Promotion Exam, Part 3

"I can't let this fight drag on too long. I have to go down in order to defeat Hitoshī, so I may as well finish this fight off in one shot," Nick says to himself under his breath. Nick then sticks his arm into the air and wiggles his fingers, cracking his knuckles in the process. The sky turns gray as black storm clouds roll in, cracking with lightning. Booms of thunder echo across the sky, as a light drizzle begins to rain down, as the winds kick up.

"WHAT?!" Hitoshī cries. "You're going straight for your Heaven's Thunderbolt?! If you want to take me out in one hit, you'll need to double your power due to my Equal Distribution. Also due to my Equal Distribution, if you do that, the pain as well as fatigue from expending Cursed Power will kill you! It'd kill both of us!"

Nick smirks. "Scared, eh? I'm an Assassin, remember? Killing anyone doesn't faze me in the slightest. Especially not you," he replies.

"You'd kill yourself over the half demon boy?!" Hitoshī cries.

"I already promised him that I would, if need be. That's why I'm here on the frontlines. Only I would have had the drive to beat you. I can't chicken out now," Nick answers as his hand begins crackling with electricity. "AND BESIDES, LIGHTNING DOESN'T WORK ON ME, ANYWAY!"

Nick then swipes his hands downwards, sending a giant bolt of lightning crashing out from the skies above and smiting Hitoshī, who howls in pain from being electrocuted. Despite Hitoshī's Equal Distribution still having an effect on Nick, he remains standing.

After a few moments, Hitoshī's limp body falls out the ground, convulsing with electricity and charred completely black. He's been killed by Nick. Assassinated.

Nick stares intently at Hitoshī's body for a brief moment, before crumbling to the ground as well. "I was just bluffing. Equal Distribution transfers half of Hitoshī's pain, ignoring what the pain is caused by. Lightning or not, that still hurts like Hell…" Nick says as his eyes slowly flutter closed. "My attacks were too strong for my own good."

***

"So you nullify Cursed Power…" Daniel mutters to himself under his breath.

"Damn Hachi, giving away my secrets," Nuru sighs. "The first rule of assassination is to never reveal one's Cursed Ability!"

"As someone who lives in the shadows, I know much about assassination," Daniel replies. "Shadow Sickles: The Betrayal of One's Own Self!"

Dozens of chains and sickles shoot out of Nuru's shadow, all flying towards her. Nuru counters by spinning around and aiming her palm at the shadow sickles. "Null: Dismaring Pulse!" Nuru shouts as a clear pulse of Cursed Power releases from her palm. When Nuru's Disarming Pulse makes contact with Daniel's shadow sickles, they dissipate back into Daniel's black Cursed Power.

"So despite her negating that attack, I can still use Cursed Power," Daniel mutters to himself under his breath.. "I need to test something out." Two more shadow sickles shoot out of Daniel's back, one of them flying towards Nuru, and the other wrapping around Daniel defensively. Using Cursed Power Sensing, as Daniel's shadow sickle flies towards Nuru, she sidesteps to dodge, then grabs the chain of the shadow sickle with a Cursed Power infused hand. Instantly, both that shadow sickle and the one around Daniel dissipate back into Daniel's black Cursed Power.

"Interesting. So when Nuru's Cursed Power touches a sickle not attached to my body, it negates it, but I can still use Cursed Power. But when she touches one attached to my body and negates it, I can't use Cursed Power," Daniel says to himself. "Therefore, Nuru can only negate my Cursed Power when her own touches my body, even if it's non-directly through Cursed Power. Otherwise, she can only negate the Cursed Power of my attacks. She can also negate Cursed Power via emissions."

"Shadow Sickles: Chain and Sickle!" Daniel shouts as he sends another wave of Shadow Sickles flying towards Nuru.

In response, before Daniel's Shadow Sickles can skewer her, Nuru activates her Cursed Power Burst as a rush of clear Cursed Power explodes out of her body, nullifying all of Daniel's Shadow Sickles.

Next by, reinforcing her entire body with Cursed Power, Nuru begins dahsing towards Daniel.

"I still don't understand how her Cursed Power nullifies my own," Daniel begins to say. "Most Cursed Abilities involve changing one's Cursed Power into a different substance, but Nuru's is unique, in that her Cursed Ability cancels out others'."

