True to Sukuna's prediction, it took the Devourers Legion a mere week to conquer the entirety of the system. After taking on a single world by himself, Sukuna had opted to just spend the rest of his time reading, watching odd films, and eating something called iced clotted cream, instead of assisting in the overall war. And true enough, the Devourers didn't need him; though, he did keep a close eye on the events of the war, just in case they'd require some kind of intervention on his part, but it seemed like such a thing was, in fact, unnecessary. And so, Ryomen Sukuna, King of Curses, finished close to a hundred episodes of Telenovelas from the ancient days of Tera – overly dramatic stuff with plotlines that went all over the place, but were otherwise the only things he could watch, because there really weren't a lot of surviving films and these ones were so old that they pretty much predated humanity's interstellar age.
Corazon Salvaje made no sense, but it was entertaining enough that Sukuna ended up eating about a dozen tubs of iced clotted cream by the time he finished the whole thing.
The Devourers themselves, astonishingly, lost not a single one of their number. Sure, many were critically injured and immediately sent to the medical bay for treatment, usually those who suffered from the Weird Boyz and their own Orkish brand of Sorcery, which was very potent, but the rest were very easily able to heal and save themselves with RCT. In the end, no one died. The wounded were saved and restored. The Ork strongholds and factories and cities were all toppled and torn down, and even the Warboss was eventually dragged out and ripped apart by Yamamoto Genryusai himself, who also, subsequently, had the highest number of skills because his Innate Technique was the best for clearing out large numbers of enemies. No one protested his victory. In fact, the Legionnaires celebrated afterwards by removing their helmets and feasting on the corpses of the Orks, an act they mimicked from Sukuna himself.
Yamamoto earned the honor of devouring the corpse of the Warboss.
And, even from outer space, Sukuna felt the surge in Cursed Energy Output and Reserves as his Legionnaires took the power of the Orks for themselves. The Remembrancers recorded the event as the Feast of the Devourers, their first act of eating the remains of their enemies. In an odd way, Sukuna found himself feeling a measure of pride for them. The ability to take the Cursed Energies of others by means of cannibalism was one of the few tools that elevated him to the highest echelons of Jujutsu Society back in the Heian Era. And now the Devourers apparently possessed that very same ability, likely inherited from his genetics – or however that process actually worked, since not a single one of them developed anything close to Mizushi in terms of function.
Hmm... maybe they really were his children...? Nah, they haven't earned that right just yet.
Whatever the case, Sukuna grinned as he loomed over Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai, arguably the single most powerful member of the Devourers Legion, strong enough to maybe defeat his Heian Era self if they ever met and fought. The man had slain tens of millions of Orks and had beaten the Warboss himself – the close second happened to be one of the Five Captains, Shor, whose Innate Technique allowed him to summon and wield continent-spanning lightning storms and hurricanes – a close contender against Yamamoto's flames.
"You have won the challenge and, as promised, you shall be given a reward," Sukuna grinned. He'd never really done this before – at least, not for this particular reason. So, it should be entertaining, if nothing else. Breathing in Sukuna gathered a large portion of his power into a single finger – a twentieth of his total reserves, a reasonable amount for a reward and certainly gigantic for everyone else – followed by a portion of his soul, a tiny fragment that held just enough spiritual data for Yamamoto to eventually develop his own version of Mizushi, perhaps one that burned as it cut. But not enough data for Sukuna to be able to take over the man's body. At least, for now, the King of Curses had no need for a vessel; after all, he already possessed the most perfect body he could want, a body that was powerful enough to store an unlimited amount of Cursed Energy, a body that could adapt to almost any environment and survive even in the void of space. A vessel would just be inferior, even if Yamamoto's Innate Technique was interesting and powerful.
His right pointer finger turned black with Cursed Energy, steaming and smoking. Unlike the last time he did this, back in the Heian Era, what Sukuna created wasn't exactly a Cursed Object or an artifact. It didn't contain his will or his mind. If nothing else, it was just a vessel for Cursed Energy and nothing else. With a smile, Sukuna tore the finger right from his hand, regrowing a new one so quickly that it seemed as though there already was a finger in place, before handing out the blackened, smoking appendage to Yamamoto. That tiny thing, Sukuna mused, held more Cursed Energy in it than most Jujutsu Sorcerers could ever dream of, certainly greater than his Reserves before his reincarnation.
"Eat this and you shall receive a fragment of my power – my potential." Sukuna said, grinning. Yamamoto's eyes widened slightly; behind him, the rest of the Devourers Legion bowed in reverence as was natural. Yamamoto accepted the blackened finger and held it close for a moment, eyes glimmering. "In time, perhaps, you may develop a technique that is similar to my own – or you may not. This sort of thing isn't exactly a science. Go ahead, eat it."
Yamamoto swallowed the finger and began convulsing on the ground, wave after wave of Cursed Energies spiking within his body. He'd be like that for a while, Sukuna mused, until the Cursed Energies properly settled and Yamamoto's body acclimated to the rush of power. The King of Curses stepped over his fallen Legionnaire and addressed the others. "The same goes for the rest of you. Those among you who are worthy shall receive the same gift."
