Hana—or the entity now inhabiting that body—slowly raised her right hand. Her fingers curved to form the Lendo symbol. Her lips, which usually sang beautiful melodies, now curled into a thin, cruel smile.
"Lendo: Shisui," she whispered lowly.
BOOM!
It wasn't an explosion of fire, but an explosion of pressure. The entire floor of the room erupted—not into messy rubble, but sliced cleanly into giant concrete blocks that floated into the sky. Sakura, Leah, Kamao, and Ayane didn't even have time to scream as their bodies were hurled into the air, pinned between the building debris that had now become floating islands above the city.
"What... what is happening to Hana?" Sakura murmured, her body trembling violently atop a chunk of concrete hovering a thousand feet above the ground. She looked down; their agency building now looked like a cake forcibly sliced by a giant hand.
They stood frozen, paralyzed by fear and the gravitational pressure that made their lungs feel tight. At the center of the destruction, Hana stood in mid-air, her blonde hair fluttering wildly, surrounded by a thick black aura.
Just as Hana was about to move her finger to "level" the remaining debris, a black flash streaked across.
SHUUT!
In the blink of an eye, Sakura and the others vanished from atop the concrete. They woke up on the asphalt of the street, far beyond the reach of the destroyed building. In front of them stood a young man with a long black cloak and eyes that looked incredibly exhausted.
"Stay behind me if you still want to breathe," the youth said coldly. His hands were still forming a complex, crossed symbol.
Hana, up above, realized her prey was gone. She turned downward, staring at the mysterious youth. Without warning, she dove down at supersonic speed.
"Lendo: Kaiten!" Hana slammed her palm toward the youth. Gravity in the area intensified ten thousand times in an instant, creating a giant crater that crushed the asphalt into dust.
However, the youth was not crushed. He was already behind Hana, emerging from a shadow that writhed like black liquid on the ground.
"Appear... Kuro-Gaki," the youth hissed.
From the shadow beneath Hana's feet, pitch-black giant hands emerged—terrifying Yokai creatures—trying to drag Hana's legs into the shadow dimension. Hana snorted dismissively. With one hand symbol movement, she twisted the gravity around her, causing the Yokai hands to be contorted and shattered into pieces.
The battle erupted. Both moved like lightning. Hana manipulated every object around her into a weapon; cars on the street were lifted and hurled like bullets, while the youth continued to teleport with an unpredictable rhythm, occasionally summoning mythological creatures to stall Hana's attacks.
Duar! Duar! Duar!
Every time a Lendo symbol was activated, the space around them seemed to distort. Buildings on the side of the road were sliced diagonally, sliding down with a deafening roar. The effect of the curse created flashes of blackish-purple light that filled the night sky.
The mysterious youth landed atop a curved lamp post, his breath slightly labored. He stared at Hana, who landed gracefully atop the wreckage of a luxury car, without a single stain on her clothes.
Thick dust enveloped the battlefield, which now resembled an apocalypse zone. Sakura and her friends could only watch from afar with flowing tears, seeing their best friend turn into a monster capable of tearing down a city.
The possessed Hana wiped a bit of dust from her cheek. She looked at the youth with a much deeper gaze, as if assessing the quality of her new toy.
Her cursed energy surged again, larger and purer than before, making the air around them vibrate violently.
She smirked widely, an expression the real Hana would never make.
"Interesting..."
To be continued...
You have to wait for Chapter 4!!
This is only the first round!!!