Capítulo 57: King
At Jujutsu Tech, the sound of a man whistling echoed throughout the hallway. Though the hallway was dark devoid of light, the man's presence was known to all. His striking white hair contrasted the darkness and his glowing beautiful eyes would make any fall for him.
The man was none other than Gojo Satoru.
"For the first time in your life, you are late." The man said as he stared at the other end of the hallway.
"By one minute." A voice retorted to him cracking a smile on his face.
The sound of footsteps was once more heard but unlike Gojo's who was overbearing making each steps loud and clear, this was much more quiet. One could almost not hear it, it felt like it was purposefully made to be silent but just clear enough to recognize its presence.
The man was finally in view of Gojo.
His light blue hair and outfit made it obvious as to who it was.
"One minute late is still late, Arai." Gojo snickered.
The two faced one another. Arai was now fully grown but was still an inch shorter than Gojo. His face also looked more mature than before as he was now 27 years old.
His light blue colored kimono with dark blue edge and black boots stayed the same. Though now he wore an black oni mouth mask with the samurai pads being red instead of maroon.
"Did you come here to gloat about being on time for once or tell me about his incarnation?"
"You've got the worst timing in the world. Sukuna's vessel, Itadori Yuji, just died yesterday." Gojo said solemnly.
"And you couldn't have told me before so that I could cancel my flight?" Arai grumbled.
"I didn't tell you because I need you to try something." Gojo said seriously.
Arai hesitated but eventually shook his head and walked past Gojo.
"Fine, let's see what's so important about this."
The two walked to the medical facility where corpses were stored or dissected. There an already waiting Ijichi was waiting for them and stood up when he saw them.
"Ah Isao." Ijichi said before bowing.
Arai dismissed him before scanning the room, he soon found what he was looking for. A young boy that looked no less than 16 was there laid bare naked on the operating table. He looked to be lean and had a muscular physique with spike pink hair and brown lines underneath his eyelids.
"This is Sukuna's vessel, right." Arai said. Ijichi nodded in response confirming his claim.
"I think I get what your goal was in bringing me here, you want me to invade his mind and see if this kid is still alive whilst also checking the status with Sukuna."
"Bingo! You've got a list with all of them being check marked. Now can you do it?"
"Shut up, Ijichi bring me a chair, will you. I don't know how long this will take so I'll need to sit down."
"Of course!"
The man did as told and quickly brought out a chair for him to sit on. Arai sat down next to the corpse and took off his mask and blindfold. He placed his hand on Itadori's forehead and looked to the side where Gojo was sitting.
"How many fingers has he consumed?" Arai asked curiously.
"3 fingers were eaten." Ijichi answered.
"Alright, don't make any noise, I'm warning you Gojo."
In response, he smiled as he put his hands in the air letting him know he wasn't going to do anything.
Arai sighed before placing back his attention to Itadori. 'Sukuna's incarnated, huh... this will be risky but I do want to see what Sukuna has to offer. The strongest sorcerer in history being said to have destroyed the waves of the most powerful of sorcerers. King of the curses, show me what you've got.'
He took a deep breath and exhaled. His eyes glowed green before he closed them and felt his technique do its work. Slowly he felt his mind sinking deeper and deeper down, an odd sensation was felt by Arai.
It felt as if he was being watched, a vulnerable feeling came to him. If he could sweat right now, than his entire back would be drenched in his own sweat.
'This presence... unlike Gojo's who feels like a never ending scale of strength, this feels much more sinister. It feels like pure evil, no good nor order. Just chaotic evil incarnate.' Arai thought nervously but at that time he sensed a danger and looked back to see a demonic figure.
A demonic face covered in darkness appeared before him. its four eyes were a deep red like blood, all teeth were sharpened like that of a wolf, and with a demonic screech Arai felt himself go even deeper.
Even a seasoned fighter like Arai, who had entered minds of others countless times had never seen a soul frighten an intruder like so. He closed his arms and put up his guard expecting a resistance but then the scenery changed.
