"Well, about that..." Mei Mei pondered for a moment. "There isn't much we can do. As long as it uses its Innate Technique to hide, we simply can't find it to launch an attack."
The group was still unaware of the Nightmare Bat's true technique; hiding in the shadows was merely a racial trait of the creature.
The three juniors sat in a circle with Hasegumo standing in the center. With his level of raw power and reaction speed, he could defend against an attack and counter-strike at this range regardless of who the target was. Letting him stand guard alone, rather than alongside Mei Mei, was a silent testament to the group's absolute faith that his strength had already eclipsed that of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
"The creature only gives off a surge of Cursed Energy when it attacks," Mei Mei said, turning to Hasegumo. "But only you are fast enough to strike back before it vanishes again."
Mei Mei frankly admitted that her own physical reaction speed was inferior to Hasegumo's.
"I'm sure you could do it too, Mei Mei-san," Hasegumo said with a light grin. "You are a Grade 1, after all."
"Even when I'm on high alert, I can only guarantee that I won't get hurt," Mei Mei said, brushing a long strand of hair behind her ear. "There is a split-second gap between perceiving an ambush and circulating Cursed Energy to activate a technique."
She looked at him with genuine intrigue. "To simultaneously handle defense and a counter-attack in such a short window... it's hard to imagine. Can you actually force your Cursed Energy to flow in opposite directions during combat? If you still had both hands, I honestly think you'd already be classified as a Special Grade Sorcerer."
"Ah, haha! It's just that my technique makes it easier to move energy around," Hasegumo laughed, looking a bit sheepish. "How could I be a Special Grade if I can't even use a Domain Expansion? I can't beat Satoru at all, and he's only a..."
As he spoke, Hasegumo suddenly blurred, appearing behind Nanami. His left leg pivoted slightly, and a spark of black lightning flickered for a fraction of a second. Before the Nightmare Bat's right claw could even touch the ground, it was forced to dissolve into a swarm of tiny bats to escape. The curse vanished back into the depths of the darkness.
"...Grade 1," Hasegumo finished, his tone as steady as if he hadn't just moved. He walked calmly back to the center of the formation.
The internal reactions of the group were remarkably synchronized.
So cool, thought the resident fanboy, Haibara.
Gumo-senpai feels like a super-reliable adult already, thought the future salaryman, Nanami.
Truly powerful, Mei Mei noted silently.
Suddenly, as if a lightbulb had gone off, Mei Mei stood up. "I just thought of a way."
The boys looked up as Mei Mei reached into her pouch and pulled out a handful of intricately engraved nails. From the Cursed Energy radiating from them, they were undoubtedly high-grade Cursed Tools.
"If these Cursed Tools are arranged in a specific pattern, the residual energy within them will diffuse, automatically forming a unique barrier," she explained.
"A Cursed Spirit's Innate Domain is essentially an environment altered by a massive amount of leaked Cursed Energy clinging to physical objects. What do you think happens if that same space is suddenly flooded with a large amount of energy from a different source?"
Haibara and Nanami, still being relatively new to the world of jujutsu and barrier techniques, could only tilt their heads and remain silent, playing the part of the confused underclassmen.
Hasegumo, however, was no longer a total novice. He immediately caught her drift and answered with total confidence. "Different sources of Cursed Energy will clash! In other words, if the energy from the nails interferes with the energy maintaining the domain, the Nightmare Bat's environment will be neutralized, right?"
"Bingo," Mei Mei said, snapping her fingers.
"So, who's going to do it?" Hasegumo looked at the three of them, feeling conflicted. Leaving Mei Mei to protect the two juniors felt a bit risky, but as she had just admitted, she could only guarantee her own safety under pressure.
There were sixteen nails in total. That meant sixteen opportunities for the curse to ambush the person setting them. No one could guarantee Mei Mei would block every strike perfectly, and Hasegumo couldn't accept letting a teammate go on what might be a suicide mission.
"You, obviously." Mei Mei's face was partially obscured by the shadows, but Hasegumo clearly saw her give him a quick wink. "Go on. I'll keep them safe."
