akaza, I have been met with an event which does not please me in the slightest, lower moon four recited my name out loud, and was dispatched accordingly, however she did so to end her own life, for reasons I cannot understand." Muzan's voice was textured with deep anger underneath every word.

The table in front of Muzan suddenly shook violently, as the air around the demon king vibrated with an intense anger, various glass instruments and vials placed upon the desk in front of him began to crack, before shattering completely one by one. Akaza blinked and lowered his head in response to his lord's outbursts, not wanting to bear the brunt of his anger by appearing rude.

"I'm going to organise a meeting of the lower moons in the coming days, their actions as of late have caused me great stress and annoyance, their ranks seem to constantly change, whilst the upper moons are deeply rooted in place, there is a clear reason for this, a lack of faith and strength in me. I will assess whether any of them deserve to live, meanwhile, I want you to investigate the cause of lower moon 4's suicide in Tokyo." Muzan ordered with a grinding of his teeth.

"Of course, my lord." Akaza responded swiftly, before his image blurred as he vanished.

...

Sukuna and Hayara exited the inn building, the demon slayer looked upwards, noticing the brilliant blue sky, with only a few white clouds which peppered the otherwise clear atmosphere.

"I've already identified a suitable grounds for your conditioning." Sukuna suddenly spoke up.

Hayara blinked, surprised at this supposed revelation, because as he stared forward, there were no conceivable quiet places, only tramps who walked pitifully around in rags for clothes. In a mere moment, the demon slayer felt a tug on his uniform, before he was suddenly airborne. He managed to not scream in panic, as he had relatively grown used to being thrown around like a chew toy by the king of curses, it should not have happened even one time, let alone the multitude of times he's been thrown about like a complete ragdoll. The young slayer looked forwards as he saw Sukuna in front of him, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with such agility that it made Ichinose's vision blurry.

The disorientating movement finally ended with the both of them landing in a small clearing. It seemed to be in the middle of some abandoned harbour, many existed in Tokyo as foreign trade companies came and went, resulting in both prosperity and abandonment.

The demon slayer glanced around him, confirming that this was indeed a quiet spot, there was no one around to bother them. However, sweat beaded off of his forehead when he realised what came next, the 'conditioning' its self, according to Sukuna, he didn't know if that just meant violently beating him to a pulp until he learned whatever lesson was provided by that monster.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Sukuna blinked has his four eyes focused on Hayara.

The slayer instinctively gulped, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he internalised thoughts of Sukuna pummelling him brutally like the many people who had been gotten in the way of this evil-doer.

"You're gaining invaluable insight here, if you forget even one word of this, I'll sever your fingers and have them as a meal tonight." Sukuna warned without much care.

"Cursed energy is in tandem with your emotions, and it originates in your stomach, you must let it flow through your body constantly in order to channel it, however, keep in mind your stomach, mind, and soul are one in your body and with the world, so there's no point in imagining your stomach as a separate section or source, you need to flow and distribute the cursed energy equally throughout your body instead, otherwise you'll become a shitty sorcerer. Mastering the flow and directing it is known as cursed energy manipulation."

Hayara nodded in understanding as Sukuna continued his explanation.

"Cursed energy can be utilised in many different ways, it's simplest consists of cursed energy reinforcement, and output, when allowing your cursed energy to seep from your body and coat your skin, it can provide protection against physical and cursed energy attacks, as well as provide an enhancement in the potency of your general physical ability." Sukuna's thorough teaching drilled through Hayara's skull, as the King of curses raised his arms, seemingly to prove a point.

"Try and punch me." A fanged grin appeared on his face as he directed Hayara.

The young slayer had no choice but to comply, stepping forward, he raised his only arm and clenched it into a fist tightly, before unleashing it upon Sukuna's body, to his displeasure however, his fist bent in on its self, with his wrist caving in upon impact with Sukuna's skin, exposing bone and spurting blood from out of Hayara's hand. The slayer collapsed to the floor as he couldn't handle the pain.

