Sukuna frowned as he knelt down and picked up the severed head of the furious alien creature that attacked him the moment he stepped out of the drop pod. It was large and tall, its head the size of two Legionnaires put together. Its whole body was at least large enough to be bulkier than a transport ship, which was massive. It was slow and cumbersome, however, despite the fact that it appeared to move faster than its size would've otherwise allowed it to. It had six limbs, two of which ended in giant scythes. And it was covered in some sort of natural armor, a thick material that was likely made out of the same stuff as its bones. Well, for all the power and ferocity it might've had, the giant creature died to a single use of Dismantle, which decapitated it instantly.
Its head was heavy and ladened with a bunch of horns. Its teeth, in particular, were interesting, seeing as they appeared to be made of some mono-molecular material that could slice through even Sukuna's armor. He frowned because, the moment the creature died, the felt a minuscule shift in the Shroud that surrounded the entire planet, lowering his Cursed Energy Output by a staggering 40%. That meant he was now only about three times as strong as when he first woke up in this new body. Still very powerful, but nowhere near his full potential. More importantly, the sudden shift in the shroud meant only one thing: each one of the creatures here contributed to it, which meant that each death would diminish the shroud. And that also meant that there was no real way to get rid of the shroud, short of killing every single one of these alien monstrosities.
Good, Sukuna mused. He wouldn't have it any other way, but this did make it problematic for the continued survival of his legion. And, despite everything, he'd prefer if none of them died, especially not when they were finally starting to get interesting. Sukuna wanted to see how far the little shits would reach if they were allowed to grow. Who knows? One of them might just grow strong enough to challenge him, strong enough to be fun. That Yamamoto Genryusai fellow, whom Sukuna granted the title of Reaper, seemed like a good candidate to challenge him in the future, assuming he ever gained full mastery over his uniquely destructive Jujutsu. So, despite everything, Ryomen Sukuna didn't want any of his Legionnaires to die.
At least, not yet.
And so, a direct assault against trillions of hungering behemoths was unwise. Such an act would be an exercise in futility, which would also cause the deaths of... well... quite a lot of his Legionnaires, which was exactly what Sukuna was trying to avoid. It was also horribly inefficient. Not every problem, after all, required brute force. Nah, this planet wasn't worth the trouble of mustering his forces and the full might of his legion. Even with the aid of the Men of Iron, it really wouldn't be worth the effort. Sighing, Sukuna activated the communications device, which was a built-in feature of his Power Armor and was connected directly to every communications channel within his fleet or any other fleet within range. In this particular case, Sukuna contacted the Fleet Master, a mortal man of great logistical and naval experience and prowess. "Change of plans. Tell the Devourers to stand down and continue with their training. Prepare the Virus Bombs and drop them as soon as I return to my ship... which will likely be about three hours from now."
"Acknowledged, Prince Sukuna. Have fun."
Sukuna grinned as, over the horizon, millions of the alien creatures appeared, gnashing teeth and scything limbs, roaring and screeching. Curious. Sukuna raised a brow. They weren't all the same size or shape, but there clearly was a general theme to them. It was as though these creatures were all designed by the same designer, following a singular aesthetic. The bony plates, for instance, seemed like an almost monolithic design choice, alongside the six limbs. But that was where the similarities ended and began. In everything else, the creatures could not have been any more different. There were plenty of others, like the gigantic one that'd attacked him the moment he landed on the planet and many others who were far smaller, barely large enough to be dogs and others more whose sizes placed them somewhere in the middle. Others had no limbs at all, however, and soared across the open air, carried by powerful, membranous wings.
Sukuna grinned and held out his arms. "COME GET SOME!"
As if on cue, the alien monsters all charged right towards him, like crazed brutes. It'd take them at least a minute before they reached him. So, in that time, Sukuna bent down and plunged his right hand through the fallen creature's eye. He then reached into the skull and- yep, there's the brain. It was a fair bit larger than he'd expected for such a wild beast. Already, Sukuna couldn't wait to taste the alien's mind. Its memories, no doubt, wouldn't offer him anything of value as, despite its horrifyingly awesome form, it was still ultimately just an animal, which honestly begged the question of how these creatures were able to invade this planet at all. Sukuna didn't fancy himself a master engineer or even a savant of technology, but he understood enough of how things worked to know that one didn't just float across the void between the stars to travel between worlds. No, one needed a vessel that was capable of traveling faster than light itself. These beasts could not have possibly constructed such a vessel, seeing as they had no technology to speak of.
Truly a mystery, indeed. Perhaps, devouring this beast's brain will yield some information.
Sukuna cracked open the beast's skull and pulled its brain right out. It was the size of a human head, Sukuna noted, but contained far more canals and grooves compared to a human brain. He knew, because he'd eaten quite a lot of human brains. Shrugging, Sukuna opened his mouth wide, unhinging his jaw like that of a serpent, using Biomancy, and swallowing the brain whole. He then closed his mouth and chewed. The first thing he noted was the texture; soft and spongy, almost like the flesh of a stingray. Next, he took note of the flavor; strong and overpowering, harsh to the palate, but otherwise pleasantly new. It wasn't anything Sukuna would look for, but it was a very interesting flavor, nonetheless.
