"Oh. Oh, wow."
At that moment, when he was made to utter those words, Sukuna realized something important - that Satoru Gojo was far more than a simple fish on his cutting board. In that moment between him landing against the glass, and coming back to his senses, he had an instantaneous revelation.
This man standing before him was not a joke.
'Compared to the brat, compared to that volcano-head cursed spirit, and compared to the hundreds of other sorcerers, this one stands at the peak of all of them. Even with a brief exchange, that much is obvious. Still...just how high is that peak? It will all mean nothing if it's only enough to reach me like this.'
The intense force of [Red] slammed his pinned body against a wall, then crashed him through another wall, and one more for good measure. For a moment, his body was weightless. Naturally, he quickly recovered, just in time to avoid having his skull crushed by Gojo's foot.
Even Mahoraga, a being that endlessly adapted to his attacks, had not made him move so defensively. To think he would be forced to even use Domain Amplification, just to clash fists with a single sorcerer.
'His ability...that 'infinity', feels almost as if it's forcing me to fight him on his level.'
'You are the challenger here.'
That was what he had said at the beginning of this fight. Satoru Gojo was certainly cocky, but he was right about one thing - Sukuna was challenging himself. Deep down, desperately, he wanted to enjoy this fight. Even to the point where he planned on using just Mahoraga's adaptation to break past Satoru Gojo's infinity, despite having many other options.
It was infuriating - one part of him wanting to wipe the cocky smirk from Gojo's face, while another part just wanted to see how much Satoru Gojo would be able to give.
'Perhaps now...perhaps this will finally be the moment...'
Anticipation...Excitement...True, honest interest. These were feelings that he had not experienced since he reached the true peak of Jujutsu Sorcery, after years of endless massacre and destruction. Now, they were slowly coming to light again, making gears in his head turn that hadn't needed to be used for centuries.
As they burst through buildings, fighting on ceilings and jumping off of walls, Sukuna felt something rising, further and further. But it wasn't enough - not yet! He needed more...more...!
BOOM!
Their fists clashed, sending out a tremendous wave of power. Debris rained down in the city, and a shockwave decimated everything nearby.
"I'm gonna go ahead and pin this on you."
Gojo's voice broke him from his thoughts. The two strongest, completely unscathed, casually walked out of a crumbling building, destroyed from that single half-serious clash between them.
"Who are you to say anything?"
For some reason, Sukuna found himself going along with the worthless drivel.
"Domain Expansion."
It was the natural progression of a battle between the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerers.
The clash of domains that came afterwards as the two of them uttered these words was exquisite. Sukuna had never had such a challenging battle of domains in the entirety of his life.
Domain Expansions are the peak of Jujutsu Sorcerery. By even challenging him in a battle of domains, Satoru Gojo was questioning Sukuna's undisputed throne as the king ; not only of curses, but of true Jujutsu.
'...But it just isn't enough.'
Resizing domains, using domain amplification within domains, sure hit-neutralizing techniques, all of it was an absolute feast for Sukuna. To even think he would learn something new at this point - using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the area of the brain related to Innate Techniques, it was all a wonder.
'A wonder that just isn't enough to bring me to 'that state'.'
'Still, now I understand why that Cursed Spirit refused a battle of domains. He was half-decent, if only that. Certainly, he never would've matched up to Satoru Gojo.'
Regardless, Sukuna wasn't satisfied. It was a clash the likes of which he'd never had, but it simply wasn't enough.
But regardless of his lingering regrets, the battle was over. He had caught Gojo in a place where he couldn't possibly refresh his technique anymore.
Satoru Gojo was on his knees before him, with brain damage that completely crippled his usage of any domain techniques. He looked pathetic compared to his arrogant, brightly smiling self from earlier.
To Sukuna, it was enjoyable. Yet, at the same time, it was not.
He would open his domain again, and end this battle. That was all this fight would culminate to.
'Displeasing.'
