"Piercing Hemorrhage." His own derivative of Piercing Blood shot out from between his closed palms, the beam of death piercing another three opponents and, upon doing so, losing some of its condensed mass to spear their internal with a thousand spikes of hardened crimson liquid. Such fine control over his technique was what Zuko specialized in, due to not having infinite blood in his body.
From his left, a man with a blank face, nothing but skin replacing any facial features, appeared once more, a copy of him appearing on his left as well. He hadn't yet found the original, but the clones of this man that had kept appearing and distracting him from properly mowing down the remaining two dozen forces have been extremely annoying.
He spun, ducking low as he did so to avoid the strikes aimed at his head, and he shot out two scything slashes of blood, the clones disappearing in poofs of smoke. He turned towards the other end of the clearing, where his two brothers and his sister were fighting. "I can't find the cloner! I'm going for my D-" Before he could announce his strategy, a tall, brunette and muscular man emerged from deeper into the mass of opponents, eyeing Zuko in specific.
"Shouting your plans like this is fucking stupid." He growled in a low baritone.
When the man punched the air between them, Zuko disregarded his initial instinct to scoff and readied himself. His caution proved its worth once more as a glowing purple fist materialized between them and shot towards him.
He swiped his arm as he dodged to the side, the attack crushing the tree behind him. A claw swipe of blood shot out of his hand and towards the man, forcing him to dodge as well, and doing so into the direction Zuko wanted him to, leading to Zuko swiping his leg downwards and toppling the tall man.
As he fell, Zuko rose to his full height, an uppercut joining his ascent, a pike of blood on his fist that drilled into the head of the man, instantly killing him. "Well, against enemies like you, I value coordination more than intelligence leaks." Zuko replied as he kicked the body away from him.
But now he was in the middle of the remaining squad of attackers, using his Domain now would leave him open. Enemies turned to face him, bearing weapons or Cursed fists against him. Sighing, he coated his hands in hardened blood. "Let's do this."
Yuji Itadori was raised in a loving home with loving parents, eventually moving out because he wanted to find his own way in the world, though he still visited his ancestral home every weekend to finish his 'Jujutsu Education'.
Ah, the revelation of that whole world that slumbered beneath the veil of regular life was pretty hard on him, back when he was ten. His father had apparently had a scare, meeting a Cursed Spirit near their home and exorcizing it, but it spurred him to start Yuji's education early. He also told him of his ancestry, and how complicated it is.
Apparently, their family is part of some 'uber-powerful clan of zealot assholes'- quoting his father here- who are the top-dogs of the Jujutsu world. Yuji was honestly not really paying attention when it came to the politics lessons, not that they had many of those, his dad was just as involved with the current political landscape of the Jujutsu world as Yuji was- i.e. not at all.
His mom was a wellspring of practical knowledge, however. She was apparently super good at the basics, which led to Yuji having a good foundation early on. Not that they put much focus on anything else, he was apparently a 'prodigy' regarding his Technique. Oh, and his technique was apparently the strongest in existence… or so his 'cousins' would say, according to dad and grandpa.
But that all didn't matter now, he was worrying about something else. His girlfriend, Riko Amanai, the 'girl next door' that he met when he moved into this apartment complex, was finally going to the merger she'd told Yuji about for the whole year they've been dating. He'd always tried to understand why'd she want to give up her life, to convince her that she can stay, that she can choose, but she always gave him that acceptant smile.
'It's what I'm destined for, Yuji. Don't risk yourself for me, please?'
He didn't like it, not one bit, so he's damn-well following these two guys with some insane homoerotic tension around. The way they stare at each other…
Yuji shook his head, dismissing the thought. He didn't like destiny, not at all. Everybody seemed to have one, and they all sucked. If he could just help people break their 'destinies', wouldn't that be nice? "What do you think about this, Misato?" He asked one of his closest friends and Riko's caretaker.
"I… don't… it's my duty, Yuji." She was conflicted, had always been. They'd talked, she'd even cried into his arms one late night, about all this. None of them wanted to see Amanai just… disappear herself in service of some nebulous figure they'd never even met.
"Well, I just-" Before he could finish, his instincts blared and he tackled Misato and Riko down onto the ground. Which seemed to be the right call, as the huge buster sword of a man that had suddenly appeared in front of them missed them by a hair's length.
"H-Huh?" He heard the white-haired man's confused grunt.
