Sukuna Was Stiff Because He Was Dead

The next moment, all the scenes from the past around them vanished, and Sukuna returned to the appearance he had before being pulled into the domain.

Itadori raised a hand toward Sukuna without preamble:

"Dismantle!"

A cutting-line marker resembling "cut along this line" abruptly appeared on Sukuna's arm.

With the muffled sound of a blade cutting into flesh, Sukuna lost another arm.

With the efficiency of his Reverse Cursed Technique reduced to an extremely low level, he had no way to heal the arm Shiratori Gotsu had severed earlier.

In other words, Sukuna's advantage of having an extra pair of arms had now been completely erased.

That's... my Cursed Technique! Just as I thought, the brat can use it!

Before the final battle began, Uraume had asked Sukuna a question:

"Who exactly is Yuji Itadori?"

"He's Kenjaku's child," Sukuna replied casually. "Though I don't know which body Kenjaku used to give birth to him."

"But what I can say for certain is that the one Kenjaku chose was probably the reincarnated soul of my 'brother' or something like that."

"Perhaps because my mother was starving at the time, even I 'swallowed' my other half in her womb."

Uraume looked thoughtful. "Your other half, Lord Sukuna..."

Resting his face on one hand, Sukuna yawned:

"I rejected my fate of being born a twin. That guy's soul probably went through reincarnation before pairing up with Kenjaku."

"So that's how it was..."

Uraume frowned slightly, an indescribable feeling stirring inside:

Then doesn't that mean... Yuji Itadori has the same potential as Lord Sukuna...?

After his arm was severed, Sukuna quickly formed Hollow Wicker Basket.

Although he no longer had a second pair of hands to maintain its output with a continuous hand sign, he only needed to form the next one the instant the previous one broke.

But what Sukuna hadn't expected was...

Itadori currently possessed two different Cursed Techniques.

The first was Malevolent Shrine, the technique he had just displayed. It had been etched into him as Ryomen Sukuna's Incarnated Vessel and awakened by Black Flash.

The second was Blood Manipulation, which had been etched into him when he absorbed the fourth through ninth Cursed Womb: Death Paintings before his pre-battle training.

The Malevolent Shrine imbued in the domain's barrier would be neutralized by Hollow Wicker Basket because it carried a sure-hit effect.

But Blood Manipulation had no sure-hit effect!

"Blood Manipulation: Crimson Binding!"

Several threads of blood shot from Itadori's fingertips, binding Sukuna in an instant.

Although this was child's play for Sukuna, it was enough to buy time.

But Megumi Fushiguro, inside Sukuna's body, clearly didn't think that was enough.

Shadows abruptly appeared beneath Sukuna's feet once more, further restricting his movements.

"Blood Manipulation: Convergence!"

Seeing this, Itadori immediately pressed his palms together and pointed them at Sukuna. A large amount of blood flowed between his fingers and gathered in his palms. After a brief charge, it shot from his fingertips toward Sukuna.

"Piercing Blood!"

The extremely compressed, high-speed thread of blood pierced the right shoulder in the blink of an eye.

After landing the hit, Itadori immediately charged at Sukuna at full speed and threw a heavy punch at his face.

"Don't get carried away, brat!"

Sukuna broke free of the shadows and Crimson Binding, immediately punching back.

"You're the one getting carried away, Sukuna!"

Because of Megumi Fushiguro's desperate resistance, compounded by the damage to his soul, Sukuna's Cursed Energy output was now severely weakened.

His feeble counterattack posed no real threat to Itadori.

Itadori's heavy punch, on the other hand, sent him staggering.

But after taking the heavy blow, Sukuna didn't retreat.

He reached out and grabbed the back of Itadori's head, and Itadori did the same the next moment.

In the following second, both of them began furiously pummeling each other in the face.

But in this battle of attrition, Sukuna was clearly at a complete disadvantage.

After taking a dozen or so punches, Hollow Wicker Basket began to crack.

This is bad...

Sukuna's expression grew grim.

Looks like I have no choice but to...

"I make a Binding Vow to permanently reduce my Cursed Energy output by five percent from now on, in exchange for restoring the efficiency of my Reverse Cursed Technique within five seconds!"

The next moment, several slash wounds appeared on Itadori's face.

Sukuna's Cursed Technique... has recovered? Did he use Reverse Cursed Technique to repair the burnout...?

