Sukuna would be the first to admit that he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Waking up in an entirely new planet? Understandable. He'd always known that there were other realms, aside from Earth. The Cursed Realm, for instance, was a thing that existed, but most Sorcerers never knew or heard about. Kenjaku was posited the possibility of there being an actual afterlife, too, a place where all pure souls went. After all, once Cursed Spirits were exorcised, they had to go somewhere and that somewhere, Kenjaku figured, must be a place called the Pure Land. There were other places too, like the realm that the Old Gods called home, before they turned their backs from the world forever, leaving behind their relics and their powers. So, to a certain extent, Sukuna could very much accept and understand that he was now, somehow, in another world.
Fair enough.
But then the metal automatons showed up, constructs of iron and oil, and not flesh and blood as he was used to. Such things should've been impossible, but only by the standards of his time, only because humanity – as he knew them – had not yet advanced to create such wondrous technological marvels, such as titans that could level entire mountains or reduce great swathes of land into boiling wastelands of molten rock. Though difficult, Sukuna understood and accepted that. True, it went against everything he knew and remembered, but that hardly mattered; the machines were not so indomitable. In fact, like humans, they obeyed just about every physical law there was. Their weapons and their armor were surely powerful, he'd admit that much, but they weren't unbeatable. He could understand their existence, make sense of it the same way he'd make sense of any other enemy, any other fight, even the damn Iron Titans, whose footsteps shook the ground at his feet.
He understood them well enough to know and respect the magnitude of their power. Certainly, Sukuna would never quite figure out how they were created, by whom, and for what, but – again – those questions hardly ever mattered. The only thing that did matter was that these beings, unliving though they were, could be destroyed, could be crushed like the little metal toys that they were. He'd even admit to the fact that fighting these machines was more fun than any battle he'd ever been, more exhilarating and more exciting than any slaughter and any duel he'd ever participated in. The machines did not bleed; they felt no pain, no fear, no hesitation – the perfect enemies. If he were to die by their hands, by their awesome weapons, then Sukuna would die happily, for he'd faced no greater foes, thus far.
What he did not understand, was how the single most powerful Cursed Spirit he'd ever perceived, a veritable fortress that was bursting with Cursed Energies, just suddenly manifested underground in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Its birth, if it could even be called that, emitted so much Cursed Energy, the King of Curses himself felt as though he'd drown right in it, an ocean of power that would've swept him away if he'd been any weaker. But, as thrilling as the prospect of fighting this newborn entity was, Sukuna could not wrap his head around the how, because that was honestly quite the important tidbit that made no damn sense.
Cursed Spirits of that magnitude didn't just pop into existence one day. It'd take millions... no... billions of humans, all channeling and feeling the same negative emotion, to even begin the process of birthing such a powerful beast. And, even then, it'd take a thousand years, at least, before it could fully manifest. However, if there were, in fact, trillions of people, instead of mere billions, then it was probablytheoretically possible. And, even then, Sukuna estimated that it'd take a decade – and he was being extremely generous here – before it could fully manifest as a Cursed Spirit. So, where did that leave him? Well, neither of those first two options were even remotely possible, because the Cursed Spirit did not, in fact, gradually manifest, it just popped right down there, bringing with it a colossal flood of Cursed Energies so potent and so voluminous that Sukuna wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of lesser Cursed Spirits sprang forth from the ground left and right.
The only plausible explanation he could think of, which still hardly made sense, was that the Cursed Spirit already existed; it'd already manifested somewhere else, some other planet, some other world, far from here, and the foolish humans downstairs had simply done the magnificently intelligent and wise act of summoning it right wherever they were, a Cursed Spirit that was, quite frankly, more powerful than any Cursed Entity he'd ever encountered. This one, Sukuna mused, seemed to feed on the concept of war and blood, two things humanity never seemed to run out of, fortunately enough.
Eh, whatever. Whether or not it made sense in his head did not change the fact that it was here now. And that it was coming after him for... some reason. Actually, he had to guess, it was probably related to the body he now owned and whoever was supposed to actually be its inhabitant. Oh well, he'd cross that bridge as soon as it clawed its way to the surface and charged him; for now, he had other problems to deal with.
Sukuna's grin could not be any wider as he swiped his right pointer finger horizontally before himself, cutting down a swathe of Iron Soldiers, who'd rejoined the battle to fight alongside the towering titans, while cutting down the legs of several titans themselves, who fell right atop their lesser brethren, crushing several in an instant. It was beautiful. But also dangerous. In fact, Sukuna would also readily admit, that he'd never been exposed to as much danger as he was now.
And he loved every moment of it.
