"Maki?" Mai asked while stretching out her arms, preparing for their up coming training. "She's a weakling. She can't even see curses. She's just a normal human swinging around cursed tools. She'll be a 4th grade forever." She informed. "I don't even know why she even try's being a jujutsu sorcerer."
"Breaks over." Utahime said, hurrying them along.
"Okay." Mai said, walking away from Miwa who she'd been talking to. Miwa was glad she wouldn't be in for a tough fight during the goodwill event. She only needed to take down a 4th grade non-jujutsu sorcerer.
——
'Stupid Mai! This woman is no weakling!' Miwa through as she prepared herself to block yet another strike but she didn't know where that attack would come from.
Maki spun her staff like she had many times before. Every time she did that, she either attacked upwards towards her head or towards her midriff. Miwa raised her sword but she'd guessed wrong.
Maki's wrapped blade crashed into Miwa's side, it would've broken a few ribs if Maki had struck a bit higher. If Maki's blade wasn't wrapped, Miwa had no doubt that she would've been gutted by the strike.
Miwa was stunned by her skill. She had the range advantage so Miwa needed to close the distance but she had her hands busy just defending, and not very well at that. And her ability to wield a long pole arm in such a cramped space like these woods. Maki could easily clean up grade 2 cursed spirit.
"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." Miwa said once she had gained a little bit of room away from Maki. As the familiar circle of white energy surrounded Miwa, Maki backed off for a beat.
Maki recognized the technique, Isamu used it all the time. Apparently it was the fastest technique in the new shadow style arsenal. Maki knew she had the range advantage and she'd been using it to her advantage throughout the fight.
If she was Miwa, she'd definitely try to disarm her or at least nullify her range advantage. If that was what Miwa wanted, that's what Maki would give her.
"If that's the case…" Maki shifted her grip on her staff, now holding it in two hands, before slamming the pole arm down as she brought her knee up.
As a result, Maki's cursed tool was snapped in half. Maki wasted no time and threw the non bladed end of the weapon towards Miwa like a javelin. Miwa was forced to draw her sword and deflect the projectile due to the automatic nature of Batto Sword Drawing attacking the first thing that entered the users simple domain.
The wooden stake was removed from Miwa sight and embedded itself into a nearby tree. The projectile was soon replaced by yet another ranged weapon. A throwing knife soured towards Miwa and she was forced to swat it away with her non sword hand.
Maki took advantage of the opening she had made with her projectiles, having now closed the distance with their help. Maki swung her broken pole arm downward, clashing with Miwa's blade.
Taking advantage of her superior strength and continued to apply pressure to Miwa with one hand as she let go of the wood with the other. Her right hand darted out and grabbed Miwa's sword handle before spinning her around and flipping her over her back in an impressive display of Aikido.
Miwa rolled and tumbled away from Maki before she was able to right herself into a crouch.
"Pretty nice blade you have here." Maki said with a cheeky smile, holding the blade up to the sun to get a better look.
"Huh? Give it back?"
——
Isamu walked comfortably into the temple through the main gate. He looked around with a squint, watching for cursed energy residue. He'd been following them for a while and they'd lead him to some kind of temple or something.
Isamu hear the tell tale sound of something flying through the air. It was a familiar sound, the same whistle his blade made when he cut through the air. He didn't hesitate and quickly drew his blade.
He cut through one of the incoming arrows before turning and deflecting another that was about to strike into his back. He examined the broken arrows laid to rest by his blade and found a few drops of blood on the tips of them.
Kamo was probably controlling the blood on the tips and using it to control the path his arrows took through the air. With his damaged bow only having about five shots left in it and two arrows being fired, that made three more shots before the bow snapped. Assuming Kamo had fired them separately and not in a single pull of the string.
Isamu turned around once more to find Kamo standing at the top of a set of steps a few feet away from Isamu. Isamu was in a fine position. Sure, Kamo's high ground might be a problem but it was a temporary one.
Kamo's bow would break eventually and Isamu was confident in his ability to defend himself until then.
"You can use your cursed speech on inanimate objects correct? I don't appreciate you holding back on me." Kamo said while pulling three arrows from his quiver, one arrow between each finger.
Isamu flicked his sword towards a nearby wall and quickly spelled out in a flurry of cuts 'could say the same'.
"Yes, I suppose you could." Kamo responded with an emotionless expression before knocking his arrows and pulling the string back once more.
All three of the blood capped arrows flew towards Isamu at higher speeds then should've been possible given the state of the bow and the fact that the force of the sting would've been spread throughout each of the arrows, weakening their individual strength.
One came directly for Isamu's head while another flew towards his mid section. The last circled around Isamu to come at him from behind. Isamu swatted the first out of the air while kicking out at the arrow behind him, causing it to be redirected and stuck into the ceiling.
The position Isamu had navigated himself into during his kicked out him just slightly out of the way of the third arrow aimed for his chest. It missed his flesh by a hair and was close enough to still tear his jacket down the middle.
The arrow continued past him before turning on a dime back towards Isamu. Isamu turned to meet and deflect the arrow but the scuff of boots on wood from behind him had him reconsidering.
In a last moment decision Isamu turned back around just in time to meet Kamo's fist with the flat of his blade. The arrow struck Isamu's back, penetrating an inch or two. The wound definitely hurt but Isamu didn't think it would be a huge problem in terms of reducing his physical capabilities.
Kamo lashed out with his other hand which Isamu spun away from. Isamu used the momentum of his spin to slash out with his wrapped blade. Kamo blocked the hit with his left forearm, too slow to move out of the way of the strengthened blow.
Kamo repositioned his left arm and attempted to grab hold of the blade but Isamu quickly pulled it back and launched a straight kick towards Kamo's mid section, forcing some room between them and regaining the range advantage.
"You've got some nice reflexes. I didn't expect any less from such an esteemed member of the Inumaki clan and a grade 1 besides." Kamo praised. Isamu thought highly of his opponent as well. It wasn't often that he found someone who could keep up with him physically, besides Maki and Gojo of course.
Recently, Kamo had begun moving faster and his strength was in another level compared to their first encounter in the woods. Isamu couldn't say he was surprised that the man had resorted to doping using his technique. He needed something to bridge the gap between semi-first grade and first grade after all.
——
"Sleep." Toga said into the robots stolen cell phone, putting the girl, Miwa, to sleep in the other end. The shifting of leaves could be heard not too far away from where Togo was situated in the woods.
Megumi's demon dog sat panting a few feet away, its waging tail throwing the fallen leaves every which way. "Return." Toga said, forcing the technique to release and the dog to return to its master.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of Toga's neck stood on end as a chilling presence appeared behind him. The aura of a curse leaked into the woods as Toga turned to face the source as he unzipped his mask.
Over from behind a tree came the head of a cursed spirit. Toga was about to attack when the things eyes rolled into the back of its head as Toga heard a sickening crunch. The head then fell and rolled across the forest floor, no longer attached to a body.
A second cursed spirit then joined the dead and quickly disappearing curse in revealing itself to Toga. It was tall and built with armor like white plating across its body, black markings covering the plates. From where eyes were supposed to be sprouted tree roots.
"Salmon, salmon roe. Spiced cod fish." Toga said as the curse began conveying a message in a voice and language Toga was unable to understand.
——
"Well then." A patched faced man said, settled on a building overlooking jujutsu high. "Shall we get to work as well?"
"I think I'll make a count rack. Saturo Gojo is 190cm right? That's the perfect size for a coat rack." A man dressed in similar clothes to a butcher said while tapping the butt of a hand axe on his shoulder.