บท 21: 21) Thicker Than Thin

NARRATOR'S POV

"Like this? Or Like this.."

Furō began to discover more and more paths and optimal usage of cursed energy. A natural but easy method of explaining how cursed energy could be optimized is like trying to write down as much as you could on a small piece of ripped paper. Most sorceres could write a sentence on a small piece of paper, but to be able to write a paragraph on that paper is what separates the normal from the extraordinary.

Furōkawa was no exception from extraordinary. He could never reach Gojo's level of optimization, but with his massive reserves and slowly improving CE usage, he may be able to fight longer than your average grade 1 sorcerer.

"Have you been neglecting Onamazu, Furō?" Emilia asked.

He stood up straight with his spear of pure caustic liquid and dispelled it, causing it to be sucked back into the ring.

"Now that you say it, I have been, haven't I?"

"That tool is very special in its own right you know.. You should respect it a little more."

Furō folded his lips and exhaled to my his cheeks larger, obviously blowing off such a ridiculous sounding statement.

"What makes it so 'special' amyways? The Inverted Spear of Heaven or even Playful Cloud sounds way cooler.."

Emilia pointed at the black bag that carried Onamazu.

"Its special grade ability is simple, but so very effective. Overtime, the weapon becomes an extension of the users cursed technique. In the same way that cursed tools are created by saturating said tool in cursed energy; Onamazu uses the same method. It has had many powerful users in the past, but eventually found its way back to the Zen'in clans' cursed armory."

Furō had his jaw dropped to the floor following this new information. After obtaining the spear-ring, Onamazu became obsolete in his eyes. Of course, it was nothing personal, but a new weapon and a new style of fighting was just a lot more interesting.

Suddenly, he went sprinting after the black bag and hugged it tightly, rocking back and forth.

"OH ONAMAZU I'M SO SORRY FOR PUTTING YOU AWAY, YOU DIDN'T DESERVE IT MY BABY!!!" Furō said while sobbing very hideously.

"Back to the main point Furō, let's begin our combat training, no weapons allowed."

"Yes ma'am.." he said while sniffing a big glob of snot, Furō stood around 2 meters away from Emilia and assumed a battle stance.

A bell dinged somewhere off to the side randomly, but that signaled the beginning of a furious sparring match. Immediately, Emilia closed the distance and uppercutted the bottom of Furō's arms, which he narrowly blocked. Shortly after, she released a devastating round kick body to his side, sending him gliding across the training lab.

'I didn't understand how much it would hurt to touch his CE, but it hurts a lot!'

Furō winced in pain as he gripped the side of his body that was kicked.

"Get up, Furō!!" Emilia came down with a foot full of CE aimed at his face.

"OH SHI-"

He rolled out the way just barely as Emilia kept stomping at his face, absolutely destroying the tile flooring beneath them. Eventually, one foot came down a little too quickly and instead, Furō caught it with his hand.

"Oh?"

Furō smirked and directed the foot downwards beside his head. His used the opportunity to use his downward front kick in a handstand right on her shoulder.

"How'd you like that, huh?!" Furō said with excitement.

"Not very pleasant, but the Valkyries will kill for hesitating a moment quicker."

Emilia grabbed his leg and squeezed it while throwing him into a wall.

FURŌ'S POV

"ACK!!"

I slammed right into the wall, shattering everything behind me. This is so outrageous..

WHY IS SHE SO DAMN STRONG??!!

I can barely react to any of her movements and my striking power isn't enough to even make her flinch! What the hell is her body made of anyways!

"Here I come Furō!"

She came at me with a powerful fist and a sadistic smile. Needless to say, my heart dropped to my ass but I knew what I had to do. I grabbed a bit of of the wall and pulled myself out of the hole in a cool, flipping motion. Her fist connected with the wall, but I managed to jump off of it before I could face any serious repercussions.

"Take this!" I yelled as I set my hand on her robust back while falling. I felt a surge circulate all throughout my body and directed it to my hand that was on her back, causing a mini-explosion that blasted me away.

"Now that had to hurt.."

That one attack left me feeling so incredibly drained for some reason though, I definitely need to work on that..

When the smoke cleared, Emilia's back was still facing me, and to my horror, it was covered in burns through some of the muscle tissue.

"Oh my god.. That looks ba-"

Immediately, her muscle and skin began to repair itself.

"W-what.."

"It's my cursed technique, it's called Super Hypertrophy. To put it simply, my CT allows me to constantly increase muscle growth to absurd amounts for strength, speed, and other physical attributes. Don't get it confused with reversed cursed energy though. I'm not healing, just replacing damaged tissue."

"I… I don't even know what to say. Wait, did you just reveal your hand? I remember Nanami and Gojo saying something about this.."

"They haven't told you about binding vows? Heavenly restrictions?" Emilia asked.

I scratched my head and tried my best to remember but to no avail.

"Nah, I don't."

I regrouped with Emilia while she prepared to explain pacts to me.

"So basically, revealing one's hand is a type of pact that trades the information and awareness of one's technique in exchange for more output of CE, making techniques more effective. Then there's three types of binding vows that I know of.

Self imposed binding vows,

binding vows with others,

and binding vows imposed on someone at birth."

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

"So, do you understand?"

Smoke was brimming from my skull while I tried to process all the information that was just dumped onto me. But basically, the application of a vow can increase my reward at a higher risk.

Interesting…

"You just gave me a fantastic idea. I shall test it on the next valkyrie." I said with a generous amount of zeal, although remaining composed.

——————————

NARRATOR'S POV

Around eight days later, meanwhile in the north-western corner of Finland, the cathedral that held the valkyrie broke free from its slumber and ran amok.

Only death and destruction ensued for those sent to annihilate the valkyrie— all but one that is.

While the Valkyrie flapped its wings in the air, attempting to sense its next location to wreak havoc, a long, green spear pierced the back of the valkyrie, stabbing through its chest. It grabbed the pole and looked down slowly, while trying to pull it out, but the searing pain of acid burned cursed energy at the very core.

Off in the distance, Furō stood levels on the ground, chanting something.

"Super-duper-SCALLOP BOMB!!"

Suddenly, the spear inside of the valkyrie blew up in a massive green explosion, sending shockwaves all throughout the sky.

Furōkawa whistled, impressed with the amount of damage his new attack generated after the remote detonation.

"Obliterated with one shot, huh? That valkyrie had much less resilience than the the first one I fought."

As the smoke cleared, the valkyrie fell out the sky spinning. But the moment it had faced Furō, it locked its wings and began soaring towards him. It released a terrifyingly loud scream, signaling its anger towards such a devastating attack.

"I spoke way too soon," Furō said as he spawned a new spear in his hands. "but it's time I exorcise you!"