And so the action picks up again, but first some writing talk. I wouldn't say I enjoyed writing a bulk of last chapter, but I tried my best. Writing the story from a third person limited view on Shohei was what I thought would be the best POV, but I think I should start including his thoughts more. I think the reason I haven't is because he is so scatter brained and doesn't really have concrete thoughts when nothing is happening, but I don't think I'm portraying that well. I'll mix it up and try both. Also, I've been saying Demon Dog and I'll now be saying Divine Dog as it's the proper name. Anyway, let's get to the exchange event.
The Tokyo students gathered in the wooded area where they would start the Exorcism race from.
Loud speakers had been installed and attached to several trees in the forest.
Gojo came onto the loud speakers and said, "We're starting in one minute. Now, let's hear a few words of well-appreciated encouragement from Utahime Iori-sensei."
A small grunt of surprise could be heard in the background of the speaker. Gojo and other faculty members were gathered in a viewing room, where Mei Mei's crows would broadcast a live feed onto several screens as if they were cameras.
The live feed was an alternative option of monitoring the cursed spirit race to give the student's space to work instead of having the staff be in view and in the way as they all competed.
"You think he put her on the spot?" Shohei muttered to Fushiguro, who was barely listening to the loud speakers himself.
"Definitely," the black haired boy agreed.
"Um," Iori murmured cluelessly into the mic. "Some degree of injury will be unavoidable, but, um… now and then, help each other out… or something…"
"Times up," Gojo interrupted, taking the mic from the woman in a staticy fumble over the speakers.
"Hey! Gojo you little…" could be heard in the backdrop of Gojo speaking again.
"Now, let the Sister School Exchange Event…" Satoru held the final words to build a small amount of suspense. "Begin!" he screamed into the microphone, making the audio spike and a sharp pitch ring out.
"Respect your seniors!" Iori faintly shouted.
All the Tokyo students took off running, except for Shohei who glided into the air and hovered several meters above the already tall tree line.
Shohei's role in the Tokyo students' plan hadn't changed dramatically with the inclusion of Itadori.
Shohei was supposed to fly above the tree line to spot any oncoming spirits or Sorcerers with either the tall view or his wide field of cursed energy sensing.
He was a valuable set of eyes for them, but he was also one of their most efficient fighters, so he was also prescribed with taking out the first enemy Sorcerer that made contact with them.
Shohei sensed a weaker grade curse a small distance away from the running students, but also in the distance, near where the Kyoto students must have been designated to start from, was a small dot decorating the sky.
Shohei knew that Nishimiya was the only Kyoto student who could fly because that was almost her entire value as a Sorcerer in the Jujutsu world.
Techniques that rendered one able to fly weren't particularly rare, but were still valued by Jujutsu society. Nishimiya, being a relatively good sorcerer in training with the capabilities to fly, was common news to the Jujutsu world, as grown Sorcerers might want to take her on as an apprentice.
Shohei looked downwards, through the canopy, and shouted to the group on foot, "I've spotted Nishimiya on her broom already. She's a smidge more than two clicks directly out. The Kyoto student's can't be far behind since we just started. A grade-three or four curse is also several yards directly ahead of you. I'm going to pursue Nishimiya to try and get rid of Kyoto's eyes in the sky off the bat."
Maki gave Shohei a thumbs up far above her head, still sprinting through the foliage and wildlife.
Shohei put on a burst of speed, b lining towards the small third-year on her broom, but he also noticed Aoi Todo had slipped under the radar of his mile wide diameter of sensing. The large boy speeding in a direction that would have him collide with the group of Tokyo students in several yards.
Shohei had distracted himself with Nishimiya and put too much distance between himself and the others to warn them by word of mouth.
They all were about to collide with Todo, and Todo would reach them before Shohei could make a call to direct them in a different direction.
Shohei veered into a sharp dive for Todo's cursed signature, aiming to crash into him before he engaged the others.
Shohei was fifty yards from Todo. Fourty, thirty. He was gliding through the treetops at twenty. At ten he could see Todo's muscular back as he sprinted towards a cluster of Tokyo students, knocking away a curse spirit that sprung from a tree.
Shohei excelled at flying long distances and closed the gap, slamming into Todo with both of his knees. He crashed knees first, both jabbing violently into the muscular boy's bare back.
The collision knocked and dragged the two through the ground, kicking up dirt.
Shohei tumbled and rolled two his feet after they had crashed through a tree, but Todo was already on his feet and lunging at him with a large fist.