"Do something!" Yuji said as he got to his feet in a single flip, the familiar sensation of Cursed Energy Reinforcement filling his every muscle once more. The man, dressed in some white captain's garb that belonged on a cruise ship and not on the battlefield, gave him a snarl with his scarred face.
"'Shoulda just let me kill them, kid." His gruff voice stated as fact, his humongous sword resting on his shoulder.
He heard more unfamiliar footsteps from behind him and, sparing a glance, he saw that the other two Sorcerers were now dealing with a quartet of their own. He gave the man in front of him another glare. "No shot."
He swiped his hands and lashed out with a Dismantle, the technique coming to him like breathing air. For a split second, the man had time to register the motion, before a finger-deep gash opened itself horizontally across his abdomen. Immediately, blood spewed out. Yuji ignored the explosion of dust and debris behind him- some attack from the other Sorcerers as they crashed into a building further away- and instead leaned down, ushering his girlfriend and her caretaker up while their attacker stumbled to his knees.
"Go, stay near but not too close! You know how destructive I can get!" He warned and, seeing Amanai's worried look, he gave her a smile. "Don't worry about me."
"Just… Just don't leave me alone!" He wanted to inform her of the irony of that statement, but he had to raise his hands to tank the large, flat plane of the flat side of the blade that his opponent had now swung at him. Instead of the sharp edge, which he could have ducked, he had to feel his forearms buckle under the force as he flew through the air, crashing through the window of the lobby of their apartment building.
Apparently, the friendly reception lady had long since vacated the premises, so he ignored the fallen-over vase and jumped back out of the window, picking out shards of glass from his arms as he used Cleave to get rid of those in his back.
"You're a tough guy, huh?" Yuji asked.
"And you're an annoying brat." Was his response as they stepped closer once more. "I'm going to kill you and your girl. Not because I believe in the shit these idiots I'm being paid by are spewing, but because I want to." The grin on his face was deranged, showing two chipped teeth as well.
Yuji felt anger flare, the kind of anger he'd only felt once before, when his father was explaining the concept of Cursed Spirits to him. That something, somebody can be this cruel…
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hold back now." Was Yuji's reply and he abandoned the concept of mercy. This man wasn't fighting for money or for any ideology, he was fighting because he enjoyed killing. His father had said that some people just can't be reasoned with, no matter how much Yuji wanted that to be the case.
Minding the property damage, Yuji rushed forwards, intent on landing his palm on the man somewhere and activating Cleave to end the fight quickly. But, instead of him dodging or even counter attacking, he simply… disappeared.
His eyes widened as he searched to where the man could've disappeared off to, not having expected him to be this much faster than Yuji. But, instead of flickering back into place somewhere next to him, he reappeared exactly where he'd stood before, sword swung and already near Yuji's nose. He ducked, then sent a hail of Dismantle's at his opponent, who tanked a few before jumping out of the way. "You're annoying me with that move." He growled.
Yuji ignored the flash of blue light out of his periphery, the other guy's technique, probably, but he was busy with his own stuff right now. When the man disappeared again, Yuji just continued on his dash and, as he theorized, he hit the man's abdomen. "Figured out my technique, e-" It didn't matter that he became visible again.
It didn't matter that he was about to stab him through the back with his raised sword.
Because from one moment to the next, he became a red mist. His clothes fell to the ground lifelessly and Yuji stepped out of the way of the sword as it clunked to the ground. This guy could turn invisible, forced to reappear if he attacked. That was his technique. It… wasn't really that good for anything besides sneak attacks.
Sighing, Yuji turned towards the other fight and saw… a lot of holes in the skyscraper that stood next to their apartment complex, a lot of shattered glass at its foot, more holes on the ground, and the two other teens currently slowly approaching the ground on a white dragon of all things. Evidently, they were done with their own fight as well. Riko was wrapped around his neck, hugging him a moment later.
"I was so worried!" She shouted.
"Ow, my ear." He bemoaned.
She separated from him, then looked down at herself with disgust- she'd bathed in the blood of his enemies now. "Ew, you're all bloody."
He chuckled, even as his mind retreated back to that fight- to his first real battle against something that wasn't a Curse. He… didn't like how easy killing came to him.
Angel floated above the battlefield, occasionally raining down a spear of light as the divine smiting artillery she'd designated herself at during the war council the main branch of her Lord's descendants had held. Not that much was being planned.
