Chapter 2

The duel… or culling game is to take place a month from now.

As such, Yua knew she couldn't go into battle rusty.

"I do admit, this worked out…" she said offhandedly. After all, her sparing partner as of late has been none other than Sukuna himself. He has maintained being in Satoru's body form for the time being, after all, only he has the power to switch them back since he did so in the first place.

"Size it not everything, but you understand what you are doing, yes?" he asked of her.

She nodded to this, before taking the life of the sorcerer she faces, she has to extract their technique from them. Sukuna had a method since he watched as an opponent of his relinquished her technique to him. But with Yua, it is going to be fast, forced and furious. She also has to take it before they are killed.

That in itself requires balance and timing.

It's all she has been learning since the day after her recovery.

He rough, doesn't hold back and makes certain Yua earns her victories. She perfected her technique method, and at the same time, she had to assist Sukuna with one.

It was the day after Yua had recovered when Lady Tiamat told them. "When this battle happens, try not to damage the bodies."

"Suck the fun out of it for me!" Sukuna protested. "Why?!" he demanded.

She merely smiled.

So, he reluctantly agreed, but Lady Tiamat gave him some leeway and requested he take out those who offer no benefit to Yua. "That's a good chunk of them, no problem!" he said rather contently.

In other words, he gets to kill how he wants to.

Yet she wondered too what she meant about not destroying the bodies or damaging them too much. Perhaps she has a plan for those, who knows? But Yua trained constantly, perfecting the method until she was able to put it into practice. Sukuna even shocked her when he explained how they would train.

"I have some techniques that can be passed along to you, however, your job is to find them and try to take them. I'll fight you so be ready!"

It's how he trained her.

She had to take the technique from him as they fought, he showed no mercy, didn't allow her time to breath. It was an ass kicking for the first three days.

"Why are you so tough on Yua!" protested Chusi as she watched from the sidelines.

"No choice" Sukuna said bluntly.

"Don't hold it against him, I understand too!" Yua called. There can't be any mercy for none will be shown to her, no sorcerer in these culling games besides her family would ever spare her. So, she has to be just as ruthless. When she did manage to extract the technique four days later, it was odd. She held it in her hands and yet…

"What is it?" Sukuna asked.

"The technique… it feels like a heart beat…"

"It's the lifeline of a sorcerer." He explained. "The technique is what allows a sorcerer to be one, to grow and achieve greatness with their power. And yet, so many have lackluster methods or uses for curse energy. There are some I have seen that were rather pointless, others wasted."

Still, to her, Yua felt as if she held the soul of someone within her hands. Before she could explain that, the orb she created, melted into her palms and vanished into the skin.

Her curse marks appeared once more and then, another grew on the top of her shoulder. "Ah…" she winced.

"It's going to hurt, at least you got curse marks, had you not. Your brain would be devastated by now."

"You truly are rather chEeRfUl aren't you?" she asked sarcastically.

He smiled wickedly to her. "Let's take a break," Sukuna instantly went over to Chusi, he took his son from her and sat down holding him. It took Yua aback since he was very gentle with the newborn. Then again… he was like that with her kids too.

She took a seat in front of them, but smiled at little Ryoto in his arms. "I'm sorry… we didn't tell you" Chusi said. "Ryomen insisted it be kept a secret from you until…"

"I understand," Yua replied. "I honestly don't hold it against you,"

Sukuna sighed. "I didn't want it to appear that I was rubbing it in your face."

She forced a small laugh. "Had it been the old you, you would still be mocking and laughing at my misfortune, at the same time, you would have been the cause of it. You're not"

He glared at her oddly. "That maybe true but…" he began to say but never finished his sentence.

It made her snicker at the notion. "So… how did Suguru…" she began to ask.

Neither one knew how it came about, but from what Sukuna heard. Lady Tiamat asked him to escort her, but is all he knows. Yet a coy grin came over his lips. "So, that means Shellboy has a better shot at you now! We turn you into a dragon, you got an instant mate!"

Yua glared at him as Chusi snickered to the notion. "He's not wrong! Suguru will make a great brother in law."

"Will you two drop it!" she protested. "Why are you constantly pushing Suguru on me!" she demanded of Chusi.

She smiled warmly. "It's because your soul is very compatible with his."

Yua paused to this and glared at Sukuna. Sukuna however, shrugged his shoulders back at her.

"Compatible… meaning…"

"I see how soul energy reacts to one another, mine is very attracted to Ryomen, as Ryomen's is to mine. I call it the law of attractions, the soul you are compatible with is the one that will elevate you to greater heights than before. It means, they have that power to make certain you live a good life and have a family with…"

"You may want to reconsider how you explain that…" Sukuna muttered.

Yua smirked but understood his point. "Still, Suguru?" she asked.

Chusi nodded and explained when she trained with him, he had some similar hardships as Yua, not as much as her nor the same caliber, but… similar enough that they could relate to each other better than others. "There's a warmth to Suguru that has been brought out by you, one he had buried long ago. But, ever since coming here, he appears to have settled his mind and heart. He still had that anger in his soul over humans, yet, as the time passed, it… went out. Extinguished if you will."

"I think he still has resentment…" Yua warned.

"It's understandable too…" Sukuna said. "You cannot expect one to expel every ounce of hatred for something that gave them the reason to live."

"Damn sage…" she muttered.

"No, just well over a thousand years and counting of experience… damn it, I got some Six eyes in this…"

They snickered to his misfortune at the same time. Yua felt the ground trembling. Satoru was training with the kids right now and had all three come at him. "Huh… Six eyes beat me to that too…"

"Training the kids?" she asked.

"No, having the three fight like a team." Sukuna explained that he has merely been training them one on one, it's fine for a sorcerer to know how to fight alone, fighting as a team is just as important in his mind. "So many had come at me one on one, there were a few who managed to join forces, the three greats for example… but they would have defeated me sooner if they took each other seriously. Your children on the other hand… have unbelievable potential. If perfected, had it been them to face me… they would have had good odds."

Yua paused to this. "Now, you're joking!" she laughed.

But he wasn't.

He didn't crack a smile or anything. He was that serious?

"Shin needs to perfect his method and had to start over, he merged his channels so he can do a proper technique without having to rely on one arm to do one method. It would have hindered him a lot more than he realizes. Now that the channels are merged, he has to figure out his technique again. For that, he has to open his four eyes on his back. He needs those to piece everything together."

"Let me guess, you haven't told him that, right?" she asked.

That time he smiled, but she also understood too. If one is told everything, they wouldn't experiment and try out for themselves what works for them. So, Yua promised to keep silent about it for the time being.

Her eyes soon shifted to her nephew. Who would have thought huh?

"Are you shocked about this?" she asked Sukuna.

He paused for a moment and then nodded. "In truth, yes," he said gently. "How often does one hold a bit of themselves in their arms?"

Sometimes, his way with words is rather scary and at the same time, beautiful…