Siphoning Vitality, Overwhelming Assault!

"Boogie Woogie!"

With several sharp claps in rapid succession, Todo and Itadori kept swapping positions in flashes. Even Hanami, a special-grade cursed spirit, found it difficult to adapt to Todo's shameless cursed technique in such a short time.

Meanwhile, Itadori was getting more and more fired up. After Todo's practical combat instruction, his control over the cursed energy within his body had become far more precise.

When he was swapped in front of Hanami once again, the impact of his punch and the surge of cursed energy struck almost simultaneously!

"BOOM—!!"

As Itadori's fist came down, thick black lightning burst forth. The unprecedentedly powerful attack blasted Hanami back several meters, and for the first time, visible damage appeared on the spot where its abdomen had been hit.

Hanami steadied itself. After taking Itadori's punch, its cold heart suddenly skipped a beat, and a strange sensation gradually spread through its entire body.

"Hanami seems a little restrained?" Mahito's words from not long ago flashed through its mind. "Hanami, you should enjoy the fight. Follow your heart..."

At the time, it had not understood what Mahito meant. But now, as it felt the faint pain coming from its abdomen, it understood.

So this was what it felt like to lose oneself in battle. It was wonderful!

"Interesting. Let me enjoy this a little more!" Hanami raised its right hand and tore the bandages wrapped around its left arm to shreds, revealing an arm as black as dark iron!

A bewitching crimson rose grew from its left shoulder, radiating an aura both beautiful and deadly.

And the moment it undid the bandages around its left arm, its presence suddenly surged! It seemed that from the very beginning, it had merely been playing house with them. Only now was it getting serious!

Todo and Itadori's expressions both tightened. Their earlier fight had already been like dancing on a blade's edge; several times, the spikes had nearly pierced straight through their bodies.

And most deadly of all, this cursed spirit possessed an extremely strong ability to learn. After their brief exchange, it was already trying to predict the positions where the two of them might appear.

If this continued, their fighting pattern would very likely be seen through completely!

"Best friend, do you still have the strength to fight?" Todo's face was grave as cursed energy surged wildly through his entire body.

Itadori didn't look any better. "Of course. At the very least, I'll fall one second after that cursed spirit does!"

"Hahaha! Just as expected of my best friend!"

Todo grinned and clapped his hands. In an instant, Itadori appeared in front of Hanami.

Just as Itadori threw his punch, Hanami suddenly crouched down and pressed its black left hand against the ground.

An incomparably terrifying aura of death surged into his heart!

Todo behind him sensed that suffocating presence as well. Before Itadori could strike, he immediately clapped and swapped Itadori back to his side.

And in the instant Itadori vanished, vast swathes of trees, flowers, and grass around Hanami withered away. Their life force was drained as though sucked dry by a pump.

At the same time, the life force extracted from those plants continuously gathered around Hanami. The immense vitality was transformed into pure cursed energy through that unique black left arm.

If Itadori had returned even one second later, he would probably have been drained into a dried corpse by now!

Having converted the surrounding life force into cursed energy, Hanami's strength abruptly rose to an entirely new level.

Hanami slowly stood up and swept its left hand upward. Behind it, hundreds upon thousands of spikes burst out of the ground. The clustered mass of spikes was so thick that a hundred people joining hands could barely encircle it!

The spikes rose into the sky, turning the already dim surroundings as dark as night. Countless spikes completely blotted out the heavens. If that attack came down, there would be nowhere to escape!

Everything within a hundred-meter radius lay within its attack range!

Seeing this outrageous ability, everyone fell into complete despair.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mai muttered as she stared at the spikes covering the sky. "I have to be dreaming, right?"

"Haha, this dream feels pretty real."

Mai numbly punched her thigh, tears streaming from her eyes. "Damn it, why haven't I woken up yet?! Wake up already!"

"How are we even supposed to beat an opponent like this..." After crying out in despair, Mai collapsed onto the ground.

The others had not broken down like Mai, but they were only barely holding on.

