Mahito finally stepped through the main gates of the Zen'in estate. In that instant, his perception blanketed the entire compound. His heterochromic eyes—one gold, one blue—ignited in the darkness, hanging like twin stars in the night sky. In the midst of the torrential downpour, those luminous eyes looked like a raging demon god opening its majestic gaze. A terrifying, divine pressure rippled outward like a tidal wave.
He strode into the Zen'in courtyard, his head held high. His mismatched eyes swept over the massive grounds like twin searchlights. Anyone who met his gaze felt a primal, bone-deep terror—their very instincts screaming at them about the sheer horror of the King of Cursed Spirits.
Chojuro Zen'in could vividly feel the tremor in his own heart. Taking a deep breath, he locked his eyes on the approaching Lord of Curses. Mahito suddenly stopped. He lowered the Mirokuji Kirigiri from his shoulder, gripping the absurdly long, straight-bladed katana with one hand. As the tip of the blade gently tapped the flooded floorboards, a bizarre silence fell over the courtyard. Despite the relentless, hammering rain, everyone's breathing became shallow and imperceptible, as if they were standing before a slumbering dragon.
In the next second, Chojuro Zen'in made his move. He let out an ear-splitting roar that shook the air like a tiger in the mountains!
"BUDDHA'S—! HANDS—!"
Mahito felt the ground beneath his feet acutely tremble. Within a fraction of a second, an immense, crushing pressure took shape. The earth directly beneath him rapidly molded itself into two massive hands, the fingers perfectly defined. The stone palms violently clapped together, mimicking a devout monk bowing to the Buddha.
But the scale was entirely different.
Spanning over five meters across, the colossal hands slammed shut in less than half a second. Mahito leapt upward, but before he could clear the palms, they completely enveloped him, crushing him like a bug.
Cursed Technique Release: Earth and Stone Manipulation—Bowing Buddha Hands!
A straightforward, direct Cursed Technique like Earth and Stone Manipulation relied entirely on the user's mastery. As a veteran elder of the Zen'in clan, Chojuro possessed a wealth of jujutsu combat experience. He could manipulate earth over a massive radius to form these hands at speeds surpassing human reflexes. Usually, he only needed to weave a hand sign, and the battle was over in an instant.
Crushed between clapping stone palms over five meters wide, even the most robust human would be reduced to a bloody paste—the exact same fate that befell the Kukuru Unit member who had just fled to him for help. Against a normal opponent, Chojuro could have dropped his hand signs and casually announced that it was over.
But facing the King of Curses, who had just slaughtered his way through the entire Kukuru Unit, he didn't dare show a hint of negligence. His Cursed Energy continued to boil. He maintained his hand signs, pushing himself to his absolute limits!
His furious roar nearly blasted the rain away. "NOT! FINISHED! YET!"
Chojuro slowly raised his clasped hands, and the massive stone palms began to rise with them, erupting upward like a geyser, dragging the crushing force along with it! Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters! Forty meters! Fifty meters!
With every meter gained, the compressive force at the center of the Buddha's hands multiplied. As it rose, the crushing power stacked upon itself until it could have flattened a military tank into a sheet of scrap metal!
A monolithic monument of Bowing Buddha Hands, over fifty meters tall, now towered over the Zen'in courtyard. The torrential rain poured down from the heavens as a crack of thunder tore through the night. Amidst the deafening rumble, the stone hands looked like a grand barrier sealing away an enemy of the Buddha.
A guaranteed one-hit kill! In that moment, Chojuro Zen'in finally allowed a contemptuous smile to—
It never formed. The massive stone hands suddenly began to vibrate.
Someone grabbed Chojuro and hauled him backward.
In the next instant—a thunderous EXPLOSION!
Accompanied by the roar of the heavens, the colossal stone hands violently detonated. The concussive soundwave formed a visible shock collar, spreading its wings like a gargantuan eagle. The blast ring expanded infinitely, scattering the falling rain and punching a massive, clear void into the stormy night sky.
Mahito hovered high in the air, his mismatched eyes glowing brightly. A streak of lightning flashed behind him.
