I noticed it first in the reflection.
The polished floor caught my image when I shifted, the light bending just enough for me to see myself clearly. Black hair, longer than it used to be, falling to my shoulders in uneven strands. It framed my face sharply now—less round, less soft than before. My features had settled into something quieter, more defined.
My eyes changed the most.
One was green. Deep, steady, familiar. The other was blue. Not like the six eyes though, they were dark blue somewhat indigo in color.
Heterochromia. I hadn't had it before.
'Fitting' I thought, 'they give me an uncanny look, still better than my old boring brown eyes'
I blinked, watching the reflection blink back—almost in sync. Almost.
Something had changed. Not explosively. Not dramatically. It was more like a missing piece finally clicking into place. The background noise in my mind, the constant awareness of cursed energy flowing without purpose.
'So this is it.'
My cursed technique, how to use it, the flow of cursed energy needed for it to activate. All of it had been engraved in my soul, and now I could finally access that technique.
'Chirality' my mind supplied instantly.
Chirality meant mirror-handedness. Two identical structures, one left, one right, functioning the same until they met. My cursed technique applied that rule to cursed energy itself—assigning a handedness to actions and phenomena. When left- and right-handed versions of the same effect interacted, they disrupted each other, often canceling out entirely.
Moreover my cursed technique allowed me to create and use those opposite handed attacks to damage the target.
Its not blood manipulation but it still has immense potential. From the intuitive knowledge I got about this cursed technique, it's not as offensive as other techniques, but it's rather tricky, so I will need to develop other methods of attack.
"Hey Futago, I think our technique just manifested." Interrupting my thoughts about the future of this technique, Tomogui began speaking out loud, rather than using our link.
"I can use it," Tomogui said after a moment. "It responds. Just… weaker".
I watched the cursed energy settle around me, the technique snapping into place with almost no resistance. "Your output's lower."
"Yeah" he replied. "Noticeably. I'd say around sixty percent of yours"
I frowned slightly. "Efficiency too"
"Same number," Tomogui said. "I have to use more to get an even worse result"
That didn't surprise me. If anything, it felt… expected.
"This technique feels wrong like it wasn't meant for me," Tomogui added quietly. *Like it belongs to you, maybe that's why your eyes changed while mine stayed the same* He mentioned that final part using our mental link
"Maybe it does," I replied.
"Anyway now that we manifested our cursed technique we can finally get evaluated and go to the clans training hall"
Kamo Elder POV:
I stepped into the chamber, ready to begin. Futago Kamo sat cross-legged on the tatami, black hair uneven on his shoulders, heterochromatic eyes—green and deep indigo—calmly fixed on me. The cursed energy radiating from him hit immediately: thick, steady, overwhelming. My first instinct was to take a step back, measuring and analyzing the flow.
'How had the clan not noticed this terrifying cursed energy' I thought to myself before collecting my thoughts, 'looks like we have a new genius in the clan'.
"Futago," I began, controlling my voice, "explain your cursed technique. Start with the basics, and be precise."
"Chiral Reversal," he said. "It assigns a handedness—left or right—to actions and cursed energy. When a left- and right-handed version of the same effect meet, they disrupt each other, often canceling entirely."
I scribbled notes. "So it's defensive. Can you neutralize attacks immediately?"
"I cannot assign handedness to raw physical strikes," Futago said evenly. "Chiral Reversal works by identifying the inherent structure in an action or cursed energy pattern. Physical strikes elude me for some reason, I can't assign handedness to them"
"Hmm. So your defense against physical attacks is limited"
I leaned forward, pen tapping. "What about offense? Can you attack directly with it?"
"Indirectly," Futago said. "I can create opposite-handed versions of attacks I've seen within the last two weeks. They neutralize enemy attacks of opposite handedness, but they still carry the same damage the original attack would have done."
"Energy cost scales with the strength and complexity of the attack," he said calmly. "Creating a mirrored attack takes about eighty percent of what it took the enemy to make theirs."
I flipped a page. "What happens if multiple attacks interact simultaneously?"
"They cancel according to handedness pairing," he replied. "Left meets right, they disrupt. Left meets left—or right meets right—they don't cancel. I can tell the handedness of an attack so I will always match the pair so I can cancel other attack"
"Can you only mirror phenomena? Or could you mirror an object, like a cursed tool" I asked. 'His technique seems interesting, even if his cursed technique was weak, that overwhelming cursed energy would make up for it.'
"I can't mirror objects, right now maybe in the future I will be able to" He said those words while averting his gaze, and looking down a little. Perhaps he didn't feel too proud about his cursed technique.
'Even if he is a genius he still is just a brat, if anything this makes me feel a little more at ease, he has been rather methodical in explaining his cursed technique, nice to see he has some flaws'
"Futago, it's time to show me a demonstration of your cursed technique" I stated directly, while getting up and looking at his face. I cut a small incision in my arm and activated my cursed technique, manipulating blood into a ball
"Yes sir" He quickly responded, the downhearted expression from earlier nowhere to be seen. He quickly activated his cursed technique and a sphere of blood quickly formed in his hand, and unlike mine, his did not require any blood to be formed, it was simply a mirror of my own after all.
"Throw it at me now" I ordered before throwing my sphere at him, wishing to see the neutralizing effect of his cursed technique, and how the opposite handed effect worked.
The two constructs met in the air between us.
At the instant of contact, both techniques collapsed. The blood spheres seemingly dissolved themselves on contact. Not even the blood was left as the two spheres completely disappeared.
"Now create that blood sphere again and attack the wall" I need to see if he can create the blood sphere again, and whether that blood sphere can cause damage equal to the sphere I made.
He quickly obliged and with no shock, the blood sphere he created destroyed the wall, proving that his mirrored attacks not only negate their other handed versions, but display the same properties as their original attack.
"You may leave. Tell your brother to come in—I'll be evaluating him next."