Shohei put up his arms to guard, but made a simple hand seal with one hand, and molded the gravity around him to oppose Todo's strike with the force of a crashing pickup truck.
Todo's punch clashed and countered the invisible force, knocking the residual dirt off of himself and kicking up a light breeze.
The Tokyo students spread through the forest space where Todo and Shohei were fighting, weapons and fist bared, ready to intervene.
Shohei weaved the large boy's punches, bangs over his eyes not swaying in the motion.
Any counter or jab Shohei threw, Todo slapped aside with his large hand or blocked with his meaty forearms and pursued with his own brutal strikes.
Todo threw a large roundhouse kick to Shohei's torso, but the invisible power of Gravity Conductor contorted and cushioned the blow, only sending Shohei sliding back on his feet and bumping into a tree.
"Now that's how you greet someone!" Todo cheered wildly, throwing out his arms like inviting Shohei for a hug and dropping his malicious fighting demeanor.
Dropping his fighting stance wasn't enough to clear the air of Todo's passionate, violent aura, but his genuine smile did invite Shohei to stand up straight and return a kind smile.
"I hope it was a nice start to your final Exchange Event," Shohei said, examining himself, spotting no dirt or scuffings on his uniform.
An issue Shohei had with Todo crossed his mind.
"Aoi-kun, do you remember what I promised you if I found Megumi-kun in rough shape when you visited a month or so ago?" asked Shohei, holding his hands on his hips and watching Todo try to think back that far.
"Maybe. I had a nice handshake with Takada that day, so that's really taking up my memory, but wasn't it along the lines of…" Todo pondered, rubbing his chin but not noticing Shohei's bangs had stood on end.
Todo's face wrinkled in a jolt of pain as he received a massive body blow from an gravity unencumbered Shohei, getting lifted off his feet several inches.
Todo's body temporarily crumpled, hunched over in the air at the jarring pain to the right of his abdomen and liver.
Todo caught his footing as he clenched his side with one hand.
"Megumi had more than a dent, but we dinged them all out," Shohei said casually now that the matter was resolved.
Todo stood up straight and wiped a bit of spit that come hanging from his lips, and rather than returning the hit or growling in anger, he chuckled and patted Shohei's shoulder like he was just pranked by sitting on a whoopee cushion.
"I remember now," Todo said. "I deserve that, but Fushiguro did too for his poor choices in a woman."
Fushiguro, who was standing with the other students, watching the odd encounter, scoffed and looked down at his black Divine Dog shikigami for support of his situation.
"Shohei," Maki said briskly, holding her polearm with a bandaged blade, impatiently. "Remember the plan?"
"You're right," Shohei muttered, turning back to Todo like a child who just got told to come in from outside for dinner. His otherworldly eyes glinted, downcast. "I'm sorry to tell you about this Aoi-kun, but I've got to go."
Todo looked equally like a disappointed child and asked, "Why? We were just having so much fun."
"We were, don't get me wrong," Shohei stammered quickly, trying not to hurt the boy's feelings. "But my friends really want to win this Event and we've got a plan to stick to to do so. Us fighting the whole time isn't a part of it and I've got to go."
"Who says I'll let you go?" Todo asked seriously, shadows of overhead branches obscuring his quiet, raging face.
"Now that you say that," Shohei chirped like a lightbulb just lit in his brain. "You know him, but you haven't been personally introduced."
Todo raised an eyebrow quizzically at Shohei and received a flying knee to his temple.
"Aoi-kun, meet Yuji-kun," said Shohei, watching Yuji pursue Todo with a combination of punches and strikes. "He'll be keeping your hands full while me and the rest of my classmates go massacre your school in this cursed spirit race."
Todo was still on the defensive against Yuji after he had sneak attacked him and was only half heartedly listening to Shohei while he blocked and dodged the smaller boy's attacks.
"Don't be disappointed or mad, Aoi," Shohei said as the other Tokyo students scattered, running through the forest again. "I hear that Yuji is one of the best physical combatants Tokyo High has got."
Shohei replaced his gravity shield around him and took off into the air above the canopy again. He pulled out his phone and called Megumi.
"Fushiguro here," Megumi answered.
"It's Shohei. Did you split off by yourself or is someone with you?" Shohei asked, surveying the forest and sky, sensing only a pair of grade-four curses and the Kyoto students on the border of his almost mile wide field of sensing. Shohei both sensed and saw Nishimiya soaring high above him and the forest.
"I split off with Maki-senpai. We are hooking further west than intended, just to get some space between us and Todo," Megumi said.