Soul Creation switch: Kirara Hoshi. Cursed Technique Release: Love Rendezvous!
Mahito had activated Kirara Hoshi's Cursed Technique. In that brief window, he had physically perceived Chojuro's Cursed Energy, effortlessly marking it. Through the magnetic attraction and repulsion rules of Love Rendezvous, he instantly violently repelled the crushing stone hands.
The shattered earth and stone swirled like a hurricane, gathering mass before plummeting down like a rampaging dragon, aiming straight for Chojuro Zen'in!
The massive rock tornado swept through the courtyard. The surrounding clan members scattered in every direction using their own abilities, but Chojuro couldn't evade. He frantically deployed his Earth and Stone Manipulation, erecting stone walls one after another in front of him. But the rock storm merely smashed through the barriers, absorbing the debris to become even larger as it bore down on him.
Unless one completely unraveled the mechanics of Love Rendezvous, it was nearly impossible to counter. That was the true terror of the technique. Naturally, in such a short timeframe, Chojuro hadn't figured out its secret.
Chojuro stared in disbelief. "A direct-attack Cursed Technique... got reflected?!" Wasn't the Lord of Curses' ability supposed to be forced evolution? How is this possible?!
The more Cursed Energy Chojuro pumped into his Earth and Stone Manipulation, the stronger the incoming rock storm became, eventually morphing into an apocalyptic, sky-blotting stone tornado. The man who had grabbed Chojuro finally gritted his teeth and abandoned him. Chojuro instinctively reached out to grab him, but the man deftly dodged away.
In the next second, the stone tornado struck!
Chojuro covered his face with his arms, pouring every ounce of his energy into reinforcing his body. The tornado slammed into him. Massive boulders relentlessly battered his frame. He managed to withstand the initial impacts, but the rocks kept coming—tons, dozens of tons, hundreds of tons! The very earth he had manipulated ultimately buried him, forming a grotesque, fifty-meter-tall mountain of rubble over his body.
Chojuro Zen'in was dead.
Techniques with physical mass were no longer a threat to Mahito. One of the major flaws of Love Rendezvous was that it required actual contact with Cursed Energy to take effect. But launching a direct physical attack against Mahito was tantamount to suicide. For Kirara, the technique required meticulous planning and extreme intellect to be fully utilized. But Mahito didn't need any of that.
He had an immortal body. Against a mere direct-attack technique, all he had to do was tank the hit once, immediately mark the Cursed Energy, and use Love Rendezvous to reflect it. He was utterly invincible!
Mahito descended from the sky, landing softly on the ground, and deactivated Love Rendezvous.
The tightly packed mountain of rubble suddenly loosened, collapsing with a deafening crash that crushed the adjacent corridor. Mahito slowly exhaled. Idle Transfiguration was already at work. The lacerations on his body rapidly knit themselves back together. He then switched to the Construction technique, meticulously recreating his tattered kimono and haori thread by thread.
Dust billowed into the air as the rubble collapsed, so thick that even the heavy rain couldn't suppress it. By the time Mahito walked out of the dust cloud and back into the main courtyard, his body was completely unblemished. His clothes were immaculate, and even his bamboo hat looked brand new beneath the downpour.
"Next," he said.
The next challenger didn't keep him waiting. A flash of silver light cut through the air, and a razor-sharp blade appeared right before Mahito's eyes. The logic was simple—
"Since direct-attack Cursed Techniques don't work on you, let's see how you handle close-quarters combat," the newcomer said.
"Did you already forget about the Kukuru Unit outside?" Mahito replied.
*My Mirokuji Kirigiri can cut through anything; it is peerless in this world. No matter what weapon you hold, you cannot match my Kirigiri. How dare you challenge me in blade-to-blade combat?*
Mahito gripped his longsword with one hand and brought it down in a vicious slash!
*CLANG—!*
Mahito's pupils dilated.
