Point of View: Ryōmen Sukuna
The icy wind from the south cut through the air like invisible blades as Nue soared through the night sky, its electric wings leaving a trail of purple sparks in the darkness. Below us, the Antarctic Ocean stretched out like a black and infinite mass, the foam-crowned waves barely visible under the faint starlight.
We had been flying for approximately forty minutes since we escaped from Chaldea, and with each passing second, I could feel how my connection with that damned organization weakened like a thread being slowly cut.
Shit.
That's when I felt it. An abrupt cut, as if someone had chopped an electrical cable with an axe.
My mana supply from Chaldea... had been completely severed.
I clenched my teeth in frustration, feeling how my magical energy reserves—though vast—began to be the only source maintaining my existence as a Servant in this plane. Without a constant connection to a Master or an external mana source, my body would eventually begin to fade, consuming itself like a candle without wax.
Bastards, I thought bitterly. They didn't waste any time. Probably BB or whoever is in command now cut the connection the moment they realized I had escaped.
It was logical, from their perspective. Why keep feeding a rebellious Servant who had just massacred several of their allies and kidnapped their Masters? Better to cut off the supply and hope he fades away on his own.
But they're not going to have that luck, I told myself, my four eyes gleaming with red determination in the darkness. I still have options. I just need time to implement them.
I looked forward, scanning the horizon with my enhanced vision. In the distance, barely visible against the darkness of the ocean, I could make out the irregular silhouette of land. Islands. A remote archipelago in the middle of nowhere.
Perfect.
"Nue," I ordered, my voice cutting through the roar of the wind. "Land there. On the largest island."
The Shikigami emitted a confirming screech, adjusting its flight trajectory. We began to descend, the air becoming even colder as we approached sea level. I could feel the salty humidity on my skin, the smell of the ocean mixing with something more—snow, ice, the raw and primitive essence of a place where human civilization had barely left a mark.
As we descended, I glanced at my "passengers." Ritsuka was conscious, his eyes showing a mixture of fear, determination, and exhaustion as he clung to Nue's body with trembling hands. Gudako remained unconscious, her breathing regular, but her face marked by an expression of pain even in her dreams. And Mash... Mash looked at me with those eyes full of barely contained resentment, obeying my orders because the binding vow left her no other choice, but hating me with every fiber of her being.
Good, I thought with sadistic satisfaction. Let her hate me. Hatred is honest. Hatred is real. Much better than that false devotion the Haze made them feel.
Nue touched down with an impact that made the frozen ground tremble. We were on a rocky beach, the sand mixed with snow and ice, surrounded by rock formations that rose like twisted fingers toward the night sky. The wind howled between the rocks, creating an almost ghostly sound.
Without ceremony or gentleness, I released my grip on the three humans.
They fell to the ground with dull impacts and grunts of pain. Ritsuka managed to cushion his fall by rolling, ending up on his knees with a grimace. Mash, with her combat instincts, landed in a defensive position, her body tense and ready to react. Gudako simply collapsed like a sack of potatoes, completely unconscious.
"Get up," I ordered Mash with an indifferent tone. "Watch the perimeter. If anything approaches—anything—tell me immediately. Understood?"
I saw how her hands closed into fists, how her teeth ground with the frustration of being unable to disobey. The binding vow forced her to comply, even when every cell of her mind screamed in protest.
"...Understood," she finally managed to say, her voice laden with barely contained weariness, mixed with resignation.
She stood up with rigid movements and walked away toward the edge of the improvised camp, her eyes scanning the surrounding darkness; despite being obligated, it seemed she was taking it seriously.
Good. Now for the important part.
I raised my four arms, two of them beginning to form complex seals while the other two traced symbols in the air. I could feel the cursed energy flowing through me, responding to my will like an extension of my own being.
The Haze... that disgusting corruption that had infected Chaldea like a cancer... wasn't just a mental effect. It was something deeper, more insidious. During my brief "cleansing" of Mash after the battle, when I used my reverse cursed energy technique to heal her wounds and purge part of the corruption from her body, I had felt something.
A connection. An invisible thread that bound her to something... or someone. A thread that pulsed with that same corrupt energy I had seen in BB, in Scáthach, in all the other affected Servants.
And worst of all... that same thread existed in Gudako. And in Ritsuka, though much weaker, almost dormant, as if it were waiting for the right moment to awaken and take root completely.
It's a damned tracker, I understood with growing irritation. As long as they maintain that connection with the Haze, whoever is behind this will be able to track us. No matter where we go, no matter how far we flee. They'll always know where we are.
That's why I had landed here, in this desolate archipelago near the Antarctic Convergence. Not because it was the final destination—far from it. But because I needed time. Time to cut that connection. Time to establish defenses. Time to think about my next move without having an army of corrupted Servants breathing down my neck.
"Emerge from darkness, blacker than the abyss of darkness," I began to recite, my voice resonating with an authority that made the wind stop momentarily. "Purify what is impure, devour the illusion of the false creator. Let the sky close and the earth drown in my shadow."
