Chapter 73: Coming Together
The air whistled as the chain whined through it. The scream of Rika as she cried out the name of her beloved a shrill screech.
The burst of sounds exploded as fast as the fight started with the snap of tension. Yuta blocked an incoming attack from the taller spirit. His blade cracked as one of her spindly arms tore through the air with enough force to bury his feet in the dirt as they sunk into the ground.
His arms shook from the strain as he gasped desperately as the air was knocked out of his lungs.
Backing away as Toji's dagger cleaved the space he had been standing the small male spirit stared at Toji with a shaking gaze as his body vibrated like a leaf. His eyes widened as they seemed to grow within the already strained eye sockets.
Before he could even muster a counterattack Mizuki was behind him. Her wings glared deadly light as she pointed a shaking hand at his back, her face a mix of confusion and hesitation. A voice that echoed in her mind fueling her feelings, 'Don't, you're just going to get in the way.'
Pausing her attack she looked at Toji, seeing how he was reacting to her, she needed to know.
Cursing as the spirit stepped back Toji pulled his blade back to him, he couldn't believe that he missed an attack against such a weak-looking spirit, he was ashamed of himself.
But those feelings weren't his… he knew that in his heart as it pumped blood around his body, as his mind surged with information from the air around him. The stagnant smell of blood as the battle dragged on. The chain was slick with sweat in his hand.
He was strong, but so was this spirit, it was dangerous.
Dashing forward he appeared before the spirit in a single moment, his movement faster than the eye could follow his hand already cleaving down towards the spirit.
But his senses flared causing him to roll forward and past the spirit. Yuta flung through the space he had just been in. The taller female spirit reached forward to grab the smaller shaking one and pulled it underneath her where she could protect it.
So it couldn't fight? That was good to know.
Rolling to his feet he pulled on the chain and grabbed the handle of his dagger as Yuta arrived next to him shaking the dust off his shoulders from the wall he had just impacted.
Without even a second to gather themselves hundreds of hands appeared from underneath them. All three of them leapt into the air to avoid the attack, Mizuki using her wings to stay afloat as the moonlight condensed around her.
Feeling Toji grab him Yuta let it happen as he was suddenly thrown towards the spirit, crashing into the roll before them as he sprung to his feet and over the grasping set of hands severing them at the elbow. A beam of moonlight sizzled the air just to his right as the hand of the shaking spirit was blasted clean off.
Landing on his feet from his spring he swung downwards, a hand blocking his sword as he felt the strength of the spirit flare for a moment but just before the other hand could swat him away Toji was beside him. Having landed and jumped straight into the fray.
The impact against the right side of his body blew the dirt out from under his feet but he stood strong and began to attack with only a minor flare of pain crossing his face as he slashed with the dagger. Splitting the flesh of the spirit before hands tried to grasp them from behind.
Hundreds of hands appeared from space around them, the floor becoming a jungle of limbs that they both leapt and weaved through until they were far enough away.
A sudden scream from above them drew Yuta's gaze as Mizuki was being grasped by hands that grew from the floor, her wings grappled as she was being dragged towards the ground.
A flare of light from her body burned away the limbs in an instant as she glared back towards the spirit but noticing Yuta's gaze she froze for a second letting the hands grab her again.
"She's under the effects of that shaking spirit, it makes you feel ashamed or conscious or something. It seems to be solely focusing on her since she is the only one that can deal real damage." Toji said as they got far enough away to gather themselves.
"So we need to get rid of that one?" A voice said from behind him. Turning to his right he saw Geto standing beside him. His head tilted to the side. His eyes settled on Toji for a brief moment, resentment simmering underneath his gaze.
Crashing into the ground Gojo appeared, stumbling from the shock of his wounds as he glared up at the two spirits. His face morphed from pain and focus as he tried to stay strong. But his wounds were getting to him, even just getting here had been a task.
"Satoru!" Geto said as he looked at his friend, seeing the wounds on him his eyes widened, no one should be able to hurt his friend like this? What was going on?
Seeing Toji step between them and the spirits he opened his portals and started summoning spirits to defend but no attack came. The shaking spirit that cowered between the legs of the tall one was staring with bulging eyes at Gojo. His mouth twisted into a small smile.
"I'm alright, I can take them alone everyone else run." Gojo suddenly said, his face trying to mask the pain he was in as he got ready to dash forward.
Grabbing him by the arm Toji yelled. "The thoughts aren't real! No one doubts your strength and you don't need to prove it-"
Gojo turned to glare and pulled his hand back as his focus changed to Toji, his eyes growing cold as he glared, did Toji want to fight again? He thought he had grown weak… he should have killed him last time. Raising his hand to send a blast of red at Toji another figure appeared before them.
