Chapter 29: A Huntsman Curse


"Huh? What just happened? Ho... A face with a scar!" Mahito glance back to see Todo standing there with not a pleased expression, "The way he switched places just now! He must be the guy that sparky spoiled brat was talking about" He wondered in curiosity about Todo. It was getting him excited to fight someone like him.

Ignoring the stare Mahito was giving him, Todo continue to look down at a broken down Jaune... "Wake up, Brother! Our battle ha-... Heh..." He stopped as he notice Jaune standing up.

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"....." Jaune remained quiet. He stood up as tears continued to flow from his eyes. Something was wrong. Todo noticed this but did not look away, instead focusing on Mahito.

Mahito, meanwhile, grew bored of just watching. He smirked with a glint of malice in his gaze and started to charge straight at Todo and Jaune, wielding a mimic of Pyrrha's spear in his hand. Raising his hand to pierce towards Jaune's chest, Todo clapped his hands, causing Mahito and himself to switch places. This left Mahito on the other side of where he was aiming.

Smirking, Mahito charged again and attempted to pierce Todo. However, with double claps, Todo switched Jaune with Mahito and then swapped himself with Mahito. Todo raised his leg and kicked Mahito in the face, the impact sending him across the corridor before he landed back on his feet.

"Amazing! Even when you know about it, it's still this disorienting?!" The dizzy feeling excited Mahito as he couldn't wait to defeat Todo and watch Jaune Arc's face twist into pure darkness, giving up all hope.

"...." Todo lifted his fist, which Jaune mimicked as they faced Mahito. He stared at them with a smirk. Mahito took notice of Jaune's expression and the random mumbling he was saying to himself. "The hell? Heheheeee! Look at the expression he has! He is gone, and yet he fights" Mahito began to laugh as all light from Jaune's eyes disappeared. Jaune looked the same as when he was on the ground with no hope and had accepted his fate to Mahito's spear. However, his broken breathing and facial expressions were frozen, with no emotion present on his face as he stood.

Within the soul of Jaune and within the domain of Sukuna, a surprised expression appeared on Sukuna's face.

"This is strange. He should physically not be able to move with his broken bones, and his very mentality was shattered after the red-haired child died in front of him. Yet, he is still moving?" Sukuna took a moment to think before starting to smirk. "HEH! I SEE! This is getting interesting..."

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"I'm sorry Pyrrha... Oobleck... I'm sorry... I'm sorry everyone... I'm sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry..."

As Sukuna, Todo, and Mahito had realized, Jaune was truly out of it. He should not be capable of fighting, as his mentality was more broken than his body. Yet somehow... he stood.

"I think I know what is happening. Fear not Brother, We will win as we are men among men!"

Mahito charged toward both of them. Jaune and Todo leaped to the side, with Todo soaring a kick towards Mahito. Mahito shifted his head into his body, and Jaune appeared from behind him, slamming a fist into his back with black and red lightning coursing through the corridor. "Gah!" Mahito spat blood, but also some small seed-like structures with faces on them appeared. They began to shift into spikes and headed towards Jaune, who leaned back, narrowly avoiding the tip of the spike, but he was still vulnerable to the other two spikes that had a slight delay in activation, unlike the first one that instantly formed the spike towards him.

Todo clapped his hands to swap Mahito with Jaune. Jaune was the one who got sent, but he managed to land on his feet as Mahito was penetrated through his chest. "He can swap with inanimate objects?!" Mahito grinned as he ripped the spikes out of his chest.

Jaune's body started to glow with a golden aura for a half of a second. "Huh? What did that brat do?" Mahito managed to catch a slight glimpse of what Jaune did. Todo took this chance to attempt to punch Mahito's head, but Mahito sensed it coming and turned his upper body into barbed spikes, causing Todo to instantly back off.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry" To any observers of the fight, Jaune would appear fine aside from his bloody body and the dead expression that would convince anyone that he was beyond dazed from reality. However, something else was doing everything, and Jaune had no control over it. It wasn't Sukuna either, as Sukuna only watched on with amusement.

Lifting his leg above his head, Jaune's body tensed up as he slammed the heel of his foot into the ground. The entire floor shattered, and everyone fell to a lower floor of the abandoned subway. Mahito stretched his arms around different-colored concrete pillars and swung around like a monkey, generating speed with his swinging. He flung himself towards Todo to grab his face, but Todo slid under Mahito's attempt and kicked upwards into his guts, flinging him up near the hole that Jaune had strangely managed to cause.

