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AThe sound of glass shattering caused Aiko to come to a halt, her heard turning to locate the source. It didn't take too long to figure out, seeing as several glass office building were now missing all their windows. 

In the air was her blue-eyed lover, never  in the same position for more than two seconds as he warped over and over during his ongoing battle with the foreign sorcerer. 

Aiko only smiled as she watched. Since Satoru was giving it his all, she should too. She brought her attention back to the ground, where an onslaught of curses had noticed her presence  and were hastily making their way towards her. 

"Cerberus," she called out, as her hands formed the shikigami seal unique to her companion. The three-headed dog materialised and leapt out of her shadow, immediately pouncing onto the closest curse and tearing through them all one by one. 

The sorcerer didn't waste a second as she too swept into action, dancing with her blade alongside her companion and effortlessly slicing through various curses until there were none left. 

"Good boy," she praised as Cerberus bounded up to her, leaning down to pet the shikigami before straightening up again. 

"Tetsuya Aiko." 

Aiko's eyes flew upwards towards the sound, and her gaze fell on the silhouette of a woman standing on a high brick wall. She watched as the woman took a step forward into the light, slowly revealing her form.

"My name is Kurai. I'll be your opponent today."  

"Is that right?" Aiko questioned the long-haired, blonde woman, slowly shifting into a battle stance. "I'll give you five seconds to rethink your decision." 

"Funny," the curse-user responded, whipping out both arms from the pockets of her long coat. She whisked her hands to reveal two fans, and positioned herself into her own battle position.

"I'm not dumb enough to think I'm stronger than you, so I'm gonna do myself a favour and reveal my hand at the very beginning." 

"Oh?" Aiko questioned with a raised brow. "And how do I know you aren't bluffing?" 

"Well, you don't," the blonde shrugged, arms bringing both her fans close to her face. "That's not my problem. These two fans are part of my technique. I can dispel your cursed energy with simply a wave of my hand." She closed one fan and extended her arm to point it at Aiko. "That includes your multiple domain expansions, so don't even bother."

"Oh, don't you worry," Aiko quipped. "I was planning on taking you out long before I would even consider using my domains." 

"Hm."

Kurai elegantly jumped down from the wall, putting Aiko on high alert. She knew she was strong, but she also knows never to make the mistake of underestimating an opponent. It could be the difference between winning or losing a battle.

"Zeus Technique: Thunder Blade," the red-haired sorcerer called out as she thrust out her arm, sending bolts of lightning flying towards the blonde.

With one wave of Kurai's fan, the bolts dissipated, as if they were never there to begin with. 

"Do I need to explain this to you again?" She questioned as she straightened up. "I can wave away any amount cursed energy."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Aiko shrugged, "I was just testing your reflexes. You're pretty good, I'll tell you-" 

She jumped back with a gasp as the girl waved both fans this time, noticing the sudden increase of cursed energy coming her way. Aiko gasped as she felt a prickling sensation on her arms, and looked down to find several thin gashes across her skin, with small beads of blood beginning to roll down.

She could've sworn that she had avoided the attack sent her way. She hadn't even noticed anything come in contact with her body, so seeing a landed hit was quite the surprise for the sorcerer. She looked up to find the Kurai smirking, hand moving as she fanned her face as if it was the middle of a summer's day and not the middle of the night in December. 

"That was sneaky," Aiko stated as she raised her katana in front of her. "Your technique isn't just defensive, somehow you can attack too. I'm willing to guess that you use the air itself as a blade, which would explain how I got cut even though I didn't feel anything."

"I should've known you'd figure it out in no time," the girl sighed, "I might as well reveal all my cards then."

"There's more?" 

"Of course," she responded, hand twirling her fan the other way around. "See this?" 

Aiko furrowed her brows slightly as she looked, and saw what looked like a power level bar. 

"Every time I dispel your cursed energy, it gets absorbed into these fans. I can amplify it and send it back tenfold."

Aiko's eyes widened as she registered her words. 

"Cerberus, stop!" 

"Too late."

Kurai swirled around as the shikigami pounced from behind her, and with a swipe of both fans the beast disappeared into thin air. 

Aiko immediately moved into a fighting position with her katana raised, wasting no time as she pushed off her back foot and launched herself at the woman.

She made sure not to waste even a single drop of cursed energy as she practically flew, eyes zeroed in on her target's back. 

She was so close.

But not close enough. 

She choked out in pain as what felt like a brick wall covered in knives hit her, sending her flying backwards. Aiko felt the wind get knocked out of her body as her back collided with a car, the glass from the now smashed window raining down around her. The impact set off the wailing sound of the car alarm, causing the woman to wince. 

She groaned as she slid onto the floor, her free hand moving towards the large gash on her stomach. 

"You got me there," the redhead groaned out as she staggered to her feet, fingers tightening around the hilt of her katana. She squinted her eyes as she tried to gain her bearings, the slight ringing in her ears not making it easy for her.

She eyed the power bar on the fan, noticing how not even half had gone down despite the severity of the attack. Cerberus must have served as a massive cursed energy battery in that case. 

Aiko would certainly have to be careful. She couldn't allow herself to be attacked by cursed energy on that scale again, so she would have to attack before allowing the sorcerer to accumulate any more energy. 

The red-haired woman took a deep breath to compose herself, whilst also choosing to sheath her katana across her back. 

"Are you really gonna discard the only weapon that'll work against me?" the woman scoffed as she watched. 

"Who said that's my only weapon?" Aiko questioned, hands pulling out two knives strapped to her thighs. "Look sharp."

Aiko once again launched herself at the woman, this time fully aware of all the cards that Kurai held. 

She will not be caught off guard next time. 

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im generally not very good at writing fight scenes but this is one of my fave fights that i've written.

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