Though he didn't quite understand the wink, he chose to trust his teammate. Even if Mei Mei was a pragmatist, she wouldn't gamble with the lives of two other students.
"Then I'm leaving Nanami and Haibara in your hands, Mei Mei-san."
Hasegumo grabbed the bundle of nails and began walking into the dark. Mei Mei picked up her battle-axe and began pacing behind the two juniors.
One step, two steps... Hasegumo couldn't help but glance back. The light from their flashlights was still visible. He took a deep breath. He'd made his choice to trust her; there was no point in second-guessing now.
In truth, Hasegumo wasn't as relaxed as he appeared. Guarding the group required millisecond-level reactions to the curse's trajectory while simultaneously managing his body and energy. Just standing there in a state of Shindigunken was physically and mentally draining.
"Without having to worry about my teammates, I can easily deflect that thing's attacks," he muttered. As he moved further away, the pressure of protecting the others vanished. He rolled his wrist, loosening up.
"Wait... Mei Mei didn't tell me the pattern for the nails. That doesn't seem like a mistake she'd make," Hasegumo's brain finally kicked into gear.
What was that wink for? Was she telling me to circle back and set an ambush?
No, we can't sense the thing, so we can't ambush it. If she didn't give me instructions, was that a hint?
The curse was scared of my 'Domain Expansion' earlier, which means it has some intelligence, but not a lot. Hasegumo thought narcissistically, I guess I really am the smarter one here.
No, focus. Mei Mei has the same intel I do. Think like she would. Perspective shift.
If I were the curse, and the enemy had items that could neutralize my home-field advantage but they had to split up to use them... I'd go after the guy with the items. I get it!
In that moment, a rush of dopamine flooded Hasegumo's system. He'd figured it out.
"This should be far enough," Hasegumo said loudly to himself, stuffing the extra nails into his pocket. "Time to start planting these things."
He crouched down, holding a single nail. Just as he prepared to drive it into the ground, the air shifted.
"Because of the Curtain, the Cursed Spirit has to kill Hasegumo to ensure its own survival."
Back at the group's position, Mei Mei had actually sat down with the two juniors, her axe resting casually by her side. "I'm here, and the curse can't kill us quickly. So, it has to make a choice."
She smoothed a stray hair from her forehead. "It can either attack us, or it can ambush Hasegumo while he's busy setting the barrier."
"But what if it chooses us? Mei Mei-senpai, I'm already at my limit with the 'Limit' state," Haibara asked earnestly.
"Idiot," Nanami snapped, giving Haibara a sharp flick to the forehead. "If it had chosen to attack us, we'd already be dead the moment Mei Mei-senpai put her weapon down."
"Not quite," Mei Mei smiled, pulling out a small iron trowel. "I have another Grade 1 Cursed Tool on me that's actually better for defense than the axe. I wouldn't joke with your lives. But it was never going to attack us. I noticed earlier—that thing only uses its hiding technique when it isn't being hit by light."
"Essentially, its 'Nocturnal' movement is tied directly to its Innate Domain. It's unconventional, but it's the truth."
"What does that have to do with it not attacking us?" baby Haibara asked again.
"Because even if it killed us, it would still die once Hasegumo finished the barrier," Nanami explained, the realization dawning on him. "It fell for Gumo-senpai's fake 'Domain Expansion,' which proves it's the type of creature that values its own life above all else. Losing its Innate Domain means its only way to avoid Senpai's attacks disappears."
"Even if it can split into bats to mitigate damage, Cursed Energy isn't infinite. Gumo-senpai might have less total energy than a Special Grade, but because his physical combat is so efficient, he only uses energy for offense and defense. The curse, however, has to burn extra energy constantly to maintain its techniques."
"It won't throw away its only chance at survival."
"One hundred percent," Mei Mei added. "Those nails are actually just props for a 'Binding Vow Curtain.' I was going to make up a lie to trick the curse, but Hasegumo went off on a tangent with some half-baked barrier theory and reached exactly the conclusion I needed. It was a completely wrong answer, but it's more than enough to fool a Cursed Spirit."
"He was so confident... and he was wrong?" Haibara muttered. "Man, he even fooled me."
