Chapter Text
200 years had passed since nuclear bombs had devastated the planet.
Sukuna remembered them all, with excruciating vividness: the blinding heat on his face, the searing burns, the excruciating pain, the weeks spent on the brink of death. But it wasn't just the negative memories that haunted him.
Sukuna also remembered the immense power he had gained, the transformation his body had undergone. Even today, he could feel the radiation pulsing through his veins, a dark force that granted him immortality.
The greatest tragedy of humanity had had a paradoxical twist for him. He had lost the beauty of his body, yes, but in exchange he had gained eternal life. As long as the radiation permeated the world, he would survive, his cells immune to aging.
He was a tumor, yes, but an immortal one.
The world before the apocalypse had tired him.
Society was sick, obsessed with success, in a relentless race towards a better life that then, inevitably, slipped away, leaving only loneliness and regret.
Studying, sacrificing friendships, relationships, passions for a paper god like money, only to then use it to try to buy what had been lost: an endless cycle of frustration that only broke when it was too late.
This new world, on the other hand, was different. Raw, violent, dominated by the law of the strongest.
A world where every day could be the last, where death could come from the jaws of a Deathclaw, the claws of a Yao Guai or the clutches of a ghoul. But it was also a world where freedom was absolute, where the possibilities were endless.
A world where, if you were strong enough, you could conquer everything. And Sukuna was. Strong, relentless, a survivor born from the apocalypse. An immortal tumor in a sick world, destined to rule over what was left of humanity.
Sukuna, known as the Radiation King, was a Glowing One, a ghoul so saturated with radiation that he was a source of it himself. His fame was legendary, attracting a devoted following of ghouls and even humans, who worshipped him as a deity. Behind his cult was Uraume, a human woman who, ironically, had died of radiation poisoning after helping to spread Sukuna's myth.
Being near Sukuna was lethal for a human like Uraume, but she had never feared him. Sukuna, for his part, was not saddened by her death. After all, after two hundred years in that hostile world, emotions had lost much of their power over him.
Abandoning his cult, Sukuna had ventured west, far from anything that reminded him of Uraume and the past.
It was not an escape, but a rebirth.
Radiation posed no danger to him, and the vast wastelands were his kingdom. His rifle, his knife, and his own radioactive body were his weapons against anyone who dared challenge him.
It was night when a blinding flash illuminated the sky. Two hundred years had passed since he had last seen such a spectacle, and the pure radiation that flooded his face filled him with a wild ecstasy. There were few unexploded nuclear bombs left, and witnessing their detonation was a rare and precious event.
Before him, with a deafening thud, fell the massive door of a Vault, the number 8 imprinted on its rusty surface. But in Sukuna's eyes, it appeared lying on its side, resembling the symbol of infinity. A sign of fate.
With a sly smile on his lips, Sukuna whistled and walked towards the source of the glow, ready to embrace his infinite rebirth in the atomic flames.
The closer he got to the source, the more intense the radiation became, enveloping him in a vortex of pure energy.
He let himself go to that electrifying sensation, feeling the radiation penetrate his veins and nourish his body. A feast worthy of the Radiation King, he thought with exhilaration.
He closed his eyes to savor that moment of triumph, when a gunshot pinned him to the ground, tearing his leg apart.
He snapped his eyes open, but the wound had already healed. In that bath of radiation, his regenerative power was amplified, making him almost invincible.
He stood up abruptly, heading for a nearby ruined house. A shot to the head or heart, he knew, would be fatal, but his body, now mutated, could withstand less serious injuries.
"Who dares challenge me?" he roared, ready to unleash his fury on his assailant. But a moment of reflection stopped him.
The amount of radiation in that place was enough to annihilate any human being, even ordinary ghouls.
And the bullet that had hit him was not one of those used by Super Mutants.
It had to be someone else like him, a being mutated by radiation, a unique individual he had never met before. A shiver of unease ran down his spine.
Then he saw him: an unexpected sight.
A young man, armed with a rifle, stood before him. He was naked, except for a Pip-Boy wrapped around his arm, white hair, and eyes shining with a surreal blue light. The boy was injured, dirty with blood and dirt, yet his figure exuded extraordinary perfection: flawless, fair skin. He couldn't be a ghoul, yet he was undoubtedly alive.
"Kid, didn't they teach you that to kill a man you have to shoot him in the heart?" Sukuna hurled a brick at the young man, then leaped out of his hiding place and lunged at him to subdue him. But neither the brick throw nor Sukuna's attack had the desired effect: the young man fainted before he was even hit by the brick, falling to the ground inert.
Sukuna approached cautiously, observing the young man's body closely. He noticed with astonishment that the wounds were healing just like his injured leg. "What the hell are you?" he muttered to himself.
He casually lifted the boy and placed him on a table to examine him better. He had no burns and his skin was healing impeccably. Under the layer of dirt and blood, Sukuna glimpsed something. He opened his backpack, pulled out an old t-shirt and a water bottle, and began to clean the boy's arm, revealing a unique tattoo: six eyes surrounding the infinity symbol.
"A Vault-Tec experiment?" Sukuna murmured.
He wondered if he should clean and dress the boy before waking him, but looking at him closer he decided it would really be a shame to deprive himself of this fine sight.
He left him as he was.
"You'll have a lot of questions to answer when you wake up, boy," Sukuna said with a smile, staring at the young man like a cat watching its new prey.
Uraume would soon be forgotten, he thought, and this new "toy" would surely last much longer. Sukuna sat down, a smile plastered on his face.