Chapter 10: Collison Course

The N1 interchange glimmered under Cape Town’s evening haze — streaks of orange light dissolving against a restless skyline.

Kevin was behind the wheel, one hand on the steering, the other clutching a bag of chips like his life depended on it.

Megumi sat shotgun, phone pressed to his ear, the hum of the car’s engine filling the tense silence.

Amanda and Cyan sat in the back, shadows cutting across their faces as headlights flared past.

Megumi lowered the phone.

“Elle just confirmed it,” he said flatly.

“The cursed user from Green Point... it’s Aiden Liebert.”

Amanda frowned.

“But... he’s dead. I once heard the higher ups say he died when Jaden was sealed.”

“That’s what everyone thought,” Megumi replied.

“But Elle says she’s certain. Aiden’s a special grade sorcerer—his cursed technique, Steal, lets him take another sorcerer’s ability once they admit defeat. And for unknown reasons, he’s targeting the Big Three families.”

Kevin let out a low whistle. “So... zombie sorcerer out for revenge? Sounds like a Resident Evil plotline.”

Megumi shot him a glare. “Can you take anything seriously for once?”

Kevin smirked. “I take cursed spirits seriously. I kick ass, and then I go home. Simple system.”

Amanda chuckled under her breath.

 “You’ve got to admire the confidence.”

But Cyan barely reacted.

Her gaze was fixed on the window — watching the city blur into streaks of colour and shadow.

There was something heavy about the air around her. Her reflection looked distant, almost like it wasn’t hers.

Megumi noticed. “You alright back there?”

Cyan didn’t answer. Her fingers were tight against her seatbelt.

Outside, the night wind howled past the interchange, and the faint smell of rain and burnt tar filled the car.

Then—
Impact.

A silver sedan smashed into their right side with a deafening crunch.

Kevin cursed, jerking the steering wheel.

Before anyone could process what happened, another car slammed into their rear bumper, shattering the back window.

Amanda screamed. The car fishtailed violently.

“Hold on!” Kevin yelled, fighting to steady the vehicle.

Cyan turned toward the window — and froze. The driver of the attacking car stared back at her, eyes glazed, mouth slack, two metal needles piercing through his skull.

Her blood ran cold.

“He’s here!!”

A second impact sent them crashing through the roadside barrier. 

The car spun, metal screeching against concrete — then gravity took over.

The world tilted.

Wind roared.

Glass exploded into stars.

The car plunged into the dark valley below.

THE VALLEY

The car landed hard, skidding across the dirt before coming to a rattling stop at the foot of the valley.

The world stilled. The smell of fuel and scorched rubber hung in the air.

“Everyone still breathing?” Kevin coughed, kicking open his door.

Amanda climbed out beside him, brushing glass from her jacket. 

“A few scratches, that’s all.”

Cyan nodded wordlessly, her eyes scanning the area beyond the wreckage.

Megumi stood up last, his expression tight but focused.

They had survived — but they all knew this wasn’t luck.

Amanda exhaled slowly, then stepped forward. Her hands began to glow with soft pink light.

“Pure Blossom,” she murmured.

A gentle wind stirred.

Petals — hundreds of them — burst into the air, drifting outward in every direction.

 Within seconds, the entire valley shimmered under a veil of glowing sakura.

 Each petal pulsed faintly with cursed energy, moving like a living sensor field.

The more she pushed her cursed energy into the petals, the dimmer her skin glowed — like the colour was being drained out of her.

Kevin said. “I’ll never get tired of watching this.”

Megumi’s hand tightened on his weapon.

 This girl… she’s always two steps ahead, he thought.

Cyan and Kevin moved in position, flanking Amanda protectively.

Megumi drew Playful Cloud, the three-section staff unfolding with a sharp metallic click as he stood facing the fog that began to roll in from the cliffs.

At first, it was just mist — thin, harmless.

 But within seconds, it thickened into a wall of white, swallowing sound and sight alike.

