Kamo Chio was a simple man. An elite of the Kamo family, a family of elites, who had inherited their prized blood manipulation technique that allowed him to become a candidate to be the next head of the clan.
But his candidacy was weak due to the other candidate being particularly powerful with his cursed technique and the fact that the last user of blood manipulation and the one known to be the strongest Kamo dying decades ago to the… demon.
A ridiculous reason for his candidacy to be weak, the fact that Kamo Kenji died simply means that he was weak and that his prowess was exaggerated. And today Chio would prove his superiority and solidify his claim to the title of clan head by killing Sasaki Shura, the so called strongest curse user.
As far as Chio was concerned, the way the elders cowered in terror before the mere name of Shura was pathetic. They were the leaders of the three great families that controlled the world of Jujutsu and they were afraid of one man. Ridiculous.
Not to mention Sakaki Shura had been first recorded over a hundred years ago. Even if he was still alive, the so called demon should be a shriveled old man by now. He wasn't like master Tengen who could reset their age with star plasma vessels. Such a thing would have been noticed.
And even if such an old man still had enough strength in his bones to fight, Chio hadn't come by himself.
He had Takada Akira who had a cursed technique that allowed him to create vacuum spheres from his hands out of cursed energy and more importantly, he had Zenin Sanjuro with him. A fellow elite Jujutsu sorcerer who had inherited the ten shadow technique of the illustrious Zenin family. A technique that allowed him to have up to ten different shikigami that could be used to support them in battle.
So yes, he had nothing to fear from a so called demon of a bygone era and they would prove that.
"Sasaki Shura, show yourself!" Chio yelled out, challenging the so called demon to come out and face their might. The might of the three families.
"I said, show yourself!"
"Yeah yeah, ok. No need to shout brat." A voice came from the woods and then the owner of the voice came out as well. Only this could not be the Sasaki Shura. He was far too young!
With long black hair covering his head and skin that held now wrinkles, the man before them couldn't be much older than his early twenties. He looked younger than Chio himself!
"I do not know who you are stranger, but I am not here to play games! We are here to kill Sasaki Shura so scram before I…" before he could finish his words a massive torrent of heat went pass him.
As he turned his head around he could see the woods behind them were completely gone, with only small flickers of fire on the ground and over the ashes.
"I am Shura and I am not exactly in a good mood, brat. So whatever trick you have, pull it out. You live as long as you entertain me." The monster before them said, one of his arm in the sleeve of his kimono as he looked at them with a bored gaze.
"Come on, I am getting bored and that isn't good for your lifespan." The man said as he raised his hand and it… disappeared! His hand was gone, in thin air! But then it appeared back, only this time it was holding a wood stick? No it was a sword, a shikomizue!
"Now then, come brats." Chio braced himself. He shouldn't be afraid. He was an elite of Kamo clan and his comrades were elite sorcerers as well. They could win.
So he flung himself at the demon of the woods, the skin around his right eye becoming a dark red as he used the technique created by Kamo Kenji, Flowing Red Scale, in order to increase his physical attributes and Sanjuro clapped his hands, causing his shadow to rise up and turn into a pair of dogs.
As he threw several punches at Shura's face, all of which were easily avoided by the monster, the dogs tried to jump at him with their jaws wide open. As Shura moved out of the way a ball of compressed air went towards him, too fast for him to avoid. It would hit!
Only it didn't. Instead Shura whipped his arm and somehow deflected the vacuum ball, which impacted a tree near them.
Then the dogs tried to take a bite out of him again, an effort that Shira rewarded by grabbing them by their necks and with a movement of his thumbs, a crack echoed in the woods and the dogs turned back into shadows.
"No!" Chio heard Sanjuro yell out and then felt the air leave his lungs and lots of blood escape out of his mouth, courtesy of a kick that had landed in his stomach.
"DIE!" Akira yelled out as he jumped at the demon, a giant sphere of vacuum above his head, ready to destroy him.
Ashura still looked bored as he looked up and raised his hand.
And Akira burnt.
A tidal wave of purplish fire left his hand and engulfed the first grade sorcerer, the man didn't even had the chance to scream out in pain before all that is left of him was a charred skeleton.
"HAAAAH!" Someone yelled, it took a moment for Chio to realize it was him who was yelling as he used his cursed technique to control the blood he had just threw up. The blood rose from the ground and took the shape of a chakram with four blades jutting out of it. The the chakram started to spin, faster than Chio ever spun any of his blood, and then the Kamo sorcerer threw it at the demon.
Ashura simply threw a punch at the incoming attack and destroyed it. But for the first time, they had also damaged him. A cut on the back of his hand leaking blood on the floor.
"Hmm, all that for a drop of blood?" Shura asked before backhanding Sanjuro's new Shikigami, a very big boar, and sent it back to its caster. Zenin sorcerer likely wouldn't get back up for a while.
"This was just disappointing. I was kinda hoping that this could be somewhat fun when I realized you had Blood Manipulation. But I guess it was Kenji who was amazing, rather than his cursed technique." He said as he looked down at Chio.
"His use of the technique was unorthodox and he actually deserved his title as a Special Grade. You are not even a downgrade, you are just a weakling like the rest of your generation." Shura spat to the ground and Chio could feel energy return to his body with anger. He was an elite of Kamo clan and he would not accept being treated like this!
But before he could even properly get back up, he saw the impossible. The blood leaking from Shura's hand didn't drop, it rose and gathered into a single crimson orb.
"Let me show you how to properly use Blood Manipulation." And before he could do anything, the orb of blood was in front of Chip's face and it exploded. And then everything went black.