The oni-masked shinobi became two but for a moment, a clone appearing a fair distance away from the position of the original. Was that the shinobi's power? Odd. But nothing Sukuna hadn't already seen before; the assassins from Iga were already legendary, even during his time, and they performed similar feats quite a lot of the time. But then, Sukuna mused as the "original" pulled the pins of the grenade bandoleer and exploded in a shower of fire and shrapnel, he might've gotten it wrong. A quick use of Cursed Augmentation shielded his most of his host's body from the blast.
Dust and rubble and shrapnel showered him. A few cuts here and there hardly mattered. None of them were lethal. Though, Sukuna mused, he could certainly see how such an ability would be very troublesome to deal with for those who did not possess the durability to withstand such an explosion.
The shinobi was teleporting, but left behind a clone of himself as he did – very interesting. The clone, Sukuna mused, likely also carried exact replicas of the original's equipment, including the sword and the bombs. Was there a limit to how many clones he could create or how many times he could teleport in a single instance? Were the two abilities tied together or could the shinobi, alternatively, teleport without leaving behind a clone or create a clone without having to teleport?
He could kill the masked shinobi right now if he wanted. No amount of teleportation was going to save him from a single Dismantle or Cleave. But... where would be the fun in that? And, besides, Sukuna wanted the dragon, not his assassin lackey.
"Oy, where's your boss?" Sukuna asked as the shinobi appeared behind him and brought a knife down at his right shoulder. Sukuna did not move. And, as the knife reached his host's skin, a miniature mouth and eye appeared on his shoulder, biting and breaking the metal before howling with laughter. Sukuna spun and reached out to choke the Shinobi, only for it to turn into dust the moment his fingers made contact. Sukuna raised a brow as he wiped the dust from his skin. "Interesting..."
Were the clones operating under a time limit or were they limited in the number of acts they could take before dissipating?
The shinobi reappeared behind him once more, but – this time – Sukuna spun and sent a kick right into the parahuman's midsection and sent him flying off the rooftop they'd been fighting on. That, Sukuna noted, probably wasn't a clone as he'd felt the crunching of flesh and bone. But, once again, he could be entirely wrong. He looked down the edge of the building to see if the shinobi had died.
No corpse. Not dead. Curious. The King of Curses was rather sure that he'd felt real flesh. Instead, all he saw were curious onlookers, taking photographs and videos.
The whistled to his right and, when Sukuna turned, he saw a grenade flying right at him, followed by three knives from three different angles. Sukuna chuckled as he caught all three knives and sent threw them down the side of the building, watching briefly as all three dissipated into black dust, before moving out of the way of the grenade. The miniature explosive landed on the streets, down below, before detonating. And that was where the screams began. "Hoh? Interesting."
Five to ten seconds, then, Sukuna concluded; the cloned objects and, perhaps, the clones themselves, lasted for an approximate total time of five to ten seconds with seemingly no limit as to how many of them were created. However, the cloning ability, it seemed was tied directly to the shinobi's teleportation; meaning, the assassin would have to teleport frequently to create more and more clones. Likely, the teleportation also did not possess a limit. What a slippery foe, Sukuna mused. Truly, it felt as though he was back in Iga again, fighting for his life amidst the shadows and the shinobi that ruled it.
Nostalgic.
"Run and jump some more, little rabbit," The shinobi was tricky with his power, but... unfortunately, his little trick was becoming predictable. Sukuna chuckled, right as he surged forward and jumped to the opposite building, his right hand lashing out like a thunderous whip and catching the shinobi just as he reappeared; Sukuna's hands crunched the shinobi's mask breaking its lenses. He then used Dismantle to open a suitably deep gash upon the shinobi's chest, drawing a large spurt of blood and separating the grenade bandoleer from his body, the broken strap falling to the floor with a thud. The shinobi blindly slashed his knife, but Sukuna merely leaned back and kicked him away.
"Go on and call the dragon, please," Sukuna smiled as he walked towards the downed shinobi. He wondered, briefly, why the man suddenly refused to teleport, before his eyes found the cracked lenses and understanding dawned immediately. The limitation, it seemed, was line of sight. And now that the lenses of his oni mask were cracked, hindering his sight, the shinobi suddenly couldn't teleport. How banal. Sighing, Sukuna sliced off the shinobi's left hand with Dismantle. Oddly, he heard no cry of pain or even so much as a grunt. Blood streamed from the red stump, but it almost seemed like the shinobi felt no pain. Now that wasn't banal. Actually, that was rather cool. So, he was gonna throw the man a bone. "Call for backup. Ask for help. Come on. I don't have all night."
The shinobi ripped his mask free, but, before he could even think about using his power, Sukuna sliced apart both of his eyes. Bloodied and broken, the shinobi still did not scream. Not a single reaction. Nothing. Sukuna smiled, walked back, and sat on the edge of the rooftop's railings. "This is getting rather dull; wouldn't you agree? So, why don't you call your boss and we can both go our separate ways?"
When the shinobi reached for the phone in his pocket, Sukuna grinned. "That's a good little boy. Now, go ahead and call your boss. I'll be waiting for him right here. And, you might wanna hurry or you'll bleed out."
