Chapter 21

Sukuna's POV

For some odd reason, that Nozomi girl called the idiot and switched me to come out to answer. I really didn't want to, but I had no choice but to. "What is it?" I cut to the chase. Ever since I met her, she's been crazy for me. Her insane eyes showcased a feeling which it was hard to uncover. It was whether or not I was talking to the real Nozomi. I tried my best in getting close to her and picking out the flaws which concluded my decision of distancing myself from her. She definitely wasn't Nozomi.

"Oh, Sukuna... It's so great to hear your voice~" The crazy girl gushed over the phone as her heart skipped a beat. "You finally want to come out and play. I've been waiting ages for you to—"

I didn't want to hear her speak if she didn't have any business with me. It's a waste of my time to hear her out. "Is that all you have to say? Well then I'll—"

She snickered on the phone. "Ha...! Is that so? You won't mind if I kill Ena then? She's nothing more than a reminder to your past anyways. I hope her husband isn't..." I canceled out her words when Ena's son came into my mind. His bright yellow eyes, big grin, energetic voice calling me 'grandpa' caused my heart to ache. Who knows how he'll turn out like if his mom was dead because of this psychopath. Even if it wasn't for her son, her face still carries deep in my heart. I can't and I will never stop loving her face.

"Don't you dare hurt her! I'm going to make sure you're shredded into a million pieces if you hurt her..." I growled through the phone until a sharp sensation stabbed my chest. That's when I stopped breathing to take in that Ena was getting harmed. "Didn't I say—"

"Tick tock. You're wasting time to see me and rescue your dear Ena before she dies.... Don't worry, baby. I didn't stab her in her vital area, but she may bleed to death if you don't hurry." She giggled sinisterly.

That girl crossed the line once she stole my possession. "You're going to wish you hadn't met me..."

I didn't need to know where that girl lived if I can sense Ena's dying soul. If I lose Ena, I lose everything. Her son's face kept popping in and out of my head. I don't want to see that child's sad face. I made him sad once, I'm not going to make him sad twice. He's a mama's boy. Ena better be strong to hold on to her dear life... Her stupid fiancé wasn't here to interfere either which was good.

Once I made it to where I sensed Ena's body, I kicked down the door to the girl's apartment room.

BAM!

It was oddly quiet for a maniac to conceal herself. I kept moving forward until I reached the dining room where I saw Ena's body. Her pool of blood and large blood stain on her shirt boiled my whole existence. The crazed girl must've stabbed Ena more than once while I was trying to find her. From what I sensed, she wasn't dead but she was barely alive. Again, I pictured her son crying... That child has a major attachment towards me. It clouded my judgement to only think about him. He thinks I'm a good person... If I let his mom die then it will change. I like that kid too much...

Then the girl finally showed herself as she walked out of the kitchen entrance. "Boohoo. You took your time coming. I was afraid that I was going to kill her if you—ACK!"

Anger compelled me as I gripped her pretty little neck of hers. My fingers tightened while my painted nails pierced her human skin resulting in blood to be drawn. It's okay if she bleeds because Ena is bleeding out buckets. "How dare you touch what's precious to me?!" There was no need for the girl to be alive. "You lied who you were, claiming that you were the reincarnated Nozomi... You poor servant of the Kita house... How dare you humiliate me like this?!" Squeezing her throat tighter, she began gasping for air as her eyes glared down at me.

I thought I killed all the servants at the house, but a rat escaped underneath my nose. How disgraceful of me to let that happen. I knew this servant failed my test once I began recalling the past when I was still human. If she was the real Nozomi, then she would automatically remember the joyful time we shared... But she only recited the poems that held the truth between the real Nozomi and I. There was no way for her to know the poems if they only had Nozomi's painting, unless the household lied to me. That's where I knew it was full of games. There's no way I could want to be happy with a phony. The girl's deceitful lies and horrendous face makes me want to make her unrecognizable.

"Why... do you... settle... for s-somone w-who doesn't... even wa-want you...?"

