Water flowed ever so gently over the shallow river, the crystalline currents home to a great number of species. Life thrives beneath the surface, sheltered from the inattentive eyes whose gaze stops at their own reflection. The small fish that lightly pecks the food off the rocky riverbed does not think that one day the river will ultimately parch during the more and more frequent periods of drought, or that its intestines will burst from the accumulated plastic its metabolism cannot digest. No, it does not, its brain operates out of instinct solely. Feed, flee, breed, all other functions superfluous or on the occasion.
Hanami knows this, Nature suffers from the poison spilled in her realms on any given day, the flora withers, the fauna rots. What was once green became gray, artificial, lifeless. Nature did not stand on the sideline to watch her greatest creation get destroyed. Storms, and consequently floods and slides raging on the sterile field of asphalt with vindicating fury, ancient river paths unearthed by water's might, towns buried under a tomb of mud. And yet, despite Nature's best effort to save her creation, the calamity always finds a way to strive.
The cursed spirit reminisced as he lay enveloped by the calm waters of the stream, humanity finds its strength in perseverance and its ability to adapt. Such intellect would acknowledge its mistakes at the first signs of peril and aim to do better than glutton everything it has been offered. Some understood that, the rest couldn't care less.
Hanami took pride in his role as Nature's protector and avenger, no longer should a creature's greed come at the expense of the planet on his watch, though he didn't enjoy the process of that. He felt envious of the other curses in that regard, those like Mahito who find lust in the heat of a death battle, a total contrast to the sloth-like persona he usually sports. But not be mistaken, under no circumstance he will hold back Nature's wrath.
The curse rose to his feet, the blow from the weapon the girl wielded blasted him from the roof of the estate through the forest and into this small affluent. That was a good weapon, indeed. The drops of water that trickled down his body were suddenly swept away by a gust of wind, something large just flew past him and back into the crammed woods. They're approaching quickly, he assumed.
As he twirled his head to scan the area around him, the sound of claws sinking into the soil made it snap back in place, a humongous black and white werewolf-like shikigami came out in the open, its forelegs disproportionate to the rest of the body. Swiftly it pounced on him and ripped through the flesh of his right arm with his razor-sharp talons. Hanami healed himself while he stared the growling creature into its yellow eyes as it was standing idle behind his back; it was fast, if he didn't react in time, his wounded arm would have been torn apart instead. Also, it must mean the sorcerer boy is in the forest nearby...
The splashes alerted the cursed spirit of another presence, this time his arm clashed against the jet black blade held by... the girl? Where was the boy?
The answer came in the form of a staff bludgeoning his skull with such force to destabilize the curse's balance a bit. Side by side again, Megumi and Maki swapped their weapons back to their rightful owner to then attack the defenseless Hanami once again, bringing the curse to a tight spot.
"Now, Esposito-kun!" Megumi gave the signal once they got far enough, up in the clouds the exorcist dived with his wings wrapped around his body to slice the opposing air more efficiently. He took a deep breath while he drew near the ground below, his cheeks began to glow an intense white, flames escaping from the corners of his mouth as the accumulating divine essence built up a great pressure inside his oral cavity and lungs. His eyes were well trained on the objective that looked up to the figure obscuring the sun at the very last moment. This was their chance to defeat the special grade, it's now or never.
'Arcane chant: Salamandra'
A jet of fire spewed out of the exorcist and engulfed the cursed spirit entirely within the pearly flames. He then glided to safety beside the two sorcerers who caught him right before he could tumble on the slippery riverbed.
"Please don't ever make me use that three-section staff again! It's too hard." Megumi said as he watched the fire pillar get taller. Gabriele's hand went over the bandages on his throat delicately, the attack had strained the already compromised organ more than he could afford to. He too watched the fire grow in volume, not with a sense of accomplishment, but of dread.
