Devious Lick (event)

Division: Son of Envy

Arc: Buzzutsu Academy

Date: August 26th, 2024

Location: Pinebrook Elementary

Overview

Troy’s first field encounter occurs when his transport is diverted to Pinebrook Elementary for a suspected Grade 1 cursed spirit. The team engages a fast, object-consuming curse later dubbed “Devious Lick,” which manifests from the devious lick trend and contains a pocket-dimension stomach. After discovering the curse has swallowed four children, Troy repeatedly puts himself in danger—ultimately entering the curse’s stomach to rescue them, awakening his technique to survive the digestive sludge.

Detailed Plot Summary

On the morning Troy is scheduled to arrive at Buzzutsu Academy, he is picked up by Kim alongside the two first-year students he met previously, Diego and Nicole. Mid-transport, they receive a dispatch to Pinebrook Elementary for a Grade 1 cursed spirit. Against Kim’s initial insistence on protocol, Troy and the others advocates intervening, and the group responds to the call.

At the school, staff are evacuating children in panic. Nicole asserts authority using a badge and directs evacuation while the team moves inside. Once civilians are cleared, Nicole casts a veil around the school to prevent interference and contain the situation. Diego creates an ink tracking construct from a sketch; the curse devours it, revealing itself as a fast, slime-bodied frog-like spirit that has been ingesting stolen objects.

Nicole and Troy attempt to pin it down while Diego secures the perimeter from outside using ink constructs. Troy tackles the curse into a classroom, where it expels a stream of swallowed objects and demonstrates a volatile, flammable digestive sludge. Nicole establishes a psychic link by lodging a bookunai in its head and deduces the curse is a literal manifestation of the “devious lick” trend—driven to consume objects within the school. The curse suddenly expands and detonates, forcing the team out of the building; Nicole confirms the landmark used for navigation is a torreya tree.

Suspecting the curse may have swallowed a child, Troy reenters the building alone and confronts Devious Lick in the cafeteria as it vacuums up kitchen equipment. He lands a heavy strike but becomes trapped in burning sludge when the curse superheats and erupts molten digestive fluid, severely injuring him. Troy discovers a cold sensation within his heart that can counter the heat and partially regulate his armor, allowing him to keep fighting.

Nicole confirms via her psychic link that Devious Lick has swallowed not one child but four, and that its stomach functions like a pocket dimension. Diego notices the curse cools as it expends sludge; the team decides to force it to overexert itself. Diego releases a swarm of ink insects to harass the curse and provoke repeated fireball discharges until it becomes weak and cold enough.

Seeing an opening, Troy dives into Devious Lick’s mouth. Inside, he finds himself in a vast sludge “sea” filled with swallowed objects. As the sludge warms again, Troy uses the cold in his heart to push through it and realizes the children must be floating near the surface. He locates four terrified kids clinging to a whiteboard and attempts to carry them back to the mouth. As the sludge turns molten, Troy forces himself to endure intense burning, while his armor cracks and raw flesh burns beneath.

A surge in the internal sludge current propels them toward the exit. Troy redirects the cold to stabilize his failing body and loses consciousness as they are expelled. Outside, Troy awakens badly burned and stripped of his clothing. The four children are alive. Devious Lick is left shriveled and is being consumed by a cat-headed, worm-bodied creature. Troy drifts out again as a familiar woman tends to him.

Key Events

• Troy is picked up for Buzzutsu Academy transport by Kim, with Diego and Nicole present as fellow first-years.

• The group diverts to Pinebrook Elementary in response to a Grade 1 curse dispatch.

• Nicole casts a veil/curtain around the school after evacuation.

• Diego creates an ink tracking construct (“Sniffo”), which is immediately devoured by the curse.

• The curse is identified as a slime-bodied frog/toad spirit that consumes school objects and expels them as weapons.

• Nicole lodges a bookunai to establish a psychic link and identifies the curse as a manifestation of the “devious lick” trend.

• The curse enlarges and detonates, forcing the team out; the second-floor window catches fire.

• Troy suspects the curse swallowed a child and reenters the school alone.

• Troy is nearly killed by superheated digestive sludge in the cafeteria and discovers an internal cold-regulation ability that counteracts the heat.

• Nicole confirms four children are trapped inside the curse’s pocket-dimension stomach.

• Diego provokes overexertion with a swarm of ink insects, causing the curse to cool as it expends sludge.

• Troy dives into the curse, finds the children, and carries them out using his cursed technique.

• Troy awakens severely burned; the children survive; Devious Lick is left shriveled and is consumed by Jingle