บท 3: My Brain Trembles
"What a nauseating smell, I suppose." Beatrice, a spirit with the form of a little blond girl spoke.
It is not often that she leaves her multipurpose library bedroom. At least it wasn't so until recently when her brother Puck, a spirit with the look of a cat, recently moved into the mansion she lives in.
So it was just her luck that when she left her room for an early morning walk, when she came back, an infuriating smell had taken over. While its culprit wasn't yet visible to her, she already understood it wasn't something normal.
She raised her palms which glowed with her mana. For so much Miasma to accumulate in the library in such a short time, the most likely explanation was that of an intruder who snuck in. The horrible smell didn't bode well for their intention.
She turned around the corner where the smell originated from. To her surprise, the origin of the miasma wasn't a sin Archbishop, but what looked like a finger mummified with a flimsy talisman. If the purpose of the talisman was to seal the Miasma of the object inside, it clearly wasn't working as intended.
"Besides this object, I sense no other source of mana in here, I suppose"
Due to her nature as a spirit and from her familiarity with this room, if there was another threat in here, she would notice it without a doubt.
"How repulsive, in fact, this object must have been cursed by a strong shaman to emit so much Miasma."
"Is this a prank by Roswal, I wonder? I didn't know the pervert was into this sort of stuff, but their family line never ceases to get stranger with every generation, I suppose."
"Although he is supposed to be away on business right now, I can't afford to get careless regarding him."
"I should at least start by lifting the curse from it first, I suppose."
She picked up the mummified finger. The worn-down talisman was warm to the touch for her fingers made of mana. She was about to remove it right here, but decided that would not be wise. She wouldn't want the smell to stick around after all.
***
Beatrice was standing in the mansion's courtyard together with Ram and Emilia.
The two woke up early today for some reason. While they couldn't smell the miasma, they also noticed a repulsive pressure emanating from the object Beatrice was holding.
"I'm not sure if I can feel it like you can, but I did notice all the lesser spirits are keeping their distance more than usual right now." Emilia said.
Usually, the spirits avoid entering the mansion due to two great spirits residing in it. However, them steering more than 200 meters of it was unseen so far.
"Beatrice-Sama, usually I don't notice Miasma like my sister does, but now I'm not so sure. Be careful with it."
The two girls were uneasy, yet this wasn't surprising. Miasma was known to mentally exhaust physical beings exposed to it. In large amounts, it was rumored to cause madness and sickness.
Spirits on the other hand fared worse. Miasma would react with their mana and corrupt it, resulting in a slow and painful death akin to poisoning. However, this virtually never happened as spirits instinctively cleared away from Miasma when it accumulated.
Of course, this usually only applied in large concentrations, and in particular, it was only known to happen to lesser spirits. The reason Beatrice was unharmed was because the mana she naturally accumulated from the atmosphere came in far faster than the Miasma could damage her body.
Ram glared at the witch beasts growling outside of the mansion. She was resisting the urge to cut them down with her wind magic, though they were already a non-threat because of the barrier stones put inside the walls of the courtyard.
"Well, can you get it over with already?" Emilia said with an irritated tone.
"I suppose I must, although I am not looking forward to how it will be without its current seal."
Beatrice undid the talisman, Inside, was a purple finger, and without the talisman, its reek of Miasma only got stronger. And yet, there was also something sinister now about the awful smell.
"Ah!" Beatrice dropped the finger from her hand, it felt like holding concentrated bleach as her hand was 'burnt'.
"How… even mother didn't have this much." Beatrice whispered to herself.
The Miasma began to coalesce in front of Beatrice, and a spirit formed out of nothing. It looked like an ugly deep ocean fish out of water, and to add to its ugliness, half its face was disfigured.
"How, a cursed spirit?! But how can one form naturally?" Beatrice said in shock.
"A what?" Both Emilia and Ram asked.
"A cursed spirit is a product of concentrated Miasma held together by cursed energy. Since usually only a witch can produce cursed energy, cursed spirits shouldn't be able to form naturally, I suppose."
"Do~do something~" The curse spoke
"It talks?"
"It talks!"
