Synopsis: After Sukuna died, he heard a voice asking him something, and when he answered, he found himself in a pure white space with a fat, middle-aged-looking boy coming towards him, who tried to kill him, but his slashes did not work, and the boy fused with him and then woke up in the Daemon world with the memories of an otaku.
So what happens when the King of Curses, The Imaginary Demon, The Disgraced One, and The Strongest in History wants to go down a different path? Fuses with the soul of a shut-in otaku that has consumed a massive amount of fiction, and who is in college and died due to a mysterious phenomenon
Chapter 1: Death of Ryomen Sukuna
Within the Domain Expansion of Yuji Itadori, birds chirped as they flew above in the clouds, and Ryomen Sukuna, who usually brought feelings of death, dread, fear, and sadness, was overtaken by the normal atmosphere of everyday life within the Domain Expansion.
Sukuna stood in the middle of the sidewalk as the hollowed bodies of human children ran through him, laughing and playing with each other, while the warm steam of a ramen stall and cooking rice bowls (donburi) wafted from across the street, where the children had come from.
On the other side was a funeral filled with many grieving families mourning the loss of someone, and he found it all utterly meaningless. Sukuna could feel Yuji Itadori's gaze, filled with hatred and pain, but full of great resolve, and his patience finally snapped.
"Enough, brat," Sukuna snarled, his voice sounding like his own, but if one listened close enough, one could hear Megumi's tone. The black tattoo lines etched on his face seemed to glow bright with his fury.
"These pathetic, flickering lights of 'life' you've dragged me into, I feel nothing. Tell me your intention. Tell me why you haven't continued our battle within your domain so I can rip your meager soul to shreds yet."
Yuji stood unflinching within his domain; he took a slow breath in, then out as he went to stand right across from Sukuna. He wasn't the same boy who first swallowed the cursed finger. His eyes, though still holding a trace of that initial kindness, now possessed a frigthing clarity.
"Until recently, I believed life was simple," Yuji began, his voice firm, as it echoed slightly in the vast space. "There was a role to fulfill assigned to everyone. And they die fulfilling that role, and it was a proper death. That's what Grandpa told me. That's what I believed I needed to do."
A phantom image of a dog chasing a ball drifted past Sukuna's view. He rolled his eyes again; those cheap tricks won't open the heart of this demon.
"But I was wrong," Yuji continued, his gaze locking onto Sukuna's borrowed form. "There is no 'proper' death. Simply living, raising a family, walking a dog, or even isolating oneself with nothing to leave behind, there is still value. It's in the memory, the smallest aftereffect of an action that gives a life its value. The way someone dies doesn't matter."
He took a step forward, getting right into Sukuna's face as he wanted to attack, but for some reason, he couldn't. "What I cannot forgive, Sukuna, is the idea of someone treating those lives as worthless. That is why I hate you."
Yuji's accusation was said in a monotone as he looked right into the king of curses' eyes. "Human beings are not tools born with a predetermined role. Be it good or bad, there is no fundamental answer as to what makes one human. You threw all of that away, and I brought you here to show you the livelihood of the people you see no value in."
Sukuna stood tall as he took a slight step forward, a horrifying smirk stretching across his face.
"I understand everything you are saying, Yuji Itadori, and I just don't care. I feel no emotion toward anything you just said. I think of your words as those from a dead man. You've wasted your breath."
Yuji's shoulders didn't slump; he just looked in Sukuna's eyes and nodded. "I know."
"Then what is this?" Sukuna mocked, his voice filled with contempt. "Is your great, burning hatred only enough for this spineless speech? You are pathetic, you speak of value and worth, yet you amount to nothing but a sermon."
But then, Sukuna's eyes narrowed, a spark of understanding, and with that understanding came rage. "No... I see it. You brought me into this domain... as an act of pity."
"Yes," Yuji confirmed what Sukuna had thought of but didn't want to believe. "You can kill me inside this domain. But as long as you release possession of Megumi's soul, and you return to me as a vessel, your life will be spared."
The King of Curses, bubbling, frothing ocean of wrath, rises up within him. This boy, this thing that was only supposed to be a vessel, a vessel for himself, dared to offer him pity?
"I will sever your head from your body and parade it around to all your friends before I kill them too, brat." Sukuna roared, Yuji's domain trembling under the quality and quantity of his cursed energy. " Your pity is a sickness I shall eradicate!"
Immediately, Sukuna formed the hand signs for Hollow Wicker Basket, recalling Gojo Satoru's method of rehabilitating his brain to reset burnt-out Cursed Techniques.
The domain's guaranteed hit is still active, he thought, but as long as I maintain these signs, it will nullify the sure-hit. It's too risky to try a full Domain Expansion reset while Unlimited Void's residual effect lingers, but this buys me time.