As he approached Satoru Gojo, he formed the hand-sign to summon Mahoraga, with the Dharma Wheel appearing above his head once again.
'How many times will I experience this feeling?'
Sukuna then placed his hands together into the familiar hand sign for his domain, preparing to open it and crush Satoru Gojo's life for once and for all, along with adapting to his Infinity.
'I eat when I want to, and kill when I do desire to. I am bound by nothing, and this lifestyle more than suits me. Yet why...'
He opened his mouth to speak, and uttered words filled with contempt.
"This is goodbye."
'Why can nobody put up a decent challenge? Why do I feel nothing, even in a battle with such magnificent circumstances?'
"You were born in an era without me, and hailed as the strongest..."
'Why are you all so...'
"...yet you turned out to be painfully..."
'...pathetically...'
"...Ordinary."
'Weak.'
Satoru Gojo would become yet another bland dish Sukuna ate to pass the time, and, once again, 'that phenomenon' would elude him.
Sukuna only registered the searing pain in his skull once his vision went red. He stumbled on his feet.
Blood dripped from his nose - and he immediately understood - Gojo's limited void, for the short time he'd been exposed to it, had damaged his brain, as well.
"HA HA HA! Looks like it's hitting you pretty damn hard, huh?!" Gojo got to his feet, a sight which made Sukuna's mood rise in tandem.
Despite the dire situation, the King of Curses had a true smile planted on his face for the first time that day.
"My students are watching, you know.. I'm gonna go ahead and keep showing off!"
Sukuna found that statement more than agreeable.
If this was what it took to make this fight worth his time, then...
'So be it.'
The punch that landed across his face was not painful. Instead, Sukuna felt nothing but intense euphoria.
Once again, their fight changed dimensions. From that brief hand-to-hand skirmish, to the battle of domains, now once again returning to a melee scuffle. It wasn't exactly bad, but to Sukuna, it was nothing but a side-dish.
He still wasn't seeing what he wanted to - neither from Mahoraga, or from Satoru Gojo. It would only take a few more spins of Mahoraga's wheel, and this fight was essentially over. It was a countdown. Not only to the end of this fight, but to the end of the entertainment that Gojo was giving him.
It would likely be the last opportunity he had to see that once more.
Sukuna looked down at his hands, the steam of Reverse Cursed Technique rising off of them. He had just withstood a poorly timed [Red], and stood in front of Gojo, waving away the debris of the pillar that had collapsed behind him.
"Such sloppiness. Lost your cool after your hand was read?"
'You're disappointing me again, Satoru Gojo. After all that talk, will you end yourself through panic-driven mistakes?'
His opponent's next words changed everything.
"Ya know, that [Red] just now...still hasn't exploded."
Sukuna realized what he meant, but it was too late. An explosive force struck him from behind, propelling him towards Gojo. And before he could make any move to recover or get out of the way, he was already in the path of Gojo's fist.
The punch that came, thrown with utter focus and sheer, single-minded strength, was no normal one. Sparks of black surrounded it, sparks that Sukuna recongized all too well in the few instants before the punch connected.
It was something he remembered all too well - a technique used by Jujutsu sorcerers that, to this day, still eluded he, the one called the king of sorcerers.
'Ha...'
As his consciousness faded, a memory began to replace it.
"Kngh-!"
There was a visceral, gutteral shout of pain, as a man's body went flying through the air. His body seemed almost electrified with black sparks, every inch of flesh covered in ice that seemed to grow over him like it was alive. His momentum was forcibly stopped by a tree behind him, and the moment he collided with the hard trunk, he practically exploded into frozen, bloodied pieces.
Uraume, the one responsible for this gruesome sight, landed in front of Sukuna, kneeling in reverence before her deity.
"My apologize for taking so long in ridding you of that pest, Sukuna-sama. I am truly embarrassed at this display of my lacking power."