BAM!

I threw her to a wall and knelt to Ena's dying body. The weak girl can't hurt me. She's facing a demon than a human; she's no match for me. I touched the pulse on her neck and it was still there but faint. It seemed like she lost consciousness from the blood loss because Ena wasn't responding to my touches at all. "Ena, don't you dare die on me!" When I tried to heal her with my touch nothing was happening. Her soul was still slipping away and blood was still leaking from her wounds. "Why...? Why are you rejecting me?!" I frantically shouted, trying to heal her over and over again but it wasn't working.

"Out of all people... *cough* I thought you would know better..." The girl picked herself up from the ground as she coughed her way to me to mock my failure. A big sneer stretched her cheeks high. I wanted to kill her, but time wasn't in my hand. "Divine users are both positive and negative cursed energy. Others jujutsu aren't allowed to heal a person from the gift of God because their energy will repel against theirs. Your positive energy isn't pure like a Kita's user. What a shame you killed off her family... They could've saved her from this mess you put her into." This girl shamed me in many ways that agitated my soul.

Lies. They wouldn't save her; they would let her die because it'll stop me from having her. Her family doesn't care about anyone else but themselves. They dropped her dead once they figured out she looked exactly like Nozomi. Ena was already a walking corpse on the day she was born.

"The only way to kill a divine user from healing is to make sure they're knocked unconscious until there's no ounce of blood left. I gave her a lot of doses, so she won't be waking up any time soon. It's funny how I know this, but you seem to lack knowledge of this."

Of course, I should be knowledgeable. A demon who's been reigning and killing people for a long time has experienced all types of abilities. However, I lost all composure and stable thoughts in this situation. I don't want to lose Ena like how I lost Nozomi. Even as a demon, I'm helpless like her airhead fiancé. Ena was fated to die because I'm here. I stared at her pale complexion: she was turning white as a ghost each passing second. I'm ultimately defeated... This girl, who craved my attention, went all the way to drug her and to eliminate Ena.

"Like I said earlier, Ena doesn't deserve to love you. She doesn't even bat an eye at your direction. Nonetheless, she acknowledges your existence...but she doesn't care because she has a family. Maybe if you were incarnated earlier, then you could've made Ena yours." The girl crouched beside me, showing no fear of who I am and what I'm capable of. She already knew she won this battle, so she's rubbing it in my face. "But that's not the case anyways. Let her die and come to me! I can show you real love—" I couldn't stand her useless words trying to persuade nothing in my mind, thus I ripped the muscles and skin from her throat. She was wasting my time to save Ena from the brink of death.

Turning my attention to the dying yet unconscious Ena, I did the most useless thing: shaking her body and talking to her. There's no other way for me to heal her; she has to wake up and do that herself. A terrible monster like me can't even wake her up. "Ena! Think about your son! What will a motherless child do?! That imbecile sorcerer of yours will be devastated!" I know I can't reason with an unconscious person, but I know she can consciously hear me behind those closed eyes. I didn't know if what I'm about to do was going to help, but I'm not going to stop until she stops breathing.

Overlapping my hands over her ceasing heart. I'm going to force her soul to wake up from the drugs roaming in her system. If I can have her conscious for a few seconds to think about healing herself, that's all I can ask her. "Ena, I'm asking you to heal yourself!" I talked to her as I repeatedly tapped into her soul.

The fire in her heart was dying out. I'm trying my best to protect it with the power I have. She can't let go so easily. She needed to fight back!

At the center of her soul, I saw Ena on the ground. Her hair sprawled out as well as her limbs. However, right beside Ena was... Was none other than Nozomi herself. She sat beside the motionless Ena as she stroked her face.

This felt unreal. I've been trying to find the real Nozomi for a while now, and I finally found her. Running over to my real and true lover, I couldn't contain my heartache and human tears. I dropped on my knees in front of Nozomi. My eyes leak tears of joy and sadness. I gripped her shoulders, but I couldn't utter any words out of my mouth. It's like Nozomi didn't want me to speak. Nozomi stared happily at me. There wasn't any cast of sorrow on her face or even hidden deep inside her eyes. She looked...elated.

