Dismantled Battlefield

"What... the fuck?" Standing next to the old battlefield, I see massive slashes in the ground and blood poured everywhere. It was approximately an hour after I saw Yue Kai chase after someone who took Kaneyori's body.

The whole area felt like a god of death had bitten into the earth and polluted it with red poison. It was so unbelievable, that even I stepped back a few times in shock.

I couldn't see Yue Kai or the person he was chasing. Even Kaneyori wasn't anywhere to be seen, which brought chills down my spine. But the worst part: I recognized these slashed the same way a baby recognizes their mother after birth.

"Ryomen Sukuna! He is alive..." I covered my face with a hand, grinning with a nervous smile. Sweat poured down my face, thinking I barely missed this. Just thinking about what would happen if I followed Yue Kai made cold shivers run down my spine.

Laughing, I couldn't help but feel intense fear and decided to leave quickly. It would be tough to tell Yue Fei about this, so I'll say that Yue Kai escaped somehow. Though, I'm not even sure if that would be possible or he just didn't leave a corpse behind.

"Oh, right!"

But then I remembered something... The left eye of Kaneyori was sitting in my inventory. This meant Kaneyori was still alive somehow since the Six Eyes would disappear a certain amount of time after the user died. It is very similar to a cursed object like Sukuna's Fingers, in that it's indestructible and connected to the original.

Since I could still store and bring out the Six Eye without trouble, this proved that he was alive. Not only that, but if Kaneyori regenerated his missing eye, that would destroy the one that I'm holding, meaning that Kaneyori must be alive and not healing himself.

With quick thinking, I realized that this meant that either Kaneyori had healed his body except for his eye, or he was in a situation where he couldn't heal yet. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad, since this meant that Kaneyori was still alive, but Yue Kai was possibly alive too.

With a sigh, I went back to the temple and explained the situation to Yue Fei.

...

"Kai, is missing?" She asked, squinting her eyes at me.

Lifting my hands in the air, I answered, "That's right. It seems that he was intercepted by someone who has a slashing technique. Since the radius was around 200 meters, I assume it was a large-scale domain expansion."

"Two hundred meters! That's... not possible." Yue Fei said, making me chuckle at her ignorance, "Anything is possible, Fei-Fei."

This nickname made her blush and turn her face away, "Mmmm~ Stick with that from now on, I like it."

But I didn't really know what to do from now on. With the 'fated' man 'missing,' there was no one who could teach me how to become stronger. I didn't want to become stronger with just the cult either but have multiple different branches of strength that were spread out. Thus, I decided to ask Fei-Fei what to do.

"Do you know of any way I can become stronger?" With a straightforward question, Fei-Fei was slightly taken aback. But she regained her composure and answered, "There are only three ways. The most obvious is polishing your domain and innate techniques."

"Another way is through implanting foreign objects or consuming foreign objects. This is a method Kai used often to create a help domain."

"The final method involves the power of love!" Fei-Fei smiled as she finished with this.

I almost threw up in my mouth when she said it.

"Love? You've got to be kidding me. I never like that shonen bullshit. But at least explain yourself, I am a very open-minded person."

"Okay, first know that our Yue Clan almost always has twins in a generation. But every so often, those twins receive a Heavenly Restriction, creating a unique situation in the clan. One twin will receive no technique, but a strong body for martial arts. The other receives a very weak body, but the treasured Inherited Technique we call, Dual Cultivation. I was the latter." Fei-Fei touched her lips and continued.

"In the past, the twins mated with each other, keeping the bloodline pure and using Dual Cultivation to grow stronger physically, but birth defects and infertility became common three hundred years ago, so it became a severe stain on our ancient history. Now, our Yue Clan engages in Dual Cultivation to strengthen ourselves, but the rule is the outsider must marry into our clan."

"Wait, so you're saying that this technique makes you stronger?" I interrupted.

She answered swiftly, "Yes, but only physically. That is why we must search for suitable mates with high cursed energy, who are not physically strong enough to break my weak body during copulation. Thus, Kai has never been able to find someone he approved of, that matched the requirements. Not only that, but my child-like appearance has made no one interested, avoiding me like they avoid the Yue's wraith."

"So you are a virgin and you make people stronger?" I thought to myself, 'This girl is a perfect waifu!'

Fei-Fei blushes and answers, "I never had a chance to... you know. But after you saved my life, my body feels much stronger."

"Okay, how about you use Dual Cultivation on me? This will also save me the worry of using 'Gabimaru,' so I can get energy with 'Sagiri' for some time."

"Hmm? I don't understand."

I chuckled, "Haha, it's nothing. But will you accept me as your partner?"

Her tone became low as bangs covered his face, "Of course, you saved my life and... Well, I accept. But, you must marry me as our clan dictates."

"Hahahahah!" I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She was curious at my outburst, questioning, "What is so funny, Gabi?"

"Oh, it's nothing, haha." I answered. In truth, I was thinking back to my past life, which was full of misery at times. Whenever I was on the internet, people would be lonely and sad, wishing for their favorite waifus to be real. Yet in this world, they came to me!

This was it! The difference of worlds which came with strength and opportunity!

I smiled and felt even more grateful that I was transported to this world. Which reaffirmed my resolve even more, that I needed to make sure moments like these never disappeared. With people stronger than me around, I was never truly safe.