Todo clapped, swapping Jaune with a red spear that fell through the hole. "....." Jaune's arm started to glow with a golden aura as he punched downwards into Mahito's upper back, imprinting his fist into Mahito's body. This caused him to be flung downwards into the ground again, and with Jaune's newfound strength, it shattered the ground below them. Mahito and the others fell into a new area, a narrow tunnel with a train rail below them.

"Brother has gotten stronger" Todo looked up to see Jaune with his arms and legs spread as he free-fell to the ground along with him, landing safely on the train track. "Jaune's soul should have had less than 10% left within him. However, that alone would not explain the golden aura with the strength boost he is receiving when it is triggered. Could this be his semblance? No, his aura was broken a while ago, so the only way to explain it would be him managing to find his own innate technique, I bet... That would be troublesome, along with that large gorilla of a human with his disorientating semblance... Swapping places is annoying, so I will kill him first" Mahito smirked as he spread his arms, which Todo and Jaune immediately sensed the danger.

Mahito had summoned more of the transfigured humans, but with a green shape resembling a train with a large mouth and multiple legs.

Taking on this creature in the tight tunnel would be troublesome and dangerous. Instead, they started to run in the opposite direction, making it to the platforms. Both of them leaped to the side, narrowly missing the bite from the train spirit. They couldn't rest as a brown, large mouth formed toward them in another attempt to bite down. Jaune and Todo both dodged in different ways.

Todo headed towards where the stairs were, with Jaune running around the brown, mouth pillar to catch up to Todo. However, he found himself eaten by another green train spirit that was not on the tracks but rather on the platform. Given its smaller size, it was slimy and disgusting to resist within.

Jaune started to punch the side of the beast multiple times but was having some trouble. He was punching the most durable part of the transfigured human.

"...." Jaune's body started to twitch as he began to have memories of everything Sukuna had done and the deaths of Pyrrha and Doctor Oobleck. He wanted to give up. He couldn't do this, but something wouldn't allow him to. His body couldn't do it, his mind couldn't do it, but still... he couldn't stop. What was happening?

Unbeknownst to Jaune but noticed by everyone else, Jaune's spirit was acting on its own rather than allowing Jaune to control himself. While Jaune had given up, his spirit refused. As a Huntsman, he must continue.

He was unable to stop fighting even when his mind and body were breaking down. This could be said to be a blessing... a person's spirit that refused to stop fighting, a spirit that wouldn't stop until they were finished. But in serious cases, it might as well be called a curse.

Jaune managed to regain control of himself, turning his head towards the mouth and running toward its jaw. He punched through its teeth and leaped out of the curse, where Todo appeared beside him with a small smirk, taking notice of lights becoming visible in Jaune's eyes.

"Welcome back, Brother!" Todo spoke with a smirk. Jaune blinked in confusion before clenching his fist. He couldn't smile back, only nodding. Making their way back up the stairs, they spotted Mahito standing on the other side, ready to defend against any attempt to get past him.

"Brother!" Todo grabbed a piece of rock and passed it into Jaune's hands. Jaune immediately realized what to do, pushing himself into a throwing position before launching the rock at high speed towards Mahito with his cursed energy.

"If that's enough to satisfy you... we will no longer be best friends. This curse spirit managed to perform what Jaune could do" Todo clapped as his body soared towards Mahito with extreme speed with Todo grinning like a mad man.

He began lean forwards with that craze expression, "You have become stronger, brother... Are you willing to maintain the status quo, Aoi Todo? Are you going to leave Jaune alone again, Aoi Todo?!" Todo started to monologue to himself as he felt his soul becoming one with himself, His aura is pumping up with the rhythm of his heart beat and his gaze that saw Mahito instead witness the magnificent future with him and his brother together, Fighting as one and enjoying Takada-chan TOGETHER!!!

𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕓𝕣𝕠π•₯𝕙𝕖𝕣, 𝕋𝕠𝕕𝕠! π•”π•π•–π•Ÿπ•”π•™π•–π•€ π•™π•šπ•€ π•—π•šπ•€π•₯, π•’π•Ÿπ•• 𝔹𝔸𝕄! β„π•šπ•€ 𝕖π•ͺ𝕖𝕀 π•π•šπ•˜π•™π•₯ 𝕦𝕑 π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π••π•’π•«π•«π•π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝕙𝕦𝕖𝕀 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 π•“π•šπ•π•π•šπ• π•Ÿ π•€π•¦π•‘π•–π•£π•Ÿπ• π•§π•’π•€, 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕀𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕒 𝕀π•ͺπ•žπ•‘π•™π• π•Ÿπ•ͺ 𝕠𝕗 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•¦π•Ÿπ•šπ•§π•–π•£π•€π•– π•šπ•₯𝕀𝕖𝕝𝕗. 🌌✨ β„π•šπ•€ 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕, 𝕑𝕦𝕝𝕀𝕒π•₯π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•–π•€π•€π•–π•Ÿπ•”π•– 𝕠𝕗 π•¦π•Ÿπ•šπ•”π• π•£π•Ÿ π•£π•’π•šπ•Ÿπ•“π• π•¨π•€, 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕀𝕖𝕀 π•₯π•™π•£π• π•¦π•˜π•™ π•™π•šπ•€ π•§π•–π•šπ•Ÿπ•€, 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒π•₯π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝕒 π••π•’π•Ÿπ•”π•– 𝕠𝕗 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕀 π•₯𝕙𝕒π•₯ 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 π•žπ•’π•œπ•– π•–π•§π•–π•Ÿ π•₯𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕀 𝕛𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕀. πŸ¦„πŸŒˆ

