Hiroyuki was about to unleash his attack. And Mamoru was about to do something... But.
???
Before both parties could even do whatever they were trying to do, a huge shadow suddenly loomed over the entire area they were in. Making the already darkened place even darker.
!!!
Catching their undivided attention, Hiroyuki, upon looking up, saw a huge Glacier falling and just a few moments away before it ultimately crashed upon them.
The glacier was so huge that it was as if someone had taken a chunk of a certain building and dropped it onto them.
"Shit!" Hiroyuki didn't even have time to question things as he immediately halted in his tracks and quickly redirected his attack.
The falling glacier is too big and already too close to dodge.
Well, with great effort, he could probably get out of the way before the impact. But if he does that, then Mamoru could most likely escape from him.
Hiroyuki is not that naive.
He is aware that this happening was most likely caused by Mamoru's allies, or whoever was controlling her body right now. And that they did this to cause a distraction.
So, given such a situation, Hiroyuki, who refused to back off, only has two choices.
He can either just go on with his attack to kill Mamoru and ignore the falling glacier, which is very stupid. Even Hiroyuki is aware that there's no way he can survive the impact of such a large thing without putting too much effort on his side.
Or, it might be a little taxing for him, but he can just outright destroy the entire glacier first and then proceed to kill Mamoru afterward... Which is the exact choice he made without putting much thought into it.
Stirring something that was usually dormant deep inside him, Hiroyuki's stance changed once more as he got into a basic punching stance.
"Maximum Output..."
As he goes low, he stares at the gigantic glacier above him. It was a second away before it crashed into him. But before that could happen, Hiroyuki made his move...
"...Serious Punch!"
Driving his fist upward, the entire forest suddenly shook as Hiroyuki caused a massive torrent of air pressure towards the sky.
*KAVWOOOOM!!!!*
It was as if a hurricane suddenly descended and caused a quick calamity. Even the trees that are far away and not even within Hiroyuki's attack range were pulled out from their roots and got sucked in by the torrents of wind.
Even the glacier itself, given its massive mass, did not manage to pose any kind of resistance and simply crumbled away like the others.
Pure annihilation and explosive destruction. Not a single thing on the way was spared.
"What kind of..." At that exact moment, is when a new kind of expression surfaced on Mamoru's face. A kind of expression that she would not have thought she'd have while facing a kid like Hiroyuki.
Right now, she just realized that, if Hiroyuki's attack just now was directed towards her and not at the Glacier, even if she managed to manifest her Domain... she would've died regardless.
As simple as that.
Indeed, she thought Hiroyuki's attack would be powerful, but not THIS powerful.
For her, this is just outright insane. Given the Six Eyes' existence, the world should not have allowed something like 'this' to exist.
So, without even missing a beat, right after seeing Hiroyuki obliterate that Glacier, not even a single particle of it remained...
"URAUME!!"
As embarrassing as it was, she called out to the remaining thing that could help her out of this situation.
"Hmm... as expected." Hiroyuki, on the other hand, muttered as he couldn't help but notice what became of his right arm after that attack just now.
To make a long story short, it was in a mangled state. Blood dripping, torn muscles, cracked flesh, shattered bones, everything. It was pretty apparent that the move he just pulled out was definitely not something his current body could handle.
"But it's fine..." Hiroyuki muttered.
Although he lost his right arm, his left one was still intact. And that alone...
"...is already enough to deal with you." Hiroyuki muttered as he redirected his gaze back to Mamoru.
!!!
But as he did that, a white-haired woman wearing traditional clothing suddenly appeared between him and Mamoru.
Seeing the white-haired woman's hands pointing in his direction, paired with her flaring Cursed Energy, Hiroyuki immediately made a move cause he had a vague idea about what was going to happen.
He rushed forward, and with his remaining left arm, he assumed another attacking stance.
However, given that throughout this entire fight, Hiroyuki was constantly performing feats beyond what his body could handle, his movements became a little sluggish and slow this time.
Giving credit where it's due, if it's just about killing Mamoru, he's actually still fast enough to do that. And if it was him before this entire fight started, he could most likely deal with the white-haired woman and kill Mamoru at the same time.
But the problem is... that's not the case anymore, isn't it?
And the other party isn't a pushover either.
That's why, before Hiroyuki could do whatever he was planning to do.
"Maximum Output: Frost Calm!"
The entire Forest was engulfed in white light in an instant.
____ Loading Next Scene... ____
Half of the entire forest where Hiroyuki fought suddenly turned into one giant ice field in a single moment. There's not even a warning; the entire scenery just changed in an instant.
So the fact that when this happened, Senjumaru managed to evacuate all the people in the entire place was actually such a relief.
A possible horrible accident was avoided thanks to that.
But actually, not everyone managed to get out of the now-frozen forest safely. There was still someone inside the forest when this massive incident occurred.
One of those people is obviously Hiroyuki himself.
But he survived nonetheless and can be seen currently walking out of the said frozen forest.
Regarding his state. Well, let's just say that he's not looking oh so fine at the moment. Even a tattered rag probably looks slightly better than his current appearance.
