Let's turn back the clock to a night a little over a week ago.
Somewhere near Tokyo, in a secluded villa. What should have been a magnificent and luxurious estate now radiated an unsettling aura.
In the courtyard pool, a thick, purplish-blue liquid surged. It was so murky that the bottom was completely invisible. Bubbles burst from the surface every now and then, making it look like a concentrated pot of poisonous stew.
Using the edge of the pool as a starting point, several pillars of ice formed from cursed energy shot upward. They angled toward the center, stretching over a dozen meters into the air to intersect directly above the water.
There, dozens upon dozens of terrifying cursed spirits hung suspended. Judging by their energy signatures, quite a few were grade 1 curses. If released into human society, they could have easily staged a massive terrorist attack.
Yet here, they could do nothing but groan in agony.
Between the curses and the pool hung a giant, tightly woven net. Piled on top of it were countless pieces of minced and mangled curse flesh. Only the blood oozing from the remains managed to squeeze through the mesh, dripping steadily into the pool below.
Uraume stood quietly by the poolside, eyes fixed on the murky water, never moving an inch.
Tap, tap…
Through the wailing of the curses, the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed, drawing closer. Two figures walked slowly from the darkness outside the villa toward the pool.
"So this is the 'Bath.' I didn't expect you to know such a ritual, let alone modify it."
The speaker was the old man with stitches cutting across his forehead. The mastermind behind the Culling Game and the thousand-year plan to revive Sukuna, Kenjaku.
He walked over to the pool with keen interest, crouching down as he glanced at Uraume.
Strictly speaking, the Bath was an ancient ritual. Certain jujutsu families used it to turn treasured objects into cursed tools, ensuring no one else could lay hands on them. By brewing a specialized poison, they would dissolve carefully selected venomous creatures to create a solution saturated with cursed energy. The object would then soak in the mixture for ten months and ten days to complete the process.
However, the scene before Kenjaku defied his expectations.
To save time, they had substituted the solution entirely with the blood of cursed spirits. But curses were made of negative emotions; once dead, their bodies and blood would vanish into ash. To circumvent this, Uraume had carefully bound and hung them alive, using her cursed technique to freeze their heads or cores to keep them from dying. Then, the rest of their bodies could be slowly sliced up. The meat caught on the net, while the blood rained into the pool.
Even Kenjaku could not help but admire the ingenuity. Still, there was one thing he didn't understand.
"What is the point of soaking in this?"
Even after living for over a thousand years, he did not know everything, especially when it came to a twisted variation like this.
"To bring the body closer to that of a true demon," Uraume replied simply.
"Ah, I see." Kenjaku understood instantly.
One reason Sukuna hadn't been able to fully display his strength was because Yuta's self-awareness had been interfering. After undergoing the Bath, that soul would sink into a much darker abyss.
"…."
Standing behind Kenjaku, the usually overbearing and unreasonable Yorozu remained uncharacteristically quiet. Her face flushed with a faint blush as she stared infatuatedly at the relatively calm pool.
"Judging by the quality and cursed energy, it should be just about finished. How early did you start preparing for this?" Kenjaku clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Uraume has always been meticulous."
The bubbles on the surface began to churn violently. The voice responding to Kenjaku belonged to Sukuna, who was slowly rising from the liquid, his bath complete.
'I'm so glad I could help,' Uraume thought, a wave of pure joy washing over her.
"Sukuna!"
Before he could fully step out of the water, Yorozu lost all restraint. She rushed forward, completely ignoring the foul stench clinging to him, and practically threw herself onto him. Even if he did not wear the face she remembered, she could never mistake that absolute power and solitary pride.
"Back off, you peasant!"
Just like their first meeting a thousand years ago, freezing air spread from Uraume's body as she glared at Yorozu's shameless behavior.
"You're the one who needs to back off! I already told you, if it were me, I would never let Sukuna wear such an expression again."
Noticing Sukuna furrow his brow, Yorozu sensibly let go of his waist, though she did not stop lecturing Uraume.
Deep down, however, she was ecstatic. A thousand years ago, simply approaching him had earned her immediate execution. Now she had hugged him and received no reaction at all.
Didn't that mean Sukuna was finally beginning to accept her?
While the two argued, Sukuna began dressing in the clothes Uraume provided.
