The three ancient families that represented the world of jujutsu, the Three Great Families.
Gojo, Kamo, and Zenin.
Among them, if you were asked to name the family with the greatest power and influence, the answer would undoubtedly be the Zenin clan.
The Kamo clan had the deepest history and possessed a versatile inherited technique, but they never quite made it into the mainstream.
The Gojo clan was the same. Without the Six Eyes, they could not wield [Limitless], so at present they were little more than a one-man team centered around Gojo Satoru. In any era without a sorcerer born with the Six Eyes, they were always pushed to the back.
But the Zenin clan was different.
With a collection of inherited techniques led by such outstanding techniques as the Ten Shadows Cursed Law and Projection Sorcery, the Zenin clan had greedily expanded its power based on meritocracy, and could exert enormous influence across the jujutsu world. By now, they even maintained several private armed groups within the clan.
And among those was a unit formed by recruiting only those at semi-grade 1 sorcerer level or above, all of them exceptionally skilled.
Hei.
The Zenin clan’s strongest sorcerer unit.
Thwack!
"Ghk!"
"Heh-heh. Still just a brat, aren’t ya?"
First in line to become the next clan head. The clan head’s son.
The spearhead of Hei.
Naobito had not named him as the next clan head for no reason if Megumi was absent. Zenin Naoya was trash, but his skill was inversely proportional to his character.
With the cut-splitting sense, dynamic vision, and quick judgment he had inherited from his father, he boasted the strongest combat power in the clan.
'He’s so fast!'
Megumi had some confidence in hand-to-hand combat, but before Naoya’s speed, he was collapsing helplessly.
Blows came flying in before he could blink, and whenever an opening appeared, he had to take a clean hit because of the penalty from Projection Sorcery trapping him in a frame.
Whoosh!
The punch aimed at Naoya’s sneering face cut through empty air.
A counter from below, through the opening in his guard, snapped Megumi’s jaw upward and made his consciousness wobble for a moment.
Even while his head spun, Megumi reached out to grab his opponent, but Naoya avoided it with nothing more than a slight lean back.
A low kick slammed into Megumi’s leg.
Whirr!
Speed was mass.
With the force of the impact, Megumi’s body lifted slightly into the air and flipped over once.
Before he could hit the ground, Naoya’s Superman punch drove into his abdomen and sent him flying.
"Guhh!"
Crash-clatter
Megumi rolled miserably across the ground.
In his face-down field of view, he saw Naoya strolling toward him with infuriating ease.
He tried to form hand signs while pretending he couldn’t steady his body, but Naoya’s foot, which had already closed in, crushed his hand.
Crack.....
"Agh...."
"You’re quick with little tricks, but you’re weak as hell."
Thud!
Naoya kicked Megumi in the abdomen again and sent him flying, then licked his lips.
Rotten fish or not, he had expected a lot more from the son of that Toji guy. But he was completely different. Unlike the overwhelming aura of a true strong opponent, Megumi was weak and immature. So much so that even Naoya, who had not yet reached Toji’s level, could crush him.
He had thought about playing with him a little before killing him, but this wasn’t even worth killing time over.
Less than three minutes after the fight began, Megumi’s body was already covered in blue-black bruises.
Naoya grinned mockingly and swaggered in front of the gasping Megumi.
"So what’re ya gonna do now? Hand over the clan head seat, and I might let ya live if ya promise never to show your face in the jujutsu world again."
"Don’t lie. You came here to kill me from the start, didn’t you?"
"Caught me."
That was exactly right. From the beginning, Naoya had no intention of letting Megumi live.
In a clan steeped in aristocratic airs, “legitimacy” mattered. Even if he had suddenly become clan head through a completely forced contract, he could not simply ignore the will of the previous head.
The grandson of the twenty-fifth clan head. The owner of the Ten Shadows Cursed Law, the foremost inherited technique. That alone made Megumi’s existence a serious threat to Naoya’s position.
'This guy’s strong.... Maybe even stronger than that Cursed Womb: Death Paintings guy.'
The hesitation he had felt a moment ago vanished, and survival instinct took its place.
The opponent in front of him was unquestionably dangerous. Not someone to underestimate.
'I need to blind his vision first!'
He already understood the principle behind Projection Sorcery.
It could stack acceleration, but if the technique was broken even once, the speed would return to normal.
And he could not move outside the designated motion.
"Sha...."
"Too slow."
As Megumi tried to form hand signs, Naoya closed in and kicked his hand away.
Ever since then, every time Megumi tried to form signs and summon a shikigami, Naoya had been interrupting him like this.
A nasty sound rang out from the ring finger of Megumi’s right hand after it was kicked.
Crk
It hurt, but it was fine. He had expected this.
'Now!'
Then one of Naoya’s feet, which had been about to follow up with a combo, suddenly sank downward.
"!"