Sukuna waved Uraume off with an uncaring gesture, his eyes focused not on her, but on the corpse of the man she had just killed. "Forget it. I don't keep you around because you're strong. I do it because you're useful."
There was no further need to explain; Uraume, ever strict with herself, couldn't hide her displeasure at those words. Not at Sukuna, but at the words that revealed her own weakness, in comparison to him. That, however, was something to think about another time.
"If you'd like to make it up to me, I'd instead like you to explain what just happened." Sukuna smirked, bringing a hand to his chin. "During the conclusion of that fight, you killed him using your Cursed Technique. However, it wasn't through a normal activation. There was something...special there. A spark unlike the regular usage that I would expect."
Uraume remained silent, seemingly gathering her thoughts, before eventually standing. The fact that her head didn't immediately fly from her shoulders for such an act was proof itself of how much Sukuna valued her.
"I am not quite sure how to describe it, Sukuna-sama. However, I can tell you what I have learned about it, on rare occasions, from other sorcerers."
Sukuna's eyes twitched a moment at the mention of 'other sorcerers'. Uraume remained silent, awaiting his approval. They both knew - that Sukuna was not a person who believed Jujutsu could be properly experienced or learned through simple words and mere hearsay.
What Sukuna really wanted from Uraume was not a description or story, but a display.
'Still, if that earlier technique is truly something so rare that even a sorcerer of Uraume's skill can't easily reproduce it...and even I have not seen it...perhaps I'll allow it, just this once.'
Those were Sukuna's thoughts. So he nodded, folding his four arms against his chest. "Very well then. Tell me, what exactly are those sparks of black?"
Uraume exhaled, finally given the permission to speak. "It is known as a 'Black Flash', Sukuna-sama. It is not so much an inherent technique, as it is a side-effect of a certain state of mind. I had only heard so from other sorcerers, but having experienced it myself, I can attest to that truth."
Sukuna raised an eyebrow in interest, interest which spurred Uraume to talk with much more noticeable enthusiasm.
"When you are extremely focused on a fight, to the point where even your consciousness begins blending into the battle, you reach a certain state - and in that state, you may end up manipulating your cursed energy, so that it flows into your attacks the near-instant you land them. That is what is called a 'Black Flash'. It greatly accelerates the power of your Cursed Energy, and allows you better insight into its' nature."
"Hoh?" Sukuna couldn't hide his interest. And at the same time, he felt a sudden urge to look at Uraume. Her usual white outfit was ripped, her skin below it cut and both her clothing and body were marred with blood. Her breathing was rough, though she attempted to hide it, and it was obvious that she was even struggling to remain on her feet.
The fight had been a tough one for her. Likely the toughest he had seen her experience. Not tough enough for him to find interest in, but enough to challenge Uraume. And she certainly had been focused - in a way that he'd never seen during any of her battles before.
In this fight, she could have lost her life, yet she suddenly improved in a way that allowed her to instantly kill an opponent that left her half-dead. He even saw faint traces of steam rising from her body - the signs of Reverse Cursed Technique usage - usage that she seemed to be unaware of, herself.
"A Black Flash, hm?"
Suddenly, Sukuna felt the urge to have his fill. He remembered a nearby village, one which had a powerful sorcerer acting as its' guardian shaman.
"I'd like to have a taste of one, myself."
And so, Sukuna journied all across the lands. He killed powerful sorcerers, decimated entire villages of strong human warriors, fought legions of strong cursed spirits, and wreaked havoc everywhere he went.
It wasn't anything new. Ryomen Sukuna was a menace to the country of Japan from the beginning, one that moved like a force of nature to secure his own interests and entertainment.
It was after he had killed about his hundredth - or was it thousandth - opponent, that he finally began to grow frustrated.
Even the strongest faltered in front of his Jujutsu knowledge and the depth of his mastery. The rare few opponents with interesting techniques or dangerous potential all fell to him after being unable to awaken and reach his level. None of these battles made him feel the sort of tension or focus necessary to achieve the technique that Uraume had spoken of.
