Nobara, Todo, Uraume, and the barely conscious Choso saw, one second, the boy was going to face the King of Curses himself, and the next, he was under a floor's worth of rubble. Whether he lived or was dead, none knew.
Sukuna's lips curled upwards just for a bit at the comedic turn, but he turned his attention to the newcomer, the boy was already forgotten.
The rubble had barely settled and a new figure was visible to everyone. The place where she landed had a small crater just beneath her, cracks running all around underneath her. And for just a second, people wondered how long this floor they were standing upon would last against monsters of this calibre.
Even through the haze and destruction, there was something unmistakably composed about her presence, her cursed energy signature resonating loudly.
Finally, the face of the woman was revealed. Blond hair, long and fairly well-built for a woman. There was only one person there who knew her personally, despite almost everyone having once or twice heard of her.
One of the only four special grade sorcerers of Japan. Yuki Tsukumo.
"Teacher." Todo shouted out, grinning brightly upon seeing this missing teacher of his after such a long time.
"Oh hey, Todo. Long time no see. How ya kid been doing all this time." Yuki responded cheekily with a wave of her back hand while her eyes naturally fell onto the reason she had to make such a drastic entrance in the first place.
"So, you're the Sukuna Vessel those old geezers told me about." Tsukumo observed Sukuna in Yuji's body, even she felt a bit of uncomfortable feeling being stared down by that kind of curse.
He almost reminded her of Okkotsu. They met once on a mission, that level of cursed energy was exactly like Okkotsu, but it was way more malicious than anyone she had ever seen.
"Quite a surprise, though I won't get to have fun coming and taking over this brat's body. There is no fun fighting small fries after all." Sukuna grinned, of course he was able to tell the woman was strong.
How strong, well that was for him to find out. And he was eager, to test out his power after such a long time. He was still at half, but that should be more than enough to handle this woman.
Perhaps not enough to beat that white-haired man, but anyone else, there wasn't even a question.
Ryomen Sukuna was already looking at her, his gaze sharp and heavy, the kind that made even seasoned sorcerers hesitate without realizing it.
Tsukumo quickly brushed a bit of dust from her shoulder, at the same time brushing off the heavy killing intent from the King of Curses in front of her.
As if she had simply arrived late to a meeting rather than dropped into a battlefield, and gave a small, casual nod. "Ah, sorry about the entrance," she said, her tone light despite everything. "Name's Yuki Tsukumo. Special grade."
Sukuna's grin widened slightly, clearly amused rather than threatened. "Special grade, hm?" he repeated, his voice carrying a faint edge of interest. "Pesky titles you modern sorcerers give to those you think are strong, while being ignorant of real strength."
Yuki tilted her head just a little, studying him in return. "Heh... and how would anyone know about being strong," she shrugged casually, "only the victor decides how the system works."
Sukuna smiled back, which matched with his ideology perfectly. And that perfectly brought an end to their little chat there, this was enough.
"Well, I can't argue with that." Sukuna rolled his shoulder, finally moving toward Tsukumo.
The air shifted instantly as Sukuna moved, his hand lifting in a motion so casual it almost looked lazy, yet the attack that followed was anything but. A slash tore through the space between them, invisible but unmistakable in the way the ground split apart in its wake.
Yuki reacted immediately, even though she couldn't see the attack coming, she reinforced her body with cursed energy to tank the incoming strike.
A shallow gash was left behind on her chest, clothes splitting and blood flickering out of her wound. It wasn't deep however, that was just a casual attack from the King of Curses, and that when he was at half of his power against a special grade.
Even Yuki felt the difference in the power gap. That one attack was enough for her to know that if she fought long range then she would lose.
So her body moved with precise timing as she stepped in rather than away, closing the distance before another ranged attack could follow. At close range, everything about her changed. The force behind her strike carried an unnatural weight, her fist slamming toward Sukuna with a density that distorted the air itself.
Though the genius of jujutsu he was, even Sukuna couldn't tell a normal punch apart from a punch where Yuki was using her technique.
As for her technique, it was Star Rage. She could add virtual mass to herself without the downside of having her weight increase or her speed decrease.
So when Sukuna tanked that hit with the expectation of a normal strong punch from a modern sorcerer, he faced his first and might be his last face-slapping in this match.
Tsukumo's punch went right through his hand, breaking it into two, and struck him right in the face, rocketing him back like a shuttlecock, making a beeline straight at the wall behind him.
Even for a second Uraume was baffled at the result of the first engagement. But then her irritation skyrocketed. How dare this woman do this to her master.
Part of her wished to freeze her to death and shatter her into a million pieces, however, she didn't, knowing fully well that that would be an insult to Sukuna-Sama. Acting as if she didn't believe he could win.
So, she settled with throwing a deadly glare at the woman instead.
Todo at the same time moved to join in, clearly intending to support her, but before he could intervene, Uraume stepped in his path, ice forming instantly as she cut him off without hesitation.
"You will not interfere in Sukuna-Sama's match," she stated coldly. Did this man here call that woman a teacher earlier? Fine, the student will pay for her teacher's crime.
"Stay back Todo, I'll handle this one myself." Yuki barely looked back from the side of her eyes and replied.
Those slashes were deadly, she could barely tank them, Todo wasn't ready to handle them just yet.
Todo clicked his tongue, already preparing to force his way through no matter what Yuki said, but before the clash could escalate further, Uraume's body faltered slightly.
She kneeled and coughed up blood while her body shook like a withering leaf ready to fall.
"This... what is this." Her eyes shook with both confusion and at the timing of the sudden weakness showing up.