Actually, he was going to let this one live, simply because fighting a shinobi was such a nostalgic thing; he'd live, anyway, considering the miraculous nature of Parahuman healing. Though, if the oni-masked shinobi was going to fight him again in the future, then Sukuna was going to slice his head off. Nothing personal. But repeat-opponents were boring. And, more than anything, the King of Curses hated boring things – kind of like his host now. Taylor Hebert was a boring person, honestly. Without him or the Queen Administrator to anchor him to being, then she'd just be... painfully ordinary. Beneath that, even. She'd be nothing and no one.
What a boring existence.
But, hey, she was still way better than that Itadori brat.
About ten minutes after the shinobi made his phone call, a tatted man appeared on the rooftop to join them, having walked in through the door, which was honestly rather amusing, given that dragons were supposed to be capable of flight. Sukuna smiled as he leapt off the railing and walked up to the man who was known among his subordinates as Lung. "Hello, you're the dragon, right? Good, I've been waiting for you. Now, be a good boy and entertain me."
Sukuna sliced off both of Lung's legs and watched as the dragon in the shape of a man fell to the ground, roaring and grunting in pain. Almost immediately, however, flames flared to life around him, mostly on the stumps where his legs used to be. Regeneration, Sukuna mused. By all accounts, Lung was supposed to be capable of some level of regeneration, a feature that came with his ability to 'transform' into a dragon, in response to conflict. Or something like that. The brat didn't know everything about him. And so, Sukuna didn't as well.
Burning scales immediately began appearing all over Lung's body. Sukuna sighed. Too slow.
So, he sliced off both of the man's arms.
"Come on, grow faster!"
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
And, just like that, Lung practically vanished under a storm of fire as he roared and stood up, having already regenerated his limbs within moments. Sukuna grinned and watched as Lung grew taller and taller with every passing second. Good. Things were getting boring. Lung then unleashed a pillar of fire that lit up the night and banished every single shadow around them. It consumed everything in its path, melting stone and metal alike. The rooftop glowed red-hot, like the interior of a volcano. Sukuna cackled and howled with laughter as he rushed through the heat and sent an Augmented punch right into Lung's exposed stomach. Black and thunderous arcs of Cursed Energy exploded as Lung was sent flying into the distance, just about every organ and bone in his body cracked and ruptured by the Black Flash.
Sukuna's Cursed Energies turned sharper and finer, awakened by the sudden intrusion of the Black Flash.
As Lung's body surged across the open air, ablaze like a meteorite, Sukuna sliced off all four of his limbs once again. The King of Curses grinned as he healed the burns across his host's body. Oh, tonight was going to be very fun. "That ought to do it. Queen Administrator, remember what we agreed; tell your sibling it's not allowed to stop Lung's growth. I want to fight a Kaiju – a really big one. Now, watch and learn."
[Acknowledged]
Sukuna's grin widened further. He couldn't wait. "Oh, tonight is going to be a fun night, indeed."
He followed the trail of fire and heat that Lung left behind and found the man just as he crashed into a warehouse of some kind, one that was surrounded by other abandoned warehouses. What a weird city this was – so much wasted space, so much junk and clutter, horrendous. Still, Sukuna jumped down and landed right in front of the ruined building, whose walls were now falling apart and melting into glowing, red-hot slag. The air itself burned and the King of Curses felt his skin sizzle and tingle. The ground hissed as dust and sand melted. And then, the warehouse collapsed into a maelstrom of fire and superheated dust.
A thing that most definitely did not resemble a dragon strode out of the flames, covered in silver scales and wreathed in fire. It stood almost twenty feet tall. Sukuna looked up, disappointed. "Man, you don't even look like a dragon. And here I was, getting excited. You look more like a weird alien."
Lung did not reply. He probably couldn't, Sukuna mused, on account of no longer having a mouth. Instead, Lung simply surged forward, faster than his size should've allowed.
"RAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGH!"
Sukuna weaved underneath the Parahuman's burning body and sent a Curse Augmented kick right into Lung's midsection. The Black Flash blessed him once more and Lung was sent hurling into the open sky, leaving behind a trail of roaring flames that followed him and a shower of silver scales that'd been torn right from his body upon impact.
Sukuna's senses sharpened. And, idly, he noted that the kick also broke his own leg into splinters of bone and mangled flesh; though, Sukuna healed the damage with barely a thought. Lung was, indeed, growing stronger and more resilient. Soon enough, melee attacks weren't going to be effective. The King of Curses cackled; this was like fighting a different flavor of Mahoraga.
Sukuna leapt to the nearest rooftop and, from there, he watched as Lung sprouted membranous wings from his back, similarly covered in silver scales. He was even larger now, the flames that surrounded his body was so incredibly hot that Lung practically lit up the night, like a gargantuan lamp of pure whale oil. And, as Lung surged towards Sukuna, like a burning meteorite from the heavens, the King of Curses could only hold out his arms and grin.
An: Chapter 12 is up on (Pat)reon!