Two main battles were currently being fought, the one with the Kamo and Assault Forces of the enemy and the one-on-one with Naobito and… ah, Hattori. She had given him her personal blessing before the fight! He was an honorable man, fighting for His glory!
She was about to reign another couple spears onto the Heretics when she heard the sounds of a chain clinking against itself behind her. Before she could turn around to face her attacker, her body was wrapped up in said chain and suddenly, her stomach dropped as the world became engulfed in the sound of rushing wind-
A moment later, her spine snapped once more during her stay in this era as she cratered into the ground, shattering the ground far enough to unroot a few trees nearby. She quickly wriggled out of the chain's snare before she saw them whip across the ground, cutting deep gashes into the dirt before retreating into the forest.
From whence they came emerged a man- her opponent. "You attacked His Herald, so you declare yourself His enemy." And, out of the treeline, came a man with muscles mirrored strength to the world. Wearing a plain black garb that hung close to his skin- a weird fashion difference Angel had noted in this age- with some kind of worm-like Curse wrapped around his torso and leaning on his right shoulder, he approached while retracting the chain, on the end of which was some kind of dagger.
"You insane people prattle on and on about your gods and lords and what-ever. I've been paid a whole lot of money to kill you, so fuck your god and fuck the wings you flew in here on." It was an obvious provocation.
A taunt.
A mockery.
…
"DIE!" She roared as two dozen spears of light materialized in the air and shot towards the man. But instead of blocking or side-stepping, he simply flickered out of her sight. "H-Huh?" She was confused, had her body not surpassed its human limits in accordance with His divine design?
How was she still too slo-
*SHINK*
Before she could finish the thought, her abdomen exploded in a shower of blood as a wide gash opened up. Turning to look to the left slowly, she saw that the man, the perpetrator, was crouched low, his dagger dripping with her blood.
She'd never even seen it coming. Gritting her teeth and healing herself, Angel flicked a trio of spears in his direction. One was parried, the light construct spinning in the air briefly before thudding into the ground and dissolving, before he simply stepped out of the way of the other two.
The ground seemed to shirk away from his every step, but when he flickered upwards and landed on a branch, her thing barely moved, not that he stayed in place long. Her eyes couldn't even follow his movements as this man became an omnipresence around her.
His lack of Cursed Energy, however he even managed to attain such a state of being, made it almost fully impossible to track him. Almost, only because the absence of something could still denote presence. So when he reappeared, she could do naught but take the primed stab at her chest and diverge it to her abdomen instead. She shouted in pain as the dagger dug into her flesh.
She was about to summon a spear of light to force him to disengage when his fist flew towards her throat and- *SQUELCH*- dug it out in one, clean and painful rip. Her lungs filled with blood as she collapsed to the ground, vision darkening. Then, she healed herself. "Y-You s-"
He dodged the sword slash and cut off the hands holding the blade, pirouetting it her side and cutting halfway through her neck in one slash. The ground below her was more crimson than green, more violence than nature. She healed, noting how it would be the last time she could do so.
He didn't taunt, didn't gloat, he simply slapped away her fist, side-stepped her stab with a spear of light and crushed through her chest and ribcage, crushing something vital in her body before ripping his bloody hand back out. The world went mute as she fell, His Angel, defeated.
Would… would He forgive her?
She hadn't even noticed when her opponent had left the clearing.
She had desired to be… held by Him, just once. Maybe then, she would have got to feel closeness for the first time in her life, something akin to happiness without requiring devotion.
Just as she was about to die, she heard a voice. "I would like to ask you something. A theorethical." Shakily, she turned her head up, caked with mud and blood. "Would you consider yourself part of the Ryomen?" A… man asked, standing above her.
"Y-Y-"
"If you want to live, say no. You can lie." She didn't understand the question but, even so, her devotion remained to Sukuna alone, not his descendants- who she would assist regardless, but not defer to.
"T-Then no… help me…" She hated pleading to somebody that was not her Lord, but it was needed, for she would have to survive.
"Gladly." The last thing she saw was a grin and a forehead full of stitches.
"Beach!!!" Riko Amanai roared in joy as she pranced through the ankle-deep waters.
Gojo and Yuji mirrored her enthusiasm. "Beach!!" They shouted as well. "I'm a water bender!" Was Gojo's first thought after crouching low and praying up water onto the duo of younger students, doing some vaguely karate-like moves after.
