"Well, this should be very interesting," Sukuna smiled and raised a brow as he briefly skimmed through the reports that spoke of what little the Imperium knew about the planet below him. And, boy oh boy, did the Imperium know very little. First of all, this planet was declared lost even before the Men of Iron supposedly revolted. The only reason it hadn't been immediately reconquered by the humans was because they simply never got that chance. By the time it became known that the world of Morhogg was overtaken by a ravenous race of dangerous aliens, the Iron Men had already begun their revolt. And every single living creature on the planet had apparently already been eaten.

Quite the story.

There was very little information on the aliens themselves, but that was not exactly a shock. It seemed like, in general, the Imperium knew very little about its enemies, though they certainly knew quite a lot about Green-skinned monstrosities, the ones called Orks. Apparently, they've been enemies of humanity for as long as humanity had been an interstellar race, which... was a rather long time, actually. There were also mentions of a race called the Eldar or Aeldari, who were labeled as one of humanity's greatest enemies, despite the fact that most human casualties to aliens came from the Orks.

Weird. But, then again, Malcador once said that the Aeldari were once allied to humanity; perhaps, that was why they were hated more.

Anyway, zero information on the aliens that he was supposed to be fighting, just like the last time. The difference now was that it'd just be his legion and himself. No one else to rely on. Eh, the planet wasn't covered in lush trees, at least, and it wasn't swampy. The weather was nice and dry – practically zero humidity across the entire planet. Perfect for slaughter. Being in the rain and trudging through mud was just... annoying. It dampened even Sukuna's mood for slaughter, which was a rare thing.

Still... Sukuna mused as he stared at the looming form of the planet below... the Imperials had neglected to take note of the fact that there appeared to be a... shroud of sorts that blanketed the entire planet. Sukuna had no idea what it was, but he knew what would happen once he entered that shroud.

It'd interfere with his output. His reserves would be fine. But having lower output would also dampen his overall combat efficiency. The same was true for his legionnaires, who'd feel the shroud's effects with greater intensity. Whatever was causing it, Sukuna mused, would have to be disabled first. Otherwise, the only thing they'd be able to rely on was Cursed Augmentation and Cursed Healing.

Though, in that case, Sukuna could forgo the battle and simply make use of Inspire – his Innate Technique as a Primarch – to boost his legionnaires further than they otherwise were capable of by themselves from the comfort of his ship.

After all, Inspire had but one annoying requirement and it was that Sukuna had to sit down and stay still; otherwise, its effects constantly applied to his legion, regardless of distance. So, having to sit down for prolonged periods, honestly wasn't such a terrible price. In fact, it wasn't a price at all. He wasn't so drunk on the idea of slaughter and war that he'd completely miss the chance for peace and quiet and meditation every once in a while. The King of Curses was a man of varied tastes, after all.

Long ago, people thought of him only as a blood-crazed cannibal; they were right, of course, but that wasn't the only thing that defined him.

He was also a wood worker. But no one seemed to remember that. Ryomen Sukuna mastered both the Fue and the Biwa, and played before large crowds whenever he didn't feel like killing or eating people as a celebrated musician. But, once again, no one really remembered that about him. He also joined a troupe of traveling actors, once. The King of Curses did not live a life so banal as to revolve solely around blood and death. He'd quickly succumb to boredom if he did.

Even now, he studied crocheting because he found it interesting and fun. Once he mastered that particular art, maybe he'd take up embroidery or stone-sculpting. Not everything in his life was ruled by a need to inflict violence or pain.

Whatever the case, Inspire was certainly an option. And it'd also allow his Legion to establish their own tactics and make their own decisions without Sukuna himself to do anything for them. The Cursed Energy dampening shroud would remained a problem, however.

So, alternatively, he could make use of the new toys granted to him by Malcador.

After all, to rely too much on one thing was folly. Despite his mastery over Jujutsu, Sukuna strove to master... just about every other aspect of warfare and battle. To rely solely on Jujutsu to win wars meant he'd be stifling himself. And Sukuna did not become the King of Curses by stifling himself. No, he learned, he adapted, and he reached for victory, no matter the cost. And that meant making use of every possible resource that belonged to him – a lesson that quite a lot of his challengers, back in the Heian Era, seemed to be ignorant of.

In this case, fielding a legion of shackled Men if Iron sounded like a good idea. With their Cursed Energy Output lowered, his legionnaires would need some help. Malcador also granted him automated battle tanks of some kind – very useful. Sukuna had thousands of them, just waiting to be unleashed. Well, if the Men of Iron weren't going to cut it, then he'd make use of the tanks.

Or, if he ran out of options, then lighting the planet's entire atmosphere on fire from orbit was also a valid tactic. Not a fun or interesting one, but definitely the quickest and most efficient, especially since there were no humans on this particular planet. Still, his curiosity won over. For better or for worse, Sukuna wanted to see these ravenous aliens for himself.