The air around me began to vibrate, not with mana, but with the suffocating pressure of Cursed Energy in its purest and most concentrated form. The night sky above the islands suddenly darkened even more, as if invisible ink were pouring from the zenith.
"Barrier Technique: Veil of the Malevolent Sanctuary."
I struck the ground with the palm of my hand. A dome of dark energy, translucent but impenetrable, expanded at blinding speed. It covered the entire island and extended several kilometers beyond its shores, creating a space completely isolated from the outside world.
Upon colliding with the Haze—that invisible corruption that even here, in the middle of nowhere, seemed to be present like poison in the air—a violent reaction occurred. Sparks of black energy jumped as the corruption was disintegrated on contact with my barrier. It was like watching oil and water trying to mix, repelling each other forcefully.
Good, I thought with satisfaction. This should keep out their damned tracker. And any attempts to spy from a distance.
I felt the barrier establish itself completely, anchoring to the rocks, to the ice, to the very concept of this physical space. I had used an extension of my domain, of my will imposed upon the barrier to enhance it. Within this barrier... the Haze had no power here and they couldn't spy on us either; in exchange, it let anyone in the area enter.
Satisfied with my work, I deactivated my four-armed form. My body contracted, the additional muscle mass disappearing, the extra arms dissolving into shadows, my two lower eyes closing and merging again with the marks on my cheeks. In a matter of seconds, I had returned to my base form—Megumi Fushiguro's body.
Honestly, it had been a bit strange at first, especially since I had four different memories in my head, though technically only two souls fused into one. Mine and Sukuna's. Fortunately or unfortunately, as you wish to see it, Itadori and Megumi's memories didn't affect my personality; furthermore, to access them I had to actively search through the memories and Sukuna hadn't acquired memories that didn't interest him. The only reason Sukuna's personality affected me was because of the soul fusion.
This same fusion had made my current body (both Megumi's and Sukuna Heian's) stronger, more durable, more perfect.
But I retained Megumi's appearance, because frankly, I found it comfortable. And because maintaining my four-armed form all the time consumed additional cursed energy that I couldn't afford to waste at this moment.
I realized I was still shirtless—I had lost it during the transformation in the battle with Musashi and Ibuki, and I hadn't had time or desire to materialize a new one. The cold Antarctic wind bit at my bare skin, but I barely noticed it. My physical resistance was high enough that sub-zero temperatures were little more than a minor annoyance.
I looked toward where Ritsuka was kneeling beside his sister's unconscious body, his hands trembling—I wasn't sure if from the cold, fear, or residual adrenaline from everything he had witnessed tonight.
"Ritsuka," I called, my voice cutting through the silence like a knife. "Come closer. We need to talk."
He looked up, his eyes showing a mixture of emotions I didn't bother to fully analyze. Fear, yes. But also determination. That damned heroic spirit I had seen in so many shitty protagonists throughout my existence.
At least he's not completely useless, I admitted mentally. He managed to maintain his composure even after seeing his Servants massacred. That counts for something.
Ritsuka stood up slowly, his legs clearly unstable, but managing to keep him upright. He approached me with cautious steps, as if fearing I might attack him at any moment.
I admired his caution, but ultimately futile. After all, if I wanted him dead, I wouldn't have helped him in the first place or I would have killed him without so much drama.
"Why did we stop here?" he finally asked, his voice hoarse from exhaustion and tension. "I thought that... I thought we would keep fleeing as far as possible from Chaldea."
"We stopped here," I explained in a clinical tone, "because I need to cut the connection that your sister and you have with the Haze. That... corruption that has infected Chaldea."
I saw how his eyes widened slightly with comprehension and horror.
"Connection?" he repeated. "What do you mean by connection?"
"Exactly what it sounds like," I responded impatiently. "The Haze isn't just a mental effect that distorts perceptions and amplifies certain impulses. It's something deeper. It establishes a link between the infected and... whoever is behind this. An invisible thread that allows tracking, monitoring, and potentially influencing from a distance."
Ritsuka fell silent, processing the information. I could see how his mind worked quickly, connecting dots.
"So... Gudako and I are like... GPS trackers for them? In addition to having threads tied to our arms?" he asked with a trembling voice.
"Basically," I confirmed. "Your sister has an active and strong connection. I've felt it pulsing in her body and soul since I carried her. As for you..." I paused, narrowing my eyes as I scanned him with my cursed energy perception. "Your infection is much weaker. Almost dormant, as if waiting for the right moment to fully activate. But it's there. And as long as it's there, we're vulnerable."
I saw how he swallowed hard, his face paling even more than it already was.
"Can we... can we get rid of it?" he asked, and there was desperation in his voice. "The connection?"
"I can cut it," I responded. "From your bodies, at least. I already did it partially with Mash during the battle. But there's a problem."
"What?" Ritsuka asked immediately.
"The Haze doesn't just infect the body," I explained, my tone becoming more serious. "It also infects the soul. And the soul part... that's much more complicated to deal with. If I try to purge it without having a complete understanding of how it works, I could irreparably damage the soul. Kill you or leave you in a vegetative state. And that doesn't serve me at all."
I watched how he absorbed that information, how his fists closed with impotent frustration.
