'I must admit, I hadn't expected such a great boost, but it's to be expected when stacked with the Super Soldier Serum.'
Sukuna rolled his shoulders. His strength had magnified so greatly that he was sure that even without cursed reinforcement, he would still be unparalleled in physical power. Only Dabura, Kashimo, and Gojo using Blue could even hope to match his speed as he was now—maybe Yuji from that time as well.
'This power feels amazing, but it's not nearly enough for me.'
With a month's worth of time on his hands, there was so much he could do. Honestly, he had been holding himself back as to not become something divine and unreachable before he could truly enjoy himself. There was something he wanted to do, however, that he thought might be interesting. He wanted more than what his current Shrine technique had to offer. While he had originally tried using RCT to gain the reversals of his normal Shrine, it merely added the properties of RCT's curse-slaying power to his abilities without any noticeable new functions. It seemed that destruction was such an integral part of Sukuna's soul that it refused to change so easily.
So, this time, he would use the System to create a version of himself that only ever had the reversal of his Shrine and kill him—gaining all his abilities as well as his physical stats for good measure.
The space around him shifted into the System space. The landscape wasn't a city this time; it was a regal temple shrine fit for a GOD.
"I definitely didn't expect this..." Sukuna muttered. Looking forward, he saw another version of himself sitting on a dais atop a tatami mat in deep meditation.
"How curious... you seem quite familiar..." Sage Sukuna said as he opened his eyes, his four arms uncrossing.
"Your cursed energy is vile and evil." The Sage stood from his meditation; still possessing his Heian Era body, he towered over the current Sukuna.
"And your cursed energy is surprisingly softhearted," Sukuna grinned, his muscles tensing as he sensed this other version of himself building power.
"I am no fool; I can recognize myself at a glance. However, I refuse to allow such a pitiful version of myself, wrought with evil, to live any longer than necessary."
Sage Sukuna vanished, attempting to grab Sukuna and take him away from the temple so that the hard work of his followers wouldn't go to waste. However, Sukuna ducked under the grab before spinning to kick the Sage through the wall of the temple. Seeing his attack land, Sukuna rushed after the Sage, who easily corrected himself in the air and landed without a sound, standing relatively unharmed.
"I see you won't make this easy," the Sage said. Sukuna didn't answer, instead releasing multiple Dismantles toward his counterpart.
"Mend," the Sage muttered. A golden, line-like slash fired between the barrage of Dismantles. Once they got close enough, the golden line pulled all the Dismantles together, "mending" them before they detonated and destroyed one another.
"Interesting!" Sukuna shouted, coming from above as he stomped down on the Sage.
The Sage raised an arm to meet him. The ground directly beneath the Sage's feet within a five-meter radius remained unscathed, but beyond that point, the force caused a wide crater to explode around them. The Sage used two of his free hands to slam a punch into Sukuna's face, sending him soaring into the distant forest.
Before he went after Sukuna, the Sage sent a small wave of golden lines toward the damaged temple, fixing it back to normal, before vanishing in a burst of speed. In an instant, he appeared in front of Sukuna and lashed out with a kick. Using his raw strength, Sukuna pushed off the ground with one arm, managing to flip over the deadly strike as he aimed a finger at the Sage.
"Kai."
A powerful Cleave slammed into the chest of the Sage. A thin red line formed on his torso, but he wasn't worried; it was only enough to break the skin thanks to the aspects of his technique: Mending and Binding. By flooding his cells with his Binding technique, he could strengthen the atomic bonds of his entire body to increase his strength and durability manyfold. And thanks to Mend, he could force his flesh back together without ever needing to use RCT, although the process was slower.
As more slashes flew toward him, the Sage blitzed forward, blocking and deflecting slashes as he closed the distance. Using his four eyes to track all of Sukuna's movements, he fired a Binding slash which connected Sukuna's arm to a tree, pulling them toward each other. The Sage kicked Sukuna in the chest with a massive bang that turned the tree into splinters, but Sukuna retaliated by slugging him across the face.
"Damn, you're durable," Sukuna said as he landed, watching his alternate self rub his jaw.
"And you have quite the physical power as well..." The Sage narrowed his eyes as he sensed the spark of cursed energy igniting within Sukuna.
The King leaped into the air as thousands of slashes shredded everything in front of him for thirty meters.
"Bind." The Sage dragged a finger through the air, and all the debris from Sukuna's last attack suddenly flew back toward the King at extreme velocity.
Punching and swatting away anything that got close, Sukuna realized that the two of them had been testing each other without a shred of seriousness. The fact that this notably nicer version of himself was seen not as the King of Curses, but as the Great Sage of Jujutsu, said everything. This guy might be worshipped the same way Tengen is.
"Alright, we've had our fun. Let's take it up a notch, shall we?" Sukuna said, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders to loosen up.
"I agree. This has gotten admittedly boring..." the Sage Sukuna said.
The cursed energy radiating from him became heavy with power. The very area around them gained an extreme, ominous pressure that seemed to make the world shake.
"Now we're talking!" Sukuna grinned. While he had much less cursed energy compared to this complete Heian version of himself, it was still enough to create an equally palpable pressure.
In a blur of speed, both of their hands formed the same signs.
""Domain Expansion.""
""Malevolent Shrine / Heavenly Shrine""