Chapter 16

Isamu, Kamo, and Toga rushed through the halls of the jujutsu high temple, running just ahead of the wall of deadly wooden roots surging through the building behind them. The roots split open as the curse appeared, quickly launching large, basket ball sized wooden balls towards them.

The root balls flew towards them faster than their larger counterparts before they each shot wooden tendrils towards them, each with a deadly point.

"Don't move!" Toga shouted, stopping the curse and the spheres. Kamo turned and threw a blood bag into the air which quickly exploded and forming into a small ball of condensed blood.

"Connivence." Kamo said as the ball shrunk even more, down to the size of a marble. Kamo clasped both of his hands around the ball and pointed his fingers towards the curse, leaving a small opening where all of his digits met. "Piercing Blood!" He chanted.

Steam slipped through his fingers before the highly pressurized blood darted forward like one of those jets of water used to cut steel. The cursed spirit broke free of Toga's command just before the blood was able to strike. It was able to lean back just in time, leaving it with only a minor cut across its forehead which was healed quickly just like Isamu's earlier cut.

Just as Kamo finished his attack, the team began to run in the opposite direction once more. They would continue to stop it with cursed speech while Kamo pressed it with ranged attacks before making more distance between them. They would repeat until they were able to reach the barrier and get reinforcements, namely, Gojo.

Kamo was lagging behind due to the leg injury Isamu had dealt him in their match earlier. Isamu regretted it a bit, he probably should've gone a little earlier on him. But he could not blame himself for not knowing they would be set upon by a powerful special grade cursed spirit.

They continued their sprint, now ascending a flight of stairs, while Isamu signed to Toga. He conveyed that he would command the curse next and that they would alternate the commands so as to give the other time to recover in the meantime. Toga soon agreed before taking a bottle of throat medicine out of his pocket and taking a few sips.

The group soon came across a door leading to a small balcony. The team burst through the portal before hopping the railing onto a lower part of the roof below. They turned, intending to catch the curse off guard as so as it came into view.

The instant the curses head became visible to Isamu eyes from the dark recesses of the temple, he spoke.

"Blast away!" The curse was suddenly lifted and blasted away, like it was a golf ball that had just been hit with a club. The curse crashed into and through the temple tower it had just existed from, crash landing in a nearby river.

Isamu motioned to Toga and was quickly passed the bottle of medicine. As he downed a large gulp of the bottles contents, he heard the patter of feet on stone behind him. He snapped around, ready to issue another command, fearing the worst.

"Isamu!" Maki said, worry evident in her voice. She was wielding a simple katana Isamu didn't recognize while her pole arm was no where to be found. Isamu was relived by the sight of her unharmed body.

Behind her, following her closely, was Megumi. He had a few holes in his shirt, probably from Mai's rubber bullets. But apart from that, he looked fine.

Isamu made a few signs, ensuring them both that he was unharmed for the most part. "What's going on? Where's the idiot?" Maki asked, referring to Gojo.

"We don't know, the cursed spirit destroyed our phones so we've been unable to make contact with anyone." Kamo responded. "You should-"

Before Kamo could request for her phone to make a call, the curse was back. Roots shot from the ground far below from the river Isamu had shot the curse into. The plants crashed through the building, most likely intending to collapse the build all together and force them down to the river.

Isamu intended to go after the curse anyway so he jumped off the rooftop, landing on the roots and sliding down the relatively smooth wood. Kamo, Megumi, Maki, and Toga all followed quickly.

"Demon dog!" Megumi yelled while making a hand sign once he landed on the green grass of the forest floor. A werewolf shaped shadow raced out of Megumi's shadow and into the river.

The shikigami spilt the shallow water of the river as it darted towards the cursed spirit who was still healing from Isamu's command. Its sharp, foot long claws lashed out at the curse who raised its arm in response.

The demons claws cut through the curses armor plating, leaving three large cuts right through the things arm. The curse turned, keeping its eye on the beast who'd done the most damage in a single hit thus far.

It raised its hand to cover its face, blocking a slash from Maki's stolen katana. The blade snapped on impact, Maki was disappointed by the blade's quality but didn't let it hinder her.

Maki backpedaled towards the forest where Megumi stood as Kamo, Isamu, and Toga emerged from the tree line to cover her retreat. "Crimson binding!" Kamo shouted as he used another blood bag.

Tendrils of blood shot out of the mid air bag and wrapped around the curse. The ropes of blood constricted the curse's movements as the blood burned into the curses armor. The blood of a Kamo clan member was poison to cursed spirits after all.