"So... what can we do?" he finally asked.
"For now, what I can do is this," I responded. "Cut the Haze connection in your physical bodies. Clean the corruption from your physical systems—cells, tissues, organs, magical circuits. That will eliminate the active tracker and should protect you from immediate external influences. Your souls will still be infected, but at least you won't be bright beacons telling our enemies exactly where we are and you won't be influenced by the Haze either."
"And after?" Ritsuka asked. "How do we cleanse the souls?"
"That," I admitted with barely contained frustration, "requires more time, more study. I need to understand exactly how the Haze intertwines with the soul, how it alters its fundamental structure. And for that, I need samples. Experimentation. Detailed analysis."
I saw how Ritsuka shuddered slightly at the word "experimentation," but he said nothing. He was probably imagining horrible tortures, which... wasn't completely incorrect. Any analysis of the soul could end up resulting in something intrinsically painful for the subject. But Sukuna had studied many souls to commit such a mistake; the only thing about this analysis is that it would be something intimate and intrusive for the subject.
"There's another problem," I continued, deciding to address the next elephant in the room. "My connection with Chaldea has been cut."
Ritsuka blinked, confused by the apparent change of subject.
"Your connection with Chaldea?" he repeated. "What does that have to do with...?"
"I'm a Servant," I reminded him with forced patience. "Servants require a constant supply of mana to maintain their existence in this plane. Normally, that mana comes from a Master through the Master-Servant bond. In special cases, it can come from an external source like Chaldea's system."
I saw how comprehension began to illuminate his face.
"But you... you're not connected to me as a Master," he said slowly. "Your original Master was Gudako, and she..."
"Is unconscious and still infected with Haze," I finished for him. "And when BB and the others realized I had escaped, they cut off my access to Chaldea's mana supply. Which means that right now I'm running exclusively on my own reserves."
"But you have many reserves, right?" Ritsuka asked cautiously. He had felt several times the amount of mana emanating from Sukuna, especially when he performed the Reality Marble.
"You're not wrong about that," I responded in a dry tone. "My mana reserves are vast. Much greater than those of an average Servant, my reserves when I was alive as the King of Curses were very large and now they were only increased when I was summoned by Chaldea. I could maintain my existence for weeks, maybe months, without need for replenishment."
"Then there's no immediate problem," Ritsuka said, sounding relieved.
"As long as I don't use that mana," I added, and I saw how his relief vanished. "Every technique I use, every Shikigami I summon, every second I maintain my four-armed form or activate my Domain Expansion... all of that consumes mana. And consuming mana means shortening the time I can exist in this plane."
I paused, letting the gravity of the situation settle.
"In other words," I continued, "if I enter combat—when I enter combat, because it's inevitable that those bastards will find us eventually—every attack I launch, every defense I maintain, will literally be consuming my lifetime. And once my reserves are depleted..." I made a significant gesture of disappearance with my hand. "I'll fade away. I'll return to the Throne of Heroes. And you'll be alone, surrounded by enemies, without protection."
I saw how the color completely drained from Ritsuka's face. His hands began to tremble again, not from the cold this time, but from growing panic.
"Then... then you need a mana source," he said quickly, his mind clearly racing at full speed searching for solutions. "Can we... can we make a contract? Turn me into your official Master? Transfer mana to you that way?"
"That's one of the options," I admitted. "In fact, it's probably the most viable in the short term. But it has its own problems."
"What problems?" Ritsuka asked.
"First," I raised a finger, "your magical circuits are contaminated with Haze. Not as severely as Gudako's, but the contamination is there. If you try to transfer mana to me in your current state, you'd be transferring corrupted mana to me. And although my resistance to corruption is high, it's not infinite. Eventually, that contaminated mana could begin to affect me."
Of course, it was a possibility I couldn't rule out, though I seriously doubted it, probably my cursed energy (mana) like Sukuna's is still very poisonous so there might be a possibility that the mana corrupted by Haze would be nullified by that same poison or I could clean it myself inside my body, but it was better not to risk doing something so foolish based on speculation. It was better to play it safe.
I saw how Ritsuka opened his mouth to protest, but I raised a second finger, cutting him off.
"Second," I continued, "even if I clean your magical circuits—which I plan to do anyway—your mana reserves are... limited. You're human, Ritsuka. A human with decent magical circuits for someone of your generation, but still human. Your reserves are a fraction of what I would need to be fully operational."
"How small is the fraction?" he asked in a weak voice.
"To give you an idea," I responded, "if you had to transfer mana to me until completely filling my reserves, you would probably pass out from exhaustion after filling... let's say, five percent. Maybe twenty or thirty percent if you really push yourself and risk your life in the process."
"Oh," was all Ritsuka could say.
"Even if we include Gudako once she's conscious," I added, "and combine your reserves with hers, we'd still be talking about filling maybe thirty-five or forty-five percent of my total reserves. And that's in the best case, assuming you don't spend mana either before the transfer."
I let that information settle, watching how desperation grew in his eyes.
"So... what do we do?" he finally asked, his voice barely a whisper. "If we can't give you enough mana, if you're going to disappear anyway..."
