『Felix Karl Grimm』
"This is... one way to train I guess."
I couldn't help but doubt my eyes as I reached the training field of Jujutsu High where everyone had already started without me. I had overslept after staying up the entire night trying to meditate and failing miserably.
"Aaaah! Give! Give! I give up!"
Yuji shouted as he was tossed into the air by Panda with a flourish before landing on the floor like a limp fish. Nobara and Megumi were on the other end of the field, sparring with each other, Nobara smacking her nails with her hammer and trying to land a hit on Megumi as he dashed around.
Maki turned around to greet me, she was wearing a new outfit, a tracksuit top, short shorts and tights. It suited her. On her shoulders was a polearm without its head, so more like a bo-staff.
"Finally, you're here. Fushiguro and Nobara-chan suck at close quarters combat. The Yuji kid is good, but he is not used to fighting like a sorcerer." She narrowed her eyes with a slight smile. "They say you are the strongest out of them, and I want to see if that is true."
I stretched my arms and gave her a slight nod.
"And how will you do that?"
To be honest I was itching for a fight, I had been idle for far too long, and I could feel frustration brewing within me. My Satsui wanted to be let out, it wanted to be used, and exerted.
Thankfully, Maki gave me the answer I wanted to hear.
"We are going to fight, how else obviously? I want you to land a hit on me."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Just that? Really?"
She twirled her stick with an amused expression, not taking my words seriously.
"Yes, just that, really. Let's see if you can measure up. Don't tell me you're scared?"
One of my eyes twitched involuntarily. My hands itched. The urges from this trait were pretty annoying to deal with.
Seeing our showdown, the others subtly stopped their training and surrounded us in a loose circle as if it was a brewing yard brawl.
"Oh! Maki-senpai is about to fight Felix!"
"Hmm, I can't figure out who to root for."
"Go easy on him Maki-chan! He doesn't know who he is talking to!"
"Rice!"
"Well I know who to vote for, trash her Felix!"
Maki turned to the peanut gallery and shouted at them furiously.
"All of you return to your own training!!!"
"C'mon, let us watch, it's our break..."
Yuji gave puppydog eyes alongside Nobara, Maki seemed almost ready to snap at them before growling and turning away, ignoring them entirely to face me. Ignoring their celebration she asked curtly.
"Whatever, do you use any cursed tools?"
"No, I'm fine like this. Let's start."
A corner of her mouth quirked up.
"Good, then let's-!"
Without a moment's hesitation, she rushed forward into my personal space, she was quite fast. But nowhere near as fast as the Finger Bearer. Instead of retreating, I lowered my center of gravity and prepared to respond to her attack.
"Hup!"
Woosh!
Instead of entering my melee range, she stopped short and left a bit of room between us before swinging her staff at my head, aiming for my jaw in order to knock me out. But I ducked it. Then she shifted her grip slightly and instead stabbed towards my solar plexus. In my current position, it was impossible to dodge, so the tip of the polearm dug into my body and expelled the air from my lungs.
"Kh!"
Not letting that knock me down, I grabbed the stick, but then she pulled me forward and landed a hit on my leg that put me down to my knees.
"Ooh! Senpai put him in his place!"
"What are you doing Felix!?"
Maki tilted her head with a slight smile.
"Well, does it still feel like 'just that' now? Why aren't you using your Cursed Energy? Are you looking down on me?"
She asked impatiently as I pushed myself up with a rage shimmering in my veins. My breath felt hot.
"I was going to try and win without using my abilities since they felt like cheating. And as for my cursed energy, I've never used it before, but I suppose now is as good a time as any."
Gojo was in the school, so if the worst case happened, there was someone who could stop me with trivial ease. Though I didn't think my first use of Satsui no Hado would make me go berserk.
"Haaa..."
Letting out a deep, hot breath, energy course through my body. It was like a burning flame bursting through my skin, flames of dark purple and red and shimmered around me. My body felt strong, way stronger than when I used Reinforcement. I felt fucking invincible.
"What kind of cursed energy is that...?"
"The kind that will beat you."
Crash!
My foot dug into the floor and created a small trench as I pushed myself off the ground and rushed towards Maki with my fist reeled back. My Satsui burned a hellish purple on it, she was clearly surprised by my speed. She ducked to the side and my attack barely whiffed her.
Woosh!
A gust of air left my fist, and I growled in annoyance. Stopping myself mid-dash I twisted around with a roundhouse kick, her eyes snapped wide open and held up her staff to defend herself from my leg.
Bang!
"Guh!"
Despite being blocked by her staff and her entire body weight, Maki still went flying from my kick. When she landed, I was already on her trail like a bloodhound, dashing across the ground on all fours. She narrowed her eyes and held her staff poised.
Crash!
I stomped on the floor, creating a small crater alongside a spiderweb of cracks across the floor to throw her off balance and to prepare myself for an even faster dash. My legs bent like bows, storing kinetic energy before channeling my Hado and pushing off the floor at her like a missile.
"Dodge THIS!"
My vision blurred from my speed, she tried to impede my charge with her staff, readying it in a way that I would hit it before I reached her body. But when the wooden pole struck my fist, it was obliterated, turning into an explosion of splinters as I threw a jab at Maki's stomach, she raised her leg to block it but...
"Gah!"
