The special grade vengeful cursed spirit, Rika Orimoto, reached out with both hands.
Though her movements seemed casual, the wind pressure that followed was intense, giving the impression that there was no way to resist or dodge it.
Akira, recognizing the danger, issued a command: "Scatter."
The boys moved to the left, the girls to the right.
No matter which side Rika Orimoto targeted—or even if she tried to go after both—Akira had a plan in place.
True to her words, "I like red," Rika fixated on Gardevoir, who wore a red pendant, and refused to let her out of sight.
Seeing this, Akira swiftly circled around behind Gardevoir and unsheathed his sword.
The sword's light flashed like falling rain. To the average swordsman, Akira's movements would be imperceptible, a result of his relentless training as well as the boosts from his system's Trainer blueprint.
The Trainer blueprint Akira had gained from Megumi was actually the second one he had unlocked. His first and most commonly used blueprint was titled "Ash," named after the eternal protagonist of the Pokémon anime—a boy whose talents were not in "wisdom" as his name suggested, but in sheer "strength."
Ash's abilities included extraordinary physical strength, incredible resilience to electricity, and—what Akira was using now—swordsmanship fast enough to rival Beedrill's high-speed stingers.
Such a dense flurry of sword strikes landed on Rika Orimoto, finally drawing her attention away from Gardevoir. She turned her eyeless face toward the sword-wielding boy, her mouth curling into a curious smile:
"Do you want to play with Rika too? Rika also likes blue."
As she spoke, her hands reached out again, as if trying to catch a butterfly—only to tear off its wings once caught.
Akira smiled without a word, even pausing his sword strikes, waiting for Rika's hands to close in on him.
But just as her hands were about to grab him, he whispered a single command:
"Gardevoir, use Teleport."
The moment his words left his mouth, the space around them distorted, and in the blink of an eye, Gardevoir had swapped places with Akira.
This was one of Gardevoir's Egg Moves—moves she had from birth—serving as a key survival tactic for Akira.
Of course, Akira wasn't using Gardevoir's safety as a trade-off for his own.
Don't forget—besides Teleport, Gardevoir could also use her own version of instant movement. As soon as she switched places with Akira, she teleported right back to her master's side.
Akira glanced at Rika Orimoto's back. In just the brief time it took for them to switch places twice, all the wounds from his dozens of sword strikes had already healed, causing Akira to grit his teeth in frustration.
"Her health pool is massive, and her defense is through the roof. She's completely different from Gojo-sensei. In some ways, she's even more troublesome."
Gojo Satoru's "invincibility" was based on his mastery of his technique, but physically, his body wasn't much different from other Jujutsu sorcerers.
And in this world, there were cursed tools and techniques that could nullify Jujutsu, meaning there was always a chance for the weak to defeat the strong. Gojo himself had almost lost as a young boy because of this very reason. It's like the most advanced fighter jet being vulnerable to a simple bird strike.
Rika, on the other hand, was strong in the most fundamental sense. It was like comparing a heavily armored battleship to a small fishing boat. Sure, you could see and touch it, but destroying its armor? Nearly impossible. As for defeating it? Not happening.
But that also made her the perfect challenge.
Akira and Gardevoir's current battle prowess was in a delicate position.
The people around him, like Maki, Toge, and Panda, didn't require him to go all out. Even Principal Yaga, who had seen Gardevoir's Calm Mind and Psystrike combo, acknowledged that he wasn't a match for Akira. After all, Yaga was more of a support role than a frontline fighter.
Then there was Gojo Satoru—a complete anomaly. No matter how hard Akira tried, he couldn't even touch Gojo's body, let alone break through his technique.
"Alright, let's finally go all out."
Akira raised his sword, and Gardevoir lifted her hands. Their movements and expressions were perfectly synchronized.
In the next instant, both Trainer and Pokémon charged forward together.
Rika Orimoto, realizing that her "butterflies" weren't so easy to catch, also began to move, no longer relying solely on her hands.
