The Zenin Family Civil War

Maki Zenin never held back.

Shoko Ieiri, the Jujutsu world's number one healer, was downstairs, and Akesato and Gardevoir—the monster duo—were standing by. There was no more reassuring safety net than this. As long as they could not be beaten to death, they would be beaten half to death.

Even Megumi Fushiguro, famed for his hard head, could not avoid getting his head split open and bleeding from a hit like that.

However, this second assault ultimately failed to land on Megumi Fushiguro. The instant his Hand Shadow formed, his body moved as well. Though he was not as fast as Maki, he had still entered the realm of the superhuman.

The smile on his face was exactly like Maki's earlier one, as if it openly declared—I was already prepared for that.

The instant he crossed paths with the Battle Blade, Megumi Fushiguro exhaled and shouted, "Divine Dogs!"

A black wolfhound, half a person's height, sprang from the shadow at Megumi Fushiguro's feet. Its claws were like sharp blades as it slashed at Maki's abdomen.

Maki swung her spear horizontally, blocking the black dog's claws.

To her surprise, a white dog leaped from the shadow behind her and struck with a claw as well.

Maki snorted. Unflustered even in danger, she swung the Battle Blade in a full circle, her arm driving it through a massive wheel-like arc. Its force was like a mountain collapse, forcing back both wolfhounds along with their caster, Megumi Fushiguro.

"So this is the rumored Ten Shadows Technique. Using shadows as a medium, it summons ten shikigami. What you used should be the first and initial shikigami, the Divine Dogs."

"Correct." Megumi Fushiguro nodded.

"Let me see the remaining nine as well. This should be enough for a Technique Revelation."

Maki reset her stance and crooked a finger at Megumi Fushiguro.

A Technique Revelation did not necessarily have to come from the user himself; acknowledgment by others also counted. As the signature technique of one of the Three Great Families, its details had long since spread throughout the Jujutsu world, saving Megumi Fushiguro the trouble.

The black and white Divine Dogs flanked her from both sides, then returned to the shadows in the next instant.

His Hand Shadow shifted, shaped like a clam, like a membrane. The second shikigami—

"Toad!"

Four green toads emerged from the shadows where the Divine Dogs had vanished, attacking Maki from all sides.

An individual Toad was far less combat-capable than a Divine Dog, but its smaller size and lower profile made it difficult for Maki's Battle Blade to cover them all at once.

She had barely managed to lower her center of gravity, preparing to counter with a ground-level spear technique, when one toad in her blind spot suddenly opened its mouth and flung out a long tongue that wrapped around Maki's ankle.

It failed to disrupt Maki's footing, but it successfully slowed her movements for an instant.

Within that tiny window, the other three Toads shot out their tongues as well, wrapping around Maki's limbs like four ropes and pinning her firmly to the ground.

This time, it was Megumi Fushiguro who pressed the attack. His hands crossed, thumbs hooked together, resembling a bird spreading its wings.

The third shikigami—

"Nue!"

A massive bird-beast with the face of a tiger and a crimson body descended from above. Its wings spread wide, flickering with pale blue-white electricity.

Each shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique had its own uses, covering both physical and elemental abilities, offense and defense alike. Only such a technique deserved to be called the signature art of the Zenin Family, one of the top great clans.

Toads on the ground and a flying beast in the sky attacked from above and below, but Maki was not the least bit flustered. Instead, her smile grew even more wild.

"Good. Now this is worth defeating!"

Maki exerted both hands and, in the nick of time, tore apart two of the long tongues. Then she bent her waist like a true bow, driving her legs to snap the remaining two bindings. At the same time, she performed a backflip, buying herself a little more room.

Then she raised the Battle Blade high and collided head-on with Nue.

In a flash of lightning, Nue's body swayed as it barely managed to gain altitude.

Maki fared no better. She could not help baring her teeth in pain, and a close look revealed the hairs standing on her skin.

"I'll need to improve its insulation when I get back."

