Life After Death: The Strength Of Suffering

~Takahiro POV~

'This is beyond bad.' I hid between two walls inside a building, concealed by a talisman just as two men entered the room, one I recognized immediately and the other, I did not. 'I never thought I would see the Strongest Sorcerer again, but who is that other man? He's radiating such heat and strength.' I felt myself growing increasingly nervous. This was originally supposed to be a quick break into a clan to gather information, then leave. I had not expected nor heard anything about the Strongest Sorcerer being in this part of the land. 'Hopefully, the talisman won't fail because of the cursed energy from these two.'

Quietly, I sighed and listened in on the conversation between the men.

"Why is it still alive?" I frowned at those words as the man radiating such heat responded with a casual tilt of his head, resting one of his tan arms.

"Is there a problem with my servant, Shigeru?"

I felt my lips crack as the heat around the man intensified. Shigeru, the Strongest Sorcerer sighed and shook his head. "Just be careful. At the end of the day it's still a Curse, one that can harm souls."

The man responded with a casual hum, flicking his fingers. A servant entered shortly after, carrying what I assumed was tea on a tray. As the servant set the cups down, I took advantage of their distraction and started to sneak away.

"Fool, where are you going?"

I froze. The talisman concealing me had failed and my skin began to dry out as the heat around me grew.

Shigeru spoke dismissively. "Leave him. I was made aware of him coming here."

'W-wha—'

"Is that so? Very well, worm. Though I have yet to see your face, I will remember your filthy aura."

I dropped to one knee as the heat completely receded, and I felt as if I had been doused in cold water. The man radiating heat continued.

"I have a message for you to give Sasaki Souta."

I mutely listened, gripping the walls to steady myself as the man continued.

"Tell him these exact words: Sasaki Souta, on this day next year, the mountain will be wiped off, as willed by the Gods. Understood?"

~Scene Change~

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I had run as fast as I could to escape the two Sorcerers, only slowing down when I arrived at one of the clan's hidden compounds. 'I need to send the message to Sasaki-san as quickly as possible.' My old bones shook as I remembered that the greater the distance I put between myself and the man radiating such heat, the more I could still feel his cursed energy. 'He might be on par with Sasaki-san.' That thought was almost impossible to believe as I walked into the building where the messenger birds were kept. I slowed my pace as I wondered what Sasaki Souta would do. 'There are hundreds of people living on that mountain. Where will they go? Will Sasaki-san take over another mountain?'

Sighing, I walked out of the building and made my way to the stables. "He wouldn't take it seriously if I sent him a messenger bird with the information. It's best if I go there myself and tell him directly."

I climbed onto one of the horses and began riding toward his mountain. 'I'll also be able to tell him I found out who wiped out my clan.' A bead of sweat trickled down my back as I thought about the moment I would tell Sasaki Souta who was responsible. "He did agree to my request, though."

I could only hope everything went smoothly and that the reports I had received days ago about the Umemura Clan weren't true.

~Sukuna POV~

A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth as I dodged a blow from the powerful Sorcerer who had mistaken me for a Curse. 'He's one of the more entertaining ones I've faced so far.' I jumped back just as the Sorcerer punched the ground, causing a shockwave. I spoke as the dust cleared, revealing him with a few scratches.

"What's your name, Sorcerer?"

I received no response as the man disappeared from my sight. I felt the air distort behind me. Turning, I grinned wider as the man pulled out a katana which met my Cursed Tool. We began trying to overpower each other.

"Hahaha! You're more entertaining than those other Sorcerers who called themselves the strongest!"

Again, no words came from the Sorcerer aside from him jumping back before charging right back in. I tossed my Cursed Tool away and charged toward him to meet in the middle. I ran Cursed Energy through my hands and grabbed the katana as we collided. 'I've played long enough though.'

I gripped my free right hand into a fist, pushing Cursed Energy through it. My veins bulged and became visible as they took on a reddish purple hue.

"Tremor"

I watched with glee as the man's eyes widened. Before he could move, a shockwave erupted from my hand, tearing both my hand up and creating a hole in the man's stomach and whatever was behind him. I let go of the katana as he looked down at his now missing stomach, then back at me.

"H-how?"

It was a weak mumble but I heard it. Snorting, I glanced at my bloodied, broken hand and answered.

"It's a technique made by a man who is my current goal."

I saw the man wobble, dropping his katana. I kicked him, causing him to fall over.

"You were not the strongest Sorcerer I've fought, but you were able to satiate me."

I tilted my head as I saw he was now dead. Yawning, I began walking away from the body before glancing back at my hand. 'Compress the Energy into the palm and wrist before ramming it into the knuckles to create a shockwave at the cost of your hand.' I clenched my other hands at the memory of when he had shown me the technique. 'Yet when he does it, he suffers none of the recoil.'

I looked ahead at the path. I was a few hours away from the foot of the mountain, where I would save him from falling too far and becoming weak.

