Sukuna tore the chest open of the screaming Ork Sorcerer and took in the smell of fear and pain. He then ripped out the creature's still-beating heart and ate it. Delicious. He then ripped the Ork's head from its shoulders, cracked open its skull, and ate its brain. Also delicious, but milder in flavor. The Cursed Energy that was embedded in the creature's flesh was... interesting. It was... entirely different from anything Sukuna had ever tasted or even felt before. Describing it with words proved difficult. But it was clear that these Orks were artificial creatures. Otherwise, this sort of Cursed Energy could not have emerged from nature. They were connected, Sukuna realized. All the Orks were connected to each other through a shared network of Cursed Energy, resonating within each of them and gaining strength and power the more of them gathered in one place.
Not all of them could harness these Cursed Energies, however, and so a few of them became loci, much like the Ork Sorcerer whose brain he just ate. For non-sorcerers, however, the effects would be just as dramatic. The more of them gathered in one place and, very likely, engaged in warfare, the greater their shared Cursed Energies grew in potency, supercharging each and every Ork. And it seemed like these creatures were designed to feed off of this feedback loop, growing in physical stature and strength. Of course, some grew larger and more powerful than others, evidenced by the fact that some Orks were, quite literally, bigger than the others. And that meant there was a system in place that passively rewarded those who excelled in battles.
How... incredibly interesting. The only way something like this could've happened was through some form of Sorcerous Engineering – on a scale that was far beyond anything Sukuna had ever witnessed, possibly beyond even what the Emperor was capable of. Just the thought of it was almost unthinkable. And yet, it was right there, in front of him. It was real. Someone, at some point, likely in the very distant past, engineered these Orks and designed them in such a way as to grow through constant conflict. And, if Sukuna's understanding was right, then there was no limit to this growth; quite literally, the potential of the Orks was limited only by violence. But, in an ideal condition, then they would keep on growing and growing infinitely, perhaps reaching a point wherein they could cause worlds to erupt into fire and ash simply by stepping on it.
"Curious," Sukuna muttered, wiping the blood from his lips as he stood up. "Very curious."
He'd spared this one in particular for eating. The rest of them were dead. At least, every single Ork around him for thousands of miles were all dead, cut down to ribbons – millions of them, some out in the open and others within buildings or vehicles. The other Orks didn't taste as good as this one, however, likely because their flesh, while immersed in Cursed Energies, did not hold as much potency as an actual Sorcerer. A pity there were so few of these variants. Their hearts and brains would make for good appetizers. But the rest of their body was too stringy that the only way to make it palatable would be to cook it for a very long time – smoked or simmered, with plenty of spices. But, at that point, Sukuna may as well have a meal of grox meat, which was far more tender and more succulent and did not have the odd smell that Ork meat had.
Stretching his limbs, the King of Curses yawned and picked a random direction to begin walking. As far as he was concerned, he was going to meet a legion of Orks within their fortresses no matter which direction he picked. This world was absolutely filled with them. The land around him was mostly farmland. And it came with no surprise that the Orks farmed themselves – or, more accurately, lesser version of themselves, essentially cousins, creatures that were essentially just mouths on legs, but somehow had enough meat to be a viable source of protein.
A self-sustaining race.
It was clear that the Orks were engineered for war, one that was greater than any war Sukuna had ever been in. If anything, the Orks he'd fought and killed and devoured were very likely the devolved offshoots of who they once were. They must've been truly great and awesome in their prime. But that... would take a war that spanned the whole galaxy – a war that engulfed billions of worlds.
Interesting. Very interesting.
Sprinting as fast as he could, Sukuna reached another Ork Settlement after two hours. The Greenskins could do nothing to him and he wasn't even wearing Power Armor. He slaughtered them all. Ten hours later, after butchering tens of millions of Orks, Sukuna found himself... feeling sad. Not for himself, but for the Orks. It appalled him that the Greenskins would likely never reach the prowess they once had, doomed to fight small wars and small battles, and never again the heights they'd once reached. For the source of their strength was also their greatest weakness, Sukuna realized; without a constant war to keep them occupied, the Orks devolved, becoming lesser and lesser in times of peace, losing more and more of themselves. Sukuna could hardly imagine a more tragic existence. Truly, these beings were broken, unfinished, perhaps.
It was... just sad. The Orks could be so much more and yet here they were, forced into a state of being that was beneath them. Sukuna wanted to fight them at their strongest, to see those ancient heights the Orks once reached. But how?
