2 Hunting The Strong.(1)

After Meruem had left the detention center, he started wandering around Tokyo City, looking for a place he could call his home.

"So many humans, each of them leaking cursed energy constantly. This place is like a farm for us curses."

It was late at night by the time Meruem got to the heart of Tokyo City. His lizard like tail swayed slowly as he stood on top of a skyscraper, staring down into the city.

His mind raced as he thought about the realizations he came to while he was on his way here.

First, he discovered that normal humans couldn't see him nor interact with him.

But unfortunately for them, it wasn't the other way around.

He was free to attack them whenever he wanted.

Secondly, while the number of humans heavily outweighed the number of curses he sensed, the latter was so much stronger that the humans numbers didn't even matter.

That realization raised another question.

'Why don't the curses just take over if they are this much stronger? What could be stopping them?'

Meruem pondered upon this question for a few moments as the night wind blew softly upon his elongated earlobes.

"The humans have a force that can resist us. Which means that there's someone among them that can defeat us. Hmm."

Meruem knew that this conclusion was probably the correct one. Although he had just been born, he had already come to understand what curses were on a base level; violent, chaotic and absolutely abhorrent creatures bent on the subjugation or destruction of humans.

There was no in-between or compromise for them.

No compromise for him.

Inherently, he felt the same.

But due to his nature, being a cursed spirit that was made by the fear of starvation or famine, he wanted to consume everything around him.

He was in a state of perpetual hunger since birth, a state that was only slightly sated by the consumption of the cursed spirit from before.

But he wanted something more, something stronger, a meal that would satisfy him.

As he stood on top of the building staring down at the unassuming prey carrying on their daily lives below, a sort of satisfaction started to build within.

"Looking down on everything from above, like a king looking down upon his subjects, this suits me. I think I'll make this roof my home for a little while. I need some time to think."

Meruem sat down with one leg behind the other as he leaned on his knee, thinking about his next move.

This state lasted until the next day, ending on a sunny afternoon.

As he got up and felt the sun beaming down upon him, his gaze once again shifted down to the people down below.

All of that thinking had culminated into a certain goal, one that lined up perfectly with his nature.

"I'll hunt and consume anyone I deem strong until there is no one left. Only the strong can satisy my hunger."

There was no good or morally justifiable reason why Meruem felt this way.

In fact, there was no need for a "why".

This was just who he was, a monster that was only satisfied by living within his own rules.

Using the ability to sense cursed energy, Meruem stood on top of the building and tried to spread his senses out as far as he could.

"Hm, cursed energy is such a strange concept. The more I spread it out, the thinner it gets. If I keep it closer, it's stronger. That makes sense. I need to find the perfect range and isolate the amount of auras I can detect. Maybe..."

Being a cursed spirit, Meruem was inherently familiar with the basic workings of cursed energy and his own cursed technique.

But again, the basics were just the basics. He had to figure everything else out himself.

Meruem formed a hand sign with one hand and brought back the cursed energy he had spread out earlier.

He then started to spread it out once again, this time, stopping at about 100 meters in a 360° radius around himself.

"I wouldn't call this the perfect range, but it's close enough that I can attack anyone instantly within this distance. Now to figure out how to iso-"

Meruem suddenly stopped talking as he looked in a certain direction behind him with widened eyes.

WHOOSH!

He jumped off the skyscraper while propelling himself downward with his tail by pushing off of it after ramming the appendage into the side of the building repeatedly.

"I can sense it! That's the cursed energy of a spirit! It's strong...! Even from here I can tell that it has more cursed energy than me, than even that finger!"

His purple pupils glinted as a crazed smile appeared across his face.

BOOM!

"Aghhhhh!"

Screams of shock and terror sounded out as Meruem landed down on a car below, obliterating it and the inhabitants within.

But he didn't stop, Meruem ran through the streets with incredible speed and agility, going through or around any obstacle in his way.

It didn't take long for him to find his target while moving at this speed.

When he arrived at the place in question, he sensed multiple incredibly strong auras. Around four of them.

He immediately locked his eyes upon the group sitting within a diner. A diner that had every other person within it set on fire other than the four he sensed.

"There they are."

Meruem slowly walked across the street as he stared down the group. Three cursed spirits and one human, all sitting in harmony. It was an odd sight.

But after remembering the situation with the pink haired boy and the finger from before, he knew that there were a lot of things he was just ignorant about.

So his guard was especially up when it came to that human.

Of course, since Meruem had seen them, they had seen him. After all, he wasn't trying to hide.

The conversation they held seemed to stop as he approached the diner, his eyes locked on the first one he sensed, a blue cursed spirit with a mini volcano on his head.

It was strange to say the least.

But, before he could enter the diner, one of the cursed spirits got up and walked out, confronting him right by the door.

This spirit was much larger than every other member of the group.

It had a tan color with black lines running all across it's body and tree like features erupting from it's orficies.

"What is your purpose?"

Meruem stopped as he sized up the spirit in front of him.

While it was strong, and even had quite a bit more cursed energy than him, this wasn't the opponent he was looking for.

But....

"You'll serve as a good appetizer."

Just as Meruem was about to strike, the human appeared right next to him like a ghost, causing him to jump back.

'He's fast!'

This human was no joke.

"Now, now. Let's not be uncivilized. Why don't you take your little quarrel outside of the city so you don't attract too much attention hm?"

Hanami gave it a few seconds of thought before he readily agreed to it while Meruem just clicked his tongue in resignation. The human's words made sense, but Meruem was still a bit careful.

He had no idea what plans the human had.

The larger cursed spirit merged itself with the ground as it said to Meruem, "Follow me."

Of course, Meruem followed along. As much as he didn't want to let his original target go, he still couldn't resist a good meal.

Unbeknownst to him though, the human had started to take a great interest in him.

"Another special grade cursed spirit appeared. The real question is, why is hesoaked in Sukuna's cursed energy? I should follow along to make sure my good friends don't kill each other."