Kaito Yamada had been tracking Zenin Shien for eight months. Eight months of patience and careful preparation, all leading to this moment.
"So much bloody work to kill a twelve-year-old..." Kaito muttered, eye pressed to his rifle scope. Kaito had to go above and beyond because the Zenin brat was rumored to be appointed special grade soon by the higher-ups. Someone wanted him dead before that happened, and sadly for the kid, the bounty was too good for Kaito to pass up on. The rifle was loaded with special ammunition—expensive rounds that had cost Kaito more than mere money. But they needed every advantage they could get, because if they missed and were spotted, they would not live long enough to regret it.
"Movement," a voice whispered beside him. Invisible, but present. Daichi Kurosawa, his reconnaissance specialist. Three years of partnership, eight months of surveillance on this specific target. The man's cursed technique was invisibility, and it made him invaluable for tracking targets. They'd followed Shien to Aokigahara weekly, staying outside his sensory range, documenting patterns. They knew he trained here regularly and pushed himself to exhaustion. Knew his cursed technique involved fire—devastating flames that could incinerate targets instantly. Even from a kilometer away, they could feel the heat. Detonation, it was called. Utterly devastating, which is why Kaito had to bring in outside contractors to help him out. It would mean giving up a share of the bounty, but still, better something than nothing.
Intel had suggested the boy would be bringing company. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for, because for sorcerers as strong as the boy, the people around them were liabilities, not assets. All they needed to do was create a distraction when the boy's guard was down and get a clean shot in. Perfect opportunity.
"He's activating something," Daichi's invisible voice reported from closer to the forest. "Cursed energy spike is massive—"
The world shattered.
Even from their distant position, Kaito felt the pressure of the domain expansion. A vast presence that made the air itself feel heavy.
"What the hell is that?" Niji Ebina whispered, staring at the forest. The curse user's lidless eyes widened, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.
Kaito couldn't see inside the domain—none of them could. Domains were closed spaces, barriers that separated reality. But the sheer scale of the cursed energy...
"Domain expansion," Kaito said quietly. "Intel didn't mention this. The boy almost always used a curtain before he trained; he hasn't today. Maybe he was always doing this and we didn't know. We would be foolish to enter a domain from outside."
"Do we abort?" Jiro Awasaka asked.
"No. We wait." Kaito's finger rested on the trigger. "Even Special Grades get cursed technique burnout after maintaining a domain. Especially a domain this large—it absorbed every cursed spirit near him... We let him exhaust himself, then strike when he's weakest."
Hours passed. The domain remained active.
More hours. Still active.
"How long can he maintain this?" Niji asked nervously.
Kaito didn't answer. He was recalculating. Adjusting. What on earth were they doing inside? This was ridiculous, even by special grade standards—to hold a domain open for so long, the cursed energy requirements must be enormous.
But Shien's domain remained.
Twenty-four hours.
Forty-eight hours.
They waited in the freezing cold, taking shifts, waiting for the domain to collapse so they could pick the boy off.
"Two days..." Daichi's voice whispered. "The kid's maintained a domain expansion for two days straight."
Kaito felt cold sweat run down his back. They needed to make their shot count now more than ever—God knows how many other capabilities the kid was hiding.
"We stick to the plan," he said, keeping his voice steady. "He'll be even more exhausted when he comes out. The longer he maintains it, the worse his burnout will be. This actually works in our favor. Let's relocate to the pickup point. Daichi, you keep eyes on the target."
The bounty was one billion yen total—five hundred million upfront, five hundred million on confirmation. Kaito was under a binding vow not to reveal his employer, but that was standard. He'd taken worse jobs for less money.
Finally, on the third day, the domain collapsed.
"Target emerging from forest," Daichi reported. "Three individuals. All look exhausted. The target is bleeding from the nose and staggering. They're heading for the vehicle."
"Positions," Kaito commanded quietly.
Jiro Awasaka, the strongman and well-known psychopathic curse user with his Inverse technique, moved into flanking position. His ability could counter cursed energy attacks—perfect for soaking up damage and distracting the boy.
Niji Ebina, construction manipulation specialist, took cover behind trees where he could create barriers quickly.
The bagman—nameless, silent—prepared his clone technique and began to create three copies of himself.
And Daichi remained invisible, reporting on the target's location.
"Driver's in the vehicle," Daichi whispered. "Engine turned on. He's just waiting in the car."
"When they reach the vehicle, I take the shot," Kaito said. "Daichi, confirm target position."
Through his scope, Kaito watched Shien approach the SUV. The boy looked exhausted—dark circles under his eyes, his arm around the girl. Perfect.
"He's checking the vehicle," Daichi reported. "Two hundred meters from driver and approaching steadily."
"Now," Daichi whispered. "Take the driver now. Stop their escape route. Keep the target in place."
Kaito adjusted his aim to the driver—Hayato, according to intel. He aimed at center mass. Two shots of 7.62 NATO rounds.
Crack. Crack.