How many of them, he wondered, could he possibly kill using only Cursed Augmentation and Healing? Horus's gift wouldn't be of much use against an enemy that made use of swarm tactics, either. But, the Mechanicus forges in the bowels of his ship had no shortage of melee weapons.

I'm overthinking this...

Shrugging, Sukuna tossed the data-pad away and turned his attention back to the Astartes that carried his genes. Referring to them as his children would be rather close to the truth, honestly, but then none of them had earned that honor just yet. None of them deserved to be the child of the King of Curses. That said, their growth was astounding. More than half of his legion was now capable of manifesting a Simple Domain after only a few months of training. And a fourth were now capable of Domain Expansion, including the Five Captains, who were still the unofficial leaders of the Devourers. Yamamoto and Loras were technically the strongest among the Devourers, growing even stronger now that they carried his blood in their veins.

Reapers. Sukuna had granted them that rank. Though, to be perfectly honest, their roles, as Sukuna told them, was to act as lone killers, stalking beyond enemy lines, striking from unexpected and unexplored angles, to do plenty of damage before disappearing, like the shinobi of old. Then again, it was rather difficult to be stealthy in the bulky Power Armor. Sure, they moved much faster than they should otherwise be capable of through Cursed Augmentation, but no amount of extra strength and speed was going to cancel out the inherent weight of Power Armor. And it wasn't like the Mechanicus Representatives of his fleet were going to make custom armor for each and every single one of them as they'd done for Sukuna himself.

But, he didn't care. They'd make it work somehow or they'd fail. Thus far, Loras and Yamamoto had done the best that they could against the Asari and Sukuna honestly didn't care too much to chastise them for not slaughtering thousands by themselves – not when direct confrontation was the least desirable tactic against the female aliens.

Whatever the case, his Reapers were hard at work now, training and instructing the other Astartes in the use of Cursed Energy and Jujutsu. It was interesting, because even the Five Captains deferred to the judgment of the Reapers. They listened and learned. They asked questions and even occasionally engaged in the crafting of theories regarding the nature of Jujutsu. Some of their theories, Sukuna found, reminded him of the stuff he used to experiment with when he was much younger and more ignorant. But, hey, nothing like learning from mistakes to really hammer in the point.

Actually... maybe he could teach them something useful. After all, Sukuna needed them to stay alive for as long as possible, since recruits were startlingly rare and gathering them was a hassle; and, for all his power, conquering entire worlds by himself was a little... out there – not impossible, but it'd take too much of his time that it simply wasn't worth it. And, annoyingly, one of the God-Emperor's mandates was for him to take care of his legion to the best of his ability. And that meant keeping them alive.

Enchanting, the art of creating Cursed Tools, was simple – not easy, but simple. The core concept behind it was to use Cursed Energy to alter the physical and metaphysical characteristics of an object, thereby granting it incredible abilities – or, in Sukuna's case the first time he ever successfully created a Cursed Tool, a knife that never dulled or rusted. Very simple, but it was ultimately something that should not exist by natural law. Every blade, no matter how perfectly made and how sharp, eventually dulled and withered; such was the mandate of time, of entropy.

But, Cursed Tools circumvented natural law by the use of Cursed Letters and, of course, Binding Vows. The former allowed for the imbuing of Cursed Energy upon an object. The latter gave that object purpose. And that was the difficult part.

If the Devourers applied themselves and dedicated enough time to learning the art, then it was possible for them to create their own Cursed Tools, even using their Power Armor as a base – a canvas with which to alter the laws of reality. He couldn't wait to see what sort of gimmicky abilities they'd grant their Cursed Tools. Surely, the legionnaires were creative enough to come up with truly unique things.

Sukuna was also pretty sure the Jujutsu Sorcerers of his planet still haven't figured out this particular aspect of Jujutsu. Enchanting might've been simple, but it wasn't something one could learn without first having heard of it or without an instructor to guide one onto the right path. Sukuna would know; he tried it, after all, without anyone to teach him properly. And that had been quite the spectacular failure on his part.

He almost died.

Sukuna stood up and clapped his hands once, drawing the attention of every single legionnaire in the training room. "I am going to impart knowledge on the creation of Cursed Tools. You may listen if you're interested. Or, if you're not interested, then feel free to do whatever else you'd rather be doing; I don't care. Those of you who wish to learn from me, stop whatever it is you're doing, shut up, and listen."

All of them stopped and sat down and looked up to him. Sukuna nodded. He never fancied himself a teacher, but the ancestors of every single Jujutsu Sorcerer on his planet – the first among them – were those who learned under his very brief tutelage and they turned out fine. So, he must've been a pretty good teacher. Or, at the very least, he was good enough with words for even idiots to understand. "Let us begin with what a Cursed Tool is and how it works. I will speak only once and there will be no questions. If you have them, figure out the answers on your own. I do not care. Now..."

AN: Chapter 25 is now up on (Pat)reon!