Huomen's eye twitched violently. Cold sweat mixed with dust and ran down his forehead, stinging his eyes. He stared fixedly at Xiao's pair of eyes gleaming with azure starlight, the fear suppressed deep in his heart instantly transforming into hysterical madness.
"You little bastard! Who do you think you're talking to?!" Huomen's five fingers sank into the girl's scalp like iron hooks, chakra surging wildly from his fingertips toward the blue Caged Bird Seal. "I'm from the Main House! You Branch House dogs were born to serve us for generations! Die—!"
Without hesitation, he activated the seal's destruction command.
The girl let out a shrill scream. Her little face instantly turned deathly pale, and her body convulsed violently as though electrocuted.
The inspection room reeked of formaldehyde mixed with blood, making one nauseous. Beneath the dim, flickering red alarm lights, Huomen's face was especially grotesque, twisted by cruelty. He anticipated seeing the girl's brain boil and blood pour from her seven orifices. He anticipated seeing Hyuga Xiao, this rebel, reveal an expression of despair and helplessness.
Yet nothing happened.
The girl's scream stopped abruptly, and her convulsing body went limp. She gasped for breath, while the blue Curse Mark on her forehead—which should have activated—did not spread. Instead, it was as though some higher-dimensional force had forcibly erased it, and its glow completely dimmed.
"How... is this possible?" Huomen froze.
The chakra in his hand was still flowing continuously, but the sense of absolute control established through their bloodline had vanished. Like a taut string, it had been casually snipped apart.
"Did you think that as long as you held that piece of worthless rune, you could stay above everyone forever?"
Xiao's voice was quiet, yet it struck Huomen's heart like a heavy hammer.
He stepped forward.
Bzzzt—!
The azure