Both Ram and Emilia exclaimed.
"Don't be bothered by what is said, curses usually ramble, but they also usually lack any sort of intelligence, I suppose."
It crawled slowly towards the finger on the ground. It was staring at it intently as it opened its mouth.
"~Goo-oood food."
Beatrice understood its intent and kicked the finger to the side to avoid holding it again.
"I won't let you eat it, I suppose."
"Eh? But why would it want to eat that disgusting thing???" Emilia asked.
"Maybe it's like Barusu who will eat anything like a pig." Ram said sarcastically.
"Don't Insult Subaru like that! It's not like your tea is any good." Emilia began to argue angrily.
"Tch, now you have crossed a line." Ram's hands closed into fists. It looked like a fight might start between the girls soon.
"What a bother I suppose, Murak o Vita" Beatrice raised one hand, and the Miasma in the air began to flow in one direction away from Emilia and Ram.
The angry expression on Emilia's and Ram's faces began to subside.
"For your information, I changed the flow of gravity of the Miasma, so you two might choose to thank me, I suppose." Beatrice looked proud of herself for thinking of this solution.
This distraction was all the time the curse on the ground needed to swallow the finger.
A strong gust of orange energy blew the trio back, the small cursed fish had transformed into a grey humanoid curse with four eyes and a childish expression.
"Crap, I suppose." Beatrice's proud look was replaced with the face of someone who knew they fucked up.
"Oh, so that's why." Emilia understood now, its energy was far more than before. Someone might confuse it for a great spirit if they didn't know any better.
"Ahaha, ~Will you play with me? ~I hate being bored." It laughed as it smiled.
"Oh, you want to play? Well, I guess that's fine." Emilia smiled. She was worried before, but maybe her instincts about this spirit were wrong. She knew better than to judge someone by their appearance.
It smiled sinisterly as it dashed towards the half-elf who had her guard down.
"El Vita!"
"Fura!"
Beatrice and Ram performed their spells that caused the curse to slam to the ground and be cut with a blade made of wind. Yet, it didn't look to have suffered any damage.
It tried to move but it was stuck to the ground by intense gravity.
"Myna- actually, that wouldn't work, I suppose. I can't destroy your kind with normal mana after all."
"~Well, of course, you can't beat me without a curse!~"
Emilia by now understood the threat before them. "If mana won't work, should I kick it?"
"Physical attacks are also ineffective against a cursed spirit." Beatrice shook her head.
"So, what do we do about this thing, Beatrice-sama?" Ram asked.
"Well, there are two ways to destroy a cursed spirit, I suppose. One is to hit it with cursed energy or miasma, though that is inconvenient due to none of us being witches. The other is positive mana. Those who have divine protections produce it naturally. If positive mana is combined with negative mana, which is miasma or cursed energy, the two are neutralized and become normal mana, thus damaging the curse"
"So, should I be able to kill it?" Ram asked. She did have a divine protection after all.
"I suppose not, it takes extensive training to learn to control one's own positive mana outside of your divine protection. And I can't hold this curse to the ground long enough for that…"
"...But it's fine, after all, one of the advantages of living for 400 years is picking up all sorts of skills most spirits don't know."
Beatrice raised her hand that she wasn't currently using to hold the curse to the ground. The hand began to produce a white glow and it looked to be crackling and smoking hot.
"What I am doing is breaking apart the mana in my hand into its positive and negative components. The negative energy immediately reacts and corrupts the mana of my hand, causing me some damage. It's difficult, but I can control the positive energy enough to prevent it from leaking out, I suppose."
Emilia was listening to the explanation intently. There was more to mana and spirit arts than she knew.
Beatrice had a pained expression, probably from burning her own hand in order to produce positive energy. She formed her hand into a fist and punched the immobile curse.
"~Aghah!!! This isn't fun at all, you don't play fa~a~aiiir!" Some purple blood was knocked out of it. It looked to be in pain as it redoubled its efforts to escape the gravity hold it was under.