The silenced rifle made minimal noise. Both bullets struck true—chest shots, right over the heart. The driver slumped over the wheel.
The targets staggered toward the car, completely unaware of them.
Kaito adjusted his aim square at the target and fired twice more in rapid succession.
Crack. Crack.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No! Not like this. Not again.
Flash of memory—another life.
No, this is how I died the last time—pinned down in an ambush and then blown up by an IED.
Shien started to steady his breath, trying to calm the tumult of memories and emotions that flooded his brain.
Not again. NOT AGAIN.
Rage and survival instinct surged through him in equal measure.
The bullets were lodged in his flesh—by design, he realized immediately. When he tried channeling RCT to his wounds, the pain intensified dramatically. The bullets felt like they were writhing inside his flesh. This was not normal ammunition. It would have never penetrated his cursed energy-reinforced skin if it was. RCT somehow makes it worse.
The bullets react to cursed energy flow. So I should stop feeding them power.
Shien cut off the cursed energy to his limbs entirely, redirecting everything to his core. His enhanced physiology would handle the bleeding naturally. If he wasn't enhanced, he'd have already passed out from blood loss.
"Stay down," Shien said quietly to the twins. "Don't move."
He stood, reached down, and simply took the naginata from Maki's hands and Slaughter Demon from Mai's belt.
The twins stared at him, terrified.
Movement in the trees. Seven figures approaching. Seven possible assailants. And a sniper in the trees, possibly more hidden.
Doesn't matter. I'm not dying here.
Shien's right hand blazed with cursed energy. He was going to get these bastards alive, and he needed to make sure the sniper didn't get him first.
Flashbang.
The cursed energy detonated in a massive burst of light and sound, far stronger than a normal flashbang. Anyone looking at him would be completely blind for precious seconds.
Shien moved.
The curse users had expected fire. They'd expected Shien's rumored flame technique, the devastating attacks that could incinerate curse spirits.
What they got was a tactical flashbang followed by a crippled twelve-year-old moving faster than any of them could track.
Three clones from the bagman charged in, blinded but simply trying to swing at the last known location of the target.
Shien cut through them like they were paper. The naginata swept in perfect arcs, each movement economical and precise. Three heads separated from three bodies in under two seconds.
The clones dissolved.
Another flashbang detonated.
"I can't see!" Niji screamed, construction materials erupting blindly around him in a panic.
Shien was already past the barriers, Slaughter Demon leading. The cleaver took Niji in the knee, shattering the joint. Before Niji could even scream, Shien drove the blade into his lower back, just above the kidneys.
Niji collapsed, paralyzed from the waist down, twitching on the snow as his blood painted it red.
Jiro Awasaka charged in blind, his Inverse technique active and ready to counter the cursed technique—
But Shien was not using cursed energy, rather just relying on his enhanced physicality as he buried his knee into the mustachioed man's gut.
All the air exploded from Awasaka's lungs. As the muscular man doubled over, Shien grabbed the man's head with his palms and drove his thumbs knuckle-deep into his eye sockets.
Awasaka's scream was inhuman. He thrashed.
Shien held firm and stomped on the man's knee with all his might. It shattered with a crack.
Awasaka fell to the floor screaming as blood poured from his ruined eyes and his knee pointed at an unnatural angle.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Three rifle shots from the sniper, firing blind but trying to bracket Shien's last position.
Shien deflected the first bullet with the naginata blade, dodged the second by shifting his weight, and caught the third with Slaughter Demon's flat.
Another flashbang detonated.
The bagman's original body stumbled forward, trying to escape—
Shien caught him by the throat mid-step, slammed him against the nearest tree, and drove the naginata through his shoulder, skewering him. One strike to the cheek and the curse user went limp.
One left. The sniper.
Shien's hand blazed with cursed energy.
Flashbang.
The detonation lit up the forest. Then Shien ran as fast as he could.
Even with a bullet in his thigh, even bleeding from his arm, he crossed the distance to the sniper's position in seconds. His rage surpassed the pain he felt from the bullet wounds.
Kaito was still recovering from the flashbang. He had been caught clean with his eye concentrating down the scope.
Shien's hand caught the rifle barrel mid-shot, redirecting it. His other hand drove Slaughter Demon's hilt into the sniper's wrist.
Bone shattered. The rifle clattered to the ground.
Slaughter Demon took Kaito in the shoulder, pinning him to a tree.
Shien's hand closed around Kaito's throat.
"Who hired you?"
"I don't know... contract... anonymous..." Kaito gasped.
"Useless."
Shien picked the man clean up, raised him over his head, and snapped him across his knee with a crack.
Kaito gasped, unable to scream, as he lay there writhing on the floor.
Movement to the left—footsteps, barely audible. The clumps of snow falling from the bushes were a clear indicator someone was there.
Invisibility.
Shien thought as he stomped his uninjured foot on the snow-covered floor. An eruption of searing hot purple flames engulfed a hundred meters, turning snow to steam and the trees to ash. The invisible curse user screamed as fire found him, the flames making his outline visible for just a moment.
