Chapter 2

"Sukuna."

"In the flesh," he replied, then his lips widened to form his signature devious smirk.

"You are a lot less scary than I expected." I said, crossing my hands over my chest.

I turned around and started looking at my surroundings. I had a lot of questions, but the one thing I wanted most was to get out of here.

"You don't look surprised to see me." Sukuna asked, taking a quick step to my front.

"Why should I? You just told me I'm dead, and I understand that in death anything is possible," I replied, looking away from him.

"Kneel."

"Yeah, that's not happening. If you're not going to help me get out of here, get the fuck out of my way." I raised a hand intending to push Sukuna aside, but he held it in place with his eyes staring at me.

All of a sudden, I felt a heavy pressure on my hand. I tried retreating but his grip on me was too strong. A force kept weighing on me until I had a kneel on the ground.

"Look I'm sorry, alright. I'll kneel so just fucking let go of my hand," I said with a chuckle like that was the most natural thing to say when you offended a mighty villain that happened to come off the pages of a manga.

"You're different than the rest. Get up," he pointed out while slowly releasing his grip on my hand.

Immediately, the force faded and I was able to I stand from the ground.

"How do you know who I am?" He said then snapped the finger of his lower left hand. The void of darkness all around us began to change into his Domain- Malevolent Shrine.

The domain was massive and imposing, rising high into the sky. The domain was surrounded by twisting black pillars, which seemed to reach up into the heavens. The sky within the domain was a deep crimson, and the ground was cracked and barren. The entire domain was filled with a heavy, oppressive atmosphere, and the air itself seemed to be thick and somewhat difficult to breathe. Almost as if the domain was a separate world entirely.

Within the domain, there was a large, ornate throne, made of black stone and engraved with intricate designs. Sukuna was seated on the throne, looking down upon me with a cold and calculating gaze. A dark aura lingered around.

"I'm listening, boy. Don't waste my time."

I let out a breath before opening up to speak. What I'm about to say was going to sound very crazy.

"I read a really interesting book that told me who you are. I know a lot about you and your war against the jujutsu socerors and..."

"That's enough. I believe you," he said, cutting me off.

Just like that?

"I'm well aware of the gifted minds in your dimension capable of seeing into others and recording the events that occur in the other dimension. Then again, In this domain, I'm omnipotent," he said, resting his chin on his left hand. "I'd know if you were lying. Plus, I scanned through your memories the second I laid eyes on you. I just wanted to make sure you were smart enough not to lie to me."

Sukuna didn't look shocked in any way. Almost like what I said was completely logical to him.

"Since we both know who each other is, I'll skip the introductions and tell you why you're here instead of in Hell. I take it you are well aware of my victory over the entire jujutsu society?" He said the last part with a tint of pride in his tone.

Just then, it occurred to me that I was holding the last installment of the manga when that bastard shot me in the chest. I was saving the final battle to read it right before sleeping at night. I looked at my hands but didn't find it. I dipped my hands inside my pockets and it wasn't still there.

Lost in thought, I forgot the brutal King of Curses had asked me a question. I began to feel intense pain rise in my legs, like they were being lit on fire.

"Your focus should be on me alone. Get lost in your head again and I'll have Hades torture some respect into you."

"Don't tell me what to do," I replied staring intently at Sukuna. I sighed. "I haven't read the part of the book that contains your final battle with Satoru Gojo. Enlighen me."

"To sum it all up, I killed every last one of them and attained the title; God of Cursed Energy."

Never had a doubt.

"And yet, here you are. Why? What does anything of that has to do with me?"

"Do you know of the Twenty Cursed Rings of Saturn?"

"No," I replied when it didn't ring a bell. "Whatever those are, they weren't mentioned in the book."

"Good. You shouldn't." Sukuna waved his hand in the air and I saw a holographic projection. "After I was sealed a thousand years ago by those bloody jujutsu sorcerors, my powers were divided into twenty cursed fingers. That you know of. What you don't know is that I had a Saturn Ring on each finger. I was a few seconds from activating them when I got sealed.

"Those Rings possess power on a scale no mortal can wield. The only one who knew of their existence besides the sorcerors that sealed me was Tengen." Every statement he said was more intriguing than the last.

"Why do I have the feeling he's dead? He's supposed to be the strongest jujutsu sorceror in modern times."

"Yes, I killed him. Humans need to understand that no jujutsu sorceror is a match for me. As I was saying, I tortured Tengen well enough that he told me the locations of all twenty rings. This is where you come in.

"They are hidden in pairs across five alternate dimensions of Earth, and the jutsu placed on them prevents me from entering any of those worlds. But I can send someone compatible with my cursed energy to retrieve the Rings for me. I have spent the better part of eternity looking for that someone."

Immediately he said this, the burning pain in my legs stopped and it healed up within the blink of an eye. "Your soul is the only one in existence that is capable of bearing my cursed energy. I brought you here to make a pact with you."

I raised my head to meet his glowing red eyes fixed on me.

"In exchange for granting you a second life with power mortals can only dream of, I want you to gather all twenty of my Rings scattered across the multiple dimensions. Do you agree?" Sukuna spoke with an authoritative tone that didn't give much room for rejection.

Within a few seconds, I grasped the situation and made up my mind. For some reason, I began to feel very happy. Maybe it was the realization that things were about to change for me.

I smiled in my mind as a thought came to me.

"Yes, but only on one condition," I demanded, trying to sound as bravely as I could.

"Human, do I need to remind you that you are in no position to be negotiating with me?" Sukuna said with a chuckle. "There are so many painful ways to make you do as I ask. Nonetheless, I'll play your annoying little game. What do you want?"

"For you to send me back to my Dimension with your powers for thirty minutes. I have a score to settle with the fucker that killed me."