Shohei turned his view westward and spotted Megumi and Maki's signature, sprinting through the woods.
"Okay, I see you," Shohei confirmed.
The Kyoto students were all still in one large group making a direct approach to where Todo and Itadori should have been fighting still, Nishimiya scouting ahead of them in the air.
Itadori being the one to occupy Todo for as long as he could was the best plan Maki offered up to the group so they wouldn't lose anyone like Megumi or Shohei who could scout out the forest for curses or Sorcerers with their shikigami or absurd range.
They didn't need or expect Itadori to beat a monster like Todo, but they did need him to keep him busy so the others could scatter and make at least some headway in the competition before Todo came back into play.
When they told Itadori he didn't need to win, he agreed, but swore when he fought Todo, he would win.
The determination in his voice and behind his eyes almost convinced them all wholeheartedly.
Shohei saw the Kyoto students still keeping to b-lining their way to Todo's location. Nishimiya must have spotted Todo and wanted the others to wrangle him in since he probably went awol.
"I think you should turn back," Shohei yelled over the whipping wind into the phone.
Shohei stopped himself in mid air and turned back to watch the gathering group of signatures that would swarm Itadori in a few dozen yards.
"Why, what's the matter?" Megumi asked, his and Maki's cursed signatures stopping.
"All the Kyoto students are converging on Itadori and Todo," Shohei muttered, puzzled at why they all would try and retrieve their classmate when he is so stubborn. "I think Todo went rogue and they're trying to wrangle him back in before they start the competition, but they'll all overwhelm Itadori."
Megumi pulled away from the phone so Shohei couldn't hear what he spoke to Maki, but the two signatures reversed their path and began sprinting towards where they all left Itadori.
Megumi returned to the call and said, "Are Panda, Inumaki, and Kugisaki all together? We should tell them too."
Shohei looked further east than Itadori and Todo were and saw that the said Tokyo students were indeed all together. Fushiguro's Divine Dog was even tagging along.
"Yeah, they are," Shohei said, taking off, gliding hurriedly toward the amassing signatures of the Kyoto students.
The students were splitting up and flanking Todo and Itadori's signatures at a distance.
They seemed to not have revealed themselves yet, but were setting up an ambush.
"Okay, I'll call them," Megumi said firmly. "You should go ahead of us. You can get there faster than we can. We're right behind you."
"I'm on it," Shohei confirmed, hanging up the phone and putting on a burst of speed, cutting through the air like a polka dotted fighter jet.
Shohei had covered the distance that he had originally put between him and the fight in mere seconds.
He zipped by Nishimiya on her flying broom, and descended upon the swarm of enemy Sorcerers, all surrounding a slightly bloody Yuji.
Shohei's surprise appearance was that similar to a bird of prey swooping onto a powerline lined with a flock of songbirds.
Shohei landed amongst the Sorcerers and took up a fighting stance, back to back with Itadori with a collected expression on his face.
Despite his composed expression, Shohei was secretly delighted at the thunderstruck and alarmed faces on all of the Kyoto students at his arrival.
Before a word could be muttered, a sharp clap split the air and shattered the tense silence.
Shohei looked back, and where Itadori once was standing back to back with him, Kamo replaced him.
Itadori was in a tree branch where Kamo was originally perched with a bow drawn. They had switched places.
Like a furious jaguar, Todo approached Kamo and Shohei in eerie silence and growled, "Hey."
Rather than at his opposing Sorcerer from another school, Todo threw a wild punch at Kamo, making the pale boy leap away, dodging.
"I told you I'd kill you if you interfered, didn't I?" said Todo, raising his eyes to bear down on Kamo.
Kamo, who was tall for his age and a very skilled sorcerer, was made to look like a child, out of his league when face to face and butting heads with Todo.
"No, you didn't," Kamo said sternly, still crouched in apprehension of another strike from the large boy. "You said you'd kill us if we ordered you around."
"Same thing," Todo growled, a vein throbbing in his temple, his eyes going wide and crazed. "Piss off!"
Both he and Kamo stood up straight, the air tense from their intense quiet. Kamo walked past him in silence, neither of them meeting eyes.
Todo raised his chin and pursed his lips as if that encounter was what he expected of Kamo.
"Looks like he's retreating," Mechamaru said in his automated voice next to Miwa in the forest opening.
"Lame," grunted Mai from a treetop, sore they were pulling back from the encounter.
"You alright, Yuji-kun?" Shohei muttered, waving a hand over his shoulder at Itadori in the tree, but still watching Kamo retreat.
