And so the two raced down the deserted streets. With Sukuna's terrifying face, though, anyone who happened to be awake in the middle of the night was in for a nightmare.
"Now this is the easy life. No wonder everyone wants immortality. Living without ever getting tired feels so good."
Sukuna stretched, raising all four arms toward the sky. For some reason, no hair grew under his arms. Perhaps this body was so fearsome that hair couldn't break through its skin. Yet the unruly mop on his head made it obvious he rarely bothered grooming himself. Only Yorozu could bring herself to kiss him.
"Hahaha! I must've scared the midwife half to death when I was born."
For some reason, he began sifting through memories of his childhood. Although he looked utterly inhuman, he had no memories of those first few days after birth. Still, judging by his innate bloodlust and brutality, he could guess what might have happened to him as a child. Nobody was born a demon.
"Hmm... let me work this out. With a face like mine, I definitely terrified everyone around me when I was born. They probably wanted to drown me."
Sukuna rubbed his chin and began reasoning it out in earnest. There was nothing else to do while traveling anyway, so he might as well learn more about his own origins.
"But I must've had powerful cursed energy even at birth. Otherwise, those self-proclaimed righteous jujutsu sorcerers would never have let me grow this strong. Seems I really was invincible from the moment I was born."
"Wouldn't that mean I could've beaten the shit out of Satoru Gojo if we'd fought at the same age as kids?"
The thought instantly rekindled his excitement. He pulled Kamutoke from the back of his waistband and fired it at the empty street. A powerful electric current tore through the ground in an instant, leaving the stone-paved road in ruins.
In all of Japan during this era, Heian-kyo might have been the only place with stone-paved roads. Everywhere else probably just leveled the dirt enough for an ox cart to pass. After all, the Japanese of this era generally stood only 1.3 meters tall. Only some powerful jujutsu sorcerers exceeded 1.7 meters. Thus, whether curse users or jujutsu sorcerers, they all seemed to tower above those short little monkeys-because they literally did.
"In that case, the first soul whose blood stained my hands might have been my mother."
"Then I must've slaughtered my entire village single-handedly before committing every evil imaginable along the way to earn the reputation I have now. No wonder I hate women and children so much."
"Now I understand why good food makes me happy. I don't even want to imagine what I ate as a kid."
Behind him, Uraume heard Sukuna muttering to himself. Though she could easily make out his words, she chose to ignore them. Unless Sukuna personally gave her an order, she had no interest whatsoever in anything.
She remembered an oblivious jujutsu sorcerer courting her a long time ago. After she cut off his limbs, he became much quieter. At the very least, he never courted her again. By now, the vultures had probably picked him clean, since she had left him out in the wilderness.
"Hahaha!"
A restrained, low laugh suddenly broke the silence of the night, sounding especially jarring.
"You brought me into this world, and I personally sent you to your deaths. What an honor! What an honor! What an honor!"
"As nature's king of the jungle, a tiger has no need for family ties. And you, the so-called Tiger of the West Middle School-what makes you think you can compare to a tiger that walks alone?"
He thought of how, a thousand years later, he would even cut Satoru Gojo in half. Without him, the so-called Tiger of the West Middle School was nothing but useless trash. Did he really think he could kill me with four hundred consecutive Black Flashes? "What a joke!"
Following that arrogant chuckle, Heian-kyo's jujutsu sorcerers finally arrived, late as ever. They had tracked the cursed energy fluctuations from Kamutoke.
Their leader was a short, middle-aged man. Clearly, he was not from a jujutsu family; otherwise, he could not have been only 1.3 meters tall. Two figures carrying katana followed behind him, looking like twin brothers.
"Ryomen Sukuna, why did you leave your shrine platform and release cursed energy in Heian-kyo without permission?"
The short man before him stood 1.3 meters tall, but carried himself as though he were 1.8 meters. The katana-wielding figures behind him did not dare speak, yet he spoke with brazen arrogance and even dared point at the powerful being before him.
"I'm telling you, you'd better go back and behave yourself, or I'll show you the power of Heian-kyo's chief jujutsu sorcerer!" The short man kept jabbing his finger at Sukuna, a flicker of contempt crossing his eyes.
King of Curses, my ass. That's just something people in the backwaters made up. This is the great Heian-kyo. How could we let him run wild here?
Unfortunately, he never bothered using that pig brain of his to consider why the Fujiwara Northern House had evacuated Heian-kyo. He simply assumed that, with them gone, nothing stood in his way anymore.
Sukuna gave him an indifferent glance and held up three fingers. "You have three seconds to run. Otherwise, you'll be cut into three pieces."
"One."
The moment Sukuna uttered the first number, the twin brothers exchanged a glance, turned, and ran. The short, fat man was still boasting, completely oblivious to the empty space behind him. He even drew his dagger, preparing to rush forward and stab Sukuna to death.
"Two."
"How arrogant. Let me put your abilities to the test, then."
In the next instant, a fat corpse was sliced cleanly into three pieces. Two thunderous blasts followed, reducing the fleeing twin brothers to charcoal as well.
"Still too slow. What a shame your parents didn't give you eight legs. If they had, you might've gotten away today."
Without sparing the bodies on the ground another glance, he turned to leave, instantly vanishing with Uraume behind him. Clearly, he had no intention of continuing his stroll.
When the two reappeared, they were in a stretch of wilderness surrounded by mountains. There was only an abandoned village nearby, and some of its houses were not even as tall as Sukuna, who stood nearly three meters high.
"The Japanese of this era really are tiny. No wonder they've always been called island devils. If one of them called out in front of some big, tall fellow in the middle of the night, he could look all around and still not see anyone. Wouldn't he think he'd heard a ghost?"
Uraume carefully surveyed the surrounding terrain before speaking to Sukuna. "My lord, there should be a lake nearby. I can make grilled fish for you tonight."
"Hmm? Grilled fish sounds pretty good. But do you have seasonings? I don't want it plain."
Sukuna looked around but saw no lake. He had no idea how Uraume had discovered it. Perhaps she was especially sensitive to such things because she wielded ice.
"My lord, I carry all the seasonings left over from last time with me."
As the subordinate of a gourmet who fought frequently, Uraume bought plenty of seasonings almost everywhere she went. After all, most of Sukuna's battles took place in the wilderness, and after every major fight, he always liked to indulge in delicious food. Nothing satisfied Sukuna more than battle and fine dining.
Before you continue