"Alright, that seems to be everything. Now we just wait for Gojo-sensei to finish up with Sukuna," Megumi said, sitting on a chunk of rubble as he and Yuji stood together.
They had evacuated as many people as they realistically could, and had even managed to recover Maki. With the help of Round Deer, Megumi had healed her completely, leaving only small burn scars across her body where the worst injuries were.
"I can't wait to head home and take a break from everything..." Nobara sighed, exhausted, as Yuji stared intently in the direction of the battle between the strongest sorcerers in history.
"They've been fighting for a while now. Not to mention we have no idea where the mastermind behind this whole thing is, alongside the remaining special grades, like the one that hurt Maki and the one that escaped during the Goodwill Event," Nanami said, holding his cleaver in a light grip.
RUMBLE!
The entire area shook violently as Yuji's eyes narrowed.
"I might be paranoid, but I think Gojo-sensei's energy is weakening..." Yuji clenched his fist. A large part of him wished to rush out and lend his aid in any way he could, but Gojo had specifically told him that he fights better on his own, and Yuji couldn't risk distracting him mid-battle.
"You're overthinking. Who could beat a monster like Gojo?" Maki asked, a hand on her hip as she looked her scars over.
Suddenly, a figure dropped from the sky in front of them, landing with a tired sigh.
"Hey guys. I couldn't find the mastermind behind this whole event, but I managed to save a few people from the roaming curses. Any luck on your end?" Yuta asked, taking his sword and sheath off his back and setting them in his lap as he sat down.
"Nah, we got nothing, creepy guy," Nobara said, as Yuta muttered under his breath, "It's Yuta."
"What do you know? I knew allies like those so-called disaster curses would be a waste of time. Two of them are dead, and the other two tried to lay low." The group heard a voice approaching and immediately stood on guard.
"It's a shame. They couldn't compare to the powers Lord Sukuna granted me." Uraume walked toward them calmly, holding the frozen heads of Jogo and Hanami. With a simple twitch of Uraume's fingers, both heads shattered into fine dust.
"Now then, it seems the only ones left to kill are you lot. Then I can go find Kenjaku and get rid of him as well," Uraume smiled, speaking softly.
"Frost Calm."
Yuji jumped in front of everyone and unleashed several Dismantles just as a massive burst of super-dense ice manifested between them and Uraume like countless spears.
CRASH!
Fragments of ice scattered from the force of each Dismantle as everyone else snapped out of their shock, moving immediately.
"Raging Storm!" Megumi flew into the air and summoned a miniature storm of lightning that was swiftly blocked by an ice wall.
"Something like that no longer works on me." With the flick of Uraume's wrist, the ice wall turned into ice spears and shot at Megumi, leaving behind several sonic booms as Megumi blocked with his shadow wings.
Everywhere the ice spears touched was coated in dense frost, penetrating all the way through.
"Damn!" Megumi grit his teeth, deactivating his fusion before the frost could reach his real body.
Yuta, using reinforcement to the maximum, appeared in front of Uraume, sword already mid-swing.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!"
Yet his blade never reached. Uraume simply raised their arms to guard as thick, dark blue ice coated them.
CLANG!
Uraume looked a bit shocked, sliding back a few meters from that attack, but suffering zero damage.
'Seems they can't break through my defense, at least not counting the Lord's vessel,' Uraume thought, moving their hand in a sweeping motion as the ice around their arms turned into dozens of sharp spines that fired in an arc toward the sorcerers.
Yuji, Yuta, and Megumi worked to block all the shards, before Yuji pointed directly at Uraume.
"Dismantle!"
In an instant, Uraume lost an arm.
"Tch! Using my Lord's technique against me, his most loyal!" Uraume's arm regenerated just as fast as it fell, a new arm bursting from the stump as Uraume furrowed their brow.
"I suppose if you're a threat, I should kill you first!"
Whoosh!
In a small burst of air, Uraume appeared behind Yuji, claws of ice on their hand as they slashed across Yuji's back.
"What the hell? It's like cutting metal!" Uraume leapt back as Yuji swung a backhand, aiming to trade blows.
The cut on Yuji's back was shallow, barely breaking past the skin as the wound closed with a small application of Reverse Cursed Technique. The frost that was spreading dissipated from the radiant cursed energy coating his body.
"I can't let someone like you and Sukuna roam free anymore! This ends here, and after you and Sukuna are gone, we'll deal with whoever started all this too." Yuji grit his teeth as both he and Uraume vanished from sight.
Yuji threw a sharp left hook, slamming into Uraume's ribs and effortlessly shattering them. Uraume merely ignored the injury, slamming an open palm into Yuji's chest and knocking the wind out of his lungs.