Shohei quickly looked back and saw Itadori nodding.
Kamo paused, his back facing Todo, and said, "Make sure you kill him."
So Shohei was wrong on why all the Kyoto students mobbed Todo and Itadori. Really wrong actually.
"That depends on Itadori," Todo countered, a haughty smile stretching his lips. "Don't order me around," he told the boy, almost quietly.
Todo took a fighting stance again, ignoring his classmates and locking eyes with Itadori.
"After all, I'm not an inconsiderate man who'd hold back against his best friend!" bellowed Todo, excited to return to fighting.
"Since when did you two become friends?" Shohei asked Itadori as he leapt from the tree and stood by his side. "I was gone for maybe five minutes."
Mai, Miwa, Mechamru, and Noritoshi all retreated from the scene and fled back into the forest, disappearing along the path, but not entirely from Shohei.
A devious grin spread across Shohei's half hidden face.
All of the Tokyo students had conversed on their location and were waiting to ambush the fleeing Kyoto students in the forest and Nishimiya in the air.
A crackle of purple electricity rent the semi-silence of the buzzing forest.
Fushiguro's Nue shikigami, which resembled a large, masked, orange owl shot from the forest and appeared behind Nishimiya.
The Nue spiked her across the canopy top with an electrified slap of its wings.
Megumi was nearby, hidden in the shadows of the forest, controlling the shikigami. He had done Shohei's job for him, and the boy made a note to thank the boy with lunch someday.
Mai and Mechamaru's cursed signatures peeled off from Noritoshi's and Miwa's and dove through the forest towards Nishimiya, but little did they know that Panda and Kugisaki were already approaching the blonde Sorcerer.
Maki's staple, miniscule cursed signature pounced from the treeline and separated Kamo's and Miwa's, engaging Miwa.
Kamo turned back to assist the blue haired girl, but was also intercepted by Fushiguro.
"See you boys," Shohei bid farewell to both Itadori and Todo, taking off in the air to commence the second part of his plan that would take place if enough of both Kyoto and Tokyo sorcerers got into a shuffle with each other.
Inumaki was the only Tokyo student not engaging one of the Kyoto students.
It was up to him and Shohei to begin hunting down the cursed spirits in the forest to actually win the contest unless they were called in for reinforcement or other requests.
Shohei was cruising over all the trees of the forest, concentrating on detecting the supposed third and fourth-grade curses roaming the woodlands.
Shohei sensed a grade-three after almost a whole minute flying around the edges of the designated area, dove to the ground, and began searching on foot.
Shohei quickly found the curse in a small burrow underneath a shrub.
The curse lunged out from the shrub as Shohei parted its foliage.
The curse had a lower body like a snake, coiled like a spring that it bounced on instead of walking. It's arms were long and it's fingers were longer and capable of grappling whatever it ambushed from its burrow. It's head was similar to a pasty alligator. It was short and stout, but wide and filled with hooked teeth, shining like it's bloodshot eyes.
Despite its otherworldly appearance, Shohei chuckled, amused at the especially cartoonish curse.
"You're almost cute," Shohei said, raising a flat hand into the air and slamming it down, like he was smacking a fly on a table.
A column of force slammed down onto the curse's head, smushing it flat and exorcising it immediately, smothering the purple blood and ash into the forest floor.
Shohei took back off into the air and proceeded to eliminate any small curse he came upon, racking up four points for Tokyo in the span of three minutes.
Even with his superb sensing range, he had to admit that the curses were masking themselves particularly well. It was either that or the Tokyo staff had stockpiled the forest very conservatively with the curses.
Shohei used his time most efficiently in hunting down the curses while his classmates battled it out with the Kyoto students.
Shohei jetted curse to curse, taking their heads off with Iguana Talon, flattening them with a sudden pounding of force, or shredding them in a blender of jumbled and mixed small fields of gravity.
He must've scoured all of the dense forest and excorcised a total of eight grade-three and grade-four curses in no less than fifteen minutes, except for one and another one Todo had exorcised.
There was the grade-two curse that was supposed to be lurking about, waiting to clash with any Sorcerer before it's death would mark the end of the game. Shohei couldn't find the curse if he wanted to, and he did.
Shohei would rather hunt down and eliminate the curse before Todo got past Itadori and began ravaging the other's too, but he just couldn't find it.
Before he got frustrated at clearing the large stretch of forests fruitlessly, Shohei decided to call Inumaki and ask if he had found any sign or trail of the grade-two spirit.