"It's handy once you get used- Megumi!" Maki's eyes got wider at the sight of the boy's stomach, dark purple sprouts endowed with sharp teeth suddenly grew out of his abdomen and blood traveled down his chin. While Maki was distracted by the buds exhaling a soft wheeze, a root shot out from the fire and, only thanks to a swift reaction from her part, embedded into her shoulder.
They both glanced at what remained of the curse as the flames gradually died out, a cocoon-like rove was what they found instead. Once even the smallest trace of fire faded to nothingness, the rove began to unravel before them by retreating into the river, freeing a slightly scorched-up, regenerating Hanami from within. "My strike was aimed for your heart. What a wonderful reaction." The curse complimented the girl who knocked the root out of her flesh with a swing of her staff.
"Jujutsu sorcerers are extraordinarily compassionate, an opening is always created when their ally is injured." The shinigami pounced over Hanami again from behind, but just as it was about to sink its teeth it turned back into a black goo splashing the special grade. "You shouldn't use cursed techniques anymore." Hanami continued, this time referring to Megumi, brought to his knees by the white-hot pain. Maki, who at first believed the shikigami got destroyed, realized that it probably was Megumi releasing the technique.
"The bud embedded in you loves cursed energy, the more you use techniques, the deeper the roots will extend into your body."
"How kind of you to warn me. You're planning to kill us anyway, though." Megumi responded.
"Apparently, it works faster when I explain it. Other than that, humans usually give up in front of the inevitability of death. However..." He quickly motioned his arm to the left side of his neck and caught the incoming blade about to cut his head off. The curse glanced over his shoulder, eye trees locking with fierce turquoise irises. "That is not always the case." Hanami held the jet black sword in place as he turned sideways to face the exorcist, he must have sneaked away while he was inside the rove, using the shikigami as a decoy to get closer for the surprise attack. You could tell he was the most experienced of the three by far.
"Some do not know when to yield." After a bit of struggle, Gabriele managed to yank the blade out of the curse's grasp, dodging the following blow by pivoting under the foe's arm. Using the momentum of the spin, the exorcist swung the sword across Hanami, cursed steel scraping against the hard hide.
They continued their sparring until Gabriele blocked a palm strike with the flat side of the blade, the knockback pushing him a few meters away from his opponent. Maki looked baffled at the scene, you could see he was trained in swordsmanship but it was different from what she, Megumi, or Yuuta practiced. The way he held the hilt perhaps too small for his hands, the way he used the entirety of the edge to get up and close to the enemy, no movement wasted, every parry, slash, lunge, even the fire had a purpose behind. All of which reminded her of him, which left a bitter taste on her tongue. Was the gap between them really that immense? Was he really that far ahead? "What are you doing, Maki?!" A voice called for her, snapping the girl out of the trance she unknowingly put herself in, her gaze automatically laid over the exorcist before her. "You can't afford to get thrown off just because your friend got injured. Enemies won't stop for you so that you could rescue them." He told her despite him facing the other way, "You want to save your friends? Fine, but don't get your order mixed up!" Gabriele got back into his fighting stance as two roots arose to Hanami's sides. In a blink of an eye, the human dashed forward, dodging the roots that curse shot up at him with outstanding agility. Seeing the exorcist coming to arm's reach, Hanami resorted to a last-second punch, blocked again by the sword but at least knocking it out of his hands.
'It went flying easily like he did not have any grip at all.' He thought, then he realized. Way too easily.
Gabriele immediately took advantage of the cursed spirit's misstep by catching his wrist. His body abruptly felt heavier, as if gravity turned tenfold on him and his legs could barely keep it up, all the exorcist needed to do was kick the inside of his ankle and Hanami collapsed to his knees like a castle of cards. Eyes interlocked again, to the curse's shock, the human's eyes seemed like they began to bleed out.
"We save people not by rescuing them..." He continued, the words echoed with great reverb in Maki's mind. The exorcist then put his free hand perpendicular to the downed Hanami's chest, the fingertips touching right over where his heart would reside, "We save people by exorcising the curses who plague the Earth." He concluded by leaning into the hardest punch that he could throw, a blow that left Hanami breathless. He knew he didn't possess enough essence to vanquish the spirit in one go, but just enough to take off a limb permanently.
