Fierce Battle, the Wounded Flying Succubus

Watching the Flying Succubus soar through the air, both of them wore grim expressions.

For the moment, they had no good way to deal with this cursed spirit and could only wait passively for it to attack.

Sensing that the cursed energy in his body was still being slowly drained away, Gojo Satoru forcibly disrupted the flow of some of his cursed energy, slowing the rate at which it was being siphoned off. Even so, he did not look relaxed.

At present, his use of Blue amounted to nothing more than adjusting its output and firing it off. He could not control it freely at all. At low output, it posed little threat to the Flying Succubus, while at high output, Blue's flight speed slowed down.

Even if it could hurt the enemy, there was no point if it could not hit.

Beside him, Geto Suguru looked at his considerably depleted stock of cursed spirits and frantically searched for a way to break this deadlock.

Then, he thought of a possibility.

"Gojo, I have an idea..."

He lowered his voice and spoke with Gojo Satoru beside him. Gojo, who had been at a loss over what to do, nodded after hearing him out, anticipation filling his voice.

"Then I'm counting on you to create that opening. I'll be ready."

Looking down at the two of them, the Flying Succubus was actually feeling somewhat stuck as well.

It was fast enough to evade their attacks every time, and it could restore its strength by absorbing cursed spirits.

But so far, it had dealt virtually no effective damage. Leaving aside that inexplicable white-haired brat, for some reason, its attacks simply could not touch him.

Even after establishing a connection through its technique, it drained his cursed energy at an extremely slow rate. Clearly, making him its primary target had been a mistake. It needed a new approach.

With that thought, it turned its gaze toward the black-haired brat.

It had not attacked him before because it could absorb the cursed spirits he released to replenish its strength, so it had thought there was no harm in leaving him alone.

But it did not have to absorb his cursed spirits. Those ordinary humans were also perfectly good options.

And thinking about it further, although it had absorbed every cursed spirit this brat had released, they had also created several opportunities for that white-haired brat to nearly strike it. If it got rid of him, the rest of this battle should become much easier.

"Then... you'll be the next one I savor."

With that thought, the Flying Succubus licked its lips, a seductive smile spreading across its face. Then it dipped down and charged at them once more.

As it rushed at them again, the two exchanged a glance. Gojo Satoru then took the initiative to meet it head-on, firing off a rapid barrage of miniature Blues to block its path.

But the Flying Succubus's eyes flashed. It abruptly changed direction, evading Blue as it spun around and charged straight at Geto Suguru beside him.

In its mind, these two brats would never expect it to switch targets. They should both be panicking right now.

Yet Gojo Satoru did not panic. He simply stood where he was and began charging up power.

Although it vaguely sensed that something was wrong, it had no time to spare. It only charged at the visibly panicked Geto Suguru, the smile on its face growing more twisted and distorted.

Even the few cursed spirits released to obstruct its movements were casually seized and drained into ashes that scattered through the air.

"Nowhere left to run!"

The Flying Succubus declared its victory.

But Geto Suguru's expression suddenly calmed. After forming a hand seal, he shouted.

"Gojo, now!"

As his words fell, a statue-like cursed spirit burst from the ground and blocked its way.

Realizing something was wrong, the Flying Succubus prepared to circle around the cursed spirit. But unexpectedly, gray light bloomed from the stone statue cursed spirit's body.

The moment that light shone upon it, its proud speed abruptly plummeted, nearly slowing to a complete stop.

"You bastard, you fell for it!"

A smile appeared on Gojo Satoru's face as he gathered an azure orb of light several times more intense than before in his hand.

Even from this far away, the Flying Succubus could faintly sense the tearing force and suction, several times stronger than before. Only then did it realize it had fallen into the trap of these two brats.

Geto Suguru also looked exhilarated.

"This time, you have nowhere left to run!"

As he spoke, he recalled their earlier conversation.

"There's a Grade 1 cursed spirit in my collection. It has no offensive ability, but it can release a kind of gray light that slows down other people's movements. I'll use it to create an opening for you to attack."

"But then your cursed spirit will probably be destroyed too. Are you sure? You shouldn't have that many Grade 1 cursed spirits in your collection."

"If we can use this chance to take it out and complete this mission, the loss is worth it. At worst, you can come help me tame another one later, can't you?"

"Hah... you really don't hold back, do you? Fine, I get it. Leave this to me!"

"Good. Keep an eye on the situation. The moment it's restrained, hit it with everything you've got."

"Got it."

As he recalled that conversation and watched the increasingly violent, increasingly uncontrollable light in Gojo Satoru's hand, even cautious Geto Suguru felt that victory was assured.

But the Flying Succubus, having realized it had been tricked, did not give up. It drove its claws into the stone statue cursed spirit before it, madly releasing dark crimson mist into its body and draining away its cursed energy.

It knew that at its current speed, it could never escape the range of that terrifying attack behind it. So the only thing it could do was flee at the absolute limit of its speed before it was hit.

And before fleeing, it had to deal with this cursed spirit first.

Seeing this, Geto Suguru, who had thought victory was in the bag, changed expression and immediately summoned his remaining cursed spirits to entangle it.

Realizing that it was trying to escape, Gojo Satoru stopped charging power and simply pushed out the Blue that had already swollen to several times its original size.

The basketball-sized azure orb tore apart and destroyed the ground, kicking up waves of dust and shattered stone. It constantly warped and shifted through the air. Though it was slower than before, its destructive power had risen by several levels.