𝔸𝕀 π•™π•šπ•€ 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣π•₯ π•‘π• π•¦π•Ÿπ••π•€, 𝕒 𝕔𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕀π•₯π•šπ•’π• 𝕣𝕙π•ͺπ•₯π•™π•ž 𝕖𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕀 𝕒𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕀𝕀 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•”π• π•€π•žπ• π•€, π•“π•šπ•£π•₯π•™π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝕀π•₯𝕒𝕣𝕀 π•šπ•Ÿ π•šπ•₯𝕀 π•¨π•’π•œπ•–. π•Žπ•šπ•₯𝕙 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕓𝕖𝕒π•₯, 𝕒 π•Ÿπ•–π•¨ π•€π•¦π•Ÿ 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕀π•₯𝕀 𝕗𝕠𝕣π•₯𝕙, π•£π•’π••π•šπ•’π•₯π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•¨π•’π•£π•žπ•₯𝕙 π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•–π•Ÿπ•–π•£π•˜π•ͺ. β„π•šπ•€ 𝕧𝕖𝕣π•ͺ π•–π•©π•šπ•€π•₯π•–π•Ÿπ•”π•– π•“π•–π•”π• π•žπ•–π•€ 𝕒 π•˜π•£π•’π•§π•šπ•₯𝕒π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿπ•’π• 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖, π•‘π•¦π•π•π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•šπ•Ÿ π•”π• π•Ÿπ•€π•₯𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿπ•€ π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•£π•–π•’π•£π•£π•’π•Ÿπ•˜π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•˜π•’π•π•’π•©π•šπ•–π•€ π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•₯𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕗 π•™π•šπ•€ π•™π•’π•Ÿπ••. πŸŒŸπŸ’«

π•Žπ•šπ•₯𝕙 𝕒 π•žπ•’π•›π•–π•€π•₯π•šπ•” π•—π•π• π•¦π•£π•šπ•€π•™, 𝕋𝕠𝕕𝕠 π•£π•’π•šπ•€π•–π•€ π•™π•šπ•€ π•π•–π•˜ π•™π•šπ•˜π•™, π•”π•™π•’π•Ÿπ•Ÿπ•–π•π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•“π• π•¦π•Ÿπ••π•π•–π•€π•€ π•–π•Ÿπ•–π•£π•˜π•ͺ 𝕠𝕗 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•¦π•Ÿπ•šπ•§π•–π•£π•€π•– π•šπ•₯𝕀𝕖𝕝𝕗. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 π•’π•šπ•£ π•”π•£π•’π•”π•œπ•π•–π•€ π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•’π•Ÿπ•₯π•šπ•”π•šπ•‘π•’π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿ 𝕒𝕀 𝕙𝕖 𝕑𝕣𝕖𝕑𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕀 π•₯𝕠 π•¦π•Ÿπ•π•–π•’π•€π•™ π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•žπ•šπ•˜π•™π•₯π•šπ•–π•€π•₯ 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 π•¨π•šπ•₯π•Ÿπ•–π•€π•€π•–π•• π•šπ•Ÿ π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•žπ•¦π•π•₯π•šπ•§π•–π•£π•€π•–. 🌌πŸ’₯

