Noritoshi Kamo bent his fingers and struck at Maki Zenin's abdomen with his palm. The blow cut through the air with force no weaker than Battle Blade. This was a barehanded strike, delivered without hesitation.
He had planned this from the start and never intended to give up. His personality and the weight he carried would not allow him to retreat. Yet in Maki Zenin's eyes, there was no surprise or panic, only calm and a trace of pity.
She released her right hand naturally and bent her elbow to block the palm strike at just the right angle. Then her arm extended, her hand chopping toward his neck and forcing Noritoshi Kamo to raise his other arm to defend. A chain of kicks followed, ending with a solid blow to his chest that sent him stumbling back, his chest tight and uncomfortable.
Maki Zenin calmly drew back her weapon and took a steady breath. Her gaze swept over Noritoshi Kamo's right eye. The eye that was usually half-closed was now wide open, the whites and the skin beneath webbed with red as blood vessels bulged from abnormal blood flow.
"So that is it. The rumored Blood Manipulation. By controlling blood, you force your body's functions to open up, creating an effect like stimulants."
"Exactly," Noritoshi Kamo replied. "Blood Manipulation is not just about blood itself. Red cells, white cells, platelets, all of it can be freely controlled, and there are no side effects. Crimson Scale Surge!"
He returned at once, his attacks even fiercer under the boost of Revealing One's Hand. This was the confidence that let him fight head-on despite being an archer. It was similar to how Yuta Okkotsu could rely on vast Cursed Energy to fight multiple enemies in close combat despite lacking formal training.
Anyone who practiced martial arts knew that the body was the foundation. Raw strength could overwhelm technique, and Kamo Clan had never relaxed its physical conditioning in pursuit of better and healthier blood. In pure physical combat without Cursed Energy, Kamo Clan had always stood at the top.
Yet despite his expectations, reality struck him again. Maki Zenin casually planted Battle Blade into the ground, discarding her overwhelming advantage. Using only her hands, she blocked all of Noritoshi Kamo's attacks and, during a brief pause in his breathing, kicked him away once more.
"It is true that Kamo Clan's Blood Manipulation is strong," she said. "But Crimson Scale Surge is only one application of it. Close combat is my entire world. You cannot beat me."
This was the gap between a specialist and someone spread across many fields. Fairly speaking, Noritoshi Kamo's unarmed combat was excellent, and with Crimson Scale Surge he could overpower most Jujutsu Sorcerer. But he could not devote everything to it.
Maki Zenin was different. All her talent and all her effort were focused on close combat. Unless it was someone abnormal like Yuta Okkotsu, no one could confidently claim victory over her in the field she excelled at, even in a Domain Expansion.
"I know that, but—"
Noritoshi Kamo was not foolish and could clearly feel the gap between them. Still, he refused to give up. A red light gathered at his fingertips, forming a small crimson projectile that shot toward Maki Zenin's shoulder.
She dodged it easily once again. "Useless."
As her ponytail swayed, the pity in her eyes deepened. In her mind appeared another Boy with black hair and black eyes, who also liked to squint. Noritoshi Kamo's current situation had been fully within that person's plans from the very beginning.
Maki Zenin did not actually want to fight Noritoshi Kamo. It was true that he was the heir of Three Great Clans, but he was not the heir of Zenin Clan, so there was no personal conflict between them. Coming specifically to give Noritoshi Kamo trouble was entirely arranged by Akira.
When she first heard this plan, Maki Zenin could not understand it at all. You have a grudge with Kamo Clan and dislike him, so why not beat him yourself? It was not like you could not win, and if you wanted to, you could settle it in a few moves.
Akira explained it this way. That kind of outcome was exactly what he least wanted to see, because Noritoshi Kamo would gain nothing from it and would not turn the experience into growth. If you were instantly defeated by Satoru Gojo or Rika Orimoto, how much resentment would you feel, and would that not be natural since winning would be impossible anyway?
But it was different if the heir of Three Great Clans was defeated by a discarded daughter of Three Great Clans who had no Cursed Energy at all. People only reflect when the pain truly hits them. That process would also become nourishment for you.
If you want to become the head of Zenin Clan, you must fight your way forward like this and use strength to trample the so-called orthodox Jujutsu Sorcerer. At the same time, this was also a trial. It was a test of the theory of fighting as the weak, and a test of your ability to fight Jujutsu Sorcerer independently, without any extra help from me.
So Maki Zenin began preparing to defeat Noritoshi Kamo. The first step was gathering information on Blood Manipulation. Control of objects through blood, boosting physical functions with Flowing Red Scale, and highly compressed blood bullets like Piercing Blood were all compiled from available sources, since Zenin Clan had plenty of records on these techniques, as well as on Limitless.
The second step was analysis, assumptions, simulations, and contingency plans. What was gathered was only surface information, not the essence, much like the inherited Cursed Technique of Gojo Clan, where the outside world only knew of Blue, Red, and Infinity, while Purple remained hidden. Kamo Clan certainly held things back, so she had to analyze it bit by bit.
Fortunately, Blood Manipulation could not function without blood, making it far easier to analyze than Gojo Clan's Infinity. If Blood Manipulation could manipulate objects, what would happen when the blood it controlled landed on a human body? To answer this, Maki Zenin specifically went to ask the school doctor, Shoko Ieiri.
Shoko could not give her a direct answer, but she showed her the structural differences between blood types and samples of mixed blood. Only then did Maki Zenin truly understand how delicate blood was, and how even a trace of foreign matter could affect the body or even cause death. The key to defeating Noritoshi Kamo was simple and absolute: do not get any blood on her.
From the very start of the fight, she never relaxed. The fierce attacks that Noritoshi Kamo barely avoided were actually her holding back, and the seemingly condescending taunts were further observation, even at the cost of not pressing her advantage. What if he deliberately scattered blood?
Both Satoru Gojo and Yuta Okkotsu had warned her to be careful of a JO-style attack that used blood to blind the eyes. She did not know what JO meant, but that did not stop her from preparing. With targeted strategies against known Cursed Technique and complete defenses against blood as a medium, the outcome had been decided before the fight even began, especially since Noritoshi Kamo had already been crushed once by Yuta Okkotsu.
No matter how hard Noritoshi Kamo tried, he could not touch even the corner of Maki Zenin's clothes, while she struck him again and again with precision. Even though Blood Manipulation could greatly suppress injuries through blood control, it could not withstand her repeated attacks. Each exchange pushed him closer to collapse.
"Give up."