The shikigami summon had been a feint. What he had really aimed for was to close in while Naoya’s attention was drawn elsewhere and get inside his range.
In the instant Naoya tried to activate Projection Sorcery again, a pool of shadow formed beneath his foot and caught his ankle.
His stance collapsed just like that, his movement slipped out of the set frame, and the penalty was imposed.
Shrrrk!
Naoya was trapped inside an invisible frame.
Within the one second granted by that opening, Megumi moved without pause.
He quickly formed hand signs to summon a shikigami, then hurled himself forward and kicked Naoya’s right knee.
Snap!
"Ghk?!"
To beat Naoya’s overwhelming speed, he had to shut down his mobility first.
With the sound of torn ligaments, Naoya broke free of the frame and stepped back.
As if not even giving him time to savor the price of his carelessness, Megumi’s summoned Divine Dogs charged at Naoya.
Slash!
The Divine Dogs’ claws raked the spot Naoya had dodged to, leaving deep marks behind.
If he could still put out that much speed, the injury probably wasn’t severe.
But Megumi had clearly seen Naoya’s expression twitch with pain at the last second.
'He won’t be able to use that explosive speed in this state.'
He was still losing in speed, but Naoya would no longer dare to stack acceleration carelessly.
If he could drag this out, the moment would come when Naoya’s knee reached its limit.
Then he would slam in his trump card.
"You little bastard...!"
With a feral growl, Naoya vanished from sight again.
Bang! Bang!
"Yelp!"
After brutally beating the annoying Divine Dogs, Naoya’s body blurred and charged straight at Megumi.
There was a nasty creaking sound from his right leg, but he ignored it and kept running.
Forcing down the pain, Naoya curved around and took Megumi’s blind spot.
Thoom!
A clean hit slammed into Megumi’s right shoulder.
He had expected his posture to break and for him to fall.
Then, according to the next set motion, Naoya’s fist crashed into Megumi’s abdomen.
Tap!
But contrary to expectation, his fist did not smash into Megumi’s stomach. It was caught in Megumi’s hand.
Megumi, panting hard, sneered at Naoya, whose face had frozen into a stupid expression.
"Huh?"
"You’ve been.....aiming at my abdomen way too much...!"
With his leg injured, it was only natural that Naoya would try to end this in a short fight.
Since he couldn’t track Naoya’s movements with his eyes, he had to predict the set motion and counter it.
By excluding leg attacks and anticipating the next target Naoya would go for, Megumi had successfully defended himself.
"W-what the hell is th—"
Naoya had a bad habit he wasn’t even aware of.
A habit that had become ingrained in his body from sparring against women in the clan since childhood.
Whenever he deliberately targeted the area where the uterus was, his opponents would burst into tears, clutch their stomachs, and collapse. That sight fed his sadistic streak, and before long it had hardened into his fighting style.
A boxer-style approach that used speed to toy with the opponent and pile on body blows until they were worn down. It wasn’t exactly foolish, but this time it had become his downfall.
"Nue!"
This was the chance.
When Naoya had been trapped in the frame earlier, Megumi had not only summoned Divine Dogs.
He had also kept Nue hidden, letting it circle overhead from the moment it appeared. Now it dropped from above and unleashed lightning.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
"Grrrgh!"
"Hah, hahahahaha!!"
The lightning released by Nue struck both Naoya and Megumi head-on and coursed through their bodies.
Shuddering from the numb sensation, Naoya tried to pull away, but Megumi would not let go of his hand so easily.
Both of them were taking damage, but unlike Megumi, who was suffering less harm to his main force, damage was steadily accumulating on Naoya.
The moment he thought victory was within reach—
Pshk
Naoya drew a dagger from his chest at lightning speed and stabbed Megumi.
Cough
The cold blade burrowing into his body made Megumi’s hand go slack, and Naoya did not miss the opening. His knife work tore through Megumi’s body in several places.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Holes opened up all over him, and Megumi lost strength and collapsed.
Naoya’s foot came crashing down on Megumi’s head.
Crush!
"I was being nice to ya. Didn’t want to go this far."
Not using weapons was Naoya’s pride.
No matter how much those stupid older brothers or trash like Ougi swung around high-grade cursed tools, they could never beat him.
The arrogance that he could bring down an opponent with nothing but his bare hands was the foundation of his being.
"Kh....."
"Yeah. Ya do have talent. But not enough to beat me."
It was a disgustingly familiar sensation.
His trembling knee was fine. The stinging pain left in his body was fine. He had experienced this much in missions and sparring countless times.
But
he could not stand the sight of some insect-like brat trying to stand on the same level as him. If this kid kept growing, he would definitely become as strong as Naoya himself, but that would never happen.
He would crush him here and now.
"Send my regards to Toji, will ya?"
The moment Naoya’s knife was about to fall, a voice reached his ear.
"Furube....."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register