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Tokyo Jujutsu High, shortly after Gojo and Naoya departed for their respective destinations.
"Those two are gone; let's get going as well."
Gakuganji looked at the others who were still in the room.
"Mei Mei, keep checking with your crows and inform us if you can get a visual. We need to find whoever did this fast. Before any harm comes to the students."
Yaga said in a stern tone as he took off his jacket and folded his sleeves.
He was heading into battle and intended to be prepared.
His cursed energy flared.
A moment later, a rumbling started.
Though, despite the trembling, none of them was worried. They, after all, knew what the source of it was.
A few moments later, the door of the room opened and revealed a horde of cursed puppets.
These puppets were made by Yaga, and although not autonomous like Panda, they were still very useful in battle.
"Let's get going now."
Yaga unbuttoned his collar and cracked his knuckles.
"What are you showing off for? Let us get our equipment too."
Gakuganji smirked and walked off to a nearby closet and took out an electric guitar from it.
Utahime grabbed the slender bag that was lying beside her seat and took out her bat from it.
"Now, let's get going."
Gakuganji slung the guitar and got ready for some action.
Yaga and Utahime nodded as the three Grade 1 sorcerers left to deal with the intruders.
"Mei Mei-san, take care."
Utahime came back to say that before she ran back to Yaga and Gakuganji.
"I am the strongest one left here, and still worrying about me? Well, she is a sweet girl."
Mei Mei shook her head before she used her technique to command more crows to approach the area.
-----
"We did come out, but where do we have to start from?" Utahime asked.
"Don't worry about that, Mei Mei should be contacting us anytime soon. Her crows either died or the curtain is blocking her technique. Either way, more of her crows must be on their way."
As they were running through the Jujutsu High, Utahime's phone rang.
"It's Mei Mei-san!"
Utahime informed and picked up the call.
"An unfamiliar five-man squad is..."
Mei Mei started giving them directions, and a moment later, a crow appeared above them and started leading them in the direction.
After a while, the trio arrived and spotted the unfamiliar people.
"Hm? We have company? Hello~ Do you mind if I stab you a bit?"
A blond man wearing loose black overalls asked with a cheeky smile on his face.
"An old coot, a muscleman with dolls, and a hot priestess...*whistle*"
A black man wearing tight-fitting clothes and glasses appraised them.
"Sorcerers? Well, it's literally their turf. I shouldn't be surprised."
A young woman with pink hair mumbled with an uninterested look on her face.
There were two other guys, but they didn't say anything.
One of them was a muscular, bare-chested guy who had heart-shaped pasties over his nipples.
The other one was a muscular guy as well, though he was fully clothed and had a headband.
Yaga was the first one to step forward.
"Usually I would have asked what you guys are doing here and all that shit...but right now, we are in a hurry. For trespassing on the Jujutsu High grounds, you all will be neutralised and detained!"
The puppets who were standing behind Yaga perked up and immediately got aggressive.
Gakuganji and Utahime got ready as well and immediately reinforced their bodies with CE.
"Haha, just because you have quite a few dolls, you think you will be able to win?! We still outnumber you!"
The blonde, crazy guy mocked the three of them.
*CAW**CAW*
Out of nowhere, a murder of crows started cawing.
The five curse users looked around.
For some reason, it felt like the crows were announcing someone's arrival.
"Hmm? Well, then you won't mind if I join in to balance the odds?"
A new voice came, and the five curse users turned around.
From that direction, Mei Mei was walking towards them with a calm smile and a giant axe in hand.
Above her were around a hundred crows circling the sky. {A/N: A crow user too deeply invested in their brother....Is she related to some family problem-solving Uchiha?}
The five curse users got serious.
They might outnumber the sorcerers themselves, but the cursed puppets and the crows somehow made them feel like the number advantage wasn't in their favour anymore.
"Come on, old man. Give us a sick BGM for the fight."
Yaga smirked as he cracked his knuckles.
"Dwight!"
A sloth-cursed puppet that was beside him climbed up his body and latched its legs around Yaga.
The puppet then rested its body against Yaga's before its arms spread out and bulked up into a muscular pair as well.
Yaga stood menacingly with a smirk and with a total of four arms, two human and two puppets.
"Hmph, no respect for your elders..."
Gakuganji snorted before he took a deep breath and started strumming his guitar.
Cursed energy started to vibrate out of his body as the music got louder and louder.
Utahime tightened her grip on the bat and narrowed her eyes on the curse users.
The bat she now held was the same one that Naoya had gifted her back in high school, though the bat had gotten several upgrades since then and was now a Special Grade cursed tool.