"It's my blood." From the side Choso grinned up and replied.
The poison from Choso's blood still lingered within her after she tanked his Piercing Blood attack earlier, and only now it began to take effect.
Back at the center, the fight intensified.
Sukuna got out of the wall, still grinning and intrigued at the technique the woman might have. The punch hit much, much harder than the woman moved. It wasn't cursed energy either, if it was then he would have felt it.
Meaning...
Sukuna almost instantly determined what her technique might be, for a monster of jujutsu like him, it was child's play to figure out.
"Altering your mass, is that it." He grinned, his broken hand healing at a visible rate.
Yuki, who herself was about to explain her technique to get the boost, paused at how quickly he figured it out. No wonder they call him the King of Curses.
Her silence was answer enough for Sukuna. He grinned even more. This would be a nice fight...
-x-
[MC POV]
I found myself being crushed and suffocated by something soft and warm. The lingering darkness clouding my eyes wasn't just because of me forcing my body beyond what it was naturally intended to perform, but also because of the lingering dust and all that rubble above blocking the light.
"Ah... what the hell."
A heard groan and whoever was above me shifted slowly, allowing me to feel everything about her.
Yes, it's a her, I can tell by the voice and the soft weight on my chest.
Her moving made me move as well and a sharp pain rang out inside me.
"Wait wait wait... don't move." I yelped and my hands shot out right at where I believed her waist was.
She jolted at the sudden contact and that brought another jolt of pain from that movement.
"You bastard, where do you think you're touching." She shouted, trying to move but the rubble had only created a small gap for us. Even an inch of movement was greeted with resistance.
"P-please don't move. It hurts." I said again, gritting my teeth as the pain rang through my body again at her struggle.
At my plea, or perhaps because none of her struggles were fruitful, she finally stopped. By then the dust around us was slowly settling down and the small amount of light from the gaps of the fallen floor waste finally made both of our faces visible to each other.
"Wait... it's you again." the girl blinked, half snorting and half surprised.
"Hey there Maki." I smiled, though the smile was forced.
"How come you're always running into trouble?" She knocked her brows up with genuine interest.
"I'll pay good money to know that myself." I chuckled, and once again the pain rang inside me to let out a groan.
Maki picked up on that. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"My stomach," I replied with difficulty.
Maki nodded, and slowly, very gently, which honestly didn't suit her loud personality, moved her hand there with difficulty. There wasn't enough space to lift her body and she was lying right on top of me.
As her hand moved near the place I described, her hand felt a warm liquid sensation. And even she stiffened when it was hit by a protrusion midway.
"Something has pierced you." She stated with a calm expression. However, there was a little soft tone mixed in there.
She couldn't move that rubble even with her raw strength. Knowing the condition outside and the fact that no one had brought them out yet, meaning they were practically stuck here.
"Figures. Not a great way to go, but I'll take it. At least I have a beautiful girl on top of me." I grinned, honestly it wasn't that bad. Having something this beautiful on top of you was a great view while slowly bleeding out to your death.
Maki rolled her eyes at the comment despite the rising tension of my situation. "If you can crack that joke then you'll be fine."
"Can you use your cursed energy?" She asked.
"Nah... I'm completely out." I shook my head.
"Tch..."
"Fine. Stay still, I'll try to move." She sighed and slowly started to move her body in a way so she wouldn't move me much.
Just as she was going into her all-fours and push the rubble up by her back, something under the sole of her left foot shifted, making her balance give out and she fell face first towards me.
The angle was both a blessing and a curse. It completely rattled me, pain erupting out of my stomach so much that I wished to scream. However, I couldn't do it because they were claimed by her own lips.
Her lips met mine, and my hands shot out to stop any and all movement she was creating to ease the pain.
I wasn't gentle about it either, the hug I gave her was strong and desperate to stop her movement.
So, there we lay, she above me, our lips connected while my hands wrapped around her in a dead grip.
Maki's eyes shot open when she felt the soft warm sensation on her lips and hurriedly tried to move back but the boy was desperately clutching onto her, his entire body shaking like a leaf.
Even amidst their accidental kiss, the painful groans were clearly audible to her.
She calmed down, letting her body once again go soft and stop all the resistance. Once the boy's grip slightly loosened, she slowly, very gently moved her head back.
Only a tiny bit, to the point their lips were centimeters apart. Her tongue rolled around her own lips, and she didn't wish to think about it but it tasted sweet.
"Shoo... it's fine, I'm not moving anymore." She comforted while her face was so close that if I were to lift my face even slightly, I could have had myself another kiss.
I let out a very small, painful chuckle. "Okay, now I can die happy."
"Idiot." Maki rolled her eyes again but even she had to say the boy had spirit.
"Can you now let me go." She pointed at the dead suffocating hug I was giving her.
I slowly eased up but didn't let go. Instead, I looked back at Maki.
"Maki..."
"Hmm."
"I... can I tell you something." I said while my hands slowly moved upwards. One hand completely wrapping around her toned waist and the other across her back, resting on her shoulder blade.
"What!" She felt the movement but didn't comment on it.
"I...
"I...
Damn it even speaking was hard now.
"I- don't wanna die."
I said with tears slowly leaving my eyes. My hands once again clutched hard against her back. Bringing her into a hug again.
xXx
A/N : Man it was bigger chapter than I intended it to be. But oh well, it turn out better than I hoped it would.
What you guys think, MC finally breaking apart in the arms of the first woman he kissed, even accidental as it may.
I mean it was long time coming, all that trama will surface sooner or later right.
Would appreciate stones if you can spare any. Thank you.
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