We split up, each engaging our chosen opponent. Augustin immediately launched a barrage of what looked like crystallized curses at Elias, geometric shards of energy that sliced through the air with deadly precision. Elias dodged them with that infuriating grace he always possessed, his body seeming to flow between the attacks like water.
I circled around Terrence, dodging vine attacks that left deep gouges in the concrete where they struck. Each movement sent spikes of pain through my ribcage, but I pushed through it, working my way toward the greenhouse controls. The third curse, Edwin, tried to intercept me, bladed limbs whirling in deadly arcs, but Elias smoothly redirected his attention with a precision curse attack that shattered part of his shoulder armor.
"When fighting multiple opponents," I heard Professor Blackthorn's voice in my memory, "make each movement serve multiple purposes."
I slashed at a vine reaching for me, deliberately allowing the severed end to spray its toxic sap across the floor, creating a slippery, poisonous barrier that would slow Edwin when he eventually came my way.
"Clever application of Professor Blackthorn's environmental manipulation principle!" Professor Zephyr commented enthusiastically. "Using the enemy's own abilities against them! A true demonstration of adaptive combat!"
Terrence roared in frustration as I continued to evade his attacks, each near-miss adding to his rage. A barrage of thorny projectiles shot from his body like organic bullets, one grazing my cheek and leaving a burning trail of toxin that immediately began to swell and redden. Another pierced my left thigh, driving deep into the muscle and sending a wave of paralyzing pain up my leg.
"You ruined everything!" he bellowed, his voice reverberating through the greenhouse. "My beautiful creations, years of research, all destroyed because you couldn't control your FREAKISH LUCK!"
"To be fair," I called back, ducking under a sweeping vine that would have taken my head off, limping heavily now, "I didn't ask to be a walking probability disaster!"
With one final desperate leap that sent lightning bolts of agony through my injured leg, I reached the control panel and danced with my fingers onto the emergency temperature controls. Warning alarms blared throughout the facility as the system began pumping superheated air into one section of the greenhouse and freezing cold into another, creating a brutal temperature gradient.
Terrence's plant body began to writhe in agony as it experienced both extremes simultaneously. "What have you done?!" he shrieked, his movements becoming erratic and uncoordinated.
"Looks like you're forgetting basic botany 101, senior Moss," I replied, channeling every ounce of cursed energy I could muster into my blade for a final strike. "Plants hate inconsistent growing conditions."
I lunged forward despite my injuries, driving my sword into the pulsating core of his plant body with every bit of strength this body possessed. There was a blinding flash of green light, the sensation of resistance, then surrender, as the blade sank home. Terrence's cursed form collapsed into a heap of withering vegetation, the malevolent presence that had animated it dissolving into the air.
"THE CHAOS-MOTHER PROVES HER WORTH!" Bloombastic cheered with deafening volume.
I turned to help Elias, only to find my leg giving out beneath me, the poison from the thorns spreading rapidly through my system. I collapsed to one knee, coughing blood that spattered the ground in crimson droplets. Through blurring vision, I could see Elias battling Augustin, and he hardly needed my help. He moved through Augustin's attacks like they were coming in slow motion, always one step ahead, silver-blue energy trailing from his hands in complex patterns as he moved through his domain.
It was mesmerizing to watch, like a chess grandmaster who knew his opponent's moves before they did, each counter precisely calculated for maximum efficiency.
"Your form has improved even further somehow," I called to him as I forced myself back to my feet, ignoring the poison burning through my veins, and joined the fight against Edwin, who was now trying to flank Elias.
"I've had an excellent training partner recently," Elias replied smoothly, driving Augustin back with a precisely timed counter that shattered part of his crystalline structure. "Unpredictable, but educational."
I engaged Edwin, who fought with brutal physical attacks enhanced by cursed energy. Each blow carried enough force to shatter concrete, the blades extending from his joints leaving gleaming arcs in the air as they passed. My female body was faster than my regular one, but less durable, a fact I re-discovered when his fist grazed my shoulder and sent shocking pain down my arm, dislocating it with an audible pop.