"Positive energy is annoying, I suppose. For once, I can't use spells with it so I have to use it like this." She punched it again
The curse bit her hand and held onto it. She ended up releasing the gravity spell from the panic and the curse jumped back onto its feet. It had a lot of purple blood coming from its mouth as it held an expression of anger and fear.
"~Wragahha~"
"~~I~~I'll kill you!!!" It repaired its mouth.
"You will try, I suppose." Beatrice raised both hands into glowing white fists.
The curse raised its hands as it held a ball of glowing orange energy. It then threw it like a pitcher, but it aimed at Emilia instead of Beatrice. She raised an ice wall just in time and the ball of cursed energy exploded there.
Beatrice charged forward. Her feet glowed black from yin magic. She was using a concoction of spells to modify certain natural laws like gravity and friction to achieve speeds impossible otherwise.
She hit the curse who was not expecting such speed.
"~Blregh!!!" It recoiled in pain and held its damaged midsection.
Beatrice grit her teeth. Using this kind of energy was taking a toll on her. She was lucky her mana reserves were so big, or she wouldn't be able to keep it up. But the pain of having her hands continuously burned and regenerated wasn't something to scoff at.
The curse took its eyes of the great spirit to assess the damage done to itself for a moment. But when it looked back, she had disappeared. "Wher-Gahh!!!" It was hit from behind by two fists. The hit was strong enough to separate its upper half from its lower half. The lower half immediately disintegrated. The now half-curse rolled on the ground to avoid more deadly punches.
"~How… our energy levels aren't that different, why are you w~~inning so much!!!" After two long seconds, it finally managed to regenerate, although now it felt drained of most of its power.
"For numerous reasons, I suppose. I was taught well about your kind so I know all your weaknesses. And, I've helped you figure out just how much I counter you. Although I suppose you might not know how that would help me win against you."
"~~Agh, I don't want this… I don't want to lose! This is wor~rse than boring!"
It started to back away holding an expression of fear and a defensive stance.
"Do we have to kill him, Beatrice? I know he attacked us but it looks like he is beaten." Emilia spoke
"Emilia-sama, if I understand correctly, 'cursed spirits' are evil by nature since they are formed of witch miasma and what Beatrice-sama calls 'cursed energy'."
"Ram is correct, in fact. My mother has tried numerous times to experiment with creating cursed spirits. However, never had there been a case where they haven't been hostile. She came to understand artificial spirits should never be made with Miasma and cursed energy."
"~I~I won't lose!~I won't lose!!!"
The curse charged towards Beatrice with a fist glowing with orange energy. It was putting most of its left energy into this one punch.
Beatrice put more positive energy into her palms as she raised them both to block the punch. The recoil made her hands crackle with white electricity of burning and regeneration.
And eventually, the fist of cursed energy crashed into her block. It looked like a light show of white lightning, as both parties were knocked back yet remained on their feet. The glow on Beatrice's hands momentarily subsided before returning again.
"It looks like we both took no damage, though I suppose what we just did ended up helping me fill up with mana. Thanks for that, by the way." Beatrice smiled.
From that point on, the curse moved slower. Beatrice moved like a blur as she punched the curse from different angles with a barrage of attacks. It was too slow to dodge. Eventually, it fell to the ground with purple blood coming from wide holes all over its body. It wasn't regenerating anymore.
"Agh-I'm really going to lose so soon."
***___________________________
"You weren't weak I suppose."
"Huh, what?"
"With your strength and unique physiology, even most strong opponents would lose to you."
"Still, I died so soon. I would have wanted to at least see more of this strange world."
"You were strong, I suppose."
"Huh?"
"You are feeling embarrassed at losing your first fight. But you weren't weak. You should be more proud, I suppose, out of all the spirits in this world. You weren't so bad."
___________________________
***
Beatrice stood proud over the place the curse had once been. The purple blood had disintegrated by now and the purple finger was visible once again. She picked it up.
"I can hold it without getting burned by the Miasma now, I suppose. That cursed spirit must have run it dry, mostly. At this rate, it'll regain its full power soon so I should uncurse it quickly, I suppose."
