Chapter 26

Upon his arrival, Hiroyuki quickly raised one of his legs and delivered a straight kick towards the Finger Bearer's chest.

THUD!!!!

"KUUK!!!"

The Finger Bearer managed to block the kick but the force behind that kick was unexpectedly too strong so it was sent flying across the area, crashing on the hard ground pretty violently.

Simultaneously as Hiroyuki did that, he put one of his arms on top of Aoto's head and started applying RCT on him, immediately healing some of the injuries he sustained.

"Huh? You? What are you doing here?" Aoto said after seeing the person who just saved him. 

"Just happen to be in the area. Don't worry about it. You did well holding out that thing senior." Hiroyuki said in a pretty calm tone as he flashed Aoto a reassuring smile.

Ignoring his questioning gaze.

A couple of seconds after that, looking regretful, Hiroyuki sighed heavily as he removed his hand from Aoto's head. 

"I want to fully heal you but it seems that your body can't handle more of my Curse Energy." Scratching the back of his head, Hiroyuki paused for a second as an apologetic smile appeared on his face.

"But don't worry, I managed to heal most of the major injuries in your body. You should be able to walk now without much difficulty."

"Huh?" Aoto, still recovering from the shock, hastily checked his entire body. And sure enough, he saw his body looking pretty fine now. 

'He healed my wounds that fast? It's not even...'

Aoto started checking his body even more thoroughly. Upon doing so, he still saw some wounds across his body. As he stood up, he could even feel that some of the internal injuries he sustained from the battle were still there.

Even so, he was still surprised that in a short amount of time, large injuries in his body were healed in almost an instant. Now, although in great pain, he can stand, unlike before when he could barely move a finger anymore.

"Thank you but you shouldn't-" Aoto, as he stood up with Hiroyuki's help, was about to say something, but suddenly. "... Sh*t! Behind you!"

The Finger Bearer, enraged that it was caught off guard by the sudden newcomer, rushed again toward the two and was about to deliver a punch infused with lots of CE.

Swoosh~!

But as the punch made its way, Hiroyuki in one swift motion, redirected that punch back towards the Finger Bearer.

???

The Finger Bearer made a weird noise, clearly confused as to why the punch that it was driving forward, suddenly shifted and landed on its own face.

But before it could fully comprehend what happened, Hiroyuki followed his counter with another kick. Sending the Finger Bearer flying again to the same spot it crashed on earlier.

After that, as if nothing happened, Hiroyuki faced Aoto again and spoke casually.

"You should go now, don't worry about this guy, I'll handle him for you." Hiroyuki paused for a second as he pointed in a certain direction.

"If you go that way, you should be able to find the exit. I came here with Senjumaru, you know her right? She should be heading outside now. You can ask her to heal you once you find her."

Too stunned to speak after witnessing what just happened, Aoto got dragged by Hiroyuki and unknowingly followed his gesture. He then started walking in the direction he was pointed to, looking like a moth entranced by the light.

Aoto whose mind was all mumbled up by the sudden turn of events, would keep walking away. He didn't even notice what he was doing. The only time his mind finally kicked in, is when he was already nowhere in sight.

Meanwhile, Hiroyuki who was left behind...

"It's my first time seeing a Special Grade Curse Spirit and gotta say-"

In the middle of Hiroyuki's speech, the Finger Bearer who just stood back up, started charging up a ball made out of raw CE and then immediately blasted it in his direction.

VWOOSH!!!

The speed of the thrown CE ball was so fast it became nothing but a blur as it flew towards Hiroyuki. Well, the Finger Bearer seemingly threw it with all its might so that's to be expected

However Hiroyuki, given such a situation, looked unbothered as always.

Seeing the incoming attack, he just stretched out his arm and using the back of his hand, simply slapped the ball of CE away. Making it explode in an area far away from them.

"Disappointing."

