The cursed aura permeating the air was as thick as liquid. The lights in the command post began to flicker wildly, and the solid metal walls groaned under the burden, even showing slight distortions.
"Heh... hehehe..."
Sukuna let out a low, pleasant laugh, his voice overlapping and mixed, carrying a magic that confused the mind.
Sukuna flexed his four arms, his joints letting out thunderous pops, seemingly quite satisfied with this new body.
"Finally... it looks somewhat decent." Sukuna lowered his head, his four eyes admiring his powerful arms and torso.
Uraume remained on one knee, their head bowed even lower, their voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Welcome back to the world, Sukuna-sama."
Meanwhile, Utaha and Eriri had long been shocked by this terrifying scene beyond their comprehension, nearly losing their ability to think.
Eriri covered her mouth tightly to keep from screaming, her body shaking.
Utaha's face was as pale as paper. Although Sukuna's consciousness had left her body, the brief but profound "symbiosis" she had just experienced, and the body before her—fully controlled by Sukuna and radiating endless malice—made her tremble from the depths of her soul.
Was this the true form of the King of Curses?
Sukuna slowly raised one of his right hands, dark red Cursed Energy swirling at his fingertips, and lightly pointed at the box Uraume was holding, which contained the fourteen fingers.
The talismans on the box melted away. The fourteen fingers inside seemed to hear their master's call, humming in unison and transforming into fourteen dark red streams of light. They scrambled to shoot toward Sukuna's body, quickly merging into his newborn flesh, primarily into the fingertips of his four arms.
With each finger merged, the Cursed Energy fluctuations on Sukuna's body surged, and his aura became even more terrifying and profound. By the time the fourteenth finger had fully merged, the pressure he radiated was causing the entire structure of the temporary command post to crack, looking like it could collapse at any moment.
"Power... is returning." Sukuna took a deep, satisfied breath, as if tasting the sweetest air in the world.
[Congratulations to the host for collecting fourteen fingers.]
[Reward: Cursed Energy of fourteen fingers, Blank Spirit Rank]
With the Cursed Energy of thirty-five fingers, his power far exceeded that of his prime.
Uraume felt like an ant before Sukuna. Their eyes were filled with nothing but adoration.
He finally turned his gaze officially toward Uraume, who was still kneeling on the ground.
"Rise, Uraume." Sukuna's tone carried a rare, almost "gentle" quality.
"A thousand years of waiting. You've worked hard."
Uraume then stood up but remained slightly bowed in a respectful posture. "To be able to serve Sukuna-sama is my supreme honor. It is no hardship."
Sukuna's four eyes swept over Uraume, then glanced at Eriri, who was so nervous she was about to faint, and Utaha, who was forcing herself to stay calm. Finally, he looked toward the Curtain, as if he could see through space to the fierce battle within.
"That old fox Kenjaku has sent quite a 'gift'." Sukuna sneered.
"Using the lives of these tens of thousands and this chaos as a stage to force that Six Eyes brat to run himself ragged, then taking the chance to ambush him with the Prison Realm... a clever plan. Unfortunately, he underestimates the Six Eyes too much."
Uraume lowered their head and said, "Whether Kenjaku's plan succeeds is not important to us. What matters is that you have returned. Next, what are your instructions?"
Sukuna stroked the chin of the giant mouth on his abdomen, his four eyes flashing with calculation and cruelty.
"Instructions? For now..." He grinned, revealing pearly white teeth.
"First, let me get used to this new body. As for the mess inside Shibuya..."
He paused, his tone becoming playful. "Let them fight. If Gojo really gets sealed like that, it would be boring, but it would save me a lot of trouble. If he happens to escape, I wouldn't mind using him to test the mettle of this new body."
His gaze turned back to Utaha. "As for you, little girl... considering you were a barely adequate temporary residence and I am in a good mood today, take your friend and get lost. The upcoming scenes are not for little bugs like you to watch."
Utaha bit her lip and didn't argue. She pulled Eriri, who was almost scared witless, and stumbled out of the command post.
Seeing Utaha and Eriri's retreating backs, Sukuna didn't care.
He flexed his four arms, feeling the long-lost, massive power surging within him. He looked up at the night sky, his four crimson eyes seemingly reflecting the chaos and despair of all Shibuya.
"The game is entering a new stage." Sukuna's low voice echoed in the permeating cursed aura.
"Let me see just how much... fun this era can bring."
Uraume stood quietly by his side, like his most loyal shadow.
Power far surpassing that of a thousand years ago surged and fused within Sukuna, bringing a sensation of nearly overflowing strength.
"Truly satisfying." Sukuna murmured to himself.
His four crimson eyes simultaneously turned toward the enormous barrier enveloping the sky and earth in the direction of Shibuya Station. He could "see" that complex barrier, meticulously arranged by Kenjaku to trap Satoru and hundreds of thousands of people.
"That brat wasn't trapped? Seems he's become more cautious." Sukuna's lips curled into a malicious smile.
"No matter. Let me teach you what true power really is."
He didn't even make any hand seals or gather energy, he simply raised his upper right arm, fingers spread, aiming toward the barrier. At his fingertips, a point of darkness so profound it seemed to devour light began to condense, rotate, and expand.
It wasn't Cleave, nor was it Dismantle. It was something more primitive, more brutal, more unreasonable—the ultimate compression and eruption of Cursed Energy.
Merely because the amount and quality of Cursed Energy flowing within him at this moment were too vast and too high, he simply gathered a portion of it roughly at one point and released it.
"Get lost." Sukuna said calmly.
The next moment, the dark light condensed at his fingertips vanished.
No, it didn't vanish—it was launched. Its speed surpassed the limits of visual perception, even surpassing sound. A pure beam of destructive Cursed Energy, over ten meters in diameter, erupted from Sukuna's fingertip, striking straight and unadorned onto the barrier enveloping Shibuya.