Appearing Atlas grabbed Gojo's hand and used his other to redirect the blast towards the spirit causing hundreds of hands to appear and hinder the blast of space as it died out unnaturally quickly. A wave of pressure passed over all of them.
Feeling their bodies lock up for a moment Atlas glared towards the spirits just as another appeared. His face was hidden in a cowl of black fabric that draped and shifted around his body as if it were alive, concealing all his features apart from his hands.
13 bony fingers on each hand with dark red skin that flaked away as too many joints moved and twisted waved through the air as it seemed to distort and move just like the fabric around him. The threads merged with space as the cloth grew and enveloped all the spirits before they suddenly vanished leaving empty space.
Feeling for his technique he tried to stop them from running but he knew that he couldn't. It still wasn't that controllable yet.
He cursed as he dashed forward and shattered the space they were just standing in as he punched the ground hard causing a shock wave to pass over everyone present.
The burst of the technique that had frozen everyone broke on the people who hadn't freed themselves already as the spirits disappeared. The only ones that hadn't been frozen were Toji, Atlas and Gojo who had been ready to attack but the hindrance of the other spirits, their wounds and the speed of the spirit's appearance had left them with little they could do.
Cursing again Gojo was about to turn back and blame Toji but felt his mind clear as the rage seeped out of him his eyes widening in confusion.
Taking a step back Toji said, "I know… it hit us all." His voice was low as he glared towards the spot the spirits had just been. Walking back slowly Atlas' gaze settled on him.
Sharing a nod with Toji, Atlas looked at Gojo who sat down hard on the floor. A panting and rough-looking Yuta doing the same.
Helping his friend sit down Geto got on one knee and seeing the wounds his eyes widened. "You fought him too…" He said as his voice caught, his shaking gaze settling on the trickles of blood… there were a lot of very small wounds.
And on top of that, his cursed energy was going wild.
"You shrouded yourself with Purple didn't you?" Atlas asked as he got to Gojo's side and crouched down.
Nodding the white-haired man said between heaving breaths. "Yeah, I didn't want to get hit by any more of his attacks. Infinity was able to stop most of the energy that came through but somehow it seemed to be able to work past it…"
Looking for a moment Atlas shook his head and said, "It couldn't, whatever the shrouded spirit was probably made it possible from the sidelines."
"He wasn't there the entire fight, I couldn't… I couldn't see him?" Gojo said, his voice fading to confusion as he looked back at the spot where the spirits had been standing. The remnants of cursed energy still lingered in the space but there was only that of the two spirits the others had fought.
The shrouded one hadn't left a trace. Even when it had been here he hadn't been able to see it. It shouldn't have existed.
"I couldn't sense him either. He was separated from this world somehow. And he must have been trying to separate you from your infinity somehow. Although he couldn't do it completely he was able to help parts of the attack pass through." Atlas suggested, although he couldn't confirm it, it was reasonable.
Looking closer at Gojo's wounds he sighed in relief. The damage wasn't attached to his soul, he had hindered it enough that it had stayed only on the flesh. He could get the energy out of his body then. It would suck but still, it would work at least.
It wasn't like with Geto.
Looking up at Geto he saw the gaze of the man was wide, staring at his friend as his head shook idly at some thought he was having. The panic he was experiencing was clear right now, he was scared.
And that made sense, there would be a lot that was messed up about him right now. But it would be okay. He would make sure that the man was okay.
"We can heal this, it isn't like the wounds Geto had. They aren't grafted on a deeper level. The energy is only in the body so we should be able to remove it without much worry." Atlas informed causing Geto and Gojo to relax visibly.
While he could see that it had been different than Geto's wounds he hadn't wanted to hold on to hope. After everything that happened he was spending enough wishing for Geto to be okay.
"So what did you find out?" He asked, turning to look at Geto, his real question clear.
Smiling weakly Geto responded. "That everything will be okay. Atlas just frayed the borders between planes a bit too much. Death crept in and is trying to get me back but I will be fine as soon as Atlas gets under control of his technique again..." The silent question
Seeing everyone look at him Atlas nodded and said. "The amount of energy I used to heal Geto was enough to break my control over my technique and the already worn borders between dimensions started to break down and it let Death through. Explaining this creepy fog…" Pausing for a moment he just sighed before continuing.
"It seems that the energy that leaked into this plane from my technique didn't just disappear. It stayed and the spike in cursed energy allowed stronger ones to be born. Those curses you just fought are part of 5. They are the primal or original fears, whatever you want to call them, but they are the base of all fears kind of. More like the concepts that cause you to fear other things… such as Mutilation who Gojo fought and Geto encountered previously." Atlas finished as he sat down.