Beatrice focused her mana to perceive the curse. "Dammit…" This was the worst she had seen. A curse is a knot weaved with Mana or miasma that allowed a remote activation of a spell on a marked person or object. Usually, it was used by witch beasts to inflict a simple yet deadly mana drain curse on a victim, under the condition that the caster had bitten them.
Curses relied on conditions for both the marking and activation. For example, the witch beast would have the condition of causing injury with its teeth, and it will be activated when midnight has set. Before a curse is activated, removing it is as simple as making physical contact with the victim and having a basic understanding of mana manipulation and perception of it. If multiple curses are applied at the same time it gets difficult, and if a curse is already activated, removing it is impossible, yet killing its caster would always cause it to go dormant.
So then, if the curse is already activated and its caster is neither dead or alive, it stands to reason that things are complicated.
"And, that's the situation I suppose we are in right now."
Emilia hummed in response. "Um, it will be reaaally easy if we could just destroy it to get rid of it."
"Yet part of the curse also makes destroying it impossible, I suppose"
"I had a feeling it's something like that. Well, you can make a talisman to seal it I guess?"
"True, I suppose I could do something like that, but by then more curses would spawn, and if they are as strong as the one I just fought… I suppose I can't beat them forever."
"But you already thought of something, right Beatrice-sama?" Ram asked.
"Correct, I have a plan, Yin magic is convenient for things like this. But I'll need some more mana, I suppose."
Emilia immediately offered her mana which Beatrice drained.
"It hurts a little, but I'm all fine!" Emilia said after Beatrice filled her reserves.
"The amount of Mana I just drained is more than most people have. You are amazing for only feeling a bit of pain. Mana is life force after all, for me at least, I suppose."
She pointed both her hands towards the cursed finger on the ground. Her hands began to be enveloped by shadows darker than black beneath the early morning sun.
She closed her eyes to concentrate and then opened them again before chanting.
" Al Shamak "
The shadows from her hands extended to meet the finger and the space around it. A few seconds later it was finished and the shadows were gone.
"Eh? The finger is gone! You sent it somewhere else?" Emilia asked after a perfect spherical crater replaced the place where the finger used to be.
"I did I suppose, I sent it to another 'dimension' "
"..."
"A what?" Emilia asked while Ram kept her silence.
"Think of it as a place similar to the forbidden library that only I can access. Regardless, it shouldn't bother us again, I suppose. There is no way to break the seal without using Yin magic yourself."
"Then, is this over?"
"Who could say, I suppose?
***
"This reminds me of that time I went looking for a dead rat in my house." Subaru spoke his mind while walking with Yuji in the woods. Yuji was wearing a leather rag instead of a shirt due to Sukuna's shenanigans earlier that day.
"Huh?"
"You know, because they are drawn to us by our stink."
"Really? I even made sure to put on deodorant today!" Yuji lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. There was a faint odor but nothing noticeable from a distance.
"No, not that kind of smell. You don't get it from sweating. People in this world call it the Witch's scent. I think I know why we both have it but I can't be sure."
"Eh, why do you think that?"
"Well, It might have something to do with us both having 'cursed energy' according to what you said during the carriage ride here."
As soon as Subaru finished talking, figures dressed with dark pointy hoods appeared all around them from the shadows. Itadori looked like he was preparing for a fight but Subaru signaled him to calm down by raising his palm.
"Thank you for coming all the way here to meet us." Subaru smiled and the figures bowed in response to his words.
"I'm sorry for causing you this trouble after just meeting, but we'd like to have a chat with your boss around now, is that fine?" The figures bowed again to his request, they pointed towards a clearing in the woods and went back into the shadows they came from."
"Creepy. They could have at least said something… So this is the witch cult." Itadori expressed.
"They creep me out too, but wait until we meet their boss." Subaru laughed nervously.
"Oh, is he more creepy because of the invisible hands you said he has?"
"That's one of the reasons among many others… Oh, there he is." The two boys saw a smiling man with sickly green skin In front of them. Behind him was an ominous cave with some cultists standing at the entrance as guards.
"Welcome fellow believers in love! I have been awaiting you patiently since I got word you were near. My wait ended up not being long at all! The Witch must have intended for us to meet here!"