He collapsed, cloaking failing, body covered in third-degree burns. Still alive, but barely conscious.
Shien limped over and looked down at Daichi writhing on the ground.
"You'll live," Shien said coldly. "Long enough to answer questions."
Months of planning and the element of surprise, and the fight had lasted ninety seconds.
Five curse users lay on the floor in varying states of critical injury.
Shien walked back to the parking area, blood streaming from his wounds but his enhanced physiology keeping him conscious and mobile. A normal person would have been in shock by now.
He was just angry... very angry.
Hayato slumped in the driver's seat, two gunshot wounds to the chest. The bullets had gone clean through him and hit the back seat. Blood pooled all over the driver's seat and on the steering wheel.
Shien felt sad. Hayato was a loyal man and very reliable.
Worth trying.
He placed his right hand on Hayato's chest and channeled Reverse Cursed Technique. Shien poured as much energy as he could, hoping for the best... and then he could feel the wounds healing.
Thirty seconds later, Hayato's chest convulsed. He gasped, eyes flying open.
"Don't move. I'm healing you. Stay still."
Ten more seconds of work. Hayato stabilized, color returning to his face.
"You must have died from the blood loss... I don't know how, but... the RCT worked. Stay in the car and recover."
Shien retrieved the first aid kit from the back, sat on the SUV's bumper, and used forceps to extract both bullets from his body. Without the bullets interfering, he could channel cursed energy through his body with no pain and as smoothly as before.
Shien healed himself in seconds with RCT.
Mai and Maki ran toward him.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Mai asked, tears in her eyes.
"Who were those guys? Did you kill them?" Maki asked warily, her eyes darting around the forest.
Shien sighed. The fight seemed to have re-energized him—he was awake and alert.
Shien looked at the fear in the girls' eyes and felt bad. They didn't have a lifetime of memories to fall back on like he did.
Shien got up and hugged them both. Japanese people didn't show physical affection to each other, but the gunfight seemed to have awakened the reincarnated American soldier in him. He kissed them both on the head. "Don't be scared. You are safe now, and I am fine! Those guys tried to kill me."
The girls seemed surprised by the hug but accepted it.
Hayato got out of the car, tired but steady on his feet.
"Hayato, take the weapon and go drag those guys over here. Be alert—they are weakened but still possibly dangerous, so if you feel threatened, stab them. Are you strong enough for that?"
Hayato nodded. "Of course, Shien-sama," as he took Slaughter Demon from him and bowed.
"I am going with him," Maki said, her tone final.
Shien sighed. "Fine, but stay alert."
Maki donned Probable Cause on her hands as the knuckle dusters adjusted to the size of her hands.
"Mai, bring the rucksacks over here. I need some food."
Mai nodded and scurried off, her pistol in hand.
Shien pulled out his phone and thought for a second. Only the members of the Zenin clan knew I was coming here, and these guys seemed to have been planning this ambush for a while.
Shien looked at his contact list and made a call.
Three rings.
"Hello, handsome!"
"Four curse users tried to assassinate me. They ambushed me after I finished my training in Aokigahara, right outside the forest."
A pause. "Assassination attempt? I'm assuming you're fine?"
"I am sending the coordinates. How fast can you get here?"
"Seven to eight hours. I am about to go on another mission."
"I will pay you five million yen, ten million yen if you can get here in four hours, and I will triple it if you can help me find the bastards who hired them."
"Triple?" Mei Mei's tone brightened. "I'll be there in four hours."
"Bring three buckets of KFC, fries, and burgers. We've been in the forest for two days."
"...KFC?"
"I am starving. I think getting shot does that to a person."
"You got shot! Hmmm, very well. I will be there in four hours, Shien-kun, and the KFC will be on the house since you had such a bad day."
Shien chuckled. "You are generous as ever."
"Shien... stay calm. I will be there as fast as I can."
Shien ended the call and looked at the five curse users lying immobilized on the ground in varying states of brutalization. The paper bag clone guy seemed to be comatose—his cheekbone shattered and his eyeball bulging out. The bleeding from his ear meant serious brain trauma. The invisible guy was just rasping incoherently since he got turned extra crispy. The mustache guy was groping the floor, mumbling incoherently.
The lipless guy, who also seemed to have no eyelids either, had tears flowing from his eyes and seemed like he would bleed out any moment now. The sniper was the only one who seemed to be in any state to interrogate, and he was the only one who had managed to hurt him.
Shien was very curious about the bullet that hit him. It was not brass or lead but was made of bone. It seemed to have been imbued with a cursed technique that disrupts cursed energy. Shien wanted to know more about this. Despite the dire and bloody situation they were in, Shien's mind was swimming with possibilities.
Hayato stood nearby, his face pale but stern, with Slaughter Demon in hand, ready. Maki stood next to Shien with the recently recovered naginata. Mai was away in the car, connecting the electric kettle, heating some water to make cup ramen for Shien.
"Now then," he said quietly. "Let's talk about who hired you."