Gojou stared at the screen of his phone in apprehension after the seventh failed attempt to contact the exorcist, of which he had lost tracks completely. It had been close to twenty minutes since he left the room and fifteen minutes since he wrote his last message. He had perceived a strong presence within the woods, the youngster mentioned in the reply, a potential first-grade or higher lurking around the battlefield. At first, Gojou chuckled to himself, perhaps one of the students had released a great quantity of cursed energy or he simply sensed the curse within Itadori.
But the more he put thought into it, the more it seemed unlikely for that to be the case. Exorcists are much more sensitive to cursed energy than sorcerers, certainly, they could tell the difference. Hell, it was the main reason why they hadn't let Gabriele partake in the exchange event.
Then Kazumi Miwa suddenly collapsed on the ground, in the middle of the curse-infested forest. Utahime wanted to go outside and retrieve her to safety, Gojou argued that Gabriele was already out, therefore she had no reason to leave the room. The two went on a discussion on whether they could really count on him, until the Kyoto principal, knowing better, sided with Satoru.
"Let the boy take care of it, Utahime." he had said as groomed his beard with his fingers. The woman conceded but not without any protest, not that it mattered to Gojou who immediately phoned the exorcist.
One unanswered call went by, then a second, a third, a fourth, and so on to the seventh failed connection.
Gojou's suspicions were becoming more and more real the longer he stared at the screen, and to make matters worse, the girl didn't give any sign of waking up anytime soon.
"That's it, I'm going." the sorcerer's focus shifted to the Kyoto supervisor standing up from her seat, reasonably growing tired of waiting, "It's obvious the preacher isn't going to respond in the near future, He's not as trustworthy as you claim him to be."
Gojou watched her walk to the door, but his mind wasn't giving him peace. The message, the seven missed calls, it couldn't be just a mere coincidence. If there really was a first-grade curse hiding in the forest, then he should not stand idle while his students are in peril.
"Wait, I'll accompan-"
The room's light abruptly turned red as everyone was now glancing at the entire rows of charms simultaneously combusting into a red fireball till nothing was left but burn marks and smoke. Well, at least they wouldn't have to worry about the curses anymore.
"The game's over? And they all burned red?" Utahime said.
"That's odd. My crows didn't see anything." Mei Mei added. Gojou leaned forward in his seat, so this is how we're doing things now?
"I'd love to say Great Teacher Gojou's students exorcised them all, but..."
"The charms will burn red for unregistered cursed energy," Masamichi concluded, exactly what Satoru didn't want to hear. Storming the school facility wasn't such an easy task anyone could pull off, the entire complex was concealed from the public behind a barrier, so whoever had planned this either had help from inside or already knew the location. The mole acted quicker than anticipated.
The Tokyo Principal stood up as well:
"I'm going to Tengen-sama. Satoru and Principal Gakuganji, please protect the students. Mei, you stay here and identify the locations of the students and stay in constant contact with the other two."
"Fully understood." Mei Mei responded, "I look forward to the bonus."
"Come on, Gramps! Time for a walk!" Gojou said, clapping twice with little to no regard for paying the due respect to the much elder sorcerer, "You just finished your lunch, didn't you?" Gakuganji avoided the annoying man-child and his innate ability to get under his skin the best he could.
The blindfolded teacher hurried his way out of the room with the Kyoto school representatives, oblivious of what was waiting for him outside those walls.
The exorcist frantically glanced over his shoulder, the large branches were rapidly chasing him and his group down, destroying everything in their paths. Megumi was taking the lead with Gabriele, Inumaki, and Noritoshi following behind as they ran away from the destructive force after them. Once the building's entrance soon was in their sight, the group dashed forward in a final adrenaline-fueled rush to salvation. They inched closer to the doors, but their hopes came crumbling down the moment the wooden gates exploded into smaller and more dangerous fragments now flying in their direction.
The big splinters hissed past their heads like arrows, the young men spared from major injuries as they crouched down in time to avoid the lethal rain. Not even the time to rest they were given that an overwhelming presence impregnated the area, goosebumps traveling in each of the boys' spines with the exorcist barely keeping the essence in check.