"Subaru, you said this guy would be a cultist, but doesn't he speak more like a crazy hippie?" The pink-haired boy whispered to the one with black hair.
"I would ask what's the difference, but I'm not sure the joke works in this situation…" Subaru whispered back. He then turned back to the cultist and smiled.
"I'm happy to meet you too! But I'm not sure I'm feeling all the love you are talking about."
"Ah, it starts so suddenly at first… but you'll feel it too soon enough!" The cultist reminisced and then he made a face of someone who forgot something important.
"Ah! Excuse my manners and sloth, I have forgotten to introduce myself." He paused for dramatic effort before beginning his Chunyu introduction with a deep bow. "Betelgeuse Romani-Conti, Sin Archbishop representing sloth, DESU!"
"Natsuki Subaru, I would make a more dramatic introduction but I'm not feeling it at the moment." He shrugged
"Itadori Yuji! I…" He was about to mention his type, but grew enough brain cells recently to realise this wasn't the time.
"Hm, hm." Betelgeuse nodded. He then looked at the pink haired one.
"And what about you, who is so beloved?"
"Ahh, I told you already, I'm Itadori Yuji." He pointed at his own face. Maybe he misheard him earlier?
"No no no no no, I'm not talking to you boy, I'm talking to him." He pointed his finger in Yuji's direction.
"My name? Why do you wish to know it?" - a mouth and a singular eye manifested on Yuji's cheek and asked. Iit was hard to tell its feelings from the tone of the voice.
"It would be slothful of me to not know the name of someone I'm with! And besides, we have been awaiting you, Pride." Subaru looked a little surprised when Betelgeuse called the other one Pride.
"Ryommen Sukuna, I appreciate the show, but kindly do not dirty my name in vain out of your dirty mouth."
"I would diligently pay my respects to a name as loved as yours!" Betelgeuse bowed again "Maybe I should give you a nickname then, will Suku work?"
Sukuna facepalmed, but this only resulted in hitting Yuji with his own hand who looked betrayed at this development.
"Forgot it, this is a waste of time." Sukuna said with a bored voice and de-manifested the extra mouth and eye.
Then, Betelgeuse bowed so deeply that he hit his head on the dirt.
"Ahh!! I have been SLOTHFUL Sukuna-Sama! In my sloth, I ended up insulting you!!! I must be punished for my sloth!!!" He began to hit his head repeatedly on the dirt, and blood started falling from his forehead.
Both Subaru and Yuji looked apprehended, Yuji because he couldn't understand this behavior, and Subaru because he did understand it, and that disturbed him.
"Please don't hurt yourself, Archbishop-Sama." Subaru said
"But… In my sloth, I ended up insulting the new Archbishop of Pride! This crime is grave, I must be diligent and atone accordingly!"
Sukuna's mouth and eye popped back up. He was smiling.
"That's right, those who insult me should atone accordingly. However, your once 'diligent' display has turned pathetic. Stop hitting your head now." He said the last sentence without his previous sadistic smile.
"If… that's what Sukuna-Sama wishes." Betelgeuse 'calmed' himself, though he kept his head bowed, which pleased Sukuna.
"So what's this about an Archbishop of Pride?" Subaru and Yuji both asked.
"Out of all 6 seats, 1 is untaken at the moment. The previous Archbishop of Pride has passed away, so the Witch has sent us a new one!!!"
"Her love is truly unending, I must thoroughly follow her instructions…"
"She sends you instructions?" Subaru asked.
"YES!!! Through the proof of the love, which the Witch grants us - The Gospel!!!" Before they could ask what that was, Betelgeuse pulled out a small black book and began to flip its pages quickly yet diligently, looking for any mention of the people he was talking with.
His crazed smile shifted into a monotone expression as he raised his face from the book. "The Gospel has no mention of either three of you, how could this be?"
"This situation is unusual. Something this big would have to be mentioned. Oh, I know! Show me your Gospels - then we could confirm our love for the Witch!"
"Oh right, right!" Subaru patted his clothes. It was apparent he was looking for where he stashed away his gospel.
