Eating Avatar Soft Rice Starting from Jujutsu Kaisen

Chapter 21: Power of Withering, Black Seele's Might

RUMBLE—!!!

Invisible slashes were unleashed from Sukuna's hands, leaving massive cut marks on the ground, walls, and buildings along their path as they tore towards Black Seele with immense force.

However, faced with Sukuna's attack, Black Seele neither dodged nor evaded. She simply couldn't be bothered to. All the slashes, upon contact with the black-red cursed energy overflowing around Black Seele's body within half a meter, vanished without a sound.

This wasn't Quantization; it was a passive effect of the cursed energy imbued with the Power of Withering.

Because the Power of Withering possessed the ability to decompose, as long as Black Seele willed it, anything that touched the Power of Withering, whether it was an object or energy, would be instantly and completely erased. Thus, when facing Cursed Technique attacks like Sukuna's slashes, Black Seele only needed to rely on the cursed energy swirling around her body, infused with the Power of Withering, to effortlessly cause her opponent's attacks to disintegrate.

After all, in this world of Cursed Energy, regardless of the effect a Cursed Technique displayed, its underlying logic was inevitably dependent on the flow of cursed energy. Once the cursed energy operating the Cursed Technique disappeared, the technique naturally became a paper tiger. Defensive Cursed Techniques would directly lose their effectiveness against the Power of Withering, while offensive Cursed Techniques would be utterly incapable of breaching Black Seele's cursed energy defenses on her body's surface.

One could say that in this world, the Power of Withering was an even more insurmountable ability than Seele's Quantization. After all, the authority of the Herrscher of Life and Death was of a higher magnitude than Quantization. Except for a slight disadvantage in mobility, the Power of Withering was more unfair in both offense and defense compared to Quantization, especially when the opponent's strength was inferior to one's own.

"The slashes... disappeared?"

Watching the slashes vanish before Black Seele, Sukuna inwardly speculated.

"Is it some kind of defensive Cursed Technique? One that can negate attacks?"

The slashes disappeared the instant they made contact with the opponent's cursed energy. Could it be that the power of a single attack wasn't enough, and it required a concerted effort to break through?

"Well, whatever. I'll find out how it works if I try a few more times."

"Don't die so easily, you need to try harder!"

A hint of arrogant laughter touched Sukuna's lips as he flashed forward, charging towards Black Seele at extreme speed.

"Can you still withstand slashes at this range?"

His body carrying gusts of wind, Sukuna arrived before Black Seele, raising his hand to unleash a slash at point-blank range.

However, the moment his right hand swung out, Sukuna's eyes changed.

If the previous slashes were negated by some ability upon contact with the opponent's cursed energy, then this time, Sukuna's slash vanished even before it could be unleashed.

Because, the instant it touched the black-red cursed energy, Sukuna's entire right arm, along with the slash that hadn't even been released, silently dissolved.

Without the slightest sound, neither his own slash nor his entire right arm could stir even a ripple in the face of that black-red cursed energy. It was as if a drawing on a canvas had been erased, the speed so fast that Sukuna didn't even register it, his body instinctively maintaining the pose after unleashing the slash.

"Heh."

Being passively beaten was clearly not Black Seele's style. Thus, seeing Sukuna charge towards her as if walking into a trap, Black Seele's thoughts stirred, and a black-red tendril formed from cursed energy violently lashed out at him.

WHAM!

Completely unable to dodge, Sukuna's body was sent flying by the tendril, crashing into the ground below and creating a large crater.

"You... damn it!"

Feeling the pain in his body, Sukuna savagely climbed up from the ground.

Good news: the opponent's attack didn't carry that strange ability. Apart from his right arm, the rest of his body hadn't disappeared due to the previous attack.

Bad news: after taking one of the opponent's attacks, Sukuna found that his cursed energy had been reduced by nearly half in an instant.

Keep in mind, he was Sukuna. Even with only the strength of three fingers, the cursed energy he could wield was more than ten times that of an ordinary Special Grade cursed spirit.

Yet, with just one attack, the opponent's strange ability had depleted more than half of his cursed energy. If he were to be hit a few more times, even he would likely be in a predicament of depleted cursed energy, left to be slaughtered.

Therefore, he absolutely could not afford to be hit by the opponent's attacks again, nor could he get close to her.

Regenerating his lost right arm, Sukuna chose to retreat immediately, creating distance.

"You were acting so arrogant just now, and now you don't even dare to get close?"

Seeing Sukuna choose to distance himself, Black Seele's lips curled into an even colder smile as she spoke indifferently.

"If it weren't for the need to avoid obliterating the original host of this body as well, you would have died from that last blow. Be grateful, King of Curses, you narrowly escaped with your life."

