Lucien stepped into the boss chamber expecting to see Igris, the Blood-Red Commander, sitting on a throne with his massive sword. Instead, his blood ran cold at what actually waited for him. Fresh chapters posted on novel※fire.net
The chamber was vast, with pillars stretching up into darkness and torches casting flickering shadows on stone walls. At the far end sat a throne carved from black stone, and on that throne was a figure that should not exist in this world.
Four arms. Black tattoo-like markings covering pale skin. A mouth on his stomach with sharp teeth visible even from this distance. Four red eyes that seemed to pierce straight through him. Pink hair that looked almost white in the torchlight.
Sukuna. The King of Curses. In his true form.
Lucien felt his grip tighten on the Knight Killer until his knuckles went white. His heart hammered against his ribs as he stared at the impossible sight before him.
"What the hell?" he whispered.
This made no sense. Shouldn't Igris be here? This was supposed to be the Solo Leveling job change quest, the moment where he would defeat the Blood-Red Commander and claim his place as the Shadow Monarch. But instead, he was facing a creature from an entirely different universe.
Sukuna wasn't part of the Solo Leveling world. He belonged to Jujutsu Kaisen, and he definitely shouldn't be sitting on a throne in what was supposed to be Jin-Woo's trial.
Yet there he was, radiating an aura of power that made the air itself feel heavy and oppressive. Even sitting perfectly still, Sukuna's presence filled the entire chamber with menace.
Lucien tried to process what he was seeing, but his mind kept hitting the same wall of confusion. How was this possible? Why was Sukuna here? What did this mean for his quest?
Sukuna stood up from his throne.
The movement was slow, deliberate, like a predator that knew its prey had nowhere to run.
Four red eyes fixed on Lucien with cold calculation, no trace of emotion or interest in his expression. His four arms hung at his sides, but Lucien could see the coiled power in every muscle.
Step by step, Sukuna descended from his throne platform. Each footfall echoed through the chamber like a drumbeat, steady and ominous. He moved with absolute confidence, as if he owned not just this room but the entire world around it.
Lucien's jaw clenched as he dropped into a defensive stance. Every instinct he had was screaming danger, telling him to run, to find another way out. But there was nowhere to go. The doors behind him had sealed shut the moment he'd entered.
This was it. Fight or die.
Sukuna stopped in the exact center of the chamber, maybe thirty feet away from Lucien. Still no expression on his face, still that cold, calculating stare. It was like being examined by something that saw him as nothing more than an insect.
Then, Sukuna raised one of his right arms. In his hand was a weapon that looked like a Vajra. But this wasn't some ceremonial tool—power radiated from it like heat from a forge.
Sukuna shook the vajra slightly, and suddenly the air crackled with electricity.
A bolt of lightning shot toward Lucien faster than he could think. He threw himself to the side, the electric attack scorching the stone where he'd been standing. The smell of burning filled the air, and Lucien could feel his hair standing on end from the residual charge.
Before he could even fully recover from his roll, another lightning bolt came streaking toward him. Then another. Sukuna stood perfectly still except for his raised arm, sending attack after attack.
Lucien dodged desperately, rolling and diving behind pillars as electricity lit up the chamber. Each bolt that missed him carved black scorch marks into the stone, the raw power behind the attacks far beyond anything he'd faced before.
He tried to circle around Sukuna, using the same tactics that had worked against the Nemesis. If he could get behind the King of Curses, maybe find a blind spot, he could land a critical hit with the Knight Killer.
But Sukuna's four eyes tracked his every movement. No matter which direction Lucien moved, those red orbs followed him with perfect accuracy. The lightning attacks kept coming, forcing him to stay on the defensive.
"Come on," Lucien muttered, diving behind another pillar as electricity split the air inches from his head. "There has to be an opening."
But Sukuna looked bored. His expression hadn't changed once since the fight began. No anger, no excitement, no acknowledgment that Lucien was even worth his attention. He was swatting at a fly, nothing more.
That cold indifference somehow made him even more terrifying than if he'd been raging or taunting. This was just business to him.
Sukuna raised his vajra-wielding arm high above his head. The weapon began to glow with building energy, electricity arcing around it in increasingly violent patterns. The air itself seemed to vibrate with power.
Lucien felt his stomach drop. Whatever was coming next was going to be big.
The vajra discharged in a circular pattern, lightning spreading out from Sukuna in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. There was nowhere to dodge, nowhere to hide. The electric energy filled the entire chamber in a blinding flash.
Pain exploded through Lucien's body as lightning coursed through him. His muscles seized up, his vision went white, and for a moment, he thought he might die right there. The smell of his own burning clothes and hair filled his nostrils.
When the attack ended, Lucien collapsed to his knees. Burns covered his arms and chest where the electricity had found its way through his clothes. His whole body shook from the electrical shock, and he could taste copper in his mouth.
Slowly, painfully, he forced himself back to his feet. His legs wobbled, and every nerve in his body screamed in protest, but he managed to stand. He looked up to find Sukuna watching him with the same cold expression, as if the devastating attack had been nothing more than a casual gesture.
That emotionless stare sent a spike of anger through Lucien's pain-fogged mind. He was getting tired of being looked at like he didn't matter. He was being looked down exactly like he looked down on the creatures he had hunted till now.
And, he did not like it... not one bit.
"You think this is boring?" Lucien spat, blood running down his chin. "Let me make it more interesting."
He activated his Dash skill, feeling the familiar surge of increased speed flow through his battered body. The world seemed to slow down as he burst forward, his feet barely touching the ground as he closed the distance to Sukuna.
This was it. One chance to land a critical hit while Sukuna was unprepared. The Knight Killer gleamed red in his hand, eager to taste the blood of the King of Curses.
But as Lucien approached, he saw that all four of Sukuna's eyes were tracking his movement perfectly. Even enhanced by the Dash skill, even moving faster, he wasn't fast enough to surprise this monster.
Just before Lucien could strike, Sukuna's expression changed for the first time. The corner of his mouth curved up in the slightest hint of a smile, as if he was finally mildly entertained.
Then one of Sukuna's left hands came up in a casual motion, palm facing toward Lucien's chest.
Lucien saw black lightning crackling around Sukuna's fingers and knew he was in trouble. This wasn't like the vajra attacks. This was something else entirely, something that made the air itself feel like it was tearing apart.
The punch connected with his chest before he could even try to dodge.
The impact hit Lucien like a meteor.
The black lightning tore through him, and for an instant, he felt like he was being unmade at the molecular level.
He flew backward through the air, his body ragdolling helplessly until he crashed into one of the stone pillars with enough force to crack it. He hit the ground hard and didn't get up.
Pain beyond anything he'd ever experienced wracked his entire body. It felt like every bone was broken, every organ ruptured, every nerve on fire. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and his vision swam in and out of focus.
Through the haze of agony, he could see Sukuna still standing in the center of the chamber. Still calm. Still watching him with those four red eyes.
The King of Curses had barely even tried, and Lucien was already broken on the floor. The gap between their power levels wasn't just large—it was an ocean.
Lucien tried to move, but his body was extremely resistant to move due to all the pain it was suffering from right now.
Biting his lip a bit, he stood up again.
Till now, in every battle he fought, he won because he was always stronger than his opponent. He had not faced any opponent that forced him into such a situation.
It was like the game suddenly switched from easy difficulty to Extreme.
Lucien looked at Sukuna as blood poured down from his lips.
There was only one thing going through his mind right now.
How the hell was he supposed to defeat this monster!?
POWER STONE GOAL: 700 ( 1 Extra Chapter)
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