"Oh? I can't find it, Yuji, do you have it?"
"Eh? Hold on, what are you-"
"Oh right! Now I remember! We all went camping outside, and when we ran out of kindling, we used our Gospels to cook our marshmallows. So, that's what happened. Sorry!" Subaru said in a cheerful and "sorry" tone. Sukuna found it funny, but Betelgeuse evidently did not.
" Authority of Sloth: Unseen Hand!!! " Tens of long invisible arms emerged from Betelgeuse's back. Their aim was simple - Grab at both Subaru and Yuji and tear them apart. This would have been a simple task had Yuji not grabbed Subaru on his back and jumped back a fair distance. During this, Subaru was signaling to Yuji where to jump to avoid the hands.
"What?!"
"If it's an unseen hand, dodging it is possible if I can see it."
"You guys can see my unseen hand?!"
"Nah, just me. Anyway, I'm all done buying time now!"
Mimi and her younger brother Tivey Jumped out of the woods and near Betelgeuse. He looked at them in surprise. However, instead of them attacking him, they shouted a sound wave infused with wind magic to the top of the cave behind Betelgeuse. The entrance promptly collapsed and buried the cultists standing there.
"Haha! I am enjoying this show very mu-" Yuji slapped a hand on Sukuna's mouth to stop him from rambling. Sukuna manifested another mouth on the back of the hand and grinned, just to prove he could.
"How, Could this be… How could this happen." Betelgeuse held his face and spoke in a sad and angry tone.
"My Fingers, crushed so mercilessly, so cruelly, so chaotically, so arbitrarily, so artlessly, so meaninglessly… He pulled his hair out as he cried streams of blood.
"AHH!!! MY BRAIN TREMBLES!!!" He chewed on his fingers as he turned around to face Subaru.
"Yes… I get it. Fine, fine… I understand, let's do this, I'm ready for this! The time has come to learn which of us is worthy of her love!"
"HER LOVE, YES, HER LOVE!!!"
Subaru smirked as he spotted a man standing on the rock behind Betelgeuse, he signaled for Yuji to draw his attention to the two of them. Yuji did this by stomping on the ground in a pose prepared to charge. Betelgeuse faced towards them, and then… barely a moment passed before Wilhelm jumped behind Betelgeuse and swung his sword horizontally. A crunching sound was heard as blood was spilled, but this didn't stop Betelgeuse from trying to turn around… He promptly failed when his lower section was separated from where the other half of his vital organs were.
Yuji looked sickened by the sight. "We-we had to kill him, right?" He was confused when Subaru, instead of responding, stared at the body intently with a focused look.
"Subaru?"
"Don't celebrate too early… we have to make sure he is dead." Subaru said and Yuji looked away. If Subaru wanted to confirm the Archbishop's death, he would rather not see it.
***
While Yuji was in his turmoil of thoughts about assisting in killing another person, a sound of a splashy explosion sounded behind him. It was a terrible sight. To confirm their kill, Mimi made sure to launch a sound wave to explode the body. Now, there was a little bit of Betelgeuse over here, over there… And even a portion in the distance right there.
Yuji took a deep breath and grit his teeth. Sure, this was disgusting. But at least he can't be blamed for the mess made. He elected to remain silent while everyone from the entourage grouped up to discuss their next move.
Most of the group had a great time bantering. Taking no casualties fighting the cult thus far helped maintain everyone's high morale.
"Once this is all done, we'll go back to being friend and foe." Subaru stated.
"How confident of you to worry about what is yet to come." A purple-haired knight, whom Subaru had called 'The asshole knight, Julius' in his conversations with Yuji, responded.
"Well, Sorry. It's almost going too well that I may have lowered my guard." After finishing his sentence, Subaru opened his eyes in shock. Yuji looked in the direction Subaru was looking, yet he didn't see anything with his eyes. However, he did get the feeling something bad would come from that direction.
"Get down!" Subaru shouted for all to hear. A moment later, 5 members of their group who failed to get down in time were lifted into the air. Sickening sounds of bones crushing were heard, and then, their bodies were ripped apart in a shower of blood.