"Hmph, a curse like you being tamed to be so obedient, I'm honestly a little curious. Besides... do you really think you've won just like this?"

Without attempting any further probing, Sukuna chose to go all out this time.

Dozens, hundreds of slashes were swung at Black Seele from all directions, from every angle and every direction. However, without exception, these slashes disappeared upon contact with the cursed energy overflowing around Black Seele's body.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Several black-red tendrils condensed from cursed energy erupted from the ground, lashing out at Sukuna, forcing him to abandon his offensive and focus entirely on dodging the tendrils.

Considering that his cursed energy had been reduced by more than half just from brief contact with these tendrils, Sukuna dared not even entertain the thought of touching them. His body twisted and turned amidst the attacks of the tendrils, barely managing to hold on.

However, in the next second, Black Seele's figure instantly appeared before Sukuna. A black-red claw materialized out of thin air, slamming him onto the ground.

RUMBLE—!!!

The power of this strike was so immense that the entire Reform School's structure seemed to shake. Sukuna below felt his entire body wailing in agony.

But it wasn't over yet. As the black-red claw disappeared, the tendrils conjured by Black Seele began to attack Sukuna in turns. Each time he was hit, Sukuna could feel his cursed energy plummeting by a large margin.

"Damn you!"

Realizing that he would truly lose if this continued, Sukuna disregarded everything else. While he still had residual cursed energy within him, he forcefully adopted a posture.

"Let me show you what true curses are..."

"Domain Expansion: Fukuma Mizushi!"

Chapter 22: Sukuna's Stubbornness and the Mana Deposit

A crimson shrine erupted from the ground, instantly changing the surrounding scenery.

Seizing this opportunity, Sukuna broke free from Black Seele's attack.

Domain Expansion grants the user's Cursed Technique "sure hit" and can amplify the technique's power using the environment.

Furthermore, Domains have another effect: they can neutralize the opponent's cursed energy.

In the original story, when facing Gojo Satoru for the first time, the Leaking Pot used this technique, neutralizing Gojo Satoru's standard Infinity technique through Domain Expansion. This allowed its own attacks to penetrate the defense of Infinity, and in the Shibuya Incident, it used a Domain Extension with the same principle to counter Gojo Satoru's Infinity.

Now, Sukuna clearly had the same idea.

Since the opponent's bizarre ability couldn't be breached by normal means, why not neutralize it with a Domain? This would break through that cursed energy defense, and with the opponent trapped within his own Domain, he could easily unleash stronger slashes to put them to death.

With this thought, Sukuna maliciously raised his head to look at Black Seele not far away, expecting to see an expression of shock or panic on her face.

Unfortunately, faced with Sukuna's Domain Expansion, Black Seele showed no panic at all. Instead, a look of either pity or mockery appeared on her face.

"Is this your final struggle?"

"What do you mean?"

Logically speaking, with the opponent's strength, she should have sensed the danger of the Domain. The best response to a Domain was to activate her own Domain, causing the effects of both Domains to cancel each other out.

Yet, the cursed spirit before him made no move, showing no regard for Sukuna, who had activated his Domain.

This reaction didn't please Sukuna. Instead, it made him uneasy. After all, the strength she had previously displayed was not fake. Without activating his Domain, his current strength offered absolutely no resistance against her.

How could someone like her not know about Domains, not understand their dangers?

"What do I mean? You don't actually think you can defeat me with just a Domain, do you? Since you're so confident in your Domain, why don't you take a closer look at its current state?"

Its current state?

Hearing Black Seele's reply, Sukuna instinctively sensed his Domain, and then all four of his eyes widened abruptly.

Because, as Sukuna perceived it, a completely blank area, removed from his control, had appeared within his Domain at some unknown time.

Moreover, this area was continuously expanding. Upon closer inspection, it was the black and red cursed energy that had previously enveloped the opponent's body, now spreading relentlessly within his own Domain.

Any area covered by that deathly black and red cursed energy instantly vanished from his perception.

Could this be the opponent's Domain?

No, that wasn't right. Based on Sukuna's experience, this was clearly not a Domain. Combining it with his previous encounter, it was evident that this was merely the effect of her Cursed Technique.

However, Sukuna had only ever heard of Domains neutralizing Cursed Techniques. He had never heard of a Cursed Technique that could, in turn, annihilate a Domain!

"Eight!"

Realizing he couldn't let her continue to erode his Domain, Sukuna immediately gathered nearly all of his remaining cursed energy and unleashed the strongest attack he could currently muster.

Swish!

An invisible, colossal slash spanned the entire Domain, instantly reaching Black Seele.

