Souma Gojo and Sukuna stood across from one another, their silhouettes framed against the flickering orange glow of a dying Shinjuku. They looked less like mortal enemies and more like old friends reflecting on a long journey.
After a silence that stretched for an eternity, Sukuna let out a short, dry chuckle and sat down cross-legged on the scorched asphalt.
"I poured out everything," Sukuna admitted, his voice rasping but devoid of regret. "I held nothing back. In all those hollow, boring centuries, I have never experienced a moment as vibrant as this."
He looked up at the grey ash falling from the sky. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Souma leaned against a jagged shard of a concrete wall, a smirk playing on his lips. "What's this? Starting the post-match interview already? Are you about to tell me, 'Finish it, Souma, I have no more desires'?"
Sukuna's head snapped up, his face contorting into a grin of pure, unadulterated malice.
"What kind of joke is that?"
BOOM!!!
A thousand slashes suddenly erupted from the air around him, a final, desperate tempest meant to tear the very world asunder.
"You think a single 'Maximum Technique' is enough to defeat me?!" Sukuna roared, his voice shaking the ruins. "I am the King of Curses! The strongest sorcerer in history, who alone is honored between heaven and earth!"
Even knowing he was outmatched—even knowing the odds of victory were zero—Sukuna's ego remained absolute. He refused to yield. Losing was a matter of circumstance; surrendering was a matter of character. He would never be the clown who apologized for not being strong enough to entertain his opponent.
The hurricane of slashes shrieked past Souma, but the Gojo stood like an ancient cedar, unmoving and untouched by the wind.
"Still fighting the inevitable?"
"Tch!" Sukuna spat. He began to weave his hands together for one last ritual. "I'm not fighting, brat. I'm slaughtering you! Domain Expansion: Malevolent Sh—URGH!"
Suddenly, Sukuna's chest buckled. He coughed up a violent spray of dark blood, and the hurricane of slashes vanished as if it had never existed.
His body began to distort. Muscles rippled and pulsed like a bag of snakes, and his skin took on a sickening, translucent pallor.
"Domain Expansion: Womb Profusion!"
"Domain Expansion: Vajra Descent!"
Two massive barriers slammed into existence, their collective weight pressing down on the area like twin mountains. The sudden shift in cursed energy was so violent that Souma immediately teleported back, his Six Eyes scanning the chaos.
The ground beneath Sukuna's feet shattered. A monk, dressed in simple robes, drifted upward from the earth. He placed his hands firmly onto Sukuna's convulsing back. Though the face was unfamiliar, the jagged horizontal stitches across his forehead were unmistakable.
"Kenjaku!"
The name left both Souma and Sukuna's lips simultaneously.
Kenjaku let out a high-pitched, jubilant laugh.
"Souma Gojo! I truly cannot thank you enough!"
"If you hadn't drained ninety percent of Sukuna's cursed energy, I would never have found the opening to seize this body!"
"Seize?!" Sukuna's eyes bulged with rage. "Kenjaku! You dare?!"
"Watch me!"
Kenjaku's eyes burned with a thousand years of repressed greed. "This perfect vessel... I have coveted it for a millennium!"
"Sukuna, you have played your part beautifully. Now, you may die!"
"Cursed Womb: Release!"
"Eightfold Void Vajra Seal: OPEN!"
A blinding light erupted, bleaching the night sky. Kenjaku's laughter grew louder and more deranged, while Sukuna's roars of defiance slowly faded into a hollow, gurgling silence.
Finally, Sukuna's head slumped forward, his eyes dull and vacant. Without a second's hesitation, Kenjaku activated Idle Transfiguration. His physical form softened like warm clay, stretching out to envelop Sukuna's body, merging with the flesh in a grotesque, wet symphony of transformation.
In an instant, a new being was born.
It possessed the four arms and two faces of the legend, with the gaping maw upon its stomach. Yet the face was neither Sukuna's nor the monk's. It was a beautiful, elegant man with long, flowing hair that cascaded over his shoulders.
"Hahahaha... finally!" Kenjaku marveled, flexed his new fingers. "Finally, it is mine! The ultimate vessel!"
He turned his gaze toward Souma. "I must say, I never expected the modern era to produce someone capable of actually besting Sukuna. It's a pity I'd already sabotaged Sukuna's incarnation process, or I might have considered taking your body instead!"
Souma spat on the ground in disgust. "Don't bother. I'm not fond of the idea of a parasite living in my head."
Despite the insult, Kenjaku seemed curious. "You don't seem particularly surprised by this development, Souma. Did you predict I would betray him?"
Souma shrugged, his expression returning to a bored neutrality.
"I didn't 'predict' it so much as I categorized it as a high-probability outcome. Sukuna was always an uncontrollable variable. Even if you used him to kill me, you'd still have to deal with him eventually. Since you provided the fingers and the vessel, it stood to reason you'd built in a back door."
"You would never let Sukuna live. He's too independent. He was always going to end up your enemy."
Kenjaku chuckled, the sound vibrating with four-armed power. "I am becoming more and more fond of you, Souma Gojo! You are absolutely correct. Sukuna's temperament was a liability, so I accounted for it."
He sat down, mirroring Souma's earlier posture. "Would you like to know the details? It's a fascinating story. It even involves Sukuna's true origin."
Souma sat on the ground, gesturing with his hands. "By all means. Entertain me."
Souma wasn't actually interested in a history lesson; he was stalling. Between Eon and Purge, his cursed energy was dangerously low. Even with the Six Eyes, those techniques were black holes for energy. He needed a moment to recover.
Kenjaku, now possessing a body that was also nearly drained, seemed to have the same idea. Two monsters, each hiding a blade behind their back, sat in the ash of Shinjuku and began to talk.
Kenjaku looked up at the moon. "The vessel I used to revive Sukuna was called 'Daiten.' But that vessel was a mere replica. It wasn't perfect."
"The truly perfect 'Daiten' was actually Yuji Itadori. Or rather, Yuji's physical potential."
"When Yuji was born, he was just a human. But I modified his flesh in that 'Initial Chaos' state that only a newborn possesses. That body was the true Daiten."
Kenjaku looked at Souma. "You and Sukuna are actually quite similar. You are both the elder of a pair of twins."
Souma raised an eyebrow. "Twins?"
"Yes! Sukuna had a twin. And his name wasn't Sukuna; he was called 'Doten'—the Fallen One."
Kenjaku smiled. "But unlike you and Satoru, the twins Doten and Daiten were polar opposites. Doten was bloodthirsty, cruel, and lived only for his own whims. Daiten, however, was a saint. Compassionate, righteous, and self-disciplined. He was a 'Buddha' in the flesh."
"And the strangest part? Doten's techniques were completely ineffective against Daiten. Sukuna could defeat the world, but he could never best his 'weak' younger brother—not until Daiten passed away in a mountain cave."
"That is why I needed the Daiten flesh. First, because twins are two halves of one soul; Sukuna couldn't sense the trap because he thought the body was his own. And second... because the 'Daiten' soul can suppress the 'Doten' soul, making it easy for me to move in and take over."
"I didn't expect you to see the potential in Yuji Itadori and ruin my original plan. I had to settle for a replica, but as you can see, the result is still... exquisite."