Isamu rushed forward, slashing at the curses tree branches for eyes, cutting both of them off. Megumi's demon dog flanked the spirit and ranked its claws across its back, digging five deep trenches into its flesh, drawing the purple blood of a cursed spirit in the process.

"Don't move!" Isamu shouted just as the curse was about to break free of the bindings of blood. As the blood continued to burn into its flesh, Maki dashed out of the woods, now wielding a red three section staff retrieved from Megumi's shadow.

The curse was smashed through the woods, rocketing hundreds of feet away. The group followed its flight path with no hesitation. Once they'd reached the newly made opening in the tree line, demon dog lead the charge once more.

The curse was covered in burn marks courtesy of the poisoned blood. Purple blood dripped from the open but quickly healing wounds on its back. Minor cracks covered its chest armor as its tree roots slowly grew back.

Right before demon dog engaged the curse in combat, its disappeared and melted into shadow. The liquid shadow splashed over the curse, blinding it for a brief time. Toga took advantage of the blinding and circled around the creature as Isamu readied himself in front of it.

"BLAST AWAY!!" Isamu and Toga shouted simultaneously. The curse was pushed from both sides, it was crushed between two invisible forces, like two giant hands high fiving with the curse in the middle. The forces held it there for a long moment, covering its entire body in cracks.

Eventually, Isamu's superior power overcame Toga's, causing the curse to blast away from Isamu. Toga collapsed to the ground for overuse of his technique, the curse sailing over him into the forest.

"I'm out of blood bags so I won't be of much use anymore." Kamo said. "I'll take Toga and try to find help. Good luck." He wished before throwing Toga over his shoulder and running in the opposite direction from where the curse was blasted.

Megumi and Maki rushed, Maki still carrying the three section staff called playful cloud, to Isamu's side as demon dog reappeared. "How are you holding up?" Maki asked, she knew using so many commands could be taxing.

'I'm fine.' Isamu said as he took out a bottle of throat medicine and downed the entire bottle in one go. Maki knew he was probably lying a bit but figured if he was in good enough condition to lie, he was in good enough condition to fight.

"We'll have to continue hitting it hard and heavy. Isamu, you should shift your focus to your sword techniques and make it think you can no longer use your cursed technique." Maki strategized. "Megumi, keep chipping away at it with demon dogs. Once you run out of cursed energy, retreat."

"If I run out of cursed energy, I'll keep fighting with cursed-" Megumi protested.

"No, you'd slow the both of us down Megumi and you can't even do any meaningful damage to it without your technique." Maki interrupted which earned her a begrudged nod.

Isamu swung his sword suddenly, deflecting a tiny projectile made out of wood that was heading for Megumi. Tree sized roots darted towards Maki which she smashed through with playful cloud.

The cursed spirit swung its hand outward and upwards as flowers appeared and bloomed, suddenly, Isamu, Maki, and Megumi were overcome with a sense of peace and harmony.

Maki snapped out of the illusion first due to her heavenly restriction granting her a resistance to curses. She saw two seeds flying towards each of her comrades but only had time to save one of them.

Playful cloud snapped out, swatting away the cursed bud aimed for Isamu. Megumi was hit squarely in the chest as Maki rushed forward to buy Megumi time to recover.

The curse was able to catch playful cloud before it could reach max velocity. A wooden spear grew from the ground, intent on impaling Maki.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." Isamu chanted as a simple domain popped up around him. The root slowed and began disintegrating but the effect would not be fast enough to prevent Maki's death. "New Shadow Style: Evening Moon Sword Drawing."

Isamu's simple domain elongated, becoming more oval shaped. The simple domain reached the curse and continued a good bit behind it. Isamu sheathed his sword before dashing forward, cutting through the root and the curses arm in the process. Isamu ended the attack behind the curse.

The curses arm wasn't completely severed but it was only holding on by a thread. Isamu still accomplished his task however. Maki, playful cloud now free of the curse, spun and struck its arm, completely severing it.

Isamu wasted no time and slashed towards its stomach as Maki aimed a playful cloud strike at its head. Roots exploded out of the ground, pushing Maki back in the process. Isamu's attack was stopped by the curses hand.

But it was not its right hand. Instead, a black left arm with white markings down its length.

"You're powerful child. I'll give you that much." It implanted its thoughts into Isamu's head before pulling Isamu's caught sword to the side and planting its partly healed forearm into his gut.

