Boof Boof Boof
In the observation room, every single talisman placed on target curses ignited, burning away simultaneously.
"Huh?" Utahime said in confusion as everyone looked at the burning talismans.
"Game over, and all Tokyo red?" she questioned.
"That's strange, my crows didn't see anything either," Mei Mei said, looking at the screens that came up with nothing.
"I'd like to say, as the GTG —Great Teacher Gojo— that my students exorcised them, but even when exorcised with non-registered cursed energy, it'll burn red," Gojo said, leaning forward in his seat.
"It must be an outsider. Maybe an intruder?" Utahime suggested.
"Does that mean Master Tengen's protective barrier isn't working?" Mei Mei asked, also sitting up.
"Intruder or not, this is an unexpected situation," Gakuganji said, thinking about how skilled the intruder must be to kill that semi-grade 1 cursed spirit he placed in the event.
"I'm heading over to Master Tengen. Satoru, you go with Principal Gakuganji to rescue the students," Principal Yaga said seriously, already prepared to act.
"Mei will stay here and try to get a lock on where the students are located. Please let Satoru and the others know as soon as you find out," Yaga said, looking at Mei Mei, who nodded.
"Understood, I'll be expecting a bonus though," she agreed.
"Let's go, Grandpa! Time for your walk!" Gojo cheered from behind Gakuganji.
"You had your lunch already, remember?" Gojo said, clapping to hurry them along.
"Let's hurry," Utahime said, looking annoyed at Gojo's antics.
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"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure," a curse user by the name of Juzo Kumiya chanted, dropping a curtain over the entire Goodwill Event battlegrounds.
In the distance, Todo and Yuji were having fun clashing with one another when they both stopped, looking to the sky.
"Is that a curtain?! Why now?" Yuji asked, as Todo narrowed his eyes, feeling a bad premonition coming about.
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"Gojo! Before the curtain fully forms, you go on ahead!" Utahime shouted as Gakuganji, Gojo, and her ran towards the event area.
"No can do," Gojo said simply, as Utahime didn't understand.
"What?!"
"The curtain is already completely formed. It's prioritizing the cursed technique's effect over the visual, impressive stuff."
"Welp, we'll just rip it apart after it's complete anyway," Gojo said, landing in front of the barrier with the other two not far behind.
Reaching out to touch it, Gojo found his hand violently repelled as sparks of cursed energy singed his hand.
'What is this weird feeling?' Gojo thought to himself.
"Hey," Utahime called to Gojo, as he looked over to her.
"Why did you get repelled and I didn't?" she asked, her hand effortlessly going through the barrier.
"I see," Gojo said, a grin breaking out onto his face.
"Utahime and Gramps, you two go ahead. This curtain, in exchange for denying Satoru Gojo entry, gives everyone else free access!" Gojo explained, shocking the two of them.
'In that case, the balance between give and take makes sense. But a curtain that can single out a specific individual would take a very skilled—' Utahime's thoughts were cut off as Gojo spoke.
"There's a very skilled curse user out there, and they seem to have a fair amount of info on us too," Gojo said, holding his chin.
"C'mon, get going already. I dunno what their objective is, but if even a single person dies, we lose."
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Landing some distance away from the impact, Megumi—still fused with Nue—held Noritoshi and Inumaki, having used his speed to get them out of there.
Vooooo
The cursed energy radiating off Hanami was suffocating. They were a true special grade cursed spirit, far beyond that finger bearer from before.
"Why is there a cursed spirit here, and whose curtain is that?" Noritoshi questioned, looking at Hanami with a wary expression.
"It's probably coming from whoever is working with this cursed spirit," Megumi said, floating just above the other two, his senses focused on the special grade before him.
"Koff!" Inumaki coughed to get their attention.
"Huh? You know something?" Megumi looked over at Inumaki.
"I think it's the special grade cursed spirit that attacked Gojo-sensei before," Megumi said, remembering the poorly drawn image Gojo made of a similar-looking curse before the Goodwill Event.
"It definitely matches the description. I can tell even from that guy's drawing."
"Tuna mayo," Inumaki said, making a call gesture.
"Yeah, we should probably call Gojo-sensei."
"Wait a minute..." Noritoshi sweatdropped.
"You understand what he's saying?"
"Does that matter right now?" Megumi asked, taking out his phone.
"It might use Domain Expansion on us. We need to contact Gojo-sensei and—" Megumi suddenly raised his arm, catching a rapid blow from Hanami, who had already crossed the distance in an instant.
Saving his phone, Megumi was about to push Hanami back and make distance, but a hidden wooden root shot from the ground, impaling the phone and making Megumi suck his teeth.
'Tch, guess it won't be that easy, huh?' he thought, as Inumaki made a move.
"Don't Move!" Inumaki shouted at Hanami, stunning them as he and Noritoshi made a break for it.
Throwing a blood bag at Hanami, Noritoshi used Blood Manipulation: Crimson Binding, snaring Hanami. Instead of running, Megumi charged his lightning, unleashing the attack he had planned on knocking out Noritoshi with, but this time at full output.
"Ten Shadows: Lightning Ray!" Megumi said, as a massive 20-meter-wide beam of lightning burst out, engulfing Hanami before they could react and blowing them away.
"You two get out of here and contact Gojo. I'll hold it off," Megumi said before flying upward, dodging dozens of sharp roots that all impaled his previous position.
Hanami jumped out of the smoke, punching Megumi; however, Megumi blocked with his wings. Opening his wings, the force pushed Hanami back, knocking them off guard. Megumi grabbed Hanami by their eye-roots, flying away so Inumaki and Noritoshi wouldn't be killed.
"%£¢^€@$ (Bastard)," Hanami said, knocking Megumi's arm off their eye-root and twisting to kick Megumi in the back, landing on a high platform of roots they created beneath themselves.
As Megumi corrected himself in the air and turned back to Hanami, he saw three balls of roots floating around Hanami before they rushed at him.
"Hmmm..." Megumi charged his lightning, blasting down the three balls only to sense more behind him.
Turning, he saw four more that all fired spear-like roots at him from different angles. He tilted his head, dodging the first, and caught another, crushing it. Then, he flew upwards to dodge the third, catching the fourth with lightning.
Just as he focused back on Hanami, he was slammed into by a wave of roots that dragged him into the dirt, carving a trench in the area.
Bursting free with a pulse of lightning, Megumi fired another Lightning Ray, which Hanami formed a wall of roots to block once again.
Taking this opportunity, Megumi switched modes to Max Elephant. Dense armor that felt heavy settled onto him as he realized he could control and create water now. And his placement for the transformation?
Right over Hanami's head, using the full weight of Max Elephant to stomp down. The blow broke Hanami's arm as they tried to block it, a massive shockwave cratering the ground as six tons fell at Megumi's full speed.
Jumping away, Hanami seemed annoyed as they healed their arm back to good as new. Then Hanami cracked a smile. Megumi looked down at his abdomen; there was a small bud sprouting on his stomach. Yet, to Hanami's surprise, a stone-faced Megumi ripped it straight out of himself without hesitation before it could root itself any deeper in his body.
"What a troublesome curse..." Megumi grimaced.
Channeling the water of Max Elephant, Megumi released a thin, pressurized ray of water from his palm, about as wide as a baseball. It tore through everything, drilling into Hanami's body as Hanami quickly scrambled out of its line of fire.
Megumi went to intercept them but found he was much slower in this state despite its defense, so he switched back to his Nue state to catch up, dodging through many sudden root spikes.
Once he reached top speed, Megumi swapped back to his Max Elephant state, combining his weight with his speed to launch Hanami through the forest, shattering their ribs.