Fragility (Jujutsu Kaisen)

~ Chapter 16 ~

Satoru watched her carefully as Sachiko walked into the abandoned building, her guard up as she hunted down the reported first-grade curse. It was rare that this pair was matched up, but the school had been inundated with case after case over the last week, spreading the students thin and far. Sachiko was only a second-grade sorcerer, which meant this job might prove difficult for her, so Satoru sent her in alone. 

It took three minutes of back-and-forth arguing before the girl finally gave in. Satoru used the excuse of having a sore neck to guilt her into doing the job for them. He just wanted to sit back and watch her use her technique. He knew she had grown strong since joining Jujutsu High and wanted to see it himself. "You got this!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. Sachiko turned back to him slowly with a glare. With a sharp crack, she suddenly disappeared through the floorboards with a scream. Satoru rushed up to the entrance but didn't cross the threshold. Where he had expected a Sachiko-sized whole, there was no evidence that she had even stepped in. 

Sachiko groaned as she hit the hard concrete floor below; she had landed on her hands and knees, which sent lighting pains through her limbs. "Satoru!" She called as she stood up, wiping her bloody hands on her pants. "Help me back up, you asshole!" 

Sachiko looked up, expecting to see the floor above, but there was a concrete roof instead. Her anxiety rose quickly as she looked around, confused. She could only guess that she had wandered straight into the curse domain. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a seed. Using her technique, she slowly grew it so that it wrapped around her arms going around her neck. An insurance. 

With all her yelling, the curse should know where she is and make its way to her soon enough. Sachiko slowly walked deeper into the room, away from where she fell. It wasn't pitch black, but the light surrounding the room made her mind play tricks on her as her eyes bounced back and forth through the room, searching for the curse. She would prefer it if pitch black so she could rely solely on her other senses rather than be tricked by her sight. 

"Reveal yourself, you disgusting thing." She growled as she turned around. There was no exit in sight until the curse revealed itself, and she defeated it. She was trapped. She flipped around as she heard the scratching of metal against the ground, she winces in pain as the noise peirced her ears. She followed the noise, but it got louder and louder until her ears rang. It was actively trying to disorientate her senses. 

"Us? Disgusting? You are an abomination, both curse and human." A croaky voice said, she couldn't pinpoint it, but that's not what scared her. This curse was speaking to her and recognising her soul's energy. Sachiko flipped around as she heard a scrapping noise again, but it was another trick of her mind. "Not meant to be, an abomination. Recreate, you can recreate." 

It began chanting over and over. Sachiko tried her best to stay calm, but there was only so much one could take. "Quiet!" She screamed as she used her technique to grow the vine that wrapped around her arms rapidly. Branches split from various spots along the vine, shooting throughout the room until she heard the crunching sound of one landing. The curse let out an unnatural gargle as it leapt through the branches, heading straight towards the girl. It was fairly small and hard to distinguish. It was almost as though grey faces attempted to. She recognised it as a Dementia curse spirit. They were strong but appeared throughout the country, she had yet to fight one but Suguru has one in his possession. 

Sachiko directed some of the vines to attack the curse while the others died and dropped off from the original vine, allowing the girl to dodge the incoming attack. She dropped as the curse barely missed her head and crashed into the wall. It did no damage to the wall. Her vines quickly made multiple wounds as they pierced the curse. She then made them scatter, making the spirit scatter into multiple pieces; she smiled, proud of herself.