A katana struck the back of Kirigiri's blade, forcefully pinning the edge to the ground. The sorcerer holding the katana looked up, revealing the weather-beaten face of a middle-aged man. His expression was completely stoic, as stern as a carved statue. He wore his hair in a samurai ponytail and was dressed in a loose, traditional kimono. A faint, fiery crimson glow pulsed from his katana, the flames flowing steadily along the steel.
He had perfectly exploited the *only* weakness of the Kirigiri: you cannot use the Cleaving Line with the back of the blade! But how could an ordinary person accurately predict Kirigiri's exact slashing trajectory?
Let alone a normal person, even a true master swordsman couldn't read Kirigiri's path. Kirigiri wasn't a normal sword. Even if you could read the wielder's intent, could you read the intent of the sword itself? Theoretically, this "only weakness" wasn't a weakness at all.
Yet, the katana wielder had done exactly that. The man spoke coldly:
"Hei Unit. Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. Ogi Zen'in."
"Let us cross blades!"
A Special Grade 1 Sorcerer! This was a rank that sat above Grade 1 but just below the anomaly of Special Grade. It was common knowledge in the jujutsu world that Special Grade sorcerers were complete outliers, and that Grade 1 sorcerers were the true pillars of jujutsu society. Special Grade 1 represented the absolute pinnacle of an ordinary man's limits.
And now, the "absolute pinnacle" stood right in front of Mahito.
Mahito violently jerked his blade upward, but Ogi swayed backward like a drifting breeze. The Kirigiri sliced clean through the trailing edges of Ogi's hair, failing to scratch his skin.
Mahito lunged forward, abruptly switching techniques: Tool Manipulation!
The Kirigiri let out a piercing shriek. A brilliant arc of silver light tore through the courtyard, flashing like a meteor across the night.
Ogi's expression remained grave. His feet stayed rooted to the exact same spot. His katana moved with impossible grace, lightly tapping the flat of Kirigiri's blade. In the next split second, the lethal strike that should have cleaved him in two slid harmlessly past his side. A massive, jagged fissure was carved into the Zen'in courtyard, and a shower of bright sparks erupted in the rain.
*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*
A flurry of five consecutive strikes, five consecutive parries. Mahito and Ogi crossed blades at extreme close quarters. Sparks exploded around them. They looked like actors performing a highly choreographed stage play—every thrust aimed perfectly at a vital organ, only to be seamlessly deflected at the very last microsecond in a terrifying display of lethal synchronization.
Mahito's mismatched eyes burned brighter, glowing like a demon in the stormy night. The blade of Ogi's katana began to ripple with sparks, until a stream of liquid fire wrapped completely around the steel. The intense heat instantly vaporized the incoming raindrops, enveloping both combatants in a thick cloud of steam. Despite fighting in a torrential downpour, the temperature between them skyrocketed, until raw fire blasted outward!
Cursed Technique Release: Blazing Fire!
Ogi's innate technique allowed him to wreathe his blade in flames, amplifying the cutting power and extending his attack range. He could have unleashed a massive wave of fire to incinerate Mahito outright, but he didn't dare. He had just witnessed the gruesome fate of Chojuro's direct-attack technique, and he feared that the flames would simply be reflected back at him.
But just because he couldn't fire off a projectile didn't mean he couldn't amplify the sheer lethality of his slashes!
Ogi swung his katana with everything he had, the flames at the tip dancing like violent spirits. Mahito countered with massive, sweeping arcs of the Kirigiri. The incredibly long straight-blade gave Mahito the reach of a spear. At first, Ogi managed to close the distance and strike within his katana's range, but as the seconds ticked by, he found himself being forced backward step by step. Mahito's terrifyingly high-speed growth was rapidly overriding Ogi's technical mastery. Ogi was forced into a defensive retreat.
Initially, Mahito had been wielding the greatsword with one hand, but soon he switched to a two-handed grip. The tip of his blade narrowly missed Ogi's vitals time and time again. Shrouded in silver light and crimson fire, their silhouettes blurred together in a deadly dance. Their movements grew faster and faster until a crack of lightning illuminated the courtyard, revealing only two intertwining streaks of light: Mahito's Kirigiri and Ogi's katana.
