Akira sat on his heels silently, his gaze focused intensely on Kenjaku as she placed her hands on Mai.
Kenjaku narrowed her eyes in focus as she analysed the damage with Blood Manipulation. A second later, an intense white light of Reverse Cursed Technique lit up around Mai.
'If only I could do this... With my talent, I would be able to heal her without the need for help...' Akira looked at the white light around Mai, envy and desire in his eyes.
Mai's wounds closed up with a speed visible to the eyes; however, they were not all healed. The remaining injuries were still too severe, allowing both of them to see her heart, cut in half through a deep gash.
"I can't heal this girl, my cursed energy is not enough to heal such a wound, and she has been dead for more than four minutes."
Kenjaku shrugged as she pulled her hand away from Mai's body. The cut was closed up from her belly button to her boobs, but other than that, her ribs and heart were still cut in half.
Akira paused at Kenjaku's words before looking down, his eyes zoomed in on his shoes. With a sigh, his red shoes glowed for an instant before black smoke erupted around him, manifesting the figure of Chino.
"Mother, help her with her cursed energy." Akira looked up at his mother behind him, his tone filled with need. Chino looked at Akira and then Kenjaku, and nodded as she placed her hand on Kenjaku's shoulder.
A shudder went through Kenjaku's body as an almost limitless amount of cursed energy surged through her body. Her Reversed Cursed Technique suddenly erupted like a flashbang.
'What an insane amount of cursed energy... I imagine that Rika has even more.'
Kenjaku narrowed her eyes in pleasant surprise as she felt cursed energy filling her body.
"Good, I can heal her with this," Kenjaku spoke with a satisfied grin, and a hint of surprise at Chino's manifestation. She didn't think that Akira could control a Vengeful Spirit to such a level, even if that spirit is his mother.
'Now that I think about it... How could Akira curse his own mother with such low amounts of cursed energy? It's more likely than his mother was the one who cursed him...'
Kenjaku smiled at the thought, while Akira watched her with focus, confusion in his eyes as to why she was smiling so much.
Shaking her thoughts, she focused again. Kenjaku used RCT and Blood Manipulation to start pumping the congealed and cold blood throughout Mai's body again.
She used RCT to generate new blood cells while pulling the old ones out from her wound before throwing them aside.
The new blood cells circulated throughout Mai's body, turning her pale and cold skin rosy again, while her wounds healed and closed up.
A few seconds later, Mai's body began to show signs of functioning as if alive again. Her chest rose up and down, causing a palm-sized ball on her chest to bounce with every move.
Kenjaku used blood to pump Mai's heart and expand her lungs to breathe for a minute straight, until her body was fine on its own.
Kenjaku pulled her hands away, finished with the healing. Akira placed a hand on Chino's back, and she went back to his shoes a second later.
Kenjaku palmed her chin curiously as she looked at Mai, his eyes narrowing as she saw straight through her physical body and deep into her soul.
'So, her soul had not entirely vanished after dying and completing that girl's Heavenly Restriction, but instead had dimmed, turning dull and sleeping. They shared a soul before, but now they are separate. It's like Maki now having 100% of her soul, while Mai has only 60% of hers. With their soul separate, Mai's soul basically lacks the power to function due to being smaller than ever before.'
"By the way, although this girl is healed from her injuries, and her functions have returned to her body, she is now in a sort of permanent coma, which can only be healed with a soul-related cursed technique," Kenjaku informed Akira, who, although disappointed, cared more about Maki.
"Now heal, Maki," Akira quickly pointed at Maki, who, although not as injured as Mai, was still severely injured outside and inside, her internal organs badly burned and stabbed.
"Sure, sure, I'm coming~," Kenjaku chuckled in amusement at Akira's worry as he placed her hands on Maki's body. A white light enveloped her before healing her injuries at a speed visible to the eye.
Her injuries closed, and her internal organs healed fully. Her charred skin fell to reveal new white patches, though her deepest burns did not heal fully, leaving behind shallow and white scars all the way from her midriff up to her neck, and onto the side of her right cheek.
The healing immediately caused the sleeping Maki to open her eyes with a flutter, a pained groan erupting from her dry and cracked lips.
The first thing Maki saw was Akira's worried face hanging above hers, his eyes locked with hers. It sent a tingle of warmth through her otherwise cold body.
The second thing Maki felt was hatred unlike before, along with a cold and silent killing intent coiling around her body. Her senses spread out, her head moving to the side to see Mai.
"Mai..."
"M-Mai..." Maki choked up, her eyes blurring as warm tears slid down her cheeks. She rested her palm on Mai's cheek, feeling the warmth of blood circulating in her body.
Relief washed over her like never before, only for ice-cold water to be poured down on her head the next second, causing her breath to hitch.
"Maki, I am sorry. But Mai... She is in a permanent coma, meaning even though she is alive... She is practically dead," Akira clenched his fist as he felt Maki's emotions.
He didn't want to ruin her mood, but he also knew it would hit her harder down the line if she had more hope, so he just came out and said it right now.
"Mai... Akira, is the Zenin Clan still here and alive?" Maki's face turned cold and emotionless as she sat up. Her palm on the ground clenched, her finger cutting through hard ground like water.
"Yes, they are inside..." Akira nodded at Maki's words. He instantly knew what she wanted to do, and he didn't try to stop her. Normally, he would do it instead of her, since Maki was weak.
But he knew from the moment he laid his eyes on her that the weak but strong-willed girl from before had died, replaced by practically a physically gifted monster.
The way her muscles alone shifted when Maki moved showed perfect synchronisation, not allowing Maki to have any wasted movement.
As of now, Maki is the fourth strongest person he has ever seen, only below the likes of Gojo, Kenjaku, and Hakari. And Hakari is debatable since Hakari's hax are more of his power than his body.
"Good, stay here and protect Mai for me, please." Maki stood up and looked down at Akira crouching next to Mai, pleading in her eyes. Akira smiled before nodding his head, shooing Maki off playfully.
Maki's eyes briefly scanned Kenjaku, caution evident in her gaze. Despite her increased power, she sensed she was no match for the woman in front of her.
But since she might be the one who healed Mai, she would do nothing against her.
Maki turned around, calmly walking into the Zenin clan, and then vanished with a pure burst of speed without any technique.
The next moment, she appeared inside the Zenin Clan's Cursed Tool Storage, which was wrecked by Akira. She calmly looked over every weapon in the storage, until she saw two weapons to her liking.
The first weapon she saw was a three-foot-long chain curled up and tucked against the wall with seal tags covering the chain. She instantly knew this was the Chain of a Thousand Miles.
She had read through the records of Cursed Tools when still in the Zenin clan, so she basically knew every cursed tool.
Maki went and pulled the chain off the wall with force, tearing a big chunk of concrete along with it.
Taking the end clip of the Chain, Maki attached it to the back of her skinny jeans, hooking the clip onto the parts. Maki is making the chain act as a sort of belt, hiding the end from her sight.
Next, she moved to the second weapon she had her eyes on. It was a Katana with three circular holes in the side of the blade. The length was shorter than a Katana, but slightly longer than a Nodachi.
Its name was Kimitsu Shiru. Its ability is to absorb air as it's swung, then boost the speed of slashes by ejecting the air as it's slashed.
She took the weapon, strapping the front end of the chain to the handle before walking out of the Cursed Tool Storage room.
Maki took a deep breath as she looked down at the sword in her hand.
"Let's begin," Maki muttered to herself.
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