"Are you sure you want to stick with that face?" Kenjaku asked out of curiosity.
With Sukuna's power, even without fully reshaping the flesh, it would not be difficult to alter his appearance to look more like his original self.
"When fighting those sorcerers, this face is more convenient," Sukuna said casually.
Appearance meant nothing to him. The strong live and the weak die; only the survivors have the right to speak.
"What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you afraid of those two brats anymore?" Sukuna asked this time.
He had assumed Kenjaku would stay hidden until the day of the decisive battle, waiting for the jujutsu world to fall into chaos before showing his face.
"I was just bringing Miss Yorozu here and giving you something. I still have other matters to attend to."
Kenjaku pulled an object from the bag behind him. It was a skull, heavily weathered by time, yet still retaining a massive amount of cursed energy.
"My mummified body..." Sukuna recognized it the moment he took it.
He found it rather ironic. The world called him the King of Curses, yet after his death, his remains had been preserved and enshrined as a Buddhist sacred relic.
"Tengen was responsible for that."
For Kenjaku, it had been an unexpected windfall. He had discovered Sukuna's mummy during one of his ritualistic searches.
However, it was located within the pure barrier of the Holy Mountain of Hida, and invading rashly would have caused trouble. It was only during the Shibuya Incident, once he confirmed that Jujutsu High had deployed all their forces, that he found the opportunity to slip in and steal it.
"He actually ended up being useful."
Without a shred of hesitation, Sukuna bit into the skull.
His final finger was still missing, but he knew it had to be in Satoru's hands. That man undoubtedly intended to use it as an excuse to keep Yuta alive.
Now, with the mummy providing the remnants of his soul, his power was effectively restored to the strength of all twenty fingers.
"Now that my business is done, I'll take my leave."
Kenjaku still had affairs to manage regarding the Culling Game, though the time was not yet ripe. He still needed to lie low.
"Why is this peasant still here? Leave," Uraume ordered, turning on Yorozu.
"To teach Sukuna the meaning of love, of course!" Yorozu responded, flicking the short hair near her ear as she leaned closer to Sukuna again.
"Heh."
Sukuna let out a dismissive chuckle.
"Huh? Why are you laughing like that? Could it be... No way!" Yorozu's smile vanished as an absurd thought crossed her mind. Could it be that Sukuna already understood love?
The idea appeared for only a moment before she forcefully rejected it, but her pretty face still twisted with anxiety. "No! That's not real love! Only I can show you what true love is!"
Despite her immense strength, a desperate plea crept into her voice, one even she did not notice.
"Bring me the head of either Mukuro Fushiguro or Satoru Gojo, and I might just acknowledge your love."
Sukuna originally had no intention of entertaining her, but his Binding Vow with Jujutsu High prevented him from moving freely. A new idea had formed, and he played along with her obsession.
Yorozu, however, completely missed the sheer mockery and sarcasm laced in his words.
"Really?! Does that mean... a wed... a wedding?!"
The girl's mind instantly descended into chaos. She cupped her face in her hands, her thoughts spinning into wild fantasies. "Then... then we should slaughter a few villages first to hold a banquet! Uraume can be the head chef, and we absolutely must serve monkey brains..."
She was already planning out a blissful married life.
"Do whatever you want, as long as you can pull it off," Sukuna answered with visible exasperation.
"The Binding Vow is set!"
With those words, the pact was sealed. Yorozu's eyes practically sparkled with joy.
* * *
Back in the present.
The sorcerers from Jujutsu High had no idea what had happened in the past. All they saw was Yorozu's domain collapsing barely half a minute after it went up.
As the shattered fragments of the domain drifted through the air, they looked through the gaps to see the battlefield.
Yorozu was covered in fresh wounds, and Mukuro's fingers were pressed gently against her forehead.
This was Mukuro's final act of mercy regarding her version of "love."
"Fade away within an endless illusion."
He activated both the Naraka Path and the Deval Path simultaneously. Already at her absolute limit, Yorozu had no strength left to resist such overwhelming power.
'Sukuna...'
In her final moments, she saw him waiting for her. A smile graced that proud, distant face.
'I won't let you be lonely.'
She ran toward him with wide strides, her heart fluttering just as it had the very first time they met.
Slowly, the cursed energy gripping Saori's body dissolved. Yorozu vanished, scattering into nothingness.
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