Something monstrous, even by his standards, emerged from one of the gargantuan vessels in the sky. It was a man – clad in gold, not quite a giant, but certainly tall enough to be one, like Sukuna himself. He carried a massive, flaming sword, and atop his head was a wreath of sunlit flames. Everything he wore was a Cursed Object of some kind, one of unthinkable potency. A pillar of light shined around his form, his long black hair swaying from the titanic volumes of pure Cursed Energy that coursed within and without. It was like an ocean, Sukuna mused, an endless ocean of Negative and Positive Cursed Energies, so vast it could almost drown him. The figure was akin to a god – or, at least, as close to one a Sorcerer could possibly get to. Because, for all the power he felt, Sukuna knew one true thing, the man who descended onto his world was, in the end, human, even if he was inhumanly powerful.
Sukuna stood from his throne and walked to the edge of his tower.
The figure landed on an empty field, several hundred miles away from the city, but they both saw each other easily enough. The man's golden eyes blazed and cackled with writhing torrents of Cursed Lightning. Sukuna grinned as the intruder then raised a single hand and snapped his fingers.
And then, a wave of black and gray enveloped the entire planet. Everything caught in it, save for Sukuna himself, was suddenly frozen in time. Sukuna's eyes widened. He wasn't even entirely convinced that what he'd seen was anything like Jujutsu. No, it was... something else. It was just... pure Cursed Energy, imbued with willpower and focused into some sort of spell. His mind race, briefly, as he struggled to make sense of what he'd seen. Finally, Sukuna came to something of a conclusion; this sort of power was available to those who, through some unknown means, bound themselves to the Cursed Realm, living a half-existence.
Fascinating.
It was, after all, similar to the ritual he'd undergone to make himself a partial curse.
Similar, but not the same. Whatever ritual the golden man had undergone was clearly more effective.
Though, to be certain, Sukuna had no idea if he was correct or not.
It didn't matter. None of it did.
The King of Curses cackled with laughter as he leapt out of the window of his tower and surged across the open air, augmenting his body with the nigh-infinite amount of Cursed Energy he now possessed after many decades of worship. Finally, after all this time, there still existed entities who could challenge him, who could offer him the thrill he so craved. Cannibalizing the weaklings who dwelt beneath the ground grew stale at some point and so Sukuna simply exterminated them. The Curses that popped up here and there were too weak to be even worthy of his notice. And so the Jujutsu Sorcerers, the ones who learned from him and their students, were saddled with the responsibility of protecting the populace. There were no enemies left. The Iron Soldiers were all cut down, their factories repurposed. It was boring.
But, now...
Sukuna's landing caused the very earth at his feet to erupt in an explosion of dust and debris. The King of Curses stepped forward, summoning the Trishula in his right hand and the Flaming Arrow of Amaterasu in his left. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for someone to fight?"
The golden man gave him a smile. "I know. This isn't the first time I've walked this planet. I've see how you treat your people. Impressive. You've brought civilization and stability to a doomed world. But you're bored, Ryomen Sukuna. So, allow me to keep this simple: let's fight. The loser obeys the winner. We keep collateral damage to a minimum. Does that satisfy you?"
Sukuna's grin widened. "I accept your terms."
The King of Curses moved first, unleashing the potent powers within the Trishula in the form of a gargantuan wave of stardust and cosmic gases, which tore through just about everything it hit, a wave so vast it almost seemed to swallow the mountains behind them. And it did. The destructive power devoured everything in its way, leaving only dust and emptiness. Just as quickly, Sukuna sent the Trishula away. He could use it for much longer now, but he wasn't going to risk it damaging his soul. Sukuna grinned and huffed. That could not have possibly been enough.
And, true enough, the golden man reappeared a dozen or so meters away from him, still radiating an obscene amount of Cursed Energies. "Interesting. I recognize that weapon you used, but I've not seen it for a very long time. One of my children created it; do you know Shiva?"
Sukuna's eyes narrowed. "No idea."
"A shame, then."
Sukuna smiled as he brought his hands together. This was going to be a very long battle, he knew. The enemy before him was stronger than any he'd fought before and, in terms of raw power, Sukuna knew – though it was an entirely novel feeling – that he was severely outmatched. However, he also knew, from experience, that strength was not the only deciding factor during duels. No, far from it, in fact. What ultimately decided the course of a battle was the creativity of a warrior and how well they trusted themselves and their abilities.
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!" A shroud of darkness expanded from him, engulfing himself and the golden man alike. Sukuna's smile did not fade as he switched the conditions of the Malevolent Shrine, lowering its range, but replacing Dismantle with Cleave, making each slash far for potent, even if it'd be more costly as well. The golden man stood in place and began walking towards him, very calmly, even as a thousand Cleaves tore into his form. No blood was drawn. Even the golden man's armor remained pristine.
What the shit.
The golden man walked until the distance between them was only a few meters. He stopped and stood silently, even as the continuous Cleaves sliced into him again and again. What was this? This wasn't Simple Domain, no. Sukuna felt no intrusion, no shielding, nothing. The golden man just stood there and, apparently, unaffected. Was this a Cursed Technique of some sort? If so, the guaranteed hit should've bypassed it. What was going on?
