章 7: Your Battle is My Battle

Nanami didn't waste any time as he immediately charged at Haibara. His power cracked the ground as he swung at Haibara since he was closer. Yu Haibara didn't let Nanami get near as he pulled out grey balls out of his bag.

Haibara threw those at Nanami who looked on guard seeing it as he slowed down. The ball split into needles. Though Arai noticed that these attacks didn't look like it was made to be life threatening.

Nanami who saw this dodged to the side narrowly avoiding the attack. He looked back at the needles and narrowed down his eyes. "Clay."

This time, Haibara was the one surprised. "Wow! With only a look you immediately knew what it was. I wonder if you would be able to read all my moves as well."

Just then, Arai appeared behind him with daggers in hand. He slashed at Haibara back but the boy had seen through his attack. He had already dropped clay behind him to defend himself.

It turned into a wall that shielded him. Aira who saw this jumped back while clicking his tongue in frustration.

"My technique is called 'Clay Manipulation' which lets me control all the clay I have imbued cursed energy within it." Haibara began explaining his technique which placed a pact on himself to increase the efficiency of the cursed technique.

'I won't let him.' Both Nanami and Arai didn't waste time as they ran towards Haibara. "When clay gets dispersed too much, it will loose its hardness but my cursed energy gives myself the ability to harden it and change its shape without losing too much of its power despite that."

Clay gathered around him as it formed around him. The two arrived next to him as they attack the clay. "Like this." Haibara said with a smile as the round dome suddenly had spikes coming out of them.

The pact had been made but this time, both were expecting it as they easily dodged. Arai began shaving off the spikes.

'Since he's only a second grade despite having a powerful technique like this must mean he isn't too skilled at it yet. Or that his curse energy is limited. Clay is also heavy so he can't be carrying too much. In a battle of endurance, it seems that this Nanami guy would win. I'll have to wipe both of them out quickly.'

Haibara who was inside the dome prepared a new batch of clay and planned for his next set of action. 'The biggest threat here is Nanami. I don't know any of their curse techniques but the one with the highest curse energy between us three is him. I need to take him out fast and then eliminate Arai.'

Clay slowly wrapped around his body like armor. One would think it was heavy but it wasn't actually that much clay but it was simply spread out to make it look like it was. [Clay Technique: Knight] was its name.

But just when he was about to get ready, the wall he had placed around him suddenly cracked and soon broke down completely. Who he saw enter was Nanami with his weapon in hand and unscathed.

For the first time in the fight, he didn't have a smile on him. Only pure shock. 'How? With one strike. He broke through my strongest defense with one attack. How is that even possible? I know that his attack didn't have enough curse energy to do that.' His confusion was as wide as his shock.

Haibara put up his hands to guard just when Nanami attacked once more. His weapon clashed with the armor but once again the clay that he formed himself was destroyed instantly. 'Does he have a technique to make my clay weaker? Damn it!'

Gritting his teeth from the blow. Haibara was about to pull out clay from his bag but Nanami threw a kick to his chest. He coughed from the blow as his body was pushed and broke through his clay dome as Haibara's control over it was lost.

Looking in front of him was Nanami attacking once more but this time with the back of the blade.

But just then, Arai arrived behind Nanami as he slashed continuously at him. Nanami barely reacted in time to block the blows but some cuts were formed on him. But Nanami barely flinched with the wounds he received.

Instead, he broke through the clash between them as he hit Arai square in the stomach making him kneel down from the pain.

'Damn it! This guy is way more skilled than both me and Haibara. Every time he strikes something, his power is just on another level than the curse energy he puts. I don't know what his curse technique is exactly but the best I can do is avoid every strike of his.'

Arai then noticed Haibara doing something in the back. He immediately jumped to the side as Haibara finished his preparations. [Clay Technique: Atlas]! A gigantic pillar raced through the air and targeted Nanami.

Quite a bold name for a pillar. Though Atlas could be interpreted that way as well. The single pillar holding the world in his arms. Haibara certainly chose an arrogant name but that also reflected his goal. To be a support of pillar in the jujutsu world. To be the person he wants to be for both him, and his sister.

Nanami looked back from sensing such an amount of curse energy to see a pillar going straight at him. He focused all his curse energy to his weapon as his weapon clashed with the pillar. The pillar showed signs of cracks as the power difference was shown.

But seeing this opportunity, Arai attacked Nanami once again but this time he couldn't do anything. Stuck between two powers, his defense crumbled as both attacks hit him knocking him out of the fight.

'One down.' Haibara thought as his target changed. Arai took hold of Nanami's weapon and threw it at Haibara to which he formed a wall to block the attack. The attack barely cracked the wall.

'I knew it. It's not the weapon but Nanami who was strong.' Haibara smiled. A dagger was suddenly thrown at him to his right. He easily blocked it with shield but he saw no one. 'To the left!'

Haibara ducked knowing he couldn't dodge this one. And he was right as the dagger barely missed his head. 'He really aimed for my head!' Sweet formed on him as his smile began crumbling.

But just behind him, Arai sneaked up and prepared to throw a kick at his head. Haibara managed to take out a ball of clay as he used his technique. "This is the end-"

"For you!"

Suddenly, Haibara felt something wrong. Something terribly wrong.

His pact... was severed?

Before he could have time to think, Arai kicked him at the back of the head to the wall, shattering it. Haibara's mind instantly fell as he lost consciousness. The fight was over in seconds. It didn't took minutes to finish the battle but to Arai it felt intense in every single moment.

Arai breathed heavily as he dropped down to the ground. "This is even more intense than fighting Gojo. These guys are way too good. I barely won by using them to fight each other." His mind slowly darkened as he was about to collapse.

Suddenly, a pain hit the side of his head as he lost consciousness. Just before blacking out, he could make out a figure. It was this person that attacked him.

This was Nanami. He wasn't down yet and struck Arai with the back of his blade. The exhaustion and pain was clear on his face as he fell down but not before someone caught him.

It was Gojo, he appeared and brought everyone to the infirmary. "Ugh! How many times is Arai gonna pass out? Does he want me to always bring him? No way! Is he gay for me?! I know I'm handsome but I'm still straight."

{AN: I kind of forgot to explain what Nanami curse technique was in the fight. And I couldn't find a good place to explain it soo... here I guess? Nanami's Innate technique can divide his target with ten lines and forcibly create a weak spot at the ratio point of seven to three. The target's lines don't have to match up with the target's length or wingspan. Nanami can freely choose which part to divide, including the subjects, head, torso, arms, and legs. This technique is also applicable to non-living objects.}