Maki struggled to sit up, her body marred with internal injuries from the slightest of the shockwaves reaching her body before being protected by the blood barrier Chino created in the nick of time.
Her eyelashes trembled in pain, a soreness spreading throughout her entire body as she managed to get onto her two feet, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly, a pained groan alerted Maki, who spun around with her hand latched onto the handle of her spear, still hidden inside the case, only to stop as she saw Panda, hugging Inumaki with his burly arms, slowly stand up.
Parts of Panda's body were scratched open, as if he were a stuffed toy that was filled with cotton. Inumaki, probably the physically weakest in the group, was still knocked out.
"Akira..."
From the ground, Yuka slowly pushed herself up with shaking arms, feeling as if her arms were made of lead. Looking around for Akira, Yuka's pupils trembled when she found no trace of him.
Standing up from the charred ground, Yuka ignored Maki and the others. Instead, she looked around, watching as Chino in the distance began fighting with the leader.
"Rika... Please heal these three," Yuka slowly pulled the silver ring off the chain hanging tightly around her fair neck, before slipping it onto her left ring finger.
"Yuuuuta... Akira," Rika's worried and distorted voice echoed loudly from behind her as her body fully manifested from the shadows. Rika looked into the distance, worried in her tone as she felt Akira's dull presence.
Rika didn't really care about those three yet; she would much rather go after Akira and check if he is okay.
"Another cursed spirit?! No, they don't behave like cursed spirits, and they are protecting humans... Maybe vengeful spirits?" The assassin leader, running around and dodging Chino's claw swipes, thought to himself in fear.
He instantly knew his life today was over when Yuka's eyes latched onto him from the crater, a fierce anger burning in her black pupils along wiht massive killing intent.
"Rika, I know... I want nothing more than to rush to Akira and heal him first..." Yuka answered to quell Rika's worry, her cursed energy tightly wrapping around her body and spinning in slow circles, reinforcing her muscles like crazy.
"But not before I kill this son of a bitch and his lackeys. And in the process, get information out of him," Yukja's tone shifted into a darker, more cruel shade as she pulled her sword out from her waist.
The cursed blade gleamed in the air, her eyes fixed on the assassins, her centre of gravity lowering as she got into a stance suited for a thrust attack.
"Okayyyyy..." Rika nodded before moving to the injured Maki and Inumaki. Panda's injuries were not fatal as long as his cores were not destroyed.
Meaning Yaga can put Panda back together in one piece, even if only his head remained, just as long as his cores are not destroyed.
Maki flinched as Rika's cold palm landed on her shoulder, a chilling sensation seeping and spreading throughout her body, before a sudden film of white energy covered her entire body.
'Is this Rika?' Maki thought to herself. Since her glasses got destroyed, Maki can't see curses anymore, so Rika and Chino were invisible to her eyes and senses.
Rika quickly touched Inumaki as well, healing his body before he could kick the bucket. Inumaki was the weakest, so he was hit the hardest, his internal organs rupturing from the shockwaves.
But it healed in seconds, allowing him to stay alive, while Maki clenched her fists, feeling her strength climb back to her peak. She wasted no time taking her cursed spear out and holding it.
"Ugh!" Inumaki's painful groan echoed as the Cursed Speech user woke up, sitting up in Panda's arm, holding his stomach where pain had radiated a few seconds ago.
Inumaki looked around with confusion and caution, sweat sliding down his temple.
"Maki, Inumki and Panda. You three quickly make your way to Akira's location. Bring him back here, and if you can't, take him and run." Yuka looked at the three with a dead serious face, looking as if she hadn't got any sleep in days.
"What are you going to do? You surely realise that you've been a sorcerer for a mere month! You can't fight all these trained assassins," Maki said with gritted teeth. Yuka fighting alone with so many assassins was a death sentence in Maki's mind.
"Don't worry, just go and do as I said, I promise I'll win," Yuka patted Maki's shoulder before turning to the fight. Her legs clenched, a sudden burst of massive, cursed energy exploding under her feet.
Boom!
Yuka arrived in front of an assassin as if she had teleported, her sword carving a white light in the sky, tinged with a deep red from blood as the assassin fell, clutching his throat.
"Get her all at once!" An assassin screamed as they swarmed Yuka from all sides. Only four of them remained, but they were assassins and trained to be loyal dogs, so they didn't care about their lives.
Yuka clenched both hands on her sword's hilt. She took a deep breath, filling her sword with as much cursed energy as she could. Right before the assassins reached a meter from her, she stabbed her Katana into the hard concrete.
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion of pink cursed energy rocked the entire surroundings. A crater dozens of meters wide appeared in the ground, and the assassin was hit by the cursed energy explosion, turning into pieces.
These assassins were mere Grade 3 and Grade 2 in the jujutsu ranking system. After all, the number of Grade 1 sorcerers on the surface does not exceed 20.
Even their leader was only a weaker Grade 1 sorcerer.
"Haaaah..."
Yuka let the breath she was holding in leave, her face relaxing as black locks of smooth hair fell over her shoulders, framing her face as if they had a mind of their own.
Boom!
A shockwave rushed towards her, blowing her hair back.
Yuka looked towards Chino, only to see the spirit placing her palms together with a massive clap, before streaks of red started flying into the cracks between her closed palms.
The assassin leader widened his eyes in shock as he recognised the Kamo clan's technique. His body shivered, his legs losing their strength as he felt the weight of death loom over him.
"Wait! Don't kill him, we need information-"
Pew!
Chino seemingly didn't hear. A streak of blood flew through the air at high speeds; even Yuka, with her body enhanced, could not see when or how the blood left Chino's palms, let alone the assassin.
"Ugh!"
The assassin's body seized up for a second before he fell to the floor, a fist-sized hole in his chest, right where his heart had been beating a second ago.
"Ahh..." Yuka watched with a gaping mouth, her eyes wide and sweat sliding down her temple. A few seconds later, her hand and head drooped in defeat, coming to terms wiht not finding information.
"Chino, let's go after Akira now," Yuka placed her sword in her sheath before turning to the distance.
"And we'll kill anyone who gets in our way,"
Yuka muttered coldly.
____________________________________________
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