Sukuna sprinted forward and slid underneath the legs of a Titan, slicing off both in the process, using Dismantle, before he then pivoted to the left to avoid a volley of rockets from a hundred Iron Soldiers who thought they were slick about their little plan – rockets that then impacted the fallen titan's backside. As Sukuna surged onward, he breathed in and sighed sharply. "Fuga"
The Cursed Energy requirements for summoning the Flaming Arrow of Amaterasu on both of his hands was immense; it didn't simply double, no. The divine artifact sapped him of four times the normal amount of Cursed Energy it'd take for one arrow. No matter, Sukuna mused, he'd recover it in time. But, more than that, he also needed two of them to thin out the numbers of the Iron Soldiers, who truthfully, were becoming an annoyance. A very fun annoyance, to be sure, but an unwelcome one. If this kept up, one of them would score a lucky shot and a titan could then finish him off by unleashing that super death crimson beam that could annihilate entire mountain ranges, which definitely wasn't something even the King of Curses could walk off.
Every single Iron Soldier within five hundred meters of himself began melting, their armors unable to withstand the cursed heat that simply did not care how fire retardant or heat resistant they were. Even the fallen titans were not spared the sorcerous fire, their gargantuan frames slowly, but surely hissing and melting. Thousands of them collapsed into burning puddles of liquefied metal. Sukuna hovered in the air for a moment as he glanced down and grinned at his foes.
"Try this on for size." Sukuna hurled both arrows at his flanks, where the greatest number of Iron Soldiers had clumped together, their numbers working against them; whatever automaton was responsible for coordinating these machines of war and death was doing a terrible job of doing so. Honestly, Sukuna mused, if their coordination had been perfect, he'd already be dead. As it was, the Iron Soldiers and the Metal Titans made plenty of mistakes for him to capitalize on. And, as the flaming arrows detonated, Sukuna realized that he was growing stronger with every moment he spent in combat.
His Cursed Energy reserves, which should've been – by his estimates – nearing a fourth of its full capacity, after repeated use of his domain and the Flaming Arrow of Amaterasu, was filling up rapidly, the rate of regeneration increasing by three hundred percent, a staggeringly fast rate. It was because of his new body, Sukuna realized immediately, this inhuman physical shell he now occupied and whatever soul-remnants he'd ended up consuming when he took over. It was making him stronger. He was growing.
Unfortunate. Sukuna would've preferred to stay as he was for just a little bit longer. The problem, after all, with an increase in strength was an equal decrease in challenge.
And so, as the two Flaming Arrows of Amaterasu detonated, creating utterly gargantuan pillars of fire that stretched into the clouds, before then spreading outwards in a violent storm of molten rock, raging infernos, and superheated gases, Sukuna realized that he was still so very much alone – an isolated existence, a being who sat at the top and could only look down at those below, hoping that someone or something would make their way up the steep mountain to challenge him. The destruction, while beautiful, was melancholic, in a way. Watching the cursed flames consume thousands and thousands of the Iron Soldiers and melt away dozens of the Metal Titans only served to remind him of his solitude.
These automatons were fun and challenging for a while; but, now, he'd grown strong enough that, unless they escalated even further, they no longer posed an interesting-enough threat, no longer the adversaries they once were, though not for a lack of trying. True enough, the automatons certainly pushed him to the edge of his capabilities more than any sorcerer had ever done before. So, Sukuna had to give them credit for that.
Hopefully, that mysterious Cursed Spirit, who was likely now wreaking havoc underground, would prove to be an exciting challenge. It was powerful, true enough, but raw power did not equate victory; more often than not, the smarter and more flexible combatant won the fight. Those who relied on brute force and power had a tendency to over reach, a tendency to become overconfident; worse still was their tendency to underestimate their enemy. Sukuna did no such thing; all his enemies, at the very least, deserved his respect, which meant he always fought with all that he had.
Sukuna descended from the air. He landed atop the crowned head of one of the titans, the largest of them, whose torso was so incredibly large it could fit a small city. For its size, its knees became a weak point, something he'd taken advantage of immediately with a single swipe of Dismantle. And now, only a small portion of its torso, alongside its head, remained. The rest of the titan was just gone, melted and burned away into the burning river of molten metal and rock that hissed burned all around him.
There were still plenty of Iron Soldiers and about a hundred or so Metal Titans, but he didn't think too much of them now. If nothing else, they'd be a good way to kill some time before-
The distant machines paused, titans and soldiers alike, before they turned their gazes to the sky.
Sukuna's eyes widened as he glanced upwards. An ungodly amount of Cursed Energy suddenly exploded across the entire planet, saturating the very sky with the color of crimson. It was the same sort of Cursed Energy that the spirit beneath the ground was emitting: violence and war and death, but inconceivably higher and greater in magnitude. The smell of copper filled the air, the scent of slaughter, of thousands upon thousands of fresh corpses. And then, as flashes of black lightning arced across the crimson skies, droplets of blood fell from the sky.
Interesting.
There had been a moment there, Sukuna noted, right before the sudden explosion of Cursed Energy, when a tear was created, bridging this world to another – a world of pure energy, a world of curses, of violence and war. Sukuna's eyes narrowed; was that, perchance, the Cursed Realm?
He did not have time to ponder the question, however, as something big and red and angry tore its way out of the ground, accompanied by geysers of blood and pillars of baleful flames.
"Oh?" Sukuna grinned. "Can this day get any better?"