"....."
Ogi, Mai, and Maki were entirely frozen.
No one had expected Suzuki's action. For a long, suffocating moment, the courtyard was dead silent. They were just at a total loss, their brains struggling to process what had just happened.
And then, Ogi's shock violently mutated into pure, volcanic rage.
"YOU SHITTY NERD!"
Ogi's face distorted into a terrifying mask of fury. He glared at Suzuki, his eyes practically vibrating with unfiltered killing intent. "DID YOU HONESTLY THINK I WOULDN'T KILL YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE THE CHILD OF MY BROTHER?! YOU COCKY, INSOLENT LITTLE SHIT!"
Chuckle.
"Kill me?"
Suzuki let out a soft, genuine chuckle, looking at Ogi with an expression of pure, unadulterated amusement. "With your power? Are you kidding me? For someone who couldn't even protect his own daughters and treats his own blood like trash... do you honestly think you have the capability to kill me, Ogi?"
"DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF, YOU ARROGANT BRAT! DO YOU THINK YOU ARE POWERFUL JUST BECAUSE YOU LEARNED USELESS KNOWLEDGE FROM MONKEYS?! YOU THINK YOU CAN LOOK DOWN ON ME?!"
Ogi's hand was already gripping the hilt of his katana, his knuckles turning white as he prepared to draw the blade.
Naturally, the screaming attracted a massive commotion. Members of the Zenin clan—servants, guards, and lower-ranking sorcerers—flocked to the courtyard, hiding behind sliding doors and pillars to watch the confrontation.
It was impossible to ignore Ogi's roaring.
Every eye locked onto Ogi and Suzuki.
As for Maki and Mai standing right behind him? The entire clan subconsciously ignored them. Just like Ogi, the rest of the Zenin household viewed the twins as absolute trash—useless small fry whose only purpose in life was to serve as tools or breeding stock for the family.
But Ogi and Suzuki were entirely different existences.
Those two were among the absolute strongest pillars of the Zenin Clan.
Ogi's strength was obvious. He was the younger brother of Naobito, the Clan Head, and a certified Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. In a direct physical confrontation, Ogi was a lethal threat.
However, Suzuki's presence in the clan was an anomaly that baffled and infuriated everyone. He was the youngest son of Naobito Zenin, and he had naturally inherited his father's terrifying, inherited cursed technique. But instead of remaining at the estate to hone his talent on the battlefield and serve the clan, he had completely wasted his potential by moving away to study at a normal human university.
Yes, Kyoto University might be one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country, but what actual use did a Jujutsu Sorcerer have for human knowledge?! Did Suzuki honestly believe he could live like a normal civilian while carrying the Zenin name?
Yet, beneath their loud hatred and disgust for the boy, what the clan truly felt toward Suzuki was envy.
Suffocating, bone-deep envy.
This feeling bit them to the core. Every single sorcerer in that courtyard secretly wished they were in Suzuki's place. They wished they possessed his immense talent so they could walk away and do whatever they wanted. But they couldn't say that out loud. If they tried to rebel, they would be beaten down by the system.
In the Jujutsu world, possessing overwhelming strength meant absolute freedom. No one could challenge you.
Suzuki was the absolute epitome of that freedom. He had succeeded in the Jujutsu world, and he had succeeded in the human world. He made the rest of the clan feel like complete, miserable failures. They knew that without their cursed techniques, they were nothing. Yet, even with their cursed techniques, they couldn't reach Suzuki's level. They hated him because if they didn't, they would be forced to hate their own pathetic weakness.
"LET ME CUT OFF ONE OR TWO OF YOUR LIMBS! MAYBE THEN YOU WILL REALIZE YOUR MISTAKE, YOU SHITTY BRAT!"
Despite framing his words as a disciplinary lesson, Ogi was not holding back. His cursed energy flared violently. He fully intended to strike with lethal force. He planned to kill Suzuki right here, right now!
Why?
Because Ogi knew from bitter experience that if he didn't strike with intent to kill, he wouldn't even be able to touch the boy.
The Ghost of Zenin.