As Nuru charges towards Daniel, Daniel sends another wave of Shadow Sickles flying towards her in response, but Nuru is able to acrobatically dodge and wave out of the way of Daniel's attack effortlessly.

"This is the power of assassins!" Nuru cries as she continues onwards towards Daniel.

Once in front of Daniel, Nuru brandishes a large dagger -one that matches the fallen Hai's- and coats it in her nullifying Cursed Power. Nuru stabs her dagger towards Daniel, slashing straight through Daniel's Shadow Sickles and jabbing Daniel in the kidneys, where a gap in his gray samurai armor lays. Blood begins rushing from Daniel's side as he kicks Nuru away, sending her flying backwards. Daniel then drops to the ground on one knee, clutching his punctured side.

"No matter how strong my half demon powers are, Nuru can just negate them," Daniel pants. Daniel's eyes then widen. "That…must be it!"

Nuru then aims the dual bulky gauntlets on her arms forwards. A long black whip shoots out of each gauntlet, flying towards Danel, who attempts to use his Shadow Sickles to slash through the whips, but finds that they've been reinforced with Nuru's Cursed Power, and upon making contact, Daniel's Shadow Sickles simply dissipate back into his black Cursed Power.

Nuru's whips then wrap around his entire body, pinning his arms to his sides and legs shut, as well as binding his neck, and restricting Daniel from being able to breathe. Nuru then brandishes her dagger again, and begins slowly approaching Daniel, who is unable to channel Cursed Power in his bound state.

"I could make you suffer by slowly letting you suffocate to death, but you're not my main target," Nuru says. "So I'll just slit your throat, instead."

Daniel says nothing as Nuru slowly continues walking towards him. Once in front of Daniel, Nuru then says: "Goodbye," and thrusts her dagger forwards. But before her dagger can pierce Daniel's throat, a shadow sickle wiggles out of Daniel's shadow, kicking Nuru's dagger away and slashing her hand in the process.

"What?! How can you use Cursed Power when I'm nullifying it?!" Nuru cries as she hops backwards, clutching her bleeding hand.

"I noticed it when you pierced me with your Cursed Power infused dagger," Daniel begins to explain. "As the blade of your dagger entered my body, so did your Cursed Power. Once inside your opponent's body, you flail your Cursed Power about wildly, distributing your opponent's own flow of Cursed Power and making it go haywire, so that they are unable to channel it. But, you can't disrupt the flow of Cursed Power in someone with a massive amount of Cursed Power, because their Cursed Power wll overpower yours, instead."

"But I've already negated your Cursed Power, so there should be no way that you can undo it?" Nuru growls.

"Your Cursed Ability is a strong one, effective against anyone. But unfortunately for you, your opponent is me, a half demon," Daniel continues, using Nuru's eyes to widen. Massive rush of black, purple, and dark gray Cursed Power explodes out of Daniel's body, a rush laced with an intense amount of bloodlust. Nuru activates her own Cursed Power Burst in an attempt to negate Daniel's, but Daniel's Burst overpowers Nuru's in seconds, pushing her back.

"A…half demon…" Nuru whimpers. "I only assassinate humans, not demons!"

"Black Demon," Daniel utters out, then resumes his half demon form, so that his Cursed Power is able to dwarf Nuru's and undo her nullification. Shadow Sickles fly out of Daniel's shadow, slicing through Nuru's bindings, then continuing on towards Nuru.

"Null: Disarming Pulse!" Nuru desperately cries as she aims her palm towards Daniel, firing out a pulse of clear Cursed Power. But Daniel's Shadow Sickles overpower Nuru's Disarming Pulse in seconds, before continuing on towards Nuru, and piercing her in the chest with dozens of Shadow Sickles. Nuru's body explodes a rush of blood, and as Daniel retracts his Shadow Sickles from her body, Nuru limply falls to the ground, dead as well.

***

During all of the commotion of the battles beginning to unfold outside, Chishiki was able to slip his way inside the dorm house and make his way upstairs to where Luis is hiding. But rather than finding Luis, Chishiki finds himself instead standing face to face with the final line of defense.

"So our first victim has arrived eh?" Mikey smirks as he stands at the top of the staircase, glaring down at Chishiki from above, with his arms crossed. "You two girlies can stay back, I'll take care of this guy!" Mikey roars as he aims his dual pistols behind him.