A small village in the wilderness – 04:00 AM – Japan – 1912
For this village child, the sick sound of twisting flesh and maniacal inhuman cackles surrounded his house, the screams of neighbours, the victims of those horrid things, drew closer and closer to where he and his family were hiding, notifying them of their soon-to-be-met fate.
Amidst the gory scene just outside their door, the child's father, mother and older brother all maintained the upmost silence, if it weren't for the bedlam in the village, it'd have seem as if all time stood still in the boy's household, or at least they'd have wished it to, because in mere moments it would look as though those things would enter through the door.
Ravenous. Bloodshot eyes. Syringe teeth row by row. These were all he could remember as he ran into the house. And to occupy the boy's thoughts even further, premonitions of those same teeth ripping into his loved ones drove him to the brink of crying, and yet he could not shed a tear, as it would most definitely cost his family their lives.
In another world, at another time – 21:03 PM - Shibuya – Japan – 2018
The glittering lights of the Shibuya district in Tokyo was a fanciful preoccupation for the bustling and passing crowds, and would probably be their last pleasant sight of the night, the calm before the storm if you will. And amongst them, a man not out of place amidst the tradition of dressing up in Halloween costume would be walking, drawing a few side glares from passers by, obviously mocking his tacky stitched head or the boring monk robe that he donned.
A hint of annoyance came over the man's face, the cool and calm mask he wore faded for a second, before his emotional coldness once again returned.
'The last finger has been misplaced?' This thought bubbled inside of Kenjaku's head.
Before being popped in a mere instant. "We can use the mummified corpse instead, all is fine. Proceed with the release of the transfigured humans, Mahito."
A small village in the wilderness – 04:01 AM – Japan – 1912
Something small dropped in the wood grate of the sink, it was enough to make their hearts collectively drop, the boy was at the most unease, as he was closest to the door if the demons were to enter. However upon observing the sink, the boy noticed a gruesome sight, a dissected finger, it looked to belong to a demon due to its red hue and sharp black fingernail, this would cause the boy to think of all the ways that those sharp fingernails could cause harm to him and his family, although through that fear, another feeling prevailed, an instinctive calling as though his entire life had led up to this point, the action he had to take was simple in his head, but as the boy pondered over it, he realized how ridiculous this thought was. 'Why am I to eat this? Will it save me? Will it truly save me and my family?' Is the only thing that coursed through the boys brain at this point. And like it was natural, the boy's arm reached out for the finger, cusping it within the palm of his hand and tipping it into his mouth, and as the finger dropped, so did his consciousness, he would collapse onto the floor in a bout of seizures, shuddering madly as his consciousness was thrust into another place. The sound of the boy making contact with the floor was enough to alert the demons to his family's location. It seemed trivial what would happen next.
A mountain of bones fashioned into a throne fit for the King of Curses - ? - 04:02 AM
The boy could only kneel before the unbearable pressure that met him atop that horrid throne of skulls, like some kind of venerable monster. Not even a moment of eye contact could be made with it according to the boy's thoughts, otherwise it would be death, surely. And then from up atop that mountain of bones, the first words were uttered from that things mouth.
"Who are you, brat?" It spoke in the deep voice of a man, with guttural sounds that shook the boy to his core.
"Look up or lose your head." This instruction was followed without pause, the boy looked up to see the origin of the words uttered to him just seconds before, with great hesitation, until a spout of confusion came over him as he laid his eyes upon the man, it was... him? It looked like an exact copy of him, sitting atop that throne, dressed in an expensive-looking robe, with innumerable strange black markings covering his face and arms, the oddest thing of them all were the second set of eyes that lay just under his original pair. This caused the boy a great deal of disturbance, he was convinced the man was some kind of demon due to the extra set of eyes, a terrible, terrible one at that.
The demons that attacked his village were nothing compared to the all consuming malice that this thing is expelling with its every passing breath. "Unlike that other brat, it seems I'm under control of your body, at least some good news today, huh?" He told the boy those last words as if he was casually talking to a friend or colleague, although a flash of concern overcame him at hearing that his body was no longer under his own control.
"Before I incarnate fully, you are to inform me on a few things, let's hope you can make yourself somewhat useful to me." Every spoken word this man had spouted was an instruction it seemed, and the boy felt like he had to either follow them, or it would be the end of his world.
"Sir... If I may call you that." The boy did not stumble over his words, he was careful to not cause any disrespect at all with how he spoke, every single roll of his tongue was a risk in the boy's head.
