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Back to when Haruto and Mako split up with Naoya:
Haruto and Mako, being Grade-1 sorcerers from a prestigious clan, faced no difficulty dealing with the Grade-2 and Grade-3 curses that came their way. Even when ganged up on, the two sorcerers dispatched them without receiving a single scratch.
Within minutes, they had cleared the curses along their assigned paths and soon made their way toward the stronger presence lurking deeper inside the abandoned facility.
Mako arrived later and soon spotted Haruto waiting with his arms crossed.
"You finally arrived? How long were you planning to take?" Haruto asked lazily.
"My technique does not allow me to create disposable clones to rush things," Mako replied. "If you were that impatient, you could have gone ahead and faced it alone. From what I can tell, it is just a Grade-1. No real issue for either of us."
"I cannot," Haruto said with a shrug. "The young boss ordered us to deal with this one together."
Mako snorted.
"You are seriously playing along? Taking orders from a kid. Do you not feel ashamed?"
"I would, if he were an ordinary child," Haruto replied. "But he is a higher-ranked Hei member and the most likely future clan head. It is better to form a good relationship with him early. Besides, he is better behaved than most Zenins."
"...You are backing Naobito?" Mako asked.
"Better than backing Ogi or Jinichi. Chojuro already supports Naobito. Apart from those four Special Grade-1s, the rest of us do not really have a say. Naoya's existence only strengthens Naobito's position. I am not supporting the man. I am supporting the kid. Every Special Grade-1 in this clan is obnoxious."
"The kid lacks the Zenin mindset. Is he really fit to lead the clan?" asked Mako curiously. He, too, knew that the clan head seat would go to one of the current Special Grade-1 sorcerers from the clan, and the time to choose a side was coming soon.
Naobito, with Naoya's backing, was the most prominent candidate at the moment. However, Ogi has support from his wife's family, which was quite influential in its own regard. Not to mention, once Ogi marries, he might have kids that might have insane potential just like Satoru Gojo or Naoya Zenin. The fact that Ogi was younger and will have a living and kicking wife means that he could have multiple kids who can inherit good potential, which might tip the scale in their favour, since after all, Naobito only has Naoya left, and he is not getting any younger.
Both of the candidates were Special Grade-1s with relatively similar strength, meaning the thing that will mostly decide the outcome is the backing and the possible benefit of the clan in favouring a particular candidate.
"Snap out of your thoughts for now. We need to deal with a curse right now," said Haruto, snapping Mako out of his thoughts.
The sorcerer nodded in response as the two of them entered the chamber from where the curse's presence was coming from.
Once in there, the first thing that caught their eyes was the pile of dead humans hanging around the room with wounds all over their bodies. Some had slash marks, others had holes in their bodies. Still, the fact that they were killed brutally and still had their bodies not mangled meant that the cursed spirit might have some level of intelligence.
"New dummies?"
The two of them heard an eerie voice, making their focus shift from the hanging bodies.
A humanoid, cursed spirit stood before them. Its body resembled rusted metal, cracked and warped. A visor-like object obscured its eyes, beneath which stretched an unnerving grin.
"A cursed spirit that talks. Quite an intelligent one, it seems," said Mako and got ready for the fight.
"Intelligent ones always are a pain in the ass. I like the reckless kind more," said Haruto as his hair flowed with cursed energy and popped off from his head, and an army of spectral Haruto clones appeared.
The now bald Haruto took a step back and gestured for the spectral clones to gang up on the curse.
"Oi! If you are working together, let me have some fun too!" complained Mako, but Haruto simply ignored him. The faster they dealt with the curse, the faster he could go back to resting.
"SO MANY DUMMIES!!!"
The cursed spirit cheered in its broken speech and, in excitement, released its cursed energy.
The curse jumped towards the spectral clone as cursed energy gathered in his hands. An instant later, a sword manifested as the curse began attacking the clones.
"Upper Grade-1," Haruto muttered. "Borderline Special Grade levels of cursed energy."
"Still manageable," he added.