Despite blocking, she was sent tumbling across the floor, I didn't hear a crack, but I felt like I did a lot of damage. As she came to a stop, Maki groaned and cradled her leg.
For just a moment, I thought about pursuing before I stopped myself and dispelled my Hado. That was not a great moment. The lack of self-restraint could have ended badly, but considering what I used, I had remarkable self-control to stop myself there. She looked up at me with annoyance and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Grrh, dumbass, this is a spar, control yourself a little!"
I chuckled wryly and approached her while offering a hand that she took, getting back up on wobbly feet. Seeing it, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad and apologize.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm not used to controlling my Cursed Energy, at all. And mine is especially violent."
"Tsk, yeah I can see that. But I was the one who goaded you. So we're even."
She was not putting any weight onto her leg so I held a hand out and channeled my energy into a spell.
"Heal. Here, does that feel better?"
Maki stomped the floor with her leg lightly before looking at me with bewilderment.
"Reverse Cursed Technique!?"
I shook my head.
"Nah, it's a part of my Cursed Technique, I can channel cursed energy into healing people. There is a middle man between Negative and Positive energy."
She tested her leg by putting her entire body weight on it with a pistol squat before nodding her head.
"I see, that makes more sense. Alright, freshman, you and that Yuji kid are basically the same, all power but no finesse. Since I'm not a good teacher on manipulating cursed energy, you should train with Panda instead, he can take a beating."
"Right, right, you are so right Maki-cha- eh!? No way, I don't want to take hits from those punches, have you not seen him shattering the ground just by stepping on it? He'll turn me into ground Panda meat!"
Listening and promptly ignoring Panda's worries, Maki waved her hand, making his face fall.
"Stop being a drama queen, Panda. You are the most durable out of all of us, you can take a hit or twelve. On the other hand, if you learn how to control your cursed energy properly, we can train together, and I can teach you some moves. Because frankly, you move like you don't know how to do any martial arts and are just winging it."
Wow, she had me figured out so quickly. Because that was what I was doing.
Seriously, what convinced me that moving on all fours was a good idea?
"You seem really reliable like this, Maki-senpai."
My words seemed to cut through her serious aura instantly as she froze up and blushed before flicking her hair.
"O-of course I am, who do you think you're talking to?"
Seeing this, I couldn't help but wear a slight grin. I felt a lot better after getting to work out some of the tension Satsui no Hado had placed on me, not all of it, but a decent amount. And another source of dopamine promptly made me forget about my pending urge to kill things.
Feat Achieved! Impress Maki Zennin in her challenge
+1x Silver Skill Gacha Ticket
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a silver ticket, grabbing the attention of my fellow first years.
"Oh! Another ticket! What's that one?"
"Did Zennin-senpai give it to you?"
Seeing those reactions, Panda and Maki seemed quite puzzled before Megumi explained what was happening and an abridged explanation of my Chaos Gacha. After which Maki looked both impressed and envious.
"What an outrageous Cursed Technique, even Okkotsu did not pull them out of nowhere."
As Maki was busy seething and coping, Panda leaned down and whispered into my ear.
"Psst, look, Grimm-kun, if you ever meet the third years, NEVER mention how your ability works to them. They'll never leave you alone."
"...I'll take that advice into consideration."
Honestly, I had no idea about Hakari and Kirara(?), I just knew his cursed technique was related to gambling which I vibed with. I had unfortunately departed into the multiverse before season 3 was released in my universe. Maybe the next world would have some of the anime I had back home so that I could get a refresher.
"I'm gonna tear it now."
Everyone looked at me expectantly which made me feel a little awkward before I tore the ticket in half and revealed what I got.
Rolling Silver Skill Gacha...
A Rare Skill!
[Adept Cooking]
|Rare Skill|
You are great at cooking, at the level of a veteran chef, you can cook most meals with great flavour, there aren't many who would be disappointed with your cooking. You could easily get a job as a private chef.
A dull headache assaulted my head the moment I got the skill, not as bad as Novice Mechanics since Cooking wasn't knowledge based, but it was still a solid 2/10 experience. The skill I had gained was pretty decent, I loved eating out, but now I felt like I could make whatever ungodly meal I wanted for myself with the quality of a seasoned chef. Which was worth its weight in gold.
I will never devalue good food ever again.
Though some people were less enthused.
"Cooking? Really? What a weird cursed technique."
"I think it's pretty good! Grimm-kun, just a heads up, this Panda is not a vegetarian, I quite like fish."
"Oh! Oh! Rice bowl with meatballs for me please."
"Tuna Mayo Rice Balls."
"I could really go for a French toast right now."
"You guys really are... sigh... ahem burger ahem."
Whelp.
Looks like I'm a chef now.
A/N: Whelp, we see how strong the Satsui no Hado is now and I'd say it's pretty strong, considering Felix, who is way less trained and experienced, managed to handily overpower Maki in a fight even if it wasn't fully serious. And that was his first time ever using it and without any powers to boot.
Also, Maki is fun, though she really hasn't gotten to open up to Felix yet. But I'm betting that Adept Cooking will really help everyone open up to Felix. After all, no force is more powerful than food in the multiverse. Just ask Toriko.
______________________________
If you like my works and want to support me and my works you can do so at my P*treon at: p*treon.com/BronzDeck. You can also read up to 10 chapters ahead on all of my works and read my snippets there and participate in story polls.
Just replace the * with an a.