Chapter 40 — The Cursed Spirit Hanami
Ren looked up at the sky.
A curtain?
Why would a veil be deployed now?
Who cast it—and for what purpose?
Maki reacted faster.
Linking the sudden explosion from earlier with the appearance of the curtain, she reached a conclusion almost instantly.
"It's an attack!" she said sharply. "Someone has invaded Jujutsu High!"
An invasion?
Ren found it hard to believe.
What kind of enemy would dare storm a sorcerers' stronghold—
Jujutsu High itself—
and choose the exact moment when both schools were gathered for the exchange event?
But the expression on Maki's face left no room for doubt.
"The match is suspended," she said decisively. "We deal with the intruders first. The competition can wait."
Unlike Ren, she had already experienced an attack on Jujutsu High once before. There was no hesitation in her judgment. Her alertness spiked to maximum immediately.
She turned and sprinted toward the source of the explosion.
The booming crashes continued in the distance—repeated, earth-shaking detonations, as if some catastrophic force were reshaping the terrain itself.
A chill ran through her.
Ren had asked what kind of enemy would dare invade Jujutsu High.
If someone truly dared to do so—
Then the invader's strength had to be beyond imagination.
Just like last year.
She had to reinforce the scene immediately.
But after only a few steps—
Her legs gave out.
She stumbled, nearly falling.
Damn it.
Her battle with Ren had drained far too much stamina.
She had already been running on fumes. The only thing keeping her upright was the sting of wounded pride.
Now, to rush into another battlefield—
Her body simply wouldn't cooperate.
She bent forward, hands braced on her knees, gasping for air.
Just as she forced herself to straighten—
An arm wrapped around her waist from behind.
Before she could react, her body was launched skyward at an unbelievable speed.
The forest blurred.
Trees, leaves, birds, water, sky—everything dissolved into streaks of motion.
"Ah—!"
She couldn't help but cry out.
"I told you to go all out earlier," came Ren's faintly exasperated voice behind her.
"Now look at you. Completely exhausted. Can't even run properly."
He held her securely in one arm while his feet tapped rapidly across the treetops.
Each time his foot touched a branch, a burst of black lightning flared between sole and wood—
He was chaining Black Flash beneath his steps, converting its explosive force into propulsion to travel at maximum speed.
"Use this time to recover," he continued. "If you show up to the battlefield like this, you'll need the enemy to give you a massage before you can even fight."
His voice snapped her back to reality.
Amid the dizzying blur of motion, one thing remained clear—
The boy carrying her.
Maki lay in Ren's arms, listening to his complaints, feeling both humiliated and strangely unsettled.
I was already fighting at full strength!
She had shouted it countless times in her mind.
But she couldn't say it aloud.
Admitting that would mean admitting she simply wasn't his equal.
Yet—
This boy.
This absurdly powerful boy.
Admitting inferiority to him…
Would that really be shameful?
No.
Absolutely not.
Her lips pressed tightly together.
She said nothing.
The warmth radiating from his body—
The scent of exertion lingering on him—
For some reason, it left her thoughts unsteady.
…
Atop the vast, ancient manor—
Toge Inumaki coughed up blood and roared:
"Get away!"
BOOM!
In the next instant, the towering humanoid curse before him was blasted backward by an invisible force, hurled like a cannonball into the rooftop of another building. Tiles shattered. Dust exploded into the air.
Cursed Speech had taken effect.
But the backlash was devastating.
Inumaki's strength was completely drained. A tearing pain ripped through his throat. He threw his head back and spat a mouthful of blood before collapsing to his knees.
"Ghk—!"
Struggling, he raised his head to look toward the opposite rooftop.
The dust cleared.
The humanoid curse sat among the rubble—
Unharmed.
Pale skin.
Black markings crawling across its body.
Its "eyes" replaced by twisted branches.
The grotesque cursed spirit rose calmly from the debris.
Is this… the end?
Despair flooded Inumaki's chest.
Behind him, Noritoshi Kamo lay unconscious.
Megumi Fushiguro's prized shikigami had been obliterated in a single blow.
Inumaki's own throat was shredded. He could no longer utter a single cursed word.
Why…?
Why would a curse this powerful appear inside Jujutsu High?
Gojo-sensei… Principal Yaga… where are you?
---
"Twin Heavenly—Black Flash!"
A clear, resolute voice thundered down from the sky.
The cursed spirit—Hanami—had just straightened, preparing to deliver the final blow to the fallen sorcerers.
At that exact moment—
A warning finally bloomed in its mind.
Through the plants connected to it, fragmented visions flooded in—
Images of earth shattered beneath legs wrapped in black lightning.
By the time those layered visions converged—
It realized the source had already arrived above its head.
Too fast!
Hanami twisted violently aside.
A black meteor plummeted from the heavens.
Scorching shockwaves scraped along its body as the impact detonated against the ground.
"Gah—!"
Hanami landed heavily, a pained groan escaping its throat.
It glanced down—
Its entire right arm had been nearly obliterated.
Only a thin strip of flesh clung to the torn stump.
It turned slowly—
And stared in shock at the black silhouette that had arrived with impossible speed.
What kind of attack was that?
Just grazing the edge—
Had erased an entire arm.
If that blow had landed cleanly—
The outcome would have been unthinkable.
Three hits.
Perhaps just three would be enough to end it completely.
Hanami trembled.
For the first time—
This ancient being, one of the apex curses who sought to cleanse humanity through death and restore vitality to the earth—
Felt the looming presence of its own mortality.
But why?
They had deployed a veil to isolate the battlefield.
They had ensured that Satoru Gojo was sealed outside.
So why—
Why was there someone this terrifying inside the veil?
Hundreds of questions surged through Hanami's consciousness.
But only one mattered now.
If it did not unleash its full strength—
It would die here.
Its regenerated right hand rose.
With a deliberate motion, it tore away the white cloth draped over the left half of its body.
A pitch-black arm emerged—
And from its shoulder bloomed a crimson flower.