Late at night.
Megumi Fushiguro rushed to the hospital, his face tense.
Not long ago, he had received a call from his stepsister, Tsumiki Fushiguro.
On the phone, Tsumiki had sounded panicked and frightened. She said that some kind of monster seemed to be watching her near the hospital, and she was terrified.
Megumi's heart tightened when he heard that.
Because he could vaguely hear the roar of a cursed spirit from the other end of the call!
Realizing that his stepsister had been targeted by a cursed spirit, Megumi did not have time to think. He immediately rushed toward the hospital.
Yet when Megumi arrived at the hospital, he noticed something strange.
It was quiet here. It did not seem like there were any cursed spirits around.
Following his memories, Megumi hurried toward Tsumiki's hospital room. The moment he entered, he saw his stepsister standing alone before the window.
He called out softly, testing the waters.
"Tsumiki?"
Hearing his voice behind her, Tsumiki slowly turned around.
"You're here, Megumi."
Seeing that his sister was completely unharmed, Megumi looked her over in confusion.
"...Sis, what is this?"
Tsumiki revealed an awkward smile.
Lowering her head, she said, "Sorry, I lied to you. I wasn't actually in danger. I called you here because there's something I wanted to tell you in person."
Megumi heaved a sigh of relief, though his face showed some helplessness.
"You could've just told me over the phone. Did you really have to call me all the way here?"
Megumi sounded somewhat impatient right now, but he did not mean it that way.
He simply did not know how to get along with his sister. His words came out a little cold, as though he were in a rebellious phase.
Tsumiki smiled at Megumi.
"Megumi, actually, I... am no longer your sister."
Megumi froze on the spot. Cold sweat instantly slid down his forehead.
"W-What are you talking about? What do you mean you're not my sister?"
Looking at Megumi, who seemed unwilling to accept reality, Tsumiki—no, Yorozu—looked at him with a hint of pity.
"Oh, you. You've probably already guessed the reason, haven't you? You just don't want to accept reality? How cute."
Megumi refused to accept it. He shouted:
"Who are you?"
"Me?" Yorozu pointed at herself. "My name is Yorozu. Maybe some old-timers from back then might still remember me."
Listening to the mocking voice coming from that familiar face, Megumi finally accepted it.
The person before him, who looked exactly like his sister, was not Tsumiki Fushiguro at all!
Like the reincarnated players in the Culling Game, she was an ancient sorcerer!
Megumi looked at Yorozu in despair.
"Why? Why did you lie to me when you woke up during the day?"
Yorozu tilted her head and thought for a moment.
"Hmm, yeah. Why was that?"
She looked at Megumi with a smile.
"Because I thought you were too boring. I didn't want to keep playing with you."
The instant those words fell, Megumi stood there completely frozen in despair.
However, right then, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.
"Who's there?!"
Before Megumi could react, he felt a powerful hand seize his jaw.
The next moment, something was forcibly shoved into his mouth.
Then Megumi felt his consciousness slowly fading away.
In the instant before he completely lost consciousness, he saw who had attacked him.
Though that face was different from the one in his memories, the distinctive markings on it made him recognize the person at once.
"Sukuna... why are you here? What happened to Yuji Itadori...?"
Unfortunately, Megumi received no answer to his questions.
Before that, his consciousness had already vanished completely!
Megumi's body trembled, and then Sukuna's distinctive tattoos began to emerge across his face.
Several seconds later, he raised his head again.
"Hahahaha! This is the body I wanted!"
At last, Sukuna had obtained the body he wanted.
Meanwhile, Jie Jian's body began to tremble.
Jie Jian was deeply confused.
He had thought that this challenge journey would end after Sukuna forced one of his fingers down his throat.
But when his consciousness began to sink into sleep, he did not return to that familiar System Space.
He felt as if he had fallen into an endless black void. He could vaguely hear sounds coming from outside, but he could not move at all.
Suddenly, he felt as though he could move his body again!
Jie Jian struggled to control his body. The next moment, he felt like his body had returned to him.
He abruptly opened his eyes and gasped for air.
"Hey! Sukuna's stuff was nasty as hell. That thing he made me eat nearly made me puke."
Jie Jian thought he had returned to the System Space, so he complained without thinking.
Just as he wondered why the system's challenge settlement notification had not appeared yet, he suddenly realized that something about his surroundings was off!
The System Space was supposed to be bright. Why was it pitch-black here?
Jie Jian raised his head in confusion and discovered several figures standing around him.
"Yo, you're awake. How are you feeling?"
The one greeting him was Kenjaku. Of everyone present, only Kenjaku was willing to greet Jie Jian.
Jie Jian was not in the mood to answer. He looked to his right and saw someone staring down at him from above.
Though Jie Jian had never seen this face before, he recognized the distinctive tattoos on it at a glance.
Wasn't this Sukuna?!
Sukuna narrowed his eyes at Jie Jian, and there seemed to be danger in his gaze.
Jie Jian remembered that he had apparently slapped Sukuna hard across the face. He gave an awkward smile.
"Heh, can we make peace?"
Sukuna answered Jie Jian with a swift slash.
Sukuna had always answered people who disrespected him with overwhelming force.
"Hey! Fresh account, don't do this!"
Jie Jian could not defend himself at all. After shouting that one line, he could only suffer a regretful defeat.
And so, before Jie Jian could even figure out what had happened,
his challenge journey officially came to an end.
System Space.
Jie Jian shook his head as he rose to his feet in the space.
The feeling of a slash passing through his body was quite strange. It was very different from dying with a splat.
Even at the end, he had not figured out what exactly had happened.
How had he gone from being controlled by Sukuna on the streets of Tokyo to ending up somewhere that looked like a hospital?
Just as he was full of confusion, his all-purpose system gave him the answer.
"The host's body was taken over by Sukuna. Afterward, Sukuna used your body to go to the hospital, called Megumi Fushiguro out through Tsumiki Fushiguro, and switched into Megumi Fushiguro's body again through a sneak attack."
"Oh!"
Jie Jian nodded in sudden realization. So that was how the story had unfolded.
Sukuna really was something else. What was the point of switching bodies? He could have just used Jie Jian's body to fight Satoru Gojo.
Maybe when Sukuna got beaten to death later, Jie Jian could even get an assist.
While Jie Jian was letting his imagination run wild, the system's settlement began.
"This challenge has ended. Settlement is now in progress... Settling..."
Jie Jian's attention was immediately drawn to the system's voice, and he began rubbing his hands together eagerly.
"What reward am I getting this time? I fought Sukuna, after all. The reward should be pretty generous, right?"
Though the great battle Jie Jian spoke of was merely slapping Sukuna across the face while Sukuna was unable to free up his hands,
he had still genuinely landed an attack on him.
However, when he saw the reward list, Jie Jian was dumbfounded.
It was not because there were too few rewards, but because there were too many!
There were so many rewards that he could not even finish reading them!
Failures: 11 Cause of death: Killed by a slash while fighting Sukuna Evaluation: What a shame. The enemy was one hit from defeat—you almost won. Rewards: Massive increase in cursed energy, major increase in cursed energy control techniques, major increase in combat techniques, major increase in durability, Cursed Technique: Undying Thunder, Skill: Reverse Cursed Technique
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