The world fell silent. Even the petals drifted slower, their light dimming in the haze.

Cyan’s heart hammered. Her cursed energy instinctively flared as her eyes darted across the fog. She couldn’t see — only feel.

Something moved.

Then three silhouettes emerged from the mist — pale, rigid, human-shaped.

Each one pulsed with its own cursed signature — alive yet lifeless.

Their movements were slow, deliberate, strings of cursed energy faintly visible across their bodies.

“Corpse puppets,” Amanda whispered.

And behind them—
A figure stepped into view.

Tall & cloaked. His voice rolled through the fog in a low chant that made the air itself shiver.

“Maak oop die weg…”

The puppets snapped to attention at his command.

Megumi’s grip tightened.

Kevin raised his fists.

Amanda’s petals sharpened in the air like blades.

Cyan’s cursed energy trembled, reacting to something deep within the mist — something familiar yet terrifying.

The first battle against Aiden’s army had begun.

 THE VALLEY (PART II)

Ethan’s voice deepened, resonating through the mist as he raised a hand.

Cursed energy surged around him, black and gold threads pulsing from his fingertips.

“Emerge from darkness,”

“Blacker than darkness”

“Purify that which is impure”

“Veil—descend.”

The sky above them cracked like glass.

The stars blinked out one by one, like the night itself was being erased.

Darkness folded on itself as a dark dome expanded over the valley, swallowing the night.

 The world outside ceased to exist.

Cyan’s breath misted in the air.

A veil---They were sealed off.

Megumi had fought inside countless veils before — but this one felt wrong. Like the air itself didn’t want them to leave.

Ethan smirked, his eyes glowing faintly red.

“Now… let’s play.”

The first corpse lunged forward — mouth unhinging unnaturally as a torrent of flame erupted outward.

“Scatter!” Megumi barked.

The ground split under the heat.

Fire surged between them, carving the team apart.

Cyan dove right, rolling across the dirt; Kevin vaulted left, his jacket smoking; Megumi held his ground at the center, cursed energy flaring around him like a shockwave.

The puppeteer moved his fingers — and the other two corpses blurred into motion. One sliced through the air, summoning wind blades that shredded through trees.

The other raised a palm, lightning crackling violently in the fog, striking where Kevin had just been.

Amanda crouched behind a boulder, hand pressed to the ground as she spread her petals again.

Amanda amidst the chaos- wondered, not for the first time, if sorcerers were any different from the puppets they fought — bound by rules they never chose.

 “I’ll map their positions!”

“Keep me posted!” Megumi called back.

Kevin landed hard, rolling to his feet with a grin.

“Alright then…” He snapped his fingers, summoning a glowing six-sided die into his palm.

“Dice Game!”

The die spun midair, flashing bright blue before clattering onto the dirt.

It landed on three.

“Number three,” Kevin muttered, as two golden eagles of cursed energy unfolded from the dice — sleek, mechanical wings humming like jet engines.

“Let’s see how you like this.”

He extended his hands and the eagles screeched, firing rapid cursed energy bullets through the smoke.

Each impact exploded like miniature grenades, tearing through branches and forcing the fire-user corpse to retreat.

Cyan, meanwhile, crouched in the opposite corner of the battlefield, closing her eyes. Shadows rippled beneath her.

“Shadow Garden,” she whispered.

The ground blackened. 

Ink-like darkness spread outward, swallowing the fog in patches.

From within it, faint eyes blinked open — echoes of her cursed energy, her domain fragment manifesting even without full activation, & her knowledge.

She moved like a ghost, appearing and vanishing between her own shadows, slashing at the wind corpse whenever an opening appeared.

Ethan’s fingers twitched — his control absolute. 

“Impressive,” he murmured, “but your trajectory is predictable.”

He extended his left hand and cursed runes spiraled around his forearm. 

His speed doubled — his body enhanced by enchantment. He charged forward, faster than most could track.

Megumi met him head-on, Playful Cloud spinning into his grip. Their collision sent a tremor through the valley.