π•€π•Ÿ π•₯𝕙𝕒π•₯ 𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕔π•₯π•£π•šπ•—π•ͺπ•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•žπ• π•žπ•–π•Ÿπ•₯, π•₯𝕙𝕖 𝕑𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 π•™π•šπ•€ 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 π•‹π•’π•œπ•’π••π•’-π•”π•™π•’π•Ÿ π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•™π•šπ•€ 𝕓𝕣𝕠π•₯𝕙𝕖𝕣 π•€π•¦π•£π•˜π•–π•€ π•₯π•™π•£π• π•¦π•˜π•™ π•™π•šπ•€ π•§π•–π•šπ•Ÿπ•€, π•žπ•–π•£π•˜π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•”π• π•€π•žπ•šπ•” 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕀 π•¨π•šπ•₯π•™π•šπ•Ÿ. β„π•šπ•€ 𝕧𝕖𝕣π•ͺ π•“π•–π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•£π•–π•€π• π•Ÿπ•’π•₯𝕖𝕀 π•¨π•šπ•₯𝕙 π•’π•Ÿ 𝕠π•₯𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕𝕝π•ͺ π•šπ•Ÿπ•₯π•–π•Ÿπ•€π•šπ•₯π•ͺ, π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•₯𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕒 𝕠𝕗 𝕑𝕦𝕣𝕖, π•¦π•Ÿπ•“π•£π•šπ••π•π•–π•• 𝕒𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕔π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿ π•€π•¦π•£π•£π• π•¦π•Ÿπ••π•€ π•™π•šπ•ž π•π•šπ•œπ•– 𝕒 π•€π•™π•šπ•–π•π•• 𝕠𝕗 π•”π• π•€π•žπ•šπ•” π•–π•Ÿπ•–π•£π•˜π•ͺ.

π•Žπ•šπ•₯𝕙 𝕒 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣π•₯ 𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝 𝕠𝕗 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 π•’π•Ÿπ•• 𝕕𝕖π•₯π•–π•£π•žπ•šπ•Ÿπ•’π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿ, 𝕙𝕖 𝕑𝕣𝕠𝕑𝕖𝕝𝕀 π•™π•šπ•€ π•π•–π•˜ 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕, π•¦π•Ÿπ•π•–π•’π•€π•™π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝕒 π•₯π•šπ•₯π•’π•Ÿπ•šπ•” 𝕨𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕗 π•–π•Ÿπ•–π•£π•˜π•ͺ π•₯𝕙𝕒π•₯ 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕒π•₯𝕖𝕀 π•₯π•™π•£π• π•¦π•˜π•™ 𝕀𝕑𝕒𝕔𝕖 π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•₯π•šπ•žπ•–. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖 𝕠𝕗 π•™π•šπ•€ 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕨 π•šπ•€ 𝕒 π•”π• π•€π•žπ•šπ•” 𝕔𝕒π•₯𝕒𝕔𝕝π•ͺπ•€π•ž, π• π•“π•π•šπ•₯𝕖𝕣𝕒π•₯π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•’π•Ÿπ•ͺπ•₯π•™π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ π•₯𝕙𝕒π•₯ 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕀 π•₯𝕠 𝕀π•₯π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•šπ•Ÿ π•₯𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒π•ͺ 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕆𝔻𝕆 𝔸𝕆𝕀. π•Šπ•₯𝕒𝕣𝕀 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕀π•₯ π•šπ•Ÿπ•₯𝕠 π•£π•’π••π•šπ•’π•Ÿπ•₯ 𝕀𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕀, π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•˜π•’π•π•’π•©π•šπ•–π•€ 𝕓𝕠𝕨 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•žπ•šπ•˜π•™π•₯ 𝕠𝕗 π•™π•šπ•€ 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖-π•šπ•Ÿπ•—π•¦π•€π•–π•• 𝕀π•₯π•£π•šπ•œπ•–.

𝔸𝕀 π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•€π•™π• π•”π•œπ•¨π•’π•§π•– π•€π•¦π•“π•€π•šπ••π•–π•€, 𝕒 π•Ÿπ•–π•¨ π•”π• π•€π•žπ•šπ•” 𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣 π•–π•žπ•–π•£π•˜π•–π•€, 𝕀𝕙𝕒𝕑𝕖𝕕 𝕓π•ͺ π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•¦π•Ÿπ•¨π•’π•§π•–π•£π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝕑𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•₯𝕙𝕖 π•šπ•Ÿπ••π• π•žπ•šπ•₯𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 π•€π•‘π•šπ•£π•šπ•₯ 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕆𝔻𝕆 𝔸𝕆𝕀!

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Mahito landed safely back on his feet after being kicked, smirking as he wiped the dust off his chest. The entire description of what happened was all within Todo's mind, as Mahito had suffered hardly any damage.

"No matter how strong your attacks are and how many times you use your aura and black flash to attack, it's meaningless if you can't hurt the soul" Mahito grinned. Todo and Jaune, with their minds back in the game, stood across from Mahito. Todo's aura glowed, and Jaune's cursed energy started to flow into his fist.

The fight was now getting serious, with no more holding back. Any and all attempts to restrain their power would lead to death. This was the fight that would leave a permanent mark on the survivor's soul for life.

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