Just as the attack was about to crash into the Flying Succubus, it seemed to erupt at the last second from sheer desperation. Dark crimson mist burst forth in an instant, swallowing the area where it hovered.

Geto Suguru's expression shifted slightly, because his connection with that cursed spirit had been completely severed. This meant the Flying Succubus had drained it completely dry.

"Not good!"

But Gojo Satoru let out an excited shout.

"It hit!"

A scream rang out, and blood-red mist suddenly stained Blue. That meant the enemy had definitely been struck.

But the Flying Succubus had not been shredded apart by the attack.

On the contrary, at the last possible moment, it had desperately escaped Blue's range of attraction. The price was that the left half of its wing was now utterly mangled.

Though the injury looked severe, after flapping about in the air a few times, it did not even fall. Instead, it floated in midair once again.

Seeing that the attack had not achieved the result he had expected, Gojo Satoru's face darkened briefly, but he did not stop attacking.

"Geto, let's keep going. It's already lost half a wing. There's no way it can be as agile as before!"

As he spoke, he fired another ordinary-output Blue, and the situation turned out exactly as he had said.

After losing half a wing, the Flying Succubus could still evade his attacks, but it was no longer as agile or swift as before.

But Geto Suguru's face darkened even further.

Because there truly were no more useful cursed spirits left in his collection. All that remained were Grade 3 and Grade 4 fodder cursed spirits, nothing more than bite-sized snacks to the Flying Succubus.

"I don't have any cursed spirits left that can be used for battle!"

"Tch..."

After clicking his tongue, Gojo Satoru continued trying to attack. But only now, having recovered from its terror of death, did the Flying Succubus unleash a howl several times more shrill than before.

"You two brats... you dared destroy my beautiful wing! I'll make you pay!!!"

Accompanied by that curse filled with hatred, the Flying Succubus darted to the side. But rather than attacking, it extended an arm and pointed toward Shoko Ieiri.

At that moment, Toho Che and Shoko Ieiri were watching the battle while protecting the unconscious ordinary people. Seeing this, both froze. Then Shoko Ieiri's expression abruptly turned ugly.

One of the wounded people she was treating with Reverse Cursed Technique began rapidly shriveling and withering away. At the same time, the half of the Flying Succubus's wing that had been blasted apart began recovering at a slow but visible rate.

"Not good! It's draining the wounded person's life force to heal itself!"

She could no longer afford to treat several people at once. She pushed Reverse Cursed Technique to its limit, pouring all her cursed energy into the wounded person whose life force was being drained.

As Reverse Cursed Technique flowed into them, the wounded person's rate of deterioration slowed, reduced to an extremely sluggish pace. Even so, Shoko gritted her teeth.

"I can only slow the drain by injecting Reverse Cursed Technique. If this keeps up, this injured person is definitely going to die!"

Hearing her, Toho Che glanced at the Flying Succubus in the distance. Sure enough, its wounds, which had been recovering rapidly just moments ago, suddenly slowed to a nearly imperceptible pace, and its expression turned ugly as well.

Gojo Satoru seized the chance to fire a Blue, forcibly interrupting its absorption of life force. But after changing direction, it pointed this way again. Shoko, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, once more maintained Reverse Cursed Technique at full power.

Watching this, Toho Che knew he could not stand by any longer. He had to take down that cursed spirit as quickly as possible.

When it had been flying high above them, there had been no way for him to help. But now, although it could still fly, its height seemed limited to around three to five meters above the ground. With cursed energy reinforcement, he should be able to barely launch an attack capable of hurting it.

As if she had seen through his thoughts, Shoko Ieiri turned her gaze toward him.

"I can hold on here a little longer. Go help them deal with that thing quickly, or every wounded person here will probably be drained to death!"

Her words became the final straw weighing on Toho Che's heart. He nodded, picked up Fudōmaru, and charged into the battlefield.

When the two in the midst of battle saw him enter, they both moved closer, their expressions full of frustration and expectation. They seemed to hope that he could offer a solution like before.

Toho Che did not disappoint them. He calmly analyzed the situation and made arrangements.

"Gojo, that attack you fired earlier was very good. Most of its wing has been destroyed, so it can't fly any higher."

At the praise, a hint of pride surfaced on Gojo Satoru's face, but he immediately suppressed it.

"So how do we fight it now? It can't fly any higher, but it's still fast."

As he spoke, he casually tossed out a Blue, interrupting the Flying Succubus's attempt to keep draining life force.

After releasing several more Grade 3 cursed spirits to harass the Flying Succubus, Geto Suguru also joined the conversation.

"Yeah, and it can use that dark crimson mist to drain life force and cursed energy to heal itself. We can hinder the draining by controlling the flow of our cursed energy, but ordinary people can't."

After listening to their summary, Toho Che gave his suggestion.

"I noticed something. Since it lost the left half of its wing, it becomes slightly uncoordinated whenever it turns left. We need to seize that instant.

"Geto, release whatever cursed spirits you have left and use them to stop its movement. Gojo, fire Blue from the other direction to cut off its path.

"I'll charge in from the middle and try to severely wound or kill it. If we do that, it shouldn't have the spare attention to drain the lives of those wounded people."

Listening to this orderly plan, the two calmed down from their agitation. Then they looked toward the cursed spirit with him.

"Then let's begin round two."