Isamu spat out blood as he fell to his knees. He would not release his sword however. "Determined until the end I see." It thought, seeing his grip as strong as ever. If Isamu was going to die, it would be with his blade in hand.

Isamu looked towards Maki to see her rushing towards him. His eyes slipped away from her towards Megumi who was laid out on the ground, a plant sprouting from his chest. It seems the seed he'd been hit with was more than it appeared. Isamu was wondering where demon dog had gone. He now had his answer.

A wooden ball formed and shot towards Maki. She made quick work of it but the small distraction was enough to catch her off guard. A root sprouted from the ground by her feet and caught her leg. The root swung her away, back towards Megumi.

Isamu opened his mouth, ready to use his extension technique to force the curse back before two humans descended from the sky. They landed on either side of the curse and punched it in the face simultaneously with opposite fists.

The curse cushioned the blow with its now fully healed right arm but was forced back and away from Isamu.

"You good, Yuji, my friend?!" Todo asked Itadori as he stood in front of the quickly recovering Isamu.

"Yeah!" Yuji responded.

"Panda!" Yelled out Todo. Panda emerged from the tree line, he was roughed up from his fights during the event but was still in fighting condition.

"Yeah." Panda responded as he threw the heavily injured Megumi over his shoulder.

"Take him to the veil for medical treatment." Todo said. Megumi probably would've protested, too bad he wasn't conscious anymore.

Maki and Isamu walked over to Todo, they both looked at him with a look of gratitude. "Do me a favor. Don't interfere with the battle until Yuji here lands a black flash."

Isamu shot Todo a look. His gaze changing from grateful to angry on a dime. "You can't expect us to do that. Isamu hasn't even landed a black flash yet and he's been doing this a lot longer than Yuji. If we stand here and do nothing, he'll die and we'll be down a fighter." Maki said, illustrating Isamu's thoughts quite well.

"Trust me. He can do it." Todo said with the most determined look Isamu had ever seen. Maki was about to argue back before Isamu put a hand of her shoulder.

'Use this time to rest.' He signed. Maki was about to protest once more but she figured it was useless. If they both thought it was a good idea then whatever. Maki trusted Isamu to not put a young sorcerer at risk of death for no good reason.

Isamu walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, quickly joined by Maki.

Yuji walked up to the curse and exchanged a few words. Isamu didn't catch what they discussed but apparently the curse made Yuji angry. Yuji slammed his fist into the ground, making a smoke screen of dust and gravel.

The curse shot two wooden balls through the air and into the dust only to hit nothing. Yuji dashed forward having ducked the wooden balls and kicked the curse three times. Once on the hip, another in the chest, before finishing the flurry with a head shot.

Yuji then crouched as his hand rocketed forward into the spirits gut. Todo seemed to notice something and called out to Yuji while approaching him. Isamu did not both to listen to their conversation. He was too busy sucking on a cough drop and replenishing his cursed energy pool.

Eventually, Yuji was back in the fight after a prep talk from Todo. Yuji and the curse took up their respective battle stances. The curse fired a root out at Yuji just as Yuji dashed forward.

Yuji punched straight through the wooden spike. His fist continued on into the cursed spirits arm, punching right through that as well. Space distorted as Yuji's cursed energy flashed black. "Black Flash!"

——

Isamu cut the wooden ball in half, his speed not hindered in the least by the minor inconvenience. Maki ran and circled around the cursed spirit as Todo and Yuji came from either side of the entity. It was completely surrounded.

Yuji jumped and kicked towards the curse but was met with a wall of wood as the curse made a half dome, blocking off Maki and Yuji completely. Todo threw a kick which the curse dodged but Todo used his momentum to hop and spin, empowering a follow up kick.

The curse didn't expect another kick so soon and suffered a blow for it. Todo kicked its head right into the path of Isamu's blade. Isamu cleaved its tree eyes from its head and left a long, shallow cut along its face just as Maki smashed through the wooden shield with playful cloud.

Dirt and wooden splinters showered Todo, Isamu, and the curse as Yuji rocketed out of the dust cloud, delivering a powerful punch to the curses face. Maki followed up by spinning and slamming playful cloud into the back of the curses left knee.

A loud crack and pop informed them all that Maki had broken the limb. The curse fell to its knee and shot a hand into the sky, causing roots to shot out of the ground and push Isamu and Todo back.

Maki snuck up from behind the curse and threw playful cloud over its shoulders before pulling back the two end sections. Maki began choking the curse as Yuji infused as much cursed energy into his fist as possible before smashing it into the curses gut.

