8
The very air around Hayara were akin to razers, numerous deep and vicious cuts blared a loud pain that wouldn't cease all across his skin. Ichinose's pupils dilated and deepened as the horrid sensation of death flew past him at speeds he couldn't comprehend, cutting deep into the screeching metal walls of the warehouses behind him. The fight for his life was only made all the more real by his newly found cursed energy perception, instead of falling victim to something invisible, illusory, he perceived every slash of death thrown towards him, powerless as they travelled faster than Hayara could even shed a meagre tear.
A devil's roar sounded in the form of booming laughter, Sukuna then suppressed his mocking noise through a tense, teeth grinding grin.
"A sorcerer's experience is marked by grief, suffering and the thrill of death at all moments." The King of Curses blinked as his expression suddenly turned stern, as if his face of laughter wasn't the most terrifying thing on this planet, it shifted into something even more detestable.
"I wonder if, through your torn, strewn and bloody brain, you'll be able to manage such cocky thoughts again, brat." Hayara's enamel cracked as he grit his teeth in an absolute sense of agony.
Streams of confused thoughts blasted through the slayer's head as he attempted to make sense of his dire situation, just what had he done to court such a deathly experience?
...
Sukuna crossed his arms with little reaction as they both peered at the small crater in the mud created by Ichinose's strike, a slight gentle smirk now appeared on the young slayer's face as he did what he thought was physically impossible for him beforehand, so he couldn't help but be overwhelmed with an earned sense of pride and accomplishment.
A small clap resounded in the air as Sukuna approached him, naturally Hayara swallowed a mouthful of spit in nervousness. The King of Curses took slow yet deliberate steps, now pausing, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Cursed energy output is another means of manipulating your cursed energy, manifesting pure cursed energy outside of your body for use as some sort of projectile or directed beam is possible through this. Although it's rather inefficient and wasteful in terms of how much energy it actually uses. Are you getting this brat?" Sukuna taught, his explanation was brisk and contained little in terms of breaks. Hayara nodded enthusiastically, to conceal the fact that he was slightly struggling when it came to trying to understand at the pace in which the being before Ichinose went at.
"Like so." Sukuna spoke directly after Hayara's nodding response, raising his arm and spreading his palm outwards to face the slayer.
Ichinose blinked, a sharp exhale as he fully realised what was about to occur. He was a living test dummy for his own teachings! Nothing was off limits for this creature!
Suddenly, a dark, sinister orange hue manifested directly forwards of Sukunas outstretched palm, it floated in the air for a long moment, seeming almost unstable as the ball like form it took rippled and pushed against it's own shape. In the limited perception he had through Sukuna's teachings, he made a guess. This was pure cursed energy manifested... as a projectile. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head in fear.
The sinister ball of cursed energy surged forward, nearly instantly appearing in front of Hayara's eyes as it darted past him in a shocking display of blurred motion. The presentation was almost enough to send the young man into a surprised trance, although the sound that erupted from behind him almost instantly shook him from this state, a piercing crash echoed in the air throughout the abandoned warehouse, Ichinose pivoted around to see the results...
Various bricks and silver metal covers littered the floor as the smoke cleared, revealing a sizeable chunk of the building now missing, it's remains strung and peppered over the ground like seasoning. Such a sight caused Hayara to shiver inwardly, at that moment he realised the true potential and the tools this monster had to unleash pandemonium.
"That smirk you gave earlier in response to your strike, that must be a sign of something, what where you thinking about?" Sukuna seemed to innocently question.
"It was happiness regarding my achievement earlier, It's something I never would have imagined doing before... despite-" Hayara suddenly ceased talking as if someone had violently forced his mouth closed. He observed Sukuna's face slowly transform from mild amusement, to blank and ambiguous, 4 hollow eyes pierced through the young slayer as though they were blades, they probed the innermost part of his soul, Hayara felt like every part of him was exposed and vulnerable in front of the King of Curses, similar to the sensation of predator and prey, there was a natural hierarchical order between them.
And you do not stare directly at a predator, as it often gets aggressive.
"Let's try a little bout, shall we?" Sukuna suggested, although inference made clear Hayara had no choice in the matter.
"O-okay." Hayara stuttered slightly through baited breath.
Sukuna's arm suddenly extended outwards, Hayara's perception was able to make an estimation about what was going to happen next, strangely, his mind had reached such a velocity that he had began comprehending some of Sukuna's motions.
Until he couldn't.