"You're wondering why I'm unhurt." The golden man said. "The answer is simple; I am not here."
Sukuna's eyes widened and, immediately, he dispelled his Domain Expansion, the technique retreating into himself as the golden man before him fizzled away and disappeared. What? No, that wasn't possible. He could've made no mistakes within his own domain and the presence he'd felt was real. Was it an illusion, then? Was that it? Was the golden man a user of illusory Cursed Techniques? Tsk, that did not sound fun. Oh, Sukuna did not think illusion users to be weak; quite the contrary. He detested them, because they were strong – in a very annoying manner. But, of course, there were plenty of methods to counter them and their illusions; no Cursed Technique was perfect, after all.
He just needed to figure out how the golden man's Cursed Technique worked.
"That was... intriguing. I have not witnessed the usage of Jujutsu for... over fifteen thousand years, when the last Jujutsu Sorcerer died and took his secrets with him. But you're a practitioner, it seems – and a very potent one at that." The golden man spoke. And, tentatively, Sukuna sent a full-powered Cleave with zero expectations of doing damage; instead, he wanted to see if this one was just another illusion. The Cleave hit, but the golden man was unaffected. Another illusion, then? Tsk. Annoying. This wasn't going to be a contest of pure might, then? Oh well, it simply meant he'd need to adjust his tactics. "That thing you did, the Domain Expansion... you pulled a piece of the Immaterium, shaped it to your desires, imposed your will upon it, and then pulled it into Material Realm. Very interesting. I've never done that before."
Where's the real one? Sukuna sent forth a burst of Cursed Energy, one that grew large enough to encompass the whole city of Ryomen, the smaller villages around it, and the entire continent it was on. And yet, he found... nothing. The source of the illusion was nowhere to be found. So... was it an illusion at all?
Tsk. Mind games were annoying. But it didn't mean he couldn't play the same game. It didn't mean it couldn't be fun.
With a quick flicker of his will, Sukuna sent forth a hundred Cleaves at the not-illusion and jumped back. It would do nothing, probably; he'd seen no evidence that either Cleave or Dismantle were at all useful for dealing with the golden man and his peculiar illusions. His Cursed Techniques carved apart the ground, leaving deep furrows and gauges upon the ground. And then, without prompting, Sukuna unleashed another Cleave; this time, however, he sent it towards the empty spaces at his side.
And then, there came a shimmer in the open air and the golden man appeared, nursing a very shallow wound – so shallow, in fact, that Sukuna was pretty sure it only grazed his skin. Cleave, meant to cut down Sorcerers in one fell swoop, only stung the golden man a little bit. "Interesting. How did you know I was here?"
Sukuna shrugged. Truth be told, it had been a lucky guess, but he'd been in enough battles to know that luck was often just a combination of experience and muscle memory, coordinating with each other to create unconscious actions. "Instincts, I suppose. This isn't exactly the first time I fought Sorcerer who used projections and illusions."
The golden man smiled, his bearing truly and totally unaffected by everything Sukuna had thrown thus far. This was his real self, then, which meant Sukuna had been attacking projections this whole time. That stung a bit. And the worst part was that the golden man's true form could not be felt by his Cursed Energy, which was going to be a pain to deal with. "I've heard stories of the powers held by Jujutsu Sorcerers; I never thought one of my sons would turn out to be one. The very few of you I did encounter did not possess as much mastery as you do."
Sukuna's eyes narrowed. Ah, that made some sense. This golden man must be the creator of the body he inhabited, which was – by now – his body. What an interesting thing. No need to make it complicated. The golden man was his father, which was a weird thing to consider, since Sukuna couldn't even recall what his parents looked like. Then again, he'd been an infant the last time he saw them, the day they left him in the woods to be devoured by wolves – all for a physical deformity. "You speak as though you're thousands of years old, father."
The golden man's smile widened. "Many thousands of years old."
Dangerous. Sukuna detected no lie in the golden man's words. And those who lived for that long, like Tengen and Kenjaku, very often were incredibly dangerous. Though, to be certain, he already knew that the enemy before him dwarfed him in pure power, but to know that he wasn't some upstart brat with too much raw potential was a sobering realization. Now, he couldn't afford to mess around.
And, despite the danger, Sukuna could not help but grin. How long had it been since he met a foe that truly outclassed him? How long has it been since he met one who could force him into such a state? This was an all or nothing battle. And Sukuna was going to give it all he had. After all, why would he disrespect such a foe?
This was going to be fun.
And then, the golden man narrowed his eyes as though he was deep in thought. "I see. You're filtering raw warp energy through your brain, allowing you to use it without any of the usual consequences. Fascinating."
And then, the golden man brought his hands together. "You did it like this, yes? Hmm... what did you call it, again? Ah, yes..."
Every instinct in Sukuna's body told him that something terrible was coming.
And then, the golden man spoke. "Domain Expansion: Eternal Throne."