Chapter 158 (Patreon)

DONG—!

The Zenin clan’s alarm bell suddenly rang out.

Jinichi Zenin and Naoya Zenin were still in the middle of their discussion when Ranta Zenin rushed into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“What is all that noise?” Naoya snapped, glaring at him.

“Something terrible has happened, Brother Jinichi!”

“Ranta? What has you so flustered?”

Ranta struggled to catch his breath.

“It’s... Fushiguro... Fushiguro is here...”

A vicious smile spread across Naoya’s face.

“Megumi Fushiguro? So he really had the nerve to come. Does he honestly think a dead man’s last will carries any weight?”

Jinichi remained calm.

“Even if he has come, you cannot simply kill him. Whether you accept it or not, he is the current head of the Zenin clan.”

“The clan head? Someone raised outside the clan thinks he can rule the Zenin family—”

“It isn’t Megumi Fushiguro!” Ranta hurriedly interrupted, frantically waving his hands.

“Not Megumi?”

Both men stared at him in confusion.

Other than Megumi, was there another sorcerer named Fushiguro who had ties to the Zenin clan?

“It’s... Toji Fushiguro!”

“Impossible!”

Naoya rejected the claim immediately.

The dead could not return to life. Such a thing was absolutely impossible.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Toji Fushiguro was killed by Satoru Gojo twelve years ago! How could he possibly be alive?”

“B-But Toji Fushiguro is standing at the front gate right now! No one could have mistaken him. He really has come back to life!”

Naoya and Jinichi exchanged a glance before deciding to see the situation for themselves.

“If Toji Fushiguro really has returned... No. I have to see exactly what is going on.”

With that, Naoya threw open the door and hurried out.

Jinichi could only shrug before following a few steps behind him.

CRASH!

A figure suddenly smashed through a wooden doorway and slammed heavily onto the floor.

“Naoya!”

Jinichi focused his gaze and immediately recognized the man buried beneath the splintered wood.

It was Naoya, who had only just left the room.

“You don’t have to come looking for me. I came to find you first.”

Toji Fushiguro walked toward Jinichi with a broad, almost cheerful grin.

“Fushiguro... Toji...”

“Stay out of my way. I have business with someone else.”

Before Jinichi could respond, Toji struck him with one hand and sent him flying, forcing him to follow the same path as Naoya.

“Damn you!”

Naoya crawled out from beneath the shattered wood. Even as he glared at Toji’s back, he could not summon the courage to attack him.

“It really is him... A dead man has returned to the living world. And he doesn’t appear to be a cursed spirit.”

Countless questions filled Naoya’s mind, but he did not dare voice a single one. He feared that saying the wrong thing might cause Toji to kill him on a whim.

Naoya and Jinichi did not dare obstruct him.

The Zenin clan’s special jujutsu combat unit, however, was another matter.

Its members had been raised as expendable soldiers. Their fear of death had long since been drilled out of them. Without hesitation, they drew their katanas and charged toward Toji.

Toji let out a quiet laugh.

“You lot won’t even make a decent warm-up.”

The sorcerers ignored his contemptuous remark.

“Surround him!”

Dozens of sorcerers, each ranked Grade 2 or higher, swiftly closed ranks around Toji.

“I’ll kill every last one of you.”

WHOOSH!

Toji transformed into a pitch-black blur and tore through their formation.

BANG!

“Argh!”

Every time he moved, two or three sorcerers died.

Every strike he delivered was intended to kill.

SPLAT!

Toji struck the sorcerer before him so violently that his body burst into a cloud of blood.

“This iron staff isn’t bad, but it still doesn’t feel as natural as my old cursed tools.”

Toji had come to reclaim the cursed tools he once wielded.

The person who currently possessed them was Maki Zenin.

“How boring.”

Toji glanced toward Naoya and Jinichi in the distance.

“Once I get my weapons back, I’ll return and kill the two of you.”

Meanwhile, inside the Zenin clan’s forbidden storehouse...

Maki Zenin descended into the underground chamber, only to find her father, Ogi Zenin, standing with one foot pressed against the back of a bloodied Mai Zenin.

“Maki, the cursed tools are no longer here. We anticipated your move and relocated them long ago.”

Mai lay on the floor and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

“W-Why did you come...? You idiot...”

Maki stared anxiously at her younger sister.

Compared to her concern for Mai, Ogi—the man who had personally beaten his own daughter into this state—looked nothing short of monstrous.

“You traitors will all be executed.”

Ogi maintained his quick-draw stance as he invoked the Zenin clan’s secret anti-domain technique—Falling Blossom Emotion.

Maki immediately brought out the Special Grade cursed tool, Playful Cloud.

“Do you know why the previous clan head chose Naobito instead of me?” Ogi asked.

Maki answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Because you’re a vile bastard who would murder his own daughters.”

In the next instant, the two exchanged dozens of blows.

Ultimately, Ogi proved superior.

His katana sliced through Maki’s cursed tool and left a deep wound across her body.

“This is why I was unable to become the head of the clan...”

Ogi stared at his two daughters with nothing but contempt.

“As my heirs, both of you were disappointments—worthless failures who could not even properly wield cursed energy.”

BOOM!

The door to the forbidden storehouse was suddenly torn from its frame and sent hurtling across the chamber.

The iron door grazed Ogi’s cheek as it passed, leaving behind a shallow cut.

“Who is there?!”

“Having no cursed energy makes someone worthless? It sounds like you truly want me to kill you... Ogi.”

“That voice...!”

The moment Ogi heard that familiar voice, his entire body began trembling against his will.

Maki hurried to Mai’s side and slowly helped her sit up.

“Who is that? How can even he be this afraid?”

This was the first time Maki had ever seen fear on Ogi’s face.

In all her memories, her father had always been cold and distant, as though he possessed no emotions at all.

“You should already be dead! Toji Fushiguro!”

Ogi stared at the tall figure emerging from the dust and tightened his grip on his katana.

“You pathetic failure. Even after all these years, you haven’t changed.”

Toji spoke with utter contempt as he approached Ogi.

“You’re still the same miserable little rat, always hiding in the shadows because you never had the courage to face me head-on.”

Despite being humiliated so openly, Ogi did not dare attack.

He knew how powerful Toji Fushiguro was.

It was a realm of strength he could never hope to reach, even if he spent his entire life trying.

“I heard what you said from outside.”

Toji swung the iron staff in his hand before pointing it directly at Ogi.

“You said anyone without cursed energy is worthless, didn’t you?”

His lips curled into a dangerous smile.

“Then come. Show me what someone with cursed energy is made of.”

“W-Wait! I never intended to fight you—!”

Before Ogi could finish speaking, Toji appeared directly in front of him.

“Enough. I’m going to kill you today.”

CRACK!

Ogi tried to block the iron staff with his katana, but he had gravely underestimated Toji’s physical strength.

The blade shattered instantly.

Toji seized Ogi by the throat and lifted him high into the air.

“You haven’t improved at all.”

His fingers tightened around Ogi’s neck.

“Pathetically weak.”