Itadori pointed at himself in confusion
"You ever gave me respect?"
Ryomen Sukuna jumped down from the water tank and landed on the rooftop. Itadori Yuji subconsciously assumed a defensive stance—the starting posture of a Simple Domain. After his battle with Ryomen Sukuna, he had realized the importance of defense, so he had specifically purchased knowledge of Simple Domain techniques and had practiced them quite diligently over the past few days.
But Sukuna didn't even look at him.
He casually walked past him to the edge of the rooftop and looked down.
At present, the Dream Walk Migration had become quiet. Battles between Jujutsu Sorcerers had almost completely ceased, and only the occasional screech of a Cursed Spirit echoed in the distance.
He said:
"I never care what others think. But perhaps because I once stayed inside your body, I was forced to know many of your thoughts."
"When others charge at me, I simply think they're stupid."
"But when you charge at me, I can strangely understand your thoughts."
"There is fear in your heart, but even more than that, there is firm determination."
"Forget the Dream Walk Migration. Even in the real world, if I appeared, you would surely throw away your life and raise your blade against me."
This wasn't Ryomen Sukuna being sentimental.
It was simply the truth.
In the original work, Ryomen Sukuna had similar thoughts.
At the very end of the battle, he had actually fallen into a daze while facing Itadori Yuji. During that brief moment of reflection, he was able to empathize with Itadori Yuji's unwavering will, which shocked him enough to momentarily freeze.
And it was the same now.
Even though he could have killed Itadori Yuji with a single slash when the boy came seeking him, Ryomen Sukuna didn't do so. Instead, he was willing to hold a limited conversation with him.
He truly gave Itadori Yuji enough respect.
That was not false.
If anyone else had dared to say such nonsense in front of him, they would have been killed long ago.
Only Itadori Yuji could speak to his face like this without being instantly slaughtered.
Itadori Yuji fell silent and also recalled the days when he had shared a body with Ryomen Sukuna.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, if Gojo Satoru is the most dramatic person in the original work, then Itadori Yuji would rank second.
He inherited Gojo Satoru's tendency to shoulder everything.
Including, but not limited to:
Taking responsibility for everyone Ryomen Sukuna killed while inhabiting his body.
Blaming himself for Fushiguro Megumi being possessed.
Believing himself to be a sinner who must atone.
Feeling too guilty to face everyone again.
And the most extreme example—
At the very end, Itadori Yuji had given Ryomen Sukuna one final choice:
If Ryomen Sukuna was willing to be sealed inside him once more and accept Itadori Yuji's supervision for the rest of his life, then he would spare Sukuna.
That's right.
Spare Ryomen Sukuna.
Fortunately, Ryomen Sukuna possessed the pride of the strong and refused.
Otherwise, no one knew what kind of disaster might have happened.
At that moment, Itadori Yuji surely hadn't considered the consequences if Ryomen Sukuna escaped again.
At the time, he had probably been possessed by the spirit of Gojo Satoru, believing that everything would be fine and that he alone could shoulder the responsibility of supervising Ryomen Sukuna for life.
How ridiculous.
A first-year student who had studied jujutsu for less than half a year actually believed he could supervise the legendary King of Curses—a monster who could learn Kenjaku's method of turning Sorcerers into cursed objects with a single glance.
And now, after hearing Sukuna's words...
Naturally, Itadori Yuji became emotional again.
After a long silence, he whispered:
"I didn't come here to fight."
"I have something I want to ask you."
"Hmph. I thought as much."
Ryomen Sukuna wasn't surprised.
He knew Itadori Yuji's personality too well.
If he hadn't truly been driven into a corner, he would never have sought help from the King of Curses.
He said:
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll allow you to tell me your troubles."
Ryomen Sukuna being soft-hearted?
Impossible.
In the original work, it was because Ryomen Sukuna had already sensed his inevitable defeat that he accompanied Itadori Yuji for a while within the mental world during the Domain Expansion.
At that time, he had already entered a state of resignation and was willing to listen to Itadori Yuji's inner thoughts for a bit.
But things were different now.
He didn't feel that he would lose at all.
He was overflowing with confidence.
He only intended to listen to Itadori Yuji's troubles so that afterward he could ruthlessly mock him and deliberately give misleading answers, leaving him confused.
Yes.
Ryomen Sukuna was exactly that evil.
Never doubt it.
"Never fail to commit even a small evil."
That was Ryomen Sukuna's creed.
His aesthetic.
"I want to ask..." Itadori Yuji took a deep breath.
"How does one slay a god?"
...
The history of Jujutsu Sorcerers is long, but its golden age was a thousand years ago.
Was it because Ryomen Sukuna existed then?
No.
It was because gods truly existed a thousand years ago.
Their existence elevated the Jujutsu World above the mundane world.
The age when gods existed was the true golden age of jujutsu.
In the original work, Kenjaku's wish—to return jujutsu to its golden age—depended on the super-assimilation of all Japanese humans with Tengen.
Why Tengen?
Because Tengen was the Sorcerer closest to godhood.
The result of that super-assimilation would have been for everyone to touch and merge with a portion of divinity.
Simply put, Kenjaku's method of restoring prosperity to the Jujutsu World was actually to create a gigantic god beyond imagination.
This giant god was the so-called Great Cursed Spirit.
