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A few minutes ago:
[Momo Nishimiya eliminated]
Hearing the announcement, the Kyoto students widened their eyes in surprise.
They had information that no one in Tokyo could fly freely, so they were confident that their reconnaissance and tracking support would not be cut off. But it seemed like their opponents found a way to bring down the witch.
Mai, who was momentarily stunned, heard a rustling sound and immediately got alert.
The one who came out of the bushes was Kinji Hakari, the 2nd-year Tokyo student who was quite a famous delinquent as well. {A/N: Hakari learned the bush technique from Yuta.}
"Hmm? Our side got someone as well, huh. Well, good for us, I guess," muttered Hakari.
Seeing him acting this calm, Mai narrowed her eyes. She had already started preparing for her next move and was ready to fight this senior in front of her.
"...What kind of luck do I have that I always bump into you people?!" complained Hakari as he registered who his opponent was gonna be.
Mai's brows twitched at his comment.
"What do you mean by 'you people'. You are insulting me or something, delinquent-san?" asked Mai with a 'smile'.
"Insult? No, just fed up with fighting while thinking of the consequences of my actions. Anyway, you wanna fight, or I can pass through? I have to get that flag of yours," said Hakari and yawned.
The whole time, he had his arms in his pockets and was not the least bit worried about Mai.
This made Mai snap. She might not seem like it, but she, too, had the Zenin habit of not being able to tolerate someone looking down on her.
Cursed energy seeped through the ground, and immediately, the ground cracked up under Hakari, making him lose his footing and even fall down.
"Huh?" muttered Hakari in surprise as he looked down at the crack in the ground.
He was not expecting the girl to attack him so suddenly....nor her being able to use her technique so fast.
'...This might not be that boring,' thought Hakari as a smirk began to form on his face.
However, before he could think further, the surrounding land around him shot out like a fist and punched him straight in the face, sending him flying.
"Ow! Oi! Going for my face without any warning! Are you insane!" complained Hakari while still being mid-flight from the earth punch.
Mai, though, didn't react. The sudden attack didn't even seem to cause the delinquent any sort of injury at all.
And it was mostly true, too.
Hakari might not have seemed to react to the attack, but he had activated CE reinforcement the moment he realised that an attack was coming. The earth punch stung a bit, but it didn't cause any severe issues.
"Great. Another physical type. Just my luck," muttered Mai.
Being constantly 'taught' and yelled at by Aoi Todo since joining Jujutsu High had made her a bit... 'unfond' of physical fighters.
Hakari noticed that he was about to land and took his hands out of his pockets. He will now see the 'fever' from Kyoto students.
The moment Hakari's feet touched ground, he pumped his CE to his reinforcement to rush ahead.
...Or so was the plan.
Mai's CE was already seeping through the area around them, and the moment Hakari's feet touched the soil, it tightly grabbed onto it, and the ground below caved in, pulling Hakari underground at great speed.
On his way underground, there were also quite a lot of sharpened rocky spikes ready to tear through the man, causing even more damage.
Adding her final finishing touch to her attack, Mai even closed up the cracked open ground and turned it back to normal. No one could even tell that a fight had happened here.
[Land Burial]
A technique was basically a death sentence to most sorcerers. No space to move, no air to breathe, and injured by spiky rocks on the way. This was quite a lethal combination.
...Unfortunately for Mai, Hakari was not among the 'most sorcerers'.
The unsuspecting Mai was looking up at the barrier, waiting for the announcement to come so that she could bring the senior back up before he actually died.
However, the ground that was filled with her CE suddenly notified her of some movements.
Something was approaching her fast.
'Damn it!' thought Mai as she jumped away.
The moment she jumped, the ground below her shook, and a moment later, a dirt-covered Hakari jumped out with CE surrounding his body.
"Damn, you are brutal," said Hakari, and looked at his body.
There was dust and soil all over; his clothes were torn in various places, and he was also bleeding a bit, too. The shrapened rocks and the friction of being dragged down did cause some injuries to him.
Mai was looking at the man with wariness. She did dodge the boy in time, but his CE grazed her uniform a bit, and by then it started to show signs of tearing.
'Is that his technique?' thought Mai.