"When Senpai uses that tone, anyone would believe him," Nanami said seriously, looking at Mei Mei. "Even so, how can you be sure he'll be able to kill it in a fight?"
"Who knows?" Mei Mei said nonchalantly. "I've set the stage for a one-on-one. How far he can go is something we can only watch from the sidelines."
In the darkness, a lethal claw lunged forward. Hasegumo wasn't surprised at all. His "brilliant" brain had correctly deduced Mei Mei's intent: he was the bait, and he had forced the curse into a confrontation.
Exactly what I wanted.
The thought flashed through his mind as he pivoted. A kick loaded with a massive amount of Cursed Energy slammed into the Nightmare Bat's abdomen. Simultaneously, his only hand whipped the bundle of nails upward, parrying the curse's claw with a metallic clink.
Black lightning flickered. BOOM!
The curse took the hit, but this time, its body didn't shatter into bats. It let out a muffled grunt, its body remaining solid as its left and right claws lunged forward to force Hasegumo back.
Hasegumo didn't retreat. He hardened his body with a dense coating of Cursed Energy, tanking the strikes. In the same breath, he threw a straight punch with his right hand, driving it once more into the creature's gut.
They descended into a brutal, close-quarters brawl, but their objectives were polar opposites.
The curse was desperate to push him away so it could hide. Hasegumo, fueled by the Full Release of his energy, used his overwhelming defense to stay glued to the creature, relentlessly hammering its midsection.
"There is a gap between perceiving an attack and activating a technique."
"Can you force your Cursed Energy to flow in opposite directions?"
These were the clues Mei Mei had hidden in their conversation. Her Black Bird Manipulation wasn't a close-combat technique, so why bring up the mechanics of energy flow? The secret to killing this thing was hidden in those seemingly meaningless words.
Cursed Energy has "inertia" when it flows rapidly. In a high-intensity melee, most beings cannot control their energy to flow in two opposite directions at once.
Hasegumo remembered that every time the curse used its hiding technique, its energy flowed toward its head. By forcing it into a frantic physical struggle, he was making it dump all its energy into its limbs and torso to survive his punches. It couldn't divert enough energy to its brain to trigger the "hiding" state.
Its ability to split into bats wasn't a passive reflex; it was an active choice. If it were passive, it would have split before the impact, not after.
I have to hit it hard enough to drain its reserves...
...but I can't let my punches shatter its body yet, or the time it takes for me to re-adjust will give it the window it needs to hide.
Even though he had to calculate all these factors mid-punch, it was child's play for a man whose martial arts had reached the pinnacle of human evolution.
"The path to victory is wide open," Hasegumo said, finding the breath to speak even as he pummeled the beast. "Get ready to meet your end, Curse."
The Nightmare Bat was growing frantic. Every one of Hasegumo's punches caused internal ruptures. As its Cursed Energy reserves bottomed out, it felt the cold touch of death for the first time.
In a desperate gamble, the curse stopped defending. It took a direct hit to the gut, letting its midsection shatter, while it screamed out its true Innate Technique: "Nocturnal Flurry!"
The shriek was ear-piercing, a desperate, high-pitched wail that threatened to burst Hasegumo's eardrums.
Hasegumo remained cold and focused. Its energy is scattered. It can't use two techniques at once.
Ignoring the swarm of blood-red bats erupting from the curse's body and diving toward him, Hasegumo leapt into the air. With an unstoppable momentum, he brought his fist down like a falling star toward the Nightmare Bat's skull.
No technique. No finesse. Just pure, unadulterated strength backed by a mountain of Cursed Energy. He smashed the creature straight through the floor.
On the level below, Satoru Gojo let out a long yawn as he watched Suguru Geto beat down a man in a mask. "Man, this guy is weak."
Debris rained down from the ceiling, but everything stopped an inch away from Gojo's head, suspended by the Infinity.
"Hm?" Satoru's Six Eyes suddenly perceived two massive signatures of Cursed Energy plummeting toward them at terminal velocity. His blue eyes tracked upward.
"THE FINISHING BLOW!" Hasegumo's voice echoed through the structure as he crashed through the ceiling.
"What the hell is that noise?" Satoru muttered.