"Are you going to continue or are you just waiting for your head to be parted brat?" These words caused the boy to almost jump up in fear, but the boy would continue promptly.
"My village was attacked by demons sir... all of my neighbours were slaughtered mercilessly, my family is next I believe." These words were spoken through grit teeth, the boy was trying his hardest not to cry, it must've been some kind of joke to ask for help from this thing, but he believed it was either that or death.
A small smile cracked Sukuna's face at this point. He did not respond, seeming to disappear from his throne, the boy was left alone in the innate domain. And unbeknownst to him, a great evil had just incarnated into his world.
The boy's shaking on the floor had suddenly stopped after a few seconds, the family looked over him with concern but also much fear after hearing of the demon's fast approach to their house, they began to huddle into the other room, when the boy suddenly stood. Black markings begun to fade into his skin, and appeared throughout his face, the family would simply look on as this happened, staring in utter confusion which would soon turn to horror as their own family member opened his newly formed two sets of eyes. The boy's fingernails grew long and black, with an ever-growing smile now being cast upon his face, his family no longer recognized the child they nurtured and grew up with, all they saw was horror as they huddled into the other room leaving the thing to do what it wanted.
"An unknown place, an unknown time, how troubling." Sukuna seemed to monologue to himself for a few moments before hearing shuffling outside the house.
A mad cry erupts from a demon as it dives head first through the front window, glass shatters and begins to fly at every-which direction as the pale horned being leapt through, it's jaw open as it reached for Sukunas neck, who was simply stood there with a blank expression upon it's approach.
The King of Curses swiftly flicks his wrist, as the demon is cut into 3 equal sections horizontally, one through it's midsection, and two through different points in its legs and head, the 3 separated pieces of the demon collapse onto the floor, with the gushing of blood coming soon after.
"Disgusting bottom-feeder, though it isn't a curse?" Sukuna raises his eyebrows as the demon still seems to be alive, it's movement is limited to thrashing about on the floor. He just kicks the separated head of the demon out through the window it came in. This seems to have caught the other two demons attention as Sukuna peers out to see them approaching the house.
"More of them seem to swarm, how disturbing." Sukuna states as a smile again creeps across his face, he would burst out from the broken window and into a clearing in the centre of the village.
The demons would quickly twist their bodies in order to observe Sukuna's new position, they would grow uneasy at the speed demonstrated by him just moments ago, all three would charge him at once, jaws open and ready to eat, however it seemed another predator was to have his fill today.
Sukuna was upon the first demon in a flash, his hand gripped firmly around the demon's neck, lifting it off of its feet as it attempted to get itself free, choking and thrashing as it tried with all it's might. Sukuna's grip tightened upon the demon's throat until his hand had passed through flesh, crushing the demon's neck until it was practically decapitated, the demon's limp but still alive body was cast aside for the moment. Sukuna raised his hand, his index finger upright as he turned to the next demon. A dismantle carried itself through the air towards the demon in mere moments, splitting through its entire body vertically, the two pieces of the demon collapsed either side of each other.
There was now only one demon that was mobile, and before it could even turn to run both of its legs were cut out from underneath it, it flailed uselessly as it fell onto the dirt. And upon Sukuna's approach the demon would try to utter something.
"P-P...LEASE" was all that came out in a growl.
A disgusted look befell Sukuna at this moment, and as he was going to decapitate the demon in front of him, a curious sight came from the house, the demon's body had seemingly regenerated on its own, as it attempted to crawl outside towards its head which was just by the front of the house.
"Now you've piqued my interest, that can't be Reverse Cursed Technique, as I don't sense a release of cursed energy, in fact, I can't detect any cursed energy at all from these vermin. Just what kind of world is this?"
Sukuna would glimpse up at the rising sun, calm light slowly rose over the treeline bathing the village, including the demons, who now seemed to be writhing in pain, even steaming as they begun to disintegrate, Sukuna watched this process with great interest.
"So sunlight is their crux? How fitting for those rats that they must scurry around in the darkest corners of the world, not to be seen by others, weak enough for even the faintest light to kill them." The King of Curses would then glance back towards the house in which the boy's family resided, walking back over and opening the door with a creak, he could hear their faint whimpering from the other room.
"You can come out now! It's daylight!" Sukuna said as he would attempt to mimic the boy's speaking pattern.
The family would emerge from hiding, still apprehensive as they witnessed Sukuna's form of the boy.
"What were those outside?" Sukuna would question the father.
