Chapter 19: Perfect Teamwork? The Evolution of the Special Grade
"Too slow."
Yami's cold voice rang out at the exact instant the Special Grade vanished.
Then came the clash.
Clang!
A deafening metallic crash exploded through the corridor as sparks burst into the air.
Shiranui had appeared in front of Yuji's throat with uncanny precision, intercepting a claw that had materialized out of nowhere.
The tip of that claw had been less than a centimeter away from Yuji's carotid artery.
"Eh...?"
Yuji's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Only after the strike was blocked did his body finally catch up to what had almost happened.
He had nearly died.
"Don't freeze! Formation B, move!"
Yami barked the order as his wrist twisted sharply.
"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun!"
A deep red crescent slash swept outward and hammered into the Special Grade, forcing it back several steps.
"Yes!"
The other three snapped out of their terror at once.
The instinct to survive crushed fear beneath it, and their bodies finally moved.
"Nue!"
Megumi's hands flashed through signs.
A giant winged shikigami charged out from the shadows, crackling with electricity as it dived.
Sizzle!
The lightning did not do meaningful damage, but it did stiffen the Special Grade for a heartbeat.
That was enough.
"Now, Itadori!"
"Ooooooh!"
Yuji exploded forward.
Using Megumi's opening, he leaped high and drove a full power punch straight into the curse's face.
Boom!
The impact snapped its head to the side and sent its body staggering backward.
"And don't forget me, ugly!"
Nobara had already moved into position.
She seized a chunk of flesh Yami had cut from the curse earlier and pinned it to her straw doll.
"Straw Doll Technique: Resonance!"
Thunk!
Her hammer came down.
An invisible wave of cursed energy shot inward and struck directly at the curse's core.
"GRAAAAH!!!"
The Special Grade let out a shrill howl.
Its movements instantly lost rhythm.
A good opening.
Yami's eyes narrowed.
Total Concentration Breathing surged through him again. White mist escaped from his lips as his rhythm changed.
The floor beneath his feet shattered.
He shot forward like an arrow released from a drawn bow.
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"
A flaming circular slash bloomed through the dim corridor, bright enough to tear through the shadows like dawn breaking.
It was blindingly fast.
And unbearably hot.
Slash!
Two thick arms flew into the air.
There was no blood. The severed stumps had already been charred black by the heat of the strike before anything could spill.
The Special Grade screamed as it was hurled backward and smashed into a wall.
"We did it!"
Yuji pumped his fist, excitement flaring in his voice.
"It lost both arms! And its regeneration's slowed down too!"
Megumi exhaled shakily, cold sweat dripping down his face.
"Even if it's a Special Grade... with proper coordination, it's not unbeatable."
His eyes stayed fixed on the writhing curse.
"Yami's sword restrains cursed spirits too hard."
"We can win."
Nobara spun her hammer once, her confidence returning with force.
"What Special Grade? That wasn't even that scary."
Relief spread across all four of them.
What had looked like certain death a moment ago had turned, somehow, into a battle they could actually fight.
This was the strength of teamwork.
After surviving the previous semi Special Grade encounter, Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara were all sharper, more composed, and more coordinated than they had any right to be as first years. Against an ordinary Grade 1 curse, they probably would have crushed it already.
However
Yami did not relax.
He did not smile.
He stayed in his stance, eyes locked onto the rubble where the curse had crashed.
Through the sharpened perception granted by Total Concentration Breathing, he felt it clearly.
The curse's aura was not weakening.
It was swelling.
Wildly.
"Something's wrong," Yami shouted suddenly.
"Fall back! Now!"
But before the words had fully left his mouth
Black sludge erupted from the rubble.
It surged like living tar, swallowing the Special Grade's body whole.
Then the pressure hit.
A cursed energy wave ten times, maybe a hundred times, heavier than before burst out like a detonation.
Boom!!!
Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara were blasted away before they could react.
They slammed into the walls hard enough to spit blood.
"Cough...!"
Megumi felt at least a few ribs crack.
He raised his head in horror.
The Special Grade had changed.
Its distorted body had become denser, more complete, more stable.
Its severed arms regenerated instantly.
But the most terrifying change was in its face.
Before, its eyes had been ruled by pure beastlike instinct.
Now, there was something else there.
Mockery.
It had evolved.
Driven into a corner by the threat of death, it had undergone a true transformation, from an unstable cursed womb acting on instinct into a complete Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
"A true Special Grade..."
Nobara stared at it in despair.
All of their effort.
Their teamwork.
Their hope.
It suddenly felt like a joke.
The Special Grade slowly raised both hands.
Its fingers twisted into a grotesque sign.
The surrounding space immediately began to distort. The already warped structure around them gave way entirely, folding into a deeper and more alien geometry.
Megumi's pupils contracted violently.
As someone raised within one of the Three Great Families, he recognized that posture at once.
The pinnacle of jujutsu combat.
The technique that turned the battlefield itself into certain death.
"That's..."
His voice trembled.
"A Domain... run!"
As if answering him, the curse's twisted lips parted.
The words that emerged were broken and ugly, but unmistakable.
"Domain... Expansion."
Buzz.
Black fluid exploded outward and began forming a massive spherical barrier around them.
It expanded with suffocating speed, swallowing the surrounding light and sealing off escape with overwhelming inevitability.
Once it closed completely, they would be trapped inside an isolated world of death.
And inside a Domain
the curse's attacks would never miss.
.....
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