Well, it's true that Hiroyuki, given the level of purity his CE possesses, managed to develop some resistance toward Curse-based attacks. But still, there's no way he could take such a massive-scale attack head-on and come out of it looking fine.
In fact, it's even surprising to see that looking like a tattered bag is the only thing he got. Judging by how the attack easily froze such a large area, an ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerer would've easily turned into popsicles without a doubt if they were in his place.
Even Hiroyuki himself could admit that things could've ended more badly if he had made one wrong move when that Uraume girl made her attack.
This is only possible given his experiences battling against beings who can perform similar feats in the past. Heck, it's even worse back then.
"Hiroyuki-sama!"
Just in time, Senjumaru appeared within the vicinity, and the moment she spotted Hiroyuki, she quickly rushed towards him. Obviously, she was full of worries when she saw his current state.
"Wait a sec, I will..." Senjumaru quickly prepared her CT to help her young master.
Cloth and Textile Manipulation, Senjumaru's Innate Curse Technique, as odd as it sounds, possesses some healing capabilities. The process is pretty complicated to explain, but it basically boils down to 'fixing damages'.
In short, she could treat his wounds and heal him to some extent. But before she could do so, Hiroyuki quickly raised his arm... his only able arm at the moment, to stop her.
"It's fine. There's no need for that."
Obviously, given his current state, Hiroyuki's response sounded insane to Senjumaru. Understandably so. This level of injury must be treated fast, or else it will leave permanent damage to the body, regardless of her healing capabilities.
"What? But-" She was about to make an outburst, but she had to pause when she suddenly saw something that made her eyes shoot wide open.
Hiroyuki's body was suddenly engulfed in white energy, and the wounds and injuries throughout his body started disappearing one after another. Even his broken right arm healed in a matter of seconds.
"Reversed Cursed Technique!?"
"Yep."
"Since... when?"
"Literally just now, at this very moment."
Hiroyuki didn't know how to use RCT before this. Of course, he knows its existence because Senjumaru told him what it is and how to use it 'theoretically', but it's so complicated and hard to practice that even he has a hard time doing it.
Hiroyuki is a visual learner; He's the type that learns fast if he can see what he's trying to learn. Unfortunately, even Senjumaru the know-it-all couldn't do it, and the only person who could, already died before he was even born in this world.
In short, he doesn't have a clear reference for what he's trying to do, and explanations were simply not enough.
But during his fight earlier, Mamoru used RCT in front of him, 'showing' Hiroyuki the thing he wanted to see oh so badly. That one instant alone is already enough for him to understand everything there is to understand.
Though, because of the ongoing fight, it took him a hot couple of minutes before he managed to fully grasp and apply RCT on himself. Hence, he only did it just now.
"I see." Senjumaru nods as she seems to have understood everything pretty quickly and didn't ask for further details.
Besides, something else had caught her attention.
It was Hiroyuki's expression. Which could look pretty threatening to others.
Well, how could he not have such an expression? He undoubtedly lost that fight.
He couldn't help but think that, had he realized the entire situation much faster, he could've taken appropriate action much quicker. But alas, he failed, and not only did he not manage to get revenge for Mamoru, but he also revealed his existence to his enemies.
Not to mention his Heavenly Restriction, which was still spreading around at this very moment.
Truly a stroke of bad luck altogether.
"Man. What a bad week this is." Hiroyuki said as he ruffled his messy hair in annoyance.
Failing to notice how infectious his mood was to everything around him.
"I'm... I'm sorry I didn't manage to help you in the fight." Senjumaru said with an apologetic tone, genuinely feeling bad.
"Huh?" Hiroyuki made a surprised gasp as he finally noticed how the entire mood around him had turned.
"Oh. Don't be. I mean, you just followed my orders. Besides, if not for you, many would've died. I think that bastard chose this place knowing that some people are camping nearby."
"Still, next time, I will be much faster so I can help you in the fight."
"Well, somehow, I don't doubt that..." Hearing Senjumaru's voice full of genuine resolve finally gave Hiroyuki enough positivity to muster up a real smile.
"... Anyways, let's hurry home. I'm beat, I want to rest my body already." Hiroyuki then started walking away after saying that. But a couple of steps in, he had to stop because he noticed that Senjumaru was still looking back at the frozen forest.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. It's just that... I can sense all their residues from here. I'm thinking that, if we go after them now, then there would still be a chance that we might-"
*sigh~*
"Forget it."
"Hmm?"
"At this point, they probably hid themselves already, so tracking them would take a lot of time. The trains are about to stop in a couple of minutes. After all that happened, walking back home is the last thing I would want to do tonight."
"Oh... I see. My bad."
"Well, they are targeting my brother, and surely, me now as well. So don't worry, we will surely meet them again sooner or later. And when that happens..."
Hiroyuki, mid-sentence, started remembering the disgusting expression that Mamoru, or basically whoever possessed her, made as they escaped.
That's why he couldn't help but pause.
And the moment he spoke again, pure hostility could be felt clearly from the edge of his tone. Even Senjumaru, the moment she felt this, had chills run down from her back.
"I will make sure there will be no next time."
After that, as if nothing happened, they then started walking away. But Hiroyuki's last words were still carried by the cold wind as it went around.
_____ To be continued... ______