Suddenly, the woman's head was yanked back and she gasped, coming face to face with a smirking Satoru. His hand was clutching her ponytail and he glared at her through his mask in disgust.
"Now, now. Don't you think it's pathetic, gloating over the fact that you're beating a child?"
She ground her teeth, swinging her fist over her shoulder at his face. However, before she could even blink, he used her hair to violently throw her down the street into the spirit. The two of them flew into the trees with a loud crack, dust and debris erupting from the impact.
"G-Gojo-sensei…" Megumi murmured, trying to push himself up.
"Yo! Sorry for taking so long!" Satoru greeted, standing over the boy protectively, placing his hands in his pockets. "I had to go back and change, you know how stuffy dress shirts are."
"F-Fushiguro-san!" They turned to see Qian rushing towards them.
Satoru frowned. "What are you still doing here?" He asked, but the girl seemed to ignore him as she knelt down next to the teen, immediately tucking her arm around his chest.
"A-Are you okay?" She queried, pulling him up towards her. "C-Can you walk?"
Megumi grunted in pain before nodding. "Yeah..."
"G-Good." She looked up at Satoru with a resolute gaze. "I-I'll take care of him. Will you be okay?"
"No…I can fight-" The boy stumbled forward, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
Satoru scoffed at the girl, turning away to face the enemy. "Who do you think you're talking to?"
She nodded and hurriedly dragged the two of them away from the fray. A thick vine shot out from the dust and Satoru easily stepped to the side. The spirit leapt out of the smoke, diving at the sorcerer with its jaws wide. With a simple flick of his wrist, Satoru froze the beast in mid-air, its muscles spasming wildly as it struggled to move its limbs.
"WHO. THE. FUCK. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" The woman screamed as she emerged, her hair completely in disarray. "How dare you do this to my beautiful hair?!"
He blinked in surprise. This was the first time a cursed user did not recognize him. He then smirked arrogantly. "That's karma for hurting my adorable student." He snapped his fingers and the spirit's head exploded.
"YOU!" She screeched as she threw several vines at him, each of them struggling to twist and grapple the man. However, he easily hopped and skipped over every one of them, his smile stretching wider across his face.
She gritted her teeth in frustration. This is bad. He's different than the others…he's stronger. Her eyes flickered around and she suddenly saw the pair of teens slowly crawling away. A sadistic grin spread across her lips.
Satoru noticed the change in her expression and he followed her gaze. Realization hit him and he frantically raised his hand to pull down his mask.
He tried to raise his two fingers. "Domain-"
However, a tsunami of vines shot forth, completely enveloping the man in a cocoon of tendrils.
"It's useless!" She cried maniacally. "My vines completely absorb cursed energy… You be a good boy and take it easy in there, I'll deal with you later."
She turned her gaze to the duo, her eyes emitting a sinister glow. "As for your students…"
—-
Qian continued supporting Megumi as they trudged onward back to the inn. "W-We're almost there, Fushiguro-san, hang in there."
He could only grunt in response. She regarded him worriedly, however, before she could open her mouth further, one of the flowers suddenly burst through the ground, enveloping the teen in its sharp petals.
"F-FUSHIGURO-SAN!" She cried, unable to stop the tendril from shooting high into the air, out of reach.
"Tomioka! Run!" He shouted as he was dragged away. An evil chuckle echoed from behind and she turned to see the woman approaching, her hands poised on her hips victoriously.
"Oh man, that was a close! Since you guys wouldn't let me take the other one, maybe I'll just take this one for myself."
"L-Let him go!" Qian cried, eyes wide in horror as the bud swooped down to return to the woman's side, with Megumi struggling feebly against its twisted grip.
"Or what? You'll hurt me?" The woman sneered. "You don't have a single drop of cursed energy, I would say it's almost not worth killing you but, you're in my way so-"
There was an ear-splitting scream from behind the trees and her smirk widened. "Oh and- uh- your friends sound like they're doing great."