"I said it was the most viable option in the short term," I reminded him. "I didn't say it was the only option. In fact, I have three potential solutions in mind."
I saw how a spark of hope lit up in his eyes.
"Three solutions?" he repeated. "What are they?"
"The first," I said, raising a finger, "would be to find an alternative mana source. A particularly powerful ley line, a mystical artifact charged with magical energy, or even another Master willing to form a contract with me."
"Is that possible?" Ritsuka asked hopefully.
"Technically, yes," I admitted. "Practically... no. We're in the middle of the Antarctic Convergence, Ritsuka. Not exactly an area known for its abundant mystical resources. And we don't have time to go hunting around the world looking for ley lines or artifacts. Every hour that passes is another hour that Chaldea has to organize and send us an attack force."
I saw how his hope vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"The second option," I continued, raising a second finger, "is exactly what I mentioned before. Clean your magical circuits of Haze contamination, establish a Master-Servant contract with you and possibly with Gudako, and depend on regular mana transfers from both of you."
"But you said it wouldn't be enough," Ritsuka pointed out.
"It wouldn't be enough to keep me at full capacity," I corrected. "But it could be enough to keep me existing at a basic level or for daily tasks. The problem is it would be a tedious and constant process. I would need mana transfers at certain intervals to keep my reserves stable. And eventually, if I enter serious combat and spend a lot of energy, there would come a point where I'd be spending more mana than you can replenish."
"So... you'd eventually disappear anyway," Ritsuka said in a hollow voice.
"Eventually, yes," I admitted bluntly. "Unless I don't use my energy for brief or long combats or we find a more permanent solution."
"And the third option?" Ritsuka asked, clinging to that last hope. "You said you had three solutions."
I smiled, and it was a smile that made Ritsuka instinctively take a step back.
"The third option," I said slowly, "I'm keeping to myself for the moment. Let's say it's... an ace up my sleeve. A last resort I prefer not to reveal until it's absolutely necessary."
I saw how frustration crossed his face, but to his credit, he didn't press. He probably understood that when someone like me said something was a "last resort," it was better not to ask too much.
Smart, I thought with reluctant approval. He knows when to back off.
"So... what do we do now?" Ritsuka finally asked. "If the first two options are... problematic... which one do we follow?"
"The second," I responded without hesitation. "It's the only one really viable with the resources we have available. I'm going to clean the Haze contamination from your magical circuits and Gudako's. After, we'll establish Master-Servant contracts. It won't be perfect, but it should give me enough time to find a more permanent solution."
"And how will we find that solution?" Ritsuka asked.
Before I could respond, Ritsuka remembered something very important in the middle of the conversation, interrupting what I was about to say. Making my eye twitch.
"Wait," it was Ritsuka again, but this time his tone was different. More urgent. "The Grails. Chaldea has—had—Holy Grails. If we could get one, could you use it as a mana source?"
Interesting. The boy was thinking, using his brain instead of just reacting emotionally.
I saw how panic began to grow in his eyes as he processed the implications of his own question.
"Shit," he murmured, his hands going to his hair. "The Grails. We left them behind. They're in Chaldea, probably under the control of whoever is behind the Haze. That means that..."
"It means your enemies now have access to multiple Holy Grails," I finished for him in a dry tone. "Yes, that's... problematic."
"Problematic?" Ritsuka repeated, his voice rising in pitch with barely contained hysteria. "They have objects that can grant practically any wish! They could use them to strengthen themselves, to summon more Servants, to... to...!"
"Breathe," I ordered in a sharp tone, and to my surprise, he obeyed. He took several deep, trembling breaths, trying to calm down.
Once he seemed to have recovered some composure, I extended my hand toward my shadow. The darkness swirled and bubbled, and then two glowing golden objects emerged.
Holy Grails. The last two that had existed in Chaldea's vault.
Ritsuka's eyes widened to a comical size, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"You... you...?" he stammered, clearly unable to form a coherent sentence.
"I stole them before the whole battle started," I explained in a casual tone, as if talking about the weather. "I thought they might be useful. And I was right."
"You stole... the Holy Grails... without anyone noticing?" Ritsuka finally managed to articulate, his voice laden with absolute incredulity.
"It was quite simple, actually," I responded with a shrug. "While BB and the others were concentrated on their disgusting carnal pleasures, I used the shadows of the Ten Shadows Technique to extend my reach toward the vault. I located the Grails, wrapped them in darkness and absorbed them into my shadow for storage. The whole process took maybe three seconds."
"Three... three seconds," Ritsuka repeated weakly.
"Multitasking," I said with an arrogant smile. "If you wanted to know what made me dangerous, it was my fighting style and techniques, well, you're right, but I can also be super cunning. Not to mention I can do multiple things simultaneously."
I saw how Ritsuka looked at the Grails with a mixture of relief and growing hope.
"So... can we use them?" he asked eagerly. "To give you mana? To strengthen you? To summon allies to help us?"
My smile faded, replaced by a serious expression.
"No," I said simply.