And, funnily enough, their next campaign would be the perfect way for others to begin proving themselves. Yamamoto was now officially out of any other competition – not because it'd be unfair, but it simply wasn't practical anymore. After all, his fingers epitomized the concept of diminishing returns, especially for mere Finger-Bearers; an actual vessel would be an entirely different story, but that was besides the point. Finger-Bearers could only ever contain the energies of a single finger; taking another would just cause the Cursed Energy, housed within, to dissipate and disappear – a total waste of time and effort in that case. Though, exceptionally talented Finger-Bearers might have enough talent in manipulating their Cursed Energy to actually consume two or maybe three, but Sukuna hadn't met anyone with that much fine control before – a Jujutsu Sorcerer with the mythical Six-Eyes might be able to do it easily, but then Sukuna wasn't even entirely sure Six-Eyes existed, even back then.
"I shall make you proud, Lord Sukuna!" Yamamoto said, staggering back onto his knees, eyes unfocused, but otherwise hard and steely. Sukuna glanced at the Legionnaire and grinned. Yamamoto's Cursed Energies fluctuated wildly, likely causing an agonizing amount of pain, the sort that couldn't easily be dealt with by the use of RCT.
"I don't doubt it," Sukuna said, before turning to look at the rest of the legion. For a moment, he wondered if the close second, Captain Shor, deserved a reward of his own, before deciding against it. There could only be one winner and he also couldn't think of another reward to give out, unless there was one among them who could handle the Trishula, which was highly unlikely as, even now, Sukuna struggled to make full use of that god-artifact. A Legionnaire, no matter how strong they thought they were, would be drained of their life force and Cursed Energy almost instantly. "The same reward awaits the rest of you. Those who impress me, those who win these little competitions I assign for each campaign, shall receive a fragment of my power."
"And you guys are in luck!" Sukuna's grin widened. "Our next campaign will up against an Ork Empire that has control over five systems – five. We'll be pulling out all the stops for this one – total war. That means the Men of Iron will be finally be unleashed, alongside all the cool new toys the old man Malcador left for us to play with, but haven't yet made use of."
Oh, there were plenty, weapons and other armaments that the other Legions would likely never see, simply because of that thing that was coming. Oh yes, Sukuna knew all about that. It was still a bit far off, of course, but both Malcador and the Emperor believed that at least half of the Primarchs would rebel for some reason or another, splitting the Imperium in two. But because the both of them judged – correctly – that there was absolutely zero chance for Sukuna himself to rebel or otherwise turn against the Imperium, they offered him the cool toys and gadgets, stuff that'd make conquering entire worlds much faster but also more boring.
However, five whole systems was nothing to scoff at. "According to this little data-pad thing here, it's called the Ork Empire of Umazzad – Umazzad is the name of the main system, the heart of their little alien empire. Now, the competition's been changed a bit: one winner for who has the most kills and another winner for whoever saves the most people – civilians or fellow Legionnaires, whatever."
There weren't going to be any civilians in any system they were going to; Malcador made that perfectly clear. But Sukuna noticed an appalling behavior from the previous competition and that was that more than a few Legionnaires would leave their fellows behind just to try and kill more Orks. That was okay, honestly. On a personal level, Sukuna didn't care if any of them died. However, from the standpoint of a leader, Sukuna knew that replacing the dead would be very challenging and that he couldn't exactly conquer entire systems by himself, no matter how many enemies he killed. So, as far as Sukuna was concerned, this was just a means to minimize casualties and injuries, while still maintaining that competitive spirit.
"Furthermore," Sukuna added. "And let me make this perfectly clear, I do not want any of you to become mindless, soulless killers, because that'd make you weaker – less creative. And so you'll be participating in yet another form of competition, reserved for the length of time between campaigns. Quite simply, it'll be a creative competition: create a piece of art, whatever form it might be. You paint or sing or dance, even perform as a group – whatever you want to do. But all of you have to participate – or not. I don't really care that much. I'll judge your artworks before we exit the Cursed Realm. Have fun!"
And, with that, Sukuna turned and walked away. He had another Telenovela to watch and several more tubs of Iced Clotted Cream to finish eating. Besides, there really wasn't that much for him to do between campaigns and his Devourers were so strong already that they could afford to spend more time for art and other creative pursuits instead of just training all the time. That was a mistake that a lot of Jujutsu Sorcerers in the Heian Era often did in their pursuit of power, a mistake that made them weaker. Those who lived a full life, had friends and hobbies and enjoyed their own existence, were always stronger than those who lived only for one thing, those who devoted themselves to only one ideal.
Sukuna was strong because he pursued things that were unrelated to strength and power, because he lived a full life. And, true enough, he wanted the same for the Devourers, even if they were technically designed specifically only for war.
AN: I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING! Anyway, chapter 32 is out on (Pat)reon!