Hakari looked towards Mai, who was now focusing on him and seemed to be calculating their next move as well.
Hakari's smile widened. Things just moved from 'it might be fun' to 'my fever is rising'.
Without wasting any more time, Hakari launched towards Mai to get in an attack. He has seen that if given an opportunity, the Zenin girl could control the terrain once again, making the whole thing go back to square one.
Mai saw Hakari moving and tried to dodge, but Hakari, with his CE reinforcement, was quite fast for her.
His fist headed straight for her gut.
But before it could connect, Hakari found something coming in the way.
That lag was enough for Mai to launch her next attack.
[Air Strike Shield]
A mass of solidified air blasted forward, sending Hakari back a bit.
"Oi! Is that technique similar to Gojo-sensei's?" asked Hakari.
But Mai didn't answer. She did take inspiration from the Special Grade Gojo, but she was not gonna admit that.
Seeing her not answer, Hakari snorted and went in for another attack. He just has to find an opening to land a decisive strike on the girl. Judging by how she was keeping distance, the girl was most likely not a close-quarters combatant, meaning he just had to break through her guard.
[Air Strike Shield-Phalanx]
A giant invisible solidified air shield formed in front of Mai, and with a hand gesture, she shot it forward towards the incoming Hakari.
Hakari couldn't see what it was, but something was coming.
Without hesitation, he punched forward with full force.
*CRACK*
A cracking sound came. Whatever it was, it was breaking apart from Hakari's punch.
Hearing the sound, Hakari smirked.
Though that smirk soon vanished. For some reason, Mai had a smirk as well.
As the solid wind shield broke, the CT shaping it was disabled as well, making the air within it blast out at great speed and sending Hakari back once again.
"Annoying! Do something el-"
The blasted air was sucked in by Hakari as well, and though the technique holding it was disabled earlier, it still had Mai's CE in it.
Mai simply raised the card she had in hand [A/N: You just activated my trap card!]
The air within Hakari suddenly hardened and expanded inside Hakari's body, immediately starting to choke him.
"Is that enough something else for you, Delinquent-san?" asked Mai.
Hakari was vigorously smacking his chest, trying to cough out whatever was stuck in his windpipe. Though nothing was happening.
He glared at Mai. This girl was responsible for whatever was happening to him.
He needs to handle her soon.
Seeing that Hakari stopped smacking his chest and was instead focusing on her, Mai easily understood what was going on in the man's head.
'Yeah, not gonna happen,' thought Mai and jumped on the spot.
However, instead of landing on the ground, she somehow stood still in the air....that acted like a trampoline, making her go higher and higher.
Hakari saw this unbelievable movement and noticed that Mai was holding onto another card. Different from the one she was using earlier.
Mai continued to jump on her flexible air platforms that acted like trampolines and was now quite high up in the sky.
"Can't hit me if you can't reach me," thought Mai.
Though this trick didn't work on Todo, since that brute simply claps aways the solid air out of his body away, against Hakari, it seemed to be working fine.
Mai looked down. Her eyesight was not as sharp as Naoya's or Maki's, so she couldn't make out what Hakari was doing, but seeing that he was not trying to get up, she was confident that this fight was won.
Unfortunately for her, Kinji Hakari was not one to give in that easily.
'F*ck it!'
Hakari took a stance and formed a hand sign.
[Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble]
Hakari's domain expanded, and Mai Zenin was pulled in as well.
Like most domains in this era, Hakari's domain had a sure hit effect as well. Unlike those domains, though, the sure hit effect was not an offensive one.
Instead of attacking the targets inside, Hakari's domain fills the target's head with the rules of the game that were connected to Hakari's technique.
However, even this non-offensive sure-hit effect was helpful to Hakari.
With the sudden info dump, Mai's brain, which was busy using her CT, lost focus.
The solid air stuck inside Hakari dissipated back into gas, making him free from choking.
*Phew* *Cough!* *Cough!*
Hakari immediately exhaled and started coughing violently. Expelling all the CE-infused air out of his body.
"Damn it! To make me use my ultimate technique. You are good!" said Hakari with an excited smile.
Mai glared at Hakari. She was still processing the info dump.
