Sukuna's head was splitting. He couldn't believe everything flooding into his mind. He didn't want to believe that what he saw was real, stubbornly thinking it was all an illusion—yet he still clutched his head and spat out the other man's name, word by word.
"Ni... shi... ki... da... Ka... ge... ta... tsu!"
As the last word fell, Sukuna moved. In an instant, he appeared before Nishida Kagetatsu and drove his knee straight at him.
"You bastard! Do you know what you've done?! You damn fool!!"
Nishida Kagetatsu looked at Sukuna's twisted face. Though he couldn't understand what the other was saying or why he could call his name, he still raised his hand to block, his expression unchanged, easily stopping the strike.
"I sealed you away, but I forgot to completely eliminate you. That is a stain on my life. But Sukuna, your appearance is different from what I remember."
Missing his strike, Sukuna spun 360 degrees in the air, showing agile posture, and landed a few meters away.
Megumi Fushiguro, behind Nishida Kagetatsu, looked at Sukuna in disbelief, then at Nishida Kagetatsu, feeling his brain tingle with confusion.
Sukuna, on the opposite side, widened his eyes and glared at the other with vicious intent, wanting to devour his opponent alive and tear his body to pieces!
In the prosperous era of jujutsu in which he had lived, he was no stranger to sorcerers who could alter memories and create illusions, or even establish contact with some enemies and invade their spiritual worlds.
But no matter what, the humiliation brought by the man before him was so deep—how dare he... pretend to be a memory of fighting him, and dare to make himself...
Terrifying!!
Overwhelming humiliation and rage filled Sukuna's heart. Alive or dead, he had never experienced such humiliation. You must know, he was the strongest. The strongest sorcerer!
He was the King of Curses!!
At this moment, the last thread of reason snapped. The King of Curses from a thousand years ago, the strongest man in both ancient and modern times—the rage accumulated over a millennium broke through its bonds. He roared, pouring out his resentment, and recklessly launched a second assault on Nishida Kagetatsu.
"Bastard!! Die!!"
His ten fingers clenched into grotesque claws. The black-red cursed energy erupting from his fingertips condensed into dense slashes across the sky, wrapped in a piercing sound of tearing air, and crushed down upon Nishida Kagetatsu.
The murderous intent, dispersing the curse, penetrated to the bone marrow. Megumi Fushiguro felt a chill to his very core. His consciousness sank into a terrifying illusion under the pressure. He watched himself being torn apart by web-like slashes, his body crashing heavily to the ground, warm blood spraying across the rubble.
Suddenly snapping back from fear, he realized it was just an illusion caused by cursed energy. In the moment he lost his composure, Nishida Kagetatsu had already stopped Sukuna's advance and begun a counterattack with a backhanded blow.
And Kagetatsu's response was so concise it was almost contemptuous: he simply followed Sukuna's movements, raised his hand, and condensed a clear, sharp spiritual strike—neither dodging nor evading, recklessly meeting it head-on.
The two forces collided in the air. The piercing sound of tearing energy slightly shook the surrounding ground, and the airflow violently swirled gravel and dust.
In the next second, Sukuna's cursed energy strike shattered like fragile paper. The remnants of Kagetatsu's spiritual strike did not disappear, piercing directly into Sukuna's body and, with a sharp sound, crashing into the school building hundreds of meters away.
The momentum of the rapid charge suddenly stopped. Sukuna's body was instantly covered in web-like spots of blood. Dark red blood droplets flowed along the lines of his skin, instantly soaking his torn robe, dripping to the ground and splattering tiny pools of blood.
His body trembled, as if it could completely collapse—like a building block structure created by a child—in the next second. But at this moment, on the verge of destruction, the cursed energy within him suddenly surged back. The instinct of the Reverse Cursed Technique activated. Pale white cursed energy wrapped around the wounds all over his body. Flesh and blood were stitched together and healed at a visible rate. The hideous blood stains gradually disappeared.
Sukuna staggered to steady his figure. The red in his eyes did not fade, but was now full of incredulous surprise and hostility.
Behind him, a deafening sound shook heaven and earth. The wall of the school building was first shattered into a massive hole by the spiritual strike. Then web-like cracks spread wildly and collapsed. The entire building crumbled. Bricks and tiles scattered. Smoke and dust swirled, blotting out the sun, painting half the sky gray.
In the smoke and dust of the sky, Sukuna's isolated figure looked especially bewildered, reflected on Megumi Fushiguro's pale face.
It wasn't that he had never seen Gojo Satoru fight. He was the strongest, though he wasn't sure if he had seen him at full power. Still, he felt that Gojo Satoru was stronger.
But now the issue wasn't who was stronger. He was shocked by the conversation between them. The King of Curses had truly been defeated and sealed by this man from the Warring States period? But he wasn't the strongest in the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years ago, when all sorcerers were sent to fight him and ended in crushing defeat?
It wasn't a curse transformed into an ancient death? He was actually defeated and sealed by this man named Nishida Kagetatsu?
Why had he never heard of this? How had this man lived from the Heian period a thousand years ago to the present? And what did he mean when he said he was a shadow ninja who had fought alongside Mahoraga?
Too chaotic. Megumi Fushiguro was in a state of confusion, completely unable to understand everything happening before him. And even harder to accept was Ryomen Sukuna.
But Ryomen Sukuna was far more chaotic than Megumi Fushiguro. He had just felt those strikes, exactly like his own [Cleave] technique—but all of them were positive energy from reversed cursed energy.
In other words, if he were not a physical body but a cursed spirit, he would have died in an instant.
"With one finger... my power is too weak. If I had ten—no! Five! Just five fingers, I would tear you to pieces and make you die a horrible death!"
After the brief exchange, Sukuna, gritting his teeth, already knew he was no match for the other side. So after spitting out harsh words, he prepared to leave. After finding more fingers, he would cut this man apart—slice and dice him!
At this moment, Kagetatsu stood quietly in place. The cool night breeze lifted his sleeves. Facing Sukuna's rage, he simply stood silently, his eyes full of pity.
He was surrounded by the style of an ancient legendary swordsman. The solitary spirit belonging to the swordsman condensed in his brows and eyes, spreading through his body, forming a sharp contrast with Sukuna's fury.
It seemed to be a silent statement: he was not only shaken by Sukuna's power, but his heart, awareness, and faith were completely above the King of Curses.
"This is truly sad, Sukuna. A thousand years of sealing did not make you seek release, but only intensified the resentment in your heart. It seems sealing you in the beginning was a mistake. And now, I fear you can't wait to tear out all the curses from your very organs."
Kagetatsu's words, full of pity, completely enraged Sukuna.
Endless negative emotions gave birth to monstrous cursed energy, condensed into substance, shooting into the sky. The storm of curses instantly summoned a fierce wind. Sukuna's slashing technique unconsciously activated in his rage. Deep, cold slashing marks burst open around Megumi Fushiguro one after another, horrifying him.
Megumi Fushiguro's heart shook—an unconscious attack triggered by rage already possessed such terrifying power. He couldn't resist. He feared that if he were hit, he would die on the spot.
But he raised his eyes and looked. In the center of the storm caused by the King of Curses' fury, Nishida Kagetatsu still stood motionless, firm as a sea god's needle, blocking all the fierce attacks.
"Release your anger, Sukuna. Poor, unknown son."
"Since you have been resurrected, you no longer need to hide the rage and pain in your heart. Rather than cursing others, it's better to curse them below! All your resentment, unwillingness, bitterness, and grievances in this life—lay them upon me. Everything in you—all of it—I, Nishida Kojūrō Kagetatsu..."
"...shall bear it alone!"