On the other hand, many of his opponents continued to achieve that level against him.
"Black Flash!"
"Black Flash."
"Black...Flash!"
Over and over, they would utter those two annoying words that meant nothing. While the Black Flash was a powerful blow, Ryomen Sukuna was not a mere cursed spirit or sorcerer. He was the King of Curses, a fierce deity-like being that had reached a near-unattainable level of Jujutsu sorcery.
Those few among his opponents who landed Black Flashes just made him feel like their fight was finally worth having, but that was all. Despite bringing out 120% of their potential, it meant nothing.
After all, 120% of 1 would still just be 1.2. And Sukuna may as well have been at the level of millions, compared to those small numbers.
It was not just arrogance. Sukuna fought and experienced all that he could through Jujutsu - Domain Expansions, Barrier Techniques, Shikigami, Cursed Tools, those with unique Heavenly Restrictions that increased their cursed energy, he had seen all of it. Now, even that rare 'Black Flash' was yet another technique he had seen - albeit slightly rarer.
Eventually, Sukuna realized it - in this era at least, there would be no sorcerer that could bring him to those heights. And if he just spent his time sitting around, fighting predetermined fights with no meaning, he would never experience the true ecstasy that he knew those sparks of black would bring him.
Sukuna did not just want a challenging fight - he wanted a fight that imposed something upon him. A fight that made him actually feel like he had to win, against all odds.
And that would not be found here, in the ironically-named Golden Era of Jujutsu.
So, he sealed himself away. His soul split into multiple fingers, he bided his time as a Cursed Object. Waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Time ceaselessly passed, until he found himself awake again.
And the first man that he locked eyes with was Satoru Gojo, a sorcerer beyond anything he had ever seen. A sorcerer that seemed capable of finally, once and for all, bringing him to those heights.
"Looks like the Black Flash worked like a charm. How much longer you 'gonna rest for?"
Ah, that was right. He had experienced it yet again. However, this time, he knew - this fight would be different. For the first time in a long time, Sukuna realized that this battle would need his focus.
From fighting Satoru Gojo with Mahoraga, and then adding Agito to the mix, it was clear that Sukuna was struggling - at the very least, struggling while under the self-imposed conditions of fighting mostly with Fushiguro Megumi's 10 Shadows technique.
'However, what does that matter?'
He was using the cards in his hands to fight - as any Jujutsu sorcerer should do. 'Fairness' and 'unfairness' were words spat out only by losers. And to Sukuna, regardless of his wishes for a good fight, for him to lose was for him to die. Not only physically, but in every other way imaginable.
If he lost with these restrictions, then he was as worthless as any other loser. If he won, then he won, as he should. That was all that there was to him.
Gshnk.
The turning of Mahoraga's wheel, along with the slash that completely bypassed Gojo's infinity and sliced off his arm, signified it for Sukuna - that the ending of the battle was near.
In that moment, Sukuna had already seen a way to bypass Satoru Gojo's infinity himself - he needed only a certain amount of time and the right opportunity to use it.
However, as he now knew, Gojo was not simply the kind of opponent that would wait for Sukuna's plans to come to fruition.
A [Blue] erupted across the battlefield, one that was aimed at - and instantly killed Agito, crushing it into a pulp of blood under ruthless gravitational force. And surrounding that attack...were those damned sparks of black.
Sukuna stood beside Mahoraga, his feet firmly planted onto the side of a skyscraper. Watching Gojo bask in the exhilaration of his second Black Flash of the fight, the King of Curses didn't smile.
Instead, he frowned.
This fight couldn't be taken lightly anymore. Not only because of the implications of Satoru Gojo hitting another Black Flash, but because of the sight, itself.
'To think...this battle is nearing its' conclusion so soon, and yet...I can never quite understand that same exhilaration...'
That thought also ran through his head - an uncharacteristic thought of all-too-human jealousy.