*CLASH!*
With one final exchange, Mahito and Ogi both leapt violently backward, breaking the extreme close-quarters engagement.
Mahito laughed loudly. "Impressive! I'll admit it, Ogi Zen'in. Your swordsmanship is superior to mine."
He meant it sincerely. Prior to this, he had never faced a swordsman of Ogi's caliber. The Kirigiri inherently possessed a much longer reach, and it carried the supernatural trait of cutting through anything. Anyone watching would assume Ogi was at a massive disadvantage. Yet, even now, Ogi maintained his composed stance.
This was the true weight of a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. Mahito felt it firsthand.
Ogi slowly sheathed his katana. He lowered his hips, gripping the scabbard with one hand and resting the other on the hilt. He bowed his head and closed his eyes. His bangs fluttered in the stormy wind as he assumed a perfect Iaijutsu stance.
A single drop of blood drifted into the air. A thin red line appeared on Ogi's cheek, quickly washed away by the rain. Mahito's high-speed evolution had genuinely threatened his life.
*Too fast. His growth rate is too absurd,* Ogi thought with dark realization.
Ogi knew that in the last clash, he was the one who had actually lost. It wasn't just that Mahito's growth was overwhelming his technique; it was a much simpler, more brutal truth—Mahito's raw physical specs were simply too high!
At the end of the day, "technique" existed to bridge the gap in physical strength. But Mahito's physical superiority had completely eclipsed the point where technique could compensate. Ogi could consistently predict Mahito's attack trajectories; he could even read the exact landing point of Kirigiri's edge. But his body couldn't keep up.
When Mahito's reflexes exceeded Ogi's draw speed, how could he possibly win a prolonged fight?
Mahito was already physically stronger, and his growth rate was beyond comprehension. If this dragged on, Ogi would simply be bled dry! He had to be faster. Faster. *Faster!*
*I must deliver the decisive strike with absolute speed!*
"Likewise," Ogi said coldly, his eyes still closed. "I never imagined a mere Cursed Spirit could wield a blade with such exquisite skill. I thought that by sealing the cursed tool in your hands, I could execute you with ease. To think you've pushed me this far."
Mahito genuinely felt like he was fighting a boss. He knew who Ogi Zen'in was. In the original story, Ogi was practically a clown, a stepping stone. Because of that, Mahito had never taken him seriously.
His eyes had always been set on the head of the Zen'in clan. He hadn't expected to face any real resistance before reaching him. This proved that characters deemed "clowns" in the manga weren't necessarily weak. Relying solely on meta-knowledge to underestimate his enemies would eventually get him killed.
Fortunately, learning that lesson now wasn't too late!
Watching Ogi's stance, Mahito keenly noticed the older man's expanded Cursed Energy perception rapidly contracting. A thin, highly concentrated veil of Cursed Energy began to flow over Ogi's skin.
Mahito recognized this technique instantly. It was a secret art exclusive to the Big Three Sorcerer Families, an anti-domain technique known as Falling Blossom Emotion. It countered cursed energy by automatically wrapping the user in a shroud of their own energy that aggressively intercepted anything it touched. Ogi was applying this technique directly to his Iaijutsu, preparing to unleash his full power in a single, perfectly primed draw.
This was the ultimate preemptive strike. Before any attack could even touch him, it would be intercepted and cut down! Whether it was pure Cursed Energy or a physical blade, within this immediate domain, Ogi was completely invincible!
Mahito's instincts screamed that the match would be decided in the very next clash. How do you break the ultimate preemptive strike? The original story had already provided the answer: crack it with overwhelming speed and absolute, brute force!
Mahito breathed out slowly. Following his breath, his Cursed Energy perception rapidly contracted. In an instant, his awareness scanned the entirety of the Zen'in compound before snapping back to his immediate vicinity. Mirroring Ogi, he lowered his center of gravity and brought the Kirigiri down to his waist.
He had thrown away the scabbard long ago, but he pantomimed sheathing the massive blade. He lowered his head and closed his demonic, mismatched eyes. The rest of the world faded away, leaving only Ogi Zen'in standing before him.