"My boy, how do you not know…? They're demons, they must have been defeated by the sunlight." The father would reply with a nervous gaze about him.
"Mhm, mhm. What are demons, it'd appear that I need some brushing up." Sukuna would respond back, a very blank expression now rested upon his face.
"They've been around for so many years now, ravenous creatures, they feed on human flesh and blood… There's not much known about them, except that they used to be human."
"How fascinating." Sukuna would reply, causing the family members to raise their eyebrows once again, he was far from the boy the family knew.
"My son, are you oka-" The father's head was separated from his torso in an instant, blood would spray from the man's neck as his lifeless body hit the floor, his head would roll around somewhat.
The family's reaction to this was short-lived, as the remaining two, the mother and older brother, were culled, their heads rolling to the floor to meet the father's.
"This is for not informing me about these demons, brat." Sukuna would now assume a large smile, before fading back into his innate domain and allowing the boy to take back control of his body for a moment, the grotesque expression on the boy's face would turn to absolute despair as he dropped to his knees amidst the dirt mixed with his family's blood which would soon pool.
The means he used to try and defend his family from demons ended up sealing his family's fate in the end, and in such a horrible way, the son realized that their last moments were spent processing the fact their son had murdered his father, and soon them. This revelation would just lead to more sorrow as he spent his last moment of control clutching the bloodied mud beneath him. As the black markings once again spread across the boy's face, two sets of eyes would open.
"I ought to reprimand him for sullying my hands with such filth." Sukuna would crouch down to wipe the dirt and blood that got onto his hands onto the corpse of the boy's mother in a meagre attempt to clean himself, he would grow annoyed more at the fact that it just smudged into his hands, so he caught sight of the village well and approached it in order to clean his hands properly.
"Hey! You, are you alright? Have you sustained any injuries from those things?" a man with a sword and odd clothes approached the village as he asked this, Sukuna noticed his passive stance and so stood without much emotion, waiting for the man to make his actions.
As the man had approached nearer to Sukuna and began to recognize his strange features, he suddenly drew his sword, raising it in front of him in a defensive position.
"A demon? But the sun is up… just what are you-AGH?!" The demon slayer's expression contorted in pain as his dominant hand was cleaved clean from his arm, the man's sword dropped to the floor as he clutched his gushing stump of an arm, the pain seemed so overwhelming to the demon slayer that he was brought to the floor.
"Stop your whining fool, who are you then?" Sukuna would ask as he now approached the demon slayer who was immobilized by the pain.
"Please… please don't kill me!" The demon slayer would beg, he broke down crying as he was on the floor scrambling.
"How insufferable, stick your arm in the mud to cool it down or something, whatever you humans do to cope with your pathetic injuries." Sukuna had clearly overestimated the man with the sword, as he originally wanted to question the man by interrogating him with pain, but clearly this was too much. Still, wanting to know the origin of this strangely dressed man seemed entertaining enough to Sukuna not to end his life.
"What are you then? Answer or I'll just have to triple your pain." Sukuna promptly demanded of the man on the floor.
The man picked himself up, through gritted teeth, really fighting through the pain for his own survival, he held onto his stump tight so that more blood would not gush out.
"I'm… I'm a demon slayer." He replied with haste, the pain impacted his ability to speak slightly but that was no matter.
Sukuna would have his interest even more thoroughly piqued by the proclamation of the man as being some sort of demon slayer. Memories of his own world's sorcerers flashed at this moment, the parallels between the curses and sorcerers, with that of the demon's and demon slayer's was not lost on him, he thought it amusing at the very least. Though the reality of him being in an entirely different world was not so amusing, and since his cursed energy consisted of only one finger, Sukuna would decide to air out a bit of caution, thoughts of the demons being able to regenerate slowly without the need for RCT as well as surviving decapitation were factors that Sukuna pondered on. And of course the fact these were not cursed spirits, but rather 'demons'.
"A demon slayer, and what does that consist of? Tell me." Sukuna ordered the man to spill more information, and he complied without hesitation.
"I-I... a-am apart of the Demon Slayer Corps…. an organization that's existed for many years... dedicated to killing demons... mainly aimed towards the murder.. of…. the progenitor of demons, Muzan Kibutsuji" The demon slayer would spew through his continually grit teeth.
"Muzan Kibutsuji?" Sukuna would idly repeat as he stared down at the pitiful sight before him.
"...Yes.. he is the original creator of demons, we believe he's been around for about a thousand years, since the Heian era." The man replied, still clutching his arm.
