Hanami raised its hand, and the ground instantly trembled.
Countless thick, thorn-covered vines erupted from the earth, whipping and twisting through the battlefield like enraged pythons as they lashed out at every student in sight.
The battle exploded into motion.
Cursed Spirits shrieked as they surged from the shadows. Various sinister Cursed Techniques flared to life as they charged the gathered students.
"Defense!" Kamo Noritoshi roared.
A blood shield formed through Blood Manipulation rose before the group, blocking the advancing vines. Even so, it shook violently under the relentless impact.
"Salmon!"
Inumaki Toge's Cursed Speech halted several attacking vines for a brief moment. Maki and Panda immediately seized the opening and cut them down.
"Don't scatter!" Megumi Fushiguro commanded.
Nue swooped through the air, snatching a Cursed Spirit attempting to ambush Momo Nishimiya and hurling it away. Meanwhile, the Divine Dogs darted through the shadows, tearing into enemies.
Itadori and Aoi Todo stood back-to-back, forming the strongest point in the defensive line.
Every punch from Itadori, reinforced with Cursed Energy, shattered incoming vines or blasted away approaching Cursed Spirits.
Todo was even more overwhelming.
His immense Cursed Energy wrapped around his fists, and each strike cleared a wide area, sending both vines and Cursed Spirits flying.
"Brother! The left side is mine!" Todo roared.
His punch smashed a crater into the ground, and the flying debris scattered like cannon fire, knocking several enemies away.
"Got it!"
Itadori sidestepped and drove a kick into the wrist of a Cursed Spirit attempting a sneak attack with a Cursed Tool, shattering it instantly.
Yet the number of enemies far exceeded expectations.
Their movements were coordinated and deliberate, making it obvious that this attack had been carefully planned.
Hanami still had not committed itself fully to the battle.
Its giant eye remained fixed on Itadori, seemingly waiting for the perfect opportunity.
More vines and twisted trees burst from underground, steadily shrinking the students' space to maneuver. The harassment from the Cursed Spirits grew increasingly cunning.
"At this rate, they'll wear us down!" Maki shouted between breaths as she swept another enemy aside with her staff.
"We need a way through!" Megumi ordered.
Nue dove again, smashing a Cursed Spirit's shoulder apart, only for fresh vines to immediately coil around the Shikigami.
Nobara attempted to eliminate enemies from range with her nails, but the constant interference from the vines made accurate targeting difficult.
Amid the chaos, an almost pitch-black poisonous thorn vine silently emerged from underground.
Its sharp tip gleamed with a faint, ominous light.
It aimed directly for Nobara's heart.
Focused entirely on the attack in front of her, she noticed nothing.
The thorn closed in.
Just as it was about to brush her clothing...
Pfft.
A barely audible sound echoed through the chaos.
The poisonous vine, only inches from her back, suddenly shattered into fine green powder and dispersed into the air.
There was no Cursed Energy fluctuation.
No sound.
Not even a disturbance in the wind.
Nobara remained completely unaware.
She simply drove a nail through the forehead of the Cursed Spirit before her.
Only Todo, whose senses continuously monitored the battlefield, caught the subtle anomaly.
His eye flicked toward Nobara's position before shifting to the figure standing on the high ground.
A brief flash of realization crossed his face.
So they had a big brother watching over them too.
With that knowledge, Todo felt even less restrained.
His laughter echoed across the battlefield as his attacks became even more aggressive.
Sol's gaze remained fixed on the battle below, as though he were merely observing.
The intervention left no trace behind.
For the students, Hanami and the surrounding Cursed Spirits represented a life-or-death threat.
For Sol, it was barely a breeze.
He could see Itadori's Cursed Energy flowing more smoothly under Todo's relentless pressure. The boy's instincts for real combat were steadily awakening.
He could see Megumi pushing his Ten Shadows Technique further under pressure, the coordination between his Shikigami becoming increasingly refined.
Maki's strikes were growing sharper.
Nobara's attacks more deceptive.
Even the Kyoto students were being forced to work together in the face of genuine danger.
Growth required pressure.
The principle was no different from his own training with Saitama.
The difference was that these students needed challenges that sharpened them, not ones that shattered them.
So when another vine infused with malicious Cursed Energy silently emerged from the shadows and shot toward Inumaki's throat as he continued using Cursed Speech...
Sol's gaze never even shifted.
The vine disintegrated into dust mere moments before reaching its target.
It vanished without a trace.
Inumaki only felt a faint chill brush across his neck, like a cool breeze.
Instinctively, he tugged at his collar before returning his attention to disrupting the advancing Cursed Spirits.
Todo punched away a shrieking enemy and once again caught the anomaly.
His gaze snapped toward Inumaki before lifting toward Sol.
Again.
The realization made him grin.
"Brother! Looks like our audience is getting impatient! Let's make things more exciting!"
His laughter boomed across the battlefield.
His attacks became even broader and more reckless as he bulldozed through the surrounding enemies.
Itadori was swept up by the momentum.
"Yeah!"
His Cursed Energy surged with renewed intensity.
Elsewhere, a Cursed Spirit quietly formed a hand sign.
Its shadow writhed across the ground before splitting into dozens of sharp spikes that shot toward Maki and Panda's ankles.
Sol's hand, resting casually at his side, moved almost imperceptibly.
The shadow spikes shattered instantly.
It was as if they had slammed into an invisible wall.
The attack dissolved before reaching its targets.
At the same moment, the Cursed Spirit responsible suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed in horror, unable to understand what had happened.
Maki swept another enemy away and felt a faint tremor beneath her feet.
She frowned and glanced around.
Seeing nothing unusual besides a fallen enemy, she dismissed it and continued fighting.
Hanami's giant eye slowly rotated.
Its forest-born senses had finally begun to detect something wrong.
Again and again, its carefully controlled attacks vanished at critical moments.
They were not blocked.
They simply ceased to exist.
No traces of Cursed Energy remained behind.
Its gaze slowly swept across the battlefield.
Then it settled upon the only place untouched by the chaos.
The high ground.
The solitary figure standing there.
Sol.
Like several other perceptive Cursed Spirits, Hanami finally focused on him.
Sol felt the converging gazes.
Suspicion.
Curiosity.
Wariness.
He met them without hesitation.
His dark red eyes remained utterly emotionless.
Deep and cold.
Like a bottomless abyss.
The silent exchange carried a single message.
A warning.
===
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