"Then why did you save me?" Yuji Itadori asked, his eyes fixed on Fushiguro, staring directly into his eyes.
Fushiguro's face was expressionless, but standing off to the side, Nobara Kugisaki couldn't take it anymore. "Enough already! What are you two doing? Are you idiots? At least consider the time and place!"
Just then, Hayashi's face changed, and he shouted, "Something's coming!"
Whoosh!
It happened fast. As soon as Hayashi spoke, a green blur rushed at them. Luckily, Yuji Itadori and Fushiguro reacted quickly and separated, narrowly dodging the attack.
The four of them now saw what had charged at them—an eerie green curse with four arms and a single eye on its forehead stood before them.
Hayashi's expression grew strange as he looked at the curse. "This is wrong... this is all wrong!"
"This is a special grade curse that shouldn't exist," he murmured.
"What do you mean wrong?" Fushiguro glanced at Hayashi, clearly sensing that the curse before them was beyond a grade-one curse, reaching the level of a special grade. "But my Divine Dogs didn't detect any curse!"
As Fushiguro mentioned his Divine Dogs, he noticed with horror that it was already dead—its entire body impaled into a metal wall, leaving only a bloodied head behind in a gruesome death.
"Aah!" Nobara Kugisaki suddenly screamed. A dark mass beneath her feet dragged her down, and in an instant, she vanished.
"Nobara!" Fushiguro's face turned as grim as Hayashi's. The enemy they were facing was far stronger than they had anticipated.
"This is really wrong." Hayashi continued to frown, his eyes fixed on the four-armed, green curse. "This thing isn't the Cursed Womb: Finger Bearer. Definitely not."
"Then what is this thing? How can there be another special grade curse here at the detention center?" he wondered aloud, unsettled.
"What do you mean something's wrong? Where's it wrong?" Fushiguro was sweating profusely by now. The curse's overwhelming presence, despite standing still, exerted an unbearable pressure.
Yuji Itadori looked at Hayashi, trusting that he had something important to say. No one dared to make a reckless move.
"There's another special grade curse," Hayashi said, his tone serious, his gaze never leaving the four-armed curse.
At this moment, he couldn't tell whether this curse or the Cursed Womb, Death Painting, was stronger. If this curse had a domain, he would need to buy time for Yuji and Fushiguro.
Among the four of them, aside from Yuji, who could let Sukuna take over, Hayashi was likely the strongest. After all, Fushiguro hadn't yet developed the necessary resolve.
"What? What are you talking about?" Fushiguro didn't understand what Hayashi was getting at. He thought Hayashi might have been terrified and overwhelmed by the situation, which was perfectly understandable when facing a curse of this level.
"You two need to get out of here. Go find Nobara. I'll stay and deal with this thing!" Hayashi urged.
"Are you kidding me? Even with your cursed energy armor, you can't take this thing on alone! We need all three of us to fight it together," Yuji protested, unwilling to let Hayashi face the curse by himself.
Kiyotaka Ijichi had warned them earlier—special grade curses were on a completely different level, not something that could be handled by brute force alone. Leaving Hayashi to fight it alone would be a death sentence.
"Even with the three of us, it won't matter. You two need to go now. Don't try to be heroes," Fushiguro said, more familiar than anyone with the terror of special grade curses.
The four-armed curse seemed to lose patience or perhaps grow bored of their conversation. It suddenly charged at Fushiguro, its speed overwhelming.
"Oh, so you're underestimating me?" Hayashi chuckled. The curse had chosen to attack Fushiguro first.
Special grade curses usually targeted the most troublesome person first, aiming to eliminate the biggest threat before toying with the weaker ones.
The curse was fast, but Hayashi was no slouch. With his cursed energy release activated, he pulled Fushiguro back with cursed energy, positioning himself to take the hit.
"Azure Black Flash!"
Hayashi swung his leg, his cursed energy armor enveloping him completely. Against a curse of this level, he had to use Black Flash right from the start.
Boom!
In the blink of an eye, the curse blocked Hayashi's kick, but it didn't come out unscathed. After all, this wasn't an ordinary Black Flash.
However, with its four arms, the curse was able to distribute the impact. Though all four of its arms bore injuries, it had managed to mitigate most of the damage.
"What just happened?" Fushiguro was still in shock. He hadn't even had time to react. How had he been pulled back? It felt as if something had used cursed energy to yank him away from the danger.
"You two stop getting all emotional! Now isn't the time for this. When I say go, you go! I can hold this thing off, and besides, I'm not trying to scare you, but there's another special grade curse in this detention center. Go save Nobara and avoid that curse if you can. I've got this one!" Hayashi's voice was loud and clear. There was no room for hesitation now.
When Fushiguro heard that there was another special grade curse, his face darkened even more. He had thought that maybe the three of them could handle this curse and then escape, but now it seemed hopeless.
But how did Hayashi know there was another special grade curse? Was he somehow more capable than the Windows, able to detect things even they couldn't?
"What do we do now?" Yuji was starting to panic. The information was coming at him too fast—how were there two special grade curses?
Fushiguro took a deep breath and gave Hayashi a long, hard look before saying, "Yuji, we're leaving. Let's go save Nobara."
"But what about Hayashi? Are we really going to leave him alone to face this thing?" Yuji didn't want to go. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving Hayashi to take on such a massive risk.
"Even without that other special grade curse, we have to save Nobara first. Are you coming or not?" Fushiguro didn't have time to argue with Yuji—every second was crucial now.
"Yuji, go with Fushiguro. I don't want to have to repeat myself," Hayashi said, not even turning around.
Yuji gritted his teeth and shouted at Hayashi, "You better hold on until we get back! Don't die on me!"
"Don't worry, I'm not dying!" Hayashi laughed. "Now get going!"
"Let's go!" Fushiguro dashed toward another passage, with Yuji quickly following.
The special grade curse didn't pursue them. It seemed more interested in Hayashi, as if it found him more intriguing.
"Well, looks like it's just us now. I can finally cut loose," Hayashi said, addressing the unfamiliar special grade curse before him. "I don't know where you came from, but if I don't take this chance to rack up some serious points, I'd be an idiot."