Among the remains of the gates, a humanoid curse slowly made its way before them, its stature towering over them like a solitary sunflower amid the field, its eyes replaced by two small ramifications, the everpresent grin, its right arm free, the other wrapped around a white cloth, concealed. They stared at it and it stared back at them, expressionless, void of any human trait that marked their memories permanently. Inumaki and Gabriele were still haunted by the now familiar stench the creature seemed to bring after itself, so oppressive their vision began to darken.
"Oi..." Noritoshi pointed upwards to the sky, and at that precise moment, Gabriele found out his sense of sight wasn't tricking him. A black fog stained the clouds up above and descended over the horizon like ashes after an eruption.
"Who does this veil belong to? Why is there a cursed spirit at Jujutsu Tech?"
"Veil? What's a veil?"
"A veil is a barrier technique we use to keep curses from fleeing. Probably the curse user working with that cursed spirit cast it upon us." Megumi explained to the exorcist. He kept his eyes trained on the creature, analyzing every detail that jumped out. A while back Gojou said he was attacked by two special grade curses, he gave them a portrait of the two and, despite the man's poor drawing skills, Megumi could recognize the similarities.
"Who are you talking to?" Noritoshi looked at the first year confused.
"Tuna mayo." Inumaki turned to Megumi, his hand closed with his thumb and pinkie spread open.
"You're right. Let's contact Gojou-sensei." the first-year thanked him as he took out his phone, immediately scrolling down the rather small contact list.
"Good call, Inumaki."
"Hold on." the bloodbender stopped them, afraid of being left out of the loop, "You understand what they're saying?" To be fair to him, the conversation looked ridiculously one-sided with Megumi doing most of the talking while the other two either spewed nonsense or nothing at all, sure the Jujutsu school of Tokyo has a thing with a speech impediment.
Meanwhile, the creature watched the group discuss among themselves attentively, Geto warned it against killing whoever has been in contact with Sukuna's vessel, not until they secured his loyalty to their cause. It then laid its eyes on the boy with curly black hair at the back of the group, the odd feeling he emanated made it think back to the monk.
"An exponent of the Church has been residing at the school over the past month, one as young as the students. It could be nothing special, should it be a shy attempt at reconciliation though, our plan will be over before it could reach its climax."
The curse dashed forward, surprising the young sorcerers with its great speed, and struck the phone out of Megumi's hand.
"Again, it may be an overreaction on my part. However, we can't afford to fight a coalition today, not without Sukuna. So Hanami, if you happen to see a person with a tattoo on his left arm.."
Taking advantage of the chaos, the cursed spirit reached for Gabriele's sleeve and tore it open, exposing the inked skin buried underneath the fabric. The exorcist was thrown off by the hostile monster who went straight past all the others with its fingers inching dangerously close to his neck.
"Murder him."
Hanami thrust into the lethal blow, the foreigner reacted by swatting the attack with his palm completely out of instinct. Soon enough Inumaki came to the rescue, unzipping his uniform and cursing the foe to freeze in place. Noritoshi then attacked it by manipulating the blood he had stored into a circular bladed projectile and sent it at full velocity.
The projectile impacted heavily on the cursed spirit's head with a considerable knockback, yet to the bloodbender's dismay, it left anything but a scratch on its helmet-like skull. Megumi, on the other hand, had his flying shikigami rain down on Hanami and shocked it with an electric tackle. As the curse felt the electricity run through the fiber of its contracted muscles, Megumi took the matter in hand and slashed the enemy with a jet-black sword. The sorcerer paced back without turning his back on Hanami, he looked with great disappointment that neither his attacks passed through the creature's thick hide.
'That sword...' Noritoshi gave a long look at the weapon on Fushiguro's hand, 'Where has he been hiding it?' his eyes then moved slowly to land upon the stunned exorcist who was inhaling and exhaling quite heavily, the cursed spirit was going relentlessly after him, something wasn't right about it.
".nerdlihc hsiloof ,ti potS"
"Stop it, foolish children."