"You're mistaken about one thing," Mahito suddenly said, his voice carrying over his exhale. "I never learned swordsmanship. The reason you think my skills are exquisite is... I just copied them from you and the Kukuru Unit."
Ogi's heart skipped a beat. For a fraction of a second, his focus wavered.
And in that exact microsecond, Mahito drew his blade.
Mahito's lips were sealed shut. He moved without making a single sound, yet the Kirigiri in his hands shrieked sharply. As the blade lashed out, it erupted into an arc of blinding light. Mahito and the Kirigiri violently breached the perimeter of Ogi's Falling Blossom Emotion.
If this had been a clash of pure swordsmanship devoid of Cursed Energy, Ogi would have already lost. But their immediate surroundings were heavily saturated with Cursed Energy. The exact moment Mahito moved, Ogi moved simultaneously. Ogi himself hadn't consciously reacted, but the Cursed Energy shroud blanketing his body had. His automatic interception technique forced his hands to execute the draw.
—The Big Three Families' Secret Art: Falling Blossom Emotion!
Both men stomped the ground simultaneously. IAIJUTSU STRIKE!
When two fighters draw at the exact same moment, the only variable is speed! Iaijutsu is a sword technique with no avenue for retreat. It has no follow-up, no defense. Once unleashed, it only moves forward. Just as Mahito said, this single strike would separate life and death!
And the one who was faster was, naturally, Mahito.
*I WIN—!* Mahito roared in his mind.
"Where do you think you are, Curse? You fell for it!" a voice suddenly barked.
Both blades had already been drawn, but suddenly, one side froze. Right in the middle of his critical swinging motion, Mahito was paralyzed. He was mid-swing, yet his hands felt as if they were tightly bound by infinite steel wires. It felt like mercury had been pumped into his veins. His body turned into an unmoving statue.
—Divine Authority!
This was a sight-based Cursed Technique. Any target caught in the user's gaze would be instantly locked in their current posture, crushed by an overwhelming pressure as if standing before a higher being. A literal Divine Authority.
Though simple, it was exceptionally practical. Just by glaring at the enemy, depending on the target's strength, it forced them to freeze. Even against an opponent with monstrous physical power, it guaranteed at least a momentary paralysis.
And in a synchronized Iaijutsu clash, a single moment of paralysis was the difference between life and death!
*Don't blame me for playing dirty, Lord of Curses,* Ogi sighed softly in his mind.
Ogi Zen'in cleanly bypassed Mahito. A streak of fire flared out. A silent fissure appeared across Mahito's neck. It rapidly widened, and then blood violently erupted like a geyser! Half of Mahito's neck had been completely severed. It was an undeniably fatal wound.
"Beautifully done, Ranta!" someone shouted in praise.
Ranta Zen'in confirmed that Mahito's neck was half-severed before finally blinking, deactivating his technique. He couldn't help but grin widely.
"No, I barely did anything, it was Master Ogi who—"
Before Ranta could eagerly finish his sentence, Ogi Zen'in's head soundlessly slid off his shoulders.
With half his neck hanging open, Mahito had simply continued the momentum of his interrupted Iaijutsu strike with a vicious backhand. The Kirigiri cleanly severed Ogi's neck. Ogi's body was still standing. His head slowly toppled off. The cross-section of his neck was as smooth as a mirror, and it took a full half-second before a massive geyser of blood mist exploded into the air.
The heavy rain pounded down as Ogi's head hit the ground. Until the very end, his eyes remained tightly closed, seemingly still processing his final revelations about the blade.
Ogi Zen'in was dead.
The words died in Ranta's throat, leaving only a sharp, choked gasp that sounded like a dying bird.
Mahito gripped the Kirigiri with one hand and casually raised the other, pushing his half-severed neck back into place. Idle Transfiguration activated silently. The catastrophic wound instantly knitted itself back together. He rolled his neck a few times, checking for stiffness. Perfect.
He casually slung the Kirigiri back over his shoulder, turning to face the remaining members of the Hei.
"Next," he said.