Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto VIII - At the Last Breath

Water flowed ever so gently over the shallow river, the crystalline currents home to a great number of species. Life thrives beneath the surface, sheltered from the inattentive eyes whose gaze stops at their own reflection. The small fish that lightly pecks the food off the rocky riverbed does not think that one day the river will ultimately parch during the more and more frequent periods of drought, or that its intestines will burst from the accumulated plastic its metabolism cannot digest. No, it does not, its brain operates out of instinct solely. Feed, flee, breed, all other functions superfluous or on the occasion.

Hanami knows this, Nature suffers from the poison spilled in her realms on any given day, the flora withers, the fauna rots. What was once green became gray, artificial, lifeless. Nature did not stand on the sideline to watch her greatest creation get destroyed. Storms, and consequently floods and slides raging on the sterile field of asphalt with vindicating fury, ancient river paths unearthed by water's might, towns buried under a tomb of mud. And yet, despite Nature's best effort to save her creation, the calamity always finds a way to strive.

The cursed spirit reminisced as he lay enveloped by the calm waters of the stream, humanity finds its strength in perseverance and its ability to adapt. Such intellect would acknowledge its mistakes at the first signs of peril and aim to do better than glutton everything it has been offered. Some understood that, the rest couldn't care less.

Hanami took pride in his role as Nature's protector and avenger, no longer should a creature's greed come at the expense of the planet on his watch, though he didn't enjoy the process of that. He felt envious of the other curses in that regard, those like Mahito who find lust in the heat of a death battle, a total contrast to the sloth-like persona he usually sports. But not be mistaken, under no circumstance he will hold back Nature's wrath.

The curse rose to his feet, the blow from the weapon the girl wielded blasted him from the roof of the estate through the forest and into this small affluent. That was a good weapon, indeed. The drops of water that trickled down his body were suddenly swept away by a gust of wind, something large just flew past him and back into the crammed woods. They're approaching quickly, he assumed.

As he twirled his head to scan the area around him, the sound of claws sinking into the soil made it snap back in place, a humongous black and white werewolf-like shikigami came out in the open, its forelegs disproportionate to the rest of the body. Swiftly it pounced on him and ripped through the flesh of his right arm with his razor-sharp talons. Hanami healed himself while he stared the growling creature into its yellow eyes as it was standing idle behind his back; it was fast, if he didn't react in time, his wounded arm would have been torn apart instead. Also, it must mean the sorcerer boy is in the forest nearby...

The splashes alerted the cursed spirit of another presence, this time his arm clashed against the jet black blade held by... the girl? Where was the boy?

The answer came in the form of a staff bludgeoning his skull with such force to destabilize the curse's balance a bit. Side by side again, Megumi and Maki swapped their weapons back to their rightful owner to then attack the defenseless Hanami once again, bringing the curse to a tight spot.

"Now, Esposito-kun!" Megumi gave the signal once they got far enough, up in the clouds the exorcist dived with his wings wrapped around his body to slice the opposing air more efficiently. He took a deep breath while he drew near the ground below, his cheeks began to glow an intense white, flames escaping from the corners of his mouth as the accumulating divine essence built up a great pressure inside his oral cavity and lungs. His eyes were well trained on the objective that looked up to the figure obscuring the sun at the very last moment. This was their chance to defeat the special grade, it's now or never.