Chapitre 8: Chapter 08

What do you think of the Itadori so far? Has his personality been pleasant?

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Itadori had no time to savor his achievement of being able to manipulate cursed energy.

There was a world of difference between sensing cursed energy and being able to use it in battle.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have been able to learn to manipulate it so quickly, but he was in a desperate situation where he had little choice but to keep trying until he succeeded.

Fortunately, understanding how to manipulate it came to him more simply than expected.

It was still incomplete, and its flow was volatile. He felt like he was wasting too much cursed energy, but for what he was about to do, he hoped it would be enough.

Defeating a special grade curse was far beyond his current abilities, even though he could now enhance his attacks.

He just needed to survive long enough.

Boom!

Jumping back to escape a blast of pure power, Itadori gritted his teeth as he raised his defense to block a barrier that extended until it hit him.

With the boy being thrown away, the curse immediately advanced towards him, its claws reaching for Itadori's stomach with the intent to pierce it.

But anticipating this, Itadori quickly spun his body and kicked, striking the curse's neck and sending it flying away.

'This curse is too strong.'

Landing on the ground, he wiped the blood from his lips, the cursed energy flickering around his fists as he watched the curse rise with minimal damage.

'But it continues to underestimate me.'

Rolling to the side to narrowly escape an advance, Itadori quickly turned and counterattacked with a punch, his fist hitting the curse's torso squarely.

"..."

But despite making the creature's body tremble for a moment, it seemed to cause no significant damage, the curse smiling as it struck him with a punch coated in cursed energy.

Colliding with a wall, Itadori spat a bit of blood as he landed firmly on the ground, his breathing becoming labored from the accumulated damage.

'Damn... My punch didn't even cause damage.'

Placing a hand over his ribs, Itadori growled as a shock of pain surged through his body.

'Broken ribs... That's great.'

Turning his gaze back to the curse, Yuji clearly saw a disdainful smile on its face, his brow furrowing as he returned to his fighting stance.

'It seems I'll have to do something I've been avoiding for a while.'

Jumping back as the curse spat a projectile of pure cursed energy at him, Itadori growled as a bolt of pain from his ribs made him freeze.

And that brief moment of hesitation due to pain was more than enough for the curse to reach him in an instant, hitting him with a powerful swipe coated in cursed energy.

Boom!

Scraping his back on the ground, Itadori dug his fingers into the dirt to stop his momentum.

"Hey, Sukuna." Struggling to stand, Itadori prepared himself as the curse threatened to advance once more. "Help me with this. You don't want to die, do you?"

"I refuse."

With a new mouth appearing on Itadori's cheek, Sukuna simply declared as the boy backed away to escape an explosion of energy.

"So much for avoiding me, and now you're here, asking for my help... How pathetic."

Having his arm pierced by the curse's claws, Itadori gritted his teeth as he grabbed the creature's wrist and threw it away.

"Well, extreme situations require extreme decisions." Yuji commented with irritation.

Gripping the wound on his arm, Itadori gritted his teeth as he saw the curse land calmly on the ground.

"Anyway, my soul is split into 18 more parts, so even if you die here, I can still come back."

Itadori frowned at that, a sigh escaping his lips.

"And you're really going to risk losing two parts of your soul? After all, after this, you'll never be complete again." Itadori gave a disdainful smile, his eyes fixed on the curse, which began to walk calmly towards him.

"..."

"How about this, Sukuna?"

Retreating quickly, Itadori used the pillars around him to hide from the curse, in order to buy as much time as possible.

"I'll eat all your fingers, and when that happens, how about we find out which one of us will prevail?"

Jumping to the side as the curse swiped one of its claws at the pillar, Itadori quickly moved to another.

"Will it be me who dominates you, or will it be you who takes control?"

Widening his eyes as a claw grazed his cheek, Itadori nervously smiled as he kicked the pillar, his leg crashing through it and hitting the curse on the other side with enough force to push it away.

"Tempting, isn't it?"

Receiving no further answers, Itadori ran to another pillar, but the curse was too quick to intercept him, appearing in front of him in an instant.

*Howl

With the howl of a wolf echoing in the distance, Itadori gave a confident smile as the curse seemed distracted by the strange sound.

"Think carefully about what I said, king of curses!"

"..."

As the curse turned to Itadori, its eyes widened as it encountered a completely new presence staring back at it.

"You irritating little brat... Using me like this."

The king of curses was now on the battlefield.

"What do you think I am?"

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Chapitre 9: Chapter 09

To Sukuna, Itadori was an interesting person.