'Arcane chant: Exsecutio'
The blow was powerful, yet nothing happened.
'It misfired?!' astonishment took hold of the exorcist's face, did he already reach the limit?
The moment he let his guard down, a thin root shot upwards from the water and scratched the hand holding Hanami's wrist. Gabriele winced from the pain, making the unfortunate mistake to ease his grip on the curse who felt his energies swiftly restored. Hanami instantly passed on the counterattack as he grabbed the human by the neck and slammed him violently into the river. The exorcist had his face slightly above the surface, still managing to breathe although with difficulty until something dragged him back down.
"The plants won't grant you any more oxygen." said the cursed spirit while he controlled the roots wrapping around Gabriele's throat and body, watching the bubble rise incessantly as he struggled for air. Splashes alerted him of the approaching threat from the side, where the girl was currently flanking him. Maki came swinging the staff at him, she moved well but she was missing the edge she had earlier in the fight, three times the weapon came close to hitting, and all three times Hanami simply stepped out of the way.
Knuckles soon impacted against Maki's cheek, her glasses sent flying off her nose bridge before she too had her arms blocked by a root. Megumi cussed under his breath, Maki was suspended two meters off the ground, Gabriele was drowning, and it was all his fault. He looked down at the bud, the wheezing sounded more like a mocking giggle for being useless, for failing to protect his friends. He lifted his arms towards the curse, he wasn't like everyone else, he'll shoulder the least responsibility and wring out that cursed energy, even if it'll rip his stomach open. He chooses who to protect, therefore he can't allow himself to fall before anyone else.
Meanwhile, Gabriele fought to pry himself free from the roots keeping him underwater. When a muffled cry came to his ears it only added fuel to his sense of urgency as his life ticked away every second he held his breath. He wrangled more energetically, but his shackles on his neck and wrists pulled him further into the rocks at the bottom of the river, his powers straight up refusing to cooperate in this life-threatening moment.
Gabriele, you have to tap into my reserve
'What about you?! Wouldn't it consume your energy?' He mentally yelled at the entity, it'd be foolish too, they could discover them if he ever so decided to risk it all. The exorcist exhaled the last bit of air he had left in his system, he watched in dread the bubble rise to the surface, realizing that soon the lack of oxygen will make him pass out and it'll be too late to take a decision.
It's small quantitative, the essence will burn it fast
Please, hurry up
Gabriele tried to force his way out with all the strength he could gather in one final effort. While the roots appeared to slightly loose their hold on his wrists, it was still not enough to get rid of them, and as his consciousness began to flicker, the risky idea sounded more and more appealing. Just as he was about to lose his battle against time, a hand dived into the cold river, tore the root off his throat, and tugged him out of the water.
"I got him!" All worry left Itadori's face once he saw the young man's eyes lit up with life. Toudou gave him a nod of approval and a smirk at the exorcist who was coughing up the water he had stuck in his lungs.
After helping Gabriele get back on dry land, the pink-haired teenager turned around and stepped inside the river again, which distressed Megumi greatly. "Stop Itadori!" he said, "That's not something we can han-" a cough traveled up his larynx, interrupting him. Toudou, in the meantime, brought Maki next to Gabriele on the riverbank where, unbeknownst to them, Panda had just arrived.
"Panda, take these two and exit the veil." he instructed him, pointing at Megumi and Maki, "According to Nishimiya, this is an anti-Gojou Satoru veil, so we can come and go without issues."
"What about me?" asked the exorcist.
"As much I'd like to have you fight beside us, Nishimiya told me Gojou wants to have a word with you." Toudou informed him as he handed a phone with a video call already open. Gabriele took it in his hand, the sight of the familiar white hair made him instantly irritated.
"Oh look who it is, where have you been? I was worried sick!" Gojou said with a sarcastic tone.