"What the hell is going on?!" One person shouted. Everyone was panicking due to this sudden invisible attack. Yuji, who should have had his guard up, was instead staring in shock at the mutilated bodies of his comrades. He felt a sense of nausea strike him, but before this sensation could develop, Subaru fell off his feet, as he was dragged into the woods by an invisible force. This snapped Yuji from his shock, and at this moment he knew what he had to do as he struck his feet to the ground.
This moment reminded him of the time he ran into his old school and jumped through the window to save Fushiguru who had his hands full with curses. And once again, he put his will and energy into saving a black-haired person who is sure to die without help. Dirt was kicked up every time his shoes struck the ground, as Subaru was being dragged through the forest at a quick pace, so Yuji did his best to match it.
Subaru was held upside down by his left ankle by the invisible force that dragged him to the tree his back is now facing.
"My brain… Trembles…" A red-haired woman dressed in a cultist outfit said in a strange tone as if she was testing her own vocal cords. Yuji who caught up to them realized she must be the one who attacked Subaru.
"Yuji! Watch out!" Subaru alerted him, Itadori jumped to the right to dodge an invisible attack that kicked up a significant amount of mud where it hit.
Normally this would be the time Itadori would smile, thank his friend, and give him a thumbs up. However, right now, his eyes were open wide, his breath was focused and all of his muscles felt ready to take on the world. With one kick of his left leg, he began his dash towards the cultist. He raised his right fist, aiming to ram it into her head. She responded with a crazed smile that held an identity he recognized. "Betelgeuse!" Yuji shouted in anger as his fist made impact, but not with her face, but instead with an invisible wall.
While the wall crumbled at the force, his fist's momentum was still halted. He glanced at Subaru who was still upside down and refocused his gaze on his opponent before raising his left fist. Another hit, but with the invisible barrier. By now it was obvious that this was the work of the 'unseen hand' that Betelgeuse utilized.
So Yuji tried something different: He sent a barrage of hits with both of his fists. This had no effect besides blooding his knuckles on Betelguese's unseen appendages.
He paused and took a moment to exhale. His raised fists were in a great position to block a sudden punch to the face, but they were ineffective when instead he received a hit to his stomach. Normally, he could use his gut muscles to alleviate the damage in situations like this. But since he had no way to predict when and where Betelgeuse would attack, even a fight of boxing might not be winable for Itadori Yuji.
He was knocked back a meter, clutched his gut, and resisted the urge to puke.
The expression on his opponent's face didn't change, yet Yuji was starting to feel fear. He prepared his gut for another strike, but instead, his left leg was grabbed and he was violently thrown straight up.
"Such diligence, to save your friend! I must be diligent as well to complete the ordeal!" She laughed from below, as Yuji reached the peak of his soaring and was beginning to fall down. His preparations for his landing were rudely interrupted when his side was slapped by an unseen hand into a tree canopy.
He was mostly sure his injuries amounted to nothing but scratches and bruises as he landed on the ground. He was out of direct line of sight of the cultist, but after hesitating for a moment, he went to close the distance. By now, she was rudely speaking with Subaru and was seemingly oblivious to his presence.
"Even though it's not equal to his, your love is still undisputedly strong! Clearly, you aren't meant to be a mere follower, but a potential Archbishop!" She rambled to him as Subaru seemed to be in pain.
"There is no way I'm meant to be part of you, I never even got a free book as a membership perk!" The black-haired teen responded.
"My! Now you are being stubborn? Still, soon enough you will surely…" She paused her rambling while going through her uniform's pocket. If she was looking for something, her face gave the clue that she failed to find it.
"The Gospel, the guidance of my love! The Gospel that allows me, though inexperienced, to return to love! It isn't with me now!" She held her head and closed her eyes as if her brain was trembling, and Yuji knew, we wouldn't get another opportunity like this.
Her ribs were cracked as he kicked her side and knocked her to the swamp's muddy water. Subaru fell on his head which was fortunately undamaged due to the soft mud.
"Why aren't you dead?! Betelgeuse!"