Unfortunately, this ultimate attack, imbued with Sukuna's last reserves of cursed energy and hope, resulted in no different outcome than his previous slashes. The moment it touched that black and red cursed energy, it silently disappeared.

Could such a terrifying Cursed Technique truly exist in this world?

Sukuna fell silent.

At this moment, for the first time, he felt as though he was falling behind the times.

Compared to the incredibly powerful Cursed Technique before him, his own, once foolproof, slashing technique seemed almost too simplistic.

No, it had to be because his strength wasn't at its peak. If he had all twenty fingers, this cursed spirit before him would certainly not be his opponent!

Holding onto this thought, Sukuna stopped resisting, allowing the encroaching black and red cursed energy to engulf him.

His consciousness was fading. Was that little brat about to emerge?

No, it was simply that under the shroud of her cursed energy, his consciousness was struggling to hold on and was about to fall into dormancy.

Unable to mobilize even a sliver of cursed energy, all his bodily functions ground to a halt. Once enveloped by this bizarre cursed energy, even the strongest cursed spirit or sorcerer would likely find themselves utterly helpless.

No, judging by his body's instantaneous disappearance when he'd touched her cursed energy earlier, ordinary sorcerers would probably be reduced to mere dust and bones if caught within this strange cursed energy's embrace.

What a terrifying ability, it was almost like the embodiment of pure death itself.

"I'll count this as a win for now, lucky cursed spirit. You'd better pray that when I fully reclaim my power and take over this brat's body, you'll still be this lucky."

The black patterns receded from his skin, and Yuji Itadori's body collapsed onto the ground.

Facing Sukuna, who had offered one last stubborn remark before exiting, Black Seele shook her head listlessly and withdrew her cursed energy.

"Sukuna with the strength of only three fingers is far weaker than I imagined."

Black Seele hadn't enjoyed this battle at all and had been holding back throughout the entire process. Under the condition of it being a mere spar, where she couldn't deliver a killing blow, the terrifying nature of the Power of Withering had not even been displayed to a tenth of its extent.

"There's nothing that can be done. Sukuna with the strength of three fingers might not even be able to defeat the Leaking Pot, and the Leaking Pot, who was set up to have the strength of eight to nine fingers, was slaughtered by Gojo Satoru and Sukuna with fifteen fingers. If I really wanted to have a satisfying fight, I guess only Sukuna with twenty fingers or Gojo Satoru at full power would suffice?"

Seeing that the battle on this side had concluded, An Xiu and Seele from a distance arrived beside Black Seele.

After gently comforting Black Seele, An Xiu looked at Yuji Itadori, who lay on the ground without any signs of waking up, and turned to Seele beside him.

"Seele, could you heal him?"

Even though Black Seele had consistently limited the Power of Withering's strength during the fight and immediately recalled all of it after it ended, Itadori Yuji, who had been enveloped by the Power of Withering for a time, was still in a precarious condition.

If left untreated, the healing methods of the cursed energy world would likely be insufficient to cure Itadori Yuji in his current state. After all, a small amount of the Power of Withering still lingered within him. Without Black Seele's restraint, this residual power alone would be enough to make Itadori Yuji instantly evaporate.

"I understand, An Xiu-ge."

White cursed energy gathered in his hands, and the life-filled Power of Creation was spread across Itadori Yuji's body, dispelling the residual Power of Withering and rapidly restoring his body.

Beside him, An Xiu heard a system notification.

"Ding! Detected Seele defeating Ryomen Sukuna for the host. Reward: 5000 points."

Chapter 23: System Mall Refreshed, New Avatars Materialize

"Ding! Detected Seele defeating Ryomen Sukuna for the host. Reward: 5000 points."

Hearing the system notification, An Xiu's face broke into a satisfied smile.

Just as Ryomen Sukuna had said in the original story, each Sukuna's finger contained an independent consciousness avatar of Ryomen Sukuna, so each finger could independently trigger a system reward.

Previously, when Seele defeated one Sukuna's finger, it triggered a reward. This time, Black Seele defeated three Sukuna's fingers, triggering another reward.

2500 points per finger, a total of 7500 points for three fingers.

"Wait, something seems off. Why didn't defeating that Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit trigger a reward?"

Suddenly, An Xiu realized something was wrong. During the Reform School incident, besides Ryomen Sukuna, Seele had also defeated a Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit. Why didn't defeating that Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit trigger a system reward?

"Ding, because that Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit was itself spawned by the power of Sukuna's fingers, it is considered part of the same reward as the Sukuna's fingers themselves."

The system's answer reached An Xiu's ears.

"Cursed spirits spawned by Sukuna's fingers share a reward with the Sukuna's fingers themselves?"