Amanai's caretaker and Suguru Geto stood at the side, below the shade of a large, stone-coral structure, sitting on beach chairs. They discussed… something, but the other three teens were too busy having fun!
"Let's play, Yuji!" Gojo, who'd bonded with the pinkette during the train ride here, threw up a relatively flat plane of water and then used Limitless to hold it in place.
Yuji grinned, knowing what his new, and currently only, Sorcerer guy-friend was going for. He threw out four slashes, forming a three-by-three grid in the water. Satoru threw him a grin and shot his other hand out, a vague circle appearing in the middle of their board as water was blown away.
And so, they played the most intense and esoteric game of Tick-Tack-Toe in history. If their ancestors could see them now… well, one pair would be extremely proud of them, the other would be rolling in their graves. "You got this, Yuji!" Riko threw in her own two cents, beginning to chant his name while doing cheerleader moves that she had not learned anywhere professional or academical.
Another slash thrown out by Yuji, then… "Ah, a tie." They both groaned in unison as they realized that the game was over. "My pride!" In internalization, Yuji put his hands over his heart, as if he was having a heart attack, and fell backwards, falling onto the water, wide enough for his front half to still peek out of the water, preventing him from drowning in a really embarrassing way. Satoru laughed at him.
Amanai, seeking his company, laid herself down next to him. She shuddered. "Cold." They watched as Satoru became mesmerized with playing with the water using Limitless to become an actual Water Bender.
"Why don't you want to stay with me?" Yuji asked suddenly.
Far enough away from everybody else, Amanai just drew in on herself slightly, a crestfallen expression replacing her cheerful one. "It's not that I don't want to… I like you Yuji, maybe even l-" She couldn't bring herself to say it, for it would mean admitting that she had something too valuable to leave behind.
But Yuji, precious little angel of hers that he is, knowing what she was about to say, simply gave her an understanding nod. "I know you've told me many times that it's your duty, your destiny, that you were raised this way but… can't you decide your own destiny? Why do others, people you haven't even met, decide if you should get to be yourself or not? To remain free."
He could see that, after the thousandth time of saying it, Riko was finally brittling, so close to the Merger, so close to losing it all, to losing him. "Don't- please… you're making it hard to go." She almost whimpered.
Water splashed as he sat up, aiming a hopeful and determined stare at her. "Then don't! My family escaped their 'destiny', you can too!"
"It's not that simple…"
"Then I'll make it simple, if you'll let me." He offered his everything for her, again. God, what had she done to deserve him?
"Can we… talk about this later? I'm having fun right now." SHe pivoted.
Yuji sighed but relented. "Of course, anything for you." That might've been passive-aggressive coming from anybody else, from somebody more selfish or downtrodden. But Yuji meant it. He would do anything for her. Even break destiny.
Unbeknownst to them, Satoru had heard it all. "Don't let others decide your own destiny…" He muttered to himself. This Yuji kid had some pretty interesting ideas. He liked it!
They all dried themselves up half an hour later, having had their fun. Putting on some basic clothing, they all reconvened with Suguru and Misato. "Well, we've had our fun, we don't have much time left and the journey back to Tokyo will take a while." Suguru was the first to speak up as they made it back to the concrete walkway perched above the beach.
"Yeah, I had fun though!" Amanai responded, standing close to her boyfriend.
Gojo, introspective, didn't chip into the conversation. He was thinking about what Yuji had said- shattering destiny. He'd grown up believing that he had one responsibility, one he didn't really believe in but one he was raised to fulfill anyways. Maybe…
*CRASH*
The high rising building to their left suddenly exploded in a gigantic ball of molten flame. THe top part sank down into the magma while the hot liquid quickly started adhering to gravity, slouching onto the ground and melting a few unlucky passersby. People started screaming before they'd even caught up with the attack. "What?!" Suguru was askance. "Who-?"
Immediately, on top of the fireball, standing as if it was no bother at all, was a humanoid figure. But the skin complexion, volcanic top half of a head and gray skin tone clued them into the fact that this was a Curse. "FINALLY! THE AGE OF CURSES HAS BEGUN!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it, cyclops." Gojo, collecting himself quickly after the sudden and unexpected attack, was the first to aim up his hand, Lapse Blue starting to form.