A barrage of thick, concentrated and sharp invisible air gashed his cheek, as it carried itself past him, ripping into whatever was behind him, then came another, and another, the consistency and speed frighteningly increased as the slayer's eyes darted towards every single position he could think, attempting to sidestep backpedal and wind his way out of the pain he was currently experiencing, but to no avail, horrible painful air surrounded him, these invisible blades etched deep within every corner of Hayara's face and body.
After Sukuna finished a monologue, brought on by a deathly laugh, Hayara inwardly lampooned.
What had he done to court death?
Hayara's vision came and went in intervals as he began to feel dizzy, most likely a result of blood loss, but pumping adrenaline made everything numb, and the slayer had finally found an opening to escape the field of death around him, which only cut at the outer parts of his body, though he reckoned if Sukuna had a change of heart and directed the slashes at him, he'd become the human equivalent of fillet steak.
These sensations were unlike any he had experienced, his new perception of cursed energy and increased control over his body simply made it hurt more, a searing, painful feeling that even charged through his adrenaline. This wasn't similar to his fight with the lower moon, Hayara couldn't give a piss about his fighting philosophy of tree-like calm as he displayed before, because it wasn't even a fight, it was a marathon run for his life. The slayer spun his body into a dive with all the strength he could muster, he flung himself through thick mud that had suddenly coalesced on the ground with a swift roll, compared to previously, his body was on another level, but all he could think about was escape from the pain.
His skin continued to shed and cut under the sinister force displayed by Sukuna, though it subsided ever so slightly, this was enough to bring relative relief to the tired and already broken body of Hayara Ichinose, who at that moment began to place his efforts in sprinting away, his footfall left behind large sunken footprints as he exploded off of each step.
The image of Sukuna's face plastered its self in front of him. What faced him was death, a single right hook which caused the air to whistle and bend around the fist of Sukuna as it hurtled towards the young slayers face. Hayara swung his head backwards with so much force that it almost felt like he had decapitated himself, through this he narrowly avoided the first punch, at that moment the young slayer instinctively followed a path to survival, throwing his own arm up and extending it outwards into a punch, allowing cursed energy to flow freely and coat the surface of his knuckles.
The attack naturally missed, then he tried another, coating the end of his elbow in cursed energy before belting it at Sukuna, who seamlessly ducked under it. Each avoidance spelled a loss of hope for the pitiful slayer, who now had tears lining the edges of his eyes.
"You're acting more and more like a cornered dog, that's the spirit, keep struggling." He spoke as he avoided the strikes, only adding insult to injury.
The appearance of knuckles growing increasingly larger in Ichinose's vision was a harrowing sight. His world was flipped over as his face bent inwards on impact with Sukuna's cursed energy reinforced strike. Before he knew it, he was in the thick and sinking mud, his hand trembling and splayed out on the floor, attempting to pick up his teeth which littered the surrounding area. He suddenly snapped out of the hypnotic state that the strike had put him in, the teeth in his hand fell to the floor, and he let out a desperate cry.
"WHY DON'T YOU JUST KILL ME?" The words were loud, but not pronounced, muffled by his deformed face and lack of teeth.
"WHY DO YOU LET ME LIVE?" A repeated question, this time even less clear as Hayara attempted to sob, though he could not even feel the salt of his tears through his blood soaked face.
"Does a child break a toy as soon as he starts playing with it?" Sukuna would quip, an uninterested gaze cast upon the pathetic, mangled body of the young slayer as he struggled to breathe on the floor.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm far from a senseless murderer, I live for experiences, tastes and delights, your outcry is certainly one of them, you can't blame someone for indulging in such delights? Your miserable excuse for a life is the greatest example I've seen here so far, though that sense of happiness you felt earlier caused me such unbearable anger, brats such as yourself need to die fifteen times over before being able to display any sense of pride or strength." Sukuna paused his long monologue to stare blankly at Hayara's body once more, before seemingly becoming enlightened.
"Ah, exactly, dying fifteen times over, I wonder what such a sensation feels like, as an outside observer, it'll be wonderful to sample your feelings towards this concept, how about it brat? A fitting punishment for crying." Fanged teeth protruded from the monster's mouth as he spat.
"Get up." A faint white light consumed Hayara's contorted body, it was as though he was never hit, his wounds were completely healed, including his left arm, he laid there for a split moment, bewildered, before darting up, he went straight for Sukuna's throat with his hands, sharply exhaling to fill himself with any hollow sense of opportunity left.
"It only took Reverse Cursed Technique to make you cocky again, let's fix that." Sukuna stated before flowing past the outstretched hand of Hayara, the King of Curses was already at the slayer's side, and then behind him, before he could even turn his body, a hand stuck its self through the chest of the young man. Blood seeped swiftly into his lungs, and his breathing slowed as pain and then numbness overtook him.
