Chapter 4: Cursed Hunt

Chapter 4: Cursed Hunt

Ren and Akari were moving towards the mountains as the sun began to set. During the drive, Ren took the opportunity to ask Akari some questions about the relationships between the clans.

"Akari, how are the alliances between the major clans? I've heard that they don't always agree."

Akari shot him a curious look. "Well, it's complicated. The Zenin Clan is quite troublesome, you know, always bragging. The Kamo Clan... they're more cold, calculating, why do you ask?"

Ren smiled slightly. "I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the big picture."

She laughed and nudged him. "Don't worry, anyway, you and I will deal with the curses. The clans can wait."

Soon they came to a narrow valley, surrounded by towering mountains. Ren could feel the cursed energy in the air. "They are close."

Akari, without losing her carefree attitude, looked around and snapped her fingers. "Ah, there they are."

From out of the shadows the misshapen figures of the curses began to emerge. Their Amorphous bodies moved unnaturally, as they slowly advanced towards them.

Ren inhaled deeply and activated his Gravity Technique. A dark aura began to surround him, and the air around him became heavy.

"Come on," Ren said, adjusting his fighting stance.

"I was getting bored already" Akari joked before disappearing in a flash of speed, her ability to reduce gravity allowed her to move with impressive agility.

With a swift movement, Akari appeared behind one of the curses, launching a kick that distorted the space around it. The creature was thrown backwards, crashing into a rock.

Meanwhile, Ren generated a gravitational field around two of the curses. The pressure began to crush them, deforming their bodies, but Ren could tell he was still adjusting. His movements were not as precise as they should be. Even with the memories and experiences in his head, this was his first real fight against curses.

Akari, as he continued to attack, couldn't help but notice his stiffness. "Hey, you're supposed to be the one who's supposed to smash them the fastest."

Ren let out a small laugh as he increased the gravity and finished off the two curses. "Just warming up. Don't worry."

The last of the three monsters tried to attack Akari from behind, but with a simple wave of her hand she created a gravity field around herself, stopping the monster in its tracks. "Well you look like you could use a little more practice. You know, we can't all be as graceful as I am."

Before Ren could respond, the grade two curse slowly emerged from a nearby cave. It was much more intimidating than the previous ones, its body covered in a dark armor of cursed energy. Ren felt the pressure in the atmosphere increase at the sight of it.

"This time it's serious," Ren said, putting himself on guard.

Akari lo with a confident smile as she easily finished off the last grade 3 curse. "Relax. If we work together, this thing won't be so tough."

The curse let out a deafening roar and charged towards them. Ren quickly increased the gravity around its feet to try to immobilize it, but the creature resisted, breaking the gravitational field with ease. Akari moved immediately, attacking from the air with a series of graceful kicks distorting the curse's gravity.

"Come on, Ren, are you just going to stand there and watch while I do all the work?" joked Akari as the curse spun towards her.

Ren, shaking off the pressure, refocused his concentration. He increased the gravity around the curse as Akari continued to move nimbly, launching attacks from different angles to disorient it.

The curse, frustrated, launched a blast of cursed energy towards Akari, but she, with fluid movement, easily dodged it. "Is that all you've got?" she taunted as she struck the curse's armor, weakening its defense.

Ren took the opportunity to generate a gravity punch behind the creature. Akari leapt over the curse and, with a quick wave of her hand, applied a reverse gravitational field on the monster's head, causing its own weight to push it down hard onto the ground.

With both of them pressing down from different angles, the curse was finally unable to resist. With a final roar, its body disintegrated into scattered cursed energy.

Akari landed softly on a rock, breathing a little harder but still with her relaxed attitude. "Wow, that was entertaining."

Ren walked over to her, dusting off his clothes. "You made it look easy."

She patted him on the back. "Maybe because it is. Although... I think you could use a bit of practice."

Ren sketched a smile. "I'll take that under advisement."