"I coated the area around my skin where you punched me in cursed energy before impact, hardening it, a brat like you is as fragile as glass." He spouted mockingly from his mouth as Hayara grinded his teeth in absolute agony. The blood from Ichinose's wound splattered on the King of Curses face, with a smile on his face, the being in front of him looked as malevolent as can be. In perfect contrast to the bright blue sky behind him.

A swish of Sukuna's wrist, as a bright hue enveloped the injury, quickly reforming and restructuring the bone, until mere seconds later, when it was completely back to normal. Hayara blinked in shock.

"Reverse cursed technique, it's what I used on you when you couldn't even beat the pissant of a demon, turns out it gave you your own pool of cursed energy, RCT takes a rather large amount of cursed energy to perform, so the amount you gained is no less inferior to what those sorcerers deem a grade 1 or 2." He explained with a smirk.

"Now, you can also use cursed energy reinforcement offensively as such." Sukuna coated his fist in cursed energy expertly, Hayara could barely see the stirring of negative energies around the being as he sent his fist into the ground, the dirt around the area of impact sunk instantly, cracking and forming a crater.

Hayara stared on in bedazzlement, though this was quickly replaced by fear once scenarios of Sukuna performing that to his head flashed in his brain.

"Now you have to use cursed energy manipulation, I'll know if you fail, and I'll deduct one of your fingers where I see fit. I'm sure you encounter similar control with your breathing so I doubt you'll lose any fingers, then again, I still have little hope for a brat like yourself." Sukuna performed a thumbs up to encourage Ichinose, yet all that did was strike fear into his heart.

Ichinose closed his eyes, attempting to recall the events of last night to help him focus, he remembered in his dire situation, that moment of clarity, that he would carry his life without worry, like a great tree, in connection with the world around him, he felt that was a useful maxim to use in conjunction with his manipulation of this cursed energy, therefore, he slowly exhaled, focusing from his core outwards, in understanding that his entire body was one, and that energy must flow smoothly and equally throughout.

At that moment, the flow of energy slightly jittered as it struggled to move out of his core. Beads of sweat formed on Hayara's forehead as he foresaw one of his fingers being detached from his body, however in the next moment he broke through, and a constant flow of energy projected out from his core, filling ever part of his body. The sensation was similar to being fully submerged in an ocean in which he had flippers. The weight of his one arm and legs rapidly felt as though they had decreased, and a full movement of his arm up and down felt more similar in effort to him moving a single finger.

Sukuna nodded at Hayara, he read between the lines and understood he wanted him to partake in the next step, reinforcement, he had no idea how to project his cursed energy outwards to coat his skin, however he'd certainly give it a try under the threat of the King of curses. The slayer imagined dipping his hand into a bucket of water, the sensation of the liquid covering his fist, a tingling feeling rapidly sparked originating from his knuckles, it soon coated his entire fist, as he threw it forward, with his arm being so lightweight now, his arm blasted forward in a blur of movement as he saw a tiny pale light flare from his hand as he shook the air immediately around his punch.

He blinked, seemingly stunned at the physical prowess he had just displayed, it was beyond imagination, enough to probably kill an ordinary human in one go, however he had no idea how it would fair against demons. Thoughts regarding how the hashira felt blared through Hayara's mind, this must be what it means to be strong.

But such strength was given through evil, was it valid? Hayara exhaled, his breath hazed with stress about the future. He looked down at his clenched fist, narrowing his eyes.

He looked forward, hope now glazing his eyes, his newfound strength seemingly a motivator, his brain whirred as a new objective slowly culminated in his mind.

I'll accumulate this strength to escape!

Hope you enjoy this chapter, first in a very long while I know, but I plan on continuing this story when I can.

I hope you prefer this new narrative layout, I'd rather split scenes with the '...' as opposed to the exact date, time, place. I can just reveal that through the storytelling its self after all.