As for what this Great Spirit would do afterward, Kenjaku himself admitted in the original work that he didn't know.
In other words, his goal was merely to create the Great Cursed Spirit.
Everything afterward was beyond his control.
But in Kenjaku's eyes, even an uncontrollable god would ultimately achieve the prosperity of jujutsu.
The existence of gods within the Jujutsu World was by no means vague or meaningless.
Ryomen Sukuna turned around to look at Itadori Yuji and said thoughtfully:
"I see."
"You all think the King of Curses has already become a god, so you've come to me to learn how to slay one."
Throughout recorded history, Ryomen Sukuna was the only Sorcerer with an actual record of slaying a god.
It could even be said that among everyone in the world, the person with the highest chance of killing a divine King of Curses was Ryomen Sukuna.
Not even Gojo Satoru could compare in this regard.
"He hasn't become a god yet, but at this point the difference is meaningless," Itadori Yuji recalled the meeting and answered honestly.
"He possesses the Dragon God state and the Six Eyes."
"He has the body of a god and the eyes of a god."
"How is he any different from a deity?"
"The difference is that he is temporarily ascending."
"A true god has no need to ascend."
Ryomen Sukuna spoke indifferently.
"Your understanding of gods is too shallow."
"Then again, in your era, you can only glimpse gods through historical records."
"Even an eyewitness like Tengen probably never truly faced a deity."
"That's why your descriptions of gods contain fatal errors."
Itadori Yuji immediately became alert.
"Please enlighten me."
"'Please enlighten me,' huh?"
Ryomen Sukuna mocked him.
"Hmph. This is the first time you've spoken so politely to me, isn't it?"
Itadori Yuji wanted to throw several insults back.
After all, before this, Sukuna had never deserved respect.
Everyone knew the knowledge inside Sukuna's head was precious, but no one had ever considered incorporating his knowledge into their plans.
Because he was too evil.
And more importantly—
No one knew whether the information he provided was true.
If Ryomen Sukuna wanted to, he could tell the truth about everything except the most critical details and deliberately lie at the crucial moment.
Given his historical image, he was absolutely capable of such a thing.
But now that he was asking for help, Itadori Yuji swallowed his insults.
His face flushed red, and he awkwardly muttered:
"Uh... sorry?"
Ryomen Sukuna glanced at him and unexpectedly answered.
"To slay a god, the most important thing is to 'Sever Heavenly Fate.'"
"'Sever Heavenly Fate'?" Itadori Yuji frowned.
"Brat, do you know what a deity is?" Ryomen Sukuna asked.
"Or rather, why do we call gods 'gods' instead of powerful yokai, invincible monsters, or demons?"
Itadori Yuji had truly never considered that question before.
After carefully recalling the jujutsu knowledge he had learned during the past six months, he answered hesitantly:
"The yokai, monsters, demons, and devils you mentioned..."
"Aren't they all simply Cursed Spirits?"
"In ancient times, before the Jujutsu World became unified and knowledge became widespread, Cursed Spirits had many different names."
"Among them, Imaginary Vengeful Spirits are the most important category."
"They are born from the public's imagination of specific yokai."
Ryomen Sukuna looked at him in surprise.
"I didn't expect your foundation to be fairly solid."
Itadori Yuji scratched his head sheepishly.
"It's mainly because of the second-generation Intelligent Cursed Spirits."
"Teacher Gojo specifically taught us the theory behind yokai, so that's how I learned about it."
After Utahime Iori returned from Mahito's stronghold, she had explained the second-generation Intelligent Cursed Spirits in detail.
The most important point was that their modifications all originated from Imaginary Vengeful Spirits.
It was speculated that Imaginary Vengeful Spirits more easily gathered directed Cursed Energy, making them easier to transform into Intelligent Cursed Spirits.
This could actually be observed in the first-generation Intelligent Cursed Spirits as well.
The more famous a spirit became, the easier it was to gather directed Cursed Energy residue.
And the easier it became to evolve into an Excessive Cursed Spirit and gain true intelligence.
Because of this, Gojo Satoru made the information public.
His reasoning was simple.
If anyone encountered an Imaginary Vengeful Spirit, they had to exorcise it.
And if they couldn't do so, they had to report it immediately.
This was done to weaken the King of Curses' hand.
"I once slew the Yamata no Orochi."
Ryomen Sukuna fell into reminiscence.
"Judging from the name, you should know it is a legendary yokai."
"Like me, it wasn't the true Yamata no Orochi."
"It merely possessed similar abilities, so the name of that legendary yokai was bestowed upon it."
"Its most famous ability was its super regeneration."
"Cut off one head..."
"...and another would quickly grow back."
Itadori Yuji had truly never heard of such a thing.
"Aren't all Cursed Spirits like that? Especially powerful Cursed Spirits. Most fatal wounds for humans are trivial to them. Some powerful Cursed Spirits can regenerate over time as long as their heads aren't destroyed."
"It should be the same for Yamata no Orochi. As long as one head remains, it can quickly regenerate the others."
Ryomen Sukuna looked deeply at Itadori Yuji, revealing an interested smile.
"The method that fellow Yamata no Orochi used to regenerate its heads wasn't a Cursed Spirit's recovery ability, but... Reverse Cursed Technique."
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