"Hm? The Heian era? What's the year now then?" Sukuna would ask, he was interested at the fact this Muzan fellow was so long lived, around the same age as him and Kenjaku then.
"It's…. 1912..." The man would respond, he was still visibly shuddering from both the pain and the presence of the monster before him.
Sukuna would ruffle his hair back, still a bit confused regarding the entire situation, how he was suddenly incarnated to a different time and place, and what seemed to be a world separate from Jujutsu? A world ruled by demons? This was not a world of strength, the threats it offers cower in the face of the sun, how trivial was what Sukuna thought.
"You'll guide me, come, stand up now." Sukuna motioned to the man on the floor.
Rather perplexed at how Sukuna can just expect him to shrug this injury off and get off, he nonetheless listens and tries his best to stand, not wanting to meet a gruesome fate.
The demon slayer would atleast be able to stand, though still clutching his arm he attempted to walk to the best of his abilites, now showing up to Sukuna in order not to be killed.
"Of course sir… where would you like to go…?" The demon slayer would politely ask of him.
"Who are your strongest within this group of yours?" Sukuna would ask of him.
A chill would be sent down the man's back, nothing good could come of this question clearly. Yet he would have to answer to keep his head.
"The Hashira, sir, they're the pillars of the demon slayer corps, each their own breath."
"Breath?" Sukuna would raise his eyebrow at the odd answer.
"We… demon slayers use what's called breathing styles in order to keep up with the superhuman abilities of the demons, they allow us to perform faster and stronger movements then what would usually be possible through different breathing techniques, and the Hashira represent the pinnacle of each breathing style." The demon slayer explained it as best as he could, despite only knowing the basics, as he was the lowest of the low.
"Interesting, how very interesting, I assume you know none of this, as you displayed nothing in terms of ability to me, or perhaps this breathing is just that pathetic."
Sukuna would muse to the man.
"No sir, I do not know any actual breathing styles, only higher ranking demon slayers such as the hashira can utilize the breathing styles properly." The man would admit, rather embarrassed at the proclamation of Sukuna just moments prior.
"Now, now, you mentioned Muzan earlier, are there any other notable demons I should be aware of?" Sukuna would keep prodding for information, it would be best to get as much as he could out of the man.
"The twelve kizuki are the strongest of the demons under Muzan, they are seperated into the six upper moons… and six lower moons.. the upper moons are stronger then the lower moons, and are numbered by how strong they are, with upper moon 1 being the strongest." The man would reply with all the information he knew.
Sukuna would not respond again, simply scratching his head and pondering, before making a turn.
"How would you demon slayers go about killing a demon then." Sukuna's last question was set before the man.
"You need to behead the demon with a nichirin blade, or wait until sunrise." The man spouted out.
Sukuna would just point to the blade in the mud, next to the demon slayer's detached hand.
"And I would assume that is your nichirin blade?`` Sukuna would ask of the demon slayer, gesturing for him to go over and pick it up.
The demon slayer complied with haste, gliding over to the best of his ability and bending to pick up his sword, he no longer had his dominant hand so he would just have to make do with his left.
"Though I detest you humans, with your population making u seem more akin to insects then something to acknowledge as 'beings', always squirming and crawling around, however these demons who feast upon you and hide in the corners of the world, under the darkness of night are even more useless to me. I commend your strength in attempting to at least stand up to them, however futile that may be." Sukuna would commend the man, giving him a welcome surprise at the very least.
"Thank you so much, sir..." The man would receive the compliment as best as he could.
"Now! Where are there people." He would ask of the demon slayer to lead him to a population centre.
"This village lies only a few miles outside of Tokyo, you can usually see the city's lights at night from here. It's that way." The demon slayer would point.
"You'll be my liaison from now on, how does that sound? What's your name?" Sukuna would query with a crack of a smile.
"My name is… Hayara Ichinose." The man gave out his name with worry, he was practically this monster's hostage.
"A name I would not even give a dog, how fitting." Sukuna would muse with the man even further, surely if this was not Sukuna then the demon slayer would take offence and defend his honour, but what could he do against the King of Curses.
"Come then, Ichinose, come lead me to civilization." Sukuna would slap the man's back, causing him to stumble somewhat, before following behind as they walked through the destroyed village and onto a dirt path that led out towards a few faded lights in the distance.
Halfway through their journey a noticeable cawing sound made itself known in the forest, as a bird descended upon the demon slayer's shoulder. The crow nestled its self on top of the demon slayer, and began to caw as though it was communicating.
