26 Chapter 26

AN: Still not done with my stuff but yeah, I have some free time so I thought to post one out.

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Upon his arrival, Hiroyuki quickly raised one of his legs and delivered a straight kick towards the Finger Bearer's chest.

*THUD!!!!*

"KUUK!!!"

The Finger Bearer managed to block the kick but the force behind that kick was unexpectedly too strong so it was sent flying across the area, crashing on the hard ground pretty violently.

Simultaneously as Hiroyuki did that, he put one of his arms on top of Aoto's head and started applying RCT on him, immediately healing some of the injuries he sustained.

"R- Reverse Curse Technique!? Wait, you are-!"

"Shh. I'm the backup. Don't worry about it. You did well surviving that thing senior." Hiroyuki said in a pretty calm tone as he flashed Aoto a reassuring smile.

Ignoring his questioning gaze.

A couple of seconds after that, looking satisfied, he then removed his hand from Aoto's head. Clasping both his hands as he walks in front of him.

"I apologize senior. As much as I wanted to fully heal you, I can't spend too much of my Curse Energy. I have... quite a condition you see." Scratching the back of his head, Hiroyuki paused for a second as an apologetic smile appeared on his face.

"But don't worry, I already healed most of the major injuries in your body. You should be able to walk now without much difficulty."

"Huh?" Aoto, still recovering from the shock of what just happened, hastily checked his entire body. And sure enough, he saw his body looking pretty fine now. 

'He healed my wounds that fast? It's not even...'

Aoto started checking his body even more thoroughly. Upon doing so, he still saw some wounds across his body. As he stood up, he could even feel that some of the internal injuries he sustained from the battle were still there.

Even so, he was still surprised that in a short amount of time, large injuries in his body were healed in almost an instant. Now, although in great pain, he can stand, unlike before when he could barely move a finger anymore.

"Thank you but you shouldn't-" Aoto, as he stood up with Hiroyuki's help, was about to say something, but suddenly.

"SH*T! Behind you!"

The Finger Bearer, enraged that it was caught off guard by the sudden newcomer, rushed again toward the two and was about to deliver a punch infused with lots of CE.

*Swoosh~!*

But as the punch made its way, Hiroyuki in one swift motion, redirected that punch back towards the Finger Bearer's face. Making it eat its own attack.

*Taghck!*

???

The Finger Bearer made a weird noise, clearly confused as to why the punch that it was driving forward, suddenly shifted and landed on its own face.

But before it could fully comprehend what happened, Hiroyuki followed his counter with another kick. Sending the Finger Bearer flying again to the same spot it crashed on earlier.

After that, as if nothing happened, Hiroyuki faced Aoto again and spoke casually.

"You should go now, don't worry about this guy, I'll handle him for you..." Hiroyuki paused for a second as he pointed in a certain direction.

"If you go that way, you should be able to find the exit. I came here with Senjumaru, you know her right? She should be heading outside now. You can ask her to heal you once you find her."

Too stunned to speak after witnessing what just happened, Aoto got dragged by Hiroyuki and unknowingly followed his gesture. He then started walking in the direction he was pointed to, looking like a moth entranced by the light.

Aoto whose mind was all mumbled up by the sudden turn of events, would keep walking away. He didn't even notice what he was doing. The only time his mind finally kicked in, is when he was already nowhere in sight.

Meanwhile, Hiroyuki who was left behind...

"It's my first time seeing a Special Grade Curse Spirit and gotta say, I'm quite-"

In the middle of Hiroyuki's speech, the Finger Bearer who just stood back up, started charging up a ball made out of raw CE and then immediately threw it in his direction.

It did not even let him finish what he was trying to say.

Not a very anime move.

*VWOOSH!!!*

The speed of the thrown ball was quite fast and hard to see... well, the Finger Bearer seemingly threw it with all its might so that's to be expected.

However Hiroyuki, given such a situation, looked unbothered as always. Seeing the incoming attack, he just stretched out his arm and using the back of his hand, simply slapped the ball of CE away. Making it explode in an area far away from them.

"-I'm quite disappointed."

Seeing that all the attacks so far weren't working, paired with Hiroyuki's unfazed expression, the Finger Bearer started grinding its teeth. Looking very annoyed.

"For something that has been hyped up since I was a kid, you're very disappointing. With all the ramblings about your kinds, I thought I'd see something interesting at least... Guess I was wrong."