The new Battle Blade's handle had been replaced with metal. It was sturdier, but it had lost its resistance to electricity, leaving her body numb and aching from the shock.

Megumi Fushiguro, on the other hand, remained completely unharmed and had even completed a new Hand Shadow.

The Toads withdrew, and a new shikigami was summoned.

The fourth shikigami—

"Great Serpent!"

The white-scaled Great Serpent coiled and slithered, over ten meters long and a full meter in diameter.

While Maki's attention had been drawn to Nue, the Great Serpent had already circled around her, sealing off her room to move.

The Great Serpent's tough body was not as easy to destroy as the Toads. Once Maki was forced into a dead end, Megumi Fushiguro would win.

Maki did not blindly swing the Battle Blade. She had already fought a large monster once before. Using the Battle Blade as a pole, she pushed off with her feet and leaped directly onto the Great Serpent's body, darting along it straight toward its head.

Seeing this, Megumi Fushiguro gave a cold smile and lightly clapped his hands.

The Great Serpent's enormous body immediately dissipated.

No matter how large it looked, it was fundamentally just a shadow infused with cursed energy. Without cursed energy to sustain it, it was no different from air.

Maki was already five meters above the ground. With her foothold suddenly gone, the outcome was obvious.

"Knock her down! Nue."

The crimson bird-beast dove like an avian fighter jet—an electrified one.

Seeing that she could not dodge, Maki simply stood her ground, raising her battle blade to meet Nue's charge with overwhelming force.

She was slammed to the ground without suspense, dragged along in a shower of sparks and lightning, leaving shattered tiles in her wake until she crashed into the rooftop railing and finally came to a stop.

"Hey, that means I won, right?" Megumi Fushiguro asked Akesato with a sour expression.

Akesato folded his arms and did not even spare Nue a second glance. "It's still too early. Right, Maki?"

The Ten Shadows Technique had an incredibly high ceiling, but that did not mean Megumi Fushiguro was powerful. He was still far from it. If Akesato wanted to win, it would only be easier for him than it was for Maki.

A flash of steel cut upward from below, severing part of Nue's wing. The Girl with her hair hanging loose climbed back to her feet. Though the skin on her face was split and bleeding, her presence was even more imposing than before.

"Don't get cocky too soon, Megumi Fushiguro."

"It'll be the same sooner or later. How long can that injured body of yours last?" As he spoke, the Hand Shadow dispersed, and Nue returned to the shadows.

"I can keep fighting all night. A sturdy body is my only advantage." Maki picked up her battle blade with one hand and sheathed her short blade with the other, taking up her stance in one smooth motion.

It was clearly a crisp and dashing movement, yet the longer Megumi Fushiguro watched, the more something felt off.

"Stop staring. I have no cursed energy—the price of having this body." Maki laid it out plainly.

"Heavenly Restriction."

A flicker of understanding passed through Megumi Fushiguro's eyes.

A restriction was a type of jujutsu that used certain conditions as limitations in exchange for advantages elsewhere, roughly following the principle of equivalent exchange.

Cursed Spirit Revelation and Curtains were both applications of restrictions.

Heavenly meant bestowed by the heavens—something one was born with, something that could not be removed, like a person's inherent traits.

As a direct descendant of one of the Three Great Families, even if Maki had failed to inherit a cursed technique, she should not have been unable to see Cursed Spirits at all. Her Heavenly Restriction had poured all the cursed energy she should have possessed into physical enhancement instead, ultimately granting her a superhuman body. Olympic champions would be pathetic weaklings before her.

Maki had once complained about such a constitution.

So what if her body was powerful? Without jujutsu, she was still considered lower class in the Zenin Family.

But she soon realized that complaining was meaningless. It was better to figure out how to make use of her strengths and change those rotten old notions.

"My injuries are much lighter than you think, and so is my stamina loss. What about you? After summoning shikigami continuously, how much longer can your cursed energy hold out?"

Megumi Fushiguro's expression immediately turned even sourer.

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