"Black flash!" Yuji shouted as black sparks flew everywhere. The curse was stunned for a moment by the impact and the distortion of space, opening it up to yet another black flash. Yuji's fist slammed into the curses chest once more, cracking the dense armor plating severely. "Black Flash!"

"Don't get cocky!" The curse shouted into their minds as it raised a hand, ready to fire off more of its roots and end Yuji's streak of black flashes.

"Don't move!" Isamu shouted from where he had landed a few feet away. Once again, Yuji delivered another earth shaking punch into the curses chest as sparks of black and red cursed energy streaked through the air like lightning.

Large chunks of the curses outer layer of plate armor fell from its body. Underneath was a swirling and crawling mass of roots and plants. Todo rushed onto the scene as he grabbed the curses right arm with both of his while Maki wrapped playful cloud around its left wrist. Now unable to move either arm in defense of itself, it could only watch as Yuji attacked.

"Black flash!" Yuji yelled once more as he smashed his fist into the innards of the creature. Yuji was unable to punch clean through the curse, its back armor stopping him in his tracks. But they could all tell he'd done significant damage that the curse couldn't heal in a timely manner.

The curse kicked out at Yuji, sending roots and plants in a desperate attempt to get Yuji away. It was successful. Yuji was punched away by a wall of roots, branches, and leaves as Maki and Todo were left with the curse.

Todo smiled a shit eating grin as he held the curses arm with enough force to break a human arm.

"Inumaki!!" Todo yelled as he pulled the creature towards him before throwing it towards the prepared Isamu. Having already prepared a simple domain, Isamu unleashed a technique of his own creation.

"New Shadow Style: Nihongō!" Isamu shouted as his simple domain became a straight line pointing right at the curse. The output of cursed energy in Isamu's legs were raised to their maximum and then some as Isamu shot forward, his blade in hand.

Isamu created the technique as a direct upgrade to evening moon drawing. It involved increasing the legs to 120% of their normal ability to deliver an insanely powerful and high speed thrust to the opponent.

Isamu did the techniques name sake proud, a legendary spear from Japanese mythology, when he stabbed his cursed energy infused blade into the curses chest and clean out its durable back, leaving a hole the size of a dinner plate. Isamu flew forward as he gripped the curses neck before he slammed it into the ground.

Isamu pulled his sword from the curse and quickly jumped backwards, moving out of the way of Maki. She decided on the curse from the sky, one end of playful cloud clutched in both hands as she swung down with all of her heavenly packed enhanced might.

"I've had enough of this!" The curse yelled as a tower of roots sprouted from the ground around it towards Maki. She was able to smash away the deadly points of the roots but was still launched high into the sky and away from the curse.

For the top of the wooden tower grew a huge flower with hundreds of those cursed buds that'd taken Megumi out of the fight at its center. They all fired from the flower like a machine gun, making dodging while mid air impossible.

*clap*

Suddenly Maki was standing on her own two feet once more. She looked up towards where she just was to find Isamu there, flying towards the earth. Seconds before the buds hit their target, Isamu muttered a command.

"Explode."

All of the cursed buds as well as the flower and tower of roots they had come from exploded into giant balls of fire. Yuji and Todo rushed towards the tower, ready to lay their hands on the curse once more while Maki ran with all her strength towards where Isamu would land.

Isamu fell through the canopy and into the forest floor, kicking up a cloud of dirt in the process. Maki rushed to his side to examine his form and once the dust cleared... Copious amounts of blood spilled from Isamu's lips as he clutched at his throat. Maki's eyes trailed down the rest of his body to find him relatively unharmed.

"You need to stop here. Don't try to fight anymore. Go to the veil and find Shoko." Maki commanded in the most powerful voice she could muster. It usually worked to get him to do what she wanted. It didn't work this time.

Isamu stood, his lips still stained with his own blood and lifted his sword which he hadn't dropped during the fall. Isamu looked into her eyes and what she saw in them was pure, unrivaled determination. But she also saw desperation in his eyes.

He ran as quickly as he could towards the ongoing battle as Maki caught up. She wanted to protest and make him go back but doing such a thing in the middle of battle would just put Isamu in more danger.

The cursed spirit was engaged in hand to hand combat with the duo and wasn't doing very good. It was covered in burn marks and ash from Isamu's most recent command. The hole in its chest was still there but it was healing bit by bit.

Maki stabbed playful cloud towards the curse as they joined the fight once more. The curse blocked the stab with a summoned wooden ball which was smashed through but still served to cushion the blow. The curse summoned a field of flowers which stunned the team for a split second before they broke out of it.