The atmosphere had suddenly gone from light and casual, to tense.
And the fighting near-immediately resumed.
Black Flash after Black Flash. Sukuna counted four now, two being received by Mahoraga, and the other two by himself and Agito. The King of Curses had, quite frankly, never seen this many Black Flashes since sharing a body with Yuji.
'A useless thought, but I can only imagine just what it would be to fight at a level far above what I am already capable of. A mere 120%...? No, Satoru Gojo must have long exceeded that.'
For such a worthwhile opponent, Satoru Gojo was not just becoming a genuinely delicious meal - he was becoming a threat that had to be eliminated. A singularity that was only pulling in more and more power.
Sukuna was not experiencing a 'Black Flash' anytime soon, but his entire being was filled with euphoria. Not even his fight with Mahoraga could be compared to the divine nature of this battle.
"Phase."
That all came to an end, as Gojo began to chant. To Sukuna, it was obvious that it was a [Red] coming. He was correct.
However, he had momentarily forgotten it - the [Blue] that had killed Agito. The fact that it was still hovering in the sky above them. The moment Gojo lifted his fingers to the sky, it became obvious.
"MAHORAGA!"
He had never shouted with such emotion before. Frankly, it was embarrassing. However, that shout conveyed it all - the fact Satoru Gojo had truly proved his worth as an opponent to this jaded King of Curses.
Mahoraga was too late. And Sukuna himself couldn't stop it, despite his attempts to with his faux 'Piercing Blood'. All he could do was look on at Satoru Gojo that stood above him, as a blinding light filled with searing heat overcame the three of them, along with the entirety of the small city that the fight took place in.
Still, as the light consumed Sukuna, his last thoughts were not ones of disappointment. Nor were they thoughts of despondence in responce to his 'loss'. Instead, they were regretful. Sad, almost.
'To think you would be capable of coming this far, Satoru Gojo...'
Sukuna felt like, for a moment, that blindingly bright light overshadowed even the greatness of a Black Flash. In a way, it truly represented all that Satoru Gojo was. He was bright, flashy, destructive, and yet...
'Far from enough to finish the job.'
Sukuna was now standing over the bisected body of Satoru Gojo, staring down at him with a smile on his face. Of course, nobody could of predicted this - the fact that he would use Mahoraga's ability to adapt to build himself a blueprint for bypassing Infinity.
It was a feat only achievable by one with experience such as him - a sorcerer with enough skill to the point that even without the Six Eyes, he was just as efficient with and knowledgeable about Cursed Energy and Cursed Techniques.
"You did well, Satoru Gojo." Sukuna said, with a happiness exuding from him that was unbefitting from one usually so overcome with malice.
"I won't forget you for as long as I live."
They were words that came as naturally as breathing. His greatest opponent - though one that was not nearly enough to force him to use those sparks of black. In some ways, he was even more impressive than that - he was a sorcerer that had etched his name into Ryomen Sukuna's memory - something only a handful of people could hope to do.
Gojo was not just another sorcerer. Sukuna didn't even care about him being the greatest sorcerer of this current era. All that mattered was one thing - he was Sukuna's greatest challenger.
If he had one regret, then, it would be one thing...
'In the end, I still wasn't quite able to use everything.'
And as Kashimo Hajime bore down on him from the skies, Sukuna could only hope for one thing: that the battles to come would not simply end up as a repeat of his Heian Era massacres. And that maybe, one day, somebody would force him to bring out those sparks of black.
Or not.
The loneliness of true strength? No such thing existed in his head.
The Black Flash? Well, it would have been nice if he landed it, but even without it, he would still be pushing to look for interesting opponents.
In the end, as long as he lived, regardless of whether or not he saw the Black Flash again, on the receiving end or on the giving end, Ryomen Sukuna would continue doing what he did best.
Whatever he pleased.
He only had one request, meant for both his next opponent, and those that would come after him.
"I'm feeling great now. So, please, don't spoil my pleasure."