Chapter 18

"I wish I knew what was happening in there…" muttered Fushiguro.

"AHEM!"

Everyone jumped as Kitsune appeared once more. "If you please…" she had everyone step back, then she took her fan and unfurled it over Itadori. The fan itself became suspended over his body.

Then a brilliant light came off of it and started to show the body thief. His true form, a thirty-year-old sorcerer still strong and youthful despite how long he has been doing this and yet he appeared dazed and confused. "Ooo someone get the popcorn!" Suiryu called.

They found themselves sitting around and watching this odd projection of what was happening inside Yuuji Itadori…

#

Xing looked about with great concern.

He was trapped in utter darkness, but couldn't help but feel he was walking in a small puddle of water. "What the hell is this?" he growled.

A strange sound suddenly filled this space. Like the purifying bells he has heard at the temples. Yet as he looked about this darkness, a small beacon of light appeared… and shined on the demon vessel! He wore a strange, light blue robe but it gave off the sound of purifying bells as he walked towards him.

"This… this is impossible… I kicked your soul out!" Xing protested.

The boy merely smiled. "Yeah… you didn't, that was a small bit of divine energy you pushed out, it mimicked a soul. By the way… all the fragments you have kept from your victims have been released… you no longer have their power."

Xing smirked. "You think I believe that? Let me show you how strong I am compared to you!"

He focused, trying to summon all the divine energy he could within his hands, but found none of it gathered! "Wait… what happened?"

The boy merely smiled as he held up his four arms, they began to flow with divine energy… the same that Xing himself use to possess! "My body is very unique to say the least. I can devour curses and absorb their strength to make it my own. Divine I can also absorb… but this was different… the souls trapped within you were so desperate to escape that I had to take them in along with the divine energy… but now… they have all been freed."

Xing shook his head. "No… impossible! You cannot have that kind of power! I refuse to believe it. I was in your body for over two weeks. You were nothing! A pathetic piece of existence! How could anyone think you were a threat!?" he demanded.

"Oh? Is someone upset that they didn't have access to your power?"

Xing froze to the voice. A powerful, dominating voice that echoed the walls. It appeared behind the boy before revealing his full splendour. "It… it's Ryujin… you… you had THAT in you?" trembled Xing.

Yuuji smirked. "He's a lot better roommate than Sukuna, I can tell you that. The worst he has done to me is made me eat the curse wombs… well… he did it but used my body to do so. But that's beside the point." Yuuji said and waved off the incident. "But for now, he's with me… and you won't be going back to Hong Kong to say the least…"

Xing merely smirked. "Do you think you are the first to try and stop me this way? I dealt with a sorcerer who confronted me, did the same trick you did in thinking I expelled most of his soul. But he thought he was smart enough to set a trap and attempt to battle me for the body… needless to say, who won" he laughed aloud. "Oh, dear boy, this is going to make my venture all worth it. When I get control of your body and master it… I am going to destroy your so called school and everyone in it for what they put me though!"

Yuuji's head crooked to the side in confusion. "Honestly, I wouldn't have been pissed off at the tricks and stuff they did. I've been begging Fushiguro for months to surprise me like that, flooding my room with rabbits… Rabbits are soft and fluffy!"

"Not to mention good snacks,"

"HEY! We don't eat Fushiguro's rabbits!" Yuuji scolded the dragon. He was quick to get back to the point. "Ahem, anyways… I'm kicking you out now."

Xing grinned. "I may not have my divine energy, but I still have my curse energy… In fact, here's something I am known for…" he sent his curse energy out through his feet, making a small domain around himself. This is how he defeated the last guy who tried to put up a fight against him. Anyone who got near his domain… were trapped and never broke free. They would be imprisoned for the rest of their lives or until Xing obtained a new body for himself. He spread his influence farther and farther across this odd place.

The boy wasn't the least bit startled to it all. "Not bad… I mean, Suiryu taught me something similar. But not a bad idea… But there is a problem with it."

"What could be wrong with this boy!?" Xing demanded.

He smirked. That child dared to have a cocky grin at a time like this?

"It's too weak against us,"

Xing froze as the boy began to move his four hands oddly, he brought the two upper hands together yet made a gap in them as he flexed his pinky finger, if anything it looked like a dragon's eye. He did the same with the lower arm, then brought them side by side as best he could. "Personal domain… dragon's lair."

He felt the energy instantly shift in the space. Smaller looking dragons came out of the shadows, they were quick to bite into Xing's. His domain was consumed up, his curse energy getting drained as he found the dragon merely snickering to it all. Xing began to feel weak, unable to stand let alone bring himself to move as this boy merely summoned the same thing he did, but on a greater scale.

"Impossible… he's that powerful? How come I could never obtain that power when I possessed him!?" he shouted in frustration.

Ryujin laughed. "I sealed it off to you, so you couldn't use it against those he cares about… if you had tried to obtain everything he could do, you would have killed yourself."

Xing sneered. This whole time, the demon vessel truly was as powerful as everyone had said. But he didn't even get a taste of his true strength because of the damn dragon!

"My domain has overpowered yours, what little energy you had left belongs to me… any last words?" The boy asked.

Xing was about to speak until the cuff on his wrist acted up. Peering down, he wondered why it was exerting this heat. "Perhaps I do have one more trick up my sleeve then." He held up the cuff.

The dragon was startled to it. "What are you doing?! Lower your arm!"

"Oh? It's that scary to you?" Xing laughed.

"Do as Ryujin says!" the boy protested. "Lower your arm!"

"I don't think I will. If it's scaring the two of you this much, it must be something powerful right? So, I wonder what will happen when I break it?"

"DON'T!"

Ryujin's plea fell on deaf ears. Xing knew he had the advantage now. This cuff must have been a preventative measure from the divine elders to ensure he gets the dragon. Perhaps a power boost? Either way, he was excited to break it off his wrist. He used the last of his curse energy to do it.

Yet as he did, he instantly felt weaker than before. "Wait… what is this?"

"Itadori, get him out now!" Ryujin ordered.

The boy worked feverishly to try and expel him, Xing was too stubborn to go just yet. Not to mention, every time the boy attempted to expel him, the cuff merely heated up some more. It was making him stay in the body. "NO! I'm… not… done!"

"Ryujin, I can't get him out, the damn cuff is making him stay!" The boy said in a panic.

Xing's soul began to burn, the sensation spread until he realized something. This energy… it's not to empower him… but destroy him…