Toge didn't pick up the call and the answering machine replied instead.
Rather than calling Inumaki back, Shohei decided to remain where he was and inspect further to decide where he was needed most.
Shohei did a brief look over where all his classmates were and what their situations might look like.
Mechmaru and Panda were close together in a small bundle of buildings where the Tokyo student's gathered before starting the race.
Mechamru was lying still and his cursed energy signature was fading, like the doll was defeated, and Panda, who was walking away, dispatched a curse spirit Shohei missed and was only relatively battered.
Miwa was standing still, off by herself as Maki walked away from their location. Miwa didn't seem unconscious, but was just stunned by something.
She might have been affected by Inumaki's cursed speech, but Inumkai was still, deep in the forest with Megumi's Divine Dog as a scout.
Maki was walking away, rather casually, from her and Miwa's fight. She was heading in the direction of a clearing that Nishimiya was leading Kugisaki, but she had no way of knowing that
Kugisaki was chasing Nishimiya, not even attacking her because she was so busy keeping up with the airborne Sorcerer, but little did she know that Mai was following them both, several meters behind.
Shohei hoped that if all four of those girls ended up in the same place, that they wouldn't lose their heads and hurt each other too badly.
Mai and Kugisaki had enough crazy in them alone to spark some issues, and that's without counting Nishimiya who had to inherit some crazy from being in Todo's year, and Maki, who always had a bit of a blunt, bitter sting to her words if she wasn't careful.
Shohei got lost in observing the others and his mind became a bit foggy as he aimlessly focused his senses in other areas of the forest.
Surveying the others didn't grasp Shohei's attention and his natural, inattentive demeanor took hold of him again now that he was far away from any occurring action.
Shohei stood off by himself amongst the plantlife, almost as vegitative as a tree, for almost five minutes before an insect buzzed by his ear, rather noisily, and jolted him to his senses.
Shohei scanned the forest again, semi-determined to actually make a move and participate in the competition rather than lul around.
Kugisaki was engaging Nishimiya in a clearing, Mai extremely close and taking up a position in a tree, several yards further into the forest.
Maki had seemed to either hear or just notice the sounds of fighting in the clearing and was purposefully advancing on them, bound to run into Mai in the treetops before she even laid eyes on Nobara or Nishimiya.
Toge was by himself and running towards where the Kyoto students had started the race from, no longer alongside the Divine Dog shikigami.
This was partially concerning to Shohei, but he continued observing the land.
Panda was by himself, marching through the forest, looking kind of lost, but still moving ahead without stopping to gather his bearings.
Todo and Itadori didn't seem to be fighting any longer, but were still standing and seemingly talking.
Kamo and Fushiguro had fully entered the buildings that Toge was approaching, locked in their combat still.
Ignoring his personal bias with both his good friend Fushiguro and his formal acquaintance with Kamo, Shohei decided to head towards them.
He'd be able to see how Fushiguro was going against Kyoto's more skilled students and reconvene with Toge in person to share their progress.
Toge's approaching mass of cursed energy was speeding towards the building at a relatively fast pace, but Shohei didn't give it a second thought as Toge was a fast Sorcerer.
Shohei took flight, cutting through the air like a fish through water, but whipping up wind and scaring flocks of birds into the sky. Almost already upon the stylistic, semi-modern semi-traditional Japanese buildings, Shohei slowed his approach.
Concluding his trip over the green, vibrant forest, Shohei landed on the upper railings, overlooking the courtyard of a large building.
Shohei lazily strolled toward the far end of the rails, where he predicted there would be sudden rise in property damage from Noritoshi and Megumi clashing, heatedly and approaching the wall.
A wave of water with the force of a small tsunami smashed Kamo through the building wall, leaving the boy falling through the air with rubble and water.
Still inside the building was Fushiguro, dismissing his Max Elephant shikigami, a large pink elephant with gold markings and black tattoos.
The shikigami melted back into the shadows, allowing Fushiguro to summon other shikigami again, as the elephant used much of Fushiguro's cursed energy and concentration.
Fushiguro made a shadow puppet of a bird with his hands and his Nue shikigami materialized from his own shadow, and sprung at Kamo, still falling through the air.
Nue's wings hissed and crackled with purple electricity as it dove by Kamo, striking him once, stunning him further in mid air.
The shikigami barrel rolled back in the open air of the court yard for a second strike on Kamo, but he overcame the minor shock and pulled a plastic IV pouch of blood from his large, baggy uniform sleeve and tossed it towards the avian creature.
