Beautiful.
There were no other words to describe the magnitude of what he'd just witnessed.
Domains usually only had two forms, the most common of which was the Barriered Domain, whereas Sukuna could count with one hand the number of people who mastered the Barrierless Domain, which had been thought of as impossible for centuries, until Sukuna perfected its use. He did not discover, no; that honor went to Tengen. But he did perfect it.
However, there were Jujutsu Scholars who posited a theoretical higher form of a Domain, which they called the Full Manifestation. See, Domains were a reflection of a Sorcerer's purest self within the Cursed Realm and then brought into the material world, through a Domain Expansion. Of course, the material world had its own rules and would fight against the presence of such an unnatural thing, hence the difficulty of successfully activating and the maintaining a Domain Expansion. A barrier was akin to a clutch, in this regard, allowing for a Sorcerer to maintain their Domain, while keeping it safe from the rejection of the material world. Above that was the Barrierless Domain, which was able to maintain its shape, function, and power purely through a Sorcerer's rejection of reality and imposing their own version of it on the material world.
Of course, the material world would always be stronger than a mere Sorcerer's domain. That was a fact. Even Sukuna himself could only impose his domain for a limited time, before the material world won over and his domain fell apart. He accepted that as it was. There were some things that simply could not be stopped, no matter how strong you were or how hard you fought. Death, for instance, came for everyone and everything at some point; some could claim immortality and run for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, but even they could not escape. Universal constants. The physical world overtaking a domain was one such constant. That said, there were ways to work around this limitation, such as expanding one's domain in controlled bursts, each time lasting no more than fifteen seconds. Sukuna's own domain, Malevolent Shrine, had never manifested for more than twenty seconds, for instance.
There were limits.
Full Manifestation, however, was the theorized transcendence of those limits, performed by a sorcerer who was so powerful that they were able to fully and truly impose their will upon reality, creating a Domain that – for all intents and purposes – was a part of the physical world itself, just as the leaves upon its branches were a part of the greater tree. Sukuna himself tried, a thousand times, in the Heian Era, to achieve Full Manifestation and, by the end of it, only came to the conclusion that it was either outright impossible or he was simply too weak. At the time, the former seemed like the more probably conclusion; after all, he was the King of Curses, the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer of the entire world. Surely, if anyone could achieve Full Manifestation, it was him. But no, he'd been wrong.
No one could've achieved such a thing.
After all, Full Manifestation implied that the domain would have absolutely no rules or restrictions. A Full Manifestation of Malevolent Shrine, for instance, would essentially allow him to cut down anything and everything within a whole world with no limit. That was why the very notion of Full Manifestation was thought of as absurd, an impossible theoretical limit that was reserved only for those who ascended into godhood and attained an infinite amount of Cursed Energy.
The golden man's Domain Expansion was a Full Manifestation.
And it was beautiful.
Sukuna fell to his knees. His right hand reached up and found the massive hole in his chest, where his blood flowed freely. He'd lost count of how many body parts and sections he'd lost within the golden man's domain, the damage he'd absorbed within the span of twenty seconds was greater than all the damage he'd ever received before then, greater than all the damage he'd ever received in his entire life; it was ridiculous. But, Sukuna mused, such was the power of Full Manifestation. Trying to counter it with his own domain only resulted in a backlash so hilariously strong that trying to expand his domain afterwards proved impossible.
Outmatched, the King of Curses chuckled, blood streaming and falling from his lips and onto the ground. He'd never been outmatched before – never been outmuscled or outmaneuvered. He'd never even been defeated before. This... this was an entirely new sensation. He wasn't angered or outraged or particularly shocked. He'd always known, after all, that someone, somewhere, was going to be the end of him, the one who was stronger and better. Death came for all at the end of all things. But this... this sensation... it was... pleasant, but Sukuna had no words for it.
He'd never felt it before.
His power was spent, his Innate Cursed Technique reduced to nothing. He couldn't call up his domain anymore. And the what little Cursed Energy he had left was just enough to heal the hole on his chest. Amazing. Agonizingly, Sukuna transmuted his remaining Cursed Energy into Positive Cursed Energy, mending his bones, coaxing his flesh, and knitting his skin. And then he breathed in and found that he could not move any of his limbs anymore. All the energy in his body was spent. Even the trickle of Cursed Energy he received from his worshipers was not nearly enough to replenish all that he'd lost. Sukuna, for the first time in all his existence, was truly and utterly spent.
He had nothing left. No amount of clever tricks was going to get him out of this one.
The fragments of his Trishula was scattered all over the planet. And the Flaming Arrow of Amaterasu laid dormant in the absence of a constant supply of Cursed Energy to feed its flames. Neither Dismantle nor Cleave worked against the golden man. He had nothing.
This was... new.
Blood poured from eyes, nose, and mouth as the golden man approached him. Sukuna choked and coughed into his hand, smothering it with his own blood. The pain hardly mattered. "What is this feeling?"
"That is humility." The golden man said, stopping a meter away from him. Sukuna breathed in and forced himself, but only managed to rise to a single knee before his body gave way and he fell back down again. Humility, huh? Yeah, he definitely never felt anything like that before. He never had to. No one, not even the ones he considered equals, like Tengen and Kenjaku, ever gave him the unmatched sensation that was humility. Tengen, could, at best, bore him enough so that he walked away and Kenjaku was always able to talk him out of a fight. But humility only ever came from failure. Or, in this case, defeat. The golden man reached out to him and bathed his body in golden light, restoring a bit of his energy and healing whatever damage Sukuna hadn't been able to restore with Positive Cursed Energy.
