'Three attacks... to reach a certain condition?'
Sukuna's mind raced. His thousand years of accumulated combat wisdom and knowledge of various bizarre Cursed Techniques, Curses, and Binding Vows allowed him to instantly grasp the key.
'A Curse? A Binding Vow? Or some kind of ritual that requires specific trigger conditions?'
Interesting.
The look of boredom in Sukuna's eyes faded, replaced by a playful sense of inquiry, like a cat catching a mouse.
He wanted to see what kind of trick the Zenin clan, or rather the "collaborator" who might exist behind Naoya, was playing.
Thus, facing the attacks of the three Kukuru Unit members who struck first, he did not dodge or parry. He even actively withdrew the protective Cursed Energy that automatically circulated on his skin, which would have been enough to shock the attackers into mincemeat, retaining only the most basic, faint barrier to prevent filth from staining his body.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The first member's fist slammed into the outer side of Sukuna's upper left arm.
The second member's palm strike hit Sukuna's right calf.
The third member's kick landed on Sukuna's lower back.
It felt like being bitten by three slightly stronger mosquitoes. It didn't itch or hurt.
The three members, having landed their hits, did not linger. They immediately used the momentum to leap back and create distance, their movements fluid and showing high combat proficiency.
Sukuna looked down at the spots where he was hit—not even a white mark was left on his skin.
"Once." Naoya muttered while staring intently from not far away, his voice somewhat tight.
Immediately after, the second round of attacks arrived.
This time it was five members. They held standard-issue short swords and kunai inscribed with simple Cursed Charms.
Cursed Energy was injected, causing the blades to glow faintly. Although they were still low-grade Cursed Tools, their sharpness and penetration were clearly much better than bare hands.
The five moved, attacking from even more tricky angles. Short swords stabbed at joints and eyes, and kunai were thrown at seemingly weak spots like the giant mouth on his abdomen.
Sukuna still remained motionless, allowing the attacks to land on him.
Clang! Shh! Tink!
The sounds of metal clashing and cutting rang out. The short swords were bounced off the moment they touched his skin, their edges curling. The kunai couldn't even pierce his skin and slid off powerlessly.
"Twice." Naoya's voice rose slightly, and a strange light, a mixture of fear and anticipation, began to flicker in his eyes.
The third and final round of attacks!
All the remaining Kukuru Unit members, except for Naoya, moved. They no longer held back, exploding with all the Cursed Energy in their bodies at once, pushing their speed to the limit.
They brandished various Cursed Tools and formed a sparse but wide attack net that covered most of Sukuna's body.
This time, the attack finally took effect.
It wasn't that it injured Sukuna. Rather, at the moment all the attacks, whether physical strikes or energy impacts, contacted Sukuna's body or were blocked by the faint barrier on his surface, a sudden change occurred.
With Sukuna as the center, the ground of the high platform he stood on and the space dozens of meters around him were suddenly and without warning covered by countless dense, writhing black runes that seemed written by the most malicious curse.
These runes were not carved into the ground but seeped directly out of the void, emitting a chilling aura of a completed contract and the collection of a price that was extremely unsettling.
"It's done!"
A look of wild joy burst onto Naoya's face, but it was immediately replaced by deeper fear. He turned without hesitation, using Projection Sorcery to explode with his maximum speed, fleeing for his life toward the edge of the ruins.
As for the Kukuru Unit members who had completed the three attacks, their bodies stiffened simultaneously the moment the runes appeared. The numbness in their eyes was finally replaced by boundless fear and agony.
"Ugh... AAAAAHHH!!!"
Shrill, inhuman screams erupted from their mouths, lasting for less than half a second.
In the next instant, the bodies of all the Kukuru Unit members burst apart one after another.
Thud... Thud...
There was no sound of breaking bones, no scene of flying flesh and blood. Their bodies, along with the Cursed Tools and clothing they wore, were completely crushed at the moment of bursting by an invisible force full of the concepts of "equivalent exchange" and "compulsory fulfillment."
They turned into twenty-odd streaks of viscous, dark red blood-soul essence containing all their life force, Cursed Energy, soul fragments, and extreme pain and fear. As if drawn by something, they plunged into the center of the emerging Cursed Runes.
A massive, blurry, dark purple vortex, seemingly composed of countless contract clauses and chains of punishment, rapidly took shape and expanded at the center of the runes.
From deep within the vortex came a satisfied and greedy sigh, neither male nor female, sounding as if it were a confluence of the wails of countless tortured souls.
Immediately after, an incredibly massive hand with sickly bluish-gray skin, covered in charred burn marks and rough stitches, with nails as sharp as hooks, abruptly reached out from the dark purple vortex.
The palm was as large as a house, carrying a terrifying pressure of judgment, punishment, and compulsory fulfillment, as if it came from some horrific existence in charge of the "price of contracts." It grabbed straight for the blood-soul essence transformed from the twenty-plus Kukuru Unit members in front of the vortex, intending to swallow them as a sacrifice to complete the final link of the contract, and then... descend punishment upon the beneficiary or the cursed party of the contract.
"The Curse Devil?"
Sukuna's four crimson eyes calmly watched the giant hand emerging from the contract vortex and the looming, terrifying existence behind it. Not only was there no hint of surprise or tension on his face, but he instead wore a mocking expression that said, "as expected."
"Using the lives and souls of twenty-odd well-trained 'Non-Sorcerers' as sacrifices to trigger a pre-set Cursed Contract targeting me?"
"Three attacks were the trigger condition for the contract? To summon a portion of the Curse Devil's power to descend, forcibly collect the price, and impose punishment on me? A decent calculation. Knowing you can't win in a direct fight, you use this kind of underhanded contract trick."
Sukuna's voice rang out calmly, analyzing the opponent's ruse.
"A pity..."
Just as the Curse Devil's giant hand was about to seize those blood-soul essences—
Sukuna raised his newly born left arm. His five fingers spread open, neither condensing Cursed Energy nor activating Dismantle or Cleave.
He simply made a light grasping motion toward the bluish-gray giant hand and the dark purple vortex behind it.