When Little Fox woke again, it was already the following morning.
The aroma of food filled the air. It lifted its little nose and sniffed, slowly opening its eyes as its big, soft, snow-white tail swayed lazily behind it.
"Awake! It's awake! Young Master, Little Fox is awake!"
Uraume's familiar, delighted shout rang beside its ears, while a gentle, composed "Mm" came from its Young Master overhead.
It shook its still somewhat muddled head, smacked its lips twice, and then-
The horrifying scene from before it passed out surfaced in its memory. It quickly looked up at its beautiful Young Master-and discovered, to its horror, that the terrifying mask was still there!
Little Fox shot out of Sukuna's arms in a flash, darting more than two meters away-
It stared in terror at... its no-longer-beautiful Young Master, then shrank back another step.
Uraume: "...???"
Sukuna: "..."
Sukuna stared at Little Fox, thoughtfully covering his mouth. He felt as though he was beginning to understand something.
His Little Fox... had been frightened by the mask formed from the Fallen's cursed energy?
That day, to gain more power for his revenge, he had absorbed a vast amount of cursed energy from the Fallen, which had also accelerated its encroachment on him.
Although he had used the power obtained from Little Fox to suppress the Fallen and ultimately kept his body from being taken over, some of the Fallen's outward traits had still manifested.
It was only an extra mask. It had barely affected his life, and he did not care about it. He simply had not expected Little Fox to react so strongly upon seeing it...
He couldn't frighten Little Fox.
After a moment's thought, he closed his eyes, mobilizing the cursed energy within him to suppress the Fallen's power little by