"My dear Sukuna," her lovely voice rang in my ears as she cupped my cheeks. "No matter how much you crave for Ena's soul to be switched with me that can never work. As long as you remain a demon and I remain a sorcerer's body, we may never be together. We both are old tortured souls, my love." Her beautiful golden eyes watered from the tragic truth. "Have faith in that once you let go of your demons and be purified by our divine cursed energy, we will finally be together in another life as humans." When she leaned in to kiss my forehead, her tears dropped on my face.

Since I couldn't speak to her, I hugged her. This was the only time that I will ever be this close to Nozomi. It hurts to know that I can never be with her if Ena doesn't survive.

"Protect this woman, Sukuna. She is the key to bring us back together. Have a change of heart and let her live the life with her family. I want to live that life with you, not through Ena's body but my own. To start a family and finally be husband and wife with you." Nozomi pulled back, smiling brightly through her tears. Why did she have to smile through her pain? I want to keep on holding her like this until the end of time. "I love you so much! I'll always be with you... Now, it's my time to save Ena from her deathbed so we can be together." Nozomi pulled back from me and kissed my lips before she went. Her warmth radiated on my lips, never leaving my lips cold.

I agonizingly watched her body fade away after she used her own divine energy to save Ena. Never in my life would I think Nozomi would tell me to protect this woman who I've been trying to pursue this entire time. Nonetheless, I trusted Nozomi's words. If Ena could use her ability to exorcise me, then I can be with Nozomi once Ena dies... But what about my plans of wreaking havoc to the world? A cursed spirit in the flesh... That's meaningless now that there's an end to my story.

Not a second goes by and Ena's spirit awakens from her near death encounter. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up. "Why are you in my sacred place?" Ena stared at me in confusion as her brows furrowed, already feeling hostile towards me.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her facial expression. It reminded me of Nozomi too much when we were together as humans. It kind of hurts, but I'm a step closer to achieving my goals to be with Nozomi. Finally my voice came back to me, "Why don't we make a binding vow?"

A disgusting look drew upon her face. "And why would I do that?"

"I know this may sound bizarre for the king of curses to say this, but since my spirit and the brat's spirit can't merge, I want you to exorcise me out of his body once he consumed all of my fingers."

Ena tilted her head to the side. "Huh?! Didn't you want to destroy my life not that long ago?! Did you hit your head?"

I understand her baffled expression because it was confusing to say the least. "I'll say this once and I'm not going to repeat myself. Nozomi resides in your soul." Ena flinched from hearing that information. Her eyes were filled with horror as if I'm planning to have Nozomi take over her body. "I haven't finished talking yet and you're cowering."

Her face twisted in annoyance. "How can I not? You are a demon. You might even try to—"

"Even if I try to, Nozomi wouldn't let that happen. Fate will still tear us apart. As long as I'm a demon, your reincarnated soul can't be with me."

"I see... You have a change of heart now huh?" A skeptical look appeared in her face. Ena didn't trust me and I don't expect her to either. She was passed out during my encounter with Nozomi.

"If you don't want to make a binding vow then that's fine, I don't care. What I do care about is that it's you who carries out my death sentence. I'd rather not have that brat be carried out with me if I were to die." It's a vile thought to think about. What if our souls stay connected if we were to die together? Gross.

Ena folded her arms as she was thinking hard about this. "Talk to me when I'm alive. It's too much to think about. Now leave my soul!"

Jerking back from getting kicked out of Ena's sacred ground, I quickly checked if her wounds were actually healed. Lifting up her shirt, I found her stab wounds to be sealed shut. Her complexion was better than before. She wasn't pale anymore. There was life roaming in her vein.

"If Nozomi said to protect you, then I will in order to be with her again. I want a happy ending like you, Ena." I picked up her body and took her home. Her fiancé and son will worry if they don't see her home.