"Finger… My Finger, loyally, earnestly, firmly, resolutely, generously, and diligently gave me her flesh! And you…" The Archbishop pointed at Subaru who got back up on his feet.
"You stole it, You stole my Gospel didn't you!?"
The water that was splashed by the fight began falling down. This revealed to Yuji's eyes an invisible fist that was heading towards Subaru. The latter raised his arms in a cross, but Yuji knew it wouldn't be enough. He was feeling all sorts of emotions right now: fear, for himself, but mostly for Subaru, anger for the people Betelgeuse had murdered as well as grief for their loss. Normally this would sound corny, but he honestly believed these emotions gave his fist energy as he slammed it into the side of the unseen appendage, before it reached Subaru.
Before his fist hit, he saw it glow with a red fire. After hitting its mark, at first, it was like striking steel, but a moment later, the negative energy gathered in the fist slammed into its target and saved Subaru from a lethal blow.
"What?! You saw it?!" Betelgeuse looked shocked.
"You spent your time cursing Subaru, but I'll have you know. I have my own curses to give you!" While he hasn't mastered it, he figured out how to use cursed energy to strengthen his fists. All he had to do was focus all his pain into his fists until they lit on cursed fire. In the back of his mind, Sukuna was snickering at Yuji's 'realisation' Not that Yuji paid it any mind.
'That's cursed energy isn't it?' Subaru thought, seeing it for himself used like this gave him an idea. From what Yuji told him earlier, he knew he possessed a significant amount of it himself.
"Betelgeuse, I swear we will put you down." Subaru spoke with a voice riddled with hate as his fists lit up with cursed purple fire.
"Such love… How come you have been granted so much love?! It's unfair, it's insulting, it's disrespectful, it's unpleasant!" The Archbishop was holding his head.
"My brain, trembles! " Invisible hands shot out to grab at the cursed boys. The two summoned their curses into their fists and punched the hands out of existence.
'Maybe I gave this brat too little credit. Even though it's invisible to him, he still somehow knows where this maggot's technique is.' Sukuna thought but dared not admit to his vessel.
"Subaru!" Yuji simply said and Subaru understood the implications.
"Yeah!" Subaru responded and they both ran forward at a coordinated speed. They both punched. Their fists were halted by the invisible appendages, but the curses inside of them broke through the barrier and hit Betelgeuse in the face.
"Ghaa!" Betelgeuse was knocked back and stunned by the hit of love.
'When I hit with cursed energy, first comes my fist, and the cursed energy hits a moment later. The result is two hits in one punch. It's like I unlocked a new move in a fighting game. I should give it a name.' Subaru thought and perhaps Yuji thought something similar because when they both hit Betelgeuse in the face, they shouted in unison.
"Divergent Fist!" First, the physical blow caved the face in, and then their energy hit the face and trembling brain in unison.
"Ghaaa!!!" Betelgeuse spit out blood and teeth. 'Her' facial structure looked to have been damaged and blood ran from the nose and mouth. Yet Betelgeuse seemed happy.
"Hahahaha!!! Never before have I felt love hit me like this!" The trembling of the brain began to settle down.
"You two… you have given me something to think about. No, Something to be Inspired by!" Betelgeuse continued to cackle, but the tone signified a newfound sanity.
'For the first time in a 100 years, I feel my brain settling down. Is this what true love feels like?' Betelgeuse visualized himself surrounded by cyan flames that represented the energy of the love going through him.
"I'm getting a bad feeling." Subaru said and raised his fists in defense. He saw 4 invisible hands rise above Betelgeuse, but instead of assaulting them like before, they were making a strange hand sign with each other, Betelgeuse also made a similar sign with his physical hands.
" Domain Expansion: " With that shout from the Archbishop, the environment quickly transformed. Gone was the swamp they were standing in. Instead, it was a snow-ridden forest filled with ice statues of elves. Betelgeuse was now in a new body that looked to be that of a young man with green hair and white skin as opposed to the sickly green from when he was first 'killed'. Behind him was a massive black double door with an intricate design that didn't seem to lead anywhere.
" Forest of Tragedy! " Betelgeuse completed the chant.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง