A quiet fury burned in Yuta's eyes.
He wasn't someone who got angry easily. No matter how much he was teased, he would usually just laugh it off—the very definition of a pushover.
Even so, there were times when he was truly provoked.
Yuta tightened his grip on his sword, his cursed energy surging wildly around him, stirring the air into turbulent whirlwinds.
A grotesque cursed spirit appeared at his side in response to his call.
Its form was hideous and ferocious, its sharp claws like blades piercing flesh, an overwhelming aura of savagery and brutality radiating from it. A terrifying surge of cursed energy flowed from the spirit, intertwining with Yuta's own.
"Yuta!"
The moment Rika appeared, she coiled protectively around him.
Her eyes locked onto the humanoid curse standing opposite them, her expression tense and wary.
Rika Orimoto, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit born from Yuta Okkotsu's own cursed energy, was a unique existence—a remnant of the original Rika, who had passed on, leaving behind an external technique and a reservoir of cursed energy solely for Yuta.
When connected with Rika, Yuta gained an inexhaustible well of cursed energy and the ability to mimic others' techniques. With this power, he had reclaimed his status as a Special Grade sorcerer in just three months.
But this power came with a significant limitation.
His connection with Rika could only last five minutes.
"Oh? Taming a cursed spirit as a shikigami and even borrowing its cursed energy? That's an interesting approach!"
Sukuna tilted his neck, the joints cracking audibly, as he grinned with amusement.
"Then come—let's see how you plan to take this body back!"
"It's not taming!"
Yuta kicked off the ground, charging at Sukuna with explosive speed.
"We're connected by love!"
A flash of steel.
Yuta coated his blade with cursed energy and slashed diagonally at Sukuna in a kesagiri strike.
"How dull!"
Sukuna caught the incoming blade mid-air and flung it aside effortlessly.
"Romantic love is boring—so bland I wouldn't even consider it a spice for life. Do you really think that love can give you strength?"
"What would a loner like you know?!"
Rika lunged forward right behind Yuta, swiping at Sukuna with her claws.
Without a word, Sukuna ducked, grabbed Rika's arm, and slammed her into the ground with a thunderous suplex. The concrete beneath her shattered from the impact, forcing a pained grunt from her.
Sukuna raised his hand like a blade, poised to stab straight into Rika's heart—when a car came hurtling through the air toward him.
"Let go of Rika-chan!"
Seeing Rika in danger, Yuta had immediately kicked a nearby car at Sukuna to disrupt his attack.
Sukuna released Rika and delivered a powerful kick to the car, sending it flying like a soccer ball. It traced a long arc through the air before crashing into a nearby building, embedding itself so deeply it couldn't be pulled free.
Seizing the moment, Yuta closed the distance in an instant, swinging his sword at Sukuna's chest.
At the same time, Rika broke free from Sukuna's hold and whipped her tail toward him.
"Love does give us strength!"
This was their combined assault!
"Ha!"
Sukuna scoffed in derision.
He took a step back on his own, simultaneously reaching out to grab Rika's tail, pulling it over to use as a shield in front of himself.
Yuta Okkotsu saw Rika's tail blocking the space between him and Sukuna, and his expression instantly changed. He hurriedly pulled back his strength.
Seizing the opportunity, Sukuna kicked out, striking Yuta squarely in the chest and sending him flying backward.
Then, wrapping his arms tightly around Rika's tail, he spun like a windmill for over a dozen rotations before hurling it toward Yuta's position, smashing him and sending him flying once again.
"See? Love is nothing but a burden!"
Sukuna looked down at the pair—human and shikigami—with disdain, his expression full of contempt.
"Huff… huff…"
Yuta struggled to his feet, accidentally aggravating the injury on his chest. A sharp pain shot through him, his face paling in an instant as his breathing grew ragged.
"So strong… Is this the King of Curses, the strongest in history? How many ribs did that kick break?"
He couldn't be sure, but it was definitely more than one or two!
His physique had always been frail—he wasn't the type suited for close combat. It was just that his sheer volume of cursed energy was monstrous, and his output surpassed all others of his generation, which made his hand-to-hand combat performance seem impressive.
"Yuta… this guy… his cursed energy reserves are even greater than ours!"
Rika had also gotten up, hovering protectively around him, her voice trembling with fear.
The current Rika Orimoto was nothing more than an empty shell, her body driven by instinct. Faced with a behemoth like Sukuna, her fear was impossible to suppress.
"It's okay… don't be afraid. I'm here with you."
Yuta forced a pale smile, gently soothing Rika.
Warmed by his reassuring smile, Rika gradually calmed down, raising her claws threateningly at Sukuna.
"Even so… the pressure is far beyond what I imagined!"
Gritting his teeth against the pain in his chest, Yuta used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself, but his mood was grim.
His cursed energy reserves were unparalleled in his generation, even surpassing those of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. Gojo had once said that someone like him might only appear once in centuries.
But who would have thought that Sukuna's cursed energy reserves would surpass even his?
If Yuta was a once-in-a-century prodigy, then Sukuna was a monster that might not appear even in a thousand years!
"At this point, the only thing I can rely on is my technique and Domain… But even though I've gained the ability to mimic others' techniques, I've been training in Africa all this time…"
He had only regained his status as a Special Grade in March, and immediately afterward, Gojo had sent him off to Africa.
He hadn't had the chance to copy many techniques at all!
Moreover, there were conditions to his mimicry—Rika had to consume a fragment of the target's body. The stronger the technique, the more vital the body part required. And if the original user healed that part, the copied technique would vanish.
"What's wrong? Not coming at me?"
Sukuna stood in place, waiting expectantly to see what kind of attack Yuta would use next. The idea of a mimicry technique sounded fascinating, and he was curious.
But after a while, all he saw was the pair standing there warily, lost in thought. Gradually, his patience wore thin.
"If you won't come at me, then I'll come at you!"
With a vicious grin, Sukuna formed a hand seal.
Under the moonlight, the shadow cast on the ground took the form of a bird.
"Nue!"
In the blink of an eye, a massive shadow enveloped the sky above both parties, like a monster descending from the cosmos, obscuring both the moonlight and neon lights.
Yuta snapped his head up in shock, his face filled with horror as he gazed at the sky.
A gigantic owl manifested in the urban landscape.
Standing over twenty meters tall, its enormous wings blotted out the sky, while its jet-black talons reflected a sinister gleam under the moonlight, curved like deadly hooks.
At first glance, the sheer oppressive presence of its colossal size was enough to momentarily paralyze one's heart.
"Crackle! Zap!"
Countless streaks of lightning suddenly flashed from the massive wings of the owl shikigami. In an instant, countless branching, intertwined bolts of thunder descended from Nue's wings, pouring down like a torrential rain upon the human and cursed spirit below.
Yuta's expression changed drastically. He quickly grabbed Rika and leaped backward, evading Nue's web of lightning.
"Unbelievable! That's Nue? In Fushiguro's hands, it was only human-sized, but under Sukuna's control, it's grown so enormous, and its attacks are this terrifying!"
When Megumi summoned Nue, he typically only used it as a flying unit, never utilizing its lightning abilities.
That was because Megumi's cursed energy reserves were too limited—Nue's lightning could at most stun an ordinary person. It rarely worked on cursed spirits, let alone in high-level battles against special-grade threats.
Yet in Sukuna's hands, not only had Nue's size increased dozens of times, but its lightning power had amplified a hundredfold, to the point where even Yuta felt threatened.
The difference in cursed energy could produce such a horrifying result!
"Great Serpent!"
No sooner had they escaped Nue's lightning net than an enormous serpent burst from the shadows of the ground, its gaping maw wide enough to swallow both Yuta and Rika whole as it lunged at them.
"Rabbit Escape!"
Countless rabbit shikigami surged from all directions, encircling Yuta and Rika, cutting off their escape routes and trapping them in the narrow central area.
Yuta's expression darkened further. He didn't want to destroy Megumi's shikigami, but he had no choice now. He swung his blade at the Great Serpent.
"Domain Expansion: Well's Unknown Depths!"
But at the same time, that grating voice rang out again.
The shadow covering the sky vanished abruptly—Sukuna had dismissed Nue.
In the next moment, however, Nue merged with the toad shikigami, transforming into dozens of winged toads that charged at Yuta and Rika. Individually, they weren't strong, but their sheer numbers and ability to fly blocked off even the sky as an escape route.
"So this is the Domain Expansion of the Ten Shadows Technique."
Sukuna watched as the swarm of flying toads, blotting out the sky, surged toward Yuta, nodding slightly in approval.
"I see. I think I understand now."
While ordinary Domain Expansions alter the target of a technique, the Ten Shadows' Domain Expansion fuses different shikigami together. These winged toads were the product of merging Nue and the toad shikigami. This method of use was already ingrained in this body's instincts, allowing Sukuna to master it effortlessly.
Sukuna glanced up slightly, observing Yuta and Rika struggling against the swarm of shikigami, and his face twisted with disappointment.
"To struggle this much against mere shikigami?"
He was weaker than expected!
Too young, after all.
The ability to mimic techniques still requires accumulating more techniques and experience to mature—only then could he barely become a worthy opponent.
"Better finish him quickly... Hm?"
Sukuna surged with cursed energy, about to take action himself.
But suddenly, he saw Yuta and Rika retreat in unison, abandoning their battle with the shikigami.
Then, they charged straight toward him.
Realizing they couldn't handle the shikigami, so they aimed to take down the master first?
But if you can't even deal with the shikigami, how could you possibly stand a chance against the king!
"——Domain Expansion: True and False Love!"
Yuta rushed straight to Sukuna in one breath and, under his calm gaze, formed the hand seal for his domain.
In an instant, the world turned upside down. A massive barrier enveloped all three of them.
"A domain?"
Sukuna didn't move an inch, merely lifting his eyes to survey his surroundings, his tone indifferent.
This was a domain filled with swords.
Countless blades were embedded in the ground, the surroundings dark and devoid of sunlight—like a vast graveyard of swords. A massive intertwined knot encircled the area, symbolizing the domain's breadth, as if transforming the space into a wedding hall.
"Using a domain means there are no more tricks left! If this domain can't win, the only outcome waiting for me is death!"
Yuta's expression was deadly serious, cold sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground beneath him. The immense psychological pressure threatened to crush him.
Rika floated beside him, raising her claws toward Sukuna.
Domain Expansion consumed an enormous amount of cursed energy. Even for Yuta, he could only use it once in a single battle—but in exchange, his domain was incredibly powerful!
His domain, True and False Love, allowed him to select one of his mimicked techniques as the domain's foundational technique. All other copied techniques would manifest as swords embedded in the ground—each blade symbolizing a technique. By drawing one, he could use that technique without limit.
However, until he pulled out those swords, even Yuta himself wouldn't know which technique each blade contained. That was a flaw—but since this was his first time using the domain, as long as he didn't reveal it, no one would know.
"Boring!"