"Umm... okay," Yuji answers, getting over what he just saw relatively smoothly.
I move toward Todo's vicinity by the riverbank and casually fold my arms in front of my chest. It is clearly evident that Hanami is still unsettled by whatever it was the curse gleaned from being stared at by the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Though I can't really blame the curse, as beings far greater than it have nearly shat themselves from being stared at by these mystic eyes.
But still, it should be focused on Yuji as the most prevalent and immediate threat to its safety, yet it keeps sending wary side glances toward me.
But I doubt Hanami is going to be able to keep that up, as facing Yuji isn't exactly a walk in the park—regardless of what the fandom thinks.
...20 minutes later...
I'll do you a favor by omitting the details of their initial clash, as it went down like canon—the only difference being the distracted looks Hanami sent my way throughout their exchange.
But at least Yuji was able to cause a Black Flash for the first time.
'It seems as if that one glance from the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception was enough to completely put Hanami on edge,' I thought as I nonchalantly walk toward where Todo and Yuji were standing.
As I do, I catch the tail end of their conversation:
"—A cursed spirit's body is made up of cursed energy. Unlike us, they don't need any advanced reverse cursed technique to heal. An injury like that is nothing to a special grade. However, there's no doubt that it shaves away their cursed energy. If we can crush its head, it's game-set."
'Well, that settles the myth of needing cursed energy to take down a curse. Of course, that is only as long as you have the means to touch them. I can realistically think of at least four or five ability systems in anime that would make that possible.'
It seems that although you cannot really exorcise a curse without cursed energy, you can in fact harm them through physical means. They would just be able to easily regenerate via the use of said cursed energy—two hurdles even the average human around here could overcome via long-range cursed tools.
Theoretically, it should be possible to engage in what is essentially a war of attrition, resulting in the cessation of the curse.
At the very least, such a tactic should be feasible against lesser curses of lower tiers...
Slowly wearing them down until they run out of energy to heal themselves.
The problem lies with curses in Tier 1 and above. They possess so much cursed energy that it would take too much time to bring them down that way—and that's only as long as they don't decide to blitz you.
Nobody in their right mind would just sit there and let you beat them up for hours, or maybe even days, until coins came out.
As for any insight into Black Flash—I'll just sum that up as some form of esoteric synesthesia for now.
Regardless, it doesn't seem like I have any more time to ruminate about such matters.
I start seeing a gigantic mass of wooden tendrils making their way towards our direction from my peripherals. Though it does seem terribly slow through my eyes...
Outside of my current perception of time, it happened in an instant.
The three of us were lifted off the ground as our surroundings quickly transformed into a deadly nest of sharp wooden tendrils. Todo and Yuji help each other, perfectly synced up to dodge the sharp spikes. It feels seamless, like they'd choreographed this entire interaction prior to getting here.
Honestly, if I didn't already know they met each other today, I would suspect they've known each other for years.
"What an attack range!!!" Yuji screams, clearly alarmed as he looks at the mass we're currently standing on.
"Don't be afraid. It sacrificed power and speed in exchange for sheer volume," Todo reassures him.
"Guys!!! Don't mean to be a downer, but this is not natural growth. It feels similar to my projections—it's an energy construct," I say to preemptively inform them of the situation.
"A what?" says Yuji, not understanding the situation.
Todo, on the other hand, seemed to get my message and looked down, noticing we're rising higher into the air—and understanding the meaning behind it.
But before he could answer anything, Hanami rises up from the tendrils and shoots some projectiles toward us.
They dodged, but I decided to just deflect them with Bakuya as I dash toward Hanami.
Once I close the distance, I begin tilting myself downward, angling my body to pivot and lash out—unleashing a powerful spinning wheel kick. I can feel my heel make full contact with Hanami's jaw, its body lifting into the air alongside a sickening crunch. Its body lands near the point of the wooden platform where we currently stand.
As it begins to stand up, I see the state of its face.
Hanami's jaw hung loosely, with its mouth comically (in a gruesome way) agape, as if its face had been stretched like silly putty.
"Holy shit!!! He knocked the jaw out of its face!!!" I hear behind me, but I'm too focused on Hanami to distinguish who between the two said it.
The curse takes its jaw in its hand and presses it upwards in an attempt to set its broken jaw in place to begin the healing process in the blink of an eye.
Not missing the opportunity, we start running toward it, trying to capitalize on the small moment it's focused on healing. Though just as I'm about to reach Hanami, the platform we were standing on disappears as if it were never there, and we begin to free fall.
"Let me teach you how to appreciate the land," the spirit says while attacking us mid-fall.
But unlike in canon, where Hanami only sent two individual precise tendrils targeting Yuji and Todo—this time it sent a mass of them toward us, surpassing the amount from where we previously stood.
'It seems like I've ticked it off more than I realized. Todo and Yuji's little trick to dodge won't work here. Welp, it seems I won't be able to keep all my trump cards under wraps.'
So I extend my hand toward the incoming barrage of tendrils.
'I am the bone of my sword.'