"I tried to call you numerous times but you didn't even bother picking up the phone, you made me look bad in front of my colleagues! What do you have to say for yourself?!" he continued, expecting an explanation despite fully knowing it'll never come just to get a reaction out of him. The foreigner limited himself to looking askance at the teacher, pretty much done with his antics. What a bastard.
"Not a word huh?! How about you go upstairs and think about what you've done, young man?!" He somewhat scolded him, trying to sound assertive just like a father grounding his misbehaving child. Apart from the inopportune scene he was making, Gabriele caught a glimpse of the clear blue sky in the background with no trees to be seen, time two seconds to connect the dots in his head and his chin went up almost automatically to the top of the veil.
Upstairs, you say?
Gojou floated effortlessly over the black dome, whoever did cast it did a good job, prioritizing its effect on cursed techniques over its visual effects, keeping him out of the battle, sure they did think out this plan through and through. He waited there for his assistant to come, he was smart alright to understand what he had implied in their call, and by the look he had on his face, he shouldn't wait for much longer. A slight draft followed by a flutter of wings caught the attention of the sorcerer, speak of the devil...
"Gabri-kun!" he greeted the exorcist with a smile, "My, my! You're all drenched, you'll get a cold if you don't do something about it." he commented, touching the damp hair on top of the boy's head.
"What do you want?" Gabriele stared at him deadpan.
"Nothing, really." Gojou looked down at the veil once more, his expression was uncharacteristically serious. "I still don't know the reason behind this incursion, but the only certain thing is that they wanted me outside of the veil, and you inside of it." The exorcist was dumbfounded, not sure about how he should be feeling now, and yet, the more he thought about it, the more it just clicked together perfectly. Especially the curse he had exorcised earlier today, if they wanted him to lure him inside the forest, a curse overinflated with cursed energy rang like the perfect bait.
Gojou then shifted his gaze onto the horizon, hinting at the younger man to get beside him and do the same. Once he was next to him, the white-haired sorcerer wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Can you sense it?" he asked him, all of the sudden.
It took a moment for Gabri to get the memo, initially reluctant to manipulate the divine essence while having it dangerously low, to the point he feared the wings would cease to function at any second, he then decided to oblige and concentrate on the task at hand. A tiny flame, the size you would likely see while lighting up a candle, manifested on the tip of his index finger, a shiver made his way up his spine at the glimpse of that little flame veering firmly toward west.
A second special grade, he did not dare say.
"So it is as bad as I thought." Gojou scratched his chin, now he gets it, the point of the veil is not to keep him out from what's happening inside, but to distract him from what happens outside of it. Gabriele glanced at him, he half expected the man next to him, the strongest sorcerer of them all, to leave him there to hunt down this new curse wandering on the school grounds.
What he did instead was turn around and stare at the dome below.
"Wait! Shouldn't you go exorcise that curse?!"
"I can't." he pointed down to the veil, "My students are inside this curtain. My priority now is to break this technique so I can help them."
Conflict sparkled inside the foreigner's mind who focused alternately between the sorcerer and the little flame in his digit, the latter with much more regard. On one hand, it was his duty to look after his students, now more than ever with a confirmed special grade curse on the loose in the forest and who knows how many lurking in its shadow. On the other, though, leaving a special grade could result in unprecedented outcomes, with possibly thousands of lives in danger.
"Be careful out there." Gabriele eyed him quizzically.
"I understand it's your line of duty, so go if you want, I'm not stopping you. Though, whatever that curse's going after is not worth risking your life." Gojou said.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't be a full-time hero, Gabriele. Be selfish. One day you'll be forced to choose duty or yourself, and the answer won't be as clear as you think." He twirled midair to face the young man, his hands reaching for the blindfold obstructing his eyes and tugging them down in a swift motion. Now Gojou held his gaze fixed onto the foreigner's one, thinking the next words cautiously.
"Whether you end up choosing the one over the other, promise me one thing. Do not hold yourself back..."
Even if it means being enemies again.