No More Regrets!

7 - Orochi Grounding

Some would say bringing forth an exorcism ritual with my sister alongside the enemy wasn't the greatest idea. But it was the only way he could think of exorcising the curse without suffering any casualties. 

Bianca's physical strength was insane, her fist's lagged attack was actually a technique named in the Sorcerery book I had. It was a universal skill anyone could learn, but mastery was difficult without hitting a black flash.

To think Bianca would be able to hit a black flash even without being able to sense cursed energy, she must have had a natural talent for manipulating it, something inherent which allowed her to move it unconsciously. 

With that in mind, I needed something to keep the curse busy to create an opening. The divine dogs and toad were not enough, and Orochi's greatest usage was sneak attacks. I had to create an opening so Bianca could punch the curse, and to do that I needed a new shikigami.

Out of the Shikigami I could summon, number four -- or the next one -- was probably the easiest to exorcise, but also the trickiest for the curse to defeat. Nue -- usually a tiger with a snake tail and human face -- was instead something entirely different from what I expected.

With large brown wings that cast a shadow from above, it was large enough to carry an adult with its talons. It was roughly 183 cm or six feet tall. Its bone and ivory white mask had a creepy design to it, with its teeth showing and clashing together as if it were in a constant state of anger. Sparks of electricity crackled around its body as it hovered above. 

"... DODGE!" I jumped out of the way and rolled on the ground. Cursed energy enhancement allowed us to move much faster than normal. 

A loud explosion boomed. The sound of glass shattering reached my ears, but barely anything in my sight.  From the ground, my vision blurred and my sense of balance felt shaky. My head felt like it was doing five backflips. I pushed myself off the ground, the smell of something burnt reached my nose. I turned my head to the side where the explosion had happened, a ringing noise stayed constant, like there was an alarm or ringtone stuck inside my ears and I couldn't make it stop.

The ground right next to me was scorched, glassy rock covered the place it struck. "Bianca!" I yelled, looking around for her. She had the fortune to have landed on bushes of leaves. She was full of scratches, but it was better than what I got, which were open scrapes from the collision with the ground. 

"Ugh, what was that?" she asked, getting up from the bushes. I turned back to Nue, its wings crackled with electricity again. The Curse, which was directly below the lightning strike, smoked, still alive but twitching. 

"Nue's body can produce electricity, by gathering it, it can discharge it in one spot. It should burn all its stamina at once when used, but... I think I put too much cursed energy into the summoning" I tried explaining it as well as I could, but in all honesty I wasn't too sure myself. Nue's electricity was meant to be used to stun the opponent, this was too large scale.

"How are we defeating that thing if it can toss lighting?!" Bianca loudly whispered. I didn't answer, I wasn't too sure either. The idea I had in mind was to tire it out by throwing the special grade at it and have both of them destroy each other. 

The cursed spirit crackled with electricity, twitching while standing, it was not only stunned but dead if it kept going. Nue stayed hovering above, circling around the special grade -- it must have been targeting the strongest in the ritual first. 

"I think it's targeting the strongest first," I told her, with a watchful eye. I had a lot of cursed energy, that much was certain, was that the reason Nue came out stronger than normal? Was it some other reason? Neither of those mattered, right now he had to prioritize the survival of my sister. "We have to wait until they are both tired before attacking. Doing anything now would be suicide."