It now has a much higher output, and it can also shoot out concentrated CE blasts for long-range support.
It also had a recall function to call it back if it were ever out of reach.
Mei Mei simply rested the axe on her shoulders.
The five curse users narrowed their eyes.
Their entire calm and collected demeanour faded away as they saw the sorcerers getting serious.
They too took out their weapons and got ready to fight as well.
"Larue, leaving the support to you."
"Hmph, no need to tell me."
The black man started tapping his feet on the ground.
"It might be a nice warm-up before the main dance!"
Miguel Oduol smiled excitedly.
His group, along with the crazy eye tattoo guy, was sent here to interfere if their target, Yuta Okkotsu, were to start acting out while their other friend behind the barrier fought and distracted them.
But for now, there were no signs of that happening, so a bit of playing around won't be bad.
-----
Inside the barrier, Hanami, the Special Grade cursed spirit, formed because of Humanity's collective fear and hatred for the world's forests, was the one who caused a sudden spike in cursed energy markers and made them burn.
All the cursed spirits that were inside the barrier were destroyed by them, and now they were involved in a battle with the students who were still inside the match field.
Their first targets were Momo Nishimiya, who was flying around in the sky, Mechamaru and Kasumi Miwa, who came to Momo's rescue when called.
"Mechamaru!"
"Got it!"
[Ultimate Mechmaru- Sword Option]
Mechamru's arm sprouted blades and sliced apart the roots that were heading towards them.
Momo and Miwa used their own weapons as well to stop the roots from hitting them, but their attacks seemed to be mostly ineffective against the woody roots.
"Pathetically weak."
Hanami calmly pointed that out without any care at all.
However, out of nowhere, the wind around them started to get violent.
They looked at the forest and noticed multiple trees in a particular direction were swaying violently before being blown away.
[Creation: Hurricane]
A massive tornado blasted out of the forest, blowing apart the trees and roots that were attacking the other three.
Hanami immediately jumped away to dodge the attack.
"Is it the strong one, Geto mentioned..." Hanami muttered.
Maki and Mai arrived after the attack had died down.
"Everyone alright?!"
Mai asked in panic.
She got the SOS from Momo and hurried as fast as she could with Maki.
Though seeing the massive attack made both the sisters realise that they might not make it in time, and for that reason, Mai used her technique to blow everything in her path with a giant tornado.
"Mai! Thanks for the save, but what the hell?!"
Momo yelled out loud. She was just barely able to hold herself back from getting engulfed in the tornado.
Mechamaru was hugging Miwa protectively and had planted his legs in the ground to not get blown away as well.
"Thank you, Mechamaru..." Miwa mumbled.
"Don't mention it..." Mechamaru mumbled as well.
Although he was physically not present there, the closeness still embarrassed him.
"Oi! Save your lovey-dovey stuff for later if you don't wanna die!!!"
Maki yelled out loud as she immediately got serious.
Everyone else got serious a second later as well.
The CE that oozed out of Hanami suddenly struck all of them.
It felt too massive and ominous, and even made standing in their presence difficult.
"You are not the strong one....such a weak presence."
Hanami casually walked closer to them.
Maki gulped and glanced at the rest of them.
Except for Mechamaru, who wasn't physically present, everyone else was stunned and shocked.
"Mai."
"What?"
"You scared shitless?"
"...Hah! Like hell I am!"
"Hehe, as expected of my sister. I can count on you, right?"
"Planning to run away?"
"Do you think this curse would let us?"
"...Can you count on me?... Is that something to even ask? Let's break it!"
Maki and Mai stepped forward.
Hanami stopped coming closer and tilted their head in confusion. Why were the weakest ones acting brave?
"Don't die on me!"
Both sisters said simultaneously as Maki dashed forward at great speed.
[Kanshou, Bakuya - Overedge]
The short swords that Maki held suddenly glowed and became larger. The CE coming out of them became fiercer as well, and this was immediately noticed by Hanami.
Hanami raised their hand to attack the incoming human.
However, Maki stopped all of a sudden before she could come within her range and jumped over her.
Hanami noticed that and used their technique to summon a wave of roots to slam into Maki.
Maki, though, simply smirked at that and sliced at the roots with Bakuya.
Kanshou and Bakuya were weapons developed specially for Maki by Naoya and Zankyo.
The blades normally come as short curved swords, but have two alternate forms in the form of guns and giant swords as well.
Each form operated a bit differently, but the core abilities of all forms of the weapons were the same.
The black sword cut physical objects better, while the white sword cut CE and objects made of CE better.
