The air in Shibuya was thick with the copper tang of blood and the scorched-earth scent of Sukuna’s own flames. He stood amidst the smoldering rubble, his second set of eyes scanning the carnage with a sense of mild, mocking satisfaction. That pathetic disaster curse, Jogo, had been an amusing enough diversion for a moment, but in the end, he was just another bit of charcoal.

Yuji’s body felt taut, buzzing with the sheer volume of cursed energy Sukuna was finally allowing to flow through it. It was a shame the brat had to be such a pathetic, emotional wreck for the King of Curses to get a taste of the fresh air, but Sukuna wasn't one to complain about a gift born of another's despair.

He flicked a stray drop of blood from his sharpened fingernails, his gaze drifting toward a set of stairs leading down into the dark, flooded bowels of the station. Bodies—human and sorcerer alike—were strewn about the concrete like discarded toys. Then, he saw it. A shadow moved. It wasn't the frantic, clumsy lurch of a dying human or the mindless crawl of a low-grade curse; it was something deliberate. Precise.

Sukuna narrowed his eyes. From the depths of the brat’s memories, a name flickered—a ghost of a conversation Gojo Satoru had used to warn the boy. A rogue element. A sorcerer from the prestigious clans who had abandoned the "noble" path to indulge in a massacre that spared no one. Curses, humans, the "higher-ups"—it didn't matter to this ghost. They were simply a storm of violence that appeared and vanished at will. The King of Curses felt a rare spark of intrigue.

He turned his full attention to the staircase, a slow, predatory grin tugging at his lips. The black markings on his skin seemed to pulse with anticipation. To think, in this sea of mediocrity, there might actually be someone worth the effort of a proper butchering. "So," he spoke, his voice echoing through the hollowed-out concrete with the weight of an ancient decree. "You’re the one the white-haired fool was so concerned about. Stepping out of the shadows at last?" He took a languid step forward, his posture radiating absolute superiority. "Don't disappoint me. I’ve already grown bored of the trash in this city."