At Rika's level, she could manipulate her cursed energy to adjust her size. She could shrink down to about three meters to protect Yuta, or grow to the size of a two-story building to catch her targets.
Every time she struck the ground, the earth shook. Every swing of her arms left deep furrows in the ground, making it a terrible experience for anyone who couldn't fly.
But none of that could stop Akira. Even if the ground under his feet was obliterated, Gardevoir's psychic energy would automatically support him.
Gardevoir, ever loyal and attentive to her Trainer, kept a portion of her mind focused on him. If Akira needed help, that energy would transform into a protective barrier or teleportation, ready to save him at any moment.
Akira couldn't fly, but his experience with high-speed aerial movement was more than adequate.
Combining quick footwork with psychic levitation, he weaved through the broken terrain and leaped onto Rika's massive form.
Relying on his incredibly honed physical abilities, Akira climbed up Rika's back and slashed at her neck.
Unfortunately, unlike titans from a certain world, cursed spirits don't have weak spots on their nape. Rika's wounds quickly regenerated, and in retaliation, she swatted at Akira.
A gale-force wind swept across, as though a mountain was crashing down on him, but Akira remained unfazed.
Extreme challenges like these were nothing new. Back in the countryside of Shikoku, he had completed similar tasks under even harsher conditions.
The pressure of this situation was nothing compared to jumping from hundreds of meters in the air and relying on psychic energy to cushion the fall.
The stronger the body, the more control one needed. Though the system accelerated his growth, Akira's true strength came from his soul and his unyielding spirit.
His nerves, tempered by countless battles, allowed him to withstand the immense pressure. With his mind focused, Akira used the last bit of psychic energy Gardevoir had left him to propel himself forward, slipping through Rika's fingers and continuing his assault on her arm.
As he moved, he dragged his sword along, leaving a deep gash in her flesh.
The maneuver, though brief, reflected the culmination of all Akira's thought and strategy.
How to fight a larger foe, like when Levi fought the Beast Titan or Cloud defeated Bahamut.
How to take down an overwhelming opponent, like the mosquito that toyed with Saitama.
While those were merely fantasies from his previous life, with the power he had gained in this world, those fantasies had become reality.
But even all of that wasn't enough. Like how the mosquito could only make Saitama feel pain without actually harming him, Akira's attacks lacked the destructive power to truly damage Rika.
Luckily, Gardevoir was there.
Using the time Akira had bought her, she had completed her Calm Mind, further refining her psychic abilities. To defeat Rika, they needed an attack strong enough to outpace her regeneration.
"Move: Dazzling Gleam!"
"Move: Psystrike!"
The physical manifestation of psychic energy exploded in a radiant display of light, bending even the sunlight around it. The sky became awash in colors more brilliant than the northern lights.
The spectators were left speechless.
They had known Akira was strong, but they hadn't realized he was this strong.
Rika Orimoto, a special-grade cursed spirit, had been classified as a disaster capable of wiping out an entire town.
Yet here was Akira, seemingly dancing on her massive form. This wasn't just fighting on a knife's edge—it was like laughing in the face of a nuclear bomb.
And then there was Gardevoir, who, with her enhanced abilities, managed to blow off half of Rika's arm despite her enormous size.
But what drew everyone's attention the most was the seamless synchronization between Akira and Gardevoir.
Psychic displacement, space swapping, teleportation—each movement was executed flawlessly.
Every time Akira was in danger, Gardevoir would teleport him to safety.
And whenever they escaped harm, they launched a stronger counterattack.
When they saw Akira sprinting with Gardevoir in his arms while she prepared her ultimate move, more than one person's heart was moved.
So this is what perfect teamwork looked like. So this is how they could fight together.
Especially Yuta Okkotsu, who was witnessing this on his first day at school.
For a brief moment, he felt like he was Akira, holding his childhood friend, Rika, in his arms.
That's how their relationship should have been—if it weren't for that tragic accident.