The curse slashed at a clone, only for the clone to seize the blade and wrench it away. The remaining clones swarmed it, striking relentlessly.
Mako watched with irritation. "Looks like I will not be needed."
Suddenly, one clone vanished. A strand of hair returned to Haruto's head.
Then another vanished. And another.
"Scatter," Haruto ordered.
The clones retreated as the battered curse straightened, its grin never fading.
"Bad dummies die," it said, waving its hand.
The stolen sword moved on its own, dragging one clone into another before cutting them apart.
Understanding how the attack was working, the rest of the clones got into action once again.
Half of the remaining clones launched towards the cursed spirit, while the other half focused on breaking the weapon.
The curse adapted quickly, manifesting two swords and attacking selectively. One clone was bisected instantly.
That was when Mako struck.
He appeared behind the curse and drove his fist into its back, launching it into the oncoming clones.
Two clones held the cursed spirit by his arms while another pair yanked the swords from the curse's hand and tried to cut off the curse's hands.
*CLANG*
However, instead of cutting into the curse's body, the blades bounced off the curse's body.
Seeing that the other clones rushed in to attack the restrained curse.
The curse opened its mouth, and an instant later, sharpened stone projectiles started firing off from its mouth.
The stones easily pierced through the clones, destroying the bodies in an instant. Once the incoming clones were done, the curse slowly turned its head towards the clones holding him back and smiled sinisterly at them.
After firing a stone projectile and destroying the said clones, as well, the freed curse picked up the swords that were stolen from him.
"Using my weapons on me. Foolish," said the curse and looked towards Haruto, whose head was now half full of hair.
Haruto narrowed his eyes. "What exactly are you?"
"I am Zankyo," the curse declared. "A reminder of humanity's greatest fear."
"And that would be?" Haruto asked.
The swords rusted away. In their place, firearms manifested.
"Weapons."
Bullets were fired toward them. Mako stepped forward.
[Cursed Reversal Field]
The cursed energy bullets struck him and converted into positive energy, healing him instead.
"Born from such a massive fear, yet only Grade-1?" Mako scoffed.
"How long have you existed?" Haruto asked.
"Two weeks," Zankyo replied.
Both sorcerers stiffened.
"An infant," Haruto muttered. "And already nearing Special Grade."
"Then we end it now," Mako said, charging.
"I suppose I should lead the charge. Its attacks won't work on me," replied Mako and rushed towards the curse.
"Stay still, dummy!" yelled Zankyo, formed a spear in his hand and threw it at the incoming sorcerer.
Mako, however, not at all alarmed by the attack, simply raised his hand and let the spear strike it, though the moment it struck it changed into positive energy that once again healed him.
Mako closed in on Spirit, seeing that its cursed energy attacks were not doing anything, and decided to opt for hand-to-hand combat.
"Bad move, bastard," muttered Mako and deactivated his cursed technique, and in an instant, cursed energy reinforcement surrounded his limbs.
Mako's body blurred as he dodged the spirit's attack and struck the spirit's gut, making the spirit stumble back.
Mako didn't stop, though. Taking advantage of breaking Zankyo's stance, Mako stepped in and landed a solid upper cut on the curse, sending it up in the air.
The curse spat out some sort of purplish blood-like liquid and glared at Mako, who smirked and gestured for it to look around him.
The curse did the same and realised that the army of clones was already in the air and had surrounded him.
All the clones simultaneously fired a cursed energy blast towards the curse, leaving no gap for the curse to dodge.
*BOOM*
A loud explosion occurred that sent the curse's body flying, with its rusted body cracking up even more.
Mako and Haruto looked at the cursed spirit and noticed that even the visor on its head had chipped off, and it was also missing an arm.
The curse looked at its missing arm and then glared at the sorcerers who left it in such a sorry state.
He then noticed its torn arm and tried to stand up and get it.
However, the moment it tried, Mako's feet stomped on his head, planting it on the floor, making spider web-like cracks on the floor.
"Stay down there, humanity's greatest mistake," said Mako sarcastically.