His eyes narrowed, Curse-Reinforced senses spotting the Ork Spores on the ground, their means of reproduction. Fighting the Orks as they were was a terribly dull affair, not when they could be so much more. He had to fix that, somehow. Or, at the very least, trigger the very change that he wanted to see. Smiling, Sukuna plunged his right hand deep into the soil and wrapped his fingers around one of the spores – delicately, ensuring he wouldn't kill it by accident. The problem with Orks was that their Cursed Energy lost charge whenever they weren't engaged in total war for long periods of time. That was their curse and weakness. A simple solution to that problem would be to insert a Cursed Energy Core into an Ork, similar to a Cursed Corpse, one that would prevent the degeneration that plagued their race, without supercharging their natural growth, resulting in an Ork that only grew stronger and bigger, forever.
Sukuna gathered enough Cursed Energy to rival his own reserves back in the Heian Era – a paltry amount now, but still rather plentiful, all things considered – and molded it into a Cursed Energy Core, one that had a very low output, constantly supplying the experimental Ork with just enough Cursed Energy to keep it from devolving. Hopefully, this would create some kind of feedback loop that would prevent nearby Orks from devolving as well. Or, it might not. It was always possible that this little green thing would just explode for no reason. Or be killed for a myriad of other reasons. After all, this world and every other world in this solar system was about to be devoured by the Imperium.
Then again, the Imperium also had a tendency of losing worlds to Ork Infestations. So, there was a slight chance for something to go fun and awry.
Sukuna grinned. "Grow strong, little one. And, in time, you might just give me a proper fight. Or not. I'll wait a hundred years for you, before I mess with another spore."
Cleaning up the rest of the planet by himself was not nearly as exciting as Sukuna would've liked. He simply expanded his domain again and again, cutting down vast swathes of land. No Orkoid machine – flying or otherwise – stood up to him as Malevolent Shrine reduced everything to ribbons within hundreds, even thousands of miles. Annoyingly, increasing the range of his domain was easy; all it took was increasing the Cursed Energy Expenditure. However, the secrets of Full Manifestation eluded him as they had ever since he'd witnessed such perfection the first time the Emperor ever opened his own domain. Sukuna didn't even know where to start. Well, not quite. Firstly, it was obvious that Full Manifestation would require an obscene amount of Cursed Energy, likely far more than his total current Cursed Energy Reserves. But that was just a requirement. The actual required steps to actually performing such a thing... eluded him.
And that was annoying.
Sighing, Sukuna continued onward.
About fifteen hours later and after cutting down the last Ork Stronghold and reducing the whole thing to dust, along with all of its inhabitants, Sukuna contacted Captain Loktar Shahid, opening a communications channel with the press of a button. "Prince Sukuna. Are you in need of assistance?"
"Nah, I'm good," Sukuna answered, yawning. Taking the entire planet only cost him about a third of his total Cursed Energy reserves and that was mostly because he wasted a lot of it opening his domain again and again, instead of cutting down the Orks manually. "Actually, I've just finished cleansing the whole planet. Feel free to mark it off as subdued. And go ahead and teleport me to my quarters; I'm bored."
"Very well, Prince Sukuna," Loktar Shahid affirmed. It'd take at least fifteen seconds before the teleporter activated. He glanced around.
And, all things considered, killing a whole world was technically an achievement. A monument to his glory would be appropriate, a simple reminder of his achievement, because Sukuna was rather certain of the fact that no other Primarch could claim to have brought low an Ork World entirely by themselves. The Emperor could probably easily do the same thing, but the dude was very busy or something and just didn't. Making use of his Geomancy for the first time in... quite a while, honestly – the last time he used it was when his people needed shelter – and... huh... in hindsight, he'd never made a monument for himself before; others usually did it for him.
Ryomen Sukuna technically didn't even possess his own symbol. The Devourers had a symbol, however, which was a combination of their old legion flag and the flag of Shibuya – an eye and a fanged maw before a field of red. People were going to associate that symbol with him anyway and so he may as well go along with it. Shrugging, Sukuna raised a great mound of earth and stone and molded it to form the same symbol as depicted on the flag of the Devourers. He even added a small shrine, where people could pray in – if they wished. "There, all done."
The teleportation device activated not a moment later and, just like that, Sukuna found himself back in his quarters. From there, he took a quick shower and made his way to the command deck, where Captain Loktar Shahid was hard at work, coordinating the void battle. No words were exchanged between them. Sukuna surveyed the battle reports and, unsurprisingly, they were winning quite handily – mostly due to the Black Wing Squadron making victory impossible for the Orks. The battle would've been a tad bit more difficult without the automated vessels. The ground battles were more or less going according to Sukuna's expectations. His legionnaires were dominating the Orks wherever they went.
As things stood, they'd end up conquering the whole system in two weeks – maybe less.
Sukuna sat on his throne and hoped for greater challenges on the horizon. Or not. Some more free time to pursue his other, more mundane hobbies was always welcome. Hmm... maybe he should push the Devourers to pursue hobbies of their own, during down times. After all, those who lived only for the thrill of battle were... often very boring people. Having a diversity of hobbies and interests was the way to live. Hm, well, that was something to consider.
AN: Chapter 31 is up on (Pat)reon!