[In the instant flame and steel collided, the air filled with the stench of scorching. The massive white Plume, struck by Ogi Zenin's Blazing Courage tore apart like wet paper, cleaved clean through the belly.]
[Watching that enormous Shikigami disintegrate under licking flames, its body dissolving into wisps of black Residual Cursed Energy that scattered on the wind, something close to deranged joy erupted behind Ogi's bloodshot eyes.]
[Even through the venom and fury still directed at you, the act of cutting down a construct born from the Zenin clan's legendary inherited technique sent a rush through him that bordered on hallucinogenic. It wasn't only proof of his own strength. It was proof that his swordsmanship surpassed the vaunted Ten Shadows Technique. For a mind already this warped, the high was intoxicating.]
[The shadow that had hung over him for years, those worthless daughters, even that seemed to lift. He had never in his life felt this kind of euphoria, as though the blade hadn't bisected a Shikigami but the weight pressing down on him for half a lifetime.]
["Did you see that?! Your precious Ten Shadows Technique is nothing! You're next, you ignorant little rat...!"]
[He never finished the sentence.]
[The iron law of the Ten Shadows Technique is as cruel as it is powerful: when a Shikigami is destroyed, its strength passes to another.]
[The black Residual Cursed Energy bleeding off the slain white Plume did not fade into nothing. In a heartbeat, the deeper shadow pooling on the ground swallowed it whole, greedy and absolute. Then a wave of cursed pressure erupted skyward, heavy enough to make the soul flinch.]
[A shape materialized from the darkness. Larger. So massive its silhouette blotted out the moon.]
[Ogi's pupils shrank to pinpoints. Before his brain could even finish processing the image, a claw wreathed in brutal thunder and reeking of annihilation came down with the weight of a verdict.]
[CRACK.]
[The sound was almost absurd in its clarity.]
[The instant that black claw made contact, the prized blade in Ogi's hands, the one still coiled in searing Cursed Energy, shattered into pieces mid-air. Along with it went every illusion of invincibility. Forged steel sharp enough to split rock crumbled before absolute force, fragile as a toy carved from tofu.]
[And the blade wasn't the only thing reduced to nothing.]
[Gashes deep enough to show bone raked across his chest in the same breath, tearing through his protective Cursed Energy like it was tissue paper.]
["How... is this..."]
[Blood erupted from his mouth. The frenzy in his eyes flash-froze into blank, naked terror.]
[As his body crumpled backward beyond his control, in the last glimpse before consciousness drowned in black, he saw it. Towering over him, darker and more savage than either of the original black and white wolves, stood the beast born from their union.]
[Divine Dog: Totality - Murky Plume.]
[The avatar of destruction, forged because white Plume's death had driven its full power into black, fusing them into something new.]
[Its sheer mass caved in the corridor's eaves. Roof tiles rained down like hailstones. And reflected in those faintly glowing beast-eyes, everything Ogi Zenin had ever prided himself on looked small. Pathetic.]
[BOOM!]
[The impact and the shockwave of cursed pressure that followed finally tripped every dormant defense mechanism in the Zenin estate. Shrill alarms split the air. Searchlights snapped to life, flooding the ancient compound in white glare, wrenching it from its silence.]
[The earthquake-like commotion naturally drew attention from deeper within the grounds. But before any of them arrived, one pair of eyes had already watched the entire spectacle unfold from the darkness.]
[In the shadow of a nearby gate, the young Maki Zenin stood pressed flat against the cold wall, both hands clamped over her mouth.]
[Born with senses far sharper than any ordinary person's, she had not only witnessed the fight. She had heard every word of her father's unhinged howling, blaming all his failures and all his shame on her and Mai, his two worthless daughters.]
[The truth was, even in the hazy understanding of two young girls, Ogi Zenin had never once, not for a single second, played the role of father.]
[Through all the years in this place that might as well have been hell, enduring the cold stares, suffering Naoya Zenin's bullying, this man had never offered so much as a shred of protection or comfort. The only words he had for them were curses. "Weakness is a sin." "If not for you two, I'd be clan head."]
[After everything, young as the twins still were, whatever warmth the word "father" might have once conjured had been beaten and cursed out of existence long ago.]
[But now, with the bloody truth ripped open by an outsider's violence, with that untouchable father lying in the dirt like a dead dog, Maki's feelings knotted into something she couldn't name.]
[Not grief. Not the satisfaction of revenge. A suffocating hollowness, laced with despair and something else... a strange, quiet relief.]
[Through the crack in the gate, she watched. You, that tall figure, stood over Ogi's crumpled body, leaning down to check his wounds. She didn't understand why, but looking at this scene, she felt none of the fear or anger a victim's family was supposed to feel toward an intruder.]
[Once you'd confirmed Ogi was unconscious and badly hurt but alive, your sharpened senses caught the gaze from the corner.]
[You straightened and turned toward the shadow by the gate. You knew who she was, of course. One half of the ill-fated twins born into this hellhole of a clan.]
[You kept your voice low and even, careful not to spook the girl whose every muscle was wound tight.]
["Do you know where Naoya went? Or... have you seen a boy a little younger than you, carrying a school bag?"]
[Silence.]
[Maki didn't answer. She gripped the hem of her sleeve, knuckles white, and stared up at you with eyes too stubborn and too old for her age, as though trying to see straight through your calm exterior to whatever lay beneath.]
[You caught the wariness in her look and shook your head with a wry, self-deprecating smile.]
[Fair enough. You didn't know how long she'd been standing there or how much she'd heard, but from her perspective you were nothing more than a dangerous intruder who'd just beaten her father half to death.]
[No sign of Naoya or Megumi. Position compromised. Guards converging. The stealth plan was dead. From here on out, the only way forward was brute force.]
["Murky Plume."]
[A low command. The massive black wolf beside you understood at once. The plan was simple: send Murky Plume crashing through the front to draw the main force while you used the shadows to slip away unseen and continue the search.]
[You were about to turn when Maki, silent as stone until now, spoke.]
["...The rear mountain."]
[Her fingers trembled as she pointed deeper into the estate.]
["He's probably at the training grounds behind the mountain. I saw him take a boy who wasn't from the Zenin clan in that direction... that might be who you're looking for."]
["Thanks... and I'm sorry."]
[Then you were gone. Swallowed whole by the darkness. Maki stood frozen, staring after you, unable to move for a long time.]
[She couldn't have understood everything that apology carried.]
[It wasn't only about the man lying broken on the ground behind her. Woven into it was something you couldn't put into words: pity for the fate she'd been handed, guilt for being powerless to help her while she was still this small.]
[An apology to a broken world where the only language that mattered was violence.]
[Eventually, as the commotion outside swelled louder, Maki seemed to come back to herself. She walked, slowly, to where her father lay barely clinging to consciousness.]
[She looked down at him. The man sprawled in his own blood, the one who had called her worthless, now defeated so thoroughly he was unrecognizable.]
[But what filled her mind wasn't his old insults.]
[It was the way you'd looked at her in that last moment.]
[Equality... respect.]
[A warmth she had never once felt inside this frozen cage.]
[She crouched down, staring at her own palms, and whispered to no one...]
["Why... would anyone look at me like that..."]