Kamo's narrowed eyes flew open in terror. Cold sweat ran down like a stream, and even the hand holding his bow was trembling nonstop. "Where the hell did this cursed spirit come from? It's almost on par with the disaster-class cursed spirits recorded by the clan!"

"Are you serious about that amount of cursed energy? Creating a forest with its bare hands!?" Maki sighed in despair, the naginata in her hands shaking constantly.

To her, the current situation was no different from being dead. It just meant enduring a little more despair before dying.

Todo's expression did not change much, but he still swallowed unconsciously. The special-grade cursed spirit before him was utterly incomparable to the special-grade cursed spirit he had exorcised during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

The two were worlds apart. The cursed spirit in front of him could probably kill the special-grade cursed spirit he had exorcised before with a single finger.

Hanami kept its left hand raised without lowering it for a long time. It was savoring the aura of fear they gave off in the face of despair. How wonderful it was to watch their terrified expressions!

Unfortunately, it had not come here to savor these sorcerers' fear. Its objective was more or less complete. It was about time to leave.

"The time is about right." Hanami gently lowered its left hand, and every spike in the sky came crashing down. Each one writhed like a python, seeking out its own target.

The densely packed spikes blocked out the light. For one brief instant, they swept down like a tsunami!

Faced with the overwhelming spikes, everyone had already abandoned any thought of resisting. An attack of this level was not something they could block.

And with such a vast attack range, no matter where Todo swapped them, they would still be attacked. So relying on Todo to save so many of them was equally impossible.

"Where are the teachers? Why aren't they here yet? Gojo-sensei, save me!" Mai shouted.

Her panic also affected the broom-riding girl beside her. "That's right, where are the teachers? Why haven't they come? At this rate, we're all going to die!"

"I don't want to die! Someone, save me!"

As everyone panicked, Fushiguro stepped forward. "Stay calm, stick together! This might buy us a little more time!"

Todo raised his brows, feeling that Fushiguro's suggestion might just give them a chance at survival!

Most of them quickly gathered together after hearing Fushiguro's proposal, while the completely broken Mai and the broom girl had simply given up. Todo had to use Boogie Woogie to bring them over.

Once everyone had gathered, Maki suddenly asked, "Where's Lin Mu?"

Fushiguro shook his head. "I don't know. He should be far away from us. Jujutsu High definitely wouldn't place the target cursed spirit somewhere easy to find."

"I hope he can avoid the enemy's attacks. Against an opponent at this level, he probably..."

Fushiguro did not dare continue. If he said any more, those already on the verge of collapse would probably go completely insane.

"Yeah, isn't he supposed to be amazing? Why's he hiding and too scared to show himself now?"

"He sure acted high and mighty when he was competing with us for cursed spirits, but now that there's an outside enemy, we can't even find a trace of him! He's a coward!"

Mai seemed to have found an outlet for her suppressed terror, constantly mocking and cursing Lin Mu.

Fushiguro shook his head and ignored her. The most important thing right now was figuring out how to stall for more time.

A sea of spikes surged toward them, shredding the trees and boulders in its path as easily as foam. The spikes came crashing down on the group like a mountain.

Fushiguro swallowed. "Everyone, attack straight ahead with everything you've got!"

"This attack only looks scary. It's actually no different from the spikes before—there are just more of them."

"As long as we focus our attacks on one point, we can definitely stop them!"

"Those with ranged attacks, concentrate your fire on the front! The rest of you who specialize in hand-to-hand combat, attack the spikes on the sides!"

Fushiguro's words were like their last lifeline. They had no time to consider whether this plan would work—they only wanted to seize every possible chance to survive!

"Boom! Boom! Boom—"

The sound of the sea of spikes devouring obstacles drew closer and closer. Fushiguro summoned every shikigami he possessed at once, while Kamo activated Blood Manipulation, crimson patterns spreading around his eyes!

"Now!" Fushiguro shouted, and every attack they had came pouring out!