The bag exploded, and rather than the blood splattering everywhere or dripping onto the ground below, it reached out like several long strands or tendrils, ensnaring the shikigami.
"Crimson Binding," Kamo grunted, gracefully landing on his feet in the courtyard as the Nue limply fell to the ground with a thud.
Kamo gathered himself and lunged at the charging Megumi who also lept from the damaged building.
"I can't afford to lose!" Kamo roared, but an explosion of plant life and cursed energy towered over the courtyard and halted all combat.
Live, gargantuan roots seemed to come alive and began reaching over the building and into the courtyard, converging on Kamo and Fushiguro.
"What's this?" Kamo asked, open endedly, perturbed and threatened by the looming roots.
"What in the hell?" Shohei muttered dimly, confused by the sudden burst of cursed energy in the plants and their attack.
Amongst the clutter of lunging roots was Toge, weaving and leaping through them all and landing on the roof of the building.
"Inumaki-senpai?!" Fushiguro called, seeing the silver haired boy sprinting across the roof.
"Run away," Inumaki's cursed speed echoed through the open courtyard, magically compelling both Kamo and Fushiguro on the ground and Shohei in the rafter to begin rushing away from the plants as fast as their bodies could.
The plants crashed into the courtyard where both Kamo and Fushiguro were just standing, knocking up rubble and dust.
Shohei crashed through a window in the building, rolled to his feet, and carved his way through the building with massive slashes of force from Gravity Conductor. Each chopping motion of his hand cleaved away drywall, wood, concrete, and furniture like tissue paper.
After breaking through several walls, Shohei reached the open air and saw the group of student Sorcerer's still running away, weaving through buildings and pathways.
Shohei glided down toward them and joined in the hurried racing, all allies again with the threat of some unexpected force.
"What the hell was that massive attack with all those plants, Toge?" Shohei yelled over the group of boy's stomping feet. "One second there's no sign of cursed energy except Fushiguro and Kamo in their fight, and you approaching us, and then there is that explosion of an attack."
Toge turned his head to answer Shohei while sprinting, but the crumbling gateway that they were all hurrying to escape threw drew Toge's lavender eyes to it before blasting apart.
More roots and branches sprouted out in an explosion, kicking up dirt and dust.
Standing on top of the branches and former gate was a cursed spirit, towering above even Shohei in stature and build, decorated with black lines and markings.
It was humanoid in appearance, but it's shell-like skin was tan-white and visibly tough like armor, with even its head resembling a helmet, leaving its lipless mouth visible, but replacing its eyes with small branches.
It's left arm was entirely shrouded in a white cloth, looking as if its shoulder was bagged or swaddled like a child. The only other cloth on it was its baggy pants, covering its large legs, but coming short of its sharp, pointed feet and toes.
Not only was its appearance odd, taking a distinctly human figure, but so was it's cursed energy.
It felt as intimidating and powerful as a special-grade curse, but not malicious, ugly, or bitter like simple and weaker curses did. It felt like a force of nature, personified, looming over the meek humans, unable to stand eye-to-eye with it and its power.
Shohei's eyes were wide behind his bangs, not fearful, but anxious at the spirit's appearance.
He figured the previous massive attack was from the special-grade curse before him, as it held traces of the same cursed energy that he found almost difficult to directly sense.
Shohei should've been able to have sensed such a strong abundance of cursed energy, but it almost masked itself with the natural world and feeling of the trees and animals in the surrounding forest.
The special-grade was undoubtedly a cursed spirit from its overbearing, threatful air, but one could almost call it just a spirit.
This was a very lethal threat standing before the student Sorcerers.
A veil began forming, trickling down from a peak in the open sky above the forest like warm sap from a cut tree.
The curse hadn't chanted the incantation for a veil, and Shohei had never even seen a curse do such a thing either way.
Shohei equated the veil had something to do with the spirit, and lunged at it, a gathering piercing force forming in Shohei's flattened, wound up hand.
Shohei flung himself in front of the curse, his curtained bangs staring up at it's branch swapped eyes, his attack flying its course to piercing it in the chest before it could do more than look down, when it was all halted.
Shohei had some external force jerk him from behind the naval and dragged him skyward, sending his attack askew and firing off into the forest, uprooting and mangling several bistanding trees.
Shohei rocketed toward and through the forming veil, free falling several feet before catching himself with his own means of flight and scanning his new surroundings in the air outside the black dome.
I enjoyed writing the action and edited plot in the next chapter. It'll be updated sooner than this one took. Thanks for reading.