Of course, he disliked the boy simply because he was trapped in his body, but the fact that Itadori was able to be so contained was enough to pique his interest.

Itadori seemed to be the perfect prison for someone like Sukuna, given that there were a few things that made him the ideal vessel.

Sukuna was unable to access any of Itadori's memories or thoughts, limited to merely observing what was happening outside through his eyes.

To Sukuna, it felt like being trapped in a cell, limited to observing the outside through a small window.

Itadori also seemed naturally capable of preventing him from manifesting in any way, whether through thoughts or by manifesting through his mouth.

It was irritating, but at the same time, quite interesting. The fact that someone could keep another's soul trapped in this way was definitely not something that should naturally be possible.

Moreover, Itadori seemed quite talented, as he had been able to manipulate cursed energy in a short period of time.

Sukuna could see all of this. Itadori was definitely someone who could become powerful in the future.

But the idea of letting that happen left a bad taste in Sukuna's mouth.

He was someone who liked to cut problems off at the root. He had no intention of letting someone like Itadori grow to that extent.

The existence of Itadori irritated him simply because he was a perfect prison for him.

Compared to someone like Gojo, Itadori was insignificant in terms of Sukuna's return, but the simple fact that he was able to imprison his soul made him a target Sukuna needed to eliminate, or at least dominate his soul to gain full control of his body.

"What an irritating kid."

But those were plans for the future. Sukuna had more important matters to attend to.

Opening his eyes, Itadori suddenly found himself in an environment shrouded in darkness, his eyes narrowing as he looked around cautiously.

"So this is what it's like inside my soul?" Frowning, he sighed when he found nothing but pure darkness stretching infinitely. "How tedious."

Sitting on the ground, Itadori clasped his hands together and took a deep breath.

In the end, he had been unable to face the special grade curse without Sukuna's help. Fortunately, he wasn't like Itadori, who was too affected by the fear of death, making it difficult for him to regain control of his body.

Itadori still felt his connection with Sukuna, and didn't think he would have difficulty making the switch. In fact, he was even surprised by how easily he could do it.

This led to a question that Itadori periodically took time to think about.

What had really happened to the soul of the original Itadori?

Mark, now Itadori, had some theories about this, but they were all based on his own assumptions.

The first was that he and Itadori had had their souls fused, which somehow would end up strengthening it when combined into one. This would be a great answer to why he could contain Sukuna so much more effectively, since unlike the original Itadori, he could not only contain Sukuna's manifestations but also switch at will.

This had some counterpoints, as aside from the memories of the original Itadori, he had nothing else to prove this, as he felt more like Mark than Itadori, despite having his disposition affected by the kind-hearted Itadori's memories.

The second was that his own soul had swallowed Itadori's soul, which would ultimately result in the same outcome as the first theory.

The third was that the original Itadori's soul had been completely replaced, leaving only his body and memories behind.

Mark did not believe this theory to be true, simply because he didn't believe his soul alone could contain Sukuna better than Itadori, who had been created with this purpose in mind.

Moreover, it would go against the logic of that world, where soul was body and body was soul.

Itadori scratched his chin, his mind brushing away those thoughts as Sukuna began his fight against the special grade curse.

"I guess I can think about this later; for now, I should focus on absorbing as much as possible from this fight."

With the special grade curse finally defeated, Sukuna turned calmly as he walked away, his gaze hardening as he stopped for a moment.

"Hey, kid! If you're going to switch, hurry up!"

"..."

"Little shit?"

Receiving no response, Sukuna broke into a huge, devilish grin, his body turning to leave.

But before he could move, a strange sensation coursed through his body, his smile disappearing completely.

"I tricked you."

With the marks disappearing from his face, and his second pair of eyes closing completely, Itadori resumed control of his body, to Sukuna's irritation.

"You really thought I wouldn't come back? How naïve." With a mocking smile, Itadori began walking towards the exit of the dormitory.

"You piece of shit." With a second mouth opening on Itadori's cheek, Sukuna spoke in an irritated tone, which drew a smile from Yuji. "I'll relish killing your friends when—"

*Slap

"Shh! I want to enjoy my freedom." Silencing him with a slap, Itadori continued on his way with a satisfied smile on his lips.

'The only reason I paid so much attention to this fight was to observe the use of reverse cursed energy.'

Rubbing his chin, Itadori frowned.

'And seeing Sukuna use it, I was able to understand...'

"..."

'I was able to understand that I didn't understand anything.'

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