"So what were those ones?" Yuta asked as he explained what had happened during the fight, occasionally letting Toji chime in to help flesh out details.
"Well, there are 5 in total. The weakest is Ego-Death, like humiliation, shame or anything else related to self-disapproval. Probably was that bug-eyed coward." Atlas started, "The other seems to be Loss of Autonomy. Being parallelized or trapped. Unable to function by yourself maybe? I don't know how broad the topics are… but they are all strong." Atlas said.
Continuing he listed the others. "Of course, we have Mutilation who I already mentioned. Being harmed or hurt physically in some way. The shrouded one must have been separation, I don't really know what he can really do but he seems to be able to separate things…" Atlas said, getting blank looks as he stated the obvious.
"I'm just trying to make sense of it all," Atlas said defeated as he looked at the grass, picking idly as the blades. This was all his fault, if he had been more careful then these spirits never would have formed, but now there was a real threat out there…
"What is the last one?" Toji asked, the question causing everyone to pay a bit more attention. Looking at Gojo who was being healed by Yuta. His cursed technique reversal was able to cancel out the lingering technique… it seems they might be able to heal easier from now on.
It seems strife really did make sorcerers bloom.
"Extinction." The name caught everyone off guard they all felt a shiver, as if right now the name held power. "I have no idea what they entail or can do. All I know is that they needed an almost endless amount of cursed energy to form." Atlas said, seeing the eyes of Gojo and Geto widen.
Connecting the dots Gojo said, "which you just brought into this world when you healed Geto…"
"This must have been planned… things worked out too well in their favour." Geto said, his eyes going to Gojo's before they both looked at Atlas and Geto asked, "Is he back? He's the only one I know that plans like this." The question caused Toji to stiffen as his eyes grew colder.
Remembering that Geto had missed out on some of the conversation because Tengen and him had become secluded he nodded his head. "Yeah, he might have helped them take form using barriers similar to the ones Tengen uses to help sorcerers…"
Sitting around the four grown-ups who had faced this once before mellowed. The situation back then hadn't been terrible, they had caught it before it got out of hand. But now? Who knows what strength he had with these spirits on his side. Altas who had been confident when facing him before suddenly seemed so full of doubt...
Seeing Gojo and Geto look at Toji before they looked at each other and seemed to have an entire conversation with just expressions and motions Altas shook his head slightly. Things were going to be tough but there was some hope.
"Extinction shouldn't have formed yet." His words caused everyone to look back at him. "I just released the energy, if it is being funnelled through a barrier I might be able to find out where it is going and we can stop it from taking form," Atlas said. He looked back up at Gojo and Geto before his eyes went to Toji and Yuta.
"We need all the strength we can muster if we are going to fight them all at once… but I don't want to let something that is born from the idea of extinction take form. Not when he is helping it form especially." Atlas basically asked. His voice was low… this wouldn't be an easy fight and they all knew it.
Speaking up first Gojo said, "We will gather up the strength we can. We will win this, when you have your strength back and I have rested let's go in. With both of us at our peak, we can handle anything."
"Darkness will heal soon as well," Geto said from the side, his face steeling with determination. "I am coming, no matter what either of you say." Already reading what Gojo was thinking as he glared at his friend who hung his head a bit ashamed of what he had been thinking.
Speaking up Toji looked along the edge of his dagger that gleamed as the final breaths of fog started to clear. "I want to leave behind a future for my kid… and maybe make up for what I have done." His eyes went to Geto as he said that. "I'll come too."
"I might not be as strong as you guys but I want to help where I can. I was given a chance by you three." Yuta said as he looked at Geto, Gojo and finally Atlas. "This is how I can help people, make up for what I have done too." He finished as he looked at Toji and nodded as if making up for what they did was the same… despite not knowing the circumstances.
Pausing for a moment Atlas said, "You're just a kid Yuta… you shouldn't need to shoulder these burdens."
"But I can." The boy responded resolutely.
Nodding his head Atlas stood up and said. "I have one more person that I want to see if I can contact, if I can't then we will go without her. We don't have the time to wait around after all. We need to leave as soon as we can."
Speaking up Mizuki said, "I'm coming too." She spoke up over her thought as she sighed and her hair dimmed back to white instead of shining silver. Her eyes grew normal again as her wings faded. "I think I can be more useful than I was…"
Nodding Atlas turned and started to walk away to see if he could contact one more person.
As the group stood behind they all felt a tension resting on their shoulders. Everyone here was insanely strong, but they didn't know how much time they had or the extent of who they were fighting. They could do it though… they had to do it.
They couldn't let Extinction take form.
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