Even before Suzuki had left for Kyoto University, his combat feats were infamous. By constantly adjusting the frame rates of his Projection Sorcery, Suzuki could create a visual "smear" effect, making his physical body appear blurred, intangible, and entirely ghost-like. It made him functionally impossible to hit.
The only way to strike the Ghost was to overwhelm him with a massive, unavoidable area-of-effect attack!
"Blazing Courage!"
Ogi drew his katana in a blinding flash. The blade was instantly engulfed in an intense, roaring blue flame capable of melting solid steel!
Yet, what made Ogi truly dangerous wasn't just the cursed fire; it was his mastery of the blade. His swordsmanship was as swift and precise as a diving swallow!
"DIE, BRAT!"
Ogi swung his katana with all his might, launching a massive, sweeping wave of blue fire and lethal cutting force meant to entirely engulf Suzuki and sever his neck in a single stroke!
Yet—
"Have you ever heard of the concept of 3D Rendering Errors?"
Suzuki casually pushed the frame of his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
He was already standing directly behind Ogi.
"Eh?"
Ogi froze, utterly dumbfounded. His eyes darted down. His master-crafted katana was perfectly, cleanly severed in half. And Suzuki—instead of being reduced to a pile of charred charcoal—was standing behind him, completely unscathed.
Before Ogi's brain could even register the impossible reality of his broken sword, Suzuki's fist slammed into his face with the kinetic force of a freight train.
Ogi's head was driven so violently into the courtyard floor that the impact shattered the foundation of the mansion!
CRACK!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The wooden decking splintered into a thousand pieces, sending up a massive cloud of dust. Ogi was left crumpled inside a small crater, his body twitching uncontrollably as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Ah, my apologies," Suzuki said calmly, looking down at the twitching man. "I forgot you're an uneducated idiot. You probably don't understand what a 3D Rendering Error is."
"..."
The entire courtyard of spying Zenin members fell into terrified silence.
"Let me dumb it down for you," Suzuki continued, adopting the tone of a bored university professor. "The Pauli Exclusion Principle states that two fermions—or physical matter—cannot occupy the exact same quantum state, or space, at the exact same time. If they do, the laws of physics break. I simply applied that fundamental mechanism to Projection Sorcery."
Suzuki paced slowly around the crater as he explained. "By using my innate technique, I can touch an opponent, or their weapon, and forcibly freeze them into a 2D frame. Usually, whether it's my father or my older brother, they strike the frozen frame to physically shatter it. It's a brute-force method. But I evolved the application."
"Instead of striking the frame to break it, I use my accelerated movement to occupy the exact same physical space as your blade's frozen frame. I literally 'glitch' my hand inside your blade while it is still trapped as a 2D image."
Suzuki crouched down slightly, looking at Ogi's bleeding face.
"Now, what happens when the one-second timer ends?" Suzuki smiled coldly. "When your blade is forced to return to a 3D state, my physical hand is already occupying the space inside its molecular structure. The result? Physics desperately attempts to resolve the conflict of two solid objects occupying one space. The result is an explosive, violent separation of matter. I literally ripped your weapon apart from the inside out."
Suzuki nudged Ogi's shoulder with the toe of his Converse sneaker.
"Now, do you understand the lecture? Oi, answer me."
Suzuki lightly kicked Ogi in the ribs, trying to wake him up.
"Er... Onii-chan..."
"Yes, Mai?"
"He's completely passed out..."
"Oh, really?" Suzuki sighed, looking genuinely disappointed. "I guess my dear uncle is just incredibly weak. What a shame."
"Gah...!" Ogi suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood before finally going completely limp in the crater.
DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!
Suddenly, a massive, deafening alarm bell began to echo violently throughout the sprawling Zenin estate. The clan guards had finally registered the threat!
"Come on. Let's go," Suzuki said, casually stepping directly over Ogi's unconscious body and continuing his walk toward the main house.
"..." Mai and Maki stared at each other.
The twins were at a total loss for a few seconds. Then, sharing a silent look of mutual understanding, they both stepped directly onto their father's chest, using his body as a literal doormat as they followed Suzuki deeper into the compound.
"Geh!" Ogi groaned in his sleep as their boots dug into his ribs.
By the time the twins caught up with Suzuki, the entire Zenin Clan had descended into absolute, terrified chaos.