[You knew your own condition better than anyone.]
[Murky Plume, that black monster of destruction, was pinning Naoya Zenin in place with sheer pressure alone, but power like that always came with a price.]
[Your cursed energy was bleeding out fast, and the dizziness was getting harder to ignore.]
[Every breath, every spark crawling over Murky Plume's body, chewed through what little you had left.]
[You'd already kept this as short as possible. In, suppress the situation, out. A few minutes at most. Even then, the cost had still overshot your estimate.]
[And honestly... it made you wonder.]
[How much cursed energy would someone need to use the Ten Shadows Technique at its full potential?]
[Murky Plume in its current form was only the result of two fusions. First, the black and white Divine Dogs had merged. Then Nue had been layered on top of that, adding flight and lightning.]
[Two fusions.]
[That alone had almost drained you dry.]
[So what about three? Four?]
[What about the final form, with every destroyed Shikigami folded into one last monster?]
[That kind of consumption would probably suck a Special Grade dry in seconds.]
[The Ten Shadows Technique didn't demand the same kind of hardware as Limitless, which practically needed the Six Eyes just to function properly. But Ten Shadows had its own version of cruelty. It needed absurd volume. A bottomless amount of cursed energy.]
[No wonder the Zenin clan had seen Ten Shadows users appear over the centuries, but almost none who ever truly mastered it.]
[Still, you'd found the person you came for.]
[Megumi looked wrecked, but his eyes were steady. Good. The next problem was obvious.]
[How were you getting him out?]
[With the scraps of cursed energy you had left, trying to ride Murky Plume out of the compound with a child in tow wasn't a plan. It was delusion.]
[If you could still summon an ordinary Nue, maybe flight alone would've been enough to make an escape. But that didn't matter now. Nue had already become part of Murky Plume.]
[Megumi wasn't in any better shape. Your training had helped him tame Nue, sure, but right now standing upright already looked hard enough. There was no chance he could summon a Shikigami to carry anyone.]
[You took a long breath through your teeth.]
[The decision came easily.]
[You pulled out your phone and dialed without checking your contacts.]
[The number belonged to the woman currently waiting outside the Zenin compound in a luxury car, drinking champagne and enjoying the show.]
["Hello?"]
[Her voice came through the speaker lazy and faintly surprised. In the background, distant sounds of chaos drifted in from the Zenin estate's front courtyard.]
["Didn't expect you'd have time for a phone call," Mei Mei said. "Things going that smoothly? I had a lovely view from out here, by the way. Quite the show."]
[Her crows had obviously given her a front-row seat to the lightning tearing through the night sky.]
[You weren't in the mood for small talk.]
["Ms. Mei, I need a favor. Double your usual rate. You won't need to fight."]
["Oh?"]
[Her tone sharpened right away.]
["I found Megumi. I'm at the rear mountain training grounds. I'll make a diversion and hold them here. Use Black Bird Manipulation to guide him out of the Zenin compound and get him to Gojo."]
[Silence.]
[For a woman like Mei Mei, who'd seen every flavor of betrayal and death the jujutsu world had to offer, that actually caught her off guard. She'd probably expected you to ask her to jump into the mess and pull off a rescue. Instead, you were only asking her to take the boy.]
["Just him?"]
[You could picture her setting down the champagne glass and looking through the car window at the estate lit by distant firelight.]
["What about you?" she asked, and for once there was a trace of seriousness in her voice. "Without backup in a situation like that, getting out in one piece isn't exactly likely."]
[Before you could answer, your eyes snapped forward.]
[Murky Plume had been keeping Naoya pinned beneath its pressure. Now it whipped around like a predator catching a scent, massive black wings spreading wide. A low growl rolled out of its throat as both beast-eyes locked onto the treeline around the training ground.]
[The forest wasn't quiet anymore.]
[One presence. Two. Three...]
[Several waves of cursed energy were closing in fast, all of them strong, all of them drenched in killing intent.]
[The Hei.]
[The Zenin clan's real elite had finally arrived.]
[You drew a slow breath and kept your voice level.]
["Someone has to stay behind and take responsibility for this. Wouldn't you say?"]
[Mei Mei laughed softly. "Ha... now that's a reason I can't say no to. Generous, too."]
[There was something in her tone that sounded a lot like respect. Or maybe recognition.]
[You ended the call before she could say anything else. After all these years, you knew Mei Mei well enough. As long as the money was good, there was no one more reliable.]
[You slipped the phone back into your pocket, turned, and clamped a hand down on Naoya Zenin's shoulder just as he tried to sneak away.]
["Aaagh! Let go of me! You bastard!"]
[The strangled yelp that came out of him was pathetic. In your grip, he had all the resistance of a chicken being carried by the neck.]
[You planned to use him as a bargaining chip. A few minutes of negotiation would be enough.]
[You understood the Zenin clan's rotten structure better than most. If Naobito Zenin showed up, there was still room to talk. Gojo should've already contacted him about Megumi. If you could stall long enough for Naobito to get here, the situation might still turn.]
[But you also had to plan for the worst possibility.]
