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kiyo glared daggers at sukuna, who's face had neutralized from his teasing earlier.

"huh? who?"

the two demons glanced at each other, meanwhile kiyo had wondered whether the male had truly forgotten or if he was just feigning innocence and this entire interaction was planned.

"mahito, the patchwork yōkai with blue hair", kiyo vaguely described, to which sukuna had suddenly had an epiphany.

"ah, him! what business does he have with me? the last time we talked, I remember telling him that if he failed me I would slit his throat", sukuna darkly grinned.

eso — the demon with the mohawk and light-colored eyes with a dark sclera — shivered in fear as his younger brother, kechizu, had only made a weird croaking sound.

kechizu was obviously not as skilled as eso or his other older brother, as he appeared more like a traditional demon with his blue skin, two mouths — to which one was a small face while the other was just a giant mouth beneath it — and blood dripping from his empty eye sockets.

"so, where is he?", sukuna asked, to which eso had thickly swallowed his saliva as he tried to look a bit more confident by straightening his back.

"he..he's not here", eso answered, to which sukuna had sighed.

"well? what would you like to do, miko?", the demon king asked, turning over to the girl who had visible confusion in her eyes.

"why're you asking me?"

"aren't you the one that usually decides what to do with them?", sukuna grinned, to which kiyo had hesitantly nodded with agreement.

"so? what's your verdict? how about I help you decide by first killing this one", sukuna madly chuckled as he had uppercut kechizu, to which before the demon could even react, he had become a lifeless corpse, unable to regenerate as sukuna had also managed to gouge out the bead that was embedded in one of his mouths.

"KECHIZU!!", the demon cried as he hurried over to the body of his deceased brother.

"I WILL AVENGE HIM, EVEN IF YOU'RE THE KING OF DEMONS", eso declared as he had miraculously grown a pair of wings, using the blood that was flowing out of his back to do so.

"huh? how'd you get those wings?", sukuna asked, peeking around as the male had swiftly turned his back, accidentally facing it to kiyo, who's eyes had slightly widened in disbelief.

eso's back was bare from the outfit of his choosing — which didn't cover much in the first place — showcasing a grotesque face with sunken eyes and ragged teeth.

eso suddenly gasped as he realized what he had done, as he was quite self-conscious of his back.

"you...you're dead!", eso shakily pointed as he sped towards kiyo, seemingly about to land a punch on the girl until sukuna had quickly appeared before kiyo, blocking the spray of blood that eso had spat out from his mouth.

with the demon king making a face of disgust, eso had backed up so fast that he had watched sukuna accidentally bump kiyo backwards, to which the priestess would've fell if her waist wasn't supported by the demon king himself.

"fucking hell. this shit is disgusting", sukuna gagged as his face was bloodied, to which kiyo had quickly offered a handkerchief to the male, making sukuna grab the girl's wrist as he forced her hand to wipe all the blood off.

though with the amount of blood that was stained on sukuna's face, it ended up just being smeared around, to which only a portion of his skin was cleared.

"decay", eso commanded, to which the blood on sukuna's skin had swirled into a floral pattern, decomposing sukuna with a special poison.

sukuna started coughing as he kneeled on one knee, clenching his chest as he had let go of kiyo, who had glared at eso.

"what did you do to him?"

"anyone who's touched by my blood will be infected and start decaying internally and psychically", eso stated, watching as the king of demons groaned in pain.

kiyo slightly furrowed her brows as eso had sent strings of blood that was manipulated like thin tentacles, aiming at kiyo and sukuna as the priestess kneeled down and brought sukuna to her own body.

the male let out a confused sound as none of the blood arrows were able to touch the duo, due to kiyo's purity technique.

"compared to mahito, you're actually quite simple to figure out", kiyo smiled as one of her arm was supporting the back of sukuna's head meanwhile her other hand had activated her domain.

"domain expansion: benevolent shrine", kiyo commanded.

instantly, the surrounding around them had became heaven-like, leaving eso no way to escape as he felt a force demanding him to kneel before the two.

"now perish", kiyo breathed out as eso had felt his body slowly disperse into dust; the body of his brother following suit as kiyo's eyes widened in shock at the tears that were shed right before eso was entirely gone.

perhaps she was too harsh.

two beads had promptly dropped onto the ground as kiyo went over to grab them, collecting the other one from sukuna as now they had a total of six — excluding the one that sukuna had hid from kiyo when he had defeated the demon that had wounded her.

"how're you feeling?", kiyo softly asked, caressing sukuna's face as she examined his floral-patterned face.

"huh? oh, I'm fine", sukuna casually dismissed, to which a grin was plastered on his face so wide that the corner of his lips had nearly touched kiyo's caring hand.

"weren't you...in pain?"

"pft! you think some poison's gonna hurt me? I'm immune to all toxins", sukuna proudly boasted, to which kiyo had immediately retracted her hand and stood up, leaving the male there.

"oi! where are you going? I thought you were going to take care of me", sukuna teased, to which kiyo had just ignored him.

"wait, don't leave yet. I have something I want to say", sukuna called out, to which kiyo had stopped in her tracks as her head slowly turned around.

"what?"

sukuna stood up and tried to pat off some dust particles from this "special" outfit that he had put on just for today.

"let's get married".

kiyo sighed as she continued walking away, to which sukuna had stopped the girl.

"okay okay, I'll stop playing now, but seriously, let's make a binding vow", sukuna stated, to which that had definitely caught the miko's attention, as her gaze was now fixated on sukuna's very own.

"do you know what you're saying?"

"if I didn't, I wouldn't have suggested it", sukuna replied with a sly smirk.

"what's your goal?"

"nothing nothing~ do I seem like such a scheming man to you?"

kiyo remained silent, to which sukuna had huffed as he continued with his statement.

"tch. the amount of disrespect, and to think that I so graciously saved yo—"

"just tell me what you want", kiyo interrupted, already annoyed and just wanting to take a warm bath to clean herself up.

"not with that attitude", sukuna muttered, to which kiyo had replied with a swift, "suit yourself then".

"okay fine, I have a bead with me right here", sukuna declared, holding it out for kiyo to witness as he was starting to get serious.

"if you take this bracelet off me, I will give the bead to you, and even help find the rest of them", sukuna offered.

"you think I'd be foolish enough to let you run around with your full powers? absolutely not", kiyo immediately shot down.

"hold on, I'm not done yet", sukuna grinned. "not only will I help with finding the beads, how about I throw in a special deal? I'll kill mahito for you".

kiyo shook her head. "I can do that myself".

"then how about being the most powerful woman? you can have me at your beckoning, but in exchange, I want you to be my bride".

kiyo ever so slightly frowned.

"I refuse to marry someone I don't love", the girl simply stated. "and quite frankly, I'm not interested in marrying someone who doesn't love me either".

sukuna then lowly chuckled.

"then I guess I'll just have to make you love me", the male shrugged, making it seem as if it were a game.

"really? I didn't know the demon king was capable of such feelings", the girl mocked, leaving sukuna watching the girl become smaller and smaller as she exited the shrine.

at that moment, the challenge before him had elicited a feeling much like excitement and obsession, as sukuna had always got what he wanted, whether it be something or someone.

always.