"Adaptation is key in unfamiliar forms," Professor Zephyr reminded me, "Use its strengths rather than imposing your usual patterns!"
Gritting my teeth against the pain of my dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and poisoned leg, I adjusted my fighting style. The katana became an extension of myself despite being restricted to one functional arm, and I found myself performing techniques I had no conscious knowledge of, feints, parries, and strikes that seemed to flow from some deep muscle memory.
Edwin's bladed arm slashed across my back as I narrowly avoided a lethal strike, opening a long, burning gash from shoulder to hip that immediately soaked my uniform with blood. The pain was white-hot, momentarily blinding, but I pushed through it, using the momentum of my dodge to bring my blade around in a reverse grip that sliced across his chest.
"This is for the humiliation your chaos caused!" he spat, his voice distorted by the curse but still recognizable.
"You know what your problem is?" I panted, blood running freely down my back and leg now, my vision starting to tunnel from blood loss. "You take everything too personally."
Working together despite my increasingly severe injuries, Elias and I drove our remaining opponents back-to-back. They were weakening, Augustin's crystalline attacks growing less precise as more of his structure cracked and shattered, Edwin's movements slowing as the cursed energy that fueled his transformations began to wane.
"Together?" Elias asked, his eyes meeting mine with an unspoken question.
I nodded, understanding his intent without words, blood dripping from my chin as I forced my battered body into position. We moved in perfect synchronicity, executing a combined attack that Professor Blackthorn had only theorized in her classes, a convergence of opposing energies that created a resonance cascade. My chaotic, destructive energy intertwined with Elias's precise, calculated power.
The resulting explosion of cursed energy engulfed both Augustin and Edwin. The blast was deafening, a physical wall of power that shattered every remaining piece of glass in the greenhouse and sent a shockwave racing across the campus. When the light faded and the dust settled, both lay defeated on the ground, their curse forms dissolving into motes of light that dissipated into the air.
"VICTORY TO THE JUJUTSU POWER COUPLE!" Bloombastic announced triumphantly.
I collapsed to my knees, exhaustion and injuries finally overwhelming me. The adrenaline wore off like a receding tide, leaving behind a tsunami of pain in its wake. I became acutely aware of my injuries. Broken ribs grinding with each breath, dislocated shoulder hanging useless, the deep slash across my back burning like fire, leg and cheek throbbing where the poisoned thorn had grazed them, and a dozen other cuts, bruises, and wounds that painted my borrowed body in various shades of red and purple.
Elias knelt beside me, looking barely winded despite the intensity of the battle. A few tears in his uniform and a small cut above his eye were the only evidence he'd been fighting at all. "You fought well," he said quietly, genuine respect in his voice. "For someone who had no idea what they were doing and was essentially fighting with one arm tied behind their back."
"Thanks for the backhanded compliment," I muttered, wincing as I tried to stand.
"This was the most fun I've had in ages," he admitted, his usual composure softening slightly. "We make a surprisingly effective team, Ardent."
"Don't get used to it," I replied, though without much heat.
The world around us began to shimmer and fade, signaling the end of the third story challenge.
"Magnificently executed!" Bloombastic boomed. "The Writers' Guild concludes with a display of true combat fundamentals! Professor Blackthorn was ecstatic watching the creative application of her teachings!"
"Indeed," Professor Zephyr agreed. "And quite the creative solution to the plant-based opponent, Mr. Ardent, or should I say, Ms. Hoshino?"
"The next test awaits," Elias said as the world continued to dissolve around us. "The final challenge of the first level."
"Can't wait," I replied dryly. "Let me guess: it involves even more people trying to kill me?"
He actually smiled at that, a real smile, not his usual calculated one. "Most likely. But at least you'll be back in your own body."
"Thank the Personifications for small mercies," I muttered.
The last thing I heard before everything vanished was Bloombastic's enthusiastic voice:
"And now, dear spectators, prepare for the ultimate test! The final challenge that will determine who advances to level two!"
Great. No pressure at all.