Qian was frozen as the woman's attention was momentarily diverted. She whirled her head around frantically. None of the others were anywhere to be found.
She reached into her bag and felt a familiar syringe, clutching it firmly in her fist. Should I use it now? What if it goes wrong? She could feel the blood roaring in her veins as her mind raced through her options. She gulped nervously, thinking back to a few days prior.
"Isolating cursed energy?" Shoko asked incredulously, standing up behind her desk. "You can do that?"
Qian nodded cautiously. "I-I'm still doing experiments on it but…I realize that by extracting the cells from what's left of these cursed spirits, I think I'm able to contain it."
"I see." Shoko crossed her arms, skepticism marring her features. "So…what can you do with it?"
"W-Well, I found that when I inject them into a living organism, the organism itself gains cursed energy." The girl opened her notebook and flipped through the pages. "A-And, depending on its intelligence, it can utilize it."
The doctor furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"
"I…I tried injecting it into one of our mouse models and…" Qian took out her phone and pulled up a video. "Look what happened."
Shoko curiously took the device and peered at the screen. The film showed a white mouse in its cage, with Qian inserting a syringe needle into its back. Once it was withdrawn, the mouse immediately turned green, its black eyes turning blood-red, its fur becoming fibrous and plant-like, with finally its tail transforming into a vine-like tendril. It gave a sharp cry and started striking the cage with its claws. Its viscous attack chipped away at the metal, causing dents and even breakage to the bars.
The doctor regarded the video in shock and fascination. "This is… amazing but…very dangerous." She stared at her. "What do you plan to use it for?"
A worst-case scenario. Qian took a deep breath and without a second thought, ripped open the cap, stabbing herself in her left arm.
—-
From beyond the trees, Nobara growled as she wiped the blood off her face, staring down at the lifeless body in satisfaction.
"Yo! Kugisaki!" She looked up and saw Yuji drop down next to her, with Nue settling on the tree above them. "Thank god you're okay!"
"Well obviously. " She rolled her eyes. "You know me by now. I can take care of something like this by myself."
She anxiously scanned him from head to toe. "What about you? What was that obnoxious screaming from before?"
Yuji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh that- well- Nue was supposed to catch me after I beat my guy, but he got distracted by a bat so…you know…almost fell to my death and all that."
He playfully glared up at the shikigami, who continued to preen itself innocently. However, it suddenly burst and dissipated into the shadows.
They snapped their gaze back towards each other, eyes wide with fear and worry. "Fushiguro!"
Immediately, a loud explosion was heard from the streets. The two of them quickly rushed through the forest. When they finally reached the clearing, they peered down the road to see the woman frantically throwing her vines at a monstrous being looming behind a cloud of debris.
"Stay the fuck away from me! You- You FREAK!" She screeched as she shoved herself backwards to narrowly dodge a vicious swipe. She raised her fists to summon thick tendrils from the ground, throwing the body upwards into the sky.
"Who is she fighting?" Yuji frantically glanced around, gritting his teeth. "Does this mean Fushiguro-"
Suddenly, a giant bulb splattered down next to them, splashing purple fluids all over their bodies. Its stem was completely severed, purple liquid seeping out as the petals flapped open limply.
"Ew! What the fuck?!" Nobara shrieked, vainly trying to clean the fluid off her arms, before she gasped upon seeing the unconscious boy that laid in the center of the plant. "F-Fushiguro?!"
They immediately ran over and Yuji knelt next to his teammate, feeling his throat's pressure point. He sighed in relief.
"Good, he still has a pulse. It's faint but-" He whirled his head around. "We need to get him to Qian. Where is she-"
Suddenly there was a scream. They flicked their heads towards the source and saw the cursed user's back burst open, a sharp object protruding from her spine. As they watched the deformed figure pin her to the ground, the dusty smoke blew away from the impact, and the duo's eyes widened in a mix of horror and recognition.
"Q-Qian?!"