Greetings! We're finally kicking things back up! I'm aiming for a cool 'breaking away from fate' and 'following your own path' character arc for both Gojo and Riko, hope it'll come through! Also, I finally made a Ko-Fi, since SubscribeStar takes fucking ages. If you want to support me, and I mean really, finally support me and help me continue writing at even better qualities, then this is how! You'll also earn a cool role on Discord if you can DM a screenshot of you donating to said Ko-Fi to earn yourself a cool role over there!
I'm not forcing, nor extorting though, I'll continue writing regardless and I make no promises for anything in return for a donation but my eternal gratitude as well as a shout-out at the end of every chapter! Maybe in the future, when I have a schedule and maybe some free headspace for commissions, donors will be the first to know, but for now, this is all I can promise.
Satoru grinned as his body flared alight with the familiar cold rush of Cursed Energy. Teleportation was something he'd learned early on, since it just took some experimentation and training with its base application of his Limitless. And he had been training.
So, he breathed out a sigh as the sheer heat of the fireball now below him blasted him right in the face. He saw the flare of Shrine below, fighting a more humanoid Curse that had appeared, but he was preoccupied.
Where the Curse had stood, there was now a smooth, large and circular hole in the lava, the raw spatial force of Limitless exerted upon reality through Satoru's will. But the Curse had dodged. His eyes followed flawlessly, seeing it soar above, its fingertips heating before firing ceaseless barrage of heated beams of flame.
They stopped harmlessly against Infinity, dispersing into small explosions that did equally little damage. Another teleportation saw him face-to-face with the cyclopic Volcano Curse. "They speak of you, Gojo with the Six Eyes and Limitless, the Sorcerers I've killed!" Came a gruff roar. "But I'm not scared!"
Satoru didn't like how the Curse was sentient and could talk- it denoted strength they hadn't seen in a while from Curses. Another flare as the thing turned and a swarm of odd insects flew out.
Satoru activated Infinity once more, still mad that he couldn't keep it up permanently yet, since it wouldn't let anything touch him. The insects, it turns out, were home-seeking missiles that explode, not that he was injured. "I wonder, if I kill you, would that deem me strong enough for them? You seem powerful." Gojo wondered out loud.
Around them, geysers of lava exploded upwards, dousing buildings and people alike, shattering the pretense of normality under the weight of a thousand lives. No Veil had been erected, this was supposed to be a covert mission. Maybe they could still blame this on a gas leak or something… yeah, no. Even he couldn't really believe that.
"Lapse Blue." Gojo chanted, having long since learned of the significance of Chants. As soon as his words echoed out through the skyline, the small blue orb on top of his index finger's tip grew in size. Pumping more energy into it, the sphere of Pull immediately rips the concrete roofing from the nearby buildings. Some debris stopped dead against his Infinity, but most just swirled into dust and then into nothing against the sphere that grew to the size of a bus.
Below, some of the liquid fire was also pulled up, creating a dance of flaming pillars as he let his attack soar into the sky slowly. "Predictable!" He heard the Curse shout. Satoru jumped upwards, then shot out his hand, briefly taking the time to track the movement of the Curse as it ran along the street at the bottom of the skyscraper, absentmindedly killing people in bursts of flame as it ran.
But just as Satoru was about to fire Blue, a pool of inky black Cursed Energy manifested itself directly in the path of the Volcano Curse, a green-furred Gorilla Curse with four arms and the lower body of a spider jumping out- Suguru. And lo-and behold, his best friend jumps out from behind his summon and kicks the stunned Special Grade Curse in the face.
Just after, the spider-gorilla followed its master's attack up, two hands slamming into the concrete, burying deep into it and imprisoning the Volcano Curse in its grasp. Satoru grinned and aimed Blue with precision before firing.
The orb tore through the edge of a building on its way but before it could incinerate their enemy, the hands of the gorilla suddenly burst into flame, completely turning to ash in a moment, giving the other Curse time to jump out of the way before Blue hit the ground, briefly expanding and taking Geto's summon with it before collapsing and disappearing.
In a flash, Satoru was next to his friend. "What's the plan?" He asked the more strategy-oriented half of their duo.
Suguru watched as their opponent appeared a large distance away from them, on the beach. Sand turned to glass in an instant as a small tornado of flame tore through everything, taking dozens of people with it, leaving behind charred corpses. The Curse then ran towards them, leaving behind a path of rough, transparent sand. "Nothing but my Dragon might survive that heat, so I'll save it until we can pin it down. I'll stay at a distance, pepper it with weak Curses while you try your best to give us an opening."