Kaneyori is like some cockroach, who always came back more dangerous than before. Yoshifusa, a guy controlling a clan beyond my imagination. And now Sukuna, who didn't even need an introduction. 

All these and more were standing in the way of my utopia. The world in front of me waiting to be conquered. A world where I was born to control and do as I please.

"Umm, Gabi, you are making a scary face."

Without realizing it, I was clenching my teeth into a sickening grin, thinking about my future. It was a habit I created since entering this world.

I patted Fei-Fei's head, "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. Let's save your technique for later. As of tomorrow, we are going on a date to the Great Wall!"

"Really?! Yay!" She jumped up and down, smiling. Even though her body was older than me technically, she reminded me of a child a lot.

Pulling out the eye of Kaneyori in my eye, I whispered, "Still... This is very troublesome."

The eye was like a bright jewel, a beacon which will remind me of my greatest regret in this world, and possibly greatest enemy as well. As long as I was holding this, there was no way I could rest easy.

For now, I'll proceed with refining the Chimera Shadow Garden.

...

???

"That was... Insane!"

Hundreds of kilometers away in a small cave, two figures were panting for air. These two were Kaneyori and Kiyotomo of the disbanded Sugawara Clan, who just teleported away using their Limitless Technique.

"Reversal Red!" A young voice screamed at the top of his lungs.

Within an instant, the old man, Kiyotomo turned around to see his grandson, with fury in his eyes, explode a red light in his face.

The explosion filled the small cave with dust, but left Kiyotomo unharmed who asked, "How is that possible? It's as if... Did you regain control?"

Looking closely, Kiyotomo then figured out the answer for himself. In the missing socket where Kaneyori's eye resided was a white centipede that he was holding. As Kaneyori grabbed it, he kept yanking it out of the socket, slowly grinding his teeth in extreme pain. As the dust blocked the old man's vision, Kaneyori kept pulling until a few centimeters of the centipede left his head.

But at least he felt pain for the first time since going under the old man's control. This sense of clarity kept washing over him, prompting Kiyotomo to worry, "Dammit... So that's why... Sorry, I can't let you do that, dear grandson."

'If I cannot put you under my control within these ten years, then there will be no point in delaying our world colonization plan... It would be best to make sure Kaneyori goes back under my control for the attack, or we will need to speed it up to a few months from now... Damn, my bones do not work with me like they used to.' Kiyotomo thought to himself, remembering his old friend Yoshifusa from the Fujiwara.

An old voice came from the old man, "My precious grandson, I always thought that you would be more useful to grandpa with a centipede in your head, please don't take it too seriously. How about I buy you a female slave and we go back to before? Doesn't that sound perfect?"

Kaneyori heard this and bit his lip in frustration, finding clarity in it to keep him focused. Kiyotomo thought back to trying to force Kaneyori back into his previous state.

But if he truly lost control of his grandson, it would be best to kill him before he becomes a threat. But would Kaneyori even let that happen? It was difficult for them to say.

Both understood their goals, unleashing a hand sign:

"Blue!"

"Blue."

Two spheres of negative space collided in the small area of the cave, blasting both of them away from each other. But Kaneyori kept his hold on the white centipede, pulling as hard as possible, feeling his head aching. It seemed that the old man was trying to get Kaneyori to use both hands and let go of the centipede.

"This thing is not coming out!" Kaneyori kept pulling, but it seemed like it was deep inside his brain. But as long as he held onto it, the mind controlling effects were not working.

Kiyotomo dashed forward and crossed his fingers together, chanting, "Domain Expansion..."

Time slowed down for Kaneyori, as his Six Eye processed the world around him. The echoes of Kiyotomo's voice prompted Kaneyori to cross his fingers in his free hand and chant, "Domain Expansion..."

At the same time, they released it:

"Unlimited Void!"

This time, two spheres around them crashed into each other, fighting for control. Kiyotomo didn't wait, creating a blood sword using another inherited technique and charged at Kiyotomo, using a speed-enhancing innate technique.

However, a strange figure appeared in front of Kaneyori, absorbing the blood into it. It then pushed the old man backwards with a punch and created a hand sign, "Nullification."

With that, a wave of light flashed and dissipated the energy from the domains, causing them to disappear.

"It can't be easy on your brain to use that many innate techniques," a voice noticed this instantly, "so allow me to ease your troubles. I'm sure you are already suffering a backlash after losing your domain."

The figure pulled out a trumpet of light, which illuminated the cave, allowing Kaneyori to fully take in the figure's appearance. It was a woman with golden hair and a noble aura.

"Jacob's Ladder." She pulled the trumpet close to her lips and sent a shockwave at Kiyotomo.

A bright light burst forward, but Kiyomoto smirked, activating a couple defensive techniques. He felt utter confidence, but when the blast hit him, it instantly sent thousands of burst into his body, nullifying all defense and directly breaking every bone in his body.

As the defensive techniques were nullified and Kiyotomo crashed into the ground. He knew that Kiyotomo was still alive, especially since people on their level could regenerate from death itself. So he activated his Blue and finished off his unconscious grandfather, finally feeling free for a moment.

Kaneyori pulled the centipede harder but it didn't budge, reminding him that he still had to resolve this issue.

Thus, he asked the woman, "Who are you, and why did you help me?"