"Oh! It is a fish," Noriko exclaimed, eyes wide as she took in the scaly Grade 2 Curse. It was covered in greyish scales and towered over her at an impressive height - maybe ten feet tall, if she had to guess. Instead of a traditional fish-like body, it walked on two, heavy-set legs and had two finned arms that hung limply at it's side. It was strangely hunched and had the face of a grey carp and a thick tail sprouting from it's back. "Uh... maybe?"

Noriko bent her knees as she dropped into a fighting stance, cautiously removing her bisento from her back. The Curse's attention became solely fixated on her, it's beady, dead eyes becoming trained on her form as it turned with sluggish movements. Gargling lowly, it a brought a slovenly, webbed hand to reach out to Noriko.

"Aren't you... a little slow for a -" The ground below Noriko's feet suddenly erupted in a boiling geyser that shot up from beneath the earth. Thinking quickly, the dark-haired girl sliced downwards into the stream of scalding water with her bisento as she was thrown high into the air. The geyser split down the middle, but the impact propelled the sorcerer even higher. Noriko clenched her teeth together as she let out a hiss of pain at the blistering water that splattered against her legs. The pale skin began to blossom into red blotches. "Yeah, that was my fault, I got cocky."

The muscles in her side ached in sudden pain as she sharply twisted her body mid-air, veering her trajectory to the side and out the way of the hot steam that followed the blast of water. Damp strands of hair stuck to her cheeks and her back as her long pigtails began to get heavy with water. Cursing her foolish behaviour, Noriko landed harshly on the dirt, having barely any time to react as another geyser shot up from beneath the earth. Her left leg was struck with a scalding pain as she only just rolled out of the way of the blast.

She ignored it, clenching her teeth together to take deep breaths as she analysed her situation. The curse in front of her was not intelligent enough to form words, but let out a string of strangled laughs when it saw her pain. It raised it's other hand.

At the slight sensation of energy building below her feet, Noriko leapt off the spot, hearing the ground shatter behind her as she advanced on her enemy. Remaining still, the curse didn't move, just held it's hand out. The sorcerer was hit with the damp scent of it's energy again as she watched the hazy, dark blue residue between to rise from the ground in front of her like wisps of smoke. Leaping to the side, Noriko avoided the eruption, continuing her charge as she got within striking distance of the creature.

She pressed weight down into her right foot, cringing when she knew she'd creased her new, white sneakers, and shot herself upward, bringing her polearm down on the creature's head. In a split second, the curse had opened it's mouth and she got a unsettling view of the spirit's palate.

"Ah... shit," the muscles along the curse's throat contracted and Noriko felt steam begin to rise from the gaping maw. She quickened her strike, altering the angle of her arms as she sacrificed the strength of the swing for speed. It landed as the water began to bubble up in the mouth of the creature and Noriko let the momentum of the hit to throw herself in the angle she'd swung at. A beam of water spewed from the mouth of the curse. Landing crouched by the curse's feet, she only had time to land a deep slash to the creatures abdomen before she was forced to retreat by another geyser.

"Are we sure this things a Grade 2?" Noriko exclaimed, her gaze fliting upwards around the trees as she wondered if the faculty was watching her. Or maybe things had always been easier when she'd relied on Shikishi? Still, she guessed she hadn't used her technique yet. Keeping her movements quick, the young sorcerer leapt around the clearing, dodging various beams of water as she went. Her skill with the weapon still wasn't as good as she wanted it to be... but all she had to do was hold out for a few minutes longer.

The skin on her right lower leg was begin to peel and blister - the skin becoming painfully taught over her flexed muscles - as she continued her elaborate game of dodging. The doctor really wasn't going to be happy to see her again...

Glancing around the clearing, her eyes snapped to a few specks of white moving around at the fringes of the foliage. Her lips quirked upwards into a smirk and she dove out the way of another geyser. The curse had a certain rhythm. Two geysers could be produced from the ground at close intervals and then there would be a slight pause (which she had tried to take advantage of but had been pushed back by a stream from it's mouth)... and then it would continue. Regardless, it was clear the amount of eruptions that the curse could produce was limited.

That was all the weakness Noriko needed it to have. She could exploit that limit.

The sorcerer began to channel her energy again - more focused this time - and the white kodama nezumi began to scamper into the clearing from every angle. The curse quickly became distracted with the mice and Noriko took that opportunity to leap into a a tree, shielding herself with the trunk. Waiting until the mice were beginning to climb up the curses legs, Noriko moved the pole of her bisento to the crook of her elbow as she pressed both her hands flush against her ears.

'Ah... this is going to give me a huge headache.'

Noriko began to focus on her energy and suppressed a flinch as the forest came alive in ear-piercing blasts, far louder than any gunshot and far more violent. It lasted for perhaps a minute, maybe just under, before the last creation had exploded, and she peered back into the clearing from her hiding place.

Black.

The entire clearing was stained in ink and the surrounding flora was splattered with the onyx fluid. Climbing down, Noriko ignored the ringing in her ears as she spun her weapon between her fingers and approached the barely moving curse. It's scaly tail had been torn of it's body in the mass of explosions and lay half disintegrated a few yards away. Both it's arms had been severely twisted and disfigured, and it could barely croak out a slew of quiet groans as she approached.

"If you'd just let me cut your head off neatly, then you wouldn't have to be in pain like this." The sorcerer sighed, wrapping both hands around the pole of her weapon before channelling a crackling energy into the blade. It sparked and chittered as she brought it down to pierce straight through the curse's head, killing it.

"Good fight."

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