Chapter 164 (Patreon)

Naoya Zenin stared at the tall figure standing in the distance.

“Toji Fushiguro…”

This was troublesome.

If Maki had reached some kind of agreement with Toji, Naoya had no chance of winning here. Even if he managed to kill Maki, there was nothing he could do against the monster watching from the other side.

“A dead end… No, wait. Fushiguro hasn’t interfered yet. Maybe whatever agreement they made doesn’t include protecting her life.”

If that was true, Naoya still had a chance.

“In that case, there’s only one thing left for me to do…”

His eyes sharpened as he glared at Maki.

“Kill you!”

“Cursed Technique: Projection Sorcery!”

Naoya immediately activated his technique, dividing a single second into twenty-four separate frames.

Following the movements he had mapped out in advance, he narrowly slipped past the Split Soul Katana’s blade.

“Got you.”

The instant Naoya touched her, Maki was forced to obey the twenty-four-frame rule imposed by Projection Sorcery.

However, when her movements reached the final frame, she failed to follow the predetermined sequence.

Her entire body was instantly trapped inside a flat frame.

Bang!

Naoya shattered the frame with a single blow, sending Maki hurtling through the air.

“You’re not getting away!”

Before he could retreat, Maki caught his leg and slammed it down with all her strength.

Crack!

Naoya’s thigh bent backward at an unnatural angle.

When it came to close-quarters combat, there were very few people Maki feared.

“At first, I thought your technique was exactly the same as Naobito’s.”

Maki tightened her grip on the Split Soul Katana.

“But yours is nothing more than an inferior imitation. All I have to do is move according to twenty-four frames every second.”

Now that she had figured out his technique, Naoya Zenin was no longer a threat.

“No!”

Maki swung the Split Soul Katana with one hand.

The blade descended vertically, cleaving Naoya’s body in two.

His agonized scream echoed throughout the Zenin estate.

What followed was a merciless slaughter.

No one was spared. Man or woman, young or old—Maki killed every living member of the Zenin clan she encountered.

That included her own mother.

There was no hesitation in her movements and no mercy in her eyes.

She had decided to leave no one connected to the Zenin clan alive.

“It’s over…”

Maki approached Toji.

Her appearance had not changed, but to anyone who witnessed what she had done, she now looked far more terrifying than any cursed spirit.

“You didn’t hesitate,” Toji remarked. “Not bad.”

“Yeah.”

Maki turned toward Mai.

“Let’s go, Mai. The Zenin clan doesn’t exist anymore.”

“It’s really gone…”

Mai stared back at the blood-soaked estate.

“It feels strange.”

Toji walked ahead of them without saying another word to Maki. He had no interest in wasting his breath on pointless conversation.

When the three of them reached the gates of the Zenin estate, Mai suddenly stopped.

“Sis, I…”

Maki turned around.

“What is—?!”

A colossal serpent’s head suddenly emerged from the silent forest. Its jaws opened wide before snapping shut around Mai and swallowing her whole.

Boom!

At the same moment, Toji drew Playful Cloud and seized Maki by the collar, dragging her backward.

“What are you doing?! Mai… Mai!”

Another head of Yamata-no-Orochi lunged toward them with its jaws spread wide.

Toji released Playful Cloud and thrust both hands forward, catching the creature’s upper and lower jaws before they could close around him.

“Pretty strong.”

The corner of Toji’s mouth rose slightly.

The muscles in his arms swelled as he forced the serpent’s jaws apart with all his strength.

Rip!

Veins bulged across his hands and forearms as he tore the massive head apart with brute force.

Cold purple blood poured over both him and Maki.

Maki stared at the ground that Yamata-no-Orochi’s jaws had crushed.

Mai was gone.

Her pupils lost focus.

The only family she had left had just died in front of her.

“You bastard!”

Maki gripped the Split Soul Katana with both hands and swung at Yamata-no-Orochi’s remaining head.

Her blade struck nothing.

The serpent had already begun sinking into the ground. Maki could see unmistakable mockery within its narrow vertical pupils.

A moment later, Yamata-no-Orochi vanished beneath the earth.

“Bastard!”

Maki stood before the deep hole it had left behind, her entire body trembling with rage.

“With this, your Heavenly Restriction should finally be complete,” Toji said.

Maki lowered her head, hiding her expression.

“What… did you just say?”

Toji showed no concern. At this point, his only interest was discovering how far Maki’s Heavenly Restriction could take her.

“Mai… Mai is dead.”

Maki’s voice began to tremble.

“She died right in front of me!”

As she spoke, she felt the faint cursed energy remaining within her body gradually disappearing.

In its place was a body from which not even the slightest trace of cursed energy could be sensed.

“You…!”

Maki raised her head, fury erupting across her face.

Before she could attack, Toji punched her and knocked her unconscious.

“What a pain.”

He grabbed Maki and began dragging her away.

As for Mai’s death, Toji did not care in the slightest.

She had possessed a weak cursed technique. Her death had removed an inconvenience while allowing Maki’s Heavenly Restriction to become complete.

As far as Toji was concerned, there could not have been a better outcome. He would have preferred it if Mai had died sooner.

“I’ll train you until you’re strong enough to fight a special-grade cursed spirit.”

Not long afterward, Toji threw the unconscious Maki into an area swarming with cursed spirits.

“Until then…”

He glanced back at her.

“Don’t die.”

——————

Meanwhile, inside Yamata-no-Orochi—

“Where… am I?”

Mai slowly opened her eyes.

A miniature city stretched out before her. Tiny buildings covered the ground, while countless miniature humans fled through the streets below.

“Oh, right…”

Mai stared blankly at the strange world around her.

“I think I died. Does that mean this is the afterlife?”

She turned her head and finally noticed that half of her body was missing.

She had no idea how she was still alive in such a condition.

“What a shame…”

Mai’s remaining eye dimmed.

“I never even got to have a proper conversation with my sister. There were so many things I wanted to tell her, but in the end, I couldn’t say a single one of them…”

Thump. Thump.

A mass of purple cursed energy suddenly appeared before her.

“Do… you want… to live?”

“What do you mean?”

The moment Mai tried to answer, she realized that her throat and vocal cords had been torn apart. Her voice came out as a hoarse, grating rasp.

“Do you… want another chance… to live?”

As the mass of cursed energy drifted closer, Mai could hear the voice within it more clearly.

“Live…?”

Her remaining eye widened.

“You mean… be reborn?”

After a brief hesitation, Mai raised her only remaining arm and reached toward the purple cursed energy.

“Still… not enough…”

The voice came from within the pulsing mass.

“I cannot feel… your desire… to live…”

Mai used every last bit of strength in her remaining half to push herself upright.

Her mangled body was like a torn waterskin. Blood erupted from her wounds with every movement, spilling across the ground beneath her.

“I want to live!”

Mai dragged herself toward the purple cursed energy.

“There are still things I haven’t done! There are words I never got to say!”

Her fingers strained desperately toward it.

“There’s still so much more…”

Her distorted voice rose into a scream.

“I want it! I want all of it!”

Splurt!

Mai’s ruined body finally gave out. Blood burst from every wound, scattering across the miniature city below.

The purple mass of cursed energy pulsed once.

“Very good.”