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"

Next, a somewhat familiar scene played out before Sukuna's eyes once more.

The instant Sukuna shouted Domain Expansion, Itadori's domain barrier shattered.

This is bad...!

Having already been caught by the same trick once by Okkotsu, Sukuna immediately realized what was happening. But clearly, it was already too late.

Hana Kurusu, who had long been ready, attacked Sukuna the moment the barrier shattered:

"O light, light that purifies all..."

"Please extinguish sin, wrongdoing, and sorrow..."

"Guide that person!"

"Maximum output! Jacob's Ladder!"

The instant the holy pillar of light descended, Sukuna let out a howl of agony.

His body also began to twist.

"Megumi..."

Kurusu glared furiously at Sukuna in the center of the pillar of light:

"Give Megumi back to us!"

Under the light of Jacob's Ladder, Itadori also threw one final punch into Sukuna's abdomen:

"Black Flash!!!"

The ninth Black Flash resounded across the battlefield in Shinjuku.

With everyone's eyes upon them, Sukuna's Finger finally separated completely from Megumi Fushiguro's body!

The huge, twisted monster formed from the fused finger roared with unwillingness and tried to return to Megumi Fushiguro's body despite the pillar of light from Jacob's Ladder bearing down on him.

But all that awaited him was a body steadily being annihilated beneath the light and the ever-closer end of his life.

Before he completely vanished, he had already become a "Sukuna clump." He turned his head unwillingly toward the brat who had brought him to this end.

"What are you going to do now?"

Itadori bent down and cupped the "Sukuna clump," which was slowly turning to ash, in his hands.

"Sukuna... you're me."

"When you're born carrying a curse with no choice in the matter, what kind of monster you become comes down to luck."

"But I had Grandpa and my friends..."

"Sukuna, come back inside me and start over... Not to curse others anymore, but to live alongside them..."

At the end of his life, Sukuna finally had a conversation with Itadori as equals.

"To take your foolishness this far, even I have to admire you a little..."

"Yuji Itadori, don't underestimate me..."

"I am... a curse!"

As his words fell, Sukuna vanished completely in Itadori's hands under the radiance of Jacob's Ladder.

The soul passage.

This was the place the souls of the dead had to pass through on their way to reincarnation.

Uraume was already here, and had been waiting for a long time.

"Uraume, you're still here."

Sukuna gave a somewhat strange, gentle smile that seemed as though it didn't belong on his face.

"Lord Sukuna... you..."

"That's right. I lost to them."

"The only reason you lost was because you were an Incarnated Vessel, Lord Sukuna..."

"None of that matters anymore. Let's go."

"Mm..."

Partway along, however, Sukuna spotted another "acquaintance" who had also lingered here.

"Yo, Sukuna. Didn't expect you to come here first!"

Mahito gazed at Sukuna's face with a carefree look.

"So you're here. Come to think of it, this is our third conversation, isn't it?"

Sukuna gave Mahito a mocking look.

"Maybe it's because my Cursed Technique can interfere with souls. Am I something like residue now? I can stay here on the path souls must take to reincarnation."

"Forget about all that. I've always wanted to ask you, Sukuna."

"You were lying, weren't you?"

Mahito gave Sukuna a mocking look in return:

"You said you were just living by your own principles, but in truth, your life was one long act of revenge, wasn't it?"

"Against the people who despised and bullied you, treating you as an ill omen because you were born deformed."

Sukuna didn't deny it. He merely answered with unexpected frankness:

"It's all the same. I didn't know any other way to live, so that was my principle."

"...No, I did have chances to choose another way of life. At least two opportunities."

The image of his mother's back surfaced in his mind, and he turned his head to glance at Uraume, who stood quietly beside him.

After a pause, he continued:

"But I couldn't hold myself back."

"If I didn't vent the curse churning in my guts, I was afraid that my own curse would burn me to nothing."

"If I get another chance, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to live a different way."

Mahito slammed his hand on the ground, his expression turning somewhat annoyed:

"How boring!"

"Have you actually had your rough edges worn away?!"

"Heh..."

Sukuna took Uraume's hand and walked deeper into the soul passage:

"Isn't that only natural? I lost, after all."

"What the hell!"

Mahito shouted at Sukuna's retreating back:

"Damn it! Doesn't this make me the only one who stayed immature from beginning to end?!"

Sukuna neither looked back nor gave any response.