~Sasaki POV~

"Uh huh."

"Oh really? Wow."

"Fascinating—oh my."

"Is tha—Ow! What was that for?"

Kaede punched my arm and I began rubbing it in faux pain as she groaned, walking back to the chair on the other side of my desk and sitting down with a pout.

"Were you listening to anything I was saying for the past four hours?!"

I looked at her seriously and responded. "Uh huh..."

I tilted my head as a thick book flew by and grazed my cheek slightly. I sighed and looked at Kaede, who was giving me an even bigger pout.

"Kaede, this shouldn't be something new for you to see. Don't you do paperwork for your clan? You know, to make sure your title isn't swept from under you?"

She looked at me with a deadpan expression and gestured at me with her arms.

"Souta, do you think someone would be dumb enough to risk the wrath of my future husband?"

I sighed at the last two words she said. It had been a little over a week since the festival and though I had tried to tell Kaede that she was drunk and that the confession I made wasn't about marriage, it didn't matter to her. It also soon became apparent that Kaede was one for gossip. She spread the word that she would be marrying the Eastern Bandit Leader, Sasaki Souta. Eventually, I just decided to say "Fuck it" and agreed with her under the condition we would not marry within the next few months. She agreed to that but demanded we marry before the year was over, to which I shrugged and agreed.

"You're doing it again!"

I blinked, shaking off the memories and looked at her with a small smile that caused her to stop. 'Guess now's a better time than ever.'

"Kaede, my name isn't Souta."

She let out a small "huh" and her eyes widened before she spoke.

"What do you mean?"

I adjusted myself in my seat and leaned slightly forward, causing her to lean in as well.

"It's..."

She leaned in closer.

"Ryou, my real name is Sasaki Ryou."

I waited for her to process the information as I leaned back in my chair. Just as my back touched the backrest, she sat up straight and yelled at me.

"What?!"

I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off.

"So all the times I proclaimed my love for you, I wasn't even doing it with your real name?!"

I leaned slightly further back as she was getting louder, and spoke quietly.

"I didn't think you'd think it would be a big deal."

I didn't dodge as another thick book smacked into my head and fell into my lap. Kaede brushed off her kimono with a small glare.

"It is! We've gone on dates, signed documents together and visited my brother, all the while thinking I knew your real name!"

I sighed, grabbed the book from my lap, placed it on the table, and spoke.

"It's only a name I was born with and cast away after a few... circumstances I'm not ready to talk about. Not that big of a deal."

She groaned in response, then walked around the desk to stand next to me. I turned to her with a raised eyebrow as she leaned in and grabbed my face with her small cold hands.

"I love you, Ryou."

My reaction must have been funny because Kaede laughed lightly before leaning in closer and kissing me on the forehead with her soft lips.

"See why it's important now?"

She said softly and I could only respond with a small nod.

"Now." she spoke while tightening her hold on my head. "you need to make this up to me."

I blinked as her hands loosened before moving slowly to my neck, then moving to my chest.

"I want you to make me scre—"

SLAM!

I turned with a glare at the one who wished for their balls to be ripped from their body and shoved down their throat, only to see their panicked expression.

"B-boss, it's b-bad!"

I gently held Kaede's arms and moved to get up while speaking.

"What's happened?"

I started making my way out the door and Kaede and the messenger followed after me. As I did, I could feel two Cursed Energies clash in the distance.

"The kid with four arms came back not too long ago,and as we were bringing him up to meet with you, Sakurazawa Takahiro arrived. The moment Sakurazawa-san saw the kid, he attacked!"

I frowned and just as I was about to take off, I felt Kaede pull on my black kimono. Looking down at her, I saw the concern in her eyes.

"Keep the people safe, Ryou."

I blinked, then smiled.

"Not worried about little ol' me?"

She softly sighed and shook her head at those words as she let go, allowing me to take off. I blitzed toward the clash of the two nuisances.

Within moments I was already at the fight. The ground was churned and destroyed and buildings though fortunately empty were damaged. I looked over to where the two were about to clash and blitzed between them.

With my hands held out, I caught both of their fists creating a shockwave and cracking the ground beneath us.

"S-Sasaki-san!" Takahiro began to speak, but I cut him off with a twist of my hands causing both of them to kneel onto the ground. I then threw Takahiro away and looked at Sukuna, who was grinning. I sighed, healed his hand and noticed that his other hand was broken as well. After healing that, I let go and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Takahiro was getting back up and making his way over.

"Sukuna, what is going on?"

Sukuna grinned and laughed as he stood up. I noticed that his Cursed Energy was denser and felt more malicious than before. He spoke while staring at Takahiro.

"This old geezer suddenly attacked me, that's it! Now we need—"

I tuned him out and focused on Takahiro, who began to speak.

"I found papers and received reports from trusted sources that something with four arms, four eyes and a mouth on its stomach holding a staff like object killed and destroyed the Sakurazawa Clan."