Because of its inherent property and Overedge's boosted output and strength, Bakuya sliced through the roots quite easily.
[Solid Air: Phalanx]
A wall of solidified air struck Hanami, pushing them back.
[Elastic Air: Trampoline]
An elastic air platform formed below Maki's feet as she jumped on it to propel her body forward.
Maki cut through the air at great speed and appeared directly above Hanami.
A feral grin appeared on her face as she twisted her body mid-air and landed multiple slashes on Hanami.
"Annoying!"
A deep voice came out of the cursed spirit, though its words were not understandable
Maki's face stiffened.
The cuts on the curse's body were shallow.
"Tch!"
Maki clicked her tongue and landed on Hanami's head before using it as a step to jump away from it.
[Stop it, foolish children]
Out of nowhere, a calm yet cold voice echoed in every student's head.
A shiver went down their spine.
The cursed mumbled something not understandable, but they could still make out what it meant. They felt like someone spoke directly in their minds, and it was a totally creepy feeling.
[All I want is to protect this planet.]
They were now sure that the curse was talking to them, and all of them gulped.
Mechamaru, Momo, and Miwa had been dodging the curse's attacks for quite a while and knew how strong its attacks were.
Maki and Mai were not that familiar with how the curse operated, but knew that it would take quite a lot to deal with the curse, especially after seeing how little Maki's attack damaged the curse.
[The forest, the sea, and the sky all weep vehemently from the tragedies they have withstood. It has become impossible to coexist with humans any longer.]
Hanami paused and looked at the sky.
[They know that there are humans who care for the planet. But there is only so much their mere compassion can achieve....All they need is a bit of time...Time, without humans harming them....Given a bit of time, this planet can shine once more!]
A giant mass of trees started to emerge out of the earth, and within moments, a tall canopy made of cursed roots, wood, and leaves stood tall in the middle of the field.
[So, stop struggling and become sages for the planet's well-being.]
Hanami finished their part as they looked straight at the motionless children.
They will kill these first before going to gauge, and if possible, take down the strong on-
[Wither Away!]
A voice echoed in the surroundings as Hanami felt an unknown energy crush them and make them stop maintaining their technique.
Within seconds, the entire plant mass that they created a while ago vanished.
[Divine Dog: Totality]
A werewolf-like shikigami dropped down from the sky and attacked the Hanami, tearing off a bit of mass from Hanami's revealing hand.
Though it got healed as fast as it was damaged.
Hanami and the students looked up.
Up there were Toge, Megumi, and Noritoshi, who jumped down from the [Nue + Giant Snake] shikigami.
"Inumaki!"
Noritoshi ordered.
"Don't move!"
Inumaki directed his technique at Hanami, holding it in place as Megumi took out his katana from the shadows while Noritoshi took out a blood bag.
[Convergence - Piercing Blood!]
A pressurised blood jet fired out of Noritoshi's hand and struck Hanami's hand, injuring it once again.
Megumi strengthened the blade of his sword using CE and dived down straight towards Hanami and used his falling momentum to land a deep slash on Hanami's arm, chopping a huge chunk out of it before diving into his shadows.
"Mai!"
Noritoshi called once again as the younger twin immediately got into action and used her technique to form a cushioned air platform to save Inumaki and Noritoshi.
"Where the hell did this curse come from?"
Megumi asked as he emerged from the shadows and stood beside Maki and Mai.
"Don't know, still, we are in deep shit," Maki replied as she noticed that the hand Megumi cut off after that over-the-top attack had regenerated.
"You plan on doing more of those dive attacks. We might need them."
"Don't be stupid, just tearing through its arm before made me feel like I was cutting through solid steel using paper. That curse's durability is off the charts."
Megumi complained, but still got ready to fight.
If dive slashes were needed, then he would do that.
[So many of you indisciplined children...]
Hanami called out in a deep voice before they focused on Megumi.
'Is he the strong one?'
Out of everyone there, Megumi Fushiguro felt the stronge-
As that thought crossed Hanami's mind, a sinister aura suddenly descended upon the battlefield.
"...I had never thought that I would feel relieved, feeling that creepy presence..." Maki muttered.
Hanami's body stiffened.
They were a Special Grade Curse, and even among those, they ranked far higher than normal special grades.
Despite that, the cursed energy and sheer malice they felt at that moment surpassed anything Hanami had ever experienced.
"Umm...is it fine if I join in now, or should I still stay away?" Yuta asked hesitantly and looked towards Maki.
Yuta Okkotsu was ordered to stay away from others for the duration of the game unless the others were stuck in a bad match-up.
'This is a bad match-up, right?'