Shukumei 宿命 ⋮ Sukuna Ryomen

Chapter 5

That voice....

Was it just all in his head?

"Do it already...." Your voice strains for air. You're practically half dead at this point, "....kill me."

Your voice....

Memories are the only things that don't change while everyone else does. There's a sense of familiarity that saturated the King Curse.

Sukuna loosens his grip around your neck and you feel him ease off your chest; the enormous pressure releases and you finally gasp. The sinister expression leaves his face and his mouth parts ever so slightly. He looks at you in bewilderment before he drops you. Your rear hits the floor harshly and you press all your weight against the trunk of this tree.

"What's....the matter?...." You taunt through your panting. You don't care at this point; everyone had already lost and Gojo Satoru is nowhere near, "....can't.....do it?"

The curse had no problem taking Kugisaki Nobara. What was stopping him now?

He ignores your taunting, "Who are you?"

But your mind comes in and out of consciousness from all the blood loss. You could hardly put any words together; let alone, put any thoughts together.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" His voice becomes desperate for an answer.

You let out a heavy sigh of exhaustion as your mind brings you back to where you are currently. You tell him your name.

The name doesn't match. But your voice—it's identical. How is he only noticing it now? He continues to stare at your half departing self and his mind becomes noisy. Is it possible? He doesn't want to believe it. Because it'll ruin everything he had in store for the future; everything he had planned for his future.

Sukuna drops to his knees and he grabs you by the neck again. He won't choose to believe it. Even if your soul is the person he so longed to be with again; he'll refuse you—all of you. He won't let you or anyone stop his objectives this time around. He draws his arm back and his fingers spread. He'll definitely take your heart out this time. It's only then he can move forward.

"Say your last words—" and his threatening smile is back, "—brat."

"But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you'll be alone."

"No jujutsu sorcerer dies without regret!"

There really isn't much to say. Your mind goes back to the wise words of your mentors and then you even manage a smile.

"I have no regrets...." Your eyes close and you hum. Impending death felt intolerable. You just wanted to be put out of your misery, ".....Sukuna Ryomen."

Your friends are badly beaten or dead. You're on the verge of death yourself. And yet you remain constructive and optimistic. Why? He expected to be cursed at or to be cursed even further than he already is. He expected you to spit your hate towards him. Anything but sanguine. He hates it—all of it. But what he hates the most, is the way his name sounds when it rolls off your tongue.

No. He won't let it. He won't let you do this to him. Not again. His fingers, which were spread, clench into a fist. He throws his punch....

"Ryomen...."

....but instead of striking you, he hits the tree. And he keeps punching the bark behind your head, over and over and over again, until it chips away the wood completely. His lungs let out all of his frustration as he yells and his last throw makes the evergreen snap loudly. The earth shakes violently as the tree hits the ground and the heavy amount of blood loss finally leaves you unconscious. Your sitting body hits the dirt.