He lunged, Sukuna going on the offensive, trading rapid blows with Yuji. Who was fast enough to keep up with Sukuna going all out like a cornered animal, his cursed energy imbued with his indomitable will and the blood manipulation technique, making his strikes devastating. Sukuna punched Yuji hard, sending him skidding back across the illusory market street.
"I admit, Yuji Itadori," Sukuna exclaimed, an unpleasant glee spreading across his features. "Your pity was enough to rouse my anger! I will kill countless humans in retaliation for this insult!"
Just as the King of Curses wound up his next attack, he felt an anchor drop deep inside the shared body, a sudden, crushing heaviness. A dark, serpentine shadow materialized from the ground, wrapping around his legs and binding him in place.
Megumi!
Sukuna realized in an instant. Yuji's prior words, the appeal to the value of life, had reached the stupid weak boy's soul.
Before Sukuna could break free, Yuji was upon him, breaking his other two arms, but he wasn't fast enough to break the other two before Sukuna could react. The two traded rapid blows to each other's heads, a savage, close-quarters brawl.
Sukuna realized that his Reverse Cursed Technique could not keep up with the force of Yuji's punches. His newly regenerated hand signs for Hollow Wicker Basket were a few hits away from breaking.
In a desperate try, Sukuna used the Shrine, not to attack, but to shear the gauntlet from Yuji's arm, using Gojo's brain-reset strategy as a fleeting moment of distraction. He instantly prepared to activate his own Domain Expansion, but the momentum was lost.
He stared at Yuji's broken arm, not because of the injury, but because of what the shattered gauntlet revealed.
Two missing fingers.
Sukuna's eyes widened in shock. The pinky he knew was missing. But the other?
The one Rika ate!
Yuta Okkotsu's prior statement had been a bluff. Sukuna had been duped.
Far away, at Jujutsu Headquarters, there was a sense of tension.
Nobara Kugisaki, newly awakened and caught up on the dire situation, saw the single container holding the King of Curses' final, 20th finger.
With a mad snarl, she slammed her hammer down, activating Resonance.
The cursed energy surged, and deep within the Domain Expansion, Sukuna seized up, as a sudden mass of spikes rose from his body, locking him in place.
This Technique! Panic finally gripped the King of Curses. He couldn't activate his domain; he couldn't defend himself against Yuji's unique, soul-affecting sure-hit technique.
Yuji, seizing the opportunity, struck with Dismantle. The blow slammed into Sukuna's side, and he coughed violently, a single, decaying finger rocketing out of his mouth.
Sukuna punched Yuji away, creating necessary distance as he assessed the rapidly deteriorating situation.
'The brat is past his limit. His domain drains his cursed energy, and he still can't use Reverse Cursed Technique effectively. I can still win.'
He rushed back at Yuji using RCT to heal his injuries the best he could as the two of them collided again, trading blows in a dizzying exchange. Sukuna, however, lost his balance, a sudden shift in the force of Yuji's blows. A time lag double blow!
Yuji steadied himself, the pain coming from his shattered arm irrelevant. He stood over the momentarily stunned King of Curses.
"It's time to end this cycle of curses, Sukuna!"
Yuji's fist plunged into Sukuna's chest in a thunderous, world-shattering Black Flash. Sukuna's red eyes went blank.
For the first time in a thousand years, Ryomen Sukuna felt a fleeting fear of death grip him. The relentless assault, the sure-hit Soul Dismantle, the physical devastation of the Black Flash, was too much.
He desperately threw his final gambit: an attempt to demoralize Megumi, to break his spirit and maintain his failing control.
But Megumi, strengthened by Yuji's impossible kindness, outright rejected him, his will to live burning brighter than the King of Curses' malice.
Yuji's last, terrible punch, a final, soul-striking blow, was powerful enough to knock Megumi's body and free his soul completely from Sukuna's grasp.
With no vessel to inhabit, Sukuna began to wither, his borrowed form dissolving into a quickly disintegrating, malformed menagerie of twitching, useless flesh.
Even in this unstable, vile state, he desperately attempted to reclaim the body, but the effort was futile. Yuji stood over the deteriorating King of Curses, the feeling of pity finally overriding his hatred.
"Come back, Sukuna," Yuji pleaded, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "Merge back into my body, and live within me, so you can see the joy in living as a human."
The wretched mass of flesh struggled to form a grotesque imitation of a smile. "Yuji Itadori," Sukuna rasped, calling the boy by his full name for the first, and only, time.
"I commend you for keeping up these pretenses up until now, …Yuji…!! BUT DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!!! I AM The CURSE"!!
With those last words, his form disintegrated entirely into dust, scattered by the wind of the dissolving domain. The reign of Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, was over.