"Hehe, like my domain. Now then, let's start the spin. My 'fever' is quite high right now, you know," said Hakari.
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At a different location on the match field, a few minutes ago:
Aoi Todo, who was running through the forest earlier, killing any stray cursed spirits that came his way, calmed down a bit.
At the speed he was going, he was not meeting anyone and feared that he might miss someone, so he decided to slow down a bit.
His strategy seemed to work as he finally came across an opponent. It was the scrawny white jacket dude from Tokyo.
"You are Yuta Okkotsu, the Special Grade, right?" asked Todo.
"Eh? Yes. You are Todo-san, right? We couldn't meet yesterday since you were busy. Nice to meet you," said Yuta and gave a polite bow.
Todo crossed his arms and gave a nod.
"A worthy opponent for my first fight in a goodwill event. With this, I will be able to show the world how well my Big Brother trained us," said Todo and gave a sagely nod.
"Let's get this started, but before that....Answer me! What kind of woman is your type?!" asked Todo with an excited look on his face.
Yuta Okkotsu looked at the buffed half-naked man in front of him.
'What does that have to do with the fight?' thought Yuta as he sweat dropped at the question.
"By the way, my type is a tall woman with a big ass!" declared Todo.
"Umm....can I ask why you're asking me this question?" asked Yuta hesitantly.
Todo's face got serious at the question.
"A person's taste reveals everything about them. People with boring taste in women are boring people themselves. And I hate boring men. Depending on your answer, I might beat you half to death right here. If you prefer men, that too is fine. Now hurry up and tell me your type," said Todo.
.
.
.
'...That still doesn't explain why I should answer him.' thought Yuta.
Still at the mention of his type, his gaze inadvertently moved towards the ring he had.
"...My type...I don't think I am worthy of asking for much....Just the fact that she is there for me and I can spend some time with her happily is enough for me," said Yuta.
"....I shouldn't have had high expectations," muttered Todo as a stream of tears came out of his eyes.
"You are boring, Okkotsu!" said Todo.
"Eh?"
Todo lauched forward, making Yuta raise his arms in defence; however, Todo's punch was a feint, and he went straight for an uppercut, making Yuta take a direct hit from the Grade 1 sorcerer.
"Gah!"
Yuta flew away and crashed into a tree, making him feel the pain in his jaw.
"I thought that you would be a better guy considering that you are a Special Grade just like my master and my Big Brother...but Okkotsu...you are boring," said Todo.
Yuta looked at the man who was cracking his knuckles.
Yuta stood back on his feet and unsheathed the katana that he carried.
"I might not be up to your standards, Todo-san, but I know that if I don't fight, you will seriously hurt me," said Yuta, and dashed towards Todo with his katana while channelling Rika's CE onto the blade.
"Slow!" declared Todo as he appeared beside Yuta and kicked him.
Yuta immediately raised his arm to block the full force of the kick, but was still blasted quite a distance away.
Todo then dashed towards the flying Yuta and immediately jumped on top of him, landing directly on his stomach while landing a CE-infused kick to his gut.
"AH!!!" screamed Yuta as some blood came out of his mouth.
"Your speed, endurance, strength, everything is mediocre at best. Why the hell is someone like you registered as a Special Grade?!" yelled Todo as he started punching Yuta, injuring him and making him bleed in the process.
"Stop!"
"Huh? Asking for mercy on a battlefield-"
"Rika-chan!!!!" yelled Yuta.
"Huh? Rika?" muttered Todo in confusion.
A moment later, the CE around him got heavy, and Todo immediately felt an unknown pressure from Yuta.
"Don't hurt YUTAAAA!!!!!"
A cursed spirit came out of nowhere and slashed at Todo with the intention of killing him.
*CLAP*
However, instead of Todo, what Rika hit was a tiny pebble while Todo appeared quite far away from Yuta and Rika.
"Oi Oi Oi, if you had something like this, you should have used it from the start," said Todo as excitement slowly started to rise within him.
"You harmed Yuta. I will kill you!" declared Rika as she bared her fangs and claws towards Todo.
"Come and try your best," declared Todo, raring to go for round 2.
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Alright, guys, the new week has started. You know the drill, help me push the ranking.
Stone the fic.