What the hell was that? It definitely wasn't cursed healing.
The golden man seemed to just flood his body with Cursed Energy and then... somehow it healed him.
"Stand proud, Ryomen Sukuna, you're strong." The golden man said. And Sukuna chuckled; there was a sense of irony there that he was not getting. Still, the acknowledgment felt kind of nice, even if it left a bitter taste on his tongue. Despite his defeat, Sukuna was proud of how well he did; after all, he'd given the fight all he had, exhausted every single thing in his arsenal. The gap between himself and the golden man was simply too great, too wide. He'd breach that gap one day, he was certain of that, but that day was a distant thing in the making. Breathing in, Sukuna pushed himself up, idly noting that he'd grown taller once again. "There are very few who could claim to have fought me as well as you did, my son. But, for now, I am the victor. And we made a deal, yes? The loser serves the winner."
Sukuna nodded. Everything that happened from here on out would be... new, uncharted territory, so to speak. And a part of him was excited. Another part of him was confused and still could not believe how easily he'd been defeated by the golden man. Truly, this was a humbling experience. He would never forget it as long as he lived. "Very well. I am yours to command. And this planet and all its people belong to you. What do you want?"
The golden man smiled, entirely at ease. Sukuna wondered if this... god even exerted effort in their battle. Looking back, Sukuna was rather certain the golden man hadn't even been trying very hard. He fought with illusions and tricks at first, before unleashing its full might through that Full Manifestation Domain Expansion. Eternal Throne, the golden man called it, the most powerful domain Sukuna had ever seen. Even if it wasn't a Full Manifestation, it would've still been powerful enough to rival even Malevolent Shrine. The golden man gestured for him to follow. "Come and walk with me, my son. I will explain everything. And, I suppose, there is much that must be discussed between us, yes?"
Sukuna nodded and shrugged. "Very well."
"Before anything else," The golden man said as they began walking towards a random direction. They were headed straight for the beach, Sukuna mused. "What I want from you is simple. I want you to lead your legion on a crusade across the galaxy and I want you to conquer as many worlds as you possibly can, expanding my Imperium."
Sukuna nodded. "I have... something of an army, but I don't believe they're capable of doing anything as... grand as conquering an entire world, honestly. But I'll do my best."
"Ah, your army is impressive, indeed, comprised of brave and zealous men and women, but I'm not talking about them," The golden man said, his burning eyes turning up, towards the stars. A smirk danced upon his lips. "Can you feel them? They are your children – or, at least, the closest thing to children you'll ever get, made from your genetic material. They call themselves the Kindred Legion – very powerful, very effective. I made great use of them in the Unifying Wars and the wars that came after; a thousand battles they have fought in my name. It's about time we changed that. They are yours now, command them well and they will conquer worlds in your name."
Sukuna closed his eyes and looked up. And then, he felt them – he felt... something. There was a connection between himself and about... a few thousand or so individuals, each of them sharing a tiny fragment of his own spark. Interesting. He was excited to meet them, then, if only to see just what he'd be dealing with. But to refer to them as his sons was a bit of a stretch. He never had children – never wanted them. Still, he wasn't going to complain. An army was an army and his latest Cursed Technique should work on them once they began their conquest. "I see. What else?"
"This world of yours will be colonized by the Imperium, of course," The golden man explained. "They will pay tithes, in bodies and in wealth. But, considering the very low population, I do not expect much. That said, this planet will be granted technological boons to aid in its development and anything your people might've discovered will, of course, be shared with the wider Imperium. You will be granted ships and weapons, and everything you could ever need to begin your crusade."
"I do not care that your people worship you," The golden man added. "It is only natural, after all, given your power and your might. That you do not think of yourself as a god is good enough for me. Besides, I see that you're enjoying the benefits of worship. Do with it as you will, I care not. However, this religion of yours cannot spread to other worlds."
"Understood. Anything else?" Sukuna asked. This wasn't too complicated, he figured. And that was good, because he didn't like complicated things. Just go out there and conquer a bunch of worlds. He already knew about interstellar travel, of course, from the books his followers uncovered in the depths of their former, subterranean homes. And so, Sukuna had long expected to sail the stars at some point, once his civilization advanced enough to build space-worthy vessels, but only after a thousand years or so. But, well, being gifted a fleet of his own gargantuan vessels was pretty good too.
"You're taking this quite well, unlike some of your brothers." The golden man said. Brothers, eh? Sukuna had a brother, once, but then he ate him. But, whatever, as long as his siblings kept to themselves and did not hinder him in any capacity, then Sukuna ultimately didn't care.
Sukuna shrugged. "We made a deal before we fought. I lost. I'm honoring that deal. It is simple. And, besides, there's not much for me to do anyhow. Conquering a bunch of worlds seems like a good way to keep my mind off of boredom."
"Very well," The golden man nodded, sighing and smiling. "As for how you are to address me, you may call me father or, if that isn't your style, sir would suffice. Now, your legion is eager to meet you."