"Again." A faint white light overwhelmed him, and everything was back to normal once more. Hayara was yanked from the icy grip of death, his confusion delayed him even more this time, allowing Sukuna to strike him with a slap to the back of his head, causing the slayer to fly forwards, landing hard onto the mud whilst trying to cover the impact with his hands.
As he laid on the floor, before he could even get up again, he felt a heavy weight press on his spine. It was Sukuna's foot. It exerted an ever increasing force.
"NO!" Hayara screamed in pain, yet of course that wouldn't stop what was about to happen.
His foot began to sink down into Ichinose's back, cries of pain erupted out of his mouth, soon overshadowed by the prominent sounds of snapping bone, his spine was crushed as his back caved in under the force of Sukuna's feet. The world was reduced to a blur once more.
"Again." The now familiar white light made Hayara shudder, as he was suddenly gripped by his collar and forced to stand upright by Sukuna.
"On your feet-" Ichinose suddenly tore away from Sukuna's grip, only resulting in a smile from him. Meanwhile the young man made a mad dash to his sword, which he previously placed in his scabbard a few meters away from him. He exploded forwards with the force of his calves, desperately clutching at the scabbard of his katana before drawing it, shaking as he did so.
The invisible dense and sharp air came at him once more, he exhaled sharply but with hints of fear and apprehension which caused his breathing to slow into irregular intervals, everything he did would lead to a nightmare of death, but he still had an ounce of will left to attempt to resist.
"Prostrate yourself then, fool." Sukuna touted. The feeling of Ichinose's feet suddenly vanished from under him, he fell to his knees, because there really weren't any feet to support him, both his hands went next, flying away from him as if they'd always been removable. His throat began to crackle as screaming wore it out, soon followed by that repeated blur drowning out all pain. Yet it was too easy to die yet.
"Again." A white hue flashed into Ichinose's vision. He dropped the Katana, running as a means to look for an end, he'd lost all sense of direction as tears welled and distorted his vision, his only thoughts aligning with survival or killing himself to cease the practice of torment Sukuna was subjecting him to. The rippling figure of Sukuna appeared in front of Hayara's teary eyes. Followed by movement towards him.
"Again." Another white light flashed. Hayara had no strength to continue, curling up in a ball onto the muddy floor.
...
"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
..
"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
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"Again."
Hayara silently looked up.
"We're done now, follow me back to the inn." Sukuna stated with no inflection.
"Oh." Hayara softly shuddered as he spoke.
Hayara felt as if he had just awoken from a long dream, his memories and the feeling of his body could be described as hazy and groggy.
He thought of something inwardly, as thing had started to come back to him quickly, when they started training, the ground was dry dirt. Now it was mud, strange.
Hayara slowly allowed himself to get up, and looked down at the floor around him.
Thick bright red clumps of mud surrounded him, which appeared out of puddles of a pure red colour.
His blood was spilled so much that it altered the landscape, he was standing in his own mass burial.
...
The man's fiery haori fluttered in the wind as he dashed madly towards the thunder house, it's residents completely silent.
He quickly entered the doorway marking the entrance to the humble interior, tables and chairs were overturned and red covered the wooden planks of the floor.
The flame Hashira swerved around a corner and into another room, discovering the corpses of two people, the sight was grisly, and it was always a solemn occasion to see fellow comrades fallen in front of you, especially their young proteges, that was most devastating of all.
"I couldn't reach you in time, I'm sorry." The man's expression was complex and weighty, his usually cheery demeanour sunk. He stared down at Jigoro Kuwajima and a student covered in a blood stained yellow and white cloak. If he remembered correctly, his name was Zenitsu. What was struck the Hashira as odd however was the presence of sword marks all over their bodies, this wasn't a simple demon attack, it involved a demon capable of using breathing styles.
He remained vigilant, now drawing his katana in preparation for a sudden assault, however what caught him off guard was a plea for help echoing through the house.
"Please, is anyone there?" A voice mustered the courage to speak up, it was weak and pitiful, every word that came out was coated in pure fear.
"I'm the Flame Hashira, I'm here to help!" He called out, putting on a mask of cheeriness in such a heavy situation to make the person feel at ease.
The Hashira quickly approached the source of the noise, opening the door with his Katana still drawn, though sliding it back into his scabbard when he caught sight of the young man before him. He cowered in the corner, in demon slayer attire, with clumped and messy black hair, as well as an interesting set of earrings on either side of his face.
"Kaigaku, are you okay?" He recognised the other student under the former thunder Hashira.
"That demon... it killed... everyone.." He shuddered as he spoke.
"We need to get you back to headquarters." The flame Hashira reassured him.