A foreign voice invaded the thoughts of the 4 teenagers, Megumi expected a feeling of uneasiness to mess with his brain but found himself in a sense of familiar inquietude instead, creeping into his guts nonetheless. He couldn't understand any of the sound coming off the creature, and yet he did. The one thing he was sure about was that this cursed spirit was on a whole different level than the lower-grade ones.
"I merely wish to protect the planet, that's all." Hanami began again, "The forests, the oceans, and the sky all weep so vehemently that I can no longer stand it. It's impossible to coexist with humans any longer." It brought its chin up, its free palm facing upwards as if in prayer.
"They know there are some humans who are kind to the planet, but how much does their affection even help?" Hearts pounded strenuously against the boys' chests, the sounds came obfuscated to their ears. Gabriele's mind couldn't stay in place, it has been so long since someone got so close to his neck, the scar started aching up as if conscious of what occurred. He gritted his teeth, they needed backup, he knew he was the fastest of the four with his wings but still, he couldn't leave them alone with such a strong curse. But something has to be done.
"This planet can shine blue once more, given a bit of time..."
"Fushiguro!" Gabriele called for him, the sorcerer turned to see feathers growing back over the exorcist's shoulders. "The cursed spirit is onto me. Once it's distracted, run as fast as you can!"
The sorcerer tried to protest, as he opened his mouth to voice his concerns though, the ground under their very feet began to shake vigorously. Soon after, bare roots erupted from the floor behind Hanami, surrounding its figure as it commanded it.
"Time without humans."
"Run!" Megumi sprinted to Inumaki, together with Noritoshi they ran towards the inside of the building. Gabriele watched them go, now he should hold the curse back and buy them some more time to escape. Hanami too followed them with its sight, not inclined to let them get away, it raised its arm towards the fleeing sorcerers.
"Please die and become sages." The roots immediately shot up to the chase, covering the distance between the curse and the young men in seconds. It came close a couple of times, but just before it could crush them, Hanami felt the exorcist knock the air out of its lungs with a full-force dropkick. With his legs firmly planted on the curse's stomach, Gabriele used its trunk as a trampoline to propel out of harm's way, and hurled two fire bolts at it, pushing down the creature to its knee.
"Step aside, exorcist. Let Nature's will do its course." Hanami then directed two stray branches to hunt down the flying human. The exorcist glided through the clouds, evading the incoming attacks as best as he could, changing direction by twisting his body or using the nearby solid platforms to bounce off.
He looked at the static wave of wood down on the ground, just as he previously thought, it couldn't control two different waves at the same time. The exorcist veered to the right, now speeding parallel to the barrier that surrounded the edifice as new roots climbed up the levigated stone.
"You can't evade forever. Your energy will soon deplete, then I'll trample your body till only dust remains"
"Tough luck! My job here is done." Gabriele smiled at the astonished cursed spirit as he flew higher and higher. Not managing to keep the wooden spikes behind any longer, half of his wings got punctured by the thin ramifications, breaking apart at a moment's notice. Hanami watched the winged exorcist spin uncontrollably as he fell from the sky, just far enough to be out of reach for any possible attack.
"Thought manipulation? There's really no limit to what humans can steal from Nature, it seems." It turned on its heels, ready to go after the others who escaped inside the building.
"Be thankful the trees will break your fall."
His mind blinked in and out of consciousness, the light hitting his turquoise irises with only the undefined shadows of the foliage giving the resting exorcist some sort of relief. He fell roughly not too far from the estate, luckily for him the trees' thick manes had cushioned what would otherwise have been a fatal crash. Still, Gabriele wasn't spared from the aches afflicting his muscles, finding some difficulty having deep breaths. He slowly pushed himself off the ground between colorful swearing, once he was in a sitting position, he lifted his jacket to see his skin marked with dark purple bruises, the result of smashing his ribcage over and over against the tree's hardwood.
"So you're alive then." he heard a voice coming from his left side. As he turned his head around, the exorcist was met by Maki and Nobara.
"Not the greatest landing spot when falling out of Heaven, don't you think?" The younger girl had a quick laugh. Deafening snapping noises coming directly from the building in the distance suddenly changed the mood of the conversation, Gabriele could imagine the cursed spirit tearing the place apart while he was out cold.