What struck him, however, was the sudden influx of Cursed Energy he suddenly received. It didn't increase his reserves as he'd expected. Instead, it increased his Cursed Energy Output, bolstering it, like pouring grease into an open flame. Sukuna knew that such a thing was temporary at best, but it was a welcome thing. Beyond that, the creature's mind offered him... nothing more of note. He'd expected an influx of memories or something similar, but... Sukuna found nothing. It was as though the behemoth had been driven entirely by its instincts, unaware of its surroundings and utterly irrational. It didn't think, it merely felt. It merely reacted to whatever happened to it, without making any real decision for itself as other, truly sapient creatures would've done.
Such a strange beast, indeed. Sukuna's eyes narrowed as he realized, "It's artificial..."
He turned to look at the corpse, frowning for a moment. It didn't think simply because it wasn't meant to think. Something else was supposed to control it, to direct its every movement. This creature wasn't even technically alive, was it? It was more akin to a machine – a biological machine at that. And, suddenly, it all made sense – the aesthetic similarity of each one, the extreme specializations that otherwise would not exist in nature. And the fact that its mind yielded no memories. That was to say that there was no mind at all. The brain was very likely just a means of control, like a data receiver and transmitter.
Something sizzled and hissed across the air. Sukuna looked and saw gargantuan globules of plasma surging right towards him, hundreds of them.
Grinning, the King of Curses waded into the ravenous horde of alien monstrosities. Life would be such a terrific thing if all his enemies turned out like these ones.
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!" His domain came to life around him, a sea of darkness enveloping a total area of one thousand meters; Full Manifestation remained out of reach, for now, but increasing the range of his domain by making use of an obscene amount of Cursed Energy hadn't been. It was progress, no matter how small. Sukuna's grin did not fade as every living thing within his domain was cut down by an infinite number of Dismantles and Cleaves, the alien monstrosities cut down into ribbons and breaking down into little more than chunks of flesh. Sukuna maintained the Malevolent Shrine for a total of ten seconds, before willing away his domain. Around him was a veritable sea of blood and gore, of flesh and bone. He must've killed millions with that one, Sukuna mused.
There was so much alien blood, in fact, that the dry ground had become something much akin to a swamp, steaming and boiling.
Now, he was going to take his sweet time killing each of them as-
Sukuna paused, a single one of his brows rising. "What the..."
A very familiar presence suddenly made itself known from the center of the sea of blood. A surge of violent Cursed Energy exploded outwards, turning the sky red and halting the charge of the aliens. And then, a fiery maelstrom of blood and gore and bone manifested, and from that maelstrom strode forth a big, red, angry, axe-wielding, red-skinned Cursed Spirit with tattered wings. Laughing, Sukuna sent out a wide-ranged Dismantle, killing thousands of the aliens in a single attack. His laughter echoed across the battlefield as he sprinted towards the one friend he'd made in this galaxy since his awakening. "Skarbrand, buddy!"
"Sukuna! Your slaughter of these beasts has drawn me out of Realm of Chaos!" Skarbrand declared, howling and roaring as he raised his gargantuan axes high into the air. Sukuna leapt up and bumped fists with the Cursed Spirit.
"Let's see which of us has more kills after three hours, buddy!" Sukuna laughed as he landed on the ground, splattering blood all over himself. Skarbrand was much bigger and taller than he remembered, but – then again – Cursed Spirits were not truly physical creatures to begin with. If they gained true mastery over themselves, then their forms were as fluid as water. For instance, the winged Cursed Spirit of War was now standing at a height of over twenty-five feet, more than double Sukuna's height. The King of Curses grinned. "For old time's sake."
Skarbrand's head reared back as he roared with laughter, his voice like the cracking of thunder and the breaking of stone. "Yes, friend of mine! I accept your challenge!"
No other words were spoken between them. And, honestly, it'd been quite a while since Sukuna felt some measure of genuine happiness. The last time was when he was defeated by the Emperor, the Golden Man. That had been a humbling and eye-opening experience and the King of Curses wouldn't soon forget it. The joy he'd felt then came from a place of wonder and excitement, the joy of discovering that there was more to discover, that he'd not reached the edge of what could be reached, that there was so much more to Jujutsu than he could've ever imagine.
This time, the source of his happiness was much simpler. There were very few, in this life and the last one, that he could consider to be a genuine equal. And the only way Sukuna would ever consider anyone as friend was if they proved themselves equal to him. Skarbrand was one such individual. The red-skinned hulk might've been a Cursed Spirit, but Sukuna had never been close to humanity to begin with.
There was a reason, after all, that he was known as the King of Curses and not the King of Curse Users.
And so, Sukuna laughed and laughed and laughed as he cut apart thousands, even millions, of these aliens with both Cleave and Dismantle, before razing even more of them with the Flaming Arrow. Fighting by his side was his buddy, Skarbrand, who cut a bloody swathe with his twin axes, having grown in strength since the last they met. Good. Sukuna would never accept a friend who stagnated.
AN: Chapter 26 is out on (Pat)reon!