Satoru nodded and Suguru turned to run, a portal to his Technique's storage dimension opening in front of his palm as he fired out small squid-like Curses the shells of which spun and turned to makeshift drills on their way to pierce their flaming brethren.
Infinity protecting him, Satoru bore through the intense heat with Cursed Energy reinforcement, refined and perfected through his Six Eyes, and met their enemy head-on in the eye of the inferno. Their forearms clashed. "Your death will be the beginning!" It shouted, high on the death and chaos it had been causing.
"If you think so." Gojo whispered to himself more than to the Curse.
Nanami Kento liked traveling, it meant that he wasn't fighting for his life, seeing friends and enemies die alike. But right now, he wished for their bus to move just a little faster. "Why're we even helping the Zen'in?" His current partner, Yu Haibara, asked without scorn nor annoyance, simply with pure curiosity born of optimism he wished he could mirror sometimes.
"Tengen's orders." Technically, it was their vice principal's orders, which was Masamichi Yaga after the Ryomen vice principal was fired when the war kicked off yesterday, but that didn't matter, they all received their orders from Tengen.
"And what's happening over there again?" Sheepishly, Yu scratched his cheek. "I forgot."
Nanami sighed in frustration. "The Kamo have started a secondary assault on their compound and the Zen'in sent most of their forces to attack the Ryomen, including the Hei, which leaves them mostly defenseless."
"Ah, okay." Nodding in understanding, Yu went back to minding his own business, holding onto the support hand-holds of the bus, as was Nanami.
He liked the kid, he honestly did. Haibara had an earnestness and kindheartedness that so often died a quiet, lonely death in the Sorcerer's life. That had been the case with Nanami. Maybe it was time to retire, this war was showing him just how little he was cut out for this career.
The bus soon stopped and left them on the side of the road near a forest. Said forest would lead them towards the Zen'in compound- "They already cast a Veil." Nanami noted, seeing the dome at the far end of the forest.
"Well, we should hurry up then!" Haibara began sprinting and, with a tired sigh, Nanami followed.
They were the third group of reinforcements sent, the other two not having been able to report back, since the Veil was a one-way one cast by, presumably, the Kamo. So, Tengen was sending all the Sorcerers she could to help out one of her two allies. This war was a waste of time…
"Dismantle!" Yuji shouted with all the fervor that slumbered deep in his chest. The slash he sent towards the patch-work face Curse was faster than the barrage he initiated the fight with, but his opponent simply took the attack and regenerated his missing half of his body in a flash of congealing Curse-flesh.
"You're funny, kid!" The grin on the bastard's face put him off. "Say, can you defend yourself and those women?" While a sphere of blue power roared to life above them, Yuji dodged the swipe of a sudden scythe that replaced the Curse's left arm, ducking low.
Yuji saw the Curse's, Mahito's, as it had introduced itself when jumping out of the window of the building to their current left before starting to attack him, torso bubble before four metal spikes shot out. Yuji was still trying to figure out his technique, but some form of Biomancy was his current guess.
Gritting his teeth, he turned around and cut the projectiles into little pieces before they could reach Riko and Misato, who stood ready to block the attack with her body to protect her ward. His girlfriend gave him a thankful but visibly terrified glance- he could see past the strong face she was putting on. The fire of protectiveness burst with renewed vigor at the sight.
"Make distance!" Yuji shouted, then his instincts blared and he coated his arms in more Cursed Energy than he was using to reinforce the rest of his body, barely blocking the Curse-skin-colored hammer which broke the bones in said forearms immediately. The momentum of the attack forced Yuji to slide to the side, and 'Mahito' took the opportunity to close the rest of the distance, now within an arm's reach.
"Cleave!" The teen shouted as he slapped the extended and eager hand of the Curse, reaching for his own torso, away with his shaking, pained palm, causing most of the hand, up to the forearm, to flash with a thousand tiny cuts for a moment before being completely eviscerated.
Yuji can't do many Cleaves, since they took a large amount of Cursed Energy to cast, but he had a feeling that he didn't want to be touched by this thing for any amount of time. "'Cmon! Let papa Mahito give you a hug!"
"I'd rather not!" Yuji responded before flipping backwards, creating more distance, corkscrewing in the air and sending out a pair of large, sweeping Dismantles. They only cut deep into the concrete as his foe replaced his arms with wings and, in one large flap, followed Yuji through the air. He landed back on the sand of the beach, his right arm slashing upwards vertically.
