All my life, I've loved the thrill of battle. So when I died in a fight, I died with a smile upon my face, truly happy.
Now, not long after everything went dark, I found myself standing with my arm raised, the cool rooftop air blowing around me.
"Huh? What's going on?" I looked around, yet it felt like I could see more clearly.
Putting my arm down, I looked at my hands and found they lacked the scars I once had, yet coursed with power I never thought possible. Suddenly, one of the same hands I'd looked down at grabbed my own face in a tight grip as my mouth moved on its own.
"Hey, give me back my body!" a young voice was heard as I raised an eyebrow.
I could see half my vision fading. I blinked, finding myself in a crimson-tinted space with a massive ribcage looming above. The ground was covered in a pool of blood, and countless skulls formed a mountain topped with a throne of bone.
"Where the hell am I?" I muttered, rubbing my head.
This all seemed familiar somehow, like I'd seen this place before, and that's when I saw it. I was... back on that rooftop? No, I was seeing what this body was seeing, hearing what it heard, and yet I no longer had control of its movements at all.
"Under Jujutsu regulations, I will now exorcise Special Grade Curse, Yuji Itadori!" another voice shouted as I saw the shared vision turn to look at a young man who was bleeding from his head, staring at me as if prepared to fight.
"Huh? I'm fine. More importantly, you and I are pretty beat up, so we should get ourselves to a hospital," this Yuji said as he faced the injured boy. "I can't exactly hear that Sukuna guy, but I know he's in my head or whatever that place was."
Before any more words could be exchanged, however, a tall man appeared as silently as if he had always been there.
"What's going on?" the man said with a small smile on his face.
"Satoru Gojo? What are you doing here?" the black-haired kid said.
"Yo. I wasn't planning on showing up here, but you got roughed up, kid," he said, taking out a phone. "I'm gonna show the second years. Say cheese!"
He took dozens of pictures as the kid with dark hair covered his eyes.
"You know, I got an earful from the higher-ups because that special grade cursed object is still missing. Thought I'd do a bit of sightseeing and stop by. So... did you find it yet?" he said, putting his phone away.
...
"Uhh... sorry, but I... ate that thing."
"...Really?"
"I/He did," they responded simultaneously.
Hearing this, the white-haired man walked closer to the body and leaned in for a good look as he held his chin.
"Haha, damn. It really did merge with you. That's hilarious." The man smiled, backing up. "Feel anything weird about your body?"
"Nah, it seems alright," the body said as it looked itself over.
This all seemed super familiar, like a show I watched between fights before I died...
"Can you swap with Sukuna at will?" the man asked him as I felt this body's face scrunch up in confusion.
"Sukuna?"
"Yeah, that curse you ate."
"Oh uh, yeah, I think I can do that."
The man started stretching as he spoke again. "Alright, give us ten seconds. Then change right back to yourself."
"Yeah, but..."
"Don't worry, I'm wayyy too strong for him." He cracked a larger smirk as he stood up. "Megumi, hold onto this for me," he said, tossing the small white bag he had to the boy.
"What is this?"
"Kikufuku from Kikusuya. It's a Sendai specialty and it's super good. I recommend the zunda and cream flavors."
"This guy was out buying souvenirs when people were out here dying?" the Megumi kid muttered before the man interrupted.
"It's no souvenir; I'll be eating this on the bullet train ride home."
It was then I felt myself regain control of the body as I clenched my fists. As I did this, I finally remembered exactly where I'd heard all this before.
"Jujutsu Kaisen..." I muttered as the man I now recognized as Satoru Gojo—this world's Honored One—turned to face me.
"Strange. I expected you to attack me, but you're oddly silent," he said with a smile, punching his palm. "You scared or somethin'?"
That irritated me. "I never back down from a challenge," I said, despite knowing I definitely couldn't win this right now, as I leaped forward with a burst of speed.
I saw him preparing casually to counter me as I reeled my fist back and struck out at his face. As suspected, my fist stopped long before it reached his face as his hand shot out, pulling my arm to make me stumble. I caught my balance and stomped the ground, punching a hole in the rooftop as he stepped backwards to avoid unnecessarily falling in.
However, he didn't let me off free; he let out a casual punch that hit me in the back, sending me flying as a small shockwave burst out. Correcting myself mid-air, I landed on the roof and stretched my arms.
Interesting. I never thought something like this would've happened to me. Always thought it was fantasy, but to be reborn into a world of combat like this... I feel so lucky... I thought, smiling as the pain of that blow made me understand the reality of my situation.
I was killed and have awakened in the JJK world as Ryomen Sukuna at the start of the series. Knowing that fighting Gojo right now would only serve to embarrass me, I decided to mess with him a little bit.
"Interesting. So your technique lets you slow down things the closer they get to you within a set range that you control. And those eyes of yours let you manipulate your cursed energy almost perfectly on the atomic level as well. You must be the Six Eyes user of this new age."
It was a basic version of just two aspects of Gojo, but as far as he knew, I figured that out from a short clash that lasted at most three seconds.
"You're sharp, as expected of the King of Curses," Gojo said, his smile still present.
"Well, this is no fun. I currently don't have a method to get through that annoying technique of yours, and with only this much cursed energy at the moment, I can't use my domain, so I'll end it here," I said.
He looked a bit disappointed, not that I gave a damn. I took away his time to show off, so it was a small victory. The tattoos began to fade as Yuji regained control of his body.
"So, how'd it go?"
"Wow, so you really can control that guy."
"Yeah, but it feels weird when he took control of my body like that, tho."
"It's amazing that's all he's doing to you," Gojo said, tapping Yuji's forehead and knocking him out.
As for me, without Yuji being awake and without control of his body, I couldn't see the outside world anymore. But if it was anything like canon, then Gojo was likely moving us to that seal-covered room.
I wonder if I have what it takes to survive all these future battles, I thought as I walked up the mountain of bones and sat on the surprisingly comfortable throne. When I really relaxed and got settled into this new body of mine, something unexpected happened.
[Ultimate Combat System Merger Complete]
"Don't tell me..." And before I could even finish the thought, mass amounts of information on this [Ultimate Combat System] flooded my brain in vivid detail.
"Shit, does this happen to everyone who gets reincarnated?" I complained, holding my head which was throbbing in pain.
It took a few seconds for the pain to end, and when it did, I cracked a smile. This was turning out to be better than anything I expected. To put it simply, this [UCS] lets me pick something I want, and should I be capable of defeating an opponent, I get it free of charge. The downside is, should I lose to this opponent, I suffer a cooldown and all the pain from within the simulation.
"Let's test this out..."
Opening the system panel, I thought for a moment before inputting that I wanted to receive the body of a Heavenly Restriction without the loss of my cursed energy. This would let me stay extremely powerful even if I ran out of cursed energy in combat. Besides, with a Maki and Toji-class Heavenly Restriction, I'd be physically strong enough to keep up with the sorcerers in Shinjuku early on and be way more powerful after applying my cursed energy, too.
Confirming my choice, I found myself in an empty white space and saw someone who looked to be Toji standing in the distance. The moment I got ready to fight, I realized just how outclassed I was with only one finger's worth of strength to my name.
Instantly, a violent punch slammed into my stomach, making me vomit blood immediately. He was so fast I couldn't even see him move, and before I even touched the ground, hundreds of other punches slammed all over my body, beating me to death before I could do more than see the grin on Toji's face.
Fuck... I thought as I found myself back in my innate domain within Yuji, feeling pain all over my body.
"Damn system, that wasn't balanced at all..."