"How long I have been unconscious?"
"We found you laying here four minutes ago. What happened?"
"A cursed spirit attacked us, presumably a special grade. Then the veil. It's not an isolated act of violence, we're looking into a well-coordinated incursion."
"Fuck." Maki cussed, gripping intensively the hilt of the katana she had taken away from the girl with notable bangs. "Were you alone?"
"Fushiguro and one of the Kyoto students were with me and Inumaki. I took on the curse on my own to buy them some time to escape, but as of now it might have caught up with them already."
"Then we have to move. The longer we wait here, the more in danger they are." Maki helped him up to his feet, Gabriele asked for a few moments for the acute pain to at least die off a bit before going forward. After basically forcing Nobara not to follow them into the battleground, Maki and Gabriele hurried towards the estate as more destruction filled the silent forest with loud noises. Once picked up the pace, the exorcist soared above the girl's head and extended his hand for her to grab.
The rogue Zen'in, taking notice of the flying ally ahead, planted her feet on the ground and jumped with all her might. Fingers clutched around each other's wrists at the apex of her trajectory, Gabriele could now ascend over the woods and into the blue sky.
"For your information, I still don't trust you!" Maki yelled out, making sure he was listening to what she had to say.
"Is this really necessary now?." He told her as he adjusted the grip around her arm. She had made it no mystery of her hatred towards him and what he embodies, Gabriele got that from the very first day they met. Always so distant, always so cold, and yet the exorcist didn't blame her, he knew the history between the two factions had been nothing but conflictual since the Portuguese tried to evangelize Japan. Even though her reasons must be far more personal, he deducted.
An ear-piercing explosion interrupted his train of thoughts, smoke came out of the estate's roof below them. Terror filled Maki's eyes the moment she saw Inumaki going down with blood flowing out of his mouth. Then the cursed spirit emerged from the smoke, seemingly unscathed... rage turned her blind.
She impulsively let go of Gabriele's hand without a single warning, landing behind it with her weapon drawn, ready to behead the monster who had hurt her friend. As she got close to it, Maki raised the katana above her head to hit the curse with one slash.
"You can't cut me with that dull blade." The cursed spirit blocked her attack, shattering the sword in pieces just by opposing the descending edge with its arm. It twisted its head over the shoulder to glance at the new foe, it was met instead by an open palm strike delivered by the exorcist right at the conjunction of the jaw, a small burst of flame scorching the side of the humanoid mug. Seeing the curse had yet to recover from the blow, Megumi saw his opportunity and slashed its eye off with his own sword.
Now the four of them came to a stalemate, the three humans on one corner, the invading monster on the other.
"Its eye trees are more fragile than the rest!" Gabriele noted.
"You did some damage, too." Megumi said, pointing at Hanami's left cheekbone. Upon closer inspection, the armor-like skin was indeed disintegrating, slow but constant like combusting paper. This would be game over for any lesser cursed spirit, unable to quell the deterioration before turning into ashes. Lesser cursed spirit, mind you, not with such a small amount of essence.
"Now, these weren't so bad." said the special-grade curse as both the eye tree and cheek grew back as new. Gabriele growled under his breath, exorcising that curse from earlier has revealed to be a bad choice, if it wasn't for that now they wouldn't be in such a dire situation. Then he shifted his attention to the young man next to him, his hands deep into a puddle-like substance as he took out a three-section staff of the roof while apparently letting the black sword sink into the roof. These sorcerers. Every day there is something new with them.
"I have something even better," Maki said while Megumi handed her the new bizarre weapon, the exorcist could feel something was different about it, despite its strangeness. "This one feels disgusting to use, though."
The three perceived a certain aura amongst themselves that oddly reinvigorated their fighting will, like they craved a battle for centuries and finally their prayers were answered. Gabriele himself couldn't give an exact explanation for this feeling of high morale flowing into his veins. Perhaps all of them had to prove something to the world, something that goes beyond sorcerers and exorcists.
Today, Humanity's resolve will shine brightest.