The ultimate hollow shell

When Xia Xia heard the words "great success," he felt that faint sense of being watched disappear.

In its place came the cruelty, nastiness, baseness, and indifference he had been born with.

Those pitch-black impulses crowded around him.

They became his soul once more.

A sinful soul, black as crude oil, slowly burning in the darkness, unrepentant even in death.

Once again, he became that powerscaling lunatic who wanted nothing but DPS, handed full control of his brain to Rabbit Head, rejected love and emotion, and craved blood and battle. Once again, he became the original madman who had volunteered to enter Jujutsu Kaisen just to challenge Sukuna and achieve powerscaling perfection.

On second thought, he hadn't volunteered. He had been volunteered.

Truck-kun still had the final say.

Enough of the boring stuff. It was time for some delightful unboxing-what did a great success mean?

[Obtained: "Innate Cursed Technique • Azure Soul Life Theft"]

[Effect 1: "Azure Soul Artisan." You can turn targets you personally kill into Cursed Tools bearing their traits. Their forms are unrestricted. Cursed Tools made this way can be stored in your shadow.]

[Effect 2: "Exorcist." When objects imbued with your cursed energy, or objects connected to your flesh and blood, damage an enemy, they disrupt that enemy's cursed energy circulation. In severe cases, they may even destroy the enemy's cursed energy core, rendering them unable to use cursed energy.]

[Effect 3: "Life-Stealing Master." Individuals you injure will permanently lose a portion of their knowledge and power. The amount you obtain depends on how strongly they fear you-there is no limit on the number of activations, and the effects stack. Eventually, the target will become an empty being. Once the target has lost all value and nothing remains to plunder, any attack from you can shatter their soul and kill them.]

[Effect 4: "Declarer." If your understanding of an individual exceeds their understanding of themselves, all your attacks against them inflict additional soul damage that ignores defenses. If you understand an individual completely, you will directly obtain enough power to kill and destroy them.]

[Obtained: "Domain Expansion • Midu All-Works Body"]

[Effect 1: "Open Domain." All targets you look at count as individuals within your domain. After Domain Expansion, the maximum targeting range is determined by your total cursed energy.]

[Effect 2: "Midu." Hostile individuals entering the domain will randomly receive one of the following negative emotional states: [Self-destruction], [Agony], or [Bewilderment]. They will continuously suffer soul damage. This effect cannot be interrupted while the domain remains active.]

[Effect 3: "Sure-hit." The souls of individuals entering the domain will be marked. Every attack you make will automatically lock on, leaving the target no way to evade it.]

[Effect 4: "All-Works Body." The souls of all living things have equal value-you can injure yourself, then avoid the pain of that injury during Domain Expansion and transfer the damage to any hostile individual within the domain.]

[Effect 5: Targets who die within the domain are stripped of all their cursed energy to replenish yours. Their knowledge and memories will also become a "Special Creation • Book of the Dead" for you to read.]

"Perfect."

Not only had he avoided a nerf, he had received an epic buff.

I told you people who suppress combat power don't live long. A lunatic's combat strength depends on his hunger for domination and victory, not the timid, step-by-step slog ordinary people call cultivation.

The new Cursed Technique had removed the pointless blade forging and intelligence gathering. Xia Xia finally had it good: soul attacks, an open sure-hit domain, and Hidan-style damage sharing.

This Cursed Technique particularly emphasized Xia Xia's true nature: his greedy plundering of knowledge and power, his vicious delight in terrifying his enemies, and his dreadful yearning for mutual destruction.

It had been developed entirely around him.

It was an Innate Cursed Technique that truly belonged to him, genuinely meant for combat-the only problem was that his future battles might feature a little more red...

No matter. Let my opponent and me both erupt in flying flesh and blood.

Blood, slaughter, more fear and death.

These were the things he loved.

Whether or not a crimson god watched him, this hunger for victory and glory would forge the inimitable essence of the man named Xia Xia.

Then what was the price?

If it's not a Cursed Technique I like, I'll just fuse it.

If it's not an emotion I like, I'll just sacrifice it.

He was still that hollow monster.

"Let's leave Special Simulations aside for now. Let me enter a normal simulation and say hello to my dear little brother Yuji-I want to see him."

With those words, Xia Xia opened the simulation.

The scene still showed the happy moments after they had sworn brotherhood. The spawn point was still here, still on this day.

The intact hotel, Yuji, Choso.

"Long time no see."

That was what he said.

And then...

[Domain Expansion • Midu All-Works Body!]

"?"

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Yuji and Choso seemed a little bewildered by his action, but in the next instant, the additional effect of Domain Expansion had already taken hold.

[Agony]

Their bodies felt as though they had been thrust into a furnace, while their tearing souls suffered pain beyond what ordinary people could endure. In an instant, the two men who had been laughing and chatting began to scream.

"Don't mind the details. I'm just venting a little frustration. Next time, I'll still be willing to play loving brothers with you."

