[-.-- --- ..- / ..-. . . .-.. / -.-. .- .-.. -- .-.-.-]
While Kazu is fighting off a bunch of curses, Aiko, Aoto, and Fumiko are looking around the area from where they last saw Kazu.
"Where did he go… he was just right here!" Aiko huffed out, trying to catch her breath.
Fumiko fiddles with her twintails as she leans down to expect the area.
"I feel a significant sense of dreadful aura… It's like there's a bunch of curses nearby," Aoto mutters.
Suddenly, the ground rumbles.
"Uhm… guys? There's something wrong with this sew-"
As soon as Fumiko was about to finish talking, the manhole covers blew open, making everyone fly back.
"What the hell!? What is going on!?" Aoto shouts out, drawing his blade.
"Stay alert! I think we got ourselves a big one…" Aiko declared, also drawing her weapon, which is an axe.
That's when a large twisted anomaly crawls through the cracks of the underground.
Its face twitching into many, and its disproportionate body twisting inhumanely.
"Is t-that… an a-anomaly…?" Fumiko stuttered out.
(Anomalies are a rare case that happens when multiple curses all spawn at the same time and merge. It stockpiles their strength and speed, and sometimes they can take on multiple appearances, and in this case, it takes on the appearance of an 8-foot-tall centipede-looking creature.)
"Damn it, if we don't take this thing out soon, it can escape and crawl towards the city…" Aoto muttered, getting into a fighting stance.
Fumiko suddenly spawns in multiple throwing knives imbued with the holy energy that powers the other weapons and chucks them at the anomaly.
CRACK! KABOOM!
The knives detonate, injecting the anomaly with holy energy.
The anomaly shrieks in pain and turns toward Fumiko, slowly speeding up towards her.
"Shit, I think I made it even more mad!!!" Fumiko exclaimed while preparing to run.
Suddenly, the anomaly runs through multiple houses trying to catch Fumiko, while the other two are chasing after it.
"It's too fast! It's around the same speed as a freight train!" Aiko yelled out.
She lunges forward and swings her axe at the extended limbs on its body. However, as soon as she was about to strike, one of the hands took hold of her axe.
"Let go, you nasty arm!" Aiko shouted out.
Her grip tightened on her axe, and more holy energy got imbued into it, burning her hand. But right after, it smacks her hard, knocking her straight into a car.
Seeing his younger sister get knocked away by the curse, Aoto is filled with even more rage.
"You son of a bitch! You'll pay for that!" Aoto snapped.
He dashes to the side of the anomaly and slashes its legs, making it howl in pain as its focus on Fumiko abruptly stops.
"Thank you so much, I thought I was gonna get trampled…" Fumiko breathed out.
Aoto nodded and turned back to the anomaly, which is now lying on the ground as it flails its limbs in pain.
"You're one fast thing to catch, I'll tell ya that…" Aoto muttered out while slowly walking towards it, swinging his sword and pointing it at the anomaly.
"We are the 3rd Division of the Elite Curse Exorcism Team, and we are here to take you out!" Aoto slashes multiple limbs off of the anomaly, making it shriek in even more pain.
Aiko also makes her way towards the others, limping a bit in pain.
"Good job, Aoto-Kun, let's hurry and take this anomaly out," Aiko says while swinging her axe.
As the three of them are slowly chipping away the flesh of the anomaly, they don't realize that the cores combined from the merged curses are only getting stronger with every slash.
"It's almost down, keep slashing!" Suddenly, when a strike hits one of the cores, the anomaly spews out a cursed light from its body, which shakes the ground again.
"It's regenerating! The cores must've reacted to the blow!" Aiko said on high alert.
That's when the anomaly gets up and smashes the ground, creating a shockwave and destroying the land around it.
"It's stronger than before! How are we supposed to take it out now!?" Fumiko whined out.
Aoto tries rushing in and slashing it; however, the anomaly's attacks have gotten even faster than before, and it whips their limbs, knocking him far.
GAHHH!
Fumiko launched multiple exploding knives into the anomaly, but every time it detonated the holy energy, it kept healing itself up.
"We have to call for backup! It's too strong! Aiko-Kun, What do we do!? Kazu-San is nowhere to be found!" Fumiko cries out.
Aiko tries brainstorming… but without the team's strongest asset, there's not much they can do… [STAY TUNED FOR PART 2]