After Hiroyuki said that, some of his CE then started oozing around his hands.

"Oh well. I guess I can do a little experiment to make my time here a little more worth it, I guess."

Those CE that were oozing around his hands then started condensing in front of him, forming a small orb. As that happened, Hiroyuki gently clasped that orb between his hands.

A pretty familiar gesture, one could say.

*PWIISH!*

Suddenly, without any warning at all, the greatly condensed CE in between Hiroyuki's hands was repulsed towards a certain direction like a bullet, forming a straight line across the area.

The tip of that straight line instantly reached the Finger Bearer, making its Head release a loud explosive noise upon impact.

*Vwoosh!*

Now, it's pretty apparent that what Hiroyuki just did is a clear imitation of the Kamo Clan's Piercing Blood. A pretty surprising feat given that he just imitated an Innate technique, something that should only be available to the members of that specific clan.

However, even though the method was the same, one can argue that it cannot be called the same technique. 

At the end of the day, all Hiroyuki did was throw a raw CE, just like what the Finger Bearer did with the ball of CE earlier.

He just did it differently. 

"Hmm, as I thought, makeshift techniques are completely useless against beings within your level," Hiroyuki said while sighing heavily

The impact of Hiroyuki's attack just now produced a pretty powerful effect, that is quite undeniable. Any human could've died if they were to catch that attack in the same manner.

But obviously, Curse Spirits and Humans are vastly different.

Cause unlike humans, Curse Spirits only die when hit with enough CE, and Hiroyuki's attack, regardless of its raw physical power, doesn't have enough of it.

In the first place, it's a makeshift technique. Something that Hiroyuki developed as a solution to his CE recovery problem. It's a group of techniques that only costs a low amount of CE to perform but has a pretty decent effectiveness.

In fact, he still has many of these 'Makeshift Techniques', and he actually planned to test it all out today. Making the Finger Bearer his target dummy.

But seeing that the strongest implication of his Makeshift Technique, the pseudo Piercing Blood, was ineffective, he quickly gave up on that idea already.

At the very least, he found out it's only effective against low-grade CS and... mostly humans. And that is already enough.

"You seem very happy."

The Finger Bearer is currently smiling wildly, most probably thinking that Hiroyuki's attacks, seeing the zero damage it has brought, aren't that impressive. 

"Unfortunately, I'm already done."

But that wide smile suddenly froze. It didn't know what exactly happened. It all happened too fast that the Finger Bearer barely managed to react. 

"So... shall we clean up now?"

???

One second, Hiroyuki was standing far away, and the next thing that the Finger Bearer knew, he was now standing right in front.

"..."

From the corner of its vision, the Finger Bearer quickly noticed Hiroyuki's hand, which for some reason, was now buried deep inside its gaping chest. Taking hold of something that is clearly important.

!!!

Upon that realization, the Finger bearer immediately tried to catch Hiroyuki's arm, probably to prevent what was about to happen, but unfortunately, before it could do that...

"KUUK!!!"

Hiroyuki pulled out his hand. Making a strong gashing sound along the way.

Opening his hand and looking at the thing he just snatched, there he saw a darkened finger. The very core and what makes a Finger Bearer, a Finger Bearer. 

*Thud!*

Losing the finger, the now ordinary Curse Spirit, like a puppet that lost its string, just fell flat to the ground. Failed to make even a single noise as seconds later, it quickly burst into flames.

A clear sign that it was successfully exorcised. 

*Crack!*

Without delay, the Barrier surrounding the forest also started shattering away. Turning the entire area back to normal, as if nothing extraordinary happened here in the first place. 

Upon the disappearance of the Barrier, he was immediately approached by Senjumaru, and following behind her was the group of sorcerers, including Aoto. After that... well, nothing too extraordinary happened anymore.

The group of sorcerers just gave the duo their genuine gratitude for saving them.

That's all.

In the first place, both Hiroyuki and Senjumaru are pretty famous within the Jujutsu Society so the entire party members already knew who the duo was. The same couldn't be said for the duo though but they can make an educational guess that the party they're talking to right now is from Jujutsu High.

Overall, no more questioning was needed.

That's why, after the group offered the duo a ride to wherever they were planning to go next, and the duo agreeing to it, the forest was quickly emptied of anyone's presence.

At least... just the forest that is. 

____To be continued...____

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