"And what is that?" Sukuna questioned the appearance of the bird.
"It's a Kasugai crow, it's how the demon slayers communicate to each other, or notify regarding demon attacks."
"Well, we don't want them finding out anything, do we?" Sukuna would reply, at the same moment the bird upon the man's shoulder suddenly fell off of it, it twitched on the floor for a few moments, well, two halves of it twitched.
The man would stare down at the now corpse of the Kasugai crow with apprehension in his body, would he be next? At that moment, the demon slayer and Sukuna both noticed a carriage carried by one horse continuing on behind them. Sukuna would proceed towards the carriage, the demon slayer questioned the man's actions, curiosity turned to worry for the occupants inside.
Sukuna would open the carriage door, finding some clearly intoxicated ladies inside, Sukuna hung onto the carriage whilst it slowly moved as to not alert the driver to his presence just yet.
"Heeeeey~ you're handsome, are those tattoooos..." One of the drunk women would respond, laughing to herself as she did so.
"Would you mind if I shared a cabin with you ladies?" Sukuna would respond, he couldn't care less about the women themselves, rather he was finding himself rather hungry as of late.
And as the women were distracted by Sukuna's presence, he would subtly side swipe his right hand, the coach driver's head came clean off, tumbling to the side with his body onto the road and under the carriage, Sukuna would gesture behind him to the demon slayer to take over, and so he did, running and jumping onto the front of the carriage to reign in the horse smoothly.
'Useful for something, I suppose.' Sukuna thought to himself.
"Of couuursee you can come with us, *hic*." Another women proudly exclaimed, raising her voice a bit too loud.
"Yeaahh, we're headed for the entertainment district, maybe we could give you some entertainment while we're on the way, a taster of our districts speciality~" One of the women stated, trying to feel Sukuna up somewhat.
"Well, I think I'd love to taste you." Sukuna replied rather calmly.
This would cause the ladies to give a flustered chuckle, but Sukuna seemed a bit more literal then they possibly could expect. And in an instant his jaw opened inhumanly wide, biting down on the neck of the woman beside him, a collective shriek echoed through the coach. The demon slayer outside could only sit through it with a shuddering down his spine as he continued to guide the horses forward, those screams would surely stay with him.
Sukuna continued to feast on the Woman's neck for a few moments, before moving onto the next woman who reacted by trying to scramble away from Sukuna towards the cabin door, however a flick of his hand towards the woman's nape soon stopped this, a slit became pronounced in the back of the woman's neck making her fall onto the wood floor of the carriage bleeding out.
The woman nearest to the door was able to actually get outside of the carriage, opening the door, a mad grin was made by Sukuna at this action, as he knocked on the front of the carriage, signalling the demon slayer to go faster, and he did, unaware of what was about to happen.
Sukuna pointed his index finger and flicked it across, a small slash separated the woman's left leg from the rest of her body as she tried to get out of the carriage, causing a brief screech before she could no longer support her own body and promptly stumbled out of the cabin, her head hit the ground and was swept under the wheel of the carriage, and at the faster speeds it was going, the wheel would go over the woman's neck, snapping it like a twig, though it sounded more akin to the crushing of wet autumn leaves under the weight and speed of the wheel. The carriage would just slightly buckle from going over the woman's now disintegrated neck.
Sukuna would lean out of the cabin, peeking at the limp body left on the road which would slowly disappear out of view as the carriage sped off, he gave a great chuckle out at the amusing scene before him, continuing for a few seconds before stepping back inside of the carriage to stare at the final woman. There were two bodies inside of the cabin itself, and one sleeping woman, in her drunken stupor she had not woken up despite the screaming and hollering of her companions just moments before.
Behind the sleeping drunk was a relatively decent looking mirror, which of course reflected Sukuna's bloody incarnated visage back to him, he frowned at this, the boy's brown hair was dyed a light red by the bloody scene, almost reminding him of a certain someone. Sukuna also took a moment to reflect on the boy's physique given to him, he was relatively skinny it seemed.
"Useless boy, could've given me more to work with." Sukuna spat out to himself.
Another knock greeted the demon slayer from Sukuna, the demon slayer correctly interpreted that Sukuna wished for the carriage to stop, and so it did, halting at the side of the road, they were still surrounded by forest this point, but only a few miles outside of Tokyo, the bustling city was more pronounced from this distance. The demon slayer would stare at the corpses littered inside of the cabin with an expected grief, then confusion at the left-alive sleeping woman.