Tyrant's Favorite | Sukuna Ryomen x Reader

034. Follow My Lead

Several weeks had passed since your first trip to the commune, and you were still visiting it frequently. After reading a report so moving it managed to touch his heart, Sukuna continued to allow you to return under the excuse that you needed to gather more information. In reality, he just wanted to read more of your reports. The reasoning behind a simple servant going so often to the commune was simple but effective: you were the king's messenger. Every time you had to return to the castle, the villagers would give you letters to keep in contact with their family members that were now servants. Sukuna, curious and cautious, would often check each letter before it was delivered. What he didn't know was that Nagi and Mei Mei would pre-examine them, making sure no villager revealed compromising information before skillfully resealing them.

Meanwhile, your training with Naoya and Ranta continued. This was already your fifth time attempting to maintain a domain expansion. Creating one wasn't difficult; the truly challenging part was maintaining it. It always ended up breaking after two or three impacts. But Naoya was convinced you could do better.

Despite the short practice time, the physical strain was brutal. More than once, you fainted or became immobile from exhaustion. Fortunately, Naoya nor Ranta never allowed you to completely collapse. This time, however, was different.

"What does the King of Curses want from King Zen'in?" Naoya questioned you in the middle of the battle within your domain expansion, continuing his part of the plan.

"Nothing, he just wants to wipe out all humans from earth," you replied before trying to land another punch, causing him to stumble.

"Just that? There must be something more."

"That's all I know. Sukuna's hatred for humans is unmeasurable."

You launched yourself at Naoya with a direct blow to his chest. He defended himself by crossing his arms, but the force of the impact sent him back several steps. Wasting no time, you ran up to deliver a second punch, sending him stumbling. Each impact hurt, you knew, but Naoya held his ground without using his techniques, afraid of seriously injuring you if he counterattacked. One after another, your blows landed on him until one finally brought him to his knees. You smiled as his guard dropped, and then you delivered your hardest blow yet.

That last punch broke the sway of his hold and threw him into the air with a force that reminded you of how Mahito used to mercilessly throw you around. Before his body hit the ground a second time, Ranta intervened and quickly caught him.

You barely managed to stay on your feet. Your legs trembled, your vision blurred, and nausea rose in your throat like an unstoppable wave. You vomited your breakfast at the edge of the training ground. You wiped your mouth with your sleeve, shaky but determined. You straightened with difficulty.

It had been enough. You had shown Naoya that you could indeed maintain a domain expansion.

"I did it!" you exclaimed, raising your arms in victory.

After recovering from the blow that nearly rendered him unconscious, Naoya slowly sat up, one hand resting on his stomach. Ranta, with a proud smile, began applauding you, celebrating your achievement. But the moment didn't last long: Naoya gave him a cold, razor-sharp glare. He didn't say a word, but that gesture was enough for Ranta to immediately lower his hands, as if the air itself had become heavy.

"It took you a while, but you did it," Naoya grumbled, filled with envy.

How was it possible? You, someone who had only discovered the existence of jujutsu a year earlier, had achieved a successful domain expansion... before him. Naoya always assumed it would take you months, maybe years, to reach even a fraction of that level. But you did it in weeks. Weeks. He couldn't explain it—not with logic or with wounded pride—and, precisely because of that, you became even more intriguing in his eyes. It was as if your every advance challenged everything he thought he knew about talent, training, and power.