[That these men were too furious to care.]
[You would hold the line until Naobito arrived, even if it meant facing the Zenin clan's strongest force alone.]
["Megumi."]
[Your eyes kept sweeping the perimeter as you spoke fast.]
["In a moment, some black crows might come for you. Or maybe a woman. Either way, they'll take you out of here. No matter what happens, no matter what you see, don't look back. Follow them. Do what they say. Understood?"]
[Megumi had already caught enough of your conversation to understand. The boy was too sharp, too perceptive for his age. His hand shot out and grabbed the hem of your jacket.]
["What about you?"]
[You looked down at him. Those eyes were full of worry, and worse, refusal.]
[Your free hand came down on his messy hair and ruffled it harder than necessary.]
["Don't worry. I'll handle the rest. Next time... I won't let something like this happen to you again. You staying here puts you in danger, and it splits my focus."]
[And then everything went wrong at once.]
[The ground lurched under your feet hard enough to make it feel like some huge thing had rolled over in its sleep beneath the mountain.]
[The earth under Murky Plume split open without warning.]
[Soil and rock exploded upward into a pair of gigantic stone hands, each one large enough to crush a building flat. They slammed in from both sides, trying to pulverize Murky Plume between their palms.]
[You recognized the technique instantly.]
[Chojuro Zenin. One of the Hei. Earth Manipulation.]
[So they're here...]
[Murky Plume wasn't the kind of Shikigami that would let itself get buried quietly. It let out a piercing shriek and hammered both wings down, launching itself upward like a streak of black lightning. It slipped past the closing stone hands by a hair.]
["Think you can run?! Not a chance!"]
[A savage roar came from above.]
[Your head snapped up.]
[Perched atop one of the ancient trees dozens of meters overhead, a hulking man had already launched himself into the air. Jinichi Zenin, ugly as sin and just as subtle, cursed energy exploding off him with brutal force.]
["Eat this!"]
[With that roar, his cursed energy shaped itself into dozens of enormous spectral fists that came crashing down on Murky Plume like a meteor shower. Wind screamed through the air. The whole sky felt packed with fists.]
["So this is it? The little thief who stole the Ten Shadows?" Jinichi snarled. "Turned the Shikigami into this freak of nature!"]
[Contempt and bloodlust burned in his eyes. To him, this stitched-together fusion was a joke, something that would crumple under real power.]
[WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!!]
[Caught in midair with nowhere to dodge, Murky Plume had no choice but to take the barrage head-on. Its lightning-wreathed claws lashed back in retaliation, but under that density of fire, even its near-indestructible body was hammered lower and lower.]
[The final blow drove it down like a falling meteor, straight into the center of the trap Chojuro had already prepared.]
["Now! Close it!"]
[Hidden in the shadows, Chojuro's eyes flashed. His hands slammed together.]
[A deafening boom shook the mountainside. The stone hands that had missed the first time surged inward again, and the moment Murky Plume hit the ground, they crashed shut like a pair of giant gates and locked around it, sealing the black beast inside solid rock.]
["Young Master Naoya! Get over here!"]
[Before you could catch a single breath, another voice reached you. Younger than the others, but cold and steady.]
[Ranta Zenin.]
[Two enormous, grotesque phantom eyeballs appeared in the air before you, blood vessels bulging across them as they stared without blinking.]
[The feeling of being watched turned physical.]
[It was like invisible hands had seized your whole body and locked every limb in place. Moving even one finger became a fight.]
[Ranta Zenin's cursed technique. Paralyzing Gaze.]
[Simple in theory. Filthy in practice.]
[Exactly the kind of garbage that made team fights miserable.]
["Damn it... they're really pulling out everything."]
[Your teeth ground together. Veins stood out at your temples as you fought against the crushing force trying to pin you flat.]
["Run, Megumi!"]
[You caught a glimpse of the boy throwing himself toward you, shouting something, trying to reach you. The roar of explosions and barked orders drowned out whatever he said, but you didn't need to hear it.]
[If he stayed here, he'd only become another target.]
[Then the crows came.]
[A flock of black crows shot out of the treeline like arrows. Their beaks hooked onto Megumi's collar with surgical precision, and no matter how hard he struggled, they dragged him away from the battlefield and lifted him toward safety.]
[The last weight on your chest disappeared.]
[You let out a quiet breath.]
[Your gaze sharpened.]
[There was no avoiding this fight anymore.]
[If these bastards wouldn't talk, you'd beat them until they did. Subdue them first. Worry about healing and damage control later.]
[A growl tore from your throat. The last of your cursed energy detonated through your body like molten iron as you forced yourself upright against Ranta's binding technique. Your hands trembled, but they still formed the familiar shadow seal with absolute certainty.]
["Great Serpent!"]
[HSSSSSS!!!]
[A bone-chilling hiss split the air as a colossal white serpent phantom burst from the cracks in your pinned shadow, forcing its way through the gaps in Ranta's suppression.]
[Its jaws opened wide, but it didn't lunge at the others.]
[It shot forward like an arrow.]
[Straight at Ranta Zenin.]