Seeing that all the attacks so far weren't working, paired with Hiroyuki's unfazed expression, the Finger Bearer started grinding its teeth. Looking very annoyed.

"With all the ramblings about your kinds, I thought I'll finally see something interesting. Guess I got my hopes up for nothing." After Hiroyuki said that, raw Curse Energy then started oozing around his hands.

"Oh well. I guess I can do a little experiment to make my time here a little more worth it."

Those oozing CE then started condensing together in front of him, forming a small orb.

The orb at first has the size of an entire fist, but as seconds go by, it keeps condensing to the point that it is now as small as a marble.

As that happened, Hiroyuki gently clasped that orb of CE between his hands.

A pretty familiar gesture, one could say.

PWIISH~!

Suddenly, without any warning at all, the greatly condensed CE in between Hiroyuki's hands was repulsed towards a certain direction like a bullet, forming a straight line across the area.

The tip of that straight line instantly reached the Finger Bearer, making its Head release a loud explosive noise upon impact.

Vwoosh~!

Obviously, what Hiroyuki just did is a clear imitation of the Kamo Clan's Piercing Blood. 

But as impressive as that is in others' eyes, Hiroyuki himself looks unimpressed on what he just did.

"As I thought, makeshift techniques are completely useless against beings within your level." 

The impact of Hiroyuki's attack just now produced a pretty powerful effect, that is quite undeniable. Any human could've died if they were to catch that attack in the same manner.

But obviously, Curse Spirits and Humans are vastly different.

Unlike humans, Curse Spirits only die when hit with enough CE, and Hiroyuki's attack, regardless of its raw physical power, doesn't have enough of it.

In the first place, Hiroyuki developed these kinds of moves with his CE recovery problem in mind. 

"You're strangely happy."

The Finger Bearer is currently smiling wildly, most probably thinking that Hiroyuki's attacks, seeing the zero damage it has brought, aren't that impressive. 

"For someone who's going to die."

But that wide smile suddenly froze. 

The Finger Bearer didn't know what exactly happened. It all happened so fast that it barely managed to react. 

One second, Hiroyuki was standing far away, and the next thing that the Finger Bearer knew, he was now standing right in front of its face.

"..."

From the corner of its vision, the Finger Bearer quickly noticed Hiroyuki's hand, which for some reason, was now buried deep inside its gaping chest. Taking hold of something clearly important.

!!!

Upon that realization, the Finger bearer immediately tried to catch Hiroyuki's arm, probably to prevent what was about to happen, but unfortunately, before it could do that...

"KUUK!!!"

Hiroyuki pulled out his hand. Making a strong gashing sound along the way.

Opening his hand and looking at the thing he just snatched, there he saw a darkened finger. The very core and what makes a Finger Bearer, a Finger Bearer. 

*Thud!*

Losing the finger, the now ordinary Curse Spirit, like a puppet that lost its string, just fell flat to the ground. Failed to make even a single noise as seconds later, it quickly burst into flames.

A clear sign that it was successfully exorcised. 

*Crack!*

Without delay, the Barrier surrounding the forest also started shattering away. Turning the entire area back to normal, as if nothing extraordinary happened here in the first place. 

Upon the disappearance of the Barrier, he was immediately approached by Senjumaru, and following behind her was the group of sorcerers who she managed to save, including Aoto.

Aoto and his group then gave Hiroyuki and Senjumaru their genuine gratitude for saving them. Had it not for the two, their chance of all of them getting out here alive, is pretty much impossible.

After that, a conversation, or more like an interrogation happened between them. 

Well, at the end of the day, Aoto and his group are still members of Jujutsu High. So they can't help but wonder how two first year from the school ended up in this place, as thankful as they were that they were here.

And the Finger Bearer as well, they had to know how Hiroyuki dealt with it.

Overall, that's all that happened. 

After their conversation was over, they immediately left and the entire forest was quickly emptied out of people. 

At least, just the forest that is.

____To be continued...____