The first hit wasn't thrown by a Kyoto student. It was thrown by a shopping cart — weaponized again by Spillglass as he screamed "FOR CLAIRE!" and flung it downhill straight into Mechamaru's chest. The impact was glorious. The crash was biblical. The cart folded. Mechamaru stumbled.
"What the hell—!?" Momo shrieked from above.
Crimson Communion had officially declared war.
Flint vs Aoi Todo started with pure testosterone.
Flint took off his shirt mid-step. Todo ripped his off as retaliation. The aura between them exploded like cursed gym locker room energy distilled into spiritual violence.
"What's your type?!" Todo demanded.
"Anyone who's already f*cked up!" Flint yelled back.
They clashed. Fists slammed into ground, earth cracked, abs glistened in cursed light. For a second, the world paused just to stare at how violently hot-blooded the dumbness had become.
Meanwhile, Juno slipped through shadows, ambushing Kamo with precise, deliberate chaos. She didn't need power — she needed unpredictability. She teleported between puddles of cursed water like a glitch, flinging seals and ink bombs with giddy cruelty.
Kamo tried to counter with his blood.
She grinned. "That's cute. You got trauma in the bloodstream."
Kamo faltered. Just a fraction. It was enough for her to disappear again — a blur of laughter and resentment.
Inside, Juno's breath hitched.The Monk's smile — that dream — the mirror vision.She shook it off.Now wasn't the time for fear.
Junpei fought in silence, paired against Mai. She was ruthless, sharp-tongued, loaded with lead. But Junpei was patient. His jellyfish curse circled him protectively, absorbing bullets, distorting her vision.
"Your curse technique's lame," Mai spat.
"I'm still here," he said.
The bullet grazed his shoulder.
He didn't flinch.
She narrowed her eyes. "You're scared of becoming useful, aren't you?"
He said nothing.
The jellyfish pulsed, humming with the trauma he hadn't shared. Claire's face flickered in his mind.
He moved.
Thorne was already bleeding.Not from an opponent — from himself.
His new Epitaph hadn't stabilized yet. His technique was flickering in and out of coherence, the edge still raw from what he'd lost.
He clashed with Maki.
She was clean, sharp, brutal. Every swing screamed experience.
His weapon cracked under hers.
"You're not ready," she said, point blank.
He coughed, spat blood, then smirked. "Good."
For a moment, he wasn't a cursed craftsman.He was a kid with a hammer and a death wish.
Spillglass tried to team up with Panda.
It lasted two seconds before Panda punched him into a tree for yelling "BEAR HUG!" mid-fight.
Up in the observation deck, Gojo was laughing like he'd just dropped a lit cigarette into a gasoline festival.
"Are we stopping this?" Utahime asked.
"Nope."
"Do they even go here?"
"They go somewhere."
"Where?!"
"Into my heart."
Across the cursed forest, a pressure shifted.
The Monk was approaching. Slowly. Silently. From beyond the border of the exchange grounds.
Father Asher paused mid-calmly-walking-through-a-flaming-tree, eyes narrowing. He felt it.
"Ah," he whispered. "Dogma incoming."
Back in the field, the Communion regrouped for a breath.
Juno crouched behind a boulder. Her arms were bleeding ink. Flint's knuckles were raw. Junpei was panting beside Thorne, who still hadn't stabilized his cursed weapon.Spillglass returned dragging an entire folding table he looted from Panda's launch site.
"New plan," Juno wheezed.
"No more carts," Thorne muttered.
"No—cliffhanger."
Spillglass blinked. "What?"
Above, a shadow fell. The cursed forest bent unnaturally. Even the ground started whispering prayers no one understood.
The Monk had arrived.
The Kyoto students paused, staring at the robed figure stepping from the fog.
Crimson Communion looked up — even they quieted.
Asher muttered from the distance:
"Show me your faith."