Cyan’s shadows recoiled from the shockwave. Kevin’s eagles screeched, forced to dodge debris.

Amanda shouted, “The puppets are responding to his movements—he’s linked to them physically! If you hit him—!”

“—they’ll falter,” Megumi finished. He parried Ethan’s strike, sparks flying from each clash.

“Then that’s our opening.”

Ethan grinned, his face half-hidden by fog.

“You’ll have to survive this first.”

He leapt back, snapping his fingers. 

The three corpses gathered at his sides, their eyes glowing brighter — flame, wind, lightning merging into one devastating surge.

The valley erupted in chaos.

THE VALLEY (PART III)

The ground quaked as Ethan’s corpses unleashed another combined attack — fire searing the air, wind slicing through trees, lightning striking the earth like a drumbeat of war.

Amanda’s petals shimmered weakly around her, scattered by the force.

Her eyes darted through the glowing pink fragments. Each petal mirrored cursed signatures — Ethan’s threads, the corpses’ energy, the flow of the battlefield.

“Wait…” she murmured. 

“They’re all connected… every puppet's movement—it’s controlled by him.”

Megumi deflected a spear of fire with Playful Cloud, his voice sharp.

“Then we have to take him out directly!”

“No!” Amanda’s voice cut through the noise. “He’s protecting himself through the link. If you destroy a puppet recklessly, the cursed backlash will amplify his control!”

Cyan’s shadow flickered behind her. “So what do you suggest?”

Amanda’s hands trembled as she pushed her cursed energy into the petals, forcing them to regroup and hover around her like orbiting satellites.

“Kevin will be the bait.”

Kevin froze. “Hold on—what?”

“You can keep them busy. You’ve got mobility, range, and defence,” Amanda said, her tone steady now.

“If we split them, Ethan’s link will strain. That’ll give Megumi and Cyan an opening.”

Then Amanda turned to Cyan. "Cany you teleport them somewhere away from here."

Megumi turned to Cyan. “Can you do it?”

Cyan’s eyes darkened, cursed energy pooling beneath her.

“Yeah. But the transfer will need a stable anchor—somewhere familiar with my cursed energy.”

Kevin’s grin returned, though faint. “Why not… Jujutsu High?”

Cyan nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

Megumi raised a brow. “Can you move all of them that far?”

“Don’t send all of them,” Amanda said.

 “Just Kevin and the corpses. The rest of us will stay here.”

Amanda pressed her hands together.

“Then we might stand a chance of ending this fight with a win.”

The corpses reared up again, energy swelling for another joint attack.

Cyan slammed her hands into the ground. Her shadow spread like black fire, swallowing the fog in a rippling wave.

“Shadow Garden—Open Gate.”

The air distorted. The corpses froze mid-step as black tendrils shot upward, wrapping around Kevin and the three puppets.

Kevin gave a small salute.

“Guess I’ll keep the party busy. Don’t die before I’m back!”

The tendrils yanked him and the corpses downward into pure darkness. In an instant, they vanished.

The valley fell eerily quiet again. Only Megumi, Cyan, Amanda—and Ethan—remained.

Ethan blinked, disoriented for the first time. “...Where did they go?”

Cyan straightened, her tone flat.

 “Somewhere you can’t reach them.”

Ethan’s grin twitched. “Clever girl.”

Megumi stepped forward, Playful Cloud spinning slowly in his grip.

“Now you’re outnumbered.”

Ethan raised his hands, cursed energy flaring like storm light.

“Outnumbered? Maybe. But… I like the odds.”

He snapped his fingers, and cursed energy surged around his body — the enchantments amplifying his speed again.

Cyan’s eyes narrowed, her shadow swirling behind her. “Megumi,” she said quietly, “I’ll keep him distracted. You find a way to break him.”

Megumi’s jaw tightened. “Understood.”

Then they both moved — Cyan from the shadows, Megumi from the front.

The battle began anew.