When he opened his eyes he saw where he was, a grotesque sinister scenery was what greeted him. In front of him was a giant skeletal ribcage that spanned over 100 meters high and 250 long. Blood filled the ground reaching his ankles making it so that Arai couldn't even see the floor. Skeletal heads of what appeared to be bulls were made into a mountain.
Unfortunately, Arai was not focused on any of this incredible scenery.
He found himself looking at a young boy who resembled the corpse that Gojo had told him to enter their mind. Itadori Yuji was laid on the ground on his knees staring at the floor in a blank slate.
But what stole his gaze, making him widen his eyes and shook him to the core, was not any of this.
"Looking a little too high, aren't you." The voice held a trace of arrogance and disregard to Arai.
If someone had said that to Arai, then he would retaliate but in this case he stayed quiet and fidgeted nervously.
The man on top of the throne looked just like Itadori yet his demeanor and personality was completely different. With black markings on his nose, arms and face, four pair of red colored eyes gazing down on him whilst wearing a light-colored kimono with a black edge, a black scarf, and black shoes.
"Sukuna." Arai identified the man before him.
"The one and only." Sukuna smirked in a condescending manner.
Arai's mind raced through this situation. 'This is bad. Really bad. I thought Gojo said he had just 3 fingers consumed and yet his mind is this powerful. I can stand my ground but beating him is another question. Should I make a break for it?'
"You're not thinking you can get out of here that easy now."
Instantly Arai saw Sukuna no longer at the top of his throne of skulls. His senses warned him of danger behind him and he clapped his hands together to pull a gigantic force of wind pushing both of them apart from another.
"Urgh!"
Arai grasped his shoulder in pain as he felt a slash appear across his shoulder.
'Shit! What the hell was that? It was way too fast. I read about Sukuna saying he had a slashing technique but that speed is insane. If it wasn't for my Heavenly Pact then I would of been cut to pieces.'
Seeing Arai still in one piece made Sukuna smile, surprised at this development. "Not bad! Are you able to see my technique? No... your eyes don't seem to be able to keep up with the slashes. Well it doesn't matter..."
The smile on Sukuna widened as he pointed two fingers at him.
"Dismantle." Sukuna pointed at Arai and an invisible line of cursed energy launched at Arai.
But he too moved as well, not looking at the slash yet moving expertly completely dodging as he ducked beneath it. Beneath his feet, cyclones of wind gathered the blood on the floor forming into cyclones of blood and launched Arai to Sukuna.
With his arms coated in cyclones, Arai slammed his fist down to Sukuna but he managed to block it.
"Now this is more like it!"
Sukuna sent slashes at Arai but he managed to dodge them before arriving in front of him and sent a kick to the chest knocking him backwards.
"Tch!" Arai clicked his tongue seeing Sukuna fine from his attacks.
'Arm coated in a rough material and technique to utilize the wind as cyclones. Seems like he has multiple techniques, his cursed energy also seems to be hidden making it hard to see the attacks. Cleave is practically useless since I can't determine how much cursed energy is needed so I'll use dismantle. He also seems adept in souls since he's here. But these are all things I can handle.' Sukuna brought out his hands and once again aimed at Arai.
Looking at this fight, Arai sighed before covering himself in clay. "I really shouldn't have done Gojo a favor."
["^_(9^ 1§{€2£¥7$}8%->4@*#'6~'...\!?04@*#'6~'...\!?0]
Back at the morgue, Gojo sat in his chair while scratching his neck. "Hey Ijichi did you say something?"
"No I did not." Ijichi said and thought.
'Even if I did, wouldn't your eyes be able to catch me in the act?'
"Huh, just seems that someone was talking about me. I wonder which beauty it was."
'And you're already assuming it was a woman and one that is beautiful at that.' If he could he would roll his eyes, but he of all people would know that Gojo would notice it even if he turned away. And giving a reason for Gojo to act against you is the worst thing to do. He is an expert on that subject nowadays.