"What?" Ritsuka blinked, confused. "Why not? You have the Grails right there. We could—"
"These Grails are contaminated," I interrupted, raising one of them so he could see it better. Under the superficial golden light, if one looked very carefully, one could see veins of darkness pulsing like diseased veins. "The Haze has corrupted their essence. Asking for a wish with them wouldn't grant what you really want. It would distort your wish, twist it into something horrible."
I saw how the color drained from Ritsuka's face again.
"So... they're useless?" he asked in a hollow voice.
"For directly granting wishes, yes," I admitted. "But that doesn't mean they're completely useless. The Grails, even contaminated, are still massive repositories of magical energy. With the right approach, they could be useful for other purposes. But I need time to study them, to understand exactly how the contamination has altered their fundamental structure."
Before Ritsuka could respond, a sound interrupted our conversation.
A low moan, followed by incoherent murmurs.
We both turned our heads toward where Gudako lay on the frozen ground. She was still unconscious, but her body was moving restlessly. Her lips moved, forming words that were barely audible over the wind.
"...more... give me more... it feels so good... I want..."
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Even unconscious, the Haze kept working on her, filling her dreams with depraved and obscene thoughts.
Pathetic, I thought with disgust. This is what that corruption does. It reduces people to little more than animals driven by lust.
I sighed deeply, my breath forming a small cloud of vapor in the cold air.
"Well," I said, looking at Ritsuka, "I suppose it's time to start. I'm going to experiment on your sister first. Cut her connection with the Haze and clean the contamination from her body."
I saw how Ritsuka immediately tensed, his hands closing into fists.
"Experiment?" he repeated, and there was a dangerous edge in his voice. "Sukuna, if you hurt her—"
"I'm not going to hurt her," I interrupted in an indifferent tone, though internally I felt a small spark of irritation at his protectiveness. "I'm not so stupid as to make a mistake and hurt people's souls when I'm analyzing their souls. I wasn't the strongest and most brilliant sorcerer of the Heian era for nothing."
"How can I trust that?" Ritsuka demanded. "After everything you've done, after how you treated Mash, how do I know you're not going to...?"
"Because having dead or permanently damaged Masters serves me no purpose," I responded with cold logic. "I need you and Gudako functional if I'm going to survive long enough to solve this mess. Damaging her would be like shooting myself in the foot. And I'm not that stupid."
Ritsuka looked at me for a long moment, his eyes searching my face for any sign of deception. Finally, he seemed to find something—perhaps not trust, but at least reluctant acceptance of my logic—because he nodded slowly.
"Okay," he said quietly. "But I... I'm staying here. Watching her while you work."
"As you wish," I responded with a shrug. "Just stay out of my way and don't interfere. If you interrupt the process midway, the consequences could be... severe."
I approached where Gudako lay, her obscene murmurs continuing in a constant stream that was as pathetic as it was disturbing. I knelt beside her, observing her face with a clinical expression.
Even unconscious, I could see the signs of corruption. Her cheeks were flushed with an unnatural heat. Her breathing was irregular, choppy. Small drops of sweat formed on her forehead despite the penetrating cold.
Let's see how deep the damage goes, I thought, extending my hand over her body.
I closed my eyes, concentrating. I activated my cursed energy perception to the maximum, allowing myself to "see" beyond the physical. Gudako's body lit up in my inner vision, every cell, every blood vessel, every nerve glowing with its own energy signature.
And woven through all of that, like microscopic parasites, were the threads of the Haze.
They were... complex. Exactly what I had anticipated. They weren't simply a superficial infection. They had intertwined with her cellular structure, altering her brain chemistry, modifying her hormonal responses, even affecting the way her magical circuits processed mana. Just as I had seen with Mash.
I decided to delve much deeper still, touching the edge of her soul—that ethereal and intangible thing that defined her true being—there were roots. Roots of corruption that sank into the very essence of what made her Gudako Fujimaru.
Shit, I thought with growing frustration. This is even worse than I thought.
I smiled in an amused manner and with grudging respect. I sighed through my nose and decided to focus on the body, since it was easier to treat than the soul.
I extended my fingers, and small sparks of cursed energy began to form at the tips.
Slowly, carefully, I began my work.
First, I cut the main connection. The largest and brightest thread of Haze that connected Gudako to... whatever was on the other side. I visualized it as an electrical cable, pulsing with corrupt energy. And then, with a precise application of Dismantle at a microscopic level, I cut it.
I felt the resistance, as if the Haze didn't want to release its grip. But my technique was stronger. The cable cut with a conceptual snap that only I could feel.
Immediately, Gudako's body shuddered. Her eyes moved rapidly under her closed eyelids, and her breathing became even more erratic.
"What's happening?" Ritsuka's voice sounded from somewhere to my left, laden with concern. "Is she okay?"
"Shut up," I ordered without opening my eyes. "You're distracting me. And yes, she's fine."
I heard how he inhaled sharply, probably ready to protest, but to his credit, he remained silent.
With the main connection cut, I could now focus on cleaning the residual contamination from Gudako's body. And here's where things got... interesting.
I stopped using negative energy and switched to my positive energy.