Smiling, Xia Xia took the blade from his shadow.

"Just kidding. Whether there's a next time depends on my mood. Maybe I'll feel like changing my spawn point."

How did that old saying go again?

If you felt your talent was mediocre and your cultivation was running out of steam, think of your family. Think of your friends and loved ones. They were all willing to help you improve.

No one could stop your rise.

As for the price of becoming strong? A single page in the household register. All right, kid, you could cross the bridge now.

"One slash."

As he spoke, he pointed the blade at Choso.

"Big brother, look on the bright side. Once I'm done, I'll head down to join you and finish this trip. Don't worry, I swore the oath too. We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year."

Xia Xia killed Choso.

At the moment of death, that face still held pain and bewilderment. It had everything except hatred.

Choso was a good big brother.

Unlike Yuji Itadori, he was at least someone Xia Xia couldn't bring himself to dislike. If there was another simulation, he would spare the guy-getting the first-kill reward was enough anyway.

You're next, Yuji.

"Xia Xia, what have you done?"

"Aren't we brothers?"

"Why would you do this?!"

Yuji Itadori demanded answers in anguish and disbelief, the boy's face contorted as tears streamed down it.

Delicious.

Exactly like in the simulation. My dear little brother Yuji, you're still the same brat you were back then, refusing to wake up no matter what.

Everyone has a pathetic kid inside them. But as time passes, the adolescent delusions fade, the kid dies, and all that remains is an empty shell called an adult.

I'm different...

I only want to fight.

"Yuji, I taught you this."

"Instead of asking why like an idiot, find the answer yourself. Pain and blood are the best teachers."

Xia Xia's expression remained calm. His grip on the blade was steady, without a trace of unnecessary emotion.

This was him. This was the complete him!

This is nothing but a game that loops endlessly. Who develops unnecessary feelings for game characters? I only want to debate powerscaling.

Answer me...

"Could Satoru Gojo beat Sukuna in his original body?"

"How strong are restored original-body Sukuna and low-health Megumi-body Sukuna?"

"If low-health Megumi-body Sukuna used reverse cursed technique to repair his body while fighting Kashimo, could his physical defense and attack speed be considered unchanged?"

"Is Sukuna with nineteen fingers plus his mummified body equivalent to twenty-finger Sukuna?"

"Could Hajime Kashimo solo Sendai?"

"Could Yuta Okkotsu kill Brain without Takaba supporting him?"

"Who has higher physical defense, Ryu Ishigori or Culling Game Itadori?"

"How much of his strength did fifteen-finger Sukuna use in his first strike against Ryu Ishigori?"

"Could Tsukumo beat Brain if Tengen didn't screw her over?"

"Could Satoru Gojo win a domain clash with Sukuna if he had the intel?"

"Who's the strongest tyrant, Toji or Maki?"

"If a prepared Toji replaced Maki, could he finish off Sukuna?"

"Who's stronger, Toji or Jogo?"

"Could Hajime Kashimo beat the four disaster curses?"

"Did Mahito surpass Jogo in the end?"

"Does jackpot Hakari reach low-end Special Grade level?"

"Exactly how strong is base Mahoraga?"

"How do you rate the black guy's combat strength?"

"Could Hajime Kashimo beat Mahoraga?"

"Could Okkotsu beat Mahoraga?"

"Could Toji beat Mahoraga?"

"Could Brain beat Mahoraga?"

"Could Tsukumo beat Mahoraga?"

"Who's faster, Naobito Zenin or Toji?"

"Who's stronger, cult-leader Geto or Toji?"

"Does Geto have Special Grade-level strength?"

"Is rating combat strength in Sukuna's Fingers biased because it ignores matchups?"

"Do Dabura and sixty-eight-year-old Itadori only have impressive showings because of the artist's style?"

"Could Dabura beat fifteen-finger Sukuna? What about twenty-finger Sukuna?"

"Are flower Mahoraga and Megumi's Mahoraga on the same tier?"

"Is sixty-eight-year-old Itadori really a whole tier above Gojo and Sukuna, or is that just powerscalers talking without any feats?"

"Could sixty-eight-year-old Itadori beat Gojo and Sukuna together?"

"What are you talking about?"

Yuji Itadori's face was filled with bewilderment.

"I said..."

"Forgive me, Yuji Itadori."

"This is the last time."

Laughing wildly, Xia Xia pressed two fingers against Yuji Itadori's forehead. Just like before, he gently stroked the boy's face, so tenderly... or was it?

Then he applied a little pressure.

His cursed-energy-infused fingers pierced Yuji's skull and burrowed into his brain.

"How ugly, Yuji."

He gave Sukuna no chance to take over the Yuji Itadori account. The instant Sukuna took control, Xia Xia summoned a Demon Blade and slit his own throat.

"We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year."

"Safe travels, Yuji."

"I'll be waiting for you in hell."

He died.