"Unfortunately for you mister Gojo-" A gentle soothing voice came out of the hallway making Ijichi turn around. And entering the room through the door was a long brown haired woman tied to a ponytail. Her soft brown eyes had dark lines underneath them with a mole under her right eye. She sported a white lab coat with a blue turtle-neck and beige colored high-heeled shoes.
"It was me, your great nurse and doctor, who thought of you."
Gojo scoffed and looked away still daydreaming. "Nah! I'm sure it was another woman and besides, you don't fit the bill."
"Oi Gojo what is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing- hey something happening with Arai."
The three in the room looked towards Arai to see what was happening. His body convulsed and shook with veins bulging from his face while gnashing his teeth. His face was full of sweat while his eyes squinted. Cuts appeared all over his body and face making blood flow down to the floor.
Immediately Shoko ran to him and took his pulse but frowned.
"What is happening? His breathing is unstable and blood his spilling everywhere. It's like he's in a-" Her eyes widened in realization before she looked back to see Gojo looking away while whistling.
"Gojo."
"Yeah?"
"You didn't ask him to invade the King of Curses mind, did you?"
"Maybe."
"*Sigh* Whatever this isn't the time for this." Her hands were placed upon him as she used reversed cursed technique to heal his wounds but soon found out that the wounds were much harder too heal.
Gojo pulled her back from Arai. "Don't bother, Shoko. Sukuna is attack the soul, reverse cursed energy isn't something that can heal wounds from the soul. At least from someone externally. He has to do this himself."
Her face was visibly worried but she could feel her technique failing to do so. Shoko understood that healing Arai was not something she could do. She sighed and sat down next to the two.
"What is the plan here in sending him there?"
"I want to see if Itadori is still alive, getting a grasp on Sukuna's powers is bonus in this interaction you could say."
"Still this is Sukuna we're talking about, is he really going to be alright?"
But her worries were interrupted as a hand was placed on her shoulder, she looked to see Gojo smiling and looking at Arai with no worries whatsoever. "Just stand back and watch. That's all you need to do. Have faith in him, he can do it."
["^_(9^ 1§{€2£¥7$}8%->4@*#'6~'...\!?04@*#'6~'...\!?0]
Back inside Sukuna's mind, Arai stood there in the pool of blood filled with cuts while panting heavily. His eyes still glowed green despite the wounds and instead of panicking he had a smile on his face.
And Sukuna who stood opposite to him did not move but still has a smirk and he too had bruises over his body. In fact, it looked like he was damaged in this encounter than Arai was. Although he had no cuts, Arai could see him injured having accumulated damage from their battle.
The fight between the two eventually boiled down to whether Arai could escape. Inside the mind of someone, their mind was a fortress holding everything dear and important to them inside said fortress and Arai who was the single invader had to invade it by himself using his technique but escaping said fortress was a much harder task especially if that person was Sukuna.
Though the fight went Arai's way, even he could not be certain whether or not Sukuna would pull out a card and beat him. He would not risk more than he already has.
"So you found the way out." Sukuna said.
"It took a bit of time, but I managed to find it." Arai said before he closed his eyes. His body was slowly dissipating but Sukuna made no effort to stop him knowing full well that it was useless at the moment.
"Believe me." Sukuna said still looking at Arai. "When I gain control over this body, I'll make sure I'll kill you."
Arai who heard the threat smiled and opened his eyes glaring straight into Sukuna's four. "Make a pact for that, then we'll talk."
His presence immediately faded when saying leaving Sukuna alone but his smile never fading as his cunning and sadistic nature formed the thoughts of what he would do.
"Hehe... hehehe..."
Left alone, a lone sinister laugh echoed the world of his mind waiting upon the awakening of his host. Leaving none knowing the pain and suffering that filled his mind making his smile go so wide leaving his sharpened teeth like a wolf reveal itself.
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{AN: Arai is more powerful than Sukuna is in terms of soul but he isn't lowering his guard and gets out safely. Not wanting to risk a fight with the King of Curses.}
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