The curse twisted its head to glance at the human who was stepping on top of him. Hate filled him.
"What are you looking at?" asked Mako in a cold tone and stomped once again.
Yet Zankyo's hatred didn't lessen one bit; it only intensified with each passing second.
Seeing the look on the cursed spirit's face, Mako's own hatred started to swell up. This time, cursed energy reinforced his legs as he started stomping the curse again and again.
The rusted skin of the curse continued to crack more and more. The visor was almost shattered, but the curses' expression didn't change one bit. No matter the amount of injuries or pain, the curse never stopped glaring at Mako.
Mako was now breathing heavily, tired from his continuous attacks. However, in that instant, the arm that was severed suddenly came to life and turned into a blade before launching itself towards Mako, who was a second too late to dodge and was impaled by the blade.
"Agh!"
The sorcerer winced in pain, and taking advantage of the opportunity, the cursed spirit freed itself and kicked the sorcerer away from him.
"So....non-cursed energy attack works on you..." said Zankyo in a cold tone.
"Not good," muttered Haruto, feeling uneasy as the clones rushed towards the cursed spirit.
[Cursed Technique: Arsenal of Fear]
Curse energy erupted out of Zankyo, sending it in every direction, pushing away the clones coming towards him.
[Murder Reliquary]
The ground glowed and soon countless weapons made of stone erupted out of it, impaling the clones destryoing them all in an instant.
Haruto and Mako were struck by the weapons as well, though Mako activated his technique and used positive energy to heal himself and Haruto.
The two then moved away from the weapon field and looked towards the curse.
"You just had to push its buttons," complained Haruto.
"Hmph. He is already injured. He won't last long with using such large-scale techniques anyway," replied Haruto.
But as if hearing his words, Zankyo smirked and picked up his torn hand, turned blade.
"Weapons are such a magnificent creation. Even their creator is not safe from them.....Not me, though. My weapons won't hurt me. Truly, the perfect spawns any being can ask for..." said the cursed spirit and stabbed himself with his blade.
The blade slowly started to merge back with the curse, and a moment later, the lost arm was back in its position.
The cursed spirit's energy swelled in the surrounding area as all the stone-made weapons erupting out of the ground broke free and hovered in the air, and pointed towards the sorcerers.
"And now let's use the dummies for target practice," said Zankyo as the weapons launched towards the two Zenins.
"Cupcake!!! Frosting!!! SPEAK!!!!"
A new voice emerged, and a second later, a sonic blast obliterated the weapons, blowing them all away.
Mako and Haruto had blood coming out of their ears as the two sorcerers got up from the ground, dusted their clothes and glared towards Naoya.
"...Don't look at me like that. A second later, and you two would have been skewered," replied Naoya as he walked in along with the two dogs who were wagging their tails proudly.
Mako activated his technique and healed himself and Haruto.
The two then looked towards their 'leader'; however, seeing the kid covered in blood made the two stop speaking their complaints.
"So what's the situation here? I am already done with my part of the job, and came here after hearing the explosion from earlier," said Naoya and glanced towards the cursed spirit who struggled to stand up.
"A potential Special Grade spirit appeared. Though it is just an infant and not a Special Grade yet," explained Haruto.
"A strong dummy," said the cursed spirit and glanced towards Naoya; however, its gaze immediately shifted towards Naoya's weapon, and an excited smile appeared on its face.
"A new weapon," said Zankyo and licked its lips.
"...So is he a pervert?" asked Naoya and pointed towards the sus spirit.
"...He is a curse born from the fear of weapons, so I guess he got excited seeing a weapon."
"Watch out!" warned Mako as Zankyo was already near Naoya.
It wanted to take the weapon from him; however, his target vanished from his spot, and a second later, it was trapped inside a frame.
Naoya punched the spirit with full force, breaking the frame and sending it crashing through the wall.
"..."
Mako and Haruto looked towards the small kid who sent an almost Special Grade cursed spirit crashing through the wall with a single punch, and didn't know what to say.
'Isn't the kid too physically strong?!' thought both the sorcers.