It was a beautiful day for a massacre.

Black nails brushed across the curtain that rest along the border of the village. Rippling darkness hid what lay inside.

"They think this can keep me out?" The deep violet surface tore at his touch, like a knife through a child's skin. "Pathetic. They get dumber every day, jujutsu sorcerers."

As the hole in the curtain stretched wider, the screams from the village passed through. He could hear them echo from the other side.

"Hide the children! The bunker! Get them to the bunker?"

"Hide the children?" He repeated. The mouth at the side of his face stretched, teeth bearing in anticipation. "But they're the best part."

The curtain parted at the touch of his hand, allowing Sukuna in. No matter what the incantation had been, the result was nothing but a fake comfort. These fools thought they had time to shelter. They clung to wishes and prayers for refuge that would never hear a reply.

A man in a black robe held his torch high. He gestured to an open door, ushering people into the building. "This way!" The man shouted, his determination mounting despite his panic. "You'll be safe inside."

The flickering glow of the orange flame illuminated faces in rows. A line of children was stumbling towards the door. Some of them were clutching chubby fists, others were sobbing. Only one had the sense to turn their head and cry.

One set of Sukuna's eyes stayed to the horizon, watching the guard and his torch. The other eyes pierced into the child's, savoring the stillness. Young as that small, cowering kid might be, they understood what came next.

A gloss of tears welled up in the kid's eyes. Sukuna raised a fist. A flame of his own shot forth from his palm, straight into the torch. The same object that the villager had been holding as a beacon of hope burst into a raging flame. The collision of fire on fire incinerated the safe house. A flash of red shadows bounced against the top of the curtain. Embers danced through the sky, the ashes and flames drifting like snow.

Someone had started to scream. Good. It set the mood.

Sukuna's lower eyes set straight to match the eyes above them, anticipating what would come next. It was always the same thing. Sure enough, the call of the next idiot to die hit his ear.

A lone man charged forward. His hands moved through a signal, summoning forth a burst of light. The form of a white three-tailed tiger roared to life behind the sorcerer—a shikigami user.

"That was my son, you bastard!"

"Hmph. You think I should care?"

The tiger shikigami's jaws stretched, baring multiple rows of fangs. Sukuna's shoulders arched forward, while his lower arms braced in anticipation. In terms of sheer mass, the form of the tiger was larger. The tiger's head rose over the blazing rooftops as it rushed into a sprint, straight for Sukuna, as fast as it could go.

It wasn't half as fast as Sukuna.

There was no chance for the first sorcerer to move from his summoning stance. In the time it took the sorcerer to blink, Sukuna had charged far past the shikigami, straight into its summoner. His black nails pierced like talons through the sorcerer's face, knocking him back.

If the shikigami user had meant to scramble, it had come out as little more than a flail. His feet fell out from under him as the force of the blow slammed him into the side of a building.

The tiger gave chase of its own. It pivoted into a lunge, all the more determined to attack. It closed the space, only for a hand to catch it by the throat.

Sukuna's lower left hand dug through the ethereal fur, holding the essence of the tiger spirit to dangle. In unison, his upper left and upper right hands formed a unified sigil, activating a technique of his own. The force of Dismantle hit the still shikigami. A lone scrap of the tiger's throat remained in Sukuna's hand while the rest of it slid in pieces to the dirt.

The sorcerer glared, grunting in pain. "You—"

"Can die like the brat you spawned. "

The arm Sukuna hadn't used yet, his lower right, had already been braced to move. To the sorcerer, the four-armed monster was a blur across the battlefield. Sukuna's lower right hand pierced straight through the sorcerer's chest. A warped hole formed at Sukuna's touch. What was left of the man's body hit the ground, mangled and lifeless.

Only when the thud had sounded did Sukuna look down. His lower eyes tilted, while the upper ones wrinkled with disdain. "This is the best they can offer? At least the women can scream."

From the corner of his upper left eye, Sukuna spotted the next pathetic plaything. This other sorcerer hadn't moved. From the way they were sweating, their hands clutched together, Sukuna could tell they were the cause of the curtain.

Spotting the distance between them, Sukuna grabbed the form of the shikigami user. He threw the body with an effortless swipe, into the second sorcerer. The second one collapsed with a crack, crumpling over his other victim's corpse.

Sure enough, the curtain began to disperse. Within seconds, dots of starlight blinked overhead, mixing with the smoke and ash from the ruins that were yet to be.

The rush of it all brought Sukuna to cackle. The king of curses raised his chin and spoke to the horizon with psychotic glee.

"Who else would like to die tonight?"

This may literally be the first time I've written a one shot. It's under a thousand words, too. Being overly wordy is usually my thing, so this was me REALLY pushing myself to see what I could do in a short amount of time!

I'm seriously considering writing a longer story in this fandom. I've been working on an outline for a piece. If you like my writing style and would be interested in reading more, please let me know! Comments or kudos are appreciated.

Thank you to Red, my new Beta reader.