As I deepened my scan, beginning to purge the infected cells and replace them with healthy tissue using Reverse Cursed Energy, I noticed things. Things that made me wrinkle my nose with growing disgust, which I had already suspected when I did my first analysis on her body, but now they're clearer.
Drugs. Her system was full of drugs.
Not common recreational drugs. These were specialized compounds, designed specifically to alter neurological and hormonal functions. Will suppressors. Lust amplifiers. Substances that made the victim more susceptible to suggestion and manipulation.
Nightingale, I thought of one of the possible suspects. She's a nurse generally used in NTR manga, not to mention she was with them before the fight, she probably created the drugs and was drugging people to make them easier to bend by the Haze. Making it a double-layer trap for those Servants with more willpower, having mental corruption with chemical corruption.
I purged the drugs methodically, cleaning her bloodstream, repairing the damage they had caused to her liver and kidneys. The process took a few seconds, my Reverse Cursed Energy easily solved a problem and undid months of chemical abuse.
But that wasn't all the surprising thing I found.
As I continued my scan, I reached her reproductive system. And I stopped, frowning at what I had detected.
Honestly, this doesn't surprise me; still, I was hoping she wouldn't have this problem.
But she did. The signs were unmistakable. Pregnancies. Multiple pregnancies. Her uterus showed signs of having been subjected to repeated trauma, scars from forced abortions or perhaps supernatural premature births. Her hormonal system was destroyed, imbalanced in ways that could only come from repeated external interventions.
I felt something burning in my chest. If it were just Sukuna, he wouldn't feel anything, maybe a slight disgust which he wouldn't pay importance to, because Sukuna was like that, but I wasn't completely Sukuna, so, despite my apparent indifference, I could feel a bit of anger. And because of my past, I could have sympathy for this woman. Our problems weren't the same, but both generate pain, both physical and mental.
What a poor unfortunate woman, I thought with slight indifference. This brat is going to need a lot of therapy.
Whatever, it wasn't his problem. I was sure time would help her heal if Ritsuka kept supporting her, of course; if not, well, she would have to heal herself.
I left mundane thoughts behind and purged everything. I repaired the damage to her uterus, rebalanced her hormones, eliminated the scars both physical on the outside and inside. I returned her to a "pure" state, as if the last months—or perhaps years—of abuse had never occurred.
It was meticulous, exhaustive work. When I finally finished with her physical body, a few minutes had passed. The work for someone like me had resulted in a simple task and didn't even make me break a sweat.
Despite having already finished. I still wanted to analyze her soul a bit.
I extended my perception deeper, beyond the physical, touching that ethereal thing that was the essence of Gudako Fujimaru.
And what I saw left me... intrigued.
The Haze had penetrated deeply into her soul, yes. But the way it had done so was fascinating. It hadn't simply invaded and randomly corrupted. No, it had been methodical. Almost surgical.
It had found her fears, her insecurities, her repressed desires. And it had amplified them. It had twisted them, turning them into something dark and perverted. Every negative aspect of her personality had been magnified a hundred times, while the positive aspects—her love for her brother, her bravery, her determination—had been suppressed, buried under layers of corruption.
It was... elegant. Horrible, yes. Depraved, absolutely. But from a purely technical perspective, it was a masterpiece of psychological manipulation.
This Haze is something else, I thought with reluctant respect; now I'm intrigued how this abomination of energy works exactly. No wonder many Servants were corrupted, if this thing integrates perfectly into the soul like a virus inserts itself into DNA.
I studied the corruption patterns for several minutes, memorizing every detail. I couldn't purge them—not yet, not without risking permanent damage to her soul—but I could learn from them. And knowledge was power.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only twenty more minutes, I withdrew. I opened my eyes, blinking to readjust to normal vision.
Gudako was still unconscious, but her breathing was more stable now. The unnatural flush had disappeared from her cheeks. The obscene murmurs had ceased, replaced by peaceful silence.
Done, I thought with satisfaction. Her body is clean. Her soul is still infected, but at least the connection with the Haze has been cut at a physical and metaphysical level. She's no longer a tracker.
I stood up slowly and stretched slowly more out of habit than anything else. I had used quite a bit of Reverse Cursed Energy—not enough to seriously worry me, but I had definitely spent a very small amount of my reserves.
I'll have to be careful, I reminded myself. Even though I barely spent anything on this, every use of energy brings me closer to fading.
I looked at Ritsuka, who had been watching me intently during the entire process.
"It's done," I announced simply. "Her body is clean of Haze contamination. The connection has been cut. Her soul is still infected, but that will take more time to address."
"Is she... is she okay?" Ritsuka asked, his voice trembling.
"She's better than she's been in months, probably," I responded with brutal honesty. "Her body is completely restored. The physical damage that had been... repaired."
I didn't specifically mention the drug abuse in her body, along with the pregnancies. It wasn't my place, and frankly, I didn't want to deal with the emotional explosion that would inevitably follow that revelation.
"Thank you," Ritsuka said quietly, and there was genuine gratitude in his voice despite everything that had happened between us.
I nodded dryly, then approached him.
"Your turn," I said, and I saw how he swallowed nervously.