Mahito, soaring towards him at full hawk-like speed, was unable to react in time and was cut in half in one, smooth motion. But instead of dying like all other Curses Yuji had met up until then, one half regrew the rest and saw the Curse landing on the sand to his left as well while the right bubbled up into a grotesque mass of spikes and swords, landing on the ground before it tore through the sand towards him in a mindless rage.
But, since it wasn't really sentient anymore, Yuji simply cut it apart with a few Dismantles, no need to pump much energy into them since it wasn't reinforced with as much Cursed Energy as Mahito was. Speaking of whom, he was prancing… away from Yuji. "Hey!" He shouted, only to get a grin from the Curse as it jumped back onto the street above… and began sprinting towards Riko. "No!"
The duo of women had adhered to his advice, so when Yuji chased he managed to slash away the legs of the Curse before it could reach them. "Bah, you're such a bore, kid!" Mahito shouted at him as he fell to the ground. Yuji reached the patchwork-face just as he regenerated and stood back up.
With a grin, Mahito reached into his throat and pulled out strange, saliva-covered and strangely colored raisin things. "See these? They're people! Have fun kids!" Throwing them towards Yuji, he didn't get the time to think of the implications before they started rapidly expanding into a quartet of disfigured, barely humanoid Curse-like creatures.
T-These things are people?
Yuji hesitated in his hand motion that would have cut these thing's heads off. His mind buckled with the implication- he didn't want to kill people! And they clearly had a normal body, they gave off only the barest hints of malevolent Cursed Energy that he'd become accustomed to emanating from Curses, the remnants of Mahito's technique.
But, past these things, he saw Mahito approaching Riko again, Misato spinning her Cursed Broom in preparation. So, he swallowed his morals. "I'm sorry." He felt his heart break a little as he ran past these transfigured people, their upper halves sliding off their bodies.
"Oh! I didn't think you'd kill 'em! Well, morals fall to the wayside fast when I'm gonna kill your girl, right?" Yuji grit his teeth at the words of the Curse as it turned and blackened its forearms, some kind of hardening, which resulted in him blocking the Dismantle Yuji sent his way, receiving only a shallow cut after turning around to face it with this reinforcement.
Despite the grin on the Curse's face, Yuji saw that it was brittle. His senses, honed through long sparring sessions with dad and the occasional Curse extermination, told him that Mahito was starting to run low on Cursed Energy. "You're gonna regret going after them, making me kill your victims for you and all the destruction you've caused today." Yuji smolders with rage.
"H-Heh, sure kid! Whatever you say!" Mahito was stammering, despite the bravado he was putting on.
Just as his enemy was transforming his left hand into another hammer, the flat end of a broom pierced out of his chest. "Piece of scum!" Misato roared, her weapon entrenched through the chest of their enemy, staggering him.
Yuji took the chance- "Get away!" -he shouted towards Misato as he dashed forwards and placed his hand onto the patchwork face that had stressed him so much today. "Cle-" Right as he spoke the words, a third arm shot out of the Curse's back and grabbed Misato's leg. She yelped in surprise.
Time seemed to stop as Yuji finished his chant. His eyes met Riko's, then Misato's. Framed to the left by Mahito's knowing grin, he saw the last terrified expression his friend would ever give him before bubbling and exploding into a red paste right as Yuji fully disintegrated Mahito with the last scraps of his Cursed Energy. "Nooooooo!" Riko screamed, falling to her knees as she cried.
Yuji made sure Mahito had died, seeing the ambient Cursed Energy of his foe dissipate before rushing to his girlfriend's side. "I'm sorry." He apologized as he took her into a hug. She reciprocated eagerly, crying into his chest as they stood at the edge of a puddle of blood- all that remained of a childhood caretaker and friend.
Yuji, taking in the moment with wide eyes, vowed something.
He would protect Riko with everything he had and he would stop this war that had given these Curses the idea to attack. If these stupid old fucks Satoru had told him about hadn't started this war he'd learned about just a few hours ago, maybe Misato wouldn't have had to die.
"I'm so sorry, Riko." He apologized again, his heart feeling brittle, hearing his closest ally, his one and only cry.
Yup… Mahito did not last long. I honestly think that if he was distracted and you had time, you could easily kill Mahito with a full-body Cleave. I've been sick for the past two days, so I don't really trust my performance in this chapter. I don't really like it that much, but you guys tell me.