As it turns out, slamming into wood full force hurts... A lot.
But not as bad as that black flash...
I huffed, staggering to my feet and blinking away the blurriness from my eyes. I didn't as much as see as I felt Akira charging at me. I rolled to the side, my already hurt body flaring in protest.
The cracking of wood reached my ears as I realized he shot his cursed energy at me via his fingers. I scowled, my hand pressing against the grass.
Water drained from the plants and the atmosphere as I forced it to surround the annoying ass panther that was lunging at me, and freeze it over, creating an ice ball.
Akira jumped over the newly made ice sphere and brought his leg down. I jumped up just in time to avoid any more disorientation when his kick inevitably cracked the ground.
I raised a hand, batting aside the cursed energy projectile that was shot, and landed on the ground again.
This guy was good, admittedly, and I felt a constant stream of cursed energy from his back straight into his body... Was he fueling himself? Could he do that?
He could make a sentient panther, shoot cursed energy like bullets, and have a whole power bank on his back. I call hacks...
I spit out blood from my mouth as my own cursed energy flared in challenge, Shards of ice were sent his way from every direction.
From his back, two wings emerged, covering his whole body. The ice shards sunk into the ink feathers and he flapped them, breaking the shards.
A pillar of ice was what he got for his efforts, smelling straight into his gut as a large hawk came out of his body, heading toward me at high speeds.
My eyes narrowed in annoyance, spikes of water erupting from the grass underneath, skewering the large bird.
Pain flared from my shoulder, making my body twist to the side on impact, followed by another on my rib.
I stumbled back, turning the stumble into a back roll only to grab a hold of a wrist that would have hit me right in the jaw. My eyes narrowed as I grunted in frustration.
With a tug, Akira stumbled towards me, meeting opposition in the form of my knee in his gut. Air left his lungs and I took the moment to wrap the same leg around his own, forcing the back of his head into the ground.
I raised my fist and brought it down. At that moment, I felt it. It was like a switch, a split second before my fist connected with his gut. It was like like I was looking at a lake before, and now I was submerged in it, yet nothing impeded my vision, I could see, I could feel.
A spark of black.
__
"I can't believe you lost right after hitting that Black Flash. How did you pull that off anyway? do you two secretly hate each other very much?"
I glared at Satoru who was poking me in the cheek. This cheeky little bastard was getting on my nerves.
"Enough, Gojo, they both fought very well."
Geto put a hand on his shoulder and Gojo relented, backing off with an amused smirk. Shoko walked over to me after healing Akira and crouched down next to my body as I was enjoying the pain and suffering I was going through laid out on the ground.
I wasn't salty at all.
"You two did a number on each other huh?"
She mumbled, her brown eyes looking me over, putting a hand on my ribs to start healing them.
"I have a feeling with you two around, I'm going to get a lot of practice..."
I grinned weakly, feeling the pain leaving my body slowly but surely. This was nice.
"I see it as a win-win, honestly."
She huffed in what seemed like amusement, though I could not tell, I was still feeling the effects of the Black Flash. That feeling was intoxicating. The way I could feel cursed energy normally was like child's play compared to that.
I wanted that, I really wanted that.
I tilted my head slightly, looking at the cracked ground where I punched Akira with the Black flash, only to start coughing out blood a second later from the one he delivered previously.
I wanted to do that...
I wanted to do that consistently.
I really wanted to do that with every punch I threw.
"There, All done."
Shoko patted my abdomen, and I blinked. Turning to her, I raised an eyebrow as her hand remained on my abdomen for a moment longer before she stood up, using me to push herself up.
I did not feel any pain... I call hacks, this is pure bullshit...
I sighed, sitting up and rolling my shoulders.
"Good job there Kaito."
I looked up at a Grinning Akira, and reached up, grabbing his extended hand, allowing him to pull me up.
"You too, you crazy bastard, what possessed you to cackle like a villain in the middle of a fight?"
Akira raised an eyebrow at me before shrugging.
"Shi, man... I dunno."