"Rho Aias," I whisper.
And so the seven rings that cover the burning heavens bloom atop my hands, dyeing the area around us in deep magenta...
All of the tendrils clash against Rho Aias, and frankly speaking—using it was kinda overkill. Like hunting rabbits with a 10-gauge shotgun full of buckshot.
The wave of attacks fails to penetrate even a single one of Rho Aias's petals. It's not from a lack of trying on Hanami's part. I see more and more tendrils being added to the full mass of the attack, but it makes little difference.
Though it's no surprise, as Rho Aias is no mere shield.
Rho Aias, like most broken Fate noble phantasms, works on a conceptual level. It has the concept of absolute defensive power against any and all thrown weapons deeply woven into it.
So unless someone around here can pull a noble phantasm to counter it—or something like Gae Bolg—out of their ass, then projectile attacks don't work against me.
The curse noticed this as well, and so all of the wooden tendrils disappeared into wisps of red light.
Not paying any more attention to the failed attack, I start preparing to land.
I reposition my body to make sure I land feet first for some extremely dumb reason. The moment my feet touch the ground, it splinters and explodes outwardly. Chunks of stone and dirt fly all around me, and a big dust cloud forms with me at the epicenter.
'I should've gone for the trees. Although I didn't hurt myself or break anything, the discomfort caused by the nerve stimulation from my legs absorbing the shock is unpleasant,' I think while massaging my thighs with one hand as I stay in a squatting position.
«LOOK OUT!!!" I hear near me, and I propel myself forward into a roll, dodging without a second thought.
"I don't understand. I was actually trying to kill you there with that last attack, and yet here you are standing before me," I hear Hanami's voice in my head.
'Since I'm not Sukuna's vessel, you have a green light to kill me and are casting away all pretenses without holding back,' I think while subtly getting ready to counterattack.
"Apparently, I'm really hard to kill. Which is obviously lucky for me, but I do understand how frustrating it must be for you. All I can say on the matter is that it's probably just a skill issue," I say with the biggest shit-eating grin I can muster.
Hanami clearly did not appreciate it, as it raised its hands in order to attack me—but I was a step ahead.
'Typical, junglers are always so easy to bully. I can practically hear its teeth audibly creaking from how hard it's grinding them,' I thought to myself.
I had already finished projecting Gae Bolg into my hands, and I chucked it toward Hanami. Yet the curse was able to at least put up a wall at the last second to defend itself from the incoming spear—not that it did anything.
Hanami is now standing there with Gae Bolg piercing its chest, where the heart is or was supposed to be, while throwing up blood. Its hands rise in an attempt to pull the spear out—but I won't let it. I slowly walk toward it in a relaxed manner. As soon as its hands grab the spear's shaft, I grab it as well. Then, with a swift and smooth arc, I slam both the spear and Hanami—skewered alongside it—into the ground from one side to another.
The sounds of its bones crunching, sinew snapping, and flesh being ground into mulch sound like music to my ears. No sweeter ASMR has ever been heard before on the face of this planet.
"How's that for learning to appreciate the land... you probably feel closer to it than ever before, right?" I spat out in amusement while chuckling.
I purposefully went out of my way not to end it at this moment, sparing it from any damage to its head—but the rest of the body was not spared.
I want to figure out the exact threshold of damage that a curse in the special grade tier can take and regenerate from. From what I remember from the story, Gojo was capable of regenerating his brain through the use of the Reverse Cursed Technique. But curses are on a whole other level. They just regenerate due to the fact that they're entirely made out of cursed energy—without the use of RCT.
So in a way, they're not regenerating at all, but more like reforming themselves to their original state of being—unlike humans that have to actively expend energy to heal their damage.
So I look down at the curse lying at my feet as I examine the changes happening to its mangled body. Then, as expected, its body begins to instantly recuperate. The process starts from its limbs, which were twisted in a grotesque manner. It doesn't take long before its body starts looking like it previously did. Yet Gae Bolg remained lodged in its chest, refusing to come out. Its flesh pulsed, trying to expel the foreign matter within itself, but I made sure to keep the spear's effect active, preventing it from coming out.
"You know, you should probably be thanking me. Any other magus in my position would be dissecting you alive in all sorts of creative ways. Like a frog or a fetal pig unlucky enough to find itself inside of an AP Bio-Chem classroom. But I'm really kind-hearted and can't bear to inflict that sort of barbaric treatment on another thinking being. Even if it's an inhuman creature like yourself," I say while putting my foot on top of its chest and pressing down.
The distinct noise of bones breaking begins to resound around us once again, this time accompanied by painful screams.
"But here's the thing... you heal too fast. I have no other choice but to keep damaging your body so you remain incapacitated while I examine your body. So you can blame your own nature (pun intended) for what is currently happening to you."
[A/N: Really tempted to kill of Hanami in the next half of the fight just so I don't have to deal with the confusion of addressing the character in dialogue anymore. If GeGe had specified what this character is I wouldn't feel so damn exhausted every time I bring Hanami up.]