As Yuji slid back from the blow, he recovered quickly, flipping backward just as an ice spike burst from the ground and cut off a strand of hair. Planted on one hand, he used the momentum to push himself into the air just as Uraume swiped at his head once more.
Yuta took this chance to swing his sword at Uraume's neck, aiming to bypass the regeneration in the only surefire way to kill someone using RCT: decapitation.
Unfortunately, Uraume's arm shot out, grabbing Yuta by the neck as the blade shattered against Uraume's hardened flesh.
"Tch! I am beyond the realm of ordinary sorcery with the gift of my Lord. You have no chance of winning!"
WHAM!
Yuta was dropped as Yuji's fist slammed into Uraume's face, sending them flying backward as Yuji pressed the advantage.
Yuta looked at his broken sword and called Rika, who opened her weapon storage as he grabbed a different sword with a heavier blade for more weight behind his swings to break through Uraume's defense.
"Shouldn't we be helping them?" Nobara asked, her hands gripping her hammer tight as she subconsciously trembled, eyebrows furrowed.
She could hardly see them when they moved beyond short blurs of motion. Was this a true Special Grade clash?
"No, it's best we get out of here now. As much as I hate leaving things to the young people, this is firmly out of our league," Nanami frowned as he spoke. He understood that the variance in the term Special Grade was vast. Some special grades treated others like mere grade 4 sorcerers, so there was no reason to pointlessly get in the way.
"I'll stay behind. You three leave. There is one thing I can do to help if push comes to shove," Megumi said, narrowing his eyes. His Nue form was active so he could speed up his reactions through the electrical properties of Nue's technique. His eyes darted around, absorbing everything happening in the ongoing battle.
"Tch, just make sure you guys don't die here!" Nobara shouted as she, Maki, and Nanami prepared to leave.
"Not so fast!" Uraume slammed their hands into the ground. In a four-hundred-meter radius, a massive wall of dark blue ice rose from the earth, a hundred meters high and holding the same infective frost as their previous attacks.
"You should focus more on your opponents!" Yuji kicked Uraume, sending them rolling across the ground as Uraume formed a frost spear and stabbed it into the asphalt to catch themselves.
"It doesn't matter. They won't be able to leave here alive so easily." Uraume regenerated and stood as the ice spear melted away. "And from here on, I'll be taking you seriously."
Uraume sneered, clapping their palms together before slowly pulling them apart. An ice scythe formed as dense frost mist surrounded them. Appearing one by one until a total of six were present, lotuses made of ice floated slowly around Uraume like a halo behind their back.
"Be grateful. This is a technique my Lord gave inspiration for himself, so you should have already guessed it is quite powerful. Now, let's see you survive this!"
"Frost Calm - First Lotus: Blooming Death!"
Uraume's hands blurred as one of the six lotuses burst. They swung their scythe three times, each slash leaving a trail of countless ice fragments in their wake as the fragments spun rapidly to saw through everything in their path.
"Damn!" Yuji dodged two of the slashes, but the third grated like metal against his flesh. The severe cold seeped into his body before his cursed energy cleansed the effects and RCT healed the instantly frostbitten tissue.
"Frost Calm - Second Lotus: Frozen Rain!"
A second lotus vanished, reforming directly in front of Uraume. Various bladed weapons fired from each petal like bullets. Yuji grabbed the ground and uprooted the street to create a smokescreen. The frost weapons tore through the debris so fast that the smoke dissipated, but Yuji and Yuta were already gone.
"We can't lose here!" Yuji threw a heavy overhand punch, his cursed energy snapping into existence just before impact. It was going to be a Black Flash!
"Frost Calm - Third Lotus: Zero Mirage."
In a three-meter radius around Uraume, everything flash-froze, stopping Yuji's fist inches away from their head.
"Foolish. Did you honestly think that would work on the current me?" Uraume turned to Yuta, ready to kill him and then everyone else.
CRACK!
"Huh?!" Uraume turned back around just as a fist slammed directly into their head.
"BLACK FLASH!"
BOOM!!
Uraume's head burst into flesh and bone fragments as their body slid backward, still standing on two legs. Steam rose from the stump of their neck as their head slowly began to regenerate.
"How dare you! I am the sole property of Lord Sukuna! Nobody but him has the right to harm this perfect body made in his image!"
Uraume's eyes were bloodshot, trembling violently as they clawed at their face, their flesh regenerating even as they ripped it off. Then they stopped, biting their lip until it bled.
"I swear I'll make you insolent brats suffer for this humiliation! And more importantly, for touching what belongs to Lord Sukuna!"
"Domain Expansion: Frozen Hell!"
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