A large burst of roots erupted from the ground, forcing Yuji and Todo to jump out of the way as Isamu and Maki continued to press the curse. Maki swatted away a recently summoned wooden ball before swinging towards the curse as Isamu circled behind.

Isamu swung twice in the time it took Maki to swing playfully cloud once. Two thin lines of purple blood appeared on the small of the curses back as it blocked Maki's strike with both hands. Todo swapped the curse and Isamu as Isamu turned and delivered a cut to the middle of its thigh.

Isamu and Yuji were then swapped before Yuji was swapped for the curse a moment later, putting it between Yuji and Maki. Yuji delivered a powerful right hook to its side as Maki bashed it in the face. Todo then swapped the curse and playful cloud as Isamu drew near.

Due to Yuji's proximity to the curse, he was able to catch playful cloud before it hit the ground as Maki used all her strength to hold the curse in place. Yuji's insane physical might was put to excellent use when he channeled it all into playful cloud.

The staff slammed into the curses skull with more power than it ever had before. Maki let go of the curse as it was blasted away. Yuji quickly handed Maki her weapon back before they all rushed to their enemy once more.

As they approached the creature, they noticed the nearby trees and greenery become a dull and lifeless grey. Once they reached their opponent, they also found the cause of the phenomenon.

It was crouched low to the ground with its left hand pressed to the now dead grass as the rose on its shoulder opened wide, revealing an eye at its center. "My left arm holds the power to turn the life of plants into cursed energy. This energy is never returned to me however. Instead, the flower takes it all for itself." The curse explained as a highly condensed ball of cursed energy formed right in front of the eye of the rose.

"Such an attack would be easy to counter and avoid with your technique however." It directed towards Todo. "Which leaves me with one option remaining… Domain Expa-" it began to chant before being cut off by the disappearance of the veil and the presence of a man in the sky.

"Gojo-sensei?" Yuji called out in wonder while looked up at the floating instructor.

"It seems our time is up." The curse said as Gojo disappeared from the sky. "It's time to leave. I'm not so arrogant to think I could defeat Satoru Gojo." It continued as roots sprouted from the ground and slowly wrapped themselves around the cursed spirit.

"Don't you dare! What is it you guys want?!" Yuji shouted as he began to run towards the curse and attempted to holt its escape.

"Brother!" Todo yelled as he put his arm out to stop Yuji from advancing. "Don't take a single step closer. Or you'll be caught up in it." He explained. Maki and Isamu stood beside him, making no attempt to stop the curse either.

They all heard a loud rumbling as a purple glow illuminated the forest as a rush of wind swept through the area. Once the light vanished and the dust settled, all they found was a valley where the curse had once been.

"As expected, has as non-standard as they come." Todo said with a grin. "I can't even tell if it was exorcised."

——

Deep below jujutsu high, in a large cave filled with stalactites, was a young man with a blond ponytail. On his shoulder hung, or rather clung, a sword with a purple hand for a handle. "I ended up not doing anything. I wonder if I'll get scolded. Compared to me tho…"

The boy trailed off as roots burst through the wall of the cave as Hanami, the cursed spirit assigned to take on the participants of the goodwill event, stumbled out of the newly formed opening. "You're working way too hard."

Hanami collapsed on the ground. Its entire left side was completely missing as well as its left arm. Its eye branches were burned off while its remaining body was covered in burns. "You poor thing… should I put you out of your misery?" The human asked as he reached for his sword.

"Good work!" Mahito said as he threw an arm around the human. "But be careful now, human. Know your place or I'll kill you." He said ominously.

"Ah… come on. I'm just being compassionate. I guess I can't expect a curse to understand the subtleties of human nature." The human shot back. "So, did you get it?" He asked while staring at him from the corner of his eye.

"Without a hitch." Mahito said confidently while holding up two finger shaped objects. One was wrapped in seals while the other was not, making what it was clear, a finger of Sukuna.

"Ryomen Sukuna… I got the six fingers stored in jujutsu high. Plus, I got the special grade cursed objects: death womb paintings numbers one to three." Mahito explained as he walked towards the felled Hanami.

"Get up, Hanami." Mahito said as he lifted it up, one of its arms slung around his shoulder. "Let's go home."

"Mahito." Hanami began. "It's quite stressful to put the breaks on killing intent." Hanami said which up a smile of Mahito's face as they began to walk.

"You're sounding more and more like a curse, Hanami."