"Is it going to hurt?" he asked.
"Probably," I lied, feeling the slight satisfaction of his shudder. "Although you already saw my work and nothing happened to her, so it shouldn't hurt you, but if it does, tell me immediately, also if you feel anything out of the ordinary." I left the jokes aside as fun as they were. "I don't want my new master's body to collapse; that would be very annoying."
That didn't reassure him at all, but to his credit, he stood straight and nodded firmly.
"Okay," he said. "Do it."
I extended my hand, placing it on his chest. I closed my eyes again, activating my perception.
Ritsuka's body lit up in my inner vision. And I immediately noticed differences compared to Gudako.
His Haze contamination was much lighter. The corruption threads were thinner, less rooted. It was as if... as if something had been protecting him. Keeping it at bay.
Interesting, I thought. Why is he more resistant? Is it something inherent to his nature? Or is there some external factor at play?
I didn't have answers for the moment, so I focused on the immediate work.
I cut the Haze connection with Dismantle, just as I had done with Gudako. The process was easier this time—the connection was weaker, less resistant.
Then I began to purge the contamination from his system. And here's where I found something different.
Unlike Gudako, Ritsuka had no drugs in his system. Not one. His body was relatively clean in that regard.
Why? I wondered. Why drug Gudako but not Ritsuka? Is whoever is behind this treating them differently?
But then I found something else. Something that made me stop in my analysis.
His brain. Specifically, the hippocampus region—the area responsible for memory formation and retrieval.
It was damaged. Not obviously, not in a way that affected his daily functioning. But when I examined it closely, I could see the conceptual scars. Places where memories had been... altered. Modified. Some completely erased, others rewritten.
It was like seeing a broken cup that had been glued together. It worked, technically. But the cracks were still visible if you knew where to look.
They've been manipulating his memories, I understood with growing annoyance. Erasing things they didn't want him to remember. Altering events to fit their narrative. And they've done it multiple times, judging by the number of scars.
But this was increasingly confirming my suspicions about what NTR world of FGO I was in. BB, Astolfo, mind control, pregnancies, the strange singularity and memory erasure. I had already suspected it just from Astolfo and his strange behavior with the girls. But having more information only confirmed my suspicions almost exactly.
I just hoped Shinji Matou wasn't a problem because that could ruin some of my plans I had thought of. Although if that were the case, it wasn't a great loss either; if all other plans failed, I was going to use plan 3 to replenish my energies.
I worked carefully, using Reverse Cursed Energy to repair the physical damage to his hippocampus. I couldn't restore the lost memories—those were gone forever, or at least so buried that recovering them would require techniques I didn't possess. But I could heal the scars, stabilize the region, prevent further damage.
As I worked, I noticed something interesting. Some memories that had been blocked—not completely erased, just suppressed—began to filter through the healing cracks. Not completely, not yet. But it would be enough that Ritsuka would probably start remembering things. Fragments of events he had forgotten. Pieces of a puzzle he didn't know were missing.
That's going to be... interesting, I thought with something like anticipation. Seeing how he reacts when his memory starts to return. When he realizes how deeply fucked and corrupt Chaldea is.
I continued my work, cleaning his system of all residual Haze contamination, repairing minor damage to his magical circuits, optimizing his mana flow. When I finished, Ritsuka was in better shape than he probably had been in years.
I withdrew my hand, opening my eyes.
Ritsuka was standing in front of me, slightly pale but conscious. His eyes showed confusion—he was probably experiencing the first vestiges of suppressed memories filtering through—but also determination.
"Are you finished?" he asked.
"Yes," I confirmed. "You're clean. The Haze connection has been cut, your physical contamination has been purged, and I repaired some... damage I found in your brain."
"Damage?" Ritsuka repeated, his hand instinctively going to his head. "What kind of damage?"
"Memory alteration," I responded directly. "Someone has been playing with your memories, Ritsuka. Erasing things, rewriting events. I repaired it as best I could, but..." I paused. "You might start remembering things you thought you had forgotten. Things that will probably bother you."
I saw how his face paled even more, but he nodded slowly.
"I understand," he said quietly.
I moved away from him, approaching where Mash was still watching the perimeter. She turned when I approached, her eyes full of that curiosity, fear, and caution.
"Mash," I said simply. "I need to check you. Make sure the cleansing I did during the battle was complete."
I saw her tense, her fists closing slightly from nervousness. She looked at me for a while before sighing and nodding.
"...Okay," she said with resignation.
I extended my hand, touching her shoulder. I closed my eyes, scanning her quickly.
Just as I thought. The Haze connection had been cut during the battle, when I healed and partially cleansed her. Her body was relatively free of physical contamination. But her soul...
Her soul was still infected. The Haze roots sank deeply, intertwining with her essence in ways that would make it extremely difficult to purge them without causing permanent damage.
Same as the other two, I thought. The soul is going to require much more work.
I withdrew, opening my eyes.
"You're fine," I told her. "For now."
She didn't respond, simply moved away from me as quickly as she could without directly disobeying her order to remain close.
I looked at the three—Ritsuka conscious and processing, Gudako still sleeping peacefully, Mash vigilant, sad, and worried.
Good, I thought. Step one completed. The Haze connection has been cut in their bodies. We're no longer trackable.
But we couldn't stay here. The barrier I had established repelled the Haze and blocked attempts to spy, but it didn't prevent physical entry. Eventually, Chaldea would realize they had lost connection with their pawns. And when that happened, they would send search teams.
And when those teams arrived, we needed to be far from here.
I walked back toward Ritsuka, who was looking at me with a cautious expression.
"We have to move," I announced. "We can't stay here."
"Why not?" Ritsuka asked. "You said the barrier would protect us—"
"The barrier repels the Haze and blocks remote spying attempts," I interrupted. "But it doesn't prevent someone from entering physically. And believe me, when Chaldea realizes they can't track us anymore, they're going to send search teams. Powerful Servants, probably multiple teams, sweeping every area where they might think we're hiding."
I saw how comprehension—and fear—crossed his face.
"And what do we do then?" he asked. "Where do we go?"
"I don't know yet," I admitted. "But we need to find a place where we can hide for an extended period. Somewhere I can continue working on purging the corruption from your souls. And where we can summon new allies."
"Summon new allies?" Ritsuka blinked.
"Yes, we need more allies than us," I responded. "We could use Mash's shield as a catalyst and if we need another type of source, the contaminated Grails I stole could be used for summoning. Not to directly request summoning with the Grail—that would be too risky with the corruption—but these can also be used as catalysts for summonings, especially if we combine their power with your Command Seals."
"But... wouldn't the summoned Servants also be corrupt?" Ritsuka asked with concern. "If the Grails are contaminated—"
"It's a risk," I admitted. "But one we might have to test and verify. Because as strong as I am, I'm not enough to win this war on my own. Not against all the Servants Chaldea can deploy."
I saw how he processed that, how the reality of our situation settled on him like a weight.
And in case they become contaminated... I have an idea about how to remove the corruption from the Servants we will summon, and I could even make Mahoraga completely adapt to the Haze (Mahoraga had adapted so that the Haze would not enter his body, but not for the effects it has inside the body), so it would be two birds with one stone.
"So... what?" he finally asked. "We leave now? In the middle of the night? Without knowing where we're going?"
"We leave in an thirty minutes," I decided. "That gives you time to rest a bit, to recover some energy. And it gives me time to plan our next move."
Ritsuka nodded slowly, then approached where Gudako lay. He knelt beside her, his hand gently touching her hair.
"She's going to be okay, right?" he asked quietly, without looking at me. "Gudako. She's going to... She's going to recover from all this."
I hesitated, choosing my words carefully.
"Her body is completely healed," I finally said. "There's no permanent physical damage. As for her mind, her soul is just a matter of time before I heal it, but her mind... that's another thing. She'll need therapy, a lot of therapy. And probably years to fully process what was done to her."
I saw how his shoulders sank.
"But," I added, surprising myself with the addition, "she's strong. She's saved the world multiple times. She's faced monsters and gods and won. If anyone can recover from this, it's her. She just... is going to need support. Your support."
Ritsuka looked up, surprise crossing his face at what he probably perceived as an unusual display of... empathy? Kindness?
Don't get used to it, I wanted to tell him. I'm just being pragmatic. I need you both functioning if I'm going to survive.
But I didn't say that. Instead, I moved away, giving him privacy with his sister.
Then I approached Mash and told her to rest, that I was going to be on watch from now on. She looked at me and then at Ritsuka and I made her an affirmative gesture. Her shoulders relaxed before she approached her senpai.
I walked to the edge of the barrier, looking toward the night sky. The stars shone with incredible clarity here, with no light pollution to obscure them.
Thirty minutes, I told myself. Rest, recover some energy. And then we move.
Because I was right in what I told Ritsuka. I wasn't enough. Not against what was coming.
I needed allies. I needed more power. I needed to fully understand the Haze and how to counter it.
And above all, I needed time.
But time, I thought bitterly, is something I didn't know if I had in abundance.
My pride, as Sukuna told me not to hide and to fight to the end, but his logical and analytical side understood how foolish that was and agreed with my human side.
I looked at my hands—Megumi Fushiguro's hands, but also mine now—and closed them into fists.
We're going to survive this, I promised myself. I'm going to survive this. And whoever is behind the Haze...
My lips curved into a smile that had nothing human about it.
...is going to wish they had never caught my attention.
.
.
.
By the way, did you like the chapter? If you want to support my writing and get early access to chapters of my story, you can support me at Patreon com/c/Paxkun12. You have to put it in your search bar for it to work, all together.
Any support is incredibly valuable to me and will help me a lot. It's not an obligation; all my chapters and stories will always be free to read. But your support would motivate me a lot. Of course, if you want me to update a particular story, I will do my best to do so. Everyone is welcome to enjoy it. PDT: All donations will go towards repairing my computer, as it has broken down. And sorry for any spelling mistakes that may have slipped through. As I work on a tablet, I may have missed something, but I have tried to proofread everything several times.
If we reach 700 powers stone by the end of the week, I'll post a double chapter.